I climb down off the roof and put away some of my tools. Most of them are under the porch so the weather doesn’t get to them. I’ve been fixing up the house for the last couple of weeks, and it’s coming along nicely.

Ever since Dominic came into the woods and had a talk with me, I’ve been working on the house. I’ve been so long out in the wild I forgot what living felt like. I’ve just been surviving for the past few years and not taking care of myself since…since the day I lost my mom and my sister.

They were out hunting together on a sunny afternoon and went too far north of the protected property. They went beyond our boundaries and into an area humans were known to sometimes sneak into. They must have gotten lost and weren’t paying attention. Normally, it wouldn’t have been a problem because I was usually with them. I would watch over them and make sure they didn’t go beyond the safety zone. But that day I was distracted. I didn’t make it home in time to go with them, so they left without me. Two hunters saw them and thought they were wild wolves. The hunters were trespassing, and when they came across two wolves hunting a deer, they shot them.

Stone found the bodies and tracked the hunters down, taking care of them. I never got my revenge, and after hearing the news, I went mad. I shifted and fled to the woods, unable to be in my skin for a very long time. I didn’t think I would ever fully shift back, but over time it happened slowly. I was still part-wolf up until a few months ago, and some of my features never really returned to how they were before.

I should have been there that day. I could have protected them.

I stop that train of thought and focus on the task of cleaning up. I can’t let myself go down that road.

The sun is setting, and I’m all finished for the day. Shifters are amazing creatures with lots of strength, but I realize that I had neglected my body for a long time, only eating when I gave in to the hunger pains.

I’d always built houses, so I knew my way up one side and down the other when it came to putting one together. But the first day I tried to do just some basic work, it about broke me physically. After a few good hunts, I was doing better. And about a week later, my body was back. I could feel the strength in my arms and legs grow as my shifter genes helped repair the years of damage I’d done to myself. I am bigger than I have ever been.

I’ve been given free rein of the forest surrounding Gray Ridge, but a few acres are specifically mine. I’d built a home on some land out here before my mom and sister died, but I hadn’t been back since the accident. I built it so that one day, when I took a mate, I would have room for everyone. I couldn’t bring myself to go back after they died, but from what Dominic told me, he and Stone would go over every so often and take care of things for me. I think Stone knew at some point I would want to come back, and he made sure it was kept up.

Once a week Sheriff Dominic comes to check on me and brings me supplies. Sometimes he even offers a hand to help me with the place. When he found his mate, he made me realize what I’d been missing. I’d let myself go and let my wolf run for so long that I forgot about the things I want in life. I want a mate, and someday I hope to find one. Dominic made me see that I wasn’t doing what I needed to. I need to provide a safe home for my mate, and I have to be able to protect her. The power of his words hit me when he asked if I would have allowed another shifter to make my sister live the way I was living. His words hurt, but he was right. I wasn’t a worthy male, and I need to be. A mate deserves the best, and I intend to make the best home there ever was so that when I find mine, she’ll be happy.

I stand up and turn around, seeing Dominic. “Must be Friday, and it’s weird that you always smell like cookies now.”

“My mate likes the way I smell, thank you very much.” He sets the big basket of food down on the picnic table and looks at the progress I’ve made since last week.

Dominic has been worried about me a lot lately, but I can’t figure out why. It’s as if he keeps coming back to make sure I’m making progress. Like something is going to happen and he’s making sure I’m prepared.

“You’ve come a long way, X. The house looks great.”

“I’ve got nothing but time on my hands,” I say as I grab the basket, pulling out the cookies first. They are my favorite and always smell the best.

Not too long ago, I was doing pretty bad and walked too close to town. I think I was in a daze and following a scent. I stumbled upon the back of the town bakery, and I stopped when I saw a woman coming out. I’d been smelling something so good coming from the shop, and I think that’s what led me there. When I saw her, I thought she was my mate, though I was surprised that the scent wasn’t stronger. It was only a hint of my mate. It turned out that the woman was Ruby and she belonged to Dominic. She wasn’t mine, but the cookies she had in her hands smelled like mine. So now every week he brings me a basket from her, and the cookies are what I look forward to the most. They remind me of something I have buried deep in my heart, and I refuse to let it out.

“I know you’ve come a long way, Xavier, and I just wanted to say that I’m really proud of you. You’re making a good home for your mate.”

I turn to Dom with a mouth full of cookies and shrug. “It’s not good, it’s the best.” He laughs, and I don’t know why. It’s not a joke. I’m a good builder, and this is the best thing I’ve ever made.

“Okay, X. It’s the best.”

The house is a big one-story log cabin. It has an extra-large great room that opens into a kitchen. I built a big fireplace in the great room and put river stones around it. It has a large master bedroom with a big master bath, and four other bedrooms. I built bunk beds in the kids’ rooms because I expect to have at least two litters.

“Everything is pretty much done. Thank you for coming by and keeping the place up for me the past few years. I only needed to clean up a few things and make a couple of changes. I appreciate your mate sending me things as well.” Ruby is a good mate, and Dominic is a lucky male.

Dominic nods in understanding, looking me over as he does. I’m sure I still look a bit savage to him, with my hair down past my shoulders and my beard just as long. I don’t think he can see much other than my eyes when we talk.

“Ruby sent you some more clothes, although with the way you’ve been working, I don’t think anything will fit.”

I nod, not really caring if anything will fit. They’re just clothes. “Once your mate has the pups, she’ll be busy for quite some time.” I feel a pang of guilt saying that. I don’t mean that she should be caring for me, just that I’ll miss the cookies.

“Yes, we’ve thought about that. I think we’ve got it figured out.” He looks around at the house and nods his head like he’s come to some kind of decision. “What are your plans tonight, Xavier?”

“I’m going to kill a deer and smoke the meat. Why?” He’s asking stupid questions.

“There’s a little fair going on in town tonight. I think you should go see it.”

“Too many people.” I grunt the response, turning around to finish packing up my tools. I don’t have time for his dumb ideas. I like solitude and quiet. Town is loud and busy.

“Xavier, I think you should come. Don’t you want to see if you can find your mate now that the house is finished?”

At his words I stop what I’m doing. He’s right. I do want to find my mate, and unless she happens across this cabin in the woods, I probably won’t ever find her out here. I don’t turn around, but I nod my head in understanding. I’ve got to try to make an effort if I want to find her.

“I’ll see you soon, friend.” I hear him turn and walk back towards town, leaving me in my solitude again.

When I know he’s gone, I turn around and go back to the picnic table to look at the clothes Ruby sent for me. It’s a big paper sack full of things that are unnecessary, like shoes and belts. But I remember that she isn’t shifter so she doesn’t know this. I grab a pair of jeans and a button-up shirt and take them into the house with the basket of food.

I take the box of cookies with me to the bathroom and sit it on the edge of the tub while I run a bath. I carved an extra-large bathtub out of an old tree before the accident, because at nearly seven feet tall, it wasn’t easy finding something to fit me. And as weird as it sounds, I like baths. I think it’s a shifter thing.

As I soak in the tub and eat the cookies, I think about her. I don’t let myself dwell on her too much because it’s painful and doesn’t do any good. She’s probably mated and has had a few pups by now, but in my memories we are together. I close my eyes and picture her sleeping. I remember her eyes closed, her blonde hair spread out on her pillow, and her full pink lips soft with sleep. She looked like something out of a fairy tale, and she was too young for me to be watching her like that.

I let the memory fade, thinking she’s well beyond her mating age of eighteen, and as the alpha's sister she’s sure to be matched with a champion.

I finish the cookies and get out of the bath, deciding I need to let the memories go and try to move on. I need to focus on finding my mate and making my family.

I grab the clothes I picked out and pull on the jeans and button-up shirt. The jeans are too short, coming up above my ankles, but I don’t care. They’re just clothes. The shirt is no better, short in the arms and too tight across the chest. I don’t put on the belt or shoes because if I need to shift in a hurry, I want to be ready. Looking in the mirror, I see my wild hair and beard, and I just shrug my shoulders. I’ve made a nice home, what more could a mate want?

I take a deep breath and make the decision. I guess I’ll go see what’s going on in town.