Free Shoot for the Moon (Black River Pack Book 2) by Rochelle Paige Page B

off the ground to place me behind him again.
    “I’m the she-wolf he should have chosen!” she yelled. “Spencer should have become my mate years ago, dammit!”
    My blood froze in my veins as I heard a roaring sound in my ears. A red haze filled my vision as my wolf fought to break free so she could rip this woman’s throat out. Then I struggled against Parker’s hold, desperate to break free. But when I’d almost managed it, I felt him —my mate—and I calmed a little. Just enough that the haze receded before I locked eyes with Spencer.
    “What the fuck did I hear you just say, Layla?” he demanded.
    She whirled around to face him, and I was sickened by the way she smiled at him as her gaze roamed over his body.
    “I’m sorry if it hurts you to hear the truth, Spencer,” she simpered. “But you have to know she isn’t the right woman for you.”
    Spencer’s face tightened with anger as his eyes filled with disgust—and that’s when it hit me. All of these years, my dreams about him were never about his denouncing me as his mate, but about his confronting this woman about her claim. It suddenly all made sense, and I felt a little foolish even as a wave of relief filled me at this new knowledge. The tiniest shred of doubt that had stayed with me was now gone, and I could go through with the claiming without any fears remaining in my heart or my mind.
    In the instant those thoughts crossed my mind, Spencer had moved into the room to stand in front of me. Everyone else had backed away and watched the confrontation with disapproval. Whoever this Layla was, she was going to be in for one hell of a surprise with the way today was going to go down.
    “Spencer, please,” she begged. “Don’t go through with the claiming. Don’t lock yourself into a life with this…this imposter.”
    “Shut the fuck up!” he roared. “Don’t you ever say anything about Eliza ever again. Not one single fucking word.”
    “Fine,” she hissed. “I’ll leave your precious Eliza alone if you’ll admit to me and her and everyone here that she’s not your fated mate.”
    “And why the fuck would I do that?”
    “Because somewhere deep down inside, you know she isn’t,” Layla argued. “That’s why you didn’t mate her when she joined the pack. Why you used her as one of your fuck buddies for an entire year. And why she didn’t agree to the marking for six months after you mated her. Because you’re forcing this mating.”
    I finally managed to pull free from Parker and stood next to Spencer. After grabbing his hand, I squeezed it to let him know I was okay.
    “It might have taken this long for Spencer and me to become mates, but neither of us has any doubts about each other. I’ve dreamed of him for years, and I am the mate from his grandmother’s vision.”
    “Dreams? Visions?” Layla scoffed. “What do I care about these things when I’ve known since we were children that Spencer was my mate? You might not have had faith in him, but I never have.”
    “You think you’re my mate?” Spencer asked in shock.
    “Yes,” she answered, reaching out to touch him.
    I swiped at her hand with the claws that had appeared the moment she had come within touching distance of him. “No touching my mate,” I growled, more wolf than woman in that moment even though I hadn’t transformed yet.
    “Then you’re fucking delusional, because there’s no way in hell you’re my mate,” Spencer said scathingly.
    “Spencer,” she pleaded. “You had to have felt it when we were together.”
    My teeth lengthened at the news that Spencer had slept with her, and the red haze clouded my vision again.
    Spencer must have felt me tense as I was getting ready to spring at her, because he stepped in front of me. “I made lots of mistakes in my past. Just because I was stupid enough to think with my dick doesn’t make you my mate.”
    “And it doesn’t make her your mate, either!” she yelled. “I say you could have been my