Chapter 1

Just one more year. Just one more year, I told myself as I dressed. It wasn't really even that long. School was only ten months. My stomach tightened. Ten months was still a hell of a lot of time. I took a slow breath, trying to calm my nerves. The bruises had finally gone and nothing hurt, but that would change after today. Just one more year, I told myself again. One more year and I would finish high school and leave for California, never to deal with werewolves again.

With an ‘I’m totally fine and happy?’ smile, I left my room and went downstairs to the kitchen.

“Morning Baby,” Mom said, smiling from over her shoulder. “Can you believe it? Senior!”

This time when I smiled it was real. “I know right!” I sat down and propped my chin on my fists. “Which reminds me. We’ll have to talk about this mythical college fund you kept going on about all these years.”

She laughed. “Mythical, huh?”

Like someone had suddenly turned off a light, Mom’s expression darkened. Old pain sparkled in her brown eyes. “Your dad,” she started, a hand lifted to her throat. “He… he would’ve been so proud of you, Brook.”

My own throat closed and for a moment I couldn’t breathe. I heard the words just as clear as if the cop was standing in front of me again. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Dawson, but your husband has passed away tonight.” Just as clear was the following months I spent fearing Mom would follow him. The first few weeks she barely ate and only slept when she exhausted herself from crying. When she managed to function, it was only to go to work then come home and straight to her bedroom.

It wasn’t until Mom met Harry did she start to go back to the person I remembered. It was such a relief that when I found out about the whole werewolf thing, I just went with it and moved with him up north. I would’ve done anything to keep Mom from going back to the shell she’d been before. I even let the alpha’s son Mike bully and hit me, if it means she stays with Harry.

Forcing the past back where it belonged, I managed a smile. “I hope he is.”

“I know he is,” Harry said as he strode into the room, adjusting his tie before he gave Mom a quick kiss. “I am proud of you, so I know your dad must be.” He gave me a wink and filled my plate with food.

My throat tightened again but I cleared it. “Thanks, Harry, but can we cut out the mush. I swear if I cry and ruin my makeup I’m gonna throw something heavy at you.”

He gave me the appropriate look of horror. “We wouldn’t want that now, would we?” He prepared a plate for mom and handed it to her when she sat down.

I couldn’t help but smile again as I watched the way he fussed over her and the way she beamed up at him. It validated, even more, my decision to keep Mom in the dark about how the other werewolves saw me.

After breakfast, I followed Harry out. When the door was closed he turned to me, keys in hand. His face was blank, though his eyes were yellowed brown. A color I noticed he only had when he was worried. “The neighboring alpha’s son arrived yesterday. It’s very likely he’ll be joining Mike today.”

Just hearing Mike’s name made my muscles clench in anticipation. “Great,” I replied, flatly.

“Dean is a dominant wolf, despite not being an alpha. He has a reputation for being pretty laid back, but don’t underestimate Mike’s influence on him. There’s always been an unspoken competition between the two families, and no doubt Mike will try to drag you into it.”

With a sigh, I rolled my eyes. “Of course, nothing says big bad wolf like messing with the pathetic human.”

I could see Harry’s shoulders tense until they were almost up to his ears. “Just say the word, Brook, and we’ll go back inside and tell your mother everything.”

“We can’t,” I replied with a shake of my head. “If she knew then she would have to choose between you or me. You need your pack and I need Mom happy. End of discussion. I’ve handled three years of this. One more is a piece of cake.”

He blew a breath out through his nose then started to say something then stopped. “Just… just be careful, okay.”

I offered him a smile full of a lot more bravado than I felt. “I do that every day. I totally got this, man.”

“Well, be extra careful then. I’ll make sure you have an extra-large double chocolate fudge sundae waiting for you when you get home.”

I gasped and placed a hand over my chest. “You sure do know the way to a woman’s heart.”

Harry shrugged with a humble expression and a smile. “I do what I can.” He turned serious again. “You better hurry if you’re going to get there early enough to beat Mike.”

My stomach twisted. “Right, well bye!”

With a quick wave, I hurried the three blocks to school. It was a one story, red brick building. It looked exactly like my old school back in Missouri. I swear all schools are built off the same blueprint. There wasn’t much of a crowd so I hurried inside and directly to my locker. I spun in the combination, putting up the binders and supplies I wouldn’t need until the second half of the day. I tacked up my schedule on the inside of the door so I could quickly look it up until I had it memorized. I still couldn’t believe I had Math for my first class. Seriously? Math in the morning? That had to be considered as cruel and unusual punishment which was totally illegal.

I had just finished when a fist slammed into the locker next to mine, making me flinch with a startled cry. I didn’t need to turn to see who had made the large dent in the metal to know it was Mike. What the hell was he doing here so early? He never came early. Hell, it was a rare day that he got to school on time.

“You know, I don’t know why you keep showing up every year,” he said and I could hear the sneer in his voice. Trying to swallow the knot that formed in my throat, I stared at my schedule, not really seeing anything. “Oh, what’s a matter Missy? Wolf got your tongue?” He laughed a cold, cruel laugh.

So it was another year of that stupid nickname? Missy Mistake. Since Mom was Harry’s mate, something that was apparently predestined, she was never supposed to marry my dad or have me. Thus I was a mistake of the universe. I rolled my eyes, knowing he couldn’t see it. My tongue itched with the urge to tell him something snarky. Last time, I gave into that urge, he punched me so hard he cracked a rib.

I gasped as he grabbed the back of my neck. His fingers dug in the skin so hard I knew I’d have bruises by the end of the day. “Don’t you dare ignore me,” he growled, pulling me from the locker to face him. “Do I need to remind you who’s top of the food chain again? Eh, Missy?”

“No, I got it. Loud and clear,” I replied. Some of that snark that was desperate to get out must have done so because his dark eyes turned a bright yellow. I was doubled over before my body registered the punch to my gut.

“How about we try that again,” Mike demanded, pulling me back up to my feet.

As I struggled to remind myself how to breathe a guy emerged from the crowd asking, “What’s going on?”

Mike smiled coldly when he saw him. With a jerk, he forced me to face the stranger. “Hey Dean. This is Missy, a little unimportant mistake,” he said and again the sneer was unmistakable. “Dean here is a guest of my father’s. Why don’t you say hi?”

I glanced up for a moment and actually felt myself go weak. He was something straight from a Hollywood fueled daydream, beautiful yet tragic at the same time. There was also this primal pull I could feel tugging at my soul. How could someone like him exist? Despite knowing the worst thing to do when face to face with a werewolf was to hold their gaze, I couldn’t look away from those gray-blue eyes. Heck, I wasn’t even sure I remembered how to breathe.

“Well?” Mike demanded, shaking me and breaking me from whatever that was.

I lowered my eyes to the floor and mumbled, “Welcome to Black Mountain Pack, Sir.”

“No,” Mike said with a resolute tone. “That won’t do. Get on your knees and say it.”

I almost gasped out loud as I glanced at Mike then to Dean who now looked at me with disgust. I felt something in me wilt seeing him look at me like that. Not this time. This was too much. “No.”

“No?” Mike repeated. His eyes flashed into a golden hue. For the second time that morning, I found myself doubled over, trying to gasp in a breath. Mike grabbed my neck and kneeled next to me. “Don’t you ever tell me no again,” he hissed into my ear. “Do you hear me? Never again!” With a sniff he let me go and stood. “Now, show Dean what a good girl you are and apologize.”

Keeping my head down, I closed my eyes. Anger and shame burned inside me. Only one more year. I took a breath to do as he asked when I heard Dean snap, “Enough.” Then he added, “Man, I get it. You’re the biggest baddest wolf. I’m impressed, but also bored.”

Mike just laughed with another sniff. “Yeah, she is pretty boring. Come on, I’ll show you something better.”

I heard them walk off, but I waited until the crowd had nearly dispersed before getting up. I sucked in a breath as pain shot through my neck and stomach. I was definitely going to have bruises where he’d grabbed me. Guess turtleneck season was coming early this year. I gathered my backpack. God, I hated werewolves, well, except for Harry.

The day turned out better than it started. I managed to avoid Mike completely, spending lunch in the girl’s bathroom. The one place not even he could go. I walked into my last class and favorite subject, science. Harry’s promise of an extra-large double chocolate fudge sundae had my stomach rumbling with anticipation. Just an hour and a half more and I would be in chocolate heaven.

I was so lost in my sundae dreams that I didn’t notice who had sat next to me until the bell rang. I froze with a glance seeing none other than Dean next to me. Brushing back his light brown hair, he smiled a small smile at me. My heart did a strange stutter as it tried to stop and pound in my chest at the same time. I sucked in a breath and jerked my gaze to the top of my desk. Oh, God. What was he doing here? Out of all my classes, why did he have to ruin the last one? Was he even really in my class or was this some kind of cruel plan of Mike’s? This was so unfair! I seriously need the number of God’s customer service because I had a complaint to file with him. Good lord, Mike was unusually cruel today.

I refused to look at Dean again or acknowledge his presence. Instead, I did my best to stare only at the grandmotherly teacher and pay attention to whatever she was saying, but in all truth she sounded like a garbled mass of noise. I swear I could feel Dean watching me and it made my skin itch. The feeling of being prey made my entire body tense, which only made the already forming bruises hurt even more.