VIOLET

After making a vow to myself that I’d stop getting myself into hot messes, I looked away from the diminishing flames in the fireplace. I grabbed a log from the side of the hearth and threw it onto the pile. I watched the blaze spark and listened as the wood cracked and burned.

The fire reminded me so much of my life right now—which was in shambles. The moment before I was to get married to one of the most famous attorneys in Green Bay, I called it quits. It was supposed to be a match made in Heaven as my mom once described it.

Donovan and I had been childhood friends for years. We practically grew up together. We spent our summers running around the little country club that my dad owned. Our families names would forever be linked since Donovan’s dad, and my dad went to the same alma mater. Donovan’s dad used the country club to entertain his clients, and my dad had an attorney on retainer whenever he needed one. And now Donovan was planning to run for mayor next year. We’d already gone to all these functions together where he introduced me as his beautiful fiancé, and best friend and just about everyone in the city had expected us to tie the knot shortly before he put his bid in for mayor.

I never thought about Donovan in the romantic sense, but after I graduated college and decided to move back into my childhood home to save up to buy my first home, my parents talked endlessly about how Donovan was such a good sport for following in his dad’s footsteps and joining the law firm. They kept hinting that somehow I should hook up with Donovan and his band of business partners to put my paralegal degree to work as soon as possible. Of course, I had plans of my own. Instead of joining Donovan’s law firm, I accepted a position at a competing firm in the end.

Then, unbeknownst to me, our parents thought it would be a good idea to set Donovan and me up on a blind date. I had only agreed to appease them and their matchmaking antics. I was mortifyingly surprised to find Donovan waiting at the little high-end restaurant already seated with an extravagant, expensive gift in hand. To this day, he swore that he had no idea that I was his blind date, but I didn’t believe them. Everything was just a little too conveniently set up by him after the fact, down to my favorite wine and dessert.

Donovan had always been a lady’s man. He was romantic, but he was also controlling and manipulative. He honestly believed that quitting my job was the best thing for me to do once we were wedded. The pre-nuptials and written expectations he presented to me only weeks after he asked me to marry him were so detailed in what he wouldn’t give up and what he wanted should we part, I often wondered if an A.I. robot wouldn’t have been more suited for him.

I knew that if I called off the wedding, my friendship with Donovan would be over. He held grudges all the time. He hated being cut-off and told no. In the end, I chose the life I dreamed of as a little girl. I wanted the freedom to do my own thing. I canceled the entire wedding. Postponement wasn’t even an option for me. I went to one therapy session after my mom and aunt called me crazy for bailing on one of the richest men in the city before I decided enough was enough.

My parents had controlled so many aspects of my life growing up concerning who I could have over for sleepovers, who I could be friends with, and who I should avoid because of what their parents believed. I was done with living a cookie-cutter life. If that meant I’d have to give up my little privileged lifestyle, I was more than ready to do that.

If Donovan or my parents knew I was out here in Minnesota with plans to hide out at my best friend’s house until they got it through their thick skulls that I wasn’t going to change my mind, I’d do that.

Resolved not to think about the train wreck marriage that might have been, I looked at the door wondering when Jayce might return. I knew I was safe in his home, but I was a little uneasy about being alone. In my parent’s three-level mansion in Green Bay, there was always someone around. Either a maid or the chef. Jayce’s cabin was eerily quiet.

I stepped back from the fireplace and glanced around the home. The interior was pretty sizable with a big open floor plan. I could see a loft area on the second level from where I stood. I’d already discovered that there was a master on the main, in addition to a smaller room off the main hallway.

Despite and cozy interior of the cabin, I could still pick up the sound of the wind howling on the breeze outside. Thick tree branches seemed to scrape against the windows and shadows moved across the walls in oddly shaped patterns.

Shifters in the mountains? Well, that wasn’t odd at all once a person really thought about it. I wondered just how many of Jayce’s kind there were. From the way he talked about it earlier, there were many more.

I walked across the cabin to get to the kitchen, grabbed a glass, and filled it with tap water from the faucet. Something scraped across the window above the sink and I froze. I held my breath and peered out into the darkness. Except for moonlight shining down on a huge oak tree out in the front yard, all I could see were lightning bugs fluttering around in the grass.

I didn’t know what it was, but it felt like there were eyes staring back at me through the tall grass. Or maybe the bright yellow glow came from the lightning bugs.

Jayce had assured me that I’d be safe if I stayed inside the cabin. No one would harm me here…

I grabbed the ends of the curtains and pulled them closed and then backed away from the window.

Another sudden noise startled the hell out of me, making me drop my drink. The glass crashed to the floor and shattered on the tile.

Someone was at the door. They were trying to get in. The doorknob turned and rattled.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” I mumbled, swallowing down the rising fear in my throat.

Was it Jayce? Couldn’t be. They were having too much of a hard time trying to get in. Were the bad wolves here? Had they found me?

I yanked opened some kitchen drawers before I found one with a sharp butcher knife inside. I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of the knife and backed myself into a darkened corner of the kitchen just as the person swung the door open.

“Jayce!” They called out. It was a man’s voice. He didn’t sound too happy. “Jayce, where the hell are you? You need to get that damn lock fixed. The fucking door jamb is still getting stuck!”

It sounded like the person knew Jayce, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I gripped the hilt of the knife so tightly that my fingers shook.

The stranger slammed the door shut and I heard heavy boots pounding across the floor as if the man was going from room to room in search of Jayce.

Oh, my God. Please come back, Jayce. Come back, please. This was the worse time for Jayce to have a visitor. I was probably just as much a stranger as this man was. What would happen if he discovered me in the house and didn’t know who I was? Was he a shifter like Jayce?

The footsteps came nearer to the kitchen. I clasped my palm over my mouth to contain my panic and backed myself up into what appeared to be a closet.

“Fuck!” the man exploded. “He needs to clean up this shit…”

He must have stepped in the broken glass because I heard a broom being swept across the floor and the shards being pushed aside. Thank God the broom hadn’t been in the closet.

I peeked out through a crack and saw the man’s back through the slit between the door frame and the door. The guy was tall, almost as big as Jayce. He lingered in the kitchen, sniffing at the air like he was scenting food. He picked up an apple from the fruit bowl in the center of the kitchen table and bit into it. He took big healthy bites until the entire apple was nothing but a two-inch core. Then he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a beer.

“What kind of beer…?” He held the beer up the light in the kitchen. “This is that disgusting shit.” He took a swig and then another.

I frowned. What kind of guy broke into someone’s home, ate their food, drank their beer, and then called it disgusting?

With beer in hand, the guy waltzed over to the kitchen sink, leaned against the counter, and crossed one ankle over the other as he chugged down the beer.

I closed my eyes and pleaded to God for Jayce to return soon.

When I opened them again, the strange man with the thick arms that looked like tree trunks had his nostrils titled upward and he was sniffing the air.

“Who the fuck are you?”

He was staring right at the door to the broom closet.

Oh fuck.

The stranger came booming towards the broom closet and yanked the door open, revealing me. I readied and knife, thrusting it high in the air, but before I could use it as a weapon, the stranger’s fingers caught my wrist mid-air.

“Answer me, human,” he hissed, pressing so hard on the nerves of my wrist that I dropped the knife.

“I’m with Jayce. Jayce brought me here,” I blurted.

His expression seemed to soften at the mention of Jayce’s name, but then he proceeded to sniff me. He smelled my fingers, my hair…

His eyes widened as he stared at something on my wrist. Some kind of mark or maybe a pattern that I hadn’t seen before. It was probably a bruise from him squeezing me so hard.

I snatched my wrist away from him. “Who are you!”

The stranger snorted, bent down to pick up the knife, and trotted off to the counter where he threw the weapon down into the sink. “That wasn’t a toy.”

“Duh,” I said.

The stranger frowned, scrunching up his face with a look of indifference.

“Where're your pants?” he glanced down at my legs.

“They’re wet!”

A blank expression clouded his face.

“From the river,” I added.

He nodded slowly. “Riiiight.”

I rolled my eyes and huffed.

He snorted again and then said, “You have Jayce’s mark,” he said, grabbing another beer from the fridge and popping the top.

“Mark?” I shook my head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Look, I don’t even know who you are. I was waiting on Jayce to come back. Are you his friend?”

“Nope.”

He walked out into the living area. I followed him. It was odd how I felt no fear after our initial meeting. I could tell that he meant no harm to me. Not like those bad wolves in the forest, at least.

“Then what are you?” I asked.

“That’s none of your business.” He gave me another once over and his eyes turned to slits.

His eyes were nearly the same mossy green as Jayce’s. That’s when I knew. He had entered Jayce’s home like it was nothing. They were related.

“Are you two family? Are you two the same? Are you a shifter?” My questions came one after the other. Faster than I intended.

“Look, I didn’t come here to answer a hundred questions. Where’s Jayce?”

As if on cue, Jayce barged through the front door butt naked. He glanced between the stranger and me and let out a low warning growl. Within seconds, Jayce had closed the gap between us—possessively shielding me from the stranger. I was confused as hell. Shouldn’t Jayce have been the one shielding himself? He was the one standing between us butt-assed naked.

My eyes widened as I ogled what had to be the most perfectly sculpted male body I’d ever seen in my life. My vision hadn’t been clear out in the forest when Jayce had captured me naked, but in the light now, I saw all of him. Every last inch. He was fully equipped and well-hung. I couldn’t stop staring with my mouth open.

“What were you doing with her?” Jayce growled.

“Nothing fully dressed. I can’t say the same for you,” the stranger replied and then swooped up a pair of jeans folded on a chair. “Put on some clothes. You’re showing your ass.”

Jayce snatched the jeans and slipped them on.

“Treyton, what are you doing here?”

“There’s some shit going down around the town square.”

“What were you doing in the town square?” he asked. “I sent word for everybody to stay the fuck out of town.”

“I got the word while I was there…chilling and relaxing like guys with lives do, you know?” Treyton grinned.

Jayce huffed. “Nothing is funny about this.”

“I called Draven about what I saw. The fights and folks getting arrested for no apparent reason. He said something happened out here too. An attack on a woman. He said that I should come to see you,” Treyton said. “Is this the woman who was attacked?”

I reddened in embarrassment. How many of them knew that I’d been kidnapped and nearly mauled to death? Soon, I’d be known as the stupid, selfish paralegal who drove all the way from Green Bay, was careless, got kidnapped, and was nearly mauled to death by a pack of wolves.

Jayce and Treyton exchanged knowing glances.

After a long silence, they cast another sideways glance in my direction. I cleared my throat, hoping they’d say something rather than exchanging some silent secret code they were never going to let me in on.

“You couldn’t contain yourself around this one, could you?” Treyton commented. “I thought I knew you better than that, but you just couldn’t keep your dick in your pants.”

“Wha—?” I was utterly confused.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Treyton? I haven’t slept with her.”

Treyton rolled his eyes. “Riiiight. Do you really want me to believe that while she’s standing here in nothing but your t-shirt?”

My mouth fell open in shock.

“Uh…Violet, if you’ll excuse us, I’m going to have a word with Treyton outside.”

Feeling a little insulted that Treyton would think that we slept together after knowing each other for less than a full day, I mumbled, “Okay.”

The men exited the home where they started talking in low voices out on the porch. I sat down in front of the fireplace wondering how I’d managed to get myself in this whole mess. This was a community—an entire world, really—that I knew nothing about.

I rubbed at the bruise, mark—or whatever—that seemed to be irritating the skin on the inside of my wrist. Maybe something had bitten me. A mosquito or something.

But when I turned my arm over and looked down at it, I realized that it wasn’t a bruise. My skin hadn’t been broken there. There weren’t any bites or bumps of any sort. It almost looked like a tattoo, but the mark was embedded deep under the skin—not on the surface. The design reminded me of the sun—a single perfect circle with rays extending from it. It couldn’t have been more than two inches wide. The tone was a pale reddish-brown. It looked just like a birthmark.

“What the hell is happening to me?” I mumbled, looking at the closed door where the men were still conversing.

Without a doubt, I knew something had changed.