Finding Shadow BOOK ONE

'Fucking thorns!' Mikhail picked another one out of his face, flinching as a hundred others still embedded in his skin made themselves known; it would be getting dark soon, and he was still out off the beaten track, too prideful to mind link for help, thorns stuck every which way but loose, and he was damned if he knew where that mini tornado came from?

One minute he was talking to a visiting pack warrior. The next thing he knew, Mikhail was twenty feet in the air, spinning around like sugar in a candyfloss machine speeding away from his intended destination.

And, they didn't even check in to see if he managed to escape from it, it was unacceptable, and he was pissed.

In a few hours, The Howling would start, and he was miles away from where he was supposed to be, stuck in what has to be the only honey lotus bush in Shadow Moon territory, and damn, these evil thorns hurt something fierce, especially when dropped into them from a great height head first.

It seemed as though his face made an ideal bed for them to dig right in and hold on for dear life.

At this rate, he might have to make a quick stop off to his sister before he went to work, and with Colette choosing to participate in The Howling this year, there wasn't much incentive to hurry home to a cold bed anyway.

A sound to his left caused Mikhail to turn sharply in reflex, cursing as it only served to further embed the thorns from hell. "Who's out there?" He demanded angrily.

And after a little more rustling, a young woman emerged, clearly wondering what she had stumbled upon.

She was a tall, slender female with dusky skin and long dark hair, dressed casually in jeans and a plain t-shirt.

Mikhail couldn't miss the lithe play of muscle in her arms as they hung by her side.

Her head was cocked at an angle, brown eyes brimming with mirth as she surveyed his predicament.

"I'm just gonna go ahead and take a stab that this is probably the last place you want to be right now?"

And Mikhail found himself grinning at her straightforwardness, "Er, yes, I would definitely rather be somewhere else right now, damn, this is so embarrassing!"

"Why didn't you just shift into your wolf?"

Mikhail rolled his eyes, "My wolf is being a dick at the moment, and he's too busy laughing at me...plus, I'm seventeen, so he only wolfs out if I'm in danger of dying or a pack member is in danger. Somehow I don't think dying of embarrassment really cuts it."

He was pleasantly surprised at the hearty laugh he received as she wandered down to where he was stuck in the honey lotus, looking for the easiest way to help extricate him.

"What's your name?"

"Narelle Cortez."

"Any relation to Damon Cortez?

Narelle laughed again, searching for the fastest way to free Mikhail as she spoke, "Damon is my older brother. How about you? Surely I have the right to know the first name of the man I'm helping?"

Mikhail could've kicked himself for his rudeness if he wasn't already indisposed, that is.

"I'm so sorry, Narelle, how rude of me. My name is Mikhail Romano, and I'm the Beta's son here."

Narelle snapped the branch holding his legs hostage, "Pleasure to meet you, Mikhail."

"Likewise." Mikhail grinned with relief as Narelle quickly located the remaining branches holding him captive, and with one final tug, he was free at last.

"No offense, thorn boy, but your pretty face looks a little worse for wear. Can I keep you company to the pack infirmary if it doesn't dent your pride too much? You will definitely need a hand to pull all those thorns out, and I'm in no rush to join The Howling, to be honest, so helping you gives me the perfect excuse to skip it this year."

For the second time today, Mikhail found himself admiring her bluntness; while it was evident in the way she held herself that she was of high blood rank, she didn't seem burdened by pack politics.

Clearly, meeting her mate wasn't high on her bucket list, and Mikhail wondered if Narelle had someone secretly stashed away back home.

Mikhail wouldn't judge her if she did. After all, he had Colette, who clearly wasn't his mate, but sometimes their need for companionship seemed to outweigh leaving things to the fickle hands of fate.

"Miss Cortez, I would be honored if you would accompany me to the Infirmary."

And with that settled, they began the mile walk to Raeann's work,

ETHAN

He was burning up, the sheet around his torso drenched in sweat as Ethan's body convulsed again, riddled with pain coming and going in waves, each time his body seemed to grow a little bigger.

Ethan could swear his senses were heightening to an almost unbearable level, he could feel the presence of another wolf watching him, and his own wolf was dancing in happy circles at the sight of her silver-furred beauty, "MATE MINE!" Drastus bellowed possessively, rubbing his fur against her.

But how is this even possible? Why would the Moon Goddess give him two mates? And the second one be a female at that?

Ethan had always been sure of his own sexuality, yet the attraction to this female was undeniable.

He could feel her linked to him through the mate bond; it was her blood making him stronger, healing him faster; there was no denying that.

Even now in his fevered state, Ethan could feel her presence in the hospital room. She was the cool breeze that played across his skin, soothing the fire and the person who calmed him in his delirious babbling.

He had to know more about her, so he began the ascent to consciousness with difficulty, ready to find some answers.

Elena pov

It took some time to calm Sephora down enough for Elena to regain control, especially when she'd walked in to find the young nurse holding her mate's hand, comforting him.

That was her job, and her wolf had bristled at the lower wolf's nerve. How dare she touch what belonged to Elena!

Feeling a little guilty now, she watched from the comfort of a visitor's chair as Ethan's body repaired itself in front of her.

His wolf accepted Elena immediately, confirming their bond while Ethan lay unconscious, taking control of his human's broken body long enough to mark Elena in return, sealing their union forever.

She spent the time by her mate's bedside researching tri mate bonds, trying to explain the pull she felt towards both Mikhail and Ethan.

The need to mark the other male was just as potent within her, although Elena knew Mikhail was still too young to accept them.

Stretching her arms above her head, Elena looked at the clock in the corner of the room and realized it was almost time for The Howling to start. She was quite glad she'd managed to find her mates before then, the archaic run at the end of the ceremony had always made her skin crawl.

It was a chance for all the unclaimed males to choose a chosen mate.

They would announce their intentions to the pack by howling the female wolf's name, if any other potential suitors were vying for the she-wolf, they would howl back in challenge, and she would be given a sixty-second head start to dash into the forest.

If she managed to make it to the other side and over to the clearing, then she was free. Still, if both wolves found her, they would fight for the right to mate with her, the loser often wound up seriously injured or even dead, forced to watch the victorious male mount her, the female having no choice but to submit, and both wolves would then walk into the clearing, presenting their freshly claimed necks to the council waiting for them, ready to begin their lives married under council law.

Elena looked at the tossing figure fighting to heal in the hospital bed, knowing there were several things she had done wrong.

It was absolutely forbidden to force a mate mark onto your fated mate, and if it hadn't been for Ethan's wolf's swift acceptance of Sephora, her own beast, she would be in the dungeons right now, awaiting the council's decision on her fate.

And what of Mikhail? The pup was only seventeen. How would he handle a tri-mate bond?

When Elena marked Ethan, she was granted access to every memory her mate had, every beating, every cruel word, all of Mikhail's narrowmindedness, and the pain he had inflicted upon Ethan became her own. Elena bore witness to past emotions, Ethan's forced binding and loss of rank, the daily torture other wolves put him through, his loneliness, everything.

And she wept for him. She was still grieving for him as he transitioned from his birth rank of Gamma into a Beta Alpha hybrid, but it had to be this way so Drastus could keep up with Sephora.

An Elemental wolf was notoriously hard to subdue, and Sephora was more stubborn than most, the bold aggression she had shown Ethan's attackers was a testament to that, and it was done without phasing into her true wolf...

A familiar scent reached Elena while she sat beside Ethan, and the door opened.

Cade rushed in with a concerned look on his face.

"Mikhail's here."

'Well hell,' Elena thought, rubbing her temples, 'This can't possibly end well now, can it?'