Aimee flipped the pages of her book as thoughts poured through her. What was she going to do?
It's not your fault. Her mother had mated to an Arcadian. No one could help that. Dev, Remi, Cody, and Kyle were all Arcadians and her mother knew about them and still loved them, regardless of their base form. Granted her mother was in denial over it, but they'd never hidden the fact from her.
Only from the rest of the world.
She's your mother. She'd never hurt you.
Not entirely true. Her mother was a bear with the full instincts of one. To protect their den, her mother would kill any of them who threatened their security and well-being. It was the nature of their species.
Aimee never let herself forget that. Her mother had more compassion than most, but when Maman hated someone, such as in the case of Wren, there was no reasoning with her. Once Nicolette's mind was made up, she could never be swayed.
And that was truly frightening.
"What am I going to do?"
You will mate with one of those bears tomorrow and pray to the gods that one of them causes you to get a mating mark.
It was her only hope.
Otherwise . . .
No, she couldn't even contemplate that. Her clan's survival was all that mattered. Above her happiness and most of all, above her life.
She would mate with a Katagari bear even if it killed her.
"Fang?"
Fang froze as he heard the seductive voice of what had to be the sexiest wolfswan in their pack. Petra. Tall, sultry, and stacked like a brick house, she stirred the hormones of every wolfswain who saw her. He'd never been an exception to that.
Until tonight.
He frowned as she closed the distance between them and rubbed herself against his side. Reaching up, she grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged at it.
She purred in his ear. "I'm in heat, baby. You want to help me out?"
Was that a trick question or what? Fang nuzzled his face against her neck, inhaling her scent. Normally that would have been more than enough to flame his lust to the point he'd be more than able to accommodate her.
C'mon, body, wake up.
But he only stirred a little bit.
What the hell?
She reached down to cup him like a pro. "Is something wrong?"
"No."
She pulled back to grimace up at him when he didn't get instantly hard. "You haven't mated, have you?" That would be the natural assumption since the moment a wolf mated he could only be enticed by his mated female and never again by another. Something that seriously sucked. It was why he was in no hurry to find a mate. Too much like eating the same meal every night. Who wanted that?
Petra jerked at his hands, looking for the mark that always signaled them when the Fates had chosen their significant other. It was a mark that only appeared on their palms after they'd had sex.
Problem was, he hadn't touched anyone in the last three weeks. Not since he'd seen Aimee.
He pulled his hands away from her. "I'm not mated."
Relief lightened her expression as she reached for his fly. "Then what are you waiting for?"
Inspiration . . . and an erection would definitely help. His cock twitched as she skimmed it with her nails, but didn't do much more than that. Not even her groping was helping.