Chapter 1
Wyatt
“You ready for this?”
My twin brother sighed beside me. “I guess so. What’s this? Number five?”
“Six, actually.”
“Nice. Lucky number six.”
I frowned in his direction. “Never heard that one before. I thought seven was supposed to be the lucky number.”
Wes shook his head, his dirty blond hair settling in an even bigger mess than before. “Let’s hope for our sake that six is our lucky number. Mom can’t go without seeing a doctor for much longer.”
I sobered at the reminder of our poor mom. She was sitting in a cheap motel not far from here. She’d been battling lupus for as long as I could remember, and lately, it seemed like the disease was winning more battles than she was.
“Have you seen how bad her rash has gotten?” I asked softly.
Wes sighed, his shaggy head dipping lower. “Yeah. And we almost couldn’t get her fever down last night. Something needs to change quickly.”
He didn’t say it, but the or else was implied.
We’d been searching for a new pack for over a month and had done nothing but strike out over and over. Every pack in Tennessee had already turned us down, and that’s what brought us here to Asheville, North Carolina. We’d heard good things about Abraham McCoy’s pack and were hoping they were true.
In our old pack, we’d worked for the alpha as enforcers, and obviously that job didn’t come with health insurance. They’d had a doctor on the pack payroll, but he’d never done much for our mom. His lack of care was one of the reasons we were finally driven from the place we’d called home our whole lives.
As I looked out my windshield at the massive lodge in front of us, I could only hope that Abraham was different. That this might be the place where things would turn around for us. That maybe we’d finally find a home where we all belonged. Although, the likelihood of finding anywhere our mom belonged was slim.
I released a deep breath and unbuckled my seat belt. “I guess we might as well get this over with.”
“That’s the spirit!”
I shot Wes a withering glare. “Try to keep your smartass comments to yourself in there, okay? We don’t need to get turned away because of your big mouth.”
Wes grinned. “If anything, we’ll get accepted for my sparkling personality.”
I rolled my eyes as I climbed out of my Jeep and looked again at the massive house in front of me. It was typical for alphas to have giant homes, so this was nothing new. I’d found it was usually a way for them to seem greater and more important than they actually were. Hopefully that wasn’t the case with Abraham, but even if it was, I’d gladly accept an inflated ego if it meant we got some help for Mom.
Wes and I silently approached the wrap around patio and large front door. On the edge of my peripheral, I spotted the reflective eyes of multiple wolves in between the trees, but I ignored them. They were just doing their job by protecting the pack lands. I’d been there and done that.
I stepped up first, and after taking a fortifying breath, rapped my knuckles on the heavy red cedar. We only waited a few moments before we heard the sound of someone approaching and the door was pulled open to reveal a short brunette. Her light brown eyes perused both of us slowly before her lips tilted into a grin.
“How can I help you fine gentlemen?”
I cleared my throat. “We have an appointment with Abraham.”
She nodded slowly. “Yeah, Abraham mentioned he had some wolves dropping by. You two interviewing to join the pack?”
“Um. Yeah. We are.”
Her eyes raked me up and down as her smile got wider. “Well, isn’t this my lucky day? Come on in.”
She opened the door wider and stepped aside as we entered. The interior was as impressive as the exterior. Grand, but somehow homey at the same time. I was used to the inside of alpha’s houses being extravagant and flashy, but this one wasn’t. I wondered what that said about the man who owned it.
“Come on. I’ll bring you two upstairs. I’m Aubrey, by the way.”
She waved for us to follow and we fell in line behind her. The heavy sway of her hips seemed exaggerated, but I had more important things to concentrate on. We passed through the giant entryway and down a long hall before coming to a staircase that was next to a massive kitchen.
I couldn’t help but take a peek and was immediately surprised by the set up. Instead of one stately dining table like I was used to, there were several tables taking up half the space. It looked more like a cafeteria than the ornate kitchen I was expecting.
One of the tables had a group of beefy men I assumed were enforcers playing a game of cards. Another had a couple of women picking at plates full of food in between talking and laughing. The last occupied table had one lone woman at it, and for some reason, she interested me most.
Her slender shoulders were hunched over a book, her nose almost literally stuck in it. Her wild chestnut curls framed a pale face, but that was about all I could see from where I was. I stood there watching her for a long minute, trying to figure out why, out of every person in that room, she caught and held my attention.
With a shake of my head, I turned to find Aubrey and my brother halfway up the first set of stairs and jogged to catch up with them. On the way up the next flight, a set of large men passed us by with a wave and smile for Aubrey.
I hurried to catch up to her, curious about what I’d seen so far. “How many people live here?”
Aubrey turned to me with a smile. “Currently about fifteen.”
My eyes widened at the number. “Fifteen? Why?”
Aubrey shrugged. “Most of Abraham’s enforcers live here, and then, of course, there’s him and his family.”
“He lives with all his enforcers?”
I guess that would explain the surplus of tables in the kitchen. If you had to feed fifteen werewolves every day, you definitely needed the space. Especially if most of them were enforcers.
“Yeah. That’s the way he likes it. They have the option of living in one of the pack houses if they want, but most are single and prefer to live in the lodge. Personally, I think it’s because they don’t have to worry about things like housekeeping and cooking if they live here, but they’ll never admit that.”
“So, Abraham houses, feeds, and takes care of all his enforcers here?”
The more she spoke, the more unbelievable I found what she was saying.
“Yep,” she said, popping the last letter of the word. “He’s a pretty decent alpha. You guys will like it here.”
I already kind of did.
Now we just had to hope we didn’t screw it up.
Once we reached the third floor, Aubrey walked us down a short hallway and knocked on one of the doors. We heard a gruff male voice call for us to come in and she opened the door.
“This is where I leave you, but feel free to come find me later,” she said with a wink before spinning around and strutting off.
I shook my head, the ghost of a smile on my face. I wondered if everyone else was going to be as friendly as Aubrey. My brother shot me a smirk and I knew he was thinking the same thing.
We turned together and walked into what looked like an office and came face to face with the alpha.