A Mate's Touch (Ozark Mountain Shifters Book 5) Read online

With his knuckle under her chin, he brought her face up for a tender kiss. “The present too.”

  “Are you having second thoughts?” Could that happen after a claiming? She wasn’t sure, but the possibility twisted her stomach into knots.

  “Second thoughts. Third thoughts. They can all fuck off. What’s done is done.”

  Seleka pulled from his grasp. “You’ve changed your mind about us?”

  Raden frowned, trying to bring her close again. “Hell, no. I told you, once I claimed you there was no going back.”

  Her shoulders sagged with relief, but something still bothered her. “Why second thoughts then?”

  Raden blinked, his eyes going wide with realization. “Baby, my doubts aren’t about you.” He brought her palm to his chest where his heart thundered beneath it. She could feel their bond like a physical thing running between them, linking them together. Love, love, love. She could swear she felt it with each steady beat. “They’re about me,” he said quietly.

  “I don’t understand.”

  He sighed. “I don’t know if I can explain.”

  “Try?”

  He eyed her, and she couldn’t guess at what was running through his mind. “If you come here and let me hold you…” he countered, “I will try.”

  “Deal.” She laid her head back on his chest.

  “You don’t know the truth about what happened in that fight ring with your sister.”

  “I know what I saw. I know you spared her. I know you spared me the pain of losing her.”

  Raden shook his head. “There’s more to it than that. Me and her… we made a deal.”

  “What deal?”

  “We agreed to throw the fight so neither of us would die.”

  His admission stunned Seleka. She knew her sister well. Knew how competitive she was, and how much her pride meant to her. Winning the rights to be alpha by throwing the fight was a huge sacrifice on Avan’s part. She’d stuck her neck out—literally—to save Seleka from heartbreak.

  Tears pricked her eyes.

  “No one wanted you to suffer,” he continued. “And I only challenged her because my pride demanded it. My pack wasn’t like Ozarka. Just as brutal, but focused more on the males. My grandma used to say that our pride would be our downfall, but it didn’t stop me from wanting to prove myself to them over and over again. I walked into Ozarka that day with everything on the line. I needed to gain control of the pack and ally them with my family wolves. But meeting you…” He swallowed hard. “Damn, woman, that changed everything. My need to prove something shifted from my pack to you. I wanted to make you a queen. I wanted to give you a place beside me that you’d never question, but the only way to do that was to kill your sister. I’d be a monster in your eyes. Even still… I was going to do it. I told her the deal was off, and I intended to take the pack from her. Except, when we fought, she gave me her neck anyway. She took a chance on me, not knowing what I would do in the moment. I heard you over everything else, that day. Over the cheering and the ruckus. You screamed. And I knew… I knew I could never hurt you like that. I knew that no status, no title, was worth that.”

  “Raden. I had no idea.” Her heart thundered in her chest. The memories of watching them fight held a whole new meaning now, and the weight was heavy on her heart. She needed to speak to Avan. Needed to tell her she understood the tough choices she’d had to make.

  Raden kissed her temple, squeezing her close. “I hate that I don’t have better to give you. Better than this cottage on the side of a hill where no one lives.” He sighed. “This brings us to the future.”

  Seleka frowned, instinct telling her they still weren’t in the clear. “But I have everything I—”

  “I’m going to challenge your sister for the pack.”

  “What?” She leaned back to find his eyes. They were angry. Furious, even. And not the kind of anger that was full of spite. This was righteous anger. Raden wanted vengeance.

  “She shouldn’t have broken her word.”

  “What are you talking about?” Avan would never. She was a trustworthy person. Her word was her honor.

  Raden stared down at her, his fingers still tracing circles on her back. “She promised if we threw the fight, you would be taken care of. That you wouldn’t have to live under Ozarka law, and that you wouldn’t be treated badly because of who I was or what I’d done.” His mouth formed a grim line. “She broke that promise. Now I intend to take her pack.”

  Oh no. This was her fault.

  She’d forgotten what she told him about being released from the pack. He thought Avan had betrayed her. Left her to survive on her own.

  A sick feeling threated through Seleka. Her thoughtless fib could have great consequences if she didn’t straighten this out fast.

  “No. No, you can’t, Raden.”

  He scowled, using his other hand to rub the soreness from his chest. Their bond was throbbing with discord.

  “You deserve a mate who is strong and fierce, Seleka. An alpha who will protect you and your honor. Not one who sits to the side and lets you be shunned by your own goddamned family. I won’t stand for it.” He pushed away, and sat on the side of the bed. She followed him up.

  “Please, don’t do this. Let it go.”

  “I can’t let it go,” he growled. “They’ve insulted my mate. They threw you out like you were worthless. I can’t let that go unpunished.”

  “Yes, you can. Don’t let pride get in our way this time. Forget about them. It’s not important. Just this, me and you. That’s what matters.”

  His face softened for a breath and his thumb brushed across her cheek.

  “Seleka, my pride has taken enough hits to barely exist. But this isn’t about that. I let you down before. I won’t make that mistake again.”

  “That’s not the way I see it. I see a situation where two people cared more about me than themselves. My sister and my mate. I see a sacrifice that you made for a woman you barely knew yet your heart wanted to claim. You gave up your sight, your honor, your happiness… for me.” Emotion made her voice break. “So I wouldn’t lose someone. And if you think that’s a mistake… well, you’re wrong.”

  She watched his throat bob with a swallow, and held her breath for his answer.

  “Seleka,” he said, frustrated. “Let me do this. Let me give you a life you deserve.”

  “I can’t,” she cried.

  “Why?”

  She was going to have to tell him the truth, and hope that it didn’t hurt the bond they’d already formed. Please, please understand.

  “Because… because I lied.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Raden stood so fast, he had to catch himself on the dresser to keep upright. “What are you talking about, Seleka?”

  She stood too, bringing the sheet with her. “I lied. Sorta. I mean… a little bit. I didn’t tell the whole truth.”

  “Explain,” he demanded. His chest ached with her admission of betrayal. He didn’t know much about relationships, but he knew starting one with a lie was a bad sign all around.

  Worry creased her features and even knowing she was about to admit a wrong, he wanted to comfort her. Shit, the woman was all wound into his heart.

  “Well, see…” She twisted the sheet in her hands. “You weren’t going to let me stay. You were going to take me down the mountain and call Avan’s guards to come get me. I couldn’t let that happen. Not if I was ever going to prove to you that we could work. So… so I let you think the pack had abandoned me.”

  Bullshit.

  “You let me think…”

  “Yes. And I’m sorry,” she said earnestly. “I’m so very sorry. I know it was wrong, but please try to understand. I didn’t belong there anymore. It was difficult to stay away from you. So one day, I decided I wouldn’t. That I would do whatever I could to find you.”

  Holy shit.

  He’d never expected this. His timid mate to come searching for him simply because she wanted to. It made what she said
about the pack throwing her out so easy to believe.

  “You left the pack on your own? To come find me?”

  “Yes.”

  “You put yourself in danger, crossed the mountains… by your own choice?”

  “Yes.” She jutted her chin. “And I’m proud of those choices because they made me realize that I’m not as weak as I thought I was. And that when something is worth fighting for, you fight. And when it’s not… you let it go.”

  “Shit, baby…” Raden dragged his palm down his face. A myriad of emotions clogged his throat. He wanted to laugh at her boldness. Cry at her lack of concern for her own safety…

  “I don’t want a pack,” she said, stepping closer. “I want you. Just you. I want to live here, on this mountain, with you. I want to watch the sun set over the hills in the evenings. I want to wake to the freezing cold air and wait under the covers while you get the fire going. I want to eat pancakes at Rosie’s every Saturday. I want to sit in front of the fireplace while you play with my hair and tell me things. I want that. All that. Why isn’t it enough? This simple life, with me, why isn’t it enough for you?” Her voice faded out with a crack, and at the same time, the weight he’d been carrying lifted from his chest.

  All the pressure to succeed. The guilt of failure. The need to seek vengeance, to be good enough for her… all of it lifted.

  “It…” He cleared his throat, striving for a normal tone. “It is,” he murmured, realizing it was true. With her, he had everything he ever wanted right here on this mountain. “It is enough, mate.” He pulled her against his body, and still more of the weight disappeared.

  “It is?” she asked carefully, hope flaring in her eyes again.

  They didn’t need a pack to be right. They didn’t need riches or abundance. They didn’t need to answer to anyone’s expectations.

  All they needed was each other.

  “I can’t imagine a better life than the one we could make here,” he said. “Together.”

  She gave him that smile that melted his heart. “You’re not mad at me for fibbing?”

  “Maybe a little.” He walked her backward to the bed. “But I’ll think of some way for you to make up for it.”

  “We’re really doing this?” she whispered. “Starting a new life? Here on the mountain.”

  “Yes.”

  She pressed her lips together. “One more question.”

  He raised a suspicious eyebrow.

  “Do you… um… like being kissed—”

  He stopped whatever she was going to say next with a hard press of his lips. “I like being kissed everywhere. Now no more questions.”

  Her laugh gave him new hope, that no matter what, they would be happy. Together.

  Epilogue

  Dear sister, I have found where I belong…

  *******

  Thank you so much for reading A Mate’s Touch! I hope you enjoyed it! If you’d like to, leave a review or drop me a message on Facebook!

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  Are you curious about the werecats mentioned in this series? To read their series, start with the prequel to the Ouachita Mountain Shifters series!

  About the Author

  P. Jameson likes to spend her time daydreaming, and then rearranging those dreams into heartstring-pulling stories of trial and triumph. Paranormal is her jam, so you’re sure to find said stories full of hot alpha males of the supernatural variety. She lives next door to the great Rocky Mountains with her husband and kids, who provide her with plenty of writing fodder.

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