Page 3 of Breathe Again

She was changing the subject, trying to start an argument, but I didn't understand why.

"Lizzy reminds me of a little girl in pigtails." I looked her up and down and saw her skin flush. Knowing I could elicit such a response despite her protests encouraged me. "And you are no little girl, Elizabeth." Rendering her momentarily speechless, I continued. "I know who you are to me. I've always known, and I know you have to feel, too."

She gulped, and her pupils dilated. It was the only sign that I might be right.

"What do you know?" she asked softly.

"You are my one true mate, and I am crazy in love with you. I've known it since the first moment I laid eyes on you, and I have waited for you all these years."

Yeah, I was that sentimental sap, and what did it get me? Nothing. Elizabeth had laughed in my face. She told me she felt nothing of the sort. My heart broke into a million pieces that day and I swore from that moment on, I would never go looking for love, or allow it to affect me again. If Elizabeth Collier wasn't my one true mate, I didn't want one. No one would ever get close enough to hurt me the way she had that day.

Since then, women came and went. I kept them at a distance, used them for my personal pleasure, and then I sent them on their way. I preferred human women as they were much less clingy with no idea what it meant to mate. Many ladies over the years had tried to capture Cole Anderson, but I would never allow myself to be vulnerable to anyone like that again. She had shattered my faith in true mates, and even seeing friends and people I cared about finding their happily-ever-afters would not thaw my heart and leave it vulnerable to love ever again.

Elizabeth

Chapter 2

Today was the day! My youngest sister, Madelyn, was coming to town a week ahead of the celebration. My baby brother would soon step up and assume his role as the next Alpha of Collier Pack. My parents had spared no expense in the celebration, and visitors from all ten of the largest packs were flooding into our territory for the event.

I was happy for Thomas and his mate, Lily. They had become like royalty amongst the wolf shifters during the six-month trials and preparations for this day. And I was excited to have Maddie here early.

Maddie had been lost to us for years, making it extra special on the rare occasions she was able to make it home. And I was excited to have a full week with her and her family—with all my family.

I was even looking forward to Thomas’s big event until it hit me…the elite of the elite would be there. That meantHEcould be there, too.

I was little more than a child the last time I’d seen him. I’d told him we weren’t mates. I’d laughed in his face. I’d lied and a piece of me died that day. I thought I was being brave, putting the Pack ahead of my own needs. I had my reasons, but they sounded weak and cowardly to my ears now.

More than a decade had passed, but somehow denying him as my mate had never broken the bond we’d created, but never sealed. I thought it would just get easier in time, and in some ways it had. Yet in all these years, my wolf still belonged to him. My heart was still his.

I rarely let myself even think his name anymore, but I had been up restless, tossing and turning in bed all night long just from the thought of maybe seeing him. I knew it was a long shot. I’d kept up with him enough over the years to know he was a Beta and Councilman for Westin Pack.

Westin was a strong ally Pack, and Lily’s family Pack. My sister, Madelyn, had also mated into Westin. Ironically, Maddie and Lily had been best friends since they were pups, like sisters, only to grow up and mate siblings. Maddie’s mate, Liam, was even Lily’s twin brother, and at only ten months apart in birth, Maddie and Thomas might have been twins, too.

As the oldest of the Collier kids, I had always carried a certain responsibility, a higher expectation upon myself to be a good role model for my siblings. Seeing how happy Maddie and Thomas were with their mates made me realize just how badly I’d failed at that.

The summer I’d turned sixteen, Cole Anderson swept into my life. My wolf hadn’t quite surfaced yet, but she was close, and we had started connecting. Cole was two years older. He was sweet and fun to hang out with, and I was crazy about him. I’d spent the entire summer crushing on him, trying to build up the courage to tell him.

There was something so charismatic about him, and I was drawn to him in ways I couldn’t possibly have understood. I’d catch him watching me sometimes and I would obsess over what it meant for days. It had taken me nearly the entire summer to work up the nerve to make my move, but once I did I was all in. I had been young and so naïve and he had been my first crush, my first kiss, my first. . . everything that summer.

I hadn’t wanted him to leave. How was I supposed to just go back to life as normal after Cole? He promised we would keep in touch, that he’d call every day and email, too. He had told me he loved me and had confessed he thought I was his true mate.

I had felt all the signs of a true mate with him, but I was sixteen and my wolf hadn’t surfaced yet. Time away from him told me it couldn’t be true. At first we did talk every single day. Then those days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. I was in high school, I had my friends and I had a life. I wasn’t really ready to settle down, and although I could never forget Cole Anderson, the time apart made me see things differently, so we drifted apart.

I expected him to return to Collier the following summer. I was excited, yet nervous. My wolf had made her appearance, and I needed to feel for myself that the bond between us was real and not just some imagined schoolgirl crush. But Cole didn’t come back to Collier. His Alpha had reassigned him to work with the Alpha of Longhorn Pack. It would be another two summers before I’d see him again.

In that time apart, I’d graduated high school and went off to college for my freshman year. I had chosen to attend a human school when I’d been accepted to Stanford. I wanted to be a lawyer, and a part of me knew it would put me miles and miles closer to him.

The spring before I left for college saw unexpected cold weather. We had frost well into May, and colder than usual temperatures throughout much of the summer. Collier Pack was a working farm community, and the last freeze had severely impacted our crops. Times were hard, and I almost didn’t go to college that fall because of it. Dad had insisted, and it was one of the hardest decisions of my life to walk away from my family during their biggest time of need to pursue my own dreams.

I met Santos Mendoza my first week of college. He was attending Stanford too, and we were drawn to each other instantly, sensing each other’s wolf. I hadn’t expected to find another shifter at my chosen college, but there he was. He was handsome and larger than life, a true Alpha. He was heir to a small thriving Pack in Venezuela.

As Collier faced financial difficulties from the loss of crops, Santos and his family had volunteered to step in and front my Pack the money necessary to sustain ourselves through the end of the year. My father had been too proud to accept it. Things had gotten very tight, but Collier had persevered on their own. As soon as they could afford it, Dad began moving into cattle and away from a sole source of income in crops. The diversity and multiple income paths had profited us very well throughout the following decade.

But at that time, I wasn’t sure how we were going to make it and I was determined to help in any way I could. While I had never felt even a quarter of the connection I’d had with Cole, I still loved Santos. His Pack was thriving financially, but they were struggling in numbers. It had been several years since they’d last had a shifter pup. I was the eldest of seven children, and it was thought that the blessings bestowed upon my parents would trickle down to me. In hopes of saving his Pack, Santos asked me to be his mate.

I was certain if I mated Santos and allied our Packs that Dad would accept the money his father had offered, and I could save Collier. It was a perfect arrangement. We had agreed to spend the summer in Venezuela and return the following semester to Stanford to continue our studies. My life seemed complete, and a strong, honorable plan was in place. . . and then, therehewas.

Cole had come back to Collier. It was only a short visit, but I knew if I’d asked him, he would have stayed. My wolf pranced in my head—she wanted us to show off for our mate.Mate!He’d been right all along. A part of me had known it too, but when I’d caught a whiff of him, before I’d even gazed upon him, I knew with one hundred percent certainty that Cole Anderson was my one true mate.

---