Jason & Cadence

The Wolf’s Mate Book 1: Jason & Cadence By: R. E. Butler

Copyright 2012 R.E. Butler

Smashwords Edition

The Wolf’s Mate Book 1: Jason &Cadence by R.E. Butler Smashwords Edition, License Notes This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

**Cover Design by Kameko Gay. Photography for cover art provided by R.E. Butler and StockTrek. This ebook is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locations is coincidental. Disclaimer: The material in this book is for mature audiences only and contains graphic sexual content and is intended for those over the age of 18 only. ********** Dedicated to B., my long suffering husband; Kameko Gay in Chicago who was more encouraging than I deserved; and to anyone who spent their teenage years filling up notebooks with romance stories but never had the courage to put something out there for others until they were well into their adult years. Ahem.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 From the Author and Other Works

Chapter 1

Cadence headed to Jake's for her night shift, her heart in her throat and her stomach in her feet. Jake was an old family friend. She had known him and his wife Renee her entire life. Renee and her mother went to school together and were best friends. When she was a child, she called them Uncle Jake and Aunt Renee. Because her mother died while pregnant with her, Renee was the closest thing she had to a mother figure in her life and Jake was more a father to her than her own. They were always what she needed: a shoulder to cry on, emergency money to fix a broken down car, and a job to keep her afloat in between semesters. Jake owned a bar that he named after himself, in the center of a podunk town in Kentucky called Allen. At 22, Cadence was done with college and ready for whatever turn her life was going to take. She'd gone to NKU for a business degree to help out her father's restaurant, but he had died at the beginning of her freshman year. She had kept plugging away at it, going back home in the summer and staying at the old farmhouse that belonged to her grandparents on her mother's side. It was nestled in the woods away from the center of town, private and quiet so she could be alone with her thoughts. And pretty much just alone. Now she had a bachelor's degree in business management but had no job to do something with it, although she had not really looked. Her father's life insurance had more than paid for college and she bought herself a tricked out Charger when she graduated. Jake offered a bartending job to tide her over, which she took even though she hadn't really needed the money. It gave her something to do, though, and unfortunately it was going to give her a front row seat to the object of her affection, denied as it was: Jason Gerrick. Jason was masculinity personified: gorgeous, yearround tanned skin, light blonde, shoulder length hair that was always tousled like he'd just rolled out of bed, and light blue eyes like a summer sky. He rode a motorcycle with his friends, owned the local garage called Pete's named after his father, and he

happened to also be an alpha werewolf. As a matter of fact, over half the people in town were werewolves; it was just one of those things. Jake was a wolf, too, alpha of the pack that shared the town with Jason's pack. A number of Jake’s pack also rode bikes, and she thought there was probably something in that but never asked. Maybe all bikers were werewolves. Her mother was a wolf, but married her father who was not. She became pregnant with her and in most normal situations, a mix of human and werewolf resulted in a completely human baby. Just days before she was due to come into the world, her mother was attacked by a rival wolf pack female. Minutes after she was born by emergency cesarean, her mother died. That violence while she was still in her mother’s womb changed her on a cellular level in a way that was wholly unique. She became a hybrid wolf. Part human, part she-wolf. All attitude, strength, and speed but not fur. Kind of like Blade for dogs. Her mother was part of her uncle's pack, so naturally they tried to include her and raise her in the ways of their pack. Her father – who had not liked wolves that much to start with – hated wolves with a blistering passion because one had killed his wife, so Cadence had to deal with the hatred from him for her own people and a part of herself. He prevented her from learning anything but the barest bit about being a werewolf. And then there was Jason. Sweet Jason. She had grown up with him. Even though his pack was separate from Jake's, wolves ran with wolves, and they all looked out for each other unless one crossed another, and then it was a problem. As a hybrid, the only one that anyone had ever known, she was not technically part of Jake’s pack because she had not ever chosen to join. It would have been a simple ceremony on the full moon and then her wolf, at least the part of her brain that felt like a wolf sometimes, would come under Jake’s true rule as alpha. She was sure that often when she did things that pissed him off that he wished she was part of his pack so he could get her to fall in line. That may be why she didn’t. Or, it could be, because of Jason and her ridiculously long lasting unrequited love for the bastard. Jake and Renee always treated her as family and the pack looked out for her. But Jason’s parents lived next door to her, in a farmhouse that was about a 10-minute walk from hers. And so Jason, five years older than her, had been a near constant

presence in her life until about high school, and then he started changing. The boy that she had loved like a part of herself, more than a brother, more than a friend, but less than anything serious, became withdrawn and angry. He had a temper, volatile and hot, and lashed out at everyone. Jake told her it was because of the wolf. The boys came into their wolves about 16, and it took them a long time to get a handle on their beast, especially around the full moon. She'd been around wolves her whole life so she had an idea of what he was going through. She had tried to comfort him, even though she was only 11, and he'd snapped at her, such rage and hate in his eyes that she didn't know what had happened. And it never got better. Her love for him grew and grew, and his anger widened the distance between them until he was all but a stranger to her. Except of course for the knot in her heart where he was firmly rooted. She ignored him as best she could when she was in town, but it was difficult. The wolves all hung out at the bar and the only gas station in town was at his garage, and the damn restaurant that had been her father's was now run by Jake's pack and the wolves from both packs ate there constantly. She couldn't escape the wolves, and all of them knew her and her past and knew about her friendship with Jason and how he'd treated her. Wolves couldn't keep their mouths shut about anything juicy, and the poor wolf hybrid girl fawning over the alpha of the Tressel Pack was big news. So she did her best to be a bitch to him. Her sarcastic sense of humor was her best weapon. As she dressed for her first night at Jake’s in three months, she knew that Jason would be there. She chose her outfit carefully. She would make him sorry for being a dick to her all the time. She'd been alone long enough, and if he wanted nothing to do with her, then some other man would. There was that big old bed to toss around in, and she needed a hunk of man to grab onto, and soon. She pulled up the sides of her long dark brown hair and clipped them back, put on her dark party make-up, a spiked collar on her neck, two inches of bangles on her wrists and rings on her fingers. She dressed in a black leather mini skirt with slits up the thighs and chains around the waist, thigh high stockings, knee high leather kitten boots, and a black suede lace up bustier. She hoped Jason's head burst at the sight. As she

passed by the hall mirror by the front door, she caught her reflection and the two words that slipped through her mind made her smile: Nice. Dangerous. She cranked up Jimi Hendrix on her Charger's stereo, drove with the windows down, and sped towards the bar. She loved driving at night, and she loved fall, when the wind was crisp with the scent of leaves and the earth was ready to take a nap for winter. Striding purposely up the front walk where a line of men and women, mostly human, waited to get inside, she pushed her nerves away. Wolves used a private entrance, and she could have gotten in that way, but she wanted to see who was bouncing, and it was Toby, an enormous man and an even bigger wolf. Amid the catcalls and whistles as she made her way down the sidewalk, Toby gave her a huge grin and held his arms out for her. She jumped up into his arms and kept her legs together so she didn't flash the entire neighborhood. "Baby girl you get more gorgeous every time I see you. You’re gonna stick around this time, right?" "If I can find a job." She thought he was going to put her down but he grinned and said, "Pay the toll," and she kissed his cheek and he sighed happily and put her down. "Don't tell Jason," he winked at her. "Why would I tell Jason anything?" She went on the defense immediately. "Oh, we're playing that, huh? Get your fine ass in the bar, girlie, and send out a drink for me when you get a chance." He made motions to swat her butt, but she managed to skirt it. The doors opened for her, and she kissed the cheeks of two more wolves that belonged to Jake's pack. The bar was packed, as per usual on Friday nights starting about 10. The line outside said that it was going to be a long night and she was glad she'd managed to snag a nap in the late afternoon. She'd been painting the bedroom all morning and her yawns had gotten annoying so she flopped down on her bed and fell asleep. A smarter woman than her would have hired someone to paint the house and not undertaken it alone in an attempt to find something tactile to do with her hands so she didn’t do something stupid like call the local alpha and beg him for the time of day. And now, she went straight to the bar, avoiding the majority of the crowd but getting pulled into hug after hug from Jake's pack, and tentative smiles from Jason's pack. Finally, she ducked

under the counter of the bar and straightened up, brushing her hands down her skirt to stop them from shaking. "What the hell are you wearing?" She spun at the sound of Jake's voice. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" She folded her arms and cocked her hip at him. "Are you trying to start a riot?" He moved closer to her, annoyance and concern in his eyes. She rolled her eyes and before she could say something snarky he grabbed her wrist and said, "I've got a bar full of wolves and humans just looking for a reason to get into trouble. Are you trying to start something violent? I just redecorated." It sounded like he was joking, but she had a feeling he wasn't. She stared at him. Her outfit wasn't any worse than any other girl in there. Maybe he was just being overprotective as usual. Pulling her arm from his grip, she huffed, "Listen, Jake. This is how I dress. If you don't like it, fire me, otherwise, shut the hell up and let me get to tending this dump." She accentuated her words with a tidy growl at the end and he growled right back at her. "If it weren't for your mother’s friendship with Renee, I'd have shipped you off ages ago." "Don't threaten me, old man." She groused, and turned away from him and came face to face with Jason's younger and also gorgeous brother, Michael. "Hey baby girl!" He grinned, leaning his elbows on the bar. A girl named Lindy, clearly trying to look like a hooker, leaned on his shoulder, draping herself around him like a coat and giving Cadence a nasty look. Bitch. Werewolf bitch. Cadence ignored her. There weren't many she-wolves that wanted to tangle with her. Besides having their strength and speed and violent streak, she also had a chip on her shoulder the size of Rhode Island. Plus, she had spent her four years in college training in martial arts and defensive tactics, so she could kick just about any she-wolf's ass, and a number of males, too, if pressed. Most of the time, their threats were baseless, just testing the waters like children. Seeing how much they could push your buttons before you snapped. Her philosophy had always been to snap right away, go completely nuts so they'd leave her alone and back down. Most of the time it worked. She had gotten her ass

kicked enough in school by both male and female wolves though, and until Jason turned 16, he had always defended her. Of course no one would really hurt her or they'd face Jake's wrath, and even Jason's father, who had been alpha before him, had her back as a courtesy to Jake. She was off-limits unless she pressed a fight. Wolves said that if you couldn't back up your mouth then you had to keep it shut. Good advice, but most of the time she couldn't stop herself. "Hey Michael, how're tricks?" He asked for two pitchers of draft. "Good, good. You look fantastic, baby. Are you sticking around?" "Maybe. If can find a job." He made a face like he was thinking about something, screwing up his adorably cute dimpled cheeks, and she almost kissed him just because he was so damn cute. Michael was only two years older than her, and he had never gone through that horrible attitude change that Jason had. Although his personality had changed for a while, and like all wolves he had a temper, but he was just a very even tempered guy, unless he needed to not be. She would rely on Michael in a fight, to back her up, for anything and everything. But it hadn't been him that she'd wanted, it was Jason, and that burned her in a special way. Michael, sweetheart that he was, never looked at her like anything but a friend, and she was glad for it, but also hated it. No wolf in either pack had ever asked her out. When she was younger, she thought it was because of Jason, but then she just figured that they weren't interested in what a lot of the bitch wolves called her – “the mutt". He dropped a fifty on the counter and walked away and she smiled. They were always very generous. Although a lot of times they ended up destroying things because they would forget about their own strength after a few hours of drinking and dancing and hot girls. The bar attracted wolves and humans of both sexes. Some wolves and humans were mates to wolves, the equivalent of being married, and some were girlfriend or boyfriend, or fuck buddies. Some wolf females just didn't attract men, human or otherwise, and some human females wanted to be with the big bad wolf so badly that they just hung around and made themselves available to any that would have

them. The males called those human females chew toys. Cadence always felt a little bad for them, because no wolf would take a chew toy for a mate. Like the males, the females had their own hierarchy, with the alpha female mated with the alpha male. There was no alpha female of Jason's pack, and as far as she knew, Jason had not been with a female wolf ever; not even on the full moon when their cravings for sex were the highest. She would gladly take on any of the wolves in the pack for the chance to be in Jason's arms. She wouldn't admit it out loud, though. In fact, out loud she was a bitch to him. She taunted and teased him until he was red in the face and ready to throttle her. She knew how to push all his buttons and loved doing it. If she was miserable, she wanted him to be miserable, too. She turned her attention away from the past and lost herself in the flurry of drink orders. She knew exactly where Jason was the whole time, but took great care to ignore him. Eventually, though, she couldn't because Jake dropped a tray in her hands and put four beer bottles on it and told her to take it to Jason's table. "You do it." She shoved the tray back at him like a child. "No." He ground out. "You do it." "Fuck off, I don't want to." She shoved it back at him and the bottles tipped but righted themselves. His voice went low in a very serious way and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "You will do what I tell you." She pressed her tongue into the back of her incisor to stop herself from saying something nasty, and just nodded curtly and turned, setting the tray down and sliding under the counter and picking it up again. Gathering all her attitude and courage, she prepared to go face Jason and act like she could care less if he lived or breathed, even though she cared very much about both of those things.

Chapter 2

Jason had known the second she walked into the bar. Hell, he'd known the second she drove that souped up Charger into town, Hendrix blaring from her stereo. She'd stopped for gas at the station after driving in from where she'd been hiding out since she graduated in June, stupid NKU and all that bullshit. She looked fantastic. More than fantastic, she looked delicious and gorgeous, and cock-hardeningly breathtaking. He'd loved her as long as he could remember and he'd finally decided that it was the right time to reveal his feelings for her, or rather he was being forced to reveal his feelings for her, or watch someone else take her from him. And that, he couldn't allow. He'd waited for her to come home after she graduated, but she didn't for months and he'd nearly gone insane waiting. Why hadn't he just driven the fuck up there and dragged her home by her hair like some caveman? Oh right, he was a colossal idiot, plus it might have pissed her off. Her best friend Callie, one of his wolves, told him that Cadence didn't think there was any reason for her to come home anymore, and that had thrown him into a rage. He'd destroyed half his office at the garage before he got hold of his beast, which was snapping and snarling in his brain like the caged animal it was. The thought of her staying away forever was more than either of them could bear. He'd ordered Callie to do something that he had never ordered one of his people to do before - meddle. "Get her to see the light, Callie. Make her want to come home. You know she belongs here." He'd used his alpha tone of voice and Callie had been down on her knees in a heartbeat and had no choice but to obey, even though she clearly wanted to tell him to go to hell. Callie was a sweet girl and a distant cousin. He had been prying information from Callie about Cadence for years, and Cadence never knew. As a matter of fact, Cadence hated him and it was his own damn fault. He first sent Michael up to the bar to see how she was. Of course that trashy female had tagged along. He wasn't sure why Michael wanted anything to do with her,

she was a wolf female but she was a bitch and a half and not in a good way. She was underhanded, backstabbing, and not even remotely good looking, not to mention that Michael was second in command of the pack and should have better standards. Not that he could talk. His self-imposed celibacy from the she-wolves meant he ended up taking out his aggressive libido before the full moon in the shower. By himself. He watched how Cadence pointedly ignored Lindy and gave his brother a smile that clearly was too sweet for him and his beast started growling. He had to be careful, because if he pushed himself too much with her, then he'd do something temperamental like take out half the bar in a tantrum and he'd already been more than helpful cash-wise in Jake's recent redecorating. Michael sat down with the two pitchers and Lindy deposited herself next to him. Jason gave her a hard stare and she squeaked and moved out of the booth in a rush and almost fell over trying to get away. "Hey." Michael groused. "I was using that." "You can do better. You're second, for crying out loud. Have some self-respect." Jason growled, not taking his eyes off his sweet woman. And that's what she was. His. Sweet. The most perfect example of a woman if ever there was one. Gorgeous dark brown hair, green eyes like emeralds that heralded her bastard father's Irish blood, full lips made for kissing and other wicked games, tits that were so full and perfectly shaped that he could imagine burying himself between them and dying happily, not to mention her taut belly, and short, but shapely legs. And she'd walked in wearing black leather and suede fuck me boots, and a trace of perfume he could pick up all the way across the bar from where he stalked her with his eyes and nose. Tuscany, her signature fragrance, that made her own natural scent so much more magnified to him. She smelled like a storm, the way that the sky goes all crisp and clean after lightning clears it away, and she gave him electric shocks every time she looked at him. And he wasn't the only one that thought so. Every damn wolf in the bar was very aware of her; attraction and desire hung in the air like a cloud and it pissed him off. But fuck if she wanted him, and he had no idea how to get anywhere near her without being subjected to her witty barbs and sarcastic comments and occasional thrown fists. She infuriated him, and she knew it; she taunted him mercilessly and was mostly just plain mean to him, but he'd done it to her himself. He'd driven his sweet Cadence crazy with

neglect and now he was licking his wounds because he'd done a great job at keeping her away from himself. Idiot. Michael snapped his fingers in front of his face. "You know, she'll never figure anything out without some help." Jason nearly growled. As if he hadn't thought about just coming right out and telling her everything, baring his soul to her. "Because it won't work that way. She has to come into it herself. You know that." Michael rolled his eyes. Jason loved his brother but right now he wanted to throttle him. He watched his woman, his mate, tend bar for Jake, alpha of the Garra Pack, a man that had taken her under his wing, or paw perhaps, and taught her everything he knew about being pack, and Jake was one hell of an alpha. How their two packs had ever managed to be in the same town for so many decades, he didn't know, but the treaty between the Tressel and Garra Packs was over a century old, and the bar was neutral ground. Except for the occasional wolf-to-wolf fight, usually over a female since there were so few between the two packs, the groups tolerated each other. And Jake was a good man. Unfortunately he had two sons, both high ranking, that wanted to bury themselves in Cadence's body, maybe even as badly as he did. Jake had given him a deadline and it had nearly made his head split open. "When she comes back to town, claim her as your own in thirty days, or I'm going to give my people a chance to get to her." Jason would have ripped his head off, started a war between the packs, but Jake looked sad suddenly, and gripped his shoulder. "Listen, man, I get it. You were following orders, but you're alpha now. You want to claim what is rightfully yours, then you do it, and soon. My people want her claimed, or they want to claim her. You've kept her for yourself for fourteen years and I more than trust you with the girl that is like a daughter to me. So get your head out of your fucking ass and be with her or let her go. It's not fair to deny her happiness if you won't be the one to give it to her." So just like that, Cadence came back to town on September 29th, and he got a note the next day from Jake. "I'll give you until the bonfire on the 31st to make your move or she's fair game. Don't blow it. Jake."

So here he sat, in the same stupid bar with the same stupid music and there she was, working hard, making drinks that he had no idea how to even start, flirting for tips, and dressed as sexy as he had ever seen her, possibly on purpose to goad him. Just glancing at her made his whole body uncomfortably tight. There weren't enough cold showers in the world to get over the way she affected him. He gave a look across the bar to Jake, and Jake sent one of his lackeys over to the table. "I want Cadence to bring us four beers." "She won't, dude." The lackey said. Corey something. Small wolf, big mouth. Jason ground his teeth together. "She will if Jake makes her. Run along." The lackey scampered off, as much as you can scamper on two legs anyhow, and Jake had clearly been annoyed but had complied. He watched her shove the tray back at him, tell him to fuck off. Having super hearing was so handy sometimes. He could hear her words, but also zero in on everything about her - how she had suddenly sucked in a breath at the request, how her heart had raced, and how she seemed to be itching to smash Jake's face in with the tray. She had a wicked temper, and he loved it about her. So smart, so funny, so dangerous. He loved the total package, and she was one smoking hot package. Practically stomping through the middle of the bar, she carried the tray like a pro, even though she had a bachelor's in business. Michael said she needed a job, didn't know if she was staying, and he knew he had to help that situation without making it look like he was up to something, although he certainly was. He heard one of his shewolves call Cadence a mutt, something that they'd called her since she was a kid because she was a half breed. For just a heartbeat, her whole body went tense and Jason very nearly threw himself out of the booth and beat the wolf to death, but he knew he couldn't. At least not in public. Cadence had to fight her own battles, especially if she was going to be his mate. She would have to take on the nastiest bitches of the groups, and he had no doubt she could. He'd seen her fight, seen her tumble with the best of them, and come out victorious or waiting for a rematch. It was Lindy who had called her a mutt and he knew why. Lindy thought of herself as Alpha material and had been trying to get Jason into bed for years. She’d taken Michael as a second-best, but

she would have spread her legs for him in a flash if he wasn’t thoroughly disgusted with her. Every one of his people knew that Cadence was the only one for him, and some of the females had accepted that, but a lot of them had not. Because he'd chosen her and she was weak in their eyes because she couldn't shift. It didn't make her any less of a wolf in his eyes; in fact it made him jealous. She wasn't a slave to the full moon, although she had always loved their celebrations. Stupid Lindy. No one would have known that Cadence was affected by the crude nickname unless they were really paying attention. Her eyes had narrowed just slightly, her breath had caught in her throat, and her whole body tensed up. He was pretty sure she had wanted to smash the tray into her skull and he would have loved for her to do it. Teach that bitch some manners. Lindy was trouble and would be until Cadence put her in her place. But she couldn't do that without claiming Jason as her mate, and he wasn't sure she would do that, not at this point. The sweet look she gave to Michael as she came up to the table made him want to pound Michael's head through the table. She'd smiled at Michael twice now, and Michael was practically glowing with glee at how pissed Jason was. Fortunately, one of the things Cadence hadn't acquired in her supernatural skill set was the ability to detect the emotions off others, otherwise she'd be very clearly aware of how jealous he was, how much he desired her, and how badly he wanted to mount her on the table. As it was, all he could manage was to give her blank-face and act like he didn't care. Her gaze slid around the booth and her smile disappeared as she set the bottles down. She was holding the bottle for him and he couldn't stop himself from being a jerk when he said, "Nice of you to stop in and say hello, when you came into town." Her grip tightened on the bottle and the wolves around him held their collective breaths. He saw her press her tongue into her incisor, something she'd done since she was a kid to keep from drawing blood when she bit her tongue, and then she did something that completely surprised him. She took his bottle of beer and licked the mouth of it, darting that wicked tongue across the glass. With a smirk, she set it down in front of him, snatching the money off the table and huffing away in a storm cloud of conflicting emotions: anger, mostly, but also some fear mixed with desire. He didn't

know what she was afraid of, but he figured it was himself. He looked at the bottle, all of them did, because she'd pretty much just licked him, had teased him openly, but clearly she had not meant to do it for his arousal. He'd bet any amount of money that she thought he would be pissed off about the move like it would disgust him or he would trade bottles with someone. When they were kids, she used to stick her finger in his cereal bowl before school and he'd always loved that about her, her ability to find something that bothered him and devil him with it. It drove him crazy, of course, but he had loved that she watched him so closely, even as a kid, and knew exactly how to get to him. She still did, actually, except now she did it out of spite. She'd done that cereal bowl thing for months until he finally grabbed her hand and licked the milk off. She'd squealed and tried to get away, but he wouldn't let her until the milk was all gone and he'd had a very good taste of her skin. Of course he was 15 and she was 10, so it was kind of obscene, but he'd already claimed her, and it was normal for wolves to taste each other. And she tasted good underneath the milk. Like sweet cream or vanilla, something comforting. How many years ago was that? 14, Jake had said. 14 years and she'd never figured out what he'd done, had never seemed to remember the day that changed his life forever but also sent him practically into exile. He needed her to remember what happened between them when she was 9 and he was 14, but he was beginning to think she'd never remember. They'd been playing at his father's house which was down the street from her house. His father, Peter, was alpha of the pack and Jason was being groomed to take over when he reached 21. Peter and her father, James, were only barely acquaintances even though they'd lived next door to each other and her mother Dixie was a wolf so he knew all about them, but had always acted superior. As if being pure human were better than anything. He'd tried to keep Cadence away from pack things, but Jake had been insistent that James couldn't help her come to terms with her powers. If she went untrained then she'd be even more dangerous, so James had stepped back, angrily, and spent his free time bashing the wolves to Cadence. She was always beautiful, but she grew more beautiful to him every day as they grew up together. He knew that his time to come into his powers was drawing close

and that he would only have about two years to be with her and then he'd have to keep away from her because he'd be too volatile. He never wanted to hurt her, but he'd seen enough wolves come into their powers at 16 and hurt their families and friends. He was going to work so hard to tame his beast, to cage it and chain it, until it was as tame as a puppy dog so he could be around her, and he'd do it faster than anyone ever so he could be there for her, be her friend and confidant again. That day, he'd felt the urge to mark her. He'd felt it before, the knowledge that she would be his when they were both adults and the desire to make sure no one else ever touched her. He could only do that by marking her. Maybe he'd known somehow that he wouldn't be able to control his beast, maybe he'd somehow known that she would grow to hate him because she wouldn't understand that he was trying to protect her, so he'd done it. She had been chasing him around the yard. It was springtime, everything was fresh and new. He spun on her suddenly, twice as tall as her already and had crouched down on his points and growled at her. She thought he was playing, but he wasn't. He so wasn't playing. She froze, her green eyes wide, her ponytail making her neck sweetly visible, and then she spun and darted away from him with a delightful laugh and he chased her. He was stronger than her because he was older and male, but she was fast and he had to really surge forward to get her. He waited until she rounded the house so that no one would see, and he tackled her, safely taking her to the ground in his gangly arms and subduing her. "Gotcha, Cadence." He said as she laughed and struggled in his arms, and then he'd bitten her neck. She'd gone very still, hadn't cried out or anything, even when his canines dug into her flesh and punctured through. Her skin had tasted so incredibly sweet. He growled into her, sending his growl down her spine and he felt her relax and submit, which was exactly what was supposed to happen between a mated pair. She was so small, so sweet, and so his. He released his hold on her and licked the wound and opened his mouth to tell her that she was his mate, and then his father's voice came from the window above them. "Jason, you fucking let her up this instant and get in this damn house!" Jason let her roll away from him and she had looked at him so strangely, touching her neck and looking at the blood on her fingers. His father stormed out of the

house and had practically thrown him around the back and he heard him pick her up off the ground and speak very quietly to her. When she went running home, he saw that her hair was out of the ponytail now; his father had clearly warned her that if her dad saw the marks that they'd all be in trouble. His father had been in such a rage, had thrown him into the house by his neck. "What were you fucking thinking?" "She's mine!" He tried to stand up, to defend himself, but his father backhanded him, knocked him back to his knees. "She is not our pack and she is a child, Jason." His father hit him again, his fist flying so fast he only saw the blur and then felt the pain. "She's mine, Dad, I made her mine!" "You have ruined everything, Jason. If her father finds out, he will have you arrested for assault. How could you be so stupid?" Jason, for the first time since he was a small child, had cried, his mouth going salty and his eyes filling. "I had to, Dad. I'll have to stay away from her once I turn until I can control myself and I don't want anyone else to claim her. Too many, Dad, there are too many that want her. We were made for each other, she belongs to me, she’s my female alpha." His father had stood there, fury rolling off him, and then he'd suddenly squatted down and put his hand on his shoulder. "I understand, son. You have found your mate and she's special. But she's not our pack, she's not anyone's pack and she's not quite like us. As your alpha, I forbid you to talk about what happened with her, to explain the significance. If she is really yours, she will remember what you did and know the meaning behind it and come to you. Until that happens, I forbid you and any of our wolves from talking to her about the marking." His father stood up, stretching to his full height, and Jason felt the weight of his father's words. He couldn't ignore a direct order from his alpha, no matter how badly he wanted to. Now he'd marked her, branded her as his wife, and any wolf that saw the puncture wounds on her neck would know that she belonged to someone, and his pack would know it was him and so would Jake's pack. But no one was allowed to talk to her about it, and that would be a problem. He couldn’t finish claiming her.

He’d been forced to stay on his knees in the front room while his father waited for Jake to come. Because Cadence was so close to Jake, his father had to explain what had happened. Jake hadn’t been upset, but he was worried. “The order by itself won’t stand, Peter.” “How so?” His father asked. “Because if Jason’s wolf recognizes her as his alpha mate, then the packs will treat her that way. They will expect her to know that she’s alpha and that she belongs to him when she comes of age. Even if she doesn’t remember the marks because of your order to her, she’ll know that something is going on because of how they’ll react to her. You can’t keep her on the outside of things unless you really keep her outside.” “So, a total black out of pack dealings, then?” His father rubbed his stubbled jaw with two fingers. Jake shrugged. “You only have two choices here, Peter, really. You either find her and rescind your own order and make sure that she understands the grave consequences that would happen if her father finds out that Jason bit her, or you keep her away completely. I teach her some things, her father is so hateful towards anything pack that I try not to influence her too much, but I’m not sure either way is necessarily better.” Jason had known which way he wanted his father to go, but he hadn’t dared speak. A complete black out of pack dealings would mean that she wouldn’t know what a pack was really like. What a mating looked like. Or share the full moons with him. “You’re right, Jake. I hadn’t considered that. If she were older, and we could trust that she wouldn’t tell her father anything, then I’d lift my order. This way is safer for everyone. I’ll let my pack know that they are not to speak to her about being alpha, nor are they to speak of the marks on her neck, or the mating to Jason.” “I’ll do the same.” Jake had given one long look to Jason and it was the first time that he’d felt someone pity him and it had made him feel worse. He’d had to follow his father out to the meeting with the pack, and listen as his father talked about his actions like he was an idiotic child and not trying to protect his mate. And then the orders had come down and the pack accepted them. His mother

had put her arm around him and kissed the top of his head. That was the most comfort that he’d gotten from anyone. If Cadence had been there, she would have held his hand or given him something she’d made for him. But she wasn’t there, and he didn’t know how long it would be for her to figure out what had happened. Later that night, when he couldn’t sleep, he’d been outside where he’d marked her and saw the metal clasp of her hair tie glinting on the ground. He sat down, curling up on the grass where he had held her in his arms and smelled her sweet scent mixed with the strawberry lip gloss she loved, and he put it on his wrist. He still had it, as a matter of fact. The black fabric covered tie was wrapped around the handle bar of his Harley. He never chased her like that again, because the urge to hold her in his arms was so strong that he felt like he would choke on it. And then he'd suddenly been 16 and had started lying full time to her, telling her that she was just a kid and to leave him alone, when all he wanted to do was change into his wolf form and put his head in her lap. He wanted her to comfort him, which was fucking absurd because she was just a kid, but she was his and that’s what mates did. They had a serious connection and he knew she felt it, but she didn't understand it and no one would help her understand it. When he graduated from high school, she was a freshman. She was hit on so constantly that he had to ask his brother to watch over her, but they'd developed a friendship that had made him so furious with rage that he very nearly killed him on several occasions. It had taken him years to get his wolf under control. His wolf was such a beast, so full of rage, that he was afraid to be around her and part of him thought that maybe the reason he was so angry was because he wasn't around her, but he couldn't risk it. Couldn't risk hurting her, and by the time he felt even remotely under control she'd developed quite a bad attitude about him. All that love he'd seen in her eyes when they were kids had morphed into hate and despair and he hated himself for it. She'd gone off to college before he knew it, and then he'd taken over for his father after he was injured in a hunting accident. But damn it all to hell, she'd been dating in college and he heard all about it from Callie who hated being his spy but did what he said.

And now here he was, holding a beer bottle that she had licked in defiance and it had turned him on like nothing else. He took a long drink, watching her watch him from behind the bar, tasting her on the bottle and he nearly came right there. Now that would have been embarrassing. He heard her curse under her breath and turn back to the customers. Linus, one of his wolves, barked out a laugh. "You are so fucking screwed right now." He quickly held up his hands in defense, and it saved him from getting flattened. It was true, though. He had a month to make her remember the mark, admit she was his, and love him again. Sounded simple enough, in theory, but she was complicated on a good day, which meant he was royally screwed.

Chapter 3

Several things went through Cadence’s mind as she slammed the tray down on the counter, the loudest thought being: Why the hell had she licked his beer bottle? It had made her look like a fool. Groaning, she started filling orders, and pressed her tongue in her tooth so hard and often that she thought she'd get a blister by the end of the night. "Hey gorgeous." Without looking up, she knew the voice belonged to Christian, Jake's oldest son, poised to take over the pack in another few years when Jake stepped down. He was 27, gorgeous, and arrogant. "Hey Chris. What'll you have?" "You, on the counter." She looked up at him in surprise; he'd never been so blatantly flirty. "Oh sure, let me stow my panties under the bar and I'll be right up." She turned her back on him to grab some glasses and he laughed, and then Jake was suddenly there, whispering angrily in his ear. Chris hissed. "I said I'd wait, I didn't say I'd make it easy for him." To her he said with a velvet voice, "Beautiful, bring up a couple beers for the guys and sing a few with us." She gave him a smirk and he turned away and wove his way through the crowd that was gathering on the dance floor in anticipation of the house band, lead by Chris, called Shivering Fur. They were great; a little rock, country and blues mixed together and she'd sung with them before. She could hold her own with a mic, and the group was fun, but she couldn't help but think that something had changed since she'd been home last. Chris had always been friendly, because of his parents’ friendship with her mother and she had spent a lot of time with Chris growing up, but there had never been anything there other than, well, nothing.

"Go on and sing a few. For me." Jake said, giving her four beers. She fingered two in each hand, and looked at him. "Is something going on that I should know about?" He gave her blank face, which meant he was hiding something. "Nope, darling. I can't help it if you're too cute for your own damn good." He smiled but it was forced. Something was definitely up. She shrugged and ducked under the counter. She could not miss the unhappy looks from Jason's pack as she walked up to the stage and climbed up the handful of steps, kissing the cheeks of the other band members, including Brett, Jake's other son. She handed off the beers and Chris was suddenly behind her, his hand sliding across the expanse of flesh between the waist of her skirt and the bottom of her top as he took the remaining beer from her hand. She heard the unhappy rumbling growl of wolves and knew one of them was Jason. Chris tensed for a second and then relaxed and said, "I'm glad you're back, kitten. You coming to the bonfire Sunday?" "Don't I always?" He was so close, almost too close, but if it annoyed Jason then that was okay. "Save me a dance?" She turned her head to look up at him. Between Jake's two boys, Chris was the best looking, with light brown hair that fell straight to his shoulders and a constant chin full of stubble. "Shave and I'll think about it." She smiled, patting his cheek and ducking away from him. He laughed and pulled his guitar over his shoulder. She sang three songs, one blues and two rock, and then laughed all the way back to the bar as they launched into a few Hendrix songs. Watching him from the bar while they performed, she thought he wasn't too bad, all things considered. But her heart betrayed her more often than not and only wanted Jason. Damn it. Cadence heard Callie before she saw her, and she was in distress. She cast her gaze for her best wolf girlfriend and saw that one of Jason's wolves had her wrist in a tight grip and was trying to pull her with him out the back door. She looked afraid. Without hesitation, Cadence grabbed the ball bat under the counter and leapt over the bar with one hand and landed on the balls of her feet while Jake sighed about

redecorating. Closing the distance quickly, she saw that Bruce was not taking no for an answer. She leveled the bat into Bruce's chest and he flew back into a column. "You want to grope my friend in my bar," she dug the end of the bat into his throat and put her foot on his crotch, pressing down until he made a strangled sort of groaning noise. "It's a two drink minimum, you fuck." Callie came to stand next to her. "Glad you could make it." Cadence said to her, not taking her eyes off the writhing guy on the ground. "Me, too." Callie kissed her cheek. "I missed the hell out of you." "Say you're sorry, Brucie and I'll let your balls survive." She pushed down and he groaned, and then she heard Jason's voice and realized they had a crowd. "Do it." He growled standing next to Bruce and looking down. "Sorry." He spat out, rubbing his chest. She put a little more pressure on him and Jason said her name very sternly. She looked up at him like she was seeing him for the first time and he looked pleased but angry, and maybe a little turned on. Of course she was probably just seeing that last part. She pulled back, and Bruce edged himself up the column and cracked his neck, clearly embarrassed to be put down by a crazy half wolf, but Jason's warning growl shivered through the group and Bruce backed down and slunk away. The crowd cleared, even Callie backed away, and Jason held his hand out. Cadence looked down at it like it was made of snakes, and he sighed. "Give me the bat, Cadence." "Afraid I'll go postal?" Her knuckles protested the tight grip. "No. I don't worry about you losing control. But it's over, so give it to me." "You're not my alpha, Jason." She spun on her heels and stalked back to the bar, ducking under the counter and giving the bat to Jake. "Thanks for not destroying the place." He huffed, and she caught that little bit of reluctant pride that he tried to keep hidden when she did dangerous things, like attacking a full grown male werewolf with a baseball bat in the middle of a bar full of wolves. Stupid, yes, but necessary. And she’d do it again in a heartbeat too.

Callie sidled up to the bar and held her hands out and Cadence leaned over and hugged her. She made her favorite drink, Sex with an Alligator, and pushed it across the bar, ignoring the money she held out. "What was that all about?" Cadence dropped shot glasses on the counter and filled them with Jack. Callie took a sip and sighed. "Several things, but mainly, they think I've been single long enough." "Who exactly are they?" Cadence darted a glance to the booth and could tell by the way that Jason was sitting that he was listening to them. Werewolves had fantastic hearing, even in human form. It was not a trait that she had inherited, and she’d always thought it must be nice to hear so easily like that. To see if he really was listening, she whispered to Callie in a conspiratorial way, “I think Chris looks fucking hot tonight, don’t you?” Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Jason’s face contorted with rage and then there was a loud crack as the bottle in his hand shattered. He grunted, “Fuck,” and all his wolves were grabbing napkins to sop up the beer. She giggled, she couldn’t help it, and Jake leaned over her and put his big paw on the worn counter. “You think it’s funny, but you have to clean it up.” Peeking up at him, she saw that he was trying to be stern but he clearly also thought it was funny. Teasing the big bad. What a bitch. “I’ll get to it, old man. Obviously I should wait, though, since he’s all red faced and covered in beer.” Jake snorted, tugged on a lock of her hair fondly, and went back to work. Callie sighed and picked up the conversation where it had dropped off. Talking while Cadence was working meant stopping and starting conversations a lot. They had been friends for a long time, almost as long as she had known Jason. Callie and Cadence always had each other's backs, and Callie was just about the only female wolf in their age group that didn't hate her. Since Jason had turned his back on her, Callie and Michael had been her only true friends. "The single males." She said finally, answering her question. "Fuck 'em." Cadence said. "You can screw who you want without a commitment or you can pick a mate. You shouldn't allow yourself to be forced into anything.

Especially not by some disgusting prick like Bruce. Ick." Cadence made a face and Callie grinned. "If you hadn't left me high and dry to go better yourself in college, I might not have gotten stuck in this mess." "What does me going to college have anything to do with anything?" "Because if you were with someone, then you could lead by example. I'm always so much better at being a bitch when you're nearby. I don't stand up for myself when I'm alone." Cadence gave her a hard look. "I'm not your pussy monitor, Cal. And I can hardly lead by example; there isn't a guy in this damn town that wants anything to do with me." "Not true, you fucking liar." She took a long drink of her brown and green drink and licked her lips. "You could have your pick, if you realized what your choices were." Before Cadence could ask her what she meant by choices, Michael was suddenly next to her, whispering angrily in her ear, something that made fear wash over her features. She nodded and Michael looked at Cadence and gave her a strange look, smiling stiffly. Callie grabbed her drink and gave Cadence a soft smile and let Michael lead her back to the booth where it looked like Jason was fit to be tied. She sighed inwardly and thought, "Come over and talk to me, Jas. Tell me that when you turned your back on me, that you didn’t mean it. That you’re sorry and you love me as much as I love you." The rest of the night passed quickly, and Callie stopped to kiss her goodbye and promised to stop by to take her out to lunch, after Cadence made sure she was okay. Cadence kissed Jake goodbye and headed out, Chris and Brett waiting to walk her out to her car. Jake always insisted she had people walk her out, in case there were drunk wolves loitering outside. Even the most timid of them sober could be a real animal when they were drunk and she'd already had her fight for the night. "Wanna get something to eat?" Chris asked, snagging the keys from her hand and unlocking the door for her.

"I promised Cal lunch, and I'm kinda beat, but thanks for the offer." He dropped the keys in her hand and leaned his arm on top of the door. "Chris, is there something going on?" He gave a clearly fake confused look. "What are you talking about?" She shook her head. "I don't know. Seems like everyone's acting strange towards me. Stranger than usual." He looked like he was thinking, and just for a minute she felt like the real Chris, the one that she had known as a kid who had once helped her when she was hurt, was surfacing. "What are you thinking about?" He asked suddenly, brow raised. "I was thinking about that time we were playing together behind the bar and I was maybe 5, and I fell and you carried me inside and put a bandage on my knee. And you gave me a popsicle so I'd stop crying. You used to be sweet." He laughed. "I'm not sweet anymore? Ow, that hurts." He clutched his chest in an exaggerated way. "Oh come off it, Chris. You're arrogant and you know it." He sighed, giving her the full weight of his light brown eyes. "Maybe I've decided that it's no fun when everyone thinks you're a prick, especially the people who know you best, or maybe I've decided to reevaluate my priorities. I don't know. You know, Cadence, you can do what you want, you could choose to be with humans or you could choose a pack. You'd be readily accepted, all you'd have to do is pick a mate." "A mate? Where is this coming from?" Brett cleared his throat loudly and Chris sighed. "Goodnight, sweetheart. See you tonight. And don't forget about the dance you promised me at the bonfire." He shot back over his shoulder as he and Brett made their way towards their own pickup trucks, Brett giving her a chaste kiss on the cheek. "I said you had to shave." He waved over his shoulder and she laughed, sliding into the cool leather seats and starting the V8, Hendrix's Crosstown Traffic blaring. She passed out after changing into a long t-shirt and climbing into bed. Her whole body ached, from her feet to the top of her head and all parts between, and she

fell asleep fast, her last thoughts swirling around Jason and now Chris. Stupid Jason. Strange Chris. Weird, weird life. The bed tilted and Callie smacked her on the butt. Well, it had better be Callie. "You've slept enough." She declared. "It better be after twelve." Cadence growled. "Close. It's 10:30." "Ah, fuck you, Cal. I didn't get to bed until 5." She jerked the pillow to cover her face. "So, take a nap later. Come on, come on, I wanna get breakfast while Lonestar's is still serving it." Cadence flipped her off, but got up, showering and pulling on a pair of fashionably ripped jeans, Harley boots, and a dark blue v-neck jersey cotton long sleeved shirt. While they ate their respective breakfasts in the corner booth at the back of the restaurant, Callie said, “You know what I was thinking about the other day?” She speared a wedge of French toast and asked what. Callie's fork rested on her plate and she folded her hands together, “I was thinking about the first time that you came to my defense. In school, when we were in second grade.” Cadence smiled and the scene played through her mind quickly, like an old movie. She had known Callie since preschool, but had not been friends with her. She was still very much an outsider, even at age 7 in second grade. Wandering away from the wall where she was spending recess holding it up with her shoulder, she heard someone crying and went to investigate. She found Callie on her knees with her head down, and three of the bigger wolf girls standing around her, taunting her. Cadence didn’t know what they thought she’d done to be treated so poorly, but protectiveness for her rose up fast and she ran to the biggest girl and shoved her. She stumbled back a few steps and Cadence stood in front of Callie in what she hoped was an aggressive stance like she’d seen some of the wolf boys do, and said, “You leave her alone, Alice!” The two girls with Alice gave Cadence nasty looks as Alice growled, “Who do you think you are, mutt?” “You leave her alone!” Cadence said it again, bristling at the term “mutt”.

Alice shoved her hard and because Callie was behind her, she tripped over her and fell onto her back. Renee worked at the school at the time, as a teacher’s aide and lunchroom monitor, and she had appeared suddenly and helped Cadence up. Her tone was all wolf when she said, “What is the matter with you girls?” “She started it.” Alice sniffed. Callie whined, “She did not you jerk!” Renee gave a little shake to Alice’s arm and said, “You don’t pick on your own, Alice.” “The mutt’s not one of us.” She sniffed and her two friends joined in. “That’s enough. Go on and play or I’ll have to speak to your fathers.” The girls walked away without another glance and Renee helped Callie off her knees and gave long looks to both of them. “You two go on and play.” After that, they’d been joined at the hip. There was safety in numbers, and they were fortunately in classes together so they were as close as two kids could be. “I was so glad when Alice and her cronies left to go to that other pack in Tennessee after graduation. She was such a bitch.” Cadence said, finishing up her plate. “Yeah, me too. Did I ever say thank you for that? No one ever stuck up for me before. Or believed I was worth anything much.” “You mentioned it a few times over the years, Cal. You were my first real friend, too. It would have been much harder for me if you weren’t in my life.” After her fourth cup of coffee, Grey, the man who had bought the restaurant from her father's estate and was part of Jake’s pack, came up to the table with a large cardboard box with numerous styrofoam boxes in it. "Hey, darlin'. Drop this off at the garage, would you?" Cadence raised her brow over her coffee. "Do I look like a delivery girl?" He sighed. "Come on, I'll comp your meal." "You comp all my meals." She pointed out, irritably. "I'll comp Callie's, too. Please? I'm shorthanded and the lunch rush is going to start. I'll owe you." She would have rather stayed to help serve lunch, honestly.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Tell me why everyone is acting so strangely towards me since I got back." He went pale and swallowed loudly. "What are you talking about?" "You know what I'm talking about. Chris is hitting on me, I'm getting weird eyes from Jason's pack, and Jake's fit to be tied about everything I do." His lips pursed and she could hear his teeth grinding together. "I can't honey, I just can't. It's nothing bad, but that's all I can say. That's all anyone can say." He glanced at Callie who darted a look away. "You guys fucking suck." She motioned him away and groused at Callie over her coffee. After a trip to the bathroom, Callie and Cadence drove to the garage. Cadence carried the box in after Callie hopped out and disappeared around the back, forcing her to go inside alone. Michael was leaning over the counter expectantly. "Sweet. Did Grey guilt you into bringing it over?" She nodded, sliding the box to him. "Hey, do me a favor." He said digging into the box and pulling out a box. "Take this to Jason, so I can deliver the rest of this stuff." "Nope." She turned to leave and he begged. “Please, Cades. It’s just a box. It’s not like I asked you to deliver military secrets to China.” Just a box. Yeah, and a Harley was just a bicycle. “You could have delivered it yourself in the time it took to argue with me.” “So could you.” He arched a brow at her. She gave up eventually, because Michael was very persuasive when he wanted to be, and annoying when he set his mind on something. She grabbed the box, stalked down the hallway to Jason's office and tried to ignore her hammering pulse and suddenly sweaty hands. Without knocking, she opened the office door and Callie yelped in surprise and then looked guilty. She was around the side of the desk by his chair, leaning very close next to him. Cadence stared slack jawed at the two of them for a long moment, absorbing her guilty and flushed face and his blank face. Jason cleared his throat. “Is that for me, Cadence?”

Cadence chuckled, and it came out sounding a lot more upset than she intended it to, because she wasn’t even sure why she was upset. She mumbled an affirmative, dropped the box on his desk, and walked away without another word. Something about the whole situation bothered her. She walked out to her car, ignoring Callie as she called her and Michael as he said goodbye and when she opened the car door and Callie was standing in the door of the garage she realized what her brain had been trying to tell her. Was it possible that Jason and Callie were together? “I gotta run, Callie, I’ll...catch you later.” She had to clear her throat twice. Callie didn’t protest as Cadence drove off but she did look hurt. Her brain filled up the silence in the car with more thoughts. This was why everyone was acting so weird? Because her best friend was screwing the love of her life? Callie knew her feelings for Jason and she had been fucking him? Cadence felt like her heart was being squeezed in a vise. When she sat in the drive in front of her house and turned off the engine, she listened to the errant train in her head and then growled at herself. She was stronger than this, wasn’t she? If Jason and Callie were together now, then she could be happy for them. Couldn’t she? Didn’t she want Callie to be in love and find a husband and have babies? Didn’t she want Jason to be happy? He was so moody and brooding, he deserved a little happiness, even if her own was leaking away fast. Her cell phone buzzed and it was Callie. She didn’t want to talk to her. Not right now. She went into the house and turned off the cell and unplugged the house phone because the near constant ringing was getting on her nerves. Burying herself in her pillow on the bed, she let herself feel bad and be all pathetic for a while, and then she shook all that off. She had survived a childhood with a drunk father who thought wolves were the devil incarnate and had made her feel like she was some unholy spawn and not his own child. She could get over this. She would. Even if a part of her was dying inside, she could put on a tough front and not let them know that she was aching and falling apart. Her heart was shattering in the wake of the idea that Callie and Jason were together, even if it wasn’t confirmed.

She loved Callie like a sister, but the thought of her in Jason's arms poked holes in her façade of calm. She shoved those thoughts aside like a bad dog begging for table scrapes and drifted off into a restless sleep. Staring into her closet before work, she impatiently shoved the hangers back and forth before finally settling on black jeans, Harley boots, and a fitted tank with a silver dragon that stretched from one side around to the back. Almost the polar opposite of what she’d worn the night before, her teasing, sexy attitude hadn’t reared its head because she was feeling a little more broken than she had been when she’d driven into town. She wanted to be able to pretend that she could handle seeing Callie and Jason together, so she steeled herself as she walked into the bar, prepared to watch him with his arm around her, whispering in her ear all the things that she wanted him to whisper to her. When she put her hands down on the bar top and let her gaze drift across the crowded bar to the table where Jason and his closest friends were sitting, she was surprised that Callie was not sitting next to him. Jason met her eyes and she wanted to believe that there was love in the depths of those pretty blue eyes, but the little nagging voice in her head reminded her that Callie and Jason together explained a lot of what had been happening since she got to town. Callie telling her that she had choices – she meant choices other than Jason. Chris telling her that she could choose a pack, he meant Jake’s because the only reason she would choose Jason’s pack was for Jason. Sure, she loved Michael, but in a completely non-sexual way. Like a lamp. She loved him, but didn't want him like that. For one shining moment, she let herself sulk in pity at losing the man she’d loved for nearly her entire life, and then went to work. Drinks flowed and the clink of glasses against the bar top like something of a song, and although she was not nearly as flirty and fun as she’d been the night before, she buried herself in work. It wasn't long before Callie came up to the bar. "Cadence, can we talk, please?" She gave her blank face. She could be civil but she didn’t want to have any soul baring conversations right now. "Did you want something to drink?" She looked like she was going to cry. "Cades, please, tell me what's wrong."

She ground out, "I said I'm working, Callie." She walked away trembling and tended to others that were waiting. Eventually, Jake pulled her aside. "What's bothering you? It's like someone sucked all the life out of you. Where's the ballsy girl that knocked Bruce backwards with my baseball bat?" She sighed. "I don't know, Jake, I just, too much is changing. I thought that I knew what I wanted and it's like I have no idea anymore." She wasn't sure she could tell Jake that she didn't know how she would handle Jason and Callie together, if they really were. She was afraid to ask anyone for confirmation, because if she was right and they were together, then that meant everything she'd loved was gone in a blink. She could get through it, get over him eventually, she hoped. But it would take time. Lots and lots of time. For now, it felt as though her heart had been cracked into a million pieces. "Look, I'll tell you something I should have told you a long time ago. You either fight for what you want or you roll over and take what's given to you. You do have choices. There is always a choice." Again with the word choice. She nodded at him and went back to work, very thankful when she had nearly zero interaction with Jason's wolves although she was very aware of exactly where he was all the time. All night she felt like she was being watched intently from the direction of Jason’s booth, but every time she looked that way he wasn’t looking at her and by the end of the night she was beginning to think she had a serious screw loose. Chris and Brett appeared to walk her out when Jake decided he’d had enough of her not being her normal self, whatever that was. The man couldn't be pleased no matter how she acted. It was before closing and she was relieved to go. She wouldn't have to think about the bar again for another week, although she would have to face everyone at the bonfire. "Come on, sweetheart." Chris pulled her against him, his arm around her shoulder, and walked her out with Brett on her other side. They talked about the bonfire, and she said she didn't think she was going to go. "Of course you are." Chris said. "It's the first one since you're back in town. And plus you owe me a dance." "Chris." She protested, blandly. "Nope. I'll even pick you up. How's that sound?"

She gave him a narrowed look and he held up his hands. "I swear it's on the up and up. Come on, I'll bring you flowers. I even know your favorite." "Do you?" She was curious now. A few guys in college had sent her flowers but no one had ever gotten her favorite right. "Yep." He grinned and wiggled his brows at her and she felt one of the very tiny cracks in her heart heal a bit. Chris, was he a choice that Jake had referred to? Chris didn't like her that way, did he? Why now? Why this time when she'd come home? Because she was not leaving, although she hadn't decided that officially, or was it more than that? "Okay. But it's not a date." He pretended to be insulted. "Of course it's not a date. I wouldn't take you to something ridiculous like a community bonfire at my dad's house for our first date. Give me a little more credit than that, sheesh." He leaned down and gave her a lingering kiss on the cheek and said, "I'll pick you up at 8." Brett gave her a quick kiss and they both disappeared back in the bar once she was locked in her car. She did notice when she pulled out of the parking lot that Callie and Michael were outside, talking quickly, gesturing angrily. Whatever. She finished painting her room on Sunday, a pretty taupe brown color with a little pink in it, that matched the new comforter and curtains from Bed Bath & Beyond. She had calculated and bought enough paint to paint the entire inside of the house and she was determined to do it no matter how long it took. It was kind of like exorcising her father’s demon from the house and making it hers. Painting over the eggshell white of the master bedroom and replacing all the furniture had been the first part in making the house her own and making it into a real home. Both Michael and Callie called all day, but it was easier to ignore them than to face a painful truth. She dressed for the cool night in dark jeans, hiking boots, a white fitted tank with a dark purple pull over that looked like it had been splashed with black paint, and her leather jacket. When the doorbell rang at 8, Chris was standing on the front porch with a bouquet of sweet peas, her favorite flower. She felt another little crack heal and took the bouquet and pulled him down for a tight hug and kissed his cheek. "You are

adorable, Chris. How did you know what my favorite flower is?" He followed her into the kitchen, looking delicious in dark jeans and a tight black t-shirt. Nearly every wolf would be wearing just about the same thing, at least the ones in their age group. He had a leather jacket on, not one of the motorcycle jackets but a fitted dark brown one that was very soft. "I think it's just one of those things I've always remembered. My mom used to grow them, in the flower beds, and you always picked them, made crowns for yourself. And I think you tried to put one on me, once, too." He grinned, leaning against the refrigerator, watching while she pulled a vase down from the cabinet and filled it with water. They were very pretty and they smelled incredible. She had no clue where he got them in the fall, but they'd probably cost him a good bit from a florist. "If I ask you something, will you be straight with me?" Turning around, she leaned her butt against the kitchen table where she set the vase down in the center. He went very still and then relaxed. "If I can be. You know that there are things that I'm not allowed to tell you, because you're not technically pack." "Never mind then." She sighed and reached for her jacket. He picked it up for her, holding it open, and she slid her arms into it while he pulled it up over her shoulders, sweeping her hair aside and lingering with his hands on her shoulders. "If you're wondering why I've picked now, to be extra sweet to you, then you have to know that part of it is because you're done with college and not taking off again." "This is you being extra sweet?" She gave him a smirk, turning around to look at him. "Well, sweeter than I used to be, anyhow." He laughed. "Cadence, I've known you my whole life. Hell, I was in the hospital when you were born, screaming little thing that you were. I've never had a friend, a real friend that was a girl, except for you and I think I haven't really been as nice to you, or as friendly, as I should be. I just want you to know that you have options, for your future." He held out his hand to her, and they walked through the house and out onto the front porch, stopping while she locked up. "What's your future look like, Chris?" He opened the passenger door of his sleek black pickup truck and she sat down. He looked thoughtful as he shut her door and walked around to his side, opening his own door and sitting down.

“Well," He started the truck up, glancing at her with a half smile and said, "I'm not really sure. The pack wants my dad to step down in the next few years, and that's going to be tough to deal with. He's a great alpha; it will be hard to fill his shoes. And I can't exactly have the get togethers at the condo. Somehow I think the association would frown on about 70 wolves showing up to hang out and blare rock music." She laughed as he pulled out of the driveway. The darkness enveloped them, the headlights bouncing along the dirt road that led from her driveway out to a rural route that led across town to his parents’ house, nestled back in the woods on a hundred acres. "I should probably find a mate, too." He said suddenly, picking up their conversation. "Packs don't like it when the alpha is single." "Why is that?" She looked at him in surprise. "Well, because it makes the females fight for the position, for one. You see how the females in Jason's pack act. Any female that even looks at him sideways gets trouble from the others. Until he chooses someone, it will always be like that, and that screws up the men, too." "Why?" He sighed in an exasperated sort of way but smiled. "Because the females don't want to pick a mate on the off-chance that the alpha might pick them. His pack wouldn't be so volatile if he had a mate, he's hobbling his own people. It's the natural order of things for wolves. Alphas are supposed to come in pairs, one male and one female, to balance each other and protect each other, and to protect the pack. A female alpha can't really protect the males, anymore than a male alpha could deal with the females, so for a pack to be in harmony, to feel safe, there have to be two. Get it?" He gave her a rakish raise of his brows and she laughed. "Yeah. Your dad has explained a lot of werewolf hierarchy to me over the years." When they parked in the grass at the front of the farmhouse, Chris came around and opened her door for her and held out his hand. "A lot of the hierarchy is bullshit, but when it's working right, it just - works. I meant what I said earlier about making choices. Our pack runs smoothly, and you're already part of our family. You should give it some thought." She was thinking, actually. Was he asking her to be his mate? So casually? Was that how they did it? She'd never asked before, how a male and female end up

together, but she’d always assumed it involved something physical like dragging her back to his house by her hair. Wolves did everything over the top. Even though she cared about Chris a great deal, she had to think that when she did decide to be with a man forever that she’d want to know he at least loved her, not that he was just making a good business decision. He held her hand the whole way around the house and pulled her inside where his mother practically tackled her. She held her face in her hands and smiled broadly. "Sweet heavens, you get more beautiful every time I see you. Doesn't she, Chris?" She gave him a look and he rolled his eyes, "I think I may have mentioned that to her once or twice." Renee was thick waisted but tall, and a real bitch, but in a good way. She was female alpha for a reason, not just because Jake had claimed her as his alpha mate, but because she could take out anyone, anywhere. Even now, when she was closer to 60 than 50, she looked as young as ever. She made Cadence miss her mom. She looked at Chris in surprise. "You shaved!" He chuckled, gesturing to Cadence as he popped a potato chip into his mouth. "She made me. Said she wouldn't dance with me all scruffy." She laughed, and Cadence did, too, and she said, "Well, it's about damn time. How can anyone see how cute you are when you're covered in stubble like a hobo?" Chris groaned, flushing with embarrassment and it was totally adorable. "Shit, mom. Not cute, okay? Anything but cute." She waved her hand at him to dismiss his chiding words and it made Cadence smile even more but also made her a little sadder. She never got to tease her mom or be embarrassed by her. Her dad, yes, but not in a fun way. Chris extracted her from Renee's grip and they walked the few hundred feet to where the packs were gathered, through a stand of trees to a large clearing with cut logs and lawn chairs scattered around an enormous fire pit that was roaring with twentyfoot flames. Music blared from someone's stereo, and while some danced, many of the wolves were just hanging out and talking. The weekly Sunday night bonfires, alternating between Jake's place and Jason's father's place, were a way for the wolves

to connect and enjoy each other's company on somewhat neutral territory. Wolves were extremely social creatures and they craved being around other wolves. The hum of voices went oddly quiet when she and Chris walked into the clearing holding hands, and she didn't really understand it, but then again she didn't understand a lot of what was going on the last couple of days. It was like the whole town had been transported into the Twilight Zone. Chris tugged her towards the band and an open cooler and handed her a bottle of Irish Red, which happened to be her favorite beer. She looked down at it and up at him and he was grinning, very pleased with himself. "You're very observant tonight." She said, twisting off the cap and taking a drink. "Yeah, well, it's about time someone started observing things around here." He cast his voice around her, like he wasn't really talking to her, and her ears picked up the angry whispered voices from the other side of the fire. She had a feeling that Jason was pissed off, a lot of the male wolves from his pack were, but she couldn't actually hear what they said. Once again, she still no clue why. He had Callie after all, and that little reminder made her grimace and until she could get back to neutral face, she took a long drink of beer. Planning to ignore Jason's pack for the night, she stayed very close to Chris, enjoying the way it was easy to be with him and the pack that she was most close to. Chris finally reminded her that she had promised to dance if he shaved, which he had so clearly done, expertly he added, and tugged her to the side of the bonfire while Brett and the rest of the guys in the band grabbed the females hanging around, and followed them, all of them dancing together. She had forgotten what a good dancer he was, but most wolves were. It was easy to be coordinated and naturally rhythmic when you had an animal inside you. While she tried her best to have a good time, several things bothered her. First, she could feel Jason's eyes, not to mention the eyes of the Tressel pack, on her back the entire time that she was with Chris. Second, every time she looked in that direction, which she tried not to do, she saw Callie's face streaked with tears and she was being comforted by several females, and was clearly standing far away from Jason. And lastly, Cadence was completely miserable. She hated Callie for taking Jason, hated

Jason for abandoning her all those years ago, and hated that she was desperately lonely but couldn't even really picture being with Chris. He was everything a girl could want: gorgeous, charming, a great job, a place of his own, and a sweet smile. He was the sort of guy that smiled at you and your knees went weak and your heart fluttered. Except that didn't happen to her with him. She liked him, she loved his family and the Garra pack, but he wasn't Jason. How could you be with someone when your heart belonged to someone else? After a half dozen songs, when she was thoroughly turned on just from all the grinding Chris was doing, not to mention the vibes from the other wolves as they danced, she was pulled back to the house, Chris with his arm around her and the band tight behind them. The suggestion that they were going to jam a little was like literal music to her ears. Years ago, when they first discovered she could sing, they used to spend time jamming during the bonfires, singing radio songs while the guys played their acoustic instruments. It was some of the happiest times in her life, even though she'd always wished that Jason would share it with her, not stand on the outside and glare at her disapprovingly. Chris took the easy chair that was adjacent to the couch, pulling his Fender Malibu acoustic from the case that had appeared out of nowhere. She sat on the edge of the couch that was next to him, tucking one leg under the other. The Garra pack started to filter into the house, Renee's eyes shining with happiness but a grimace on Jake's face that didn't mesh with what had always been a fun time. After a quick tune up and some light bantering, they played and she sang, with Chris accompanying her. Her range was big, both soprano and alto, and Chris had a tenor that matched nearly perfectly. They sang and played for hours, and she was able to really lose herself in the music and the sense of family that the pack gave to her. It was the first time, in a very long time, that she felt like she truly belonged. Jason's pack, the females all resented her, except for Callie and of course the mated ones. But the ones that were her age or older made her feel like she was some kind of horrible creature, brought from the bowels of hell to torment them. Jake's pack was different though, and maybe Chris was right. Jake was alpha and married, so the females weren't fighting for the coveted position, not wary of every female that walked by.

When their collective voices were trashed, Chris put his guitar away and stood up and held his hand out to her, pulling her gently up. Renee gave her a hug on their way out the door and said, "We should go to lunch this week, honey." "I'd like that." "Good, I'll get some of the girls together, how about tomorrow at Lonestar's at 1?" Cadence agreed, looking forward to it. It would be nice to have a girls day. Chris was telling her how amazing she sounded, and how much he enjoyed singing with her, when the rush of footsteps sounded suddenly and Chris moved her behind him protectively. It was an instinctual response on his part, but it warmed her just the same. Callie, with Michael hot on her heels, had come storming around the house and Cadence could see Jason on the front porch, arms folded and an angry expression slashed across his features. "Cadence, please, don't leave. Please talk to me." Callie breathed, fresh tears on her cheeks. Callie was not acting like herself; Cadence had never seen her cry so much publicly. She was like Cadence, more a suffer silently in public and go berserk in private. Cadence would have hugged her, called her an idiot and told her that she loved her. But she couldn't get the image of Callie and Jason out of her head even though her brain was the one that put it there in the first place. She thought it might haunt her forever. Shaking her head at Callie, Cadence pulled Chris backwards towards the truck. He shut her in the passenger seat while Michael put his arm around Callie and she sobbed into his shoulder. Cadence shut her eyes against the ache of tears that pressed as they pulled away. "Are you okay?" He picked up her hand and kissed the top of it. "I don't know. Have you ever felt like everyone was keeping something from you, but they expected you to figure it out without any help whatsoever?" "No. Sorry." He laughed and it made her laugh and she had to brush away the tears that fell when her guard was let down. He pulled her against him in a hug with one arm and kissed the top of her head. "Sweetheart, there's not some enormous conspiracy about you. If you think about it, the single males are treating you the way

that they're supposed to, and the females are, too, because they see you as a romantic rival." "But I'm not pack, you said so yourself." "No, but you're as close as possible. Didn't you have fun tonight?" "Of course." "Doesn't the Garra pack treat you better than the Tressel pack?" "Yeah." Why was that, anyhow? As if he could read her mind he said, "It's because the alpha is married, honey. I mean the females in my pack aren't crazy about you, they're not crazy about any single females, but the coveted position isn't available so they aren't fighting. Couldn't you feel the difference between the two packs?" "I just thought it was because your dad has always watched out for me." "Well, so has the other pack, but it's not quite the same. Watching your back for trouble is not the same as dealing with the females when they want to shag the single alpha." "He's not single anymore, though, he's got Callie." "Nothing is official until its official, so until things are final the pack will be at each other's throats. You don't have to worry about that with my pack, though." "Oh, your pack?" He laughed. He had a great laugh. Why hadn't she noticed that before? "Yeah, it will be eventually." He followed her up the front porch and waited while she unlocked the door. He towered over her, he always had, but now he seemed even more imposing, and perhaps it was because he was slowly closing the distance between them. His hand tilted her face up to meet his, and she closed her eyes and their lips met, just the barest brush of his skin against hers while her heart pounded in her ears. Pulling back suddenly she let out a small gasp and he brushed the back of his hand against her cheek. "You're very special, Cadence. If I rushed you, I'm sorry. I'd like to call you tomorrow, if that's cool?" She nodded, biting her bottom lip to stop from crying suddenly, even as she was unsure where the well of emotions was coming from. She went in the house, shutting

and locking the door and leaning against it. When she heard his truck pull away, she let herself cry and then she screamed a nice, primal scream at the unfairness of the situation. Chris was great, everything a girl could want, except he wasn't Jason. Chris wouldn't want her in the long run, because she wasn't sure that she could give him more than half of her heart, and what man in his right mind would settle for that? The next day, she was putting her favorite Winnie the Pooh watch on when there was a knock at the front door. She wasn't expecting company; she was supposed to meet Renee and the girls at Lonestar's. Michael was standing in the doorway when she pulled the front door open. He looked tired and unhappy. "What's up?" She said, leaving the door open and reaching for her keys. He followed her down the porch steps once she locked up. "What was the deal last night?" "About what are you referring to specifically?" She leaned against the car door. He narrowed his eyes. "Don't bullshit a bullshitter, Cadence. All of it. You showed up with Chris like you two are together now. Are you?" "What do you care?" "I care," he ground out, "because Chris is next in line for alpha of their pack." "And?" Annoyance dripped from the word. "And, fuck it, Cadence." He growled. "You're my friend. My best girl friend and I think you need to rethink your choices." Growling, she threw up her hands, "Choices, choices. Everyone's talking about choices, but so far there's only one choice that's had the balls to make himself known to me and I couldn't be more surprised that it's Chris, but it's nice. Their pack, Michael, their pack doesn't treat me like some runt trying to get to the food dish. And I can't help it if the females in your pack don't like me, but it doesn't mean I have to tolerate it. And it won't matter eventually anyhow." He grabbed her arm to stop her from getting into the car. "What do you mean it won't matter eventually?" "I mean, when Jason and Callie declare themselves as mates or however the hell that happens."

He looked like she'd hit him with something heavy. "You think Jason and Callie are together? Mates?" "They are. I saw them in his office." He gave her wide eyes and then burst out laughing. "Holy shit. You really do think that, don't you? Callie's been frantic trying to talk to you, but I had no idea that's what you were pissed about. You ran out of the shop so fast I thought that my brother was just being his usual dick-self and pissed you off. But that's it, isn't it? You're jealous." "Fuck you, I'm not jealous." She seethed. "You should be green." He snickered and she threw a punch at him, which he narrowly dodged. "See? You just proved my point. Get your head out of your ass and go talk to Jason. You need to talk to him, Cadence. It's important." "Even if he's not with Callie, he's an asshole." Her heart was shouting for joy at the news that she'd misread the situation between him and Callie, but that didn't change how much he'd hurt her before that. "I need to go." She pushed him away from the door and sat down, shutting it and turning on the car. He leaned in the open window, resting his chin on his arms. "Cadence, please do me a favor. Talk to Callie. She is really hurting because she thinks you hate her. There's nothing going on between them, I swear. You're her best friend, her only ally in the pack. She's like completely lost without you. And you really should come into the shop, I think you've spent enough time around Jake's pack, you need to hang with us." Without another word, she pushed him away from the window and took off for the restaurant. She cranked up the stereo so she didn't have the ability to think about anything except the lyrics to Foxy Lady. For a Monday at lunchtime, Lonestar’s was pretty deserted. She parked next to Renee’s navy blue Taurus and turned the volume down and then turned off the engine. For a long moment, she sat in the car and just breathed. She let herself rejoice in her head that Callie and Jason weren’t together even though she wasn’t sure it really changed anything. She was wearing a soft sweater dress that hit about mid-thigh and was slouchy and very adorable, if she did say so herself, with black suede over the knee boots and a

headband pushing her hair back. Renee had gathered a group of females Cadence's age from their pack, of which there were only five, but she knew them from school. They all seemed genuinely happy to see her, happy to talk to her, and included her in their plans for the weekend which involved going to the next town up to a club and hanging out. "Jake said you should go, honey. Take Friday off, I'll even make him pay you. You deserve a fun night out." Renee said and she agreed. She did need a fun night out. Grey came over and kissed Renee on the cheek when he brought back her change from paying for the meal. He glanced at Cadence and said, "I got a call from the garage, Cadence. Jason has asked if you would stop by and see him." "I'm busy. But thanks for the message." They were standing to leave and all the girls looked at her in shock. When she asked what the problem was, Renee said, "Whether you like him or not, honey, he is alpha of the other pack and that carries weight with it. I know you guys have a, strained relationship, but that doesn't mean you should be outright rude or disrespectful to him." She shook her head in disbelief. "I can't make anyone happy, can I? It fucking boggles the mind." Cadence gave Renee a hug and thanked her for lunch, and said goodbye the other girls. She debated going to the garage. She could hear him out, play nice, but she didn't want to. She didn't want him to see that she was relieved that he wasn't with Callie. There was no doubt in her mind that Michael had told him everything and she'd look like a twittering teenager again, chasing after him, desperate for a kind word or touch. She'd cried over him so much when she was young, had shed so many tears that her pillow had saltwater stains all over it. Grinding her teeth together, she told her heart in no uncertain terms that she was not going to show Jason a bit of emotion. She could not let herself get built up to such ridiculous heights over him again. She would not spend the nights staring at the phone, praying for it to ring. She. Just. Would. Not. With a sigh, she turned out of the parking lot towards the garage.

Chapter 4

It wasn't often that Jason waited expectantly for something, but he'd been waiting for over a baker's dozen of years for Cadence and he thought he might explode now, finally. He shifted the old office chair back and forth with his foot absently while he waited to see if she would show up to see him or not. She was stubborn enough to not show up at all, or to show up and tell him to go fuck himself and leave without hearing what he had to say, but somehow he didn't think she'd show up just to hear him out. And just what could he say, anyhow? He had a plan to get close to her again, to romance her, but he wasn't sure if a little over three weeks was long enough. Damn it, damn it, damn it! He heard the sound of her Charger and he suddenly felt nervous. He could pick out the engine of her car anywhere, just like he could single out her voice or scent in a crowd. He'd sent Michael over to talk to her, because he didn't understand what had happened at the bonfire. She always hung out with the Tressel pack. Even when she hated him, she never left Callie's side, or Michael's for that matter. While he hated her friendship with his brother because he was denied it now by his own hand, he had always loved that she was there with them, part of their pack. But Chris, this thing with Chris was a complication. She hadn't been in town four days, and Chris had practically mounted her in the bar Friday night and had blatantly suggested it, to which she's teased him. And then he'd put his hands on her bare skin in front of the whole damn bar on the stage. Jason ran his hand down his face. Michael said she was jealous, that she thought he and Callie were together. Absurd female. As if he would take Callie over her, his sweet perfection? Was she on drugs? "That she's jealous means she still loves me, right?" He had asked Michael. "Hell if I know, man. She tried to punch me, though." Michael grinned at him. "I feel like I don't know her anymore, man, she's completely torn up inside. I think you drove her insane."

She stormed through the shop and back to his office, looking mouth wateringly tempting in a very short dress and sexy suede boots. He would love to take her with those boots on, spread her thighs wide and dig his fingers into her calves through the suede. "You summoned me?" Her voice was angry, bitter, and it made him cringe, the sweet vision of her taking him inside her evaporated. Don't be a dick, he told himself. "I understand you're in need of a job." He tried to sound casual. She snorted, folding her arms and leaning against the doorframe. "What do you care?" She wasn't going to be nice, was she? "I care," he ground out, snapping the pencil he'd been holding in frustration, "because you are my friend and I need help." Her brow furrowed and her whole posture changed, softened, and he nearly launched himself over the desk at her. But just as quickly as she had changed, she changed back, hardening her gaze. "I don't need your charity, Jason. I will find something on my own, here or somewhere else." He growled under his breath. "Look, I need a front manager, okay? The guys have been rotating for, well, years, and that means that either my customers are waiting around for someone to come to the front, or they're away from their work to help. You know bikes and cars enough to hold your own, and you have a business degree and can do the books and inventory." "So what, you want someone to take over all your responsibilities so you can hang out in the back and not do anything?" He closed his eyes at her jab; she just wasn't going to make things easy for him at all. Not that he'd expected her to be compliant. She was a true alpha female, and the only place he'd want her compliant is the bedroom, and even then he wasn't so sure about the compliance thing. "I am so buried under things in here that I can't even get payroll done on time, and I've got people wanting me to do custom work on their bikes but I can't get everything done. I'll give you anything you want, just, hell Cadence, just come work for me. You need a job, and I need someone I trust, and there's no one that I trust more than you."

Her phone buzzed and she lifted it and saw the caller ID and smiled. "I'll let you know." She said off handedly to him, ignoring the blatant truth he'd shared, turning and answering the phone as she walked away. He heard very clearly, "Hey Chris," her voice happy and a practical skip in her step. He wanted to club her over the head and drag her back into the office and shut the door, tell her everything. He heard Linus stop her in the shop on the way out of the station and invite her to a get together on Friday at his house. Linus had offered to Jason to have something kind of private for them, just a few wolves and Cadence, to get her into a controlled situation and try to spend time with her and thaw her out. "I've got plans." She said, telling Chris she would call him back. "I'm sure Jake won't mind if you're late to work. Everyone's coming over at 7." Linus said. "I've got the night off on Friday; actually, I'm going up to a club in Rivertown with some of the girls." "Our girls?" Michael interjected. "I haven't heard about that." She scoffed, sounding defensive. "Not your pack, Michael, Jake's girls." Michael sounded angry suddenly. "So what, you're going to go to Jake's pack?" He said exactly what Jason was thinking. Jake's females were accepting of her because although she was single, the alpha female position was locked in, and Renee loved Cadence like a daughter so everyone treated her with respect. Jason's pack females hated her, because they all knew that he loved her. His lack of claiming her had caused an enormous amount of problems within his pack, all of which would be alleviated if she would just remember what the fuck he'd done when she was 9. Damn it all to hell! She sounded so angry and hurt when she told Michael to go to hell and left, the engine roaring to life as she gunned it a little extra like a growl, and peeled out of the parking lot, music blaring. He walked out into the shop. Linus gave him a sorry look. "She said she'd show up, maybe, but only for a few minutes. Sorry, man, I did the best I could. I'm afraid, I'm afraid you're losing her to the Garra pack." He walked into the garage from the shop and Jason wanted to scream his head off and pound his fists through the wall.

"Did you talk to Jake?" Michael asked, moving back around the counter and giving him a wide berth. He put his head in his hands on the cool counter. "Yeah. He said that he already talked to Chris about backing off, but that if she chooses to give in to Chris' advances than it is out of his hands. I suggested he could order Chris to back off, and he said that he thought 14 years was long enough to mark a woman and not touch her, and that he would do nothing to either encourage or discourage his son." He'd also suggested that Jason could order his females to treat her with respect, because part of why Cadence was so miserable was because she didn't feel like she belonged anywhere. He couldn't force the females to change a natural behavior any more than he could control the sun. The only way the females would respect Cadence is for her to claim her rightful spot as alpha and kick some ass. He had left the bonfire as soon as she and Chris did, stripping in the woods and shifting, running to her house as fast as possible. He stayed in the shadows of the trees surrounding her home and had watched with a trickling low growl as that bastard Chris kissed her. She'd stopped it, it hadn't gone very far for which he was glad, but then once Chris was gone, she had gone into her house and started to cry, and then she’d screamed. It wasn't a sound he had ever heard her make before, raw and hurt and it made him ache to hold her and comfort her. He was just so far removed from her life at this point that he had no idea what was causing her so much grief. Even though it warred against every instinct he had, he didn’t go to her because he knew she wouldn’t accept him right now. He'd stayed by the house for hours, until he was sure she had fallen asleep, and then he'd gone back to find his clothes in the woods and go home. He spent the next few days waiting to hear from her, one way or the other. It was true that he needed help. He was a mechanic, not a paper pusher, and she was tough enough to handle the baddest looking customer, human or wolf, and smart enough to fix the mess he was pretty sure he'd made. The question was whether she would want to be around him, whether she hated him so much that she couldn't stand to be near him for an entire work day.

Finally, on Thursday, she had left him a message on the shop voicemail, purposely calling at 4 a.m. Her voice had been hard and tired sounding. "I'll take the job, Jason, pending some key points. I'll come in Friday morning. Be prepared to negotiate." He'd anticipated Friday morning like a kid at Christmas. She strode into his office like she owned the place, her hair pulled back into a ponytail that swung back and forth as she walked. She was wearing a deliciously short camo skirt with olive knee high socks and suede ankle boots, a black tank that peeked out through a ripped off the shoulder beige top. Sliding into the chair across from his desk, she crossed her legs and snapped her gum, raising a brow at him. His whole body lit up for her, tightened nearly painfully, and he had to remind himself that she'd hardly react the way he wanted if he acted like a caveman. Or an actual wolf. As it was, he was just one peek at her ivory thighs away from humping her leg. "Five days a week, 40 hours plus overtime as I need it from you, and I can give you 25k to start, plus anything you need done to your car for cost." She breathed in and out silently, her breasts rising and falling with the motion, as she contemplated what he offered. "Anything less than 30k is an insult to my bachelor's degree." She swung her foot in thought. "I want this office for my own, but a nicer chair, a tank of gas a week, and you can install an upgraded sound system in my car, at no cost." He tried not to smile. She'd actually given some thought to her negotiations. He wasn't about to rollover for everything, though. "I can't go higher than 27, and it's not an insult, it's just business." She made motions to stand up. "Oh, well. See ya." He nearly roared. "Wait, you're walking away for three grand? Hold on, there has to be something else I can give you in exchange. Name it." He saw the look cross her face and thought with chagrin 'uh oh'. "Paint my house." "What?" He sputtered.

"You heard me. It's going to take me forever to paint everything; I've only gotten my bedroom done. So paint the rest of the inside of my house, and I'll grace you with my amazing business skills and save your ass." "I meant I'd give you anything related to the garage." She grinned and he knew that she knew she had him by the balls. "Sorry. I've made my final offer. 27k, nice office chair, weekly tank of gas, and my sound system, plus, painting my place. And I know you'll do a great job. I expect you in overalls. You can start on Saturday, and I'll start on Monday." She crossed her arms in a final way and he almost laughed. Almost. "You have to buy the paint." He growled. "I already did." "Fine." She stood up with a grin, such a sweet look on her face that it nearly brought him to his knees, and extended her hand. He took it, her warm hand in his something he'd wanted to feel again for such a long time. "Tomorrow, then. Make sure there's coffee." She hummed in her throat. "Bright and early." She wrinkled her nose in happiness, and he wanted to hug her but held himself back. That was the girl he loved, the one that loved to win arguments and torture him because she loved doing it, not because she was so miserable. He watched her leave, listened to her engine as it faded away, and went out to procure help for painting her house, and to find a suitable chair for her. Linus' home was small but comfortable. He was just a little older and had been married for a while to a human, who had thought it was sexy to be with a wolf. What Linus hadn’t bargained for was that when they got married she’d had the belief that he could just leave the pack. Linus was fourth ranked in the pack and too powerful to turn his back on them, and when she figured it out she left him, but not until she made him thoroughly miserable. He paced on the small back patio where Linus had lit a large grill. Werewolves could pack food away like carnivorous camels. The pile of raw meat on the trays in the kitchen attested to that fact. "You're making me nervous." Linus said as he scraped the metal grating with a wire brush.

"I don't like this whole thing with Jake's females." He admitted. "Where the fuck is Callie? She's supposed to be here." Michael leaned out of the back door. "She's on her way, I just called her. It's only 6:30; don't get your panties in a bunch. When Callie arrived, she was at least as nervous as Jason was because she missed Cadence. Without her best friend to shore up her self-confidence, Callie had taken an even lower position with the females who saw her as weak on her own. It made him angry, because Callie had been loyal to him for years, sharing information when he asked for it even though she felt it was betraying Cadence to do so. But Callie had to stand up for herself whether she had her ball-busting best friend with her or not. He watched as Callie threw herself off the porch and into Cadence's arms when she showed up finally at 7:30. She was sobbing, explaining that she'd never betray her, that she'd never even think to do anything to hurt her at all, and it was like Callie was saying what he was thinking. Why was it so simple with women, but so difficult when it was the opposite sex? She had teared up but not actually cried at Callie's admissions and apologies, and her emerald eyes were bright green now, and she looked happy. She also looked fucking incredible. She had on a sweet little plaid mini skirt with white thigh high stockings with little black bows in the front, black heels with a strap across the top, and a belly baring white sweater. She completed the unabashed school girl look with two ponytails high on her head, with little pink ribbons and soft makeup. Michael turned around to give a look to Jason that said exactly what he was thinking, "holy shit!" He watched as she looked around at the people in Linus' house and gave him a suspicious glance but didn't say anything except hello to the men. He'd chosen his highest ranking people, and with Callie as the only female, he had hoped that Cadence might stick around longer to protect her friend from the others, but she was beeped on her phone almost immediately. "I'll be there shortly, I'll call." She said to a female, but he wasn't sure which one from the voice. She and Callie fell right back into old habits, talking together and mostly ignoring the men. Michael hung with them and tried several times to draw him and the others into their little world, but even though Callie tried to throw conversations his direction,

Cadence seemed unmoved by the attempts. She was buzzed three more times in a half hour, and then finally announced she had to go. She'd barely said anything to him and his heart fell into his knees. She kissed Linus on the cheek and thanked him for the invite. Swiping a carrot stick from the counter and giving a half wave to the room in general, she left, the skirt fluffing up behind her and revealing the barest, tantalizing view of the back of her thighs. His phone buzzed and he pulled it out of the holster to see a text message from her, "Don't forget bright and early tomorrow." He laughed, sadly, because she hadn't cared at all about talking to him or being around him. "I'm sorry, Jason." Callie said. "I don't understand why Jake's pack is being so accommodating to her all of a sudden. It's almost like they are purposely trying to sway her to their pack. She couldn't wait to get out of here." "I know." He groaned, a feeling of unhappiness settling over him. He hadn't meant for this to happen. He hadn't meant for any of it to happen at all. "Do you think that's possible?" Linus asked. "What?" He snapped. "That Jake's pack is purposely being nice to her, like maybe a certain alpha wannabe has asked it of his mom, or the females?" Clay, his fifth in rank, said, "Makes sense. If Chris snagged her, their pack would have an advantage. His mom and your mom were nearly equals, kept your dad and Jake in line and kept a good balance, but Cadence is tougher and meaner than any female out there. There isn't a girl in our pack that can compete with her if she doesn't come to our pack." That was an unexpected revelation, but it made perfect sense. Jason knew that Chris liked her, maybe even loved her a little, because she was hard to be around and not fall in love with, but if he was actually courting her right now, while the time was Jason's, then it didn't bode well for him. Cadence's history with Chris was much less tormented. Chris had never been outwardly mean to her because of Jake, but he hadn't been fall over himself nice, either. He was starting off from a much better place than he was, that's for sure. She didn't hate Chris. In fact, she clearly liked him and was in the mood to be swayed.

"Callie?" He said finally and the look she gave him told him that she'd been privy to a conversation he didn't know about yet. "I'm sorry, Jason. She told me, earlier before she got all jealous and confused, that she thought she'd been single long enough, and that if no one stepped up to the plate from our pack, then she'd move on. To Jake's pack." If a broken heart could break further, his did. His mate, his sweetheart, was lonely, and was turning to Chris because he was nice and she clearly didn't realize his intentions. He was certain she hadn't realized it, but Chris had been eye-fucking her on the stage the whole time they were singing, and she had sounded incredible and looked amazing and damn it all to hell if it hadn't made her even more irresistible to the males in the bar. He was certain that Chris would waste no time in making his intentions clear, marking her and mating with her as soon as his time was up. After he left Linus' he went to his parents' home. Partly to make sure Cadence made it home okay, but partly because he needed advice. "I'm sorry that I made the decree, son, if that's any consolation, although I'm certain it's not. I never would have guessed that after being surrounded by us for so many years that she wouldn't have figured out what you did and asked about it." His dad took off his reading glasses and settled back in the easy chair. "I wish I could fix it. Alpha decrees are binding, forever, that's the point of them." His mother perched on the arm of the chair. "Isn't there something that you can share so she is aware that you've loved her for so long? She has to feel the connection with you. I know she was young, but she's still part wolf." "I don't know what I could tell her without breaking the decree. Every time I start to open my mouth around her, the decree pops into my head. Callie said she feels like I abandoned her. How could she not understand that I stayed away to protect her?" "Because no other wolves did what you did to such an extreme, son. You were so worried about her safety that you didn't just keep her at arm's length, you shoved her away as much as you could. You were cruel, because you thought you had to be; she didn't understand because your actions were so different. You went from walking her to school every day to barely being able to be in the same room with her."

"Dad, what did you say to her? That day? I remember her running home and her hair was down. She never even asked me about the marks. Which isn’t really in her personality. She just doesn’t let things go. Ever.” His father took a breath, two, in thought. “When I sent you in the house, I picked her up off the ground and looked at the marks, which were already healed but her skin was tanned from the sun and they were pretty evident. I was worried about her father calling the police. That would be something they wouldn’t ignore for me, you know, it was just too big. I pulled her ponytail out and told her that you were playing a game with her and your teeth descended accidentally and grazed her skin. I told her that if her father saw the marks and asked about them, that she should say she fell playing at her house and scratched her skin on that prickly rose bush at the side of the house. I threw my power into my voice, told her it was nothing and made it a decree for her. She’s wolf enough to obey.” “Can’t he mark her again? If she was so young and doesn’t understand what happened, can’t he just jog her memory? Or mark her verbally now, like you did for me first?” His mother looked at his father hopefully. Jason knew the story well. In the high school cafeteria, his father had announced to his mother during their lunch period that she was going to marry him whether she liked it or not, and she told him to go to hell and took off. He chased her, tackled her on the football field, and marked her. She’d apparently had a boyfriend at the time and he dumped her immediately because he was afraid of him, and she took a tire iron to his father’s car in retaliation. And left the tire iron on his front porch with a bow on it. It was just a day, though, or two, before they were together officially. She said she knew all along that they were meant to be together. "Because the first time a male marks a female, if the female ignores it, then the male has to move on. If he’d said in public that they belonged together, declared her his mate first, and then marked her physically second, like he should have, I wouldn’t have been able to stop anyone from talking to her about it because it would have been common pack-knowledge. That’s not what happened. And, you can't mark a female over and over; it would be like forcing her into an arranged marriage, tying her hands. The verbal mark is meant to claim. The physical mark is meant to solidify the

connection to the two, not to force a hand." His father said what Jason knew, but he liked his mother's opinion better. "I can't lose her. I just can't." He sighed into his hands. "Fix it, then. Figure it out and fast. It's only been a week and she has already picked Jake's females even over Callie." His father said and Jason nodded, but how the hell could he fix something so damn broken? Tense and at least as unhappy as he’d been before he talked to his parents, he left their home and shifted, leaving his clothes in a pile in the woods. Hunting to let off some steam, he caught a couple tasty rabbits, and then waited in the trees at her home until she finally came in. She yawned as she opened her front door, and he listened with his sharp hearing to her climb the stairs, flop down onto her bed with a sigh, and fall asleep. He smiled inwardly because she'd looked so damn cute in that outfit, but he wished she had worn it for him. He could imagine her teasing him in that sassy outfit, calling him a bastard and swinging her hips suggestively. She had a fantastic body and knew exactly how to work it to her advantage. When she was sound asleep, he shifted again, dressed, and headed home to get some rest before clocking in to work inside her home. He was going to be on her turf, and he was going to do his best to thaw some of the ice he'd put around her heart. ***** When he swung by Michael's trailer on his motorcycle so that they could ride together, Michael burst out laughing. Jason had borrowed a pair of overalls from his dad, which Michael thought was hilarious. "Man, you are full on whipped. I'm ashamed to be your brother." Jason leaned over his bike, faked a punch that Michael dodged and then connected with his shoulder when he wasn't expecting it. Michael cursed. "She asked me to wear them, so I did." He shrugged, already thinking he would ask her to wear something for him some day. Something naughty, like that school girl outfit but with no panties. Hel-lo.

The front door to her home was wide open and he picked up the scent of coffee as soon as he walked up the front porch steps. It was before 7, and he and Michael were accompanied by Linus and Bo. They all commented on his overalls, but he didn't care. To his surprise and pleasure, she was wearing overalls herself. The kitchen smelled amazing, and not just because of her sweet scent, but it smelled like brown sugar and spices. She pulled out a tray of sticky buns from the oven and gestured to the table with her free hand. "Sit down, guys. You've got a really long day ahead of you." While she used tongs to pull the buns from the tray, homemade judging from the flour dusted counter top, he pulled coffee mugs from the cabinet and put the coffee pot on a coaster on the table. "Very cute, Jas." She said, using the nickname that he'd only let her call him. She tugged on the overalls. "Who knew you would be so…agreeable?" "I'll point out that they're practical, and you're also wearing them." She looked adorable, too. She was wearing a tantalizing black sports bra, and the overalls were fitted and one strap was undone so that her breast peeked out, begging to be touched and teased. The bare skin visible between the bottom edge of the bra and the overalls was pale and perfect. She cocked her brow at him and gave him a shove towards the table. They sat together at her small table after Linus pulled a chair from the dining room, the men plowing through the pile of sticky buns while she drank her coffee. "You look a little tired. Did you have fun last night?" Michael asked. She grinned. "Oh yeah. Those girls know how to party." After a short discussion about the club, called SuperNova, she stood up and took the dishes to the sink to wash them. Without looking back she said, "The paint and stuff is in each room, and there are a couple ladders in the garage." Jason made the motion for the guys to get to work and he walked over to the sink and leaned back against it, resting his elbow on the counter. "You're sticking around, right? I mean, I know I'm your willing servant today and all, but you're not going to just leave us to work while you go get your nails done, are you?."

She laughed. "Servant, huh? Interesting. Yeah, I'll be here. I have a few things to get done, now that I've got this slave driver for a boss and my days are going to be busy." He chuckled, and cleared his throat, his pulse suddenly hammering. "You know what I was thinking about the other day?" "Chasing rabbits?" She tossed casually, rinsing the tray. He shook his head as he laughed. "No. I was thinking about when we were kids and we used to go hiking together?" Her eyes got kind of a far off and thoughtful look, a small smile played on her lips. He knew he had her, then, her mind going back to about the time that he marked her. He was planning to take her on a trip down memory lane, try to draw her mind to that one day so he could talk to her about it. She turned like she would say something, and her phone beeped and he nearly screamed at her not to answer it, but she did, and he could tell immediately that it was Chris. She mouthed 'excuse me' and walked out the back door, answering whatever question he asked with 'I had a great time'. Groaning, he huffed into the front room and began to work. Around lunchtime, he went out to find her, and she was in the detached garage that had been her father's workshop, sanding down an old bookshelf. She looked up at him, brushed her hair away from her face, and said, "I ordered pizza, it should be here in about ten minutes, if that's okay." Surprised, he nodded. "Thanks, they'll like that." He sat down on the metal stool next to the workbench. "So why are you repainting the house? The paint in most of the rooms seems okay." She paused and then shrugged, but he could tell from the change in posture that her reason was emotional. She said with a carefully controlled voice. "I needed to make it mine." He understood. Her father had been a drunk bastard and had really tormented her towards the end of his life. He was horrible to her, but he wasn't pack and he never actually laid a hand on her so no one could really do anything to him, but sometimes emotional scars are just as bad as physical ones. Jason had always hated her father and had wanted to protect her from him, but he had been unable to do

anything except be there for her, but of course once she started to hate him, then he'd lost that privilege. She went back to work, and he left her, afraid to push her, afraid not to. He was walking a razor’s edge with her and everything he did was measured, every action backed up by worry and indecision. They ate on the front porch in the warm afternoon sunshine, probably one of the last few nice weekends until winter took hold, and then went back to work. She'd smartly ordered six large pizzas and had only gotten one slice for herself, but she assured them that it was plenty. They finished painting the house and cleaned up about 7. He offered to take her out to eat for dinner and she declined politely, skirting a glance at the others, and then planting soft kisses on each of their cheeks with sincere thanks for their help. Just like that, they were out on the front porch, the door shut in their faces, and a weight like despair crushing him. Michael patted his shoulder with a sorry kind of look in his eyes and they all rode off together. That night at the bar, he watched her and he watched every male in Jake's pack watch her, especially Chris, who looked at her like she was something tasty to eat. When she walked in the door that night, she had looked around the bar, landed on their booth and smiled slightly, and then went to work. He'd sent for drinks from her, again, and she dropped them off with a quick "hey guys" and was gone, caught up with Jake's pack like she was part of them. He caught the calculating gaze from Chris across the bar as he sat with his own people, and knew that Linus had been right. Chris was luring her to them, using his females to give her the friends she'd never had. And they'd love her to be their alpha, of that he had no doubt. She might be mean as a snake when she was pissed off, but she was also wildly protective of those that she cared about, Callie was a firm testament to that. Cadence had been beaten bloody on more than one occasion defending her weaker friend. From all the way across the throng of wolves, Chris caught his eyes and the fucking bastard had the nerve to look smug. He almost went postal, but he managed to stay in his seat without throttling anyone. To cement his growing unease, he watched Chris call over one of their females and speak quietly to her, and she grinned and nodded, and then she went over to the

sound booth and spoke to the DJ, part of Jake's pack. Her name was Carrie, he thought, she was tall and plain, but blandly nice and that was what Cadence reacted to. She climbed up on top of the bar and looked down at Cadence, then squatted and held her hand out when a song he had never heard before sounded across the speakers and Cadence grinned and laughed, letting Carrie haul her up on the bar top. Two other of Jake's females jumped up on the bar and the girls all sang along with the song, something old that was about ugly women, and they danced a coordinated dance like the electric slide but kind of different. All eyes were on the girls, specifically Cadence, who was wearing deliciously tight leather pants and a tiny halter top, and she couldn't have looked more oblivious if she'd had a blindfold on. Just like that, he saw her slipping away further, and Chris' dark gaze at her, the desire wafting off him like some kind of horrible cologne, was like a nail in the coffin of his future. His future with Cadence. To his surprise, she rang his doorbell on Sunday night after he left the bonfire early. It had annoyed him that she'd shown up with Chris, again, even though the damn thing was at his parents' house and she could have walked there in less than 10 minutes. The Garra pack was getting on his nerves, far too possessive of his woman. To stop from doing something stupid, like killing Chris and starting a pack war, he left. "Is everything okay?" He asked, wishing he'd shaved that morning. "I came to plunder your closet for a work shirt until I can order some for myself." She walked past him like she owned the place, and he wanted her to feel like she belonged there so he didn't give her any crap. She gave him a sly look, "Unless you'd rather I wear what I wear at the bar." "It would be good for business," he quipped, following her into his room, messy as usual and he again was wishing he'd at least made the bed. She gestured to the bed. "Someone had fun." She hummed in her throat and stepped over a pile of clothes and slid the closet door open. He growled. "No one had fun in here." She barked out a laugh and that kind of pissed him off and made him forget his plan to be super nice to her and grateful she was there. She choked on her laugh and said, "I hope you sent flowers, then."

Growling, he went to the dresser where he kept his work shirts and pulled out a couple of the logo shirts and tossed them at her. She caught them and held one open to look at it and then draped them both over her arm. "Thanks. 7 okay?" "Seven, what?" She switched trains of thought faster than AmTrak. "Seven o'clock, tomorrow morning?" He shook his head. "Oh, yeah, sure." She smiled and said goodbye, leaving him in his messy room alone. What the hell just happened? He got to work at 6:30, earlier than he'd been in a long time, but he wanted everything perfect for her first day. The new chair, a leather swivel desk chair that he'd paid a pretty penny for at an office supply store sat behind the desk that he'd done his best to straighten up on Friday afternoon. He made a pot of coffee and stocked the fridge with her favorite soda, RC, and bottled water. Drinks were pretty safe from the guys, and he had threatened them thoroughly to keep their hands off, but he would have to warn her not to keep food in there. They were wolves, after all. She walked in wearing his shirt, tied at the side so that it fell just to the waistband of her dark jeans, and he wasn't sure there was anything cooler than seeing her in his clothes. He'd like to see her in just the shirt, and nothing else, thank you very much. Her construction boots looked adorable, and she'd clipped her hair up, the marks on her neck like beacons for him, barely visible but still calling to him. "Hey boss." She said smiling. "That's the only one you get from me so I hope you liked it." She was starting already, and he loved it. "No, actually, I think it's very appropriate. You should call me that all the time." She walked down the hall and quipped over her shoulder, "It'll cost you a dollar every time you want me to call you boss." He snorted under his breath. She was too damn sassy for her own good. She dove right into payroll, and he appreciated that she understood how important it was for him to take care of his people. He settled into the back of the shop where there were four garage bays that did custom work and looked at the motorcycle that he'd been commissioned to rebuild. He couldn't get her out of his mind, very aware that she would

be in and out of the front of the shop and he could see her any time he wanted. It was like a dream come true, at least a dream with clothes on anyway. His workers trickled in, all from his pack, all talking about Cadence working the front and how sweet she looked in the shirt. "What are you thinking about so seriously?" Michael asked, coming to look at the old chopper. "I was thinking I should maybe get her flowers or something? Like a first day thing? What do you think?" Michael turned green. "I think you're too late." "What?" He bellowed. Michael held up his hands and backed up a few paces. "Chris sent flowers, the delivery guy showed up right when we walked in." "Fuck!" He yelled and threw the wrench he was holding, imbedding it in the concrete wall. He told Michael to leave him alone, afraid he might try to take out his aggression on his face, and buried himself in taking the bike apart. About 11 he had an idea, and cleaned up and went to the front and found her in her new office, scribbling on a notepad. The flowers, some sort of pink kind that smelled very sweet, were in an expensive looking crystal vase. There had been a card, but she had clearly hidden it, leaving only the card holder. "Nice flowers." He said from the doorway, hoping he didn't sound jealous. "They're my favorite." She looked at them for a second and then swept her green eyes to him. He didn't know that. Why didn't he know what his woman's favorite flowers were? What the hell kind were they? He skipped it, trying hard to ignore the desire to throw the vase through the window. "So I thought that I could take my newest employee out for lunch. What do you say?" She frowned. "Renee is picking me up for lunch. Do you want me to cancel?" Would the torture never end? "No, no, that's fine, I just didn't want you to go hungry." He tried to pass off his unhappiness like he didn't care but he was pretty sure he failed. He left and went back into the shop, and when he saw Renee's car pull into

the parking lot, the sinking feeling returned, and he felt like everyone in Jake's pack was doing their best to get Cadence to turn to them. Twisting a wrench in his hands, he thought about what would have been a perfect situation, even back then. If his father hadn’t been there and interrupted them, he would have told her that she belonged to him and that he loved her and was going to take care of her forever. He would have told her that he was afraid to hurt her so he was going to stay away from her until he got his beast under control, but that she should never doubt he did it for her protection. And she would have understood, promised with her musically lilted young voice that she would wait for him, and trust him, and everything would have been perfect. He would have been part of her life, not standing in the shadows like a damn stalker and having her friends feed him information. He would have done all that sappy stuff that Linus did for his human ex-wife, but Cadence would have loved it and he would have done anything to make her smile, see her happy. Prom, the drive-in, summers at the lake. He’d have done the whole works, happily, because her smile was worth anything to him, and watching her slowly die inside from neglect and anger all those years had been a hell that he couldn’t escape, didn’t deserve to. This morning, she should have woken up in his arms. Ridden into work with him. Been yawning because they’d been up half the night making love. “I’m going to turn into a fucking weepy teenager,” he groused at himself. The part of his brain that wanted to wallow in self pity was winning against the part of his brain that was snapping and snarling to march into the office, jerk her out of the chair and kiss her like he’d been wanting to all these years. Touch those marks with his fingers, trace them with his tongue, and hold her tightly in his arms and make her swear to never leave him again.

Chapter 5

"The flowers are so sweet." Cadence told Chris, calling his cell. He was at work already, as a branch manager for the local credit union. The card had made her smile, "To the sweetest girl I ever ate a popsicle with, Love, Chris". "Everyone should have flowers on their first day of work, it's just a rule." He said. "So you're going to lunch with my mom again, huh? Don't believe anything she says about me as a teenager." She laughed. "I'll try to keep that in mind." "So, I just wanted you to know that you're coming over to my house after work tonight so I can fix you dinner." "Oh?" She laughed again. "I didn't know you could cook." "I'm a damn gourmet, baby. You like spaghettio's, right?" The man made her laugh, what could she say? "I don't know when I'll get off here." "Doesn't matter. I get home at 5. You remember how to get to my condo, right?" "Sure. I'll try to be there by 6. I have a lot of work to get done here." "Messy files?" "Among other things." She sighed. It would take her weeks to get things sorted out to even a semblance of working order. She had no idea that Jason was in over his head so badly. She agreed to go to Chris' and hung up. When Jason invited her to lunch, she felt bad that she made plans, but he'd acted like he was just trying to be nice, so she didn't give it much thought. Suddenly she was quite the popular girl. At lunch, she and Renee talked and laughed about their shared past, reminiscing about when Chris and Cadence had been young and what Renee remembered of her mother. She hugged Renee goodbye at her car. "You've always been like a second mom to me and I just wanted you to know that I appreciate you, and I love you."

"I love you, too, honey." She kissed her cheek with a sweet smile and they parted ways. About 5, she walked back to where Jason was ankle deep in motorcycle parts and said, "I'm going to take off, unless you need me to stick around." He seemed sullen. "You can go." "We should talk, about the finances, tomorrow." He gave her a calculating look from where he crouched next to the bike. "Why not tonight?" "Because I have plans." His jaw ticked. "Fine." He turned his back on her and she felt strangely disappointed. As she left, she thought about how much fun she’d had teasing him on Sunday night about his bed, knowing full well that the only scent in that room was his. It seemed like he was eager to see her this morning, but once lunch hit, that was it. He was acting jealous. Weird. She showered quickly to get the garage smell off her and put on a jean skirt, ankle boots, and a long sleeved wrap shirt. When she arrived at his home, Chris handed her a glass of wine after giving her a quick peck on the lips hello, and she sat on the stool at his counter and watched him cook. "Can I ask you something?" "You can ask me two things." He grinned, scraping cut herbs down into a skillet of pasta. "It feels like your dad's pack is being more, accepting, of me than they used to be. I'm not just imagining things." He tossed the pasta skillfully and put it down, adjusting the burner and taking a drink from his own glass of wine. "Probably because you're sticking around. You are, right? I mean you took that job at the garage and everything." "I plan to stay, I guess. You don't approve of the garage?" "You're too smart to work at that place. You should come work for me at the credit union." Did everyone want her to work for them? "Jason needs help. The garage has been in his family for several generations, I don't want him to lose it."

He looked like he was going to say something and changed his mind, and then finally said, "You're very sweet, Cadence." They ate at a pub table in the kitchen, overlooking a small back patio. The pasta dish was delicious, full of tender chunked chicken and a sauce he made from scratch. They laughed and talked while they ate, and he let her help him with the dishes. With a gentle nudge, he urged her to go relax outside, and she went out onto the patio to sit on one of the Adirondack chairs. He came out with two grape popsicles and she laughed so hard she almost fell off the chair. She'd never been with a guy that was so thoughtful. When he walked her out to her car, he kissed her and she kissed him back, opening her mouth against his. He folded her into his arms, pressing the long length of his body against hers, and it was the most comforted she'd felt in a really long time. She felt oddly guilty and confused as she drove away, but it had been a nice kiss. The next morning, Jason sat across from her at the desk while she explained how he'd so royally screwed up his finances that it would takes weeks for her to come out on the other side of them. He looked tired and he also looked pissed off. "You can make payroll this week, but just barely. I can fiddle with some of the bills and I think you'll be okay while I'm digging through things." "Don't pay me this week." She frowned. "What?" He shrugged. "It's more important to pay the others, they've put up with a lot of my creative financing over the years. I can't keep doing that to them. Not when they're loyal." She shook her head. "It won't come to that, Jason. There's no reason for you to not take your salary. Don't you have bills of your own to pay?" He shrugged and looked bored. What a prick. She was trying to help; couldn't he get that through his thick head? She ground her jaw. "Look, I just wanted to let you know what I'm dealing with. I won't let you go under, but it's going to be a tough couple of weeks while I get things straightened out." "Well, that's what I'm paying you for, right?" "What the fuck is your problem?"

"I have no problem." He ground out. "You're being a prick." He growled under his breath but said nothing. "Just get out." She said evenly, trying to control her temper. "It's my office. I don't have to go anywhere." He smirked and folded his arms. "Fuck you, Jason. It's my office; that was part of our deal." He snorted and put both hands on the desk and leaned out of his chair until he was towering over her. "I can do whatever I want with my business, Cadence. You're an employee. Mine. Remember that." "Fuck. You." She said, gritting her teeth against the sob in her throat that threatened. Why did he have to be so cruel? They stared at each other, everything she hated about him roaring to the surface. Why had she thought that she could ever be around him like this? She must have been on drugs. She was about to lose it, staring into his eyes, so she gathered every ounce of courage she had and said, "Get out or I walk." His lip curled into a snarl and his eyes narrowed. He looked like he might want to punch her as much as she wanted to punch him, but instead he spun without a word and left, slamming the door with such force that the glass insert shattered. Fantastic. For her lunch break, she sat on the hood of her car after getting a cinnamon bagel and an iced coffee from the mini-mart down the street, and groused about her current situation. She couldn't have been more furious at Jason, but also more broken. He just had no clue how much he hurt her, and he'd been hurting her for a long time. "Go away, Michael." He approached her slowly with his hands up, like she was going to shoot him and the way she was feeling right then, if she had access to a gun she might have considered it. "Listen, about Jason." "I said 'go away'." "I heard you, darlin', but you need to hear me out." She popped the last part of the bagel that she hadn't really even tasted into her mouth and hopped off the hood. "You know what sucks? I've known both packs since before I can remember. Jason and I used to be really close, even closer than you and

me, and now I can barely stand to be in the same room with him when he has a tantrum. I must be some kind of idiot for coming to work here. Chris was right." She wadded up the napkin and grabbed the empty iced coffee cup. "What exactly did Chris say?" His voice tipped angrily. "He said I was too good for this place. I didn't think so, originally, I mean it's important to me that the garage stays open and everything, but I can't help but feel like I'm some kind of horrible burden to everyone in the Tressel pack. That's the funny thing about my life lately. Everything I thought I knew is just disappearing." "Is this about Jake's pack?" His tone was accusatory. As she put her hand on the door to go back into the garage, she turned, just for a moment and glared at him. “I am not a fucking trophy to be won!” He looked confused. “What the hell are you talking about?” “Jason has been treating me like the red-headed stepchild of the town since I was like 11. Now that Jake’s pack is opening up to me, warming up to me, suddenly everything is shifting and changing before my eyes. It’s…pathetic.” Opening the door, she let it slam shut behind her, effectively ending the conversation. She went back to the small closet-like office to clean up the glass, and it was already cleaned up. Shrugging to herself, she went back to work, trying to dig Jason and his business out of the hole. For the remainder of the week, Jason barely made an appearance to her but she spoke to Chris every night after work. On Friday, the checks for payroll were cut and she skipped her own check and paid for her own gas. She didn't need the money yet, and she'd been wrong in her original calculations that the business was okay. When he finished his one project, he'd be flush again, but right now he wasn't. Truth was, she had taken a handful of accounting classes, but wasn't an accountant, so she wasn't as clever with finances as someone with more training. Michael took Jason's check so she didn't have to see him. Everyone had been acting strangely towards her, and she was once again feeling like she didn't belong. Chris stopped by her house after he got off work and she made dinner for them. She was feeling out of sorts, and he was smart enough, or knew her well enough, to let her

be quiet and unhappy and just hang out. He drove her to the bar, which was nice, and invited her to sing with them again. "Chris?" She looked out the window of the truck as the darkness sped by. "Why haven't you ever picked a mate? Every girl in the Garra pack would love to have you." He took in a slow breath and let it out on a sigh. "I guess the simplest explanation is that I'm not interested in any of them. I don't think any of the wolves in the pack right now are future alpha material. It takes a special woman to lead a whole pack, to be alpha." "When your dad steps down, if you're not mated, then they'll be throwing themselves at you." He laughed. "Hopefully I'll have convinced some unsuspecting woman to be mine by then." She unclicked her seatbelt when he turned off the engine. "You're a very sweet guy, Chris. I'm glad that I've gotten to know you better." "Me, too, sweetheart. I'm just sorry that you haven't had a good week. Offer still stands," he held his hand out to her as she got out of the truck and she took it, "to come work for me at the credit union. Or you could always be my love slave." It was her turn to laugh. "Does that come with dental?" While she filled drink orders, she mused over Chris and his thinly veiled flirting, and liked it. He was so different from Jason. Last week, she couldn't picture him as anything more than what he had always been, just a friend. But now, with Jason being so blatantly horrible when he wasn't hiding in the back of the shop, and Jake's pack being so outwardly accepting of her, she couldn't help but indulge in her fond feelings for Chris. He was sexy as hell, funny and smart, and he was going to be alpha. The only thing that he didn't have going for him, was that he wasn't Jason. And damned her betraying heart, but when she turned her thoughts to Chris, Jason clouded her mind. Chris' band was up on stage and they called her up, and she went at Jake's urging, singing a handful of songs and enjoying herself. She was very aware of Jason in his normal booth, angrily drumming his fingers on the tabletop. Sweaty from the stage lights and slightly breathless, she hopped off the stage and walked through the

crowd to get back to work when she heard a very familiar voice say a very familiar and tiresome insult. Lindy said, "What a fucking mutt." The girls with her, all from Jason's pack, laughed like it was the funniest thing they had ever heard, even though she'd been hearing it since kindergarten. Bitches. Acting like she hadn't heard, Cadence went behind the counter and Jake happened to have his back turned to her, and she took the opportunity to grab the ball bat stashed underneath and hop over the counter. She heard three different men Jake, Chris, and Jason – say almost simultaneously, "Oh shit!” Slamming the bat down in the middle of the table so that the wood split with the force and their drinks spilled, she grabbed that bitch Lindy by her hair and snatched her off her seat. "I am so fucking tired," Cadence said, dragging her behind her through the bar as both Chris and Jason scrambled towards her, "of hearing that snarky little mouth of yours with your mutt-this and mutt-that." Cadence tossed her against the wall by the exit where she crumbled to the floor in a heap, kicked the door open, grabbed her by her neck and shoved her through. Lindy stumbled on her hooker heels on the gravel and spun on her, snarling. Cadence pointed the bat at her. "You need to keep your fucking mouth shut, or I'm going to shut it permanently." "You're not pack, you can't touch me." "Fuck pack, this is personal." The crowd spilled around them from the bar to the back parking lot, and Jake came around to her view. "Cadence, don't do this. She's not worth it." "I think I've put up with more than enough bullshit from the Tressel pack." She darted a glance to Jason who looked almost proud of her. Chris grinned at her in encouragement, a few paces away from Jake. Lindy righted herself finally, and said, "You're so tough with that ball bat." She chucked it at Jake, who caught it deftly, and Cadence took a menacing step towards her, glad she was wearing leather pants instead of a skirt like her. "Think it through; you don't want to tangle with me." Cadence said in a low voice, dialing into the part of her that had been waiting to hurt Lindy for years.

Lindy launched herself at Cadence, but her aim was off because of her heels, so she sidestepped and smashed her fist into Lindy's back, sending her to the ground. Lindy was fast and strong, but she was no fighter, and Cadence was able to get her into a headlock without any trouble and force her to submit. Which she did. Readily. Cadence shoved her away and she whimpered, sporting scrapes on her palms and knees from when she went down, and a long scratch on her jaw from where she had hit the concrete. Cadence cracked her knuckles. "Don't ever call me a mutt again." She brushed her hands together and turned to Jake, "I need a drink." Everyone left pitiful Lindy on the ground. It had hardly been worth the effort, but Cadence was not in the mood to take any more crap from anyone else in the Tressel pack. Chris and the band went back up to play after Chris kissed her cheek and tugged a lock of hair, whispering that he was proud of her, and Jake told her he was going to take the table out of her paycheck which she said she expected. After a while, Jason approached the bar and asked if he could talk to her. She stepped into the back with him, expecting him to be mad. "I’m really proud of you, Cadence. I've been waiting for you to put her down; she annoys the hell out of me." He laughed nervously. "Glad I could entertain you." She smirked. "Listen, about this week. I, I'm sorry. I know you're helping me out, but it's hard for me to admit that I was hurting the business because I didn't know what I was doing. I would never forgive myself if I let the business go under." "I won't let that happen, Jason." He sighed and rubbed his temple. "Michael told me that you said you feel like I’ve mistreated you since you were 11. Is that true?" "Kind of. I think that was when I started to really feel like I didn't belong. You just have no idea what it's like for me with one foot in each world. I wish that things were simple, like I could just be pack or just be human, but neither is really home for me. It's getting old, chasing a tail I don't have and trying to please people that don't want me around." "The pack, my pack, the reason they act like that is because you're single, you're a threat."

"Yeah, Chris told me that. But Jake's pack doesn't treat me like that, and," she sighed, "it's just nice to have things be simple. I know you don't like Chris, but he's easy to be around. He doesn't make me feel inadequate." She glanced at her watch. "I should get back. Thanks for not blowing your stack." She kissed his cheek quickly and walked back out to the bar. Chris drove her home and kissed her at the door, and she fell asleep thinking about how strange her life was turning out.

Chapter 6

A lot bothered Jason as he went home Friday night. Cadence had been angry at work the whole week, clearly his fault of course, but he hadn't been able to tell her on Tuesday that he was embarrassed about everything, how he'd nearly ruined his family's business. The revelation from Michael had hit him like a ton of bricks, because of course when she was 11 he had turned his back on her. He hadn't realized until that moment how vulnerable she must have felt even though he had watched her more closely from that point on than he had even before. He was practically a stalker until she went to college, shifting and keeping watch on her house at night, even sleeping out in the woods, just to be near her. Her safety was the most important thing to him and until she confided in Michael, he hadn't realized how much she had missed him, how much she valued him. Once again he was angry that he'd not handled things right back then. He'd been so proud of her for kicking Lindy's ass, and she'd done it like a true alpha. She had put her down, made her submit, and then threatened her to try it again. She'd been graceful and incredible, and there wasn't a female in either pack that was going to insult her anytime soon. Of course, if she actually became alpha she'd probably have to do it again, just for good measure, but that was part of being alpha. And she would be a great alpha. The weekend passed incredibly slowly. He went into the shop on Saturday; desperately trying to finish the bike to bring the money in that he had known was more than needed. He went into the office, telling himself that he needed to check over the books and see what she had done, but he really wanted to smell her scent in the small room. Sitting in the more than comfortable chair, it was like her scent called to him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, tasting and scenting the air for her, the scent of her combined perfume and skin like an aphrodisiac. The flowers were gone, thankfully, he hadn't been able to look into the office without wanting to hunt Chris down and tear

his throat out. As he flipped on the computer and waited for it to boot up, he opened the desk drawer to find a pen and found the card that came with her flowers. He frowned as he read it, because he didn't know what it meant, but clearly it was something that she and Chris had done together, maybe when they were kids? What bothered him more was that Chris had signed the card "love". She'd done an amazing job on the finances in the short time she'd been buried in them, and then he realized with shock what she'd done. She hadn't paid herself. Granted, her paycheck should only have been about $300, but she'd blanked herself out of the books for the week, drawing a big fat zero for her salary but paying him and everyone else full, even catching up on some past overtime he hadn't been able to pay. Stalking to the front to check credit card receipts, he saw her scribbled signature on her charge for a full tank of gas on Friday. "Need something, Jason?" Fritz asked, coming in from pumping a tank of gas. Shoving the receipt back into the cash drawer he grunted at the young wolf and walked out. She wasn't home and she wasn't at the restaurant. He caught her scent and saw her when he drove by the park. She was lying down on a picnic tabletop, one knee up, talking to Chris who was sitting on top of the table next to her. How had Chris gotten his claws into her so fast? Originally he thought that Chris was merely a small annoyance, but he was flat out trying to turn her to him. Two weeks into his sentence and he felt like he was fast losing what little ground he had. Sunday night he watched carefully for an opportunity to talk to her about her idea of doing the books and finally Michael and Linus managed to distract Chris and his band-mates, a mini clique in the pack, so he could snag Cadence's hand. He pulled her over to their side of the bonfire. "The strangest thing happened when you did payroll on Friday." He took a drink of his beer. Her curious expression slipped down into a frown and then she shook her head and flipped her long hair over her shoulder. "Don't know what you're talking about. I'm the best bookkeeper you ever had." He loved her spark. Little spitfire. "Perhaps, but you also forgot to pay yourself. And you paid for your own gas." Her pretty eyes narrowed accusingly. "Checking up on me?"

"It is my business; I'm allowed to do that." He rolled his eyes at her. "Why did you do that? I told you that you should hold back my check; I wasn't suggesting that you should do it to yourself." She hummed in her throat and bounced on her feet a few times. "I don't need the money. Not right now anyhow. You've sacrificed enough. So don't worry about it." "I don't want you to do that; it's not your place." She looked at him curiously. "Okay, Jas." She smiled at him, snatched the beer from his hand and took a long drink, and then gave it back to him with a laugh and walked back to the other side of the fire where Chris and his group were giving him the hard-stare. Jason tipped his beer towards Chris and he could see it pissed Chris off, which he enjoyed a great deal. Then Chris pissed him off even more by wrapping a lock of her hair around his finger and giving it a gentle tug. When she looked up at Chris with a soft smile, Jason wanted to throttle him. He moved forward an inch with her and Chris shoved him back a mile. Monday morning, he overheard a conversation that made his blood run cold. She was in her office at 8:30 and he was in the front of the shop, debating on asking her to lunch and risking rejection. "No, I'm not sure who it was, but I didn’t recognize them. It was definitely a wolf, but not anyone I've ever smelled before." Jason practically ran back to her office, startling her. "Hang up." He demanded. She looked confused. "Hang the fuck up right now." "I'll call you back, Chris." She said with an annoyed voice, putting the phone back in the cradle. "Yes, my liege?" Her sarcasm was dripping. "You smelled a strange wolf? Where?" He demanded. "Last night at my house. Why?" "Why wouldn't you tell me?" "I think the better question is why would I tell you? It's nothing, I'm sure, just a curious rogue or maybe a new teen that shifted before I came back." She shrugged. "The fuck it's nothing." He yanked her from the chair by her arm and hauled her out of the shop. She struggled to stop his pull but wasn't strong enough. Staring at the helmet he shoved at her, she said, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Taking you to your house so I can figure out what's going on. Get on." "No." She growled. "Get on or I'll put you on." He growled back. He thought she might fight him, but instead she huffed and put the helmet on, sliding behind him. It had been so long, too damn long, since she'd been on the back of his bike. He grabbed her hands and put them around his waist and she muttered under her breath, ‘I ought to gut you' and his laughter was drown out by the start of his bike. Her hands were warm, hot almost, through the material of his shirt, and in order to clasp her hands together, she had to press her whole body against him. Reacting naturally to being so close to him, he could smell the need streaking through her as she molded herself against him, pressing the apex of her sweet thighs into his back, the vibration of the enormous motor ratcheting up her desire. She didn't know it, but her beast was calling to his beast, and it was the sweetest feeling. It was just further proof to him that she really was meant for him. The part of her that was wolf knew that they were mates and craved that closeness, even if the human part of her didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. The smell hit him as soon as he rounded into the driveway and stopped the bike. She slid off first, pulling the helmet from her head and running her hand through her hair. He sighed in relief. It was one of Jake’s teenagers that had shifted just a month ago. Of course, no wolf should be sniffing around her, regardless, so that was a problem in and of itself. At least it wasn’t a rogue or another pack coming around. "I think you're overreacting." She said. "There's no such thing as overreacting when it comes to your safety." "Whatever." She snorted. He snatched her by the back of the neck with one hand and drew her to him. "Do you think that I don't care about you? How could you possibly believe that I would want anything to happen to you?" She struggled under the grip on her neck and he dug his fingers in enough that her movements soothed her and she let out a whimpering sigh and stopped moving, her eyes glazing over slightly. "You haven't cared about me since I was a kid." Her words were slurred slightly as the pressure points under his fingers lulled her into submission.

"That's a fucking lie and you know it." "I don't know anything for sure anymore, Jas." She closed her eyes with a soft sigh. “I’m going to take a walk, check around, but I believe it’s one of Jake’s wolves. Go in the house and shut the door and wait for me. Got it?” He was very tempted to kiss her, but he thought with the way things were going he’d wind up with a broken nose if he tried that, so it was better to give himself and his wolf a little breathing room. Loosening the grip, he rubbed the pressure points and watched her eyes blink open and then come back into focus. Releasing his hold on her neck, he waited until she walked in the house and shut the door, and then he took a long walk. He smelled the wolf, and it was definitely not one of his. But he did recognize it, so he called Jake. “Well, hell. I’ll come by for a sniff and then round up the youths. You know that part of the problem is that you and Chris are fighting over her, and its drawing attention to her unmated status.” His sigh was edged in a growl. “She’s not unmated, Jake.” If Jake was there, he would have put his hands up in defense, that sound was clear in his voice. “I’m not the enemy here, Jason.” “I know. I know.” He walked back until the house was in view. “I’ll let her know that you’ll be around.” “I’ll apologize on behalf of the kid, but the best way to put this sort of behavior down is to claim her.” “I would, if she’d fucking remember.” “So do a better job of jogging her memory. She’s not an idiot. She’s just out of her depths. Your father’s orders to alter her impression of the marking along with no one being able to treat her like the alpha she is has stunted her. Your best bet would be to treat her like an alpha, Jason. You don’t have to break the oath to include her in the inner workings. Maybe a little more pack time would help.” He sounded damn encouraging. “Jake?” “Look, I love my son, but he’s running on a misguided notion that getting Cadence is going to change things for him within the pack. It’s not enough for him to be

mated; even to someone as powerful as Cadence. He’s volatile, foolhardy, and immature. I worry he’ll undo all the good our packs have managed to enjoy the last few decades. And more than that, I know what happens when a male chooses his mate and she leaves him for another. I wouldn’t wish that hell on anyone. Do what you gotta do, Jason. I’ll talk to you.” He hung up in silence and chewed his lip. And then he made a few more phone calls. Bounding up onto the back porch he walked into the kitchen like he owned the place and said, “I hope you’ve got something to eat around here, we’re going to have a meeting.” “Why don’t you go to your own place?” “Because I don’t want to, and I’m here anyway.” He moved to the cabinets, hoping to spur her into action. He’d been very clear with his instructions to the wolves that were coming. They were going to full-on discuss pack business and they were to include her in everything. And his secret weapon was Casper, newly mated. While she watched in silence, he pulled plates and cups from the cupboard and when he was rummaging in the refrigerator, she gave him a gentle shove on his hip. “You’re making a mess, Jas. Scoot.” Moving aside to handle the table, he set for seven, pulling three more chairs from the dining room into the comfortable kitchen. “Hey, Cades, do you remember that time we dyed eggs in my mom’s kitchen for Easter?” She turned from the refrigerator with a plastic container in her hand and her eyes danced. “She was so mad when we forgot to put down the plastic tablecloth to catch the dye.” Jason chuckled, glad he’d pulled her back in time so easily. There was so much history between them. “Yeah, she made me scrub that table all night. There’s still a place on it that has a little bit of green dye embedded in the oak. I think she wants to throttle me every time she sees it.” “Probably.” She snorted delicately, drumming her hand on the top of the container. “There are seven of you?” “No, sweet, just six, plus you.”

“Me?” “Sure, why not? You may not shift, but you’re still a wolf, and you’re staying in town. That means that you should know what goes on in the pack.” Her brow furrowed, but her lips split into a soft smile, and she turned back to the fridge with a happy little hum. Jason blew out a mental breath. She hadn’t told him off or tried to argue. She’d just accepted things which meant Jake was right. He had been trying to treat her like she wasn’t like them and ignoring the wolf in her. No wonder she didn’t know how to deal with anything that was going on around her. She was literally clueless. Sure, she could have asked, but after what she’d told Michael about feeling unprotected, devalued, and now with the in-fighting between himself and Chris, she didn’t know how to handle anything. He tried to envision her as a new wolf, which is how he would have treated her at age 16 even as a half-breed. His father hadn’t included her in the pack workings because her father had forbidden direct contact outside of her relationship with Jake and Renee, but he would have been twenty at the time and he would have taught her everything he could in private. One of the first things that a new wolf learned was their place in the pack. New wolves always started out at the bottom, unless they were born alpha. And Cades was; that was for sure. For a quiet moment he watched her move around the kitchen with a grace and ease that just screamed wolf. Just last weekend he’d been here, laughing with her, with his close friends, and it had felt like such a natural thing. He wanted that with her all the time. He wanted to build a life with her that was just them. The pack was theirs, too, but he wanted to go to bed at night with her scent in his nose and wake up with his arms around her. She didn’t have a grill but she had all four burners on the stove going in short order. She would know everyone well, but she was closest to Michael. Michael, as second, Bo, third, Linus, fourth, Clay fifth, and Casper, lower ranked but a good guy all around. And he was still sporting fresh mating bites. “Need help?” He leaned against the counter. It was a bluff. He could grill upside down, but to actually turn on a stove and cook something other than dry scrambled

eggs was out of his reach. Fortunately she didn’t call him on it and smiled up at him and said, “I got it covered.” He heard the bikes announcing the arrival of the men, and he went to the front door and let them in. They all looked happy, excited. There was a hum of electricity in the air around them and it was because they were finally able to include their alpha female in pack dealings. Once again he felt the weight of his actions and the repercussions that his people felt as a result of them. It wasn’t just about him and Cadence now; it was about all of them. They all greeted her with just the right mix of friendship and respect. They all accepted her welcoming cheek kisses with glances at him as if he would throw them out of the house for the action, but he didn’t mind. He knew her intentions were pure. If she had any idea how much she turned the pack on just by being herself, she’d never want to leave the house. Michael, an excellent cook in his own right, stepped in to help and Linus pilfered beers from the fridge and they all sat down. He took the head of the table and left the left chair open for her, and the others fell into the other chairs, carefully arranged so that Casper was sitting next to her. The table was set with fried chicken tenders, pasta salad, sliced roast beef, and ziti. She sat down with a glass of iced tea. She really only drank beer at the bonfires. The chatter was casual around the table, and after waiting for her to fill her plate, they set in on the food like locusts. After a few quiet minutes while the men all appreciated her cooking, Michael started the ball rolling, “So Casp, looks like Gwennie can really mark, huh?” Casper grinned. He wasn’t playing right now; he was so thrilled to have found his mate. “Man, I’m bruised head to toe!” Casper was only 24, but he had a pretty tough go of things until Gwen started paying attention to his drooling over her. Cadence turned her head as if she hadn’t really noticed Casper and made a soft sound. She must have looked confused because Casper said, “Don’t worry, Cadence. It’s what mates do. I marked Gwennie, too, so that when we’re not together, no one will lay a hand on her.”

Linus laughed. “It’s like lo-jack for mates. Someone finds your mate and they return them to you untouched. Dig?” Her voice was breathy, light. “I dig.” Jason had a feeling she was itching to touch her neck. Her whole body was screaming in protest of sitting still. But she stayed firmly rooted to her seat and listened as the boys switched topics smoothly and began talking about their exploits. The seed had been sown. She’d get the connection, he was sure of it. Neck. Bite. Mate. He willed her to know it, to understand it, and cross the bridge to him. As the meal dwindled to a close, he rapped his knuckles on the table and everyone went silent. “Alright, then, gentlemen, and Cadence, on to business.” For the next hour, they talked pack business in more depth than normal. By the time they were both watching the men leave on their bikes, she’d had a crash course in pack dealings and had made some good observations and comments when prompted by him to speak her mind. She had fit in even more smoothly than he’d expected and he couldn’t have been happier at this moment. Well, he could be much, much happier, but this was good for happiness of the clothes-on variety. “Want me to help you clean up the kitchen?” “Nah. I’m hoping the dish fairy will show up while I’m sleeping.” She yawned and stretched, making a little squeaking noise. Adorable female. He looked up at the half moon. “Well, if she does show up, send her my way, okay?” “Sure thing, Jas. Thanks. For tonight.” “For what?” “For including me. You didn’t have to, but I appreciate the gesture. You guys were never the problem with me feeling like I belong here. You know?” “I was a problem.” “You are a problem on a good day.” Her biting sarcasm was gone; her tone was all light teasing and friendship. He’d broken down part of her armor today, her shielding around herself that kept her apart from him. If she wouldn’t think he was nuts, he’d break out in show tunes. “True. I was miserable for a long time.”

He turned towards her and had every intention of doing some large romantic gesture, sweeping her off her feet and kissing her until they were both dizzy from lack of oxygen, but she blocked the effort with a chaste kiss and a gentle “goodnight” and shut him out of the house. Still, he had a spring in his step when he strode to his bike. Thanks to Jake’s little teen wolf problem, and his sage advice, he’d just closed the distance between himself and Cadence in a way that Chris would never be able to. Chris might be able to give her the girls of the pack to go out drinking with, but he could never bring her to a pack meeting with Jake as alpha, and what Cadence clearly craved was a home and family. Not just bar buddies. That, he could most certainly do. And he would. As much as he’d complained about his parents growing up, and his idiot brother, Cadence had one hell of a rough upbringing. But that diamond tough exterior was what he loved, almost as much as the melty, gooey girl that teared up when King Kong died. His family would be hers, the pack would take her in as one of their own, and he’d have what he’d craved since he first knew they were mates. He just wanted her. All her ups. All her downs. He wanted her hand in his firmly and her heart forever. No small order, but it finally felt like things were shifting his way.

Chapter 7

Waking up with the alarm on Tuesday morning, Cadence grumbled and hit the snooze and rolled over. She hadn’t slept well. It wasn’t the teenager that had been sniffing around, it was everything that happened after that. Something stirred in her from the pack meeting, and it wasn’t just all that talk about mate marking. She felt like a part of her had belonged there with the pack. And not because she was friends with them, but because they were looking at her like she was one of them. All night, her mind had been working in overdrive, sorting through the past and trying to mesh up jumbled images and fuzzy memories. She’d get her head wrapped around something and another piece would come unraveled. Where’s that 20/20 hindsight she'd heard so much about? When the snooze went off for the fourth time, and she hadn’t managed to do anything but become more annoyed at the sound of the alarm, she got up and showered. She would seriously need a gallon of coffee. While she dried her hair, she bent over slightly, and caught a flash of a white mark on her neck. Pausing, she touched the four scars that she'd had as long as she could remember. She could feel them, slightly rougher and warmer than the surrounding skin but virtually unnoticeable against her fair coloring except when her light summer sun-kissed skin kicked in. Only one person had ever asked her about them besides her father, and it had been one of her roommates in college. Cadence told her what she knew to be the truth, except it had come out of her mouth like tacks, as if she were purposely lying and the truth was waiting to be set free. “I fell into a rosebush and got cut on the thorns,” she told her. Gretchen. Snotty attitude, typical campus slut. She had looked disappointed, like she thought the story should have been better, and it was the first time that Cadence gave them any serious thought.

Until now. She clucked at herself in the mirror. Those marks seemed awfully familiar and meaningful. She finished drying her hair, dressed for work and drove in. She made coffee and watched the pot, which made it seem to drip slower. Perhaps, like pots of water waiting to boil, watched coffee pots didn’t drip. “Hey baby girl.” Michael sidled up to the counter and looked expectantly at the coffee. “Hey Michael. What’s doing?” “Nada. Boss is cracking my ass to finish the engine overhaul on that Chevy out back.” “He’s a real slave driver.” She gave him a wink and he grinned. “Hey, can I ask you something about wolves?” He looked pleasantly surprised. “Of course. My vast knowledge of everything is at your disposal.” She snorted. What a dink. “With the thing with Casper and his girl, was there more to it than the, you know, biting?” She made a gesture to her neck as if he wouldn’t know what she was talking about. “You mean, how does it all go down?” “Yeah.” She shrugged as if she was just asking for conversation’s sake, except that wasn’t the case. She had marks. She had marks. Didn’t she? All she could see of Casper’s skin was hickey-like bruises and teeth marks, but not four marks like hers. “Well, it depends on the wolves. You know the story of my folks?” She nodded. “Yeah, well, most of the time there’s a public announcement, what they call a public marking. And then there’s a private one, which is the one with teeth. But a real marking, doll, is just one mark, over the spine with the fangs. The rest of Casper’s bruise-job was because they were having sex, too.” Her face lit with blush. She was no prude, but she liked bedroom things to be private. Michael enjoyed her embarrassment and she knew he’d say something ridiculous and make it worse so she saved him the trouble. “You ever marked anyone?” He barked out a laugh. “Do I look married?” “Married?”

“Yeah. I mean it’s not like rough sex, okay? It’s not about pain for pleasure’s sake or any of that good stuff. It’s an I’m yours, you’re mine sort of thing. It’s for bonding. And mate bonding is for life.” The front door rang and he said, “Oops, Jason’s here. I gotta jam before he’s got my hide tacked to his wall. Later.” He snaked the coffee pot out and filled his cup before darting off. On auto-pilot, Cadence went through the motions of filling up her coffee mug and passed Jason in the hall before shutting the door to her office and trying to get her head together. He’d smiled and said good morning, but there was nothing more than that in his eyes. Now last night, she’d been positive he would have kissed her if she'd waited him out, and she didn’t want that. Well, she damn well did want that a lot, but she wanted some space first. A good night’s sleep was in order, but it turns out she didn’t get one. What she would have liked better than going to bed alone, was having someone to talk to. She considered calling Jason a hundred times. And Chris. But something wasn’t sitting right with her, and that feeling she had when she first got to town, that everyone knew something about her and wasn’t telling her, reared its head. She tried to tamp it down, but it stayed put like that, until she had to get out of the office and take a walk. When she got back from lunch, Jason was at the front counter. “Hey. I was going to offer to take you to Lonestar’s but you disappeared. Everything okay?” “Yeah. I just wanted to get some fresh air. Maybe tomorrow?” He nodded, “Sure thing.” When work was done, she said goodnight to him, while he was buried up to his elbows in grease and he flashed her a sweet smile that made his one dimple even deeper and she went home. To the empty house. There was something wildly unsatisfying about cooking dinner for herself after just the night before having a houseful of rambunctious wolves. And damn it, she’d forgotten to hit the grocery store on the way home, so she was rocking a box of powdered mac and cheese and nothing else. Chris called about seven, when she was flipping through channel after channel and thinking she should have gotten the movie channels when she paid for the satellite

service. He asked her to go out to dinner on Wednesday. She hesitated, because if she was going to eat a big lunch with Jason tomorrow, then dinner would be out, so she suggested Thursday instead, and when she hung up, she felt unsettled. Oddly, her head was telling her that she was cheating, that Chris wasn’t right for her. Giving up on the TV, she went to bed, muzzling the voice in her head. Jason didn’t even look at the menu when they sat down for lunch. Cadence did, just to have something to do. They’d both grown up eating at the restaurant because it was the only one in town, and since Grey took over, there hadn’t been any changes to the menu. It was all typical southern meat and potatoes stuff. Her father had been a good chef, but not a particularly creative one. His culinary skills were just about his only redeeming quality. Of the handful of decent memories she had of him, they all revolved around food. Him teaching her how to make something, or the one birthday he didn’t ignore when he made waffles as big as dinner plates and drew smiley faces on them with syrup. She realized that Jason was talking. “I’m sorry, Jas, what did you say?” “I asked what you’re thinking about so seriously?” She made a face. “My father.” He made a face and it made her chuckle, sadly. No one liked her father. But he must have had some redeeming qualities if her mother had married him. And then he said something that surprised her. “I don’t really remember much about him or your mom from that time because I was so young. She hung out with Renee, because they were so close. But we were neighbors, and I do remember that they used to do cookouts for both packs, like we do now, except they’d take one of the Saturdays and another from my father’s pack would take another one, so that it wasn’t always back and forth between my dad’s and Jake’s. She was in Jake’s pack of course, but, from what I remember even back then, it was strained with your dad. I think he was like Linus’ ex-wife. A part of him was excited by the wolf part of your mother, but for the most part he wanted the human life and didn’t want her pulled towards the pack and away from him.” Before she could say anything, one of the waitresses took their order, and when they were alone he continued, “I think it’s harder for the mixed relationships, when one

of the couple isn’t part of the pack. Linus made the mistake of marrying a woman that was only in it because she was hot for his wolf, but when the glow faded and he had responsibilities that he couldn’t walk away from, then that was it for her. Sometimes the pack has to come first. I don’t think your folks were married all that long before she was taken. He’d just started the restaurant, and I do remember overhearing my dad and Jake talk about buying the restaurant from him, but he wouldn’t sell. Maybe he stuck it out because he knew you would need the pack someday.” The thought of her father doing something unselfish like that for her sat about as right as a hand on a hot stove. “That’s a nice thought, but I don’t think he stayed here for me. I don’t think he…gave me much thought at all.” She cleared her throat at the sudden lump and looked away. Jason looked so caring and thoughtful at that moment, that all she could think about doing was climbing into his lap and letting him hold her. She liked to be in control. She spent her childhood not letting her father know that he could hurt her emotionally by poking at the part of her that wasn’t human. To do that she’d gotten very good at shuttering her emotions so that her face was blank, neutral. But Jason’s very blue eyes were following her like a laser and it was all she could do right then not to fall apart. “You know what? I think it would be nice if you wanted to host a bonfire one of these weekends. Your property is plenty big.” He changed the topic so smoothly that she almost cried in relief at the weight that was shifted off her shoulders. “One of the ones in November, this weekend is too close, and next week is the full moon so the, you know, the whole thing is different.” While they waited for their food, he talked animatedly about the bonfires and their history. Originally they’d been set up to bring the packs together on the full moon only. It was the alphas before Jake and Peter had taken over that thought of it, because both packs were small and could help keep each other safe. It had grown from there over the years. When their food arrived, his four plates to her one, they ate in a comfortable silence for a several minutes.

“I got a catalog in for stereos. After lunch, I’ll bring it to your office and you can pick out what you want.” His fingers were glistening with French fry grease and all sorts of wicked little thoughts traipsed through her head. She took her time chewing the bite of fettuccine alfredo so that she didn’t ask him to let her lick his fingers, and when she was confident that she wasn’t going to embarrass herself, she said, “I don’t need you to do that now. It can wait.” “It was part of our deal. Why would it wait?” “Because it’s not necessary. You finished that bike yesterday, and when his check clears then we’ll be okay, but, don’t do that to the business for my sake.” “I wasn’t planning to pay for it from the garage.” Oh. Oops. “Okay. I’m sorry if I offended you.” “I’m not that easily wounded, Cades. Give me a little credit.” He rolled his luscious blue eyes and smirked and she fell in love with him a little bit more, if that were possible. The rest of the meal was nice. More than nice, it was everything she’d ever wanted from him. The Jason that she remembered when she was young, before he shifted into his wolf form, was sitting right in front of her and it was like being transported back in time. Back at the office, they talked about stereos and he gave her his suggestions, along with making fun of her taste in music, and she picked one that had a GPS screen and would sync with her iPod. When she checked out for the night, he looked up over the seat of the bike he had just started taking apart. “Can I take you to dinner tomorrow night?” She must have frowned while she thought of what to say, because he stood up. “What’s wrong?” “I made plans with Chris for tomorrow.” His features shifted from smiling to pissed off in seconds, and the cords of his neck tensed as he twisted the wrench in his hand. And then just as quickly as he’d gotten pissed, his face went suddenly blank, calm as if he were trying too hard to be calm because he wasn’t. “Goodnight, Cadence.” She could have shivered from the ice in his tone.

“Night, Jas.” Confused at the abrupt change from him, she went home. Alone. Again. What did she expect? Something. Anything. Anything was better than no response and a cold front. She couldn’t sleep. The sheets were rough, the bed lumpy, and her hand kept reaching for her cell to call Jason and apologize for having a date, and to call Chris and cancel, and to open the window and scream at the sky for no good reason. Did Jason want to date her? Like date her? Was this about the marks on her neck? What was everyone hiding from her? Her eyes were ringed with purple and red from lack of sleep when she got to work on Thursday, and clearly as a result of her pending date with Chris, Jason had retreated back to himself again, barking angrily at everyone. Michael gave her sad eyes when he made the lunch run, and she fought an internal battle over what to do. Time won, whether fortunate or not, and suddenly it was too late to cancel. Chris appeared at her doorstep at 6, dressed casually in khakis and a soft white sweater. He looked like he’d stepped fresh from a photo shoot and her first thought was that he really just didn’t do it for her. Handsome? Check. Funny? Check. Sexy? You bet. More than just a friend? Not hardly. He drove them to a small, intimate Italian restaurant a few towns over and they talked over one of those red glass candle holders that you see in all the Italian restaurants in movies. As if any other sort of holder just wasn’t authentic. She'd never been to Italy, so maybe it was very authentic, or maybe they think Americans are idiots. The chicken parmesan was passable, made more so by the half decent bottle of wine he ordered. She was not much for drinking. But she liked a good Melon Ball or a Seabreeze and she didn't pretend to know anything about wine. If it tasted good, then she didn't much care what name was on the label. Give her a bottle of Two Buck Chuck any day. “So I thought we could make an appearance at the bonfire on Sunday and then catch a movie. Brett and his current chew toy are doing the dating thing for now.” He laughed but she didn’t find it funny at all. Brett had a reputation for being a screw ‘em and leave ‘em sort with the human females that hung around the packs.

“He must think something of her if he’s planning to take her on a date,” She pointed out. The whole dinner sat hard in her stomach, souring. “Nah.” He leaned back in the booth and slung his arm up. “Don’t feel sorry for her, Cadence, she knows what she’s getting into. If she really wanted to have a relationship with a wolf, she wouldn’t act the way she did in the first place. And she definitely shouldn’t try for something with my brother.” Probably. She rubbed the space between her eyes with her thumb for a minute. “It’s not my business, anyway. Brett always was a player.” “Can’t play forever,” he said. That sounded ominous. She hummed in her throat and turned down dessert, ready to put a fork in the evening. The conversation had gotten heavy and she wanted to go home. The kiss at the door was nice. Chris could kiss, that was for sure. The thought that he had probably kissed and screwed his way through the bar chew toys, not to mention the females in Jake’s pack, made her uneasy and it also made her think about Jason. How many girls had he kissed? Had he ever taken a female on the full moon? If she’d been unhappy before those thoughts, she was riotously miserable after they crashed around in her brain like errant trains. She had plans to talk to Jason, just to hear his voice, but he was mysteriously absent on Friday. Running errands, according to Michael, who looked like he was unhappy with her. She wasn’t sure what she was doing wrong, but she seemed to be pissing everyone off. Saturday afternoon, the wolves got together for a game of football at Jake’s house. She was not planning to play, although she was wearing her NKU jersey, but Callie grabbed her hand and claimed her for Jason's pack. Cadence caught the pleased look that Jason shot to Callie, and the annoyed look on Chris’ face. Before she could think on it, Callie pulled her into the thick of the game. Callie stayed with her, out of the way of the more serious boys as they tackled each other in an effort to get the ball. It seemed that it was a lot less about the game than about letting loose some testosterone and aggression. The rest of both packs watched, Jake and Renee barbecuing for everyone, which was no small feat. Callie suggested that they get involved and she shoved Cadence with one hand towards the

goal line and ran to snag the ball. Cadence took off, splitting away from her, and she heard Callie yell her name and turned as she ran and caught the ball that Callie threw. She barely cleared one of Jake's pack as he tried to get the ball back. She saw Chris race towards her and laughed and threw the ball to Michael, but Chris tackled her anyhow, bracing her carefully so the tumble to the ground didn't hurt. Flat on her back and laughing while she tried to catch her breath, he kept himself above her with straightened arms and a huge grin on his face. A second later, Jason slammed into him, taking both of them a few yards away where they hit the ground and began swinging. She was surprised at first, because she hadn't been paying attention to Jason, but then she wasn't surprised at all. It was just one more strange thing that she couldn’t explain. Callie and Michael appeared next to her, and Michael held out his hand, helping her to her feet. "It was bound to happen eventually." Michael shrugged, pulling her further back away from where they were trying to tear each apart. It looked like neither was getting the upper hand, but they were both really pissed. She frowned. "This is about me, right?" Michael looked at her like she'd just sprouted horns. "Are you fucking kidding me? How can you be so dense?" "Hey!" She growled. He gestured to Chris and Jason. "Do you think they're fighting over this game? Chris put his hands on you in public. He's not allowed to do that." "Excuse me? I'm in charge of who is and is not allowed to put their hands on me." She took a step towards them and Michael grabbed her arm. "Are you out of your mind? If you try to break them up, you could get hurt. This is a mate fight, Cadence. Chris is trying to take what rightfully belongs to Jason. They're probably two seconds away from shifting and tearing into each other that way. You can't stop two alpha males from fighting over the only partially marked alpha female within 200 miles of here." Her mouth dropped open and her brain spun. “What did you say?”

All the blood drained from his face. He stammered and swallowed audibly. "How much did you hear?" He half laughed, nervous. "Michael?" She asked plaintively, begging with her voice for him to tell her the truth. Michael looked positively green, and Callie did, too. "I wasn’t supposed to say anything. I fucked up. I'm sorry." "Why not? I don't understand." She felt even more clueless than before. "I - I," Michael stuttered and she put her hand up. "Forget it." She turned and pushed between Michael and Callie, hugging her arms around herself and skirting around the house to the front porch that was quiet and deserted. As she rounded the corner of the house she heard the sounds of the shifting and growling of two werewolves about to tear each other apart with fangs and claws. Over her. Her brain argued with itself. Part of her believed every single word out of Michael’s mouth, that she had been Jason’s all along and he was just as unsure of himself when it came to matters of the heart as she was. The pessimistic part of her believed it was more along the lines of Jason not wanting Chris to have her, even if he didn’t want her himself. Unfortunately, Chris had driven her, and she didn't feel like walking, so she sat down on the porch. She knew without seeing, that the two wolves were probably locked at each other's throats, the snarls echoed around the house and surrounding woods and both packs were just watching. "Are you alright, honey?" Jake eased down next to her on the top step. "No. I don't understand what's going on. The last couple of weeks, everything's gone completely berserk in my life. I always thought that Jason didn’t care for me, but his actions lately make that seem like a lie and Chris has always been a friend but now it appears that he wants more. I’m just not sure what to do." "You have to figure this one out yourself, I'm afraid. I'd like to help you, but I can't." "Why the hell not?" She demanded.

"Because it's your life, and your future, and you have to figure out your past, first, before you can figure out your future. I could tell you what I think, but it's not important. The only thing that matters is what you want and need." He leaned over and kissed the top of her head and gave her a one-armed hug. "You'll figure it out. I have every confidence." After Jake left her alone, she groused for long enough that her butt started to go numb on the cool concrete step. Callie peeked around the corner and Cadence said, "Take me home, will ya?" Callie nodded and pulled her keys out of her pocket and locked arms with Cadence. The drive to her house was very quiet. Cadence knew she wouldn't tell her what she wanted to know because Callie was part of whatever was being kept from her. She'd never felt so conspired against in her life. "Do you want company?" Callie asked when she pulled in front of the house. "Thanks, but no. I just need some time alone." "I know it may not seem like it, but you're very lucky, really. You have two men, two alphas, fighting over you. I can't even remember hearing about something like that. I guess there haven’t ever been two single alphas from rival packs in the same town at the same time, even though Chris isn’t technically alpha yet." "I don't like people trying to make decisions for me." Cadence opened the passenger door. "Of course not, but this is about more than just you at this moment in time, it's about your past and your future, and the future of both packs. You do get to decide, of course you do, but you have to be careful. There's more at stake than just two guys wanting to bone you brainless." Cadence gave her a long look. "Jason does not want to bone me brainless." "Are you insane? How could you not know that Jason loves you?" "Maybe he did, once, but not now. Not anymore. And we were just kids." "Yeah, just kids. But a lot happened back then, serious, future altering things." "I don't know what the hell you're talking about! I feel like everyone is speaking gibberish to me or I've been deposited in some alternate universe."

Her surprised features slid to furious. "You look me in the eye and you fucking tell me that you don't love Jason with every fiber of your being. You were so jealous with the thought of me and him together that you were going to walk away from my friendship over it. Chris is, Chris is nice honey, but he's not right for you and you know it. They're ripping each other apart because they both want you, but Jason has loved you since you were kids." She leaned over and got in Cadence's face. "You think back over your relationship with Jason. You seriously think about everything that went on between the two of you when you were young and then you tell me that you don't know exactly what to do with your life." Callie glared at her in fury, and Cadence got out of the car and shut the door. Her tires squealed as she pulled away, leaving Cadence as confused as ever about her life. A million questions assaulted her mind. Did Jason love her? Why hadn’t he ever said anything? And after all the years of her mooning over him and carrying on about her unrequited love to both Michael and Callie, why had they never told her that he had feelings for her? They were her two closest friends; they weren’t supposed to be keeping things from her. No one called or showed up at her house. She spent the afternoon thinking over her life and her past with Jason, and she had this nagging feeling that there was something she should remember, or know, but she just didn't and it annoyed her. Michael said that she was a partially marked alpha. She thought about the conversation with Callie in the car. Her sweet friend who hadn’t ever said a cross word to her had nearly bitten her head off. She didn't know what being partially marked meant, but she was a half breed, a total anomaly. She couldn’t lead a pack, could she? And why did Michael say she wasn’t supposed to know? Jason was raised to be the next pack alpha. If she was truly an alpha female then it stood to reason she would have been told about it. Jake taught her about the packs when she was growing up, but other than the weekend bonfires she really didn’t know that much about the inner workings. The meeting Jason had at the house on Monday was the first time she’d ever gotten involved in anything other than in a purely superficial way.

The headache starting behind her eyes told her she needed to stop trying so hard to figure everything out, and she finally laid down to catch a nap before getting ready for work. While she dozed, she had the strangest dream. She was young, maybe 9 or 10, wearing a yellow dress. She stomped her foot at the black wolf. "Just tell me, Jas. Tell me what I'm supposed to know." He shook his head and butted his head against her, forcing her to walk forward towards his parents’ house. They rounded the corner, and he pushed her towards an open window where his father was watching. "I had no idea you were so slow, my dear." His father said. "That's not very nice. You're not nice at all." She said, feeling tears press. Jason butted his head into her knees and she fell down onto the soft grass and rolled onto her stomach and then he nuzzled her neck and growled. The last thing she remembered was turning onto her back and looking into his eyes and seeing his teeth bared. She woke up, shaking, and touched the back of her neck and everything was crystal clear. Jason had bitten her when they were kids. It was a partial marking because he hadn't publicly marked her with a statement first. But why had he drifted so far from her all this time? With too many questions blazing in her brain like fireworks, she showered and dressed for the bar in a black suede vest, red plaid mini skirt and boots, determination to set things right coursing through every fiber of her being. She paused at the entrance to the bar. What was she going to do? Storm over to Jason’s table and tell him that she knew what he’d done and he had a lot of explaining to do? Yes. Yes, that’s what she was going to do. She was going to demand he tell her everything. And then she was going to tell him how she felt. That she had never stopped loving him, and now that she could see things clearly, she understood why she’d never been able to get over him. And after their slate was clean, she was going to make him work for her forgiveness. With her inner wolf bitch demanding satisfaction, she stormed into the club to find it half empty. Jason’s pack was all but missing. “I asked them to steer clear tonight.” Jake wiped a beer mug with a towel, inspected it, and hung it from a hook over the counter.

Her inner wolf whined and sat down, disappointed. “Why?” He gave her a raised brow. “I think you know the answer to that, Cadence.” Chris walked over before she could think of anything to say to that and leaned on the counter on his forearms, clasping his hands together. "I'm sorry. I never meant for you to be so tormented by everything. After work tonight, why don't you let me take you out to get something to eat and we can talk. Now that the alpha order has been broken by Michael’s big mouth, I can tell you everything that’s been kept from you." Her polite “no” died in her throat, and instead she said, “So there was an actual order to prevent everyone from telling me I’m an alpha?” “It’s more complicated than that.” He looked at Jake and she did, too, and Jake just shrugged and turned to other customers. Chris lowered his voice slightly. “Jason’s father made an edict to his pack and asked my dad to extend it to his, so he did. We weren’t really allowed to talk to you about pack workings unless you brought it up yourself, but you never did. All those years, you never came to any of us with questions.” No, she hadn’t. Because she thought she didn’t belong to their world. She looked at him helplessly and he gave her a soft, sad smile. “I’m going to go hang out. When you’re ready to take off, let me know.” A little too stunned to tell him that she didn’t want to talk to him about anything to do with her and Jason, she just stared at him with her mouth hanging open until Jake nudged her to action and she began to fill drink orders. With half the bar empty, the normal Saturday rush never happened, and it gave her time to think. Here’s what she knew so far, thanks to Michael’s big mouth. She was partially marked, whatever the hell that really meant, and powerful enough to be female alpha to a pack. Jason and Chris were fighting over her like she was the last toy on the shelf, but part of the fight was because Jason had some kind of extra claim to her. Michael said that Chris put his hands on her in public and he wasn't allowed to do that. Because, why? Because Jason and she were really mates? Her mother was no alpha. Cadence thought that alphas only came from other alphas. Why hadn’t anyone ever told her in plain terms what she’d clearly not known?

And more importantly, why hadn’t she ever asked? She never outright asked Jason why he turned away from her and she still didn’t understand. Just because he wasn’t allowed to tell her about marking her or her being alpha? That didn’t make sense. Well, none of it did, frankly. “You want to talk, kiddo?” Jake asked, slinging his rag over one shoulder when the bar was thoroughly dead. “No. But thanks for offering. Thanks for everything.” She kissed his cheek and he smiled. “Come on, girl.” Chris held his hand out to her and she took it but then dropped it. Now that she had the truth of her past playing over in her mind, she now knew why kissing Chris felt like cheating. Because he wasn’t the right man for her. “You in the mood for dinner or breakfast?” He asked when they were outside. The night air was crisp. The scent of fall and coming winter was heavy on the breeze that scattered dead leaves on the concrete. “Neither.” “So, let’s walk. Okay? If you’re not hungry in 15 minutes, then we’ll come back and you can head out. I’d just like to talk to you for a bit. Please?” If he was offering to answer some questions, assuming she trusted him to tell her the truth, then maybe a little chat was in order. And fifteen minutes wouldn’t make that much of a difference, would it? “15 minutes. That’s all I’m promising.” Looking like he’d won the lottery, Chris offered her his arm and she took it, if only to be polite. They walked in silence down the street towards the park. On the other side of the vast green grass was the garage. Maybe Jason was there. “So,” Chris sat down on a wooden bench near a fountain and she joined him, “how freaked out are you?” “Not so much now. I feel like I missed out on a lot of stuff, because I felt like I didn’t belong. But I did.” “Of course you did, Cades. Your mom was pack and that makes you pack. It’s not your fault that your father hated wolves, anymore than it was your fault that Jason overstepped when you were a kid.”

“Overstepped?” Rolling his eyes, he said, “Of course. No one picks their mate so young.” “You don’t think it’s kind of romantic?” The look of utter disgust that rolled through his face said he didn’t think much of anything that Jason did. “What’s romantic about physically abusing a child in the name of staking a claim that he couldn’t have possibly known would come to something he’d even desire?” “What?” “Look, you’re gorgeous. But there’s no way that he could have known that when you were just a little scrawny kid. He was betting you’d look like your mom.” The bile rose in her throat and she lurched from the bench. Clearly he didn’t think he’d said anything wrong, because he stood up and reached for her. “Hey, you look sick. Are you okay?” She put her hands up. “Don’t touch me, Chris.” The concerned smile slid away. “What’s the matter with you? We’re just talking here.” Shaking her head, she began to walk backwards. “I don’t want to talk to you anymore. This was a mistake. You and me. All of it.” He mirrored her steps so that she didn’t get further away from him, but she did get deeper into the park and further away from the bar and people. The center of the park was a labyrinth of trees and shrubbery, raised flowerbeds and playground equipment, not to mention picnic tables by the dozens. She had to glance behind herself often so she didn’t trip. As they moved through the park like some horrible choreographed dance, they kept moving through the light and shadows of the lamps, and with each flash of light, his face changed, from a sweet, lighthearted smiling face to one of pure menace. Whatever his plans were for her now, she wanted no part of them. Taking a chance, she faked right and he dove for her, but she dodged left and ran. He cursed, screaming for her to come back to him, and then his feet picked up the pace and he ran after her. She dialed into the very essence of her wolf and begged that part of her to get her out of this mess. Surging through the park, she dodged and wove past the

obstacles as if she had four legs and not two, letting her instincts carry her to the only place where she would feel safe: the bright lights of the garage that said someone was working. Someone would hear her, help her, and stop Chris from doing whatever wicked things were going through his mind. Her lungs ached and her thighs burned, but she pushed on, bursting through the row of shrubbery that lined the sidewalk and leapt into the street. “Cadence, no!” Chris yelled, a split second before she heard the squeal of brakes and was blinded by headlights, her body caught between terror and fate, and her very last thought was that she wasn’t going to get to say goodbye to Jason.

Chapter 8

Flexing his hands to ease the ache that punching Chris had garnered him, Jason flopped around on the bed, trying to find a cooler place on the pillow. The clock read 1:14. She was probably out with Chris right now. There was no way in hell that Chris would have had that bar to himself and not tried to take Cades out or at least spend some time with her. And after their little toss up earlier, Chris was clearly more determined than ever to at least turn her from him. He’d said as much when they’d both shifted back after the fight. It had been an even match for the most part, but he was bigger than Chris, and sometimes being bigger is enough and this time it was. He’d watched him leave with his proverbial tail between his legs, but the look in his eyes said it wasn’t over by a long shot. He should have just gone to the bar anyway, stayed outside, offered her a ride. Something. Doing nothing was the same as rolling over and giving up. His phone buzzed at the exact moment that someone banged on the front door. The caller ID said it was Linus calling him. “What?” He barked into the phone as he went to the door. “Someone better be dead,” he groused as he threw open the door, but the words hung heavily in the air when he saw Michael’s face. Something was terribly, terribly wrong. Michael shoved him bodily back to his bedroom and took the phone, “We’ll be there in like 20. Call my dad, too.” “What happened, Michael? Tell me!” Panic wove little icy fingers through his body. “Cades’ in the hospital. Get dressed man, come on!” Michael threw clothes at him from the floor but Jason’s body wasn’t responding. He was too shocked. Michael growled and snapped his fingers. “Get. Dressed.” Snapping to action, he pulled on his jeans. Satisfied, Michael explained, “She’s alive, okay, but she’s pretty badly hurt. She left the bar and went for a walk with Chris,

he said, and she ran out into the street across from the garage and right into the path of one of our tow trucks. Fritz was driving it, doing a late pick up for the police station. Chris shoved her out of the way, but he pushed so hard that he sent her flying into the plate glass window of the garage.” Jason swallowed hard and shoved his feet into his boots. “She’s going to be okay?” “Doctors at Mt. Carmel say yes, but she’ll be there a few days. No broken bones, but she hit her head and has been unconscious, plus all the blood loss. Are you ready?” He followed Michael out and they got into Bo’s pickup truck. “I won’t waste time at stoplights, man,” Bo said with a grim face as he slammed his foot down on the gas and the truck lurched forward. She’s going to be okay. She’s going to be okay. Doctors know what they’re talking about right? She had to be. She had to be okay. Nothing else mattered. The normally 30 minute drive to Mt. Carmel Methodist Hospital took Bo less than 15 and Michael led Jason at a dead run into the hospital. His parents were in the lobby and so were Jake and Renee. Renee and his mother had been crying, faces red and blotchy. “News?” He demanded, trying to tamp the panic that kept surging like a tidal wave. “She hasn’t woken up yet, son.” His dad said in that all too soothing tone that meant he was worried. “She will, though. She’s a fighter.” His mom sniffled, and he put his arm around her shoulders to offer comfort, but what he wanted was to be comforted himself. “I know she is, mom. Can I talk to the doctor?” Jake said, “Yeah, he was waiting for you to get here.” “He was?” He followed Jake to the reception desk. “Jason, you’re her mate. You know as well as I do that it makes you her husband for all intents and purposes. No one will say any differently. Her care is in your hands, the way it was supposed to be.”

With barely a second to think over what Jake had said, her doctor appeared and Jake went back to the waiting room. Shaking hands, the doctor introduced himself as Carl Delray. “She’s in remarkably good shape considering she went through a plate glass window. She’s enough wolf to heal fast. If she’d been completely human the blood loss would have been far too traumatic. Her vitals are good, and there’s nothing keeping her unconscious. I believe it’s her body’s way of helping her heal.” “So she’s, there’s no serious head injury?” “No. No one is sure what she hit her head on, there was a bruise but it’s all but faded now. Possibly a piece of furniture within the garage, or the window. With all that glass, it’s remarkable she had no stabbing, serious wounds. The cuts were many, but shallow. She is lucky.” That was the understatement of the century. “How long before she wakes up?” “Don’t know. Could be within a few hours, could be a day or two. She’s been through an MRI and a CT Scan. Everything is fine. She’s just not conscious yet.” He swallowed at the lump again. “Can I see her?” “Of course, of course, Mr. Gerrick, she’s in 402, up on the fourth floor.” He shook his hand again, but all he could think about was how lucky he felt. He waited until he felt like he could talk to his family again, and then he repeated everything the doctor said. “Give me like 20 minutes and then you can come up and see her, okay?” He was positive he was going to lose it and he didn’t want to do that with any witnesses. The room was dark and empty except for the overhead light shining on the monitoring equipment next to the corner bed. As he crossed the room, he let his eyes go up the bed slowly and when he reached her face, he did lose it. Like he expected. Hot tears welled in his eyes and spilled over, and he dropped to his knees next to the bed and took her hand gently in his and cried for the first time in many years. He let himself cry for a short time and then he fought to regain his control and won. He wiped his eyes with a tissue and blew his nose and then gave an assessing look at his mate. Her face was cut, little red slashes down one side of her face and neck and he saw her arms were cut. It was almost like she had thrown her arms up to protect herself. Smoothing back her hair, he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead and

said quietly, “I’m here, love. Please wake up for me. I need to tell you so much. Please.” He squeezed her fingers lightly, and straightened, looking down at her. She looked pale, sunken, her hair fanned out on the white pillow and tubes coming out of her hand. He was joined by his family and Jake and Renee, and they all kissed her on the forehead and talked to her like she was right there, and it was all that Jason could do to stop from losing it all over again. This was family. This was what she’d wanted all along. People that she loved to rally around her and support her. He’d made so many mistakes. He was going to spend his life making up for all of them. “J, come here for a sec.” Michael said, making a motion with his head towards the door. Linus and Fritz were standing in the doorway. He left her with a last glance and went out into the hallway. Fritz looked like he was going to curl up in a ball and cry but before Jason could say anything, Linus said, “It’s not what you think, Jason. It’s not what anyone thinks.” Linus had been coming to the front of the store to lock up after working late on a project. He saw movement across the street in the park and stopped to look. Cadence ran out of the park and straight into the path of the truck. He ran to the door, yelling for her, but Chris reached her first and rammed into her with his shoulder and she hit the window with such force it shattered. Linus called the squad immediately and used clean shop towels and his own shirt to try to stop the bleeding for some of the larger gashes. “Why did she run into the street? I don’t understand.” He cracked his neck in frustration. “Because Chris was chasing her.” Linus folded his arms and everything about him screamed that he wanted to hurt Chris. He narrowed his eyes at his fourth. “You saw it? They weren’t just…playing chase?” “She was scared, man, and he was not playing predator, he was being one. It wasn’t Fritz’s fault; Chris chased her into the street.” Linus growled. Fritz took a deep breath. “She came out of the park so fast, Jason. I hit the brakes and then Chris threw himself at her and she was flying. And then he was gone.” “Gone?”

Linus answered, “No one’s seen him. He stayed long enough to ask if she was alive and say that they were going for a walk and she ran out into the street. I looked down at her for a minute and then when I looked up he was gone. He’s guilty as fuck. He hurt our alpha.” His voice ended on a growl. Michael growled followed by Fritz, and then Jason let his wolf growl, too. After settling, he ran his hands through his hair a few times and then said, “We do nothing for now. But I want him found. Get Trick up to date; have him run his plates, cell, whatever. When she wakes up and can tell me what happened, I want him where I can get to him.” Patrick Flannigan, aka Trick, was chief of police, human, and married to a she-wolf from Jason’s pack. He’d gladly step in for anything they needed. Linus snapped into gear and Fritz followed, but not before apologizing. Jason clapped the young wolf on the back reassuringly. “I don’t hold you responsible, Fritz, and neither will Cadence.” Relief washed over his features and he trotted after Linus who was already on the phone. “Want me to stick around?” Michael asked. “No. Thanks, though. I’ll stick it out until she’s awake. Call the insurance company, the number’s on the bulletin board in the break room on a business card, and get some of the guys in to put up a tarp or something to keep the debris out of the waiting room. And bring me some clothes, later.” “You got it.” Michael turned away and then turned back. Dropping his voice to a whisper he said, “I’ve never been so scared in my life. When Linus called, I, well, I’m glad she’s going to be okay. As soon as she’s awake and okay, please don’t waste another second with her.” “I won’t, brother.” Jake and Renee came out into the hallway, followed by his parents. His mother and Renee kissed him and asked for phone call updates, which he promised to provide. His father squeezed his shoulder and told him to call if he needed anything, anytime. And then it was just him and Jake. Two alphas. “I’m sorry this happened, Jason. I truly am. If you need anything, please let me know.” “Thanks, Jake.”

He looked into the dark room for a moment and then said, “When you find him, I’d appreciate a heads up.” “I’m not going to do anything until she’s conscious. But I will keep you in the loop.” Jake could not protect Chris from this situation. If what Linus saw was the truth, if Cadence confirmed it, then Chris had created a scenario in which the alpha of another pack was harmed. That carried serious consequences with it. He pulled a chair up to her bedside and reached out for the hand that didn’t have tubes and monitors hooked up to it. Rubbing his thumb back and forth absently, he kicked his feet up on the windowsill and waited for the sun to come up. Sleeping in hospitals was no easy trick, and his six foot plus frame was not meant to be stretched between an uncomfortable chair and a narrow ledge. Not that you could really sleep in a hospital anyway. Too much commotion. Too many strange smells. And every time his eyes shut, someone opened the door to check on her. Not that he minded that part. She was looking much better. What that meant for her waking up, he didn’t know, but he desperately wanted to see her pretty eyes again. Michael brought a change of clothes for him and showed him pictures of the garage on his cell. Blood pooled on the garage floor like someone had thrown a gallon of red paint around and the glass caught the overhead lights like diamonds. The insurance company cut a check on the spot for a replacement window, and they were closed for the next few days until everything was cleaned up and replaced. At the moment, he could care less about the garage. The only thing that mattered in the universe was lying unconscious on a hospital bed. In the small bathroom in the room, he cleaned up with a towel and a miniature bottle of body wash, and changed into fresh clothes. Linus and Callie appeared with a white paper sack and a large cup of coffee. Taking one of the six breakfast bagel sandwiches, Jason stretched his legs and eyed his mate while Callie cried quietly and Michael comforted her. He wished to hell she’d wake up. He’d give his right fang to hear her snarky comebacks and witty barbs. “You’ll make him pay, won’t you, Jason? For this?” Callie wiped angrily at her eyes. Jason had never seen her so raw and full of rage.

Choosing his words carefully, he said, “He won’t go unpunished.” “Good.” She smoothed her shirt and sighed. “Is there anything I can do?” “Yeah, actually. Go to her house and pack two bags for her. A few days’ of clothes, whatever she needs. One of them comes here for when she wakes up, and the other goes to my place. Michael will take you.” Michael tossed his wrapper in the trash. “Not your place anymore, dude.” He grinned. “Right. Our place.” “Hell yeah.” Michael returned his grin, and put his arm around Callie and as Linus left with them, he was alone again, waiting. At lunchtime, his parents showed up and his mother insisted he go eat lunch in the cafeteria and she stayed with her. By dinnertime, Callie and Michael had returned with her bag and they ate pizza in the room. When night fell and he was alone with her again, he began chanting in a low voice for her to wake up. His beast was angry, to have her so close and injured, and unable to provide comfort, and the unhappy growl that came from his throat made her hand squeeze his. He stared at her hand in shock. She’d reacted to his wolf! Dialing into his beast, he let him loose enough so that his body scent changed from his regular human scent to the musky, fall woods scent of wolf, and he picked up her hand and pressed her wrist to his throat and growled. His other hand he passed over her face again and again, hoping to draw her forward with his scent and his beast. She moaned softly and shifted, groaning louder, and he stopped growling and said, “Sweetheart? Cades?” The sweetest words he’d heard from her to date were, “Ah, fuck! Where am I?” He laughed and blinked at the tears of happiness that threatened. He didn’t mind if she saw him cry. It would show her how much he valued her. He leaned over her so she didn’t have to sit up and he smiled, “You’re in the hospital. Don’t move too much, you were really hurt. Let me call the doc.” Using the call button, he rang for the doctor and kissed her on the forehead. “I’m so fucking glad you’re awake.” “How long, how long was I out for?” Her voice was a low rasp.

“Not quite a day. It’s about 7:30 on Sunday night. You scared the piss out of me, sweet, I won’t lie.” She blinked several times and looked like she was going to say something, but the door opened and the doctor came in. After about ten minutes of looking her over, he told the nurse to get her on the liquid diet until breakfast, and then to see how she felt. “She may be able to head home on Tuesday, if someone can stay with her.” “It’s no problem.” “Glad you’re back with us, Mrs. Gerrick.” The doctor and nurse left them alone. Had she caught that? He looked down at her and she was giving him a hard stare and then her eyes went glossy and she started to cry. With some slow movements, he managed to help her sit up so she could cry on his shoulder. She leaned into him heavily, her arms loose at her sides, but she wanted to be held and comforted and finally he could do that for her. He stroked her hair and murmured soft things to her until she settled down and her shaking sobs quieted. “I’m so sorry, Cades.” “What are you sorry for?” “Because I should have been there for you. I wanted to be at the bar anyway, to tell you I was sorry for acting like such a dick when I found out you were going out with him again. I had no right to treat you that way.” “You did, though, you had every right. I remember now, Jas.” She looked up at him with those bright emerald eyes and he could see that she did know. Hallelujah! “What do you remember, sweet?” Just to be sure. “You tackled me, when we were kids and you bit my neck. I always thought the story about the rosebush didn’t make sense but it seemed like all I could think of when I thought of them. And my father was the only one that ever asked about them, except for a girl in college. You made me your mate back then, right?” “I did.” Her brow arched delicately, “And why did the doctor call me Mrs. Gerrick?” “I think you already know the answer to that, you little minx.”

She hummed in her throat and sighed. He helped her to lie back down. “Because mates are for life. Married.” “Yes.” Her eyes were closed now, but her lips were smiling. “You can’t think you’re going to get me that easily, Jason Gerrick. I want the whole thing. A nice proposal, the ring, the dress, the vows. All of it.” Full to bursting, he wanted to shout for joy and run circles around the hospital. “I will give you anything you wish, but we have a lot to talk about first.” She turned over onto her side slowly and looked at him. “I remembered last night before work, and I wanted to talk to you about it. I wanted you to tell me the truth and then I wanted us to talk, privately. Chris wanted to take me out, but I didn’t want to be with him. I felt sorry for him, I guess, so when he asked for just 15 minutes to talk, I gave in. After a little back and forth, I told him I didn’t want to be with him and he, I don’t know, it was like his whole demeanor changed. He looked really, feral, I guess is the right word. He stalked me, played with me, and then he chased me. I, only remember the headlights, and thinking I wouldn’t get to see you again.” So Linus was right. Chris had chased her right into danger. He was definitely going to pay for what he’d done. “Jas, when you marked me, why did you push me away later? Why were things so bad between us for so long?” He blew out a breath and ran his hand through his hair. "You were so young when I marked you, my father was afraid that your father would turn me into the cops, and he put power into his own suggestion to you that it had been an accident, and that you were to tell your father that you fell into a rose bush. We think that because you were so young and impressionable and enough of you is wolf, that you took his suggestion as truth. In a normal situation, an alpha doesn’t come down on cubs as young as you because the orders can be taken so literally and you never really know how a child will react. “Jake pointed out that because we were mates then the order would cripple you with the pack if you didn’t figure it out soon enough, so my father made another edict that no one was allowed to tell you that you were alpha either. Unless you asked. But

you never did, sweetheart. It was like you thought you didn’t belong with us. And to answer your question, love, I pushed you away because I was afraid to hurt you once I shifted. I did it so well that you thought I hated you. I never did. I swear on my life." She mused quietly on what he’d said. “At least now I know why I couldn’t ever get you out of my head.” He kissed her cheek and then settled back in the chair with a sigh, still holding her hand. “It was the same for me, love. And since Michael spilled the beans about you being marked and alpha, we can talk freely now about what happened between us, but we don’t have to do that here. It’s enough for me to be able to tell you this truth. I love you Cadence. I always have.” “I love you, too, Jas.” She drifted off to sleep and when she was breathing rhythmically, he got up to phone the people waiting for updates. Come morning, she’d have a crowd in here, and she’d get firsthand experience for what it meant to be pack. It was a hell of a day. In 24 hours, he’d nearly lost his love not only to another but to the shedding of her blood. He didn’t ever want to go through that again. No matter how things played out with Chris, they were together now, at least together enough that he could keep her safe and with him, and that’s what mattered most. He could publicly claim her to the packs on the full moon, and then they’d take their time getting to know each other. Now, running on emotions, she trusted him, but when the glow faded, she would want answers and true to her nature, she wouldn’t let him off easy at all. But he’d take it, whatever penance she wanted him to pay so that they could be together, no price was too great. To keep his mate safe, he’d do anything. She deserved love and happiness and family. And it was his job to see she got it in spades. She slept restlessly overnight, waking often and reaching for him, and he was glad he was there for her and that she wanted his comfort. When the doctor came by in the morning to check on her, he declared that as long as there were no complications that she could leave on Tuesday morning.

Her breakfast was all soft, bland things and she made a seriously unhappy face when she looked at the tray. “You have to eat, love. That jell-o and broth last night wasn’t enough to keep a mouse going, let alone an alpha.” She fixed the grits grudgingly but ate, thankfully. He didn’t want their first argument as a couple to be over hospital food when there were so many other things that he was certain she was going to bust his balls over. The first visitors were his parents, Callie, and Michael, who fawned over her, assuring her she looked perfect and lovely. Which was true, even with the cuts that had not faded yet. He knew she was surprised by the flood of visitors from the Tressel pack. Even the girls who had been so callous to her were among the first after his family and his top ranked. The room was so full of flowers that it looked like a florist had thrown up all over everything. “Looks like it’s time for lunch, doll.” He said fondly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. She was fading. Hungry and exhausted. One more meal of soft things and then she could have a regular dinner, they’d been told, and then home in the morning. She hadn’t asked about going to her own house yet. He was waiting for the right opportunity to tell her that he wasn’t about to let her out of his sight. Not until they’d found Chris. Every time he checked his cell, hoping for a text from Linus, he was disappointed. While she slept after lunch, he stood out in the hallway and got updates from his men. Trick was looking for Chris, but so far his cell was turned off and he’d not gotten any hits on his truck description or license plate. A lot of Jake’s pack had been by to see her, and if not they’d sent flowers, but there was an uneasiness now and a lot of that was because no one knew just how bad the punishment would be when Chris was found, and hell, he wasn’t really sure either. He wanted to slaughter him, of course, rip his head off and be done with it, but death was too easy. Whatever he decided to do with Chris would be monumental and the right thing. It was late. The TV in the corner flickered, the sound low. “You can go home, Jas.” She yawned, tucking one hand under her cheek. “I’m good, baby.” He couldn’t wait to get home to his bed and get a decent nights’ sleep. Exhaustion was seeping into his pores and grabbing hold. “You are.”

“Hmm?” “Good. You’re taking very good care of me.” “Of course I am. We’re mates, Cades. That carries a lot of responsibility with it. And I, well, I fucked up a lot of things, but I’m trying to set it all right. It might just take me a while.” Her voice slurred towards sleep, “We’ve got the rest of our lives.” So their first argument wasn’t about eating hospital food, it was about her coming back to his house to recuperate. The doctor said she should take it easy until the weekend and wanted someone with her, and Jason wanted her in his home for more than one reason. Arms folded, she glared at him while he held open the passenger door of her car. Bo and Michael had dropped off her car that morning. “You can glare all you like, but you’re coming home with me. There is no safer place than the trailer park, and with Chris still off the radar, I won’t put you at risk in your house.” “Even if you’re with me?” “Yeah. Even then.” At least she wasn’t saying she didn’t want his company. Her mouth opened and then closed, and then her arms uncrossed and her shoulders sagged. Ha! Success! “Don’t look so smug.” She groused as she sat down. “Sorry. I don’t win arguments with you very often.” Even if it had been a mild one, it was still a victory in his book. As he drove them to the trailer, a lot of things raced in fast forward through his mind. The first time he’d realized they were mates, when she was 7 and he was 12. It was just a simple click in his mind, as if his brain suddenly realized that she was made for him. Then later, when he was 18 and she was 13, and he’d been in the habit of riding by her house after school to make sure she’d made it home okay, and she hadn’t. So he’d driven his motorcycle on the route between her house and the school and found her walking because she’d missed the bus. He offered her a ride and gave her his helmet. He hadn’t said two words to her after offering her a ride, and it had been the hardest thing he’d ever done when she got off the bike and handed him the helmet. He saw the confusion in her eyes, the wonder and hope, and he just put the helmet on and

left. And then he bought her a helmet of her own, but she’d never ridden with him again, not until recently. When his father had been shot by a hunter outside of town mistaking him for a real wolf too close to his farm, Jason had taken over in interim, and his father had decided to step down. That had been right after Cadence’s father had died and she was a mess emotionally, and he’d needed her but was afraid to ask her for help. It was not the first time that he’d wanted to hold onto her for comfort. Somewhere in the middle of the pack problems and his father’s long recovery, Jason had lost her so many times, but this had been too close for comfort. She was chewing her lip. He reached over for her hand and held it lightly on his thigh. The top was bruised from the IV needle. “You don’t, you don’t think Chris will come for me, do you?” "He’d be a fool if he did. The trailer park is full of the Tressel pack. It's the safest place for you. The very best thing to do, sweetheart, is a full marking. The full moon is Friday, and I can make a verbal commitment to you and you can make your commitment as alpha. And then when you’re ready, I can mark you again, do it right this time.” She didn’t look at him, but continued to chew on her lip and stare out the window. The trailer park where he and most of the pack his age lived was on the other side of town near the garage. He carried her inside the trailer and laid her down on the bed. Thank goodness Callie had cleaned up for him. Michael said she’d been very insistent. Walking back out to his men who gathered for instruction he said, “Okay, we’ve got a missing wolf out there that’s got our alpha female on his mind. No matter what his intentions are now, he hurt her and he cannot be allowed to get to her. Until he’s found and dealt with properly, be on alert for him at all times. Linus?” “Trick’s had no luck. We can’t find a fresh scent for him anywhere in town. We’ve got eyes on the condo and the credit union.” Nodding, he said, “Make sure the entrance to the park is manned until further notice, Michael, you handle the shifts. Bo, go to the station, offer Trick any help he needs to monitor the town. Linus, get any free hands together to get the shop cleaned

up. I don’t want any reminders of what she went through." His people nodded and moved to action. He stood on the front porch for a few minutes. This was the first time since he’d taken over as alpha and had to prove himself to the older wolves that he felt like a true leader. Part of that was that Cades was with him now, at least as much as she could be until they’d talked everything through, and the other part was that he’d handled things just like an alpha should. Calm, controlled, thinking through every scenario before making a decision. His little sweetheart was curled up in a ball, looking tinier than ever, dwarfed by his king sized bed. He’d expected that she might want to cry, and he’d been anxious to get her alone so she could lose it if she needed to. No one would have thought less of her if she’d had a total meltdown publicly at the hospital. Someone she cared about had hurt her physically after terrorizing her. She’d been through a lot, and hadn’t really talked to him about what had happened except when she first woke up. And then she’d been overwhelmed at the support of the pack. But she wasn’t crying. She sat up slightly when he came into the room to check on her. "Why didn't you tell me that you were trying to protect me, to keep me safe when you were changing?" He sat down on the corner of the bed with a sigh. “I thought that maybe you wouldn't understand, or you would try to be with me anyhow. I was afraid that I’d hurt you and then you wouldn’t trust me.” "I wasn't stupid, Jas." She rolled up slowly into a sitting position. "Even though I was young, I loved you. If you told me you were afraid you'd hurt me, then I think, no, I know that I would have stepped back. I would have done anything to be with you, even if it meant standing down for a few years. I felt so lost without you, like someone had grabbed my heart out of my body and left a big gaping hole." There it was. The crushing guilt. He'd screwed up so badly. "I'm sorry, baby. I know I didn't handle things right, I was young and foolish and the last thing I wanted to do was hurt you, and I may not have hurt you physically but I know I hurt you emotionally. That's almost worse in my mind. I was always around, always watching over you, but I was afraid to get close to you because the beast is, demanding, in some things."

She moved closer, her scent swirling around him. "What things?" "Mostly you." He swallowed, trying to quell the urges that were surging through him. She was recovering, she wanted to talk – they needed to talk. He had to stop his baser urges. "What were you afraid of?" He wouldn't have admitted to anyone in his pack that he'd ever been afraid of anything, but she would know bullshit when she heard it, especially from him. "I was afraid that if I couldn't control myself; that I might try to make you my mate, really make you my mate. I couldn't bear the thought of hurting you like that, whether you loved me or not. Once I came into my powers I couldn't really be around you without feeling the wolf snapping in my brain to get close to you. A touch would turn into the desire for more. I don't think you would have stopped me, from anything, and that frightened me more than anything else. Because you were so much younger than me. So I shoved you away and it was the hardest thing I ever did. Did you really think that I didn't love you, Cadence? Really?" "I don't know. I hoped you did, but it was so many years, Jas." "I'm so sorry. You do understand, though?" "Yeah." She turned her head to the side and regarded him carefully. “Do you regret marking me, like you did?” He winced inwardly. With a sigh, he said, “Yes and no. Yes because I did it wrong. If I’d just told you first that we were mates and then marked you, you would have had the knowledge, and my father wouldn’t have had to say no one could talk to you about it. And then you would have known that I would come back for you. If I hadn’t marked you, you probably wouldn’t have had such a hard time with the females in the pack, too. But no, I, I don’t regret that act of marking you, what it meant to me. It was the most important thing I ever did, and even though I royally screwed it up, I still wouldn’t change it.” She was quiet, looking at him warily, calculatingly. The silence stretched on long enough that he was about to ask her what she was thinking about when she threw herself at him, crushing her lips against his and plunging her hot tongue into his mouth. Her breath came out on a soft moan, the sweet natural scent of her skin surrounding

him, drowning him, and he clutched her close, tasted her, and tangled his tongue with hers. The taste was decadent, like something forbidden, and he wanted to park his mouth against hers for the rest of his natural life. She fisted her hands in his hair and pulled away, holding him back. Her eyes were bright and serious. “Mark me again, Jason. Make me yours in truth.” For a brief moment, the world stopped spinning, and then he remembered that she wasn’t up for it. Not yet. Untangling her fingers from his hair he kissed her hands. “Not yet, Cades. If I mark you, then I’m going to want us to make love, and we can’t. You just got out of the hospital, we have time, there’s no rush.” She blushed hard and scooted away. “Sorry. I felt a little, anxious, there for a minute.” “About what? You’re safe here, I swear.” “No, about losing you I guess. I don’t want to lose you.” “You couldn’t if you tried.” He touched the marks on the back of her neck. “You’re mine. You always have been. Often, but not always, alpha pairs are born into the same pack. Sometimes they’re the same age like my parents, but sometimes the male is older so he can protect the female. I know that you feel like I abandoned you and I see now that I left you feeling unprotected, but I was always watching over you. And the pack was, too. The reason the girls gave you such a hard time is because you weren’t acting like their alpha. They wanted to be led. They took it as an insult that you were not stepping up for them, defending all of them, like you do for Callie.” “In a really skewed way that makes sense.” She smiled and then said she was going to take a shower. He fixed her something to eat, thankful that Callie had gone grocery shopping and stocked the kitchen with things that Cades liked. They talked together while she ate, about the pack and the future, but he carefully steered the conversation away from marking. If she threw herself at him again, he wasn’t sure he had the willpower to stop himself from claiming her completely, and the last thing he wanted was for their first time together to be a painful or frightening memory for her.

That night, she asked him to lay with her, to hold her while she slept, and he’d done it, but it wouldn’t have been his choice. To have his woman in his bed and his arms but not take her completely was a little bit of hell in the midst of heaven, especially for his wolf. But he needed her to feel safe and be ready. Really ready. Wednesday night, with still no word about Chris, he and Cades were sitting on the couch and talking about nothing and everything, and not really watching whatever Lifetime snooze-fest she’d picked out. And then she completely surprised him. Again. “Jason, I want you to mark me. I’m ready.” “Cades, please.” His wolf sat up at attention. She shook her head. “No. I’m ready. I’m ready to be yours in truth. I need it. I need to take this step with you.” He closed his eyes. Could he mark her and not try to make love to her? Probably not. Her arousal was like a beacon for his wolf. He felt her hand on his cheek and opened his eyes. “I’m healed, I feel great. And I’m not asking for this because of what happened with Chris or anything, I’m asking because I can’t be in your bed another second and not be with you completely. We’ve talked over our past until we haven’t left a stone unturned. We’ve forgiven each other for the lost time, the anger, the misunderstandings. This is important, I know it is.” He thought to protest again, but then she did something he had only ever dreamed about: she licked across his bottom lip with a soft sigh and whispered, “Please.” Completely undone by her gesture, something that wolves did when they were asking for sex, he swept her up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom, kicking the door shut. She lay down on his pillow on her side, swiping her hair away from her neck. "Mark me, again, make me yours." His beast snapped and snarled in his brain, hungry for his mate. He slid against her, as her whole body tightened in anticipation, her heart beating faster and her breathing going to soft panting. He shifted her so that her neck was positioned so he could mark her properly, sliding one arm underneath her and grasping her close.

"This time, I've got you forever, Cadence." His fangs extended, sinking into her neck, as he curved his mouth around her spine just under her hairline so that these marks were on either side. She moaned softly, gripping his arms, and pushing her body tightly against him. He growled into her body, and she relaxed in his arms with a contented sigh. This time, he could really sense everything about her. The thrum of her heart beating wildly, the excitement humming in her body, and the main difference, was the desire that streaked hotly through her, for him. "Jason." She whispered, and he released his hold on her neck as gently as he could. In his excitement he may have dug deeper than he meant to, she would probably bruise a little. He licked across the wounds, once, twice, and she shivered and shifted against him. She rolled in his arms. "Cadence." He smiled at her, trying to figure out something romantic to say. She saved him from thinking too long. She brushed her hands across his cheeks and cradled the back of his head in her hands. "I love you. My alpha, my mate, my heart's missing piece. Make love to me, please." She pressed her lips against his and his whole body went tight like his skin was pinched in a vice. She moved from his lips across his jaw and down to his neck, pulling his flesh into her mouth and biting, licking the marks and then starting over. He would be well and bruised by the time she was done, he was sure, but he'd wear the marks with pride. She was his completely now, and he had no doubt that she knew he was hers. She released her hold on his neck and looked at him, her green eyes filled with love. "I love you, Cadence. My sweet mate, the love of my life. I'll never let you go again."

Chapter 9

The marking had felt exactly like Cadence remembered, now that her memories seemed to be set free, except this time she understood what it meant. And this time, they were both old enough to act on the feelings that accompanied a declaration like that. She pulled him down on top of her, and they kissed, really kissed for the first time as mates. He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. “Are you sure that you’re ready? We can wait.” “Of course I’m ready. I love you. I want to make to love to you.” He groaned softly, “I really want to make love to you, sweetheart, but,” “But?” She laughed. “But, my wolf is snapping in my brain so if you’re sure that you’re ready, then I’m going to apologize in advance if I split you in half, okay?” He grinned and she laughed again. It was all she’d ever wanted from him. Love. Acceptance. And hot, naked fun time. She smacked him on the ass and said, “Time to play, my alpha.” He let out a satisfied grunt and growled, “I hope you didn’t plan to get any sleep tonight.” Their clothes came off in a blur of torn seams and flying fabric and then everything went into slow motion as he moved slowly, kissing a lingering, hot trail down the center of her body. He paused above her tingling pussy, one arm hooked around her thigh, and said with a husky voice, "Look at me." She went up on her elbows to look at him. She had a feeling that a lot of their pent up frustration and past denial was going to make their first time together incredible. "Say my name." He demanded. "Jason." She whispered. He rewarded her with a swipe of his tongue up her tender clit and she moaned as heat washed through her.

"Who am I?" "My mate." She locked eyes with him and he held her gaze while his tongue made a deliberate circle around her and her brain stalled out. "And?" Her mind, still not recovered, screeched in dismay when he pulled the tip of his tongue back into his mouth at her silence. She writhed under him. "And?" He demanded again. "My, my alpha?" She stuttered. "Good girl." He slid his tongue against her again, and her body lit up. The fingers of his free hand pierced her as he pulled her clit into his mouth, sucking it like it was his favorite piece of candy. She lost the ability to stay up on her elbows and splayed out on the bed while he twisted his fingers inside her in a fast rhythm. Her fingers dug into the covers and her stomach tightened like hands reaching into places they shouldn’t be able to reach. His fingers curved upwards and danced against her most sensitive place and she cried out his name as the wave of orgasm rushed over her and she shuddered against him. Relentless, he worked her to another cresting wave of pleasure that thundered down on her, and when she came, bucking against him at the sheer pleasure, so intense, so decadent, she couldn't stop from screaming, he slid his wet fingers from her body and pressed a nearly chaste kiss to her throbbing clit. He kissed up her body while she shivered and panted, capturing her mouth in a hot kiss, settling between her legs with only the very tip of his cock pressing against her. He rounded up from her a little, reaching between them to guide his cock inside her, and she draped her legs around his hips, helping to draw him inside her with her feet hooked at the small of his back. They both groaned when he thrust inside her, his cock filling her perfectly. Almost too long, almost too thick, but just perfectly made for her body. As close together as two people could be, he held himself tightly to her and looked into her eyes, holding her gaze with an intensity that threatened to burn her alive. “I wanted to be your first, but I’ll gladly take being your last. I love you, sweetheart.”

“Definitely my last. I love you, too, Jas.” Slowly, he slid out of her, agonizing inch by inch until just the bare tip of him was inside her, and it was the last thing he did slowly. He didn’t thrust into her body so much as try to pound himself through her, and she drove her hips towards his, frantic to find the rhythm that would allow her to come around his cock, to feel her body clutch his like a vise and then feel him come, deep inside her. He rocked into her, driving the breath from her lungs with each thrust until the only sound that she could make was panting, mewling cries as she thrashed under him on the verge of ecstasy. He bit her neck and shoulder, growling with the most primal of sounds that made her spine tingle and her body light up, and she drug her nails down his back and returned each bite with one of her own. He jerked them both upright suddenly so he was on his knees and she was on his lap, her legs wrapped around him, and he thrust up into her while his hands on her waist drove her downward. With each bone shattering connection, her nails dug into his shoulders and scored her pleasure into his flesh. “Come on, love, come for me again.” He growled, his fingertips digging nearly painfully into her flesh, and she reveled in the sound of their bodies coming together, that hot, wet sound that screamed pleasure and satisfaction. Her nails dug deeper into his skin as she moaned, “Uh, Jas.” Power filled his voice and he growled, “Come, Cades, come with me!” Her body responded, and in her mind her wolf side howled and her human side shrieked in bliss as the center of her body went liquid and hot, and everything froze for a perfect moment and then she exploded in climax around him. He thrust hard up into her, grunting and clenching his teeth together, and then he let out a harsh strangled cry as his body spasmed inside hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, kissing his sweatdrenched forehead before he tipped her backwards and she slid off his cock, immediately regretting the loss of the fullness of him inside her. Dropping to the mattress next to her with a groan that was part satisfied and part exhausted, he put his arm over her waist and settled next to her on his side. By slow degrees their breathing returned to normal and their bodies stopped shivering.

“You really are mine.” His voice was rough and deep. With some effort, she managed to make it to her side so she could look at him and his face was that of a man completely happy and satisfied. “Just yours.” "That was worth the wait, baby." He said with a chuckle. His eyes were dancing with happiness. "You know," she said, kissing him, "I don't think I've seen you really smile in a long time." "I was pretty miserable." "I’m sorry I didn’t remember sooner, that I doubted your feelings for me.” “Well, if it makes you feel any better, my father said he’s sorry he made the edicts. And my mother thought I should tackle you and mark you again as if I’d never done it in the first place.” “Oddly enough, it doesn’t.” She smiled at him, and he returned it. She sat up on her elbow. "I just have one request.” “Name it.” He said confidently. “Just promise that you won’t keep things from me anymore. I’m stronger than you give me credit for, and I don’t want our life to be built on lies.” His eyes got darker and more serious. “I swear I will do my best to tell you everything that you need to know. I can’t promise I won’t keep something from you, if it will protect you or if I have to, but I will promise to tell the truth when I do tell you something.” His fingers stroked her jaw. “How can you even think about forgiving me?" "Because you're mine. You always have been. Not because you marked me, but because it's the truth. All that time that we wasted, we have a lot to make up for." They made love again, more gently than the first time, and when they'd come back down from orbit, she fell to a boneless mass across his chest, fairly sure her joints had come unhinged during that last orgasm. He turned her onto her side and slid behind her, one arm moving under her pillow and the other drawing her against him. He kissed the shell of her ear, “Sweet dreams, my alpha mate.” She drifted into a deep sleep, held and protected by the only man she had ever really wanted or loved. She woke up alone, mildly disoriented and largely aching from her eyebrows to her toes. As the world came into focus she heard Jason’s voice past the closed

bedroom door and the voices of several of the pack including Michael. Carefully stretching the kinks out of her back, she made her way to the bathroom and turned on the shower. Mid-yawn, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror and she shouted, “Oh for fuck’s sake, Jason!” The girl staring back at her looked like someone had drawn all over her with purple markers. She had hickeys and bite marks down both sides of her neck, her shoulders were dotted with fingertip shaped bruises, and even her hips had finger marks. She was fully planning to give him a hard time about going into overdrive marking her when he came to the door of the bathroom, but instead she just laughed. Shirtless and wearing only jeans, he looked almost as bad as she did, worse in some ways because she’d raked her fingernails down his back and sides several times. Confused, he waited until she stopped laughing and she pointed to her neck. “You made me look like a piece of bruised fruit.” With a self-satisfied grin, he pulled her into his chest and hugged her. “I won’t apologize for marking you. It’s what wolves do. The bruises and bite marks just reinforce what everyone knows as truth now. And you marked me back anyway, so you can’t really complain.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “Sure I can. I may be a lot of things, but I never claimed to be fair.” He kissed the tip of her nose with a laugh. “Don’t stick that thing out unless you’re going to use it.” “Are you actually threatening me with sex?” “Not really. The guys are out in the front room and you’re really, really noisy.” She blushed, her mouth falling open in surprise and he chuckled, kissing her cheek. “Go on and get cleaned up. I’ll wait for you out in the front room.” He patted her on the butt, gave her a gentle nudge towards the shower, and strode out of the bathroom. She turned back to the shower and stepped in. Callie had packed well for her and remembered everything except her body wash and hair products, which meant she had to use Jason’s. You know what men use? Men things. Like Irish Spring and Suave regular scent. Ugh. She liked how Jason

smelled; she just didn’t want to smell like him, too. She dressed in a pair of jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt that advertised a bar up on campus called Little Brothers and pulled her hair back into a quick braid after drying it enough so she didn’t get a chill. Out in the front room, Jason, Linus, and Bo were drinking coffee and watching the news. Jason had pulled on a sweatshirt, and she hated to see him covering up all the bites and bruises. Jason’s face lit up when she walked into the room and he motioned her over. “I’ll just grab a cup of coffee, Jas.” She said, and he said, “Michael will bring you a cup. He’s in the kitchen making breakfast.” She sat down on his lap on the easy chair and pecked his cheek. “Michael’s making breakfast?” Although an excellent cook, Michael was notoriously lazy when it came to cooking for others. Bo and Linus started to snicker, and she looked at them but they wouldn’t meet her eyes. Jason called for Michael and she heard the unmistakable sound of heels on linoleum and she nearly died when Michael came into view, wearing a French maid’s uniform complete with fishnet stockings and black pumps. He grinned at her and curtsied awkwardly. “My lady.” “What the hell?” She sputtered in shock. Jason made a gesture with his empty mug and Michael took it from him and clunked off into the kitchen after asking if she’d like coffee, too. “It’s his punishment, part of it anyway, for breaking the alpha order not to tell you that you were my mate or alpha.” “You put him in a dress as punishment?” “Well,” he tweaked her chin, “I’m not really mad that he did, but I had to do something to show that I respect the old alpha rules and laws. There’s no hard and fast rule for punishments for these sorts of things. So he has to wear that and serve breakfast to us.” “And the other part of his punishment?” “He’s going to be your lackey today while I go into the shop and see how things are going. He is yours to abuse.” She shook her head with another laugh and accepted her coffee from Michael without making eye contact with him. He had hooker red lipstick on, for goodness sake!

Her best guy friend made her coffee just the way she liked it, sweet with whole milk, but the only thing she could think of was wondering what he’d filled out the top of the costume with and whether he was actually wearing a garter belt. Michael called them into the kitchen for breakfast several minutes later, and they sat down while he clomped around the kitchen like a foal on unsteady legs and put bowls and plates of food down. He made a feast for an army with scrambled eggs, buttered toast, oatmeal, hashbrowns, and sausage links, and Cadence filled her plate first on Jason’s order and then the rest disappeared in a flurry of forks and pleased grunts. Seconds were out of the question for her. It never ceased to amaze her how much they could eat. While the boys talked about the shop, Jason winked at her, and she marveled at how relaxed he seemed, even in the midst of a lot of bad shit. Maybe that’s what being mates meant. That they could comfort each other, support each other? That nothing seemed quite so bad when you were with the person that you loved and they were safe. She didn’t need to wonder how pissed he was at Chris, because she knew how she would have felt if someone had injured Jason so severely. Chris was going to suffer, and Jason was going to enjoy it. After breakfast, Jason kissed her goodbye, promising to be back by lunch and to also stop by her house and get her bathroom stuff. When they were gone, she insisted Michael take off his heels before he wrenched his ankle and then helped him with the dishes. She gave his fake boob a poke. “What the hell is in here?” He laughed and pulled the top down part of the way to reveal a grapefruit. She groaned into her hands. “Hey, I know it’s been a while since I’ve seen a real tit up close, but I think I remember the basic shape. What would you have used?” “Oh, hell, Michael, I have no idea what a man uses to stuff a maid’s uniform. Where did you get it anyway?” Another of his shit-eating grins lit his face. “From the plus sized section of the lingerie store in Sweedesboro. I’m a woman’s extra large.” He was so proud of that fact that she laughed until her side ached.

Twirling like a little girl in a tutu, he pirouetted for her and the skirt fluffed up to reveal black briefs and garters. She would never look at him the same way. “Michael, I love you. You’re my best friend. But please, please don’t ever wear a dress again.” “I make no promises. But I love you, too. Alpha. Sister.” He tucked his finger under her chin and smiled at her, the ease and pleasure in his eyes said he was glad she was with Jason now. And she was, too. Taking one of the plates from him and drying it with a kitchen towel, she said, "Can I ask you something about the edicts?" "Sure, baby girl." Up to his elbows in suds, he rooted around for another plate and washed it. "If they were binding, why was it so easy for you to break the order? Why did no one else ever just tell me the truth?" He rinsed off the plate and handed it to her, turning off the water and drying his hands on another towel. "It wasn't easy for me to break the order, but it was a combination of things. I was worried about your safety, about the future of our pack, and when Jason was fighting, his wolf was just going nuts and we could all feel it. We're connected like that, you know, because he's alpha. When the alpha's out of control, it puts the rest of us on edge. My frustration with the situation just hit a peak when you seemed completely clueless about what was going on and the words left my mouth before I could stop them. For us, when an alpha makes a law, like the edict not to speak to you about the marking or your place in the pack unless you came to us, whenever one of us wanted to tell you, it was almost as if we became mute and unable to talk. The edict would flash in my mind every time I wanted to tell you, baby girl, and I wanted to tell you all the time I promise. None of us liked you being in the dark, and it was hard for us to see you floundering and feeling bad when we knew that just a simple question from you would have opened all of that up." He paused and gave her a long look. "I think the reason no one else ever told you the truth, or tried to at any rate, was because it wasn't in everyone's best interest for you to figure out that you and Jason were mates. If you decided to give up on him and settle down with someone else, then Jason would be fair game for the other females in

the pack. So you can guess why the females were happy to keep you in the dark and to torment you. And losing you might have cost him the pack if he couldn't keep himself together enough to lead. A weak alpha, emotionally or physically, is ripe for the picking. There are males in the pack that would like a shot at being alpha, but would only try if he was distracted and upset." She shook her head in disbelief. "Jason loves leading the pack. He wouldn't lose it like that, not over me." His brow arched, "Haven't you figured out yet how much my brother loves you? There is literally no one for him but you. He wanted you with him from the time you were kids, and being apart from you because of his own actions drove him crazy. If you weren't with him, he wouldn't be the same, and that's the truth." She smiled at him, turning back to the sink. "Thanks, Michael." "For what, sis?" She elbowed him with a laugh as he turned the water on again, "For breaking the edict." He chuckled, "Me and my big mouth are happy to serve." After the dishes were done, she and Michael sat on the couch and drank coffee, talking about their past and the future of the pack. There was so much she didn’t know and needed to know. Callie called at lunch just before Jason got home, and promised to stop over for dinner so they could talk. When she hung up, she said, “How come you and Callie never got together? I know you’re cousins but you’re like fourth cousins. It’s not necessarily too icky.” Michael was adorably handsome. While she couldn’t look at him as anything but a friend and soon to be brother-in-law, she’d listened to the other women in the bar for years rave about him. Tousled brown hair with natural blonde highlights that curled just ever so slightly, light blue eyes that made you think about summertime, and a smile that would melt you in your socks, if you were inclined. Which she never was. She knew that Michael kept away from her romantically because of Jason, but she’d never ever really thought of him that way anyway. He was practically sexless in her eyes. Her best friend, the lamp.

He hummed in his throat. “It’s not for lack of attraction. She’s very pretty and she’s sweet. But I guess she’s just always been family to me. Besides you, she’s really the only female I haven’t been with. I don’t think my mate will come from any wolf around here. I’d have found her by now.” He looked a little sad, wistful. “She’s one lucky girl, and she doesn’t even know it yet.” That night, she and Jason made love twice. He’d been worried about exhausting her even though she promised she felt fine. When she suggested that she wasn’t sure which way she liked best – hard and pounding or slow and tender – he’d been more than happy to give her hard and pounding since the first round that night had been sweet and tender. One thing for sure, he knew just how to touch her, and he wrung so many orgasms from her that she felt like her insides had disintegrated from the heat. Great sex lead to aching bodies in the morning, but it was worth it. All of it was. However long it took them to get to this place, she didn't regret anything now. It was all fuzzy, all the bullshit and drama, and all she could see clearly was his love for her and that’s all that mattered. The full moon happened on Friday night, with a special second bonfire on Sunday for the 31st, the annual Halloween cookout. The full moon bonfire was held at Peter’s and the Halloween one at Jake’s. On Thursday, Jason sat down with her at the kitchen table in the trailer and told her about the marking ceremony. “The full moon ceremonies, sweet, are one of the most important traditions that we have. Things that pass between wolves on the full moon are sacred, unable to be broken by simple means. It’s why we say that mate-markings are permanent, because they are bound fully on the full moon. We aren’t completely mated, but tomorrow night we will be. Married in the eyes of the pack, untouchable by others. The only thing that separates a mated pair is death. “We’ll meet together in the sacred circle deep within the woods. I will tell the packs that I’m taking you as my mate for life, and then offer a small window for objections.” “Objections?”

“Sure, like in a wedding when the priest asks if anyone can say why the couple can’t be married. It’s just a formality. I can’t ever remember someone protesting a mating, but when my father was young, a set of brothers fought over the same woman and when the one lost, he still protested the mating.” “What happens if someone objects?” “First off, I’m the alpha, so no one in their right mind would object. But in a traditional situation involving others, the alpha decides what to do. Most normally, if the alpha believed the pair were meant to be mates, if he knew them well and knew they loved each other, then he would allow the mating to go forward. But in the old days, if it were a political mating, something arranged that wasn’t necessarily about love, then he could ignore the objection or offer the choice to the one in question, or he could offer a fight. In that one case, it was the alpha’s twin sons that were fighting over the female, and since they’d already fought and the one lost, the father punished the other son for trying to stand in the way of a just mating.” “Seems harsh.” She twirled her fingertip over the top of his hand while they talked. Now that she could touch him whenever she wanted, she didn’t want to stop. “Well, it is and it isn’t. We are what we are, Cades. There’s no shame in abiding by our ancient laws and traditions. They are in place for a reason and stand the test of time. But that situation was from another time, back when the elders of the packs would trade children for political matings with other packs to create an alliance. A smaller pack might give the alpha’s daughter to another, larger pack so that they would have backup if someone came against them.” Ick. “Sounds like what they used to do in Europe, trading the princes and princesses for armies.” “Something like that. But with fur.” He grinned and his eyes danced. She wanted to go to the garage, but he wanted her to wait. He said they were still in the process of cleaning it and she could tell that he worried she might go off the rails if she saw the place where she could have died. Maybe he was right, she didn't know, but she decided that his worry was enough for her not to pick a fight about it. She was becoming damn genial. Must be all the hot sex.

Friday afternoon, she joined Jason and his top four at his father’s home and they gathered the supplies for the full moon celebration and took them deep into the woods on the property between Peter’s home and hers that belonged to both packs. It was Jason’s pack’s turn to set everything up. The two packs rotated monthly. On four wheelers, two pulling trailers, they drove to the site, a circular clearing about the length of a football field. The trees that bordered the clearing were trimmed back so the moon would shine directly over the bonfire. She slid off the back of the four-wheeler that Jason had driven and walked around the circle. When they were little, they had explored the clearing. It had seemed so mysterious back then and scary, too. And they’d gotten busted by his father for being back there without being part of the pack. She looked over at Jason and found him watching her intently. Straightening from where she had knelt in front of the empty fire pit, she smiled, “Your dad was a real downer, you know that?” He barked out a laugh that told her he’d been thinking about the same thing. “You know he told me that I was a bad influence on you, because you were sweet and innocent. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it was your idea.” She crossed the distance to where he was unloading firewood and he gathered her in his arms with a soft kiss on her forehead before tucking his head into the crook of her neck. “We’ll be chasing our kids out of here, someday, right?” She asked. “Probably. If they take after their mother, at any rate.” She felt him smile against her skin and she tweaked his side. “You better hope they don’t.” “Nah.” He straightened and squeezed both her hands in his. “They’d be damn lucky to have your spirit and intelligence. Not your memory, of course, but still.” She laughed hard, and he kissed her once more and went back to unloading the firewood. She took one of the rakes and began to clean debris from the clearing while the guys talked quietly about the ceremony while they worked and how tonight was going to change everything for the pack. Several hours later she had a blister the size of Oregon on her hand and her shoulders ached from all the manual labor, but it had been sweet to work with her mate

on something that was very close to an actual wedding ceremony. For all intents and purposes after tonight, in the eyes of the pack, she and Jason were as good as married. After leaving the four wheelers in the barn behind his parent's home, they walked to her house and he swung her up into his arms and carried her inside. They made love in the shower, which was less about getting clean and more about him trying to pound her through the tile wall, and then she climbed up onto his back in bed and gave him a thorough massage. “I thought we could head down to Tennessee, to one of those touristy places and get married. Maybe in December, before Christmas?” His voice was muffled slightly into his muscular arms. “That’s not very romantic.” He turned his head slightly and opened his eyes. “What’s not? They have those nice chapels; we can stay in a cabin alone for a week, no pack, just us. Sounds pretty romantic to me.” Of course it did. “No, I mean that proposal of yours isn’t very romantic. Where’s my ring? Why aren’t you on one knee? You could have at least taken me out to dinner and I’ll point out that we’re naked.” She groused. He turned underneath her and pulled her down for a kiss. “You are a needy thing, aren’t you?” There were those dancing blue eyes again. All he had to do was smile and she was a big pile of goo right then. “I told you what I wanted. You of all people know how high maintenance I am.” He massaged his fingers behind her ears and her brain went dead. “Stop with the pressure points, it’s not fair.” Her voice sounded dull and slurred in her ears. He laughed, hell she loved his laugh, and stopped. “Fine, I will most definitely get you a ring and give you the proposal you want. But tonight, after the ceremony and the hunt, I’m going to take you home and spend the night the way I want to spend every night for the rest of our lives: hearing you scream my name to the sky.” “Nice.” She kissed the inside of his wrist and slid off him, cuddling into his side. “Why can’t we stay here tonight?” “We can, love, if you want.” She murmured that she did, already nearly asleep.

Several hours later, somehow her house had become food central, and when she came downstairs, half of the Tressel pack was milling around in her kitchen. Lindy came over to her with a plate, a hopeful smile on her face. “I saved you a plate, Cadence.” She clearly wanted to know that they were okay, that she had forgiven her for her slights over the years. “Thanks, Lindy.” She took it from her and a relieved look passed over her face. She and Jason went to sit down at the table and younger wolves scrambled up to give them their seats. It was going to be fun to be alpha. As requested, she was wearing a shirt that she could take off and something underneath that wasn’t too revealing. They were going to anoint each other over their hearts with sacred oil during the ceremony and he didn’t want her in nothing but a bra. And it wasn’t about the cold. She’d noticed ever since the first time they had sex that he’d grown progressively more possessive of her. Although she’d been giving him a hard time about it, teasing him just to see him turn red, she secretly loved it. Eventually it grew darker, and the time for the full moon ceremony drew close. Jason held her hand tightly as they walked through the woods to the sacred clearing. “Are you nervous, love?” “No.” She squeezed his hand reassuringly. “I get you forever. That’s all I’ve ever really wanted.” “Good. Me, too.” “So if I hadn’t been under the edict and everything, would we have done this earlier?” “Definitely. I would have started bringing you into things when you were 16, and then when you were 18 I would have asked you to be my mate publicly and we’d have started things right.” He tugged on her hand so they stopped a handful of feet from the clearing where both packs were milling around. He pulled something from the pocket of his jeans and held it up in front of her. Dangling from his fingers was a delicate chain with a gold heart shaped locket. He urged her to open it, and on each side of the locket were pictures of them when they were kids, and she recognized them from the summer he’d marked her. After he put it on her neck, she hugged him. “Oh, Jas, I love you so much.”

His hands pressed into her lower back and he lifted her off the ground into a hug. “I love you, too, Cadence.” He put her down and smiled. “When my dad got hurt and I had to take over, I needed you in the worst way. I wanted you by my side; I wanted your affection and your love. That you’re mine now,” he stopped and swallowed hard, like his emotions were getting the best of him. She loved that he was struggling to maintain his control because he was feeling so much. Michael, ever the mood-breaker, called for them and broke the tension that had settled over him. “Guys, we’ve got like ten minutes.” Jason pulled her to him roughly and kissed her until her toes went numb. “When I get back tonight after the hunt, I’m going to take my time getting to know my mate by slow inches.” Not so much the sexy threat but the heat in eyes told her that her afternoon nap had to be enough, because she wasn’t going to get any sleep once he showed up. With a gentle tug, he pulled her through the throng of wolves that parted for them, and they stepped inside the circle of stones that marked the place of power, the center of which glowed brightly from the roaring bonfire. Standing in the circle were the elders of the Tressel pack, each holding a small jar in their hands. Peter came forward and stepped across the stones. Usually the alpha performed the ceremony, but since Jason was the alpha, he chose his father as one of the elders, to join them together. She untucked Jason’s shirt and helped him lift it over his head. He slid her jacket off her shoulders, tossing it away from them so that Callie caught it. Then he unbuttoned her long sleeved shirt slowly, his eyes darkening with each button that fell free, until he pushed it roughly from her shoulders and revealed the black strapless corset she’d put on underneath it. “Nice.” He breathed and the raw heat in his voice made her whole body shiver. They faced each other and Peter stood in front of them, facing the packs, theirs in the front. She and Jason grasped left hand to left hand and Peter wrapped a length of one-inch thick leather from Jason’s wrist, around their hands, and ending wrapped around her wrist. “We come tonight to join our alpha to his true mate. Are there any among you who would protest this joining? Speak now or remain silent forever.” Peter cast his

gaze across the pack slowly and she had the urge to look around, but didn’t. There was a part of her that had expected Chris to show up and make some idiotic run for her hand, but he was gone and she was glad. She didn’t want their mating to be marred by anything unpleasant. Satisfied, Peter put his hands on both of theirs and began to speak in what they call the Old Tongue, ancient Greek that sounded pure and powerful in his mouth. The elders stepped forward, one by one. The first one came to Peter’s side and held out a jar. Peter put his index finger inside the jar and it came out dark. He brushed a line up the inside of Jason’s wrist, following the vein, and then did the same to her. “The ash of our ancestors that have gone on before us to the great spirit of the wolves, mark this occasion. The history of our people is now in your hands as alphas of the Tressel pack, and it is your responsibility to ensure that your children carry on our traditions.” The second elder joined Peter, and he dipped another finger into the jar in front of him and it dripped dark on his finger. He touched the back of Jason’s neck, dipped again, and then touched hers. The scent of blood tingled her nose. Jason told her earlier that the blood would be from a freshly slaughtered animal, a sacrifice of blood to appease the wolf spirits. “With this blood, we show our thanks for this joining, and set sights on prosperous hunts tonight, and in the future.” The third elder joined them, and this time Jason put the index finger of his right hand into the jar and it came out thick and clear. He drew an infinity symbol over her heart and then rested his hand on top of their joined hands. Her finger was shaking as she dipped it into the cool oil, and she marked over his heart a sideways figure eight and rested her hand on top of his. His smile assured her that they were nearly done. Peter’s hands rested on top of theirs. “The oil of our sacred olive trees and the symbol for eternity marks this joining underneath the full moon, consecrated for all to witness and never forget. This joining is forever and ever, until death parts you and you join again, together, in the great beyond.”

With a happy growl, Jason pulled her to him, their bound hands tight between them, and kissed her. The packs cheered and clapped as long as they kissed and then Peter unwound the leather strap from their hands. He and the elders stepped out of the circle and the females of their pack came forward. Jason wrapped the tie around her wrist and secured it. With a hot whisper in her ear he said, “Keep that on until later, and we’ll play with it.” Ah, she might just combust from all the threats! He stepped aside and she turned to the females. The Tressel pack had 37 members, 38 now with her, and 16 of them were females. They knelt in two rows. Jason growled and his voice was deep and powerful. “Cadence, do you accept your place as female alpha of the Tressel pack?” “I do.” “Do you swear to lead and protect the pack? To counsel and guide when required?” “I do.” “Then state your name, alpha.” His approval was clear and her heart pounded with joy. “Cadence Darah McIntyre.” Jason lifted his head and a howl pierced the night air. The females joined in, and then the rest of the Tressel pack, and the night was filled with the howls of a wolf pack that finally was whole. Her eyes filled with tears at the gesture, and she fought to get them under control. She didn’t want to cry in front of her pack. The wolves began to shift, dropping their clothes in a flurry and Jason grabbed her in his arms and kissed her. “I fucking love the hell out of you, Cades.” He kicked off his shoes and let go of her. “A couple of the guys are going to stand guard at the house in their shift. You wait in bed for me, yes?” “Yes, my alpha.” She kissed his chin and he laughed. “Do me a favor, baby?” “Name it.” “Put a pillow between your legs, okay?” “What for?”

“It’ll hold my place.” She was still laughing when he dropped his jeans and went down, and for the first time she got to watch him shift. She’d seen him as a wolf but she’d never watched the process. It was fascinating to watch him go from handsome man to beautiful black wolf in seconds. Shaking out his fur, he licked her palm with a happy growl and she gathered his clothes and they began the walk back to her house. Their pack followed them and Jason trotted right at her side. If she could shift, they’d be hunting right now together. Wistfully, she kissed the top of his furry snout, told him she loved him, and wished him a good hunt. She recognized two of the mid-ranked wolves standing guard, one at the front and one at the back of the house, and she climbed the stairs with a yawn and went to lay down to catch a nap, pillow firmly between her legs.

Chapter 10

Jason sat on his haunches at the back of Cadence’s house and waited for her to go upstairs. With his sharp hearing, he could make out the sounds of her moving around inside. She climbed the stairs slowly and he could tell she was tired. They’d been up a lot the last two nights, and although she rested during the day, she was fairly insatiable the moment she saw him and he’d noticed her eyes were pretty bloodshot this evening. Not that he’d complain. He couldn’t really think about anything much except peeling her out of her clothes and tying her to the headboard with that mating strap. Not sure that’s what the ancients had in mind when they used it as part of the ceremony, but he wanted her at his mercy tonight, so he could give her as much pleasure as she could handle before they made love. The only way he could take care of her right was if she kept her hands off him. She opened the bedroom window and leaned out, looking for him, and when she saw him, she blew him a kiss and waved, and turned off the light. He heard the bed squeak as she lay down, and after making sure that his men were standing guard, he headed off with the pack to hunt. Jake’s pack was going to another area to hunt because this night, this territory was all for the Tressel pack. A celebration of the mating and the missing part of their hierarchy. With a sharp series of barks, he took off for the deep woods and his pack joined him. They’d hunt as a group tonight first before splintering off to follow their own prey. This was the most primitive bachelor’s party on record: a bunch of wolves hunting. Within an hour they were deep within the woods, tracking a herd of deer. Michael and Bo flanked him and they advanced on the group as a true pack, groups of three and four taking down the deer in a coordinated effort. As his canines latched onto the back of the neck of the largest buck, he felt a shiver of fear slide down his spine. Odd.

Must be the buck. Fear made their blood taste sweeter, all those endorphins. With a mighty shake of his head, he snapped the buck’s neck and it went limp. Releasing his hold, he looked down the length of the buck’s body and saw Michael and Bo tearing into the belly and hindquarters and he opened his jaws to take a chunk out of the neck when he felt another tremor of fear. But the buck was dead. Another wave pierced him, but this one more closely to his heart. It was Cadence. Something was happening to Cadence and she was so frightened that he could feel her fear at such a great distance. He barked a sharp command to his people and took off for her home as fast as he could run. Within minutes the entire pack was on their way, howls and barks of encouragement followed him as their paws pounded on the ground. The run to the herd had seemed to be over so fast, but the same distance back to his mate was taking forever. Even though they came at a straight shot instead of weaving and enjoying themselves, the clock spun and her fear slid away from him the closer he got. When they broke through the stand of trees beyond her property, he saw Harry lying on his side on the back porch. Jason shifted into his human form and stumbled forward up the steps, gaining his feet and racing up to the bedroom. Gone! He slammed the door open so hard it imbedded into the wall. The bed was empty. He ripped the covers back and saw a single spot of blood on the white pillowcase. He took a deep breath and settled himself, drawing on the deepest part of his scent receptors as the sound of his people entering the house echoed around him. He could smell her in the room, sweet and warm, and then he picked up the scent of males, two of them, and knew exactly who had taken his mate: Chris and one of his band mates, Westin. He grabbed the clothes that Cadence had folded and left on the dresser and was shoving his feet angrily into his boots when Michael came into the room. “Fuck!” He growled, looking at the empty bed. “The guys are drugged, but they’re alive and otherwise unharmed. J?” Jason looked up at his brother. “I want everyone dressed and on their bikes in ten minutes out here. Find me Jake.”

Within ten minutes, dozens of motorcycles and vehicles were crowded on the large yard and he stood on the porch with Michael and his top men. Jake came to stand next to him, looking equally pissed and worried. “Five are gone, Jason. Chris, Zan, Westin, Quincy, and Darrin. Cells are off and no one’s seen them.” Brett, his youngest son, came to the bottom of the steps. Jason looked down at him. “Where would your brother go if he wanted to disappear?” Brett shook his head. “I don’t know. I haven’t heard from him since he left after hurting Cadence.” His knuckles turned white as he clenched his hands. He felt fucking helpless, and he didn’t want to think what it might mean that he couldn’t feel her fear anymore. His father said, “Doesn’t one of the guys in the band have family property north of here, in the hills?” Clarity rang through him like a bell. Of course! He knew exactly where it was, too. He just had to hope that he wasn’t too late to save his sweetheart. He raised his voice high above the din and everyone in both packs went quiet. “The alpha of the Tressel pack is out there and in danger. Let’s go bring her home safe.” The wolves howled angrily to the sky and he was already on his bike and racing down the dirt road that led away from her home, his pack and the Garra pack close behind. Hamersville Station was a bit of nothing town, a whistle-stop, as his grandfather would have said, mostly farms and cabins left abandoned except during hunting season. North of Allen by about 40 miles, when they were teenagers, they used to hang out up at Zan’s cousin’s cabin, secluded in the depths of the hilly woods that made up the town. His heart pounded in his ears, louder than even the engine of his bike, as he raced along the highway, northbound. He wouldn’t stop for anything or anyone. He didn’t care if the end result was a herd of police following them all the way there, he’d see her safe and home first. Again and again his thoughts passed over the evening and he cursed himself for not staying with her, not waiting out his shifting time by her side so he could keep her

safe. Once again he’d been careless with her safety; very certain that no one would dare to touch a fully mated female. The wolves he’d posted at the house were just because he couldn’t stand for her to be alone. He had no idea that she’d really need them. His anxiety peaked again and he pushed the bike as fast as he could, unaware of the scenery that flashed by in the darkness as they moved to the cabin. He prayed she was there. He prayed she was alive and unharmed. And he mostly prayed that if he died tonight saving her life, that she’d know that he loved her more than his next breath. Because he surely did.

Chapter 11

Trying to open her eyes as she started to wake up, Cadence found they felt too heavy, as if weights were attached to her eyelids. Everything felt heavy. Her arms felt like weights were tied to them and her head was like a big useless ball. She slid forward slightly and heard the squeal of brakes and suddenly she was very afraid. A blast of cold air washed over her after the sound of a door wrenching open, and arms grabbed her cruelly, pulling her. When she could force her eyes open, she saw only blurs which spiked her fear, and her stomach rolled as she was put on her feet and she hit the ground and retched. The ground was hard, dry grass and dirt, and the area didn’t smell familiar to her at all. She was about to ask where she was when someone wiped a wet rag across her face and a voice she knew all too well said, “That’s just the drugs clearing your system. You’ll be just fine for the ceremony, Cadence.” “Chris?” She coughed and spit out more bile, sucking in a few frantic gasps of cold air. “Of course, my love. Did you think I would leave you alone on our mating night?” Arms snaked around her and lifted her off the ground and she tried to calm her fear but it was like a dog snapping at her neck, all teeth and claws and desperation. She could do nothing until she had her sight back, but she took in all she could with her other senses. She heard voices, and recognized Zan and Westin, Darrin, and Quincy. Zan sounded very surprised, “That’s what you guys went to get? Cadence?” Chris’ voice went ice cold. “I told you I was going to get my mate. Who did you think I was talking about, Zan?” Quincy growled, “Fucking shut it, Zan. When you broke ties with the Garra pack, you oathed yourself to our new alpha and that means you don’t question what he does.”

Chris lowered her until she felt the ground under her butt and he let her go. A water bottle was shoved into her hand. “Drink this, darling. You’ll feel better really soon.” “Chris,” she croaked, “why are you doing this?” “Because we were meant to be together. You survived the accident. That means our love is pure and strong.” Okay. He’d gone off his rocker. What the hell was she going to do? She blinked furiously and drained the water bottle. Thankfully she wasn’t tied up, but she certainly couldn’t outrun five werewolves. Not without a damn good head start. She smelled the fire before she felt the warmth as it blazed brightly. Finally her blurry vision started to clear. She saw the five men milling around with purpose as if they had tasks. She wasn’t being watched, and she darted a look around and saw nothing but an old cabin. It looked familiar, even covered in the light and shadows from the full moon overhead. She wondered how long she’d been out, what happened to the guards, and whether Jason knew she was missing yet. He had to find her, she willed him to find her. She took the opportunity of their distraction to bolt, and she didn’t get two steps before someone landed on her back and slammed her into the ground. Her shoulder landed on a large stone and before she could register any pain, she was wrenched to her feet by her hair. She cried out and got a hand across her cheek, a hot burn left in its wake. “Did you think I wouldn’t be watching you?” Chris spat at her. She sobbed, “I’m sorry, Chris. Please, let me go. Don’t do this.” “Oh, we’re doing this alright.” He fisted his hand in her hair so tightly that strands pulled free and he planted his mouth on hers until her teeth cut into her lips and she tasted blood. She cried when he broke the kiss and jerked the front of her shirt open, the buttons flying with ripping sounds, and yanked it off her shoulders. Zan protested, “Wait, that’s a mating strap. Chris, she’s already mated to Jason. You can’t take her, he’ll kill you! It’s our oldest law.”

Chris’ eyes flashed amber in the firelight and his fangs elongated as he shoved her backwards into someone’s arms and said, “Hold her.” With a growl, he leapt on Zan and her only hope for an ally in the midst of the chaos was screaming in terror of his own. Westin purred in her ear, his fingers tightening on her flesh. “Tonight’s gonna be fun, baby. Chris’ll fuck you, and then we all will. You’ll be our personal chew toy, for a new kind of pack. A pack with no rules.” He squeezed her breast through her corset roughly and she stifled a pained groan. Terror licked at her again. It was much worse than fending off Chris. She couldn’t hope to make it through the night against four more of them. A wolf on the full moon was excitable enough before and after their shift, but they were acting as if they’d not gotten a chance to shift. That made them tense and emotional, with a hair trigger that trended towards violence. Chris stood after a few minutes of beating on Zan, who lay in a crumpled, bleeding heap outside the crudely constructed stone circle. “Now, darling, first of all, you don’t need this anymore.” He tore the necklace off and tossed it away. It arced in the firelight and she felt the loss from around her neck. In the middle of a full-blown panic attack, she couldn’t breathe right or concentrate on anything. Her terror ratcheted up another notch as he began a convoluted version of the mating vows. “Tonight you’re my mate and I’m yours. Does anyone have anything to say about that?” He jerked on the waistband of her jeans and the button popped. She whimpered, helpless in Westin’s tight hold. “Fucking get to it, man!” One of them yelled and the others cheered and her blood went cold. “We’re making our own traditions.” His fangs extended and she thought he was going to bite her but instead he sank one fang into his wrist and wiped his blood over her heart and then his own. Her stomach rolled when the scent of his blood hit her nose. “You’re mine forever, Cadence.” As he went for her jeans again, her chest heaved and she thought her heart would stop completely. Then she felt something stirring in her mind, a strength that hadn’t deserted her in the middle of this horror. Her wolf. She was wolf enough to be

alpha; she was wolf enough to defeat this lesser wolf who had gone over the edge of sanity. The zipper lowered slowly and an idea formed quickly. “Chris, baby, Chris? Look at me, honey.” She spoke with as even a tone as she could muster. He had to believe her. He looked at her and his eyes were glowing. “We’re going to make love, Chris. Don’t you want to feel me completely naked under you? Don’t you want Westin to wait his turn with the others?” She licked her lips and looked at him. He blinked and took a few breaths. “That’s it, baby, take off my shoes, first, so you can get my pants off right.” She cooed to him. He knelt in front of her, dropping like a stone and undid the laces of her hiking boots. Tossing them aside, he moved his hands up her legs slowly, eagerness on every feature. Reaching for her jeans again, he growled, “Let her go, Westin. Wait your turn.” When Westin didn’t move, Chris growled. “I said move!” With a huff, he let her go and she sighed at the relief in pressure from around her waist. He’d been holding her like a vise. While he worked her jeans down her legs, she dug back through her martial arts training and grabbed hold of the half wolf in her mind so she could use every ounce of power and knowledge available to her. She would put him down and she would get away from them. She had no choice. She stepped free of her jeans, resting her hands on his shoulders and when he was in just the right place, she sank her hands into his hair and shoved his head into her knee. With a crack that echoed like a gunshot, he howled and rolled away from her and she ran. They didn’t chase her right away, but she was in socks with no pants and in unfamiliar territory. Plus, it was night. She relied on her wolf to get her through the woods, but even she couldn’t navigate someplace she’d never been. She raced past the cabin, towards what looked like a road. As she ran, her feet hit things that hurt, but she pushed past the pain, her eyes trained on the place ahead of her. She heard the roar of motorcycle engines, and she knew she was done for if she was caught. The dirt road ended at another road that stretched in either direction, but there appeared to be nothing but woods and fields for miles. She cast her eyes up the hill and saw a guardrail. That meant a road!

Instead of sticking to the road, she started for the hill. They couldn’t get up the steep hill on their bikes so they had to climb with her or get to the road another way. Sticks cut her hands, stones bit into her knees, but she pushed on until she could grab the bottom of the guardrail as the shouts from below her grew closer. She pulled herself up and over it, falling to the ground in front of it with a harsh cry. Something pierced her thigh and she reached for the pain and found a shard of thick glass like a beer bottle and tossed it aside. Struggling to get to her feet, she heard the sound of motorcycles growing closer and she tried to get back over the guardrail, but her hands were slippery and ached, and in an instant she was blinded with headlights and she sobbed in defeat. Boots stomped towards her and she screamed, “Please, Chris, no!” “Sweetheart, it’s me.” Jason’s sweet voice reached her ears and she lifted her head. “Cades, Cades?” “Oh Jas.” She lifted her arms to him and he closed the distance fast, whipping off his jacket to cover her before standing up with her tight in his arms. He barked, “Find him! Fucking find all of them!” Engines roared and then drifted away and a door creaked open. She felt something soft under her bare legs and she stiffened. “It’s alright, Cades,” he soothed, “it’s my dad’s truck. Callie’s here. They’re going to take you back to my trailer.” She grabbed his collar. “Please don’t leave me, Jas!” His brow furrowed and he leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. “I have to make it safe for you, sweetheart. I’ll be home soon, I promise. Dad?” “I’ll get her back to your trailer and take care of her until you get back, son. You go avenge our alpha.” She felt herself slipping away from everything, and Jason’s voice went tinny and distant and then she was gone.

Chapter 12

Jason had thought the worst thing he had ever seen was Cadence in the hospital. This topped everything. Bleeding, bruised, half naked and absolutely terrified. Every instinct in his body was at war. Half of him didn’t want her out of his sight because she was in pain and afraid. The other half of him knew that Chris had to pay. She deserved to feel safe and he would be the one to give it to her. His cell beeped and Michael’s breathless voice said, “We found ‘em, J. One was unconscious by a bonfire, the other four we chased on the bikes and they’re down by the bonfire at the cabin now.” “I’ll be right there.” He reined in his beast. He couldn’t be emotional right now; he had to act by the laws of their ancestors. While there was no leeway for Chris, the others in his rogue posse were another story. Arriving quickly, he pulled up next to the cabin and turned off the bike. He saw every male except his father standing around the bonfire. His highest ranked men each held one of the rogues, except for the one that was unconscious. All the Tressel pack females were waiting at the trailer park to stand guard over their alpha until he could get back to her. Jake walked over to him as he surveyed the scene. “Cadence okay?” “She will be. Listen, Jake,” “No, wait.” Jake sighed, running his hand through his graying hair. “Chris is my son and Cadence has been like a daughter to me. No one deserves to be terrorized the way that she was. I won’t stand in your way. I know by law that he deserves death. I wish I could tell you why he went crazy, but I truthfully don’t know. A month ago I wouldn’t have guessed he had it in him to be so calculating and cruel. And then for the others to go along with it, well, it makes me feel like I wasn’t being an effective alpha. But that’s my baggage. I’ll make the announcement that I stand down from punishing my own pack members for their crimes. I can’t stay. You know, that, right?”

Jason nodded, amazed at Jake’s calm nature. “The cabin’s yours, for whatever you need. I’ll make sure that Renee goes to the trailer park to help.” He and Jake walked together to the stone circle. Jake turned around. “As alpha of the Garra Pack, I withdraw my judging hand from this gathering. For crimes against the Tressel Pack and their alpha female, I give my support to Jason Gerrick, alpha.” He gave one glance at Chris, called for his pack to head home, and left without another glance at son. In all his arrogant posturing, Chris had been so smug, but seeing his father walk away turned him into a blubbering child, begging for mercy and calling for Jake. To his credit, he never turned around, and neither did any of the other pack members. Jason walked in front of the men. He wished he knew why Zan was unconscious. He looked at a couple of the mid-ranked wolves. “Ben, Tig, take Zan and secure him in the back of Bo’s truck. I’m not going to punish him until I figure out why he’s unconscious.” He turned to the elders who were standing stoically outside the circle, there for guidance if he needed it. He appreciated their presence, and wished his father had been able to stay. But there was no one he trusted more with his woman than his father. Jason spoke with authority. “They are cast from their pack at their alpha’s command. They kidnapped an alpha female with the purpose of at the least watching her be raped by another alpha.” He had a good guess that they planned more than just watching. Lon, one of the elders, took a step forward. “Alpha, there is only one true path. They must be given to the pack so they may avenge their alpha female. Only blood will do.” So the challenge would be issued. The criminals would be allowed to shift and given a two minute head start. If they could make it to dawn alive, they were exiled from the town but given their life. Dawn was four hours away. Drawing on his wolf for power, he said with a deadly calm voice, “I, Jason Gerrick, alpha of the Tressel pack, charge you, Westin, with kidnapping the mated alpha of our pack with intent to cause her bodily harm. For your crime, you are challenged for

your life. Make it to dawn and your life is yours, but you are required to leave the state within 48 hours or you forfeit your life. Have you anything to say?” Westin, a man that Jason had at one time looked up to, spit on the ground. “I’d have fucked your little female until she begged for mercy, so you can stick your challenge up your ass and go fuck yourself.” Ignoring the digs, because Westin was clearly hoping to have a fast end instead of facing the pack in the woods, Jason moved on and repeated the challenge to Darrin and Quincy. Darrin said nothing, resigned to his fate. Quincy begged for mercy, but there was none to be found. He faced Chris finally, held on his knees by Michael and Bo. He glared up at Jason but there was nothing human about him anymore. He’d lost all touch with reality. “Christian, I sentence you to death, for crimes against the female alpha of our pack. There will be no dawn reprieve for you, I will hunt you down and kill you myself. Do you have anything to say?” He stared up at him and the emptiness was vast in his eyes. With a nod, his men set the criminals free and they struggled to their feet and ran. He was pleased to see that someone had removed their shoes. It was only fitting that because Cadence had run without shoes that they would have that same feeling, at least until they shifted. Turning to his pack, he met their simmering, angry gazes. “Tonight we hunt to avenge our alpha!” He lifted his head to the sky and howled and the hills echoed with the sound. Clothes dropped and they shifted to their wolf forms and headed towards their prey. Michael and Bo followed him as he scented for Chris and picked him out easily. The wolves had splintered and each gone in different directions but it wouldn’t matter. Chris had only stayed in his human form for a few feet and then shifted. No matter how long it took, Jason would see that Chris never hurt another person again. They trailed him for hours. He was fast and backtracked a lot, crossing over his tracks again and again, but finally, they caught sight of his dark gray form as he padded along a soggy creek bed. With a coordination of a group that had hunted together for years, Bo and Michael split off and attacked Chris from either side as Jason went for his

back. His natural reaction to seeing the two wolves on either side of him was to back up, and he ran straight into Jason. They locked jaws around each other’s necks, the snarls and growls growing louder and louder. They tumbled and twisted in the mud and Chris pinned him on his back, going for his jugular, and Jason caught his belly with his back paw and ripped his stomach open by dragging his thick claws through the soft flesh. Chris cried out and let go, and Jason went for his neck, shaking it hard and snapping it abruptly. Chris may be evil, but he didn’t deserve to suffer. Michael and Bo howled in victory, digging their muzzles in the bloody entrails. Jason did the same. They wouldn’t eat him as if he were prey; they would drag his body back to the bonfire and burn him with the others. They took turns dragging the body back to the bonfire because of the dead weight of his form. Three other wolf bodies waited by the time they got there. They had chased Chris for miles; the others had fallen quickly. The elders were waiting and together the three men spoke ancient Greek over each body, basically asking the great spirits to bless the pack and wash the tragedy from their minds. He watched dispassionately as each body was lifted and tossed into the fire that had been fed more wood so it ran hot and would burn the bodies quickly. When the last body was tossed on the fire, the wolves raised their muzzles. It wasn’t a howl of victory; it was a mournful sound for the loss of their brethren and the violence that had brought them to this end. He shifted back to his human form, and each man did the same, and he gathered his clothes and headed towards the cabin. He wanted to clean up before he dressed and headed back to see Cadence. A pump well on the back porch provided ice cold water, but that was all he needed. He washed the blood and mud from his face and body and rinsed his mouth out, making sure his hands were as clean as he could get them. He only cared about getting home to Cadence. He needed to bury his face in her hair and take in her scent and hold her in his arms. He wouldn’t let her go for days.

Michael joined him, already dressed, and washed his face. Fishing in his pocket while Jason put on his boots, he pulled out something shiny. “The chain’s busted, but I thought you would want to give this back to her.” “Thanks, man.” He squeezed it in his palm and tried not to think about how he’d come close to losing her, again. A handful of the pack and the elders agreed to stay until the bodies were complete ash and then cover the bonfire with dirt. The need to hold Cadence and see how injured she was overcame everything else in his mind, and he sped towards home, his men on his tail. Everyone was anxious. Pulling into the trailer park after less than 20 minutes, he was surprised when Callie threw open the door to his trailer. “Thank goodness, Jason! Hurry!’ With his heart in his throat, he turned off the bike and cleared the steps in one bound. His mother, Renee, his father, and a few of the pack females were inside, looking worried. The others had been outside standing guard. Glancing at the clock, he realized that he’d been gone nearly six hours. Holy hell, what had happened while she’d been home? His mother pulled him back gently towards the bedroom. “Jason, she’s in shock. She woke up when your father brought her in the house and had a panic attack. We were about to call the squad when she calmed down some because your father spoke to her as former alpha. She wanted to take a shower so we helped her and then left her alone when she insisted, and Callie went in the bathroom a half hour later and she was sitting under the water curled up in a ball and crying. Callie turned the water off, tried to get her out, but she wouldn’t move. So we’ve been putting towels on her to keep her warm, but she’s shut down.” He looked at the bathroom door. “Is she injured?” “She had some rocks and glass embedded in her feet and her palms, and a pretty bad gash on her thigh, but other than the bruised cheek, she seems to be okay. She needs you, honey.” “Then I’ll help her. Thanks, mom.” He hugged his mother, worry skating through him. How was he supposed to help Cadence come out of shock? Maybe taking her to the hospital was the best thing.

He sent the females home, except for his parents, Renee, and Callie. Closing the bedroom door he went to the bathroom. As they’d said, his little sweetheart was leaning against the wall of the tub, arms wrapped tightly around her knees. She rocked back and forth slightly. He grabbed another towel from under the cabinet. “Sweetheart? Cades? Can you hear me?” She made no movement that indicated that she’d heard him. When he tried to pull her to her feet, she made little whimpering sounds and resisted him. He spoke softly to her, touched her shoulder and face, and she refused to even open her eyes or say anything. Frustrated, he growled as he dropped to one knee. Her whole body stiffened. Ah. Once again the wolf part of her was working even when her human side wasn’t. He lowered the wall that separated himself from his beast and allowed the wolf to fill him with power. He knew his eyes would be bright amber and he could feel his canines elongating. With a powerful growl, he said, “Cadence, you get up this instant and go sit on the bed.” Obediently, she stood and he followed her out to the bedroom where she sat, so much a puppet, a body without conscious thought. He wrapped the dry towel around her. He knew what he needed to do. He’d seen it once, when he was a kid. A wolf had been injured severely and had retreated into his subconscious to protect himself. His father as alpha had called to his beast and comforted it as only the alpha could. He would cover her with his scent and use his beast to draw her from the place where she hid. She was stronger than this. He wouldn’t let her retreat. He opened the bedroom door and saw Callie. “She’s going to be fine in the morning, Callie. I promise.” Shutting the door, he jerked off his shirt and let it drop as he called his beast to the surface again with a loud growl and he stalked to his mate.

Chapter 13

Cadence felt like she was drifting in the darkness. She could hear things – voices, sounds – but she couldn’t really see anything. Her head felt disjointed from her body, as if it had never even been part of it before. Two separate things. She was wicked cold but couldn’t get the energy together to do anything about it. And then suddenly, her wolf self started to get agitated, and she felt compelled to action. To get up and move, to sit down and be still. She didn't like taking orders from anyone, but this wasn’t quite the same. It wasn't orders exactly it was…something deeper, ancient and more powerful. Suddenly she was flooded with the scent of fall, of trees and brush preparing for winter, of fur and blood and teeth, and her brain started to reattach itself to her body. There were hands on her, not just any hands, but the two most important hands in the world. Jason. Jason. The word alone was enough to spike her heart rate and she could smell him and feel him and hear him. He grabbed her wolf by the scruff and was pulling her forward, dragging her out of the darkness and Cadence was attached to her. She realized that now. They weren't really separate creatures; the wolf was part of her because she was what made her unique. A hybrid. A werewolf and a human mashed together. “Come on, love, come back to me.” The voice she held dearest was chanting as warm hands moved down methodically from her neck to her shoulders, down her chest and ribs, skirting her hips and all the way down her legs. She heard a deep breath in the pause before the hands started again, and then she smelled the scent of her mate so strong that she forced her way up through the darkness to find him. It was a struggle, like walking through surf towards the shore and she needed help. But her mind couldn't get her mouth to form the right words. As if he

knew, Jason began to nip at her pulse points with his teeth, and the little jolts of awareness were enough to bring her back to him with a gasp. She sat up with a deep breath and clutched her chest. She reached for Jason and he pulled her into his arms and she fell from the bed and into his lap with a sound halfway between a shout of happiness and a sob. He held her close, stroking her hair and sighing deeply. “I thought you’d never wake up, sweetheart.” She leaned back to look at him. He was smiling, but it didn’t reach his eyes. There was darkness there in the depths of the eyes she loved so much and she knew then that she wasn’t the only one traumatized by Chris’ actions. “I tried to, but I felt so lost in my head. It was weird. But I smelled you, your wolf, and I felt your hands on me.” “I was breathing my scent into my hands. It’s an old alpha trick and you’re wolf enough to recognize my authority and scent. At least when you’re a zombie.” He smirked and she rolled her eyes. “Hey, I was very nearly made some kind of pack bride so don’t be so glib.” He stood up slowly with her in his arms and put her back on the bed, drawing a soft blanket around her shoulders. Ducking to his knees he put his arms around her and cuddled into her lap. She stroked his hair and waited for him to talk. Eventually he did. He shared it all with her, and the wounds were fresh and deep for him. He’d never seen pack justice carried out like that before. It was necessary, there was no other way for things to go, but it didn’t mean he didn’t suffer for it. Heavy was the head that wore the crown, wolf or not. “Thank you, Jas.” “For what? Taking your safety for granted again? Trusting that you’d be safe when I have absolutely no reason to believe that?” His eyes flashed for a moment and then he dropped his head back to her lap. “Thank you for finding me. For saving me. And for doing what you needed to do as pack leader. I don’t understand a lot of the burden you carry as alpha, but I have a

better idea now. And I’ll share that burden with you, Jas.” She tilted his head up in her hands so he was forced to look at her. “I love you. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” His eyes went very bright with unshed tears and she had a feeling that she could sit there all day and stare at him and he wouldn’t ever cry and that was okay. He wasn’t made for soft things, but then again, neither was she. “You drew blood.” She groused, catching a glimpse at one wrist. One of his fangs had nicked her. He shrugged sheepishly. “I had to call my beast. And you’re damn stubborn, you know that?” He smiled and chased that dark look from his eyes. He kissed the mark and then got up. “You knew how high maintenance I was before you marked me.” “What when you were 9? Shit.” He stretched with a groan. “Back then all you wanted was Barbie dolls and candy necklaces. That’s not high maintenance, not even close.” He declared he was hungry and went to an overnight bag and tossed a t-shirt and panties at her. Her joints ached, but her cuts had healed while she’d been comatose, so she could be thankful for small miracles. She slid her clothes on, figuring she didn’t need pants because they were alone in the house. He made two phone calls after she volunteered to cook for them, because there was very little he could do in the kitchen except make a mess. And it gave her something to do anyway. If she had to sit still for too long, she thought her emotions would get the better of her right now. He followed her around the small kitchen while she made them breakfast, as if he couldn’t stand to be more than a foot away from her. Any other day, she would have snapped at him to give her some space, but not today. He’d been shaken to the core at what had happened to her, what nearly would have happened if he hadn’t shown up when he did, and she needed his touch as much as he needed hers. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been out of it but it was 8 a.m. now. The start of a new day. While she scrambled eggs on the stove and he kept his fingers twisted in the hem of her top while he leaned against the counter, she said, “Do you need to go anywhere today?”

He looked startled, “As if I would leave you alone today.” “No, Jas, I mean, I’d like to go back to bed after we eat and just hold each other, okay? But if you need to go somewhere, to handle pack stuff or whatever, then I’ll shower and go with you.” He shook his head, “No, Michael’s got the pack covered and nothing is happening right now anyway. Tonight we’ll have a meeting, let everyone see that you’re okay. You are okay, aren’t you?” She paused mid-stir and looked at him. Once, when they were very young he killed a snake because it frightened her when they were playing in the woods. Although the snake wasn’t poisonous she remembered the look in his eyes then, and she could see it clearly now. He was thinking about the worst case scenario. Back then, he’d been haunted by the fact that the snake could have been poisonous, could have bitten her and she could have died before help came. This morning, he was thinking about all the “could haves” that her abduction might have turned into. She slid her hands up his arms, rounded his strong shoulders, and laced her fingers together at the back of his neck. “Jason Gerrick, you saved my life and my body from harm. You brought me back from the darkness and you showed me that I’m more wolf than I ever believed possible, that she’s part of me and not a separate entity. I can see you’re beating yourself up about what almost happened, but that will eat you alive if you don’t get over it. I’m not almost-safe; I’m safe. I’m very real and here in your arms.” Using his own technique against him, she dug her thumbs into the pressure points at the back of his neck and he closed his eyes with a deep sigh. “I love you, Cades.” “I love you, too.” She relaxed her grip on his neck and turned back to the eggs. He seemed slightly more relaxed, but he didn’t stop from hovering near her while she cooked, and then scooting his chair as close to hers as possible as they ate at the kitchen table. She left the dishes for later, and took him to the bathroom where they washed each other and made love on the bed, slow and tender, eyes locked together while their climaxes wove hot fingers through their bodies. They both needed to rest, and it was the first

time since they had joined together that she was able to give him the comfort that he was used to giving her. She lay on her back and he cuddled against her, his arms around her tightly and his head nestled against her shoulder. She played her fingers through his hair and across his shoulders and arms, trailing gentle touches across his back until she felt him relax into sleep. She drifted off finally, and slept soundly and without nightmares like she might have expected because of her ordeal. The difference was that her mind knew that Chris and the men that had abducted her were dead, except for Zan, who was under house arrest with Jake until they could decide what to do with him. They woke at the same time and his rough and possessive growl left no room for argument that he wanted to make love again. He drove her higher and higher with pleasure until he took her roughly and her screams of pleasure shattered the quiet afternoon silence in the house. If how he wanted to reassure himself that she was safe was to fuck her within an inch of her life, well, she was totally on board with that. “I think we should have the meeting at my dad’s,” he said, watching her dress in jeans and a black sweater after her bones had resolidified. “That makes no sense, Jas. Your dad isn’t alpha. You are. So either the meeting needs to be here or at my house. If you’re worried I’m going to freak out at being home, then just know I really don’t remember anything after falling asleep with a pillow between my thighs.” His face split into a smile. “You did that?” “Of course. I wanted your face there.” Silly wolf. “Alright. I just, I thought you might not want to be there so soon.” “It’s my house. They’re gone. I wouldn’t give his memory the satisfaction of knowing he got to me like that.” His smile widened. “You’re one tough alpha, sweetheart.” She snorted and pulled her hair into a ponytail, “I have to be to deal with you.” He drove them on his bike to her house after calling Michael and having him send for the top ranked to join them and then the rest of the pack to show up an hour later. Jason didn’t let go of her hand once they were inside the house, and he kept growling every time one of the men approached her, so they finally gave up.

She leaned against the kitchen counter while they waited for Linus, the last of the high ranked wolves. “You’re a nutcase, you know that?” She chuckled. He tugged on her belt loop with a scowl. “I am not. You’re mine and no one touches what’s mine without risking fingers and the ability to breathe.” Linus walked in finally and they sat down at the table. Peter sat opposite them at the other end of the table. Michael, Bo, and Linus lined one side of the table and the three elders, Lon, Dae, and Getty lined the other side. They were in their 70s at least, but they were as spry as any other wolves around. And feisty, too. Jason glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall, “We’ve got about 45 minutes before the pack shows up for reassurance that their alpha is home safe.” They all congratulated her again. “Now, first order of business is what Jake broached to you this afternoon, dad. Floor’s yours.” Peter cleared his throat, “Jake wants to take the pack and leave town. He wants to sign over their pack holdings to our pack, which includes Lonestar Restaurant and the bar, plus their homes.” “When would they go?” Michael asked. “After November full moon. They’ll take the month to close down and get ready to leave, and he said they would plan to head south. Renee is apparently very insistent that they cannot stay here, and I don’t expect that any of us can blame her for feeling that way.” “If we say no to taking over their holdings, they’ll let them go untended. Eventually, from missing taxes and what have you, the bank will step in and we’ll have the potential of losing two important wolf owned businesses, not to mention some key real estate with several homes on large chunks of land,” Jason said, running his hand up and down her thigh under the table. It was distracting but she knew he felt the need to keep a hand on her. But couldn’t he have picked her actual hand? She interjected, “We don’t have anyone knowledgeable to run either business if the Garra Pack takes off. I could do the books, but it would be a stretch to do accounting for three very different businesses. And the bar needs more than a bookkeeper...the restaurant, too.”

They all nodded and the room got quiet. Finally, Bo said, “So we take their holdings and let them sit until we decide what to do with them. We can’t let humans come in and take over for us. They don’t really understand anything about us, and more than that, they won’t give us the leeway we need to be ourselves.” Murmurs of agreement came from everyone. Jason sighed, “We’ll let the two businesses shut down after their pack leaves, but make sure that we have a few of our people shadow Grey at the restaurant and Jake at the bar, get all the books and everything so we can open them again when the time is right.” Getty scrubbed fingers across his wrinkled jaw, “If you put out feelers to some of our pack alliances, you could potentially bring in more to the pack that can run the businesses. Expand the pack to protect the town. It’s not unheard of.” She looked at Jason, “We need to protect ourselves, Jas. If that means sitting on a few empty buildings until we have people to run them, then we should do that.” Although he didn’t need to call a vote because he could make his own rules as he pleased, he did anyway, “All in favor?” Every hand at the table rose. “Motion passed. We’ll meet with Jake tonight after our pack meeting and get the arrangements in motion to take over their holdings.” They talked more about running the bar on the weekends only until it was operational enough to be open every day, what might be needed to run the restaurant, and what to do with the inventory until that time occurred. They were waiting on the back porch when the rest of the pack showed up. 37 wolves looked to her and Jason as leaders from the grass, even men who were three times her age. It was humbling and powerful at the same time. Jason tapped into his beast and the power of his wolf came through his voice as he said to the crowd, “Pack justice was delivered this morning. Those responsible for the kidnapping of our female alpha and the injury of our two wolves that were standing guard have been destroyed. Let it be known far and wide that no one that comes against the Tressel Pack, wolf, human or otherwise, will prevail. Syskeyazo Protos, Syskeyazo Panta!” The pack howled at his words, the ancient anthem of the Tressel Pack: Pack First, Pack Always. He gave her a nudge as he lifted his head to the sky and howled

and she touched the wolf in her mind and let loose with her version of a howl and joined in the chorus of her pack. Her pack. Her people. Her family. Men and women who would die for her. Kill for her. It was so much more than the family she’d always longed to have, so much more than what she had thought that pack meant. It was a sword that cut both ways. They would die for her, but she also knew at that moment that she would die for them. Her oath as alpha was strong and true: She would protect and counsel because she was their leader. As the first hybrid female alpha of the Tressel Pack, she could do no less than give them her all. Because they gave their all to her.

Chapter 14

Jason curled his hand around Cadence’s shoulder as they sat in the front room of her home with Jake, Renee, his parents, and Michael. It was as much for his own comfort as it was for hers. He hadn’t been able to shake the possessive thoughts from his wolf at the potential loss of his mate and he stopped trying to fight them. Cadence had been more than willing to indulge his touch all day and he was glad for it. Renee had cried on Cadence’s shoulder and he knew that at least part of her tears were because she was hurt by Chris’ actions herself. He could see the question in her eyes as she pushed away from Cadence gently: why had he gone over the edge? That was a question that would never be answered. “You are certain that Zan was not part of the plans to kidnap you, love?” He looked into her eyes and searched them carefully. She was feeling raw and emotional right now, and she knew that four men had lost their lives just that morning because of the man-who-wouldn’t-be-spoken-of-again’s dangerous attachment to her. She was feeling a little bit like there was blood on her hands, and he expected that. Because he felt like it, too. “I’m sure,” she said confidently and repeated herself, “Zan was at the cabin near the bonfire when they brought me there and said, ‘that’s what you went to get? Cadence?’ and then he said, ‘I went to get my mate’ and when Zan saw the mating strap after my shirt came off, he protested that it was against the oldest laws to rape a mated wolf.” Jason mulled over her statement and then looked at his father. He was quietly speculative as well. He wondered what his father would have done if his mother had been taken like Cadence had been. Zan had taken a beating for his protest and appeared to be an unwitting accomplice in the kidnapping. Assuming he would have participated in the planned rape was a speculation that no one could answer for certain.

In the end, Zan had not participated in the actual terrorizing of his mate and that meant something to him. “Jake, I’m going to give over my right to any punishment of Zan back to you. Although he was part of the splintered pack, from his and Cadence’s statements, his only crime appears to be the one to leave your pack without your permission. I’m satisfied that those responsible for her abduction have been dealt with appropriately.” Jake nodded. “I know it doesn’t mean much, but he is sorry that he was part of it. He was swayed by my son’s claims of starting a pack that would be more modern and leave the ways of the ancients behind. I’m loathe to send him away from the pack and make him a rogue without honor. We’ll bring it before the pack, but I believe he will benefit from being watched carefully and punished for his infraction. And we’ll take him with us when we leave.” Jake and Renee left shortly thereafter. Cadence sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder, “The town will seem really empty with the Garra Pack gone.” “We’ll rebuild it. It’s not normal for two packs to be so close like we’ve been anyway. It only worked because there was no direct competition between the pack leaders.” Jason promised. She tilted her face up to his and he pressed his lips against hers for just a brief moment. “I’ll volunteer to shadow Jake for the bar, J. Toby’s been head of security there for years and he’s our pack, so he’ll be invaluable.” Michael offered. “Good. Mom, the restaurant?” “It was Cadence’s father’s before it passed to Grey,” she pointed out. “Um, unless you want it belly up in a month, someone else has to be in charge of it,” Cadence laughed. “I’ll be happy to keep tabs on the books for a while, but I think we need to focus on one first and just let the other sit.” “I vote bar,” Michael quipped. “Second.” Cadence laughed and they bumped fists and Jason growled slightly and pulled her back against him. No touching other unmated males. Ever. “Fine. Cades, you can have Grey come over this week and talk to us about the restaurant. We’ll go this weekend, get a lay of the land and make sure that all the outstanding bills are paid before they leave.”

“I can go on my own, Jas.” “Uh, no.” Hell no. “We’ll do it together or I’ll assign someone else.” He caught the little flash of defiance in her eyes and was half glad to see it still there in spite of her ordeal. He was very glad, though, that she squelched it in front of the others so he didn’t have to deal with that. The last thing he wanted to do was reprimand his mate for being disrespectful. She could rake him over the coals in private, but in public she had to treat him like he was the boss because he was. She nodded silently and he could actually see her brain working to come up with ways to make him pay for that. His little vindictive sweetheart. She went into the kitchen to make dinner for them and his mother joined her. His father said, “She seems to be recovering fine. How are you holding up?” “It was just a lot to take so soon after she was in the hospital. It’s enough that she’s safe with me. I won’t take her safety for granted again.” “Well, none of us will, son, that’s for sure. Have you decided where you’ll live yet?” “I think she wants to be here, but she hasn’t said yet. We could be in the trailer for a while, but once we have kids, it’s not big enough for more than just us two. And really, with the full moon gatherings, it would be better to be here anyway. I think the pack's been drifting long enough without me having a place big enough for everyone to join in.” “Your mother will be thrilled that she won’t have to clean up after the pack.” Hmm. Cadence probably wouldn’t like that aspect of playing den-mother to the pack. But at least as alpha she could count on the females helping her. He tuned out as his father and Michael started talking about the bar and the restaurant and the impact of losing half of the wolf population of their town. Jason contemplated moving into the house and living together like they were meant to. They were called in for dinner and Cadence seemed to sense that he was still feeling a tangle of nerves about her. When she sat on his lap at the table and kissed his ear, he knew that although she may not realize what she was doing, she was showing the wolves at the table that she had complete faith in him as alpha and as her

mate to keep her safe. Even if it was just Michael and his parents, he cherished the action and the emotions behind it. He loved this woman with every fiber of his being. The atmosphere relaxed as they ate. Cadence and his mother traded stories from the past, the silly things his mom remembered them doing together and his father quipped in here and there with things he remembered. As the house emptied for the night, he watched her quietly while she loaded the dishwasher and wiped off the counters. “You given any thought to where you want to live, sweet?” “I was hoping you’d want to move in here. Once we’re married for real, it’s simple enough to put the deed in your name as well. I don’t want you to think of it as my place or your place, but our place.” “It’s important to me, too. And I’m game to live here, if that’s what you want. With taking over the bonfires for the pack now that we’re a mated pair, we need the space. The trailer park is fine, but not for that sort of gathering.” “Plus, eventually we’ll have kids.” She smiled and slid her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his chest. “You want to?” He wrapped his arms around her. Held her tight. “Yeah. You?” “Only with you, love.” “Well, put a cork in that thought for a few months, cowboy. At least until we’re married.” “Yes dear,” he teased, and she lifted her face to his and her mouth parted on a soft moan and he sank his mouth against hers. His need to claim her roared to the surface like something hot and alive. His plan to carry her to bed and strip her slowly, kissing every inch of her sweet body went flying out the window when she shoved her hand down the front of his jeans and gripped his cock like it was a life preserver and she was adrift at sea. He pulled her away from his mouth with a hand wrapped tight around her ponytail. “You want me to fuck you, baby?” “Yes, Jas, please.” She whimpered, her eyes dark and flashing with heat and need.

He shoved her around and planted her hands on the counter. Nipping at the pulse in her neck as he jerked the button of her jeans apart and ripped the zipper open, he growled, “Begging comes later, Cades.” Shoving her jeans down, he kicked her legs apart as far as they would go and dropped his own jeans and shorts to the floor. He smoothed his hand over her ass and she shivered. He delivered a stinging slap to one cheek and she hissed in a breath. Nice. Sliding one hand up the front of her sweater and under her bra until he held that tantalizing globe, he used his other hand to guide himself into her depths. When the head of his cock was just past her tight entrance, he clamped his hand on her hip and jerked her backwards as he shoved his cock straight into the deepest part of her body. She cried out when he bumped the end of her, as deep as he could go, but he gave her no relief. Sliding his hand from her breast and out from under the sweater, he put it on the back of her neck and pushed her towards the counter to hold her where he wanted her. Pounding into her, he dominated her, forced her to remain still under his onslaught, unable to move on her own, only able to take what he gave. She was wet to start with, but as he fucked her harder and faster, her body responded with even more sweet honey and the sound of their bodies coming together was like music to his wolf. He pulled her backwards, arching her towards him and she instinctively tilted her head and he sank his teeth into her. The first spasm of her pussy around his cock as she came with his teeth and his cock in her was more satisfying than anything else he’d ever done in his life. He moved down her neck, drawing blood and leaving bruises as he thrust into her. She came again and again as he bit her and took her, bringing her as much pleasure as he could before he could not hold back anymore. He shoved her forward so she collapsed on the countertop and stroked deep into her heat, once, twice, three times, and then he came on a roar, and his fingers bit into the flesh of her hip as she writhed under him while he came. He dropped onto her back, sliding his hands to either side of her and pressing his forehead to her back. His lungs felt like they might explode while he drew in deep breaths and tried to will his body to work right again. A tremble shivered through

Cadence and her knees went out, and he managed to catch her and spin them to the rug in front of the sink, his back against the cabinet. Their legs were tangled together with their jeans but it didn’t matter. All that mattered in the world was panting in his arms, drenched with sweat and carrying his scent on her skin and inside her. She let out a hissing breath and her hand flew to her neck. He could guess that sweat had dripped onto the marks. He tilted her head so he could look at what he’d done and realized he’d been a little rougher with her than if he’d been in complete control of his beast. A dozen bleeding marks wove a path down her neck to her shoulder. They were healing, of course, but that didn’t mean they didn’t hurt. Before he could come up with a way to apologize without boxing himself out of ever doing it in the future, she sighed and leaned her head back so it rested on his shoulder. “It’s a good thing it feels so good when you’re doing it. Makes up for the aches later.” Definitely. “Take me to bed, Jas.” “Of course, sweetheart.” They untangled their legs and freed themselves of their clothes, and later, she showed him just how much she had enjoyed being bitten by biting him in return. He loved that she marked him and claimed him, that she didn’t want anyone to look at him without seeing her marks on his skin or smelling her on him in some way. And he most definitely was thankful that she let that softer side of herself show to him when they made love, arms around each other as the climaxes wove their magic through their bodies and bonded them closer and closer. Although other matters pressed, he had two things on his mind on Monday morning when he left Cadence at the shop under Michael’s watchful if not annoying eyes and strict understanding that he was not to touch a hair on her head or he’d rue the day he was born. Truly. He didn’t like leaving her alone and he was still feeling wicked possessive about her, but he couldn’t exactly take her shopping for an engagement ring or plan a romantic dinner for her if she tagged along.

After stopping at the trailer and packing up the grill from the back patio and hauling it in his truck to her house, he set it up and went shopping. The diamonds in the case winked at him. He should have asked Callie what sort of ring Cadence wanted. It never occurred to him that there would be so many of them. Would she want a single stone or one with multiple stones, white gold or yellow gold, or something besides a diamond? Shit. Out of his depths wasn’t even close to the right term. The older gentlemen who had come over to help him gave him an encouraging smile. “If I’ve learned anything over the years, son, it’s that most women prefer the gesture of the ring to what it actually looks like. You love her, and you’re putting a ring on her finger to tell the world that. And if she happens to want something different, you can always let her change the ring by letting her choose a band that she wants. For example,” he pulled a single stone ring from the case and dropped it down inside another ring that was full of diamonds. “This is called a basket. You use the main ring, the single stone, as the engagement ring, and then the basket becomes the wedding band. The day before the wedding, you just bring both in and we’ll solder them together in the back so they’ll be one ring that you can give to her during the ceremony.” He looked at all those diamonds and ran his finger across his jaw. He was glad she was right handed. If she took a swing at him with that ring on her finger, he’d be bleeding for days. “How much for the single one?” The man didn’t blink, “$4,500. It’s a three quarter carat, excellent quality.” He said a few numbers and letters together that didn’t mean much to him but apparently spoke to the diamond’s qualifications. He made mention that he had others in the case that were of lesser quality and size if the cost was an issue as he put the ring in his hand. It looked so small. But perfect. Just like his mate. He stared into the depths of the ring and pictured it on her finger. “Give me a minute,” he put the ring on the counter and stepped back and pulled his cell from his pocket. “Hey, man, what’s up?” Fritz barked happily into the phone. Jason didn’t normally call the young wolf. “You remember saying you knew a guy who’d be interested in my car?”

“Yeah, dude. He just asked me like a week ago if you’d changed your mind yet. Why, you interested?” “Well, if he’ll come in for what you said he would, then yes. He can pick it up this afternoon.” “He said 5k was all he could afford. Is that what you meant?” “Yeah, and I’ll throw in your services as tow truck driver but I need the cash immediately.” “I’ll call him right now, J.” “And keep it under your hat.” “Got it.” He pressed the end button and looked at the man at the counter, “I’ll be back, sir. Thanks.” “Wait, young man.” Jason turned back. “If you give me $20 now, I will hold this ring for you, and I’ll even give it to you for…$4,000.” He felt like his smile was big enough to crack his face in half as he reached for his wallet immediately. “That would be great, sir.” “Well,” he smiled and his face warmed with the motion, “any man that is willing to sell a car to buy his girl an engagement ring is a good man in my book. And I’m a sucker for love. It’s why I got into the jewelry business. Plus the discounts for my wife,” he made a gesture with his head to an older woman bent over another counter. Her fingers were covered with rings and a half dozen necklaces dangled against the glass. Jason snorted as he filled out the claim card; it could be lots worse. He stopped to have lunch with his sweetheart, and after they ate he enjoyed holding her captive in his lap while he sucked on her neck until she writhed and begged him to either finish what he started or stop completely. He stopped the torture. “No way am I playing with you while everyone with super hearing is in the building.” She grunted, “So you just horned me up? Thanks.” Good point. “I’ve got another errand to run, now that we’re done eating. And when I get back, when the shop is empty, I’ll make you happy you waited. Deal?” “What’s so important you gotta leave your girl hanging?” She pouted, exaggerating the notion with a pulled lower lip.

“Pack business, my sweetheart.” He lifted her off his lap and groused at himself for his own erection and kissed her goodbye before she could point out that she was part of the pack now. Fortunately, she was still getting used to being included in things she’d spent her whole life being excluded from. It worked well in this case. Two phone calls and a trip to the trailer later, he was accepting five grand in cash from Fritz’s friend, a car nut like himself who was more than excited to get his hands on the car Jason had at one time planned to restore. Greg looked at the car with barely veiled affection. “Why’re you giving her up? She’s spectacular.” Jason slipped the envelope of cash into the inside of his leather jacket and watched Fritz hook it up to the truck. “I don’t have time to play around with this sort of thing anymore. I thought it was something I wanted, but I realize now that it’s not.” Truth. When he’d found the GTO in the classifieds, he’d intended to make it cherry again and use it instead of his pickup. Now, he had no desire to sink money into something that he’d eventually have to give up anyway in favor of a more family friendly car. He’d bought it when Cadence left for college. He had planned to bury his head under the hood for four years, but that hadn’t worked out like he planned. Nothing had. He shook Greg’s hand and watched Fritz drive off with the old car on the flatbed and Greg following behind. He could have gotten more for it if he’d put it out on an auction site, but he was tying up the loose ends of his life to start it over fresh with his mate and a lot of that meant getting rid of the things that he’d tried to use to ignore her. Barely back before closing with the ring stashed at her house, he waited until everyone was gone and locked the front door. Stalking back to the office, he ate her sweet pussy while she sat on the desk, her legs dangling over his shoulders and everything but the computer swept onto the floor in their mad rush. When she slid down onto his cock, straddling him in the chair, he thanked his lucky stars for the full circle his life had swept into thanks in part to his foolish marking of her when they were kids. He could make her his, not only with the pack but also legally, and then they could start their own family and he could be everything that she needed him to be.

Chapter 15

Jason was making Cadence positively twitchy. Granted, she loved the hell out having sex in the office. She’d never look at that chair the same that was for damn sure. But then he had just grinned at her when he said they were having dinner at home, and he drove them in his pickup to her house. No, their house. Yes, that sounded better in her head. Their house. Their life. Their pack. To her surprise, he had completely planned dinner. When he carried a tray of steaks out to the back deck, she had no idea what he was doing until she smelled a grill being lit. “That’s not mine.” she said, leaning out the kitchen door. “I know. I brought it from my old place. Didn’t I tell you to sit down and relax?” She gave him a smirk and went back to sit down. It warred with her to let someone else cook in her kitchen, but she wouldn’t complain. He seemed to have something up his sleeve. His blue eyes promised a good night ahead of them. Already slightly familiar with the layout of the kitchen, he set the table for them and pulled dishes from the fridge that hadn’t been there this morning when she made them breakfast. He ignored her watchful gaze, which made her a little nuts, and went about putting out a nice spread. When the steaks were done, he put them on a platter on the table, poured a glass of wine for her and opened a beer for himself, and lit two candles. Tipping his bottle to her, he said, “Here’s to the best chapter of my life yet.” She clinked his bottle and warmed at the words. He was damn romantic when he wanted to be. He could grill a steak, that’s one glaring truth. And another was that he had an excellent poker face. No matter how many times she phrased a question to him about what he was hiding from her, he deflected like an artist and shifted topics easily until she was telling him about the last few years of high school after he had graduated and then college.

After telling him about how she’d had to go stag to both the junior and senior proms, he looked guilty suddenly and she said, “Did you have something to do with that?” His lush mouth pursed for a moment and she already knew the answer. He said, “Sweet, did you think I’d let anyone have their hands on you for prom of all things? A night synonymous with teen sex and alcohol fueled binges?” “You went to both your junior and senior proms – with dates,” She said indignantly. “That was different.” “How do you figure?” He opened and closed his mouth and then said, “Well, I knew I could trust me not to have sex on prom night. I didn’t know if I could trust the men who had asked you to keep their hands off, and you picked humans of all things, which meant I couldn’t even claim rank on them and make them keep their cocks in their pants.” “So you threatened them?” She’d been asked to her junior prom by two different guys who were both human. One canceled a few weeks in advance citing family problems and the other just didn’t show up. It had been just shy of devastating to her self-esteem, especially once the female wolves found out she’d been stood up. And then for senior prom, even though she’d been out on a few dates, no one even looked at her twice once it was prom season. “That was a while ago.” He was hedging. She hated that. She snorted, “Doesn’t matter. I felt like hell that night. And then no one asked me to senior prom and Callie canceled her date so I’d go. You could have let Michael take me, or Linus.” She pointed out. “They would have kept me company and kept their hands off me.” His eyes flashed at the insinuation, “Never. I would never in a million years have sent another wolf in my place. I felt bad that you were miserable, but I knew if I took you that I would want to have sex with you. Hell Cades, you thought you were confused before – if you and I had slept together when you were in high school, you wouldn’t have known left from right when it came to me and the pack.”

She had to admit he was right. Even the little mixed signals he sent her the past few years were enough to drive her to the edge of sanity. If she’d actually slept with him, tasted his mouth, felt his skin under her hands, well, she’d have been done for. Standing in the clock tower at noon with a shotgun done for. “Come on, sweetheart,” he said when they finished eating. He stood and held out his hand to her. She thought he would take her upstairs. She was more than ready to tumble in the sheets, but he went to the hall closet and took out their coats, helping her on with hers first before pulling on his own. He said, “Trust me, love,” and because she did, she took his hand and zipped her lips. It was dark, but the still bright new moon lit the area with a blue glow. He led her off the back deck and walked towards his parent's home. She wanted to protest and say she wasn’t much in the mood for visiting right now. The weekend had been hard enough, with all the well-wishers and dealing with Jake and Renee. She wanted just Jason right now. But he asked for her trust, and if she started pestering him then that was saying she didn’t trust him, so she dug her tongue into her tooth until she was distracted enough with the numbness that followed to forget why she was trying to keep her mouth shut in the first place. They walked in silence and he shortened his long legged pace to match her short legs. It seemed like an instinctual thing on his part, and she wondered if he was even aware that he was doing it. His parent's home was completely dark, which furthered her confusion. He walked her around the side of the house and stopped just underneath the window. She looked at him and then up at the window. It was where his father had watched him mark her before he flew out of the house and made him go inside while he acted too much like an alpha for her to ignore. She looked back at Jason and he was down on one knee in front of her, and her heart stopped for long enough that she wasn’t sure it would ever start again. “Cadence, I had to bring you back here to the beginning. We’re already mates in truth. In the pack's eyes, you’re my wife. But that’s not good enough for me. It’s not enough for us to be halfway married; I want you in every way possible. Not only with the

pack, but for the part of us that lives in the human world. So where we started as pack mates is where I want to move forward to the next chapter of our life together, where I share my last name with you and make you my legal wife. I love you with every fiber of my heart and soul. The only body I want curled up against mine at night is yours. The only mouth I want on mine is yours. The only heart I cherish, love, it’s yours. Please marry me, Cadence.” She wanted to say something profound and heartfelt but every word she’d ever learned in school went sliding out of her brain. All she could say was an emotional, “Yes, Jas,” before the tears struck and her mouth went salty and she dropped down to the grass while he pushed the ring onto her finger and kissed her. “I love you, sweetheart,” he said into her ear, hugging her against him with a contented sigh. “I love you, too, Jason.” They sat in the darkness on the cool grass for a long time, nothing but the sounds of nature around them. When they walked back to the house, he told her that he’d planned it so his parents were gone for the evening so they weren’t accidentally interrupted. He held the screen door open for her. “You did good, Jas. I wanted romantic and you really delivered.” “You’re worth it, Cades.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed his way down her jaw to her ear. “Sweetheart, I never figured myself for a romantic guy, but I’ll do my best to make you happy.” “Don’t worry, my heart,” she patted his cheek, “if you fuck up, I’ll let you know.” He snorted and swung her up over his shoulder, caveman style. With a firm slap to her ass he started for the stairs, “I wouldn’t have it any other way, baby, and that’s the damn truth.” What woke her up in the morning was the sound of abnormal sounds downstairs. She had lived alone long enough to expect things quiet until she was ready to wake up. Jason wasn’t in bed and so she rolled over, figuring the sounds for him. And then she heard voices other than his, which was unexpected.

She debated getting up and seeing who was in the kitchen and asking why Jason had thought it was a good idea to have people in the house before 8 a.m. after they’d been up very, very late the night before. When she heard his footsteps coming up the stairs, she tried to pretend to be asleep. She felt him stop in front of her next to the bed and she thought she was doing a damn good job feigning sleep when he sighed, “Cades, I know you’re up. Stop fooling around. My family’s downstairs and my mom’s making breakfast for us.” “Can’t hear you, I’m asleep.” She muttered. The alpha in him clearly felt like she was defying him, because he leaned over her and braced his arms on either side and said with a very low voice, “You’re going downstairs either naked or dressed. If I have to get you out of bed myself, you’ll be eating with no clothes on.” Her eyes popped open. There was a split second where she was afraid he meant it and she almost moved to get herself up. And then she realized that parents or not, he would not want her naked in front of any other males, period, so she decided to call his bluff. “You kept me up until at least 4 with all that hot monkey sex. I don’t want to get up. So tell them I’ll be down when I’m down and save me a plate for later.” He clearly wasn't happy. With eyes narrowed, nostrils flared, and lips pursed he had the calculating glare of a man trying to figure out if she was serious or not. His tone changed suddenly, “Hot monkey sex?” She couldn’t help herself and laughed at his surprised grin. Giving a shove to his shoulders, she complained, “You can’t treat me like a wolf all the time. I’m going to disagree with you. I won’t disrespect you in public, but there has to be a place where we can argue and you don’t go all primal on me.” He straightened, looking miffed. “I wasn’t treating you like a wolf.” She sat up on her elbows, “Yes, you were. Instead of treating me like an equal – in the bedroom of all places – you tried to order me around and then threatened me!” Looking chagrined, he sat down on the edge of the bed. “Sorry, sweet. I’m not used to people defying me that are part of the pack. It’s, well, it’s screwing with me a little bit. We are equals, love. I just need some time to work out the kinks. So please,

will you get dressed and come downstairs to have breakfast with my family? They want to congratulate us on our engagement.” She conceded and got up. The man who rarely apologized had been sincere, so she could be gracious. He hovered while she cleaned up like he thought she might go back to bed to prove a point. Since he said she didn’t have time for a shower even though she’d gone to bed sticky and woken up that exact same way, she made due with a washcloth and soap. He said he liked falling asleep after having sex with her because until he took a shower, then he got to smell like the two of them together. That’s all well and good for men, but for women, well, it’s just not pleasant when everything that had been fun the night before starts to leak out. She looked at him surreptitiously, “You wouldn’t have really taken me downstairs naked, would you?” He smirked, “I feel like I need to tell you that I would have, so that next time I ask you to do something that you will right away. But you know I don’t want anyone to see you naked except me.” Ha! She knew it. She hid her triumphant smile by turning into the closet and pulling a sweatshirt over her head and then they went downstairs, hand in hand. Michael, Jason’s parents, and his grandfather Abraham, were sitting around her kitchen table with coffee. Abraham had been alpha before Peter, and his wife was shot and killed by hunters when Peter was a young man, before Jason had been born. Jason said that his grandfather lost the will to lead the pack and that Peter and the elders at the time had been worried that a rival pack might come in and take him out. Along with solidifying the alliance with the Garra Pack, Peter stepped up earlier than he would have liked and let his father step down while he still had his dignity. Jason seemed to think the story was one of a man not being able to handle his responsibility in the face of personal trials; that his grandfather should have put the pack first no matter what was going on in his life. Cadence thought it was much softer than that, though. That Abraham loved his wife so much that he almost went to the grave himself in grief spoke volumes about their life together and the depths of their love. She supposed you couldn't tell an alpha that there were probably going to be times of great loss in their lives at one point or another, and they’d be unable or unwilling to put the pack first. No

matter the mantra of the pack, there had to be instances where the pack didn’t come first, not over family. Michael, Peter, and Abraham kissed her cheek in congratulations and Tina hugged her and lifted her hand with hers to examine the ring. It was truly lovely. He’d done a very good job picking out a stunning but simple round cut solitaire. Apparently his errands yesterday had involved him selling his fix-up car and then buying the ring, along with planning their special meal. The wedding was discussed, and Jason’s idea to get married in Pigeon Forge and spend a week alone was well received. Tina frowned slightly in thought and then said, “Don’t you think the pack would want to be part of the wedding? To watch their alphas get married? You know this is unusual, most alpha pairs are married for several years before they take over leadership.” Implied but not said was the simple truth that if they hadn’t dicked each other around for so long that she’d have already figured out that they were mates and she was alpha and they’d have been married earlier than this. Cadence put down her fork, stuffed to the gills with a breakfast casserole overflowing with several pounds of meat, cheese and eggs. “What if we do the Pigeon Forge thing, but have a party when we get back? I don’t really want to have a big wedding.” All she really wanted was Callie as her maid of honor, Michael as best man, and to be married to Jason at the end of the ceremony. Nothing else was even on the radar of mattering. She may be the only bride-to-be to ever have uttered those words, but it was true. She had everything she wanted now. They could get married on the icy courthouse steps in January and she wouldn’t care, because the only thing that mattered was that Jason was hers and she would get to keep him. Forever. It sounded like everyone thought that was a good idea, and later, when Jason was apologizing with his cock for being bossy earlier, she asked him if they really liked the party idea or if they just said they did because she was alpha. He lifted up from her neck where he’d been trying to suck her spine out through her skin, “Does it matter?” “Kind of.”

He rolled his eyes at her and it made her smile. He picked up her bad habit. “Sweet, you may never know for sure if the pack goes along with you because of your position or because they really like your ideas. Some of them, like Callie, will tell you the truth because they trust you not to go berserk if you’re disagreed with. But for the majority of the pack, they would walk off a cliff if you suggested it, because they’d know that either way they were going to end up splattered on the rocks below.” That was like the least sexy thing she’d ever heard anyone say and she stared gape-mouthed at him and then just laughed. It was an absurd mental picture. Wolves like lemmings and her cracking a whip at the cliff’s edge. They spent their after-engagement day in bed, which was one of her very favorite places to be, and then their weekend was split between planning to leave town on December 10 and making arrangements for the reception once they were back home on the 18th. This first Christmas was important, because the pack hadn’t celebrated Christmas together since Jason took over, and Christmas Eve happened to be the night of the full moon, too. Her silly mind wondered what would happen if Santa was a werewolf. She could picture it, how he’d be fine until the moon rose, and then he’d be driving the sleigh with his paws. The reindeer would probably spook, at least those he hadn’t eaten, and the little kids that waited up for him would be very, very shocked.

Chapter 16

“Jas, do you think that Renee hates me?” Cadence asked him the next week, swiveling in the chair behind the desk and tapping a pencil against the blotter. Jason straightened in surprise. They had been discussing the schedule for the shop while they were on their honeymoon and she’d just switched gears suddenly. “Why would you think that?” She shifted and her eyes were glossy with pain. “They lost their son because of me. The pack lost its next alpha.” He stood up and went to her, gathering her in his arms and settling back down in the chair with her tucked against his chest. He had been waiting for her to let him know the reason for her guilty feelings. He could tell she was burdened in some ways by what had happened to her tormentor and his cronies. He would have rather she was able to forget about the nightmare entirely, but that wasn’t reality. “You didn’t do anything wrong, baby, I swear. He was unstable. He didn’t just flip a switch and go crazy because you picked me; he was clearly like that all along and just very good at keeping the depths of his depravity under wraps.” “I feel like a fool for trusting him.” “He had us all fooled. But you don’t hold any fault. You responded to him because he was showing you a tender part of himself. If you’d given in, Cades, if you’d chosen him instead of me, you may still have endured the same scenario. Jake wasn’t planning to step down for him anytime soon and he may have simply taken off with you and done the same thing anyway.” “I couldn’t pick him anyway, Jas, my heart was already yours.” She sighed deeply and snuggled into him and he tightened his hold on hers. There were a lot of regrets he had at the situation, but as long as his sweetheart was in his arms, then from his point of view all the pain and misery were worth it.

“You can talk to them, sweet, I’ll take you over if you’d like. They don’t hold you responsible. You were a victim, plain and simple.” “I’d like to see them, before they’re gone.” He promised, kissing her forehead and letting her have as much quiet as she needed. That night, he took her over to Jake and Renee’s. Renee had locked herself in the bedroom when they arrived and Jake looked sadly up the stairs. “I’m sorry, Cadence. She’s a wreck right now, packing up the things from his childhood. She’s afraid to see you. She’ll be okay eventually, but it’s still really fresh for her.” Her head dropped and he saw the tear that fell to the floor. He tucked her closer against him while Jake said, “No, Cadence, no, it’s not your fault. Renee and I don’t hold you responsible in any form!” Jake knelt down so that she was looking down at him. The truth was on his face, if Cades only trusted it. Her voice cracked, “I’m just so sorry, Jake.” “I’m sorry, too. You give Renee some time, sweet girl; let her grieve for our son. She doesn’t want to see anyone right now. You have always been like a daughter to her, to both of us, and she’s laden with guilt right now for all the things she missed. I’m sorry, Cadence, for all you suffered.” Jason took her home shortly afterwards and she curled up against him on the couch lost in her own thoughts. Several days later, Renee showed up at the garage and hugged Cades and told her that she was sorry and would miss her dearly. Cades told him later that she felt like Jake had pushed her to come to the garage knowing how upset she was, and it was probably true. Jake wouldn’t want Cades to suffer and she would if she thought for even a second longer that Renee held her responsible in any form. She was satisfied, though, relieved in some small way that Renee wanted to let it go. If Cades thought that Renee would hate her for the rest of her life, it would eat away at her. At least this way, she had the bit of relief she needed so she could begin to heal herself. The following week, he sat in the living room from a vantage point where he could watch Gray and Cadence discussing the restaurant. He liked Gray. He trusted him. Except with Cadence. He must have growled a dozen times in the first half hour, because Gray leaned too close to her, or touched a paper at the same time, or looked

at her too long. His wolf was in knots because Gray was a single, unmated male. Sure he was old enough to be her father, but his wolf didn’t care. You just couldn’t reason with a beast. The Garra Pack was taking off in four days. Moving vans were parked in front of homes on the side of town where Jake’s pack lived, and the two businesses were slowly shutting down. For the restaurant, stable food that could be stored safely for several months was kept in a locked storage room in the kitchen of the restaurant and everything else had been distributed to the pack members and anything remaining was given to an orphanage in Falls Creek, an hour south. This was their last meeting together. Before, they met in the restaurant and Jason sat through the powerfully boring meetings in the booth, right next to her so that he felt like he was keeping her safe. The November full moon had really screwed with his head and it was spilling out into his day-to-day life. He shifted and then walked Cadence back to the house, but didn’t go out to hunt. She had argued with him, which was kind of funny because he couldn’t actually talk to her so she appeared to be mostly just arguing with herself. He tried to explain that after what happened in October, he couldn’t bring himself to leave her yet. And it wasn’t just his human side that was reliving that night then, it was his wolf, too. He and his beast were of one accord that night – their woman had to be kept safe, and the only way to ensure that was to stay right there with her. He reasoned he would feel better once the Garra Pack was gone, but the truth was that since he’d almost lost her twice, he wasn’t sure he’d ever get over that feeling that he was the only one that could keep her safe. He heard them finishing up and he went into the kitchen. Cadence gave him a smirk combined with a raised brow but said nothing as she closed the portfolio with all the paperwork and notes so that the restaurant could be reopened whenever someone with enough skill to run it could do so. In the meanwhile, she would handle the books and make sure any residual bills were kept up to date. He shook Gray’s hand and wished him well on their journey south to find a new home and when the front door was shut, he turned on a growl and stalked to Cadence. He jerked her over his shoulder, the fastest way to carry her upstairs he’d found, and

she didn’t fight this time, not even in jest. She knew he was having a hard time right now and she was going to let him do whatever he needed to, to claim her again for his wolf, to prove that she was okay and right there with him. He dumped her on the bed and she bounced once. He stripped, need making his fingers tremble, and then he was on top of her, biting and licking her neck. She had tensed at the impact but then relaxed immediately, dropping her hands to the side and turning her head so he could have full access to her flesh. He let his fangs come out and he sank the tips into her neck and she moaned, writhing under him because she was just that turned on by his primal, alpha behavior. He was glad she wasn’t asking questions, because right now he couldn’t think far enough in advance to speak anyway. He extracted his fangs and licked the tiny blood droplets that seeped from the wounds and then he sat up, straddling her waist. His claws pushed from his hands and he turned the curved ends and sliced through the front of her shirt, catching the lace bra at the same time and baring her from neck to waist. With another careful stroke of each hand, the shirt was in shreds and on the floor. The jeans and panties fell next with the thick ripping sound of claws on fabric and his own growls that bubbled possessively in his chest. His overwhelming need to mark her again and again and fuck her so hard she wouldn’t be able to walk right for days roared to the surface and he gave himself over to the urges. She would tell him if he hurt her; he trusted her to do that much. He took one moment to gaze down at her luscious body laid out for him; the swell of her breasts, the flare of her hips, the delicate arch of her neck. And deeper than that, the excited thrum of her heart, the rush of blood in her veins, and the soft pants of anticipation from her parted mouth. He picked up her wrist and licked across the flesh slowly and then bit down, and she sucked in a fast breath and wriggled under him. He drew blood on both wrists, just enough to put small, permanent marks on her, and then he slid down her body and shoved her legs apart. Her pussy glistened with her arousal; the deep pink of her sweet center was like peering into the gates of heaven. Licking up the inside of one thigh, he caught a taste

of her honey and his body was ready to take her, but first, his wolf needed to mark this place as his, too. He grazed the inside of her thigh with his fangs and she moaned her approval, either at his teeth or the fingers he began pounding into her. Licking and teasing with his fangs, he listened intently for her breath to catch just before she leapt over the edge of orgasm, and a heartbeat before she did and her body creamed for him, he sank his fangs into her thigh and she screamed, “SHIT! Jason!” He growled into the meat of her thigh before moving to her other thigh and biting hard. Still fingering her through her powerful climax, she whipped her head back and forth frantically and twisted the sheet in her hands and he eased up on his assault on her drenched pussy, carrying her down from orbit to earth. He rolled her to her belly and hefted her up onto all fours before shoving her head down and kneeing her legs apart. His control of his beast slipped further and he slammed into her body and she cried out and it slid into a low moan and growl as his claws dug into her hips and he thrust into her molten core as fast and hard as he could. Completely at his mercy, she took everything he had as his thrusts forced only panting breaths and quiet cries of submission from her lips. Her sweet honey dripped down her thighs and the scent of her at her purest, most feminine self branded his senses. Gone to his beast completely, he felt his claws break through her skin and tear and she reached a plateau of climax that made her pussy clamp down on his cock like a vise. He barely heard the sound of tearing fabric as he came, and he shoved her away from him just a split second before he lost control entirely and shifted. He shook himself out and sat down on his haunches and looked at her as she rolled to her back with a sob, the sheet she’d been gripping lay in tattered pieces. Even as he was aware he’d never lost such complete control before, this was an extremely close call. Her hips were bleeding, four slashes on one side and three on the other and the marks on the inside of her thighs had been rubbed raw and were already bruising. He was too weak to shift back to his human form, but her soft crying broke his heart and he nuzzled her chin and licked her jaw. Her eyes were vivid with tears and pain and he considered trying to force himself to shift right now, but chances were he’d simply tire

himself out in the process and then it would be even longer before he was strong enough to shift. He made a whimpering noise and lay down on his belly, hoping she knew he was sorry that he’d hurt her. He wanted to comfort her, to tend her wounds and say he was sorry a thousand times over, and he cursed his lack of control. He’d been so consumed with possession, so turned over to his beast that he couldn’t help himself and then it dawned on him. He’d not felt right since the full moon, since he hadn’t hunted because he’d been so worried about her being safe in the house. Growling internally, he cursed himself again because he’d been so careless. He should have been more aware that the shifting and hunting helped Weres keep their beasts in check. He’d basically lessened his ability to take care of her. No wonder he was acting so tied up in knots about Gray. Shifting alone wasn’t enough. He moved to run his tongue across the marks on her hip and she winced and jerked. “No, Jas, that makes it worse.” Her voice was a bare whisper. Had she screamed herself hoarse? Had she begged him to stop? He couldn’t remember and now he felt even worse. Groaning with effort, she rolled onto her side and put her arm around his neck and her eyes shuttered as she drifted down into sleep, making those quiet crying sounds when the tears were gone but the reason for them isn’t. He should have rested but he couldn’t bring himself to sleep when she was making little pain noises every time she moved, so he paid careful attention to his body until he was strong enough to shift to human form, and then he cleaned and bandaged her wounds. It bothered him that she didn’t want him to lick her wounds, that was a totally wolf thing to do, but he could understand that unlike the mating marks, the claw marks were jagged and deeper. To deny him something she knew he wanted to do meant she was hurting more than he realized. And like the mating marks these would be permanent which meant they were healing unfortunately slow. Her beautiful body was marred now, and while the beast in him appreciated the marks for what they stood for, the man in him was horrified that he’d hurt her in the throes of passion. He only ever wanted her to know pleasure and safety in his arms and he’d just blown everything all to hell.

“I don’t fucking deserve you, sweetheart,” he whispered, tucking a strand of her hair around her ear. Somehow, he would make this night up to her. He slept soundly enough that he didn’t hear her get up. Or take a bath. What he did wake up in time for was to see her limping from the bathroom to the closet and catch a glimpse of the marks. She’d taken off the bandages, and the claw marks were surrounded by bruises as they healed. He’d like to rip his claws out! “Are you rested enough, Jas?” She asked from the closet. “What?” He sat up. She came out of the closet pulling a long sleeved plain tee over her head. “I asked if you got enough rest. I tried to be quiet when I got up.” “You’re not seriously worried about me, Cadence, are you?” She rummaged in one of the smaller dresser drawers before pulling on a pair of what she called boy-short panties and these were black and white checked with red hearts. Giving him a smile, she limped over to the bed and climbed up next to him. “Of course I’m worried about you. You’ve been all tied up in knots the last week or so, and we were really fucking hard earlier, and you shifted and I know that takes a lot out of you. I just want to make sure you’re okay.” He couldn’t even respond. She was limping because he’d kept his promise to himself to fuck her so hard she couldn’t walk right. Not to mention the bruising and the clear fact that she couldn’t wear clothes because of the marks. He wanted to tear his own throat out. She looked at him expectantly for several moments and he managed to finally say, “I’m good, sweetheart, thanks.” “I’m starving. Eggs okay?” He lurched for her as she tried to get off the bed. She laughed and shoved at his arms as he pulled her back towards the pillows. “No offense, but I’m a little sore. Maybe later?” Holy hell would she actually let him do anything to her so soon? Did she think he was a total barbarian? She was too agreeable for her own good. “Sweetheart, I just want you to rest and I’ll take care of breakfast.”

She arched her brow as if he was joking, but he was most definitely not. Folding her hands across her stomach, he kissed her temple and made her promise to rest and he jerked his jeans on and jogged downstairs. Not a man that cooks so much as grills, he was fairly lost in the kitchen. But he could make toast and he could try not to dry out the eggs. Fifteen minutes later, he had a passable pile of scrambled eggs on a plate along with three of the eight slices of bread he’d toasted, the least blackened of all of them, and a cup of coffee. “What are the ice packs for?” She asked as she accepted the coffee first and spied them under his arm. Resting the plate on the bed, he lifted up the sheet and put the two ice packs that had come home with her from the hospital across the worst of the bruises, which between the claw marks and the fang marks, was a draw. “It’ll help with the bruising, love.” She cocked her head to the side. “You’re adorable, you know that?” He said the only thing he could think to say then without sounding like a total jackass. “Just because of you, Cades.” He spent the day trying very hard to pamper her, even though he was totally out of his element with that. She eventually snapped at him for hovering, but he couldn’t help himself. The night before his wolf had been clamoring in his skull to mark her so that no one would ever doubt she was single again, and now, his wolf was whining to hold her and touch her. “Where are you?” Michael snapped his fingers in front of his face a few times Monday morning and Jason blinked. “What?” He leaned heavily on the front counter. “I asked you if you had a chance to order the parts for the Collins job. And then I asked you where you are. You’ve been staring into nothing for like ten minutes.” He lowered his voice slightly, “I marked Cades this weekend.” “What, again?” “No, I,” he flushed with embarrassment, “my claws came out and I gouged her hips and I bit her like four times to mark her. I barely got away from her before I shifted.

I could have really hurt her.” She was still limping and sore, so he'd left the house while she was in the shower, taking her car keys with him. When she'd called his cell, he told her to stay home for the day and feigned a business call to get off the phone from her. She hadn't been happy when he hung up. Michael’s curious look shifted to anger. “Is that why she’s not here today? I told you that you shouldn’t have skipped hunting. It was foolish, J.” Michael’s sudden disrespectful tone made Jason’s wolf bristle. “Watch it, Michael.” Michael’s normally jovial good-time behavior morphed into anger as rapidly as turning a faucet from cold to hot. “Hey, she’s our alpha, you fuck. You could have shredded her with your claws! You’re supposed to be better than that.” He made a fist and planned to shove Michael’s teeth into his brain, but he knew he was right. He was supposed to be better than that. Relaxing some, at least enough to let go of the fist, he put his head in his hands, “The worst part is she thinks it was normal. That it was some kind of extra mating marks or something. I mean I could have pulled her hip out of socket or caught an artery with my fangs. I just, I didn’t put two and two together until I shifted and then I realized the mistake I’d made.” “She actually thinks that wolves claw each other up when they have sex?” “Yeah. She trusts me not to hurt her and I did.” “Well, I’m not exactly an expert on women, but I do know Cadence. If you tell her now, that you fucked up and what you’re going to do to make sure it never happens again, then she’ll forgive you. But if you let it go, what happens next summer when we’re hanging out at the lake and Callie catches a glimpse of those marks and tells her it’s not normal unless the male is over-the-top possessive? She’ll skin you alive.” “I didn’t hunt because I was afraid to lose her again. I can’t get it out of my head.” “Then next full moon, and however many more after that, we’ll hunt in shifts. You know the females would stay around her, they accept this part of her because of how strong she is. You need to hunt, man. What if she was pregnant? You can’t manhandle a half-human like that, man. Even for a full female wolf it would be close to the edge. Think it through.”

“You’re right.” That thought had not even crossed his mind and now it compounded his guilt. “Keep it between us, Michael.” He shrugged, “Keep what between us?” That’s why he hadn’t killed his brother over the years. Because no matter the trouble he caused or the way he grinned when he was causing it, he was a true and loyal friend and would march right against the gates of hell to help someone that he loved. Later that night, when they ate the take-out he’d brought home and she made him swear he wasn’t going to take her keys and strand her at the house again, he told her everything. All too quiet, she looked at him for several minutes and then she finally said, “It was the closest I ever felt to being a real wolf.” She shrugged. “I knew you were rough, I knew you marked me because something else was going on. I am yours, Jas. Scars or not. You can’t deny yourself because you’re worried about me. I’m not made of glass.” “I could have really hurt you. More than I did.” “But you didn’t.” “Cades,” she stopped him with a finger on his lips. “You. Didn’t. Let it go, Jas. I have.” She kissed him, softly, the way that she did when she seemed to still wonder if it was all real between them. He imagined that her first kiss had been something like that, nervous and careful. He took her to bed, but only to hold, and she needed him that way, and he needed her, too. She asked him to put it behind them, so he did. In the end, he was once more grateful that his sweetheart was forgiving of his many, many faults. She cried when Jake left. It was part of the reason that he had them meet privately together instead of in front of the packs. She’d make herself sick trying not to cry in front of the others and after everything else she’d been through, he could do this for her. Renee gave her a box of things that had been family heirlooms, jewelry and trinkets, and Cadence clutched the box like she could stop herself from crying if the corners bit into her skin hard enough to distract her from the emotional pain. A caravan

of moving trucks and vehicles left Allen, Kentucky for parts south. The town he’d grown up in was changing drastically. He just wasn’t sure what to make of the town now, and being alpha meant it was very much up to him. The following week they picked out wedding bands and she insisted on getting a plain white gold band just slightly smaller than the one he decided on, even though he was more than willing to get her one of the flashier ones. He was pretty sure it didn’t have anything to do with the cost of the other ones, but just that she liked the plain band and that was what she wanted. The next weekend, she went shopping with his mother and Callie for a dress and whatever the hell else women need for the honeymoon. He made sure she knew that he expected there to be a great deal of nudity in the cozy two-bedroom cabin that they were renting. It was nestled in the woods and had a hot tub on the back deck, and his biggest desire was to make up for everything she’d endured for the last couple of months, not to mention all the shit she’d put up with from him over the years. In the winter, there was not much to do in Pigeon Forge, most of the big attractions were closed for the season, and he didn’t care. Although they were planning to go out to dinner occasionally and drive up the mountain and over into Cherokee, North Carolina, all he really wanted was an uninterrupted week with his sweetheart so they could get to know each other better. He and a handful of wolves packed up his trailer and moved everything into Cadence’s house while she was shopping. The parents of two younger wolves who had graduated school this past year bought the trailer from him for nearly what he paid for it. While he would have taken much less just to have it off his hands, he didn’t try to haggle them down. He’s not an idiot, after all. He heard laughing and he found Michael and Linus getting ready to hang up one of his beer-girl pictures. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Michael grinned, “Sprucing up the dining room.” “She will part your head from your body, man,” he cautioned. Michael angled the picture towards him to show the picture he was going to hang up. “Except for the color of the hair, this girl looks like Cades.”

That was why he’d gotten it. A poor substitution in any case. “Michael, you can’t.” “Afraid she’ll ask if you used to play your pipe to it?” His face heated. “No.” Michael grinned further, “Aw, worried she’d beat up your little bro?” “No, I’m worried that you’ll be long gone by the time she gets home and then I’ll have to deal with the fallout.” He laughed, but it was true. Plus, it was disrespectful. And Cadence would definitely hand him his ass if Michael put an unnecessary hole in the wall and hung a picture of a half naked woman on it. “Fine, I’ll take it off your hands then.” There was something about the way that Michael looked at it that made the hackles on Jason’s neck stand up. He crossed the room and yanked it from his hand. “No way. Now go finish unloading the truck.” “Aye, Captain,” Michael saluted in an idiotic way and jogged out of the house with Linus. The house was small but perfect, and he was glad she’d gotten him to agree to paint it ahead of time. He switched out her old television for his flat screen and stereo system. How she could stand to have no HD and no stereo was beyond him, but she was going to get a fast lesson in how much better movies were if they were loud with a crystal clear picture. Bo was their resident electronics guru and he spent several hours hooking up the surround sound while Jason unpacked his clothes. Upstairs, she’d moved everything except what she referred to as her “winter things” from the master closet into another bedroom, so he had room to hang up his own things. He was looking down at the shoes in the master closet. Delicate, small dress shoes, tennis shoes, and those suede fuck-me boots that he loved, and his own work boots and motorcycle boots placed next to them. He thought it was a good picture for the two of them. Not one to wax poetic, he saw a strong and beautiful woman who had opened her life to an overpowering brute of a man and given him access to every part of herself without reservation. They were opposite as much as they were similar, but they were made perfect for each other. And soon, she would be his forever in every single way. If there really was a wolf heaven, he’s in it right now.

Chapter 17

Jason wanted to celebrate their first night officially living together, and as they tumbled into bed he produced the mating strap. Handing it to her, he scooted down the bed and reached up, grasping two of the bars on the headboard with his hands. She looked at the long length of leather and at him and as she looped one end around one wrist she thought that he was doing this to let her make him as helpless as he believed he’d made her that one night when he felt like he’d gone overboard. She loved the hell out of her marks, though, even though it had hurt at the time and for a while afterwards. They were sensitive now, especially the ones on her hips. When he played his fingers or tongue across them it was like an electric tickle that shivered up and down her body. When he was secure, she sat back on her heels to inspect her work and smiled when he instinctively tugged on the bindings. They were very secure, and the headboard was wrought iron. He could bend it, maybe, but he couldn’t break it. “Just one thing, sweet,” he said with a dark, husky voice. She hummed in her throat and rubbed a finger around his dusky nipple. “Would you park on my face for about an hour?” Oh hell yes! ******* She had a case of nerves as she walked down the aisle of the Love Chapel in Pigeon Forge. The wedding had come upon her so fast that it was like she went to bed the night of the full moon in November and woke up this morning sharing a hotel room with Callie. Jason’s father had offered to walk her down the aisle and as she held onto his arm and walked the short aisle in the quaint chapel, she wondered if her father were

alive, if he would have even attended, let alone given her away. If things had been different, she would have asked Jake to stand with her on such a special day. And Renee, too. She’d had a big void in her heart that Jason and the pack had more than filled. She was nervous because she was always afraid at these sorts of incredible times that she was dreaming. That she would wake up suddenly and be alone in her bed in the house and none of the things that had passed had actually happened. But it was real. She had pinched herself a half dozen times earlier, just to be sure, and Callie had even offered her pinching services. As her maid of honor, she walked down with Michael, and the only other people in the chapel were Jason’s mom and his grandfather Abraham. She had picked a simple short sleeved white satin dress with some beading on the bodice that counted for her “new” item. Instead of a veil, she used Tina’s pearl hair combs which also doubled as her “borrowed”. Her mother's sapphire bracelet doubled as both her “old” and “blue”, and it helped her feel connected to the woman she'd never known. Wolves didn’t have any special traditions related to the human marriage, but she did pack their mating strap so that Jason could take his turn tying her up. That had been one damn hot night and he had marks on his wrists for days afterwards. Her nerves ratcheted up another notch as Peter announced that he was giving her to Jason, and Jason’s blue eyes simmered as he took her hand and drew her close. Not a dream. Not a dream. The vows left her brain as soon as she said them. The people with them were just blurs in the periphery of her vision. The only thing that mattered in the universe was the man next to her, and when he drew her into his arms for their first kiss, she swore the world stopped turning for a heartbeat. Everything clicked into place for her at that moment. She and Jason were married. She was now Mrs. Cadence Gerrick and he was her husband. She wouldn’t be alone again, and hadn’t ever really been in the first place. Their reception was just dinner in the hotel restaurant where their guests were staying, and since it was their off-season and they were deserted, the staff pushed the

tables from the center of the room and turned the stereo system up so they could all dance. Michael and Callie covered Jason’s truck in what she thought were balloons, but upon closer inspection were blown up condoms. Callie had clearly tried to soften the glaring display with flowers but Michael’s personality was all over the decorating. It started to snow that night, and by the time they checked in and drove up the hillside to their secluded cabin, the ground was well on its way to being covered. When they woke up the next day, the world looked fresh and new, just like the start of their life together. Jason got his request of plenty of nudity over their weeklong honeymoon, and by the time they checked out, there wasn’t a surface in the cabin that they hadn’t made love on in one way or another. And in between all of their lovemaking, they talked and became best friends again. Two parts of a whole. Two sides of the same coin. Husband and wife. The official Tressel pack reception was held in the bar with the whole deal – cake, dancing, throwing of garter and a fresh bouquet and plenty of liquor and good food. Seated in the usual booth, Jason kissed behind her ear. “Are you happy, Mrs. Gerrick?” “I am. You?” “I just married my best girl. I couldn’t be happier.” And she couldn’t have been happier, either. ******* Christmas Eve began with a large tree lighting ceremony in the center of town and the pack gathered for a large family style dinner before the full moon hunt. She and Jason stood together in front of the large bonfire with their pack, the first time that it was only their pack and not the two packs together. The mood was solemn, marking the start of a new time in Allen and with their people.

She had been feeling out of sorts all day. The month had passed by so quickly that it seemed like the full moon had a mind of its own and snuck up on her. She and Jason had spent the day in bed but she’d still been wired for sound. Looking up at the sky, she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath as the sound of clothes hit the ground and the wolves all raised their muzzles to howl and she was drowning in the familiar and sweet fall scent of wolves. Jason nudged her leg with his muzzle and she looked down at him and felt twin pains in her upper gums. “Ouch,” she grumbled, touching the place in her mouth where her gums ached and gasped in surprise at the taste of blood. Tender to the touch, she followed her swollen gums down to where her canines had elongated into sharp points. “Jas?” Her voice came out trembling and she opened her mouth and pointed to what felt like thicker, longer teeth. He made a questioning sound in his throat and he and the wolves nearby looked for all the world like they were confused. Hell, she was confused! She wanted to see a mirror so she could be sure she hadn’t imagined they were longer than normal. Her voice was less trembling and more in control when she gave a gentle shove to Jason’s head and said, “Go hunt and then come home. I’ll be fine.” She turned to walk away and a tug stopped her. Jason had snagged the back of her jeans leg behind one knee in his teeth and pulled her to a stop. Anger rode over the tickling fear as she growled and flashed what she hoped were at least mildly intimidating fangs at him, “If you rip my jeans I’m going to be so pissed off that you won’t be able to hear right for a week when I’m done yelling at you. Go hunt. I don’t want you to freak out on me again. My body can’t take it.” She knew he would be upset at the jab, but she was starting to freak out a little at this new development and she wanted to be in the relative privacy of the house. Immediately he released the fabric and after growling a command at the females around her who had already agreed to stay with her at the house, he darted off with three wolves: Michael, Linus, and Bo. She watched Jason until his form was lost to the darkness and turned towards the house, Callie on her right, Tina on her left, two females ahead of them, and another bringing up the rear. She turned on the light in the small downstairs half bath and lifted

up her top lip with her fingertips that were shaking now. There in brilliant white were tiny white fangs, delicately pointed like little shiny daggers. As she thought, they were thicker and longer than her normal teeth, very clearly…fangs. Callie made a sad sort of whimpering sound in her throat from where she sat on her haunches in the doorway. She glanced at her best friend. “I don’t know, Cal. I felt weird all day and then they just popped down. Hurt like a bitch, too.” Her gums twinged a little still, but not so bad she couldn’t ignore it and she walked out into the front room and sat down on the couch, waiting for Jason to finish hunting and come back. Callie and Tina sat in the room with her but since they couldn’t talk it was rather like having two large dogs staring at her with humanly intelligent looking eyes, and she felt even more on display than she had in front of the bonfire. The hours trickled past but finally she heard a warning bark that alerted the females around the house that the alpha was on his way home, and she stood up and walked to the back door. Jason leapt onto the back porch and shifted as she held open the door for him. In the laundry room, he tugged his jeans on and hugged her, pulling her into the extra warmth of his just shifted body. The females that had stayed with her left to go hunt. In the kitchen, Jason looked down at her and held her lip up to expose her little fangs so he could see them, along with Peter, Michael and Lon. She couldn’t help but flush with embarrassment at being exposed, even though it was only her teeth they were looking at. It just felt very intimate. Peter scrubbed his hands through his dark blonde hair and sighed, sitting down at the kitchen table. “Do you have any other odd feelings, Cadence?” “Like what?” “Like needing to hunt, wanting to taste fresh blood, or feeling like going for a long run?” She shook her head. Jason dropped her lip and pulled her hands up so he could inspect them. He squeezed each finger between his finger and thumb, exerting enough pressure that after four fingers she jerked her hand away and said, “What are you doing?” “If your fingers are sore it may be claws. I’m just checking, let me finish.”

She let him pinch her fingers and thumbs and then massage his grip down the palms of both hands, twisting her wrists around so her palms were up as he caressed just shy of painfully hard down the length of her arms and up to her shoulders. It felt incredibly good and she sighed and closed her eyes. With a laugh, he said softly, “That’s fucking hot as hell, baby.” Her eyes popped open and he grinned. “None of your joints hurt?” “Nope.” He dropped his hands to his hips and looked at his dad and the elder who had come back after their hunt. “I don’t know, Jason. As far as I know, your mate is the only hybrid werewolf in existence. She is wholly unique,” Lon said. “But why fangs? Why now?” Jason asked. “I don’t know. I wish I could tell you something to alleviate your concerns but I have nothing over pure speculation.” “Such as?” Michael asked. “Such as, it would be highly unlikely for a human to turn into a werewolf so late in life. Fangs are one thing because the canine teeth already exist in the human mouth so it’s not necessarily an exaggeration for them to elongate as ours do. But the ability to shift is something that is born into our DNA. If she were ever able to shift into a full wolf, she would have done so at 16 like the others. “She is faster than a human, stronger, too, but other than that, she doesn’t have our hearing or scenting abilities. This may be a fluke occurrence or she may sprout fangs every full moon because her beast is more in tune with the pack than it has ever been before. Perhaps this is just one more way for her beast, even as partial as it is, to connect with the pack that she’s accepted as her own.” Lon leaned back in the chair and looked at Jason and her with his silvery gray eyes. “What if they don’t go away?” She asked. “We have no reason to believe they won’t.” Lon answered. Well, it wasn’t their mouth, was it? That’s just fucking great. What if she walked around for the rest of her life with fangs? She needed to think about something else before her head exploded, and her husband, her sweet wolf mate, sensed her tightrope

walk with her emotions, thanked his dad, Michael and Lon for their help, and promised to let them know how she was in the morning. As he hefted her over his shoulder in what was clearly one of his favorite ways to haul her upstairs, she stared down at the view of his incredible ass and pondered her fangs. He dropped her to the bed abruptly and walked into the bathroom. She heard the water running in the sink and realized he was brushing his teeth. She was tempted to join him to look at her fangs some more, but she didn’t think she could really do that without having an utter meltdown and if she did that, then the heat in Jason’s eyes would disappear and be replaced with pity and concern. There wasn’t a look that killed a libido much more than pity. “Why are you still wearing clothes?” He demanded, walking out of the bathroom and stalking towards her in all his nude glory. She didn’t have an answer for him. If she said she was thinking about her fangs, well, she’d already reasoned out that scenario so she instead said, “I was just waiting for my husband.” A happy grunting reply was all he could seem to manage as he stripped her hurriedly and climbed on top of her. Spreading her thighs with his knees and her arms out to the side with his hands on her wrists, he nuzzled under her chin and sucked open mouthed kisses down the column of her throat, hard enough to twist her gut into a tight ball of need and bring every nerve ending to life. He slid into her with one hard thrust that made her teeth crack together with the force of it, and he pounded into her as he held himself just slightly away from her so that she could watch his cock saw in and out of her body. Bracing on her wrists, he drove them with determined, bold thrusts until they both crashed into climax, and her need to mark him rose like a tidal wave. She had fangs now. She could use them. She wanted to. She needed to. Panting, dewy sweat lighting his features, he kissed her gently and then licked once across her bottom lip. Parroting her own words to him, he growled, “Mark me, Cades, make me yours in truth.” He slid over, rolling to his side, and she pressed him forward slightly by the shoulder and lifted the curl of his dark blonde hair up from his neck to reveal the bare

skin. She licked the sweat from his neck and he shivered at the action. She had only the top fangs, so it wouldn’t look entirely normal for a wolf marking, but she was going to take what he offered willingly and bite the hell out of him. Anxious to sink her fangs into his flesh, she hugged her leg across his hip and her arm across his chest, and lowered her mouth to cover his spine. She dug her fangs in until they broke through the skin, slicing easily into his flesh like the sharp knives they appeared to be. He let out a quick breath that ended on a moan and she felt his cock grow hard against her ankle that was draped over him. She tasted his blood, a delicious hot and salty metallic taste as she pulled her fangs out and licked the two puncture wounds. She kissed each mark and lifted up so that he could roll onto his back as she straddled him. Leaning forward, she kissed him carefully, letting him caress the edges of her fangs with his tongue as he hummed a wolfy purr of pleasure. He guided himself into the wet, hot depths of her core and they spent the night locked together, two marked alphas. When she finally woke in the morning, her fangs had receded at some point while she slept. She was thankful that they were gone but worried what it meant that she actually had no control over their coming and going. Jason said he didn’t care if they came back and stayed permanently because he thought they were hot. They passed into the new year without much fanfare. They had a party that went all night with lots of toasting and Jason not letting her kiss anyone at midnight that wasn’t mated. She had big hopes for the first year of their marriage and of her place as alpha of the pack. She wanted to make him proud, to behave the way he needed and expected and to be the softer balance of his rough nature. Even though she couldn’t shift, she felt like a werewolf and she was treated that way. Her fangs returned on the January full moon and disappeared by the next morning. At Jason’s urging, she explored the area around the bonfire the night of the full moon with the female wolves and tried out the main senses that the wolves had over humans: speed, strength, scent, sight, and taste. Everything was slightly more pronounced for her on the full moon. Already she was faster and stronger than a typical

human female, but on the full moon she could smell better. She could pick out Jason’s location if he was within a few hundred feet of her, even in the darkness, and he tested her in February by having her track him. Although a few guards followed her closely, they offered no help. She succeeded brilliantly. Her sight didn’t get better and her sense of taste was no different, but she did experience food cravings on the full moon that trended more towards red meat of the rare variety. The alterations to her body once she’d become alpha and her she-wolf had blossomed, made her wonder what their children would be like. If she was part human, they may be human. It was the most likely scenario. But hopefully because she was unique, their children would be unique as well and in her eyes they’d be perfect. She was human and werewolf, one foot in two vastly different worlds. She could have gone human. She could have shuttered away what made her the person she was, but she would have been lying to herself and anyone she was with. She’d been an outcast and a leader, a vixen and a wall flower. She’d walked the edge of death, been threatened and beaten for friendship and love. She’d stood before a pack of wolves as their leader. She suffered grief and heartache and love at its most pure form. And she stood securely in the arms of the man that she loved more than her next breath and waited for their future to unfold. The End

From the Author: Thank you so much for purchasing The Wolf’s Mate: Jason and Cadence. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed bringing the Tressel Pack to life. Check out my blog for news and updates about the future books in the series at http://www.rebutler.wordpress.com or drop me a line at [email protected], too! All the best, R.E. ***** *Also by R.E. Butler*

A Curve of Claw A Flash of Fang Read on for an excerpt from the next book in The Wolf’s Mate series, The Wolf’s Mate Book 2: Linus & The Angel by R.E. Butler Linus Mayfield had a lot of good things in his life: fourth ranked in the Tressel wolf pack, nice house, decent job, and plenty of friends. What he didn’t have was what he longed for most – a true mate. His first foray into marriage was a disaster and he thought he would never be free to love again. One icy winter night, he found the nearly frozen body of a woman in the snow and brought her back from the brink of death. Then he wanted to keep her forever. Will his past destroy his growing love for her? Will her secrets keep them from being together? You can't have a Wolf's Mate story without claws and fangs, possessive wolves, and plenty of hot werewolf mate sex. What happens when legend meets reality? Find out in the second novel in The Wolf's Mate Series by R.E. Butler. ***** The Wolf’s Mate Book 2: Linus & The Angel By: R. E. Butler

Linus was woken from sleep by the buzz of his cell as it danced across the nightstand next to his bed and sounded like an out of control woodpecker. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and picked up the phone, his eyes barely registering the alarm clock that read 2:17. Shit, it’s early. He should have checked the ID, because he wouldn’t have answered it if he’d known it was her. “Linus!” Brenda whined, “Linus I need a ride.”

He sighed and sat up, swinging his feet down to the carpet. “It’s fucking late, Brenda.” “But there was like a blizzard, Linus, and I don’t want to get trapped at this guy’s house for days.” His sluggish brain picked up on part of that. “Wait, are you on a date and you’re fucking calling me for a ride? You have got to be kidding me, Brenda. That’s low even for you.” Her voice tipped whinier, “But you’re my husband.” “Not any more. We’ve been divorced for three years. This has to stop. Just don’t fucking call me anymore.” He hung up and sat there staring at his cell phone while she proceeded to call him four more times and leave both voice mails, emails, and texts. He finally turned it off. In one of the kitchen drawers, he found the paperwork for his cell plan and called the 24 hour customer service number and had his number disconnected and exchanged for a new one. As he sat at the computer to send a message to the pack about his new number, he also decided it was a must to get a new email address so he did that first and then sent all the new information out to everyone. Except his ex. He was sure to get a ribbing from them, especially Jason the alpha, on what a whipped puppy he’d been the last three years for her. Six months ago he would have gone running to rescue her and then begged her for sex. But three months ago he’d watched Jason finally claim his rightful mate in the hybrid wolf Cadence. They’d grown up together and it had been a hot mess for years, but finally she realized what he meant to her, what it meant to all of them, and they’d become true mates, her taking her rightful place as his alpha mate. That didn’t technically have anything to do with him, since he was only fourth ranked in the pack, but because of some other shit with Cadence, their pack, the Tressel Pack, had to handle the next in line alpha of the other pack that shared their small town of Allen, Kentucky, who had wanted to claim Cadence as his own. When it came right down to it, Linus had let Brenda walk all over him because he wanted her back. She was completely human and he was completely wolf, but he’d loved her enough to marry her, or at least he thought he loved her. Is it really love if it’s

not reciprocated? They hadn’t even made it a year She refused to be around the wolves, accused his friends of trying to sleep with her, and then in the end she’d threatened to leave him if he didn’t turn his back on the pack. She was what the others called a Chew Toy, and he’d broken the cardinal rule of wolves which is you don’t marry the girls that just want to fuck the big bad. He’d helped her pack, given her money for her own place, and hell, he’d sat by the phone waiting for her to call and want to come home. And she did, sometimes. When she needed something or when she had an itch that needed scratching. But this was it. He was done with Brenda, done with that part of his life, and now, he was tired as hell but restless and couldn’t even think about going back to sleep. Oblivious to it while he’d slept, a storm had blanketed their town with a few feet of snow. He was infinitely glad he’d gone to the grocery yesterday and stacked firewood in the garage. Most of the wolves his age, which is 27, live in a trailer park on the north side of Allen, Kentucky. The next generation up, their parents, lives in regular homes scattered around town. Allen was a low income, blue collar sort of southern town. One garage where he worked as a mechanic for Jason who owned the place, one nice restaurant, one bar, and one grocery. There was a post office, too, but it had been shut down and blended with the next town up which meant their mail was always late. The Shrew had been too high class for the trailer park, so he’d sold his trailer to one of the younger wolves and bought a three bedroom modular home that took six weeks for the pack to build. And then she left. He’d wanted to sell it, but Jason had convinced him to keep it and just get rid of everything that made him think of her, so he’d done a thorough housecleaning six months ago, and this was the first time he’d heard from her since then. It was easier to talk to her, think of her now, since he’d watched Jason fight for his woman. In the beginning, he’d thought he was in love with her, but he could see now that he’d been foolish. She was attractive but not pretty, too thin for his normal tastes, but she’d wedged herself into his life and he’d let her. And then he didn’t want to live without her. No one liked her, everyone thought he was a complete idiot for being with her, but he’d mistaken her desire to be with him because he was a wolf for real

affection. Now, he vowed not to rush into the physical side of things again, because that’s how he’d gotten trapped with Brenda in the first place. Granted he didn’t want to take 14 years to finally get another girl, the way that Jason and Cadence had danced around each other since they were children, each too chicken to admit that they craved the other. They were hard to be around, even now, because they couldn’t keep their hands off each other and they didn’t care if it was public or not. He’d walked in on them a dozen times in one of the spare bedrooms in his own home. He tried not to be jealous but he couldn’t help it sometimes. Seriously, if he wasn’t having sex in his own house, than no one else should have sex in it either. It just wasn’t fair. He wanted a woman that he could lose himself in like Jason did with Cades. A woman that only wanted him, only loved him, not because he was a wolf, not because of anything else he had to offer, but just because she loved him. He snorted at his own pipe dream and decided to go for a run. If there was a woman like that out there for him, she certainly wasn’t anywhere he’d looked. He stripped at the sliding back door and tried not to let too much snow in when he opened it, crossed onto the deck, and shut it, shifting as fast as possible. He shook the snow off his dark gray coat and was glad he wasn’t prone to getting chilled in his wolf form. It was easy enough to let his mind go to his beast, like turning the faucet from cold to hot. He took in the scent of the fresh snow, the cold air and the smell of the woods outside his back door, and leapt over the snow draped stairs from the deck and landed with a fluff of snow before darting off into the woods. He just ran. Darting between trees, leaping easily over fallen logs and low brush. The woods at night in the snow. Was there anything better to a wolf? He lazily chased a small herd of deer, just for fun. He had no intention of taking one down, although he could easily, but in the leanest winter month they were on the thin side and their meat would not be as succulently tender as it would be in another two or three months, as they fattened themselves up in the spring. He’d rather wait, thanks. On and on he ran, changing directions for no reason, not really running anywhere in particular, and then two distinct scents caught his nose and he skidded to a stop to scent them better. One was canine, not wolf, and one was human. It was far too cold

for a human to be out in this weather. Worry and curiosity hit him at the same time and he took off for the scents, running at top speed. He crested a small clearing and found what looked like a snow covered body laying near the bank of a frozen creek. He was a few miles from his home. He nuzzled the form and found it to be a woman, alive, and a dog, dead. She didn’t rouse when he nudged her harder, so he shifted to his human form, prayed she didn’t wake up freaked out that he was nude, and jerked her stiff body into his arms and took off for home. He’d never run so fast in his human form in his life, and his heart pounded in his ears as he closed the distance to his home as quickly as possible. There was something about her that he couldn’t put his finger on, but he desperately wanted her to live. ***** …..Coming Soon.