Savage Moon: Wolf Shifter Romance (Wild Lake Wolves Book 4) by Kimber White Page B

Alec tore a hand
through his hair and sat down next to me. I leaned my head against his shoulder
and we stayed like that for a few moments, staring at the glass-like water with
the silvery moon reflected in it.
    Finally, my heart slowed enough, and I got my wits
about me. “Why do I want you so much?”
    Alec’s reaction was unexpected. He let out a hard
laugh and drew me against him. Then, he kissed the top of my head. Finally, he
answered me with a question.
    “Don’t you know? Isn’t it like this for werebears
too?”
    I shrugged. “How would I know that? I’m not a
werebear.”
    “But, you’ve lived among them. Your parents . . .”
    “My mother died having me. I don’t know how it was
between them. I know my dad was never the same after. My brother said he even
tried to kill himself in those first few weeks. Jaxson was only five, but he
says he remembers every second of that time and what came after.”
    Alec smoothed a hair away from my forehead and
turned me toward him. “That’s because your father lost half of himself. I take
it your mother was human? Like you?”
    I nodded.
    “Well, then bears are more like wolves than you
think. They were fated mates.”
    Buzzing filled my brain. There was that word again.
Fate. Loss of control. But there was something else too. The promise of sweet
submission. Joy. Belonging. An answer to a question I hadn’t known I needed. An
ache filled me, like some hollowed out space. Fated mates. Two halves of a
whole. My father wouldn’t talk about my mother to me. Not ever. Jaxson said it
hurt him too much.
    Alec went very still beside me. Daring not even to
breathe, I think. But, he kept his solid arms around me. Waiting. I closed my
eyes against the truth and let out a breath. It was right there. In front of
me. Then curling around me like a blanket of stars. Alec’s eyes were in those
stars. They were in me. He was in me. Two halves of a whole. I’d gone
hollow for an instant, but when I finally opened my eyes again, I understood.
God help us both, I understood.
    “You’re mine,” I said, swallowing hard past the lump
in my throat. Alec blinked back at me. His arms stayed around me, solid and
sure. I knew what he was doing. He couldn’t say the words. He couldn’t tell me
these things. It was something I had to know from within. And I did.
    Finally, when I didn’t break his gaze, he slowly
nodded. “And you’re mine.” His voice choked when he said it. He shifted;
putting some space between us, he faced me.
    “Oh, Alec, what the hell are we going to do about
it?”

 
    Chapter Eleven
    “How long have you known?” I said. I was pacing
along the beach now. In some far corner of my brain I knew I had to look like
he had the other night in the cabin. He sat on the beach with his knees drawn
up, his arms draped casually over them and his chin resting against his
forearms.
    “The second I touched you. The second I saw you.”
    “Well, why didn’t you do something about it?”
I flapped my hands wildly.
    His low laughter sent waves of pleasure through me
at the same time it infuriated me. How could he be so calm?
    “Well, fated mate or not, I’m not in the business of
forcing myself on women who don’t even know me. And I wasn’t looking for it. I
came here for a very specific purpose. I told you.”
    “Right. The great Sebastian Lanier’s pack enforcer.
I got that. Well, that’s just terrific. If he’s so great why doesn’t he get his
ass down here and help us deal with Kane?”
    “That’s the nuclear option. That’ll cause a full-on
pack war, and it’s not a decision Bas can make by himself.”
    “Jesus. And that’s what Kane wants, isn’t it? You
start a war and he plans to finish it with the help of my father and the
bears.”
    Alec nodded. “That’s the fix we’re in. Yes.”
    “He won’t go for it. You’ve got to get to my father
and make him understand.”
    Alec pulled himself to his feet and came to me. He
gripped my elbows and