Claimed By Her Alpha by J.E. Cluney

22

Everly.

* * *

Afucking werewolf. Well, wolf shifter as he called it.

I’d been expecting almost anything but that. I’d honestly thought he was going to start howling and running around on all fours when he said he was going to show me, but then he’d actually turned into a damned white wolf, all majestic and beautiful. It had taken my breath away, bringing me to my knees as the realization of this other whole world hit me.

There was so much I wanted to know now, and a part of me was envious. Who wouldn’t want to be a damn wolf shifter? It sounded amazing.

So, we now sat enjoying the last of the lunch he’d gotten me as I marveled over the whole thing, taking in everything he’d said.

“So, wolf shifters are considered the originals, the ones who came first before all other shifters. There’s an Alpha Council who oversees everything, and the Pack draws power from the Alphas. They’re considered their own species, while other shifters are sort of thrown in altogether. Witches, vampires—they’re real too. Shifters first shift at puberty, and they have true mates,” I summed up everything he’d told me as I took a hefty bite of my brownie before leaning back against his chest.

I was perched happily in his lap, his strong arms wrapped around me as he rested his chin on my shoulder. He’d completely opened up now, and I could sense his guard was down. He no longer needed to hide anything from me, and I loved knowing he trusted me with all of this.

“Yes, pretty much. There’s so much more too,” he murmured as he kissed my neck.

I chewed my lip thoughtfully as I reached for my wine glass and sipped the sweet white wine.

“So, is it common for wolves to have human true mates? And who’s your Alpha? Is that why everyone here knows you? Are they your Pack? How big is it?” I asked, firing off question after question.

His chest rumbled against my back, making me grin stupidly as he nuzzled me.

“This town was founded by the ancestors of my Pack, it is predominantly wolf shifters, but we’ve allowed outsiders in over the last few decades. It has helped the town grow and become more prosperous. Many people like to holiday here. As for the Pack size, a few hundred easily, as for the Alpha… that’s me.”

“What?” I whipped my head around, gobsmacked as he just smirked at me. “No, you’re not.”

“That I am. It is why my mother lives with me. Up until a few months ago, she was still Alpha after the death of my father, who died from moon cancer. It is a cancer that only affects wolves. We chose moon as the term because, like popular belief, the moon once controlled our shifting movements. We could shift at will, but on a full moon, we’d not have a say in the matter. Over the centuries, we’ve gained control on the full moon, but the desire to shift is there. Our kind only have two illnesses. Moon cancer is the untreatable one, mate sickness is the other one. It can be sorted out early on by taking on a mate if a wolf has not yet found their true mate. You’re probably wondering what happens when a wolf loses their mate like my mother. It hurts them, but it is not the end of the world, especially if they have children they can cling to. There will always be a hole, and they cannot take on another mate, as wolves mate for life. But with Alpha females, they start to lose their full Alpha power if their male dies. A mated pair is the ideal Alpha lead, as they are the strongest, second is a male Alpha. So, we completed the ceremony in order for me to take over once my mother’s powers had diminished too much.”

I took in everything he said, mulling over his words.

“Does that mean I’d become an Alpha as your mate?” I gasped.

“Yes, you would be my female, leading my people alongside me.”

That sounded like a lot of responsibility that I was certainly not prepared for.

“You didn’t answer the human mates thing,” I mumbled, my head still spinning from everything.

“No. Shifters cannot have humans as true mates. Only other shifters or those with a minimum quarter-blood shifter in them.”

My mind came to a screeching halt at this as I sucked in a breath.

Was he saying… I was part shifter?

“Everly, you have shifter blood in your veins, I know it is a lot to take in,” he said softly as he pressed his lips to my neck.

I just blinked, unable to comprehend such a fact. How could I have never known? Was he saying my father was a shifter? Surely it wasn’t my mother who had shifter blood.

“How do you know?” I whispered. Then again, he’d just said humans couldn’t be their true mates, so that had answered the question for me.

“Because you’re my mate,” he said after a moment, and I sighed. But now, I wanted to know more. Just who were my family?

“I wish I knew my family,” I muttered, and his arms tightened around me.

“You will have a family here, one that will protect you against anything as their Alpha.”

“Will I get Alpha powers?”

“No, I don’t believe so. Honestly, you’re the first inactive quarter-blood that has ever sparked a true mate call that I’m aware of. But true mates develop a special bond, and can normally communicate telepathically. I’m not sure if that’ll happen if you’re essentially human though.”

“Inactive?” I murmured as I rested my head back against his shoulder to gaze up at the sky.

“Some quarter-bloods can still shift.”

“Right, so I’m the failed one,” I mumbled. God, this was all so much to take in.

“No, you’re not failed,” he growled as he nuzzled me again, and I closed my eyes, focusing on his warm body behind me. At least he’d put his clothes back on.

But the thought of vampires, witches, everything—they were all real, and it was overwhelming. My head was beginning to ache, and my mind was struggling to accept it all.

“So true bonded mates speak telepathically?” This concept fascinated me. How would that even work? But like he said, being inactive meant it might not happen to me.

“Yes, and their bond is something special. They learn about the other partner through the bond, they can find them no matter where they are. It’s a truly wondrous thing.”

“It definitely sounds like it,” I breathed, fascinated by the idea. “Is it hard for shifters to find their true mates?”

“Yes. The teens of a Pack will travel to try to find them. When a shifter turns twenty-five, that’s when they normally accept that the search is futile, and they’ll take a mate of their choosing, marking them as their own. If they don’t, they will develop mate sickness after they turn thirty. It will make them go mad if they don’t take a mate in the early stages, and they will need to be put down. Taking on a mate that is not a true mate is not wrong, they will still have a sacred bond, just not as powerful as that of a true mate. It is more common for wolves to do that, especially if travel is not easy for them.”

“That’s terrible,” I said as I opened my eyes and turned to take in his profile as he stared out over the town. “Do fated mates need to be marked?”

“Yes, in order to complete the bond between them. The male is the one who normally marks their female, and this alters their scents, informing others they are not available.”

“Everything sounds so complex,” I muttered as I rubbed my temple in an attempt to alleviate the ache that had started up. “So, you need to mark me?”

“Yes, if you accept everything and want me.”

“Why didn’t you just mark me before?”

“Because, if for some reason you didn’t return my feelings, especially being more human, you could have the bond broken by a witch. Such a thing would be the death of me. Not just figuratively.”

“Why?” I asked as I turned in his lap to straddle him, my heart squeezing at his words.

“We go mad after a few months. Wolves mate for life, so if a wolf’s bond is broken not by death, they will go berserk and have to be put down. Being rejected before the bond is made hurts, but we can still take on a mate of our choosing,” he explained as he cupped my face.

“It all sounds so difficult for your kind. What happens if a wolf who took on a mate comes across their true mate?” I queried.

“Nothing. They’ve already claimed a mate, and it will nullify the true mate call.”

I nodded, not sure if that was a good thing or not.

I sat in silence as I rested my head on his shoulder, drawing in his cologne as I closed my eyes.

I’d learned so much in the span of ten minutes, and my whole world was spinning.

Dray was a wolf shifter. I wasn’t exactly human.

Although being an inactive shifter kind of sucked.

“Everly, will you be my mate?” he asked as he smoothed out my hair and stroked my back.

I knew the question was coming.

How could I say no? It would hurt him, and, considering everything, I had a feeling my mind would be wiped by a witch since they were powerful enough to break a mate bond.

I felt strongly for him, I’d been attracted to him from the get go. But was I ready to say yes, for things to become something so much more?

In all honesty, what did I have to lose?

I pulled back, gazing into those warm chocolate eyes that saw right into my very soul. This was a man who wanted every part of me, for me.

A man who would do anything to keep me happy.

“Yes, I will.”