Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“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’d spent 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 actually had a happily ever after.
Chapter One
As he adjusted his tie in the mirror over his dresser, Hayes smirked at his brother Isaac. “Make fun of me all you want, but I’m prepared for my mate. You have sixty-seven days to get your ducks in a row before you meet your mate. Maybe you should start putting the nursery together.”
Isaac was lounging on Hayes’s bed, propping himself up with one elbow. “That’s more than two months. Not everyone spends years preparing. Some of us prefer not to overthink everything. How many times have you changed the paint in that nursery?” he teased.
Hayes rolled his eyes. “I’m observant, okay? She changed her favorite color from pink to yellow. I’m just trying to be thoughtful.”
“A fact you only know because you’ve been spying on her. That’s frowned upon, you know.”
Hayes turned to face his brother. “The only hard-and-fast rule is that we aren’t allowed to make contact. I never approached her. All I did was snoop into her preferences from a distance. I used the same location Arion used to watch his mate as she came of age. My girl has no idea I’ve spied on her. Besides it’s to her advantage. She’s got a yellow room instead of pink now because of it.”
“You could have waited until after the ceremony, asked her what her favorite color was, and then painted her room.”
“What’s the fun in that? Besides, because of me, you’ll be able to learn secrets about your own mate. You’re going to need them. Sixty-seven days, my man…”
Isaac shrugged. “Eh. Maybe I’ll just wait until she’s here to do anything with her room.”
Hayes shot his brother a knowing glare. There was no way in hell Isaac intended to wait two months to do any preparations. He liked to pretend he didn’t care much about his upcoming mating, but he was full of shit. He cared.
Hayes looked down at himself. “How do I look?”
Isaac laughed as he stood. “Like a man in a suit,” he joked before patting his brother on the shoulder. “Good luck today.”
As Isaac left the house, Hayes wandered toward the doorway of the nursery and looked around. He’d had his house built so that this room was attached to the master bedroom. He’d also made sure the windows were large and had the best views in the house so his Little girl could sit and look out at the mountains if she wanted. He’d positioned her crib under one of them and a yellow loveseat under the other.
He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he was nervous. He was thirty-six years old. He’d been sixteen when his mate had been born. It had been strange at the time because Isaac was four years older and had not learned of his mate’s birth for two more months. Fate had her reasons. She arranged for the Alpha Protectors to meet their mates at exactly the right time.
There was no doubt matings were not random. There was a reason behind the timing of every union. Whatever that reasoning was, no one knew.
Hayes had known for years that his mate was best friends with Isaac’s mate. The two girls had grown up together. He was grateful they’d had each other since girls born with the mark of an Alpha Protector were often ostracized by their peers.