Bound by Fate (Moon Bound Series Book 1) by Mandy Lou Dowson Page A

face, wouldn’t she?
    And if she chose Donovan, she’d be making her bed, really.  She sighed.  Damn this for a choice.  A stranger and an ass. And her wolf wanted both.  For the first time in forever, she wondered if perhaps she would be better off on her own.  Going rogue.  She didn’t want to make this decision.  How could she ever live with herself if she chose wrong at the end of it all?
    “ Beth?”  Melinda stood and offered her a hand up.  “Why don’t we take a stroll and have a chat?”
    “ Yes,” she dove on the chance of escape.  “I’d like that.”
     
    “I know things seem to be out of control right now,” Melinda said, her soft voice whispering in the ring of foliage.  They had walked for nigh on a half hour without speaking at all, and now they sat facing each other, in a beautiful natural clearing.  “I know you’re confused and worried and probably a little heart-sore too.  But trust me when I say I believe the Mother had a hand in this, and that all will be well.”
    Beth nodded distractedly.  How could all be well?  She couldn’t see a time when things would be easier.  If she chose Donovan and left the pack, she would be going into the unknown, perhaps to pine for Gareth for the rest of her life.  And if she chose Gareth, she would always wonder if life would have been better in the Tall Grass pack.  As a mated female, just entering the pack, she wouldn’t live with the stigma of being the child of a rogue.  Even if she were mated to Gareth, everyone would remember her as an interloper.  Her eyes stung with the effort of holding back her frustrated tears.
    “Did I ever tell you that my mother’s line had at least one psychic in each generation?  No?”  Melinda nodded, sharing a secret smile.  “In the old days they were called seers.  Because they saw things, I guess,” she laughed, the sudden sound of it startling Beth out of her reverie. 
    “ Well,” she continued, back to a low whisper.  “I sometimes see things.  Not as clearly as my mother once did.  No, I don’t have the gift.  My sister, Melissa was given that by the Mother.  But occasionally I do see a little of something.”
    “ Have you seen who I am going to choose?”  Suddenly very interested indeed, Beth held her breath.  If the decision was taken out of her hands, and she could just begin her new life, safe in the knowledge that she had taken the right path, she would literally sob with relief. 
    Melinda shook her head slightly.  “No, not that,” she replied, something akin to pity in her soothing voice.  “But I have seen you smiling in the not-so-distant future, and your belly had a tell-tale swelling.  Strong hands wrap around you from behind, and you cuddle into a warm and loving body.”  She smiled and it was radiant.  “So, you see, Little Wolf, all is not lost.  You will be happy.”
    Startled by the use of her nickname when she’d thought it forgotten about, Beth burst into hysterical tears.  “I don’t want this.  Any of this.  I don’t want to be someone’s mate.”  Hands flying up in frustration, she scrubbed at the hot tears streaming down her cheeks.  “No.  What I meant was, I don’t want to be someone’s purchased mate.  It’s so…so…barbaric!”  She glared at the surrounding forest as if it would attack her for daring to utter her thoughts on the situation.  “Why can’t I just choose a mate for myself?”
    “ And who would you choose, Beth?”  Melinda watched her patiently, full of the serenity that comes with being the Alpha Female.  She had nothing to worry about.  She wasn’t about to be bartered off to a neighboring pack for crimes long since committed.  “Would you choose Gareth?  Would you choose Donovan?  Or had you someone else in mind entirely?”
    “ There was no one.”  Beth shook her head, dislodging those tendrils in her mind who would whisper to her that she was full of shit.  “I had thought…but