Chapter One

Alton Tarben lifted his snout to the air and took a long whiff. Yep. She was nearby. No denying it. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was a good idea to chase her down today. Had she scented him yet?

He immediately blocked himself, hoping to catch her off guard, and turned to head in her direction. Loping between the trees on the side of the mountain, he remained in his grizzly form.

He hadn’t seen her in months. Four, to be precise. His body came to life as he tracked her, awakening from the permanent state of discomfort he lived in without her in his life.

Joselyn Arthur.

His mate.

He’d known she was his since third grade. Originally, he’s denied her with as much vehemence as she did him. And, truth be told, he should continue to do so until death. But the woman had a pull on him that was undeniable. Some day he would wear her down. At least enough to touch her.

He inhaled deeply over and over as her scent grew more powerful. His paws covered a lot of ground in a short time. She was alone. He hated the idea of her running alone in bear form in the mountains, but he had no say in her life—a fact she reminded him of every time he saw her.

For five minutes he knew she was in bear form, but when he finally popped out of a copse of evergreens, yards away from her, he ground to a stop.

Joselyn was leaning against a tree, human, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, glaring at him.

He slowly approached, still in his grizzly form, knowing it was easier to hide his reaction to seeing her if he did so. Damn, she was gorgeous. Every time he saw her, she seemed to be prettier than the last. Even angry, she made his heart race.

Her thick brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail—as it nearly always was. He’d seen it down only a handful of times in recent years, and it made him salivate with the desire to run his hands through it. He couldn’t decide if she simply didn’t care much about her appearance, if she intentionally chose to hide her good looks, or if she did it to keep him at bay in particular.

No matter which of those theories was correct, she failed miserably. She would look fantastic even in a sack. Pulling her hair back wet in a ponytail—as he knew she did most mornings—did nothing to hide her inner or her exterior beauty, not matter what her intentions were.

She rolled her eyes as he approached. “How long have you been tracking me?”

He chuckled into her head, still in bear form. “How long have I failed to block you?”

“You gonna circle me all day like I’m some sort of prey, or do you have the balls to shift and face me as a man.”

He stopped two feet in front of her and cocked his head to one side. Damn she was feisty. He wanted to laugh, but he feared it would piss her off further. Instead, he summoned the change, closed his eyes, and allowed his body to make the shift from bear form to human.

As his fur receded and his bones reconfigured, he lifted up onto his hind legs. Fifteen seconds later he stood before her, fully human. Thank God he’d worn a winter coat and boots. It was damn cold out to be shifting into human form this high in the mountains.

Luckily, Joselyn had also ventured out prepared for the possibility of shifting too. She wore fucking sexy tight jeans, boots, and a thick navy down coat with her brewery’s logo on the breast—a depiction of a glacier next to a lake. Apropos since her pack owned Glacial Brewing Company.

As he met her gaze head on, he watched her breath, smoky in the air around her. Every exhale was closer together. He affected her as much as she affected him.

“How have you been?” he asked.

She sighed. “Small talk? Really, Alton?”

He shrugged. “It’s the usual way people start a conversation when they greet each other after several months.” Especially someone who was their intended mate.

“I’m fine,” she shot back. “The usual. Busy with work. Yourself?”

“The same.” He hated this thing they did. This game they played. The same game they had played for years.

Today things were markedly more strained between them. The lure to pull her into his arms was stronger than ever. Though he shouldn’t be shocked. It had grown incrementally over the years.

For long moments, they stared at each other, neither blinking. When she reached up to tuck an escaped curl behind her ear, he lifted his hand automatically. He needed to touch it, feel the strands between his fingers.

She jumped to the side to avoid his touch. “Don’t,” she mumbled.

He dropped his hand. “Sorry.” It was a rule of hers. No touching.

She lowered her gaze, toeing the thin layer of snow under her boot absentmindedly. “You shouldn’t have followed me. It only makes things worse.”

“You should give in. Stop denying what you know is true. Then things would be so much better.” How many times had they had this discussion? A thousand.

She lifted her head slowly. “There’s no such thing as Fate. Stop acting like we’re destined or something. It’s nothing but a physical draw. It happens all the time. Even to humans. I’m sure if we actually threw in the towel and fucked, we’d realize all this posturing had been for nothing.”

He stared at her for several seconds, trying to decide how to respond to her absurd statement. After licking his lips, he spoke again. “First of all, you know that’s crap. Even though not every single grizzly shifter is easily aware of their mate—and certainly not at such a young age—but it happens.”

She pursed her lips.

He continued, leaning closer to her. “And don’t even try to make light of the passion between us as if a one-night stand would put an end to the curiosity and mystery. If you truly believe we could walk away after having sex, then let’s put it to the test.” He lifted a brow, challenging her.

She flinched. “Not a chance in hell, Alton. You’ve lost your mind.”

“Afraid you might be wrong?”

“What difference would it make? Our families would both flip their lids and explode if they ever caught wind of the fact that we’d been in communication at all, let alone slept together.”

At least she didn’t refer to their joining as fucking again. That really got on his nerves. He stepped closer, closing the gap between them.

She retreated, shuffling backward farther than he’d approached. She held out a hand. “Stop. You promised.”

He nodded. “I did. And I’ll keep that promise for as long as you insist, but I’m growing weary, Jos.”

“Then you shouldn’t track me then. You’re the one who made things worse today by hunting me down.”

He nodded again, slowly. “You’re right. But come on. We used to at least be friends, civil toward each other. Now you won’t even take my calls.”

He’d stop trying months ago when she stopped responding to even his texts. A man could only endure so much rejection.

She lowered her gaze again, her fingers reaching to tuck that same errant lock of hair behind her ear. It immediately bounced free again.

“Jos, it’s simple. We have no choice but to explore this thing. You know it as well as I do.”

She didn’t acknowledge him.

“Been dating a lot lately?” he asked, knowing the answer. Silvertip, Alberta, wasn’t large enough for anyone to keep their dating habits a secret.

She flinched. “Of course not,” she told the ground. And then, as if realizing how odd she’d worded that statement, she rushed to cover it up, “I’ve been busy at work. There’s a lot going on.”

He knew that was true. She worked hard. Always had. Even when they’d been away at the University of Calgary she’d been a workaholic. He wasn’t entirely sure her work ethic back then and still to this day had anything to do with an actual desire to be an overachiever so much as a deep-seated need to avoid the truth. About him. About them. About their future.

“I’m never going to give up, Jos,” he whispered. “I can’t. We’ve been back in Silvertip over a year. I miss seeing you. Talking to you.” They’d both gone to U of C at the same time, though he’d started a year before her. He knew it wasn’t a coincidence they’d both dragged out their education so that he took six years and she took five.

“I know,” she conceded. She licked her lips, staring intently at his before jerking her gaze back to meet his. “It’s hard.”

“What’s hard? Life in general, or denying your mate?”

She winced. “You can’t know for sure we are meant to bind together.”

He didn’t answer her. The only way he could respond would have been denial, and doing so would infuriate her. Instead, he tried another tactic. “I miss you, Jos. First and foremost, you’re my best friend. Please, take my calls. Answer my texts.”

She swallowed hard. “Okay.”

Finally. Headway.

He lifted a brow. Would she? Or was she simply saying what she knew he wanted to hear?

All through university they’d been in contact. Like a forbidden fruit, they’d skirted the truth. Ignored the facts. Intentionally.

When they’d been younger, he’d agreed with her. His family would have wigged out if he’d made any overtures of intending to bind to a member of the Arthur pack. The feud between their families was over a century in the making and ran so deep that many of the older generation harbored a grudge so absurd it made Alton’s skin crawl.

When they’d gotten away from Silvertip, they’d at least started speaking. After all, to ignore each other on campus would have been awkward at best. Besides, few grizzly shifters from either of their packs were around to question their friendship.

Alton took things incredibly slow with her. For one thing, he agreed. They couldn’t possibly end up together. However, he’d been drawn enough to ensure they ran into each other often. They met up in the library for months when she was a freshman to study together. It was his second year. He’d moved into an apartment. Alone. Intentionally? Perhaps deep inside he’d always wanted the door to be open to the possibility she would one day be his. And he certainly didn’t want to have to contend with a roommate if and when that day came.

But it didn’t. Joselyn was serious about her convictions from the beginning. She insisted he never touch her, and she held on to that persistence the entire five years.

He sighed. “Okay?” Hope.

She nodded. “I don’t have many friends. I could use one. No one has to know.”

So much hope.

He missed her laughter. The way her hair fell around her face the few times she wore it down. The way she tucked her feet under her when she concentrated on her homework. He’d never had more than a strict friendship with her, taking what she would offer and not complaining. At least not often.

He hated that she didn’t have friends, but who was he kidding? He didn’t have many closer relationships either. His sibling and parents, but not many outside friends.

He knew the reason why too. His world as consumed with Joselyn. He had few other thoughts. If he couldn’t share this thing with her, what else was there to discuss? Besides, any close friend would wonder why he chose not to date or turned down offers to go out for a beer.

Alton Tarben spent his days in his own family’s rival brewery, Mountain Peak Brewing. He worked long hours, and when he wasn’t at the office, he filled his time running in the mountains in bear form or working out in human form. He did anything and everything to avoid thinking about Joselyn.

Her life mirrored his. He was sure of it. And she’d just admitted she didn’t have close friends either.

“I’ll call. You’ll answer. We’ll talk.”

She nodded.

He fought the urge to reach out and touch her. It was stronger than ever. This futile attempt to deny him by avoiding skin-on-skin contact was driving him mad.

She stepped back, her hands shaking with nervousness. “I gotta go.” Without another word, she shifted into her grizzly form and dashed off into the trees, leaving him standing there unable to move.

Hope. Was this a good thing? Or would renewed contact with her simply drive him more insane than he already was?

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