I shouldn’t have had the third beer. I know this. I’m not proud. But, I’d like to think I didn’t really have a choice. If I’d taken Clover out of her stall and ridden like the wind for the northern border like I wanted to, even more hell would have broken loose than just a bar fight. So, I had to settle for a little freedom courtesy of the bottom of that frosted beer mug. For now.

The Backwoods was packed tonight. Thursday in the middle of September and it should have just been the regulars. Emmett McCoy stood in the corner behind the bar watching me and everyone else here. His eyes took on a brighter shine when they fell on me. I lifted my mug to him and finished the last of that third beer. My head swam a little. The bar’s copper finish got just a little duller.

Liquid freedom warmed my veins. If I had one more beer, I might even be able to escape all the way. I could close my eyes and pretend to feel the wind in my face, the fresh, wild smell of the lake calling me further away. My power rose, making my nerves tingle. I could almost see myself as if I hovered outside my body. I cast my eyes downward, hiding the silver flash as my wolf strained to make her appearance.

Oh, I knew what my brother Jarred would see. I wore my dark hair long, spilling down the middle of my back. He’d give me that disapproving look if he saw I’d worn my tightest dark blue jeans with a thin, white, silk blouse tucked in. I’d left three buttons undone. Hell, I was dressed like a nun for the standards of the Backwoods. Behind me, three college girls hovered near the jukebox, preening for attention. With the testosterone level teeming through the room, they were soon likely to get it. Me on the other hand? God help the man who tried to get too close.

Jarred was the reason I was here. We’d fought again. These days it seemed that’s all we ever did. As pack Alpha, he felt responsible for me. If I had to hear one more time how I was one of the only she-wolves in the world and all the things that meant, I’d lose my mind. What he really wanted to say was that I was the only unmated she-wolf in the world that anyone knew of. He felt protecting me was becoming his full-time job. I didn’t need it. God help the man or shifter who tried to mess with me. That’s exactly what I said before I lit out for the bar. I swear I wasn’t looking for trouble. It just always seemed to find me.

Lucia!

Electricity shot down my spine, making my back arch. I nearly fell off my stool. I gripped the handle of my mug so tightly I made a jagged, hairline fissure through it.

“Get out of my head!” I muttered through clenched teeth. My brother’s voice thundered in my ears. I closed my eyes and let out a hard breath through my nose, pushing him back.

Emmett pushed himself off the wall. His brow furrowed, he started to walk toward me. He wasn’t a shifter, but he knew us well. He’d made his business off of catering to the wolf shifters of Wild Lake. This had been nothing more than a dive bar a few years ago. Now, we were the draw. The locals loved to stop in pretend like they could really rub elbows with full-blooded shifters. It made the men feel stronger, more potent. Now, there was something else going on.

Great Lakes University had doubled its enrollment over the last decade and gone co-ed. Those sorority girls at the jukebox were soon joined by a few dozen more. Shifter bangers, I liked to call them. Groupies.

Lucia, get your ass back home now!

I motioned to Emmett. He raised a skeptical brow as I slid my mug toward him. A fourth beer would really be pushing it. Though, just once I’d like to know what it felt like to get good and drunk. Not here. Not with so many male shifters around.

Emmett held my mug beneath the tap. To his credit, he made no comment as he handed it back to me. I ran my fingers through the condensation forming along the side. I felt Jarred’s anger rising. Pulling me. I knew the longer I disobeyed him, the angrier he’d get. For now, I just didn’t care. Ever since he’d taken over as pack Alpha, he’d been on my ass constantly. Do this, Lucia. Don’t do that, Lucia. Behave, Lucia.

Blessedly, one of the girls in the back picked a great song. Springsteen blared through the speakers, drowning out Jarred’s voice in my head.

I turned on my stool, scanning the crowd. My wolf stirred, making a threat assessment. There were two shifters in the corner. Boys from Andre Lanier’s pack. They were a bit younger than me. I was fairly sure one of them, Brent, wasn’t old enough to drink. He kept his eyes fixed on Jeff, his companion. Or tried to. Every few seconds he’d flick his gaze toward the bar where I sat. Whenever he did, his cheeks reddened. Both of those boys knew better than to openly stare at me, let alone come over to talk to me when I was out here on my own.

You need protection, Lucia!

Dammit, Jarred again. He refused to believe I was capable of taking care of my own damn self.

There were other pack members here. Peter Matthews’ pack hung back playing pool. Four of them. It meant Peter was nearby. For two years now, he’d done nothing to hide his interest in me. Most of the rest of them, like Brent, at least had the decency to try. Jarred tried to tell me it wasn’t their fault. For the last seven years, ever since I’d turned eighteen, I’d grown used to the reaction my presence had on unmated male shifters. What I wasn’t getting used to, was the impact it had on me.

I felt their gaze, sensed their pull to me. My blood warmed and my breath came up short. The cells in my body seemed to realign somehow, driving my thoughts to darker places. There was a need inside of me, a hunger. Some days, it devoured me. I just...wanted. It would be so easy to give in to one of them, just for a night. But, that wasn’t what they wanted. They wanted a mate. They wanted to mark me as theirs. Though my body thrummed with the craving, I knew in my heart I wasn’t meant for them.

Peter’s group got louder. It was putting the Lanier boys on high alert. When one of the sorority girls sashayed into his line of sight, Jeff looked grateful for the distraction. He rose and held a hand out to her. Giggling, she played coy at first. A second later, she wrapped her fingers around his pinky and led him out to the wooden dance floor.

“Jarred coming along?” Emmett asked. He tried to play things casual, blowing hot breath on a clean beer mug as he polished it.

“Don’t worry about it, Emmett,” I smiled. “I’m not here to cause any trouble. I just needed to blow off some steam.”

I felt another set of eyes on me from across the room. Outsiders. They were taking a chance crossing into Wild Lake lands. They sat in a corner booth. The one facing me didn’t try to hide his interest in me. He stared at me, his gold wolf eyes flashing bright. A tickle of pleasure ran through me as my wolf assessed. He was big and burly. A true mountain man. If I had to guess, he was from one of the Canadian packs. They were mostly friendly to those of us here in Wild Lake. Still, the Backwoods seemed an odd choice for him.

But, his gaze wasn’t what drew my attention. No. It was the guy with him. He had his back to me, but I watched his posture change as I looked at him. Oh, he knew I was watching. My vision tunneled and I zoned in on the tiny, gold hairs along the back of his neck. They bristled. He was huge. Broader through the shoulders than the Canadian wolf. He had blond, almost platinum hair cropped short, military-style. His skin was tanned and ruddy. He reached for his beer mug and lifted it, his movements fluid, powerful. I could feel the curiosity burning off of him. He wanted to turn. He wanted to look at me.

My blood heated and my breath left me. Who was this guy? I could feel the raw, animal power coming off him in waves. It had the rest of the shifters in here riled up maybe even more than my presence. But, I couldn’t read him. Couldn’t sense the rest of his pack. He seemed...other somehow. Was he bear?

I’m sending the pack after you!

“Fuck off, Jarred,” I said, smiling at Emmett as I finished the last of my beer. Jarred couldn’t see through my eyes like he could the rest of the pack. He couldn’t really compel me to do anything I didn’t want to do. A fact that infuriated him to no end. He was overbearing, overprotective, and a general pain in my ass. Still, the vibe in the bar was turning. I really did just want to blow off steam. Trouble wasn’t on my list of goals.

But, trouble seemed to always have a way of finding me.

My spine stiffened one second before I felt the hot hand on my shoulder. My vision went white. I damn near shifted right then and there. The power of it sent a shockwave through me. I knew every shifter in the place could sense it.

Damn.

I whirled around, rising to my full height. From the corner of my eye, Roy Matthews, one of Peter’s cousins, twirled a toothpick between his teeth as he looked me up and down. Then, Peter loomed in front of me, appearing almost out of nowhere. So powerful. So primal. Warning bells went off inside my head.

“Wanna dance?”

I blinked hard. “I’m tired, Peter,” I said. “Time for me to head on home.”

Peter laughed. He took a step back, still raking his eyes over me like he wanted to make a meal out of me. Lust colored his eyes, making them flash gold. He was drunk with it. He was also enough regular drunk that I knew he was about to do something really stupid. Even stupider than I had been to think I could come here and be left alone.

Dammit. I’d done it to piss off Jarred. Not smart. Not smart at all.

The three other Matthews pack members closed in behind Peter. They were taking their lead from him. His naked desire made me dizzy. It scrambled my senses like alcohol. My inner wolf reared up inside me.

Peter reached for me, running his index finger down my arm. He fingered my silk sleeve and licked his lips. “You smell so good,” he whispered.

He was too close. My fangs dropped and a wave of power rose up inside me. I could kill him. I knew I could. He was bigger, stronger, faster. But, one on one, I could fight him off. He had Grady, Roy, Stephen and Tony with him though. If Peter couldn’t get a hold of himself, this could escalate into something very bad.

As Alpha of my pack, my brother could sense the shift in my emotions when I let him. Peter had me scared enough I didn’t think to shield it. Far in the distance, up near the ridge, I heard Jarred howl to the rest of the pack. If I couldn’t diffuse this quickly, they’d tear through town to get to me.

I’d made a mess of things. God, I hated when Jarred was right.

“I’m leaving,” I said, my voice tight and dry. “You need to get your hands off me and move out of the way.”

Peter caged me in, putting on hand on either side of the bar with me in the middle. His hot breath tickled my ear. He leaned in, ready to kiss me. I let a growl of warning erupt from deep inside. Peter’s eyes flashed again, but I’d only managed to stoke the flames.

“Let’s go outside,” he whispered. “I’ll take you to the woods.”

He’d lost his damn marbles. Never mind my brother tearing him a new one, he knew I could rip him to shreds.

“I think the lady would like some space.” The deep, masculine voice came from behind Peter. It rippled through me, sending my wolf senses into overdrive.

Peter growled and snapped his jaw. His fingers closed around my arm and he pulled me to the side.

“The lady and I were just talking,” Peter said. His boys backed up.

The shifter from the corner booth with the platinum hair had made his way to the end of the bar. Emmett had just given him a new beer. He leveled his fierce stare at Peter as he raised the bottle to his lips and took a sip. He posture seemed casual as he leaned with one elbow on the bar. He crossed one booted foot over the other. But, he was all coiled strength. The corded muscles of his biceps bunched as he set his bottle down. A nerve jumped in his jaw.

“Who the hell are you?” Peter asked. He let me go. My heart steadied. One kind of fight may have been diffused, but another was brewing.

Who was this guy? He had the low, rumbling energy of an Alpha. As he shifted his weight and rose to his full height, my eyes went up and up. This guy was no wolf though. His eyes didn’t flash the way mine did. Still, they held a similar, animal glint. Green. At least, that’s what I thought at first. As I looked closer, only the innermost band around his pupil flashed emerald. The outer band was gold. Not bear. Not wolf.

Peter made a tactical error. He backed up and slid a possessive arm around me. I could have thrown him off easily, but instinct told me to stay calm. We’d drawn the attention of every other shifter in the bar.

Pressure built behind my eyes. It was Jarred, trying to push his way back into my thoughts. I pushed back.

The guy at the end of the bar moved with fluid, almost serpentine grace. In the span of a second, he’d put himself within an inch of Peter. Stephen and Grady tried to block him, but got pushed back with such force they crashed into the nearest table, sending beer and pretzels flying.

“Son, you need to check yourself,” Emmett said. He had a shotgun behind the bar. He’d never be fast enough to get a shot off before one of the shifters pulled it out of his hands, but I knew he was hoping to at least draw attention away from me.

“Better listen to him,” Peter said. He let me go. I moved fast, getting in between Peter and the outsider. I put one hand flat on each of their chests. My breath caught as a static charge arced through me.

“You better go,” I said, letting my eyes flick up to my would-be savior. The hint of a smile played at the corner of his luscious, full mouth. He looked more than capable of handling Peter, but whoever he was, he wasn’t from Wild Lake. If he started a fight, the rest of the packs would finish it. No matter who he was.

“Son,” Emmett said again, louder this time. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with. This is Wild Lake. This girl...she’s trouble you don’t wanna get mixed up in.”

Emmett at least had the decency to blanch when he said it. Oddly, I knew he meant well. Even though the guy thought he was coming to my defense, he could get his throat ripped out for it.

The guy cocked his head and gave me a curious expression. His nostrils flared and his eyes widened. He scented me. Desire made my cheeks flush. He knew what I was. I just had no earthly clue what he was.

“You got that?” Peter said, growing bolder. The Lanier boys were on their feet. The front door of the bar blew open. The same wind carried my brother’s howl of warning as the pack grew closer. “Like I said, this is Wild Lake. You’d better get the hell gone.”

“Come on, Clint.” The Canadian wolf shifter pushed through the crowd. He had enough sense to understand the danger he and his companion were in. “No chick is worth getting your head ripped off for. Not even this one. Trust me. She can take care of herself.”

Clint. His name was Clint. The sound of it sent a new flare of heat straight through me.

Clint’s eyes sparked and he gave me a wry smile. He picked up his beer and chugged it. I licked my lips as I watched the muscles of his neck work as he swallowed.

The Lanier boys stood shoulder to shoulder with the Matthews pack. They formed a solid wall of muscle between Clint and me. Their intention was clear: I was theirs. Clint set his beer down and put a twenty on the bar. He gave a silent nod to Emmett, grabbed a black leather jacket off the bar stool, then turned his back to the wolves. The move showed balls of steel. He didn’t seem the least bit afraid of the six near-feral wolf shifters behind him. He just squared his shoulders and walked out of the bar with a swagger.

The wolves stood their ground until Clint was gone. They dispersed, all except for Peter. In a total misread of what just happened, he grabbed my arm again and pressed his lips to my ear.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s finish our conversation.” His wolf testosterone took over his good sense. Before I realized what was happening, he licked his way from my neck all the way to the back of my ear.

I took a step back. Peter mistook my shock for arousal and started to move in. The front door burst open. Chair legs scraped the ground in unison as Jarred charged in, his silver wolf eyes blazing.

I grabbed two fistfuls of Peter Matthews’s shirt and jerked him toward me, straight off his feet. My own wolf ignited with rage.

“You ever so much as look at me again,” I hissed, “I’ll rip your balls off.” With that, I drew on my full power and flung him away from me. He slid ass first, down the length of the bar, knocking over beer mugs along the way. He landed in a heap at my brother’s feet. He rallied quickly, his gold wolf eyes burning as he growled and took an attack stance.

Jarred’s murderous expression turned almost comical as he looked up and locked eyes with me. Rage made his skin crimson. Fangs out, he stood over Peter. This was bad. Disastrous. If Jarred or Peter made a move on each other, it could snowball. Full on pack wars had been started over less.

“Come on,” I said, grabbing my own jacket from the stool I’d been sitting on. “What took you so long?”

I put a hand on Jarred’s chest. He sputtered and tore a hand through his hair. Smiling up at him, I took his hand and led him out of the bar.