she asked him.
He didn’t turn, didn’t look at her. “Never,” he said, his voice flat.
“So you will make a move to become alpha.”
“Never,” he said, and then he turned and looked at her again. “Puts me in an interesting position, doesn’t it?”
“If you don’t want to team up with your brothers, and you don’t want to be alpha, then what do you want?” Anna asked him. “Why are you here? Why did you come to Shifter Falls at all?”
“This is my blood,” he said. “This is my pack. Shifter Falls is my place. I lived homeless for years, and I’m done with it. Where else am I supposed to go?”
Anna didn’t have an answer for that.
“No one rules me,” Ian Donovan said, his voice a low, quiet rumble, determined and strong. “I don’t follow orders from anyone. No one forces me from my home. No one makes me run. I answer to myself, and my wolf. I refuse to turn tail and run from my brothers. From anyone. If I want to stay here, I stay. It’s my decision, and mine alone.”
Anna watched him, mesmerized.
“I hated my father,” he continued, “but there’s no denying who I am. I’m a Donovan, and this is Donovan land. I want to live here, to hunt, to run as my wolf, to live free as our kind have always lived. To find a mate if I can. To follow my instincts instead of rules. I lived in a cage for a year, and now I’m out.” He leveled his hypnotic green gaze at her. “ You got me out. I owe you for that. But now that I’m free, Anna, I plan to stay free. If I die for it, it doesn’t matter. I’d rather die on my own terms, at the hands of my own blood, then live a life on the run and die at the hands of others.”
Anna thought of her own life. Boxed in—jobs, family, school, money. Her friends were starting to get married, have kids, get mortgages and car payments. It was supposed to be what she wanted. It was what everyone had told her to want, including her mother and her sister. And until now, she’d played along. “Shifters have fascinated me all my life,” she said.
Ian watched her, listening.
“I’ve never really understood why,” she said. “Humans… we see shifters as so far beneath us. Halfway to animals. We pretend like they don’t exist, like they don’t matter. We avoid places like Shifter Falls, as if our human ways are so much better. But I’ve always wondered if that was really true. Part of me has always wanted to see the world the way you do.”
“It isn’t easy,” Ian said quietly. “It’s the hardest way there is.”
“I don’t want easy,” Anna said. “I don’t think I ever have. My ex…” She swallowed, unwilling to think about Daniel, about the two years she’d wasted on him. “He used to call me Nerd Girl. It was supposed to be a joke, but he said it all the time. When I told him the idea for this project, he laughed at me—he actually laughed. He told me that what he liked about me was that I was so sweet and safe. He acted like he had all the answers.” She looked away, past him out the window, still angry just thinking about it. “He was sleeping with someone else for two months before I found out about it. I had to hear it from one of his friends.”
Ian was listening, absorbing every word. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Cheating is punishable in the shifter world. Even my father, who had the blackest heart there is, never cheated. Because to us, a man who cheats on his mate is not given respect. It isn’t considered his due.”
The moment stretched, and she wanted to kiss him. She wanted to lean in and feel his mouth on hers, the soft warmth of his lips, the scratch of his beard. She wanted to taste him. She wondered what it would be like, to be with a man who thought of women like that. She was starting to think it would be very, very good.
Ian cleared his throat. “You said you wanted to work this morning,” he said. “We should get to work.”
9
A nna retreated to her room to get her laptop, her
He didn’t turn, didn’t look at her. “Never,” he said, his voice flat.
“So you will make a move to become alpha.”
“Never,” he said, and then he turned and looked at her again. “Puts me in an interesting position, doesn’t it?”
“If you don’t want to team up with your brothers, and you don’t want to be alpha, then what do you want?” Anna asked him. “Why are you here? Why did you come to Shifter Falls at all?”
“This is my blood,” he said. “This is my pack. Shifter Falls is my place. I lived homeless for years, and I’m done with it. Where else am I supposed to go?”
Anna didn’t have an answer for that.
“No one rules me,” Ian Donovan said, his voice a low, quiet rumble, determined and strong. “I don’t follow orders from anyone. No one forces me from my home. No one makes me run. I answer to myself, and my wolf. I refuse to turn tail and run from my brothers. From anyone. If I want to stay here, I stay. It’s my decision, and mine alone.”
Anna watched him, mesmerized.
“I hated my father,” he continued, “but there’s no denying who I am. I’m a Donovan, and this is Donovan land. I want to live here, to hunt, to run as my wolf, to live free as our kind have always lived. To find a mate if I can. To follow my instincts instead of rules. I lived in a cage for a year, and now I’m out.” He leveled his hypnotic green gaze at her. “ You got me out. I owe you for that. But now that I’m free, Anna, I plan to stay free. If I die for it, it doesn’t matter. I’d rather die on my own terms, at the hands of my own blood, then live a life on the run and die at the hands of others.”
Anna thought of her own life. Boxed in—jobs, family, school, money. Her friends were starting to get married, have kids, get mortgages and car payments. It was supposed to be what she wanted. It was what everyone had told her to want, including her mother and her sister. And until now, she’d played along. “Shifters have fascinated me all my life,” she said.
Ian watched her, listening.
“I’ve never really understood why,” she said. “Humans… we see shifters as so far beneath us. Halfway to animals. We pretend like they don’t exist, like they don’t matter. We avoid places like Shifter Falls, as if our human ways are so much better. But I’ve always wondered if that was really true. Part of me has always wanted to see the world the way you do.”
“It isn’t easy,” Ian said quietly. “It’s the hardest way there is.”
“I don’t want easy,” Anna said. “I don’t think I ever have. My ex…” She swallowed, unwilling to think about Daniel, about the two years she’d wasted on him. “He used to call me Nerd Girl. It was supposed to be a joke, but he said it all the time. When I told him the idea for this project, he laughed at me—he actually laughed. He told me that what he liked about me was that I was so sweet and safe. He acted like he had all the answers.” She looked away, past him out the window, still angry just thinking about it. “He was sleeping with someone else for two months before I found out about it. I had to hear it from one of his friends.”
Ian was listening, absorbing every word. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Cheating is punishable in the shifter world. Even my father, who had the blackest heart there is, never cheated. Because to us, a man who cheats on his mate is not given respect. It isn’t considered his due.”
The moment stretched, and she wanted to kiss him. She wanted to lean in and feel his mouth on hers, the soft warmth of his lips, the scratch of his beard. She wanted to taste him. She wondered what it would be like, to be with a man who thought of women like that. She was starting to think it would be very, very good.
Ian cleared his throat. “You said you wanted to work this morning,” he said. “We should get to work.”
9
A nna retreated to her room to get her laptop, her
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