Dawns Innocence

Chapter 1

The drive back was long and tedious. Texas had been filled with excitement, adventure, and some scary ass shit, but the drive back to the frozen north sucked. Absolutely, without a doubt sucked. In Texas the weather had been cool, not fucking freezing. In Texas, spring was beginning to bloom. Up here, winter dug in her heels and refused to give it up. The scenery had gone from flashes of green and color, to muddy brown, to white, as in snow and ice, white. March was supposed to be the big thaw, an end to winter and the start of spring. Easter bunnies and all that dumb shit, right? At least according to the displays at the Super Center, the official kick off to spring had already started. Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't seem to know about it yet.

Tristen didn't mind winter. In fact, he actually kind of liked it. Playing in the snow and giving Kacie innocuous Eskimo kisses had been fun. However, on the flip side of things, summer would be fun too. Less clothes. Kacie showing off her legs in shorts, giving him a good view of her curves in a teeny-weeny bikini. Hell with the bikini, the lake, that secluded lagoon off the beaten path, was absolutely perfect for skinny dipping. Oh, yeah, the fantasy version of Kacie he envisioned in his head showed a hell of a lot more skin than the real life version ever had.

The ride back was about as eventful as watching paint dry. He was stuck in the middle row of seats trying not to notice his grandpa and Eloise holding hands while they cooed and kissy faced back and forth to one another. He was an adult. He could take it. Didn't want or need to see it though. He definitely knew all about the wonders of newly discovered love. Well, he didn't know all of them, but he could imagine. Really though, those two lovebirds needed to get a room.

The guy, not much older than his middle brother Daniel, Tucker, had been stuck to him like glue. At the last minute, he'd hopped in the rear row of seats and hitched a ride. Tristen didn't mind a little hero worship, if that's what it was. But damn, talk about a pain in the ass. Tucker spent the whole drive back, except for when they stopped to eat or to pee, snoring in Tristen's ear. Tristen didn't need another younger brother. Daniel was a big enough pain in the ass. Well, it was a contest between the two of them, as to which one was a bigger pain in the ass, Tucker or Daniel.

No, it wasn't really a contest. Tucker was definitely the bigger pain in the ass. He'd been ogling Kacie, trying to put the moves on her since the SUV had pulled out of Texas. Daniel, at least, understood his place in the order of things. Sure, he looked. Kacie was smoking hot and any teenage boy with a raging case of hormones would look. Tristen could respect that. Daniel though, knew she was out of his league and didn't bother trying. Tucker didn't have a clue. Tristen was going to have to make things crystal clear with the guy. Give him the down low PDQ. Kacie was his girlfriend...his girlfriend and as such she was off limits.

He tried not to be too hard on Tucker. The guy had been through enough. What happened in Texas was bad. Truth was, Tucker had helped save the pack's collective ass. He'd been instrumental in helping his grandfather save Eloise from the fire. If she'd died...Tristen didn't want to think about what might have happened instead. He owed the guy, big time and if that meant he'd adopted another little brother or maybe, had a new best friend, so be it.

There was one good thing about the gazillion mile drive back home, one very good thing, Kacie. She sat, planted on the bench seat next to him. Sure, she snored, but it didn't bother him in the least. Usually, when she fell asleep, her body gravitated to him on its own accord and she'd rest her head on his shoulder. The snoring in his ear and drooling on his collar, well, he thought it was kind of cute in a Kacie kind of way. In fact, he liked it. He really, really, liked it.

The trip they were returning from was the last trip he ever, ever wanted to take again. It hadn't exactly been a family vacation to Disneyland. He'd faced the enemy, put his life in jeopardy, rescued the girl, and somehow, managed to win her heart in the process. Not too bad for a day's work. Rewards were sweet. Kacie snuggled up close to him, trusting him to keep her safe while she slept. Even if she did use him for a pillow, drool, and snore on his shoulder, so what. It was all about the girl. the girl, the girl.

His grandpa hadn't done so bad either. Not that Tristen necessarily liked watching his idol and Eloise goosh all over each other like a couple of love sick teenagers. Ole' gramps had scored, big time. He'd managed to rescue Eloise from the bad guy, win her heart, and no doubt, a place in her bed. Not mental images he needed, but still.

Tristen could tell by the way the happy couple made goo-goo eyes at each other they'd sealed the deal. His grandpa as a mated male, hard to imagine, but it was all good. The old geezer was a good catch and it was about time he got some game. Tristen saw it as a reassurance that when he got to be that age his man parts would still be fully functional and do something more than dangle like an ornament between his legs. He snickered at the thought of his grandpa being anything other than his grandpa. It was hard to imagine, almost laughable really, that beneath his grandfather's stoic, hardened exterior the old coot was still very much a red blooded, American male.

Eloise wasn't exactly hard on the eyes either. She was hot, curvy in all the right places and a looker, in a Mrs. Robinson kind of way. Not that he was into her like that. But hey, at the end of the day he was still a guy and he'd have to be blind not to notice. Eloise was in a word, class true class. Tristen could only guess at her age. Eloise could be as young as fifty or as old as his grandpa. With his kind, it was hard to tell. If Kacie, aged as well as her mother had, Tristen was a lucky guy indeed. Even if she didn't age quite as gracefully as Eloise had. He was still damned lucky. Assuming his mojo held out and she chose him instead of some other schmuck.

Kacie had spunk and courage, like her mother. But, unlike mom, Kacie didn't have the confidence and self-assuredness that came with experience and a lifetime of living. She was uncertain about everything. She fought hard for her independence from everybody. She wanted to blaze her own path. And hey, her pack had been pretty dysfunctional. So, he couldn't blame her for that. The best he could hope for though was that when she finally figured out her life she had room for him in it.

He was going to do everything in his meager abilities to make sure that she considered him worth making room for. He was the perfect gentleman around her. Ok, so he wasn't perfect, but he was pretty damn close. He coaxed her along with soft, gentle kisses and worked his way in little by little with appreciative, supportive words. He never pushed. He gave her plenty of space. He patiently followed her lead and let her decide how much she would give in return. A woman worth having couldn't be rushed. She was definitely worth the wait.

He thought he was a great catch, good looking, strong, brave, and sensitive. Everything a guy was supposed to be. Now, the trick was to convince her of his better qualities while trying to downplay his worst ones. He could be temperamental, demanding, and bossy to the n'th degree.

Unfortunately, Kacie was exactly the same way. She was so focused and determined, sometimes, pushy in her drive to get what she wanted. She was absolutely terrified to let her softer side peek through. He got it. In their world, being soft could get you killed. The trick was to find some balance between the alpha in them and meet in the middle. She could be pushy, as long as he was willing to bend. He could be bossy, as long as she could see through it to the true motives behind his demands. He didn't always have to be pushed and she didn't always have to let him boss her around. They were good together when they worked as a team. What happened in Texas had proven that. The combination of their lesser and better traits had gotten them and a whole lot of other people out of there alive.

He had her heart. The trick was figuring out a way to keep it. Nothing in their world was a certainty. Texas had proven that as well. Tristen wound his arm around Kacie's slender shoulders and pulled her close. Bending his head to nuzzle the curve of her ear, a grin crossed his lips as she melted into him. He liked that too, a lot. The way her body relaxed and let go, trusting him. Despite anything she might do or say. Her body responded to him and the body never lied. The truth was in the physicality of the two of them together. He was absolutely convinced this, holding her, the two of them as one, was where they were meant to be. Now, the trick was convincing her of the same thing. "We're almost home."

Chapter 2

Kacie tucked her head into the curve of Tristen's neck and smiled. She never thought she'd look forward to seeing snow and feeling the cold chill of the last blast of winter against her cheek. She breathed out a sigh of relief as the SUV rolled across the county line into Moore County. The landscape was stark, white, and barren with flat planes of absolutely nothing to look at and the contrasting hills thick with snow dotted evergreens and skeletal tangles of leafless branches with fingers reaching far up into a positively ugly gunmetal gray sky.

The town was unremarkable, bland, and completely nothing of note. The main highway, predictably enough named Main Street, ran through the center of town. Some might call this place not even notable enough to be a blip on Google Earth...quaint. Little shops and neat sidewalks lined either side of Main Street. Town, as the locals called it, consisted of a coffee house, a clothing store, a jewelry shop, a florist, a diner, a bar, and not much else. There was a Methodist church and a tiny hospital tucked into the half a dozen blocks of tidy neighborhoods where the good people of this nonexistent place time forgot called home.

The weekly newspaper was delivered right on schedule, once a week. Not that anything ever happened here worth reporting. The town was one of those sleepy little burgs people stopped at on their way to someplace better. Situated right off the interstate, weary travelers could fuel up, grab a burger, and get a few winks of shuteye. Not that anyone ever did, though. The vacancy sign at the hotel, the only hotel for fifty miles, was always lit up bright as a Christmas tree. Kacie bet her mother and she were the last people to actually spend the night there.

Nash rolled the SUV to a stop at the only traffic light in town and gave a neighborly wave to one of the locals. Had to be a local. The brown barn coat and beat up pickup truck were a dead give away. Mack, the county sheriff was probably bored shitless. The God fearing people of this town rolled up the sidewalks at dark. Well, it was probably for the best that they did though. The place was Dullsville till after the lights went out and all the good citizens were tucked into their beds for the night. After dark was when the paranormals came out to play.

The SUV was moving again. Nash pegged the speedometer at a slow crawl as he drove though the deserted streets of town. If these people only knew who their neighbors actually were, they wouldn't feel so secure in their beds. The quaintness of the town gave way to barren stretches of snow covered cornfields as soon as they rolled past What's the Scoop, the local summertime hangout for all things ice cream and junk food related. He signaled and hung a right and eased up on the brakes. The gravel road taking them through the heart of corn fed God's country and deeper into the thick woods also was the way home. The SUV shimmied in the deep ruts left behind by the snowplows. Not that the road was actually clear and down to gravel, but at least it was passable.

Rumor had it the woods were haunted. Locals avoided the gnarled tangle of tall trees and thick pines like the plague. Oh, there were a few brave souls. Luckily, humans weren't all that graceful and the wolves had plenty of warning that they had company. She'd rather not be mistaken for a deer, shot, and mounted over some redneck's mantle as a trophy kill. The random hunters weren't the biggest or baddest predators in the woods though. The pack was pretty adept at handling themselves. They preferred rabbits and deer to people. Nope, it wasn't the wolves the hunters needed to worry about. The vampires, for all their noble intentions, were far more dangerous.

Tristen's breath was hot against her ear stirring tiny wisps of her hair with his heavy exhale. Kacie forced her thoughts away from the worries plaguing her since before the trip to Texas and focused on him instead. Tristen. What was he to her? A source of endless angst, that was for sure. He had a power over her that she was at a lack of words to describe. His touch heated her. His kisses, even his stupid Eskimo kisses, melted her. She got weak in the knees whenever he was near her. The sensations were as frightening as they were intriguing.

For lack of a better term, she supposed he was her boyfriend. She worried that she might not be good enough for him. That she'd disappoint him and that he wanted more than she'd be able to or willing to give. Sex wasn't an issue. Oh yeah, it was a huge issue in its attempt to be a non-issue. Whenever she was around him her body ached for more of his touch. She would happily let him explore her and was eager to explore him in return, but she worried that as badly as she wanted to do the deed, he'd take the offer to mean more than what it did.

She leaned into Tristen. The dark stubble of his jaw rubbed against the bridge of her nose. His scent filled her nostrils with the earthy smell of pine, earth, and wild. His lips curled in that cocky, crooked smile she'd come to associate solely with him as he tipped his head down to steal a soft kiss. He delivered a gentle peck on the tip of her nose and that frustrated her. What? Did he accidentally miss her lips? Did he need a map and a compass to find her mouth? Tristen could kiss like Casanova. What was with these timid pecks on the cheek, the tip of her nose, her forehead?

Kacie wanted a proper kiss from her boyfriend. Damn it, she'd put up with this petting her on the head stuff and playful non-kisses for over a thousand miles. She didn't care who saw them kissing. She closed her eyes as the closeness of him overwhelmed her senses. Traveling up to lock onto the back of his neck, she tugged him closer to her mouth.

Tristen's chocolate brown eyes darkened as they stared down at her, melting her with the heat of desire in his stare. The muscles of his jaw tensed and eased. She could practically see the wheels in his mind turning. He wanted her the same way, with the same burning intensity, that she wanted him. But, Tristen was an all or nothing kind of guy and he played for keeps or he didn't play at all. Kacie wasn't sure if she wanted to keep him or not. Sure, he was a great guy and he'd really come through for her in Texas.

Tristen had a big heart. He was trying his damnedest to work his way into hers. She knew that. She'd given in, a little. Let him inside, as much as she was going to, for now. She didn't want to hurt him and if that meant this whole thing between them never went any further than Eskimo kisses and a few chaste pecks. Then that's the way it was going to be. In the meantime though, who could blame her for trying to steal a few guilty pleasures and a few real kisses?

Forever was just too big to even think about. She wasn't ready to commit...to anything. The world she'd always known was gone and this new world, a world without fences, which she found herself flung into was wide open and filled with possibilities that she'd never known existed. She wanted... no, she needed time to explore each and every option. Her future might take her on a different path than his. As much as she hoped those paths would merge together at some point, she had to concede to the fact that they might not.

Marriage didn't frighten her. Commitment wasn't scary. In fact, someday she looked forward to marriage and kids and whatever else came with the package. But, how could she say for sure this was the world...his world... was the one she belonged in when there was so much else out there? Someday, in the future, she wanted to fall in love, get married, and have a family, but not right now. Tristen was so convinced this was where he fit in. For him all of the pieces were already in place. He had his whole life planned out. He went to college online. He worked on his clunker car in the garage. He was a good brother to his brother and sister and a good son to his father and stepmother. He was the perfect boyfriend. He was...he was just so...everything and she wasn't ...anything.

Kacie had no idea of how to handle a real, loving relationship. She loved her mom and her sister, her pack, and maybe even Tristen. She was careful with her heart. Giving away pieces to the people she loved was the best she could manage. She was terrified of Tristen because he'd never be content with just a piece of her. He wanted the whole thing and what would that leave her with? One thing this whole mess in Texas had taught her, growing up with her mother, or who her mother had been, had her believing with all her heart was that nothing was permanent. You had to grab what you could while you could and embrace it for all it was worth because it could be gone in an instant.

Her mom was happier than she'd ever seen her. All traces of the old Eloise Collins were totally gone. The old Eloise was cold, removed, and always in control of everyone and everything around her, including her daughters. Only recently, had Kacie even realized the depth of her mother's love and the truth of the sacrifices she'd made.

This new mom embraced her daughters, proclaimed her love, fought for and protected them. The new mom wore her hair down in a wild, unruly tangle of waves. New mom preferred form fitting, faded denim jeans and comfortable t-shirts, sweatshirts, and borrowing Nash's flannel button downs to the expensive, custom fit, designer outfits that flashy Eloise Collins, Pack Mistress of the South Texas Pack, would not have been caught dead without. The carefully veneered, polished, and immaculately made up old mom was gone and in her place was a real mom, one Kacie actually loved.

As far as Kacie was concerned, she was glad that old mom had been left behind in Texas along with her designer wardrobe, massive shoe collection, expensive jewelry, and the bottles, tubes, and jars of makeup. They hadn't talked about what had happened in Texas. Kacie supposed the both of them would rather forget and put it in the past. Whatever had happened to her mother had little to do with the woman she'd become. Kacie chalked the biggest cause for the changes to the man behind the wheel. And for that, she owed Nash a debt of gratitude.

Nash was different too. She hadn't spent a great deal of time with Tristen's grandfather and didn't know him too well. But, he seemed happy, carefree, and very much in love with her mom. Somehow, lighter than he had before. He was good for her mom and in some way, completed her. Kacie was happy for them both and had no doubts in her mind that her mother and Nash were in it for the long haul.

She blew out a sigh of relief as the SUV rolled up the long gravel drive that led to wolf central and parked. This place was her home, for now, for a while, forever? She'd figure that out later. Kacie was anxious to see her older sister again. Jan never could keep a secret for very long and she'd practically spilled the beans over the phone. Kacie was going to be an aunt.