Free Feral Love (Paranormal Alpha Werewolf Shifter Romance) by Alison Walsh

don’t keep secrets from each other.”
     
    This time it was her wolf that flared up. She pushed Aaron away and stepped out into the snow. “I’m not your mate, Aaron!” Her voice bit sharp in the cold. “Not now, not ever! Never call me that again!”
     
    The look on Aaron’s face would’ve broken Remy’s heart, if her heart was supposed to break for him. He reached for her but stopped before he touched her.
     
    Finally, he asked. “What do you mean I’m not your mate?”
     
    Now or never. Her wolf told her. Remy took a deep breath. “My mate is Blake Christensen.”
     
    Aaron’s face went through a multitude of different emotions. First was shock, then anger, then something in the middle that was mixed with disbelief. “No.” He shook his head. “No, it isn’t. You’re my mate, Remy. My father said so.”
     
    “And what exactly did your father do to figure that out? Did he look through the list of unmated women left in the village and decide that it was going to be me? Or did he figure that since my family has been with the pack for the longest time, it made sense for the two of us to be mated?” Snow swirled around her and Remy felt her wolf’s strength filling her with newfound courage. In that moment she was an Alpha again and the feeling of power was intoxicating.
     
    “It’s more than that, Remy. I’ve loved you for as long as I remember.”
     
    “But I didn’t love you.” Remy explained. “Aaron…” She started. “A mate is someone whom you’ve seen in your dreams, someone whom you’ve felt like you’ve known your whole life, someone whom you feel a deep connection to. The other half of you that you can’t exist without. Not just… Not just a childhood crush that you’ve nursed for all these years.”
     
    “But you are all those things to me, Remy.”
     
    “You’re not those things to me, Aaron.”
     
    Silence descended between them as snow continued to fall. Then, Aaron asked. “Did you fuck him?”
     
    Remy bristled. “Who?”
     
    “Christensen.” Aaron balled his hands into fists. “Did you fuck him?”
     
    “You know the answer already, don’t you?”
     
    “Was he everything you wanted? Did you see him in your dreams? Did you feel like you’ve known him your whole life?” Every word was as sharp as a dagger and his voice dripped with mocking acid. “Did you feel that deep connection with him? Is he that other half of you?”
     
    “Yes.” Remy’s voice hardened. If this is the only way you’ll accept this. If this is the only way I can be free… “I’m sorry, Aaron. But you’ll know what I mean when you find—”
     
    He shook his head and pursed his lips, eyes brimming with tears. “There’s no one else. It’s always been you, Remy.”
     
    She looked away. “I’m not your mate, Aaron.” What would it take for him to understand that? For him to realize that no matter how much he might want it, it wasn’t what she wanted? Wasn’t it about time that the world cared about what Remy wanted?
     
    But the look in his eyes told her that he would never understand and when he threw his head back and laughed, low and threatening, Remy knew that she lost him. Lost him forever to the bitter pill of rejection.
     
    “Aaron…” She started back away from him. “You’re scaring me.” 
     
    “Am I?” He stepped closer and ripped the jacket from Remy’s shoulders so that she was naked in the snow. His other hand tightened around her shoulder, so hard that it started to hurt. “You’re mine, Remy. You’re mine and I’m yours. No one can take you away from me. No one.” His lips curled back to reveal his lengthening canines.
     
    Those eyes that once looked at her with boyish doting burned with nothing but anger behind them. She knew what she needed to do—what she must do. Wrenching free from his grasp, she shifted and jumped into the snow. A snarl sounded behind her and she saw the blur of fur and teeth and claws that was once Aaron