When Max and I got into an argument all those years ago Over deciding the best way to raise our little boy, I needed to blow off steam and take a walk. Little did I know my father would have me captured, Demoted to the lowest member of our pack, And living a life of servitude. As Alpha of the Greystones, He never accepted me being mated to a Glenwood, Knowing a witch bloodline runs through their veins. So when I discover I’m pregnant, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my baby girl safe.

When my husband ran off with our saloon’s hostess, I left Montana, joining my college-aged son in Oregon. Eugene’s a far cry from my little hometown, But I did my best to blend in with the locals, And tried heading out for a jog. I thought I saw a hippie gathering deep into the trail— Until they changed into a pack of wolves.

They say life begins at 40.... But when infertility led to my divorce, it seemed more like the end. When I’d rather be at home in my sweats binging '80s movies, my dad begs me to go to Carlton with him for moral support as he presents my much younger sister to their unmated Alpha.

Have a divorce party, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. It was, until I ended up in handcuffs. A group of Karens rained on my parade at the winery And in my drunken haze, I mooned every last one of them— Along with the responding officer called in to arrest my ass. Not a good look for a teacher starting off in a new little town. When he cuffed me, I stumbled into his rock-hard body, But he softened up once he brought me down to the station, Taking pity on me and caring for me throughout the night.

I’m not a guy who likes to leave the forest much. But I’m driving my grandad’s bus route, while he’s having a hip operation. If I don’t, he’ll lose the career he's loved for 50 years. I’m happy to help the old man out, but it’s a pain in my ass…endless hills, the bus wheezing and spluttering…whining customers…. Then she clambers on, and I know why fate threw this good deed my way.