The pack was amassed on the grounds around the Lodge that sat in the middle of our homestead. The Lodge was a large building just inside the gates at the end of Pack Lane, though on the other side of town to where Shawn lived, and looked like any other country club from the outside. The full moon lit the manicured lawns, tall oaks, and the ponds that decorated the Lodge's grounds. I parked nearby and hurried over to the group, not wanting to miss the run.
I spotted Nicole talking with her brother, Gavin Stanton, while Cole and Liam played with their friends and Paco nearby. Nicole waved when I caught her eye. Gavin turned and gave me a huge smile when he spotted me.
“Hey, brother,” he said, pulling me into a hug. He was a big guy and used his brawn to work as a bodyguard and protector around the homestead, but his hugs were the sweetest I'd ever had. I gave him a squeeze and a firm slap on the back.
“Hey, Gav. Hey, Nic,” I said to Nicole over Gavin's shoulder.
“Hi there, Lothario,” she said, attempting a joke as Gavin freed me. “How'd the date go?”
“Ah, I don't know, good I think,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “I'm kind of still buzzing from it. We—”
“Shifters!” Jaxon’s booming voice came from the top of the stairs leading up to the Lodge.
“We'll catch up after, okay?” Nicole whispered, and I nodded before I turned my attention to Jaxon. All eyes were on him as he stood topless in front of the Lodge, his muscles bulging under the power of the full moon.
“Tonight we run as a pack knowing our numbers are growing,” Jaxon announced. He caught my gaze and I swore I saw a flicker of something sly pass across his eyes. Was he talking about me? No, surely not so soon—I'd literally just met Shawn and had no idea how to even broach the topic of shifters with him, let alone bring him into the pack.
Jaxon grinned. “My baby daughter was born today. Lori is the newest member of our pack. As many of you know, Bryce is still in the hospital—please keep your pack brother in your hearts as we run, I know he truly wishes he could be out in the woods with us tonight.”
Applause moved through the crowd as Jaxon smiled proudly. I told myself to relax—of course he was talking about Lori, not Shawn… I was getting carried away.
“To Lori!” someone shouted, and a loud cheer broke out through the pack.
Jaxon looked the proudest I'd ever seen him. Soon enough, he tilted his head back and let out a blood-curdling howl. The sound of it shot through me and pulled hard on every inch of my skin. My wolf ran in circles in my chest, stirring up excitement inside me.
Cole rushed over and wrapped an arm around my leg, and Liam raced over just behind him.
“Feeling alright, Liam?” Nicole asked, checking on Jaxon's adopted son. Liam was actually Bryce's nephew, and had been born a human. He'd only been turned into a shifter by Jaxon a few months earlier, and last night was the first time Liam had shifted. He didn’t seem to have any trouble this morning, but tonight would be the first time he did so with the pack, so maybe he was nervous over that.
“I think so,” he said, putting on a brave face.
“Just focus on the feeling here,” Gavin said, pointing to the center of his own chest. “Follow it, let it lead you. Close your eyes if you have to.”
“Good advice,” I agreed, and ruffled Liam's hair. “Don't worry, Liam. You're a natural.”
“What about me?” Cole asked.
“You're literally a natural. You were born a cub, so you've never had to really learn how to shift,” Nicole said.
Suddenly, Jaxon let out another howl. This one was higher, louder, and even more resonant. I looked over and found that he'd shifted into his wolf form. Seeing my alpha's wolf always touched on something deep and ancient inside me—a feeling of familiarity, admiration, and need. I couldn't hold back any longer. I glanced at Cole and Liam, who had their eyes closed, to make sure they were ready. I let myself shift.
Immediately, my senses were sharpened. My ears perked up as other pack members shifted and joined in the howl. Cole shifted, and Liam quickly followed with no signs of discomfort or struggle. I felt a surge of pride and I nudged my snout against both of them to let them know.
Jaxon looked across his pack and met my eyes. I was his right-hand man within the pack, so I trotted up to stand beside my best friend. However, that’s when I felt a tinge of sadness radiating off him. I glanced at him and he lowered his head. I immediately knew he missed Bryce and wished his mate and his newborn were here so he could protect them.
I gave Jaxon a reassuring nudge before I turned to the pack and let out a short bark. Everyone’s attention fell on us. Jaxon burst forward and sprinted through the pack toward the woods that surrounded our homestead. A flurry of paws hit the ground as we took off, following him into the night.
I loved the way the scents changed as I broke through the tree line. The air went from smelling like freshly mowed grass to wet moss, fertile dirt, and rotting leaves. My paws kicked up the odor of mud and bugs as I ran through the forest, chasing Jaxon but also my own instincts; moving as one with my pack but also deeply alone. Fueled by the moon I pushed myself to run faster, hurdling over fallen logs and skidding around tight corners. Once I was deep in the woods, my legs moved on their own and my mind became clear—crystal clear, with images of my fated mate. Small sparks of worry came and went. I'd never been with a human omega before, and even my wolf was finding it confusing about how we'd overcome the challenge of telling him about who I really was…
But among all the moments of worry were huge waves of excitement. I'd found my fated mate! The joy of it kept me running hard and fast, my heart pounding even faster every time I thought about what our kids might look like once we’d mated.
By the time I tumbled out of the woods and back to the Lodge, my concerns were blurred by the excitement of what could be between us. As I walked across the grounds, I shifted back and immediately shivered as the cold night air hit my face. I rushed to get inside the Lodge where I found most of the pack eating, laughing and chatting.
“Linc!” Jaxon called. I spun around, looking for him, and then felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Hey!” I smiled and brought him into a tight hug. I was still buzzing from the run and could feel the pride radiating off him after leading his pack under the moon. “And congratulations again.”
“Hey, congratulations to you,” he said, patting me on the back.
My breath caught, and I had to clear my throat before I pulled back from the hug. “For what?” I asked, trying to play it cool.
Jaxon raised his eyebrows and gave me a knowing look, like I didn't need to play dumb.
“How did you know? Did Nicole tell you?”
He laughed and shook his head. “Good guess, but no. I felt it when you did.”
When I frowned in confusion he went on to explain. “At the hospital, when you first locked eyes with him. The energy between fated mates is particularly intense. All of our wolves were on high alert, do you remember?”
I nodded and bit my bottom lip. There was something comforting about having my pack involved in this, but it was also a bit uncomfortable and embarrassing, especially if I fucked it all up.
I let out a deep sigh. “I guess that confirms it really is fated, huh?”
Jaxon nodded and put a hand on my shoulder again, giving it a tight squeeze. “It's wonderful news. But I understand more than anyone the hesitation you're feeling.”
“Just my luck to land a human omega, huh? Why am I always copying you?” I laughed, and Jaxon grinned.
“You saw him tonight though. How did it go?” Jaxon asked, looking at me with serious eyes. “Is it already getting serious?”
I swallowed dryly and frowned. “I'm not sure… But I want it to be. I'm not sure how he feels, or how fast to move.”
Jaxon nodded and was about to say something when Gavin appeared beside us.
“What's all this serious talk about?” he asked.
“This man's fated mate,�
�� Jaxon said with a proud smile. Gavin raised his eyebrows and grinned at me.
“Well that is serious! Congratulations!”
“How am I going to…” I shook my head and sighed.
“How are you going to what?” Gavin asked, glancing between us with a confused look on his face.
“The fated mate is a human omega,” Nicole interjected as she came up behind Gavin, explaining the problem to him.
“Oooh,” Gavin said as he stepped back and welcomed her into the circle. “That's tricky.”
“It doesn't have to be,” Jaxon said firmly. “There are plenty of shifters who’ve had human mates, myself included.”
“Sure, but you claimed Bryce, made him one of us. What if Shawn doesn't want to become a shifter?” I asked.
“That's something to deal with if it happens. You're getting ahead of yourself,” Jaxon said, pulling me into line. “There's no point worrying about that now. The most important thing is to tell him who you are as soon as possible.”
The words hit me like a baseball bat to the head. “As soon as possible?”
Jaxon nodded firmly. His face was set in a serious expression and I couldn't help but feel intimidated as hell. He was putting out some serious alpha energy.
“Here's the reality, Linc,” he said gruffly. “Shawn might not want to be in a relationship with a shifter.”
I swallowed dryly. “So I shouldn't ruin it by telling him…”
“No. You should tell him. He's going to find out eventually. If you aren't honest with him upfront, withholding that kind of information could ruin any chances of a relationship. I learned that the hard way. You have to give him the choice as early as possible. It's the only hope you have for things to work out between you.”
I felt my stomach drop and my wolf lie down in my chest with a heavy sigh. All of the daydreaming about our future cubs seemed ridiculous now. Like Jaxon had said, I’d been getting ahead of myself.
“I'm telling you as your alpha,” he said, squeezing my shoulder once more. “Tell him as soon as you can.”
The week dragged on as Christmas and my date with Shawn approached. Everyone in Timberwood Cove went above and beyond with the Christmas cheer. The town was lit up with lights, covered in decorations, and packed full of carolers for the entire week. As per usual I found myself humming Jingle Bells for days. Unfortunately, the fanfare also meant a lot of people took off on vacations, and my regular in-town clients were either away or hosting families at their homes, which meant they didn't want any carpentry or handyman work done until the new year.
Jaxon kept me busy on the shifter homestead with small projects, but not quite busy enough. I found myself left with long hours between jobs and nothing to do to distract myself from the grumbling in my chest every time I thought about my upcoming date with Shawn.
On Tuesday, Christmas Eve, I found myself thinking about him when I was halfway down a ladder, having just cleaned out the gutters of the roof of Gavin's house. All of a sudden, I thought about the way his lips had felt when he'd first kissed me, and my legs almost gave out under me. I gripped the sides of the ladder with my gloved hands and let out a breath through pursed lips. My knees were still shaking when I got to the ground.
Wednesday was Christmas Day, and I had a small breakfast with Cole and gave him a couple of presents before I dropped him off at Nicole's for their yearly special long weekend together. He’d been ecstatic about the new bike he got, and had called Liam on our way over to Nicole’s.
“It’s bright blue!” he yelled.
“Mine too!” I heard Liam shout through the phone.
“What? They match? So cool!” Cole replied.
I was happy to leave him at his mother’s, but I worried being alone would drive me crazy. I was kept busy by fixing up the fence palings outside the apartment building where the elders of the Timberwood Cove Pack lived. I was kneeling down with hammer in hand, poising to pound a nail into a fence paling, when I remembered the moment my eyes had locked onto Shawn's at the hospital. My hand slipped and I barely pulled my thumb away in time before the hammer smashed down on the wood right where I'd been gripping the nail.
“Shit!”
I fell back onto my ass and sat in the cold, wet earth. I felt my butt getting numb from the frozen ground as I tried to breathe through the emotions rattling around in my chest. I felt my wolf whimpering and pawing, begging me to go and seek out Shawn now. My heartbeat accelerated to a point where I had to close my eyes and try to get myself, and my wolf, to calm down, which I did by taking deep, slow breaths. No one ever told me that having a fated mate would feel so all-encompassing, so intense.
By Friday, I'd weathered so many of those small hiccups I was confident I'd mastered the art of keeping my wolf composed. Little did I know how crazy I'd feel as I waited at Kay's Diner for Shawn to arrive for dinner.
I sat in a booth at the back where I had a direct view of the door, and not a single bell rang without my eyes shooting up from the menu to check if it was Shawn who had just walked in. Every time it wasn't him, I clenched my jaw and told myself to relax. I put a hand on my knee to stop it from bouncing, and took long, deep, calming breaths while I focused on which oversized burger I was going to order.
But when Shawn arrived, I didn't need to look up. I knew it was him. My wolf started going crazy before he even got to the door. It was sprinting back and forth inside my chest, wanting me to jump out of my seat, grab Shawn and claim him. I clenched my jaw and stared down at the menu. The lines were blurred but I didn't dare look up. What if I couldn't control myself? I heard the bell ring and felt a gust of cold air blow into the diner.
“Hey there, Shawn,” I heard the waiter say.
“Hi, Cameron.”
“Want your usual?”
“No, not tonight. I'm just meeting someone…” I heard Shawn pause, and that was when I looked up.
Our eyes locked. Time slowed down again. He was even more handsome than I'd remembered. His blond hair was slicked back and he wore a white patterned shirt and a navy-blue sweater under a long black overcoat. His pants had a smart seam down the front and I felt a twinge of worry as I realized that I might be underdressed in my “best” flannel shirt, bomber jacket and jeans. He didn't seem to notice though. His eyes were fixed on me, and a huge smile spread across his face as he came over. I barely contained myself as I stood up, doing my best to move unhurriedly.
“Hey, Shawn,” I said, hoping my voice didn't come out creaky.
“Hey, you.” His voice was sweet and friendly. He walked over and brought me into a warm, welcoming hug. I practically melted before he let go and slid into the booth. I sat opposite him and wondered how he seemed so cool and collected, but then I remembered exactly why—he was a human. This wasn't instinctual for him. It was just a casual date as far as he was concerned. He didn't have a wolf inside him, practically howling for us to become mates.
“It's nice to see you,” he said, a hint of amusement lacing his tone, as if he did know there was something inside that wanted him.
“I'm really happy to see you.” I leaned over and placed my hand on his. It was the most restrained thing I could manage to do.
“Have you eaten here before?” he asked, pulling his hand away and looking down at the menu.
“Uh, a few times.” It was a lie—Cole had dragged me there more times than I cared to admit.
“The veggie burger is surprisingly tasty.” He pointed it out to me on the menu. His fingers were so close to me, I could almost feel them. I loved how confident he was. It spoke to the alpha in me. I didn’t like wimpy, submissive omegas. I looked up and found his gaze again.
“Then that's what I'll get.”
We ordered our burgers and a couple of beers, and then made some small talk. I kept one hand on my knee to stop it from shaking. When our food arrived, I watched as Shawn licked his lips at the sight of his burger, and I clenched my jaw as I imagined him licking his lips at the sight of me…
�
��How long have you lived at the Country Club?” he asked after he swallowed his first bite.
“Since I was born.” I didn’t see any harm in telling Shawn a few things about me. If he was to become my mate, if I was to claim him, then he’d need to know all of it anyway, and Jaxon had told me to tell Shawn sooner rather than later. But I still wanted to be careful not to frighten him away, and the last thing I wanted to do was break the truth about shifters in the middle of Kay's Diner.
“Huh…” Shawn frowned and cocked his head to the side. “I'm surprised I haven't met you or seen you around town before.”
“Well, I don’t go into hospitals much, but I’m always around town. I just guess we’ve simply missed each other. I help out Jaxon with the little league baseball teams, so if you were a fan of baseball you would have seen me there.”
“Jaxon? Jaxon Parsons? The pitcher who played for the Takoma Timberwolves? Oh, that’s where I knew him from. I thought I recognized him in the delivery ward.”
With the conversation taken off me for a while, I wanted to know more about Shawn. “How long have you been here?”
“Oh, quite a few years. I, um, left home when, um, a relationship fell through.”
I could see he was feeling awkward about that particular topic, so I asked another question. “Did you have family in town for the holidays?”
“No, they're all back in Vermont. I do usually go back for Christmas, but work has been so busy this year. Plus, I don't think LuLu wanted to go.” He smiled and began to relax again. “Did you and Cole have a nice Christmas?”
“We did. Cole got the bike he wanted, but not the telescope that can take photos.” I grinned, remembering Cole’s small moan about that, but as an eight-year-old he couldn’t get everything he wanted. “Hey, do you want to go for a walk after this?”
“Yes,” he said softly. I caught his eye and a sweet smile spread across his face. “I would like that. Very much.”
After dinner, we wandered across the road from Kay's Diner and down to the foreshore. As we stepped down to the beach, a cold wind blew off the ocean. Shawn pulled gloves out from the inside of his coat, and I grabbed mine from the back pocket of my jeans. My wolf felt calmer now, just from being around Shawn, but it was still whimpering for me to get closer to him.
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