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Chapter One
The urge to stomp his feet and pitch a fit was strong today. And if anyone knew what Ivo Ames had been through recently, they could hardly blame him. First, he’d been thrust into the role of Alpha of his bear shifter clan when the actual Alpha, Miguel Ruiz, decided to bury his head in the sand and forget all his responsibilities. Did anyone thank him for shouldering the extra weight? No. Did anyone offer to share the burden with Ivo? No. It was just a bunch of bullshit complaints from the entire clan anytime he made an executive decision.
All things considered, he should have been relieved when Miguel finally stepped up and took back the crown—but he wasn’t. Ivo was pissed, and not because he was no longer Alpha. Sure, the position sounded great in theory. Any guy out there wanted to be in charge of his clan, whether he admitted it or not.
In theory, the position should come with a fuck load of perks, but here he was, almost a year after assuming the role, and nothing. No perks. No pick-me-ups. Just one giant middle finger from the rest of the bears as Miguel booted him off his throne. Fine. He’d only stepped up because the clan needed someone to do it. If Miguel wanted to take over listening to everyone bitch and whine about every little thing, then go ahead.
What really pissed Ivo off, however, was the fact that Miguel was so wrapped around his mate’s little finger—human little finger at that—that he couldn’t see straight. They hadn’t even been dating a month, and she was already shacked up at his place. Clarissa Dodge. Some famous skier or something. Kind of a bitch—a bitch who shouldn’t have forgiven Ivo for his little prank on the slopes, but did anyway, and somehow that just pissed him off even more.
So yeah, it was all well and good that Miguel was finally willing to man up and take on all the responsibilities and obligations he should have taken on years ago, but in order to do that, he needed to get out of Clarissa’s ass and actually put a little work into the clan.
And everybody was just wetting themselves at the thought of Miguel being Alpha. All things considered, Ivo hadn’t done a terrible job. There really shouldn’t be this much fucking celebration over the changing of the two Alphas. All the people he’d thought were his friends, his family, were thrilled to see him go.
Family. Ha. Just like his real family—the ones who kicked him out as a kid when he first accidentally shifted—this one didn’t actually care about him. Not really. If they did, someone, just one person, might have taken him aside and told him he’d done the best he could with what he’d been given. Ivo hadn’t been groomed to be an Alpha. He hadn’t felt the urge awaken in him at any point in his life—apparently, that’s what happened with Alphas, real ones; you kind of just feel it one day. Real Alphas were born into the roles. Deep down, they’d know from birth that they were destined to lead, to protect, and to ensure the continuation of their shifter family.
Ivo hadn’t felt any of that. He just saw his adopted family falling to pieces when Miguel didn’t assume his rightful role, so Ivo volunteered to do it instead.
And here he was, just a year later, getting booted out—tossed to the curb like he was no better than trash. Teeth gnashing, he stormed out of the clan’s sacred cave, one tainted with human mates and bastard babies lately, and rushed for the forest.
No one followed. No one called his name or went to the cave’s mouth to check on him—and he knew that because he waited in the bushes, crouched downwind to hide his scent, just to be sure. Nope. Nothing. They were all in there listening to Miguel’s plans for another stupid clan dinner. They should have been talking about the miners, and they should have gone with Ivo’s plan to just kill one. A dead miner was better for the clan than a scared, live one. The live ones will just come back.
But whatever. Fine.
“Sit in your fucking cave, assholes,” he grumbled, turning and stalking through the damp forest underbrush. With spring steadily approaching, things further down the mountainside had started to melt, giving way to new flowers and grasses and leaves. And in a rage, Ivo stomped on any that dared be in his way. Shifting into his black bear form, shredding his clothes in the process, he tore down the mountain like a hurricane—nothing in his path was safe.
He stomped on newly grown weeds and slammed his paws into sturdy tree trunks until a rotted one gave in and sent him toppling down a little hill. Somewhere overhead, he swore he heard a bird laughing at him. Snarling, Ivo pounded the dead tree to mush, then moved on, throwing rocks and lunging at any little woodland creature who didn’t have the good sense to get the hell out of the way.
When he reached the Ruiz Family Resort at the base of the mountain, Ivo knew he should have shifted back into a human, maybe ducked inside to get his clothes. But he didn’t. Fuck them. Miguel’s parents could explain to frightened tourists that it was just a regular black bear racing across the muddy lawns—a bear fresh out of hibernation and in desperate need of food. Stay indoors everyone or the big bad black bear will get you!
He snorted, paws pounding the ground as he carried on. His inner bear loved to run. Black bears—well, most bears in general—weren’t exactly known to be rock star track athletes, but Ivo’s inner bear had always liked to run. Even if he was spiraling down in a pit of rage, a run through the forest, alone where no one could hurt him, was always one way to soothe the inner beast.
He kept going, faster and faster, until Ivo reached Angel Fire’s town limits. It was a cozy place to call his own. As soon as Ivo had arrived as a teenager, working odd jobs just to survive, something in the air had made him feel like he’d found his true home. It was only later, when Espie Ruiz, of all people, discovered him in bear form that he had learned the reason he found such peace in Angel Fire. It was because he’d finally found his people.
Ivo Ames had gone through most of his life thinking he was a freak—a dangerous freak who didn’t deserve an ounce of love because he sure as shit had never received any. He’d been barely thirteen when he arrived, but within weeks he had a family. Miguel’s parents enrolled him at the local high school, though his lack of education had forced him back a few grades.
Kids could be cruel and all that shit. Back then, he’d prided himself on knowing he could at least survive on the streets if he had to. It was all he’d ever known, and the pudgy, spoiled human and shifter kids in Angel Fire had no idea just how good they had it. Even now, almost fifteen years later, there was still some resentment toward them. Those kids… they’d had everything Ivo was denied.
Couldn’t anyone see how fucked up that had made him?
Obviously not. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have treated him like they did.
It was late in the afternoon when he rolled back into town, and only then, in the company of mostly humans, did Ivo shift back. And he didn’t give a flying fuck that he jogged through town naked. Nudity was nothing to a shifter after a while—unless said nudity involved a bit of alcohol and a gorgeous woman. Only then did Ivo care.
Ignoring the horrified stares, Ivo pushed himself to run as fast as he could, not caring when little rocks bit into his bare feet. His inner bear yearned to be free again, huffing and pacing within him, eager to keep running, but even he wasn’t that stupid. He’d show himself as a bear at the resort because Miguel’s parents were part of the clan, but there were too many non-shifters around to let a bear run free.
The last thing any shifter wanted was to be captured in their animal form at the hands of some humans. His nightmare involved him being carted off to some wildlife “sanctuary” where some bleeding heart do-gooders would try to “rehabilitate” him before setting him “free” in some forest.
Ugh. No thanks.
When his apartment came into view, Ivo broke out into a mad sprint. It was situated above Tanith Ravenna’s downtown art gallery, and Ivo had moved there as soon as he could afford to make the first rent payment. He knew Miguel’s parents had been happy to host him back at the resort, but he’d always been independent. A man needed his space.
After grabbing the spare door key from the stupid artsy pot under the mailbox, Ivo barreled through the side door of the building and stomped up the steps, not giving a shit who he disturbed along the way. If nobody was going to care about his feelings today, then Ivo wasn’t going to care about anyone else’s either.
