Daniel

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DANIEL POV (A few weeks before Samantha moves to Wyoming) 

   "I don't care. I don't know why you insist on looking for a Layne spawn after all these years, but I told you before, and I will tell you again. Leave me out of it," I snarl before my fraternal town brother can say another word on the matter. 

  I grab a hay bale and toss it effortlessly into the stall of my favorite gelding. Stanley follows me to the next stall, and I grind my teeth together. 

   "Dan, stop! This is serious. This isn't like the old days when territories could transfer hands without humans knowing. The land is still in the Layne name. I had to make sure there wasn't a single living descendant before we could purchase it. Dad did have me go into law for a reason, you know. We have to keep shifters secret. You being a fucking hot-head isn't going to cut it," Stan snaps, and I freeze. 

  My coped-up wolf snarls in my head, and I spin around. I get right in Stan's face, and he shrinks back, instantly realizing he overstepped. 

  "That wretched fucking family is finally gone, and you are searching the hills for more of them. So yeah, I am a little hot under the collar," I growl in a low voice that makes him drop his head completely. 

   I go to step away, but his deep voice catches me before I can. 

   "I was searching, but not anymore...I found one. She is the rightful heir to the Layne land...and the pack. That's what I was trying to tell you," Stan mutters, and my canines almost descend. 

  "What," I snap, and he exposes his neck. 

    "They have a granddaughter...half breed. You know how the Layne's were. They probably disowned their son the second he mated," Stanley practically whimpers, and my hands begin to shake. 

  My wolf pushes against my skin at the thought of someone overthrowing our position as Alpha here. We only took the title five years ago, and no one is taking it from us now, especially not another Layne.

   "Half, half what? Human," I snap, trying to learn about my new enemy. 

  Half breeds aren't common amongst shifters at all. But it happens. Sometimes the inner animal chooses a mate outside of its species. No one knows why, but no one questions it. 

 The Laynes, however, refused to accept the inner animal's choice when mixed pairings happened within their pack. If a pack member's inner wolf chose a mate who wasn't the same type of shifter or, heaven forbid, human, the member had three choices. Either reject their wolf's pick and mate an available she-wolf, be exiled, or be killed. Many members took their mate and ran over the years, but the Laynes never felt bad or changed their ways. 

 The Laynes we're old-school bigots...pure and simple. Everyone in the area hated them. But that didn't bother the Laynes because they hated all other shifters. 

  They wanted their pack to be nothing but pure wolves and felt as if their bloodline was the best. They had a chip on their shoulders a mile long, and no one mourned them when we took over. 

 The Laynes had even gone as far as declaring war with the bear shifters a few years before we killed them. The Laynes had issued war when the bears had tried to force the shifter council to disband their pack. 

 The bears had been mad because several of their mates had refused to mate with them due to orders from their Alpha. The fighting got so bad between bears and wolves inside Yellowstone that the humans noticed, and the board stepped in. 

  It was declared that the bears had lost the war due to how many members they lost and are still recovering their numbers to this day. 

  Stan shakes his head, answering my question, and my mind snaps back to attention. 

  "The Layne's firstborn son...the one who we could never find...he mated a cougar shifter. Moved to Florida with her. I was only able to locate the granddaughter because a petition to have her name changed back to Layne was just filed with the courts. Apparently, she is getting divorced," Stan explains as my mind practically explodes. 

  There is another Layne in the world. A living, breathing Layne. A half-breed...Oh, I bet her family is turning in their graves. They would probably prefer if the land stayed in our hands rather than hers. The Laynes and the Grays have hated each other for centuries. 

  The Grays are about as different from The Laynes as you can get. While our bloodline is relatively pure, we encourage mixed mating. We encourage anything our inner animal calls for. We believe if you go against your inner animal, you are denying your inner animal and shouldn't even call yourself a shifter. 

  When we learned that the Laynes were thinking about expanding their pack up North to our lands, my brothers and I acted first. We organized a coup within their pack, and then we attacked. Loyal members died with the Alpha. We didn't touch the elderly Luna, but we didn't have to. A lone crazy shifter did that in the middle of the night only a few months after we took over Layne lands. 

  We killed him immediately after her murder. But we never received a straight answer on who he was or why he did it. But Fin (youngest brother) thinks it was an old pack member who was forced to be exiled. 

  But now, my brothers and I run this pack, and my aging parents run the home pack up North. With most shifters working alongside humans, our feral ways have been greatly reduced. Older Alpha's can run a pack well into their later years without worrying about being overthrown. 

  "Have you contacted her yet," I ask, and Stan finally looks back up at me. 

  "I have contacted the lawyer who submitted the petition. I am waiting to hear back," Stan says, and I nod. 

  "Fine, I apologize for trying to keep you from informing me. I will go ahead and purchase the neighbors land then. It's smaller than this, but we were planning on purchasing it to add to the territory anyways. Get the real estate agent on it. I will move the members to that land as soon as it's in our name, so stall her from moving up here...I wonder which inner animal she received, cougar or wolf," I say while thinking out loud. 

 Stanley nods before meeting my eyes with a stern look. 

  "Doesn't matter which...she has Alpha blood running through her veins. Whether she grew up with the Layne's in her ear or not, she will be all Alpha," he says, and I nod my head in agreement. 

  "I have to get back to work... Oh yeah, before I forget. The park rangers have been getting ansty. They haven't seen the pack in weeks...we need to all go for a run. My wolf needs it too," I say, and Stan grins. 

  "Sounds good," he replies before leaving. 

   As Stan walks off I smile vengefully. I'm so glad I left the master bedroom as a shrine to the Layne legacy. 

******* Present********

    "Damn," I say as I ruin another piece of barb wire. 

  Controlling our strength is a well-groomed talent we use on a daily basis, but today my patience is worn too thin. 

  I have had to chase three horses down already, and I refuse to have to pursue another. The previous owners of this land sucked at maintaining their fences, and our prize horses are going above and beyond to find all their weak spots. And to make matters worse, our new neighbor just moved in. 

    "Fin, I did it again," I snarl, and my nineteen-year-old brother laughs at me. 

  He leaves the spot he is working on to help my practically stripped wire, and I wipe my brow as I step away. 

   He wastes no time in removing my destroyed line and replacing it with a new piece. He tightens the feeble metal with his bare hands, and I huff as he manages to perform a skill I am having trouble with today..... self-control. 

  "Well...I know it isn't just the shitty fence making you moody, so spill. Did Emma call you gossiping again," Fin asks, and I grunt? 

  "No, our crazy sister didn't call me gossiping... Layne's granddaughter arrived last night, according to Stan, and I hate it. I hate that there will be another Layne in that house, possibly scheming to destroy everything we have built. She could literally reverse all the good we have done. There were a few loyal members we didn't catch Fin...if they hear about a Layne living in that house," I growl, not finishing my statement. 

  Fin stands up and looks me over with his warm brown eyes he got from our mother. 

  "I know your fears...but maybe you should relax a bit. She didn't grow up here. There's a chance she is nothing like her ancestors, Dan. You are doing what they did, you know...prejudging her," Fin calmly says, and I playfully growl at him. 

  When did he get so smart? Little bastard just made me feel about two inches tall. 

  "Shut up, runt. What do you know," I say with humor in my voice? 

  He gives me a fake insulted look before throwing the spool of wire directly at my head. I dodge, and by the time I look back at him, he is running off at full speed and laughing. 

My wolf immediately demands we chase him, and I agree. As I watch my brother's body transform into its four-legged form, I rip my shirt off; he knew I needed a good run... the little twerp. I reach for the button on my wranglers, just as my phone goes off. 

  I check the caller-Id fully intending to ignore the call, but when I see it's from Stan, I answer. 

  "Yeah, what's up," I answer with the phone pressed between my ear and shoulder so I can strip the great of the way. 

  "Dan, she doesn't know...she doesn't know she's shifter," Stan says, and I instantly freeze. 

  "What are you talking about," I ask quickly, forgetting about the playful chase my younger brother just started to ease my stress. 

  "Samantha Layne doesn't know she's a shifter," Stanley says slowly as my eyes go wide.