AT SOME POINT in the night the upstairs got too hot, so I opened my door and cracked my window to allow for a cross breeze. This permitted a certain tiny kitten to jump up on my bed and sleep atop my head. As the early morning light peeked into the room, I cracked open my eyes to see a small paw on my forehead.

I groaned. “Mittens, get off.” I shook my head a little to dislodge her, and she must have thought it was my invitation to play, because she began attacking my hair, causing me to yelp and sit up.

“Ow!” I shouted at her, and her mood changed lightning-quick as she leapt onto my lap, purring and kneading my thigh like a well-trained masseuse.

A shadow at the open doorway caught my attention. Logan was standing shirtless in low slung sweats. He looked perfect, and here I was with a cat-hair rat’s nest on my head and yesterday’s make up.

“She’s a horrible bed mate,” Logan warned me.

I scratched Mitten’s head and her purr ramped up a notch. “Yeah, I gathered that when I woke up at 2AM with her tail in my mouth.”

Logan smiled sheepishly. “Ready to train? Nadine is suiting up.”

I groaned. I hated working out. Like, my workout hate was so strong I didn’t even own workout clothes. I was the only chick in America not to own a pair of yoga pants.

Logan’s brows knitted. “If you’re not a fan of lifting weights, we can start with a run.”

A run! I groaned louder and Mitten’s hair stood up on end as she hissed at me. Crazy cat.

“Look, there’s something you should know about me. My favorite activity is sitting on the couch and drawing while devouring a bag of potato chips. Unless I’m running for my life from some hunters, I don’t run.”

Logan’s eyes danced with amusement but his face didn’t crack a smile. “Have you ever played sports?”

I nodded. “I played competitive soccer for ten years.”

He looked shocked. “Perfect.”

I cocked my head to the side. “I was the goalie.”

“Oh.” His face fell.

I was damn good at stopping that ball; my reflexes were insanely fast. Almost not human now that I thought of it. But running? Lifting weights. Never.

“Do you like living?” Logan finally asked me as Nadine slipped into the open doorway beside him.

I rolled my eyes. “Obviously.”

Logan shrugged. “Then this is going to be the hardest week of your life, because there will be running. There will be lifting weights. And there will be no potato chips. If you want to survive attacks from hunters and druids, you need to train.”

Dammit. My twenty-one years of laziness were gone. Rest in peace.

Nadine looked at my pathetic pile of clothes stacked in the corner of the room. “Do you own workout clothes? Tennis shoes?”

I shook my head. “Nope. All a part of my genius plan to avoid exercise.”

Nadine smiled. “I like her,” she told Logan, and chucked a pair of hot pink sneakers at me. I caught them midair as Mittens flew from my lap and into the safety of Logan’s arms.

“Meet us downstairs in five,” Logan told me sternly as he and Nadine left me to myself.

I looked at the clock on the night table and inwardly shivered. It was 6:06 AM. An ungodly hour. If there were two things that were true to my soul, it’s that, one: I hated exercise, and two: I was not a morning person.

I rifled through my pile of clothes and found some black knit harem pants and a lacy bralette that might pass for a sports bra. Then I slipped on a long sleeve V-neck and put on the pink tennis shoes. It wasn’t exactly attractive, but it would do.

After slipping into the bathroom to brush my teeth, I made my way downstairs. Sophie was wearing skin-tight leggings and a bright pink sports bra, her hair into a high pony tail as she flipped some eggs on the stove. Nadine and Logan were stretching, and I noticed Dom was asleep sitting up in the corner of the room with his gun on his lap, finger on the trigger.

Sophie looked back as if she sensed me; when she got a look at my outfit she stifled a smile. Scooping some eggs on a plate, she motioned towards them.

“None of the idiots around here can cook, so I’m left with the job,” she told me, as if that was some sparkling invitation to eat the eggs she had just made.

I grabbed the plate. “Well, I’m a pretty good cook, so I don’t mind helping out.”

Her body flinched for a moment and then relaxed. “Cool,” she said.

“Is Keegan still asleep?” I directed my question at Nadine.

She shook her head. “Nah, he got up about an hour ago. There is an alpha nearby and he wanted to introduce himself and let him know this is our new territory.”

Let him know. Not ask him. I raised an eyebrow and Nadine laughed. “Cooper and Gear went with him. He’ll be fine.”

I shoveled the eggs in my mouth and looked at Logan, who was staring at me with a smirk. “I’m afraid if I train you right away I might kill you. So go for a light jog with Nadine and then meet me in the barn.”

Dick #2. Keegan definitely got the #1 spot, but Logan was close behind.

“I can run when my life depends on it,” I informed him with a glare. All of a sudden I felt butt hurt that Sophie’s ass looked like you could bounce a penny off of it and mine had a unique jiggle. My eyes fell on Nadine’s arms and I decided that she was probably stronger than Gear. Those guns were toned.

“I know. But when you stop, and you’re out of breath and weak, that’s when the hunters attack,” Logan told me. Dammit, he was right, but I didn’t want to admit it.

I decided to say nothing, and Nadine just linked arms with me and pulled me for the door. “Ignore them. You’ll be kicking ass and taking names before you know it.”

I smiled. Nadine was like my own personal fortune cookie.

* * *

“Call 9-1-1. I’m having a heart attack,” I told Nadine between labored breaths. We weren’t running on flat terrain here. I was leaping over fallen logs and rocks and it was a miracle I hadn’t broken my ankle yet. There was a distinct burning in my chest and I was sure my ticker was about to explode.

Nadine smiled. “Okay, let’s walk and talk for five. Didn’t you hike the Grand Canyon?”

She mercifully slowed to a fast walk and I followed, getting some relief to my lungs. Air. Air is good. My legs felt like Jell-O. Damn all of those nights watching Netflix for six hours straight. When I could finally speak, I answered her question: “Yes, but walking and running are like two different species. And I thought I was dying then too.” The Grand Canyon had been tough, but I had gone alone, and no one was there to push me harder or see me complain. Just the average fellow hiker. It had been freeing being out there alone, just me and Mother Nature. I was used to being alone.

Nadine ignored my comment and switched gears. “Okay, so I know you’re dying to know the scoop about everyone,” she told me as we ducked under a low branch.

I wasn’t really, but sure. I nodded.

“Sophie and Logan dated for like six months, against Keegan’s wishes, and it totally blew up. They were all wrong for each other and now it’s totally awkward.”

Oh, this was the scoop. Yes, I did want to know this. “Wrong how?” I asked, confident now that I had enough oxygen to talk.

Nadine shrugged. “They just didn’t mesh. Logan is the strong, silent, moody type. Kind of a Keegan and Dom mix. Sophie is superficial and high maintenance. They had nothing in common.”

“Cool,” I said stupidly, trying to ignore the way my dragon purred inside of me at the admission that Logan and Sophie were all wrong for each other.

Nadine continued: “So Gear joined the pack about two years ago and I’m totally in love with him.” She swooned, but her face didn’t look happy; it was marred with a frown.

“Two years? Why haven’t you guys hooked up?” Two years was a long time to crush on someone.

Nadine slowed to a slug’s pace, for which I was grateful. “Too many reasons. One, I don’t think he’s that into me. I mean, we kissed once on New Year’s Eve, but he got weird after. Two, Keegan forbids two shifters in the same pack to date unless they are mates. It messes everything up, as Logan proved. And three, Gear really loves the pack and so do I. If we broke up and shit got weird, then one of us would have to leave, and I know Keegan would boot him before me. I would never do that to him.”

Damn, I thought I had problems.

“How do you know if you’re mates?” I had seen enough fantasy novels and watched enough movies to know what a werewolf mate was, but I didn’t know how it worked in shifter real life.

Nadine sighed. “It’s not like you see in movies. There is no magic. At least not with us shifters. Your mate is just the person you choose to marry and be with forever. There is a whole magical binding ceremony and everything, but you can choose who you want it to be.”

“So potentially Gear could be your mate,” I pondered as we came upon a creek.

That got a slight smile out of Nadine. “I mean, yeah, but we would have to date first.”

I frowned. “Sounds like Keegan’s rule is messed up. I think you and Gear would make a cute couple. Your babies would probably come out all tatted up.”

Nadine’s laughter rang out into the forest and I smiled. It was nice having a girlfriend I could talk with.

“Now, dragon mates are a whole other thing. They’re predestined. When two skyborn mates find each other, it’s supposed to be crazy. Like fireworks and magnetic attraction and all of that.”

My dragon coiled tightly inside of me sending small pulses out through my body.

“Really?” I asked in disbelief.

Nadine nodded. “I heard when dragon mates kiss for the first time … it’s crazy magic.”

I was about to ask her to elaborate when her arm came out quickly and stopped me. She put one finger to her lips and inhaled deeply. I did the same, but couldn’t decipher all of the smells. Dog, cat, pine needles, sap, smoke…

“You’re trespassing,” a gravelly voice came from behind us, and Nadine spun in a crouched position. I spun too, less coordinated, and my gaze fell upon two young men, big, tall, and scary looking. One of them was holding an axe. Like a legit axe murderer.

Nadine relaxed a little when she saw them. “Oh, you’re in Sam’s pack, right? My alpha is over there now making things right with him. We just moved in next door.”

One of the guys was blond with a scar over his bottom lip, and the other had a shaved head. Blondie was eyeing Nadine’s body. “I haven’t heard anything about that. Why would your alpha let two unmated females go traipsing around another shifter’s territory? It’s almost as if he is giving you to us.”

The shaved head guy licked his lips. “Yeah. Like a gift.”

My stomach rolled with nausea at the same time fear spiked through me. My dragon was slithering, agitated inside of me, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep her from coming out. Nadine must have sensed it, because she looked at me.

“Don’t shift. I got this,” she whispered.

I breathed heavily through my nose, trying to calm my dragon.

“Look, boys, neither of you is going to lay on hand on us unless you want to lose your lives.” Her voice was strong, but I saw her hand shake the slightest bit at her side. “This is no way to greet a new pack.”

The men looked at each other and laughed. Finally, the bald-headed guy spoke to his friend. “I get the redhead.”

My body flinched, and that’s when Nadine grabbed my hand. “Run,” she growled, and took off to the left, pulling me along with her. Shit! I was already so sore my legs were wobbling as she dragged me along with her blinding speed.

“GEAR! LOGAN!” she screamed as we tore through the tree-lined property, and I heard the sound of cracking bones at our back. Oh, God. No…

“Run home!” Nadine shouted to me, and gave me a light shove as she pivoted on one foot and turned to stand her ground against our attackers. I turned to look over my shoulder just in time to see a huge wolf arcing through the air, ready to jump right on me. Nadine was underneath him and she leapt into the air, wrapping her arms around his ribcage and slamming him to the ground like a professional wrestler. She was already halfway through her own shift, holding his snapping jaws open with her hands as her face formed into a wolf’s muzzle and she bared her teeth.

The other shifter had run up now and was about to pounce on Nadine and help out his buddy. My eyes bugged as I saw that he was a freaking mountain lion! Oh hell no. That wasn’t a fair fight. I had seen enough to know Nadine was a badass, but two against one wasn’t right, and I would never leave a friend behind, no matter what the odds were. I wasn’t a “run home” kind of girl. I scanned the ground and leaned down and picked up a heavy sharp rock. Pulling my hand back to rest on my shoulder, I pushed and chucked the rock like a shot-put. The mountain lion was coming full speed at Nadine and the rock connected directly with his head, knocking him to the ground before he could get to her. A crimson burst of blood sprouted from just above his eye bone. Yes! I gave myself an inward cheer. I might not be a runner or know kickboxing, but I would break a beer bottle over your head no problem. I was scrappy, something that came with years of living in rough neighborhoods. My joy was short-lived, as the lion quickly stood. Blood gushing down his muzzle, he glared at me with yellow eyes.

Oh crap. Nadine was in full wolf form now, snapping at the other wolf on top of her like a rabid dog. Something weird was happening to my body. I was pretty sure it was a major panic attack, but I couldn’t be certain. A low buzz was rattling my chest and I panicked that I might shift into my dragon right here. That would show these two assholes what I was, and also bring the hunters to us. Be calm. Be calm. You’re safe, I told myself, to no avail. I wasn’t safe. I was two seconds from being beheaded by a mountain lion. Suddenly the lion roared and darted towards me, and the low buzzing became an electric crackle. I felt like I was made of electricity. Power was zipping up and down my limbs, looking for an outlet as I clenched my teeth, trying to hold in whatever this was.

The lion was close now; I was a dead woman if I didn’t do something. My dragon knew it too. As the shifter leapt for me, I raised my hands to protect my face and shouted, pushing all of that electric energy out of me. The moment my hands went up, a purple bolt of magic shot out, striking the lion in the face and dropping him like a sack of bricks. At the same time, I heard a gunshot, and Gear burst from the trees taking shots at the wolf that was trying to tear into Nadine.

I looked down at my hands, which still held their fading, purplish glow, and then my eyes fell to the mountain lion at my feet. He looked dead. I stumbled backward and spun around when I saw Logan standing there staring at me with green, slitted eyes.

I still had my hands held out stupidly and they were shaking. “I … umm.”

Logan snapped out of his trance and took two steps past me, kneeling down to feel the lion’s pulse. “He’s alive,” he said in a voice that made me think he wished he were dead.

I spun around and saw that Gear had shot the wolf on top of Nadine and she had crawled out and was shifting to human form.

The wolf was moaning but otherwise looked to be okay.

Once human, Nadine spat in his face. “They tried to attack us to do gods know what. I say we burn them alive.”

Even now, at the end of Gear’s gun, the idiot wolf was eyeing Nadine’s body with lust. Gear growled and the wolf looked from Nadine to Gear and lowered his eyes. Logan was shaking with uncontrolled rage. He stood two steps towards the bleeding wolf and leaned down low, getting one inch from the wolf’s bloody teeth. Holy hell, he could bite Logan’s face off if he wanted to. “These women are mine.” Logan growled and it was barely audible underneath the husky anger there. The wolf stared in Logan’s eyes as if trying to assess his dominance, but after a few seconds he lowered his eyes to Logan’s chin.

“I will honor pack politics this one time. But next time you step foot on our land or so much as sniff our women … you’re dead,” Logan breathed, and the wolf just stared at his chin.

I hadn’t noticed it before, but the lion shifter I had knocked out was in human form now. He must have shifted while Logan was talking to his friend. “What the hell is she?” he said from his crouched position on the ground and pointed to me, staring at me like I had sprouted two heads. It was Blondie.

Gear popped off a shot and it sank into the man’s shoulder, sending him into screaming agony. “Don’t look at her,” Gear growled, and I flinched at the gun’s loud report.

Logan stood, towering over both of them. “This is our territory. Go back to yours and stay there!”

Blondie glared at Logan, but finally stood and started to walk away, back into the forest the way he came, holding the bleeding wound in his shoulder. The injured wolf that Nadine had fought limped after him, bringing a trail of blood with him. They were gone and I let out the breath I had been holding. Gear pulled off his shirt and handed it to Nadine, who tossed it over her naked body as she whispered her thanks.

Gear looked at Logan. “Did you see it?”

Logan nodded.

Gear raised an eyebrow and I noticed that even in all the scuffle his green Mohawk stood tall and uncrumpled. “It was … purple.”

My nerves tightened to knots in my stomach. They were talking about me, about what I did. Whatever it was...

“What does it mean?” Nadine asked, and I continued to stand there stupidly, wondering what was wrong with me.

Logan sighed, scratching the back of his neck. “I don’t know. But I don’t like it.”

Footsteps crunched behind me and I saw Keegan run up with Sophie and Dom. Keegan took in Nadine’s half naked body and the blood on the ground. “Jesus. I barely get into a truce with the alpha next door and you’re trying to kill two of his shifters? What happened?”

Nadine put one hand on her hip. “They were taunting us like they were going to…”

It was an ugly and scary word but it needed to be said.

“Rape us,” I finished, and Keegan’s eyes glowed yellow as a growl tore from his throat. Dom pulled two guns out from inside of his hoodie and held them at his sides. His chiseled face looking murderous.

I don’t think Logan knew what the men’s intentions with us were, because upon hearing me say that, his fists clenched. “I’ll kill them,” Logan said between labored breaths. Sophie’s face fell in compassion; she pulled her coat off and walked to put it around Nadine.

Keegan spoke up from beside me. I didn’t even notice he had moved closer to me. “We need to stay here for a few weeks at least, so Logan can train Sloane. We can’t go on the road with her in this state. Until then, we need to play nice with the neighbors … unless they provoke any of us again.”

Dom sneered. “And if they do?” he asked, and I was finally given an unobstructed view of his face sans hoodie. He was good looking, but the fine scars and hard-set eyes told me he had lived a hard life.

Keegan peeled back his lips, showing all of his teeth. “Then we kill them.”

Logan was pacing the forest, hands clenched. I could sense he was trying to keep his dragon from rushing to the surface.

“You okay, bud?” Keegan crooned in a calm voice as if he was approaching a rabid dog. Maybe he was. Logan looked positively ready to attack.

Logan spoke through gritted teeth. “I thought they were just having a territory dispute, not that they were going to…”

Ahh yes. That word again. Rape. No one wanted to say it. It was that awful. A total violation of your body. I had a friend in college, Tamara, who was raped at a frat party. She came to me crying the next day and told me. She was trying to reason it out; she was wearing revealing clothing and had drunk a lot. I had to be her voice of reason. Did he obtain consent? She shook her head and had burst into sobs, telling me she tried to push him off and said no three times. I knew it would be hard but she needed to fight it. In the end, it got a ton of bad publicity for the school and the boy was expelled but never served jail time because she willingly went into the room with him. What kind of bullshit is that? Some old male judge sits on his throne and decides that because a pretty girl in a short dress goes into a room with a guy at a frat party, that guy is owed sex? It was awful, and I was there every step of the way with Tamara. She was now going to law school while working at a nonprofit as an advocate for young girls who had experienced that same thing.

“Nothing happened…” I tried to soothe Logan’s fears, because I knew what it felt like to have all of that pent-up rage for a friend. I’d had it for Tamara. The moment she told me about the incident, I’d asked her if she wanted me to help her hide the body. I also knew how hard it was to control the dragon, and if Logan shifted it would tip off the hunters.

He stopped pacing and faced me. “But it could have.” His eyes were a searing green, as if they had been ignited with fire.

Nadine spoke in a light-hearted tone. “No way. We totally had them. Me with my jujitsu and Sloane with her purple whatever that was.”

Everyone looked at me as she addressed the elephant in the room.

“Purple what?” Keegan asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know what happened. One second my body felt like it was vibrating with electricity and the next there was a mountain lion jumping at my face. I … threw purple magic at him, I guess, and he collapsed.”

“Purple?” Keegan and Sophie both said at the same time. Dom just stared at me behind thick eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, purple. What’s the big deal?”

Logan exhaled loudly and crossed the distance between us. He pointed to Keegan. “Shifters have no magic, beyond that of shifting, extreme strength, and other traits of a shifter … but no magic. Dragons have green magic.” He pointed to himself. “Eva, and the other sorcerers powerful enough to produce magic, have yellow magic. And lastly, druids have red magic.”

“Oh.” Shit. What was wrong with me? I had some freaky purple magic. No wonder they were all staring at me.

“So … what does purple magic mean?” I asked, trying not to sound afraid. Tried and failed.

“Different colored magic can mean…” He lowered his voice to barely above a whisper. “That you’re a hybrid.”

I had conveniently blocked out what Eva had said in her office. About my mother not being a dragon, that maybe she was some other type of magical creature. But it all hit me now. Confirmation. My legs went weak and I involuntarily fell backward. Logan rushed forward and caught me just as I passed out.