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Archer

My life was never going to be what I’d dreamed unless I made a change.

That much was clear, but other than that I didn’t have a plan. As the son of the pack alpha and his very driven omega mate, expectations were high for me from the day I was born. All the best education and even a law degree—which meant attending university beside human students who had no idea they were sharing a classroom with someone who could turn into a wolf at any time he chose.

Those years were difficult since I had to hide who I was from nearly everyone at school. My fathers were adamant that if anyone learned about me, I would lose the scholarship I’d earned going to…yes, human high school.

Weirdly, my friends there did know about me, and in fact, some were shifters, but when I crossed the country for my Ivy League education, my heritage, my very genetics became a big secret. It made for some rugged times freshman year, far from home and adrift. I was barely maintaining the GPA required to keep my scholarship when I met a rabbit shifter, also very much in the fur cave, and we became friends. It gave me a touchstone and someone who understood what it was like to be different. My grades rose, and I gave my friend a lot of the credit. Not only was he a shifter but academically a rock star.

The wolf and the rabbit. Not a friendship my fathers would understand, so I didn’t try to explain.

Since passing the bar, I had been working my way up in one of the biggest law firms in the country, which had not been my fathers’ plan. They had anticipated my returning to be the representative for the pack, but I’d like to see the new attorney who turned down the offer I received.

And while it was incredibly generous, it did not decrease the brutal hours expected of me as a new associate. Luckily, hard work was never a problem and I shut out most of the other parts of a normal life to focus on the need to earn. My firm had no problem with that, piling the work on, as much as I could possibly handle.

A partnership would be opening at the end of the year, and I had every intention of getting it. Had been working so hard, sometimes I didn’t know what day it was until I glanced at my phone for the information. Others had told me it was not uncommon for associates to suffer all kinds of health problems from overwork, but my shifter heritage gifted me with a strong constitution and immunity to most kinds of human ailments. So as we closed in on jury selection for the biggest case I’d been allowed to participate in, I built steam and narrowed my focus even more. I’d been given hints that this case and my performance thereon was a test and could lead to that big promotion.

All my energy went into my part of things, and I was geared up for the likelihood that I would be seated at the defense table and taking a prominent role. This was not offered to any other associate at our firm, at least not when the client was someone with not only wealth but celebrity. Not only would my performance possibly give me a junior partnership but, if I did not do well, it could easily end my tenure here.

No pressure.

After a late night working on case prep, I woke to an email requesting my presence in the conference room at ten thirty. Something had happened with the case…and the message gave me no more information than that. My stomach churned —something that never happened until I started to climb the career ladder at this large firm.

It was extremely easy to get lost in the pack, so to speak, here, with literally dozens of associates at the various branches. Some never had the opportunity I’d been given, and as I showered and shaved and dressed, I ran over all the possibilities of what might have happened to necessitate this meeting. I was probably overthinking things, something my fathers always warned me about.

Driving through for coffee, I continued to overthink.

This was the most important case of my career so far. Maybe ever if it led to my becoming a partner. I’d be the youngest in the firm. Ever. I parked in the basement garage and entered the elevator, pressing the button for the top floor. Maybe we were just going over some things one more time. It was an important case…

“Archer? They’re waiting for you.” Sandie, the receptionist who’d always been extra nice to me waved toward the hallway. “Better hurry.”

I pulled out my phone and glanced at the time. “I’m ten minutes early.” If they were waiting…not good. I had been doing a lot of work at home this week so hadn’t actually planned to be here at all.

Sandie shrugged, and I hustled down the hallway, prepared for I knew not what.

Half an hour later, I stumbled out of the conference room and headed for my office. I’d imagined all sorts of possibilities, but the information that had awaited me when I entered the conference room was not even on the list.

Dead.

“Archer, the client died last night. He tried to do harm to a sex worker once too often, and this one was prepared to fight back. I sat down at my desk and dropped my head on my folded arms, reeling.

I’d spent months preparing to defend this member of one of America’s most prominent families. Going to do whatever it took to get him off for a really despicable crime. I had convinced myself that he was not lying when he said he was innocent and had not killed the previous sex worker. Hell, after the meeting we’d just had, it was apparent I had been the only one who believed him. How many others had he harmed? Killed? We were going to argue that not only was the evidence circumstantial, but why would someone so wealthy pick up “cheap” streetwalkers when he could easily afford the most expensive prostitute. Hell…why would he have to pay anyone for sex?

But the bastard did it. And had that woman last night not carried a knife for self-defense, I might have contributed to his doing more harm in future.

I sat up and picked up my phone, scrolling through it to distract myself from what a fool I’d been. An ad from a company called the Male-Order App popped up and I was about to get rid of it when suddenly I didn’t want to. I’d put every bit of myself into this case… I’d been so sure this was what I wanted to do with my life.

And I had nothing else.

Not even a mate.