Fate’s Design

The Copper Wolf

Mason POV

I hadn’t been to Crystal Run territory before. We were on friendly enough terms, but both they and we tended to stick close to home. As we crossed into Crystal Run territory, a guard stopped us to verify our identity, then let us through. My wolf, Caspian, was restless.

‘What’s going on, man? We’d do the same if it was them coming onto our land.’

‘She’s close.’

‘Who's close?’ I asked. Was he saying what I thought he was saying? Before Caspian could answer, I saw a streak of bronze colored fur dart across the road. A human probably wouldn’t have had the speed and reflexes to stop in time. Luckily, I did. Just like that, the wolf was out of view past the trees.

“My mate.” I whispered, low enough that Seth didn’t hear.

“Woah! What an idi*t!” He yelled as I slammed the breaks to avoid hitting her. I instinctively growled as he insulted my mate… not that he was wrong about that having been a stupid thing to do.

Seth looked at me like I had grown a second head. “What? That could have gotten someone hurt and wrecked the car.”

“That was my mate. I’m going after her.” I said, getting out of the car and quickly stripping down to shift.

“Wait! Mason!” He called after me, but I was already long gone.

Seth POV

“Moron. You don’t even know where she went.” I mumbled. “And what am I supposed to do? Wait here? Drive up to the packhouse and say ‘sorry, the Alpha ran off’? Whatever man.”

‘What just happened? We saw Mason run off and now he has a block up.’ Alpha Mark asked over mindlink.

‘A wolf just ran in front of the car. Mason went after her. He said she’s his mate.’ I replied, still annoyed.

‘Great, his mate has no common sense. Let’s go to the pack house. He’ll meet us there eventually.’

I smirked. Vindication! At least Mason’s dad agreed with me. I moved over to the driver’s side and started the car.

Tanya POV

‘Sh*t, he’s here! I knew it was him. Our mate was close by. He must be from one of the visiting packs.’

‘Nope. Just ignore him. We do not need him. Tanya, repeat after me. We do NOT need him.’ Kelsey said.

‘But… our mate…’ I whined.

‘Nope. Keep running.’ Kelsey said, pushing me to go further and faster. If we were going to get to the top of Mount Crescent and back in time, we had to hurry. So I kept running, almost right into a car just inside our border. Luckily the driver stopped. I wanted to stop, too. I just knew our mate was in that car. But Kelsey was right. We were better off staying away from him. He was only going to reject us anyway.

To my surprise, a large black wolf I didn’t recognize, but that had to be my mate was soon running behind me. This wasn’t just any wolf. I could tell by his size that this was an Alpha. I was fast, but he was faster. I wouldn’t be able to outrun him. But I knew these woods and I was willing to bet that he didn’t. I took an abrupt turn deeper into the woods and towards the ravine.

Caspian POV

When I told Mason our mate was close, I didn’t realize how close. I don’t think I would have ever spoken to him again if Mason had hurt her. Then Seth had the nerve to call my mate an idi*t. If Mason had let me, Seth would have paid for that, friend or not. No one insults my mate. Mason always was the more level-headed one. No fun. But he wanted to go after her as much as I did, so he didn’t fight me when I suggested he let me follow her.

She went by too fast for me to get a good look at her, but I knew she was perfect. And someone who lived on the edge, if her darting across the road without looking was any indication. I hoped so. But one thought kept coming back as I tried to squeeze myself into the tight spaces she was leading me through:

‘Why is our mate running from us?’

‘I don’t know, but I’m guessing it’s the same reason she’s been seeing whatever lowlife she’s been seeing.’

I growled at Mason’s bitter reminder of our mate’s dalliances.

‘When I find him, I’ll—‘

‘You’ll what? You hurt him, you risk hurting her in the process. Just find her, man. We’ll figure out the rest after she gives us some answers.’

She dove into a smal hole near a ravine. I whined and started digging to widen the hole. I was surprised to hear an angelic, albeit angry, voice say, “Go away!”

I whined and sat down. Had she shifted back to her human form just to tell us to leave?

Mason pushed me to let him talk to her. As much as I wanted to just tear up the ground and get to her, I knew Mason had a better chance of getting to her without upsetting her more.

‘Fine.’ I said begrudgingly, giving Mason back control.

Mason POV

“Can’t we at least talk about this?” I asked after shifting back to my human form.

“There’s nothing to talk about, go away.” She repeated. I couldn’t help imagining that voice in a less aggressive tone. Caspian, on the other hand, seemed to appreciate the spunk.

‘Our mate has attitude!’ He said proudly, despite his discomfort with her apparent desire to stay away.

‘Really, dude? This is serious! And you heard Dr. Porter, that ‘attitude’ could kill us.’ I reminded him. Caspian whined again in my mind. He did not like that I kept reminding him what our mate had done. I didn’t care if he liked it or not, we had to live in reality.

“I think we have lots to talk about. If you really don’t want me, at least have the decency to reject me to my face.” I said far more sharply than I meant to.

‘What are you doing?!’ Caspian demanded.

‘Don’t mess with me, Cas, we’re getting answers, if nothing else. I’m not playing games. She can’t hide away like this.’

“Fine. Let’s get it over with.” She said from below. My heart sank. That wasn’t the response I had expected.

Kelsey POV

Really? This asshole wanted a formal rejection? I could do that. At least I’d reject him before he could reject me. That had to count for something. I made my way to the entrance of the burrow and climbed out. I opened my mouth to say the words that would break the bond, but when I locked eyes with him, all that came out of my treacherous mouth was a whispered, “Mate”.

Mason POV

Caspian was going crazy in my mind. My own thoughts were a jumbled mess. She didn’t reject us like it seemed she would. I reached a hand tentatively towards her and caressed her cheek. “You’re mine.” I said softly. Answers could wait. Right now, I just needed her close. When she didn’t pull away, I stepped closer. “I’m Mason.” I said, looking into her beautiful brown eyes.

“I’m Kelsey. Kelsey James.” She answered in a soft tone. I was right. With the anger stripped out of it, that voice was hands down the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. But just being close to her, I was starting to feel what Dr. Porter had said I would. I wasn’t looking forward to what would happen after we made this official.

“Those for me?” I asked with a smirk. She had brought up a pair of basketball shorts, but had apparently forgotten about them when she laid eyes on me.

She cleared her throat awkwardly and shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts. “Um… yeah. Put something on.” She told me, thrusting the shorts in my direction. My smirk dropped as I caught the scent on them. A reminder of why she had men’s shorts handy. I put them on, trying to keep a neutral expression.

“Sweetheart… please talk to me. What’s going on?” I asked quietly and seriously. I hoped she would tell me Dr. Porter was just wrong. Instead, her eyes hardened and she stepped away.

“You’ve been feeling it, haven’t you? You already know what’s going on.” She said with a little bit of an edge.

“No, I don’t. I know someone who had no business touching my mate has had you, many times. But I don’t know if you were a willing participant. I don’t know if you love someone else. I don’t know why you’ve been with someone else. Hell, I don’t know if it’s someone or several someones. There’s a lot I don’t know.” I said, trying hard to keep the bitter tone out of my voice. “What I do know is that you are mine, and from here on out, if anyone wants to get to you, they’ll have to go through me.”

She looked down, suddenly seeming smaller than before. Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around her and held her close to my chest. “We’ll get through this together, if you’re willing. If not… just tell me now.” I said quietly, stroking her long hair.

“You don’t know what I’ve done.”

“Baby, I felt it every time.” She didn’t say anything else for a while, but she wasn’t pulling away, either. Eventually, I pulled back slightly and tilted her face up to me.

“We do need to talk, sweetheart. We can make this work, but only if we’re honest with each other.” I told her.