I stretch with a yawn, digging my claws into the earth. Caden’s scent is even more powerful to my nose now. It’s everywhere, all around my cottage, up in the meadow above it, down the road. I waver, my wolf wanting to follow the freshest trail of cedar and oakmoss to find him.

His chuckle when he caught me admiring his body makes the bond dance within me. I want to, but I’ll find him later. Right now I want to run and explore to my heart’s content.

The first time I shifted, I was too overwhelmed to notice everything. Lifting my nose, I find I’m right about tracking valuable plants to forage. There’s a patch of buckthorn fruit growing on bushes I never knew about north from the meadow, and the buttery sweet hints of chanterelle mushrooms calling to me on the breeze. It could expand my little hustle into something greater than I ever dreamed when Jade first gave me direction and helped me find my love of plants.

I paw at the loop I made with my clothes and with some maneuvering with my snout, I’m able to slip it over my head like an oversized collar. A basket, I’ll need a basket easy to carry when I go out for plants. And a way to carry my tools, my satchel will get slobbery if I carry it in my mouth.

Ideas spark one after the other, my thoughts coming more fluid and less burdened than they might be in my skin. I chuckle at my lowered inhibitions and it comes out as an energetic yip.

I trot through the woods, learning with my wolf how to do this. All around me nature is alive and it stokes my excitement.

Our lope through the forest takes us past skullcap and puffball mushrooms, a vibrant gooseberry bush, swaths of dandelions in the thick grass beneath evergreens, and beds of purslane. She sprawls on the succulent ground cover weed for a short nap without listening to my attempts to steer her away.

Green. Yuck, she decides after nibbling on the slightly salty leaves.

She catches a much more enjoyable scent—prey. We both perk up at the thought of meat for breakfast, our mouth salivating. We’re a big, beastly wolf. Surely it can’t be so hard to catch something. This should come naturally for us, we’re a predator born to hunt.

My wolf prowls behind overgrown ferns, fixated on the burrow nestled in a hollow at the base of a tree twenty paces away. She doesn’t wait long. A gopher with its cheeks stuffed with food comes down from another nearby tree, zigzagging through the underbrush. She’s perfectly still, nose barely twitching as the creature comes closer.

Energy vibrates through her limbs and she darts too soon, scaring it out of reach when she pounces. A bark works its way up her throat in her shock she didn’t catch it.

She watches her meal scamper off, tail drooping and a put out sigh huffing from her.

I console her disgruntled mood. We still suck at hunting, but we’ll figure it out with practice. The first time I tried to eat what the forest provided me, I nearly poisoned myself and look at me now.

She forgets all about it once we’re running again, the cool air ruffling our coat and tingeing the air with interesting scents like fresh laundry, baking bread, and the pipes elders smoke on their porches. Someone’s being loud, their whining cries filtering through the trees from the direction of Silver Falls. The tang of arousal hangs in the air. Mating. I identify Emily’s scent and change directions.

A sleek wolf bounds over a mossy hill with her tongue hanging out from her grinning maw. I freeze.

She stops, tail at attention as she sniffs us snout to snout. Her wet nose tickles our ear when she inspects it, then moves down our neck and front flank. She barks, lowering her chest to the ground. Our tail wags when we recognize her. Taryn. Friend.

We circle each other, jumping and playing. She knocks into me much like she does when we’re in our skin and I roll her.

A sharp bark interrupts us. We spring to our feet when another wolf emerges from the trees. He’s huge with bright orange eyes that seem familiar. It becomes clear when he pins Taryn’s wolf and runs his nose from her chest to beneath her jaw, licking her before he lets her up.

I approach Liam, ears swiveling to gauge his mood. He gives me a perfunctory sniff and gives my side a headbutt. My wolf bumps him back with her shoulder, putting a paw on his back. He goes still, then takes off, pausing on top of a hill to see if we’re following. Taryn shoots off first and I join her, my spirits soaring as the three of us race.

This is what I’ve missed. Belonging with my pack.

22CADEN

When the kid from our carpentry supply delivers the last of the materials I ordered, I load it into the flatbed of my truck with the rest of the things I’ve gathered that Avery needs and drive up to her cottage. On the way, I pass the crew working on extending the power lines and lift my fingers in a wave from the open window.

Avery’s not around, but her sisters are.

Beatrix bursts out the rickety front door while I’m unloading lumber from the truck. The damned thing is first on my list.

If I thought she’d let me, I’d burn this place down. I’m sure it would piss her off when she’s put so much effort into making this her space, so I’ll fix it up so it stands another century to serve her needs.

“Are you looking for Avery?” Beatrix can’t contain a smile. “I heard you’re True Mates. Is that why you’re coming around now?”

The corner of my mouth lifts. “I’m here for all of you. I’m sorry for making your lives hard for so long. Will you let me make it right?”

She purses her lips to the side in thought, growing quiet. “Is it also true you rejected her? She won’t tell me about it no matter how much I pester her. I had to hear it from the others in my lessons, and they say you were a real dick about it.”

My head dips. “Yes. I want to make up for that, too.”

“Did it hurt?”

A startled huff leaves me. “It does, yes.”

“Good.”

I rub my chest to ease the twinge at the memory, the bond punishing me for what I did to my mate retroactively. “More for her, I think. If I could go back and change what I’ve done, I would.”

She peers inside a moment, probably checking on Lena. “What are you planning to do about it? Because if you hurt Avery again…” She comes to the edge of the stoop, hands on her hips and a ferocious expression rivaling the females on the enforcer roster. “I won’t let it slide.”

It strikes me that I’m Alpha and I’m being admonished by a girl who hasn’t even come of age yet. She’s my mate’s family, which makes her one of my own. I need to protect the Morgan girls as much as I need to care for my own blood.

“When we moved here, I didn’t really understand why, and Lena was way too young to remember much of anything. It didn’t feel right, being so far from the pack. The smells were different and I couldn’t hear them.” Her gaze hardens. “You know what I do remember? The nights Avery cried after she put us to bed thinking no one could hear her.”

The guilty knife lodged in my chest drives a bit deeper. “You have my word that I will never hurt Avery ever again.”

I vow it with a hand over my heart that only beats for her.

She gives a satisfied nod after a beat. “If you can make her happy again, then it’ll be okay. She deserves to be happy.”

My throat thickens. I clear it, squeezing my nape.

“She does. And I will give her anything and everything to ensure it.” I gesture to the open bed of the truck. “Starting with a repaired door that doesn’t scream on its hinges. If that’s alright with you?”

Beatrix perks up, her bubbly energy returning. “You’re going to fix the door?”

“I’ll fix anything that needs it.” I incline my head. “Or, if you’d like, I’ll prepare a new cabin for you to move to.”

She’s right. They shouldn’t be so far from the pack. The nearest cabin is close to a mile from here. They need to be around their packmates. Lena and Beatrix should be running around with friends, not cast to the edges of the territory.