Chapter 1 - Cliff

For the third minute in a row, I tiptoed into my niece's nursery and peeked into her crib to check on her. No one could ever say I wasn't serious about my responsibilities. My sister said she was collecting a new quilt from Daria for the baby Sierra, and that meant her valiant, handsome, and super-capable uncle would be on guard until her mother returned from such a perilous journey.

I rested my hands lightly on the edge of her crib, studying the steadiness of her breath. How can such tiny bodies need so much air all the time? As I reached in to check her forehead for her temperature, I pictured her as my own. Sierra was a cute name, but it wasn't a strong name for a daughter.

No, if I had a daughter, she would be named Bridget or Athena . Those were the names of Goddesses. Those were names worthy of bestowing upon a daughter like mine. My hand was big enough to encompass Sierra's head. Warm skin met my palm. Not too hot. Not too cold.

"Just right," I joked. "Though we can pretend the bears in that story aren't breaking and entering on private property."

A dramatic yawn came from behind me. "And we can pretend like you ever cared about obeying the law."

"Hey, that was a different time. I'm good now." I beamed at my sister, who was standing in the doorway. "I'm the number one uncle now, remember?"

"You're the only uncle, Dufus."

Sierra sniffled in her sleep. The sound grabbed my attention; the ever-attentive parent who lived inside me was hyperreactive to every one of my niece's sneezes, coughs, and toots. I couldn't help paying so much attention to her. Being a potential hybrid child meant she needed a good circle of protection around her.

No niece of mine was going to get picked on for having special powers.

I waved my hand over Sierra. She was sleeping still, peacefully snoring in the way babies did that made them sound much tinier than they were. "Any sign of being awesome yet?"

"Give her time. She'll come into her own."

"Do you know if she'll get powers like you?"

Faye shrugged and wandered up to the crib next to me. Her hair hung in wavy ringlets around her shoulders like golden rivers. She wore a maxi dress with flowers all over it and had a quilt tucked under her arm, the busy fabric of which blended right in with her dress.

My sister cast her daughter a merciful glance. "I'm hoping she'll just be a shifter wolf like Hector."

"But wouldn't it be cool if she had powers?"

"It would be nice if I wasn't alone." Faye shrugged and then draped the quilt over the edge of the crib. "But then again, I don't want her to suffer the same fate as me."

I pulled my sister under my wing. Same as when we were kids. Same as always. "My good looks and hella good skills will keep all the haters away."

She laughed. "Hopefully, she gets your sense of humor, too."

"I mean it, Faye. I'll always protect your daughter like she's my own."

"It's not too late, you know."

I focused on the posters near the nursery door—the frog diagram and the lily pond painting that I had picked up from the dime store on the way in from town. They were cute vintage pieces that I knew Faye would adore for the nursery, and I wanted Sierra to know that her famous uncle had a decent personality.

If I kept staring at those posters, I could pretend I was a good person who was good enough to find a mate and reproduce.

But I already messed that up one time. Why would it ever work again?

Faye touched my arm, bringing my attention to my shirt. "I'm still having that dream, you know."

I shook her off. "You don't know anything."

"I'd know better if you told me more about her."

"I already told you the important stuff, Faye. She's in another pack. Her Alpha forbids us from dating. End of story."

I threw my hands in the air like I had given up—because I was certain that was the best route. Right now, I had a good thing going. I got to spend time with my niece multiple times a week, helping my parents with community events. Every time we had a pack party, I hooked up with a hot chick and showed her off until she got tired of me two days later.

Wash, rinse, wash, rinse.

Nothing like a good cycle to keep me occupied.

Faye leaned over the crib to check on Sierra or fix her blanket or one of the thousand other things the two of us often did when Sierra was sleeping. It was such a compulsion to check on her.

After feeling satisfied that Sierra was fine, Faye sidled up next to me on the futon they kept in here. "I think she's your real mate, Cliff. And I think that means you need to go get her."

My eyes trailed over to the crib with a heart full of desire. Who was I kidding? Robyn was the only woman who ever understood me without me having to explain a damn thing. She was passionate, intelligent, and flowed with the chaos of my life. Though things were less chaotic these days, Hector had started pulling out old books about demonic possession. Something big was happening outside our sweet little self-contained pack town.

"I should stay here," I reasoned aloud, "because of the demon stuff."

She sighed. "I already told you and Hector that the demon stuff is over."

"I don't think that's true, Faye. I'm sorry, but I don't think it'll be over for a while."

"I'm the psychic here."

I focused on my sister, how her brows dipped together with anxiety, how her eyes bristled with tiny dots of gold like her powers were churning in that sheet of hazel brown. "I just have a feeling."

"Ah, so powers do run in the family."

I chuckled, but the amusement didn't quite reach my eyes. "It's more than that, Faye. Hector is worried that your attack might have been the first wave."

Her expression flopped. She glanced at the crib, a reminder of everything that was at stake here. "I haven't felt anything in the ether."

"Can you check?"

"I could do a spell to reveal any hidden threats."

I nodded. "I can help if you need me to help. We just need to get a bigger picture going here so we don't make any mistakes."

"Even more reason for you to go and get your mate, Cliff."

"She's not my mate."

Yet the moment those words left my mouth, my heart lurched forward as if it were about to leave my chest. I rubbed my sternum where it felt like my heart was attempting an escape. Nothing was wrong. But something felt wrong.

Faye placed her hand over my heart. "I can see the holes in there growing. You need to go get her, Cliff. You need to make amends. Before it's too late."

"How do you know I did anything?"

"Because you're my brother. You're a goofball, and you can't take anything seriously."

I growled, "I take your daughter's protection seriously."

"That's why Robyn needs you. Direct that energy to her."

"But Sierra—"

"Has two dedicated parents, one of whom is the Alpha of one of the strongest packs in West Virginia." She patted my hand reassuringly. "She's fine , Cliff. I need you to find happiness now."

I shook my head. "Robyn probably already mated with someone else by now. I haven't seen her in three years."

"Okay, change of plans."

I smiled. "I knew you would understand."

She grinned mischievously, her eyes turning to slits as her smile turned Grinch-like. "I think we can figure out a reason to send you up to the Wildtooth Tails that doesn't have anything to do with Robyn."

"I'm not running drugs up there, Faye."

"Who said anything about drugs?"

My hand floated instinctively to the back of my neck. "Uh, well…"

She pushed my arm. "Are you serious , Clifton? You used to sell drugs up there?"

"No, it's not that. Adrian had just—"

"Don't blame Adrian for this!"

Maybe laughter wasn't the best reaction for this conversation, but the awkward levels had risen way past my limits. I had to chuckle to get the weird feelings out before they consumed me.

After a quick shake of my head to loosen up the rest of the strangeness, I took my sister's hand and squeezed it. "Faye, I'm sorry to break it to you, but Adrian was definitely running a little bit of an illegal thing a while back."

"A while back when ?"

"After you left, but before you came back."

She rolled her eyes. "That's specific. Thanks ."

"We were struggling to make ends meet. Adrian had a hook-up in the psych unit of the hospital, so we were splitting some earnings on expired medication."

"Sierra, do you hear that? Your uncle is a criminal."

Now I was really laughing. "Hey, people can change. You, of all people, should know that."

Her smile turned from teasing to genuinely warm and loving. "That's why I think you should go up there, Cliff. You can act as a liaison to the new Alpha and extend an olive branch to a pack that strayed away. We can show strength in gentleness."

Sierra stirred again. Both Faye and I stiffened, listening closely to the baby, who was beginning to wake from her nap. Downstairs, the front door squealed, followed by the sound of a short beep and a digital voice announcing, "Front door."

As if she knew, Sierra cried out. I shot to my feet just like my sister, our motions matched as if they were coordinated all this time. We strode in three long steps to the crib and bowed over the edge to coo into the darling face that was sleepily blinking up at us.

" Cherry pie! " Hector boomed from the bottom of the steps. "And my little cupcake!"

Faye threw her head back and laughed. Sierra, unaware of the joke but wanting very much to mimic her mother, gave us a gummy grin before breaking into a fit of giggle. Behind us, Hector burst with four pronounced exclamations of laughter, a hearty chuckling that would be useful during the holidays when he was inevitably asked by his daughter to dress up as Santa Claus.

Since my sister was occupied, I scooped Sierra from the crib, doubling the round of giggles, inspiring the room to explode with laughter as I held Sierra between the three of us. She was a swaddled pup surrounded by her pack. While each of us chose something to compliment— her little toes are so eetie-beetie —I kept an emotional distance from my sister, something that I typically didn't do.

But she had already done some damage to my internal layers, the ones I tried to hide behind a protective shield.

Robyn wasn't my mate. She'd never be my mate, not in a million years. Her Alpha would never allow such a thing, and her family was too priss about royal blood and inheritance crap to really give a damn about a guy like me doing my best. Now wasn't a great time to be thinking about mating anyway, especially with the possibility of demons making a comeback.

One hybrid witch-wolf was enough to bring a hoard of demons. I didn't want to know what a fresh hybrid witch-wolf might attract.

That was why I had to stay in West Virginia.

Faye smiled at me over Sierra's big head while speaking to Hector, "Let me run an idea by you, Darling."

I held out my hands like Faye was pointing a gun at me. "Alright, let's be reasonable here."

Hector ignored me. "What's that, sweetie?"

"We should send your best friend to Maine as a liaison to the new Alpha. You know, get connected with…What's his name again?"

I dropped my hands to my sides. "Bill Parks."

"Alpha Bill Parks," Hector stated carefully. "I'll have to ask Adrian about that."

"Why would you ask Adrian? He's not the Alpha anymore," Faye argued.

Hector nodded. "But that was his business deal he had going on. I'm not sure why it went bad or what went wrong. If I'm sending my liaison and mending a bridge, then there needs to be a good reason for why I didn't personally go up there myself."

Faye stamped her foot in a show of defeat. "I tried."

Hector hummed curiously. "Although it would strengthen our ties with the northern packs…"

I sighed as I reached for my best friend. "Please, don't send me to Maine, Man. I don't want to go up there."

"I'll make you deal a then," Hector offered brightly, "put your name in the mate ritual pool, and I'll call it even."

My eyebrows shot up. "You were really waiting to pull that one out."

"Come on, you deserve a chance to be matched with a wolf, Cliff."

"I already told you: I don't care about that mate crap. I like being able to screw whenever I want and go to bed alone."

Tough as that sounded coming out of a built guy like me, I felt super squishy on the inside about it. Truth be told, I wasn't as enthusiastic about going to bed alone as I was claiming to be. Ever since Faye told me about her dream, I couldn't get Robyn out of my head.

Hector squeezed my shoulder in a brotherly fashion. "You probably won't get chosen. I just need your name. That's all."

I stared at my sister. "I'll do it if Faye stops telling me about her silly little dream."

Faye turned her nose in the air while cradling Sierra to her shoulder. "Hey, if you want to hide from the truth—"

"It's not true, okay? It's never going to be true," I snapped. "Stop it, Faye. I mean it this time. I need you to stop."

My features felt strained, pained by a burning memory of the last time I saw Robyn, with her tawny beige skin glimmering with golden hues from the sun and her red-auburn hair tickling her chin. She had choppy bangs then, a fringe she had done in the bathroom with a pair of scissors herself. It about drove her mother sideways with how unprofessional it looked.

But hell, I loved that punky look on her petite frame with her wide yellow eyes and button nose softening her expression to one of mischievous wonder. I used to love it when she wore tight flared jeans with a bikini top—nothing like seeing all that golden skin exposed in the summer sun next to the cliff.

Yeah , I thought. Nothing like that will ever happen again .

My sister turned to the changing station, pursed her lips, and downcast her eyes. "Well, alright then. If you're asking…"

"No, I'm demanding," I said sharply.

Hector growled in my direction, his eyes sharpening as his jaw tensed up and his hair on his head bristled. "Hey, be nice to your sister."'

"I'm not the one being rude, Man."

Hector pointed to the door. "Thanks for your help today, Cliff. I'll call you about that mate pool tonight."

"It's tonight?" I huffed, shoved my hands in my pockets, and went to the doorway. "Guess I should go kiss my bed goodbye then."

"Would you stop being so dramatic?" Faye snapped. "Seriously, go home and eat dinner. Shower. Change. Take care of yourself for once."

I paused near the door frame, glancing at the changing station where Hector and Faye had quickly turned their attention to their spectacular baby with pudgy legs and tiny feet. In a matter of seconds, they had forgotten about my presence. Sierra had that effect on people. I joked with her often about how it was one of her powers surfacing really early in her life.

If I ever had a daughter like her, I would be all over her like that, too. I would forget about the whole world just to get lost in hers. That wouldn't ever happen, but it was nice to picture it. It was nice to think how a child with Robyn might look. It was nice to pretend that maybe that was achievable someday.

But it wasn't. My name getting thrown into the mating pool was merely a favor for a favor, nothing that would ever carry any serious weight. Besides, if I were matched with someone, it would be a woman in this pack, not from the Wildtooth Tails.

There was no chance Robyn was my mate. None at all.