Chapter 1 Collision
This is Book 4 in the Mate Cruise short story series but can be enjoyed as a standalone novel.
Content Warning: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
This book contains more explicit spice and sexual content than my previous books. Readers should be aware that the story includes frequent and detailed intimate scenes. Please read at your own discretion.
Chapter 1
“Collision”
POV Calanthria
“You’re twenty four, Calanthria. You work in a bookstore with no direction.”
“Books are fulfilling, Mother.”
“All they do is feed your unrealistic fantasies about marrying the Lycan King. Time to grow up. Your father and I are sending you on the cruise.”
“No! I won’t be forced to marry a lycan who cheats and treats me like a slave.”
“You’re a female Alpha. Your lycan won’t allow that. No one will force you. You can stay on the cruise as long as you like. But if a powerful match appears, your father will expect you to marry him.”
“Please, Mother. I’ll do anything.”
“Your sister, Cass, will be going with you.”
“No, she’s better looking than me. She’ll steal all the good matches.”
“Considering you don’t want to marry anyone, I don’t see that being a problem.”
“Mother.”
“You are an embarrassment to this family. Your father is the Alpha of our pack, and you’ve disrespected him by rejecting countless matches he’s personally arranged. He’s ready to send you to auction for your disobedience.”
“He loves me too much.”
“A father has a limit to his love. Pack your things. You leave in an hour with your sister.”
“What? I have to work tonight. I can’t.”
“Your employer is aware. Get ready or leave with an empty suitcase. Take your best dresses. You’ll need them to secure a good match with your sister around. Off you go.”
“I hate them,” I tell Morris, my cat. “They won’t even let me take you. Who will I talk to? Who will understand me without you there? I need moral support.”
I eye my purse.
Morris would fit perfectly.
I empty my purse, shove everything into my jacket pockets, and stuff Morris inside.
He sits there all chuffed with his new hiding spot.
He likes to hitch rides in my car or random bags. He gets separation anxiety.
I pack my suitcase with boring fancy dresses like some princess I’m not.
Mom stuffs my suitcase with makeup and beauty supplies.
“You better take your hair out of that stupid library bun,” she demands as my sister and I get into the limo.
We arrive in Vancouver late and stay at a hotel.
My sister goes out partying while Morris and I discuss how to sneak him onto the boat without anyone noticing.
I don’t sleep much.
I don’t like change. My parents are literally blowing up my life.
In the morning, my sister and I squabble the entire way to the port.
It isn’t until we’re climbing the stairs that she notices Morris in my purse.
“You’re going to get tossed off the cruise and sold at auction,” Cass laughs.
“They’ll sell you at auction before me. You’re no Alpha, just a worthless girl,” I snap back.
We shove each other hard all the way up the stairs.
We reach the top just as Cass gives me one final revenge shove.
Morris, me, and two massive Lycans tumble over the edge into the icy water below.
The shock steals my breath. I cling tightly to my purse.
“What the fuck,” a massive man shouts. “I could have you executed.”
Shit.
It’s the Lycan King.
“Someone pushed me, sir. I apologize.”
“Is that a cat in your purse?” the second man says, his cold icy blue eyes turning lethal.
“No, sir.”
I zip my purse slightly tighter, restricting Morris’s air.
Guards descend immediately, securing us and pulling us up.
My hair has fallen out of its bun.
My white dress is completely see-through.
I crack my purse open a fraction and blow air inside.
The guards look ready to execute me on sight.
The Lycan King and the man who fell with him stare at my now see-through dress, their mouths hanging open.
“Listen, I’m really sorry someone…”
“No harm done, miss,” the other man says, putting his jacket over my dress and escorting me in.
I see my sister laughing at me for being soaking wet like a drowned rat when she realizes who I fell with and her expression turns to anger at my good fortune.
The Dragon Delta looks me over.
“I trust you’ll keep your sister in check. If you knock someone off this ship during travel, they cannot return. Unless they survive Skull Island.”
“Oh,” I murmur, looking down.
“It won’t happen again, sir,” my sister says, saluting.
The Delta dragon rolls his eyes.
“You’re both dismissed.”
We find our rooms on the Lycan floor directly across from each other.
I carefully remove the stranger’s jacket and breathe it in.
Pine. Sweet musk. Sea salt.
It smells amazing.
Morris is soaked but alive. I let him explore the room.
I lie on the bed still holding the jacket when someone knocks.
“Are we going to dinner? You’ve been in there for hours,” my sister shouts through the door.
I’ve already changed into a green dress that brings out my hazel eyes.
I step out.
Cass stands there with her hands on her hips, dressed like she’s attending a royal coronation.
“The king and his beta are mine,” she says, snatching the jacket from me and breathing it in. “I will return this to him.”
There’s no point fighting her.
At least on the next cruise, she’ll be gone.
I should’ve brought Morris.
He understands me.
We take our seats at dinner.
Cass walks over to the Alpha and king’s table and returns the jacket.
Apparently, the man is the king’s beta, Cash Winters.
He waves at me when she hands it back.
I lift a shy hand in return.
She chats a moment with the king, then strolls back like she’s the next queen.
We seem to be at a cliquey table.
“The king and his beta are here to find a match,” a girl whispers at our table. “The king’s mother wants him to move on after his mate died six years ago. He doesn’t want to be here.”
“The beta is so hot,” another girl says. “Almost better looking than the king.”
“He’s looking over here,” someone adds. “He must be looking at you, Cass. You had his jacket.”
Cass smiles brightly.
“My sister pushed me into him. We fell into the water together. He saved me.”
Liar.
“What a bitch move,” the girls mutter, glaring at me.
“It was a bitch move,” I say flatly. “Except it was Cassandra pushing me into the king and his beta. I almost lost my head.”
Cass tosses her drink at me.
“Liar.”
I toss my plate at her, and we’re in a full-fledged fight.
An alpha comes over and moves me to another table.
“This is the table you’re supposed to be at. You shouldn’t have moved the name placements.”
“I didn’t…”
