Denied Mate by Roxie Ray
Liv
“Snap!” Maren slapped her hand on top of mine.
“Okay, geez.” I hissed at the sting and slipped it out from under hers. “You win. Again.”
She shimmied her shoulders and gathered up the cards. If we were keeping score, the wins in her name would be a thousand to one against mine. And I wasn’t exaggerating—by my estimate, we’d played at least a thousand games of Snap. Time had lost all meaning in the makeshift bunker. After an unsatisfying meal of instant ramen, we’d stretched out on the orange shag rug and busied ourselves with cards. We tried poker first, my favorite, but there was no fun in it when Maren’s bluff was so bad. I couldn’t believe she’d managed to lie to me for months with a straight face. Then again, maybe I’d just believed what I’d wanted to—that I had a friend, not a spy.
“Go Fish?” Maren shuffled the cards so fast they became a blur in her hands.
“Yeah, I’ll be better at a game demanding some strategy.” I pulled at the hemline of my stupidly skimpy red dress. “It’s a joke how bad I was at Snap. I thought I was supposed to have better reflexes than a fae…”
“First of all, that’s a myth perpetuated by jealous wolves. The fae are the quickest, hands-down.” She slapped a card onto the orange shag rug between us. “Literally.”
I laughed at the cheesiness despite myself.
“Second of all, you are fae! How many times do I have to tell you?” She threw my hand at me and cards flew everywhere.
I tried to catch them all, managed to snatch a few out of the air, and then sighed as the others fell, hitting me and the floor. The singular light in the room flickered.
“What’d I say?” Maren raised her thin, arched eyebrows high under her bangs. “Fae.”
“It’s not me! You’re doing it.” I scowled. “Hell, this janky room could be doing it.” Flickering power was hardly a ringing testament of anything, much less my apparently fae heritage.
She held up a hand in oath. “I swear on Tinkerbell’s tiny hiney, I’m not. I’m a late bloomer, my powers haven’t come in yet. I had to hire a witch to brew a sedation potion to use on you.”
I sighed in defeat and plucked the cards out of the air. “Hey, I have a question…”
“Shoot.” She settled back against the base of the sofa and looked over her cards.
“Why the hell did you sedate me? That’s high-key creepy, Maren.” I scowled back down at my cards. “You could have just told me.”
I could feel her watching me from behind her paper shield. “I am sorry about that,” she sighed, tapping a finger against her card. “I didn’t want to. I had sorta invited you here once but you didn’t really get it, and then I started worrying you’d freak out, so…” Maren ducked her head down. “Look, it wasn’t my best idea. Cross my heart, I won’t do it again. Ever.”
I frowned. That wasn’t very comforting. My wolf growled, restless as she circled; clearly, she wasn’t comforted either.
Deciding I wasn’t going to be able to resolve that just yet, I pushed onwards. “Next question,” I announced, a little more confidently.
Maybe Maren felt like she owed me for knocking me out. (Which she did.) “I’m all ears.”
“If you’re fae… Which, of course, you are.” Powers or not, I was certain she had magic on her side, going by the terrible hand she’d dealt me in every game we’d played. “Aren’t you supposed to be, um… Irresistible? I’ve seen you with male wolves and they weren’t falling over themselves for you. Ben. Cal…”
Maren laughed, like a high ringing bell, and smiled at me. “Weren’t you listening? I just told you my powers hadn’t come in yet. And there’s a bit of willpower involved in it. How would a fae get around if they had boys and girls falling all over themselves all the time! No offense, but your brother is not my type.”
“And Cal?” A tightness in my throat threatened to choke me.
Maren looked at me for a long moment, like she was calling me out on playing the fool. “He’s not meant for me, sweetheart.”
I stammered, torn between denying I felt anything for him and denying I knew what she was getting at. But how the hell would she know we were supposedly fated? She probably just saw the eyes I was making at him, and, being the good roommate she was, put two and two together.
“Is the electricity between you two still palpable?” She smiled, playful and knowing, and her plush cheeks perfectly round and adorable.
“Hm. It was,” I admitted. “He saved my life.”
My wolf whined quietly and I rubbed my chest where I felt heavy and tangled up. I wished I could talk to him, explain where I was. If he even wanted to hear from me.
“He scared off the attacker?” Maren asked quietly.
“Mmhm.” I reached for a throw dangling off the chair behind me, but Maren threw a dark blue cashmere shawl my way and I snuggled into it, ignoring her pointed look about Cal saving my butt. “Then Ben caught us together…”
Maren flinched. “Ben. Hm. Do you think your family knows about the prophecy too?”
“Don’t start.” I waved a finger at her. “I might have some fae powers but one—” I held up a finger, you know, just in case. “—you have not proven that case just yet.” I held up a second finger. “And two, I’m not on board with the whole born-to-rule spiel. Now, give me your queens.”
She smirked at me and handed over two cards. “You are accepting it a little bit though, aren’t you?”
“If it’s true, then destiny made a big mistake. I’m not cut out to be an alpha if I can’t even hold down an entry-level job.” I organized the cards in my hand as a strange feeling came over me. Warm tingles ran down my spine and the energy around me seemed to spark with excitement. I pushed away the feeling and focused on the game. “Give me your aces.”
“Go Fish—”
BANG.
I jumped as the door flew open. My heart flew into my throat and Maren shrieked. Just as quickly, I was yanked towards the entrance and my wolf pined to dash forward.
Cal stood in the doorway. His eyes fixed on mine and his expression melted into relief. I caught the scent of something sharp and animal... Blood.
“Shit!” I leaped to my feet. “Are you okay? What happened?”
Maren jumped up just as quickly and rushed over. “How did you find us?”
“I just followed my nose, I guess.” He kept his eyes on me. “My wolf knew how to find Liv.” I wondered if he felt the same magnetic pull I did. Was this one-sided? My heart lurched at the thought.
“Cute…” Maren peered behind him into the dark stairwell, then urged him inside and closed the door. “Anyone follow you?”
“No.” He sounded certain. “Liv, you’re in danger. Someone’s after you.”
“Yeah, I know.” I pulled the shawl tighter and nodded toward Maren. “A fae, and she got me.”
He flicked his gaze to Maren and frowned. He was clearly unconvinced, and shook his head before he swallowed thickly and lowered his voice.
“No… Liv.” He looked pained, like he was about to tell me my dad died or something. “Your own pack is who attacked you.”
“Is this about what happened with Ben?” I frowned, annoyed he’d still be butthurt about Ben kicking him out of my apartment...and maybe a little guilty that I hadn’t done anything about it. “Because I’m sorry, I should have stuck up for you—”
He let out a frustrated huff. “It’s not about Ben kicking me out of your apartment. I just came from Landsedge—”
“What?” My eyebrows shot up.
“Let me finish.” He scowled at me, and my jaw clicked shut. “I was jumped by three of your alpha’s men. They said they were coming after you next.” He glanced at Maren and raised a brow. She had, apparently, gotten the jump on him.
That made me frown and pick at the shawl. My own pack was attacking me? The idea wriggled into place among the jumble of confusion currently spinning around in my head, and immediately lodged itself as a pillar of truth. It didn’t make perfect sense. Not yet. But I had an inkling it might. If my wolf wasn’t already outright rejecting the notion, then that alone was a reason to consider it.
“Wait. Landsedge?” The image of Cal on the lookout made my stomach flip. “You were at the cliffs where your dad was last seen?”
His eyes flicked over me. “Yeah. Landsedge... Why? What about my dad?”
The news was overdue. I had to tell him everything I knew. Even if it implicated my dad… Especially if it did.
But when I opened my mouth to speak, Maren stepped between us. “Liv has a lot to fill you in on.”
Maren led us to the sofa and made us sit. She was surprisingly strong, given her little frame, but I should have known she was more than met the eye. She made herself scarce in the makeshift kitchenette behind the “living room,” but not before giving me a look—a very firm look. It said I needed to tell him everything whether I believed it or not… Or she would.
“What’s going on?” Cal glanced around at the strange furnishings.
“Have you ever heard of the, erm… A prophecy about a fae-wolf?” It sounded so ridiculous, I could feel my cheeks heat already. I glanced back at Maren and gave her a dark look.
She rolled hers right back at me as she filled the kettle from a bottle of water.
Cal scratched at the side of his face. “I don’t know. They all kind of blur together, don’t they? The elders talk a lot of, uh, prophecy.”
“Yeah, they talk a lot of shit.” Maren pointed at me. “But this one’s true.”
“Okay. You’re in a bunker because of some prophecy?” Cal frowned and scanned my face for any hint of what the hell was going on.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and tried to summarize. “Maren says I’m the product of a wolf-and-fae mating, and oh, wait, there’s more. I’m also an alpha, destined to bring the two groups together in some prophesized fae-wolf peace treaty!” I took on my best late-night shopping channel voice, waving my hands as I introduced the idea. Being ridiculous made me feel less ridiculous speaking the entire idea out loud. “And she kidnapped me to keep me safe in this bunker, because her brother’s on his way to do who-knows-what to me. Her court is very invested in me coming into my powers and she hasn’t been keeping them as updated as they’d like.”
I grimaced at how stupid it sounded and I couldn’t believe I’d actually started to come around to the idea it was even possible I was a hybrid. Cal was silent. I pried one eye open, then the other. He just stared at me, unreadable.
“It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? This is crazy. Maren’s crazy. I’m crazy.” I groaned and covered my face in my hands. “Get me out of here.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Maren slapped the workshop bench she was using as a kitchen counter, making the bowls jump. “She’s in danger and I’m sure if my court knows what’s going on with her powers, others will too. And not everyone would be excited about it. Like her pack, for example.”
I rallied to argue, but Cal grunted in agreement and nodded. “You’re safer in here.”
“You’re kidding me.” But my wolf nudged me. My instincts told me they were right.
“Fae, huh?” The rumble of his chuckle made me feel like he thought it fitting of me.
“Fae-wolf.” I growled playfully. “There’s plenty of bite in me, too.”
His smirk spread into a pleased grin and his gaze dropped to my chest, which I realized was nearly bare, the shawl having fallen off. “I bet there is.”
A bowl of noodles landed in front of Cal with a slosh and Maren cleared her throat with the subtlety of a leaf blower.
“Cal, would you like a towel for your”—she gestured to his whole body—“blood?” It went under his shirt. So did that mean…? I shook my head. Never mind. I didn’t want to know what he was up to before he came here, not really.
He accepted a damp dishcloth and winced as he pressed it to the back of his neck.
“Are you hurt?” I leaned back and caught sight of a clotted gash. “Shit, they bit you—”
Werewolves could do a little more damage to each other than a human might do. Teeth and claws were sharp, and the power we could put behind them was way more than a human could do with a knife, or even a sword. Strength went a far way. “It’s fine.” His tone was harsh and scalding.
I wasn’t afraid. “You need stitches.”
“It’ll heal. I’ve had worse.” His jaw hardened and he kept his eyes off me, dabbing at the wound and missing it half the time.
“At least let me clean it.” I snatched the cloth before he could argue and knelt beside him on the sofa, steadying myself with a firm grip on his shoulder.
He huffed, but obediently leaned forward and let me tend to him. I did my best to ignore the flickers of excitement in my fingers where I gripped his muscles. A flight of birds flapped in my belly and swirled up through my chest. True to his word, the edges of the wound already seemed to be healing, no longer the ragged tears of a fresh bite wound.
“Liv.” The edges of his voice had softened and barely came out as a husky whisper. “What do you know about what happened to my father at Landsedge?”
I stopped with the towel pressed to his neck, and sat back on my heels. He looked at me with soft, pleading eyes and I let my mouth fall open as I gathered my thoughts.
I was seconds from telling him everything I’d seen—our fathers, the instant his dad vanished while I blinked, my dad’s half-confession and then denial—when the door creaked open and Cal’s gaze flicked over my head toward it.
I gasped. Cold bolted through me and my stomach dropped.
Ben took up the entire doorway with his bulk, and bared his teeth in a smile devoid of warmth. Something in his expression made fear shoot up my spine and I clamped my mouth shut.
Without invitation, he stepped forward and stared straight through me at Cal. “Found you.”
