I drove home slowly, making sure I didn’t lose Cody on the way. I felt apprehension that something unpleasant might be waiting at my house, but I was sure that just about anything would be scared away by Cody’s 6’4” heavily muscled frame.

I eyed my neighborhood closely as we drove through, looking for any unusual people or cars. Nothing seemed out of place as I pulled into my driveway, but I waited at the front door for him before going in.

My security alarm started going off as I pushed the front door open, and I quickly entered my code. Cody hovered behind me as I checked the alarm activity on the security panels. There had been no activity while I was gone, and everything looked normal.

I led Cody into the house and gestured to the couch. “I’m going to shower and change really quick if you want to watch some TV.

He plopped down on the couch, and I tossed him the remote. “Do you want a drink? I have water or diet soda?”

“Water is good.”

I tossed him a bottle, then headed upstairs. I was eager to get a hot shower with decent water pressure; the locker room showers on base weren’t exactly 5-star quality. After an amazing shower, I was feeling more like myself. I wrapped a towel around my hair and pulled on my fluffy robe. I went into my closet and eyed my selection of clothing.

I had no idea what to wear to a meeting like this. Cody was wearing jeans, so I figured that would be fine. I had some black skinny jeans that Kelsey had picked out for me. I decided to dress up a little with a sweater instead of a long sleeved T-shirt.

Shoes? I had a choice of cute but uncomfortable ankle boots, flats, or Uggs. Since I was already nervous about the meeting, I went with Uggs. I know so many people out there think they are the ugliest shoes on the planet, but I am convinced that is because they have never slipped on a pair and walked on the clouds. They are the most comfortable shoes on the planet, and I desperately needed some comforting.

I towel-dried my hair the best I could, then stared at the wavy blonde mess in the mirror. I sighed and pulled out my hairdryer, I might as well go all out today. After I had my pale blonde hair looking shiny and bright, I swiped some mascara over my eyes to darken my eyelashes. I eyed myself critically in the mirror, then added some bronzer to my pale skin and a little bit of lip gloss. That was more than enough primping for me.

I headed back down to the living room, where Cody’s large frame was sprawled over my couch. He was intent on playing a game on his phone but glanced up when I jumped down the last couple of stairs. He took a second glance, then stood up. 

“You look nice…not that you didn’t look nice before…” He rubbed a hand through his hair. I was starting to realize he did that when he was nervous. I felt surprised, then flattered. I made him nervous?

“Uh, thanks,” I said awkwardly. I was eager to change the subject. “Are you ready to go?”

During the ride to the pack-master’s house, I peppered Cody with questions. Where exactly were we going? How long would it take? What was Austin like? Would more of the pack be there? How many wolves were in the pack?

He answered almost all the questions with a grunt or “You’ll see.”

I sat a couple minutes in silence to rethink my strategy for getting some answers from him. By that time, the shipyard traffic was out and the tunnel was backed up for miles. We were going to be sitting in the car for a while if we were heading to Seaside. I chewed my bottom lip and looked across the car at him from under my lashes. Maybe I should try to get him talking about casual stuff and then ease in some questions about the pack.

“What kind of music do you like?” I asked him.

He looked at me with a glint of humor in his eyes. “Giving up already? I thought you had another twenty minutes of questions in you, at the very least.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “This might seem funny to you, but this is my life that is on the line,” I told him worriedly.

He looked repentant and ran his hand through his hair. “I already promised we aren’t going to hurt you. If it will make you more comfortable, I guess it won’t hurt to tell you some things, because you are going to see them yourself when we get there.” He took a breath, and I leaned forward eagerly.

“The pack house is in Seaside. Austin has a kick-ass mansion where most of the high-ranking pack members live.”

“With all their families? That must be a huge house.” I tried picturing it.

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “The whole pack is a family.”

“That sounds nice,” I murmured wistfully. What would it have been like to grow up like that? Surrounded by a huge family, full of love.

Cody cleared his throat. “Yeah, you might meet some of them. I don’t really know who is there right now or if Austin has anything planned…”

That caught my attention. “So how long have you guys known about me?”

He looked embarrassed. “Well, our grounds border the state park that is out that way. There’s a river that separates the park from our territory.”

I felt incredibly stupid. Then Sunday night I had not only met two of their pack members, I had also been directly on their hunting grounds. I had the feeling this meeting with the pack-master was not going to go well for me, and I started to regret rushing into this.

It was kind of unbelievable that Evelyn must have lived close to them. Would they be even more angry when they realized how much time I had spent just under their noses? I was kind of surprised I had never run into any of them before, since I had spent plenty of time in Seaside or with Evelyn. Or maybe I had crossed paths with wolves before and just hadn’t realized it. Once again, I lamented the knowledge I lacked about my own kind.

Both of us got quiet, and traffic started to go faster once we got through the tunnel. I tormented myself with visions of what was going to happen to me once we got to the house and tried to come up with different ways I could turn this situation to my advantage. I came up with nothing.

Cody turned off the main road and onto a dirt road that was mostly hidden. I looked at him dubiously. “Are you sure you are not taking me into the middle of the woods to murder me?” I asked him.

He laughed. “You will see the house in a second. We don’t like anyone being able to see the house from the road. We like our privacy.”

I nodded, and true to his word, we drove up the long driveway towards the house. “Are you close to the beach?” I asked him, curious as to why they would put a mansion in the middle of the woods instead of at the beachfront.

Cody nodded. “There’s a path that goes from the house, through a small section of wooded area, and then onto the beach. We also don’t like beachgoers or passing boats to know that there is a mansion back there.”

That made sense to me. I could see why a house full of werewolves would want to stay hidden from casual human viewers.

I started to squirm as we pulled up to what Cody had described as a “kick-ass mansion.” He wasn’t exaggerating; if anything, he had undersold it. I looked down at my jeans and Uggs...why had I not decided to put on some fancy clothes?

I had a mental image of standing in a room with beautiful men and women dressed to the nines and sneering at me as if I had tracked mud into their gorgeous house. I hunched down in my seat even more as we pulled up the driveway.

There was what looked to be an eight-car garage – eight! Additionally, there was a small parking lot off to the side. Who needs a parking lot at their house? The lot was half-filled with mostly trucks and a Jeep. So, it looked like there were some members of the pack here after all.

My stomach churned, and I was glad that I had eaten that burger a few hours ago; any sooner, and it would be coming up right now.

Cody parked in front of the house and hopped out of his truck. I hesitated to get out, so he came around to the passenger door and opened it.  He gave me an encouraging look. “I promise, it is not going to be that bad.”

I just gave him a dirty look. Easy for him to say; he wasn’t the one who was about to be on trial here. He tapped his thumb on the door where he was holding it and looked at the ground, considering his next words carefully. “Not all of us here were exactly ideal candidates for a pack. Austin gave us all a chance. I’m sure that he will do the same for you.”

“So, he’s not…evil or anything?” I asked quietly, searching his eyes.

He burst out in a laugh, and I realized how childish that must have sounded. I was essentially asking him to tell me that the monster under my bed wouldn’t hurt me.

“No, he’s not evil,” he told me with a huge grin on his face. He shook his head and chuckled again before holding out a hand to help me out of the truck. I jumped down, and he shut the door behind me. He tossed his keys up and down in the air as he strode confidently toward the front door.

He opened the door and waved me in. I stepped inside and tried not to stare. I had never been anywhere this nice before. The entryway looked empty, as if someone hadn’t gotten around to decorate just yet.  Cody tilted his head to one side, almost as if listening, then stated, “Office.”

He strode off, and I slunk along slowly behind him. He reached a door around the corner and down the hall and stopped. He looked back at me, as if he was just realizing that I hadn’t been right behind him the entire time. 

I hurried a little, as I realized he was waiting at the door for me. The closer I got to the door, the harder my heart was pounding. I fought the urge to turn and run the other way. Almost in slow motion, Cody turned the door handle and opened the door.

My eyes were drawn to the two men across the room. One was sitting behind a giant desk, and the other was half-sitting, half-leaning on the front right side of the desk. Both had their eyes on me with weighted stares. Cody had to nudge me forward a little until I was completely in the room.

“Thanks, Cody,” the man behind the desk stated. I couldn’t tell how tall he was while he was sitting, but he was certainly good looking, with dark golden hair and light eyes.  He was dressed in slacks and a button-down shirt with a few of the top buttons opened. His sleeves were rolled up, and I could see tattoos on his arms, which was an interesting look for someone dressed as a businessman.

I heard the click of the door behind me, and I turned to look for Cody. He was gone, and he had left me here with there with two strangers. I took a couple steps backwards until my back was pressed up against the door.

The main with the dark hair stood completely up from the desk he had been leaning on and started towards me. I just stared at him with huge eyes. He was almost as tall as Cody, and he was muscled, but in a leaner way. He had dark hair and olive skin; he looked Italian or Mediterranean, maybe. He stopped 3 feet in front of me, and we just stared at each other.

“James,” the man at the desk murmured softly. My eyes snapped over to him where he was now leaning forward on the desk with his hands folded in front of him.

James relaxed a little. “Anna, you were not an easy person to track down.”

“Well, why were you tracking me, James?” I answered snarkily.

He snorted. “I received word from two of our wolves on patrol that they had found a fluffy little white wolf prancing around on our territory.”

I huffed. “I’m not fluffy, and I don’t prance.”

“In my report, there was mention of firefly chasing.” He smirked. “Do you also chase butterflies in the daytime?” I turned bright red, mostly because he was right. My wolf loved to play and chase things. Fireflies and butterflies were included on that list of things.

I squared my shoulders back and stepped forward. I was not going to cower in front of this…ass.

I decided to ignore him for the moment and focused on the man with the golden hair at the desk. “I guess I can assume you’re Austin?”

He smiled and leaned back in the chair. “I am.”

“That’s the way you’re going to petition to join our pack?” James asked incredulously.

I just looked at him. I had no idea how I was supposed to petition for a pack. I was a little surprised that joining their pack was an option.  I had been expecting to have to finagle my way out of torture and murder like Evelyn had described so many times. Although, by the way that James was looking at me now, torture and murder might still be on the table.

“James is our security expert. He does the initial screening to see if a person is a potential candidate for membership in our pack.”

James scowled. I had the feeling that if it were up to him, I would not be a potential candidate.

“From a security perspective, we do have some questions for you before we can move forward. I see you have a security clearance with the military already. That’s good.” Austin turned the page in an open folder, and I slid a little further into the room. Was that a folder on me?

James swung his arm wide. “Please, come in, have a seat.” Sarcasm dripped from his words.

I didn’t even give him the satisfaction of glaring at him. I just stalked across the room with my head held high and settled into one of the two plush chairs sitting in front of the desk and folded my hands in my lap. James followed me and took up his spot at the front of the desk. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at me. I ignored him.

Austin just smiled at me again. “You currently work for the Navy. That is also good. Almost all of us here are prior or active duty military.”

My jaw dropped. “How could any of you have been in the military? I thought wolves couldn’t join?”

James chuckled. “Who told you that, little wolf?”

“I…” I didn’t want to mention Evelyn to him. If he did anything to disrespect her memory, I would probably launch myself at him in an attempt to wipe that smirk right off his face.

I just shrugged. “I guess I just thought it would be too difficult to hide what we are.”

Thankfully, he left the topic alone, and Austin continued. “One thing that James could not figure out is where you came from initially.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw James’ face tighten. I imagine that he would not like to be reminded of his failings. I made a note to myself to mention them often. And repeatedly.

“I don’t know either,” I answered honestly. “All I know is that I was adopted. I tried to go online to see if I could use one of those services that links up adopted kids with their birth parents, but I didn’t have any luck.”

I had tried with desperation for years, praying that someone would come take me away from my uncle and the hell I lived in. No one ever did, and I stopped looking once I turned 18 and was out of the house. I figured that if my birth parents wanted to be a part of my life, they would have done so already. Evelyn was more than enough family for me.

However, I was not about to let James know about any of that. I’m sure his research would have shown that I had a relatively normal childhood; Uncle was very careful about what was said about him in the community.

Austin just gave a quiet hum at my answer and continued to look through the folder. I leaned forward as far as I could without being obvious about it, but I really wanted to know what was in that folder.

James tapped his fingers on the desk impatiently. “Do you mind if I get straight to the heart of the matter?”

Austin waved a few fingers in the air without looking up, giving James permission to ask his questions.

“Why was your scent all over the scene of my murder investigation?”

My heart stopped. He had to be talking about Evelyn. “What murder are you investigating?” I asked cautiously.

“Have you pranced through multiple crime scenes lately? You’re having a difficult time telling which one I’m talking about?”

I ground my teeth. I really did not like this guy.

“Well, if there were butterflies involved, I might not have noticed a crime scene,” I replied sweetly.

A laugh burst out of Austin, and James’ face got redder than I thought possible.

“I’m talking about Evelyn Heights,” he ground out.

“That was actually my crime scene investigation,” I told him. “And if you were a good security expert, you would know exactly why I was there.” I crossed my arms across my chest as I sat back in the chair and gazed at him defiantly as I spoke.

At this point, I was sure that he was one of the two men I saw breaking into Evelyn’s house, so I decided to instigate him further. “And you should have also realized I was watching you go through her house later that night. I still haven’t crossed you off my list of suspects.”

James spluttered, so I think that I had assumed correctly, and he had been one of the burglars. Austin chuckled. “I can assure you that James is not the murderer,” he told me. “I had a close eye on him all Saturday night.”

“While you were sleeping?” I looked at him doubtfully. “And what about early that morning?”

“We were on a pack run that night out in the country. I assure you that his alibi is airtight.” Austin still seemed amused, which I took to be a good sign.

“It sounds like James could probably use your help with the investigation,” Austin told me with a twinkle in his eye. It turned out I was wrong; James’ face could get redder. I think Austin might be trying to see just how red he got before he exploded.

“I guess I could help him out,” I groused, playing along with Austin.

“Excellent,” Austin stated. “We don’t offer anyone pack membership right away. We have a thirty-day trial, then a year probation before you are officially in the pack.”

“That seems fair,” I answered. Maybe these wolves were not as bad as the ones Evelyn grew up with. There are bad humans and good humans out there. It makes sense that wolves would also be a mix, since we are human part of the time.

“I need to go over the pack rules with you, to see if you would be able to live with them,” he told me seriously.

My anxiety crept back up, this where he was going to tell me about horrible things that I was going to have to do to be in his pack.

“The first rule is that we always support each other.”

I nodded in confusion.

Austin smiled reassuringly; “What I mean by that is, we treat each other as family. We are organized with a rank structure, but at the end of the day we are all brothers and we always have our brothers’ backs.”

That didn’t sound too bad. That actually sounded nice.

“The second rule is that you respect the rank system that we have in place. You don’t issue challenges, and you don’t disrespect anyone higher ranking or disobey orders. If you have a problem with the way that a superior treats you or something that they ask you to do, you come to Cody, James, or myself. We will sit down with you and work out the problem without having violence involved. Violence within the pack is forbidden.”

I nodded again. None of that would be a problem for me; a non-violent pack sounded exactly like something I would want.

“The next rule is that everyone works for the good of the pack, and everyone contributes. We make sure everyone has a home, a good job, and everything that they need. In return, we ask you to work for the pack or work for one of the businesses that the pack operates.”

I looked at him nervously. “Does your pack currently have an opening for a pharmacist?” I asked dubiously.

James snorted, and Austin shot him a look.

“I understand that you currently work for a military hospital?”

“Yes,” I answered, probably unnecessarily. I’m sure my entire life was written in the fold that he had in front of him.

“We have some pack members who are currently serving active duty or who are enrolled full time in college, so we are flexible with how we can work with you. I will most likely assign you duties that serve the interests of the pack directly, instead of assigning you to a work detail at one of our companies.”

“So, I would be allowed to keep my job?” I asked hopefully.

Austin gave me a warm smile. “Yes, I can see that you like your job. I don’t want to take that away from you. We can find things to work around your schedule.”

My heart started to get lighter. Maybe this could work! Never, had I ever thought that I might be able to join a pack one day, I certainly never thought that I would get to be part of a pack that was so opposite to everything Evelyn had told me about. I was starting to get excited at the thought.

Austin nodded. “Let’s talk about rank,” he continued. “We don’t fight for dominance like a lot of other packs do. You probably think that is odd.”

I shook my head no. I had no idea how other packs worked, not that I wanted to admit that to James.

Austin looked more animated as he spoke. “We use more of a military structure here. Rank is based on your desire and ability to lead, job skills, and merit. Physical strength might factor into some of the work assignments we take on, but strength and the ability to fight well do not always make a good leader.”

I nodded along as he spoke. He was very charismatic, and I could tell this was an important issue to him. What he was saying so far definitely made sense, and I could see huge differences from what Evelyn had told me about wolves.

“We do a lot of things differently in this pack, as you will start to notice as you spend more time with us. Not everyone in the wolf community likes that we are doing something different here, and not everyone is a good fit for our pack. If we decide this isn’t a good fit for you, I will do everything I can to find you a pack that would be a good fit.”

I was surprised at his earnestness and a little touched by his concern for my well-being.

“I take it you are most familiar with the Navy rank structure?” I nodded in agreement.

“We have two prior Navy in the pack, but the majority of us are former Army or prior active duty Marines,” Austin told me. I smiled a little that he had called the Marines “prior active duty.” Most Marines very strongly objected to being called former Marines or ex-Marines; they believed ‘once a Marine, always a Marine.’

My attention went back to Austin as he continued. “You are a civilian at the hospital. Where do you fit in the military ranking system there? Are civilians kept separate or incorporated into the military structure?”

Finally, here was a question I could answer. “Our mission at the hospital is patient care. The CO runs the command similar to the way a ship would be run, with some obvious differences.”

James and Austin seemed to be listening closely, so I continued. “In my department, all the pharmacists are expected to do the same job, whether they are active duty, reservists, GS or contract. The military officers do have some additional requirements and command duties that they are expected to complete, but for the most part we are all interchangeable and work on a rotating schedule.”

He nodded. “That’s unusual to see in the field, but I can understand how health care would be different.”

I nodded. “While at work, a nurse is a nurse, a doctor is a doctor, and a pharmacist is a pharmacist.”

“So, if you were in the Navy, what would your equivalent rank be?”

“Pharmacists are lieutenants when they first come in. The first few years, they do mostly staffing and then get put into more leadership positions. As a staff pharmacist, I would be doing the job of a lieutenant for life, whereas most of the lieutenants I work with now will more into Division Officer or Department Head positions once they reach Lieutenant Commander or Commander.”

“So, an O3?”

James laughed. “There is no way. We would only consider a status like that for someone who we were recruiting with significant leadership experience in both the military and their prior pack. You have neither of those. I don’t see that you have anything that you can bring to the pack.”

The tiny tendrils of hope that had been growing in my heart shriveled at his words. He was right, what did I have to offer any of them?

“James,” Austin said softly.

“It’s better to be harsh now than to give her false hope.”

“Anna, can you step outside for a moment while James and I consult?”

I nodded and walked to the door quickly. The solid wood door was heavier than expected. I stepped out and allowed the door to sink closed behind me with a thunk.

I didn’t see anyone else in the hallway. Cody had disappeared completely, and I listened for signs of anyone nearby. Seeing no one, I couldn’t help my curiosity and placed my ear against the door to see if I could hear anything.

Nothing.

I slid down the wall and sat down to wait. I had a feeling this was going to be a long conversation between them. I fantasized for a moment about what it would be like to be accepted into a pack as a family member. I had spent most of my life being on the outside looking in. What would it be like to be one of those happy, smiling people at barbecues and Thanksgiving dinners? I imagined feeling safe, protected, loved, but what could I offer them in return?

I looked around the hall of the giant mansion I was in. They had money, they probably had professional chefs, maids, and other workers to fill the typical “female” duties of a household. I wasn’t looking to be a housewife, kept at home to take care of the house anyway, but I couldn’t think of what other duties they might assign me.

Austin never specifically said what jobs their pack was involved in, but I was guessing that those jobs relied heavily on military skills. Skills that I did not have. I really hoped that whatever military-like jobs this pack was taking on were on behalf of bettering the world. Austin seemed like a good guy, but I could see James being the head of an international league of assassins.

I heard voices coming towards me, and I scrambled up off the floor. It sounded like several people were coming in the same way that I had earlier; they were headed this way. Just as they were about to turn the corner so I could get a look at who it was, the door to Austin’s office opened back up.

James scowled at me and gestured for me to come back in. Austin smiled at me from his chair behind the desk, and I took a seat back in the same chair I had occupied earlier.

“We have decided that it would not be fair for us to place you in a position of authority over anyone in our pack.”

My heart sunk. This was it, they were going to toss me out of the house, out of their territory. I would be homeless, jobless, friendless, and family-less, if that last one was even a word. I tried to push those thoughts away so I could think of what I was going to do.

Austin continued. “But we still want to offer you a position here in the pack.”

I looked up hopefully. “So, I’ll just be ranked at the bottom?” That couldn’t be that bad, could it?

They both looked uncomfortable.

“That would not be a good idea either,” Austin told me hesitantly.

I was confused.

“So…where does that leave me?”

James and Austin looked at each other, then at me.

“We’re not sure just yet,” Austin murmured.

Suddenly, a crazy idea came to me. “Did you know that the Vatican is actually its own country inside of Rome?”

James looked confused at the abrupt change in subject, but Austin cocked his head at me and a grin suddenly spread over his face. I could see that he knew where I was going with this right away.

“So, what you are saying is that you have essentially been maintaining your own pack lands inside of my territory.”

“Not exactly. It’s more like your territory just happens to surround mine,” I told him confidently.

Austin laughed.

James looked at Austin incredulously. “You are not seriously thinking about this. She cannot have a piece of our territory to have a pretend-pack.”

“I think that what Anna is suggesting is that we merge our packs.”

I nodded. “So, I wouldn’t need to be incorporated into the pack hierarchy right away.”

“That is not how this works,” James ground out, his teeth clenched.

Austin nodded to agree with him. “That wouldn’t work. But your idea of a separate pack gives me another idea. Females could be ranked separately from males in the pack. Everyone would still fall under my authority, but females would have a different chain of command that reported directly to me.”

I nodded. The only problem would be the other females in the pack. How would they feel about being considered ‘separate’ from the men in the pack? I could see this not going over well.

“How many females are in your pack?”

Austin considered. “Including you. That would be one.”

My jaw dropped. “You don’t have any females in your pack. Isn’t that unusual?”

“We didn’t see a need for any,” James arrogantly told me. Have I mentioned how much I really did not like this guy?

“What James means to say is that we have not found any females who would mesh well with our mission and our pack. Most females tend to be...difficult.”

“Not all females are the same.” I was steaming. “I understand that females are not welcome in all parts of the military, and I even understand some of the reasoning behind it. But females are not worthless and can contribute a lot to your mission and to your pack.”

“And that’s one of the reasons why I want you here,” Austin interrupted. “A lot of the guys in the pack have had negative interactions with females, and it has affected the way they view females in general. We need a good female to show them how awesome the female half of our species is.”

I did feel a little better at that. I could understand how they felt because I had a somewhat negative view of men, both from my experience with my uncle and the fear of male wolves that Evelyn had instilled inside me. I knew that I had some issues to work through, so I would be a hypocrite for judging anyone for having similar issues.

“So, we will merge our packs,” Austin announced with a grin. James rolled his eyes.

“It is not going to be easy to introduce the pack to this. You are going to have to work hard to prove yourself,” Austin warned me.

I nodded. I was no stranger to that.

“James and I are going to have to work out a plan to introduce you to the pack. It is going to take some time for you to be fully incorporated, and I will let you know what your next step is. For now, I need you to keep your head down and not attract any attention from outside wolves.”

I nodded again. I had a lot of competing emotions swirling around in my head. I was excited that I was going to get a chance to be a part of the pack, but I was worried they would never really accept me.

Would this be like going back to high school? Surrounded by mean girls and tormented daily? Only in this scenario, the mean girls from high school would instead be vicious wolves.

I cannot see this going badly at all, I thought sarcastically to myself.

Austin considered me. “It has also been obvious during our conversation that you don’t follow the usual customs.”

I just looked at him with a confused look on my face.

James snorted. “She’s never been part of a pack before. How would she know?”

“Yes, that makes sense. So much of what we are is ingrained in us since birth, I forget how much you would have missed out on being raised as a human.”

My face turned bright red with embarrassment. “Uh, I hope I didn’t do anything to offend you?”

“Well, you certainly did not act appropriately for a lone wolf coming to speak with a pack-master and ask for admittance into his pack,” James told me sternly.

I just glared at James. I wasn’t asking him if he was offended.

Austin didn’t seem to be offended and still had a grin on his face. He stood up, and I sensed that our meeting had reached its conclusion.

There were still so many questions that I needed answered before I could walk away. I decided to stick with the most important of all of them. “What about the investigation? Whoever murdered Evelyn is still out there, and they think they got away with it,” I said angrily.

“This seems more personal than just investigating a wolf kill near your territory.” James eyed me suspiciously.

Had I given him too much credit? He must not know as much as he thinks he does. Evelyn had always been careful not to have my name associated with hers. I guess the only way we could be linked together is from one of my co-workers mentioning I brought her to events, or by realizing that I lived in the same neighborhood as she did when I was growing up.

I decided that since Austin was taking a chance on me and trusting me by letting me into his pack, I should also make an effort to trust him.

I cleared my throat. “Evelyn was like a grandmother to me. She was a neighbor when I was growing up, and she was the one who told me what I was and guided me through my change.”

James and Austin both looked shocked. Austin sat back in his chair, and James pulled out the chair next to mine and sat. Of course, he was careful to pull it a safe distance away from mine.

They both looked at each other, having a silent conversation.

James put his head in his hands. “I can’t believe I missed that.”

Austin looked at me sharply. “She wasn’t a wolf?”

I shook my head no. “Not exactly. Her father was a wolf, but her mother was human. Her father kept her in the pack for…breeding purposes. Her father gave her to another male wolf, and she had a daughter. The pack kept both of them as prisoners to keep the generations going. But her daughter did not survive the…breeding efforts.” Even James looked horrified at that.

“Evelyn ran from the pack and has been in hiding ever since. She figured out what I was and took care of me despite everything that had been done to her. She loved me as if I were her own granddaughter and taught me everything I know about wolves.”

“That definitely explains why you were so terrified to be brought in here.” Austin gazed at me sympathetically. “If I had known a little more about your past, I would have handled this situation much differently.

James looked guilty. “I…”

“Not your fault,” Austin assured him. “It seems like our new wolf is very good at hiding and keeping secrets. I think she is going to fit in here just fine.”

James glanced at me, and I think he was feeling a little repentant for being such an ass to me, but he didn’t speak.

“So, did you guys steal Evelyn’s body, or was that the murderers?” I blurted out.

Austin’s eyebrows rose, and he looked at James. James scowled. “No one stole the body. I notified the appropriate chain of command that there was a possible wolf kill on our territory. They have a protocol for how they dispose of the evidence.”

Rage rose inside me, and I growled. “Evelyn was not evidence to be disposed of,” I told him angrily. “She was everything to me!” I had angry tears leaking out of the corners of my eyes, and I brushed them away impatiently.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” James said softly with an apology in his eyes. I tried to push my anger down; being angry would only hurt me, not them.

Austin cut in. “What James means to say is that we are both sorry for your loss and we are here for you. We are your pack now, and we are going to help you through this.”

I took a deep breath to calm down. I felt reassured by Austin’s words and by the sincerity in his eyes. I had been at a complete standstill in my investigation, with no idea of where to turn next when Cody had tracked me down. Maybe being found by these wolves would turn out to be a good thing if they could help me track down Evelyn’s killers and get justice for her.

“Thank you,” I told him quietly. “Could you help me to locate her remains? I want to plan a service for her, to say goodbye.” I tried to finish my sentence without breaking down in tears in front of these guys, but I couldn’t get the words out without my voice breaking at the end. I cleared my throat in embarrassment, and both of them pretended that I was not about to have an emotional breakdown. I appreciated that and tried to pull myself together.

Austin turned to James. “I’m sure we could coordinate that. James, could you make the necessary arrangements?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” James answered without any expression on his face.

I looked at him doubtfully, but his answer seemed to satisfy Austin, because he nodded at James.

“And her house?” I added. I didn’t want some stranger going through all of her things.

“She didn’t name you executor of the estate?” Austin asked, looking confused.

“She didn’t want my name associated with hers in any way, in case her old pack came looking. She didn’t want anything of hers to lead them to me.”

James nodded. “That was smart. If she had named you, you would have been my first stop on my investigation.”

Austin gave him an unreadable look. “If she didn’t name anyone specifically as an heir, we can make sure the house goes to the pack. We will help you to go through her things and decide what to do when you are ready, there’s no rush.”

I was relieved. “Thank you.”

Austin drummed his fingers on the table top and changed the topic of conversation. “So, the reason you were hiding on base was from Evelyn’s old pack, and not from us?”

I was surprised, they knew that I had been hiding on base?

“I didn’t even realize there was a pack here,” I answered honestly.

“Hmmm…I think we are going to change our plans. I am going to have you stay here for a while until we can determine if Evelyn’s old pack knows about you,” Austin told me as he tapped his fingers on the desk thoughtfully.

As much as I wanted to protest, I was also afraid to go home alone. I was uncomfortable with the idea of staying here. I was not the type of person who belonged in a fancy mansion. I was also uncomfortable knowing that the mansion was full of wolves that I had yet to meet. I really just wanted to go home and snuggle up in my own bed, but that was not an option.

“I could stay at a hotel or something. I don’t want to impose,” I suggested cautiously.

“I know this place must look kind of small, but I promise we can find some space for you,” Austin stated with a sparkle in his eye.

He turned to James. “Can we have Cody take her back home to get her things?”

“Cody’s busy.”

“Who else do we have?”

James winced. “The twins should be done with classes for the day.”

Austin groaned.

“It’s them or one of us,” James pointed out.

“You’re going to have to talk with them first,” Austin told him. James nodded and rose. He headed towards the door without another glance at me.

It was just me and Austin alone in the office now as James closed the door behind him.

Austin cleared his throat and looked awkward. “I know you may have heard the worst about our kind, but I want you to realize that not all packs are like that. There are still a lot of packs out there who are old fashioned and believe that we should be ruled by violence and instinct, but my pack is unique. I’m trying to prove that we can evolve, we can be better.”

That explained why he was so passionate about how he ran his pack. He was essentially running a social experiment in an attempt to convince wolf society that they needed to change.

“I understand. I want you to know that I am on board with the mission, and I will do whatever I can to help,” I told him readily. It was true. From everything that he had told me about his pack and his mission, this was something that I wanted to be a part of. I was hopeful that I could find a place to belong here in the pack.

He smiled at me. “I appreciate that. James should be back with the twins in a moment. I have to warn you that they can be a little rambunctious at times, but their hearts are in the right place.”

“They are adults, right?” I asked hesitantly.

He barked out a laugh. “Yes, it will be quite obvious they are adults when you meet them.”

I blushed. I had one more question that I absolutely needed to ask, but I had no idea how to approach Austin with the issue. I was really embarrassed to be asking at all, but I wanted to be prepared.

“Um, so you know, Evelyn had told me some stories from her old pack and how they treated the females. I have to ask…am I safe here, in the mansion with other wolves around?” My voice ended in a whisper, and I could feel my face burning in embarrassment.

Austin started to reach out for me, then stopped when he saw me flinch. He dropped his arms to his sides. “I’m sorry about anything that happened to Evelyn, or to you in the past, but I promise you that no one in my pack will harm you or lay a hand on you.” He spoke softly, a worried look in his eye.

“This pack is different for a lot of reasons, but one thing I will tell you is that no one was born into this pack. Everyone here was hand-selected to join by me.”

I was surprised. “I thought your pack was hereditary unless you were traded to a different pack.”

“Normally, it is. But I claimed a small amount of land and built my pack from nothing. I trust every single person in this pack. They are all good men. And now I have a good woman here as well.” He smiled at me encouragingly.

I hoped I would be able to meet his expectations. I wasn’t exactly sure what I would be doing for the pack, but I had the impression he didn’t have a clear plan either.

“James should have briefed the twins by now. Let’s go introduce you to them.” I stood up and headed to the door with him close behind me. I started to open the door, and he pulled it open the rest of the way and held it so that I could step through.

James was in the hall with two men. His back was to me, but the other two men were facing me. One was scowling at James. “So, you want us to teach her how to be a wolf?”

The second man nudged him and tilted his head towards me and Austin coming out of the office.

James turned toward us with a look of exasperation on his face, and the two twins eyed me curiously.

“Anna, this is Mason and Jason.” Seriously? Their parents gave them rhyming names? Poor guys, they probably had to wear matching clothes, too, while they were kids. I kept my thoughts to myself and tried to smile through my nervousness.

It didn’t help that these guys were insanely hot. James was good looking in a scary way, and Austin was handsome but a little intimidating as the pack-master. These guys were just gorgeous. They were tall like James and Austin but not quite as tall as Cody. They both had light brown hair with some gold highlights from the sun. Their matching hazel eyes were both trained on me.

What was it with this pack and tall, good looking men? I felt a little self-conscious, because I didn’t look like I belonged in this group of beautiful people; I was more of a plain Jane.

I gave an awkward wave at the twins. One smiled in a friendly way, the other still had the hints of a scowl on his face but nodded at me in greeting.

“Your orders are to stay with her. Keep her safe, teach her what she needs to know to fit in the pack, and keep your hands off her. Any questions?” Austin barked out at them.

“No, sir,” they both replied in unison, standing up straight.

“Very good. James, I believe we had a few more things to discuss?”

I could tell already that Austin was different with me than he was with the other pack members. He had a little bit of softness in his eyes when he looked at me that was missing when he looked at the guys.

I wasn’t sure if that was going to bode well for me or end up causing trouble with the rest of the pack. If they thought I was being treated favorably because I was a girl, that would undermine my goal of teaching the pack that women could be their equal.

I sighed to myself but brushed those thoughts aside for now. Right now, I had twins to deal with. There was a moment of silence after the door clicked shut behind Austin and James.

All three of us stood there awkwardly. I decided to break the ice. “So, um, Austin didn’t say which one of you was which?”

They both laughed. The scowly one answered me. “Most people tend to treat both of us as one unit, ‘the twins’ or ‘Mason and Jason’ together as one phrase.” He made air quotes with his hands.

“I’m Jason,” the friendlier of the two answered. So, that means Mr. Grumpy was Mason.

I looked at them both carefully, cataloguing any distinguishing marks that would keep me from embarrassing myself by calling them by the wrong names.

“I heard Mary Kate and Ashley had the same problem growing up,” I blurted out, falling victim to my nervousness causing my awful humor to emerge. The scowl lifted from Mason, and he looked amused. At least that got him moving in the right direction, I told myself.

“James said we need to take you home to pack up your stuff?”

“Which room did he say you could have here? Is he going to let you have the big room next to his?

The twins asked me questions right after the other.

“I do need to get some stuff. He didn’t mention how long I was staying, but he said he could find space for me,” I said, meeting each of their eyes as I answered their questions.

They both shrugged. “Let’s go.”

Mason tossed his keys up in the air absentmindedly as he walked, and Jason snatched them out of his reach before they came back down.

“I’m driving this time.”

“Fine, but I call shotgun.”

They both glanced at me, as if expecting an argument. “Fine with me.”

We walked out the front door, and Mason headed toward a silver Jeep parked in the parking lot next to the house. Jason hesitated and looked at the garage. He got a mischievous look in his eye. Mason looked back at him. “What?”

“We should take the Range Rover. They are going to be in a meeting for a while.”

Mason’s eyes twinkled back at him. “James will be pissed.”

“Then I vote yes.” They both looked at me in surprise, and huge grins broke out on their faces. Good lord. I thought they were good looking before.

Jason bounded back into the house, shouting over his shoulder, “I’ll bring it out front.”

“James keeps his keys in the garage,” Mason told me as Jason disappeared into the house. “He changed his hiding place from last time, but you would think he would learn his lesson.” Mason shook his head with a shit-eating grin on his face.

I chuckled. “So, I’m not the only person that James is a complete ass-hat, too?”

Mason laughed and reached out to put his arm around my shoulders. “I like you.”

I tried not to flinch, but my body was tense. I hated the fact that I reacted like this to any type of physical affection, but I took a deep breath and concentrated on making sure it wasn’t noticeable.

The sound of one of the garage doors opening caught our attention, and Mason dropped his arm as we walked over to the slowly opening garage bay. Jason was sitting in the driver’s seat of a brand new, very shiny black Range Rover.

Mason opened the front passenger side door and gestured for me to get in.

I put my hand over my heart. “Are you offering me shotgun?”

He smirked. “Don’t get used to it. I’m just being nice since it’s your first day with us.”

I hopped in, and he shut the door behind me. This was a nice car; the inside of it was just as impeccably kept as the outside. I looked up at Jason. “So, we are definitely going to get this car muddy before we bring it back, right?”

“I like you,” he answered. He met Mason’s eyes through the rear-view mirror. “I vote we make her part of the team.”

“Agreed. You’re in trouble now,” Mason warned from the back. “It’s not often we agreed to let just anyone in on our shenanigans.”

I laughed and leaned back in the seat. Maybe being in a pack wasn’t going to be as terrifying as I thought. It might turn out to be even better than I hoped for.