Prologue

She wanted to do something nice for Dillon. Since the pack was totally out of control, he needed a place to call his own. She remembered when they surveyed the land coming across the old beat up cabin. It was the perfect place for him to be able to go to get a break.

But she wanted it to be a surprise. He’d done so much for her, and now it was her turn. She waited until he was asleep and made her way outside as quietly as possible. There was a garage that had the tools she needed to fix some things up. The cabin needed to be cleaned first.

That’s what she would do. She was restless for some reason. She had no idea why, but something told her she needed to explore the land. She might as well make herself useful. That’s how she’d always been. With parents who hated her and being raised by her aunt and uncle, Dillon was so much more than her Alpha. He was more than her cousin, too. He was the brother she never had.

This was their new home, and so far, she’d not felt at home. It didn’t matter there were other Supes in town. That should have helped, but they were dragons and even though she had no problem with them, she worried they didn’t like her.

And that was Libby’s biggest asset and flaw. She wanted everyone to like her. She went out of her way to make sure she helped the best she could. It was why she sent the other wolves over to the tribe’s land to help work on the house. It was why she got down with pitching in, too.

The night was chilly, still not quite fully summer and she enjoyed the nice breeze. She walked the path until she came to the part in the woods where the cabin was. There wasn’t a trail to find it, but she remembered everything. Being as smart as she was made it hard to find love, or even friends, for that matter. Her kind were very touchy when it came to intelligence.

She wrinkled her nose when a scent she hadn’t smelled in a long time caught her. It was that of hell. A demon had been nearby—and recently. Her hackles rose, as did her wolf, finally aware of their surroundings. Taking slow and easy steps, Libby held her broom like a sword. Not that it would do much for a demon, but she wanted to be prepared for anything.

The further she went, the more she scented. And it wasn’t just demon she was smelling…

She went around the bend and nearly tripped over a body on the ground. Even in the dark, she could tell he was in bad shape. The demon scent emanated from him and he lay face down in the grass. When she bent to roll him toward her, she touched his bare back and would have fallen had she not been so prepared to be attacked, but this was different than she expected. Her senses were assaulted by the scent of—her mate.

“Oh, gods,” she whispered. “My mate.”

After all this time of searching she’d finally found him, and now she wasn’t even sure if he was alive.

‘He can’t be dead.’

She fell to her knees and hovered over him, gripping both shoulders to flip him on his back. He was heavy and touching him was hard when her beast wanted to play, but she used her strength and rolled him over.

His eyes were shut and his body was covered in blood. After a few seconds, she learned he was alive, but barely.

He needed help, but she couldn’t very well take him home. She had an inkling of an idea of who he was, and she wanted to curse Fate for giving her a mate who had turned into a monster. How could she be with a man who killed—for fun? That’s what everyone said, but now that she got the scent of demon in her nose she wondered if maybe he didn’t do it on purpose. What if he was a victim in his own right? That could very well be the case. It was something she’d have to ask him because now that she’d found him, she was determined to save him. Though it looked like someone had tried to take his heart. Claw marks marred his pale skin.

With the amount of blood still smeared on his body, she assumed he’d lost more—somewhere else.

How did he end up here?

Maybe he scented her. She smiled at that thought. Hurt and almost near death, he had found her scent and searched her out. It was romantic… in a way.

“Shut up,” she muttered. This wasn’t the time to be romantic about him. She had to remember he was a killer. He was no innocent, not until she heard his side of the story.

“Now, what to do with you?”

It hit her that the cabin was empty and not many of the wolves knew about its existence. It was why she was fixing it up for Dillon.

That was perfect.

She was already almost there, anyways. Still, with his weight, even she would struggle to complete herself.

She sighed and tossed her supplies to the side. She’d have to come back for them. But first, she’d patch him up.

It was going to be a long night. But it would be worth it to save her mate. Maybe she could find her own home within him.