Chapter 2

Ten years later…

"Roman. Listen to me,"his brother Derek said. "We can't keep going like this."

"I'm listening."

Derek grabbed the ax out of his hand. "No, you're not. You're chopping wood."

Roman growled. Yanking a sharp blade out of an Alpha wolf's hand was a damned dumb thing to do, but his brother had never been all that aware of personal space. Most wolves weren't, but now that he was Alpha, Roman got a bit more respect than some. But not from Derek. Probably because he'd known Roman since they were pups, thanks to them being cousins by blood.

Roman grabbed the ax back. "Do not do that again."

Derek huffed. "Then put it down and pay attention."

Roman propped the ax against a stump. "Okay. Talk."

"The older teens said they tried to talk to you about moving."

Roman groaned. "Not this again." They had been on his case for months about moving the pack. The younger shifters wanted to move the pack away from their ancestral lands. Permanently. Roman was only twenty-eight years old, so he was hardly one of the elderly members of the pack. But he at least had some respect for history and tradition. The younger members had none.

"If not now, then when?" Derek asked.

"Don't you feel like a traitor to our pack by even entertaining these ideas?"

Derek's eyes flashed. "When you asked me to be your second in command, you said you wanted my honest opinion. That's what I'm giving you."

Roman heard footsteps approaching. Now what? Usually people didn't interrupt him when he and Derek were hashing things out.

"Alpha?" The young male's voice was hesitant.

Roman looked up to see one of his cousin's pups, lurking on the other side of the stream.

Roman tried his best to keep his tone even. There was no point in snapping at the kid. "Yes?"

"We'd like to request a meeting."

"A meeting? About what?" Roman asked, even though he already knew.

"The pack," the kid said.

Great. He was being vague for a reason. "Sure. We can have a meeting."

Roman was going to have to set these pups straight. They had no idea what they were talking about. They didn"t understand the benefits of living traditionally.

They were attracted to the glitz and glamor of the human world. Roman didn"t have a problem with any of those things. He"d seen movies and television shows and he"d read human books. He knew how to shop at a human store. It was good to be able to adapt to those circumstances when necessary. He just didn"t want to live that life all of the time. That"s not the life he wanted for his pack.

"Meet me by the stream crossing bridge at sunset."

The kid nodded. Roman got there early and was surprised there were at least ten young males waiting on him. He thought it was going to be a one-on-one meeting. They all sat down facing him and he started talking. "I"m here to hear what you have to say." He was going to be a good Alpha. He was going to let them vent and work it all out of their systems.

"Respectfully, Alpha, this living situation is no longer working for us," one of them said. "We have repeatedly asked you to consider moving, but you have refused to take it seriously. Those of us here are prepared to leave the pack. Immediately. There are thirty more that will follow soon after."

He did his best not to show his shock but it was difficult. Forty young shifters would leave the pack? It would decimate their numbers. He looked among the group; these were the best and the brightest. Two of his own young cousins were among the group.

"You no longer wish to be a wolf shifter?" he said. He kept the venom from his voice, but he was sure his eyes were straight-up glaring at them.

"We very much wish to be wolf shifters. We just want to live out in the main world. We want to study history and we want to create our own history. We want to make an archive of shifter life."

"You know why we can"t do that. We can"t let anyone find it." How stupid were these pups? This was worse than he'd thought.

"There are plenty of ways to encrypt information online now. And besides, if someone found it, they would think it was an elaborate fiction story or a live-action role-play. They would never suspect that it was true. But those of us who live among the world would have a recorded history. It would be invaluable to us."

He"d come to listen, and he had actually shown up with a semi-open mind, but the fury overtook him. "No. We"re not moving and you"re not moving away either. We"re all going to stay here and we"re going to live just as our ancestors did. It was good enough for them so it is good enough for us. Our pack has lived on these lands for hundreds of years. Christ, we all survived a forest fire here. Do you want to spit in the face of our ancestors?"

"Alpha, you may be able to keep the pack here, but it will only be you and the people who support you specifically. The rest of us will leave. Your pack will no longer have strong numbers. Your pack will no longer be able to reproduce because most of us who are able and willing to bear children will move. And we won"t come back. We'll leave, and we'll never return again."

Stunned was not the right word for how he felt. This never would"ve happened to his father. His father had commanded the pack with a firm hand but a lot of generosity. He was not a cruel overlord, but he also was not so permissive that the pack thought they could do whatever they wanted. This defiance was a new factor.

Would they have spoken this way to his father? Or were they unusually belligerent to Roman because he had taken over as Alpha at such a young age? Becoming a young Alpha was a fairly unusual situation because wolf shifters rarely died so young. Most lived to see old age.

The pack usually passed down from father to son unless there were extenuating circumstances. The son still had to prove himself. But the pack had agreed unanimously that Roman had proven himself during the forest fire. He had put the pack first, remembered the plan, and carried it out. Even at risk to himself. And in the aftermath of his father"s death, he continued doing everything he could to help, even through the grief.

It hadn"t been easy, but he knew that the pack had needed him to be strong. And so had his family. He thought he had earned their respect, at least enough not to openly go against him. But that was ten years ago, and the young males now had been only children.

"Alpha, this is not personal. We respect you a great deal. We think you"re a really good Alpha; that is why we would rather see the pack move and change instead of us choosing to leave. We don"t want a new Alpha, we don"t want a new pack, we want to see ours adapt."

He'd heard enough. Roman was done.

He stood up. He pointed at them. "You all have no idea what you"re asking. You"re asking to destroy something that our people have been building for hundreds of years. Do you think it"s easy for me to keep this pack together? It"s not."

"We never said it was easy. But because of our regard for you, we"ve come to you instead of just leaving. We"re putting you on notice that this will happen. People will leave the pack. Some will find new packs, while some will live with humans. We think it"s fair that you know what you"re up against."

Goddammit. "How dare you come here and give me an ultimatum? I have put everything into this pack for the last ten years of my life, and even before that, and so has my family. But you all want to join the humans, and for what? What do you gain from them? I want to protect them just as I want to protect any living creature on earth. But they have nothing to offer us."

The young males joined him on their feet. Some were already baring their teeth, but the spokesperson stayed calm. "That"s where you"re wrong, Alpha. They have science and astronomy. It wasn"t a shifter who sent a man to the moon, and it wasn"t a shifter who discovered flight."

Roman exploded. "We don't fucking need any of those things. We don"t need them. They are not necessary to us."

"We're not better than humans," one of the males said. His voice cracked.

"No, we are not, but we are different. That"s all I"m going to say about it. You all will remain in the pack, and I don"t want to hear anything else about it."

He stormed off with all of the people calling out behind him. He was not going to cater to them. They needed to learn who was boss.

. Chapter Three:Everleigh

"Guess what?"Everleigh bit down on her lip, trying her best to contain herself. She could feel herself wanting to bounce on her heels, but at twenty-four years old, she already looked younger than she was and needed to appear professional. Even if her father and her irritating older brother were the only people around at the moment.

"What?" her brother asked.

"I just closed on a house. It's a one-million-dollar contract." The commission was going to be incredible.

"Wow, that's amazing," her brother said.

She frowned. His reaction was just a little too stilted. It was clear that he'd already known about her big break in the world of real estate. "What did you do? Tell me you didn't do anything," she hissed. She had been fighting this her entire life. Her family could not stop interfering. She'd asked them over and over to stop, to no avail. They just fundamentally could not see why she did not want them to interfere with her career.

They wanted to help her; she got that. But their overzealous, heavy-handed ways were never going to help. She had told them over and over that she was not going to put up with it anymore. They clearly did not believe her. They just kept pushing and pushing. How was she ever going to make them understand?

"Tell me. What did you do?"

"Nothing," her brother said. "I didn't do anything."

"I can tell that you're lying." She turned to her father. "What did he do?"

Her father held his hands out. "Now, don't get mad at your brother. He was only trying to help."

"I don't want to hear that. How many times have I asked you not to interfere with my life?"

"Now I know you're upset, but that doesn't mean you can speak disrespectfully," her father said.

"On the contrary, I can do whatever I want," she snapped.

"Now, wait just a minute," her father said, putting his heavy hand on her shoulder.

"No." She slipped away from his hand. "I will not wait a minute. I want to know exactly what you did. You've been sending me clients for years. I"ve asked you to stop, more times than I can count." She resisted stamping her foot, but just barely. "You know I want to make it on my own." Her blood was boiling. Her nerves felt like live wires.

Her brother and her father looked at each other. Her uncle had wandered over with some firewood. He'd paused what he was doing, but he didn't meet her eyes either. He looked up at the sky.

"Tell me what you did. I want to know everything," she said, doing her best not to scream. "Do not leave anything out."

That was when her mother came out of the cabin. "Honey, they love you. They just want the best for you." Just as her father had, her mother held her hand out.

But Everleigh didn't care. "Don't make excuses for them. This is a form of control, and I will not accept it."

Her mom wasn't going to give up. "But isn't it a good thing? Your career is improving. How can you be angry about that?"

"Because I asked him not to interfere at all. They have deliberately gone against my wishes. This is not a surprise to anyone. I have been asking repeatedly for two years."

She turned back to her father. She wasn't giving in. She was going to get some answers. She let them get away with far too much over the years.

Finally, her brother spoke up. "It was me. I did it. I sent the client your way. But you need to understand. This isn't about you getting handed things. Clans look out for each other. And so do humans. They network. They even have rules about hiring family members in business because they want to give their family members jobs too."

"Yes, I am well aware of what nepotism is." They acted like she had grown up under a rock. They just couldn't help but be condescending to her. It was like part of their DNA.

"You got that promotion because of the clan," her uncle said. "Just accept it. It's normal."

"What do you mean I got that promotion because of the clan?"

Her uncle was trying to back away.

"Uncle Thomas, did you have something to do with this?"

"Well, you know we just didn't think that boss appreciated you enough," her dad said.

"How do you know anything about my boss?" she yelled at her dad.

"No," Sutton said. "Listen, that part was my idea. Don"t pop off to Dad."

"Are you spying on me? Were you having people report on what was going on at the office?"

"No, we weren't spying," Sutton said. "We just asked a few people how it was going." He grinned.

She was too angry to even form a response. "Thank you for telling me. I appreciate your honesty."

Although she couldn't really call it honesty when she had to beat it out of them. Why was it too much to ask for them to let her stand on her own? So what if she struggled? So what if she failed? She could handle it. Lots of people faltered when they were starting out.

They just wanted to smooth the way for her. Plenty of people tried to excuse it and say it was out of love, or that it was because she was the baby of the family, or because she was a female. But none of that mattered to her. Because she had asked them to stop. She had made it very clear. And they just did not care.

It was the way they ran the pack. Her grandfather was the Alpha. One day her father would be the Alpha, and then her brother. They were just used to meddling in everyone's lives. And for some reason everyone seemed to like it. For her entire life people had come to her grandfather for help, and they'd spilled their guts and told him every single detail of their lives.

Now that he was older he delegated some of the duties to her father and to her uncle, and the same thing happened with them.

She had to break free.

No one in the clan would understand. None of her human friends would understand either. They all admired how close-knit her family was. They'd say, "But, Everleigh, you don"t know what it's like to have a dysfunctional family. I'd do anything to have my family's help."

They also didn't understand what it was like to be treated like a baby though. To always be watched and guarded. She was never allowed to be her own person.

She wasn't sure if she'd ever get them to listen to her. There was only one solution. She'd considered it before but ultimately dismissed it as too extreme. But now it seemed reasonable.

She had to move.

She would get started that evening. She would tell no one. She would move to a city and start a new life. She would not join a clan. She would not live among bear shifters or any type of shifters at all. She would not give her family her address.

Oh, she had no doubt they could find her. Shifters were resourceful and her clan was well respected in Alaska and had connections to other clans. They were in contact with both wolf shifters and other bear shifter clans. Someone would find her and they would show up on her doorstep. But she would not let that stop her.

Moving away would be extreme. But it would be a statement to them. A statement that she was finally fed up.

She loved her family. Maybe some distance would give her the opportunity to actually have a good relationship with them. When it wasn't full of resentment and irritation. One where they could have a mutually respectful consideration for each other.

She didn't want to tip them off.

"I'm really mad right now, so I'm going to go. I'll see you soon."

Her parents hugged her, and she allowed it. As pissed off as she was, she still cared about them.

As soon asshe got home, she pulled up a map on her computer. Anchorage was going to be her new home. Once she'd decided what she was going to do, it all went rather quickly.

She found a place to rent and she put down a deposit. She got all her utilities set up. All of it was new to her because the pack handled all of their living expenses. But for the first time in her life, her space was her own. She rented a run-down place in an older area, but she didn't have to worry about humans. If shifters wanted to come after her, a lock, an alarm, or even a doorman wouldn't stop them.

She bore the full responsibility for taking care of it and paying her own bills, but as a result, it was hers. She could do anything she wanted.

This space is mine.

Her space belonged to her and so did her time.

There was a lot to be said about being part of a group, a family. But in her case, she'd been yearning to break free for years. It was a taboo thing to say, but maybe some shifters just needed a little breathing room. Most shifters preferred communal living, but maybe every now and then, a loner was born. Like Everleigh.

No one else in her pack had ever struggled the same way, and it left her feeling alone and isolated. Now though? She felt lighter and happier than ever.

And work? That was amazing too. At first, she didn't have many clients, and she was showing the least desirable properties. They trickled in, slowly, but she knew she'd brought them all in herself.