Before I had the time to respond, he had wrapped his arm around my midsection and shoved me into the creek. Ice cold water surrounded my bare body, shocking me and snapping Feline to attention. I snarled in fury and used my training to slam my foot into his ankles, flipping him onto his back. The smell of blood drifted into my nostrils as the rocks on the shore sliced his back.

The wolves snarled, starting to crawl down the muddy slope, hackles standing straight up on their haunches. I gasped in air through my shaken lungs, my ribcage throbbing as I shakily dug my fingers into the creek's underwater surface to push myself up.

I came face to muzzle with a muddy brown wolf, it's ears flattened straight to its head and it's jaws open and going for my throat, ready to latch. But then the male I had knocked off his feet as he done to me sharply snapped, "Enough! Back away!"

The wolves froze in their steps, and the brown one that had been ready to maul me on the spot snapped his jaws shut, drool flying and landing on my cheek. I swallowed the lump of rage and fear that had built in my throat. A shallow breath escaped my lips and I watched as the wolves gave me space.

I turned in the water, shakily getting to my feet and watched the Alpha do the same. He eyed me, eyes twinkling, but a smile did not appear. He approached me again, and I got ready to attack, but he beat me to it. Without realizing it, I was on my back again and the male bent down, his fingers curling around my ankle.

"You have a strength," he told me, a smirk tugging the corners of his lips. "I was not expecting that."

"Don't underestimate me, mutt," I spat, struggling to kick his grip off of my ankle, bile starting to rise up in my throat. I was . . . angry, yes, but very scared. I'm a feline caught in the den of wolves, and the two of us do not get along. "Let me go!"

The male peered down at me and smirked more. "I'm afraid I'm unable to do that, Kitty." His fingers dig into the skin of my ankle, sending tingles up my spine. "Calm down and stop struggling." He hoisted my leg and began dragging my through the water and then up the muddy slope.

My eyes narrowed onto his beat up back and I decided to make this hard for him. "How does your back feel?" I sneered, baring my teeth at it like it was my enemy. "Bet it hurts."

He glanced back at me and grinned. "How's the mud feel?" I growled loudly back in response, glancing around as the wolves began to circle us and follow through the forest. For the next forty five minutes, I kept doing everything I could to convince him to let me go. I kicked at him, snarled, debated, and almost begged. But he never released me.

Eventually, we came to a stop and once again began my physical struggle. I kicked at him, throwing my body around in any attempt to make him loosen his grip. He sighed heavily from in front of me, turning his head to watch as I aimed a kick at his buttocks. His very cute, stupid buttocks.

He grunted, and I felt his fingers brush against my ankle as the grasp let up the tiniest bit. A grin rose on my face, my heart beginning to rapidly beat in excitement. I went for another kick, but he spun around, eyes narrowed.

"If you would just stop moving and listen," he growled, jerking his wrist and dragging me forcefully closer, eyes meeting mine, "you would understand that I have no ill will toward you. You will not be harmed."

"If I could just stick my claw into your grimy canine neck," I hissed, struggling. My foot claws were harder to extend, but it wasn't impossible. I really wanted to show this mutt who's boss. "You barbaric son of a—" Suddenly my ankle was dropped and he turned to look at me. I sat up and dug my claws into my palms, drawing blood unintentionally. "Oh now you listen!"

"Well, I mean, we arrived." He gestured to where the large house stood. It was a small mansion in the middle of the forest. Wolves.

I pushed myself to my feet, not caring that my goods were exposed to the patrol of wolves as I bristled. "It's pointless bringing me here. I'm leaving," I announced, ready to shift and flee at any sudden move to stop me.

Those golden eyes flashed as he suddenly approached with a speed I've never seen in a wolf. We stood chest to chest, nearing uncomfortably close. I knew this was an intimidation tactic — to get close to your target and pull yourself up and push out. The taller and bigger you look, the less likely a smaller enemy would want to take you on by themselves. I placed my hands on his biceps with fooling gentleness, catching him off guard.

"Stand. Back," I demand, his proximity overwhelming my senses and making me nauseous and confused. "Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to leave like I originally intended and you won't follow me." When I felt my words were beginning to sink into his mind, I whirled on my heel to leave.

"You're not going anywhere," he growled, twisting me around. The sudden, possessive touch had me reeling. Many feelings boiled in my veins, but rage and fear took dominance as I lashed out. Flashes of Andy grasping me tightly, cutting off my air supply and drawing blood from my stomach stacked onto my emotions. My hand found the wolf's neck and I gripped it with speed and defense. His pack made no move to stop me, but I could hear desperate snarls and whines.

"Do. Not. Touch. Me." I didn't recognize my own voice, didn't realize what my own fear sounded like before now. His gaze, shocked, seemed to comprehend the waves I radiated. What was I doing? I could lose my life attacking this man.

He reached his hand up, catching me by complete surprise, and brushed his hand along my arms. Sparks of flames erupted through my blood and skin, sending an unwanted warmth and yearning through me. My cat made a pleased noise in the back of my mind, finally stirring from her silence. What the hell? I thought in shock.

Having likely noticed my grip loosen at his touch, he inhaled slightly and leaned forward. "Let me go, Kitty."

"That's. Not. My. Name!" The dazed pleasure of the touch was gone, replaced by the previous fury. I sent him flying into a tree, nearly knocking it from it's roots. His pack turned on me, snapping their jaws and edging towards me.

"Don't touch her!" he ordered, pausing their movement. They looked ready to rip me apart, the only thing keeping them from doing so is the invisible wall of a demand.

He stood to his feet, gripping the tree. He himself looked slightly wiped. "You're a strong little thing aren't you?" When I snarled, he simply held his hand up. "Okay, alright. You gotta tell me your name if you don't want me calling you Kitty."

"I don't have to tell you anything," I replied, voice trembling as I watched the wolves circle him warily. "Just leave me alone, that's all I want."

"You don't have to, I'll give you that," the wolf agrees, nodding his head hesitantly. His jaw worked slightly, and he glanced behind him carefully. "But you're on my territory, near my home." I nearly snorted at that. Like I had a choice! I tried to leave!

"I could've been far gone by now if you would've let me go. I'm not staying, so my name isn't important," I said, trying to keep my breathing under control as panic curled up in my chest like a tight knot.

There was silence around us, save for the birds quietly singing in the distance, for a few moments. Then he ran his hand through his messy brown hair and sighed. "Alright, how about this? I'll give you my name, then you give me yours. Once you do, I'll release you."

The offer had me narrowing my eyes. My feet dug anxiously into the soft grass beneath me, anchoring me so I wouldn't dart off and start a chase I wouldn't win with the wolves. Snow leopards weren't as fast with their coats and build — and they had numbers. I tried asking Feline for advice, but she was silent.

She's rarely silent.

Seeing as I was apparently on my own to make the decision, I hesitantly nodded one time. "Fine. Name for name, then you let me go."

A charming grin split onto his features, and my stomach dropped when I felt the familiar thud of my heart. I haven't felt that except with . . . No.

"Excellent," the leader praised, taking a step forward. "I'm Princeton Westscott, Blackwood Pack Alpha." He held his hand out to me.

I ignored it, raising my chin instead. "A . . ." I eyed him, then the wolves behind him. ". . . pleasure. Rivera Kingston. Where's the nearest path to the mountains?"

"Rivera," he drew out, his eyes twinkling as he moved closer. I made a noise of warning but he ignored it. "See, about that. I actually will not be able to let you leave."

Fury ripples through me and I called on Feline for help, but she continued her silence. Feline! I could really use a shift right now! Some sort of communication would be really great!

"You said-"

"I did." Princeton nodded firmly as he gently grasped my chin and forced me to look up at him. "But you see, there's a bit of a problem. Wolves don't believe in rejecting their mate, and I will not be the one that tries."

Mate?

• • •

The first sensation to return to me was feeling. Something warm and damp was enough to partially coerce me from the black haze surrounding me. It brushed across my forehead, and my cheeks. The next sensation was sound, when the warmth disappeared and I heard a soft sound of something in shallow water, some shuffling, followed by water dribbling, as if it were being squeezed out of its resting place. I heard a voice just as the warm dampness returned, "When will she wake?"

It should have startled me directly from my comfortable place of darkness — seeing as it wasn't a voice I immediately recognized as familiar. It should have — but it didn't. Rather, the voice seemed to keep me in this soothing place I felt safe in. Another voice joined the first, non-threatening, but enough to make my sense of security a bit less stable. "When she's ready. When her body has rested. You said she looked like she had been on the run when you found her, and the two of you tussled. She will likely be sore and still tired when she wakes up so allow her to do so on her own time."

"I know, Mamá," the first voice murmured quietly. "But I do not know if I want you here when she wakes. She was hostile when we found her and she fought me tooth and nail the entire way back. She's scratched me up."

The click of a tongue was what the first voice got in reply at first. The object,  my barely coherent-self has identified as a washcloth likely, was pulled away and this time it didn't return as I expected it to. "I am and will be fine, Princeton. Feline or no, she won't wake up and attack wildly and blindly. Not if her shifter side is still slumbering enough."

"It's happened before within our own pack."

A low hum was all the voice — Princeton — received. Princeton. Princeton.

I'm Princeton Westscott. 

As though the bowl of water being used to comfort me was dumped across my face, I felt shock ripple down my body as awareness returned to me quickly. Despite these quick and sudden sensations, my body did not jerk or thrash. My eyes didn't even open right away. Rather, I took a few seconds to try and peel them open, the soft light from somewhere to my right burning. I just lay there, allowing my eyes to adjust to the light as I stretched my fingers across the surface I was laying on. A soft quilt greeted my tired fingers and I gripped the material to ground myself.

Then I shifted my body and turned my head, and instead of the man who claimed I was his mate being at my side, I saw a woman of familiar features. She had his nose, his eyes. Her hair was black and turning silver, up in a loose bun on her head. On her lap was a bowl of water, a washcloth draped over the edge. She met my gaze with a soothing smile and kind eyes. "Speaking of you," she murmured. "You're awake." As if it weren't obvious.

Movement behind her told me Princeton had jerked his head around, gaze scanning across my form before managing to look me in the eye. He made a couple steps toward me, but stopped as if he was rethinking his decision. I stared him down steadily, waiting for him to make a wrong move that would give me the chance to respond.

Then he stepped back, plopping down on a desk chair pulled out from the desk by the door with a grumpy look on his face. The woman followed my eyesight and snorted. "Ignore him for now, he can wait. I want to make sure you're feeling alright before you and my son tear the room apart."

Her son. I glanced between the two, now understanding their close appearance. Suddenly the woman grabbed the bowl on her lap and placed it on the side table, wiping her hands on her pants and asking me, "Are you thirsty?" She gestured to the bottle of water also on the table next to me, so I reluctantly nodded my head in confirmation and she passed it to me.

I sat up against the headboard, quilt and sheets dragging down my body until they only covered my lap. I opened the bottle of water and drank half, trying not to feel uncomfortable or threatened under the woman's stare. She's been nice to me, and I wasn't used to such a motherly gesture from
anyone. "Thank you," I whispered, twisting the cap back on the bottle.

"Of course." She took the bottle from me and placed it close enough for me to reach if I needed it again. She rested her elbows on her knees and leaned forward. "Are you okay? I know you have to be a little bit sore." I glanced down at my body, noting I'd been changed into a tank-top and some soft shorts. It bothered me how too tired I was to care who changed me. I was just grateful I wasn't completely naked like I was when he stole me.

There was a window next to my bed, a simple curtain blocking out the morning light. I took a moment to really tune in with my body as I pushed the curtain aside a bit, peering down the window. All I saw was forest for miles, a couple trails parting the trees along the forest-edge. My shoulder ached the longer I held the curtain open, so I let it go. It drifted lazily back into place. "I'm really sore. Mostly in my shoulder. How long was I asleep?" I asked.

"Since yesterday afternoon," she told me as she opened the side table draw and pulling out some pain medication. "Will this work on you?"

"Four will," I said, relief flooding through me as she gave me four pills. I downed them with the water and then pushed the blankets away a bit. "Thank you," I said again, truly meaning it. She's been sitting by my bedside and taking care of me . . . for what purpose?

Then my eyes drifted to the figure being pointedly silent in the corner. Seeing him as my mind returned to me filled my belly with fire and I had to keep myself from expanding my claws and ripping the blankets to bits. Again, the woman followed my gaze and then made a point to get out of the chair and move out of the way.

"You did this," I blurted, head swimming with a rage that I could barely identify much less deal with properly. "I asked to be left alone and you brought me here anyway."

"I did," Princeton acknowledged, leaning back in the chair. He seemed so unbothered by my rage — it only made it worse.

"I should kill you," I said quietly, twitching in place as I shoved the blanket from me completely and stood up shakily. My limbs wailed as I did, begging me to return to the bed and relax. "I should pull you from that chair and bleed you everywhere in this house."

"Graphic," the woman murmured behind me, but I ignored her.

"I didn't knock you out and drag you here caveman style with absolutely no reason, Kitty," Princeton responded, eyeing me calmly. "I explained to you why I brought you here, and why it wasn't possible for me to simply just let you go."

"My name isn't Kitty!" I spat, resisting the urge to throw a three-year-old-typical tantrum. "I have a name and you know it full well, so stop calling me Kitty! I don't care if you think I'm your mate, Princeton. I really don't care. You're mistaken because Feline shifters and Wolf shifters don't ever mate. We don't have mate-bonds like you!"

"The Moon Goddess makes anything possible, Rivera," the woman tried to gently explain to me. Even the mention of the goddess had me in slight panic, but I waited. She was probably trying to sooth the rage I felt toward her son, and I didn't really want to hurt anyone so I took a minute to listen to her at least. "I know you don't have our beliefs, but wolf shifters come from her and she creates our life-bond. Wolves don't reject their mates, Rivera. It's — it's not possible." I felt like there was a word she wanted to add that was missing, but she didn't further explain.

"My mother is right." Princeton leaned forward in his chair again. I wasn't looking at him, but I felt his gaze on my flesh, dancing across my skin seeking the attention. "You can't tell me you don't feel me watching you even when you're looking at her," he said calmly. "You also can't tell me that despite how much anger and rage you're throwing my way, you also feel so pulled toward me. It's like silk is tied around your entire body and it's just trying to tug you my direction."

He was right. Shut up!

I counted to ten at least five times while the two wolf shifters kept the silence. I was grateful they didn't pile anything else onto what they already said, because I'm struggling to even process this.

"What," I eventually got out, "do you expect of me? You knew I was on my own for a reason, and you knew I wanted to be on my own." I took in a breath, suddenly struck with the reason this was happening in the first place. Don't cry. Not yet. "You certainly can't have any hopes that I'll just . . . accept my fate here. Play mate. That's not who I am."

"Prince." I blinked, watching the woman give her son a look that only a mother would give a misbehaving child. Princeton's face scrunched up and he sighed, running his hands through his hair.

"I . . . don't expect anything from you." Again, I was shocked. I wasn't ready for him to say anything close to what he just said to me. "In fact, I won't ask you this as your mate or anyone at all. I'm asking this as . . . a stranger, but also as a concerned Alpha." He rubbed his hands together. Ah, sudden nervousness. "Just . . . stay for a little bit. Get your energy back up and find your place in the world. I know you're on your own for the reason, and I expect you hold that to yourself closely. Stay and recuperate, and if you still feel like . . . like you want to leave, you can."

I searched his face, looking for signs of trickery or deceit. But I saw none, and I heard only soft promises in his voice. So because my body ached, I felt dirty, and the woman was watching me pleadingly, I said, "Okay."

Smiles graced both their faces, relieved ones at that. I sat back down on the bed when my legs felt too sore to keep standing in the position I was in and I requested, "Can I shower?"

"Absolutely." Princeton stood up from the chair and nodded his head. "I'll bring by some of my sister's clothes while my mother shows you where everything is in the bathroom." He gestures to another door against the same wall the desk was. "I'll be right back."

As he left with a click of the door, I nervously ran my hands across my upper thighs. I was sweating, full of nerves and confusion as I went over what I had just agreed to. A house full of wolf shifters, and I agreed to stay. It's only until I feel better. Probably less than a week, I assured myself, but even as I did, a part of me felt as if something might change that.

Feline agreed in a sleepy hum.

• • •

I learned that Princeton's mother is named Lana. I felt bad I hadn't asked for it earlier, and I apologized for not doing so [ somewhat hesitantly ]. All she did was laugh as she led me into the bathroom.

"My son's ability to piss people off is a trait he gets from his father and years of watching him do it to me," Lana told me as she sets down the clothes on the toilet seat. She squats down in front of the counter and begins pulling out the products like shampoo, conditioner, and a bar of soap. She sets them on the rack in the shower and grabs a towel from the counter hide the toilet. "He's especially skilled at pissing his sisters off, so he will do anything to get under your skin."

"Fantastic," I said, smiling tightly. She crosses over to me again and squeezes my arms comfortingly.

"He's not that bad," she murmured, giving me another soft squeeze. "Even as I say all of these things about him, he's a good Alpha and a good man. He won't hurt you and I won't let him."

Before I could say a thank you, she left me alone to shower.

• • •

I spent some time in the bathroom even after my shower. I peeled dried blood from underneath my fingers that the shower couldn't clean after scrubbing. I made sure my shoulder wasn't as bad as it felt, and then I got dressed into a cotton green shirt and dark-washed pants. Leaving the socks, I tentatively made my way out of the bedroom and followed my nose to the smell of food.

I hadn't been told where to go when I was finished showering, but I assumed they would want me to eat and they hadn't really locked the door or tried to keep me from leaving. So here I found myself heading toward the food source in the middle of a wolf's den.

I got lost a few times, my scent leading me in the wrong direction more than once. I had gotten some strange looks, but nobody tried to stop me. Finally, eventually, I found the kitchen and the people inside of it. Princeton was standing at the stovetop flipping something on a pan, and a sizzle followed it.

I heard soft giggles from my left and turned my head slightly to see a little boy, probably five or so, hiding behind a woman's skirt-clad leg and peeking out at me. This distracted me from my hunger and I smiled gently at him. He flushed and tugged the skirt. The woman peered down at him from where she was at the refrigerator putting grocery's away. "What is it, Zachary?"

"Kitty," he whispered, point at me shyly before jerking his arm back. I bit my lip to hide my grin and watched as the woman looked up at me with a blink. Then she smiled back at me.

"Don't point," she scolded gently, brushing his hair away from his forehead. "Be nice and say hi."

"Hello," he complied quickly, blinking at me.

"Hi." I grinned cheekily, offering a little wave. The woman turned back to her groceries and I decided to answer the call my stomach was making, so I continued toward the stove quietly. "Thanks for the clothes."

Princeton turned around and smiled, glancing down at me before back at my face. "You're welcome. They fit good."

"They're comfortable," I admitted, tugging at the sleeves and looking past him at the sizzling meat. "What're you making?"

"Roasted ham sandwich. For you." He added the bread to the pan and began to pile the ham on the slices. "You good with that?"

"Yeah, thank you." I dug my fingers into my arm nervously as I glanced around, feeling as if I were being watched. I was, in fact, being watched. "Um, so what should I do while I'm staying here? I can help with some things . . . Earn my keep."

"Don't worry about it." He put the sandwich on a plate and slid it over to me with a pointed look as he went to one of the cupboards and passed a bag of chips and a bottle of water from the fridge. "Rivera, I'm serious about you just resting and gaining your energy back. You were exhausted when I found you."

I sniffed as I snatched the items. "I would have eventually found a place to rest and been on my way. I can look after myself," I said stubbornly, even as I took the plate of the food he made to one of the chairs on the island and sat down.

"I'm sure you can." He turned the stovetop off and went to the sink with the pan and spatula. "Doesn't mean you should, y'know," he commented.

I shrugged, opening the bag of chips and dumping them on my plate. "Maybe not, but sometimes we get served certain cards and that's how we play the game." I then bit into my sandwich, not allowing my family and all I lost to plague me at the moment.