want anyone to know. She paced her room, trying to figure out what to do. This couldn't be happening. She'd been matched with a Wilde. Her family could never know. She couldn't meet him. She would never have a mate, never have children, never have the love of her life. Her family would kill her and him.
The Wildes and McCoys had been feuding for generations. It had started over a hundred years ago over a land dispute. The Wildes and McCoys shared a border of their ranch. They had a legend that one of the Wildes had shot a McCoy, and that McCoy had shot the Wilde.
The McCoys claimed that the Wilde had shot first. The Wildes claimed the McCoy had shot first. Ever since, the feud had grown, year after year, generation after generation, up to that day when they could cyberstalk one another on the Internet.
Cassidy's mother had protected her from the feud, kept her as far away from it as she could, but now it was hitting Cassidy square in the face. It would prevent her from ever finding happiness, from ever finding love.
She was on the verge of a panic attack when she heard a text notification ping on her cellphone. She rushed over to her phone and picked it up to see a text message from mate.com.
“Congratulations, we found your fated mate.”
She grumbled and put the phone back down. But another text followed immediately. She snatched it up and read the text.
Hi, Fashion Girl, it read.
Cassidy wiped sweat off her brow. And tried to calm her breathing.
I'm Rebel Wolf, your mate LOL.
Cassidy's finger hovered over the reply button. A huge part of her brain was screaming to throw her phone out the window, that her family hated the Wildes, but her inner lioness would not hear of it. That was her mate, and she needed to claim him now. She hit the reply button.
Hi, Rebel Wolf, she started. I'm so excited that we were matched.
It's so cool that you're a shifter, he said.
Cassidy gulped. Female shifters were rare. Many male shifters were matched with humans as their fated mates. But as a shifter, she understood what it meant to be fated mates. Her instincts were on high alert.
They were meant for each other, and they would have no human hesitation. Their meeting would be raw and primal and without reluctance. Her inner lioness was growling for her mate so loudly, she could barely hear her human mind thinking, but a big warning sign flashed in her mind's eye. This wolf was off-limits. They could never be together, fate or not. The feud between the Wildes and McCoys would never end.
Yes, she said. It is cool that we're both shifters. We both understand what it means to be fated. She gulped.
I would love to meet you, he said.
I would love to meet you too.
She was torn, replying to his text as if on autopilot. She couldn't stop herself, even though she knew that she should. Her father would kill her. Her brothers would go insane. But her mother would support her no matter what.
I'm in Fate Rock, Colorado, he said. Are you anywhere nearby? From your photos, it looks like you're in New York, but I'm sure I could come up with the money for a flight.
It's crazy, she typed. I'm actually in Fate Rock, Colorado, right now. It's my hometown.
You're kidding, he said. Fate works in mysterious ways.
It certainly does.
Fate was playing horrible tricks on her, and it felt more like a horror story than a love story.
Would you like to meet up for coffee tomorrow afternoon? he asked. I know there is a really nice café near the city park.
I'd love to, she said, gulping.
I'll meet you there at one if that works, he said.
I'd love that. I'll see you then.
Cassidy set down her phone, her mind racing and sweat pooling under her arms. She was going to meet her mate, the love of her life, and her family's sworn enemy.
4
Gunner was so excited and nervous, he barely recognized himself. He'd found his mate. He was only twenty-two. He couldn't believe his luck. There were shifters who had waited twenty-five years to find their mates, and he had already found his. Fashion Girl. She was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. And all along she'd been right there.
She'd said she'd been away in New York but was home now. Fate was working for him in every way. He changed his clothes three times, feeling