“Good morning!”

Lucy smiled at Dan, thinking he looked quite handsome this morning. He wasn't built anything like Dominic, but that was a good thing. She didn't like that look. Dan, on the other hand, was still quite strong but in a toned down way. It looked like he'd been out for a run or something. He was breathing quickly and his cheeks were bright red. "Were you outside?"

“Yup,” he grinned. “Nothing like a bear run first thing in the morning!”

"Oh." Her smile died almost at once. She didn't understand that kind of thing, having constantly pushed down her bear's need to get out. It was an on-going battle, one she fought almost every day, but still, she was determined.

“So,” Dan grinned, leaning on the counter. “What are you going to do today?”

She shrugged. “I don’t really know. Help out where I can, I guess.”

“Want to have lunch with me?”

Lucy nodded, surprised at the heat that rushed into her cheeks. “Sure, I’d like that.”

The grin on his face was immediate. “Great. And, if you want to make yourself useful, I know Jo’s keen on having this place redecorated.”

Wrinkling her nose, Lucy looked around. She wasn’t great at that kind of thing.

“Come on,” Dan laughed, seeing her expression. “I’m sure you’d look pretty cute in overalls, with a paintbrush in your hand!” He raised one eyebrow as he looked at her with his usual grin, and Lucy couldn’t help but laugh.

“Fine,” she agreed, rolling her eyes. “I’ll see what Jo wants me to do.” She couldn’t help but watch Dan as he walked away, thinking about how the sweat gleaming off his skin in the morning sun made him look even more attractive. Even if it was because he’d let his bear go running in the woods.

She'd seen the look in his eyes when she said she didn't shift. It was as if he was both shocked and horrified that she didn't let her bear out, that he simply couldn't understand why she would do that to herself. It wasn't something Lucy was used to talking about, but she could guess that Dan wanted to know more. Sighing heavily, she turned on the coffee machine and set about making a fresh pot. It wasn't something she wanted to talk about either if she was honest. She'd buried her reasons deep inside, hiding her emotions there too and choosing never to let them out again.

Dan was going to want to talk about it, though. It wasn't exactly normal for a shifter never to shift. She was probably the only one. Lucy remembered how Dominic used to brag about how he was going to be the strongest shifter around, even though he wasn't an alpha. At the time, Lucy hadn't thought much of it, but it wasn't until later when she realized just the kind of man – the kind of shifter – he was, that it all made sense. Dominic wanted to be the biggest, and the strongest so that he could dominate other people. He liked to see the fear in their eyes, whether that was in his bear skin or in his human skin. That was something Lucy absolutely hated about him. The way that other people's fear just fed him. He craved it. He wanted to be the one in charge, the one who would be respected but never respectful. He'd told her over and over that all the packs were like that, and that her ideas about having a caring, equally respectful pack were just plain stupid. Lucy hadn't believed him at first, but the more he'd told her, the more she'd believed. Then Lucas had called them, explaining his situation and asking for Dominic's help, and her dreams had shattered. When she'd heard what Lucas wanted, Lucy had pushed away all her hopes about, one day, having a good, decent pack to be a part of. Lucas had said that the Northern Wind pack was attacking this other pack, and they'd somehow managed to kill one of the Northern Wind pack members. He wanted Dominic's help for something but Lucy had stopped listening. She had decided there and then not to be a part of it and hadn't shifted since.

A sudden thought hit her. Was this the pack that had apparently killed one of Lucas's pack? That didn't seem possible. Lucy rolled her eyes to herself, realizing that she'd only known them all for half a day, but they had certainly made an impression. She couldn’t see any of them killing another shifter. Although, that being said, there were two alphas in the pack. They would certainly be able to defend themselves pretty easily if they had to. Was there another pack in the area, one that she didn't know about? Her frown deepened the more she thought about it. Lucas had wanted help to get another pack under control, which Nick had confirmed was this pack. So, had one of them killed a shifter from Lucas's pack? Had it been Dan?

All the air seemed to suck itself from her body as thought about him. Her attraction to him had been intense, but if he was a killer, then she wanted nothing to do with him.

Setting her shoulders, Lucy took in a settling breath. There was only going to be one way to settle this – she was going to have to talk to Dan and just ask him outright what had happened. If she discovered that this pack was involved in killing other shifters, no matter what the reason, then she’d leave immediately. There was no way she was going to stay here if that was the truth.

Glancing at her watch, Lucy heaved a sigh. It would be a good few hours until Dan was free to talk to her. Until then, she’d just have to hang around here and try to keep busy until he was able to speak to her. She couldn’t allow her attraction to him to grow, not until she’d found out what had happened.

 

“Oh, wonderful!”

Savannah’s voice interrupted her thoughts and Lucy jerked her head up to see Savannah smiling at her.

“Fresh coffee!” she continued. “Just what I need this morning.”

“Sure,” Lucy replied, handing her a cup. “Not much else I can do around here!”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Jo interjected, just walking in. “Dan just mentioned that you were quite open to helping me redecorate this place.”

Lucy gave her a quick smile. “I’m not sure how much good I’ll be but sure, I’d be happy to help.”

Jo grinned. “That would be fantastic. Seriously, you should have seen this place when I first arrived! It was pretty bad.”

"So you haven't always lived here?" Lucy asked, realizing how little she knew.

Shaking her head, Jo shared a quick smile with Savannah. "No, not at all. Actually, I was involved in the art industry before I came here. When Nick and Tom agreed I could stay, they said I could help out with this place, because apparently, they could ‘do with a little bit of help'." She laughed. "Turns out the business was doing well but in terms of running smoothly…" She trailed off and shook her head.

“Everything was on bits of paper,” Savanna added. “I do the finance and I’m still trying to work out who still owes what and how much we owe the taxman from the last few years!”

Lucy felt her heart grow warm at the obvious friendship between the two women. It wasn’t something she’d ever had before and she found herself almost jealous of what they shared. Perhaps she might stay and end up being a part of it. “So you came along after Jo?” she asked Savannah.

“Yes, I did.” Savannah’s smile dimmed slightly. “If you can believe it, I was actually a member of the Northern Wind pack. I mean, it’s a long story, but I ended up falling in love with Tom and staying here.”

“Wow,” Lucy replied, completely surprised. “So you know first-hand what that pack’s like?”

“Yeah, I do.” Savannah grimaced. “It’s not a good pack to be a part of. Just ask Dan, he’ll tell you what it was like.”

Lucy stared at her for a moment before recovering herself. “You mean, Dan was part of the Northern Wind pack too?”

Savannah nodded. “He was a part of Lucas’ pack for longer than me, and he was here before I came along too,” she replied.

“But not willingly,” Jo broke in, laughing.

“That’s true,” Savannah grinned, turning her attention back to Lucy. “Just ask him about it. He’ll be more than happy to tell you.”

“I will,” Lucy replied, slightly dazed at what she’d learned. “I certainly will.”