Chapter 1
Jade’s Diary
I love my duties as a future Alpha Queen, but it’s getting a little lonely. I see my mámá and my pápás and I want the type of love they have. When I was a little girl, I would always ask one of my pápás to tell me the story of how they met mámá before bed every night. I hope one day my child will grow up hearing stories about me and my mates.
"Mi hija,” mámá says. “I need you to do something for me.”
“Of course, mámá,” I respond. “What do you need?”
“Well, two of your pápás are meeting with the packs who support my reign,” she says. “However, there’s another pack I want you to visit. I grew up with the pack alpha when I moved to Cooper’s Rock.”
Mámá isn’t originally from Cooper’s Rock, but her mother is and her mother before her. Her parents weren’t mated to one another, which rarely ever happens for wolf shifters, and she spent a lot of her life in her father’s home country of Perú so she still has a small accent. You see, I’m descended from a line of female wolf shifters destined to rule. Thousands of years ago, my ancestors along with others, were granted with the ability to shift into animals by the Moon Goddess. For a long time, wolf shifters were ruled by the Alpha Queen, a woman with close ties to the Moon Goddess.
It is told that the Alpha Queens of old had immense power and magic. Over time, the magic running in the royal bloodline began to fade, allowing disloyal members of the Alpha Queen’s council to overthrow her, and break off to form their own packs. Those packs are usually run by men and, if I’m being honest, those packs don’t thrive as much as the ones still loyal to the Alpha Queen. I’ve read pretty much every book in our library on my ancestors that’s been written. I’ve even traveled to Europe and Africa to read the Alpha Queen books in their libraries. I’m actually part of the reason we have the support of those regions. We’re slowly but surely reuniting the packs and I couldn’t be happier with the work we’ve accomplished. Visiting a pack for my mámá is no big deal, and I love visiting new places.
“Of course, I’ll visit a pack for you. Which one?” I ask.
“Fox Forest,” she replies. “I’m pretty sure my childhood friend, Amelia, is ill but I need confirmation. I want you to find out if it’s true, and if so, I need you to make friends with her daughter so we can keep the alliance strong.”
Naturally, she needs me to go solidify an alliance. I’m okay with that. I enjoy traveling and meeting new packs. I can’t be a good leader if I don’t listen to every member of my pack. That’s something I’m going to instill in my daughter if I ever find my mates. Did I mention I’m supposed to have three mates? Most people think it’s just the outward sign that a female wolf shifter is meant to rule, but all Alpha Queens need three mates to balance out the magic in their blood.
“I’ll go to the Fox Forest pack for you mámá,” I say. “When do I leave?”
“I actually need you to leave now. I just have this weird feeling that she’s really sick, and I want you to get there as soon as possible,” she says.
Mámá has always had these weird feelings when someone is sick or has some type of disease. Personally, I think it’s the small amount of magic that she still possesses as an Alpha Queen because I have a similar ability. I head back to my room and pack for a weeklong trip. If I need more clothes, I can just go shopping in the area. I don’t really care about clothes like that so whatever is comfortable works for me.
I finish packing and find mámá and Pápá Charles to hug and kiss them goodbye before getting in the car to Fox Forest. I sit in the back of the car while my bodyguard, James, drives me to Fox Forest. There are still some smaller packs who are enemies of the Alpha Queen so I need to take a bodyguard wherever I go until I find my mates. Until then, I’m stuck with James. James is a little older than me, and he’s pretty much destined to be a pack elder once I take over for mámá. He’s really insightful and would be the perfect advisor for any queen. He looks at me in the rearview and smiles.
“Have you read up on this pack, Jade?” he asks.
“Yes, James,” I say sarcastically. “You want me to give you a tutorial?”
“Yes please,” he responds with a wink. Sometimes I just want to smack that smirk off his face. I know one of my parents put him up to this to make sure I’m ready to represent them properly. They should have more faith in me since I’m always on point when it comes to diplomatic visits. I take my position as heir very seriously.
“Mámá and the Alpha female of the Fox Forest pack, Amelia, grew up together. Her parents wanted to seal an alliance with that pack and agreed to let their daughter live in Cooper’s Rock until she was twenty-one. She’s kept in touch since she took over for her parents and her pack has always supported the Alpha Queen. She has a son and a daughter, and her daughter is supposed to take over the Fox Forest pack whenever she steps down or goes to final judgment with the Moon Goddess,” I recite from the file I was given.
“Fox forest is one of the packs known for having fox shifters, as well as wolf shifters in their pack. In fact, their Alpha’s mate was a fox shifter who was killed by hunters. The daughter is a fox shifter, while the son is a wolf shifter, which is unusual,” James adds.
“How do you know that?” I ask because that definitely wasn’t in the file.
“I know the son, Marcus, and his best friend Ryan. We served in the military together,” James says.
“That’s cool,” I say. “So, he’s not some stuck-up pampered prince like some pack alpha’s sons?”
“Hell no,” says James and then he chuckles “He was like that at first, but the military quickly beat that sense of entitlement out of him. He would actually make a really great pack leader if his sister wasn’t going to run the pack.”
Huh. Maybe I could actually form some real friendships on this trip. Most pack alpha’s children are stuck-up brats, and I always have to fake getting along with them. It’s refreshing to know I may get along with this alpha’s kids. I look out the window and watch the forest pass by and close my eyes. As I look at the trees, I imagine running in my wolf form through the woods and doze off.
I wake up as we pull into Fox Forest and see the pack alpha, Amelia, and her family waiting for us outside their home. Her daughter is a beautiful girl with gorgeous red hair, and I can definitely tell she’s a fox shifter. She also has a glint in her eye, and now understand the phrase sly as a fox. I walk up to the Alpha with my hand held out.
“Greetings, Alpha of the Fox Forest pack. I’m Jade, daughter of Elena the current reigning Alpha Queen. It’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance,” I say formally.
She grabs my hand and pulls me into a hug, “No need to be so formal, honey, I’m your goddessmother after all,” she responds.
Being the goddessmother of a pack pup is a huge responsibility and an important role. It’s a sign that the parents trust them to take care of their child like they would. The fact that this woman is the goddessmother of the Alpha Queen says something about her character. I hug her back and realize she’s crazy thin. I hold her at arm’s length and look at her intensely. Mámá was right, she is sick. She meets my gaze and a sense of understanding comes into her eyes.
“She already knows, doesn’t she?” she asks. I nod. “I could never get away with keeping big secrets from Elena. She always has a way of knowing...sometimes, even before I know.”
I chuckle because I know exactly what she’s talking about. I could never get away with anything as a teenager, and believe me, I tried. Mámá has a sixth sense about things.
“Come, Jade,” she says. “Meet my children. I’m not sure how long you plan to stay, but our home is open to you. This is my daughter Carrie and my son Marcus.”
I turn to her daughter and shake her hand. She doesn’t really seem too interested in speaking to me, but that’s fine. I get like that too when I’m lost in thought. I look at her brother, and he’s gorgeous. I take a step back and really get a good look at him. He has blonde hair and blue eyes and looks pretty much like a Greek god. I reach out my hand to shake his and feel a jolt of electricity. We pull our hands back and look at each other with wide eyes.
Holy shit. He’s my mate.
