Page 5 of Elias

He’d sometimes wondered what would happen if she never wanted to consummate their mating. That idea wasn’t rational, though, because everyone would know. She would not be capable of shifting until he had been inside her.

“Give me a second,” Elias stated before turning to quickly head for his bathroom. He shut the door and looked at himself in the mirror. His cock was hard. He had no idea why, but his damn dick had been hard more often than not lately, as if it weren’t actually part of him, had a mind of its own, and was aware that it would soon be buried in the tight heat of his mate.

Even though Elias did not know who his mate was, had no idea what she looked like or even her name, he’d developed feelings for her that unnerved him over the past few weeks.

He’d begun to have flashes of what it would be like to hold her. She was faceless in his visions, but she wrapped her small arms around him, held on tight, and put her trust in him.

He had begun to toss and turn at night, unable to keep the errant thoughts at bay. He pictured her next to him in his bed, curled up against his chest. Their hearts would beat as one. Their breathing would intermingle and sync. Visions. Why?

He knew why. It was Fate’s way of preparing him. The pushy bitch even made his cock hard more often than ever before by consuming his mind with such random thoughts.

Elias turned on the water, splashed his face, and grounded himself. Putting off the inevitable was foolish. It was time to head to the valley. He was making them late.

Chapter Four

It was all Leah could do to keep from hyperventilating as she paced the ceremonial room in the government building. She and her parents had arrived early. Her parents had insisted it was proper and that her mate would appreciate her promptness.

It was customary for the twenty-year-old sacrificial virgin to be waiting on her knees in the center of the room. Head bowed. Demure. Submissive before she even met her mate.

That’s what she felt like, a sacrificial virgin. Would he expect her to let him into her body immediately? Perhaps even before leaving this room? Surely not.

She wasn’t fond of the dress. It fit her perfectly because her mother and sister had ensured it would when she’d finally come out of the bathroom to try it on two nights ago.

It wasn’t really the dress itself that she abhorred. Even though she’d never been very girly, she had to admit this gown was stunning, and deep inside, she felt special wearing it.

What she hated was what the dress represented. The barbaric nature of this tradition. The fact that she had no say in who she was going to spend her life with. The fact that she had yet to meet the man. It infuriated her.

Leah had considered all her options and come up blank. If she’d refused to participate in this farce, she would have humiliated her family and sullied their name. The entire pack would have spoken about her behind her back. She never would have escaped the criticism.

Besides, in the end, not going through with this never would have been an option. She was a smart girl. She understood that as soon as she was in the vicinity of her intended mate, her entire world would shift on its axis. She would be drawn to him in a way she couldn’t imagine yet.

Evidence of that fact came in the form of every shifter she knew who was already mated.

Running away wouldn’t do any good either. Anyone could find her, but her mate would be first among them. Last year a marked female was abducted on the day of her ceremony, and her mate followed the trail of her scent and found her with incredible speed.

Luckily, Suzette was not harmed. She was probably traumatized in a way Leah couldn’t fathom, but she was not injured, and she was now living her life with her Alpha Protector.

The bottom line was that Leah had no options here, and frankly that infuriated her more than anything else. Short of taking her own life, from this moment forward, she would be the mate of an Alpha Protector, like it or not.

She was disgruntled by the barbarity of the situation, but she wasn’t so desperate that she would end her life. The truth was she was relatively certain she was going to have an amazing life filled with privilege. Her complaint was that she had no choice in the matter.

She stopped pacing and turned to face her parents, who were standing quietly in the exact spots they were meant to occupy for the ceremony. “What if he doesn’t show?”

Her father chuckled. “He’ll show, Leah. He has no more choice than you do.”

“Has it ever happened? Has an Alpha Protector not come down to the valley to claim his mate?”

“Not that we’re aware of,” her mother responded.

Her parents were frustrated with her, but they weren’t angry. Her father found her defiance slightly humorous. He’d rarely commented on her position because it wasn’t necessary. Years ago, he’d said all he’d needed to say on the subject. “Leah, you’re an intelligent, hard-headed, strong-willed female. It’s like you come from another time or place. But this is the time and this is the place you were born. You can no more escape your fate than you can change the color of your hair. You don’t have to like it, but in the end, I assure you, you will find out Fate does not make mistakes. I have no idea why you were created with such curious defiance in your blood, but someday you will know why, and until then, you’re wasting your energy, my daughter.” He’d kissed her on the forehead, left her with those words, and rarely spoken of it again.

Leah shook those words from her head for the millionth time. She wondered when and if there would come a day when everything made sense. It seemed unlikely.

“What if he’s eighty years old?” she asked, grasping at straws.

Her mother rolled her eyes. “I’ve never heard of any Alpha Protector’s mate not being born for sixty years. That seems farfetched. He will likely be older than you. That’s common, but not eighty.”

Another idea came to mind that she hadn’t considered before. “What if he’s younger? Could he be sixteen?”