Wolf Girl

I awoke to a blaring siren. My eyelids snapped open and my phone rang.

“Hello.” I was groggy and out of it. What time was it? Why didn’t the siren stop when I answered the phone?

“Stay in your dorm. Don’t leave no matter what,” Sawyer told me, and hung up.

What the…? It hit me then that the siren was the vampire attack siren.

I bolted upright and looked at the clock. Three a.m.

Rushing to my closet, I threw on jeans, and then did a ten second teeth brush and tied my hair up in a bun. Why was I getting ready? I had no idea, but if the freaking vamps were here, I wanted to be ready for anything.

Someone banged on my door and I froze. Were they coming for me again?

“Open up!” Sage yelled, and relief rolled through me.

I pulled open the door to see her gripping a samurai sword in one hand, and a gun at her hip. Throwing stars and stakes were tucked into her belt.

“Whoa. What’s going on?” I backed up into the room and shut the door behind her.

Sage sighed. “They’re here to arrest Sawyer.”

It was like time stopped. My mouth went dry at her words. “What! Who?”

Her hands shook. “Well, I assume so. My mom just texted me that the Drakes are here investigating the murder of their son.”

Oh shit, shit, shit. As much as I loved Sawyer for avenging my honor or whatever, and wiping that douchebag off the face of this earth, killing the prince of the most powerful vampire coven in the country was not smart.

“At three a.m.!” I shouted.

She shrugged. “It’s day for them. Vampires, remember?”

Duh. I knew that. The vampires at Delphi had to take special pills to keep them awake in order to go to school, and then another set of pills to be able to sleep at night and adapt in the human world. Contrary to fantasy stories, they could go out in the sun, it just wasn’t natural for them. Their circadian rhythm was all off.

“Where are they holding him?” I moved for the door and she reached out to stop me.

“In the registration building, but you can’t go. The alpha is sending guards to keep an eye on you and I. They know we will try to interfere.”

I chewed my lip. “Well, why are you armed to the teeth if we can’t help?”

She paced my carpet. “I dunno. In case they attack.”

I froze, a thought coming to me: “The alpha is sending guards to watch over us?”

She nodded. “My mother said to behave.”

“How much time do we have before they get here?”

My wolf stirred under my skin, ready to protect Sawyer.

“Seconds. Maybe a minute. Why?”

I swallowed hard, hoping this didn’t hurt our friendship in the future. “Look, I’m sorry I never told you, but … I’m a split shifter and my wolf is about to walk out of my body and separate from me. Don’t freak out.”

Her face screwed up like she’d sucked a lemon. “What?”

Then it happened. My wolf appeared before me, a white mist crawling off my body. Sage stumbled backward in shock.

“What the fuck!” She looked at my wolf wide-eyed as she materialized into a solid form.

“It’s okay. It’s my wolf. We can separate,” I told her, hands out before me in an effort to calm her.

“This isn’t happening.” Sage closed her eyes and then opened them, shaking her head.

There was a knock at the door and my wolf tensed.

“Coming. I’m getting dressed!” I shouted, and ran for the living room window. Sage stood there in shock as I opened the window and let my wolf slink out into the dark night. “Protect Sawyer,” I told her, and she nodded. We were one, but we were also two people. It was hard to explain, but one thing we agreed on was that we loved Sawyer, and he should be protected no matter what.

I shut the window and Sage was still frozen beside me. “How far apart can you go? How is this possible?”

“Tell you later. Promise.” I pulled her from the window so it wouldn’t look suspicious and then went to open the door.

Two giant guards I didn’t recognize pushed their way into my apartment, silver stakes at their side. “There’s an emergency on campus, Miss Calloway,” the one with a shaved head said. “We need to make sure you’re safe.” He slipped into my room and checked the bathroom and closet. Seemingly checking for vampires.

“I’m keeping her safe,” Sage growled, gripping the sword in her hands.

I zoned out of what they were saying and concentrated on my wolf. She was running in the shadows, through the quad and toward the admin building where I’d gone the first day. The campus was crawling with security, but my wolf was agile and quiet; she moved behind bushes and through shadows. Sage spoke with the security guards while I walked toward my bedroom.

“I’m just going to lie down. It’s late and I’m tired.” My voice trailed off as I kept my attention with my wolf.

“Leave the door open,” one of the guards said.

“I’m gonna lie down too.” Sage fake yawned. “So tired.”

She followed me into my bedroom.

I sat on the bed and lay on the pillow, keeping my sight with my wolf, who had just reached the closed doors of the admin building. The lights were on inside, so there must be people in there. There were two guards there; my wolf stood in the bushes just to the right of them. Damn. I was kind of hoping for a door left open like in the movies.

No such luck.

“They said murder charges,” one of the guards said and I grew still.

“That’s kind of badass,” the other said. “The vampires have been messing with us for too long. Sawyer will be a good alpha. He won’t take their shit like his father.”

The first guard scoffed. “You can’t be an alpha from Magic City Jail, bro.”

“Whatever.”

Magic City Jail?

Shit. I knew there was a city for each race, and as a whole they were all a part of Magic City but … I didn’t know there was a jail.

Backtracking, I slipped along the side of the building, in the dark, trying not to crunch on leaves or make any noise to alert the guards.

Sage pulled me from my wolf’s reality. “Can you like … feel her still, or talk to her?”

I nodded. “She’s at the building, looking for Sawyer.”

“Holy shit,” Sage breathed. “Tell me what happens.”

I nodded again and focused back on my wolf.

What was she doing? She had gotten really close to one of the dark tinted windows, so close her nose was fogging it. I felt a tug at my navel like she was pulling something from me. Before I could try to figure it out, she went all translucent like she did before she jumped back in my body and … walked through the glass door, coming out on the other side in an empty conference room.

“Holy shit,” I breathed.

“What’s wrong?” Sage gripped my hand, but I kept my eyes closed, because it was the only way I knew how to concentrate.

“Nothing. I mean … my wolf just walked through a wall but … nothing.”

“That’s not normal,” Sage whispered, and I didn’t really have anything to say to that, because she was right. It wasn’t.

My wolf solidified and then peered out into the hallway. Immediately voices carried to her. She slinked down the hallway to get closer to them.

“We have security footage showing two wolves, gray and black, crossing the south side of our border two days ago,” a male voice said as my wolf listened on.

“And now my son is dead!” a woman spat.

My wolf crept closer, standing just beyond the doorway.

“Half of our wolves are gray or black, it’s the most common coloring.” I recognized the alpha’s voice.

“And your son happens to be a gray wolf, does he not?” the woman hissed. I recognized her voice, it was Vicon’s mother, the queen of all the vampires in Vampire City.

“Are you saying you think my son killed yours?” It was the first time I’d ever heard Sawyer’s mom speak in a threatening or strong tone; she was always so soft spoken and polite.

“Well, if he didn’t, then why the fuck is he grinning like an idiot right now?” Queen Drake spat.

“Because I hate your kind.” Sawyer’s voice could cut glass and my wolf went very still.

“And I want you off our land. Now.”

Silence fell over the room and my heart leapt into my throat as my wolf stepped inside.

‘No!’ I hissed to her mentally, ‘You’ll be seen!’

Wait … why was no one looking at me? My wolf walked right up to the table and I was shocked to see a lot more people there than I’d thought. Sawyer, his mom, Curt, and then Vicon’s parents, King and Queen Drake. I knew them from when my parents made the complaint. I’d met them for all of five minutes, but they weren’t two people you’d forget. There were also two men in suits, one sitting on each side … they looked like lawyers. The person at the head of the table shocked me the most.

Prime Minister Locke. Were the light fey like Switzerland in these situations? Maybe they were a neutral third party.

“We want a full investigation, Curt.” Vicon’s dad slammed his flat palm on the table and glared at the alpha.

Holy shit, he looked so much like Vicon it made the hair on my wolf stand up. His dark hair was slicked over to one side, and it looked wet but was probably a shitload of gel. He wore a crisp black satin suit with a black shirt and black tie. All of this was in stark contrast to his paper white skin.

Sawyer suddenly turned his head, very slowly, and looked right at me, eyes widening a little, before looking away quickly. Vicon’s mother did the same, following Sawyer’s gaze, but seemed to look past my wolf, and then away like she couldn’t see me.

What the hell?

“Of course. We will conduct an internal investigation and hand over our report to you when it’s complete.” Curt interlaced his fingers and set them on the table, giving the vampires a cold hard glare.

Sawyer dropped his hand underneath the table and wiggled his fingers, as if beckoning my wolf. She trotted over to him and he sank his fingers into my fur.

“Internal investigation?” Queen Drake barked in laughter. “The prince of Vampire City was brutally murdered. We have DNA wolf hair from the scene that we will be crosschecking with all of your wolves.”

Mr. Hudson went very still then, his eyes flashing yellow as he stood. “Over. My. Dead. Fucking. Body,” he growled.

Whoa. Our normally reserved alpha had finally lost his shit.

King Drake stood, glaring him down. “That can be arranged.”

The table erupted into shouts and the prime minister clapped loudly. “That’s enough!” he screamed, causing everyone to fall quiet.

Prime Minister Locke looked at the Drakes. “Your vampires have been sticking their noses where they don’t belong lately. The wolves have had two attacks on campus—”

King Drake tipped his chin up. “Without our knowledge!”

Yeah, right.

Locke shrugged. “Nevertheless, you are not wholly innocent in all of this.”

“So my son deserves to be murdered?” Queen Drake slammed her fist on the table. “I want some fucking justice!”

Locke looked to her and nodded. “Absolutely. So we will let the wolves conduct their internal investigation and bring forth the wolf or wolves responsible, but asking for an entire DNA database of their pack is unreasonable.”

Queen Drake hissed, looking feral, but sat down.

Curt gave a smug smile to his wife and then looked at Locke. “Thank you for mediating. I think it’s time our guests left. The sun is coming up soon after all. They must be very tired.”

The Drakes narrowed their eyes at the alpha and he and his wife and stood. Their useless lawyer who hadn’t spoken the entire time glared at Prime Minister Locke. “We will be filing a petition with the Magical Creatures Council to have the DNA sample crosschecked with the wolves brought forward from their internal investigation.” He patted his maroon leather briefcase to indicate the sample was inside.

Locke nodded. “Sounds like a reasonable request.”

Sawyer stiffened slightly, his fingers still in my fur. Was that his DNA hair sample in there? Obviously…

As the vampires reached the door, Sawyer spoke: “What’s the consequence in Vampire City for brutal rape?”

My wolf froze at the same time King and Queen Drake did. The entire room froze at that actually.

Queen Drake’s voice was like a loaded weapon. “Why do you ask?”

Sawyer shrugged carelessly. “Just curious.”

Awkward silence descended on the room as King Drake’s jaw clenched. “If found convicted, brutal rape carries a death sentence in our coven.”

Sawyer grinned, the cockiest fucking grin I’d ever seen, and my wolf practically purred. The queen lunged for Sawyer, darting halfway across the room, but the lawyer was faster. He zipped in front of her, grasping her by the shoulders.

“Save it for the courtroom,” he hissed.

She looked over the lawyer’s shoulder and pinned a feral gaze at Sawyer. “I can’t wait until you become alpha next year.” Her grin was practically as maniacal as Sawyer’s, and a stone sank in my gut. It was a promise. A promise of revenge?

“I’ll escort you out.” Prime Minister Locke cleared his throat and left the room with them.

The wolf lawyer stood then, looking at the open door for a moment, until he was sure it was clear. “A witch owes me a favor…” His voice was barely a whisper. “I’ll see if she can change Sawyer’s DNA for a while. If not, we need to break in and steal that briefcase.”

Holy shit, okay, so everyone at this table knew Sawyer was guilty.

“Thank you, Phineas.” Mrs. Hudson stood and escorted him out, leaving Sawyer and his father staring each other down.

Curt’s nostril flared. “You need to learn to curb your anger, son.”

Sawyer barked out a laugh. “I love you, Father, but with all due respect, you’re not angry enough.”

Curt stood, veins flaring in his neck. “You think I don’t want to wipe every bloodsucker off the face of the earth? They’re a constant thorn in my side, but if I acted on every instigation, we’d be at war.”

Sawyer let go of my fur and stood, leaning into his father as alpha power spread throughout the room, becoming like a heavy blanket. “Instigation? That motherfucker raped her. Pinned her down with three of his friends and stole her virginity.”

Curt quickly looked down at the table, avoiding his son’s gaze in a clear show of submission that nearly knocked my wolf backward.

Sawyer was much more dominant than his father, that was very clear.

“You can’t go murdering every person that—”

“What if it was Sage?” Sawyer’s voice was barely human. “What if that blood bag had raped Sage?” Sawyer asked his father.

Curt’s eyes flashed yellow. “I’d tear him limb from limb,” Curt growled, fur rising on his neck.

Sawyer nodded, and Curt shook his head at his son. “You really love her.”

My heart beat wildly in both my wolf and my human body.

“I do,” Sawyer said boldly.

His father nodded, looking a bit sad. “Let’s hope for all of our sakes that she’s not like her mother and that she feels the same.”

Ouch. I would be pissed at that comment if I didn’t see a painful memory cross his face. He really had loved my mom … that was so clear, and because of the curse he had to marry someone who loved him. Mrs. Hudson. I felt sad now wondering if he’d grown to love her, or if he just respected her.

I guess it wasn’t my business.

“Goodnight, son.” Curt turned and left the room, letting the door close behind him.

When he was gone, Sawyer looked down at me with a lopsided grin. “When did you get the power of invisibility?”

My wolf snuggled into his hand and Sawyer shook his head in amazement, kneeling down to pet my ears. “I can’t really fully see you, you look like a ghost to me. But I could sense you. The moment you walked in I knew.”

My wolf nuzzled into him, and he pulled my face up to look up at his. “Send Demi to my apartment. I need to see her,” he said, then he leaned down and kissed the top of my snout.

With a nod, my wolf took off down the hallway, through the glass wall, and then headed back to the dorm.

“Alright, ladies,” the two guards in my dorm shouted, shaking Sage and I from our trance. “The threat is gone, you can go back to sleep.”

We thanked them and they left, and then Sage yanked on my arm. “Tell me everything. What the fuck, Demi?”

I sighed. “You know how I told you about my … attack?” I tried not to use the “r” word too much. People didn’t like the word rape, that’s why a child rapist was called a pedophile. It softened the blow.

She nodded.

“Well…” My voice shook. “With the cuffs on … I couldn’t shift and protect myself so my wolf … split.”

Her hands came to her face, grasping the edges of her mouth. “Ohmygod, I’m so sorry.” She reached out and held my hands.

I nodded, thanking her, and told her how I only just discovered it the night I shifted for the first time with Sawyer. I didn’t yet tell her I was half Paladin, I was still processing that one. But I told her everything I’d just overheard in the meeting room.

Sage looked hopeful. “That’s good. If the witch can change Sawyer’s DNA, then it won’t even go to trial.”

“And if she can’t?” My voice cracked. Trial? I wondered if there was like a magical court system or something.

Before either of us could remark on that, my wolf was back, trotting into the room like it was no big deal. She must have walked through the glass window again.

Weird. Would never get used to that one.

“That was crazy. What other powers do you have?” I asked my wolf and reached out a hand to her. She gave me a lopsided grin and then went semitransparent, joining our bodies into one.

“That’s … I’m sorry, girl, but that’s some freaky shit.” Sage laughed and I joined her. It was. I wasn’t going to deny that.

I popped to my feet and smoothed my hair. It was four a.m. and Sawyer wanted to see me. Was that considered a booty call?

I certainly hoped so.

Sage had a devilish grin. “Where you going?”

“To see Sawyer.” I winked.

Sage smiled, but then her face faltered. “Hey, Demi? Don’t break him. He’s fragile, okay?”

My brow furrowed at that. If anyone was going to get hurt or broken, it was definitely me. And Sawyer wasn’t someone I would call fragile, but I nodded anyway to assure her. She was just protecting her cousin.

“Promise,” I told her, wondering what would make her say that. She and Sawyer seemed to be close, and I wondered now what he’d told her about me.

I’d always been told I was a bit aloof emotionally and hard to read. Sometimes I forgot that I came across like that. Sawyer knew how much I cared about him, right?

Now I wasn’t so sure.

The moment I stepped out into the hallway of my dorm, Eugene was waiting for me. “Sawyer is expecting you,” he said.

A short five-minute golf cart ride across campus later and I was at Sawyer’s front door.

It was late, I was tired, but I couldn’t stop replaying the things he said to his father about me in my head. The way he’d stuck up for me, no one had ever done that for me before, not even my parents. After the attack, their hands were tied. They’d filed the complaint but they were two poor banished wolves living out in the human world. Sawyer had just stared down his father, the alpha of all of Wolf City, and told him that he should be madder about what happened to me.

My chest tightened with emotion and I knocked softly on the door. When he pulled it back, eyes roaming over my face, checking for any signs of distress, something burst open inside of me.

I loved him. I really fucking loved him. He was a catch, not just because he was rich or the future alpha or any of that shit. He was sweet and sexy and he fucking fought for me. He’d killed for me. Twice.

“I’m in love with you!” I blurted out, causing a grin to pull at his lips as Eugene took this moment to back up and give us privacy. “I mean, I’m not good with this fuzzy feelings shit, but I’m so fucking in love with you it hurts.” I grabbed my chest and he stepped out into the doorway and grasped the sides of my face. Looking down at me with searing blue eyes, he smiled, showing me his chin butt in all its glory.

“Can I kiss you?” he asked, looking at my lips.

I looked at him through a half-lidded gaze and started to push him back into his apartment with my hips, pressing my pelvis into him until we were inside, then I shut the door behind me. Leaning forward, I trailed my tongue along his salty neck and then whispered in his ear. “Make love to me, Sawyer.”

It was like he was made of combustible materials and I’d just lit him on fire. His skin flared with heat as his warm lips crashed to mine in a hungry kiss that confirmed every feeling I had.

I was made for him.

He was made for me.

And fuck anyone who tried to stand in my way.

His tongue slipped into my mouth and I moaned as he swallowed my sounds. I kissed him with a feverish urgency as heat built up, threatening to burst me from the inside out. Remembering what he’d said before about letting me lead, I started to walk backward into his bedroom. His hand snaked up my shirt but stayed just under my bra, until I reached up and pushed it higher, giving him permission. When he cupped my breast, pressure exploded between my legs, causing me to growl as I pushed him backward on the bed.

He fell onto the crisp white sheets, while I stayed standing.

Reaching down to grasp the edges of my shirt, I pulled it up over my head, watching his eyes rake over me with satisfaction. He did the same, one handed, revealing a perfect chest and abs. Unbuttoning my shorts, I let them fall to the floor as he mimicked my movements, taking his shorts off and matching me.

He lay there, in his boxers, on his back but propped up on his elbows just watching me, waiting. I had all of the control and that was sexy as hell. In one move I slipped off my bra and his eyes went yellow. Leaning forward, I crawled up his body, slowly, brushing my breasts against his stomach and tracing my nipples up his abs.

“Fuck, Demi…” he groaned, causing a satisfied grin to pull at my lips.

When I reached him, I took one of his hands and placed it on my left breast, then I leaned down slowly and took his bottom lip into my mouth. His hardness grew beneath me as I grabbed for his other hand and slipped it under my panties, between my legs.

We both moaned at the same time.

His tongue slipped into my mouth, gliding with mine as need built up inside of me.

I needed Sawyer like I’ve never needed a man before. One of his fingers slipped inside of me and a low satisfying groan ripped from my throat.

“Is this okay?” he asked, breathy in my ear.

I swallowed hard. “Yes.” I panted as I moved my hips harder into his hand.

I pulled my mouth away from him and arched my back as he came up to take my nipple into his mouth and suck. Something unfurled inside of me as I reached between us and grabbed his hardness, stroking.

“Demi…” he groaned.

His hand came down on my lower back, and in one swift move he flipped me underneath him, with him on top of me.

“Is this okay?” he asked.

I nodded as his fingers continued to move inside of me.

“Condom?” My breaths were coming out in short gasps as he fiddled with the nightstand beside his bed. I needed to be closer to him, to come together as one. He tore the condom wrapper off with his teeth and then put it on, the entire time keeping his blue eyes locked on mine.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

I’d never been more sure about anything. From the day I’d first met him, I just had a feeling he would be special to me, something I didn’t even want to admit to myself at the time.

“Absolutely.”

With that, he peeled off my underwear, kissing up my thigh as he came back up, giving one lick right between my legs that nearly sent me over the edge.

He growled in satisfaction and I grasped the bedsheets as a pulsing heat throbbed between my legs. Then he was inside of me.

I cried out as pleasure filtered throughout my body with each rock of his hips. Heat, pressure, and pure fucking pleasure danced across my skin in equal measure. His lips landed on my neck, kissing as his fingers went between us, massaging my most sensitive spot.

“Is this okay?” Sawyer whispered in my ear.

“Don’t stop,” I managed to gasp. Everything about this was okay. The time I had sex with Isaac, it wasn’t like this. Nothing I’d ever had was like this.

A dull vibration started to rattle my chest as Sawyer moved his fingers faster, pumped his hips harder. I threw my head back onto the bed and he kissed my neck before dragging his tongue along my collarbone.

Oh dear God, I was going to explode.

‘I love you,’ he breathed.

‘I love you too,’ I moaned, and then my head jerked back as I realized we’d just spoken in each other’s mind.

His eyes were wide in shock as the dull vibration grew stronger, until I felt his emotions bleed into me, filling me almost as if I were tapping into my wolf’s emotions.

“Do you feel that?” he asked.

I nodded, gasping as he continued rocking over me. “What is it?”

He grasped one side of my face with his free hand and rested his forehead on mine as feelings of pure adoration rocked through me.

He adored me. He adored everything about me. My goofy shirts, my laugh, my love for photography.

“We’re imprinting,” he huffed, as an orgasm rocked my body.

“We’re wh—?” I didn’t have time to ask what that was or what it meant, because waves of bliss crashed into me as I raked my nails down his back, crying out. A bright white light emanated from my chest and then from his, meeting in the air between us and becoming a ball of blinding light.

Images flashed into my mind. They were of me … but from Sawyer’s point of view. Me running out of the hall at Delphi, howling at the sky as my wolf tried to break free. Me taking pictures across campus and Sawyer watching while talking to his friends. Images of the first time I shifted and how he’d helped my wolf. Feelings of arousal, possession, love, fear, all rocked through me as I tried to make sense of what was happening.

Sawyer shuddered over me, groaning in pleasure as our bodies tightened around each other, muscles clenching as our pleasure reached a crescendo. Pulses of pleasure and magic mixed together as we both panted, and the light became so bright I had to close my eyes. Then it flared brightly and was gone as quickly as it had come.

I popped my eyes open. Sawyer climbed off of me and lay next to me, breathless.

I tried to catch my own breath, looking up at the ceiling and trying to figure out what to say.

“What the fuck was that?” I finally asked, and then busted out laughing. He started to laugh as well, and pretty soon we were both full-on snort giggling.

Once the reality hit, that we’d just… imprinted … my laughter died in my throat and I propped up on an elbow. “Sawyer, what’s imprinting? What was that light?”

I remembered it from the first time we’d kissed. I thought it had to do with my split shifting and what the book said about being able to feed on my powers … but maybe not.

He rolled over and sighed, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear. “Did your parents ever tell you about true mates? Not just the mates we choose and marry, but the ones destined by fate?”

My mouth went dry as I shook my head.

“Demi, from the day I saw you at Delphi, I knew you were my true mate.”

My heart hammered in my throat.

Were true mates like soulmates?

“I felt it too. I mean, I didn’t know what it was but…” I let that sentence linger. “What is imprinting? That white light?”

He looked at me plainly, hard to read. “I don’t really know. I mean, I’ve heard of it as a special bond between … Paladin wolves. It’s a magic thing between true mates.”

Oh fuck.

I wasn’t calm enough to hide my response; my eyes widened and I chewed my lip as I fought for words. But Sawyer just looked … acceptingly … at me. “It’s okay, Demi. I know.”

I frowned. “You … know … what?”

Please don’t say that I’m a Paladin.

“That you’re part Paladin.”

Shit. I sat upright and covered my breasts. “What? I mean. That’s a big problem … right?” He stood at the end of the bed and tossed me a shirt, then walked into the bathroom and emerged a few moments later in basketball shorts.

Sitting next to me, he pulled me onto his lap. “That book page I showed you about what you are … it said the split shifting only happens with Paladins. Then I looked up why your parents were banished and found out what your mom did … I put two and two together,” he confessed. “I’ve known for a while.”

Ahhh, well, that was smart of him, and shitty for me. “You should have told me sooner.” I hugged my arms and he pulled the blanket around us.

“Sorry, I was still trying to figure it all out.” He tucked me tighter into his body, his warmth pressing against me. “Look, it doesn’t matter to me what you are or who you are. I love you, Demi, all of you.”

“So is imprinting in that book you have?” I asked.

He chuckled. “No, that comes from stories my great grandmother told me as a child.” I leaned into him, looking up at him as he smiled down on me. “It can only happen with true mates she told me, and it’s a Paladin thing.”

“What does imprinting mean?”

“Imprinted true mates can speak into each other’s minds no matter the distance,” he told me.

I shrugged. “Kinda handy.”

‘Testing, testing.’ I tried.

His chin butt puckered as he grinned.

‘One, two, three…’

Whoa, that’s crazy. “What else?” I couldn’t help the smile that lit up my face.

He swallowed hard, reaching out to stroke my cheek. “They can feel each other’s feelings. Sense things.”

His fingers trailed down my neck and I shivered as they stroked the top of my breasts.

“What else?”

He shrugged. “That’s all I remember. I was young when she died.”

He lay back on his pillow and looked up at the ceiling as I snuggled in beside him, feeling completely at home in his arms.

“True mates huh?” I looked up at him.

He grinned. “Can’t argue with fate.”

A smile tugged at my lips. “No, we can’t.”

I lay there on his chest, listening to the rise and fall of his breath as the weight of sleep pulled at me.

“In the endless garden of flowers, I will always pick you,” Sawyer whispered in my ear and my eyelids fluttered.

“Who said that?” I muttered, my eyelids unable to stay open.

“A.J. Lawless.”

I grinned, thinking of how true I wanted that statement to be. Even though Sawyer said he was picking me early at the selection ceremony, I would still be nervous until it was a done deal. I wanted to be with him, and having all of these other girls after my man was making me stabby.