Chapter 2: The Hand That Feeds

Ivy

Wolf’s Cove was nothing like Mission Pointe.

Where my previous home had been all forests and hills, Wolf’s Cove was flat and coastal. The scent of the ocean overpowered all else as I drove over the bridge that led onto the island.

It was a strange combination of forest and sea that I immediately found myself fond of. I liked the contrast of two things that were nothing alike, merging.

Shortly after my father died, my mother informed me that he had purchased property here in the hopes of moving the pack one day, but now that he was gone and I was his only heir, this land belonged to me.

The welcome sign to the town featured a lighthouse with the silhouette of a howling wolf and the moon behind it. ‘Welcome to Wolf’s Cove - a howlin’ good time!”

Cute.

I rolled slowly through the town, my eyes drinking in as much of it as I could in the darkness. From what I had read about Wolf’s Cove, it had previously been occupied solely by sailors, fishermen, and their families.

It had been named for a once thriving population of wolf fish that lurked on the marshy shores. There were many reports of the aggressive fish making menaces of themselves everywhere that they could.

I smiled a little despite myself, my father probably loved the idea of a pack of wolf shifters living in a place called Wolf’s Cove that just so happened to be infested with wolf fish. Dad's humor at its finest.

I shook my head and forced the accompanying sadness away. I had finally managed to stop crying, but I couldn’t get back into it again. At least, not until I was able to get some kind of sleep.

Small, neat houses painted in vibrant shades of red, blue, and black stood out even against the darkness. Sunflowers on porches, windchimes whispering in the early autumn breeze. This town seemed to be nothing short of idyllic.

I decided that I would go exploring in the morning to see what it looked like during the day. Everything looked so peaceful yet it did nothing for the sorrow tugging at my heart.

This place wasn’t my home, not really, and yet this was where the work was going to have to begin. I would have to make Wolf’s Cove my new home. I had no choice.

My new house was situated on the farthest side of the island, close to its lighthouse. A quick glance at my dashboard awarded me the sight of my gaslight blinking to life.

Luckily, I spotted a lone gas station with a small convenience store and attached mechanic and quickly pulled in. Mission Pointe wasn’t a bustling, large city but a warm suburb where many city people sought quiet lives.

There was never an empty convenience store or dead gas station. It seemed that was another thing I was going to have to get used to here at Wolf’s Cove. It wasn’t even 9 pm yet and the entire town seemed to be dead.

Slipping out of my Jeep, I locked the door behind me and opened the door to the shop with a resounding bell ringing over my head. The scent of stale coffee and sugary slushies hung thick in the air, there was something comforting about it I had to admit.

Underneath these scents, I could smell a sweaty, oily, human man. Most likely the clerk. I glanced around but didn’t see him anywhere. I shrugged, figuring he was in the back stocking up on items.

I walked through the store, my boots sticking to the gross floor. I grabbed a few pieces of beef jerky, a pack of gummy worms, and an apple. Tomorrow, I thought, I need to go grocery shopping.

“Hey, sorry about the-” came a male voice from behind the counter as he emerged. We were close to the same height and his eyes were some of the darkest browns I’d ever seen. He had mousy brown, disheveled curls and a soft face.

He stopped where he was and stared at me, wide-eyed and with opened mouth.

“Hi, there,” I said, offering a polite smile to hide my discomfort. I poured my spoils onto the counter. “Just these, please. Oh, and $20 on pump three.”

The man said nothing but continued to watch me as he rang up my purchases. I looked around, gazing at anything and everything other than him. What was this guy’s problem?

“$33.33,” he said.

I proceeded to pull out two twenty dollars bills and place them on the counter. “Keep the change,” I said over my shoulder, shoveling my stuff into my arms and padding out of the shop as quickly as I could.

The man proceeded to watch me through the window as I threw my food into the passenger seat and went about pumping my gas. When I was done, I reversed as quickly as I could and sped out of there.

I wasn’t scared of this human, of course. A human man wouldn’t be able to do anything to a shifter when it came to strength alone but something about the way that he looked at me sent shivers down my spine.

I didn’t want to find out why.

As I rolled closer and closer to the property, the lights and warmth of the little houses in the town melted away into the orange hue of streetlights in the blackness.

This meant that my mate and I and our eventual pack would essentially have this entire side of the island to ourselves. We would be isolated, living in world of our own.

I liked the idea of that quite a bit.

I just hoped that my mate would too. Goddess, what he would be like? Would he be just as hesitant as I was about all of this? Or would he be excited at the chance to start over somewhere new?

I hoped for the latter as then maybe his enthusiasm could rub off on me and I could find a way to be excited about this new arrangement as well.

Indigo Lane came into view; a small culdesac with four houses and at the very end of it, down a long dirt driveway, stood a tall, large Victorian-styled home. The surrounding four houses were in varying states of disrepair, from what I could see.

I now owned them all. But even from here, I knew which one I wanted to make my own. I had always dreamed of a Victorian home, painted purple with a rose garden and tomato patch. Something good to come out of all this sadness at least.

But as I drove down the long dirt driveway I realized that I was not alone.

A black BMW was parked in front of the house and all of the lights downstairs in the home were on. I stopped the car and turned my headlights off immediately.

Who the hell was in my house?

I watched as a figure moved across the window, illuminating a large, solid form. A man, it looked like.

My wolf roared to life inside of me, angered that her newfound territory had been invaded before she’d ever had the chance to mark it.

I sped up and pulled in front of the house. I kicked my car door open and raced up the stairs that led up to the front door. Slowly, I tried the door handle and found it locked.

Locked!

This person had broken into my home and had the audacity to lock my door. Before I could stop myself, my wolf’s rage took over, and her adrenaline pumped through my veins.

I slammed my shoulder into the door, knocking it off of its hinges and onto the ground.

I scanned the room, looking for whoever it was that had dared invade my space, and found it empty. I turned and went back down the stairs, still searching before I reentered my home.

The living room was gorgeous, with an elaborate collection of green velvet couches, two bookshelves, and a fireplace. I was in awe of my new home and it was almost enough to distract me from the intruder.

Almost.

To the left of me, I saw the kitchen and the man who I had seen through the window.

His back was to me and even from my place in the living room, I could tell that he was nearly a whole head taller than me. The scent of his cologne was heavy in the air and it matched the salty scent of the ocean that filled the island but there was something a little sweeter under it, almost like vanilla.

I’d never smelled a scent like it before.

“Ivy, I presume?” he asked over the sound of running water. I glanced past him and noticed that there was a cluster of dewy dishes drying on the drying rack next to the sink.

Had this asshole been doing the dishes in my house?

The thought of this stranger poking around in my home and touching things before I arrived made me absolutely livid. My skin burned as the Change threatened to rip through my human form.

The all-too-familiar pain welcomed me as the bones in my jaw cracked and my teeth began to sharpen - I had to calm down. I couldn’t lose control like this in front of a human.

I covered my mouth with my hand to hide the teeth that were becoming less and less human with each passing moment.

“Who the hell are you?” My voice was muffled slightly, distorted by the overgrown teeth

The man turned and my heart skipped a beat.

He was handsome, too f*cking handsome to be real. He was dressed from head to toe in black. His short, golden hair was slicked back in the way that I had only ever seen in wealthy businessmen. He wore a black, silk dress shirt, matching slacks, and loafers.

But it was his eyes, the light blue that was almost grey, and the luminous warmth that my kind’s eyes always had. That my own held.

He was a wolf.

Just like that the Change in me halted, my teeth forced themselves back into their human appearance. I inhaled and sure enough under the sweet, sea breeze scent of him was the musky smell of a wolf.

He stared down at me, his eyes raking over my body like nails over on a chalkboard before finally meeting my gaze.

“My name is Liam Anderson of the Hemlock Pack,” he said, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “And I’m your mate.”