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Prologue

“Nina, get down from there!” Mom yells shrilly, her blue eyes wide with fear, a scowl firmly in place as she gazes up at me.

I’m not the little girl she always wanted, and this just reminds me of that. I’m not pretty enough, too much of a tomboy, and despise parties.

Sitting on a tree branch with my arms folded over my chest, I shake my head stubbornly. I could fall from the height I’m at right now, and it would probably kill me.

At nine years old, this option is better than facing my mother. Morbid and dramatic, but none-the-less true.

“Go away, Mommy. I don't want to wear that dress, or have you braid my hair. I’m fine right here,” I huff.

Dropping my hands to the tree branch, I swallow hard. I am really high. I climbed and climbed the huge tree in the backyard, when Mom and her friends came to find me, to get dressed for the party.

I didn’t pay attention to the hustle and bustle of what was happening around me, and now I take a moment to breathe it all in, shifting to lean my back on the trunk of the tree.

There’s tables all over the backyard with prettywhite tablecloths, and people scurrying to set everything up for this party. It feels like a fairytale I’m not sure I want to be a part of.

Glancing back down to glare at my mom, I watch as her friends come out of the house in a huff, looking up at me in disapproval.

I hate them so much, and it has nothing to do with this stupid party. They pull my hair when they talk to me, Toni smells like mint and cigarettes, and Carlie mutters to herself about how I could be prettier if I was a bit thinner. They’re sucking up to her because my mom is marrying a rich alpha.

I don’t understand what she expects from a nine year old who is already four and a half feet tall. Then there’s how mean they are when they speak to each other.

I don’t know how my mom can be friends with these people. It’s like black worms crawling all over my skin. Maybe bad energy? It makes my stomach roll and I always feel nauseous when I’m around them.

No thanks.

“Nina, please don’t screw this up for me,” Mom pleads. “This is my engagement party, and I need you to look perfect. Please.”

Her pretty baby blue eyes bat at me as she smoothes down her perfect platinum-blonde hair. Mom is trying too hard right now, and it makes me shake my head harder.

I’m wearing jeans and a long-sleeved sky blue T-shirt that saysYou are the Change. It’s woo-woo noxious positivity, but I wish it were true.

There’s so much I wish I could change about my life, starting with my father not having had a heart attack three years ago.

Wishes don’t make the world go round, money does. This horse and pony show my mother is insisting on is so she can get a piece of Cooper Thornefield’s wealth. I don’t believe she’s actually interested in him. He’s so different from what Daddy was like.

Daddy had a stocky build, got lost in his thoughts the way I do, and always read me a bedtime story no matter how busy hewas. I’m too old for stories now Mom tells me, so I read to myself.

Wrinkling my nose as I see Cooper slowly walk through the gate into the backyard, I wonder what he’ll say.

The man is so tall, he dwarfs my mother, but it makes him a little bit scary too. He’s never been mean to me, but I don’t trust his jovial demeanor.

Cooper, or Coop as he insists I call him, has a son a few years older than me as well. I haven’t been around him much outside of an uncomfortable dinner or two, but teenage boys don’t have much in common with kids, so I haven’t tried very hard to find a reason to seek him out.

“How are my favorite girls?” Cooper asks with a grin, his arm snaking around my mom’s waist to pull her close. Mom giggles as she looks up at him. Watching her like this, I can almost admit that she may want him for more than his money.

“I’m a little frazzled,” Mom admits with a shrug. At Cooper’s raised brow, she glances up at her wayward daughter. Yep, that’s what I am at best.

I’m a little too smart for my own good, because my nose is always in a book, if I’m not hiding in the woods in muddy jeans and boots, and I’m not pretty enough for the tea parties Mom’s friends have with their daughters.

Blinking rapidly, I meet Cooper’s gaze when he follows Mom’s eyes up to mine for only a moment before I look away. I will not feel sorry for myself right now. It’s just a stupid party, I don’t need to get emotional about it. I don’t care if Cooper feels the same way as my mom does about me.

“Hey there, Nina,” my soon-to-be step-father calls up to me.

“Yeah?” I ask, staring out at the trees that surround my house. When Mom and Cooper get married, where will we live? Am I going to have to move on top of everything else?

“Why don’t you come down for a bit? I’m not quite as comfortable with heights as you are, and I’m a little worried,”Cooper says. Moving my head to look at him shifts my weight, making me gasp.