Page 1 of A Wolf's Wound
Chapter 1
Hannah
“Idon’tthinkit’sgoing to fit.”April and I stand in the hallway, our heads cocked to the side as we stare at my mattress wedged into the room beyond.
April’s spare bedroom is tiny.My California king is decidedlynot.
“Damn it,” I groan and hear a reproachful squeak from my pet raccoon Shadow.He doesn’t like it when I cuss.April turns her back to me, and I take the moment to whisper a quick “Shut up!”at the ball of fur, earning a glare from my pet.
“Well, what are we going to do?”April spins back to me, her eyes glinting and her hands on her hips.
“I don’t know…” I grumble the words, exhaustion in every syllable.This move from Blackwood pack lands to Stonehaven has taken almost every inch of my fucking patience and every ounce of energy.If I have to give up my bed—the most expensive purchase I’ve ever made—I’llsnap.
Okay, real talk, I know I’m being unreasonable.Truthfully, I’ve been unreasonable for roughly five days.But this move is threatening to unravel what last bits of sanity I possess.
I was excited when I graduated from veterinary school with my degree.Even more so when I got into Othercross University and qualified for Arcane-assisted (go witches!) schooling to become a healer for shifters.On two feet or four, I’m qualified to treat anyone.
It is possibly my largest accomplishment to date, and when I landed the job in Stonehaven, I was finally able to exhale with relief.Student loans aren’t gonna pay themselves.Right?
Okay, so I had a little help landing the position.That help required negotiations between Mason Blackwood of the Blackwood pack, my stepfather the ex-enforcer, and Gavin Stone of the Stone pack.
But it doesn’t matter.I’m here, far away from my loving but interfering family, and I can finally have my own life.Outside the pack, like a normal human.
Well, if my bed fit.
“Listen, we’ll figure this humongous bed out later.”April waves her arms to encompass the monstrous mattress.Her face twitches with equal parts excitement and impatience.“We’ll unpack your most important things, the stuff you need now, and sort out the rest eventually.”
I met April in vet school.She specializes in small animals, and is, in my eyes, a modern-day Snow White.Small animals, especially wild animals, are the most difficult in my opinion.Their bodies are delicate, fragile, and miniscule.They require a gentle hand and twenty-twenty vision—something I lack.I’ve always admired April for her abilities in the classroom, and I know she’s an amazing vet.
“You’re raring to go today,” I murmur as I open a box—underwear.Definitely need those.“Do I smell a man on the other side of this enthusiasm?”
April has been determinedly looking for a husband since the beginning of our graduate program.
She gushes over him the moment I give her an opening.“He’s amazing.He is the dreamiest guy I’ve ever met.His smile sends electricity right to my—ahem—if you know what I mean.”
We both burst into giggles, and Shadow squeaks again.Thank God April is a vet and loves animals like I do.I don’t think any other roommate would have allowed a raccoon in the house.
Or a “trash panda,” as the last potential landlord called him.
“Yeah, so I’m going out with him tonight.And he isperfect, a specimen of what all men should be.”She sighs, her eyes glazing over slightly, and I wrinkle my nose at the images that are probably floating through her mind.“He could beit!”she continues as I pull out my toiletry bag, which also has my stethoscope in it for some reason.Huh.
The guy she’s meeting with does sound perfect.Suspiciously so.He’s muscular, tall, with chocolate-brown hair that has honey streaks.April’s description, not mine.According to her, he has twinkling brown eyes that are bright and sharp, with lighter brown flecks around the irises.
I can’t help but smile at her zeal.
“Where exactly did you find thisperfectguy?”I glance at her, my eyebrows raised.Not that I’m looking.I nearly shudder at the thought of being tied down now that I’m finally free.
I justleftpack life.I’m not ready to become some man’s forgotten appendage.I’m not ready to be referred to as someone’s girlfriend,yet.Not when I’m only establishing my life.
A life that I can’t fully share with April, unfortunately.I love her, but I’ve had a very different life from hers.I grew up in a pack of shifters—wolf shifters to be exact.I spent my life surrounded by the extraordinary and the amazing.But I also spent it as a human while in a pack of powerful, supernatural creatures.
My stepdad, a wolf shifter and the ex-enforcer for the previous generation of the Blackwood pack, has never treated me differently, even though I’m human.In fact, he adopted me, caring for me like his own—as though I was simply a pup.
He mated with, and married, my mom when I was five, and I love him and the pack desperately.But I realized, as I grew older, that it is difficult to have any kind of separate identity.
Instead, I was just another pup, and the enforcer’s daughter.My mother became just another mate of an important wolf shifter, even though she was turned into a strong wolf in her own right.
Leaving the pack to start out on my own was the only way for me to get my independence—to be myself and have my own identity.
