1. Adeline

ONE

Adeline nervously brushed a strand of raven-colored hair out of her face. Her green eyes darted to the rearview mirror every few seconds. No matter how many times she looked and saw nothing, she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched and followed.

"I'm being paranoid," she muttered under her breath quietly enough that the others in the car couldn't hear her.

There was no one behind her. No car was tailing her. There was no one wearing sunglasses trying to hide their face as they kept tabs on her every move.

Still, her anxieties weighed heavily. The trunk was filled with duffel bags and suitcases. The only evidence that she and her two daughters were leaving on an extended trip was that she could barely see out the rear window.

Jodi sat quietly in her car seat. Even at five years old, she knew something big was happening. The tension in the car was palpable, and Adeline felt a pang of guilt as she stared at her adopted daughter's little face in the rearview mirror.

Despite being adopted, Jodi looked like they could be blood-related. She was small for her age, with dark hair that Adeline loved to braid. Instead of piercing green eyes like her mother, Jodi had large brown eyes that could melt even the hardest of men.

In an attempt to alleviate her child's unease, Adeline smiled at her through the mirror.

"This is going to be so much fun, Jodi. It's like a permanent vacation."

"Will there be cotton candy?" Jodi asked. "I like cotton candy."

Adeline laughed at the innocence of the question. If only the lack of spun sugar confection was her biggest problem.

"I'm sure we can find cotton candy. Maybe we can find it in blue and pink. One for you and one for your sister."

That made Jodi happy, and with a smile on her face, the child went back to looking out the window, chatting merrily about her time at daycare. As she told her mother about the giant letter J that she created out of popsicle sticks, Adeline pulled over to pick up her oldest, Deanne, from summer camp.

The moment the nine-year-old entered the car, her blue eyes narrowed as she took in the luggage. "Where are we going?"

"We're going on a little trip, Dee," Adeline answered.

"Mommy said there would be cotton candy," Jodi put forth. This pertinent piece of information was meant to ease Deanne's mind, but sadly, only Jodi could be bought with sweets and treats.

"But where?" Deanne questioned, ignoring her sister's remark.

"To visit a friend of mine."

"A friend who has cotton candy!" Jodi declared.

Adeline smiled and asked Deanne about her day, wanting to distract her from the drive. As Deanne updated her mother and sister on everything she had done at camp, Adeline felt herself glancing over her shoulder once more.

Still, nothing sinister crept along behind them.

Just because she couldn't see anything didn't mean there wasn't danger lurking all around. It was her job to keep her girls safe at all costs. She didn't want them to find out the precariousness of the situation they were in.

As the three of them drove out of town, Adeline increased her speed. It was her goal to put as much distance between her family and Tobias Bower as she possibly could.

He might be a billionaire siphoning funds from an international relief organization, and she might be the hacker who figured it all out, but that didn't make her situation any less precarious.

In fact, whoever was sending threatening texts and emails and watching her from a parked vehicle outside her home did a damn good job of scaring her. So good, in fact, that Adeline had called Gerri Wilder for help.

She had met Gerri through a mutual international charity effort where both women ended up on the same project. They kept in touch over the years. The girls referred to her as "Auntie Gerri." She was a regular visitor in their lives, and for whatever reason, Adeline was certain that Gerri was all they needed right now.

When she adopted Jodi and Deanne, Gerri was there for her every step of the way. Since both girls were wolf shifters, no human could adopt them without a shifter sponsor. Gerri was that sponsor.

Adeline took the next exit, seeing a sign for three different fast food joints, and asked the girls where they wanted to eat. Burger King was the unanimous vote.

The traffic off the exit was backed up. The truck in front of her was so big that Adeline couldn't see around it. It effectively pissed her off and discouraged her. If the big black truck was a metaphor for this journey, then she needed to reevaluate her plan.

It took half an hour longer than anticipated to reach Burger King. The girls were hungry and whiny. Adeline's patience was at an all-time low and she still wasn't sure if she was making the right decision.

The drive-thru line was even longer than the line at the exit.

"Let's just go inside," Adeline said hotly.

She unbuckled Jodi from her car seat, and they crossed the parking lot quickly. A BMW nearly hit Deanne in his mad dash to cut them off, and Adeline flipped the driver off.

"Fucking bastard," she muttered under her breath.

"Mom!" Deanne exclaimed.

"Sorry, sorry. Pretend you didn't hear that. Let's just get something to eat."

By the time everyone had a Whopper and fries in front of them, moods were greatly elevated. The three of them ate in relative silence, talking only to ask for more ketchup.

The slurping of sodas was like a cacophony around them. Burger King was infested with children. As Adeline looked around, she wondered how many of these parents were in a similar situation as her. How many of them were single moms trying to get by?

Were any of them running from a billionaire psycho intent on hurting them? Or worse? Adeline shivered at the thought. Had she not received the tip that Tobias Bower was misappropriating funds, she never would have delved into his accounts … or been caught.

She cursed her luck and, not for the first time, retraced her steps in her mind. She still couldn't figure out how they found out it was her. She had been a vigilante hacker since she was barely in her teens. Not once had she slipped up or been caught. What was different about this time?

All she had to do now was wait for the decoding on his accounts to crack. She had a friend diligently working on it, but so far, there hadn't been a breakthrough.

She sighed, fighting back tears of frustration. Now wasn't the time to lose her shit, especially in front of the kids.

As she watched Jodi eat half a french fry, she gritted her teeth. At this rate, it would be another forty-five minutes before they were back on the road. She was nervous and eager to get going.

Her anxieties were making her short-tempered and impatient. She wasn't sure if the girls were purposely eating slowly or if she was so eager to get back on the road that every bite was taking an eon to swallow.

By the time dinner was done, an hour had passed. The sun was setting on the horizon. Long streaks of orange and red reached across the sky, bathing their little Honda Accord in hues of yellow and gold.

Adeline had to squint and pull down her visor so she could see. Being so short made it difficult, as the visor did little to help shield her eyes. Even with the seat on its highest setting, Adeline could just barely drive comfortably. She was scarcely five feet tall.

Now that they were back on the road, Adeline grabbed the burner phone she had bought and checked her messages. Her own cell phone had been turned off days ago in case anyone tried tracking her. Gerri had texted her an address to a safe house, and she plugged that into the car's GPS navigation system now.

They were seven hours away.

Holy shit.

Luckily, Jodi would sleep most of the way. Deanne, on the other hand, would be preoccupied with her tablet. Either way, the ride to the safe house should be relatively peaceful.

With her eyes on the road ahead of her, Adeline readied herself for the long drive ahead. They stopped for a restroom break only a couple of times, which was more work than it was worth with the car seat. The buckle was sticky, and it made latching and relatching Jodi safely within its polyester clutches a frustrating experience.

A couple of hours later, the girls were both fast asleep. Adeline drove on the monotonous stretch of road in utter silence. Her usual classic rock radio station was muted as she propelled through the darkness.

Car lights on the other side of the road flickered through gaps in the guardrail that separated the four-lane highway. It became a tedious display of yellow, scintillating orbs that caused the slow throb of a headache to form in her temples.

The minutes dragged by. Every hour was agonizingly long in the quiet and tense cabin of the sedan. By the time Adeline pulled into the safe house driveway, she nearly wept with relief.

When Gerri walked to the car, that's exactly what she did. Adeline left the car on and quietly closed the driver's side door before bursting into tears.

"Oh, Adeline. There, there. You're crying on my Burberry jacket."

Adeline flashed Gerri a watery smile. "Sorry, Gerri. I just feel like the girls would be better off without me. Ever since this whole thing happened … Maybe it would be better if you just found them a different home. You know, with shifter parents."

Gerri handed her a tissue from her pocket, and Adeline dabbed it underneath her eyes. A smear of black eyeliner marred the white tissue.

Adeline continued. "I always thought things would get really complicated when they hit puberty and shifted. I'm human, so I figured it would be hard for me to connect with them. But this! I don't know … I can't bear the thought that everything is going to hell, and it's all my fault. What if something happens and they get hurt? It's completely my fault and …"

"Adeline! Take a breath."

Her short white bob barely moved as she turned on her heel and took a seat on one of the rustic, red Adirondack chairs outside the door. She patted the matching chair beside her, and Adeline sniffled as she took a seat.

"First of all, Adeline, you're being too hard on yourself. Second of all, I don't make mistakes. Those girls are meant to be with you. Don't you think that after four years, it would be far more detrimental if they left your care and went with complete strangers?"

Adeline shrugged. "Wouldn't it be better if they were with their own kind?"

"All this is, Adeline, is a complication. That's all. It does not mean you can't be a mother to those girls. Now, tell me exactly what's going on, and we'll find a solution to all these problems."

Adeline wiped her face again with her tear-stained, dampened tissue. "Okay," she said shakily. "It all started when I was about fourteen. I was good … great, actually … at hacking, and when I realized I could put my talents to good use, I got even better. I guess you could call me a vigilante hacker."

Gerri nodded, encouraging Adeline to continue.

"However, when I adopted the girls, I went straight. I started working in cyber security and haven't done anything illegal since. That is until a few weeks ago. I got an anonymous tip that this guy, Tobias Bower, literally worth billions, was siphoning money from an offshore account."

"Oh, my," Gerri murmured. "How scandalous."

"I had to confirm it, of course, so I hacked into his bank accounts, among other things. It turns out that tip was legitimate. The problem is the money he was siphoning is coded, and we can't be sure where it's coming from. So I have a friend working on cracking that code, but until she deciphers that encryption, I've got nothing but my word against his."

"Yes, I can see how that would be a problem."

"And somewhere along the way, Tobias tracked me down. He must have figured out I hacked into his computer. Ever since then, I've been getting threatening emails and phone calls. There's been this black SUV parked outside my house. The windows are tinted. It reminds me of an FBI Tahoe."

Gerri"s eyes went wide.

"It just scared the shit out of me," Adeline confessed. "I'm worried about the girls. I'm just … scared. I'm so scared, Gerri."

Gerri's eyes flashed golden so quickly that Adeline wondered for a moment if she had imagined it. With a nod of her white head, she rose to her full four-foot-eleven and looked down at Adeline.

"I'll help you go into hiding. I think it's best if we get you and the girls off the grid for the time being. It's summer. They don't have school right now. Once we expose Tobias, you'll be safe, but until then, we need to make sure you and the girls don't get hurt."

"But when will that be? He's virtually untouchable. He has so much money, Gerri."

Gerri smiled. "What you did is important, and you shouldn't regret it. Not for a moment. I have rooms made up for you and the girls. Go get them, and we'll get everyone situated. Then, I want you to get some sleep."

Adeline nodded, knowing full well that her only chance right now was to put her faith in Gerri Wilder.