Chapter 1

From the moment the girl stepped foot inside my diner, I knew she was in trouble. I could tell by the way she wore her long, strawberry hair down covering her face like a shroud, and she chose a booth in the back that had a view of the whole place. It also made for a quick exit out the back door. She slid into the booth, her keen green eyes kept scanning the joint but not making eye contact with a living soul in it.  She flinched when the door opened, and I could smell the tang of her blood in the air as she chewed her thumbnail down to the quick. I could tell the girl was in trouble, because I had once been her.

She couldn’t be more than nineteen, which was another red flag of her being here all alone at this ungodly hour. My diner was on the backroads, the bypass to the highway, and these twisty lanes that curved around the mountain, were dangerous even when the sun was high in the sky. The only faces I usually saw at this time before dawn, were truckers after they’d dropped their trailers, townies who worked the graveyard shifts, or an occasional adventurous (or foolish) traveler tempting fate and taking the scenic route in a place where the streetlights didn’t reach. Out here, the shadows were vast, the darkness and trees were mostly unmolested, and nature still ruled the roost.

I knew these roads and the town below, and most of the folks in it, like the back of my hand. But I had never seen this girl before. That didn’t surprise me though, because she-wolfs were protected and often isolated by their packs. They were precious commodities, either revered and worshiped, or abused and treated like property, but all were heavily guarded.  What surprised me was this she-wolf was all alone without a male wolf to watch over her. That was practically unheard of. I myself was an exception to this rule, though not by lack of aggressive betas and Alphas trying to claim me for their packs.

I smoothed down my apron and put on a welcoming smile as I made my way towards the girl with a pot of fresh coffee in hand. I had just topped off a regular’s cup moments before.  Like he’d been doing for the last five years, Jim came in like clockwork every Wednesday morning after he dropped his lumber off at the pulp mill. He always sat at the counter, ordered the same thing too, an everything omelet, coffee with two creamers and four sugars, and a piece of apple pie to go. The only other patron in the diner, besides the girl and I, was a townie named Chris. Chris had just started third shift at the pulp mill last month. It was proving to be a hard adjustment and he often came in for coffee before work. Said I made it the best.

 It hadn’t been lost on me the way the girl tensed when Chris had walked in and taken a corner table. Chris wasn’t intimidating in looks, hardly out of his teens, rather on the small side with a lean frame and barely skimming five and a half feet tall. Jim, though older and bigger, was more like a big old cuddly teddy bear. Though he was a burly mountain man, he had a boisterous laugh, ruddy cheeks, and wouldn’t hurt a fly. I knew the girl wasn’t scared of them. Something or someone else caused that fear in her eyes.

I stopped before her table and her eyes dragged up to briefly meet mine. I knew she didn’t see me as a threat either, though she knew I was also a wolf. She didn’t smell any male scents on me because I didn’t keep the company of wolves. Hell, I rarely even had human men in my bed, other than when my carnal needs grew too great and my toys just weren’t cutting it, the night before the full moon was always the worst. Men of any species often brought complications and headaches into my life and I’d rather avoid them for the most part.

“Good morning honey. You can call me Onie. What can I get ya?” I asked her cheerfully.

“Coffee will be fine, thanks.”

I turned over the mug on the saucer and filled it to the brim. The girl chewed on her bottom lip and fiddled with her sweatshirt sleeves. I slid a menu before her.

“This morning’s special is pancakes, two for the price of one. Would you like some time to look over the menu?”

“I’m not really hungry thanks anyway.”

“Okay, I’ll bring you some water then…Are you waiting on someone?”

She looked up at me and then nodded quickly. I bent over and poured a second cup for the table.

I couldn’t help but ask in a low tone that no one else would overhear, “Is it someone you want to see, honey?”

She stiffened for a moment, then a smile spread across her lips. It made her look younger and I knew it was genuine. The way it lit her eyes, couldn’t be forced or faked.

“Yes. Very much. He’ll be here soon.”

I felt a bit more at ease. But something still had this girl on edge. I needed to move along to service Chris, who I knew had about only an hour before his shift, but I was going to keep my eyes and ears open just in case. Perhaps the boy the young she-wolf waited on was from another rival pack, or maybe even human. Maybe their families and Alphas disapproved of their match. It wasn’t really my business anyway. But that had never stopped me before.

I returned her smile, “Let me know if I can get you anything else. Let me know if you need any help at all.”

“I will, thanks. He shouldn’t be too much longer now.”

I held her eyes for a few seconds more, then turned and went to greet Chris. We spent a few moments chit chatting before I went to the grill to fry up his eggs and bacon. But I kept my eye on the door, my nose in the air for smells other than greasy diner food. While tater tots deep fried, I cashed out Jim, and smiled to myself at the sight of a full till.

My stepfather had always said women had no business running things, that we were too emotional, and would only run whatever we touched into the ground. Well I’d been running this diner for the past three years, and the only thing that was in the ground was him, in an unmarked grave, about five miles into the forest from where I now stood. My mother, God rest her soul, was laid to rest in a lovely mausoleum, surrounded by wildflowers, and cherry blossoms, with the picturesque Cold Lake in the distance.

The founders of this town hadn’t been too creative. They’d named it Stonemountain and its second most famous landmark, Cold Lake. I couldn’t say much, as this diner was called Mountaintop Diner. It had been named that before my mother had bought it a decade ago and she hadn’t had the heart to change it. It wasn’t actually on the mountain top either, but nestled in the shadow of the mountain, and between the miles of forest country.

 Lumber was the lifeblood of this town, and tourism was second, though many visitors now preferred the cozier inns and such across the state that boasted far more tourist attractions. Our mountain was beautiful, though too inhospitable for skiing, and our sleepy town didn’t have many twenty-four-hour restaurants and night clubs that catered to younger crowds. We had hiking that tempted some, fishing, and views that lured in an older crowd who preferred a slower pace and some rest and relaxation. That was just the way I liked it, keeping out the partying riffraff for the most part.

Peace and solitude, well as much as could be found in the land between two rival wolf packs. The town itself, and my diner was located in neutral territory.  The packs had no claims or jurisdictions on this ground. But to the west was Timberland Pack territory, and to the east belonged to the Stonemountain Pack. Occasionally their feuds, spilled over into Stonemountain itself, but their alphas usually had their packs under control. I didn’t care about bullshit werewolf politics and petty fights, so long as they kept to their packlands and left me the hell alone. These days, it was mostly betas or alphas passing through whom attempted to make me one of their kept and suppressed females even though I wasn’t a pureblood. It hadn’t worked out to well for them. And it hadn’t worked out to well for my sadistic, bastard of a stepfather in the end either.

Chris’s order was up so I pulled my head out of the clouds and delivered it to his table. I was just about to go over and ask the girl if she was doing alright, when a scent floated in through the open window. I watched for the girl’s reaction to see if this wolf was a friend or foe to her. The way her body relaxed, and she smiled again, told me all I needed to know. A young beta with a mop of dark curls and a jawline straight enough to cut someone, breezed in through the front door. He let out a relieved breath and smiled so big, two dimples popped out in each cheek when he noticed the pretty, she-wolf awaiting him.

I leaned up against a booth and watched their reunion. The happy squeal she gave when she jumped up from the booth and ran into his arms. He lifted her clear off her feet, gave her a little spin, then a kiss that made me jealous of having never been kissed liked that in my whole twenty-four years of existence. That kiss, and the looks shared between them, made me believe that mates were more than just a wolf legend. I grew convinced in about three seconds flat, they were true mates.

My shriveled heart grew a bit at the sight. Mother had always called me a cynic, and I had teased she was a hopeless romantic, but look where it had gotten her. Melody White had always saw the good in people, and was the fixer, the second chancer. She’d been easy prey for sick fucks like Stone ShadowFang. He was a monster, even before he let his wolf out to terrorize us. My mother and I learned the hard way about the beasts that came out at night and lurked in the shadows.