Mate - Part Three: Willow Cove Shifters - The Pack, #6

By Margeaux Nix

Instead of drinking myself to oblivion with friends like a normal girl on her twenty-first birthday, tonight I'm getting hammered and a completely different way.

 

Kat- I didn't have to be told twice to claim my mate. My real mate, the one the goddess has made just for me. And the simultaneous claiming my brother and his mate swore by? Well, let's just say they weren't wrong. Not that I'll tell them that. Despite the euphoria of finally claiming Nash as my mate and having him claim me in return, the dark cloud of the coming pack war casts a heavy shadow over my happiness. I'll do anything I can to protect my mate and my pack from the cruelty of Roxboro. And my new magic from the goddess is a great place to start - if only I knew how to control it. It's time to call for reinforcements.

 

Nash - "Claim your mate." Those are the best words I've ever heard. I've been waiting years for this chance. They are the reason I refused an arranged mating that would have saved my pack. And claiming my precious angel makes those words even sweeter. Kat may be determined to keep her pack safe, but if she doesn't get a handle on her magic, and quick, we'll have to fight this battle the old-fashioned way. I'm big enough to handle the brute force of a battle, but my angel is not. Can she learn what is needed before the war starts? Or will she be forced to fight for her life and the lives of her pack?

 

Will Kat and Nash and the rest of the Willow Cove pack fall to the vile Roxboro pack? Or will Kat learn to use her magic quick enough to keep everyone she loves safe? Find out in the conclusion of Kat and Nash's story!

 

 

Willow Cove Shifters is a serial following the four Burke siblings in the quest to find and claim their fated mates, with a new part to be released each month of 2022.

Intended for mature audiences 18+ for bad words, bad guys getting what they deserve and good girls learning to be bad with their mates.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Margeaux Nix
• Release date: Jun 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201783457

Margeaux Nix

Margeaux Nix is a pen name for my paranormal books. I also write contemporary/erotic romance under the pen name J. Silence.  I never thought I'd like 'shifter' books and then I read one and quickly devoured the entire 10 book series. I was hooked! It didn't take long for me to fall in love with fated mates, alpha heroes and the women that love them.  When I started writing shifters, my intention was 'just one' while another series marinated. A dozen books later, and I can't seem to stop myself! I am a Navy son mom, a teenage girl mom, and a doggo mom to my two rescued writing companions - a lab mix and a border collie mix. I'm also a soon-to-be GG (gorgeous grandma)!

Book preview

Chapter 1

Nash

"G o claim your mate , Nash..."

I’ve been waiting for this moment for thirty years. Since I was old enough to know what a mate is. I’ve been anticipating meeting the one the goddess had created just for me after a lifetime of watching my pack with their mates. I just knew mine would be perfect – tall and slender with dark hair and eyes – just like me.

Then my pack tried to dictate my mate without regard to my wishes, my happiness, my life. I will admit that I was more than enraged. I was downright homicidal. I’d been raised to believe only a fated mate could make me happy, could complete my life the way the goddess intended. The woman I’d been presented with had been physically beautiful for sure – exactly how I’d imagined my mate - but she was not meant to be mine. She knew it, I knew it, and so did everyone present at the meeting that night. Yet, the elders had still demanded I mate with her. She’d been visibly relieved when I stormed out of the building without claiming her.

When my pack was killed, I felt immense guilt, of course. But I was also relieved that there was no one left to dictate my life, and that made me feel even more guilty and ashamed. It wasn’t until my wolf suggested we find somewhere else to live to escape the ghosts of my pack that the guilt started to slip away. And within just a few weeks of moving to Willow Cove, I met my angel. I knew the moment I saw her that she was meant to be me mine, even though she is the exact opposite of what I’d imagined for my mate – short, curvy, fair skin, flaming hair, and emerald eyes.

In the year since I’ve known Katrina, the impulse, that yearning to claim her has only increased to the point of consuming my every thought. The closer she got to her twenty-first birthday when she would be of age for her wolf to confirm our mate bond, I became more and more obsessed with her. Now finally, she is mine.

Take me home, Nash, Katrina pleads. Her gaze is locked on mine, allowing me to see into the depths of her soul for the first time. There is a pure white light emanating from deep within her, a white-hot fire burning so bright that anyone that dares cross her will be scorched. It is beautiful and at the same time dangerous. Just like my angel. She is heaven and hell all wrapped into one stunning package.

You’ll want to shift and run together first, Ryker advises. She’ll need to submit in wolf form before you mark her.

Race you home? She smiles and waggles her eyebrows at me, revealing just a tease of what is going on in her dirty mind. I cannot wait to know what goes on in there and to make every one of her dirty wishes a reality.

Let’s run, angel.

I carry her outside and set her on her feet just off her parents’ front porch. I motion for her to stay human until I can shift and be sure that Brad and his father are well and truly gone. I pull off the white undershirt I’d grabbed to meet the elders. Katrina’s pupils dilate as she takes in my body She’s seen me before, but never as her fated mate. Her gaze devours every inch of my exposed flesh causing me to have to fight off an erection so I can shift.

Careful Katrina. It’s not a good idea to shift with an erection, and you are giving me all kinds of ideas.

Then stop tempting me and get to shifting already.

I want to kiss that smirk off her gorgeous face, but that will only make my situation harder. I step out of the shorts I’d borrowed from her dad and immediately begin to shift into my wolf, purposefully not giving her time to ogle me before I let my wolf take over. My bones crack and reform, and muscles and ligaments stretch and pop into place. I emerge moments later as my white wolf. Her gaze meets mine and I watch as her wolf rises to the surface to greet me for the first time since she confirmed I’m her mate. I quickly take a deep breath of the air surrounding the home. I still smell Brad and his father, but their scent trail is leading away from the house. I just don’t know how far they’ve gotten since they left. I will not take any chances with my angel.

I asked the pack to see them off our land, Ryker says from the door. They are at the northern edges of our pack land at present. You should be safe for a quick run to Kat’s place.

Thank you, Ry. Katrina hugs her brother and slides her dress down her body to shift. Before I have a chance to appreciate her nakedness, she transforms into her small brown wolf before my eyes. Everything about her is small but fierce- even her wolf. My large white wolf looms over her delicate form, arousing my protective instincts. We’ve never run together, and my wolf is past ready to do so. But my angel has other ideas.

She approaches me in the submissive position, asking permission to be close to me. Since I have willingly submitted to Ryker as the alpha, we have a pack link already formed – though it is weak at best because I never run with the pack. That’s about to change.

Approach, my love, I tell her.

She straightens her posture to her full size and cautiously approaches. She buries her muzzle in the fur at my neck and inhales deeply, seeking confirmation in wolf form of my significance to her. Not that I have any doubt, but this is part of the tradition. It also keeps others from imitating or stealing a scent to force a wolf to mate against their instinct. Something I’m sure Brad would have attempted if he knew how.

"Mate."

I return the gesture, nuzzling into her and inhaling her scent – oranges, vanilla, and now with a hint of spice. I inhale again and recognize the faint scent of cloves that has developed with her scent. It’s that spice that is driving my wolf to claim her. Immediately.

Mate, I confirm and lick her muzzle.

As soon as I confirm our bond, Katrina lowers herself to her back in front of me, baring her belly and throat to me, submitting to me as her mate. I’m hit with a jolt of power as our bond begins to solidify into something more than just the idea of being together. Like an engagement for humans. We aren’t mated yet, but the intention is there. Unlike humans though, wolves don’t wait months between engagement and marriage. She’s submitting now, and as soon as we get to her house on the other side of the lake, we’ll stake our claims on our mates with our bites.

I stand over her, accepting my duty to protect her with my life, and lower my mouth to her neck, licking the tender skin where I’ll place my mark in short order.

Rise, my love.

She blinks at me and cocks her head in question. She’s stinkin’ adorable when she does that. Like a German shepherd puppy hearing a new sound.

Ready to run? she asks through our newly formed mate link. Her voice is crystal clear in my head now instead of the distant tinny sound through our pack link.

I’ve been ready for this my whole life, angel.

She bounces to her feet, lowering her front paws to the soft earth with her hindquarters in the air. Her tail wags and her tongue hangs out the side of her mouth. Adorable.

Play with me, mate, she begs. I hear Ryker laughing from the porch. I’m sure he knows from experience how hard it is to refuse a playful omega, and even