Chapter 2
Chapter Two
The sky had deepened to a velvety indigo as Leo Hale stepped out onto the narrow trail winding through the dense pines at the edge of Thorn Hollow.
A warm breeze slid through the trees, carrying the earthy scent of damp soil.
Moonlight sifted through the branches, silver patches dappling the forest floor as Leo’s boots crunched softly while he walked.
He was restless but couldn’t really say why.
The full moon was tomorrow, and his wolf was always happy for the full moon hunts with the pack, but the feelings that gnawed at him for the last few days felt nothing like normal full moon excitement.
The radio clipped to his belt bounced against his hip as he walked, flashlight in hand, around the town the pack called home. He shook off the restless feeling, focusing on the job at hand as part of the security team.
Next to him, his best friend and fellow security guard, Solan, walked, also seemingly lost in thought.
They stopped to check one of the hidden cameras that blinked silently in the trees.
Solan climbed up and inspected it, finding that a spiderweb across the lens had caused it to go off as if there was motion nearby when there wasn’t.
After cleaning the lens, he jumped down and landed solidly next to Leo.
“That’s the last one we needed to check,” Solan said.
Leo glanced at his watch before they continued their trek around town.
During their shift, they’d make multiple passes around the perimeter of town as well as walking through various sections, always looking for anything out of place and answering any calls the security office needed them to check on.
“You’re quiet,” Leo said.
“You are too.”
“Full moon,” Leo said.
“Is that what’s going on with you?”
“What else would it be?” Leo asked, blowing out a breath, wanting to know what was getting his wolf all riled up.
“I don’t know. I was thinking about how it’s the full moon again, and Brick and Jade are together now, and that means you and I are the last single ones of our friend group. It makes me feel old, even though I’m not actually old.”
“Yeah,” Leo agreed. He was younger than Solan, but not by much. They’d been best friends with Brick for years, and close to their alpha, Adam.
“Maybe we just need to get laid.”
Leo laughed. “Thinking of calling one of the pack females for some company?”
“Meh. We could go to Lykos.”
Lykos was the shifter-friendly bar owned by the pack but run by a fallen angel named Paris. All shifters were welcome, and high-ranked members of the various shifter groups that called Northern Ohio home had reserved tables.
“I highly doubt my truemate would just happen to be at the bar on a random night in August. Plus, we can’t go tonight because we’re working, and tomorrow is the full moon.”
“So Saturday then. Sometimes you gotta put yourself out there, man. You just never know what fate might have in store.”
Leo did know a little something about fate.
Fate was a son of a bitch.
Leo had no family of his own. His parents had gotten together to have him and then decided to split, leaving him in the care of his grandma in Thorn Hollow.
His parents had moved on as if he’d never existed, settling down with others and starting families, expertly excluding Leo.
When his grandma died, he’d floundered for a while, acting out and getting in trouble with the former pack alpha, Lit.
Brick, Solan, and Adam hadn’t let him get too crazy, though.
They’d become his family when he’d had no one else, and they still supported him.
But he wished fate had been kinder to him in the past.
He envied people with idyllic childhoods.
Imagine having parents who loved you?
He punched Solan in the arm.
“Ow, shit, man. What was that for?” Solan asked, rubbing his arm.
“You made me think too hard about my past. Now I need a drink, but I’ve got to work.”
“Sorry.”
“Ass.”
“So…Saturday at Lykos?” Solan asked.
“Yeah, why the hell not? Maybe you’re right and fate will smile on us.”
“It would be nice for a change.”
As they walked, Leo glanced up at the sky through the canopy of trees.
He noticed a particularly bright star in the sky.
He stopped and pulled out his phone, opening an app that gave the names of stars and constellations.
When the app opened, he pointed his camera at the sky, and it showed a map of the heavens.
The very bright star? A recently appearing one named Velastra.
“See something cool?” Solan asked when he walked back after realizing Leo hadn’t been with him.
“It’s a very bright star named Velastra, which means Veil of Secrets.”
“That’s cool.”
“Maybe that’s a sign,” Leo said, closing the app and putting his phone away.
“A star?”
“Sure. It happens. Celestial events tell the future all the time.”
“You’ve been hanging around the Wiccans too much during the ceremonies.”
“The last time I hung out with them was for the spring solstice when I stood guard with them on the bluffs.” He glanced up at the sky once more, wondering if there really was something coming.
Was that why his wolf was acting up?
* * *
It was two a.m. when they passed by the alphas’ home, where Adam and Cinder lived on the third floor.
Adam’s parents lived on the second floor, and there were other suites open for high-ranked males, but Leo and Solan had chosen to live in homes of their own in a nearby neighborhood.
Solan chose that because he liked his privacy, but Leo chose not to live with them because before Adam and Cinder had realized they were truemates, he and Cinder used to fuck around.
It had never been anything but casual, but Leo respected Adam too much to make himself a permanent fixture in their home while they were starting a family.
A low whistle from the back porch made Leo and Solan stop and turn toward the house.
Adam lifted a hand.
They walked over and climbed the steps of the porch.
“Hey guys, how’s it going?” Adam asked.
“All clear,” Solan said.
“That’s what I like to hear. We haven’t heard from Foley since the last time he came after us. I don’t want to jinx it, but I sure as hell hope he’s moved on and will leave us alone.”
Leo nodded in agreement. Brent Foley was the head of Humans Against Shifters, an anti-shifter group that operated under the guise of keeping cities and towns free of shifters to protect humans, but in reality, they generally tried to kill as many shifters as they could using any means necessary.
He was a nasty, unhinged male and recruited mercenaries to join his cause.
He’d come to Northern Ohio and gone after the tiger pride in Whisper Creek, and now he’d turned his attention to the pack.
“I hope he’s moved on, too,” Leo said. “But if he hasn’t, we’ll be ready for him.”
“We sure will be,” Solan said. “Why are you up so late?”
“Eh,” Adam said. “I came downstairs to grab a piece of my mom’s apple pie and heard you guys. I wanted to see if one of you would come along on Saturday to the Festival of the Revel in Willow’s Crossing.”
“I’ll go,” Leo said. “What the heck is it? I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s a pop-up festival,” he said, leaning on the porch railing.
“It follows a star called Velastra that’s linked to magic and dreams and other witchy stuff.
Cinder wants to get some things to restock her magic supply cabinet, and also to get the fried junk food they’re supposed to have. Corn dogs, cotton candy, and such.”
Leo hummed in surprise. There was a festival for that bright star, and he just happened to see it? How cool.
“What time?” Leo asked.
“It opens at noon on Saturday, so we can go sometime in the afternoon. I’ll holler at you.”
“Sounds good.”
“Save me a piece of pie,” Solan said as he and Leo headed down the steps.
“Sorry, I already finished it.”
“You don’t sound one bit sorry,” Leo said with a chuckle.
“Nope.”
Their patrol continued, slow and methodical. Fence lines were checked, cameras were reviewed, and every border of the town was touched upon more than once. The star—Velastra—shining brightly over everything they patrolled.
* * *
The following day, Leo spent a few hours in the afternoon at the garage in Delta Park that bordered Thorn Hollow. The car dealership and garage were owned by the pack, and Leo had learned how to turn a wrench from Adam. He was under the hood of a truck when Brick called out to him.
“How was patrol last night?” he asked as he joined Leo at the truck.
Leo straightened. “Good. We fixed the one camera that was glitching.”
“Adam asked you to join him and Cinder for the festival tomorrow?”
“Yep.”
“We’re meeting at the alpha’s house at one, and then we’ll head over to Willow’s Crossing. Jade is coming because Cinder invited her, so I have to go too. I’ve got Dove, Joey, and Stewart joining you for security.”
“Sounds good.”
“I’m not sure we need that many people for security, with me and Adam, you know? But I also feel like we’re just waiting for a problem, from Foley or from someone else. I don’t like being on edge, and leaving Thorn Hollow makes me twitchy.”
“That’s understandable,” Leo said. “We were ambushed by Foley’s guys, and Jade had that male after her, and you two were attacked in town. I think you, and she especially, have earned a little break, and if having a few extra security guards by you helps that happen, then it’s worth it.”
“Thanks, man.” Brick clapped him on the shoulder. “Man, I miss turning a wrench.”
“I love it,” Leo said. “I like being part of security, but there’s nothing quite like fixing a car.”
“I came to get my oil changed.” Someone whistled at Brick, and he said, “I’ll see you at the bonfire tonight.”
“You bet.”
Leo watched Brick leave and then turned his attention back to the engine.
He wondered if his wolf, the star in the sky, and the festival were all linked somehow. Had fate finally decided to stop being a bitch and help him out with his love life?
Because he’d love nothing more than to find his forever female and start a family.
Dream on, he snorted to himself.
As if he could just magically make his truemate appear out of thin air, like she’d be following a star he happened to see in the sky, like some kind of star-hunting-pirate.
If that was even a thing.
His wolf probably just needed to run wild in the woods, and then he’d be back to rights.
Hopefully.