Prologue: Zeke
Hunger filled my young life from the beginning. My mom tried her best, but a ravenous young pup wasn’t easy to have when you’re a single mother with barely a high school education.
As young as I was, I did my best not to worry her or grumble too much, but life was hard when you’re four or five and hungry almost all of the time. My mother really did her best, but when you’re running from the past, there’s not many options, and you take what you get. During the early years of my life, my mother worked in diners to make ends meet, but we also moved a lot. At the time, I didn’t understand why we had to start all over again and again, but I did my best not to complain.
I remember the day he walked into the diner.
It was a crisp fall afternoon, and I’d turned six the week before. I patiently waited for my mom’s shift to be over so we could go back to the dirty little apartment we lived in. It was only a matter of time before we left again, even if we’d just moved here. I could see all the signs bubbling up inside her. The constant fear as every time the bell rung, her eyes darted over and her body froze.
Whenever I asked her why she was so scared, she’d only tell me that a bad man was looking for her and we had to hide. I didn’t know at the time that the man she talked about—and feared—was my own father. The monster in her nightmares.
I sat on my barstool, swinging my legs, when the door chimed as one more customer walked in. He was tall with tan skin, brown hair, and dressed fairly nice. He didn’t act like the other customers though, and he smelled funny. The moment he saw my mom, his eyes locked on her and his body stiffened. I wondered what the funny man was thinking, but the moment my mother noticed him, her eyes grew wide and terror seeped from her.
Every instinct in my body screamed to protect my mother. I didn’t have to think twice. In an instant, I flew off that barstool and flung myself in front of her with my arms thrown wide.
“Don’t touch my mommy!” I growled at the bad man. I remembered my mother later saying how adorable my tiny growl was, but at the time I thought I’d given sufficient warning for the bad man to stay away.
The man glanced down and smiled softly before his eyes slid back to my mother. A few seconds later, another woman joined him. She was dressed nice. Nicer than any of the customers we’d ever gotten at any of the diners my mother had worked.
“Dorian, what’s the matter?” She asked before looking at what the bad man looked at. A boy with blond hair about my age clung to her skirts while a girl not much older looked on with disdain in her eyes and her arms crossed.
The bad man looked back to the strange woman before they both looked toward my mother.
“Hello, my name is Evelyn,” the woman said with a smile. “Alex, why don’t you go say hi?” She nudged the little boy, and his blue eyes snapped to mine.
“W-what do you want from me?” My mother asked quietly with a trembling voice.
I never relaxed my posture as I watched the strange people, but my mother’s hands slid down and gripped my shoulders.
“How about we start off with just talking? If you don’t have time now, we don’t mind waiting.” The woman’s smile grew wider as she motioned to a booth in the back. The man frowned but nodded.
“I-I’m almost done with my shift, I can talk then,” my mom replied. She pulled me behind her. I didn’t like that and snapped at her without thinking.
Instantly, the bad man had me by the collar and ripped me away.
“P-please! Don’t take my son!” My mom whimpered and reached for me.
“A pup shouldn’t treat his mother like that. I’ll let you down when you apologize.” The bad man directed at me with a scowl.
“P-please, he didn’t mean it. Really, he never does things like that, it was my fault, I must have startled him,” my mom pleaded.
The woman stepped forward. “Dorian, it’s okay. Let’s not make a scene at her workplace. Let the boy down and come sit with me. She said she’ll be done soon.”
The man did as she said, and I scurried to my mom, glaring at him the whole way.
“Sit anywhere you like, I’ll be with you in a moment.” My mom pulled me to the other end of the diner and sat me on a barstool.
While she finished her shift, I watched where the strange people sat, but eventually the boy came over and held out his hand.
“My name’s Alex. We’re gonna be best friends.” He beamed up at me. His smile dropped when I didn’t say anything and he cocked his head to study me. “Don’t you wanna be friends? You look like fun to play with. Nobody wants to wrestle with me except Todd, but he’s no fun. I bet you’re fun. Do you like to wrestle? That’s my favorite thing to do, but everybody tells me I’m too rough. I bet you’re rough too. Wanna see who’s better?”
I’d never met anyone my age who wanted to talk to me. Everyone always looked too scared. Mom said it was because I was special and not like them, but this boy didn’t seem bothered by that.
I glanced to my mom who stood at the table taking the strange people’s orders then back at the boy before me.
“I’m not supposed to talk to strangers,” I replied quietly.
“Oh, but we’re gonna be friends, right?”
I didn’t have an answer. How could I be friends with someone when I’d be moving soon? I never responded, and eventually the little boy went back to the strange people.
A few minutes later, my mom came over and put a plate in front of me with the biggest burger I’d ever seen with a massive pile of fries next to it.
“Here you go, Little Wolf. Eat up,” she said with a small smile.
I looked down at the plate then back at her. “Can I really? Do you wanna share, Momma?”
She shook her head before walking back over with the strange people’s order. They ate while she finished up her shift.
When they were done, the little boy came back. “Can you play now, or do you have to wait for your momma?”
I shook my head when my mom called out for me by the door.
“Coming!” I hopped off the stool and raced over. I put my hand in hers and followed her out but noticed the bad man trailing after us. I tugged on her hand and pointed, but she shook her head and put her finger to her lips. We continued down the street a little longer, and the man approached again.
“You don’t have to decide right now. I know you’re scared of my kind and that’s okay, but I would never hurt you or your pup. Whatever you’re running from, you’d be safe on my pack grounds. You and your child. I swear.”
My mother stopped and her hand trembled around mine. He waited for her to answer, but she was too scared to talk to the bad man.
After several minutes of silence, he spoke again. “At least let me buy you some groceries. You can get whatever you want, and I won’t follow you home,” he pleaded.
My mother sighed and turned us to face him. “It wouldn’t matter if you followed me home or not. You’d still be able to find where I live.” She stared at the ground.
“You’re right.” He took a deep breath. “Let me prove to you that I’m not like the others you’ve dealt with.”
My mother finally looked up with tears in her eyes. “Do you think I’m your mate, too?” She whispered.
The man staggered back a step as his eyes widened. “You’ve had a mate before?”
My mother shook her head. “He claimed me as his mate, but when the others found out, they said I wasn’t. He—” she didn’t finish and glanced down at me.
The man went to step forward again, but when my mom flinched away, he stopped. “And the boy?” He asked
“His,” she whispered.
I frowned in confusion. “Momma?” I patted her arm.
She shot a smile through the tears streaming down her face. “Nothing, Little Wolf. I’m okay.” She pulled me against her and looked back toward the bad man.
“You kept him?” He asked, and she nodded. “Did you love his father?”
My mother shot another glance at me as I waited for her answer. I knew she didn’t love him. He was a bad man and made her cry all the time.
The man didn’t say anything for a long time. Finally my mom asked a question of her own. “What about the o-other ones you were with? Is she y-your—”
He shook his head before she could finish. “She is the Luna of the pack. It’s my duty to protect her and her pups.”
“Oh.”
Soon, footsteps headed our way as the woman and her kids walked over. Then the boy named Alex bounded over before his mom could stop him.
“Hi! Are you coming home with us?” He asked excitedly.
His mother shushed him. “I’m sorry, he doesn’t have many friends to play with.” She motioned for him to come back before looking at my mom. “I can understand your misgivings, but I want to offer you shelter on the pack grounds. We are more, open minded than other packs, especially when it comes to humans.”
“Would I be able to leave?” I heard the fear in my mother’s voice.
The lady beamed back at her. “Of course!”
“What about my son?” My mom asked tentatively.
“I thought you said he was gonna be my best friend, Momma?” The little boy interjected.
His mother chuckled. “I said he might want to be your friend, Alex. Give it some time. They aren’t used to our kind.” She patted him on the head. “Your son is also welcome. We would never separate a mother from her son.” The woman continued with a comforting smile.
“Momma? Are we gonna go with the bad man?” I asked.
My mother gasped. “Zeke! Don’t say things like that.”
“It’s okay. He’s following his instincts. Those instincts tell him you’re scared of me and that’s normal. Good, even.” The deep voice of the man broke through. “I can help you with him. Teach him how to control his wolf. He needs to be around his own kind, otherwise there might be problems later. Please, let me help you.”
“Can I have some time to think about it?” She asked and squeezed my hand tighter.
A smile broke out on the man’s face. “Take all the time you need. I’ve waited a long time for you, it won’t hurt to wait a little longer.” He turned to leave but stopped. “Can I at least take you home? Make sure you and the boy are safe?”
My mother sighed but nodded as the other woman clapped her hands.
“Brilliant idea, Dorian! Come, we have plenty of room. We’ll drop you off.”
