Chapter 5

Six months before

Stacy was sitting at the kitchen table, helping her two younger brothers do their homework.

“Why do we have to do math?” Dave, the youngest, complained. “We should just wolf out and go hunting.”

“The young one speaks truth,” Kirk said seriously.

She rolled her eyes at the ploy to get her to take them to the woods.

“Maybe after you finish your homework ... and ... you eat your dinner,” Stacy said.

She didn’t need those two hungry beasts terrorizing the local bunny population. She would have to hose them off before their mom let them back into the house. Not that they cared—the little monsters liked the hose. Somehow, she always seemed to get soaking wet along with them.

“Aww,” Dave complained.

“Listen to your sister,” her mom said, backing her up.

Stacy knew that, at some point, they would challenge her for dominance. She would have to make an example of one of them—probably Kirk—or they would never listen to her.

Her parents made a good pair. Her mom was as strong as her dad was, which was rare. Almost always, one or the other would be dominant and run the household. They had never tested to see who should be in charge, so each could make decisions without the other’s consent.

Stacy and her mother both looked toward the front of the house. The boys were annoying each other, so they hadn’t heard their dad’s truck racing up the dirt road.

“Boys! Get your go bags,” her mom ordered.

Stacy shivered all over. It had only been two months.

Her father had been the Alpha in charge of their pack. A stranger came and asked to join, which wasn’t unusual because their pack had several unattached women. Ethan wormed his way into their pack and soon challenged her father. His goal was to have Stacy become his mate since she had many of the traits her mother exhibited.

The fight had been vicious, with Ethan losing an eye and her father still having scars on his chest. Their exceptional healing abilities didn’t work when another wolf caused the damage.

Their mom had taken charge as soon as her father had lost, loaded everyone into the truck, and fled.

Ethan was determined and had tracked them down two other times. They’d been lucky and escaped.

But the situation had become more serious because Stacy was now old enough to mate. If Ethan found her, he would force himself on her, and she would be tied to him for life.

Her parents had planned for Ethan to show up again. They knew that if he caught them all together, he would kill all of her family. That was why her mom was loading the boys into the van when her dad pulled up. Stacy threw her and her dad’s go bags into the truck bed.

The Present

She and her dad had been on the run for six months. They’d gotten word that her mom and brothers were safe in Canada.

They’d come to town two months ago. Stacy’s dad enrolled her in the Special Education program because it would be the last place one of Ethan’s pack would look for her.

When she enrolled, she sat next to Doyle in history class. Something in him told her he was the one, her protector and future mate. He was also a gentle soul who would never abuse her.

She was doubly sure when she figured out Doyle was clairvoyant. She’d observed him and noted the drawings he made when he went into his trance-like state. Most were silly things, like a butterfly flitting past a window, stuff his brain hadn’t figured out were glimpses into the future.

When he drew the picture of the dance, she knew she couldn’t wait any longer. The drawing showed her in the shadows, and she knew she or Tanya would never murder Gabe. Her first thought was that it had to be Ethan. Doyle had to fulfill his full potential, so she’d turned him.

She hoped Doyle wouldn’t lose that gift when she bit him. Fortunately, his clairvoyance had become stronger. They also had developed a connection that Doyle wasn’t yet aware of, letting her know when he went into a trance and how he felt. It was further proof he was the one because only mated pairs usually had that ability. She credited it to her being the one to turn him, so it had come early.

Even though Doyle had a gentle soul, he had an inner strength he hadn’t tapped into yet, making him a potential Alpha. All he needed was a pack of his own—and she had an idea for that.