Chapter One
Chloe
My heart was heavy as my eyes drifted over the pack compound. Homes of varying sizes were nestled in the open field. At the center of the group were several metal buildings used for pack meetings, picnics, and parties.
Over the last eighteen months, I’d come to think of this place as home. The first real home I’d had since I lost my parents and left my pack.
Yet it was time for me to go.
Movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention. I turned and watched as a dark brown wolf loped out of the copse of trees to my left. I recognized him instantly, my heavy heart giving my sternum a hard thump. He was still too lean, his ribs pronounced in his large frame. Idly I thought that I should go over and force him to eat a few sandwiches and a couple of pieces of fruit. It wouldn’t be enough and I’d probably have to put him in a headlock before I gained his cooperation, but it was better than nothing. I could tell he still wasn’t eating as much as he should. A full-grown male wolf needed to consume thousands of calories per day to maintain their body weight. Every time I saw him, he looked as though he’d lost a few more pounds. It hurt to watch him vanish right in front of me.
As the chestnut wolf paused at the back door of a beautiful two-story house, I stepped back into the shadows on my porch. I watched as his body twisted and shivered until a naked man stood in place of the wolf. Like his animal counterpart, his muscles were leaner than they used to be, his ribs noticeably standing out in his torso. His skin was lightly tanned and his chest was covered with a dusting of brown hair.
Even in his nearly gaunt state, he was arresting. From this distance, I could make out the rugged features of his face. His brow was too heavy and his jaw too strong for him to be considered classically handsome, but they suggested a raw, animal power that some women, including myself, would find irresistible. Though his eyes were cast down, I knew from memory that they were blue. Deep, crystal clear blue, like the waters of an untouched lake, with spikes of pale azure and gray radiating from the center. Beautiful eyes that could snare you and pull you in, no matter how hard you resisted.
He climbed the steps of the porch with innate power and grace as only an animal in their prime would move. As I watched him disappear inside, I knew I wouldn’t go over and bully him into eating as I had done hundreds of times over the last year and a half. I would never again look into those dangerous blue eyes or study the way his prominent brow and cheekbones cast shadows across his face.
It was time for me to move on, time for me to finish what I had started two years ago when my parents died.
Even if it meant leaving my mate behind.
Calder’s reaction to my announcement was exactly what I expected. As the alpha of the MacIntire pack in Dallas, he took his responsibilities seriously. The fact that we’d known each other for years meant that he was even more determined to look out for me. That also might have had something to do with his mate, Ricki. She was one of my closest friends and a fierce fighter. I would know since I trained her myself.
“You’re not leaving,” he stated firmly. “I won’t allow it.” He stopped walking mid-stride, turning his body toward me. “And you know Ricki won’t stand for it either.”
I glanced around the compound, making sure there was no one within earshot. Shifter hearing could pick conversations hundreds of yards away if the people weren’t whispering. And Calder’s voice had definitely been loud.
“Let’s walk in the woods,” I invited, ensuring that our discussion would be kept private from any prying ears. “And I’ll explain.”
“You better have a damn good explanation,” he grumbled, falling back into step with me as I strode off the road, weaving between houses and heading toward the trees that surrounded the compound.
“I do. And when I’m done giving it to you, you’ll let me go.”
He grunted. “I wouldn’t be so sure. Ricki loves having you around and the pups love you too. If I don’t stop you, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Ricki will understand,” I stated firmly. “Of that I’m certain.”
He cast a sidelong look in my direction that clearly expressed his disbelief.
When we reached the tree line, I released the pent up tension I carried in my shoulders as I breathed deeply, relishing the scent of earth and late spring. Once again, my heart sank as I thought about how I would never come back here. Never enjoy the smell and the feel of this forest around me.
“Okay, so explain to me why you have to leave,” Calder insisted. “Because I still don’t understand.”
I inhaled once again, not only enjoying the perfume of the forest but also searching for any possible eavesdroppers. All I smelled were leaves and a couple of wild rabbits nearby. We were truly alone.
“When I came here two years ago, I only intended to stay for a short while,” I began. I glanced up to find Calder studying me intently so I continued. “I’m sure you remember that my parents died only a few months before that.”
He nodded, his eyes softening. “Yes, I remember. I’m sorry.”
I shrugged, shoving the pain aside. “Well, I came here because the alpha of the Austin pack didn’t want me looking into their deaths. In fact, Jacob forbade it and threatened to have me locked up if I went against his orders.”
Calder’s brows drew down over his eyes. “Look into their deaths? I thought they were killed by rogue wolves.”
“That was the official story from the MacArthur pack in Oklahoma, but my grandmother had very good reason to believe that was only part of the story. Since she was having problems with her own pack in North Carolina at the time, she couldn’t afford to go to Oklahoma to poke around. She wanted me to do it. When my alpha forbade it, I requested a transfer to the MacIntire pack.”
Calder nodded. “That’s understandable. But you have to know I would never stop you from looking into the deaths of your parents,” he explained.
“I know you wouldn’t,” I answered, smiling slightly. “I know it’s on the tip of your tongue to offer to help me, even though you’re running yourself ragged between your responsibilities as MacIntire alpha and taking care of your three pups.”
“What, are you psychic now?” he asked.
Calder looked so disgruntled I had to laugh. “No, I just know you well.”
“So I’ll send someone from the pack with you to help,” he stated.
The smile faded from my face. “No.”
“Chloe,” Calder warned. “I’m still your alpha.”
“I’ll leave the pack first,” I argued.
“Lone wolves don’t last long in this world and you know it.”
“I won’t be completely alone,” I stated. “My grandmother is helping me. She’s the one who’s setting everything up and she knows where I’ll be.” I paused. “Right now, she’s the only one I can trust with this, Calder. Well, other than you and Ricki. But this isn’t pack business. It’s family. My family. Rogues may have killed my parents, but there’s something more to the story and I intend to find out what it is.” I had other reasons for leaving, but there was no way I was going to drag Calder into my crushed dreams of mating and family. I had to handle it on my own. It was best to keep that little secret all to myself.
“Why now? Why not when you came here two years ago?” he asked, his tone exasperated. I knew then that he was going to give in.
“Things were heating up with the Faction at that time and that was more important.”
The Faction, which no longer existed, was a group of vampires, shifters, and warlocks intent on purifying the supernatural races and taking control of the humans. Their leader, Cornelius the Slayer, had been a powerful animavore. A devourer of souls, and he had been stronger than any being I’d ever met. Maybe even powerful enough to achieve the goal.
We’d lost several pack members and Calder had nearly lost his mate, but we had prevailed in the end. Rebuilding the pack and chasing down the few remaining members of the Faction had been our priority for the last eighteen months.
Then there was the matter of nursing Lachlan back to health. He had been alpha when we battled with the Faction…until his mate was murdered, a witch named Belinda. When she died, we’d nearly lost him. Calder had taken over as alpha and I had bullied, cajoled, and even once pinned Lachlan to the floor to make sure that he ate, drank, and slept instead of pining himself to death. There were some shifters who would have considered what I’d done cruel, but my wolf and I couldn’t allow him to die of grief.
“So now it’s time?” Calder asked, pulling me back into the present.
I shoved my hands into my pockets. “It’s time.”
“Well, you’d better say good-bye to Ricki or she’ll hunt your ass down.”
“I will,” I murmured.
“And Lach.”
I looked away from those knowing green eyes. “I doubt he’ll care.”
“Maybe he’ll surprise you,” he stated.
“Maybe.”
Though Calder might have been right, I didn’t intend to find out. Facing Lachlan’s indifference was more than I could bear. There was only so much pain I could take and I had already reached my limit.