Wolf or Love

Three weeks later

“It’s not funny,” said Danica as she returned to Rick’s side.

“Of course it’s not funny.”

She scowled at Rick. He might have been more convincing if he wasn’t grinning. Come on, surely it was unreasonable to need to pee so often; eight times in a one hour period was just ridiculous! She wouldn’t mind so much if she was actually downing several mugs of coffee a day like she

usually would, but now that she was pregnant, coffee wasn’t allowed. How humans went through this for a whole nine months she’d never know. Hell, whales , elephant and some sharks were pregnant for more than nineteen months. Seriously, what was up with that?

Nervous and fidgety, she straightened the silky, slim-fitting, knee length dress for like the nineth time. She wasn’t a fan of dresses and only ever wore them when she was attending a special occasion such as a mating ceremony. As this was her own mating ceremony, she couldn’t exactly wear jeans and a t-shirt. She had wanted to have the ceremony before her belly got too big with the pregnancy. She had no desire to be waddling like a penguin down the ‘aisle’.

Lindy had been outraged to hear that Danica was wearing white as apparently she was too much of a hussy for that. Although the woman had softened slightly to Danica, it was only very slightly and she still took utter joy in insulting Danica and being difficult. But then, Danica took utter joy in

returning Lindy’s insults with some of her own so that worked out okay. Danica would have had the ceremony sooner, but she felt that it was better for everyone to have time to emotionally and physically recover from the battle. No one had let her heal them because she was pregnant – which

was both unreasonable and dramatic since it didn’t make any difference at all to her gift. Although there was still a lingering sadness about how they had been betrayed by one of their own, everyone was by now simply relieved and happy about them having won the challenge.

Max, on the other hand, had been devastated and ashamed. No matter how often they had assured him that he wasn’t responsible for his father’sExclusive © content by N(ô)ve/l/Drama.Org.

actions, Max hadn’t been able to even make eye contact with either Gio or Danica. A few days after his father’s public execution – as was tradition for

traitors – and the ceremony that been held to honor the few who had died in the battle, Max had decided to join with who was left of Kevin’s pack.

Duda’s older brother, Ross, had been elected as their new Alpha and had agreed to accept Theresa as well as Max. Well good luck to him with that. There had been talk about some of Ross’ pack now joining Danica and Gio’s, but so far nothing had been officially decided. It would be just her luck that she had gotten rid of Theresa only to end up with a group of females that were far worse. The universe did seem to enjoy playing jokes on her.

“Ready?” asked Rick.

Danica released a long, calming breath. “Ready. Thank you for doing this.” Although Carrick was – surprise, surprise – attending the ceremony, she

hadn’t wanted him to do the giving away thing. In her opinion, he’d more or less given her away a long time ago. Rick, on the other hand, had been angood friend to her since childhood and had been there for her over the years whenever she needed someone. It had seemed more appropriate for him to do it. Plus, it had put to rest all the arguments that had been going on between

Duda, James, and the enforcers as they fought over who should give her away.

“You don’t have to thank me.”

“I know you didn’t want me to mate with Gio.”

Rick sighed and jiggled his head. “Of course I wish your mate wasn’t mentally unstable, but I’ve seen him with you, I’ve seen how much he cares for you. That’s good enough for me.”

“You don’t still feel like I’m betraying Zan, even though he was never my true mate?”

“No, I don’t. I never thought you were betraying him, just that you were wrong about Gio. Now I see that it was me who was wrong, and I’m happy for you. How can I not be happy for my best friend?”

Touched, Danica went to hug him but he shook his head fiercely. “If your mate smells my scent all over you, he’ll kill me.”

Rolling her eyes, she took the hand he offered her and allowed him to escort her out of the caves, down the mountain steps, and through the trees

that led to the lake. As it was the place where she and Gio spent most of their quality time together, it seemed rather fitting that the ceremony take place there. Rick halted as the forest began to thin out and then howled. A harmony of howls responded, giving Danica goosebumps. Rick held his arm

out and, taking another deep breath, she looped her arm through his as they walked through the last of the trees until they entered the clearing near the lake. The entire pack was there, plus Suza, Carrick, Ben, Matt, Asher, James and his mate. They had all formed a huge circle, and Danica knew that in the center would be Gio and Mike. Any Alpha could perform a mating ceremony, and Mike had kindly offered to do it for them. When they reached the slight opening in the circle of people that was between Suza and Michey, Danica entered the circle, leaving Rick to fill the space. A smile surfaced on her face the second she looked at Gio. He was wearing…hell she didn’t know what he was wearing. She couldn’t move her gaze from his – the intense mix of heat, possessiveness and adoration in his

eyes made her inhale sharply. She didn’t remember moving her legs but seconds later she was standing before him, hearing Mike’s words and answering when required to, but all her focus was taken up by her mate. Gio’s entire body clenched at the sight of Danica. She looked so beautiful in that figure-hugging dress that he planned to tear from her body as soon as possible. Another one of those chest pangs struck him, but now he knew what they meant. Now he knew that he didn’t just care for her, he loved her. He hadn’t been able to work up the courage to tell her, to say the words. He knew what she’d meant now when she told him that love was giving someone the power to destroy you and hoping that they didn’t. She had that power. She could break him, end him. It scared him, and he knew that the moment he gave her those words and admitted that she had that power, he would be utterly defenseless. Maybe other people wouldn’t fear that, but it had always been important to Gio that he was never vulnerable to another person. So he was shitting his pants.

As the other wolves repeated the ritual words and appealed to the power of the full moon to bless the mating, Danica soaked up the lust that was pouring from Gio and feeding her own. Knowing that the ceremonial words were almost at an end, her anticipation levels rocketed. Feeling hypersensitive, she ran her hands along her dress – something she was pretty sure was going to be utterly destroyed in the next five minutes.

Finally Mike said the final words, and this was the part where she should demurely step forward and kiss her mate before allowing him to once again bite her for all to witness. Instead, she let a wicked smile curve her lips…and then she dashed toward the woods, shifting as she ran.

Fuck. Instantly Gio removed his shirt and pants, intending to shift into his wolf form. The last thing he would have expected was for Danica to want

to complete their mating with a chase and have him mount her for all to see – she was still new to that aspect of being a wolf. A part of his brain noted that many of the guests were laughing in surprise and also removing their clothes, clearly intending to follow. All he gave a shit about was tracking Danica. The grey wolf didn’t need to use his mate’s scent to find her. Their bond told him which direction she had taken, enabling him to find her much faster. He was nearing a clearing when a ball of white fur suddenly barreled into him. His mate had managed to ambush him. The she-wolf stuck her rear in the air in a pounce position, inviting him to play. The grey wolf was happy to do that. They ran together, keeping their bodies close and enjoying the contact. Then, finally, he mounted her, aware that other wolves were watching – some were also mounting their mates, others were simply observers. The grey wolf had no care, however, for what the others were doing. He was only interested in taking pleasure from his mate, releasing his semen inside her.