River & Her Royal Mate novel Chapter 4

River rubbed her hands over her face, trying not to replay the events of the previous day again. The light turned green and she gave Grandma’s sedan a little gas, propelling her back toward the refuge of home.

What a first day.

Tuesday felt completely uneventful by comparison.

She could barely remember any of the things that had happened in any of her classes, other than a certain lingering memory of rippling muscle and tan abs. The distraction had rolled over her into second day of class, as well.

Which he had been conspicuously absent from.

Not that she had been waiting to run into him around every corner, or anything.

Stop drooling. Watch the road.

Kai.

She didn’t even know his last name.

Her imagination filled it in as Kai Redhood, heroic, shining knight for hire. The start of a dozen fantasies tried to take flight.

She had definitely read way too many novels over the summer.

Still, he stepped in to take the hit for her.

And had Victoria pissing her pants, no less, stumbling over herself to get out of there. No surprise, she hadn’t even apologized, just giving River a look that promised it wasn’t over.

As if it were River’s fault she was an unbearable witch.

That satisfaction reared its ugly head again. Grandma would give her that look, warning her against that sort of indulgent behavior. Klara would just wink, knowingly.

The events started over on repeat for the hundredth time.

In the wake of the altercation, no less than half a dozen girls who she knew to be wolves from her pack or nearby clans swarmed to Kai’s aid. Like they instinctively smelled a gorgeous male and flocked to scoop him up.

Ravenous dogs every one of them.

River frowned at herself. Grandma Lucy would be immeasurably disappointed in her for insulting her own kind that way.

But the fact remained, that she just couldn’t hold a candle to all of the other she-wolves at her school or anywhere else. She couldn’t even shift, yet. What did she have to offer a wolf like Kai?

And a wolf he was.

Although she had not yet changed, or even gotten so much as a sniff from her inner wolf, River had known from the second she saw him that he was one of them. She supposed that sort of thing was natural growing up part of a pack, regardless of her shortcomings.

That, and he had all the trimmings of “the new kid in town.”

Lone wolf.

More cliche fantasies.

Why shouldn’t she dream a little?

“Because you are driving in traffic right now and Grandma will kill you if you drive off the road daydreaming!” She spoke aloud to distract herself.

She tossed her bag onto the bench by the front door and hung up the keys on the peg.

“Grandma, I’m home!”

“Good. Help with the rest of dinner. Klara’s useless in the kitchen.” Grandma bustled about, stirring a couple of worn pots. She checked the oven, and pointed to the pile of unchopped vegetables on the table.

River washed her hands and plopped down, snatching up the knife and going to work on the peppers.

“Are you going to tell me anything, or do I have to pry it out of you?”

“Oh! Right. School. Good. It was good.”

“And?”

“And…I saw Clay. And Victoria.”

There was a long pause. Another voice coughed lightly near the stairs. Klara leaned against the door frame. Both women waited, a bit tense.

“It didn’t even bother me. I have a class with both of them.” River shrugged and went back to chopping. She noted Klara’s pointed glance at her grandmother.

“Well..that’s good.”

“Oh yeah, great.” River deflected. “The professor in that class is super interesting.”

Oof. She was a terrible liar.

“I am relieved to hear you kids are getting along,” Klara played along.

Grandma Lucy may or may not have grimaced and rolled her eyes. She tapped the ladle against the pot rim a bit aggressively.

Klara was supposed to be telling her something.

Something she wouldn’t like to hear.

“Because…?”

“Because Clay’s Alpha ceremony was announced for next weekend. The whole pack is invited. Obligated to go, really.”

“What?!” It came out way louder than she had intended. “I mean, fine. But why? He’s so young. Alpha Baldwin is still in his prime, right?”

“At times Alpha’s will let their successor take charge on a probationary basis. Or they might step down because of...” Grandma’s words trailed off.

“Stuff,” Klara finished for her.

“I’m not stupid. Are you trying to say he is being forced out because of a scandal? How tabloid is that?” River found herself laughing at the absurdity of it.

Lucy and Klara had raised her to believe pack politics were something much more sacred and above such trivialities. Honor among wolves. Morality and loyalty.

But then again, Alpha Baldwin had always kind of struck her as a sleaze-ball.

More than once she had noticed him eying females in plain sight of his Luna, Clay’s mother.

Still. Clay Baldwin. Alpha?

Irrational anger welled up inside River at the thought of the foul tempered, womanizing, mate-bond breaking, slime ball taking over the entire pack. He was a child.

And that would mean Victoria would be Luna.

In a week.