Vargar Series

ANTIOPE

The place is full almost to the brim, and that says a lot for a vast place in the middle of nowhere.

But it is the yearly mating hunt, after all, so every unmated or mateless wolf is here, hoping for a chance at happiness.

The scenery is ideal, with thick woods surrounding several open clearings.

The biggest open space is taken up by the huts the participants are staying in for the duration of the hunt and the tent under which tonight’s party will be held.

I hate being here. I am the first daughter of the beta of the Waterend Pack, the biggest and most influential pack in North America, and I aim to be the first female beta in the whole region.

Even so, here I am, on the first day of spring, somewhere in the wilderness along with crazed males and flushed females that reek of hormones.

“Your name?” the woman at the admission desk asks with a wide smile.

“Antiope Everstone. Waterend Pack.”

“Oh! Beta Everstone’s daughter?”

“Yes,” I answer, annoyed by the dreamy look on the woman’s face.

Granted, my father is still incredibly good-looking, with his strong jaw and charming gray streaks in his blond hair.

That doesn’t mean I have to endure random women swooning over him at the same moment I want to strangle him for forcing me to be here in the first place.

“Good luck, dear.” The woman gives me another smile, notes my name on the charts, and hands me the keys to my hut.

I walk to find my residence, pushing my way through a crowd of excited wolves. The place is buzzing with high energy.

I’m glad to see I’m not the oldest of the participants. Here and there I see a few older than me, probably looking for a second chance at love.

These are the ones that match my demeanor more. They look almost ashamed to be here. I feel the same way, with a ton of anger on top, like a rage cherry on a humiliation sundae.

“I want a strong alpha. I could make do with a beta though,” Maximo comments.

“Don’t get excited, Max,” I warn her.

What I would really like is a rankless wolf, malleable and agreeable, mild and domesticated. Someone I could take back to my pack to appease my father without them getting in my way too much.

An alpha or even a beta would demand I follow him back to his pack and be a good housewife. I am anything but.

If Goddess is in my favor, either my true mate is not here or he is exactly like I dream him to be.

This evening is the big opening party, a chance to spot if your true mate is attending and meet them in a more civilized way than what is in store for tomorrow’s mating hunt.

Those males that remain unmated will have the chance to woo a chosen mate, get familiar with her scent, and hunt her down tomorrow.

Tonight, I will know if my fated mate is here. I will have a chance to talk to him and make my decision. I’ll either accept him or reject him, with what that implies.

Though that last choice might be tricky. If I’m to believe my hopelessly romantic sister, there is nothing like the feel of a true mate. The pull is strong. Maybe too strong.

Plus, rejecting him would bring us both a world of pain, and though it’s nothing lethal, I’m not sure I want to put myself through that. And let’s not forget what Daddy Dearest would have to say about it.

Anyway, I will know tonight if he’s here, and then I can take my next steps.

If I don’t like him, I won’t take part in tomorrow’s Race of the Wolves, the ritual that gives the males the chance to locate their mates by smell only.

My secret hope is that I will not find my destined tonight and can make my pick from the rest of them that will be desperate enough to agree to my terms.

“Great Goddess,” I whisper, “find me a nice, quiet boy that can cook.”

“At least choose one with killer abs.” Maximo is reaching the limits of the celibacy I’ve imposed on us both.

I smirk at her comment and head into my hut. The party is in two hours, and I need to be ready by then.

I go through my things and find the outfit I brought for the occasion. A long, tight dress, black as my hair, with an elegant neckline and a deep opening down my back almost to my tailbone.

I’m not playing around. If my destined is here, he is going to be thrilled to see me even if I wear a sack. But if I’m going to go for the leftovers, I’m going to need help.

I am getting a mate to rub in my father’s face, and then I can go on with my life.

“Don’t we look hot?” Maximo studies me in the mirror.

She’s right. I look good. I hadn’t realized that working out day and night to prove to my pack that I can be as strong as any male has the added effect of making me look good in a skintight dress.

“I pity the fool,” I tell Maximo, and I head out of the hut toward the great, luminous tent that has been raised on the grounds for the occasion.

The smell of anticipation and expectation fills the area as men and women pour into the tent, their noses alert, their eyes looking around.

The closer I get, the more my tension grows, and I suddenly feel anxious. What if he is here and he rejects me? The thought shouldn’t hurt me, but it does.

I may not be a hopeless romantic like Celia, but when you’ve been raised with the notion that a mate is the completion of your soul and shit like that it’s hard not to believe.

“Andy?”

I hear a voice and I turn.

There on the grass, looking like a million dollars, is my archnemesis—and one of the closest friends I have ever had.

“Noah?”

Noah was a student at the Academy at the same time I was, and we became close. Well, as close as two people who were fiercely competing for top place can get.

Noah was a jerk at first, openly disregarding me for being a woman—hence the mostly male nickname he still calls me—but we grew immense respect for each other.

My father would just love the all-American boy who is smiling his dashing smile at me, with his dirty-blond hair and that perfectly chiseled jaw that screams power.

“By the Goddess, Andy, you look hot!”

“I knew it!” Max is triumphant.

“You look good too, Noah.” I open my arms and wrap them around his stout shoulders.

“So…” His eyes stray down my body. “Here to find eternal love?”

I laugh. “How about you, Noah? No girls back in Shadow Pack that catch your eye?”

“Nah.” He runs his hands awkwardly through his already perfectly messed-up hair. “I thought I’d go after the chance to find my true mate before I go back to managing my pack.”

How Beta Gerard Everstone, my esteemed father, would love for Noah to be my mate.

At one point during our time in the Academy, I had loved the idea too. But he’s not. We both knew instantly, no matter how many times our friends had said we were the perfect fit.

For a few moments, we just stand there, looking at each other. Then Noah leans closer, wraps his arm around my waist, and buries his nose into the crook of my neck.

I am startled by his move. There was always something there with Noah, but we never acted on it, so his behavior is odd. Maybe it’s the dress.

“I feel abs,” Max roars in happiness. “Ask him if he cooks, and we all get what we need.”

I can’t blame Maximo. Noah is seriously hot, and as I’m engulfed by him, I feel those abs too.

Maximo is still holding out hope for my true mate, but all these years of extreme celibacy are taking their toll on her sanity. Max is a wolf, a physical being, a force of nature. And sex is natural.

Me? More of an intellectual being. Sex is not a priority.

“Um, Noah?” I try as he inhales my scent.

“Just had to make sure,” he says as he leans back and looks down at me, disappointment clouding his hazel eyes.

“I smell nothing like she should, right?”

“You smell great, Andy.” He chuckles. “Just not…”

“It’s okay. I get it.” I smile up at him.

“But,” he whispers, his look turning darker, and he leans closer, close enough for his lips to almost brush over mine, “if she’s not here, Andy, I’m hunting you down tomorrow.”

He winks at me and then walks to the tent, leaving me feasting my eyes on his firm behind and wide shoulders that make him so popular with the ladies.

I should be glad that he considers me his chosen.

“That guy is no plan B,” Max whines. “He is of premium quality!”

That might be right, but unfortunately, Noah is already the beta of his pack, and there is no way he would let me make my own dream come true.

“No, no,” Maximo whines. “If our true mate is not here, I will let him catch me.”

“You will do no such thing!”

“Watch me.”

“Bite me.”

“Gladly.”

I roll my eyes at Max’s persistence, throw one last glance up to the freedom of the night sky, and go to the tent as well.

I suspect this will be a long, long night.