Chapter 1

CRESSIDA

1

Life could be lonely when there weren't many of your kind in the world. Especially if you had to hide in plain sight because the animal you shared your body with was a mythical creature with magical powers that would be coveted by a decent portion of the supernatural population if they knew you were real. Not to mention any human who so much as suspected my species wasn't just a fairy tale.

No matter how often my parents told me that I was special, I would've given just about anything when I was younger to be a normal shifter breed. Or even a human.

My childhood was different from other shifters. I didn't just have to keep my existence from humans…I couldn't let any supernatural creatures know my closely held secret either.

The only exception was my fated mate, but I had to find the man I would spend the rest of my long life with first. Which was more complicated than it was for other shifters, another unique aspect of my kind.

My parents and I parted ways shortly after my eighteenth birthday almost two years ago. Although my dad was a leopard shifter, my mom's animal was the same as mine. When trouble came calling, we thought it best to split up to confuse the people who were after us.

Two trails to follow meant they had to split up, which increased our odds of evading them. It turned out to be the right decision because they had not managed to catch my mom or me in all that time. Although there had been no indication they were on our tail any longer, we had decided to remain apart for the time being. Better safe than sorry, as my parents had drilled into my head growing up.

I had spent my time moving from place to place since we parted ways, never staying anywhere longer than a month or two. Until I arrived in Lake Park almost five months ago.

I kept to myself, living on the outskirts of town, away from the wolf pack that claimed this territory. I kept to myself and never had visitors, so the knock on my door when the sun was barely up wasn't a welcome surprise. Peering through the peephole to see the alpha of the local wolf pack only made it worse.

I'd only spoken to him three times, including when I arrived in town and approached him to request permission to remain on pack land. Having him show up like this couldn't be good.

"Alpha," I whispered after opening the door.

"Sorry to show up on your doorstep unannounced bright and early," he greeted with a grimace. "But I didn't think this news could wait."

"What happened?" I asked as I gestured for him to come inside my rental home.

His inner wolf must have been close to the surface because he flashed in his eyes as he walked past me. "When you arrived in my territory, you warned me that you had a spot of trouble a couple of years ago and couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't find you while you were here."

I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat as I nodded. "Yes?"

"I wasn't sure about having you stay here if danger was at your heels." Scrubbing his hands down his face, he added, "But my wolf insisted it was the right call, and I learned the hard way not to ignore my beast's instincts."

I had always wondered why he had agreed with my request, but I hadn't wanted to ask because the last thing I wanted was for him to second-guess his decision. Knowing that his inner wolf had insisted on it, I couldn't help but wonder how dominant his animal was. My mom had told me tales growing up of alphas who would fight to the death to protect our kind, even when they weren't part of their pack.

"Whatever the reason, I'm grateful you listened to your wolf. I've been happy during my time here." Dropping onto one of the club chairs in my living room, I waved toward the other. Jack sat across from me, and I added, "I don't think I'll ever understand why you let me stay for so long without being part of your pack, but you have my eternal gratitude."

"Letting you stay was easy." Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on his thighs. "Keeping you safe is a whole other story."

My pulse started to race, and the sound of my heartbeat thrashed in my ears. "I guess we've circled back to my original question…what happened?"

"A guy was in town, asking questions about a young woman who sounded an awful lot like you."

It was a good thing my parents had taught me to always be prepared because I had a go bag in the closet. It wouldn't take me more than a few minutes to grab it and be on the road out of town. "Do they know I'm here?"

He shook his head. "None of the humans know anything about you since you rarely show your face in town, and my pack members know better than to speak to outsiders about anything. But the lack of information didn't stop the man from renting a room at the roadside motel that caters to human visitors."

"Crap." I got to my feet and started to pace in front of the couch. "I should never have let myself get so comfortable here. I should've been gone months ago."

"Do you have somewhere safe to go?" he asked, his wolf flashing in his eyes again.

"Not really, but anywhere has got to be safer than here," I muttered.

"I know of somewhere you can go." He pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and handed it to me. "The alpha of this pack is solid. He has a reputation for helping shifters in need. It won't matter that you're not part of his pack. He'll look out for you."

Glancing down at the address scrawled on the paper, I drew my brows together. "Why are you helping me?"

"I'd like to say it's just because aiding you is the right thing to do. That I learned my lesson the hard way after letting down a female loner who was taken captive while living on my territory." He raked his fingers through his hair with a sigh. "But the truth is my wolf is pissed that someone came to my territory intending to cause you harm. He feels an inexplicable urge to protect you. I don't know how to explain it except that it's similar to how he feels about the vulnerable members of my pack. Like children or pregnant she-wolves. It doesn't matter to him that I'm not your alpha. He wants to make sure you're safe."

I wasn't surprised he was confused. My mom had explained a good alpha's unusual reaction to us as a counterbalance fate put in place to help protect us from those who would look to hurt us because of our unique abilities. The more dominant the alpha, the stronger the protective instinct toward us.

I'd never experienced it before, but I trusted my gut…and it told me that I could accept what the alpha was telling me. But years of being on the run—and all of the lessons in evasiveness my parents had instilled in me—kept my reply vague. "Thanks. I'll take what you've said under consideration."

"Good." He gripped the back of his neck with a sigh. "This might be overstepping, but do you have enough money to get by?"

Thinking about the roll of cash in my go bag, I nodded. "Yup."

"And your car is gassed up?"

One of the reasons I'd picked this house to rent was because of the attached garage. Keeping my SUV out of sight was important. The fewer people who knew about me, the better. "I have a full tank."

"Okay." He got to his feet and headed toward the door. Glancing over his shoulder, he added, "My beta is watching the hotel. The guy is in his room, so you don't have to worry about him following you."

"That's good to know, thanks."

As soon as he left, I raced over to the closet to grab my stuff. Knowing the man looking for me was on the other side of town had me comfortable enough to pack the rest of my things into my suitcase. After tossing everything into my SUV, I did one last walk through the house, leaving the keys on the counter. My lease was month-to-month, so I sent a quick email to my landlord to let her know I wouldn't be staying.

Driving out of Lake Park, I didn't feel the same fear that I had when my parents and I split up. The situations were similar, but I'd learned to believe in myself during my time alone. I knew I could handle whatever came my way…and there was a small part of me that was looking at this as an adventure. Hopefully somewhere I could let my inner animal run free more often since the frequency of patrols in the surrounding forest meant that I'd had to hold her back in Lake Park.