Chapter 1 - Kaiden

Going to the window, I hauled back the thick drapes, letting in more of the natural light. The Collins compound still sat heavy with the energy of its old alpha, and it had been a damn project to clear the space out and make it the home it should have been all along.

Terrance was a cruel piece of shit, and I relished the fact that I was responsible for his end, but ghosts linger.

The pack itself had been largely accepting of their new alpha, especially after the hardships they had to endure under quite possibly the most sadistic wolf I'd ever known. But they acted like scared prey, terrified that I'd be just as violent, while some had trouble letting go of their "traditions."

Rehabilitation was going to be an ongoing process, and while I was happy with the progress we'd made, it still weighed on me that there were some wolves that I was going to excommunicate from the pack if they didn't shape up.

There were too many fights, too many uncontrolled ruts, and for fuck's sake, now the teen wolves were getting involved in some fucking terrible drug that had found its way onto my territory.

I knew it had to be something another wolf had created, but there were no new leads. We'd figured out that it had to have something to do with the nearby Williams pack, but it was not enough to send someone to interface with them. My wolves had been patrolling the area to intercept any drug sellers from the other packs for months, and they still hadn't caught the person responsible.

Something in my blood told me that Reginald or Leon had to be involved since we still hadn't tracked them down, either. Jet's former pack member and Terrance's former beta were in the wind after they'd teamed up to nearly kill Jet.

Jet's new beta and my best friend since childhood, Grayson, had had no luck spotting them during his numerous searches. It was good to know that I had a circle of other alpha wolves who I could count on as allies, but it didn't seem to be enough right now. The drug was still finding its way into innocent hands.

Brooks had been an instrumental ally, and damn, it was good to have him at my back. We'd hit it off so well back when it had been his father having clandestine meetings with Jet, and with Grayson in tow, we were the rowdiest bunch of assholes in the forest. I didn't get to see Brooks as much as I'd like, or Grayson now, but he'd heard the news about me being alpha and gotten me good and drunk when we'd all met up at Jet's house a month ago.

I looked out the window into the forest surrounding the Collins land. I still hadn't thought of a new moniker to replace Collins, and the leaves were falling quicker and quicker as autumn trucked on.

A deer was crossing through the trees a few yards from the line of the back property. I could smell it from here, and my wolf scratched at the seams, looking to get out and hunt. It had been a fucking minute since I'd gone for a run or a hunt, and I knew that he was feeling more pent-up than I was.

Putting my hand on the glass, I let the cool sensation melt into my palm. "It's all a damn mess. Those kids…ugh."

I sighed. I'd been young and stupid, too, and I knew just how a drug like this would have affected me. God, I would have been that much more insufferable.

Stepping back from the window, I went back to the table and chair that I'd brought into this side room to act as my office. There was nothing of the sort before, and the place still had the subtle stench of stale alcohol clinging to it. I'd been on my hands and knees with the others scrubbing down the place, but it was like the past just didn't want to let go.

Sitting down with a huff, I let myself fall against the back of the chair, my hair sweeping past my ears as I looked up at the ceiling. I needed a trim, but I'd been a bit fucking busy.

The long crack in the plaster above me that stretched from left to right was a familiar one. I'd spent the past few months staring at it when there was nothing else I could do. I missed Jet and MacKenzie. Hell, I missed Jet's wolfless mate, Senna, and their twins. Those pups were the fucking best—all giggles and chaos.

I knew they needed me here. I knew I had a responsibility to this pack because I killed their alpha, but…

I never wanted to be a leader.

Sure, I had my hopes set on Jet's beta, but that was with the Edwards pack. That was back home.

"Home."

It seemed so endlessly far away right now, and my mind wandered. I remembered growing up in the Edwards woods, being a general terror and taking forever to get out of that terrible bully streak I was on.

Fuck, I'd been such a shit.

I couldn't really say why I'd been like that, either. I'd had Jet at that point, and I'd always had MacKenzie with me—twins till the end, of course. But I guess I was still coming off the pain of losing our folks. When Kenzie and I were adopted into Jet's pack, it came with so many new experiences. They were more forgiving of humans, if very adamant about staying away from them, and Jet's leadership was built on mutual trust, not just bloodline tradition.

Humans…

The image of warm chestnut curls and deep sapphire eyes bloomed behind my eyes as I shut them. I could see the easy smile and constellations of freckles like they were right in front of my face, the smooth skin and voluptuous curves that followed them.

My gut clamped down, and I remembered the time I'd been so close to those curves, to the shimmering blue eyes that shut for me.

"Goddamn it."

At once, I had to stand up and pace around. I had been such a royal ass before I got the sense knocked into me, and torturing the one human that I'd ever known to live with wolves was the worst of my previous self's transgressions.

Regret snaked through my insides like a poison, seeking out every nook and cranny. She'd never deserved what I'd done to her, the awful things that I'd said, and to this day, there wasn't a moment that went by that I didn't wish I could take it back.

My V?lva grandmother had once warned me that my actions would drive away my future before she passed. She'd been less than clear, considering all these magical, no-wolf shifters' visions appeared to be more cryptic than not. But something had vibrated through my bones with her words.

She'd also never been wrong. My grandmother knew my parents would die, scribbling it down because she was too afraid to say anything, and she knew she would die shortly before. So I really should have listened to her more carefully.

Now, I was left with those words ringing in my head, a nagging suspicion in my blood that I knew what she was talking about after all these years but didn't want to face it.

"You'll drive away your fate until you learn to accept that you're not different from anyone. Pride and fear will drown you. Only if you can set hate aside will you, at last, be gifted with a fox."

I rolled my eyes at her. Grandma was always speaking about weird stuff like that. My parents had said "in tongues" once, but that didn't make sense. We all spoke with tongues.

"Okay, Gran. I'll remember. But I think you got something messed up. We're not foxes. We're wolves."

"Oh, you're a wolf all right, trouble-maker. Go fetch Kenzie. I need help with the herbs."

I ran off, searching for my sister in the tall grasses that nearly went over my head.

Reality crystallized around me as I stared down at the floor. Fox still wasn't much to go off of.

"Damn, I'd kill to see you again, Gran. To see all of you."

The room stretched into quiet again, and I knew that it was going to be getting near check-in any minute. Usually, I wouldn't have upheld any of Terrance's rulings. Still, the nightly check-in to assess the pack's numbers and look for missing members appeared to be necessary for now. There were too many sick and dead wolves cropping up because of that damn drug.

I needed my new pack safe, and I couldn't trust our pack bond as much as a fully established alpha. We were still learning to trust each other, and while it was there, it needed strengthening.

My steps made the old floorboards creak, and I stepped under the low door frame into the hall that led to the front room. We'd changed a lot since I'd arrived, and this central area was probably the most significant difference in the entire house.

Cleaner and brighter, the dark paint and covered windows had been replaced by light wood paneling and curtains that provided privacy but could be moved to let in the sunlight. It was free of all the previous taxidermy and questionable furniture choices, too.

There had been far too many items that had been gnawed on, and I was so fucking sure that it had not been previously chewed by a dog or something. Nope, all the damage was because Terrance let the wolves run amuck in this compound with no care or respect for their home.

It had been dirty and disorganized. Hell, a warzone had felt more welcoming. And, of course, I knew that in my heyday as a terrible menace, my room had been in a similar state of disrepair.

God, why am I suddenly thinking about the past so much? Ugh, damn transitions. What am I, a five-year-old?

Most of the pack was already in the main area, which was a bit of a surprise. Still, much more so was how the members awaiting me seemed…glad for my arrival. I could sense the wave of relief as I stepped into the room, the pack bond sending me messages of gentle relief that their alpha was there for them.

"Hello everyone." I turned to Sunny, who was acting as my MacKenzie since I had none here. "Is Lupe back from scouting?"

"Not yet, Kaiden. He should be coming soon, though. He texted that he was on his way back."

I nodded, subtle relief of my own coating my nerves. Of all the bullshit humans were responsible for, technology was one that I appreciated. Providing cells for everyone and ensuring we could get in touch with each other had been a considerable benefit. Oh, and the look on everyone's faces when they were given something of their very own was priceless.

"Excellent. Well, I'll start the check-ins officially when Lupe gets here, but I see you all here now, so you're accounted for."

The room returned to a gentle hum of conversation, and I watched as Sunny returned to her mate, River. He'd been a close choice for beta, but I honestly didn't want him pulling his focus from his mate. It seemed I'd become a bit of a softy since seeing Jet with his own.

Just as I was getting worried, the door in the foyer creaked loudly, and I scented Lupe coming in from the wet autumn air. His booming steps brought him to this smaller room off the central entrance, and he bowed his head as he stepped before me.

"Alpha."

"Lupe, I was getting a bit nervous there. Did everything go all right?"

He lowered his head again. "Yes, Kaiden. I'm fine. There's just been…well, there's been a bit of a development. I think you may want to assess the situation in private, Alpha?"

"A development?" I cocked a brow at him, running over the wolves.

I could sense their nervousness, and I tried to send out a wave of calming energy toward them. I was still mastering the ability, but they appeared to settle some.

"All right. Let's finish the check-in and then make sure they have food for the evening—"

"Alpha, apologies, but I think this is something you're going to want to deal with now."

The calm left my system as my stomach clenched. The wind blew in from the cracked window to my right, and as it ruffled Lupe's dark hair, a familiar scent wafted toward me.

You've got to be kidding me.