Dawn's Innocence

Jan had come here to hide from her destiny and instead she ran headlong into it. Thomas was a good guy. He might not be a wolf, but he had the courage and heart of one. He made her sister very, very happy. In Kacie's opinion, that mattered more than anything else. He and Jan had only been married a short time, but they had love and one another. Their relationship had already undergone its trial by fire and Kacie hoped that there was nothing but smooth sailing and happy days in their future from here on out.

Jan had found the place where she belonged. Her mom was on her way to finding her happy place. Kacie had to wonder when she would feel it in her bones and if she'd recognize where her place in this world was supposed to be. She guessed, in a way, she was lucky. At least she knew where her place wasn't and what she didn't want for her life. Not that she was ruling out many possibilities, but there were a few. In her heart, she knew she'd never see Texas again.

Chapter 3

Eloise squeezed Nash's hand tightly in hers. The final few miles rolled past way too quickly, bringing her to face her new future. Her past life held no allure for her and she didn't miss it one little bit. She was excited about the future, but she worried about how difficult it would be for her to break old habits. She was no longer a leader. All her expensive clothing and the extreme way she held herself coifed and coolly emotionless were no longer required. She could open up and embrace this new life without being seen as weak and that was enough to make her stomach clinch.

She was going to start a new future with Nash, as his wife. He was pack master. She worried about how his pack would receive her and the few who had tagged along, following her here to begin new lives for themselves. She worried about her daughters. Jan already called this place home and had settled in for good. She was a married woman now with a home of her own. So, Eloise had few worries about her. Kacie was the one she worried about the most. Kacie had always been the obedient one, the repressed younger child so desperate for attention and her mother's love. Eloise focused all her energies on Jan. Jan was the firstborn and the key to the pack's security and future. Jan was always rebellious and shirked the responsibilities that were placed on her shoulders. Despite the years of careful planning, indoctrination, and dogma that Eloise had fed her, Jan resisted and ran from her destiny.

Eloise looked back at what the decades of planned breeding and eugenics had cost the pack as a whole. Marriages weren't for love. They were to guarantee strong and genetically superior offspring. As a girl of eighteen, her parents had brokered her off to a man. She didn't love him. The marriage was solely out of duty. She'd done exactly what was expected of her and brought two daughters into the world. She tried her best to show her love, but she scarcely knew how.

She'd almost condemned Jan to the same fate. She was glad that Jan had the forethought that she did not and ran. If Kacie had been the firstborn, Kacie would have married Torr. It wouldn't have mattered if she loved him or not. Duty would have overruled any personal feelings she might have had. Kacie would have had the obligatory children and done her job. The cycle would have continued on and on, and on, for generations. But, now, it was over.

Eloise was glad that Jan hadn't merely accepted her fate and that she'd fought against it so vehemently. Marriages should be because of love and children should be born out of love. Something she'd never realized before. Until Nash, she'd never given love a thought. Since meeting Nash, it was all she could think about. She was finally and wholeheartedly in love and love was a wonderful, wonderful thing.

She glanced at Kacie through the rearview mirror. Her daughter was a pretty girl. Both of her daughters were. Looking at them was like looking at an old photograph of her self, taken back in the day. Kacie and she shared the same dark hair and emerald green eyes while Jan had her father's brown color. Their noses perked up at the end in a similar slope and they had the same expressive, feminine dark brows. Kacie and Jan might be as different as night and day on the inside, but on the outside, they could pass for twins.

That would change in a few years. Jan had shunned her wolf and denied her inner callings. Whether she did it for Thomas or for herself, Eloise wasn't sure. Jan would pass the genes on to her children, but for her, it was a matter of time before her wolf was gone forever. Jan would begin to age and show the effects of time. Kacie, being the obedient daughter that she was, had embraced her wolf, for her time would move very, very slowly. She'd appear youthful, as she did now, well after Jan was old and gray.

A mother should never have to outlive a daughter, but Eloise would. The fact stung her with bitter venom. Jan would die centuries before either Kacie or she did. For them time was at a crawl. For Jan, time rushed full speed ahead. Even knowing that fact and grappling to come to terms with it, Eloise still worried about Kacie more than she did Jan. Jan was happy and at peace with who she and where she was in her life. Kacie was adrift. She didn't know where she'd land next or if she would at all. Eloise would try as best she could to steer her daughter into a safe port, but ultimately, Kacie was the one at the helm and the decisions were hers to make.

Her gaze slid to Tristen. His eyes were closed in a blissful expression as he ran his fingers through Kacie's chin length hair. He was so much like his grandfather, although neither one of them would be the first to admit it. He had Nash's hard jaw and stern focused expression. His eyes, like Nash's, were deep, rich mahogany brown, and had an inner glow hot enough to melt the paint off the wall. His nose curved down at a sharp angle and was made even more pronounced by his brush cut, dark hair.

He was the spitting image of the man seated beside her in other ways too. When he looked at Kacie, he looked at her with the blinding fury of love. Eloise hoped for both Kacie's and Tristen's sake that her daughter realized how lucky she was to have such adoration and didn't do something foolish like breaking his young, tender heart only to end up regretting it years later.

Nash gripped Eloise's fingers and squeezed. He assumed her thoughts were occupied by meeting his pack. Given the way she stared in the rearview mirror, her eyes fixed on Kacie and Tristen, he might be wrong about that though. He wasn't getting into an in depth discussion about his grandson and her daughter. Not with so many other things needing his attention worse. The kids would be fine. These things had a way of working themselves out. His pack and the remnants of her pack...their pack had bigger issues than a case of puppy love. "They're going to adore you. Don't worry."

He was nervous as a cat in a room full of rockers. He glanced over at the caravan trailing behind him and parking haphazardly in the drive. Clearing his throat, he said, "They're going to welcome all of you in like family."

So much rested on his shoulders and on Eloise's. The pack he already had, and the new additions from Texas and parking in his driveway, primarily. The house was big, but not big enough for all of them. He'd called the Great White Wolf and Drew had already taken care of a few of the preliminaries. The damn weather was putting a hold on the construction. Temporarily, some of the pack, he refused to think of them as two separate packs, were going to have to live in rental homes. This spring, once the ground thawed, a new wing was going to be built on and then they'd be one big, very big, happy pack.

Having the new pack reside in separate quarters might be for the best until everyone got used to one another. He was asking a lot of his pack to welcome in the strangers that were nothing more than distant, very distant relation. Not all of the Lost Children had come as he'd hoped, but at least he'd been able bring some of them home. He was asking even more than the welcoming in of a couple dozen or so families. He was asking them to accept Eloise, as a member of the pack, and as his new wife.

Curious faces peeked out of the windows and pulled back the blinds. Mouse bounded out of the front door and bounced down the steps. Her brother and father followed behind. The little girl, who had been the light of his life and had all of his heart and attention for the last twelve years, suddenly had competition for the role. His little granddaughter, Marianne, still had the key to his heart and soul. The only difference was that now she'd have to learn to share it with Eloise.

"Grandpa!" Marianne squealed excitedly. Her bare feet pounded down the sidewalk to the garage. Her dad yelled warnings at her to get back in the house and put her shoes on, but she ignored him. She barely felt the cold and the wet snow squishing between her toes as she ran. Her grandpa barely had time to put the SUV into park and unbuckle his seatbelt before she pounced on him.

Nash swung Mouse in his arms and chuckled with a deep, throaty, rumble of laughter. "I wasn't missed was I?"

"Horribly." Marianne frowned. She cupped his jaw in between her fingers and pressed her forehead to his. "You're grounded, Buster. Don't ever leave me again."

Nash playfully tugged on Mouse's braids. She'd met Eloise once before, briefly. Back then though he and Eloise had been little more than strangers. Things had changed since then. "Mouse, I have someone I'd like for you to meet. Officially. Eloise, this is my granddaughter, Marianne. But, you can call her Mouse."

Marianne clung to her grandpa's neck, suddenly reluctant to let her feet touch the snowy ground. It didn't take her long to get squash the protective little girl in her and buck up, release her grandfather, and be the young woman she was growing up to be. "Hello," she said politely and hesitantly as she extended her hand out to Eloise. The woman had a kind face and her eyes were very pretty. Marianne had learned that new additions to the family were not a bad thing. Gina had not been a bad thing. Claire had not been bad either, and neither would this woman. "Are you marrying my grandpa?"

Eloise looked hesitantly at Nash. If raising two daughters taught her nothing, it taught her that a child should never be lied to. She had no idea if the little girl far too wise for her years was a friend or a foe. Mouse definitely held the key to her grandfather's heart. Eloise got the sense that it had been just the two of them for a long time. Probably since the day Mouse had been born. The girl was breathtakingly beautiful and someday, she was going to be the very essence of everything a young woman should be. For her age, the wolf in her was surprisingly aware and well on the way to becoming a very powerful force. It seemed her pack wasn't the only pack that played a hand in destiny. The little girl had the makings of a future pack mistress and that was exactly what Nash was raising her to be.

She had no idea how to answer Mouse's question. Sometimes, she still found it difficult to grasp her self. She was his wife, according to his traditions. Her beliefs were different, almost the complete opposite of his. Maybe, it was because until him, she'd had plenty of good sex, but she'd never truly been made love to. For him sex was something more than the joining of two bodies. Sex transcended the physical and was something spiritual and binding. A breath eased between her lips as Nash took over the conversation and supplied the answer she'd been fumbling to find.

"Yes. Now, I have two favorite girls." Nash blushed at Mouse's knowing grin. He probably shouldn't have been so truthful in his answers to her numerous questions over the years. She knew far too much about the birds and the bees and the reality of how things worked in their world. He couldn't recall discussing this particular subject with his granddaughter. But, of course, maybe he didn't. After all, there was always the Internet and her two older brothers to fill in the blanks.

Marianne beamed up at the happy couple. She wanted to be catty and snub Eloise. The jealous female part of her, an ugly part, she was hardly aware of until now wanted to be mean to Eloise. Marianne was made of better stuff than that. She had been raised better, but her willingness to give and take did not come from fear of punishment. She'd been punished for plenty of things over the years and was quite the expert and setting the table and doing dishes.

Her grandpa still loved her and she'd always have a special place in his heart that was reserved only for her. As long as she was guaranteed of that, she could share him. One day, she'd grow up and have a husband of her own and then he'd have to share her with someone else too.

Daniel chuckled and elbowed his dad in the ribs. "Pay up." The pack believed in communal property. Technically, Daniel wanted for nothing. But he had quite a nice little racket making bets he thought were a sure thing to fund the few random items the pack's treasurer, his grandfather, thought were not wants or necessities and that he'd rather not ask for. He had bet a twenty with his dad that grandpa wouldn't come back single and the old man hadn't disappointed.

Hunter grumbled and reached into his back pocket for his wallet. Pulling out a twenty he slapped the crisp bill into Daniel's greedy fist. "Damn kid," he grumbled. His middle son was quite the swindler. Hunter had entered into the bet thinking he would be right on the money. After all, his dad hadn't shown interest in a female in practically thirty years. Hunter thought he couldn't lose. Surprise. He had. Hunter walked over and clapped his father on the back. "Congratulations, Dad, Eloise."

"My oldest, Hunter and his son Daniel. This little one also belongs to him," he said steering Mouse over to her father. "Tristen is his oldest," Nash explained. Eloise looked a little overwhelmed by the welcoming committee. She was a true woman of grace and took it all in stride. He was right about her. She was going to fit into his world.

"Good to meet you," Eloise said. Swallowing the lump in her throat as Hunter's big hand engulfed hers in a shake. Everyone around her was hugging and talking, laughing and simply enjoying each other. Even members of her...no, not her pack, the pack were every bit as overwhelmed as she with the greetings. Random people hugged members of the pack and welcomed them home. Everyone here, related or not, was treated as family.

"Dad!" A young woman leapt into Nash's arms and planted a row of kisses along his chin. She was slight with long flowing hair. There was something about her that Eloise couldn't quite place. The woman wasn't fully a wolf, but she wasn't fully human either. Eloise remembered her from the bluffs.

"You remember my daughter, Tala," Nash said proudly.

"How do you do." Tala extended her hand to Eloise. Not surprised when Eloise gingerly accepted and quickly withdrew. Her scent and her appearance threw a lot of people off. She was mated to a vampire, and was a half-breed vampire/wolf mix thanks to the gift of his blood. She'd leave the technicalities of the explanation of what she was to her father. Eloise looked as if she'd had enough shocks for one day.

Eloise held true to form and handled the greetings with as much grace as she could muster. She didn't realize how large Nash's immediate family was. He'd fathered quite a brood, one son and six daughters, plus there was Grant, his adopted son. He had a handful of rowdy, dark haired grandchildren and would someday be the proud great grandfather of the next generation. She smiled at his gentleness with GT as Claire carefully placed the bundled up grandchild into his arms. He roughhoused with Daniel and absolutely revered Mouse.

As tempting as it was to fade into the background and let him enjoy his family, she held her ground. It wasn't like she was standing in another woman's shadow, living the life she'd been robbed of by death. Maybe, if Nash's children had been younger, it might have felt that way, but with them grown and the grandchildren so open and accepting to the newcomers to the family, strangely she felt as if she were coming home.

Chapter 4

Jan slid on her coat and hustled into her boots. She'd been waiting at the front door forever for her mom and sister to make their way up the walk. It was freezing outside, but the pack didn't seem to be motivated to meander indoors. Gripping Thomas's hand she dragged him across the porch and down the stairs.

Kacie stretched and yawned sleepily. She shivered in her coat and was almost thrown off balance as Jan gripped around her waist in an excited hug.

"I missed you so much!" Jan was practically in tears, hugging her sister as tightly as she could. "Once you've gotten settled in, maybe you'd like to share all the details you left out over the phone. I know you didn't want me to worry, blah, blah, blah, but..." Jan stopped mid sentence, her jaw dropping and eyes round as saucers. "Oh my God! Your hair! I love it!" Fluffing the wayward strands with her fingers she admired the cut. The shorter hair looked good with her sister's rounder cheeks and softer jaw. Kacie loved her hair. Cherished the stuff. Something bad must have happened to cause her to cut it so short. Kacie must have left out a lot about what happened in Texas. Jan didn't know whether to shake her like a maraca for endangering herself or just hug her even tighter, so tightly she never let her go. "Don't think I've forgotten what I just said. You and me, sister time... soon."

Kacie smiled and smoothed her hair before faking a scowl at Thomas. "You haven't learned to control her yet?"

Thomas shrugged and grinned. "Does a man ever have a woman under his control?" He ran his hand through his thinning locks of sandy blond hair and reached to awkwardly give Kacie a light hug before ambling over to Jan. "Good to have you home, Kacie."

Tucker slung his duffel bag over his shoulder and squinted against the evening glare glinting off the white landscape. He shivered and pulled his jacket closer against his neck. So, this was home? All the hugs and claps on the back, the words of welcome from strangers were a bit much to take in. The shadow of the big house draped over the entire yard. Things were very different here. He'd expected to find exactly what he'd left, although he was willing to take the chance. He was glad he had. This...these people were what a pack was supposed to be. There was a sense of oneness and community, a singularity to their purpose. There were humans...mates and half-breed children tucked into blankets. Vampires decked out in black leather shyly filtered from the woods and were welcomed into the fold. All his life he'd wondered what a real family, a real home was like. This was it, the big house, and the hugs of welcome homes. Hell, someone was wandering around passing out cookies fresh from the oven. He snatched one from the tray and munched happily as he took stock in his surroundings. Whistling low, his eyes settled on the half finished 1968 Camaro parked in the garage. "Sweet."

Tristen glared as Tucker ran his hands along the sleek curves of his woman, his Camaro. He'd rather have Tucker run his hands over the curves of that woman than the living breathing woman standing beside him. Tristen blushed when his dad gave him a tight warm hug. He'd done his father proud in Texas. Ordinarily, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but for Kacie's sake he was trying to be macho and hugging anyone but her or a senior citizen was so not allowed. "Hi dad, you remember Kacie don't you?"

"Yeah, good to see you again, Kacie." Hunter extended his hand and smiled as she shyly took it. "You been keeping Tristen in line?" Curiously lifting a brow, he sensed the vibes that radiated between her and his son. Wasn't that curious? Eloise's daughter and his son, who would have thought?