Damon (Raleigh Texas Wolves #1)

Prologue

Farren

I am so ready to get out of this place. I sit on a chair on my porch, staring at the huge field in the center of all our cabins. My place is small—just the necessities—because a single woman has simple needs until she finds her true mate.

From the moment we’re old enough to know what a true mate is, we crave it; it’s the center of our being.

Our mates have been created for us by The Great Alpha.

A woman can’t be touched sexually by another man without being in pain.

We can only be touched by someone with innocent intentions.

And if a man is not mated yet, he cannot touch a woman sexually without becoming sick because, as I said, each of us is meant to be with one person for life.

But if a man loses his mate, he can touch another woman without becoming ill.

That’s why Ken is obsessed with me. His mate died.

Most people do not survive losing a mate, but he did—and he walked out of his house the day of the funeral smiling.

I will never forget how sick I felt when I saw that smile. I was fifteen at the time.

Then it all changed when I turned sixteen. My body changed; everything grew and expanded in ways I had always hoped they would. But I no longer welcomed these changes, which drew Ken’s attention. As I said, he became obsessed.

The alpha of the pack threatened Ken, but he didn’t do anything until Ken grabbed my ass.

I fell straight to the ground, my whole body screaming in agony.

It’s the worst pain I have ever felt: the agony of my body rejecting a man’s touch.

The alpha of the pack kicked his ass and sent him to the woods for a month.

Since he came back, he has just watched me.

Right now he is leaning against a tree, his arms folded across his chest, watching me. Why can’t he just leave me alone?

He moves away from the tree, his arms falling to his sides, and struts his ass across the field in my direction.

Fuck me, why?

I roll my eyes, looking toward the sky, dread filling me. I just want to be left alone to wait for my true mate. But no, I have to deal with this fuckwad, and he is starting to really creep me out. His obsession with me is getting worse, and I am getting major bad vibes from him.

I can only kick his ass one way, and my wolf form is ready to be unleashed. I can feel her moving beneath my skin, uneasy. When he steps in front of me, I don’t move from my spot on the porch. I eye him, pissed off that he has come into my territory. “What do you want, Ken?”

He grins that sleazy grin, and my stomach churns at the sight of his yellowish teeth. “You.”

I snort at his ridiculous statement, because it’s obvious that he wants me. “Well, I am sorry, I am spoken for.”

His smile drops; he is no longer pretending to be friendly. “Well, your mate is not here, and I am here. I say you’re mine.” He growls, taking a step further.

Wait, what? Is he really serious right now? Most shifters are extremely protective of women, but there are a few that you have to worry about. Like the man in front of me.

My stomach twists, and my hands are tingling.

My wolf is ready to come out and tear his face off for suggesting such a thing.

“You know that is impossible because, if I were to mate with anyone, I would be in pain.” Vomit crawls up my throat.

“It would likely kill me.” A woman, many years ago, attempted to have sex with a man who was not her mate, and she died.

Her body could not handle the pain. If a man has bad intentions and he touches us, we get zapped; it’s like a warning.

“I am willing to take that risk.” He chuckles darkly; then he bends down and takes my hand.

The pain is like an electrical zap running through my hand. I wince and pull back as hard as I can, and my foot collides with his privates. He curses and falls back.

I shoot up to my feet. He committed an unforgivable offense. That is the ultimate sin in the eyes of the shifters: taking another’s mate, even if they have not met each other yet.

The second is trying to force a woman into mating.

Third, he touched me, causing me pain, making it clear he intended to harm me.

With that zap the alpha immediately knows something is wrong. The alpha is connected to us and knows if we are in danger. I am not a damsel in distress, but the women are protected at all costs; that is one thing I am 100 percent certain about.

I take off my shirt and unbutton my pants in seconds as I shift into my gray wolf form. I drag my paw across the grass, growling at him.

He strips off his clothes and we come face-to-face, both of us in wolf form.

Try it, fucker. I am a dominant female—I could be an alpha female if I wanted to—and he just messed with the wrong woman.

He charges toward my shoulder, and I bite his neck, taking skin and fur with me. He yelps, and I let go and grin. He charges me, and I jump out of the way just before his jaws clamp down on my neck. He is trying to kill me.

I turn around, growling deeply. I am done with playing games. I run straight for him, and he runs straight toward me. I jump, grab the back of his neck, and stand on his back, shaking my head hard from side to side.

He snaps his jaws around my paw. I yelp and bite his ear off.

He lets my paw go and I jump off his back, ready to kill him. He is tackled, from the other side, by the alpha.

One of the betas is holding a blanket for me. I change back into human form, holding my broken hand—which will heal later today. He wraps the blanket around my shoulders, and I grip it with my good hand. The alpha has Ken by the neck. I shiver at the feel of Ken’s eyes on me.

“Change back!” The second-in-command tells Ken. He slowly changes back and, after the alpha lets go, Ken runs straight for the hills.

The alpha changes back into human form, gripping his heart. “He left the pack.” His voice is strained; it’s never easy when someone leaves the pack without the usual ceremony. “What happened?” he asks me. He is my brother’s friend; we all grew up together.

“He wanted to force a mating,” I whisper, my voice rough with emotion. Now that I am in human form, the adrenaline is wearing off, and the horror of what just happened is finally sinking in.

The women gasp and the men growl. The alpha curses. “I should have taken his life years ago. I knew he wanted you, but I never thought he would force it. He broke the bond, Farren.”

I close my eyes. He broke the bond—that means the alpha has no way of tracking Ken. He is rogue, which makes him dangerous, and the darkness will eat him, making him ten times worse.

Evil.

You never know what rogue shifters will do, how they will attack.

“You need to go live with your brother. Their pack is bigger, more men.” That is true. My brother moved to another pack, which is very powerful, and he is the second-in-command.

I nod. “I will call.” I turn around, not wanting to look at the members of my pack, the people I’ve grown up with and have known all of my life.

I can feel their eyes at my back, and I can feel their sadness radiating throughout the bond.

Before too long I won’t even feel that bond.

It won’t happen instantly. The connection will drift away, and my bond with the new pack will grow.

I close the door behind me, resting my back against it, my eyes closed. I am filled with dread of everything that’s about to happen, and I’m on edge. He is out there, and I don’t know where he is or whether he is lying in wait, still wanting me.

My brother Maverick’s club will be a fresh start; I have been restless for a long time. I am coming, Maverick.