“Oh, that new shifter series by Leia Stone is in, too,” Dannie called after me, her voice muffled by the shelves between us. “I kept a full set aside for you.”

“I love you!” I shouted back, already excited to find a new world to escape into. I loved reading an author’s take on shifters. Some of them got it so accurate that I knew they were shifters secretly writing fiction, but humans wrote about us, too. Often with more inaccuracies, but I loved that all the same. As far as I was concerned, any fantasy world that I could get lost in was okay by me.

The rest of my afternoon passed by quickly and at 6 P.M., Dannie turned the closed sign over and locked the door. It was still just light outside, winter creeping closer, but not quite here yet. I grabbed my hoodie, slipping the three paperbacks into my bag and swinging it over my shoulder.

“Are you heading to the meeting?” Dannie asked as she rifled through the cash register, counting out my money. She paid me every day in cash “just in case.” She never told me in case of what, but I wasn’t complaining. This was the best and easiest way for me to stockpile it.

“If I had a choice, the answer would be no,” I said, my chest growing tight at the thought of being in the same place as thousands of shifters who hated me. “But if I don’t show up, Victor’s enforcers track me down, beat the fuck out of me, and drag me there anyway. Might as well avoid the beating.”

I wasn’t guessing. I knew this from experience.

She patted me on the shoulder, tingles of her energy running across my arm. Those small zaps happened a lot when Dannie touched me. I was used to it now, and even felt comfort from the familiarity.

“Change is inevitable,” she said, her eyes hooded. “Your change is coming. Prepare for it.”

I swallowed roughly, wondering if she was doing her psychic thing again. I hadn’t told her about my plans. Simone was the only one who knew I wanted to leave, but I sensed that Dannie had some idea as well—she always saw too much.

“See you tonight,” she called as I unlocked the door to leave.

“Yep, see you then,” I replied, waving over my shoulder as I stepped out into the street.

A chilly wind whipped past me and I realized that maybe winter was creeping up faster than I’d expected. Made sense. The solstice was around the corner, and I’d been counting down to that motherfucker for months.

Winter was finally coming.

Yeah, I went there.

4

“W e must prepare the pups now for their change next month,” Alpha Victor said, his power locking us in place so no one would miss a word of his speech.

Simone wasn’t wrong when she’d called him an egomaniac; he was that and so much more. My father had been the only one in our history to try to take him out, and I still had no idea why he’d turned against his friend and alpha. It was something that kept me up at night, especially after a particularly hard day.

“We have decided that this solstice, we’ll travel even farther across pack lands,” he continued, sounding pleased with himself. As per tradition, only the alpha, beta, and their sons would be with us for our initial shift. The rest of the pack would find us later, and this was when any new mate bonds would kick into gear.

For me, I cared about none of that, or how far we roamed over the vast lands controlled by the Torma pack. I cared about one thing and one thing only: getting control of my wolf so I could bail.

“Now onto our mixer with the Strigent pack,” the alpha said, changing the subject rapidly, as was his way. “We’ve had petitions for a full participation from all unmated wolves. Hopefully, a few more true mate bonds will kick into effect.”

These mixers happened a few times a year and were a big deal. From what I’d observed in my twenty-two years, shifters were dominated by their need to find their mate. I didn’t blame them for this—I would have liked to have someone in my corner. Someone who was the perfect match for me and would support me no matter what.

I’d been alone, so fucking alone and lonely, for almost my entire life.

But at no point had I ever been desperate enough to want to mate with anyone in this pack. I mean, there was no way, just through some quirk in fate, I’d suddenly be all hot and heavy for one of these assholes who had tormented me. Right?

Life couldn’t be that unfair.

“Tonight is one of the last group runs before our pups join us,” Victor shouted, his honey-blond hair springing up as his wolf rose to the surface. “Let’s change and commune with our beasts.”

Shouts rang out around the massive field we were congregated on, outside the alpha’s mansion with its sixty bedrooms and as many bathrooms. It was as far from a humble dwelling as any place could be, but it was nothing compared to the many thousands of priceless acres attached to it.

Wild and untamed land that the pack would cover tonight in their run.

Those of us too young would leave now, before the beasts emerged. I’d seen the change from human to wolf before, of course, but never in a mass gathering like this.

Simone grabbed my hand as the alpha lifted his head and howled to the sky, releasing us from his power. “Let’s get out of here,” she said. “I’ve got my car.”

We ran. Like at school, it was best if I made myself scarce when the wolves base instincts emerged.

“Is your mom here?” she asked, both of us full-on sprinting to the field where her car was. She was smart enough to park off to the side, where no one could block us in. This was not our first pack meeting, and we were adept at survival.