Page 2 of Her Shifter Pack

My wolf prowled just beneath the surface of my skin, agitated and alone. I needed to shift and run, but there was no space for that here in the city. No freedom to be myself.

We lived in a small city with humans everywhere. My pack elders, many generations ago, had chosen to be part of humanity. We all had normal jobs; normal lives. We pretended to be human most of the time.

But our instincts were all wolf. Our strength. Our speed. Our wives... Fated mates. There were some things we just couldn’t get away from, even if we tried.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and began to walk along the sidewalk. Home was only about five miles, and once I was out of the city blocks, I could run. Not in wolf form, but at least I could get up a sweat and work off some of the anger pushing through my veins.

I stopped at a walkway, looking each way for traffic, and then when there was a gap, I hurried across the street.

My heart hurt in a way that it never used to. Like there was a hole in the flesh around it. Like someone had been trying to gouge it out.

Like there was something wrong with me.

Markus said he didn’t feel what I did. The bone-deep, cold loneliness that had begun to infiltrate my heart years ago and had built to unbearable proportions now. He was happy to continue playing around. We were only thirty, he said. And in one sense he was right. We still had time to find our Fated mate.

But I wasn’t sure how much longer I could put up with this aching loneliness.

***

ALEXANDRIA

My mom had been a biker chick, but that wasn’t the life I wanted to lead. So, at eighteen and one day, I’d packed my things and headed off to create a new life for myself. Far away from my mother’s world.

Who knew that life on the outside could be more difficult than the upbringing I’d had?

“Hey! You!”

I grimaced at the angry male voice yelling at me from across the diner. He hadn’t technically said my name but, even without looking, I was pretty sure he was calling to me. It was midnight on a Saturday night, and we were far busier than usual.

I turned around and pressed a hand to my chest. “Me, sir?”

His brows drew together as he glared at me like an angry bear with a sore paw. “Yes, you. Get your fat ass over here.”

The gasps around the diner were louder than any shout. People were clearly appalled at his behavior, but I knew no one would stand up for me. They never did.

My cheeks burning, I tried to suck in my stomach as much as I could and hurried across the linoleum floor, pen in hand. “Can I help you, sir?”

Embarrassment mixed with anger in my gut, making my stomach churn and my teeth clench. But I held tight to that boiling pot and breathed through the feeling.

My boss, like so many others, ascribed to the motto that the customer was always right. I, however, did not agree. Not in every case. And the temper I’d inherited from my long-gone father had way too short a fuse.

But I had bills to pay, so I didn’t have much of a choice at this point, except to suck it up and get the job done.

“Yeah, you can take my order,” the red-haired bear growled at me. “I’ve been waiting for a fucking hour.”

My lips twisted as I stared down at the black pencil tip poised on the paper. He’d barely been here ten minutes. I’d seen him come in. Whereas I’d been serving two dozen people on my own for several hours, since Nancy had called in sick last minute.

Not to mention the fact that table seven had a two-year-old in a highchair who kept throwing food on the floor. The food was a slipping hazard so I had to keep stopping to clear it up. Poor thing was utterly exhausted and beyond cranky—and no wonder being midnight. My patience was growing thin with him too, or at least, with his parents who did nothing to help clean up their child’s mess.

“What would you like, sir?” I asked through gritted teeth.

He grunted out his order full of grease and fat, just like him.

I jotted it down and turned to walk away. His hand slapped my ass so hard I yelped and fell forward.

I didn’t mean to punch him, but I’d swung around and my arm shot out before I could think fast enough to stop it.

A general round of applause went up in the room as he fell sideways in his booth.

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