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“No, I’m serious,” Mira said, laughing. “Audrey actually told the dude that she would bite off his nose if he kept trying to stick it in our business. It was hilarious. You should have seen the look on his face.”

Rose cackled, throwing her head back. “You were a wild child, weren’t you?” she said to me, taking a sip of her drink. All around us, the bar hummed with life and conversation.

I gave a sardonic grin. “Something like that,” I admitted.

Mira had suggested the three of us go out on the town for a girls’ night. As fun as it was, my mind kept sliding away from the present to focus on other things. I couldn’t stop thinking about Jackson. The way it had felt when we’d been together. How incredible having sex with him had felt. Just thinking about it sent shivers down my spine and made my toes curl. It had taken all my strength to tell him that it shouldn’t happen again.

I wanted it to happen again. My wolf did, too. She loved being close to him, to his wolf. After all these years, she was still positive that he was her mate despite all evidence to the contrary. But having sex with him again was a mistake. I couldn’t shake the thought of what happened all those years ago, the fallout from it, the pain it had caused. I wasn’t going to let myself get hurt like that again.

Telling Jackson it couldn’t happen again had been more painful than I thought it would. What surprised me even more, though, was the fact that when he had agreed, I felt a deep pang of disappointment.

I couldn’t blame anyone but myself for that one, though. I was the one who said we shouldn’t, after all. It wasn’t like I had been playing mind games or reverse psychology. The hurt and disappointment didn’t make sense, but it was very much there. I couldn’t be upset with him for respecting my wishes.

It wasn’t just that, though. The casual way he had walked away from me afterward, almost the instant I told him it couldn’t happen again. It was like he had gotten what he wanted and was ready to be off to the next thing. It had stung, and reminded me all too well of how he had rejected me all those years ago.

There was another aspect that I hadn’t brought up to Jackson, mostly because I didn’t want to even consider it. And that was Mira. It had been years since we had spoken, but that didn’t change the fact that she was the closest friend I’d ever had, and Jackson was her brother. What on earth would she say if she found out we had slept together—once as teenagers, and now again as adults? There was a reason I never told her how I felt about Jackson back when we were younger. I didn’t want her to feel like I’d betrayed her. How the hell could I tell her any of this without her being furious with me?

“Oh my God, do you remember that time Jackson and Declan ran through poison ivy?” Mira asked, her eyes bright with glee.

“Oh my God, yes !” I laughed, my mind returning to the bar. “They were covered everywhere. I don’t think they shifted for a month—the one time they stripped to shift and go on a hunt, everyone started laughing because both of them had giant rashes.”

“Everywhere?” Rose asked, raising an eyebrow slyly to indicate precisely what she meant by that.

“Absolutely everywhere,” Mira confirmed. “I made fun of Jackson for a week. At least until he threatened to hug me while he was still contagious.”

Rose snorted. “God, I can’t believe this is the first time I’m hearing of it. I could have lorded this over them for weeks.”

“Well, now you know, so lord away,” Mira said with a grin.

I had forgotten what it was like to have a friend like Mira. When I had been stuck in my old pack, I had gaslit myself and convinced myself that it hadn’t been that good a friendship. But being here again, it was impossible to think I had ever told myself that.

I had been so isolated in my old pack that I hadn’t realized just how much I had craved companionship of any kind. I’d kidded myself into thinking friends weren’t that important, that I didn’t need them.

I’d been wrong.

The rest of the evening flew by, and as the hours wore on, thoughts of Jackson came less and less frequently. I was able to relax and push those thoughts from my mind. With Mira, it felt like there had never been a ten-year gap in our friendship, and Rose fit right into the mix. How had I ever handled being isolated all those years? Why on earth had I settled for that? The questions swirled in the back of my mind, and I realized I didn’t have any good answers.

Hours later, after a couple more drinks, it was time to leave. I waved goodbye to Mira and Rose and headed down the road. I considered shifting to get home faster, but something about the evening made me want to walk as a human instead. The cool air brushed against my skin, carrying the fresh scent of the woods along with it. The moon and stars overhead gave some light, along with the dim, yellow glow of the streetlamps as I continued walking.

I hadn’t gotten far when the hair on the back of my neck began to prickle. I slowed, glancing around as my wolf began to snarl, pacing internally and flexing her claws as she started sensing danger. My entire body went on alert, every muscle in my body tensing, coiled and ready to spring.

Something was wrong. Someone was nearby.

Slowly, I turned.

A man stood just a handful of steps behind me. How he had gotten there without making a sound, I didn’t know, nor did I care. I was more preoccupied with the glazed, drunken look in his eyes as he studied me. He swayed slightly.

Something about him struck me as familiar. But it wasn’t until he spoke that I finally recognized him.

“Still too good for me?” he slurred.

Hank. The man who had harassed me at the grocery store, who had only left when Jackson had intervened. Last time, it had been broad daylight, and I’d been only a street away from a bustling population. The man had crept me out, but there had been some level of safety during that encounter.

Now, we were on a deserted street, and it was nighttime with no one to witness anything.

I froze in place as panic gripped me. My chest tightened. My mind began to spin as my wolf snarled, bristling, ready to fight. But picking a fight with an angry drunk shifter seemed like the worst possible idea.

He took a step forward. Before he could get any closer, I turned and ran, shifting as I did. Behind me, I could hear Hank shift as well and start giving chase.

I kept racing through the streets, but I was still unfamiliar with them, and it was easy for me to lose my bearings and make wrong turns. But it wasn’t until I ran into an alley with a large brick wall at the end that I realized how much trouble I was in. I turned back around to see a wolf looming in the entrance of the alley, stalking toward me until my back pressed against the rough brick.

He had me cornered. I wasn’t a fighter; I was almost the exact opposite. Despite this, I wasn’t going to let him get anywhere near me without defending myself.

I snarled, swiping my paw out at him. I felt a savage satisfaction as my claws raked across his snout. He yowled in rage as he stumbled backward, blood pouring from the wound.

He snarled at me, eyes burning with rage, and stalked forward again. He lunged, preparing to strike.

A ferocious howl echoed from my left. Before I could even turn to see what was going on, a gray blur barreled into the wolf’s side.

Jackson’s wolf snarled, leaning over the other wolf, his paw pressing against his chest. He bent forward, his sharp teeth dangerously close to the prone wolf’s throat.

I let out a soft growl, causing both wolves to look at me. I shook my head at Jackson. The asshole wasn’t worth killing. Jackson’s wolf looked at me reluctantly, his tail swishing in anger. I could tell he would love to tear out the guy’s throat.

Eventually, he let out a reluctant grumble. He snapped at the air right above the wolf’s jugular in a clear warning. Then he stepped back.

Hank’s wolf scrambled to his feet and charged out of the alley, his tail between his legs.

Jackson stared after him long after he vanished, his fur bristling. He kept himself between me and where the attacker had run off.

I stared at Jackson, his gray fur glinting silver in the moonlight. He had come to protect me. He hadn’t abandoned me. My chest tightened, and I wondered, truly for the first time, if he had changed more than I thought.