Prologue

Run, run that's all I can think of as my feet carry me across the woods, the clear night sky brimming with stars lighting my way in the darkness. I stop and hide behind a tree to catch my breath and to look down at the sleeping baby wrapped in my arms hoping he's okay. Caden was thankfully still asleep. I look down at myself, my blouse and jeans are covered in sweat, my bare feet are bloody from all the twigs and rocks digging into them. I move some strands of my hair out of my face and fix the blanket wrapped around Caden, making sure his head is covered. I steal a glance at the wedding band on my ring finger fighting back the tears that threaten to surface, wishing David was alive. I take one more deep breath and resume running.

I should have known something was wrong when Keith invited me on this camping trip. Ever since David died six months ago Keith had been acting strange trying to get me to go out with him. Even after I told him that I was in no mood for a relationship so soon after David died and with Caden to take care of he kept acting clingy and touchy whenever he was around me. But I couldn't just cut him out completely, he was David's best friend, and now it's too late. NO, I can't think like that I have to think about Caden, I hold him close and keep running.

"KAREN!!!"

"KAREN!!!"

Oh no, he's so close, I've got to keep moving. There must be a ranger's station or somebody in these woods that can help. I come up to a steep hill. If a can find a safe way down this could help put some much-needed distance between us.

BANG

Hot searing pain hits my right shoulder forcing me over the edge. CADEN! I quickly turn myself into a ball, making sure I'm covering Caden with my whole body. As I roll down the hill I can feel the wood and rocks scrape against my body. A sudden excruciating pain pierces my side making me scream, just as my back is slammed against a tree knocking the wind and of me. I slowly open my eyes my body lying on its side. My first thought is to check Caden. I look at the bundle in my arms, miraculously he's okay. I let out a sigh of relief and that's when the pain hits me. I'm covered with cuts and my clothes are torn from the fall. I look over at my shoulder to see a hole in it, blood spilling out. The bastard shot me! I go to move, but an excruciating pain in my side stops me. I look down to see a large splinter of wood sticking through my abdomen, blood just pouring out. I hold Caden in one arm, using my free hand to pull the splinter out, as I do I let out an ear-splitting scream. The pain was unbearable, but adrenalin and thoughts of keeping Caden safe kept me conscious. I drop the splinter and put pressure on the wound with my hand, I move into a sitting position using the tree as support.

Snap

The sound of a twig snapping makes me look up, and I see Keith standing there, out of breath with a rifle in his hands, his jeans and shirt covered with sap and sweat. His face is covered with blood from the four slashes I made with my nails, from when he tried to force himself on me.

"You shouldn't have run Karen, look at the mess you've made." His voice was calm, but I could hear the anger behind it.

Keith looks at me with a disgusting smile "Your losing too much blood now, the only sensible thing to do would be to put you both out of your misery."

"Go to hell Keith." Using both arms to cover Caden, Keith just chuckles.

"That's what I always liked about you Karen, you were always a tough one, David wasn't man enough to handle you. You needed someone like me to break you in."

"You'll never be man enough for me or be half the man David was! He was a doctor and cared about people. You're just a drunk fry cook, you always were and always will be a leech who sponged off David!" I yell back at him his insult towards David making me angry.

With a furious expression, he raises the gun. I hug Caden, trying to shield him and close my eyes.

Click, Click

I open my eyes and see Keith fidgeting with the gun, something was clearly wrong with it. He throws it aside in frustration and pulls out a hunting knife. I move Caden to one arm and grab the only sharp thing close to me, the splinter of wood that had pierced my side. I hold it up toward Keith, and make one last prayer for someone to please help. Keith slowly starts moving towards us.

Suddenly a loud howl is heard all around us, so loud, I have to close my eyes. I wanted to cover my ears as well, but I didn't dare put either Caden or the splinter down. I looked up to see Keith opening his eyes and uncovering his ears, a terrified expression slowly dawning on his face as he looks at something behind us. Suddenly Keith is tackled into a brush away from us so fast I didn't see what it was. I couldn't see what was happening but I could hear it, trying to listen I hear a low growl followed by Keith letting out a short scream and then a sickening snap. I don't know what just happened, but Keith is gone and that's all I care about. But with the relief comes pain, I drop the splinter clutching my side again. I look down, I've lost too much blood. I feel eyes on me so look back up and see eight giant wolves staring down at me. I can feel my eyes widen from my shock. The wolves make no move towards me, they just keep staring at me with a strange look in their eyes as if they're trying not to scare me.

I cough and see blood come out, my eyes are getting hazy and my head is feeling light. With the adrenalin fading the blood loss is getting to me. I get on my knees and place Caden on the ground in front of me and bow my head, the thought of entrusting these wolves with Caden pops in to my head. Why, I don't know but it's probably the loss of blood making me delirious. I look up and see a wolf with reddish fur move toward Caden and gently sniffs. I don't know why but I can just tell that this wolf is female, a mother. I slowly grab the wolf's large head between my bloody hands and look directly into her eyes, and will with every fiber of my being for her to understand.

"Please, please take care of him." It comes out as barely a whisper

The wolf's eyes seem to widen as if in shock but then slowly start to close as she places her forehead against mine as if sealing the promise.

"Thank you." I whisper as I let go of the wolf.

I look down at Caden hoping he can feel how much I love him and how much his father loved him. With what little strength I have left I reach around my neck and unclasp a small locket and open it, a small picture of me, Caden, and David taken a week before the crash was inside. I place the locket in the blanket with Caden and give him one last kiss. I lay my head down next to him, I don't feel any pain anymore I just feel tired, I just need a little rest.... just.... a little...res......

***

I walk up to the human female lying next to my mate Laura and see she has passed on, I offer a small prayer to the moon goddess hoping this human finds peace. I feel my mate shift into human form next to me, so I do the same and the others follow suit. Through the mental link I order Charles my beta to bring over two blankets. He quickly goes over to one of the wolves carrying our things and brings over two blankets. I hand one of the blankets to my mate she carefully removes the blanket covering the child, now stained by his mother's blood, and wraps him in the clean blanket. I use the second blanket to cover the mother's body as a sign of respect for the poor woman. As I cover the body and see the poor state she was in, rage fills me, no female deserves this, human or not. I look over to the brush where I had killed the human male a short while ago and wished I had killed him slowly and more painfully.

It was only by chance that we were coming down this way back to our territory. Having just finished a meeting with all the Alpha's in the area. When we heard the female scream, we ran to investigate, but by the time we got here it was too late. I see my mate stand cradling the human baby in her arms, which makes me remember the matter at hand.

I turn towards the others. "Alright, first things first: everybody get dressed, we are headed to the nearest town, Tom and Megan you will go to the police station. Tell them you came across these two bodies while camping in the area. Charles, you start making phone calls to the nearby packs, I don't want them finding out about this from someone else and start thinking we're trying to move in on their territory. Barry and Will, you guys start looking for hotels with rooms available, we don't know how long this will take we may end up spending the night. Zaya, call the pack back home and let everyone know what's going on. Laura and I are going to take the baby to the hospital and make sure he's okay before turning him over to the authorities. Got it?"

"The baby is staying with us." Laura's calm voice comes from behind me.

A collective gasp escapes from the others' throats, I turned towards my mate shocked by her statement, she's still looking down at the baby who is now awake and playing with her long red hair.

"Laura? What do you mean?" Confusion now replacing my shock.

She looks at me with a smile on her face. "I mean exactly what I said, this baby is ours now."

"But Laura we can't, that baby is human." The others begin murmuring amongst themselves.

She looks at me with a stern expression across her face. "We can and we will. This woman entrusted her child to me through blood and dying breath."

I begin to try and explain. "You don't understand..."

"No Mattias, you don't understand, this human created a bond between us, not just between females, but a bond between mothers. Which is something you will never understand so stop fighting me on this!" Some of the others begin to whimper, the aura she was exerting was not something to be taken lightly.

I try to reason with her. "But Laura, werewolves adopting a human has never been heard of."

She scuffs and rolls her eyes at me. "Oh please, there have been plenty of humans who have joined packs."

"But that's different they were mates and none of them were...." I stop as soon as I see that my mate's eyes have started to glow an icy blue. Anger clearly showing on her face, she stalks toward me with the baby still in her arms. I maybe the alpha of the pack but she is my mate and I know better than anyone not to argue with her when she gets like this. The aura she's exerting makes the others behind me cower to the floor from the pressure, it's even hitting me hard. Her usually small frame seems to somehow tower over me, which should be impossible because I'm a 6'0" and she's 5'7".

"He is coming with us and that is final." The angry tone and finality in her voice gave no room for debate. I can only assume she didn't yell because she didn't want to scare the baby.

I look at her for a brief second before giving her a nod of resignation. Satisfied she releases her aura and with that, the pressure. Everyone, including myself, sigh in relief. The others who were on the floor were finally able to get up, some of them breathing heavily.

I turn back towards others. "Ok, Zaya when you call the pack back home let them know about the baby, everyone else your orders stay the same. Now go!" I use my alpha tone for the last part to make sure they start moving.

When I see they've cleared out I turn back to my mate. I see her standing over the dead female's body, I can hear her murmuring something that I can only assume is a prayer. When she finishes I walk up beside her, she smiles at me and the baby. When I see her like this I can't help but think of her holding our own son Lucas.

"Would you like to hold him?" She asks in a gentle voice.

Feeling kind of awkward about the whole situation from before, I simply smile and nod holding my arms out. She gently places the baby in my arms. I'm surprised, he feels heavier than I thought he would be. But that could just be the weight of responsibility I feel for bringing in a human into a pack of werewolves. I look down at the baby and he seems to look right back up at me, he's soft brown eyes seemingly staring into my soul. He starts to coo and giggle, his little hand reaching up to me, and I feel my heart give way at that moment. I smile back down at him joy now filling me, now unable to fault my mate for wanting him.

"What are you thinking about?" Curiosity in her eyes and a smile on her lips.

I chuckle and gently hand the baby back to her, leaning down I kiss her on the lips and put my arms around them both.

"Nothing, just that Lucas has a baby brother now."