Chapter 1
Damon
I finish working on her cabin while her brother Maverick meets her at the front gate. This house was built recently, and it still needed a few finishing touches. We have also set up safety features around her cabin, including a panic button.
We are a newer pack; we all wanted a fresh start without the rules of the elders.
I got a phone call from the alpha of my beta’s old pack; his sister needed a place to stay because of an obsessed rogue.
They can’t protect her. She will be the first official woman in the pack, and the guys are more than excited at the possibility of finding their true mate.
We have invited women to join our pack, but their leaders have told them we are wild, mean, and without morals.
That is not fucking true; we just wanted to be ourselves without being under the thumbs of those who love to control everything.
About half of the packs out there are like that.
They are especially controlling of their women.
They also suppress us men, so we don’t become dominant and take over.
We have morals—more than those fuckers do, actually.
We are free here, we live well and, once we find our true mates, this land will be ready for them and our pups.
So I created this pack as a safe haven where everyone is accepted.
One thing that is never talked about, and is a big no-no in most packs, is gay couples; they don’t see them as being true mates.
That shit is fucked up and stuck in old times.
We have three shifters in our pack who are gay, but they haven’t found their true mates yet.
Next month is the annual gathering. It’s a week-long thing that brings packs together. It’s chaos, but it unites a lot of true mates.
It will be my first gathering as an alpha.
I have been the leader of this pack for three years but, until now, I didn’t feel secure enough to join in.
There are fights and challenges, and sometimes a fucker wants to take your pack from you.
I needed to be sure my pack members have my back, because people are conniving.
“Yo, they are walking up the trail!” one of my packmates yells, and I can hear them running outside. I laugh because they are so excited. I wipe my hands on the rag I was using to clean the counter and stick it in my back pocket.
I walk out last, heading down the steps.
I can’t even see her because everyone is surrounding her as she introduces herself.
I hear her laugh, and everything inside me stops.
Then the guys step back, I look at her, and my whole fucking world stops.
I breathe deeply, my nose flaring. “Mate,” I growl and her head snaps around to look at me.
She breathes deeply as realization sinks in.
Farren
Waiting at the gate outside of The Knights Pack’s property is my brother. He snatches open the back door and tears me out of the vehicle. He touches my face. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me that someone was bothering you?”
I roll my eyes at his protectiveness. “Mav, I thought he would never act on anything.”
He glares down at me. “Never underestimate someone, sis. Look what happened. I could have lost you.” He gets a pained look on his face.
The fight could have ended badly if he hadn’t trained me in secret.
My pack does not want the women to learn how to protect themselves; they are bit old-fashioned.
And I am all Maverick has left. My mother was shot by a hunter, who thought she was a real wolf, and killed instantly.
My father soon followed her. The heartbreak literally killed him.
They had the kind of love that others could only dream about.
“I know Mav, I am here now.” I hug him and close my eyes. For the first time in a year, I have hugged my brother.
“Love you, sis. It may be a fucked-up situation, but I am glad you will be living here now. I have missed you.” He tugs on the ends of my hair. I smack his back hard and he laughs.
“Glad to see you’re as mean as ever.”
Mav and I have always been really close.
We are close in age; I am twenty-two years old and he is twenty-four.
From the moment I was born, we have been attached at the hip—until he moved to a new pack.
He did not want to leave me, but I knew if I went with him he would be distracted.
S0 I stayed, planning to join him years later, but it happened much sooner.
Meanwhile, Mav has spent ten years helping build this pack, and I have heard rumors that they are the strongest pack in the world.
I guess we will see.
My brother takes my bags out of the back of the SUV, and we walk through the gates, which swing shut immediately. I am in awe of a beautiful tree hanging over the road.
“You will have your own cabin, it will be next to ours. They are twice the size of the old pack’s cabins. The families live in houses on the other side of the territory. The alpha has many businesses, so the pack lives very comfortably.”
I nod, not saying anything, just taking in the scents of my new territory. We walk up a trail, and a bunch of cabins come into view. “How big is the property?” I ask him. I breathe deeply, loving the smell of the woods.
“Right around 20,000 acres.”
I look at him in absolute shock; this is a huge property.
“He wanted everyone to run as they please, to be free. Enjoy being a wolf. He also put cabins in the woods, throughout the property, as a getaway.” Well this alpha seems amazing and very thoughtful
A bunch of men are waiting at the bottom of the road, but I don’t see any females. “How many women are here?”
He looks uneasy for a second before he answers. “You’re the only one.”
Did he just say that I am the only female? “What do you mean?”
He stops and looks at me. “You know how hard it is for packs to give up their women.” I nod.
It is absolutely true. Most of the older and more traditional packs have their women under tight control.
The women in my old pack aren’t so old-fashioned, because we had a younger alpha.
But women in other packs have not been that lucky.
They are kept in traditional roles: they mate and have babies—that is their life.
Their alphas think women should be kept hidden and protected from everything.
If the group is under attack from a rival pack, the women are expected to stay inside and watch their mates being slaughtered.
Hell, no. If I knew my mate was fighting, I would be right by his side.
Mav has told me that, in this pack, you can be yourself and enjoy a lot of freedom.
“I was planning on transferring here anyway,” I tell him.
“Yeah. I know, sis.” He smacks me on the back, being a brother, and I roll my eyes because he is just asking for his ass to be beat.
We finally make it to the end of the road, and I come face-to-face with a bunch of hot-looking men.
They all breathe deeply, taking in my scent, to see if I am their mate.
One by one, they all introduce themselves.
I’ve got to admit I am going to love seeing all of these young, hot men around me all the time.
We all shake hands. This is their way of saying they are not going to cause me harm, and I appreciate that 100 percent.
One of the guys smirks at me. “Beautiful lady, I am now your gay best friend.” He could be on the cover of a magazine. He has beautiful blue eyes and dark brown hair. He is not as tall as most shifters, but he is still huge.
I laugh at him. I can already tell he is goofy and is right about being my new best friend.
From the corner of my eye, I notice everyone parting. I hear a growl, then a word: “Mate.”
My head snaps around, and I see the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my life.
I stare into his eyes, which are a piercing blue.
He is huge. He has broad shoulders, dark brown hair that reaches his jawbone, and scruff on his face, giving him a mountain-man look.
He is wearing a red plaid shirt, with the sleeves rolled up his forearms, which looks heavenly on him.
He is just pure beauty in my eyes. If I had to picture a dream guy, he would be it—hands down.
He breathes in deeply as he stares at me intently.
I breathe deeply too; then it hits me like a ton of bricks.
He is my mate. I can’t believe it. “Alpha?” Mav asks him. He is the alpha?
“She is my true mate,” he tells him.
I blink, taking a step closer as it slowly sinks in. That I’ve finally found him. “You’re finally here,” I whisper; then he splits the distance between us and pulls me into a hug. He lays his head against my neck, breathing deeply, and I close my eyes. A shiver runs all the way down my body.
I can’t believe that he is holding me. One second I was on the run from Ken, and now he is here in my arms. As emotions take over, I start to shake and he tightens his arms around me. “Finally,” he growls, his voice deep. His nose runs back and forth across the crook of my neck.
I fist the back of his shirt, wanting to crawl into his body. My stomach is twisting and turning.
He pulls his head back, looking down at me.
I have always heard that meeting your mate is the most emotional thing, but I never imagined it would be like this.
It’s like the world has stopped, and my heart stopped and then restarted in sync with his.
His eyes turn golden, as his wolf is on the verge of emerging, and I know mine are exactly the same.
“Well, I never imagined this,” Mav says, interrupting the moment, and I let my hands fall from the alpha’s back. I try to step away, but he snatches me to his side.
Everyone’s eyes are on us. I smile because this is everyone’s dream—to find their mate—and I just found mine in such an unexpected way. “Me either,” I whisper, looking at Mav. In minutes, my life completely changed.
“I guess the house we fixed up isn’t needed,” one of the guys jokes and the rest of them laugh.