Pack of her own, p.1
Pack of Her Own, page 1
Pack of Her Own
Synopsis
Natalie Donovan jumps at a friend’s offer to stay in the family cabin for a month—she desperately needs the chance to get away from, and get over, her messy breakup. She doesn’t count on the owner of the local diner making her heart pound and her body desperate to be touched.
Wren Carne is a lone wolf. As an Alpha shifter, she has no pack and maintains her territory without causing drama, just the way she likes it. When she checks on the girl staying in a local cabin, she’s not expecting her wolf to identify the human as her One True Mate.
As fallout from their pasts encroaches upon the sleepy town of Terabend, Wren must decide if she wants a pack of her own, while Natalie worries that her secret—she’s transgender—might be too much for Wren.
Pack of Her Own
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Pack of Her Own
© 2023 By Elena Abbott. All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 13: 978-1-63679-371-9
This Electronic Original Is Published By
Bold Strokes Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 249
Valley Falls, NY 12185
First Edition: March 2023
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Credits
Editors: Jenny Harmon and Cindy Cresap
Production Design: Stacia Seaman
Cover Design by Tammy Seidick
eBook Design by Toni Whitaker
To my beautiful Goddess who has always believed in me. And to Alisha and Steph, without whom this book wouldn’t exist.
Chapter One
Natalie
Running my hands through the thick fur of the husky mix was usually enough to make me forget the woes of the world. Today it wasn’t working.
“Oh, Lucy,” I said with a sigh, rubbing my fingers against the husky’s abdomen as her leg twitched happily. “I’m sorry, girl, it’s been a rough month.”
That was putting it mildly. Couch surfing wasn’t great for getting proper amounts of sleep, and most of my days I did little more than sleepwalk my way around the clinic. Lucy grunted under my hands, and I realized I’d stopped petting her. With a huff, I continued, giving the big girl a wry smile.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m on the job.” I worked around the thick cast on her front leg. I set her leg apart from the others, waiting on the boss lady. “Rory will be in here soon and we’ll take care of that leg of yours.”
As if summoned by my words, the door opened and Dr. Lorelai Gale walked in, all smiles as she held up the tools she was going to need. “Found them! Let’s get started.”
I nodded, still running my hands through the thick fur as my mind wandered. Rory was the one good thing, the one constant, in my life. If it wasn’t for her, things would only be worse.
“Nat? Hey, Nat, you okay?”
“Huh?” My eyes snapped up, meeting her worried glance. “Oh, sorry, Rory.”
“You okay?”
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.”
She looked at me sympathetically. “The couch not treating you well?”
“I’ve dealt with worse.”
“Natalie—”
“I really don’t want to talk about it.”
“All right. Later then. Let’s get Lucy settled up.”
A few hours later, I started turning off the clinic lights. Most days at the clinic I ended the day with a sense of fulfillment for helping all the little animals. Dogs, cats, and even the more interesting animals we saw occasionally. All of them filled my world with joy. Or used too. These days not so much. Not since everything happened with Misty.
“Hey, you okay?”
Rory leaned against the wall, watching me with those big blue eyes. We’d met a little over a year ago right after she took over the clinic from the old veterinarian. She was looking for help and took pity on a twenty-two-year-old college student who only ever wanted to help animals and gave me a job. We’d been close ever since.
“No, no, I’m not.” I hung my head. I could feel the dam in my mind cracking.
“Is this about she-who-should-not-be-named?”
“What else would it be?”
“She really did a number on you, didn’t she?”
I shrugged. I didn’t want to talk about it. I pushed those thoughts and feelings away desperately. I couldn’t let them take me over, not now. Especially not in front of my boss.
“It’s fine,” I mumbled. “I’m just…I’m not over it yet. It gets rough sometimes.”
“Losing someone after eight years together can do that.” She smiled and opened her arms in an invitation.
I stepped into her embrace and tried to stop the tears from flowing. “I don’t know what to do now. Where to go.” I held her tight. “I can’t keep crashing on your couch forever.”
“No, I guess not. But you’re welcome as long as you need.”
We parted as I gave her a small smile. “Thanks, boss. I needed that.”
She clapped me on the shoulder. “Let’s go home. We’ll get takeout and make a night of it.”
I nodded and followed her to the back of the building and out to her car. A peaceful night was exactly what I needed. And maybe, just maybe, I could spend the night getting drunk.
That would be a good way to end what was quickly becoming the worst chapter of my life.
* * *
Rory drove us back to her condo apartment, a gorgeous two-bedroom that must’ve cost at least her firstborn child. We parked in the underground lot and took the stairs to the lobby to grab the mail. A single, thin envelope had been forwarded to her address for me and we went upstairs before I was willing to open it.
“Motherfuckers!” The single piece of paper fluttered to the ground in four pieces.
“What’s wrong?” Rory’s hand was a feather touch on my shoulder.
I shrugged it off, storming around the living room. “They can’t do this! Not now!”
“What?”
“My student loans! They won’t pay for my next semester, so they didn’t admit me!”
Rory’s face went white. “But you can appeal, can’t you? What happened? Why were they denied?”
I stomped a foot on the floor, the bit of a tantrum making me feel a little better for only a second. “No! Because the mail system sucks and my deadline for appealing was three days ago!”
She was smart enough not to stop me from pacing around the room, but it was clear she wanted to. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”
Her words popped the balloon of rage that was growing in my head. Its deflation left me with nothing but weariness and shivering with a sudden cold.
“It’s fine,” I said, my mind spiraling. Of course, this was happening to me now. Every time something was going good for me, life tore it all down. I shook my head. My grades were good, I attended classes, extracurriculars, and had a good relationship with my professors.
I sank down onto the couch, face in my hands as I tried to push back the tears. They didn’t want me anymore. No matter what I did, who I was. They didn’t want me. Just like Misty. Just like everyone else.
“Nat, hey. It will be okay.”
Shoulders shaking, I felt her arm wrap around me, but I couldn’t even lift my head. I said nothing. It was only a matter of time before she left too. Or told me to leave. I mean, why would she want me around? All I was doing was mooching off her, eating her food, and squatting on her couch. I needed to find somewhere else to be soon. I had to go before she made me.
“Natalie, hey, you’re shaking really bad.”
Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’d leave and find a new place to stay. And a new job. I wasn’t going to get my dream of being a vet anymore, but maybe I could do some physical labor to save up the money and find a new home. Or a ticket somewhere else. Start over in another city, another town. Start life all over again.
“I need you to talk to me, girl.” Rory pulled my hands away and I stared up into her face. “I know where your mind is going and it’s not true, you hear me?” Her hands cupped my face and wouldn’t let me look away. “You are not a burden. You are welcome here in my home. Understand?”
I shivered again but managed a nod with a snuffle. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I don’t know if I believe you. Try that again.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I repeated, a little louder this time. The focus on her words, her face, helped push the bad thoughts away. For now.
“Better.” She sat on the couch beside me, her arm wrapping around my shoulders once more to ease the shaking. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay. I’ll keep you on at the clinic and we can try to get you into school again next semester. Or we can fight harder if you want to.”
I sighed. “I don’t know what to do right now. I don’t want
“All right. We can talk about it later.” She put a finger to her lips, like she was thinking about something.
“What now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I know that look.”
“I still don’t know what you mean.”
I gave her a sideways glance. “You have something up your sleeve.”
She chuckled and held up her hands. “Guilty as charged.”
“So, what is it?”
“Okay, look, I’ve been considering this for a couple of days now. I know after tonight it might seem like something bad, but hear me out before you get angry, okay?”
I nodded, folding my arms against my chest as I prepared to parse her words for any underlying meanings. An old habit. Not a healthy one.
“Okay. So, my family has a cabin out at Grey Lake.”
“Yeah, I remember. You spent last Christmas out there.”
“I did. I lived out there before I came here and took over the clinic. But the place is quiet, a half hour out from a tiny village called Terabend. I was thinking…” She drifted off.
“Thinking?” I prodded her.
“Look, you need a vacation. You need to get away and recharge your batteries. And it would get you away from…” She glanced away. “Away from anything that reminds you of Misty.”
I stared at her, unable to find words.
“It’s in the middle of the woods with a nice clearing around it. It’s not easy to get to from the road if you don’t know the way, and there’s a small beach a short hike from the cabin. The lake is refreshing, and the beach is usually pretty clean. It’s a great place to relax and just forget about the world for a while.” She smiled. “Which is something I think you need right now.”
I opened my mouth to argue but she cut me off. “I’m serious, Nat, you need to take a break. Misty kicked you out a few months ago, and between school and the clinic you haven’t had a chance to decompress. To work through it all. You know, to feel better and maybe feel you can move on.”
“Move on?” I whispered. “Is it that easy?”
“It’s never easy.” I looked up at her. I could hear experience weighing down her words. “It’ll take time. Effort. But it is doable.”
“So, you want to get rid of me for a while?” It was hard not to let my mind slip down the rabbit hole again. She was not sending me away because she didn’t want me around anymore. If she didn’t, then she wouldn’t have even brought up the cabin. “Are you sure about this?”
“You need to get away for a while, Nat. I want to help you.”
“Why?”
She laughed. “Because we’re friends, you idiot. And you’re a damned good vet assistant. I want you to stay at the clinic with me.”
I took a deep breath. “Are you sure?”
“Of course, honey. I wouldn’t have brought it up if I wasn’t.”
“How long?”
“However long you need. Figure a month would work.”
I turned the idea over and over in my mind. Could I make this work? Would it be okay? I’d never lived alone, not really. First my parents, then I lived with Misty, and now Rory. What would it be like? How long would it take to figure out if I could? What was it like to be alone like that?
Maybe it’s what I needed. Some time alone might be enough. Enough to move past Misty, enough to find myself.
“I mean, you don’t have to—”
“Okay.”
“What?”
“Okay. I’ll do it. Tell me where this place is.”
Her smile lit up her small apartment. “Oh, you will not regret this. I’ll call someone and make sure they clean the place up and make it ready to be lived in for you.” She jumped off the couch and headed for the kitchen. “You’re going to love it. And when you get back, we’ll figure out what to do about school, all right?”
I fought the urge to laugh at her excitement. “Yeah. Yeah. Sounds good. Maybe it’s just what I need.”
Chapter Two
Wren
The trees around me blurred as my paws smacked the dirt in a sprint that pushed even my wolf’s supernatural stamina to the limit. It was moments like this I felt like maybe if I could just run fast enough, the past would be left in the dust and never catch up. But life didn’t work like that.
My wolf reveled in the freedom that I most often held back from her. Yes, we shared a body, in a way, but our minds were separate. If she had her way, we’d be shifted and running around the woods all the time. Sadly, that simply wasn’t a reality I could live with, and I had to pull her awareness back a little every once in a while, just to make sure she understood who was in charge.
But she was antsy today, as we ran the border of our territory. I couldn’t read her mind, but I could feel her anxiety. I sighed inwardly, sure that I knew the reason. She was lonely. We had no pack to run with, no mate to hunt with, no pups to play with. We were alone here, and I didn’t see that likely to change any time soon. Especially if I had anything to say about it.
I didn’t want a pack. I didn’t want a mate. I didn’t want anyone to think that I was above them, better than them, just because of the circumstances of my nature. Because I was an Alpha, of all things.
We slowed down and came to a stop at the edge of the trees, looking out on a large cabin settled in a small clearing with a gravel road that led to the highway. Home sweet home.
The wind shifted suddenly, and a familiar scent wafted through the air. I pulled my wolf back and loped easily across the wild grass until we reached the front porch. A woman sat in one of the rocking chairs there, sipping at a mug of something that smelled like old pennies. She was short with long, dark hair that was pulled back from her face in a loose ponytail. She watched me quietly through purple-tinted glasses and raised the mug as if in greeting.
I shifted back to human form, ignoring the way my best friend didn’t bother to look away. She was my doctor, after all; she’d seen it before.
“That better not be one of my mugs,” I said lightly, reaching for the pile of clothes I had neatly folded on the porch step. “The last one you used for that stuff I had to throw away. I couldn’t get it to not taste like blood.”
Yoshimaru Hikaru—Dr. Maru to the good people of the town of Terabend—gave me a wide smile, showing off teeth far sharper and pointed than those found in most people’s mouths. “Don’t worry, Wren, I brought this one from home.”
I finished dressing with a tank top, tying my flannel shirt around my waist, then joined her on the porch in a second rocking chair.
“So, to what do I owe the visit? Or do you make house calls now?”
She smiled at that. “You know very well that I do when necessary.” Her look turned serious as she added, “You don’t need any help, do you?”
I shook my head. “All clear in the woods. No strange smells, nothing unknown to us trying to sneak into the county.”
Greyland County, stretching from the west side of Grey Lake to the foothills that preceded the Rocky Mountains, was my land, in werewolf sense. I didn’t own it, but I’d held it, protected it, by myself for the past five years, though really that was with permission and at the request of the other supernatural folks who lived in the area. The sanctuary that Vadi, the guardian of Greyland, had envisioned, was no longer threatened by wayward werewolves slipping into the area and causing a ruckus. It was my job to track them down and make sure they didn’t cause trouble for the humans who we lived amongst and yet still hid from.
“That’s good.” Hikaru took another sip of her drink. Now that I was back in human form, the smell was much less pungent. I still turned away, rubbing my nose to try to dispel the scent as much as I could. I knew it was better than her taking it straight from the vein, like most vampires, but that didn’t make it any more appealing.
I rubbed my forehead in irritation. I forgot that when dealing with a centuries-old vampire, sometimes getting them to talk was like pulling teeth. “So, you came around to…what? Assault my nostrils with your blood?”
