Free Promised: True Mates Book 1 (BBW Paranormal Wolf Shifter Romance) (A Craggstone Paranormal Romance) by Olivia Arran Page A

close to my heart. “I’ll fix this. Figure something out. Sean will find her—”
    “In time?”
    “He’s our best tracker. If anyone can find her — he can. And he will.”
    She held up her hands, stopping me in my tracks. Strong, yet fragile. All I wanted in a mate. I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off with a firm shake of her head.
    “I have made a lot of mistakes in my life. Allowed a lot of people to control me — make my decisions for me. This time I know what to do. She is my best friend and I won’t allow her to suffer for me. I escaped once, I can do it again. After.”
    “ After ? After he has taken you, destroyed you, degraded you? I won’t allow it!”
    “ You don’t have a choice. The choice is mine!”
    “You are my true mate! Of course I have a choice!”
    “I might be your true mate—”
    “You admit it, then? That we are destined to be together?” Elation filled me at her acknowledgment, followed swiftly by anger at her stubbornness. I grabbed her, tugging her into my arms.
    “It doesn’t matter, no matter what I had decided or thought, it doesn’t matter!” she shrieked, her words muffled by my shirt. Beating her fists against my chest, her body shook with sobs of despair.
    Suddenly, she pushed away, pinning me with her vivid-green gaze.
    “I am going to save Lisa. I would not be the person I want to be if I didn’t. I can’t choose you, or choose us. I’m sorry. If you respect me at all — prove it, and don’t follow me!”
    With a ripple of muscle under her skin, she shifted, her bones sliding and reforming, giving way to her wolf. Honey-brown, standing as high as my chest, she stared at me with Kara’s teal-green eyes. Eyes like a glowing emerald. She was gorgeous, her head regally shaped, her body lithe and muscular. My wolf howled at the sight of its mate, and pawed to be let out, to run with her.
    “You’re beautiful,” I whispered.
    With a shake of her head she turned and ran, her claws skating on the wooden floor.
    Running after her I watched her leap over the balcony, land gracefully in the middle of the party-goers — who didn’t bat an eyelid, not an unusual sight after all — and race out of the doors, into the night and the forest beyond.
    I fought the urge to shift, to chase and catch my mate. My wolf battled within, fighting to be set free. It wanted to run through the night, stalking and hunting, to catch and take its prize. The lust of the mating urge filled me, a throb pulsating through my veins, and tightening my cock to the point of pain. Throwing my head back, I let my wolf howl its displeasure from my human throat.
    I clamped my mouth shut. The eerie and unnatural sound, filled with my frustration and pain, was cut short. I was determined to be the man Kara wanted, to prove to her that I did respect her.
    Meeting everyone’s upturned eyes, the party having fallen silent at my outburst, I raised my voice. “Tomorrow, I fight! To put a stop to the evil that has befallen the Smithrock Pack, and to claim my true mate ! My true mate, Kara, who will lead as Alpha by my side. Your Alpha!”
    Slowly, the crowd blinked, as if one, then a resounding cheer echoed through the night air. Whooping and hollering echoed through the large wooden house, as the pack anticipated the challenge and celebration to come.
    Tension thrumming through my body, my nerves stretched tight like elastic bands. I turned away from the reveling crowd to find Amanda elegantly sprawled in one of the occasional chairs that were dotted around the house.
    “Not now, Amanda,” I said, waving her off.
    “I’m not here for what you think, James,” she replied, coming to her feet in a graceful roll. “I heard what had happened to Lisa—” she picked at her impeccably manicured fingernails, a very ‘un-Amanda’ like gesture, “—she doesn’t deserve that, no-one does! And I heard what Kara has done, what she decided.” She looked up from her nails and misery colored her