Promise & Artem (The Wolf’s Mate Generations #8)

Chapter 1

Promise Elliot, she-wolf healer and certified badass female, if she did say so herself, walked out of Lonestar after her shift and stopped to inhale the fresh night air and look at the sky. It was a few days after the June full moon and the sky was beautifully clear and full of stars.

“Hey, girl.”

Promise dropped her head and smiled when she saw London, one of her best friends. The half she-wolf, half-fairy had grown up with Promise in the small town of Allen Kentucky.

“Welcome home,” Promise said, giving London a hug.

“Thanks.” London had spent time in Ashland, Indiana after their mutual friend Lyric, daughter of the pack alphas, had married her mountain lion twin mates, Evan and Elliot.

“Find any good-looking single males up there?” Promise asked.

“Plenty,” she said with a chuckle. “But none were my truemate, which sucks.”

“Too bad.”

“I heard things got dicey with Remy’s mate?”

Not too long ago, Promise and her mom Reika had been in line for snacks at the movie theater when former pack member Remy had called in a panic because his mate Thyme had been shot while in her wildcat shift. Because Promise and her mom were healing wolves also known as apexes, they rushed to the town of Copper Creek and were able to save Thyme’s life.

“That’s freaking wild,” London said after hearing the details. She gave her a curious look and then said, “Are you okay? You seem a little distracted.”

Promise leaned on the railing in front of the restaurant and sighed. “I’m not sleeping well.”

“Any reason why?”

“Well, I think it’s because I’m ready to leave but Rio’s not.”

“I thought you guys were planning to leave together?”

Promise and her younger sister Rio had agreed a few months ago, that they were going to leave the healings in the Tressel Pack to their mom and find new groups to join up with. They intended to simply travel around until they found their truemates and then settle with their people, becoming the healers for their new family and friends.

But every time they made plans to leave, Rio got cold feet.

“I think she’s just not ready to leave home yet,” Promise said. “Which is fine. I just didn’t picture going on my own.”

“Are you having second thoughts?”

“Not really.” She rubbed the space over her heart. “I know I need to leave. There’s zero reason for us to have three healing wolves plus fae like you who can heal with magic.”

“You could go to Ashland and hang out with Lyric,” London suggested. “At least you would know someone in the area.”

“It’s crossed my mind, but I’m not sure it’s where I should go, or I probably would have gone already. I need to do some serious soul-searching, and I think I just need to set a date and leave, whether I’m alone or not.”

“Setting off for adventure, I love it.”

Promise smiled. “Are you going inside for a late dinner?”

“My mom ordered dinner and asked me to pick it up since I was out and about.”

“Awesome. I’m going to take off, see you later.”

“Good luck making your plan.”

“Thanks, babe.”

Promise parted ways with London and walked to her car. As she left the parking lot and drove to the single-wide trailer in a small trailer park on the other side of town, she thought about what London had said.

Should she go to Ashland and hang out with Lyric and the mountain lions? They had a dragonfae in their midst who was great at healing with magic, so they probably didn’t need another healer. But maybe she was putting too much emphasis on using her healing powers. She wanted to be helpful, though, and aside from healing Remy’s mate, she’d rarely used her healing power.

She reached her little trailer ten minutes later. Most of the unmated males and females in her age group lived in the trailer park. There was a central firepit encircled with chairs where they hung out on the weekends. She’d been living there for two years, and loved having a place of her own.

After putting her bag on the chair by the door, she yawned and trudged to the refrigerator to get a bottle of water.

The day hadn’t been particularly bad. It had, in fact, been absurdly normal. She’d woken up, did laundry and cleaned the trailer, and then went to work from noon to eight. Her feet hurt, but standing for so long always made that happen and with her natural healing abilities she’d feel fine soon enough.

She was feeling antsy, though, and she knew it was time for her to go.

Allen was great, and she’d always be happy to be in the woods and hanging with her friends, but somewhere out there was her truemate and a group of shifters who needed her healing abilities.

She just didn’t know where to start.

The next day, Promise had off from Lonestar, so she decided to hang out with her mom. Her dad, Bo, was a mechanic and worked at Pete’s Garage, where several pack members Promise’s age also worked. Her dad had been injured when he was too young to shift and had walked with a limp for years, until he met Reika and she healed him.

That apex healing didn’t come easily, though. The she-wolf had to shift and use venom secreted from the gums to coat her tongue and teeth. Sometimes she used her claws as well if someone was severely injured, and then she would bite the injured person to send the venom into their body to heal. The injured person couldn’t shift for hours and had to endure what Promise likened to being eaten alive by fire ants while rolling around in a firepit.

She’d been healed once by her mom, and it had sucked hard.

On the way to the home she’d grown up in, she stopped at Pete’s to get gas and say hi to her dad.

Pulling up to the second gas pump, she turned off her engine and climbed from behind the wheel with her credit card.

“Oh, hi Jessi,” Promise said as the door to the shop opened and her friend walked out with three large males behind her.

Jessi was the daughter of the pack’s second-in-command, Michael, who worked at Pete’s. Her mates were hyena shifters, and after they were mated, Jessi had moved to Dalton to live with the clan.

“Hey, girl! Long time, no see.” Jessi jogged over and gave Promise a big hug.

“Give me your card, I’ll put gas in for you,” Jett said, holding out his hand.

“Thanks,” Promise said, giving him her card.

She stepped aside with Jessi to talk. “How’s it going? What are you doing in town?”

“All’s great,” Jessi said. “We just came in for the day to hang out. Mom’s in the mood for a cookout and I try not to pass up a chance to have her smokey barbecue ribs. What’s up with you?”

“Nada. Trying to get my crap together and figure out where to go.”

“Go?” Jessi tilted her head. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, I’ve been feeling like I should take off and find my truemate, and also a shifter group that needs a full-time healer. I figure when I find my mate, I’ll find a place to settle too. Rio is dragging her feet, so I feel like I should just go on my own, but I don’t know where to go, so now it’s like I’m dragging my feet.”

“Oof, sorry. Do you want to come to Dalton and hang out? Maybe a hyena clan would be your truemates.”

Promise tried to hold back her reaction to having three mates, but Jessi grinned and Promise knew she hadn’t kept the look off her face. She couldn’t imagine having three mates, but Jessi seemed to love it. And Lyric loved having two mates.

“It’s awesome, trust me,” Jessi said, winking.

“I’m sure it is. That’s an interesting idea.”

Jessi looked thoughtful and then said, “Oh wait, I’ve got it! You should go to the hyena campground in Pennsylvania where I met my guys!”

“Isn’t the gathering in the fall, though?” The hyena clan who ran the Freshwater Campground hosted a get-together for shifters of all kinds in the fall, and Jessi had met her three mates there.

“But they live there full time. There are a few hyena clans that live and work there, plus some other shifters, and the main town has a wolf pack, too. Plus, it’s frigging beautiful up there.”

Something within Promise stirred at the thought.

“Huh.”

“Huh, what?” Jessi asked.

“I just…never thought about it.”

“Of course not, because no one ever talks about hyenas unless I come to town. I can call Ally, she’s one of the main owners. I’m sure she’d let you stay in one of their cabins for a while so you can explore. Plus, being in the mountains, there’s no telling what other shifter groups are around, not just the hyenas and wolves, but maybe bears or big cats.”

“That would be really awesome. Would you have her call me?”

“You bet.”

Jett finished filling the tank and handed the card and receipt to her. “Good luck,” he said.

“Thanks. See you guys later.”

Promise walked into the shop to say hi to her dad, with thoughts of the Pennsylvania campground on her mind.