Black Wolfe's Mate (Paranormal Shifter Romance) by Avelyn McCrae Page A

exquisite taste,” agreed Antoine.
    “She likes Thor,” Dieter nodded.
    “She needs us, Derrick. All of us.”

Chapter 8
 
    D errick stood and stretched. Three weeks had passed and Angelica’s body had undergone the transformation at the cellular level. All of the physical damage had been repaired and now she lay quietly in the depths of unconsciousness, awaiting the next full moon. Only then would they know whether the change had been truly successful.
    “She will make it, Silas,” Derrick said, gratefully accepting the tray of food. Antoine had been sending a constant supply of food up from the kitchens to maintain his strength. Supporting his own overactive metabolism as well as providing for Angelica required high quantities of sustenance.
    “I hope she does.” The words were spoken genuinely. She had touched each of them in some small way and they were all hoping she would survive the final challenge — not only for herself, but for the happiness of their Alpha, her mate.
    Upon the next full moon — now only days away — her beast would attempt to rise. The physical aspect was only part of the shift; Angelica would also have to accept and embrace it. If she didn’t, it would quite literally rip her psyche in two and render her insane.
    That sudden duality was yet another reason why the Making was usually a much longer process. In addition to selecting a proper candidate, the one to be Made was typically schooled in the transformation and what would occur. It took weeks, sometimes months, to adequately prepare. Angelica had none of that. She had no idea what was happening to her. But Derrick would be with her, trying to reach through the panic and confusion to guide her.
    He’d already spent hours by her bedside, conditioning her to his voice and scent in the hopes that her beast would recognize it when it began to emerge. He’d been explaining everything as well, but he had no way of knowing whether any of it had made it through. While her physical form had been healing, her mind remained in a protective stasis to facilitate the necessary chemical changes that laid the groundwork for the awakening.
    “You know nothing about her,” Silas mused, standing over her. She looked so young, so peaceful.
    “Not quite true,” Derrick argued with a small smile. “I know she is the first woman to capture my interest in nearly half a millennium.”
    “You have been with many women,” Silas noted.
    “I said she captured my interest, Silas, not my cock. What she has accomplished is far more difficult.”
    “But you will give her your cock as well,” Silas teased.
    “No doubt,” agreed Derrick with a grin.
    “You will truly make her your mate, then?”
    “Yes, in all ways.”
    Silas threaded some of the silken gold of her hair through his fingers. If she changed, she would indeed make a stunning she-wolf. Nearly all in their pack were dark. Derrick’s much stronger wolf-DNA should have dominated over her weaker human strands and changed her hair to match his, but it hadn’t.
    “She keeps surprising us, this one,” Silas mused. “A most unusual feat, considering we have been around so long. Why is that, do you suppose?”
    Derrick had asked himself the same thing many times over since Angelica had so quietly slipped into his life. “I am afraid I have no suitable answer to that, my friend, except perhaps to say Fate or Destiny has decided it should be so.”
    “It is unlike you to put so much faith in such an intangible concept as Fate or Destiny.”
    “Yes, and yet it rings of truth, does it not? That a human female should command the heart and soul of an Alpha so effortlessly? That she could survive mortal injuries long enough to attempt a transformation? That even now, she continues to display an inner strength that should, by all logic, be impossible? No, Silas, everything about this woman defies logic. And yet, here we are.”
    “Here we are,” Silas agreed.
    “Do you doubt me?”
    His