couldn’t gain a reputation for being insolent. And in spite of everything, she did want a wolf. Only another wolf would understand her basest urges. But at the same time, a full wolf might reject everything about her that was just plain human. She wanted to be hopeful that her mate would accept her, but it was hard. Plus, she had to get past the gatekeeper first—the curious alpha pacing in front of her.
“Your other half isn’t some different kind of shifter, is it?”
“Just human, Alpha.”
“Oh.” He shrugged and moved on down the line, rubbing his chin as he assessed each woman.
Stephanie blew out some of her tension on a long exhalation and folded her fingers atop her lap. Alpha had his back turned, so she turned to the two ladies to her right and mouthed, “Hi.”
They’d barely acknowledged each other during the van ride from Albuquerque’s airport, probably because they’d all been so discombobulated and nervous. Showing up in response to a mate call was a bit like playing craps and putting everything on the line.
One lady winked. The other gave Stephanie a little wave and pulled her earlobe in an obvious signal meaning, we’ll talk later—people are listening .
Christina’s nerves ebbed somewhat, knowing that the two women had overheard what she was— or what she wasn’t —and would still be pleasant. There was a chance they had their own skeletons to fret about, and hers was tame in comparison. She hoped that was the case, and hated herself a little for it. She’d never been the kind of woman who’d wish ill on anyone, regardless of how much hardship she personally endured. The wolf goddess had always stood for forgiveness and kindness, and Stephanie tried to emulate the mysterious lady as often as she could, even when doing so was a hardship. More often than not, being kind was hard, because most wolves weren’t so nice to her.
Adam turned back to them, scanned them all again, made that trademark grunting noise, then looked pointedly over their heads.
Naturally, she turned to see what had caught his gaze.
Three tall men waited in the shadow of one the small adobe homes’ roof overhang, apparently watching the spectacle of the mate match and seeing whom their alpha deemed suitable for each.
Three?
She checked the shadows of the other four houses bordering the courtyard as well. No more wolves. The bulletin that Alpha had sent out to all the known packs requested four mates, and seeing as how he had given her the go-ahead to fly down to New Mexico, there had to be one for each of them.
She knew only in vague terms how the mate matching process worked. The vast majority of her friends weren’t wolves, and of the few female wolves in her father’s pack she’d actually associated with, none had ever answered a call. They’d all taken mates within the home pack, for better or for worse.
From what Stephanie understood about the process, when a pack was in need of women, the alpha would put out word through the wolf network, stating how many were needed and where, approximately, the pack was located. Sometimes, a woman could tell which pack was requesting the mates and put out feelers about what the culture and conditions were like. Often, however, there was no information to be found. Every day some new pack would splinter off and relocate, so she’d known nothing about these New Mexican wolves. They weren’t a part of a known pack and had no reputation—at least not a reputation anyone would speak of. She’d taken a chance in showing up, and hoped it would pay off. Wolves wanted a pack to belong to, and that half of her that was wolf overrode her human notions of independence.
Supposedly, what would happen next was that Alpha would tap into his spiritual connection to the goddess and match each volunteering woman to an eligible wolf. If Alpha was any good at translating the goddess’s wishes, he would make good, sound, lasting matches. Alphas weren’t always good. Sometimes,
“Your other half isn’t some different kind of shifter, is it?”
“Just human, Alpha.”
“Oh.” He shrugged and moved on down the line, rubbing his chin as he assessed each woman.
Stephanie blew out some of her tension on a long exhalation and folded her fingers atop her lap. Alpha had his back turned, so she turned to the two ladies to her right and mouthed, “Hi.”
They’d barely acknowledged each other during the van ride from Albuquerque’s airport, probably because they’d all been so discombobulated and nervous. Showing up in response to a mate call was a bit like playing craps and putting everything on the line.
One lady winked. The other gave Stephanie a little wave and pulled her earlobe in an obvious signal meaning, we’ll talk later—people are listening .
Christina’s nerves ebbed somewhat, knowing that the two women had overheard what she was— or what she wasn’t —and would still be pleasant. There was a chance they had their own skeletons to fret about, and hers was tame in comparison. She hoped that was the case, and hated herself a little for it. She’d never been the kind of woman who’d wish ill on anyone, regardless of how much hardship she personally endured. The wolf goddess had always stood for forgiveness and kindness, and Stephanie tried to emulate the mysterious lady as often as she could, even when doing so was a hardship. More often than not, being kind was hard, because most wolves weren’t so nice to her.
Adam turned back to them, scanned them all again, made that trademark grunting noise, then looked pointedly over their heads.
Naturally, she turned to see what had caught his gaze.
Three tall men waited in the shadow of one the small adobe homes’ roof overhang, apparently watching the spectacle of the mate match and seeing whom their alpha deemed suitable for each.
Three?
She checked the shadows of the other four houses bordering the courtyard as well. No more wolves. The bulletin that Alpha had sent out to all the known packs requested four mates, and seeing as how he had given her the go-ahead to fly down to New Mexico, there had to be one for each of them.
She knew only in vague terms how the mate matching process worked. The vast majority of her friends weren’t wolves, and of the few female wolves in her father’s pack she’d actually associated with, none had ever answered a call. They’d all taken mates within the home pack, for better or for worse.
From what Stephanie understood about the process, when a pack was in need of women, the alpha would put out word through the wolf network, stating how many were needed and where, approximately, the pack was located. Sometimes, a woman could tell which pack was requesting the mates and put out feelers about what the culture and conditions were like. Often, however, there was no information to be found. Every day some new pack would splinter off and relocate, so she’d known nothing about these New Mexican wolves. They weren’t a part of a known pack and had no reputation—at least not a reputation anyone would speak of. She’d taken a chance in showing up, and hoped it would pay off. Wolves wanted a pack to belong to, and that half of her that was wolf overrode her human notions of independence.
Supposedly, what would happen next was that Alpha would tap into his spiritual connection to the goddess and match each volunteering woman to an eligible wolf. If Alpha was any good at translating the goddess’s wishes, he would make good, sound, lasting matches. Alphas weren’t always good. Sometimes,
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