Page 3

I hadn’t meant to follow her.

Okay. Maybe I had, but it wasn’t the main reason I’d shown up to Samson’s kid’s birthday party, of all places.

Going to small children’s parties wasn’t a habit of mine, but pack alliances like the one I have with Samson are rare, and it was important for me to keep up appearances, even if I hated it.

Not that I had a problem with the kid. He seemed like a normal, pleasant kid, which was surprising since Samson was such an ass. Kit must have taken after his mother.

I’d arrived with a gift and an excuse to leave immediately after speaking with Samson and making my presence known, but then I scented her.

Nayeli. I should have expected it—she’s Kit’s older cousin, after all—but it was starting to seem like I’d never get used to being around Nayeli.

I could do a good job of hiding my reaction on the outside, but inside, the woman made me feral.

Once I’d sensed her, I meant to simply ignore her until I could escape the party, but Nayeli was acting odd.

She fled the party while I was watching her out of the corner of my eye, and to my surprise, she didn’t return.

Instead, I watched out the window as she headed into the forest and out of sight.

The wolf inside me sat up and took notice.

I had been at war with myself ever since I rejected her, and watching her disappear into the treeline had all of my instincts on edge.

I didn’t like that she was walking away from me, and I definitely didn’t like that I had no idea where she was going, even if it wasn’t my business.

I’d rejected her, which meant I’d given up any right to concern myself with her day-to-day activities. Too bad my wolf didn’t feel that way.

So I followed her, stopping by to greet Samson and his kid and drop off the gift at the gift table before setting out in search of Nayeli. It might have just been Alpha curiosity, but something made me think that she was getting into something a lot more interesting than a kid's birthday party.

I tracked her scent through the trees, her perfume, and natural scent combining to form the irresistible smell of sun-ripened peaches. She stopped to talk to another wolf, one of Samson’s, which made me feel a stab of possessiveness before she dismissed him and continued on her way.

The farther Nayeli went, the more her delicious scent was tainted by the astringent smell of anise and something slightly burnt, like extinguished candles. When she made it to her destination, I gave her space so she didn’t sense me right away, and was utterly amused at what I saw.

A treehouse. There had been no secret meet-up or long walk just to clear her head. Nayeli had gone to a treehouse, and I grinned as I watched her climb the ladder. How unexpected. She was always different from the others, but still found new ways to surprise me.

I considered my next move carefully. The smartest thing to do would be to leave, but I wasn’t always a smart man.

I’d been avoiding Nayeli and the unresolved issue of our rejected mating bond for a long time, but part of me still wanted her attention, good or bad.

The temptation to go to the bottom of the tree and call up to her was strong, but I resisted, thinking just how disastrously things could play out if I confronted her.

Then I heard her voice.

Nayeli always talked too fast, her words getting quicker when she was speaking about something she was passionate about.

Her nerves made her talk fast, too, her sweet voice rising in volume as she went.

This was different. Nayeli spoke slowly, her tone deep and confident.

At first, I was just absorbing how sexy her voice was, but after a moment, something strange registered with me—I didn’t know what in the hell she was saying.

I didn’t recognize the language, either, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

My instincts were at war, half of them screaming at me to get the hell out of there while the other half was demanding that I go and check that my mate was okay.

I could see the flicker of a candle within the treehouse, and the wind was picking up, but otherwise, there were no outward signs that I needed to worry.

Still, I was an Alpha, and more attuned than other wolves to things like magic, and between one breath and the next, the air was suddenly full of it. Nayeli didn't have magic, so what was going on? Was she in trouble? Was she in over her head?

Overriding my better senses, my wolf pushed hard for me to find out, and I let it happen.

With her chanting growing louder, I sprinted for the ladder and climbed up, trying to remain quiet so she wouldn't hear me.

If she was in trouble, then I wanted to help her, and if not, I wanted to be able to make my escape without getting caught.

The moment I crested the top of the ladder and poked my head inside the treehouse, the words pouring from Nayeli's mouth cut off, and I saw her eyes widen in shock.

She looked up at me like I was a ghost, narrowing her eyes to see me through the smoke, and when she recognized me, dread overtook her beautiful face.

A soft blue glow covered her hands, but once she saw me, the glow faded and the pulse of the magic in the room kicked into high gear. I only had a second to process the look before it hit me.

Something invisible slammed into my chest, white hot and burning as it spread through my ribcage.

“Shit—" I staggered, one hand catching the wall, the other going to my chest like I could physically claw out whatever thing had just made its home inside of me.

It was everywhere. Burning through me, wrapping around my bones like a serpent.

My wolf reared up, snapping and furious somewhere within me, but I quickly understood there was no threat, not in the usual sense.

There was just her, Nayeli, looking at me with a mix of horror, concern, shame, and anger.

Her scent hit me hard, richer, deeper than ever before, like it had bloomed into something full and ripe and mine.

When I looked at her, her blue eyes blazing even through the curtain of smoke, I could suddenly feel her on a deeper level than ever before, as if there was a tether connecting us, and if I only reached the right place, I could grab it.

Oh, fuck. No. No, no, no. Something was very wrong.

Ever since she'd presented as an Omega and it became all too clear that she was my mate, I'd had some awareness of Nayeli at all times.

But this was different. It didn't feel right.

Instead, it felt forced, out of place, totally different from the pack magic that came with our pack bonds.

Even out of place, though, it also felt strong as hell. I wasn’t an easily frightened man, but whatever this was, it was scaring the hell out of me.

“What the hell did you just do?” I demanded, stepping fully into the treehouse now, the heat of the spell still roiling in my chest.

She shot to her feet and backed away from me, bumping into her table and knocking over a crystal bowl that hit the floor and shattered.

“I—I didn’t mean to—" Her voice cracked, and my anger softened. Nayeli was frightened, and while Nayeli was many things, easily frightened was not one of them.

"You can't lie to me, Nayeli," I stalked into the room, the roof barely high enough for me to stand at my full height. "I felt it. I still feel it. You connected us."

Nayeli’s face shifted from horrified to panicked as she reached for her chest, and I knew then that she was feeling the same thing I was. That undeniable bond. "I never meant for this to happen, this isn't at all what the spell was supposed to do..."

I was still reeling from the fact that Nayeli Jones, my potential mate, could wield magic. "Oh, so you meant for something to happen? What the hell is going on in here, Nayeli?"

“Okay,” she said, voice thin and clipped as she pressed her thumbs into her temples, massaging small circles there before collecting herself and turning to gather new supplies from her shelves. “Okay, so… it was a spell.”

I arched a brow. “A spell?”

“I didn’t mean for it to bond us,” she snapped, then winced.

“It was a power enhancement spell. I was using it as a way to sort of solidify my powers.

I'd done a few smaller spells from the same book before, but apparently, this one was out of my league, and now—" She gestured between us helplessly.

Nayeli didn't need to continue. I knew exactly what she meant. Now, something had occurred between us, and neither of us knew what to do about it.

I inhaled slowly, which was a mistake, because it only served to fill my head with her scent, peaches with a new edge of anise, and the urge to mate her rolled over me once more.

No, I'd made my decision, and I certainly wasn't going to go back on it now that Nayeli had bound us with magic that she had no control over.

Crossing my arms, I leaned back against the treehouse wall. "Since when have you had magic, Omega? I'm surprised that Samson hasn't been bragging that he has not just a mate with witch abilities, but a cousin, too."

"No one knows. Well, except you now. And I want to keep it that way." Her face was guarded, but I could see the plea in her eyes.

"You want to keep it a secret?" I laughed, shaking my head. "If that's the case, then you better find a way to fix whatever you just did."

"What do you think I'm doing?" she snapped, arms full of spell ingredients. "Sit in front of the table. Let me try...something."

Nayeli was radiating uncertainty, and I really didn't want to put myself at her mercy now that she'd basically admitted she was a novice, but who the hell else was I supposed to go to?

Plus, I still had more questions for her.

I settled on the cushion in front of the low table, watching as she knelt in front of me and laid out her supplies.