“So,” Nick began, once they’d all finished eating. “Lucy, what do you think of Dan, not knowing you were a shifter?”

She grinned, seeing Dan's glowing red cheeks. She'd was confused by the comments he'd made as they walked up to the cabin, but it all made sense now. She'd known Dan was a shifter almost immediately, but apparently, he'd thought she was just another human. It was quite endearing, in one way, even though he was still obviously embarrassed. "I'd say he's been embarrassed enough," she replied, seeing the relief on Dan's face. "So I won't be sharing my opinion."

Laughter rang out around the table, before Nick’s face grew a little more serious. “We’re happy to let you stay, Lucy, but I hope you’ll understand that we need to know a bit more about you. For example, what’s brought you to these parts?”

Lucy bit her lip, wondering how much to give away. This pack wasn’t the Northern Wind pack, that was for sure, but she was beginning to think these were the shifters Lucas wanted to take out. That didn’t bode well for Dominic, or for them. Then again, if she wanted their help - and she needed it for sure - then she was going to have to be honest.

“My brother,” she replied, eventually. “Dom came here and I came with him.” Glancing at Dan, who gave her an encouraging smile, she carried on. “It wasn’t as though I had much of a choice. Dom hasn’t exactly given me a lot of freedom. He sold our house without telling me and told me we were coming here.” Looking around the group, she took in each of their expressions.

Jo and Savannah were both nodding while looking slightly appalled at what she'd told them about Dom. Tom, on the other hand, had a dark frown on his face, while Nick had an open expression, listening carefully to everything she had to say.

"I met Dominic," Dan interjected, pressing a hand to his temple and swollen eye. "He's not a particularly nice guy - no offense, Lucy."

Lucy shook her head. “No, he’s not. That’s okay to say. To be honest, that’s why I made up my mind not to go with him.”

“Go where?” Savannah asked, softly. “Why did he come here in the first place?”

Taking a deep breath, Lucy knew she was going to have to tell them the truth. The worst thing would be for them to find out later that she’d not told them everything. Besides, she didn’t have any loyalty to either Dominic or Lucas, so what was the point in hiding it? “Dominic got a call from our cousin, asking him to come and help with his pack.”

Nick’s eyes widened. “Wait, your cousin is Lucas?”

Nodding, Lucy winced as she saw the shock and horror on all their faces, including Dan’s. “Dominic is supposed to go up to help him work out a way to get another pack - which I presume is you guys - under his control.”

“I knew it!” Tom exclaimed, getting to his feet. “I knew this was a bad idea. She has to go!” His loud voice made Lucy jump, seeing how he glared at her with a face like thunder.

“Just a minute,” Dan interrupted, also standing. “I was right there, Tom and I saw Lucy tell Dominic to leave her alone. She refused to go with him. That should mean something.”

The air grew thick with tension as Tom glared angrily at Dan. His jaw was clenched, his hands balled into fists, but Dan remained completely calm.

Lucy got to her feet, spreading her hands. She didn’t like seeing them all fighting and certainly didn’t want to be the reason for it. “Listen, I don’t want to be the cause of any friction in your pack. If you want me to go, Tom, then I will but I promise you now that I’ve got nothing to do with Lucas and the Northern Wind pack. I’m not having anything to do with either of them. I swear it.” She looked back at Tom, unafraid of his dark expression. Lucy wasn’t about to let herself be lumped in with her brute of a brother and her stupid cousin.

“Everyone sit down," Nick interrupted, his voice quiet but authoritative. "This isn't going to turn into a fight. Tom, you need to listen to what both Lucy and Dan are saying and calm yourself down." Turning back to Lucy, he gave her a smile that told her he believed everything she was saying.

“So, what is Dominic planning?”

“I don’t know,” Lucy replied, a little uneasily. “Like I said, I didn’t want to listen. What I do know is that Dominic’s got something in mind. Something that’s going to be for his benefit, of course, and no-one else’s.” Remembering how Dominic had refused to tell her exactly what his plans were and how all her instincts had warned her away from him, Lucy shook her head. Dominic wasn’t going to be up to anything good.

Jo sat forward, her eyes filled with concern. “It sounds like you don’t trust him.”

Lucy pressed her lips together to quell a wave of emotion before answering. “No, I don’t. Dominic has been a bully practically since the day he was born. He’s fought his way through life and I only stayed because I had nowhere else to go and no-one else to turn to.” Her fingers plucked nervously at her sleeves as she looked at the rest of the group. Ultimately, it would be Nick’s decision whether she stayed or not, since he was the pack leader but Lucy knew he’d be influenced by what the rest of the pack thought.

“Your brother,” Nick said, thoughtfully. “Is he an alpha?”

“No.”

“But he may as well be,” Dan interrupted. “That guy is huge! I mean, in his human skin, he’s probably a least a head taller than you, Nick and certainly much broader.”

Lucy rolled her eyes, remembering just how often Dominic had spent working on his body. He’d wanted to be the strongest guy around and she was quite sure he’d achieved that. “He basically lived at the gym,” she muttered. “He wasn’t always like that.” She listened as Dan carried on describing her brother, feeling a growing pain in her chest.

It wasn't as though she regretted her decision not to go with Dominic, but he was her brother after all. In a way, she was sad for the relationship they could have had if he'd never turned into the guy he was now. She remembered happier times when they'd laughed and smiled. That had been before Dominic had decided to use his strength against other shifters. And before he'd started saying crazy things about humans and how they should basically be servants for shifters. She didn't tell them the worst he'd said about humans, thinking it was too awful even to repeat.

“So he’s not someone to mess with,” Nick murmured, breaking into her thoughts. “No wonder Lucas wants him.”

“That doesn’t answer the question about Lucy, though,” Tom growled, his hackles still rising. “Are you going to let her stay or not?”

Lucy held her breath as Nick looked at her, waiting for his judgment to fall. He obviously had his reservations, which she couldn't blame him for. But if Nick said no, then she had nowhere else to go. Literally.

“Jo?” Nick asked, softly. “What do you think?”

"Of course we should let her stay!" Jo exclaimed, as though shocked he would even think about not letting Lucy stay. "It's not her fault her brother's an idiot!"

“I agree,” Savannah interrupted, throwing Lucy a wide smile. “Dan will take care of her too, I’m sure.”

Lucy watched Dan's cheeks fill with color. "Of course I will," he replied, before ducking his head to hide his face. At least Dan trusted her. That meant something.

Nick nodded. “Then it’s settled. Lucy, you can stay. We have a spare room and Jo can get you everything you need.”

Lucy’s entire body filled with relief and, to her embarrassment, tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. “Thank you, Nick,” she managed to say. “I’m so grateful.” Blinking furiously, she braved a quick look at Dan, who was looking at her with a slight smile on his face. Lucy didn’t know what she would have done if she’d not met him. Her vision cleared as their eyes met, and Lucy felt her heart lift in her chest. She was safe.

 

 

“Thank you, Nick,” Dan said quietly. The women were talking among themselves, and Tom and Nick were getting ready to go out to the woods. “I know that must have been a difficult decision.”

Nick studied him. “No, not really,” he replied. “No-one turns their back on their family without it being really serious. I might not have believed her if she’d just told me herself, but since you witnessed the whole thing, I have no doubt that it’s all entirely true.” He grinned. “Looks like you’ve got yourself a girl after all.”

Dan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. Considering I managed to knock her flat on her back the first time we met, I’m not exactly making a great impression.”

Laughing, Nick glanced over to Jo, Savannah, and Lucy. "I don't know, seems like you've made a pretty good impression to me. She can barely take her eyes off you."

“Really?”

Laughing again, Nick slapped Dan on the back. "We're going out for a run, do you want to come?"

His bear roared at once and Dan nodded. “Definitely.”

“Savannah? Lucy?”

Their heads turned towards him.

“We’re going to go into the woods and let our bears run for a while,” Dan continued. “Would either of you like to come?”

“Sure,” Savannah said at once, getting to her feet. “Is Tom outside?”

Nodding, Dan turned back to Lucy. "What about you?" He was quite excited to get to see her bear. He wondered what it would be like - whether it would have dark fur the same color as her hair, and what color her eyes would be.

Lucy gave him a tight smile. “No, thank you,” she replied, shaking her head. “I don’t shift.”