Chapter 2

I was fifteen. The bell had just rung, signaling the end of the school day. I gathered my things and headed to leave the classroom when Jameson’s hand shot out, blocking the doorway.   “Get out of my way, Jameson,” I said, glaring at him. He gave me a lazy, easy-going smile, the one that had melted the hearts of at least half the girls in my class. His hazel eyes sparkled.   “Aw, calm down, Hartwood,” he said, his hand still against the doorframe. Behind him, several of his friends— Luke, Jenna, Nick, all the popular kids, essentially—were watching with interest. “Some of us are going on a hunt. Thought you might like to join.”   My heart pounded, and my stomach lurched. But my eyes narrowed in suspicion.   “Why? Don’t you guys all think I eat roadkill?” It was a rumor Jameson had spread when I was ten—that I and the rest of my family ate roadkill. For a week, every time I went to school, there would be a dead raccoon, or squirrel, or some other animal that had been run over on top of my desk. Even now, I still heard snide comments about it.   “You’re still hung up on that? You need to relax, Hartwood.” At my continued stare, Jameson rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’m sorry. Are you coming or not?”

I glanced behind him at his friends; they were all smiling warmly. Maybe this time really would be different. Maybe this was his way of making amends.   “All right,” I said.   Everything went fine at first. I shifted behind some bushes, still too embarrassed to strip in front of others, leaving my clothes beneath a tree. Then, we ran through the woods in our wolf forms, Jameson’s large, dark-haired wolf leading the way. Even at fifteen, his wolf radiated power and authority.   I had a great time for the hour we ran and hunted. I actually felt like they were accepting me.   But then the hunt ended, and we returned to where we had started. After I shifted back to human, I reached for my clothes. But just as I picked up my bra, a wolf with deep red fur—Jenna—darted out of the bushes and yanked it from my hands before scooping up the rest of my clothes.   “Give them back,” I said, but my words were drowned out by the laughter all around me as Jameson and all his friends popped up from the surrounding bushes, all laughing uproariously. I watched, helpless, as Jenna began tearing my clothes to shreds, her tail wagging contentedly the whole time.   I snarled, and before they could see the tears filling my eyes, I shifted back into my wolf form and charged through the trees, my entire body burning with embarrassment and anger, my wolf nearly shaking with rage.   It was like that for years. It had been torture, and I’d fantasized for years about running away. But I couldn’t bring myself to go through with it, despite how my family sometimes treated me or how Jameson and the others made fun of me.   And there was another reason, which was that, despite all the bullying, I was drawn to Jameson. I found myself watching him at school or admiring his wolf form as he darted through the woods near my house. There was no explanation for it. I just couldn’t stop thinking about him, no matter how hard I tried. And around seventeen, the teasing changed. He

still made fun of me, still called out my poor standing in the pack, but I also found him staring at me the same way I would look at him. Once I left my awkward teenage years and started growing curves and grew out of my gawky appearance, I noticed his staring more and more.   And that was when the real problems began.       ***       Brixton was a beautiful town nestled among the woods of northern Colorado. Dense trees spread out everywhere, growing wherever they could. The entire town smelled of the forest, and the way it enveloped the village made it feel secure and safe. An old apple orchard, abandoned years ago, lay to the west. To the north were the mountains that loomed over Brixton, and up there, a beautiful lake where a certain shifter I’d rather not mention now lived.   Red brick buildings spread out from the central town square, where Uncle Callum’s office was located, and an elegant fountain stood in the middle. Closer to the center of the village, the streets were cobblestone and reserved for pedestrians, and they wound lazily through the town, seemingly without purpose. It was in this area that most of the shops were: an ice cream parlor; George’s Goods, where I worked; a small restaurant and bar; and a thrift store, to name a few. Cutting up the north side of town was a stunning park, currently lush and vibrant green in the early summer. I walked through it on my way home, passing families and couples who were taking an evening stroll, processing everything that had happened.   As I moved further out from the center of town, the red brick was replaced with wooden houses and paved roads. Buildings and homes became more spread out and more run down the further they were from town.   By the time I finally cleared my head, I reached my front porch. My home was a tiny, two-bedroom house with a

cramped, out-of-date kitchen and a water heater that needed replacing. It was on the outskirts of town, about as far away from most of the pack as you could get. I wasn’t complaining. I felt more at home in this tiny house than anywhere else I had lived.   When I opened the door, my vision was obscured by black fur as something leaped toward me. Its claws pushed me to the ground, and I was staring into a young wolf’s snarling face. Then the wolf licked my cheek and sat back, its mouth spreading into a grin.   “All right,” I said, laughing. “You got me. Now go inside and shift back.”   The wolf thumped its tail once before darting back inside. When I entered the house, a nine-year-old girl with the same dark hair as the wolf was running out of her bedroom, pulling a shirt over her head.   “Did I scare you?” Elle asked, her green eyes sparkling. “I’ve been working on being stealthy. But it’s hard being patient when you take forever to get home.”   “Yes, you scared me,” I said. “And I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take as long as I did. I just…had to take care of something.”   Elle shrugged. “That’s okay. It was just boring to wait.”   “I know,” I said. “Now come on, let’s fix dinner.”   Elle followed me into the kitchen and kept up a near-constant stream of chatter while I worked. I welcomed the distraction until—   “Hey, Mom?” Elle asked. “Is it true the pack at the cabin used to be part of the Silver Wolves?”   I was so startled by the question that I nearly chopped off my finger. “What makes you say that?” I asked, trying to keep my voice even.

“Grandma was talking about it,” Elle said. “It doesn’t sound like she likes them very much.”   “No,” I said. “She wouldn’t.”   I had heard rumors that Jameson had become one of the Silver Wolves—a group that carried out missions for the benefit of all shifters. They didn’t have allegiance to any one pack. Instead, they were effectively a pack of their own, taking care of issues that would affect all shifters.   Why were they here, then? Did Callum know? He had to. If Mom knew about it, there was no way he wouldn’t. No wonder he wanted them to fight for the town. And of course, I was the one who had to negotiate the terms of that help. Because that was going to go great.   I looked over at Elle, who was lounging on the old couch. She had my eyes and took after my family for the most part, except she had Jameson’s dark hair and easy smile. As well as a propensity for playing frustrating pranks.   “I don’t know who they are,” I said. “I haven’t seen any of them.”   Except Jameson was apparently their alpha. That knowledge had wedged itself in my head like a bone in my throat.   I let out a frustrated growl and began chopping the vegetables with far more anger than was required.   Jameson Redding was here. I had to meet with him. And the worst part of it was that my wolf was excited.