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Chapter1
Luke
My kind does their best to slip under the radar, and while I questioned this principle growing up, I realize now it's a protective measure for our sanity just as much for our physical safety.
If shifters documented every detail of their lives on social media like humans, my memories would announce that on this day my entire family was slaughtered right in front of me.
While I stood by and watched.
“Give me your best bourbon on the rocks,” I call out to the bartender.
“What’s the occasion?” the bartender asks as he unearths a jewel-encrusted bottle.
I hesitate. Death. Loss. The drive for justice. “Anniversary.”
“Well, happy anniversary man! You’ll have to bring in your old lady sometime. We get a bit rowdy, but we do protect our women here.”
I tip my glass up to the bartender, wondering if I’ll taste anything beyond the bitterness coating my tongue. “I’m sure you do.”
Can he detect the malice slipping through? The hard edges to my words? If he does, he doesn’t show it. My throat burns with the drink and the growing lump in my throat.
I watch the sweet fiery liquid spin in the glass much like the black hole of my own mind, wondering if I should fight the pull but knowing there’s no point.
The memories are burnt in there for a reason. Branded.
They’re demanding justice.
* * *
It’s a hot, humid day up at the pack’s compound. Gathered for a true celebration, my lips graze the jawline of my mate, only pulling free to listen as my dad calls everyone's attention.
“Listen up, everyone!” my father, our pack leader, bellows.
And when an Alpha commands, you obey. There’s no room for disobedience in a pack. We immediately grow silent, my mate lowering her head because celebration or not, my father’s an intimidating man.
“As you know, we’ve all gathered here today to welcome the return of our very own prodigal son, Joel.”
We howl out to the surrounding woods and beyond that to the full moon. Our cheering is somewhere between pure joy and a strange primal relief. In the same way animals cry when their young are taken away, we mourned Joel’s disappearance. Now, we’re rejoicing in his return even more.
My mate squeezes my hands. My brother’s violent streak and rebellion against the shifter ways didn’t leave much room for hope that he would return.
“You can take the shifter out of the wild,” our father cries out, pulling Joel in, “but you can never take the wild out of the shifter. They always come back.”
My sisters and brothers throw back their heads and howl once more, their bodies restless under the full moon and this new energy. A revival. Renewal. Even my own skin has been crawling for hours, ready to shed this human husk for something more comfortable. Joel makes his way through the crowd, grinning through the back slaps and jostles.
He reaches me and I draw him in for a hug. We hold each other for long seconds, memories of a childhood spent roaming the woods and getting up to mischief reminding us that our bond has always been a strong one. No matter what.
Somehow, despite all the conflict, uncertainty, and countless pack meetings where my dad stressed the importance of never leaving and the high price it costs to return after such a betrayal, there’s no ill will. It’s as if all was forgotten. Animals are like that, though. We don’t hold grudges against our own.
Joel pulls back. “And who is this? How did you secure Miss Rosie Mae as a mate, hm?” He looks over at her. “I thought you had better taste than this.” He winks at her, and when she blushes I’m reminded that the two had a small summer fling a few years ago.
A small, uncontrollable snarl slips between my lips. Joel only laughs and Rosie Mae weaves her fingers through mine, whispering that we are bound.
“You have nothing to worry about.”
Her murmurs immediately calm the beast within. I’m about to suggest we go grab a drink—there are two years of missed time to catch up on—when my father demands our attention once more. I move closer to Rose Mae as she cowers. He’s our Alpha, yes, but it’s always tugged at my heart to see my sweet girl so scared, like a pup with her tail between her legs.
Then again, we’re all scared of my dad. That’s just how it is when you’re in a pack. Looking back, I wonder if he regrets what he said that night.
