Hunter's Heart (Alpha Pack #4)(38)

Congratulations. You can turn furry and you're tied for life to a man you don't really know. What if he leaves the toilet seat up? Leaves his dirty underwear on the floor? Is lying and has ten girlfriends, one in each part of the world? Too bad! He's yours.

Thank God no one was around when she approached the back of the building. The wing where her quarters was located seemed quiet, and she trotted to the private yard, glad she hadn't taken time to latch her sliding patio door. On the porch, she concentrated on her human form and shifted back, then hurried inside before anyone spotted her.

Padding to the bathroom, she decided on a much-needed shower. But when she got under the hot spray, the soothing effect of the water pounding down was eclipsed by how much she hated that Ryon's scent was being washed away. Her wolf wasn't pleased, either, and was becoming more vocal by the minute.

Out of the shower, she toweled off and dressed. After she'd dried her hair she felt human again-and she tried not to laugh hysterically at that expression that used to mean nothing. She was sitting on the sofa contemplating the waning light outside when there was a knock at the door.

Immediately her pulse started hammering, and she wondered what she'd say to Ryon. She should have known he wouldn't give up so easily. Secretly, she was glad. But when she opened the door, it wasn't Ryon who'd come to see her.

Two women stood there with warm smiles, one a small blonde she knew as Kira, Jax's mate, the other Rowan, Aric's mate. Trying not to show her disappointment, she let them in.

"Hello," she said. "Come inside."

"We're your welcoming committee since the guys are too dense to be social. I'm Kira Locke."

The other woman snorted. "They're not dense. Ryon scared them off, the possessive bastard." The tall, built brunette stuck out her hand. "Rowan Chase."

Daria shook it, then waved a hand at the kitchen. "I'm afraid I don't have anything to offer you guys to drink. I haven't gotten into town, or anywhere else for that matter."

"Not a problem," Rowan replied. "We just wanted to say hello, see if you're settling in, if you need anything."

"Other than a manual for how to deal with wolf shifters? Can't think of anything."

The other women chuckled as they followed her into the living room. "If any man should come with a manual, it's one of the Pack," Kira said. "Jax about drove me out of my mind before I really got him or his world."

"This whole thing is so hard for me to accept," Daria told them, taking a seat on the sofa. Rowan sat next to her. "I don't know how you managed to get used to it."

Rowan shook her head. "I was skeptical when I first met Nick and he started spouting shit about being a PreCog and how they were battling an evil Unseelie who was trying to create a race of super-soldier shifters. I thought he was about one delusion from a nice, long stay at the county asylum."

"Exactly!" The woman understood. "So how did you accept it?"

Rowan shrugged. "I'm a former LAPD cop. I grew up there on the east side, in one of the toughest barrios in the city. I've seen the weirdest stuff you can imagine, and I've handled plenty of dangerous criminals. For my part, present me with irrefutable evidence and I have to believe you."

"You're a show me facts kind of girl."

"Right. Kind of hard to refute a bunch of guys turning into wolves right in front of you, not to mention witnessing them battle demons from the Unseelie Court. Since I'm not crazy, it had to be true."

"My head knows that, but . . ."

"Your heart is having trouble catching up?" Kira guessed.

"Yeah. It's not even that I can't accept Ryon's world, it's just that I was thrust into this by fate, if you will, without any say in the matter."

"That's how it happened with us, too," Kira put in with a laugh. "You're not alone."

"Ryon's world?" Rowan asked. "So it's true, you and him are together?"

"I-I suppose. I mean, when he bit me to save my life, he mated with me." She couldn't help the bitterness in her tone. "He knew biting me would bond us together for life, but he did it anyway. I hate not having a say in the outcome of my own existence."

"Let me ask you, what would you have done differently if you could? Would you have said no, told him to let you die?"

"Well, no. But that's not the issue!" she said defensively. Didn't they get it?

"Isn't it?"

Daria stared at the brunette. "What are you trying to get at? Because I'm not following."

Rowan sighed as she and Kira exchanged a knowing look. "Did Ryon tell you much about Bondmates?"

"Not a lot, except he had to bite me, and now we're bound forever."

"So, he didn't tell you what happens to a shifter if he meets his true mate and doesn't bite her?"

"No, he didn't." She thought back to earlier, when she'd been upset. "I think he was trying to tell me something else, but I wasn't listening at the time. I guess I should have."

"Yes, you should've." Kira's voice was soft, no hint of accusation in her tone. Only understanding. "Once a shifter meets his mate, scents her, it's all over for him. He can't become physically aroused by another potential sexual partner, ever. If he doesn't bite his mate, and claim her, within a certain amount of time, usually a couple of weeks, he becomes ill with flulike symptoms."