“I know, but it’s been seven years, and I can’t hide forever. If I do that, I might as well have stayed in the cage he put me in.”

Flint releases a deep breath then lets me go. He walks over to the counter and picks up a piece of bacon, popping it into his mouth. “Thing is, I still got to tell the alpha about you. It’s kind of against the rules to let humans who aren’t mated to shifters know about us.”

“It’s not like you spilled the beans,” I remind him. I’ve known about shifters most of my life.

Flint runs his hands through his hair, something he always does when he’s thinking.

“Just think on it is all I’m asking. Nothing has to be done today. Besides, you’re going to be late. Can’t be doing that your first month here.” I turn to the fridge and pull out the three lunches I packed, then I grab the thermoses I filled with coffee, handing them over to each of them.

“Make a cake. I’ll grab some candles. We’re celebrating,” Forest says, pulling me into a hug.

“Okay.”

“Chocolate,” Forest adds. I smile.

“It’s my cake. Shouldn’t I get to pick?”

“Fine.” He winks.

I’ll still be making chocolate. I know it’s their favorite, and I can’t seem to help myself. It’s hard not to dote on them. Even more so considering they’re pretty much my whole world. They each say their goodbyes before filing out the door. Flint pauses in the doorway.

“Stay inside, Snow.” He gives me a hard look. He’s the eldest, so he uses the same one on all his brothers.

I just smile and nod.

I step over to the kitchen window to watch them pile into the truck as snow starts to fall. If the storm gets too bad, maybe they’ll be home early. I’m not used to this new schedule or being alone so much. Since we got to Gray Ridge, they’ve been working, building houses with some guy named X. That’s about all I know.

Sometimes they work twelve-hour days. I get lonely. I’ve become so used to taking care of people. It makes me long for what some of my other brothers have found. Mates. But I guess for me it would be a husband. A family of my very own to take care of.

I turn away from the window and clean up the kitchen. It only takes five minutes. Then I stand there, looking around the cabin that’s now our home. When we first got it, I was thrilled. We’d always moved around so much that I was excited to have a place that would be ours. I didn’t realize that meant I’d be left alone so much.

There really isn’t anything for me to do. I can only clean a house so many times, even with it being a four-bedroom and three-bathroom. I turn to the window again and look out. The snow is falling harder. I’d once heard Flint say the snow can often hide your scent, make it harder to track or catch someone.

I know most of the town of Gray Ridge is shifter, but I also know we have a cabin with a good amount of land. I’m not sure where ours ends and begins. Maybe I could just go out a little. No one would know.

I need to do it now. The snow will cover my tracks back up, so no one will know I went out. Just twenty minutes, I tell myself.

Excitement has me dashing to my room. I find my dark blue hooded cape and slip it on over my clothes. I pull the hood over my long black hair, then slip on my boots. Grabbing some gloves from the front-door closet I slip out onto the porch, breathing in the winter air. Normally we stay a little farther south, away from the cold.

I haven’t seen snow since…I ran. The urge hits me again. This time, I’m not running from something, but I just want to run. I jump off the porch and sprint towards the woods, running as fast as I can, as I’ve seen by brothers do many nights. Only I don’t shift. Dodging the rocks and ducking below low tree branches, I run until my legs start to burn and the cold air fills my lungs. I finally break free of the trees and come to a sliding stop at a little iced-over pond.

Dropping to my knees, I look up at the sky, trying to catch my breath as the snowflakes fall around me. I close my eyes and relax into the snow, breathing in the winter air and thinking about how different running was this time. So different from before.

Chapter 2 Koda

It’s still dark when I wake up with a jolt, the cold sweat covering my naked body. It takes me a moment, like it always does, to remember where I am and that I’m safe. The seconds tick by, and my breathing evens out. Rubbing my hands against my eyes, I remind myself that I’m not in a cage.

I give up on sleep and get up from the bed. I make my way to the bathroom, turn on the shower, and get in before the water has a chance to warm up. I’m used to cold showers after being denied the luxury of hot water for so long and then having to bathe in rivers when I escaped.

I soap up and try not to think about my past, but it always comes flooding back after a nightmare. I can’t seem to stop it, so I just have to ride it out until all the feelings pass. This dream was like so many before, most of it exactly the same, but sometimes my mind likes to add in details that weren’t there, just to fuck with me.

This time when I was dreaming, I was in the cage again. The one they kept me locked in unless they were running tests. They had a theory that if shifters were kept in small places, they would be less likely, or unable, to shift.

In this dream, I was in the cage, and I could hear Winnie crying. I know this didn’t happen because Winnie was never captured with me. She got away. I always have to remind myself of that. We were young when we were caught, but she fought and was able to get free. I was too drugged up to know what happened, and all I could remember was waking up in a cell without her.