Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 1

need to come home. The council wishes to see me. I'm about to turn twenty-five. I know what this means. It is time for me to take a mate.
    I fly home. It's good to be in my home forest. It's good to see my brothers and sisters. In a few days, I will be mated. I will have to tell my co-workers that I have returned with a wife. I hope she likes San Jose. Or maybe I will have to quit my job if she doesn't.
    I'm in the cave where the council has met for centuries. In front of me are the five bears in charge. To the left are several eligible girls. I know I have to pick one, for the good of the Sleuth.
    I look at them.
    There is Trina. She was my first love and my first time. It's a good memory for me, lovely and warm and sweet. I often wondered if we would end up together. But now, she looks dull somehow. It's not that she isn't gorgeous. She just isn't him .
    Lena is there, too. She's a bit younger, but boy, is she athletic. She's got an ideal hourglass shape and a perfect ass. But nothing.
    "I can't do this," I say, my head hung low.
    Rostarin, the head of the council glares at me. "You will do this. This is our law. We must continue the line."
    I can't quite lift my head to meet his eyes. The weight of survival is crushing. But something in me won't let me capitulate either.
    "I won't. You can't force me to mate."
    I've been told my whole life that for the bond to form, both sides must be willing. More than that— they must want it. The two must connect in a fundamental way.
    " True ." Rostarin's voice is hard, menacing. "Why would you turn your back on us like this?"
    Trina is looking at me. Her hand is covering her mouth, and her eyes are so wide. Lena has turned her back on me. Her hand is gripping her hip.
    "I… I don't know. I don't want to hurt anyone, but I just can't do this." I manage to stammer out.
    Rostarin's eyes narrowed as he stared at me. "Then I have no choice. We must make an example of you."
    I should give in. I know he's right. Except, he's not right. Nothing is right. It hasn't been right for a long time.
    "I don't care."
    "Then go. You are banished from the forest. Go back to your city."
    I hear a gasp behind me. I see in my peripheral vision that Rostarin is pointing at the exit.
    "You may return when you are ready to take a mate."
    I leave the cave with my head hung low. I walk right to my rental car and drive away, never looking back. I would never see my family and Sleuth again.
    ****
    My mind snapped back to the present as I entered Massachusetts. The leaves of the trees hanging over the highway were aromatic and inviting. They were so similar to home. The road was relatively free of traffic but that would change as I headed east into the more densely populated areas. I would roll up my window then to keep out the stench of exhaust.
    But, for now, I enjoyed the smell of New England in the summer. I neared Exit Two when a smell drifted in on the air: Musk, wolf, leaves, earth… Kyle.
    I must be imagining things, but there was the smell again. I pulled off the highway, following my nose, every so often catching that scent on the wind. It led me to a forest. I pulled to the side of the road.
    My heart pounded in my ears— Kyle, Kyle, Kyle.
    He was near. I knew it. I could feel it, feel him .
    Suddenly something awakened inside of me. I had to see him. It had been eight years and I had become a closed up shell. I had no family, no Sleuth, and all because of a one night stand with an idealistic, delusional wolf.
    What if he really was meant to be my mate? What if this emptiness inside could only be filled by him? I suddenly remembered my paws appearing. That was the first step needed to create a bond.
    I got out of my car and ran into the forest, smelling the air. Should I shift? I stayed human so I could speak with him. I was filled with longing. I had to see him. Solve this once and for all.
    The leaves rustled and I smelled the scent on the wind before I saw them. Wolves were coming. Not him.
    I threw off my clothes frantically and brought the image of my bear to mind. I visualized my deep brown fur and inhaled. As my lungs and stomach filled, my body expanded, growing, thickening around my stomach and torso. Little itches ran along my skin announcing the arrival of my soft ruff. My fingers thinned and strengthened into claws. My face puckered, almost a kiss that kept going as my mouth and nose elongated and grew into my muzzle.
    They came into the clearing snarling. Two wolves, covered in