Chapter 1
Meadow
“Come on Tilly. Give it up.”
I stare in what I hope is a menacing way at the chicken that keeps trying to peck my hand. She doesn’t budge.
“I need that egg, ma’am.”
Nothing. I stare harder.
Tilly stares back.
“Pretty please with wildflowers on top?” I beg, thrusting out my bottom lip in a pout.
Tilly clucks at me before fluttering down from her nest, and I let out a relieved sigh. I place the egg in my basket and turn to leave the chicken coop.
When I reach the door, I turn and curtsy at the six hens now bopping around the floor.
“Thank you, ladies. I’ll be back tomorrow to collect your offerings!”
Blowing them a kiss, I leave and make my way down to the creek to wash off the eggs.
I sit on the bank and stick my feet into the cool water as I rinse each egg and carefully dry them on my apron before placing them back in the basket. I’m humming a happy little tune, enjoying the peaceful morning when my tranquility is broken by none other than my baby sister.
“Meadow! Meadow, Meadow, Meadow!” Daisy shrieks as she runs up to me, her long, dark brown braid in disarray and her cheeks flushed. “Hello, my favorite sister!”
“No,” I say, standing and turning to head home.
Daisy blinks at me.
“You don’t even know what I was going to say!”
“Sure I do. You want me to go somewhere or do something that I most likely don’t want to do.”
My seventeen-year-old sister rolls her eyes at me.
“But...”
“The answer is no, Daisy.”
I laugh as she sighs dramatically. Everything is always so dramatic when you’re a teenager.
“But Alpha Blackwood is arriving today to see if he can find his mate!” she says, batting her eyes at me and clasping her hands together against her chest.
What did I tell you? Dramatic.
“And?”
“And he’s gorgeous!” She sighs again.
“I wasn’t aware you’d met him before,” I tease, glancing at her out of the corner of my eye as we walk the path toward home.
“Of course I haven’t met him!” The tone of her voice tells me she’s growing impatient with me.
“Then how do you know he’s gorgeous?”
“Everyone says so! Please, Meadow? Pretty please? Maybe he’s your mate!”
I burst out laughing as we walk up the porch steps. I wave at Mama and Daddy who are heading to the garden and open the door, making my way into the kitchen to put the eggs away.
Daisy huffs beside me.
“Well, if that’s the case I’m definitely not going. I’m not spending my morning standing in a crowd hoping some Alpha can smell me.”
“Gross, Meadow. Why do you have to make finding your fated mate sound so weird?” Daisy wrinkles her nose at me.
“Because it is weird!” I laugh.
“It’s fate and romance!” Daisy argues.
“It’s sniffing people. I’m not going.”
~ ~ ~
Twenty minutes later I’m in my favorite patchwork skirt and a clean tank top, and Daisy and I are making our way to the packhouse.
What?
She offered to fight Tilly and her crew for the eggs for an entire week if I go with her. I love my chickens, but even I couldn't say no to an offer like that.
Our cottage sits way out at the edge of the Silver Creek territory, our pack named for the pretty little stream running behind our home. It takes us about ten minutes to reach the central part of our land, and a crowd has already gathered.
The entire pack seems to have shown up today. Families crowd the square in front of the packhouse, pups weaving in and out between their parents. The unmated she-wolves linger around the front of the crowd, obviously hoping Alpha Garrett Blackwood’s visit results in a mate bond.
Daisy immediately tries to drag me toward the front, but I stand firm.
Absolutely not.
Before she can argue with me, excited murmurs erupt as the gates at the edge of the forest open and a caravan of black SUVs pulls through. The excited murmurs quickly turn into full-blown chatter as the vehicles roll to a stop in front of the packhouse.
“Oh, Mother Moon... he’s here,” Daisy whispers, grabbing my arm hard enough to bruise.
“Stop acting like a rabid fangirl.” I tell her, pulling my arm free.
“I am a rabid fangirl.”
I shake my head and turn my attention back to the vehicles.
One by one, doors open and warriors step out. Every last one of them is tall, muscular, and intimidating.
Several unmated women near the front immediately straighten their shoulders and adjust their hair.
Then the back door of the center SUV swings open and a man steps out, straightening to his full height.
Blonde hair catches the morning sun. Broad shoulders strain against an expensive charcoal suit. The kind of face that probably makes women walk into walls because they're too busy staring to pay attention to their surroundings.
He carries himself with the effortless confidence of someone who has never been told no a day in his life.
I hate that Daisy is right. Alpha Garrett Blackwood is annoyingly attractive.
“See?” Daisy hisses triumphantly. “I told you he was gorgeous.”
“Don’t let it go to your head,” I whisper back.
Before Daisy can continue celebrating her victory, Alpha Blackwood lifts his head and looks out over the gathered crowd.
His gaze passes over us.
Clover, my wolf, begins prancing excitedly in my head.
Meadow... she says hesitantly.
What? What’s wrong?
Nothing...
Simmer down, girly. We’ll go on a run when we get back home. I haven’t shifted for a couple of days, and she’s probably going stir-crazy.
“Okay, Daisy. You’ve seen him. Let’s go.”
I tug on her arm.
She stands there, frozen, still staring in the Alpha’s direction. Her eyes are wide. Her mouth hangs open.
“Oh, Mother Moon...” she whispers. “I don’t believe it.”
“What?”
My stomach twists. Surely not.
“I think he’s looking at you.”
