Chapter 1

ULYSSES

I growled with impatience.

What the heck is taking them so long?!

I hated waiting.

“Dammit!”

I paced around the inside of my library like a caged animal. A snort that sounded more like a snarl left me.

I was a caged animal.

I’d been trying hard to be the social person my sister wanted, but the truth was, I wasn’t that. Not when those who came to my castle stared at me like I was an alien.

That might be easier to live with.

I saw my reflection in the glass of an old family photo and growled again. The reminder was always there.

Scars.

I’d never be rid of them. But I didn’t care anymore.

Well not really.

Instead, I focused on what was coming.

A smile formed on my lips.

She was coming.

Jody.

It had been years since she’d met my gaze that one fateful human event I’d attended. A high school prom.

My sister, Aurora, had asked me to accompany her. She didn’t have a boyfriend and didn’t want to miss out. Since her best friend, Sonya, was human and went to a human school. Aurora had begged our parents to allow her to go there as well. Unable to deny their little girl anything, they’d agreed.

Seeing Jody, standing quietly in a corner, sent a jolt of hunger through me. The animal in me knew she was the one. My mate. But she was a human and I couldn’t react as I wanted.

Taking her home and making her my was not the best course of action, even if she was barely legal. A brand new eighteen-year-old with a twenty-seven-year-old would look pretty bad for me.

That week had been the best and worst of my life. I’d found the one woman meant for me and lost my parents. A horrible explosion at our lake house took my mom and dad. Two people were to blame.

My father’s worst enemy, and the witch he had for a lover.

I ended up scarred from saving Aurora from the fire and trying to go back to save my parents. But that explosion hadn’t been the only thing my father’s enemy had done to destroy the family.

The witch had placed a curse on the Galligan firstborn. Me. Ulysses.

The curse had been one I didn’t realize would dictate my life the older I got. She cursed me to need an offspring to live. And not just any child. One by his destined mate or I’d die on my thirty-fifth birthday.

But neither the witch nor my father’s enemy knew who they were messing with. I didn’t cower to anyone. I had found my mate.

My cold heart warmed at the memory of that first conversation with Jody. I’d taken control. Not even telling her my name and trying to find out everything I could about her instead. She’d quietly told me she didn’t like parties and had been talked into going to prom by her mother.

In the dark ballroom, I’d sat with her most of the night, talking, about anything and everything, except who I was and what she meant to me. It had been refreshing and wonderful to get to know the girl that would be mine.

Before leaving, she gave me her number and address. As she left the room to meet her mom, she asked my name and Iʼd smiled and said, “The only man you will ever belong to.”

Her eyes had widened but she was being rushed out by a teacher to meet her mother at the door. I knew I’d see her soon. After all, she was mine. Only mine.

After my accident, I’d gone to visit her and met her father. The man had disdainfully yelled at me to leave once I told him who I was. He said Jody wouldn't have a monster for a husband. I hadn’t fully healed but the words and the venom they were said with fired a fury that had never died in me.

But I’d get the last laugh over Ivan Swinson.

My phone rang, momentarily pulling me from my thoughts.

“Tristan,” I growled, “Is she okay?”

“Yes. I told you, she got car sick but seems better now.”

“Where are you?” I paced my library, wishing I could be there to make her feel better.

“We’ll be there soon. Don’t worry, I’ve made sure she was comfortable. I know what she means to you.”

He has no idea.

This was my future queen. The woman who would be my wife, mate, and mother of my children. She owned my heart for the past eight years and there was no way I’d allow anyone to harm a hair on her head.

“Is she asking questions?”

“She seems more preoccupied with not dirtying the inside of the SUV,” Tristan chuckled. “I feel bad for her. I’d suggest the chopper next time, but I think that might be just as bad.”

“I’ll have Mrs. Delphine put tea in her room. It should calm her stomach.”

Tristan sighed.

“Don’t worry, Lux. We’re almost there. Your mate is coming to you.”

Yes. My mate was coming.

I hung up the phone and continued pacing, his thoughts back to Ivan Swinson and the irony of Jody being my destined mate.

It took many years to realize Ivan Swinson’s anger wasn’t because heʼd been disfigured. No. He was my father’s enemy. A madman who was hellbent on destroying the Galligan family.

It was Ivan and his witch who were responsible for my parents’ death and my curse.

Ivan Swinson deserved to die a slow and painful death, but instead of killing him, I had signed on to do business with the man. A deal that Ivan thought would bring him millions, brought him ruin and pushed him to give me anything I wanted.

And I wanted his little girl.

Now, I just have to convince her to have my baby.

Thankfully, her father had made things easy for me in that department. When he found himself unable to talk his way out of the millions he owed me, Ivan had offered me anything for his life. Anything included trading his daughter for the money he couldn’t pay back.

Her life for his.

I frowned. My mate was on the way. She was coming and didn’t know what Ivan had done. She’d need to give me something only she could. A child. To keep me alive, she’d have to do the unthinkable.

Make a deal with the devil.

I’d finally get the one I craved and she would never leave.

Never.

A soft knock sounded at my door.

“Come in!”

I winced at the angry bellow but there was nothing I could do now.

Aurora poked her head into my sanctuary.

“Sorry, Lux. I wanted to ask if you were going to come down for dinner?”

I let out a rough exhale and gave a sharp nod.

“Yes. Someone will be here soon. She’ll be staying with us for dinner as well.”

Aurora frowned.

“You have a... guest?”

“I do.”

She blinked once. Then twice.

“Like a real person?”

I couldn’t fault her for being surprised. I didn’t have guests. The only person who dared come to see me was Tristan, my beta. Tristan handled all the business issues with the pack and I handled the business aspect of everything.

Everything could be done online these days. That made it possible for me to not need to leave home most of the time.

“Yes,” I met her bright blue eyes. “She’s going to be staying a while.”

Curiosity lit in Aurora’s gaze.

“That’s nice. Well, I can’t wait to meet her. I guess I’ll have Mrs. Delphine set the dinner table for four.”

She left quickly, shutting the door quietly behind her. I loved my sister. At twenty-three, she was the lady of the house but still managed to live a pretty carefree life of traveling the world whenever she wanted.

I wouldn’t ask her to stay confined to the castle just because I was. That would be torture for someone as free as Aurora.

I got up from my desk and left the office. I’d asked for the rooms facing the garden to be prepared for Jody. She wasn’t going anywhere and I wanted her to learn to like it there.

Because after Iʼve told her what she had to do, I had a feeling she’d want some solitude.