Young Wolf (Return To Fate Mountain #11)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

Corey Bright stepped to the podium, and the last conversations in the auditorium of the Bright Institute for Shifters faded into silence.

“Graduates, families, faculty, and everyone who helped someone reach this day, welcome.” He paused.

“The families here today want to know that we prepared their graduates well. The graduates already suspect we didn’t prepare them for everything. They’re both right.”

Ryder found his best friend Nell Meadows in the graduate block near the front. Her dark chestnut hair stood out against her black gown. Nell’s square cap tilted to the side, and her tassel dangled over her right shoulder.

Nell’s mother, Laura, sat beside Ryder. She had Nell’s petite build, fine features, gray-green eyes, and silver-threaded chestnut hair.

She’d driven up from the coast near Eureka to watch her daughter graduate.

When Nell entered the auditorium, Laura had clutched Ryder’s forearm and held it until Nell took her seat.

Steel Protection filled his row and most of the one behind him.

Siren sat with Reed, who was smiling up at his father at the podium.

Dom held Adrian on his lap and Valeria sat beside him.

Hunter and Brie had Colette in her car seat carrier near the aisle.

Reese had baby Elsie in a baby carrier against her chest. Axel had his arm around her shoulders on the back of the chair.

Blaze held Rory on his lap while Stella leaned toward Ryder.

She whispered, “Nell looks beautiful.”

Ryder grinned. Steel Protection had become part of Nell’s life after Stella had reported her inexplicably missing from her shift at Fate Mountain Diner.

She’d been grabbed off Pine Ridge Trail during a run and held captive with other young shifter women for weeks.

Blaze and Stella had gone undercover in an underground fighting operation to extract her from the trafficking network.

Nell escaped in her winter wren form and flew across Portland to the hotel where Stella had told her they were staying.

During the raid on the warehouse, Ryder had stayed with Nell in the hotel.

She’d been exhausted, underweight, and nearly mute.

He’d kept her company and kept her safe.

After that, Nell and Ryder had become close friends.

When Nell returned to Fate Mountain, she went back to work at the diner, resumed her classes, and rebuilt her life.

At the podium, Corey continued. “For most of your education, someone else has had the final word. An instructor graded the paper, evaluated the project, or told you whether you had met the standard. In your careers, there will come a day when the judgment belongs to you.”

Ryder glanced at Reed. Reed smiled at the stage. Siren leaned over to say something near his ear, and his smile widened before he answered.

“Experience deserves respect, but it is not infallible,” Corey said. “You will work with people who have been doing the job longer than you have, and you should learn everything you can from them. There will also be times when what you know puts you in disagreement with a supervisor.”

Ryder was proud of Nell for everything she’d accomplished.

Corey looked across the graduating class. “One of the harder parts of becoming a professional is learning when to defer and when to speak. I hope we have prepared you for both.”

He finished to warm applause. Ivy Bright came to the podium next and announced, “The graduating-student address will be delivered by Nell Meadows.”

Laura leaned forward with the rest of the audience as applause filled the auditorium. Nell rose from the graduate section and crossed to the podium, the stage lights catching in her dark hair. She settled her pages, then lifted her gaze.

“When we arrived at the Bright Institute, most of us were thinking about what came next. We were here to earn the degree, learn the work, and prepare for the lives we planned to build afterward.”

A few graduates nodded.

“But our lives did not wait for graduation. They happened while we studied for exams and worked late shifts, in apartments we thought were temporary, and with people who became more important to us than we expected.”

Nell smiled. “While we were preparing for what came next, our lives were already changing. Some of us are leaving with the plans we arrived with. Some of us are going somewhere we never expected. But none of us is leaving with only a degree.”

Applause rose briefly from the graduate section.

“There will always be something else ahead of us—the first job, the promotion, the next goal.”

Nell looked over at the classmates who had spent the last several years beside her.

“I hope we don’t spend so much time waiting for our real lives to begin that we miss the lives already happening around us.”

This time the applause started before she finished smiling.

“Congratulations. We did it.”

Ryder stood with everyone else as applause filled the auditorium.

Laura clapped beside him, tears running down her face.

Stella and Reese rose cheering. Blaze shouted Nell’s name, and Axel whistled loud enough to earn a glance from the row ahead.

Ryder’s hands stung from clapping, and he couldn’t stop grinning.

The ceremony continued through the presentation of degrees.

When Nell’s group rose, Ryder followed Nell’s progress through the line.

“Nell Meadows,” Ivy Bright announced.

Nell crossed the stage, shook Ivy’s hand, and accepted her diploma. She paused for the photograph, her face beaming. Ryder shouted her name with Stella, Reese, and everyone around them. Laura’s cheer broke into a laugh.

The graduates moved their tassels to the left side and the ceremony was complete.

After that, the graduates and guests filed out into the lobby.

Voices echoed through the space, and families regrouped for photographs.

Laura stayed close to Ryder until Nell emerged from the side exit with her diploma in hand.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Laura wrapped her arms around Nell, kissed her cheek, and drew back to look at her. “Your speech was wonderful.” Nell thanked her mother and pulled her close again.

Stella reached the three of them just as Laura was releasing Nell, and she gathered Nell into a hug. “I’m so proud I got to watch you give that speech.”

“Thank you,” Nell said, a broad smile on her lips.

Reese came in beside them and hugged Nell next. “Congratulations, Nell. You’re the strongest woman I know.”

Nell smiled against her shoulder. “That means a lot coming from you, Reese.”

Ryder loved watching Nell accept the praise she deserved.

Blaze cocked his chin at Nell as he held baby Rory. “You were good up there, kiddo,” he said.

Nell found Ryder standing to the side of the group. She handed her diploma to Laura and rushed over. He opened his arms, and she went into them. Ryder lifted her off the floor, then set her back on her feet.

“You did it,” he said. He drew back enough to see her. “You were incredible up there.”

Her cheeks were pink from the crowd and the attention, but she met his eyes. “I heard you yelling my name.” She giggled. Ryder grinned and hugged her again.

Axel raised his phone. “Everybody get together for a group picture.”

Laura returned Nell’s diploma, and the group gathered. Dom pulled her into a one-armed hug as he guided her toward the middle.

“Proud of you, Meadows,” Dom said.

Hunter’s usual reserve broke into a smile. “Good work.”

Siren came in on Nell’s other side and hugged her. “You’re one tough cookie.”

Nell held her for another moment. “That means a lot.”

Axel propped his phone on the wide window ledge and set the timer.

Blaze stood beside Stella. Hunter caught Axel by the elbow and pulled him into the group before the camera fired.

Ryder bent beside Nell as Laura told her to hold up her diploma.

She lifted it, laughing as the camera flashed.

After a few photos, the group broke apart in a confusion of congratulations.

Reed brought Corey over from the faculty group after that. “Dad, you know the graduate everyone came to see.”

Corey smiled at Nell and shook her hand. “Excellent speech. I know you’ll do big things.”

“I’ve been hired by an accounting firm in Portland,” she told him. “The institute prepared me well.”

Ryder already missed her.