Mia Not that you’d know it to look at me. None of us wear a T-shirt that saysWant a Bite?Also, we don’t bite people, under ordinary circumstances, although most of my pack enjoys hunting for small-to-medium prey, and a few enjoy larger types.I’m not much of a hunter. My wolf and I prefer burgers and fries to stringy squirrel meat with fur that gets caught in our teeth. And fish and chips to raw salmon or trout. Not that we get fast food often, since we live so far out in the countryside, even the school bus doesn’t come here. And there is no Internet. Which means we’re all home schooled in a lax way using out-of-date workbooks and whatever the adults can mail order. Most of us can read and write and do basic sums. Few can do more. Our elders, led by our alpha, are hidebound and traditional.Which is why I woke up to a horror show on my twentieth birthday.“Mia, get dressed, it’s time!” My stepmother bustled into my room, followed by several of the other women of the pack. They all w
Mia My dress, my stepmother’s dress, suffocated me. She was slimmer than me, but due to the laced dirndl-bodice, I was able to draw shallow breaths and, as she pointed out, it wouldn’t be for long. I could see them gathering for the ceremony outside my window, in the clearing where we usually held pack feasts and celebrated the turn of the seasons. Or had, when Mom was alive. Somehow, since she passed, the joy had gone out of not just our family but the whole pack. Oh, we gathered for the important holidays, but without Mom to make the arrangements and plan all the food and decorations, to stir the spirit of the pack, it always fell flat.Nikki, who even now was directing the final touches to my coiffure and fluffing the ridiculous poufy veil, just didn’t have what it took to be a true pack mother. And she couldn’t hide her joy, didn’t even try to hide her elation, at my leaving. She even smiled at my reflection in the mirror. “You look very pretty, Mia. But you have to smile.” She p
LiamMy mate’s embrace surrounded me as the warm water poured over us, cleansing away the sweat of the day’s labors, but nothing could wash away the fact I could not give him his heart’s desire. Dan was born to be a father. I often came upon him playing soccer with some of the young ones, a sport he’d enjoyed growing up and had made popular among local packs. Visitors who had the opportunity to see our children in action were excited to introduce the game at home. We might be the only wolf shifters who had a youth soccer league.Dan had been in love with a female years ago, when quite young, but she’d chosen someone else, a fact he said now was fated or he’d never have found me, but she would have given him many children, unlike me. It ripped at my heart not to be able to fill every one of his desires, especially this one, even though he insisted we should be happy with our lives, grateful for what the Goddess gave us, and not tempt fate by wishing for more.Pack was family, true, and
Dan“What a beautiful night.” Liam paced at my side as we strolled under the full moon, enjoying the evening and making sure all was well with our pack. “Maybe the storm will die out before it gets to this side of the Sierra.”I considered the possibility. “It would be nice. Especially if it leaves us a nice half inch of rain along the way. It’s already adding to the snowpack.” Studying the clouds, I noted something odd. “Does that storm appear oddly…narrow?”“What?” Liam followed my gaze. “Have you ever seen one that focused that way? There’s hardly any snow on the peaks on either side, but the pass looks almost winter full. Like when it shuts down to any travel in late December or early January.”“That’s what I mean. Strange.” We’d walked longer than I planned, but the cattle and that fence were seriously on my mind. “I thought we had time before the storm, but if it does pick up and roll in tonight, I’m going to regret not being better prepared. I’d like to go to the western pastur
Dan“Where is she?” I came in to find the place lit up like a Yule tree and Liam in the kitchen stirring a pot that smelled like his “famous” chicken soup. It started out in a can, but he added so many ingredients it was hard to tell. You didn’t lose the female along the way, did you?”“If I had, would I be cooking her dinner? There was some steak left, too, so I thought soup and sandwich? And maybe we’d have a mug of soup to keep her company.”“And the trespasser we took into our custody is doing what right now?”“I was showering.” The bathroom door opened, letting out a blast of steam and the scent of our shampoo and soap. “For which I’m grateful.” Her blonde hair was wrapped in a towel on her head, her body enveloped in a set of my mate’s sweats, leaving only her face and hands and feet visible. But in the well-lit room, I was able to see what I hadn’t before. Those luminous eyes were green with flecks of gold and a gold ring around the iris. Her cheeks were flushed, her stance det
MiaTheir voices reached into my exhausted slumber. I’d never intended to go to sleep at all, but sitting there in the warm comfortable room, wearing cozy sweats, with a tummy full of delicious food had put me out. The alphas in the kitchen spoke in low tones, words I couldn’t quite make out that blurred into a soothing murmur. My brain couldn’t keep hold of consciousness, no matter how hard I tried. My last coherent thought was that if I got an hour or so’s rest, I’d be better able to escape after they went to bed.I likely wouldn’t have managed that catnap if not for the alphas pausing by where I slept on their sofa to talk dirty to each other. My assumptions they were bachelors waiting for a mate fled when one of them used the term for the other. I lay still, hoping they still believed me asleep, but they were so busy teasing one another about some plan they had for sex later that my presence had interrupted, I probably could have opened my eyes and watched.Then, as if they hadn’t
Liam“Are you out of your mind?” Dan’s eyes were so wide, I was afraid he might strain them. “What would make you offer something like that?”We’d fallen asleep at some point in the night, both of us, and I really expected to find our guest had left when we got up this morning. If it hadn’t been so dangerous, with the biggest storm in decades settled in for a while, I’d have been relieved if she left. I didn’t consider her a threat, at least not to anyone but herself. At least the cattle were in the pastures that offered some shelter, with fencing that would keep them close enough to take advantage of it.“Mia, I’m afraid you may have been injured more than you thought, yesterday,” I said, concerned for her welfare. “As soon as the snow lets up, we’ll send for the healer. Did you fall and hit your head at any point?”We were eating breakfast, oatmeal with brown sugar and, and drinking coffee at this point, and Mia had made the strangest offer I could imagine.“No, I did not hit my hea
MiaTheir scent nearly overwhelmed me; it permeated their bedding and had me ready to tear my clothes off and offer myself to them. In fact, I had offered myself to them. In a way, but they wanted more than I was prepared to give. They wanted everything. And I had run away from that. Rod might not be alpha in his pack now, but he would be one day, making me alpha female there, too.But how could I compare that situation to this? I felt nothing but disgust for Rod and fear of his father. Liam and Dan were kind. “Would it be all right if I thought about this for a while?” I needed to breathe. “I know you’re offering me a great honor, but it’s such a surprise, I just…I don’t know what to do.”“Sure.” Liam stood and drew me to my feet. “Why don’t you relax, have more coffee, think about it all day if you want. Nobody is going to make it here from the other side of the mountains in the storm, so you’re safe for the time being.”“And if you want to stay here but you don’t want to mate with