I watch as Stone retreats out the front door of the bakery, taking his delicious smell with him. My hand goes to the mate mark that seems to have its own pulse. When his lips grazed my chin, it was like my whole body came alive. I’ve smelt Stone a million times before, but something is different now. Maybe it was there yesterday but I was so angry and upset that I didn’t notice until I caught it today. Desire? Lust? Smells I’m not accustomed to. Even less so when they’re aimed at me. I’ve caught similar smells before when humans have come into the bakery, but it was always aimed at my sisters.

Not only was Stone’s scent different, but he seemed almost shy. The thought makes me want to laugh. Stone, who’s always so sure of himself as he issues commands, was shy. I bite my lip to keep the smile from spreading across my face.

I watch him through the front window as he almost collides with Trish. She runs her hands through her hair, which looks like it hasn’t been brushed. She doesn’t quite look her best at the moment from what I can make out, but I try to listen to what they’re saying. My hearing isn’t as great as wolves’ though, so I don’t catch it. I’m not sure if they have better hearing than me, or if I’ve lost too much contact with my bear.

Stone says something, and Trish reaches out to touch his arm at the same time his head turns towards me. His eyes lock with mine, but they snap away when Trish’s hand finally makes contact with his arm. I turn, not wanting to watch the rest of the exchange.

I know he’s alpha, and he has to be friendly with everyone, but I can’t help but remember all the times I’d try to talk to him and he’d always be too busy to listen. He always had the time for everyone, including my stepsisters.

Moments later, I hear front door open and I glance over my shoulder to see Trish stomping in, Stone no longer outside. The look in her eyes says it all. She knows. The question is, did Stone just tell her, or did she already know. I’m guessing she already knew. Why else would she be here when I was covering her shift to begin with?

“So it’s true!” she growls. She looks like she’s been out on an all-night bender at one of the local bars. Which is normal for her. Male shifter wolves can’t have sex before they find their mates because they can’t get hard. Female shifters don’t have that problem. I hear they can’t get off, so I don’t see why they bother, but that doesn't seem to stop my sisters from going down to the bars and getting it on with humans on a weekly basis. Trish once told me after she caught me making dreamy eyes at Stone last year that she slept with humans so that when she and Stone finally mated, she’d know how to please him. “You think you can have our alpha? You’re not even one of us.”

Another growl fills the room, making Trish’s eyes widen. It takes me half a second to realize the sound came from me.

Her shoulders square, and her eyes turn a darker blue as they narrow at me. I think I may have just bitten off more than I can chew. I haven’t shifted in years, and there’s no way I can take on a wolf shifter in human form. I don’t even know where that growl came from.

“Oh, yeah. The word’s out that the alpha mated, and not one of us seemed to have triggered it,” Trisha says, taking a step closer to me.

I am sick of not belonging and having my own little one-woman pity party. I decided that last night as I stared up at the ceiling. I want something for myself, and I am going to have it one way or another. Whether that’s with Stone or the Gray Ridge pack, I don’t know, but change is in the air, and I’m not going to take things lying down. I’m going into this new day head first. I’ll probably stumble, fall on my ass, and die of embarrassment, but at this point what does it matter? I’ve spent that last four years trying to fit in. Hell, I busted my ass trying to get any kind of approval from the makeshift parents I had, and that got me nowhere. It only left me in a pile of self-doubt with one too many kicks to my self-confidence, which I’m sure I’ll have to fight through for a long time.

I take a step towards Trish, thinking that no matter what, it’s time I stood up for myself and what I want.

The front door to the bakery opens again, pulling both our gazes to it. Gwen enters with X hot on her heels, taking in the scene. The scent of anger must fill the air because I see Gwen’s nostrils flare. X goes to grab her, probably to pull her behind him, but she bats away his hand and her growl fills the room, putting both mine and Trish’s to shame.

“You dare threaten our alpha’s mate?” It takes me a minute for Gwen’s words to register. They take the air right out of my lungs. It’s silly because I know Stone wants me to be his mate, but the reality of what that means comes crashing down on me in hard waves. Knowing what all this means makes it a little hard to breathe.

I reach out and grab the counter to steady myself. I can barely stand up to my bitch stepsisters and I am supposed to be the alpha female of the Gray Ridge pack? There’s nothing alpha about me.

Suddenly, I feel like something has been ripped from me. Jesus. One second I’m all I’m not your mate and I don’t want to be your mate! I’ve only pined to be yours for years! and now I’m all sad because I think I really can’t be his mate. My head feels like its spinning.

I look up to see Trish baring her neck to Gwen.

“Get out! And go wash last night’s stink off you.” Gwen’s words are hard and to be obeyed. I watch as Trish scurries back out of the bakery, and if she’d shifted, I have no doubt her tail would’ve been between her legs.

I take a deep breath, making my way out from behind the counter to sit in one of the chairs. Gwen comes to kneel in front of me, putting us at eye level…almost. I still have to look down at her just a little.

“I’ll never be like you,” I tell her. Her eyes go soft, and I know she knows what I mean.

“Stone doesn’t need me, Winnie.”

“He didn’t seem to need me either until he was made to,” I remind her. Or maybe I’m reminding myself. I fell into a dreamy haze this morning when Stone was here, the one he’s always put me in when he’s near. Old habits are harder to kick than I thought.

“I’ve known Stone my whole freaking life, and I’ve never seen him go after something he wants. In fact, I can’t name one thing I can recall Stone ever taking for himself, now that I really think about it.”

“I…” I come up short as I try to think of an argument, but I can’t think of anything either. Everything with Stone is about the pack and about what’s best for everyone. Maybe he has his own little secrets like I do. Well, I thought I had secrets. Stone seems to know about the one I thought I’d been keeping—sneaking out and taking pictures with a camera that took me over a year to save up and buy, and it isn’t even that great a camera.

“Why don’t you give him a chance?” Gwen pushes. Her tone isn’t firm like she often uses with pack members. She’s really asking. Not putting an edge to it, not making it sound like a question when it’s really not.

I want to tell her I’ve given him a ton, but the image of him this morning, all half-shy, presses in on me, making the mate mark tingle again.

“I’m not his type. I look nothing like you guys.” I motion down to my body.

Gwen laughs, and it makes X—who I’d forgotten about—growl softly and sweetly, like he’s enjoying the sound of her laughter, and it makes me smile.

“Winnie, I think you’re his type. I’ve noticed his eyes on you.” Gwen stands, grabbing my hands, pulling me to my feet.

“His eyes on me?” I feel my cheeks burn at the idea that Stone has been openly looking at me and someone noticed. “Like before yesterday?”

“Oh, yeah!” Her eyebrows wiggle.

“She does that when she’s talking about something related to sex,” X says, and we look over at him. “The eyebrow thing.” He nods as he finishes, like he had to explain the eyebrow thing to me because I might have been lost. I often forget that Xavier hasn’t been around people much.

Gwen just winks at him.

“How about I help you with the bakery today, then we go upstairs to my old apartment and you let me do a little makeover? Nothing much. Maybe just give him a little more to look at.”

The idea of giving Stone a little more to look at compels me to nod.

“I’ll stand guard in case the funny-smelling blonde tries to come back.” X folds his arms over his chest.

“You do that, baby,” Gwen tells him, and I burst out laughing.