Chapter One
“I really don’t like my family or weddings...or men right now.” A groan rushed up her throat. Ciara almost choked on her drink trying to tamp down the flare of anger she felt.
“Ciara Ortiz! Calm down. You’d think something horrible was happening the way you’re being so dramatic. Honey, it is not the end of the world. It’s just a wedding.”
Most of the time it was easy to pay attention to Sara’s soothing voice. Not this time. All she wanted to do- that her mom would probably not allow- is smack the shit out of her brother at the wedding. His wedding, a wedding his best friend would attend. Ryker Snow.
Alpha to the Snow Mountain Pack, which happened to be the same pack her family belonged to. But did he have to be a sexy bastard too? Yep. Such an injustice. To make matters worse, he also happened to be the man she wanted since grade school. Oh, but it got better. She’d had a never-ending crush on him since their one date fifteen years ago. The damn wedding was giving her nightmares and she wasn’t even in the bridal party.
“I’m sure that your family won’t really go all fierce and furry if you don’t bring a date.” Sara patted her hand with a smile. She had that ‘I am so damn happy I’m not part of your family’ look. And why wouldn’t she be? She didn’t have to deal with this, Ciara did.
“I’m pissed I have to be part of these archaic traditions.”
Sara took a sip of her cocktail and stared at Ciara with her bright hazel eyes. “Bringing a date to a wedding isn’t archaic.”
Sometimes she wondered if Sara forgot she was human. “If I don’t bring a date, they’ll start sending single males of the growly type to my house. Possibly even Ryker himself. My mother has always liked him way too much for me.”
“My family never sends me single males.” Sara grinned.
“That’s because you lie to them over the phone about having dates and they don’t know any better so they believe you. Your parents will catch on one day and when they do…”
Sara’s face paled. “I’m not a shifter. I’m a hybrid of human and shifter and I can’t shift!”
Ciara sucked down some more of her martini. “Doesn’t matter. Your parents are going to be sending you a bunch of tall sexy, ‘I am wolf hear me roar’ single males when they realize you’ve been playing them.”
“They won’t.” She tried to sound sure, but Ciara heard the wobble in her voice.
Jeez. What the fuck was wrong with her? Next she’d start kicking puppies and shit. Poor Sara. She wanted a mate as much as Ciara wanted to see Ryker.
“I still think it’s kind of cool that your mom mated a shifter like my mom. Your step-dad is the right hand to the new Alpha smokin’ sexy guy we all know. Bad boy with hot body also known as Ryker Snow.”
Ciara chugged down the cosmopolitan the waitress had put before her a second ago and raised her hand for her to bring another. Shit just got real. Sara didn’t live with the pack, but she visited a lot more often than Cici did. Sara loved bringing back details on what the family was up to since Ciara took forever to go back.
Ryker. The Alpha. Christ, she needed to stop thinking of him or she’d end up drunk, laying by a toilet and crying into the bathroom mat. She’d had one date with the man that went south the moment word got out at school. They hadn’t even had their date and she’d been warned off Ryker. One of the girls had told Ciara he’d never see her as a mate. Sexy man Ryker needed a shifter to lead the pack. Lovely. What was the point of seeing him after that?
“Good point. So then just bring someone. Heck, hire a man and take him as your date. They already know you live among the humans and have little to do with the shifter world.”
Ciara’s phone beeped at the same moment their good friend Darius joined them. A text message popped up on her screen from her mother.
I hope you come to your brother’s wedding this weekend. You know we miss you and can’t wait to see you.
Darn it. There went telling her mom she was sick. It wasn’t her mom’s fault she was human. Her mom had been human too, until she mated Ryan, her step-dad, and turned. Being the only one in the family unable to shift sucked. She was used to it, though. Her mom married Ryan back when she was a little girl so she’d grown up around shifters. She’d been more fascinated with them than they had been with her. Actually, the females had really disliked her when she was growing up.
“Hey, chicas.” Darius kissed them on both cheeks. It was his favorite way to greet friends.
“Oh!” Sara’s eyes went so wide Ciara thought they’d pop out of her head.