Prologue
“I’m so going to miss you,” Amber grumbled as she kicked the dirt under her swing.
Rylee glanced over at her best friend of almost twenty years and laughed. “For sixty-seven days. You’re so dramatic.”
“Sixty-seven days is a long time. I think the only time we didn’t see each other for over twelve hours since we were toddlers was that one time when we were thirteen and you got sick and stayed home from school for a day.”
Rylee gave her swing a slight push as she took a bite of her sandwich. The two of them had sat on these swings while they ate their lunches for years. They preferred to distance themselves from the other girls as much as possible. It was easier this way. They weren’t exactly well-liked among other female wolf shifters.
It wasn’t their fault they’d been born with the mark of the Alpha Protectors. Ostracizing them for something they couldn’t control was cruel. It was, nevertheless, a fact of life.
Amber nodded toward Rylee’s sandwich. “I can’t wait to hear what your mate thinks about your eating habits,” she teased.
Rylee cringed. This was a concern of hers. She didn’t need the reminder. She was a very picky eater. Like a good girl,she’d learned to cook from her mother. Actually, she and Amber usually spent their afternoons together at one of their two homes, so most of the cooking lessons had been joint under the tutelage of whichever mother they were with on a given night.
Learning to cook had not caused Rylee to appreciate more foods, much to her mother’s dismay. The best she’d managed to do was grow to tolerate smelling nasty foods while she prepared them. That was going to have to be sufficient for her mate.
Rylee took another bite of her peanut butter sandwich. No crusts. No jelly. Just a thin layer of peanut butter on bread. It was the same thing she ate every single day for lunch, along with a green apple.
Instead of responding to Amber’s comment, she addressed another concern. “I just hope we end up mated to Alphas who live near each other and that they don’t forbid us from seeing each other.” She shuddered. This had been a fear of hers for years.
The thought of being permanently separated from Amber made Rylee’s stomach twist in knots.
Amber reached over with her free hand and clasped Rylee’s where she was gripping the chain. “It’s going to be fine. I’m sure of it. Our mates are going to turn out to be best friends who spend every afternoon together. The two of them are praying they aren’t fated to a life with two women who don’t like each other.”
Rylee forced a smile, praying her best friend was right. What were the chances?
“Is your dress ready?” Amber asked.
“Yeah. I’ve tried it on every night this week,” Rylee told her.
Amber frowned. “Did your mom need to do a lot of alterations?”
Rylee giggled. “Nope. I just like trying it on. It’s so pretty. After twenty years of wearing these ugly brown dresses, I like totwirl around in it. I hope my mate likes it and doesn’t make me take it off five seconds after we get to his home.”
Amber groaned. “That’s not what you’re hoping at all. Don’t try to fib. You’re hoping he lets you wear it as long as possible because you’re worried about what will happenafterhe takes it off.”
Rylee cringed. Amber was right. She wasn’t the only one concerned about consummating her mating. They both were. All women worried about the first night in their mate’s bed, didn’t they?
“Do you think he’ll be gentle?” Rylee asked, her voice soft.
“I’m sure he will. If he’s not, I’ll kick his butt when I get there,” Amber joked.
“Somehow I doubt that will be possible,” Rylee grumbled. Alpha Protectors didn’t come down into the valley very often, but the two of them had seen a few Alphas in their twenty years. Those men were huge. Taller and broader than any male in the valley. Neither woman had a clue if all Alphas were that large or if it had been a coincidence that the few they’d seen had been giants.
Amber turned her gaze toward the mountain and stared into the distance. She did that a lot. Sometimes she joked that she felt like the two of them were being watched. She would tease that she was certain she’d seen movement.
Sure. Right. Rylee rolled her eyes as she watched her friend. Even if there was someone that far away, there was no way anyone could see them. Ludicrous.
As if snapping out of a trance, Amber jumped down from her swing and reached for Rylee’s hand. “Enough fretting. We only have a few more days together. Let’s not spend them panicking about the unknown.”
Rylee wadded up her sandwich wrapper and tucked it in her lunch bag before rising and setting her hand in Amber’s. They’dspent countless hours worrying about the future together. The clock was ticking. In a few days, Rylee would know her own fate. In about seventy days, Amber would, too.
Rylee prayed to the heavens that everything would work out and she would see her friend again. She really preferred to live her happily ever after with Amber always by her side.
Even more important was that her fated mate was someone who adored her, and she actuallyhada happily ever after.
Chapter One
