Page 1 of What a Wolf's Heart Decides

1

This was going to be the best birthday ever.

Haley Michaels pulled the stack of invitations off the printer and thumbed through them, checking for typos. She snorted under her breath. It would be just her luck to hand out fifty invites printed with the wrong date.

Because she could not mess this up. Everything had to go perfectly. This was her chance to show her fellow trainees she had something to offer—that she was worthy of attention despite not having a Gift.

She pushed away from the desk and stood, then clutched the invitations to her chest. Around her, the familiar furnishings of her bedroom seemed suddenly . . . overdone. Too girlish and feminine. She gazed at her bed’s white headboard, at the wood carved with hearts and scrolling flourishes. Then there was the cutesy vanity table, the chair in front of it slipcovered in a frilly pink fabric. The window curtains were white with pink flowers. It was as if a Laura Ashley catalog had puked all over the room.

In other words, not suitable for a twenty-one-year-old werewolf looking to score her first date. She might as well drive straight to the animal shelter and adopt an armful of cats.

Not that cats would have anything to do with her. With the exception of the occasional mild-mannered dog, most animals hated her kind. In that respect, they were much more astute than humans.

Of course, it hadn’t always been that way for her. As a former latent, she’d gone years without worrying about her effect on animals. As a teen, she even volunteered at a horse farm, mucking out stables and helping little kids feed the ponies.

She hugged the invitations tighter as memories washed over her. Back then, she worried about what would happen to her if she never made the transition—the all-important first Turn to full wolf. Latency was the only true disease among werewolves. Those who couldn’t Turn had all the instincts and urges of the wolf, but they couldn’t transform from human to animal. Shunned by those who could and shut out from all the rituals and customs of werewolf society, most latents went insane.

For Haley, working with the horses and the children who visited the farm had been a sort of therapy—a way to distract herself from the problems that came with being a latent. The work had taken her mind off the consuming wish to make her first Turn and leave all those problems behind.

Who could have predicted that finally getting her heart’s desire would come with a whole new set of problems?

Murmured voices drifted through the door, pulling her out of her musings. A familiar deep chuckle made her gasp and hurry across the room. Her heart pounded as she threw open the door and stepped into the hallway.

Two males stopped just outside her door, their expressions startled. They’d shed their typical training gear, swapping sweatshirts and athletic pants for jeans and button-downs. The scent of body wash and aftershave swirled under her nose.

She injected enthusiasm into her voice. “Hey, guys! Headed out?”

The males exchanged a look. The taller one—a buff trainee named Eli—glanced toward the end of the hall and the spiral staircase that led to the main floor below. “Uh . . . yeah. Just grabbing a drink with the guys.”

“We’re full,” the other male said quickly. “The car, I mean. There’s no room for anyone else.”

Realization crept over her. They thought she was angling to go with them.

And they definitely didn’t like it.

What else was new?

A spark of mischief fired in her brain. Hiding a smile, she said, “That’s okay. I’ll just follow you into town.”

Eli’s mouth fell open. “Uh . . . “ He shot his friend a worried look. “We d-don’t . . . That is—”

“Eli,” she said, taking pity on him. “I’m joking.”

He swallowed. “Oh.”

“I won’t crash your sacred man time.”

A frown wrinkled his forehead, as if he couldn’t quite decide if she was making fun of him. His friend cast a longing glance toward the staircase.

She thrust a couple invitations at them. “Here. You’re both invited.”

Eli took a paper and scanned it.

“It’s for my birthday party.”

He looked up. “This is a week from now. And ten days before Christmas.”

“Yeah.” As if she didn’t know that already. She’d spend her entire childhood receiving birthday presents wrapped in holiday paper. “But it’s a few days before our break, so I figured everyone will still be in town.” Inspiration struck, and she added, “It can double as a Christmas party.”

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