Engraven Read Online Free Page A

available, but Echo had chosen a two-year degree in business management. That’s basically what she did, manage our unruly asses.
    And she did it well.
    We got to the college and parked on the street. The rest of the parking was reserved for student and faculty—at least what we saw.
    I walked into the admissions office behind the Alpha, my rightful place. While he talked to whoever was behind the desk, I picked at pamphlets and course catalogs, pretending that one day I would actually be able to attend.
    “Tarrow, I forgot one page. It’s the note from the midwife. Can you hold these and wait here? This lady is helping me.”
    I looked up to greet the person who was helping the Alpha.
    The papers all fell from my hands and the ceiling spun while the lazy ceiling fan blades seemed to still with the air.
    Amber irises locked with mine as my heartbeat arrested, having me clawing at my chest in desperation for the blood pumping sensation to return. No breaths were to be had as my first thought drifted into the air, thanking the Creator for chance encounters that weren’t so chance at all.
    Tears sprang to her eyes and I reached out to quell them over the counter that separated us, but she backed away, our heartbeats suddenly beginning again—in time—mine perfectly matching the rhythm of hers.
    Scared—shocked—embarrassed—nervous—joyous. I collected her feelings like lightning bugs in a jar, one by one.
    The surge of emotions from her strangled me, arresting my own feelings in place. Hers were ten-fold more important than mine and so, my bear pushed them aside and clawed at my insides, demanding that I touch her and console her the way only a mate could.
    My eyes ticked to the side as I heard a gasp from one of the people in the room. I didn’t know if they knew what was happening or they thought I was merely having some kind of cardiac arrest.
    We needed privacy.
    This shouldn’t be happening, here. I should’ve gone after her like Rev said.
    “May I speak to you privately?” I asked her. Her. I didn’t even know the name of my mate.
    But I could already tell so many things about the female that in seconds has changed everything.
    The brunette curls around her face bounced with her nod and someone took her place as we again stared each other down while she moved to the swinging gate that let her out. I grabbed the squeaking thing and let her through. She scooted past me like she didn’t know whether to run or reach out to me.
    Creator above, if she would just touch me.
    “I’m sorry. Can we step outside, at least to the hallway?”
    She nodded but refused to take the hand I’ve extended, so desperate to touch her.
    After a few seconds, I finally regained some of my composure. “I’m Tarrow Rivers.”
    “I—my name is Dahlia.”
    “It’s nice to meet you—finally.”
    Whatever I’d said causes her to break out in a full blush, the color of red leaves in the fall.
    A clearing of a throat interrupts me. The only interruption I would allow at that point—the Alpha.
    I cowered in his presence despite the fact that we are in public. My bear was well and alive inside me with the mating bond and he commanded me to bow before my Alpha. He didn’t give a damn where we were. I looked back to her and she’s gawking between the Alpha and myself with a confused look on her face.
    “Tarrow, would you like to introduce me?” The voice disrupted me again.
    “Forgive me Alpha, this is Dahlia, my mate.”
    He extends his hand to shake hers, simply as a display of respect, but I can’t help my reaction. I growl. He can’t touch her before I do. “Hawke, not yet.” I beg of him as my friend and my leader.
    “I understand. Tarrow, I am going in the office to finish Echo’s paperwork. Decide what is going to happen here.”
    Hawke leaves us there, tangled in the thralls of our new bond.
    “You’re nervous.” That’s how I interpreted the tingles that were skittering underneath my skin, prickling me like