Prologue

Jake Walker

I was happy that my best friend and soon to be Alpha, Rory, found his Mate. Even if I accidentally thought she could have been mine. The night I met Callie was over a month before she met Rory. She was beautiful on the dance floor with her friends. Carefree, happy, smiling, and downright delicious. It was her wild hair, red dress, and berry scent that first drove me wild. I danced with her for almost the entire night. I even asked for her to go running with the pack.

At that point, she had no idea that shifters existed or that she was one. I also followed her home. Wolves have hunter instincts, so I refused to be called a stalker. Something, thankfully, she will never know. I was drawn to her, but it only took a few seconds to realize she wasn’t mine, but there was something special about her.

Rory and his cousin Kit had each found their Mates this year. Despite all the happiness and wishing them good fortune, I was a little jealous. I was ready for her, whoever she might be.

I felt so guilty about putting the moves and trying to seduce Callie, that I had to tell Rory. After my confession to Rory about my actions with his Mate before he met her, I suffered quite the shiner on my face from his fist and a bruised ego. I didn’t have to tell him, but I felt terrible and disloyal. After accepting my punch that could have been a potential ass-kicking, I was promised a well-needed vacation to search the world for my Mate.

Instead, I’ve been exclusively running the downtown branch waiting for Rory to return from his Mating-Moon, a private island getaway so newly Mates shifters can have a nonstop fuck party and not worry about killing bystanders that get in the way. Newly Mated males are volatile.

Kit, the Pack's Third in command, usually helps me run the branch, but he’s been doing more for Luke, Rory’s dad, and since I’m the Pack Beta, I’ve been working with the younger wolves. I’ve been creating workouts and training because our young ones are now teenagers who need some discipline. After the attack on our women by Victor and Grant, we needed to be on alert and have better physical abilities. We grew soft and felt overly safe; we were too human and needed to get some of our wolf-edge back.

The security branch was doing fine. Nothing major was going on with our clients except we were expanding. We needed to hire more, but I was told to put that on the back burner, pack business came first. When Rory returned from his island Mating getaway with Callie, I could focus more on work and my love life.

Ever since meeting Callie, I haven’t been interested in other women. It’s beyond strange. How could a woman who is not my Mate ruin other women for me? I’m twenty-eight. I still have tons of energy and stamina. I should be out sowing my wild oats, but instead, I’ve been staying in alone like a hermit. The guys have been giving me nothing but shit about it. When they want to go out, I make excuses. I’ve accepted something is coming, and life is about to change, but I don’t know when or where.