Chapter 2

Kyle’s wolf whined when the woman closed the door. The panicked look on her face distressed his wolf. That’s why he was crouching low on the grass across from the door she was hiding from, hoping that she’ll show herself again. The essence of mixed in with orange blossoms and honeysuckle made such a delicious scent that it lured him away from his morning run and drew him to Mr Kilian’s property. The minute he saw her gazing at the mountains, her eyes squinting in concentration, his wolf had cried out, “Her. Her. She’s the one for us.”

Kyle and his wolf had always been in agreement with all decisions since he turned, but now. Now his wolf’s insistence that she was their mate made him pause. He has been longing for the Moon Goddess to bless him with a mate since he turned at 14. At 29 years old, he had almost given up on thinking that he had one. His one true mate. All the she-wolves he had met, his wolf, had turned his nose at them. But seeing her standing there, staring at the canvas, her exotic smell made his wolf growl. He wanted to mark her, make his claim on her. His wolf had taken a step toward her, but his human side had hesitated. That is when she had turned to him and a horrified expression had paled her cinnamon brown skin. Fear had tinted her sweet smell. His wolf whimpered yelp because he hated that she was scared. Of him. 

The sun was already high in the sky and Kyle knew he needed to get back to his pack home. His father must be looking for him and before long, his pack members will be searching for him. He tried to move, but his wolf wouldn’t budge. His wolf didn’t want to leave his mate, especially now that her scent had turned to sadness, a tangy smell that didn’t sit well with him.

“Look, we’ve got to go,” he told his wolf. “You’re mistaken. She can’t be our mate. She’s a human. My father will never agree to our mating and you know it.” His wolf gave a deep growl at that statement, but allowed him to stand and step away from the cabin. Away from her.

The Alpha’s two-story wooden home stood proudly among the small cabins that surrounded it. The snow-capped peaks of the Longs Peak Mountain Range glistened in the morning sun. The tall pines and aspens trees enclosed the small community from prying eyes and hostile enemies of the Blue Mountain Pack. Kyle scurried to the recreation center, to the training room where he knew his father was. He hastily buttoned up his flannel shirt and pushed open the glass doors to the gym. Sounds of gym equipment being used and flesh being hit from the boxing ring assaulted his ears. His father, Greyston Brooks, spurred with his Beta Paul in the ring. From the looks of things, the boxing had been going on for a while as they each spotted bruises on their bodies. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he could hear his father murmur, “the boy finally deems to join us this morning.”

Kyle strolled to the ring just as Greyston drop kicked his Beta into the boxing ropes so hard that Paul bounced off them onto the canvas. Paul gave a low groan as he wreathed onto the floor.

“So, son, where have you been? You were supposed to train with me this morning,” Greyston said, taking off his boxing gloves casually, like he hadn’t just put his second in a violent spasm on the floor.

Scratching his left eyebrow, he pushed down his wolf that wanted to scream that he had found his mate, but he knew his father would have a field day knowing that the girl was human, she wasn’t even a hybrid but a full blood human. How did his wolf get him into such a mess?

“I went for my morning run. I got distracted by some elks. My wolf wanted to have some fun.”

“Not too much fun. Your mother will kill you if you’ve spoiled your breakfast,” Greyston pulled down a t-shirt over his muscled chest. For a middle-aged man, he was in tip-top shape. Something that was needed in an Alpha that led to one of the strongest packs in the northern parts of the country. Greyston stood by his son, rubbing his sweat-stained dark brown locks, similar to his son’s, with a towel. “You need to get in your training this morning. I’ll tell your mother that you won’t be eating breakfast with us today.” He lightly tapped his palm on Kyle’s cheek. “Make sure you make it for dinner. The Danvers are coming tonight. You know how important this meeting is. Laura Danvers needs to like you. The mating between you and her is very important for the future of this pack. Who knows, she might be your destined mate.” He chuckled as he strode to the gym’s glass doors.

“Your father is serious about anchoring you to this Danvers chick, huh?” his friend Nick said. Nick was gearing up to be his Beta when Kyle ascended to be the Alpha of the pack.

“This alliance would make us a formidable force to be reckoned with. Other packs will be crazy to go against us if we join with the Moonvalley Pack. This is the right thing to do for the pack, regardless of what I think.” As soon as he pushed out the words, his wolf growled and clawed at him, pacing furiously inside him. His wolf didn’t understand why they couldn’t go and claim their mate. Kyle knew he was going to have a hard time convincing his wolf to agree to the mating with Laura. He hoped that his wolf’s assertion that the girl was their mate was wrong and that maybe Laura would be right for them. A she-wolf and an alpha. Perfect as a mate for a future Alpha of Blue Mountain Pack. Not that frightened human who ran away from him. The thought of a light-brown skin glowing in the rising sun brought longing to his soul and his wolf whimpered, needing to go back to her, comfort her. Kyle wondered why she was sad. Was it because he scared her? Shaking his head, he pushed thoughts of her away as he strolled to the boxing ring, where Paul had recovered and was now waiting for him.

Kyle tossed and turned in his bed. His modest cabin is a bit further from the pack’s clustered cabins. He preferred solitude. It helped him think and design his woodwork. His cabin had an adjoining barn that he had converted into a carpenter’s workshop.

His wolf clawed at him, pushing at the surface. He wanted to be out, to run to his mate and make sure she was alright, if her sadness had abated. Kyle flung his bed sheets off from him and rose out of the bed. Opening his front door, the night air was frigid, his puffs of air forming clouds around him. Wearing just his boxers, the freezing air was a cold splash to his overheated body. Closing his eyes, he let his wolf out. Dark brown fur sprouted out of his skin, his bones reshaping and shifting until the ground was lower and he stood on four legs. His wolf pushed forward, and he shot off toward the woman who called him.

Dinner with the Danvers had been torturous. He had been all onboard with mating with Laura. They had met before when they were in their teens and, seeing her recently; she had blossomed into a beautiful she-wolf. She was strong and athletic. Fine blonde hair falling past her shoulders and baby-blue eyes. She would have made a great Alpha Female for him. That was until this morning. Now, hearing his father and Alpha Denver discuss the potential mating between him and Laura, he had to swallow the growl that rumbled low in his chest. His wolf didn’t like hearing about him mating with another girl. He wanted his true mate, the girl at the cabin. Kyle went to bed hoping that his wolf’s insistence with the dark-skinned beauty was a fluke and him and his wolf will back on the same page tomorrow, but here he was in the dead of night running in his wolf-form to Mr Kilian’s property. The cabin was dark, with only the porch light illuminating the front yard. Her delicious scent calmed his wolf. He settled down near the Aspen trees circling the property, the cabin within his sight to see any potential danger or when she left the cabin. Taking one deep breath of her scent, he slept.