“—she’ll be primed for her first shift.” Menace didn’t soften his tone. “Her scent’ll rip through five counties if she bolts scared.”
My coffee turned to acid in my gut. The pack’s celebration bonfire already felt less like tradition and more like a beacon.
Wrecker cleared his throat. “We double perimeter watches starting tonight.” His eyes met mine. Drought-yellow but sharp. “Ride rotations every two hours instead of four.”
I stared at the blood-red circles until they burned behind my eyelids. My office suddenly felt too small, too full of engine parts and fading pack photos pinned haphazardly to the corkboard. Juliet’s graduation picture that I got from her background file smiled at me from beneath a reminder sticky note:Trans fluid order, Nov 17th. She wore her mortarboard crooked, laughing mid-stride like she couldn’t wait to leap somewhere new. Somewhere unguarded.
“She’s tougher than you know. But with everything else happening, call everyone back from runs,” I said finally, reaching for my keys with hands that didn’t shake. Good. Strong leader hands, steady. “Every patroller runs at dusk.”
Menace grunted approval as they turned to go, but Wrecker paused at the threshold. For half a breath, his posture softened into something that might’ve been pity if I didn’t know better. Then he was gone, leaving only gasoline-scented air and ghost words hanging where maybe, maybe I imagined them.
“She’s strong, boss… Like her Alpha.”
The door clicked shut again, trapping me with ghosts of red circles and one truth clawing at my ribs: Whatever was hunting beyond our territory was hunting shifters for something specific. Hunters don’t do random.
The golden light of dusk pooled over Juliet’s desk as she straightened her final stack of receipts, her meticulous hands stilling at my voice. “Time to call it a day,” I said, lingering in the doorway of her office. Pride surged hot beneath my ribs as I watched her glance up, strands of hair slipping loose from the pencil she’d used to twist it in a knot. Damn, she’d been buried in those ledgers all day.
“Gather every ledger,” I added, stepping closer. My thumb grazed her shoulder. It was these quiet touches that anchored us both. “Can’t risk leaving anything here.”
She nodded once, pragmatic as ever, and followed me into the hall after tucking each binder into her arms like secrets wecouldn’t afford to lose. Outside, summer clung thick to the air as we walked arm-in-arm toward my bike parked beneath the mesquites. Our shoulders pressed snug together, no space left between us now unless duty carved it out.
I strapped the ledgers into both saddlebags with care while Juliet traced patterns across my back absently through my shirt. Her feelings of what I could only call contentment flowed to me through our bond.
Pearl’s Diner hummed with twilight regulars when we arrived, its neon sign flickering pink against bruised skies. We claimed our booth by habit, the one farthest from chatter and closest to exits. Sliding into our corner booth, Ma greeted us with our usual cups of coffee. Black for me and Juliet’s sweetened with so much cream and sugar it was basically a coffee milkshake.
Ma’s triple strand of pearls glinted in the dim light of the diner, a smile as big as Texas on her face. “Well, if it isn’t my two favorite people gracing me with their presence finally.”
“Ma, we’ve been kinda busy. Work, and things.”
“Uh huh. I bet you have.” Her eyes went to both of our mate marks. “Well, I’m sure you’re starving. Ya need some calories to keep you goin’ after all of that… work.”
I gave her a big sigh. “Ma, just bring us a couple of chicken-fried steaks and mashed potatoes, would you?”
“Thank you, Pearl!” Juliet hollered as Ma wandered back to the kitchen. Then she gave me one of her big, beautiful laughs.
“Full moon celebration’s in four nights,” I said finally…and felt her freeze mid-reach for a napkin like she’d been waiting all week for this knife to drop. Steadying myself took an effort. “We need t’talk ‘bout what you’ll face during your first shift.”
Her lashes lifted slowly. That wildfire gaze locked on mine. I felt her wolf stir through the bond for the first time.
Chapter 14
Juliet
Our forks scraped against white china, the tension of Bronc’s words clinging like summer to my skin. Flu-like symptoms. Fever. Body aches. His voice, slow and careful, unraveled all that my first shift might bring, laying each revelation between us like tender stones. I watched him push a notepad towards me, ink bleeding blue instructions. My eyes tracked his as I took in every letter of this new language we were learning together. He couldn’t hide how seriously he took this, the gravity of what was coming. It was as if we were planning a battle rather than what was to me the exciting opportunity of a lifetime. The low rumble of the diner seeped around the edges of our booth while my mind stilled on this moment with him, on the edges of certainty that were already beginning to blur.
“It will start to feel a bit like the way you feel me through our bond.” Bronc’s eyes cut across to mine, steady as he spoke about my wolf. “But closer, because she’s an extension of yourself.” I nodded, turning the thought over in my head.
A tendril of doubt tugged at me as I considered what that would feel like. Was it what I’d already sensed—the tug of a distinct presence nearby? An awareness unlike anything I’d experienced before? The possibility was thrilling. It would mean Iwasn’t imagining things after all, and the news burst open inside me like fireworks.
I reached for my coffee and took a sip, too distracted to care that it burned my tongue. Bronc’s attention was now on the paper again, his measured hand tracing notes, each word holding weight between us. Fever, aches. His voice grew softer, a stark contrast to the booming announcement he had made just days earlier when he told the pack he’d found his true mate. I felt it more than heard it, that crackling power of his as it spread through the room. My shock at being the center of his life and attention, the sense of belonging that eclipsed everything I’d ever known.
“I think I’ve felt her,” I said finally. “I thought maybe it was you, but different.”
His brows lifted. “Tell me.”
“You’re so loud, Bronc.” I couldn’t help laughing, this playful warmth spreading to him, though I knew the sound of it had a pained edge. Even though his protectiveness became stifling at times, I hoped he knew how much it meant to me. “I thought I was going crazy.”
“Never.” He was all seriousness. “Not about this.”
