Chapter 3

Billie

It was evening when I put my sandy brown hair up in a tight ponytail and set to work on cutting up the elk meat. As the evening sun cast long shadows across the kitchen, I continued to work.

Earlier, David had skinned and taken away the hide and head of the elk. The Dalesbloom Alpha liked to keep the heads of the best animals the pack killed and mount them around Hexen Manor. Amongst the pack, the manor was known as Hexen Hunting Lodge. No doubt, the glassy-eyed cow would soon be looking down from the gallery wall. The main living room was decorated with the choicest trophies, and the manor's high ceilings all sported chandeliers made of antlers to complete the hunting aesthetic.

David had taught me many years ago how to butcher the carcass so as to remove the different cuts of meat most effectively. With a sharp knife, I removed the various cuts of meat, splitting up the bigger joints with a cleaver. I packaged them in freezer bags and loaded them into the top-loading freezer. Just as I'd suspected when I'd first caught sight of the decently-sized elk, she was sizeable. This would feed the pack for a couple of months.

As night fell, it wasn't long before I had to switch on the harsh electric light. The scent of blood and sweat filled my nostrils as I worked, cutting as close to the bone as possible so as not to waste anything. I knew David would check the carcass over and berate me if there was anything substantial left on it. He was a stickler for these things. It took me most of the night to cut and package away the meat.

But finally, the carcass was bare. Sweat slicked my brow and back, and my hands and arms were caked in blood. Having washed up a little at the kitchen sink, I crept upstairs, anxious not to wake my adoptive family. With relief, I stripped and took a much-needed shower. I felt decidedly fresher as I towel-dried and brushed out my clean locks in my bedroom. My hair and skin smelled of ginger and lime from the shower gel. Decidedly better than the iron cloud of blood that had worked itself into my skin over the afternoon.

I got into pajama trousers and a vest top. As usual, being Catrina's hand-me-downs, they swamped me. But beggars couldn't be choosers, and the bobbly, worn material was at least super soft. The old four-poster bed creaked as I got into it, and the springs of the old mattress dug into me, but I let out a sigh as I snuggled under the duvet.

After stooping over the elk for so long, my shoulders and neck ached. I rotated my shoulders and shook my head from side to side to try to ease the tension. My hands curled into the fabric of the sheet, fidgeting. I pulled the blanket over my head, trying to pretend I was one of the golden-mantled ground squirrels burrowing into its den for the night.

It was really late. I needed to sleep. I focused on my breaths, counting them. I tensed and relaxed my muscles to try to quiet them. I tossed and turned as a sense of expectation built in me. I gritted my jaw, remembering how this prickling excitement had driven me earlier to my lookout spot in the cottonwood tree. But even as I likened this feeling to my desire to watch the pack hunt, I realized this was much stronger.

I sat up in bed, the covers pooling around my waist. A shiver traveled down my spine. I needed to move. Tiptoeing out of bed, I got out a clean pair of jeans and a hoodie from the wardrobe. Skulking downstairs, past the gallery of beady-eyed elks, I moved to the back door. Pulling on my sneakers, I tied them up and went out into the night.

The moon had risen high, and there was plenty of light by which to see. As I strode away from the manor, my eyes quickly adjusted to the low light of the moon. Vana was the goddess of the moon, and as I stared up at her almost full sphere, I felt as if she were bathing me in her magic and wisdom.

A prickle of anticipation stole through me. The moon couldn't be more than a few days away from being full. Although werewolves could transform at any time of the lunar cycle, their beasts were much more sensitive when the moon was full. As I ambled through the grasses, I wondered if that was what I was feeling.

I didn't understand what was urging me on, but it was as if the night was calling to me. The moon's pale glow illuminated the distant rocks of the canyon beyond the forest. I pictured the Gunnison River flowing through the sweeping structures of ancient rock. The night was alive with a hundred sounds—scurrying insects, birds, and mammals punctuated the air. A shiver wound down my spine, igniting sparks of expectation through me.

I'd reached the edge of the meadow. I knew David's territory ran for twenty miles through this central area of Gunnison National Park. To the south was the smallest territory, held by the Grandbay Pack, with ten miles of river and surrounding woodland and mountains. Then, farther to the northeast lay Eastpeak Pack lands.

I admired the lilac petals of phlox and the bright white Gunnison lilies shining in the night. Dalesbloom was said to have gotten its name from the beautiful dale, the valley here, that Vana had blessed with her blooms. On this spring night, with the air full of perfume, it really felt as if the goddess were smiling down on the land … and me.

I only ever really felt this peace out here, in the wilds of Gunnison Park. That was one good thing that had come from growing up with the Hexens here. There was a place, at least, out here in the wilds where I felt at home. That sense burrowed deep into my bones and helped give me the confidence to step under the canopy and into the forest.

Insatiable curiosity drove me deeper. As I ventured farther into the woods, moonlight filtered through the canopy, casting an ethereal glow on the forest floor. The rustling of leaves and the snap of twigs in the undergrowth made my breath catch in my throat. My temples pounded with the mad dash of my heart, but I continued onward. I knew I was where I needed to be tonight, free in the forest like Vana had intended all us shifters to be.

The scents of the forest filled my lungs. I recognized the perfume of pines, firs, and spruce. My gaze picked out the hues of the Colorado blue spruce, its needles glistening silvery. The canopy above grew denser, but still, my eyes defined enough to walk through the night confidently. The distant sound of water reached my ear, and I realized I'd come quite a distance if I heard the Gunnison River.

A sudden noise broke the quiet. I startled to a stop. I inhaled sharply, my heart doubling in speed until my mind identified the hoot of the great-horned owl. They hunted the canyon edges for mice and rabbits, which fed off berries and seeds from the juniper and pinyon trees. The same rocks that the bluebird I'd seen on earlier were taken over by the fiercer birds of prey at night.

My eyes traced the darkness ahead, searching for the owl's disc-shaped face and bright eyes. My gaze snagged on a pair of glowing eyes. Alertness prickled through me, and my limbs locked up. The owl was too low to the ground. It wouldn't be there unless it had just caught something. But even as I thought it, I knew the glowing eyes were too big to belong to any bird, even a bird of prey.

Tension seized my chest. My heart thumped wildly. My lungs cinched tighter, fear refusing to even let me breathe. Colt had warned me that there were other shifters in the huge Gunnison woods besides werewolves. As my gaze fastened onto the smoldering eyes ahead, something deep within warned me not to let it spot me. The small amount of moonlight penetrating the dense canopy increased suddenly, illuminating the creature's skin … or scales. I traced the shape of a shimmering snout.

Panic gripped me. I felt like one of those mice or rabbits on the canyon shelf beneath the bright gaze of an owl. I shrank away, desperate to get away before the thing saw me.

Run.

Turning around, I tore back through the forest, survival propelling me onward. But … my foot caught something, and suddenly I was falling. My arms flailed as I tried to catch my balance and then at least cushion my landing, but the ground rose up. Pain ricocheted through my head as if I'd cracked open my skull.

Darkness pitched through me, snuffing out the pain, and then gloom fell over me as thickly as if the forest's deep roots had pulled me down beneath the dirt.

I didn't know how long the forest's darkness kept me, but a glimmer of moonlight woke me. I expected the light to hurt my eyes, given that my head had just been pounding, but there was no pain.

I cracked my eyes open.

For a moment, fear fluttered through me, but then I realized the light was purer than anything I'd ever experienced. I took a deep breath and whispered a silent prayer to Vana to keep me safe.

As if in answer, the moon's silvery light grew, filling me with a sense of calm and clarity.

A stirring in my core spread in a tingling sensation all the way through my body, down to my fingertips and toes. Gingerly, I got to my feet. I stood in a clearing. Blue spruces shimmered around the outskirts. Ahead of me, bright lights were scattered across a velvety expanse. I stepped toward the dark area ahead. Then I turned my eyes up to see the clear open heavens shimmering with thousands of stars.

As I teetered over to the edge of the velvety expanse, I realized it was a pool of water before me. I leaned over, gazing at my reflection. But … it wasn't me looking back. I mean … it was, but … my wolf stared up at me. Her sandy-brown coat looked as soft as the cotton of my cottonwood tree, and her green eyes stared deep into me.

Yet, that wasn't all. My wolf wasn't alone. Behind her, staring up out of the pool was a dark-haired, clean-shaven man. I recognized the Grandbay Alpha, Gavin, in a heartbeat. Startled, I looked behind me, but there was no sign of the tall Alpha until I looked back into the water.

My gaze ran over his tall, muscular form. Just as he'd been earlier in the kitchen at the manor, his chest was bare, and my gaze brushed the defined muscles of his chest and abs. I flushed as I had when I'd been caught staring at him, but as my gaze wandered up to his clean-shaven face, my breath caught in my throat. His expression wasn't foreboding. His angular face was relaxed, and his hazel eyes looked at me with ardor.

I felt as if I could melt into the warmth I witnessed in his stare. And even as I felt how impossible it was that he was looking at me like that, I watched as his hand settled on my wolf's shoulder in a protective and possessive touch. My heart thrashed in my chest as the pool … as the vision took hold … and as Vana's bright light illuminated everything.

I felt as if I couldn't breathe as the revelation slammed into me. I was experiencing my Moondream and … Gavin was my fated mate.

"Billie? Billie."

I stared at Gavin's lips as the sound of my name rang in my ears, but I didn't see the Alpha's lips moving.

I stared at him in confusion, but then the feel of someone touching my shoulders intruded. I started awake, the pounding in my head returning with a vengeance and disorientation swimming through me.

"Gavin?" I murmured thickly, my throat feeling tight and my voice raspy.

A laugh sounded in my ear. "Ah, no, it's Colt."

I blinked in Colt's concerned blue stare as he looked down at me, and I realized I was lying on the cold forest floor.

My adoptive brother's expression tightened with worry. "Are you all right, Billie?"

Memory stirred … the glowing eyes, running, and tripping…

I inhaled sharply as Colt's hand went to the cut on my temple. That really stung.

Clearly, I hit my head then.

I stared at Colt, trying to understand how he was here, too. "How'd you find me?"

"Oh, I came down to get water and noticed your scent in the kitchen," he explained. He shrugged. "Dad always locks the backdoor at night. When I found it open, I followed your scent."

For my trail to be so evident, he must have been in the kitchen not long after me. He couldn't have been far behind me this whole time. If only I'd known he'd been about when I'd spied that monster, I might not have freaked out and fallen.

Colt's voice interrupted my sluggish thoughts again, "What on earth happened?"

The memory of the Moondream, with the pool bathed in light, caught me up … and my throat constricted.

Where the hell do I begin?