"Wake up, Brax."

"Fuck off, Orion. Fuck off."

"So you aren't eager as fuck to get back to your female, yeah? Do you need to sleep more? Tired? You need me to brew some coffee? Maybe feed you a croissant with some apple butter? I can ask the beavers if they have any."

My wolf cracks open one eye at Orion's mention of Ili. I sit up and shove his ugly face away from me. "Damn," I rub my face groggily. "Why can't you be quiet in the mornings?" We've been traveling on paws through northern Canada to talk to the GriMaw pack. Alpha In decided that I should go because the current alpha, Mac, is my uncle. Cullen, my cousin, is the alphason. I tried to tell Inuit that Cullen has beef with my family, especially Conner, but he just laughed and told me that he knows all about it. It's all part of his plan.

During the trip, we are avoiding civilization. That means we hunt for our food and sleep on the ground out in the open. Half of our time is spent on feet, half on paws. There is no coffee. There are no croissants.

I can take all of that, easy. All of it. My wolf loves it. The fucking mosquitos make me nuts, but even they aren't so bad. Waking up to a morning person? Hell on earth.

"You're a sadistic fuck. You know that, right?" I croak. I don't even want to go to meet the Grims. This sucks. I'm tired. I want apple butter.

Orion grins maniacally. "We should move fast, Braxton. Let's go."

I stand and stretch as leaves and dirt fall from my body. Orion decided we would sleep on feet last night after we crossed the border of RustClaw. We're far enough north that the summer nights are chilly. He really is a bastard.

"Let's go," he shoves me a little as I pick up my pack.

I turn west and we take off. The landscape flies by as my body slowly wakes up. My wolf tilts his head up, enjoying the scenery. The trees become smaller and more spindly. The skies start to open up. We are heading up, higher into the mountains where the air is thinner.

Orion and I slow down at the same time, our noses tilted into the air. We can smell the sharp scent of wolves. Two males, close by and closing in on our position fast. Without a single word exchanged Orion and I shift to paws. My wolf circles the Beta to the RustClaw, acting as the Beta's Beta, canines exposed, snarl suspended in the air, as the strange wolves approach.

They shift back to feet before we do. Older, dark brown eyes, slightly slanted upwards in the outer corners, glare at us. Similar features, even the slight bumps in the bridges of their noses, tell me that they are brothers or cousins. I don't recognize them, but I know they're GriMaw.

"Orion Ferax," the short one of them spits, looking furious.

"They don't like you?" I mutter to Orion.

"It's astonishing, I know," he replies just as quietly.

"Who doesn't love a sadistic bastard?" I ask him in surprise.

Orion's mouth twitches knowingly. It pisses off our new friends. "Conner Deduci," shorty snarls.

"Braxton, actually," I reply with a grin with a little muscle ripple across my pecs. Apparently, I can be taken for my alphason big brother. "And, I have no idea what Deadcoosee means."

"It means 'ousted' in Latin," Orion says, all humor gone. "They called me that, too, but apparently it's your new last name."

"Deadoo-"

"Deduci," Orion corrects.

I consider it. "Ousted, because Dad was meant to be the alpha, I assume," I say slowly. I hide my anger from the two GriMaw wolves. "I guess I like it better than, 'Grim,' I have to admit. You know, our new luna thinks our last name is funny."

"The human," the obnoxious, short one sneers.

Fury on Bailey's behalf fires through me. My wolf growls a deep rumble in my chest. "She calls Dad the Grim Reaper." I smirk at the GriMaw wolves. "To his face." I take a step forward. "I wonder, how many GriMaw would have the brass balls to do the same?"

I take the punch right on the jaw, falling backward with a bloody grin. Orion flashes forward, attacking the obnoxious little wolf viciously. The GriMaw wolf shifts to paws in an instant, but it's not quick enough to stop Orion from tossing him feet away. The GriMaw wolf skids through the earth, spinning on his side one full rotation before he manages to scramble back to his feet.

"Enough," the taller, quieter wolf says. Shorty stops in his tracks but doesn't shift back to feet. "Two Betas are visiting the GriMaw? For what purpose?" the smart one asks. He has an odd cadence to how he speaks, formal and specific. It reminds me a little of Luna Willa, actually.

"We heard cousin Cullen lost his mate," I say with just the slightest hint of mockery. The smart wolf proves he's the intelligent one by not responding to my taunt. The wolf on paws growls furiously, snapping his jaws in my direction. I hold my hands out by my sides. "What? I'm concerned with my cousin's emotional well-being." My 'family' in GriMaw sent me a condolence card when Caroline died. A card.

"Alphason is fine," grunts the smart one. Shorty nips his hand, but the smart wolf doesn't even look down.

I spit on the ground, my saliva bloody. "Dad was kicked out of GriMaw because he had no mate. Is it any wonder that I'm worried?" I ask. I take a step forward, knocking the smaller wolf aside when he lunges at me. "Tell Uncle Mac and Cousin Cullen that the..." I look at Orion helplessly.

"Deducis," Orion supplies. "That's you."

"Yeah, Thanks, O. The... Deducis... are concerned for the family, for the pack."

"GriMaw is fine," snaps the obnoxious wolf as he shifts back to feet.

"Well, I believe you. Orion, you believe them, too, right?" My wolf cocks an ear toward me. He doesn't love fighting with words. Knocking the other male down was more his style.

"Oh, yeah, sure."

"The problem is," I say quietly. "Is my alpha, he's a smart one, he's concerned. There's a lot of shit going down right now and Uncle Alex wants reassurance that GriMaw is still... secure."

The obnoxious one shifts back to feet with a scowl on his face. "That male isn't a true alpha!"

"My alpha is also worried," Orion interjects. "Is he enough of an alpha?"

Silence. Beautiful, treasured, quiet falls. I guess Inuit Genome, the TrueBorn alpha, nicknamed 'Mactiir' after the cannibalistic beast of legend, is 'enough of an alpha.'

"You two should leave," the tall one says suddenly.

"We haven't even arrived yet?" I ask. This time I'm truly surprised. It seems extra hostile, even considering the... well... the Deduci shit.

"GriMaw's borders are closed," the tall one announces. Something uncomfortable flashes in his eyes. "With our luna gone and the witches up and down the coast, there are no visitors allowed."

"Witches?" Orion and I speak in unison.

The short one snarls. "Yes. The witches."

"What are they doing?" Orion asks.

Both GriMaw males back away suddenly. "Leave our land, Deduci, Ferax. Next time, call first."

They both shift back to paws and race away. I look at Orion blankly. "Was that a joke? Or a warning?"

"Maybe both," he says grimly. Tense, we stare after the two wolves as they vanish over the next rise.

"You seem grim," I tell him.

He looks at me, surprised before his tense posture relaxes. "You made a joke," he coos, avoiding my smack as we both turn to leave. Laughing, we shift back onto paws and start the run back to RustClaw.

---

My she-wolf alerts me to the noise before I'm fully awake. I hear Sean's mom wandering the hallways. My breath catches in my throat. For just a moment I think Sean is in bed with me.

He isn't. He hasn't been in the last three days. Every night I go to sleep in this strange place, in a bed that's not my own, and wake up to Meghan's cheerful smiles and Mr. Green's dark brown eyes that his son inherited. No Sean anywhere, even if the sheets still smell faintly of him. My wolf and I have a love-hate relationship with this bed.

I open my eyes and look at the ceiling. It's painted a soft cream color, different from the stark white of my bedroom at home. It's also spotless. No cobwebs in the corner. No dust on the pretty, white light. No dead flies on the windowsill. Meghan keeps everything immaculate even though she works for the pack. Maybe it's a human thing.

The ceiling is nice. The bedroom is nice. Nicer than my room at home. I stare up and realize that my parent's house hasn't felt like home in over a year. It hasn't felt safe since I overheard Sean that night.

"Iliana?" Nate, Sean's Dad, knocks on the door as he calls my name. "Are you up, sweetheart?"

"Yes," I answer, cringing at his voice calling out 'sweetheart.' He sounds like his son. Or, I guess his son sounds like him, and that damn endearment is not one I like.

"Breakfast in five, then we'll do some yoga before you go to school."

"OK!" I call back with as much enthusiasm as I can muster. Don't get me wrong, but the stoic alpha-male teaching me yoga is not what I expected. He insists I have to get my weight up before I start harder training. I can feel the clock ticking away. Bailey's party is only three weeks away and I have this churning fear of an announcement about her alpha female. It's years too soon, but I still feel sick with worry. I'm not ready and my recovery is too damn slow.

"Ili! I made sausage omelets and biscuits!" Meghan calls out cheerfully.

I sit up and dig my way out from under my stack of comforters. Biscuits are one of the best foods ever. Meghan makes them with ham and so much butter that they melt on my tongue. I can barely stomach all of the other food, but the biscuits I can get behind.

I ease out of the bedroom and pad down to the kitchen table. Meghan smiles at me as she places my plate in front of me. I tried, my first morning, to help her serve, but she shooed me away.

Mr. Green walks into the kitchen just a moment after me, kissing Meghan's cheek before grabbing two plates from the counter and sitting down across from me. "So, Ili, swimming this morning instead of yoga. Sean just texted me that he would pick you up in a few."

A bite of biscuit elegantly falls from my open mouth back onto my plate. I set it down and stare at Mr. Green in shock. "Sean is picking me up?" I ask him slowly. Alphason Conner promised to keep Sean away from me. So... does my alphason not care or is Sean being defiant?

"Eat, sweetie!" Meghan encourages me.

I nod, forcing a bite of omelet into my mouth. It tastes like ash on my tongue, but I chew and swallow. Meghan logs every calorie I eat. Oh, she waits for me to leave before doing it, but I know she does. If I don't eat enough at breakfast, then dinner grows in direct proportion to what I missed.

Twenty minutes after I sat down, there's a knock on the door. "Good Morning, my boy!" Meghan greets him cheerfully.

"'Morning, Mom. Dad. Ready Ili?"

I nod despite my she-wolf flashing fang at him. I want to go swimming. I still owe Bailey a swim-date, but does Sean really need to be the one to bring me to class? Maybe my instincts are right, and the pool is cursed.

We walk out to Sean's truck in silence. He hands me an orange juice as he opens my door for me. It's not until I sit down in the passenger seat that my brain kicks back on like a rusty engine, "Are you wearing swim trunks?"

"Yeah?" Sean looks at me doubtfully, as if I'm the nutcase.

"But why?" I ask. I take a sip of the juice nervously.

"I spoke with the coward. Owen," he corrects. I wrinkle my nose at him, but he just smirks. "The morning swim class is now for new swimmers, only. Part of training," he says with such smug arrogance I may choke on it.

"You're a new swimmer?" I ask in astonishment.

"Hmm," he hums his agreement, the smarmy smile on his face fading. "Do you remember that time at the lake? You were swimming with your friends and we came?"

"I don't swim," I pointed out. I go to the Lake, but never, ever have I ever swam in there (or anywhere).

"I don't either," he says quietly. "Georgina fell into the lake and I jumped in to save her."

I flinch so badly that I smack the side of my head on the truck's interior. My she-wolf lets out a low, scoffing snarl. Our never-mate saved her. What a hero.

Sean gently reaches around and rubs my new lump until I smack his hand away. "I immediately went under and had to have my naked ass hauled out. I went to the clinic to have the water pumped out of my lungs."

My spark of rage dies into a deep pool just as horrifying as the lake. Sympathy wells up. "I had to do that too," I tell him. "I was five and I fell in the pool at a friend's house. All I remember is that dark water closing over my head and how scared I was."

"A pup," he murmurs, looking at me sadly. "You must have been terrified and confused, Daisy." We stare at each other for a long time, his dark eyes searching mine for something. His fingers are on the keys, but he hasn't turned the ignition yet.

"Sean?"

He breaks our staring contest and looks ahead with a determined set to his jaw. "Later, when I recovered, Georgina told me that you pushed her as you and your friends were leaving."

I can't breathe for a long moment. Even my she-wolf has gone stock-still. Subterfuge and manipulation that Georgina spews from her goddess-awful mouth were never something that an animal could understand. "What?" I whisper, but I think it emerges as just a small expulsion of air, just meaningless nothing.

"I know you didn't push her. Did she push you when you were five?" he says in a voice that drips with shivery cold.

"I don't really know," I choke out. "When I was five, I mean. I didn't... I don't know, but I didn't push her. I didn't. I wasn't even-"

"I know you didn't push her, babydaisy. You're terrified to get within five feet of the water. Besides, I don't know that you have it in you to cold-bloodedly murder anyone, even Georgina."

"I might," I say, still faintly, but growing angrier and angrier. "I might push her in the damn lake now."

Dark eyes, burning deep inside with unquenched rage, glance over at me. "It wouldn't matter, love. Georgina can swim."

Two hours later I'm walking into the classroom building with wet hair, in a daze of red-hot hatred for my sister when I hear Bailey's voice, "hi, Ili!"

I turn and smile at the effervescent human girl. For someone who suffered the loss of her mother and her truemate, Bailey is damn cheerful. Even more amazing, I can't sense any fakeness about her and my wolf approves of her future luna. It's a good feeling after the shitty morning I had swimming with Sean. At least Owen kept us apart during class.

"Hi, Bails," I zip my backpack back up after taking out my juice. "How is your Dad?"

Bailey shrugs. "Good, I guess. He's a little miffed at my grandma, mom's mom, you know? She's being stubborn about selling her house and moving closer to ClearHowl. We were thinking River's Gorge? It's a beautiful town and has great geriatric health care."

"Are they not doing well?" I murmur the question, not wanting to be intrusive.

I didn't have to worry. Bailey launches into an explanation about her aging grandparents and how they need more assistance. It makes me appreciate the pack a little more. Here, our elderly are protected and cared for. They are valued for their experiences and often are the only pack members who will stand up to the reigning alpha if need be.

"Well, anyway, Dad will wear them down. If he doesn't, then Alpha Alex says he may go speak to them."

"Really?" I raise an eyebrow at Bailey. Alpha Alexander may give the elderly human's heart attacks.

"Yup," she winks at me.

I laugh as we reach class. Both of us immediately look toward Velia and Vicente. She's already in her seat and lo and behold, her mate is next to her, staring at her with dark, intense eyes. She, naturally, is pretending that he doesn't exist. She's not fooling anyone.

Beta Rique greets us by name as we walk inside. I smile and start to speak, "Good Morning, Beta-" my words cut off as I feel a stab of acute pain dart through my belly.

I whimper, the remembered agony of the last year and a half making the cramp feel like someone hit me in the gut with a sledgehammer. Oh, goddess, is Sean cheating on me?

I stumble to my seat, ignoring Bailey's questioning stare. I can't even be mad at him, not really. I mean, I rejected him or rejected him back, or whatever. I guess we are both allowed to do whatever we want. I just never expected him to continue having sex with Georgina after how he has been with me these last weeks. I mean, I just saw him an hour ago, not even.

"Miss Iliana," Beta Rique says.

I stifle a gasp of pain when the next cramp hits. A tear slides down my cheek. I wipe it away, angry at crying. I can't be so weak. I reach out to my she-wolf, but she's no help, scratching at her belly and shrilly whining.

"Ili!" Velia leans over, hissing at me.

I wave her off. No need to advertise that the MateLess girl is suffering from-

"You're in heat, dumbass!" Velia whispers.

Heat.

A wave of relief almost sends me crashing to the floor. How embarrassing would that be? I didn't think of heat like the dumbass Velia called me. Still, I'll take the pain of heat over the pain of mate betrayal any day. My relief only lasts a second as another cramp hits. I send a panicked look towards Velia. The pissy look fades from her face and she shakes her head in sympathy.

"Honestly," she mumbles, "newbies."

I'm such an idiot. What am I supposed to do? Why the hell did I not think about this? I'm at that age of first heat. Usually, it happens around seventeen, a year after the first shift, but my first shift was delayed. Apparently, my heat is not facing the same delay.

"Alright, Iliana. Let's get you up and home, sí?" Beta Rique gently helps me stand, his frame bristling with energy as he stares down the unmated males in the class. Oh, shit. Is heat supposed to hit this hard and fast?

My phone dings as Velia shoves my stuff into my backpack and her own, then slings both over her shoulders. "C'mon, sweetie. I called your mom," she says worriedly. She and Bailey grab my arms, helping me walk out of the classroom as Beta Rique follows like a really handsome bodyguard.

The ride home is lost in pain. I am a whimpering, sweaty, gross mess by the time I get home. Bailey, Velia, and mom all help me stagger inside. An icy shock wakes me up when they sling me into a tub full of ice water.

"Cold!" I whine. Mom and Velia wince at the high pitch, but Bailey doesn't hesitate to pour the icy water over my head.

I'm crying as mom forces pills down my throat. "Easy, sweetie, Daddy is on his way home."

I whimper. It's typical for a father or older brother to command a heat down in a female. Dad has always helped Georgina. If I were really MateLess, then maybe it would work for me, too, but with Sean as my mate, it may not.

I vaguely hear Dad come home, then my mom and dad whispering as Bailey clucks her tongue and continuously pours water over my head.

"Iliana?" Dad pushes open the door to the bathroom slowly. "Hey, Luna Bailey, can I talk to my daughter for a minute?" he asks her quietly.