Pack Mates (Were Chronicles)

Chapter One

Late March and it was already ninety degrees in south-east New Mexico. Nikki Stratton groaned as the air conditioner in her old Jeep barely managed to cool the interior of the vehicle.

Thirty-two years old and she’d been called home like a teenager. She resented the fact that she had let her older brothers demand her appearance and was still disgusted with herself for not putting up a fight.

She continued to speed down the interstate towards her home town. Both dread and anxiety sat in her stomach. A new Alpha had been named for her Pack. Since she still maintained Pack status, she had been beckoned home to welcome him and the new members he had brought to join their family. That was what she supposed, anyway. It wasn’t like Brandon had actually
told
her why he wanted her home. He’d just stated she needed to leave the next day. Justin hadn’t given any hint either—had just told her the new Alpha would take over this week and she needed to come home.

It wasn’t even that she didn’t want to be there. She had planned to take a vacation and spend some time with her siblings soon, but being ordered home left her feeling like a cub again. She loved her brothers but sometimes it was more about the Pack than their immediate family.

Her oldest brother Brandon was town Sheriff and enforcer of the Pack. Her other brother Justin was a teacher, both in public and in Pack life. Their wants and needs had been built around being able to serve their fellow wolves. Nikki just wasn’t born that way. She liked to be free, to travel and be on her own. Unusual for a wolf, yes, but not unheard of. Away from home, she had not only met other wolves who felt like she did, but other shifters, too—felines, birds, and even a very nice shifter bear family. Nikki felt more at home with them sometimes than with her old Pack.

Her family had never understood her independence but at least they’d always supported her. She really couldn’t bitch too much about it. And she was starting to feel guilty and just a little childish about her feelings. Except…she liked her life. Now she worried that her carefully constructed way of life was about to change. Why else would she have to come home? With no choice in the matter? They’d never asked that before.

The exit sign for their town came up and Nikki had to fight the urge to keep driving. She slowed to make the curved side road that would take her straight into downtown Midessa, a small, private cotton and farming community close to the Texas panhandle.

Little had changed in the year and a half she’d been away. She’d gone to the big city of Houston, Texas, to attend college and had never moved back. Oh sure, she’d made certain that she returned every few years or so, but she wasn’t ready to settle down quite yet. And living in Midessa would ensure that would happen.

The welcome sign on the county line drew a sigh from her. She felt like a different person when she was there. Always having to defend her nomadic ways and trying to explain why she wasn’t ready for a mate or children yet.

Yet, if she was completely honest, it felt good to know she always had a place to come back to. Yes, even if she never said it out loud, sometimes she missed her family.

She let up off the gas pedal even more to drive in at the posted thirty-five miles per hour. She wouldn’t put it past Brandon to pull her over and ticket her if he caught her speeding. She chuckled to herself—it had, in fact, happened before.

The library was closed already, reminding her that at six on a Sunday night she wouldn’t have to worry about running into too many people. The café was open and had a half-full parking lot. But the other buildings—post office, salon, thrift store—were dark and locked up tight. Lights blazed to the right. Of course the Sheriff’s office was open. Like the café, it was an all-day-and-night business. Not that there was a lot of crime, but put a group of secretive wolf shifters in a community and you were bound to have several paranoid people. She happened to be related to one.

As if her thoughts had brought him out, she watched as the front door of the Sheriff’s office opened and Brandon stepped out.

His dark brown hair looked to be several weeks past a trim and reached over his ears. His strong muscular shoulders and arms bulged from his khaki uniform shirt, while his long legs ate up the ground as he made his way to the street. He turned and his green eyes flashed as he spotted her vehicle. The grin he sent her was so much better than the pictures she carried, she couldn’t help but smile back.

He wrenched the door to her Jeep open before she’d even parked. She slammed it into the P and turned the key right before he pulled her out and into his arms.

“Hey, sister,” he greeted her, squeezing tight.

“Bran!” she managed to squeak out.

He chuckled and set her on her feet. “Let me look at you.” He did the customary check she went through every time she came home. He ran his hands over her head, down her hair to her face, finally resting on her shoulders.

He nodded. “You need to eat more but you look good.”

She rolled her eyes. She hadn’t expected him to say anything different.

He grinned and threw an arm around her neck, yanking her close once again. “I was just headed to meet Justin for a bite. Now you can join me.”

She groaned. After driving for a day and a half she really wanted to rest.

“Oh, don’t complain. You need to eat. Then Justin can grab a ride home with you instead of waiting on me.”

He slammed her vehicle door closed before he led her away. It didn’t escape her notice that he didn’t lock it up—something she could never do back in Houston.

She let herself be dragged down the street heading back to the café she’d passed on her way into town. She let her eyes roam over the stores as she passed and noticed a new flower shop, tattoo parlour, and dry cleaners.

“New businesses?” There hadn’t been any new shops in the entire time she’d grown up there.

“Cameron started working with the new Alpha to bring his Pack members here before he stepped down. He wanted us to be comfortable and see the plus side of adding to the Pack,” Brandon explained.

“How many did we add?”

“Over fifty.”

She gasped. That was almost how many the Pack had had before. In a matter of a few months, the pack number had doubled.