1. Tristan

Tristan

Chapter 1

The plump, brown-speckled hen flapped her wings and launched herself at my face with an angry ba-gawk! as she slipped through the gap in the fence. While I was distracted by protecting my face, she hurtled straight for the garden as fast as her little clawed feet would carry her. I ran after her, knowing if she got into the garden where the spring's early sprouts were just pushing up through the soil, she could easily cost us future meals.

"Martha, get your fluffy ass back here!" I shouted at the damn bird. I was usually pretty good about not cursing around our pack's newest member, but these damn chickens were the bane of my existence. My blood pressure was spiking.

"Ass!" Malachi repeated with the unfettered delight only a toddler learning a new swear word could manage. "Ass, ass, ass!"

My Alpha, Shan, shot me a look. "Seriously, dude. Brody's gonna kick your ass."

"Ass!" Mal chirped again, and Shan winced when he realized he'd said it too. I smirked at him. Now his mate would kick both our asses.

I managed to catch the flailing bird at the last possible second and pinned her under my arm. "It's not my fault you guys decided to have the first baby in a pack full of young, virile, swearing, fornicating wolves." I waggled my eyebrows at him. "You knew what kind of influence we would be when you decided to start a family."

"Speak for yourself," Jude grumbled, plucking Mal off the ground and hefting him up to sit on his broad shoulders. "I'll have you know I'm a great influence."

"It's true, he is," Shan agreed, laughing.

Jude was our unofficial second Beta, but he would never admit it. He wasn't much one for taking credit. He just had a tendency to step up when we needed him most.

The young pup gripped Jude's hair in tiny chubby fists and squealed in delight. "Joo-Joo! Run!" he demanded, kicking his little legs, dimples on his knees. Jude, already totally whipped by the rugrat, did exactly as instructed and trotted around the clearing in the center of camp.

Watching them caused an ache to pulse in my chest. It was an image that reminded me of the pack I'd grown up in, surrounded by love and family. My moms had been the absolute best at making me laugh like that, big belly laughs. They would tickle me until I was rolling around on the ground, tears streaming down my face as I begged for them to stop—while also hoping they wouldn't. And after my first shift, they taught me to hunt by playing hide-and-seek and tag as our wolves through the forest. And when Bianca was born, they gave me the greatest gift, being a big brother.

They would've been amazing grandparents…

I cleared my throat roughly, trying to dislodge the boulder doing its best to choke me, and deposited Martha back into her pen, making sure the fence was properly closed. Passing Shan the basket of eggs I'd collected, I asked, "So, boss, what have you got for me today?" My eyes still burned a little with the threat of tears, and I was sure Shan could tell the emotion I was doing my level best to brush off. Our grief was shared, after all.

Thankfully, he didn't press for me to talk about it. That was why he was not only my Alpha but my best friend. Instead, he cuffed me on the back of the neck and pulled me in. "My cabin's got a leaky roof with your name on it. In fact, if memory serves, I'm pretty sure you were the one who put the shingles on the cabin roof the first time, and that was only a few years ago…"

I rolled my eyes. "Geez, it's like you think I have even a trace of construction knowledge. You get what you pay for—oh wait, you don't pay me. Go figure," I sassed.

Jude paused on his way by. "Hey, while you're making renovations to his cabin, can you add a layer of soundproofing to his walls? I can't handle listening to the two of them going at it anymore."

"If you don't like it, you should find your own mate," Shan said, arching a brow. I could tell he regretted the words immediately, when Jude's face fell a little. "Sorry, I didn't mean—"

"It's fine," he grumbled. Nobody wanted a mate more than Jude did, but so far, nobody had managed to get past his gruff outer layer.

Malachi started pummeling his tiny feet against Jude's chest. "More, Joo-Joo! More!" he demanded, and off they went.

I could sense Shan's regret and knew he'd be kicking himself for a while. "I'm gonna be sad when your son finally learns how to pronounce Jude's name," I said, trying to keep things light.

"Yeah…" He sighed.

I bumped him with my shoulder. "Hey, you can't force fate to deliver him the perfect mate. It'll happen when it's meant to happen."

"I know, but I didn't have to rub salt in the wound."

Nudging him toward his cabin, I decided distraction was the best tactic. It always worked for me, anyway. "Come on. You'd better show me this leak while Mal is busy."

After climbing around on the roof with a hammer and a few leftover shingles, I had no choice but to shrug and call it good. Only time would tell if I'd fixed it or not, but there would be a spring storm soon enough to test it out.

In our old pack, we'd had tons of experienced builders, but I hadn't taken any time to learn their skills. Just like with most things in life, I'd taken them for granted, assuming that they'd be around to teach me later. Now, the knowledge was lost, along with all our loved ones.

Ideally, we would hire a company of professionals to come out and help, but it wasn't so easy when you were a pack of wolf shifters living off the land in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. Humans asked questions, and there was no answer we could give that wouldn't have them assuming we were some weird-ass cult, and word would absolutely get around. The whole point of us living out here was to stay hidden.

"How's it look?" Shan asked with that naked trust he'd completely misplaced in me.

Pressure had begun to build at the back of my skull as I forced a casual smile onto my face. "Uh, good? At the very least good enough, but if it's still leaking after this, you have no one to blame but yourself for trusting me with it not just once, but twice."

Shan reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small spiral-bound notepad, and I struggled to hide my wince. It was his to-do list. No matter how hard we worked, we never seemed to reach the end of that list. There was so damn much to do! And right when I thought we might be getting a handle on things, something broke or wore out or rotted through, and we were right back at the beginning all over again.

Sure enough, Shan started to say, "Next up, we need to—" but he was interrupted when Mal went whipping past him, hardly more than a thigh-high blur. Shan's hand shot out, gripping the nude boy around the waist. "Not so fast, squirt. I know for a fact your daddy was going to give you a bath, so why aren't you in the tub?"

"No bath! Noooooo!" Mal screamed at a pitch high enough that my wolf wanted to howl.

This was my chance. "You know what? I'm gonna bring the supplies to Vesta," I said, already sidling past the temper tantrum unfolding on the ground where Malachi was now rolling around.

"Are you sure?" Shan asked, totally ignoring the meltdown.

My eyes flicked down to the thrashing child. "Oh, I'm sure." He just laughed and waved me off.

Children tested boundaries, I knew that, but when I was already stretched to my limit, it was one whine more than I could handle. I needed just a few minutes of peace and quiet. And that was exactly what I found on the hike to Vesta's cabin.

With each step I took in the woods, the tension that had been tightening into a knot in my chest began to loosen. I could breathe again, the air damp enough that I could taste my surroundings on my tongue. My wolf nudged me from inside. Hunt? he asked hopefully.

Maybe on the way home, I replied. I can't imagine you want to run with this bag on your back.

He did not.

Vesta was our pack's shaman, though she lived on her own in a tiny cabin. She was older than anyone could confirm, and there was some definite woo-woo mystical-aura shit going on, but to me, she felt like family. Sure, she doted on me a little like my mothers did, but it was more than that. There was this deeper connection I felt all the way down to my bones, like I'd known her all my life and not just these last few years since we'd settled into the area.

Her cabin finally came into view, its roof sagging and layered with moss, the walls sun-bleached gray. I practically skipped across the patch of wildflowers that counted as her front yard, eager to see her. "Knock, knock, Grandmother," I called as I opened the door, using my honorific title for her. It took a moment for my eyes to get adjusted to the gloom.

"There are you! Just in time for tea," she said from where she stood at her stained and pitted worktable, tipping the kettle into a second mug.

I had to duck not to hit my head on all the bundles of herbs and plants hanging from the rafters to dry. I narrowed my eyes at her. "How did you know to prepare two mugs? This isn't my usual delivery day."

She simply offered one of her mysterious smiles, turning her blind milky-white gaze my way. "A woman never reveals her secrets," she said, her chuckle like gravel in her throat.

"Mm-hm," I murmured, pulling my pack off my back. Yep, woo-woo, mystical shit alright, but I felt like my brain would probably explode if she confirmed it, so I never pressed. "I brought you some of that pancake mix you like, and Damon threw in a little bottle of his maple syrup to go with it. Also, a dozen eggs from the demon birds."

"Annnnnd…" she drawled, holding her arthritic hands out expectedly.

I was tempted to play dumb for a little longer, but I couldn't fool her. "Yes, and some of Tara's cinnamon buns." She couldn't wait for me to take them out of my pack before she was tearing the box from my hands. I couldn't help laughing at her enthusiasm. This woman's sweet tooth was unparalleled.

"Thank you, dear," she said around a full mouth. "Bring the tea, would you?" I picked up the mugs and followed her to the two chairs positioned in front of the stone fireplace, banked to a crackling warm glow. She groaned a little as she lowered herself into her rocking chair, and I sat across from her. I knew I couldn't stay too long, since there was still so much left to do in camp, but I would prolong the visit as long as my conscience would allow.

She clucked her tongue. "Stop worrying about that to-do list of Shan's. You have somewhere else to be," she said as if she'd just read my mind.

I had practice at ignoring the shiver her abilities induced. "And where's that?" I asked, sipping from my mug of tea. It tasted like peppermint, maybe some yarrow or nettle.

She licked the buttery cinnamon off her thumb, her smile mischievous and far too knowing. "Why, you're going to Fairhome for the weekend, of course."

"I am?" My eyebrows took a hike up my forehead. "Any reason in particular?" She shrugged, but I knew she wouldn't send me to the city for no good reason. "How about a hint?"

She cackled. "I think you'll go whether I give you a hint or not. Am I right?"

"You are," I said honestly. "I've been a little stressed out this week—month—all right, four years," I grudgingly admitted as she crossed her arms and speared me with a look. "A trip to the city is just what I need to let off a little steam."

"Is that what they're calling it these days?" she teased.

I made zero effort to hide my promiscuous sex life. There was nothing wrong with a little fun between consenting adults, but I preferred to keep it outside of the pack. Feelings tended to get hurt when it was too close to home and you had to face the person the next day. Especially since I wasn't in the mood to settle down just yet.

Suspicion nagged at me. Vesta didn't make suggestions like this for no reason. "There's something else, though, isn't there," I coaxed.

She leaned forward and took my hand in a surprisingly firm grip, her fingers still slightly sticky, though I would never pull away. Her clouded eyes seemed to pin on some distant point only she could see. "Fate is weaving her tapestry around you," she intoned in an unearthly voice that had goosebumps crawling up my arms. "You will go to Fairhome. Your feet will take you where you need to go. Trust your wolf." I wished I could see what she saw. "You will… you will meet…" She blinked rapidly and seemed to struggle to catch her breath.

Unease skittered up my spine, my stomach tightening. "Vesta?" I called, clasping her hand and leaning forward to shake her shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?"

She gasped then sat back heavily in her chair, the wood creaking as the chair set to rocking. "Right. Off you go then," she said after a moment, as if nothing happened.

I frowned, unsettled. "Oh… are you sure you're okay?" I asked again as I rose and set my cup back on the table, still half full.

She scoffed, seemingly insulted. "When have I been anything other than okay?"

"Do you need me to chop any wood before I go?" I asked, reluctant to leave her here alone. I'd never seen her like that before.

"No, no, dear, it's fine. The weather is about to get warm." I trusted her weather reports more than any meteorologist. "Just pass me that box of cinnamon buns, would you?"

After drawing out my farewell for as long as could, she thoroughly kicked me out. "Would you go already? I told you, you've got someplace else to be. And if that Alpha of yours has an issue with it, tell him to come see me." She was back to her normal sassy self by the time I walked out the door. Whatever that was had passed. Was that what it was like, being connected to a world beyond our own? It seemed like she'd had one foot in this world, the other somewhere else.

I gave my wolf his fur to run back to camp all the faster, and we made good time. Half an hour later, I was throwing my bag in the back of the truck when Shan found me again. There was always so damn much that needed to be done, and I probably should've felt guilty for ditching my responsibilities as Beta, but… Nope! Not a single bit of guilt. I'd earned this time off.

I held my hand up to cut off whatever task Shan had been about to assign me. "Sorry, boss, I'm going to Fairhome. Vesta's orders." I shrugged like it was entirely out of my hands. Oh, shucks. "Jude too," I tacked on at the last minute like a beautiful epiphany.

Jude's head snapped up from the sawhorse he was leaning over, cutting a corner off a plank. "What?!" he sputtered. "Fuck off."

"Fuck," a little voice said, and we all looked down at Mal, with his cherubic cheeks and dark unruly curls. Where did he come from?

"Shit," Shan swore, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Now you definitely have to go, Jude, or Brody will have your hide."

"Shit!" Mal repeated. I had to smother my laugh behind my hand.

With perfect timing, I saw a harried-looking Brody step out of their cabin, his eyes zeroing straight in on his son. "There you are, you little Houdini."

Mal waved at our Alpha Omega. "Shit, Daddy! Shit, ass, fuck!" He sounded so proud of his new words.

Even from this distance I could see the fire ignite in Brody's glare. "Time to go," I said, hopping in the truck, Jude running around to the passenger side.

Shan groaned and turned pleading eyes to me. "Take me with you."

I laughed gleefully, getting way too much enjoyment from my Alpha's misfortune now that I was on my way to the city to let loose. "No deal! You're gonna have to face the music sooner or later. Best to get it over with quick, then you can move on to the apologizing. That's the fun part." I threw him a wink before turning the key and throwing the truck into gear.

As we bounced and bumped along the narrow track toward the highway, the smile on my mouth felt more real than anything I'd slapped on in weeks. I was going to find myself some sweet, willing bed partner and bury myself straight in.

Relief, here I come!