Chapter 1
“Caleb McCrea Tarron, you know I’m right. You have a stable job, a good income, and you’re even looking at buying a house. It’s time you find yourself a mate,” Nonna insisted.
I groaned cringing over the use of my full name. I had regretted confessing that to her since the moment the name had rolled off of my tongue.
“Nonna, I love you, but I don’t want to settle down and for the millionth time, I am not going to mate the first girl I see just because you want great-grandpups.”
“I’m not getting any younger, you know?”
I looked at my watch thankful to see I was running late and had a solid excuse to leave. I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “You remind me of that regularly these days, but I’m not buying it.”
“Caleb, I just want to see you settled and happy.”
“I am happy, Nonna. I have you, don’t I?” She started to protest but I cut her off. “I really am late. I warned you when I got here that I do have to work tonight.”
I didn’t want her to fret over what I did for a living, so I always kept it vague. Surprisingly, it was the one thing in my life that woman didn’t constantly harp on me about.
The thing was, I technically wasn’t even related to my Nonna. She’d basically adopted me when I first arrived to Westin Pack after having accepted a mysterious job with Westin Force. I wasn’t usually so spontaneous, but I had taken the job sight unseen with very little information about what I was actually getting myself into.
Three years later and I was still grateful for having the courage to make that leap.
The truth was, if they’d told me I would be moving into a wolf pack territory I would have turned the job down immediately. When I arrived in Westin Pack territory and was introduced to Kyle Westin, the Pack Alpha, and his Beta and head of security, Patrick O’Connell, they explained a lot of things that had been conveniently omitted when I initially accepted the job.
I was a fox, not a wolf. Foxes weren’t pack animals. That wasn’t the worst part though. To a wolf, foxes were more closely related to cats. Sure, I was still technically considered a dog, but traits and mannerisms of fox shifters were definitely more in line with cats. I didn’t think that would go over so well. Most wolves would have turned me out the second they discovered I was a fox, but the truth was, they didn’t care.
Kyle Westin wasn’t like any other wolf I’d ever met. Sure, he was strong and territorial, but his concept of family extended far beyond his mate and children. I was an only child, and it was just me and my parents growing up. I was mostly raised in the human world with this hidden secret that left me with few friends and no one I could really let get too close.
I had always longed for more and I had thrown myself into work at a young age seeking just that.
I had thought I was satisfied with my life, but joining Westin Force had helped give me that sense of belonging that I had been missing and craving without realizing it.
Kyle and Patrick hadn’t cared what I was, they wanted me for the skills I could provide them. Growing up an only child with no real friends meant I spent a lot of my youth online. Gaming was great, but most of them came easy to me and wasn’t a challenge.
That was why I started dabbling in coding, building my own games, and when that got boring too, I started cracking codes. Turned out I was really good at it too. I loved the challenge. Nothing was better than breeching a firewall or sneaking one of my own programs through without being detected.
Sure, it was far from legal, but that just added to the excitement of it all. That fear of being caught was exactly the adrenaline rush that kept me pushing until I knew I was amongst the best of the best.
Unlike other hackers, I never actually stole anything. I could break into a banking system with my eyes closed at this point, but it had never been the treasure that did it for me, it was the hunt. Maybe that was the fox within. I wasn’t really sure, but whatever it was I needed it like I needed coffee in the morning. It was my drug of choice and I had no regrets or shame about it.
I started my own company when I was twenty-one and sold it on my twenty-fifth birthday. I had become jaded and bored. My heart didn’t lie in business. I was a hacker, and I missed the thrill of the hunt.
Being offered a job within the shifter community utilizing my skills had been a dream come true for me, so I’d jumped without even knowing the details.
At first, I had been shocked by what I had done. Despite my excitement for the actual job, the strings that came with it almost had me running for the hills, or down the hill I supposed since Westin Pack sat on top of a mountain.
In fact, I’d been doing just that when a little red Toyota Corolla pulled out in front of my SUV. I’d slammed on my breaks with my heart pounding and somehow, I’d managed to barely kiss the little car, leaving the faintest of scratches on the paint.
It still made me sick to my stomach to think about it. If I hadn’t seen her. If I hadn’t been paying attention. If I hadn’t just had the brakes repaired. So many “If I hadn't.” scenarios.
I’d jumped out with my blood boiling with fear and ran to check on the driver. I was mad and I was frustrated with the current events of my life. I was unleashing it all on that driver before I even saw her.
The thing about wolves though—they have super hearing.
As I approached the driver’s door mid-rant, it swung open and a tiny old woman with spikey gray hair got out looking a little disoriented, shaking, and a whole lot pissed off.
“Now you listen here, sonny. You can’t be flying up the road around this place.”
“What the fuck? You pulled out in front of me. You’re lucky to even be alive right now. If I hadn’t been paying close attention you would likely be dead right now.”
She had calmed at my words and glared at me until it turned my blood cold.
“That’s no way to talk to an elderly woman. You’re in my territory, sonny, and I will be respected. You will not speak such vulgarities in my presence ever again. Are we clear?”
When I scoffed, she reached up and grabbed hold of my ear and dragged me back to my vehicle.
I was so shocked by her actions and strength that I never crossed her again. In fact, since that day, I’d never even considered dropping another F-bomb fearing she’d be just around the corner waiting to punish me for it.
For all her bravado, she was pretty shaken by the entire interaction. I felt bad for it too once I started to calm down.
“You shouldn’t be driving in that condition.”
“I’m fine,” she said, but when she started walking back to her car she swayed. I rushed to her side. I felt terrible and feared I’d harmed her in some way.
“Let me help,” I had told her.
“It’s nothing. Just a little woozy.”
“You shouldn’t be driving in that condition.”
I could tell she had a stubborn streak a mile long, but for some reason she’d let me help. I pulled my SUV to the side of the road and then got her into her passenger seat while I took the wheel.
“I’m not sure where the closest hospital is,” I admitted.
“I’m not going to no hospital. Just take me home. It’s only about a mile from here.”
I groaned. “I’ll feel better if you see a doctor.”