Chapter 1
Present Day
Kate leaned against the tree and closed her eyes. Alone in the woods, she supposed she should be afraid, but the many sounds had ever soothed her. True, they were different sounds than she had once grown used to. The birds were different, even the bugs were different, and they weren’t hers.
She couldn’t have stayed, though. Daddy had the ranch well in hand, and Jesse was his right hand man, just as they’d all known he would be. He was the son her father had always wanted. She sighed. Better to be somewhere else, even if she’d left a part of herself in those woods.
A soft rustle drew her head, but she relaxed almost immediately. She knew the soft pad of those paws. A sleek grey coat glided into view, and she turned to smile into golden eyes. “I take it you’re done exploring?” she asked softly, affectionately. The animal chuffed softly, settling beside her. She ruffled his neck fur. “You’ll get used to it,” she said, and she wasn’t sure if it were only the wolf-dog she was talking to or both of them.
A new rustling sound had them both on their feet moments before a lone man suddenly appeared between the trees. “Well, well, well,” he drawled, “what have we here?”
His was a dark, compelling beauty. His eyes appeared as black as the perfectly styled hair on his head. His skin was pale, and shown faintly in the night. His full lips curled up in a smile that was probably meant to be seductive.
Kate’s entire being rebelled, finding nothing attractive in this creature of the night. “Nothing for you, fanger,” she said, stepping slightly in front of the wolf-dog beside her. He growled softly and edged back in front of her. She fought the urge to roll her eyes.
Raven brows rose. “So you know what I am?” He smiled, showing fang. “And you’re not afraid of me.”
She bared her teeth in a faint semblance of a smile, “No reason to be,” she countered, I’ve killed your kind before.”
“Have you now,” he drawled, and before she could breathe, he was in front of her. One cold finger stroked along the side of her jaw. Her upper lip curled as a low growl escaped. She glared into his eyes. “Still not afraid?”
“I don’t think the lady is interested,” a deep voice rumbled.
The vampire turned his head, hissing softly, “Can’t you see I’m busy, dog.”
Kate used the interruption to pull the slender, but strong, silver chain out of her back pocket, wrapped it loosely around one hand, and flung the majority of the length around the vampire’s throat where the silver curled lovingly. “Not when I carry one of these around, no,” she replied. He hissed as his flesh burned and smoked, and he gave her a hard shove. As she fell back against the tree, she cried out, “Aidan, now!”
Two things happened simultaneously. The wolf-dog leapt at the vampire from the right, and a beautiful golden wolf leapt at the vampire from the left. As the vampire struggled with the wolf and wolf-dog, the silver chain still smoking where it met skin, Kate scrambled. She broke off a hefty branch of the tree, which made one end nice and sharp, before whirling back to the battle. The vampire threw off the wolf-dog, and Kate growled, racing forward, plunging the make-shift stake through the vampire’s chest before darting back quickly. The wolf, having seen her coming, hung back where he had been tossed and watched as the vampire exploded. Blood gushed upwards and everywhere.
Kate spat quickly, having caught some of the blood in her mouth. The wolf-dog limped over to her as she knelt, one arm wrapped around her middle as she retched. He leaned forward to lick the flecks of blood off her, but she reared back. “No, Aidan! You remember what happened last time.” He whined in response, and she frowned. “Are you ok?” She carefully ran a hand over the sleek animal, noting his wince as she ran her hand over one leg. “Probably a sprain,” she murmured, smiling gently. She froze then, remembering that deep voice. She looked around, and her eyes fell on the gorgeous golden wolf. She wasn’t surprised a moment later as she watched him shift into a very tall, muscular dark haired man. She resolutely kept her gaze on his face. The fact that his salt and pepper beard needed a trim and his dark curls were an unruly mop had her suppressing a grin. “Thanks for the timely interruption….” she trailed off, unable to stop a small smile as she got to her feet and waited for him to introduce himself.
‘”Alcide,” he said, “Alcide Herveaux, Long Tooth Pack.” He extended a hand. She wiped the remaining vamp blood off on the back of her jeans and introduced herself, shaking his hand quickly and suppressing the thought of how surreal all this was…standing in the middle of the woods, covered in bits of dead vamp, and talking to a bruised, battered, and naked man after just having killed said vampire. “We’ve been trying to find him for a while now,” Alcide said, interrupting her thoughts as he nodded at the bloody pile which was all that remained of the vampire. He turned his dark gaze back to her, frowning. “What are you?” he asked, “A … shifter…” His voice trailed off, unsure.
Kate closed her eyes and sighed softly, “Here we go again.” She cleared her throat, and, before she could speak, heard a faint rustle in the trees to the left. She froze.
Alcide heard the sound as well, and glanced in that direction. Seemingly unconcerned, he turned back to Kate. “Here we go again?” he prompted, but she barely heard him.
Her focus was on the two wolves that just cleared the trees. She frowned, had time to think, ‘something’s not quite right’ before the two wolves shifted into a naked man and woman. “Well, hell,” Kate muttered under her breath, “isn’t this a party?”
The naked man stepped forward, joining Alcide and Kate. His dark eyes glared first at the bloody pile on the ground then up at Alcide. Ignoring Kate entirely, he spat, “I told you that Northman wanted Riley brought to him alive.”
“Had no choice,” Alcide growled.
“No choice, Herveaux? He’s a fucking pile of goo!” The naked black man glared up at Alcide.
“I said, there was no choice, Mustapha,” Alcide towered over him, glaring right back.
“Uhm, excuse me?” Kate interrupted…or tried to. They continued to ignore her and went right on arguing. Rolling her eyes, Kate turned to the woman who hung back. She was older than Kate by at least 15 years, probably in her mid-thirties. Her hair was in a pixie cut, and swung lightly as she turned to watch Kate walking toward her. “And who are you?” Kate asked, forcing a smile on her face.
Dark eyes narrowed suspiciously, and Kate froze. “Name’s Kandace,” the woman replied. Her tone didn’t invite conversation.
Kate sighed. “I’m Kate,” she introduced herself, hoping her smile didn’t look too forced. She decided to continue to ignore the two arguing weres, who now seemed close to coming to blows. “Looks like they’re going to be busy for awhile,” Kate said, jerking her thumb at the two arguing males. “Think you could help me bury what’s left of the vamp?”
Kandace glared at her and crossed her arms under her breasts.
Kate sighed. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’.” She turned back to the arguing males, and noticed movement at the other edge of the clearing. She muttered under her breath, “It’s about time.”
Two wolf-dogs were slowly edging into the clearing. Aidan’s head popped up, and he whined softly. His brother and sister replied in kind and moved closer. Kate moved away from the weres and intercepted the wolf-dogs before they could reach their brother. She knelt and put an arm around each of them, ruffling their fur. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” she whispered, thinking of the vamp and wondering if there were others nearby. She had thought this area was fairly safe, but apparently not.
Silence filled the clearing, and Kate glanced up from the wolf-dogs’ fur. Alcide and Mustapha had stopped their arguing and were now staring at her with their mouths slightly open. Kandace moved even farther away, glaring darkly in her direction.
Kate sighed, and explained, “They’ve been with me since they were pups.” She smiled warmly at all three wolf-dogs. “They’re friends.”
“Friends,” Mustapha said, non-plussed. “Right.”
Kate gently patted each wolf-dog on the head before rising. She mentally ignored the fact that she was still the only one wearing any clothes, and marched up to Mustapha. Glaring up into his face, she growled, “I admit, I have no idea who you are, but anyone who seems more concerned about a fanger being finally dead than his fellow wolves is really a piece of shit in my book.” She sensed Alcide moving closer to her as Mustapha glared right back at her, his face becoming a dark forbidding mask. She didn’t care. “I came here to get away from that kind of shit, and you’ll have to forgive me for not waiting for you to show up while I defended myself and my friend.” The last word ended on a real growl, and from the sudden surprise in his eyes, she knew her eyes were glowing golden. “Damn it,” she muttered, shutting her eyes and forcing a deep breath. When she felt in control again, she glared back up at the naked black were. “So do we bury this bloody pile of shit or what?”
To Be Continued