Chapter One: Stay for Dinner

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.”