Chapter Two

Fifteen Years Later

Circe smoothed down her knee-length skirt and cleared her throat before entering the office of Alpha Jericho Savidge. A beautiful woman sat at the front desk and smiled in greeting. The wave of power that crackled around her told Circe she had to be Luna of the Sheridan Pack.

"Hi, I'm Payton Savidge," she said, introducing herself.

Circe stepped up, smiled, and bared her neck. "Hello, Luna," she replied. "I'm Circe Tolliver."

"Please, we don't stand on ceremony," Payton said with a wave. "We're so glad you're here. Follow me. Jericho is waiting in his office."

Payton rose and escorted her to a closed door toward the back of the room. She knocked and then opened the door to stick her head in. "Ms. Tolliver is here."

"Good," came a deep voice. "We just wrapped up our conference call."

"Excellent." Payton stepped back and smiled at her. "Go right in."

"Thank you," she said and stepped into the room. The two men inside stood to greet her. Power exuded from both, but she could feel the taller man was the alpha. Once more, she bared her neck. "Hello, Alpha. I'm Circe Tolliver."

Alpha Jericho held out his hand and she shook it. "I'm Jericho and this is my beta, Ledger Klayman. It's good to finally meet you. Please have a seat."

He gestured to the chair in front of the desk. As she sat down, Beta Ledger moved to stand behind Jericho.

"Well, I guess we should jump right into it," Jericho said. "I was impressed with your resume. You are exactly the person I had hoped to find. What made you train in the human world?"

She'd gotten good at deflecting from any mention of her previous pack. "I knew I always wanted to teach, so I moved East to attend the University of Florida."

"That must have been hard to leave your pack."

"I have no pack, actually."

Jericho and Ledger glanced at one another. "Lone wolf?"

"I prefer to use the term solitary ," she replied. "As you know, Florida is full of panther shifters so I had to petition the local pride for the privilege of going to school there, as well as shifting during the full moon. Believe it or not, I made a lot of friends among the cats."

"Why teach human children and not shifters?" Ledger asked.

"It wasn't a conscious decision. I was offered a job and had school loans to repay. But I don't regret it at all. I learned a lot and I honed my teaching skills. When I heard about your need for a teacher, I decided it was time to return to the pack lands."

"Do you have a mate?" Ledger asked.

She had prepared for this question. "Not anymore."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," he said.

Alpha Jericho also gave his condolences. She knew letting them think he died was the best way of deflecting any talk of mates. Miles might not have really died, but he certainly was dead to her. She worked damn hard to leave him in the past, and for the most part, she didn't think of him too much. Each year it grew easier to remember the good times, and not how he broke her heart.

"Well, the pay isn't as much as you were making, I'm afraid," Jericho told her.

"I know. If that bothered me, I wouldn't have come."

He smiled. "The good news is the position also comes with a single-family home and you don't need to pay rent."

Her jaw dropped. "Oh, wow. I wasn't expecting that."

"It was one way I could make up the annual salary difference."

"I … thank you."

Jericho stood and held out his hand. "Welcome to the Sheridan Pack."

Her heart swelled. It had been a long time since she'd been in a pack, and she never realized until that moment how much she'd missed it. She shook his hand as well as Beta Ledger.

"Let's visit the school and then your new home," Jericho said.

She nodded. She had had reservations about the position because she wasn't sure she wanted to return to this world, but now she was glad. As she walked through town, following the alpha and beta, seeing how people smiled and greeted them, she knew she'd made the right decision.

The school was separated into three tier s— elementary, middle, and high. She would be teaching the children from ages six to ten, with emphasis on math, English, and shifter history. Perhaps the best part about returning to a pack was that she didn't have to pretend she was fully human anymore.

As they walked along Main Street, Alpha Jericho pointed to the diner, which looked to be the hub of activity.

"That's probably the best place to eat," he said. "It's owned by my wife, Payton, and another wolf named Esmeralda. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask either of them."

"All right," she replied.

"The post office is down that street," Beta Ledger said. "And over there is the healing facility."

"We're a tourist town," Jericho went on. "Lots of people like to hike the trails so we're extremely busy during the summer months. We still get some traffic through town in the off season, but not much. The apothecary is there and is run by an Other."

She frowned. "Other?"

"An enchantress."

Circe raised an eyebrow, wondering if they were messing with her.

"Yeah, we didn't know either," Ledger said dryly. "Kinda makes you wonder what else is out there."

"The elementary school is down this way, at the end of the road," Jericho said, turning onto a picturesque road lined with cute little houses. The branches of tall trees kept the area in shade. "And this little house is yours."

The charming bungalow-style house sat a little back from the road. Thelow-pitched roof held gables decorated with lattice trim. Steps led up to a large, covered front porch. The front door sat off-center.

"I hope this is acceptable."

"I love it," she said, completely entranced.

"There's only basic furniture. If you want to change anything, let Leger know so he can move whatever you don't want into another home."

"Thank you," she said sincerely.

The alpha smiled at her. "You're welcome. Let's get back so you can grab your car and get settled in."

As they left her home, a feeling of contentment filled her. It was something she hadn't felt in a very long time and she had to blink to chase away the tears of happiness. School started in a few short weeks, and she couldn't wait.