“Rosemary, Ginger might not remember things. Take it slow, okay? Know that not recognizing you is not a mark against your relationship or the love she has for you.”
“But you’re my sister.” Rosemary cried.
The tug in my chest moved. A car pulled into the driveway and I wanted to follow it.
Simon’s home!
You’re a traitor, you know that, right?
Go to him. I miss my mate
You’ve been wolfnapped. You’re not really my wolf. It’s an alien that’s taken over my wolf
Shut up, pup, bring me to my mate
“Hey, Thy-Ginger,” Simon entered the house arms full of bags, “I wasn’t sure if you had a preferred shampoo, so I bought six of them. If they’re wrong I can go back and- Oh. We have guests.... Rosemary, I thought you didn’t get in for another few hours.”
“You knew she was coming?” I asked him.
Simon nodded, “I talked to her this morning. She insisted on being on the first flight out. I thought you’d be excited to see her. Before-er the last time you were here all you could talk about was how much you missed her. And that’s all Rosemary ever talked about too.”
“But you stole my mate.”
There.
I said it.
Rosemary looked from me to Simon and back at me. Her face the picture of confusion, “Huh?”
“I saw you two together.”
“No, you left because of Mara. The human,” Rosemary said slowly as if I was an idiot.
“After that. My wolf forced me to come back. And I saw you two. In my room. Together.”
Jules growled.
“Whoa, Simon and I have never been together.”
“Never,” Simon set his bags on the ground and came up behind me. Instinctually I leaned against him.
Finally. You should kiss him. Tell him it’ll be okay
No
He’s safe
No, he’s going to hurt us.
He promised
So did Cain
And I told you what would happen there. And it did. Listen to me now. I’m right. I’m always right
Simon’s wolf practically purred through his chest against my back. It felt right. It felt like home. But it wasn’t home. Home was with Cain. Home was-
“Ty, please. Life without you is like I’m missing a limb.”
“It’s Ginger,” I said, “But... but I think I’d really like a sister.”
Rosemary sobbed and Simon let me go. I wrapped my arms around Rosemary, and she held me so tight.
I like her wolf
Oh, that’s nice
Make her stay with us
I can’t make her stay
Yes, you can, we’re going to be Alpha of this pack
I haven’t decided on Simon yet
But I did
“Are you and Jules joining Red Rock?”
Rosemary pulled out of the hug, wiping her wet cheeks, “Goddess, I don’t think we got that far. Jules?”
“I go where you go Rosemary.”
“Simon?”
“If it makes Ginger agree to stay, I’ll agree to anything.”
“I don’t know if I’m ready to be a mate yet. But I can try to be a pack wolf.”
Simon rubbed my arm, “That’s enough for me. Goddess, you’re back. You’re real.” He buried his nose in my hair again, inhaling deep.
Kiss him. Let me taste my mate
I’m not ready for that
Ugh, fine, then shift and let me taste him
You’re incorrigible
And you’re pining after a wolf who only saw you as a pup. Don’t be a pup anymore, be a wolf. Be a mate. Be an Alpha
***
It felt like ages had passed since I first entered the room of the community center. Tonight, it would be packed with the Red Rock pack not eager whelps looking to find a mate. Stepping inside I noted the lopsided rows of chairs with no aisle in the center.
I started rearranging the furniture. Short rows, many aisles. Less disruption. I tested out the projector, it wasn’t centered on the screen. So, I had to fix that too.
Rosemary and Jules came in a bit after with the refreshments.
“Whoa, what happened in here?” Rosemary asked.
“What do you mean?” Jules asked.
“I’ve been setting up pack meetings in this room for years and the chairs always face that way,” she went through and described all the changes I’d made in the past hour.
“Oh good, set those down for now, I need help moving the stage,” I said, directing the taller and stronger wolves to do the final touches for an efficient meeting space. Chairs faced front so only the speaker could see the entrance. Fewer distractions.
“Okay refreshments on the side of the room, you didn’t by chance get duplicates of each item? It’d be good to have two smaller refreshment tables on opposite sides to keep the lines down.”
The duo got to work. But both worked on the same project together at the same location. It was so inefficient. But it wasn’t my place to yell at them to work smarter.
Finally, Simon showed up.
“You’re late,” I pointed at the clock.
He stared at the space in silence.
“What?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“It looks great in here.”
“Oh, uh thanks,” I took the laptop from him and did a test run of the pack presentation with the newly centered projection.
“Who is this and what did they do to my sister?” Rosemary whispered.
“I heard that. I’ve been organizing RSC meetings since its inception. Trust me. If you want a group of shifters to listen to what you have to say, limiting any distractions is key.”
“Looks amazing, Thy-Ginger,” Simon was doing his best to remember my name. I had to give him points for that, “And here’s your bag.”
I thanked him and took my stuff to the bathroom to get ready for the meeting.
My first ever pack meeting as a wolf.
The door swung open and Rosemary came in, “You’re really good at this stuff. I spent years trying to do this, and you just jumped in like it’s easy.”
“It’s not that I’m good at it, it’s just if I don’t do it, it won’t get done.” I brush my hair back away from my face. Wetting my hands to slick any fly-aways flat to my scalp.
“Jules says you don’t remember your past much. Do you remember Mom and Dad?”
I shrugged, “Bits and pieces.”
“They’re going to freak when they learn you’re back.”
Back. I was back.
Rosemary helped me finish getting ready, giving me the hot gossip of the Red Rock pack. Who to watch out for, who was a friend, and who was a sycophant.
Back in the meeting room, I found Simon and rested by his side. As members filed in, they commented to Rosemary about how weird the space looked.
“This is amazing,” Simon said. His fingers brushed against mine. I didn’t flinch away. I wasn’t afraid of his touch. My wolf had forgiven him. I wasn’t so sure yet.
But I leaned against him all the same.
“It feels weird, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, but it’ll be all the better for it. Look, there isn’t any cluster in the back of the room where we usually kept the refreshments. People aren’t doing that weird thing with their knees to let other people pass.”
He wasn’t talking about the mate bond. He had noticed. He listed off all the things I’d done to improve the meeting. And he was… grateful.
Celeste and Alpha Hill arrived a minute before the meeting was scheduled to start. As soon as they entered the room, they were swarmed with people. Once the meeting was called to order, Alpha Hill stood at the podium.
“Good evening, dearest friends. Before we start the meeting tonight, I want to introduce our newest pack member.”
“Members,” Simon corrected.
Alpha Hill grinned, “Right, pack members. Why don’t you do it, son?”
&nb
sp; Simon nodded and took over the podium, “First I’d like to properly introduce a shewolf you are all familiar with. Rosemary?”
My sister stood from her seat. The room erupted in poorly hushed whispers.
“Her mate, Jules,” Simon pointed, and Jules stood.
“And, Ginger,” He pointed to me.
I approached the podium, taking the microphone from him, to introduce myself, “Simon’s mate.”
Epilogue
Simon
Tooth and Claw Pub
1 year later
“You are biased little wolf,” Alpha Redding growled.
I stood, prepared to defend my mate, but she proved she didn’t need my help.
“Of course, I’m biased, beer gut,” she crossed her arms over her chest, “I’m trying to save our packs a bunch of money and keep the peace with the other shifter groups. Now if you’d look at the materials I prepared for you…”
Ginger paced in the pub, weaving in and out of tables explaining her funding plan to the members of the Alpha Council. Her funding proposal was modest compared to what most pack currently spend on exiled members. The added guarantee from the RSC that the exiles would be transitioned to the human world was a relief to any empathetic Alpha.
“The reviews of the Rogue Shifter Council are pointless, and you all know that,” she continued. As she passed my table, she trailed her fingers from one shoulder to the other, sending shivers down my spine.
It took a long time for her to treat me as mates treat each other. I needed to prove to her that I was in it. And I was.
The voting members of the Council left after her presentation to decide the fate of the proposal.
Ginger’s confident façade showed its first crack as soon as the door shut. I walked over to her and wrapped her in my arms so none of the other Alphas saw her sweat. Ginger prided herself on being unflappable.
“Have I told you how incredible you are?” I mutter into her hair.
“I swear if they spent half as much energy on their own packs instead of harassing rogues all of shifter kind would benefit,” she muttered.
The clearing of a throat caught my attention. The famed not-alphas Harris stood in front of me.
“Can we talk to Ginger?” the shewolf asked.
I opened my arms so my mate could decide.
“It’s okay, Simon,” she said, patting my hand, “I need to do this.”
She led me by the hand into the kitchen of the pub.
“I take it everything is well for you?” Not-Alpha Harris asked.
“It is,” Ginger said, “And you, I hear you had your pup?”
“Yes, we did,” the shewolf agreed.
“I would like to apologize,” my mate said, startling me and the Harrises.
“I can use many excuses. I was young, I didn’t know what I was doing, but that doesn’t matter,” she continued, “I treated you both poorly, particularly you, Lee, and I will forever be sorry for that. Cain, I should have been grateful for your friendship, but I was resentful, and it wasn’t fair to you. I understand now the difference between our friendship and what being a mate is really like.”
She reached back and squeezed my hand, “If all goes well, the Alpha Council will be off your backs for good, and you will never see me again.”
The shewolf started crying and pulled Ginger into her arms, “We missed you so much. You are always welcome back here. Easterville is your home if you want it to be.”
When the embrace broke my mate wiped tears from her own eyes, “Thank you, but no thank you. I don’t belong here.”
She came back and wrapped her arm around my waist, “But I’ll do what I can to keep Easterville the haven for those who do.”
Ginger wiped her eyes and ducked out of the kitchen.
Not-Alpha Harris patted me on the back, “You hurt her, I and over a hundred rogue shifters will kill you.”
I nodded, “I’ve fucked up with my mate once, I’ll do anything in my power to prevent it from happening again.”
Ginger was waiting for me when I left the kitchen, “The Council’s back.”
“Really? That was fast?”
I held her hand as the Alpha Council voting members returned with their decision.
“We have agreed to the proposal to send funding to the Coalition with some stipulations.” Alpha Howell said, “But those are to be negotiated at a later date. Thank you all for your service.”
“I did it.”
“You did it.”
Ginger jumped into my arms, her tears from the conversation turned to tears of happiness as I spun her in a circle.
“Oh, sweet Goddess, Rosemary’s going to flip when I tell her.”
I pressed a kiss to the top of my mate’s head, “She’s going to convince the whole pack to throw a party in your honor.”
“That’s such a waste of resources,” she mutters, “We can just get a cake or something for the next pack meeting.”
That was my mate. Always efficient. Always thinking of the pack.
My Ginger.
My everything.
Author’s note
Wow. That’s all I can really say. This book is coming out a little over eleven months after my first release. Seven books in under a year. And it has been a crazy year. 2020 is one for the record books that’s for sure.
So Ginger is the shortest of the Kootenai Pack books but I hope you loved it as much as I do. Ginger was a challenge to write. She’s quiet and scared at her introduction in Tooth and Claw but within fifteen pages she’s sassy and organized. I needed to be able to give that space to breathe and show her coming into her own while exploring what made her so skittish in the first place.
The other thing I wanted to explore was the way a child is impacted by the impressions adults have of them. Rosemary and Thyme were pigeonholed from a young age and it’s hard to break out of those archetypes that your family sets for you.
I drew a lot on my relationship with my sister, though ours was significantly more contentious as kids and teens than Rosemary and Thyme. I don’t think our parents meant to constantly compare us, but they did. And those comparisons had a very real impact on who we would become as adults and how we’d see our successes and failures.
If you’ve read this far, you’ve no doubt noticed that there wasn’t a real evil person in this one. Simon and Thyme could have resolved their conflict easily had she stuck around. Rosemary and Jules would have been able to live their lives as normal. But one misunderstanding propelled Thyme out of her comfort zone and into the world.
I hope you enjoyed learning more about Cain, the bears, and continuing to see new sides of Lee and Evan. The next book is finally Evan’s. I had to get a lot set up in the other four before we could really get to him. And I am so excited to show you his story in Ursa Minors. I know it’s been a long time coming. I’m going to blame the plague.
Stay safe out there. Thank you so much for reading.
Special thanks:
My husband as always. He’s amazing and a treasure and I’m so lucky to have him. The Romance Writers group, particularly Jessica, Ruby, David, and Elizabeth. Thank you for keeping me sane and forcing me back on track.
Thanks to the super readers, Usman, and Jessie. You two are absolutely amazing and thank you so much for your insights and cheerleading.
Most of all thank you. Thank you so much for reading. Seven books in and I’m still shocked every time I see that someone has read something I wrote. It’s so surreal.
Sneak peek at Ursa Minors
Coming Winter 2020:
Evan
Tooth and Claw Pub, Easterville, Minnesota
The quiet of the pub in early mornings had once been my time. Since Ginger left to be with her mate in Arizona, the pub was not quiet in the morning.
Charlie enjoyed music.
Constantly. It was supposed to be my day off. A day to sleep in and relax. But I was woken up before dawn by the blasting of rock music.
I growled
and sat up. No use laying in annoyed fury. The bear would only get riled up.
I made breakfast, accidentally making more than I needed. It was one of the rare times I didn’t have a stray in Lee’s old room.
Breakfast made and devoured, I was ready to settle into my day off.
Then the knocking came.
“Hey man, I know it’s your day off, but there’s a chick here,” Charlie said, leaning against the stairwell. He was one of the stray wolves I picked up to help out my friend and business partner a few years ago, now I couldn’t get rid of them.
Not that I really wanted to get rid of the strays, but of all the species that filtered through as part of the Rogue Shifter Coalition, the wolves were the most annoying. Charlie was one of the better ones, his terrible taste in music notwithstanding. He usually gave me and my bear a wide berth most days, today was not one of them.
“Send her away,” I grumbled. I got one day off a week from the Tooth and Claw. It was my day. The day I did laundry, made myself all my meals for the week. It was also the only day of the week I could work on my knitting. I had no patience for shifters who interrupted my knitting time.
He shifted his weight between his legs uncomfortably, not leaving. He should be leaving. I let a low growl that always worked against the wolves. But whatever Charlie needed from me was more important than his wolf’s natural fear of the superior predator.
“I... Please, Evan,” Charlie whined.
I put in a stitch marker and made a note in the pattern book. Lee and Cain were having a pup soon and I was going to surprise her with a baby blanket, which wouldn’t happen if I didn’t get my damn knitting time. I still had a dozen or so rows before I got to the next part of the pattern, at this rate the pup would be a toddler before I finished. I left my reading glasses on the book and looked at the pup. He was bouncing on his toes now. Still not leaving.
I sighed, “Five minutes.”
“Tha...thank you,” Charlie said, racing back down to the bar.
I lumbered down the staircase, one of the steps squeaked, I’d have to add that to my to do list. My massive to-do list. The Tooth and Claw pub was busier than ever and while I had plenty of help from RSC shifters, they weren’t the best employees. They always seemed to be short tempered, terrified, or completely unsocialized, which was fine for back of housework, but that meant I ended up behind the bar instead of the grill. Which I hated, I used to be the short-tempered asocial shifter in the pub.
Ginger and Thyme (Kootenai Pack Book 4) Page 18
