The cool mountain air hits my face as I step out onto a porch. The sun is starting to dip behind the trees, casting everything in gold, and for a moment I just breathe it all in.
This world is beautiful, but it’s also terrifying.
I grip the wooden railing and close my eyes, trying to slow the pounding in my chest. Every breath feels like a struggle. My entire life has flipped upside down in just few short days. This time last week, I was just a mum, trying to survive a loveless marriage and hold my son together, and now? Now, I’m in some secret mountain town filled with shapeshifters and fated mates.
How the hell did this become my life?
The wind brushes my face, drying the tears I didn’t realise had been falling. My hands tremble, but I keep holding on like this railing is the only thing keeping me grounded, and maybe it is. Because everything else feels like it’s shifting.
I want to hate Ryder. I want to tell him he’s wrong, that he doesn’t get to come back into my life and claim a place there. He doesn’t get to hope for anything from me. But I picture Jaxon’s small face, the way he had reacted to his dad, and I know. I know I can’t rip that away from him, not when he’s finally found somewhere he might feel like he belongs.
Then there’s Callen. He’s infuriating. Too smooth, too sure of himself, and just smug enough that he makes me want to throw something at him. Yet, he doesn’t look at me like I’m broken. He teases and he jokes. He gives me the truth, even when he knows it’s not a truth will like. Somehow, in the mess of all this, he makes me feel like I’m not drowning. Like maybe, I can get through this and come out the other side stronger and happier. Maybe.
I just need them to know I’m not staying for them. I’m staying for my son. Every decision I make is for him. Not because of fate. Not because of magic bonds or some mystical wolf bullshit that I still don’t understand. I’m here because I’m his mother and this is where he needs me to be.
Even if it breaks me.
I open my eyes and stare out at the treeline. The forest stretches far beyond what I can see. How many creatures are out there that I don’t know about? Is Dracula going to show up next, wanting to suck my blood? Are fairies coming to grant me wishes? Hell, puff the magic dragon could drop in for tea for all I know.
I’m just a human, way out of my depth. How am I supposed to navigate this new world?
I already know the answer to that, even if I’m not ready to admit it out loud.
It’s them. Even if I don’t want them. Even if I pretend I don’t need anyone. I have to accept that I’m not alone anymore. A small, traitorous part of me is relieved about that. It wants to believe them, to accept their help and let them carry some of this crushing weight. But wanting and trusting are two very different things, and I’m not ready to trust again, not yet.
I’ve let myself fall apart, but now it’s time to put my armour back on for Jax. Because he’s the only thing I’m sure of right now.
I hear the door open behind me and I brace myself to deal with Ryder or Callen, but it’s not either of them. Instead, it’s one of the other twins, not the one that tried to get rid of me. It’s the calmer, sater one.
He moves to stand beside me, holding the railing and looking out at the setting sun. He doesn’t speak at first, as if giving me time to accept his presence.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I like to watch it set every evening, like closing the curtain on the day and preparing to light up again tomorrow. A fresh start, another chane,” he says, and I find myself nodding,
“Thanks for keeping Jax entertained. Is he okay?”
“He’s great. He’s a good kid. You must be proud,” he smiles.
“I am,” I nod.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get to introduce myself properly earlier. Things got a little… messy. I’m Parker, pack Beta,” he says, holding out a hand to me.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Did Ryder or Callen send you out here to talk to me?”
“Nope, Cal has gone out back for a run with my idiot brother. Rye is with Jaxon. I thought I’d give them some time alone. I came out here to watch the sunset,” he says, his hand still outstretched. Waiting.
I take it.
“I’m Paige, and I’m sorry for… all this. I’m not usually so…” I hesitate, trying to find the right word.
“Shocked?” he offers.
“Not what I was going to say, but yes, let’s go with that I half laugh.
“It’s understandable, you’ve had a hell of a day,” he smiles, and it makes me feel a strange warmth.
“So, tell me about the pack beta thing. How does it work?” I ask.
Parker gestures to a bench, and I take a seat. He sits beside me and begins to explain pack dynamics to me.
** Remy’s POV **
Fuck this.
Fuck her.
Fuck Callen.
Fuck them all.
Why are they all pandering to this little human?
What’s so special about her?
Why does she get to be mated to Callen?
She isn’t good enough for him. She doesn’t deserve him. She can’t handle him, not like I can. She isn’t even a shifter. She’s a weak human. She can’t be our pack Luna, not really, and if the Alpha’s and my brother want to pretend she can, then I want no part of it.
Parker looks after the kid like it’s his own. I get it, he’s our Alpha Heir, he’s Ryder’s, he’s pack. But I’m not a damn baby sitter. I’m not looking after the kid whilst the Alpha twins try to seduce his mum.
I watch my brother dote on the boy. He’ll make a great dad one day, when we find our mate and have pups of our own.
He’s acting strange today, he seems… happier, rather than the usual grumpy bastard he is. Which is odd considering how wild today has been. I expected him to be stressed out.
Listening to Callen upstairs, trying to calm his mate and earn her trust, is killing me, yet I can’t bring myself to stop listening. His tone is soft, and it makes me sick to hear him talk to her that way. That tone has always been reserved for me, for our private moments, usually when we are both still naked, and he holds me in his arms as he comes back from finding euphoria with me. When he has those few minutes of weakness and shows me the affection I crave from him. When we break our own rules.
I knew this would happen one day. That one of us would find our mate, and it would all be over between us, but I never thought it would be this hard. That it would urt this much. I feel like someone has reached into my chest, crushed my heart and then ripped it from my body.
I listen as Callen tells her they were made for each other and my knees almost buckle. I’ve lost him. She is taking him from me, and there’s not a single thing I can do about it.
The human walks down the stairs like she owns them, and I guess she does. She will take this house from me, too. When she leaves out the front door, I have a moment of hope.
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