Finding my mate was supposed to be the best day of my life. Not the worst.
Everyone told me I should be lucky to have someone as beautiful as the blond- haired, blue-eyed, golden-skinned alpha, Shane Dacre, as my mate. How can anyone feel lucky with a mate who only laughed when they were walking away from you? For a year I took it. I swallowed it all down: all the pain from his secret cruelties, all the disgust in his eyes when he looked at me, all the fury at my standing in the way of his true happiness. I ate it until nothing tasted the same. Until even my food tasted bitter. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the old alpha, Shane’s father Iain, wasn’t pushing so hard for an heir. The most stable packs had an alpha who prepared for the next generation, his father loved to remind Shane at every opportunity with a pointed look aimed my way. But the heir had to come from his mate’s body. Mine. And so, he came to my bed, still smelling of her. The long blonde-haired, golden-eyed, and equally beautiful Bree. With my eyes squeezed shut, and my face turned away from him, we would mate in silence to the sharp squeaking of the bedsprings. The sound shamed me. And once it was done. Once he was done, he would slip away again. To shower. To return to the one he wanted. To her. But there was never a child. It went on and on until the whispers grew so loud and the pity so overwhelming that I would do everything I could to avoid anyone and everyone. My mission in life became to find the perfect hiding place in the extensive Dacre pack forest. Perfect Shane could do no wrong. It must be plain, brown-haired, Aerin Boone with too many freckles. It must be Aerin who doesn’t deserve a mate as perfect and golden as Shane Dacre who was the problem for the lack of an heir. And then I was out running one day, losing myself in the pure joy of it. As a wolf, I found happiness I could never feel in my human skin. As a wolf, I could pretend to be just a wolf and not a human girl with human pain. But then I caught his scent. No, I could smell them. Everything warned me to stay away, to return to the house, to turn back. I didn’t listen. They were in the stream; Bree and Shane. And they were naked. He was holding her, and as she stared up into the blue sky, he thrust into her. At his every grunt, I flinched. At her every moan, I felt a stabbing in my heart. I’ve never known pain as sharp. It felt like inside I was dying. Then he was growling, and she was clinging to his shoulders as she gasped out her release. I couldn’t help but notice the way her nails dug into his biceps, and when I lifted my wolf's eyes back up to his face, I found him staring at me. Being with her wasn’t a chore. Wasn’t some duty his father pressed on him. I’d always known it, of course, but to see it, to see how much pleasure she gave him, and he gave her, was something else. And that wasn’t all I saw. There was a bite on her neck. He’d bitten her even though he already had a mate. My pain poured out of me, ran over the grass and the water until Bree must have felt it because she was lifting her head from where she’d rested it on Shane’s shoulder. Before she could, Shane slid his hand around her nape, halting her. Never taking his eyes from mine, he bent his head and kissed her. So, I ran and I haven’t stopped running since then. “Hey, you all right?” The male voice, coming from much closer to me than should be possible with my shifter nose and ears, has me scrubbing at my wet face with my coat sleeve before I turn away from the window. His blue eyes are kind, and I wonder, not for the first time, why all the bus drivers I’ve met so far have been so nice to me. Maybe it’s my age, since at twenty-two, more often than not, I’ve been the youngest person on the bus. “I’m fine, thank you. Are we here?” Considering I’ve had my face glued to the window for hours, I should know. If I’d been paying attention to the world around me instead of reliving my memories, I would know. He raises his eyebrow but doesn’t comment on what has to be a pretty stupid question. “If Winter Lake is where you need to be; yeah, we’re here.” He nods at the window. I turn to take in the town just outside. It’s pretty in an old-fashioned way, with pastel-painted shop fronts and what looks like mom-and- pop stores. No, not pretty, beautiful. A haven. From where I’m sitting, I can make out a grocery store, post office, bank, hair salon, and a diner. It looked like the perfect place to disappear when I saw a picture of the town on a postcard in a bus station gift shop. The sort of place no one would ever come looking for me. Perfect, in other words. “What’s the population again?” I ask, unable to stop staring. “Something like two thousand. But it’s a nice town. Friendly.” That’s nothing. Coming from Minnesota, it’s a drop in the ocean. Sure, at first, I’ll stick out a little since I’m new, but who would think to look for me in a place with a population of two thousand people? “I like it,” I declare. His bark of laughter has me turning to find him grinning down at me. “Not many young people do. You’ll find it’s the older folk who come here. To retire mostly.” And with that, the man in a bus driver's uniform strides down to the front of the bus. Once I’ve gathered my only piece of luggage—a medium size gray duffel bag, I toss my long dark braid over my shoulder and follow. “Because there are no jobs?” I’m thinking now I should’ve thought this through a little more thoroughly since I’m going to need to find a job at some point. After I ran away from Bree and Shane, I stopped at the house long enough to change, grab his wallet from the dresser, his keys, and then I headed for his car. Not the flashy red sports car he was fond of reminding me had more purpose than I did, but the silver BMW I knew he wouldn’t miss as quickly as his pride and joy. As soon as I got into the city, I parked his car near the train station and went straight to the bank to withdraw as much money as I could. Luckily, Shane’s dad had us legally registered as husband and wife even though we didn’t have a formal ceremony in a church. So, once I showed the bank teller my ID with my married name, they didn’t stop me from my request of two thousand dollars, the most I could withdraw in one day. I hit up Target and filled a shopping cart with food, clothes, and the gray duffel. Afterwards, I got a cab to the bus station where I bought six tickets heading in six different directions from the front desk. I hung about, waiting until the guy who worked there was busy serving another customer before I quickly bought another ticket at the self-service machine, which was the bus I got on. Although it seems a touch excessive, I knew I had to do everything I could to get away because no alpha ever lets his mate walk away. Because even though Shane didn’t want me, there was no way he would ever let me go, especially with his father pushing him so hard to get me pregnant. He might not want me, but he needed me. I’d been running for five days when I started to get sick. And that was when I knew. I was pregnant. “There are some jobs. Not many, but some.” The bus driver opens the doors and as I stare out, suddenly I don’t want to step out. I’ve been running, always moving, always in motion for nearly three weeks now. Long enough for my sickness to subside, long enough for me to get used to cheap hotel rooms and disgusting bathrooms that were never completely clean. Who am I kidding, I’m nowhere near used to it. Not even close, which is why I’m here in Winter Lake. A brief stop. My break from nasty motel rooms. It’s hitting me now that this will be it for a while. This town is so out of the way, there’s only one bus that passes through it every week. Just one. So, once I step off this bus, I won’t be leaving it for another whole week. It was the biggest appeal of Winter Lake; other than the pretty pastel shop fronts and the quiet serenity I could practically feel through the postcard. “You change your mind?” “No.” I sling my bag over my shoulder and force myself to take the first steps off the bus. “Just wondering about…” “Five minutes.” Halfway down the steps, I stop and turn back, my brow wrinkled in confusion. “What?” “I’ve got five minutes before I have to leave so I can be in the next town in time. That’s how long you’ve got to figure out if you want to stay or jump back on the bus. God, am I that easy to read? “Uh, sure. Whatever,” I mutter, but don’t tell him to go. Five minutes sounds just long enough for me to figure out if this town is going to be it, or if my search for a resting place will continue. After one last glance behind me, I leave the bus driver idling in his seat and head down the street toward the diner, since other than a truck in the gas station, there doesn’t appear to be anyone around. I plan to stick my head in the diner because that’ll be where most of the inhabitants of this picturesque town will be at midday. And if I get any warning signs, it’s literally a minute to get back to the bus and tell the driver I’ve changed my mind. I make it halfway down the street before I jerk to a stop. At first, I didn't believe my nose. Frowning, my eyes sweep the streets because I’m distinctly picking up something I shouldn’t be smelling. Not in a town this small. And not in my perfect hiding place. Shifter. What the f**k is a shifter pack doing here?Slowly, I turn in a circle and my eyes connect with the guy filling up a battered truck at the gas station. Or at least, that was what it looked like he’d been doing before he scented me, just as I scented him.Without taking his eyes off of me, he shoves the gas pump back in its slot and straightens from his lean against the truck.When he takes a step away from the truck he’s filling, I get my first unobstructed view of his body.He’s big. At least six feet, which puts him about the same height, if not build, as Shane. This shifter is more heavily muscled than Shane is not that anyone could describe Shane as lean.My mate has the sort of muscles most women sigh over, something I know all too well because before I knew what my life would be like in the Dacre pack, I sighed just as loudly as they did.I feel panic surging at the sight of this shifter’s heavy muscles and the narrow-eyed steel-gray stare, which tells me he can only be one thing.Alpha.My duffel slides off my shoulder a
Confusion swirls in his eyes. “Look, we have no intention of forcing you to stay. You can leave whenever you want.”I open my mouth.“Once you’re well enough.” He cuts in smoothly as he retreats to the doorway.Narrowing my eyes, I examine him more closely. He might have kind eyes, but he’s no pushover.And he seems the sort that can persuade you to do things you don’t want to. My lips are thin.A charmer then, like Shane Dacre.“And once the bus arrives.”Shit. The bus. The driver would’ve gone. Five minutes, he said. It could’ve been five days, and I’d be none the wiser. Just as I’m poised to ask what day it is and how long I’ve been here, he speaks. “Why would you think we’d force you to stay?” His question is quiet, and his gaze never leaves my face. This wolf doesn’t seem the sort to miss anything.I’d better be damn careful what I say around him.“I can’t imagine you have many shifter women here,” I say evasively.“We have some.” As if sensing my unease, he breaks eye contact
Since Shane came to our room, which was really only my room three times a week, I guess it has to be recent. If I was a couple of months along, there’s no way I wouldn’t have known it before I left.Even if I’d somehow overlooked it, one of the packs would’ve noticed my scent changing. I’m sure I only missed it when I was running because every day meant being somewhere new, with unfamiliar scents and smells. That and my desperate fear distracting me that Shane or his father were only one step behind me, ready to drag me back to a place I’d have no hope of leaving again.Soon I’ll start showing, and then eventually they’ll be a child which brings with it another fear. A deeper one that never leaves me. At twenty-two and being a rare type of shifter, I’ve never had to fend for myself before since I went straight from my father’s pack to Shane’s.I need to find a way to support us both. If I can’t, then I’m going to have to go back to Shane and that’s something I swore I would never do.
Okay, so maybe I wasn’t completely naked because I was and still am in my panties, but that’s still a whole lot more skin than I wanted him to see. And he covered me with a sheet, which means he didn’t want to see any more of me either.“Don’t worry, I didn’t see much.”His quiet voice has me spinning my head to my other side, cutting off a cry of pain when my leg twinges, and there on the floor beside the bookcase, with a book draped over a raised denim covered knee, is Mack.I should’ve known he was already in the room, but with his scent everywhere, I wasn’t paying attention.“Uh, thanks?” “No worries.”After closing the book, he shoves it back in the bookcase before rising smoothly to his feet. I’m desperate to know what he was reading, but I’m also desperate for him to leave so I don’t have to look into his face and know he saw me naked, stretched out on the floor like a beached whale.I know I’m not fat since I’m built like most shifters, lean and athletic, but still…At the doo
For the first time, he talks directly to me, like I’m stupid, but he talks to me. Which I guess is something. “I don’t understand why. In your pack doesn’t your al—”“What Bennett means,” Mack interrupts, making my eyes widen with shock because a beta interrupting an alpha like that is practically unheard of, “is that there are different dynamics in all packs. His role doesn’t mean he’s always the only one giving orders.”I stare at him in confusion. “But that’s what an alpha does. Give orders.”Penny has a coughing fit and Mack turns to clap her on the back. Once she’s stopped, he continues speaking. “Things are a little more fluid here.”Since I’ve never heard, or seen any pack dynamic like this—where the beta can order the alpha to do something and there’s no pushback, I shift my focus back to Bennett to see what he’s making of all this.Bennett’s expression is completely blank. “Alpha,” he murmurs.“Alpha,” Mack repeats with a wide smile. “Now, did you want more bacon, Aerin?”I l
Although Adela stops wrapping to glance up at me, she doesn’t call me a liar, and neither does Mack, though they must be able to tell I’m not being entirely truthful.Mack’s eyes dip to my stomach. “Did you want to talk to Adela about the baby while she’s here? I can wait outside if you want?”You mean why did I run away from my mate? Uh, no thanks.They, Adela at least, think I’ve been abused. I caught her glances as if she were searching out bruises or cuts, but it’s pointless. Not just because we shifters heal too fast to leave lasting bruises. There are some wounds, some hurts that aren’t on the outside. They cut too deep for that.The worst was the indifference, I think. The way Shane would turn away when I was speaking as if what I had to say wasn’t important, or the way he wouldn’t care if I saw him disappearing with Bree. He’d return still doing up his pants as if he wanted me to know what they’d been doing. And if I somehow missed it, he’d stand next to where I was sitting
Soon it gets dark enough that Mack returns to lower the blinds and draw the curtains. I pretend to be asleep when he switches on the lamp beside my bed and turns off the overhead lights. I lay perfectly still, taking slow measured breaths until he leaves. His steps are light, unhurried, as he makes his way down the thickly carpeted hallway.After a short time in the bathroom, the sounds of running water stop and he moves into what must be another bedroom further down the hallway. The sounds now are quieter as he readies himself for bed.And then the house is still.Even then, I don’t move. Not until I know he’s gone to bed. Not until I’m sure he must’ve fallen asleep.Then, only when the house is completely silent do I sit up, peel the covers off me, and use both hands to shift my injured leg to the floor.At the first contact my toes make with the floor, I suck in a breath at the sharp pain. For several minutes I sit on the edge of the bed, just breathing in and out as I work myself
I catch the brief flash of relief in his eyes before he nods. “No one here will hurt you or threaten you, or do anything that you don’t want them to do. Not because I would stop them, but because no one in Winter Lake is like that.”I don’t even try to hide my disbelief because a pack like that doesn’t exist. My father hosted more than his fair share of alphas from all around the country, so if anyone would know, it would be me. It’s not even just that. Although I believe he won’t hurt me, he’s not the one I’m worried about.Mack wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing to stop the one person who has the power to do the most harm. Not unless he wanted to challenge Bennett for leadership of the pack, and after seeing the size of Bennett, I doubt Mack would want to do that. I doubt Mack would survive that.Right now, it seems he’s been able to talk Bennett into letting me stay, at least until my leg is healed. After that? I’ll be lucky if the door doesn’t hit me on the way out. That’s if Be