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  But I could already tell so many things about the female that in seconds has changed everything.

  The brunette curls around her face bounced with her nod and someone took her place as we again stared each other down while she moved to the swinging gate that let her out. I grabbed the squeaking thing and let her through. She scooted past me like she didn’t know whether to run or reach out to me.

  Creator above, if she would just touch me.

  “I’m sorry. Can we step outside, at least to the hallway?”

  She nodded but refused to take the hand I’ve extended, so desperate to touch her.

  After a few seconds, I finally regained some of my composure. “I’m Tarrow Rivers.”

  “I—my name is Dahlia.”

  “It’s nice to meet you—finally.”

  Whatever I’d said causes her to break out in a full blush, the color of red leaves in the fall.

  A clearing of a throat interrupts me. The only interruption I would allow at that point—the Alpha.

  I cowered in his presence despite the fact that we are in public. My bear was well and alive inside me with the mating bond and he commanded me to bow before my Alpha. He didn’t give a damn where we were. I looked back to her and she’s gawking between the Alpha and myself with a confused look on her face.

  “Tarrow, would you like to introduce me?” The voice disrupted me again.

  “Forgive me Alpha, this is Dahlia, my mate.”

  He extends his hand to shake hers, simply as a display of respect, but I can’t help my reaction. I growl. He can’t touch her before I do. “Hawke, not yet.” I beg of him as my friend and my leader.

  “I understand. Tarrow, I am going in the office to finish Echo’s paperwork. Decide what is going to happen here.”

  Hawke leaves us there, tangled in the thralls of our new bond.

  “You’re nervous.” That’s how I interpreted the tingles that were skittering underneath my skin, prickling me like a porcupine.

  “Yes. I didn’t think it would happen like this. I’m working. I have classes and finals this week.” She warns me, preempting any time I would ask or demand of her. I would never demand her time, but something about her anxious nature tells me she thinks I might.

  “I can help with the nervousness.” With my stomach in knots, I extend my hand and intend to only touch her hand to send a wave of my affection to throw a blanket over the flames of her anxiousness.

  My fingers link with hers. One touch and I am done for, fully and completely.

  Her other hand lands on the wall behind her, palm out, bracing her before she falls. She feels the connection between us and a new fear washes over us both. It belongs to her.

  I wasn’t having any of that.

  I stepped in toward her, catching her tiny, almost fragile, waist in my hands, steadying her—ensuring her that I wouldn’t let her fall—ever. In my grasp, she settles. In my mind, my bear is reaching out for hers. If they had their way, they’d be running in the nearest clearing, finishing what we’d started with one look.

  “That helped. Thank you.”

  I rolled my eyes at her thanking me for something any mate would do. It wasn’t necessary. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her happiness or her safety.

  “No thank you necessary. You said you have school and finals. Do you have any free time this week?”

  I probably sounded like Aspen, picking up one of his ‘dates’.

  “Only after school and at night.”

  “Can I see you then? I have to see you.”

  “Yes.” She was breathless as she answered me. I could feel her melting a little in my hands second by second. Her eyes shined pure liquid amber.

  She was cinnamon through and through.

  I bet she tastes like cinnamon.

  “Do you have a phone?” I smiled at the simplicity of such a thing—getting my mate’s phone number.

  “Pocket.” Her eyes never left mine.

  “Get your phone out, beautiful. I’m not reaching for it. We aren’t that well acquainted—yet.”

  She twisted her right foot around, like she was embarrassed of such talk. I would address that issue later.

  I hesitantly removed my hands from her waist after making sure she was steady. She snapped back into reality and fumbled around her hips for the pocket that held her phone. That was the first time I noticed what she was wearing. She had a red skirt that was sheer for the most part, but a shorter skirt underneath covered everything above her knees. A worn and frayed Strokes t-shirt was cut at her belly, showing the tiniest amount of skin above the waist of the skirt and it hung off one of her shoulders.

  It made my bear restless. He growled inside me and I knew what he wanted, it was a request I refused to grant.

  He wanted more of her covered to avoid the roaming eyes of other males.

  Telling her how to dress was not only unnecessary, but not something I would do, despite the animal inside me.

  Rev would argue the opposite point. Which is why he and Martha were always at each other’s throats.

  Not that they didn’t love each other. They did. Their passion veined into all areas of their lives, especially their deep-rooted opinions.

  She handed the phone to me and I called myself from it and plugged in the necessary information. I could feel her eyes on me the whole time. It made me want to ask her if she’d ever seen me watching her—from the distance—ever wanting her.

  “I’ll get home about eight tonight.” Her voice sang in my ears like the wind over the bayou.

  “Will you call me then?” I didn’t give a shit about how whipped I sounded. If I couldn’t see her, I wanted to hear that voice.

  “I will.” Her gaze dipped to my lips. She was a dangerous one already.

  “Thank you. I’d like to know you are home safe.”

  That’s when she smiled at me and my whole world crackled and shattered. A dimple emerged on the top of her left cheekbone as she did. This female could already break me open and put me back together with one smile.

  “Tarrow—everything squared away here? I had to do some explaining in there. Do you need more time, brother?”

  I wasn’t his brother, but we often referred to each other that way. It was the first time in a long time that I felt like his equal or at least worthy.

  “My apologies, Alpha. It couldn’t be helped. I could use more time.”

  “Don’t I know it. Are you staying? I have to get to work.”

  “No, I’m going to work as well. Talk to you tonight?”

  “Yes.”

  “Dahlia?” Her name poured off of my tongue like fresh honey.

  She answered with her eyebrows. I would have to remember to mention how absolutely endearing that was.

  “Thank you.”

  From the change in her features, I knew she didn’t understand the appreciation in my tone or my words. But that’s what I felt, appreciation. I was appreciative to her for being my mate, no matter what. Mostly, I was appreciative to the Creator for making her in the first place.

  Hesitantly, she turned. I watched her go back into the office and had to grip the threshold of the door to still the bear inside me. He didn’t give a damn about paychecks and prior obligations. He cared about getting his paws on his female and nothing in between.

  I mean nothing in between.

  “Let’s go, man. Congratulations.” Hawke clapped me on the back and brought me down to reality.

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  All the way to work, I recalled every detail I could, trying to imprint her on my human mind. My bear filled in the gaps, sending me flashing images of her from his view, which was way different than mine.

  Her hair was halfway down her back. He remembered the way it smelled. I remembered how it looked like spun silk.

  Her exposed shoulder begged for my mouth to imprint on it. He gnashed his teeth, picturing other males’ eyes on what belonged to him. I licked my lips, thinking about her taste.

&nbs
p; My beast’s approach to his female was very different than mine.

  My work was done with only half of my attention. There were things to be done and plans to be made. I would be a stand-up male. I had to be for her.

  Learning my female would be a labor I would gladly accept.

  “You have the night off.” Rev remarked to me over his perfectly made sandwich as we all sat around a picnic table. He always boasted of his perfect lunch. Martha carried the namesake perfectly.

  The construction crew that Hawke now managed was made up of shifter and human alike. Most people thought we sat together at lunch because we were friends. We didn’t correct them.

  “I have patrol tonight,” I argued back.

  “You’ve patrolled four nights in a row and you took a secondary shift yesterday morning. Anyway, the Alpha insisted.” I looked over to the Alpha who was sitting against a tree, spending the rest of his lunch hour talking to his mate. It was their ritual and had become even more important since she’d gotten pregnant.

  Besides, I wanted patrol that night. My mate might be out there.

  My mate.

  I had a mate now.

  “Fine. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to run.”

  “Whatever you want, Root. But you can’t answer your phone with your paws.”

  I groaned and the whole table of males laughed it up. They all knew. These pack members gossiped more than the females.

  “Yeah, because Martha hasn’t texted you once an hour since you’ve been here.”

  A growl ripped through Rev’s throat and he stood slightly, bending over the table and got in my face.

  “Don’t talk about my mate—Root.”

  “Rev!” The Alpha called to him with his hand over the phone and the Beta immediately stood down. Even I could feel the slightest pull of the power of the command meant for Rev and not me.

  I got up and threw my trash in the trashcan and went back to work long before the hour was over. That’s what I did when they began laying into me—which they did often.

  The cab of the Alpha’s truck was silent on the way home. Rev ground his jaw in the passenger seat while Aspen sat next to me, texting away. The Alpha hadn’t picked up on what he was doing. He would know one day, but not from me. I was no rat.

  We pulled into the clan’s lands and got out, all heading in the direction of our respective homes.

  “Tarrow!” Rev called to me, but I didn’t respond, choosing instead to walk forward, my mind on so much more than Rev and his bruised ego about his mate texting him all day.

  I flicked my hand above my head, waving him off. I heard him grumble all the way to his house until the door opened where his grumbling was cut off by the almost shrill voice of Martha.

  The man had enough to deal with without sticking his nose in my business.

  Our house was one of the biggest on the clan lands. In terms of square footage, it rivaled the Alpha’s. My father had planned on filling it with cubs to the brim.

  But the Creator had other plans.

  There had only been my sister and I born to my parents. They loved us as though we were the family they’d dreamed about.

  Even still, my mom refused to sell it even though most of the rooms weren’t in use and we had to yell just to hear each other from room to room.

  Usually, when I came in from work, my mom was still finishing up dinner. But as I opened the door, I came face to face with a Mama Bear. Her face told me everything I needed to know.

  “You found her and I had to find out from secondhand gossip at the bridge game today! You found your mate and snooty old Rosaline knew before me! I’m your mother!”

  I threw my arms up, palm facing her in submission. There were just some people you chose to submit to. The Alpha, The Coeur, your mate, and an angry mother bear.

  “Mom, come on. It happened in a public place and the Alpha was there. I get enough flak from the guys without calling my mom to tell her about my mate. Please, I’m sorry. Let’s sit down and I’ll tell you everything and I’ll take you to dinner.”

  This was maybe the first time in several years she hadn’t cooked, so I knew she was upset beyond the norm.

  I shut the door behind me and sat down with the only person who didn’t come down on me and told her everything I knew about the female who had just flipped the coin on my life.

  Dahlia

  I’d been in the car, parked at my house for at least a half hour. Acacia was the first person I told—she doubled as sister and best friend.

  I had to hold the phone away from my ear, that’s how loud her screaming was.

  I’d tried my damndest to keep his picture fresh in my mind, wishing I’d had more time to spend in his presence.

  He wasn’t on any social media platforms and a web search came up empty. I even tried the school’s registration computer, thinking that maybe he was a student.

  Nothing.

  For the fourth time, I saw my dad not so casually stroll past the window and look at me sitting in my ’76 Beetle like an idiot.

  I wish someone had taught me the protocol for telling your parents that you’d found the guy you wanted to be with for the rest of your life—without dating him or even knowing his name.

  The sensation of belonging in his arms was almost too saturated to bear.

  “Time to face the music,” I sang to myself, grabbing my bag and getting out of the car. I created a pseudo-calm within myself, forcing slow laborious breaths in and out, methodically. As the house door shut behind me, it all crumbled. The bag slumped to my feet and I had to catch myself, for the second time in a day, on the wall behind me.

  I could still feel his hands on my waist.

  “What in the world is going on today? Your sister came in, didn’t speak to anyone, and just shut herself in her room with those blasted headphones on. And now you come in here looking like you can’t even stand up straight. What is going on with my young?”

  My dad, when he was upset, growled and his words became staccato, clipped and short, the thoughts being fed through his mouth directly from his bear. They’d become more frequent of late and out of nowhere—except today—he had some justification today.

  “Just tell him, D.” Acacia entered the room, followed by my other five sisters. That was the moment I realized this wasn’t just about me. Whatever happened with my mating would set a precedence and an example for the other young females in our home.

  “I found my mate. Or he found me. He was at the school. He doesn’t go to the school. He was with the Alpha. Shit.” The words barreled out of me, sounding more like a hyperventilated rant than actual good news.

  It was good news.

  I hoped everyone shared my opinion.

  They had to. Tarrow was the male I would spend my life with—have a family with—raise cubs with. They had to be okay with that, no matter what.

  Family.

  Cubs.

  Mate.

  Overwhelmed, the onslaught of thoughts made me sink to the floor. Someone had clearly given my legs the day off without notifying me.

  I looked over to my dad and sobbed. No matter the tone of my words, my dad heard them and reached backward for the nearest solid object, the recliner, and eased down into it while a lone tear rivered down his cheek. At the same time, a wooden spoon tumbled onto the tiled floors in the kitchen.

  Now everyone knew.

  And there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

  “What’s his name?” Briar, my youngest sister at eight was the only one who actually seemed to be excited about the promise of my mate. I couldn’t even conjure excitement at this point, I was still sludging through shock like a crawfish shuffles through mud.

  “Tarrow. Tarrow Rivers.”

  “You’re gonna be Dahlia Rivers. Sounds like a singer.” With that comment, Briar was content and left the room in a skip.

  “He’s in a clan.”

  “Yes, Dad. I’m sure it’s fine. He’s my age. I doubt he’s in any kind of leadership
position. Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.”

  “What does he look like?” My mom stepped in. Her eyes revealed that she too had been crying, but had wiped the tears away to help support me.

  “He’s very tall. At least six foot. He’s got black hair and the darkest eyes. He must run a lot.” That was my not so subtle way of conveying to my mom that he was built. “He’s very kind.”

  I aimed the last point at my father, whose face had evolved into a more stoic stance.

  “When do we get to meet him?” He attempted to sound upbeat about the whole thing, but my father had always been transparent to me.

  “I’m supposed to call him tonight. I don’t know. I got to talk to him only about ten minutes—maybe less. I—I lost track of time. I lost track of everything.”

  A slight smile grew on my mom’s face. “That’s the way it should be. You should call your m—mate, Dahlia. I’m sure you’re as anxious as he is to speak to you again.” My mom barely choked out the word mate with my name in the same sentence.

  None of us were quite ready for Tarrow—especially me.

  I fished my phone out of my pocket and excused myself, going outside for more privacy. There was no such thing as privacy in my house.

  “Dahlia?” Tarrow answered, the relief was apparent.

  “Hi. I’m home.”

  “That’s good to hear.” On his side of the conversation, I could hear a female whispering to him. “I’m sorry. My mom is non-stop with the questions about you.”

  “My parents have some questions as well. But mostly—I do.”

  “We didn’t have much time today, did we?”

  “No.”

  “When can I see you?”

  The promise warmed my cheeks.

  “I’m running tonight. You belong to the Lafourche clan?”

  “Yes. I do. I believe our lands are close to you. I can come there and get you, just tell me where. Or we can meet halfway if you’re uncomfortable with me knowing where you live.”

  I was beyond comfortable having him know where I lived, but I wasn’t sure my family would feel the same way.

  “Halfway sounds good. I usually run that far anyway.”

  He sighed. I got the feeling it wasn’t his first choice to meet me halfway. “Stay in your bear form until you get to me, please. I don’t want anything to happen to you. It can be dangerous out there.”