Page 12 of Tracking His True Mate

I had to agree with her, at least about not pursuing anything with our new acquaintance. My full stomach clenched with guilt remembering how the date with Alexander had ended. Nope. No one else was going to die if, for some reason, Trace was able to track me down in Tumblewild.

“So, what all are you looking for in here? At the risk of sounding really boring, I spend a lot of time in the Pack Collections room. Maybe I can help you,” Gabe offered when we were back inside the library.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. His expertise might be helpful. I kept hitting dead-ends, and the library would be closing in an hour. Maybe I could explain enough to get his help without having to say it all.

“My alpha wants me to mate with a certain wolf and I’m not interested. I was wondering if there was any way I could get out of it when I return home.”

I was careful to leave out the part about being true mates; I already knew there was nothing I could do about that. Even alphas couldn’t stand between a couple that the goddess had brought together. It would take one of us bonding with another wolf to break that connection.

Gabe gave me a look of compassion. “Your alpha doesn’t sound very smart if he is trying to force couplings. He must not care that some wolves wish to find their true mates instead of settling for just playing house.”

I blinked at his judgmental statement. Lots of wolves in Dark Claw wanted to wait for their true mates, but those who mated with others weren’t considered second-class citizens. They might be lonely, or their true mate might havedied. Some get tired of waiting and want pups before they get too old.

The look on my face must have betrayed my feelings, and Gabe groaned apologetically. “That came out wrong. There’s nothing wrong with regular, chosen matings, but most alphas agree that forcing them is unethical.”

I nodded my agreement at his clarification, wanting to just move past the awkward moment. In my mind, all werewolf matings were unethical because it gave the male the upper hand over the female. The male’s rules were law for her unless their alpha stepped in to negate them, and if she were unfortunate enough to be mated to the alpha, then she was just shit out of luck. But the optimistic werewolf standing in front of me probably felt differently about mating since he would be the one giving the orders and not receiving them.

Gabe flipped through some of the pages in the large book, scanning the headings before stopping abruptly.

“Here,” he said, pointing to a paragraph at the bottom of the page. “It says that alphas may not require members of their pack to mate with anyone other than their true mate unless a quorum of ten pack alphas supports the decree.”

So, Ella had been wrong about Jeremy being able to mate me to any random wolf in the pack on a whim. She probably said that just to scare me, which was irritating, but the new information gave me an idea. Maybe I could convince Jeremy that Trace wasn’t my true mate. My wolf flicked her ears, annoyed at the thought of lying to our alpha or trying to escape our fate with Trace. Sometimes we were so different that I wondered how we were technically the same animal.

The librarian from the front desk cracked the door open and reminded us that the library would be closing soon. I tried to play it cool, nodding along with Gabe at her words, like I belonged there just as much as he did.

Armed with this new information, I stepped aside so Gabe could shelve the enormous book. We left the library together, both deep in thought. I was curious about what Gabe was mulling over but figured it would be too intrusive to ask.

He walked me to my car and frowned. “Where are you staying while you’re here?”

I felt like he had already guessed the truth, but I found myself embarrassed anyway. “I’m just going to camp out under the stars. My wolf will enjoy it.”

“Camping can be fun, but not when it’s the only option,” he answered slowly, studying my face. “I have a spare room at my place. Why don’t you hang out there tonight while the pack goes on a run? You said yourself that you weren’t going to be here forever, so there’s no point in looking for your own place.”

My cheeks reddened even more at his offer.Does he think that we want to sleep with him?I asked my wolf, hoping she was intuitive enough to see his real motives. She rolled her eyes and huffed before curling up to sleep. Clearly, she didn’t view him as a threat to our safety, but he seemed to sense the reason behind my reluctance.

“It wouldn’t be anything more than just roommates,” he blurted. “I’m waiting for my true mate…in case you were worried about…you know….”

I smiled at the way he trailed off without finishing his sentence. “Thanks,” I said, offering him a genuine smile. “I’d like that. I promised my wolf that we would go running tonight, too. Can I meet you after the pack run?”

“Sure,” he said with a grin. He scribbled down his address on my map and gave me some quick directions from the library. He seemed concerned that I didn’t have a cell phone or any method of GPS, but he let it go and wished me well on my run.

Back in the car, I ducked my head and said a quick prayer of thanks to the goddess. In all likelihood, she wasn’t interested in my prayers since I had no intention of following the mating rules she established for my kind at the beginning of our creation, but I wanted to offer what I could to her anyway.

I tried to push aside my outrage about having a true mate and needing to leave my friends. I didn’t want to complain to her again about how females had to defer to their mates. I wanted to just be grateful for the blessings I had received that day, namely a full belly and a place to stay that wasn’t outdoors. Who knows, maybe I would even find more happiness in Tumblewild than I did back home.

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My wolf howled with pleasure as she raced through the woods. The outskirts of Flagstaff offered acres of unfenced terrain that gave her exactly what she needed: space to run. She flexed her paws, savoring the feel of the fertile earth beneath them. She ran until her chest heaved, and then she fell on her back and rolled on the cool grass like a goofball. If I wouldn’t allow her to be with the grey wolf, this was the next best thing, and I was happy to provide it for her.

In the distance, we could hear the howls of theTumblewild pack as they enjoyed their run together. My wolf whined and howled again, wanting desperately to join them. Her thoughts raced back to memories of running with our pack. Ella’s and my wolf always had a much stronger relationship than I did with my sister, probably because they didn’t butt heads the way we did as humans.

I offered her memories of my own from our runs with Patrick and others from Lance chasing us through the woods near the schoolhouse during recess when we were kids. She rumbled, agreeing that those were good memories, too.

We stayed out as late as we could, with her weaving through the trees and howling with the pack in the distance. Finally, she gave me back control, and I slipped into my clothes. I was spent but felt rejuvenated and full of life for the first time since I left home. I turned over the engine and drove to Gabe’s, trying hard not to get lost in the process.

Chapter 6

I left my bed late in the morning, this time without the panic I experienced in the motel, but still inexplicably tired from a night of tossing and turning. My dreams had gotten so violent and angry that they should probably be classified as nightmares. They were confusing, too, because it was like I was surrounded by a thick fog that muffled everything going on around me.

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