Chapter 1

1

“ D on’t touch that!” I snapped, and then instantly winced when Larkin shot me a wide-eyed look. She froze in place where she’d been unpacking a box of throw pillows.

I’d just bitten off my best friend’s head over throw pillows .

Way to go, Skye. You sound like an absolute bitch.

“I’m so sorry.” I clapped a hand over my mouth and shook my head as our other best friend and my de facto sister-in-law, Katy, stepped into the room.

“What the hell, Skye?” She wrinkled her nose at me as her girlfriend, Maren, followed her into the living room where Larkin and I had been unpacking boxes for the last few hours.

I rubbed my forehead. “I have no idea where that came from.” I lifted my hands innocently and stepped back, feeling embarrassed and annoyed at the same time. What the hell was going on with me?

After a crazy couple of years, Remy and I were finally moving into our new house. It was my freaking dream home, and one we’d been pushing off moving into as he stepped into the role of Alpha of the Blackwater pack over the last couple of years, transitioning for his father to lead the newly re-established North American Alpha Council for shifters.

Yeah, this week was kinda stressful because moving from the small cabin in the woods we’d lived in for the last two years as we’d worked with the packs and balanced that with college courses wasn’t easy at freaking all.

Case in point? Remy and his beta, Rhodes, were currently having a last minute meeting with two southern packs who were bitching— again —over boundary lines. There was a river dividing them, but now they wanted to designate at which part of the naturally flowing body of water their packs’ lands started and ended.

It was stupid and frustrating, and I felt my mate’s annoyance through the bond we shared even as he played the diplomat.

Thank God one of us was level headed because it sure as hell wasn’t me.

“Skye?” Katy tapped her toe against the hardwood floor, and I felt my irritation spike again. Why the hell hadn’t she taken her shoes off when she stepped into my house?

I was about to open my mouth and demand she kick off the offensive sneakers when her mother, Mallory, walked into the room. She took one look at all of us before asking, “What’s wrong?”

“Skye’s embracing her inner diva,” Katy replied with a giggle. She meant it as a joke, and I knew that. And yet…

“Or maybe you’re just a bitch,” I muttered, running a hand through my dark hair and glaring at her.

Yeah, that caused a full stop from everyone.

Katy’s jaw swung open. “I was teasing, Skye.”

“Are you okay?” Larkin pressed, moving closer to me.

I instantly stepped away, putting distance between us as my wolf rippled under my skin, pissed and… I didn’t know. Everything was a little hazy.

Dammit, maybe I was getting sick. Not that shifters got sick often, but it was always possible.

“Oh, dear,” Mallory murmured, setting down the box she’d carried in. “Skye, honey, can you look at me?”

It took some effort, but I met her gaze. I loved Mallory to pieces, I did. She was Remy and Katy’s mom, and had basically become my second mom. But right now? I wasn’t in the mood for a lecture.

“How do you feel?” she asked softly, her tone gentle and soothing.

I rolled my shoulders in a shrug. “Tired? But we’ve been moving stuff for the last few hours, and I guess I need a snack or something.”

Maren offered a small smile. “Want me to grab you a protein bar?”

The idea of Maren, sweet, timid Maren, touching a damn thing in my house made me want to go off.

Which made zero fucking sense.

“No, no,” Mallory said, shaking her head. “Girls, I think it might be best if you all left.”

Larkin looked around the stacks of boxes in the living room. “But there’s still so much to do.”

“And it’ll stay that way until Skye’s ready,” Mallory assured her with a smile. “But right now, I think it’s best to give her space. How about if I call Remy and have him come home?”

My wolf practically salivated at the idea of our mate here. Yes, yes, yes. That was exactly what we wanted. What we needed.

Katy tilted her head. “What’s going on?”

“Skye,” Mallory started, her voice still soothing, “I think you’re going into your first heat cycle.”

I sucked in a sharp breath because no . No, that wasn’t happening. Shifters didn’t go into their first heat cycle until they were roughly twenty-one, and I was barely twenty. Outside of extremely rare occurrences, it was the only time that a female shifter could get pregnant.

Oh, hell. I wasn’t ready to be a mom, was I?

I stumbled back, fear choking me even as my wolf nudged the idea of a little Remy running around into my thoughts. Yeah, she was all on board with being barefoot and pregnant. But I had college, and we had the first International Council Meeting looming in four months. If I got pregnant now, I’d be very pregnant then thanks to six-month shifter gestation periods.

“I can’t be going into heat,” I argued weakly, but my gut knew I was lying before Mallory started ticking off my symptoms.

“Honey, you won’t let anyone touch your things—you’re nesting,” she explained with the patience and kindness of a saint. “You’re irritable, flushed, and you’ve been moving nonstop like you physically can’t sit still.”

I dropped onto the large leather sectional—the only piece of furniture currently in the room because we still had bookshelves to build and were waiting on more stuff being delivered.

Larkin moved closer and knelt in front of me, but didn’t touch me. “This is a good thing, Skye.” The corners of her mouth tilted up in a teasing way that was somehow innocent and devilish at the same time. “You’re going to be fine . Exhausted, but fine.”

My cheeks heated because I knew if I really was going into heat, that meant I’d be insatiable for my mate for the next several days as my wolf and body did everything to get me knocked up. It was biology and it kinda sucked.

I mean, yeah, shifter females didn’t have monthly periods the way humans did, but this was hardly a fair trade. Every woman in this room—two of whom were related to my mate—would know exactly what we were doing for the next several days.

I groaned. Who was I kidding? Remy was the Alpha of our pack, and if he was missing for days—because no fucking way was he leaving me alone to ride this thing out with my hand as a substitute for his dick—then the whole pack would know it was because his mate was in heat.

Grabbing one of the throw pillows, I hugged it to my chest. Then I hurled it away because the fibers were too rough and coarse. “Burn that,” I muttered, shaking my head.

Larkin chuckled and straightened. “We’ll get out of your hair, okay? But you’ll be fine. You and Remy—”

“Please, don’t,” Katy cut her off. “I can’t handle the visual.”

Larkin rolled her eyes. “Look, we’ll cancel the rest of the furniture deliveries and get Remy home, okay?”

I nodded, feeling unsteady and almost feverish as I wrapped my arms around my legs. This felt so freaking surreal.

Larkin looked like she wanted to hug me, but I was glad when she offered a small smile instead and walked away. She pulled Katy and Maren with her, and I heard the front door close a few minutes later.

Mallory’s soft footsteps sounded as she crossed the room to me. “Okay, sweetheart, do you want to call your mom?”

I looked down at my watch and did the mental math. It was nearly two in the morning in Russia, and while I knew my mom wouldn’t care if I woke her up, I didn’t have the heart to. Instead, I shook my head.

“Okay.” Mallory clasped her hands in front of her. “Do you have any questions?”

I blushed, hating that I was discussing this with my mate’s mom. “I don’t think so. We kinda already figured out how sex works.” I cringed at my attempt at a joke, but it was true. When we’d officially bonded and had sex for the first time, we’d triggered a global mating wave amongst our kind.

Not something people forgot about.

An amused smile tilted up the corners of her mouth. “I’m sure you did, but still, your first heat can be… intense . Make sure you hydrate and have snacks on hand. You’ll both need your energy for, uh, well…” Her nose wrinkled. “I’m not making this any less awkward, am I?”

I shook my head miserably. “No, but thanks for trying.”

“A baby wouldn’t be the worst thing,” she added with a sweet smile that only an anticipating grandmother could have. Not that a heat cycle would guarantee a pregnancy; but due to our weird genetics and bond, Remy and I already knew we’d have an easier time getting pregnant than most.

But I wasn’t sure I was ready to have a baby.

And it looked like I needed to make a decision sooner rather than later.