Awaken a Wolf by R. E. Butler

so much loss.
    The last half of the old book contained spells to encourage communion between the wolves and their ancestors, concoctions to cure everything from morning sickness to food poisoning, and more than a dozen blessings tailor-made for a lygisa to share with her pack.
    Cinder closed the book and laid her head back on the comfortable couch.  Staring at the ceiling, she considered the changes in her life that had happened in such a short span of time.  Overnight, her life had been ripped apart, great chunks of her identity strewn about, but she didn’t feel as if she was still in pieces and she knew that was because of Adam.  He aggravated her with his heavy handedness, but she also coveted his strength and confidence.  He had known the moment he laid eyes on her that she was his mate.  She’d been utterly clueless, and then, when faced with the truth, she had spurned him at every turn.  He was an alpha and she wasn’t giving him much respect.
    Her fingers touched the mark he’d made.  It was a shadow of what a truemate marking would be, when he would sink his fangs into her throat.  Her gums tingled at the thought, and she realized that she could bite him too.  It wasn’t a one-sided marking as it would have been before her powers changed.  A giddy giggle bubbled up in her chest, and she couldn’t help but smile.  There was something altogether exciting about the thought of sinking sharp fangs into Adam Beaumont’s flesh and making sure that no one else would ever touch him.
    He’s mine , she thought, and it didn’t frighten her.  She’d thought she was happy with the way her life was before, but she knew now that it was a shallow happiness, the difference between a babbling brook and a raging river.
    A throat cleared, and she knew it was Angie before she lifted her head to look at her.  “You’re my future sister-in-law.  Oh, wait, do wolves actually get legally married?”
    Angie smiled and brushed a lock of dark hair behind her ear.  “If they want to.  Mating is more binding than a marriage.  You can divorce someone, but you can’t erase markings and the bond between two mates.  I’m certain that Adam will want to marry you so you’ll have his last name.  We’ll be packmates and sisters.”
    Cinder patted the couch cushion next to her, and Angie sat down quickly.  “Talk to me about anything but lygisa and power, okay?”  She put the book on the end table and turned her back on it.  She wanted time to absorb what she’d learned before she talked to Adam.  The vision she’d had of his death still hovered at the back of her mind, and her confusion concerning her new powers and everyone’s belief that she would shift on the full moon was too much to dwell on.
    “Um, what do you want to talk about?”
    “Do you have a boyfriend?”
    She shook her head.  “We don’t really do that.”
    “What, be boyfriend and girlfriend?”
    “No, I mean be in a relationship with someone we aren’t meant to be mates with.  Wolves are either mates or they’re not, there isn’t a reason to date someone who isn’t meant to be yours.”
    “So you’ve never had a boyfriend?  What about dating?  Have you gone out with anyone?”
    “I dated some human boys in high school, but they weren’t mine so it was just casual.  There are males in the pack who I’m with on the full moon, but that’s duty more than desire.”
    Brakes squealed in her mind.  “What?”
    Angie blinked bright blue eyes at her.  “Unmated females have sex with unmated males on the full moon.  The beasts are horny.  We wouldn’t go out trolling for humans to fill that void.  I don’t have to be with anyone I don’t want to be with, and it’s as much for my own needs as theirs, but…” her voice dropped off and her gaze traveled everywhere but to meet Cinder’s.
    “But what?”  Cinder encouraged.
    She shook her head.   “It’s too – I don’t want you to think less of me.”
    “That’s