“So, tell me…” I begin as Donna, and I make our way toward the residential part of town after we’ve bid my friends goodbye. Our house lies on the second street from the front of the main street in town, so we have some time to catch up as we stroll through the coastal town of Nightmist.
It feels great to be back, and I had no idea just how much I missed my hometown until we sniffed the scent of saltwater from the bay as we traveled in wolf form back home.
“How has college been treating you?”
“Er—about that,” she grimaces. “I’ve decided not to practice outside of the pack.”
“You mean you’re gonna work in Nightmist? At the clinic?”
Donna nods sheepishly, as if she’s worried that I might protest her decision. On the contrary, I’m relieved that she won’t be going away anytime soon.
“I totally agree. I think it’s good that you’re staying in Bar. You’d make a big difference with the wolves out here.”
“You mean that?” Donna turns to me with a thoughtful frown.
“Of course, I do. We might have fought for your rights to attend college, but if you’re still choosing to stay in this pack, it shows your loyalty. The elders will be pleased.”
Donna’s frown deepens. “Why do you sound so different?” she comments, which makes me slow down.
“What do you mean by ‘different’?”
Donna shrugs in confusion. “You sound so much more…mature, I guess. It didn’t really strike me in your letters. But now that you’re back, even your voice sounds different. You already sound like the alpha.”
“Three years have passed, Dons,” I chuckle lightly as we continue down the street, taking the left turn that will soon lead us home. “I would hope that I’ve done some growing up in that time. It’s what I need if I plan on taking over.”
“Good, ‘cause you were a piece of shit back then,” she rolls her eyes, and I instantly stiffen.
Does my sister know about what happened between her best friend and me?
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on, Dom! You really were a shitty guy,” she goes on nonchalantly, but I’m still fixed on trying to find out howmuch she knows. “You literally had most of the girls chasing you, and you blew every single one of them off.”
“Not all of them,” I add carefully, gauging where this is going.
“Right. Not all of them,” Donna concedes with a snort. “You broke some hearts along the way, sure. But just before you left, you blew off every she-wolf in the pack. They haven’t forgotten that.”
“Who is ‘they?’” I queried with a raised brow.
Donna’s lighthearted giggle tells me that she doesn’t know about what happened with Cecelia. Knowing how close they are, my sister would have tried to wring my neck by now. She’d always been protective of the pack’s omega—the lowest-ranking she-wolf in the pack’s hierarchy. She would have said something sooner.
“All the girls vying for my brother’s attention, of course,” Donna chuckles. “I never heard the end of it, even after you left. You owe me, you know.”
“Owe you for what?” I ask skeptically, and Donna shakes her head.
“For reminding them that you had more important things to take care of than worrying about a mate bond.” Donna winks at me and proceeds to skip toward the front porch, allowing relief to wash over me. She really has no idea about Cecelia and me. Even as her best friend, Cecelia must have kept it a secret, and Donna shouldn’t know about it.
After all, my sister supports my decision not to take a mate. She knows I have my priorities intact and that entering the alpha trials and winning is the only thing I need to do. It’s how I remind the Lunaris Pack that the Rivera family is the only oneworthy of the leadership title. It should never have been taken from us.
I have to prove myself, and Donna knows this more than anyone. I’m doing this for our family, and for the mother we watched suffer when our father died.
“Mama!” I exclaim as soon as my mother’s face pops out from the other side of the door when she opens up. Her jaw drops when she sees me, rich and hypnotizing hazel eyes glittering with wonder as my name falls from her lips in a shocked gasp.
“Mi hijo…is it really you?” she blinks her eyes with fervent disbelief, as if she can’t fathom that I’m standing in front of her.
“Yes, Mama. It’s me, your son,” I chuckle as I spread my arms open and embrace my mother, who instantly caves and sobs against my chest.
“She’s glad to see you,” Donna titters as she enters the house.
