The Three Oaks pack was located in the woods of North Carolina, on the historic Three Oaks Plantation. The old brick plantation house stood like an old southern belle with stately white columns across the front, which supported the second story veranda. The red brick was classically accented with white trim and black shutters at the tall windows. At each end of the great house two chimneys pointed toward the sky. The ancient and iconic three oaks on the front lawn had been reduced to two oaks in a hurricane several decades ago, when the third oak had blown over.
On the inside, the entire structure had been remodeled into a modern and comfortable pack house. Although most of the pack lived in private homes scattered across the five-hundred-acre estate and in the town beyond, there were plenty of extra bedrooms in the mansion, a conference room, the Alpha’s office, a huge kitchen and a formal dining room that could seat fifty. The only permanent residents of the great house were the Alpha Shepherd’s family, and his second in command, Beta Anderson with his wife.
Gabriel let himself in the house and gravitated straight to the kitchen, where he knew he would find his mother elbow deep in dinner preparations. Despite the shining, stainless steel appliances, the kitchen was still the heart of the house, just as his mother, small and plump with an apron wrapped around her middle, was the heart of the family. Her graying brown hair was piled haphazardly on the top of her head, and there were smile lines fanning out around her mouth, but she was still as beautiful as ever. Her blue eyes lit up when they landed on her oldest son leaning in the doorway, his muscled arms crossed over his broad chest.
“Gabriel!” Elena hurried to him, and wrapped him in a hug, not caring that her hands were covered in flour. She left twin powdery handprints across the back of his dark blue t-shirt. Her eyes flashed with motherly concern as she took in his appearance. Although he was still darkly handsome, her critical eye noted that he was too thin, and although he’d made some effort to shave and cut his hair, his face was tired and haggard. She hugged him again, harder this time.
As an unspoken rule, they never discussed what Gabriel did when he left the pack for work. Elena knew that it was something terrible and something dangerous. And she knew by the way he said goodbye each time that there was a chance he might never return again. She thanked the moon and the stars every time he came home safely, even though it seemed like he lost a little more of his soul after each assignment. She pulled back and looked into his gray eyes, fearful of what she might see there. But this time, something was different. Her brow furrowed as she studied him closer. “Something has happened?”
“Yes. No.” Gabriel ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “Maybe.”
“You come sit down and tell me about it,” she said in a tone that allowed no argument. She pulled him toward the counter and slid a stool toward him before she went back to the pile of pie dough that she’d been kneading before he appeared.
Gabriel hooked his hip over the stool and sat, watching his mother work the dough over the floured counter, expertly rolling it flat with a rolling pin that was probably older than she was. He was silent for a long time as he contemplated how to begin.
Elena waited patiently, knowing if she pressured him, he would close up like a clam.
“I’ve been having dreams,” he finally blurted. “Weird dreams. Like visions.”
“Oh?” she didn’t look up but kept rolling out the pastry until it was the perfect thickness. She wrapped it around the rolling pin and carefully lifted it to drape it over the pie plate.
“I keep dreaming of a woman. I think she might be my mate.”
Elena’s head jerked up involuntarily, her eyes widening in surprise. “What do you see in your dream?” she asked carefully, as she began to pinch the edges of the pie crust around the plate.
“That’s the thing,” he said, his voice revealing his exasperation. “I never get to see her face clearly. She’s always far off, she has her back to me, or there’s a tree in the way. But I can feel it, and I know the scent.” He breathed in through his nose, as though he was trying to draw in that fragrance right that moment. However, all he could smell was the fresh dough and the comforting, familiar scent of his mother. “It’s always the same place though, a wood I’ve never seen before, and a clearing with this big rock jutting out of it.”
Elena felt excitement shiver up her spine, but she tried to hide it. She retrieved the bowl of prepared strawberries and carefully spooned them into the pie crust. The subject of mates was a delicate one with Gabriel. From the time he’d turned eighteen, he’d been pining for his life partner. His need for a soul mate had hit him hard, harder than Elena had ever witnessed before. She knew it was his loneliness that drove him to the life of secrecy and danger. She waited for him to continue. He rubbed at his sternum. “I can feel her,” he continued. “This ache… but it was stronger when I was… north of here.” He was careful not to reveal the exact location of his last job.
She rolled up another ball of dough and sprinkled more flour on the counter, considering his words. “When your father is away,” she said slowly, “I can feel him, sense his general location. I think it's a gift the goddess gives us so that we can always find our mate,” she touched her chest, leaving another floury smudge across the front of her apron. “The closer I get to him, the stronger the feeling. But I’ve never heard of someone feeling a mate they haven’t marked.” She began rolling the dough, spreading it slowly out over the counter, working from the center out toward the edges. She paused and looked up at him thoughtfully, “that must be a pretty powerful bond.”
Unable to sit still any longer, Gabriel slipped off the stool and began to pace around the kitchen, making laps around the center island where Elena worked. His mother ignored him, cut the dough into long strips, and then began weaving the dough strips across the top of her pie. Gabriel had always been restless and intense, even as a child, so she was used to his caged-animal energy. “I know she’s out there…” he mumbled as he came to a stop in front of the kitchen sink, and stared out the window into the backyard, and the forest beyond. “But why now? After all these years…” His gray eyes looked almost silver as incomplete fragments of thoughts flickered in and out of his brain. His hands rested on his narrow, jean-clad hips.
He turned abruptly, his body going stiff. “But if I can feel her… and the feeling gets stronger if I’m in closer proximity to her location, then I can track her, right? I’m like a human compass, and she is my north pole!” Excitement animated his face, for a moment making him look almost boyish.
Elena put the finishing touches on her pie and carried the heavy pastry to the oven. The heat of the oven blasted her in the face as she slid it onto the rack and quickly closed the door. She wiped her hands on her apron one last time before she smiled fondly at her oldest son. “Stay for dinner, Gabe. You can start searching in the morning.”
Gabriel packed his black full-size pickup truck carefully. He did not know if he was going for a few days, or a few weeks, or even for months. He only knew he had no intention of returning until he had found her. He grabbed an old paper map of the United States, and a marker. In his hometown of Puller, he put an X. His finger traced a line vaguely northward toward the next town. It was going to be like a game of Hot and Cold. He would just have to keep moving where the inexplicable sensation in his chest felt stronger. His mother and father came out to the driveway to see him off. His mother was encouraging as always, her blue eyes warm and hopeful, her lips curving in a smile. She was happy for him, happy that at least he had some shred of hope. His father, on the other hand, looked grim. Thomas Shephard had already called this a "fool's journey". He also knew his son well enough to know that nothing the older man said could dissuade Gabriel to stay once he had made up h
After another two days, Gabriel crossed over the state line between New York and Vermont. The pull was so strong now, it was making him dizzy. He passed the small city of Rutberg and followed the old highway until he arrived in an unlikely small town called Pete’s Peak. He drove slowly from one end to the other, but there wasn't much to see. There was a gas station attached to a mini mart, a garage with a tow truck that looked like "Mater" from Cars, and a snack bar with picnic tables arranged outside. To the south of the village there was a public High School that served several of the surrounding communities, and beyond the school, a slate quarry. To the north of town, the only thing resembling accommodation was a dilapidated collection of little cabins surrounding an old farmhouse and a faded sign that read "Cora’s Cottages". A "vacancy" shingle hung precariously by one hook underneath.Gabriel parked his truck on the gravel drive beside the sign and headed toward the farmhouse
Dawn came early to the little clearing on the side of the mountain where the dilapidated trailer sat at an odd angle in the large yard. Honoraria woke without an alarm, and tiptoed from her room, past the small bathroom to the kitchen. Only a kitchen counter divided the cooking area from the small living room. She could see that her uncle was not in his recliner, and that worried her. She glanced nervously toward the bigger bedroom on the far end as she put two slices of bread into the toaster. She had just pushed the lever down when she heard him bellow.“Honor! Where the hell are my keys?”She didn’t answer him. She had not touched his keys. He had probably left them in the truck when he staggered in, drunk as usual last night. She looked between the toaster and the back door, knowing that she should hurry outside before her uncle came out of the bedroom, but she was so hungry. Her dinner had landed on the floor last night when her uncle had pushed her into the table. She
Gabriel drummed his fingers on his desk impatiently. She was in the school. When he'd interviewed with the school board on Friday he'd detected her scent, faint but familiar in the hallways. It had been fairly easy to get the substitute position, as teachers seemed to be in short supply. He had never been a teacher, but he had a glowing (but fake) resume to impress the school board. His employment was conditional on passing background checks, but he wasn't worried about that. His background was squeaky clean, and there were no official records of the work that he really did for a living. A few phone calls and a few favors called in, and he had plenty of references to verify his imaginary career as a high school English teacher.By the time Gabriel entered the classroom for his first class behind the principal, the classroom had been awash in the sweet scent of lilacs and violets. The floral scent was absolutely intoxicating, and he wanted to immediately abandon this pretext of
My God, I've found her. The words reverberated around in Gabriel’s head. For a moment the rest of the classroom full of angsty teenagers disappeared, and it was just the two of them. She stared up at him like a wild animal caught in a hunter's trap, her big brown eyes wide and confused. For a moment her hair fell away, and he finally, FINALLY saw her face. She was breathtakingly beautiful, with high cheekbones, and brown eyes that tipped down a bit at the corners, making her look a little sad. Her honey-colored skin was marred by an ugly bruise across her cheek. The sight of that bruise made rage rise instantly in his throat. Whoever hurt her was going to die. She pulled away first, breaking eye contact and going back to hiding behind the curtain of her hair. Gabriel had to remind himself that he was in a classroom full of gawking kids, and he had to keep playing the teacher. Go slow, his mother’s voice reminded him in his head. It took all of his self-control to walk away,
Honerera held her ribs and grimaced. Tanner had kicked her last night, and she wasn't sure if they were broken or merely bruised. It hurt to take a deep breath, and it was unbearable to carry her backpack on her right shoulder. She moved slowly and gingerly through the school on the way to her locker. She had taken some ibuprofen, but it barely touched the pain. She was late and was still putting her books away when Aaron came with his entourage. He slammed her locker shut and caught her hand in the metal door. She glared at the floor as she pried her crushed fingers loose. "Hey fatty, get out of my way. You're blocking my locker." He pushed her aside roughly. "Stupid trailer trash bitch." Seeing that teasing Honerera was the theme of the day, and the girl hadn't run off as quickly as usual, Mark joined in the game. "Yeah, I heard her mom was a crack whore. Sold her off to her uncle for a fix and ran away." Honerera had heard all these insults before, the story th
Gabriel wasn’t about to let a bully go unpunished. Especially when that bully had laid a finger on his mate. Like a predator stalking his prey, Gabriel followed Aaron Mortem’s every move. He watched the football practice from the shadows of the bleachers. The kid was flexing his supernatural DNA as the high school quarterback, but as a wolf, he wasn’t impressive. Gabriel doubted the kid even had the strength to fully shift. He waited patiently for the team to filter out of the locker room, and then silently and stealthily followed him to his car. The kid drove a proper redneck truck, complete with a lift-kit and oversized tires. Gabriel watched stealthily as the kid pulled out of the student parking lot, and then he pulled out behind him in his own black pick-up.Instead of driving straight home, Aaron Mortem veered off the paved road and started bouncing at break-neck speed along a rough dirt road, kicking up a cloud of dust behind him. Gabriel followed behind him and shook
For a while now, Honorera had suspected that someone was watching her in her dreams. And now she felt like someone was watching her during her waking hours. She couldn’t exactly explain it, she just had that eerie feeling that eyes were following her, and it was starting to irritate her. She scrubbed the dishes with more force than necessary, trying to expel some of her agitation. She hadn't slept well in weeks, because every time she drifted off, she was having some version of the same dream. A sweet, feminine voice was calling her to come into the forest. "You'll find it there..." the voice promised. Find what? Honorera prowled the forest in her dream, looking for she-didn't-know what. Sometimes she forgot that she was looking for anything. Then she got that disturbing feeling that she was being watched. She scanned the trees, but she couldn't see into the darkness. She didn't know whether to be curious or afraid. Was someone else looking for something mysterious in the