It was easy to hide in a city like Vegas. But there are those who would be able to pick me out of a crowd if the wind shifted in just the right way. And I wouldn't have a clue on how to explain to Cyrus why three men were dragging me into their SUV.

I shook the thought from my mind and looked in the rear view mirror. The moment my bumper crossed over the county line, the SUV pulled to the shoulder of the road. A smile played on my lips as relief eased the tension in my neck. Only when the SUV made a U-turn did the anxiety and the pinch between my shoulder blades fade.

With the open road before me, I peeled off the blonde wig and removed the glasses, shedding my persona of Sia Quince. From here on out, I'm Kenna, a shifter from Moon Valley and member of the Crescent Moon pack. I glanced at the items in the seat and smiled, letting my mind drift as the dry, sandy desert gave way to green shrubs and fuller trees.

A sneaky grin slipped over my lips as the road wound and flowed to the curve of the mountain. Pulling in a deep breath, I'm bombarded with all the fragrances of the forest around me. The hint of moss blended with pine as a wisp of lavender and oak mingled with a bit of musk swirled around me.

Moon Valley was still a few miles from the turn-off, but the memories of my youth bombarded my mind. Oh, the many years I spent scouring the trees and tested fate. How often did I play in traffic despite the pack orders to stay hidden? How many trails did I blaze through this majestic and sovereign forest?

Every deer trail I saw weaving through the trees unlocked another memory, and I couldn't help but smile as they played back in my head like a movie. My heart skipped as faces of friends and family flickered through my mind. There was one face, though, that lurked and stalked the edges of my memories. The moment I think about that one man, a tidal wave of emotions would start coursing through me.

I swallowed hard, desperately trying not to let his name or face come any closer to the forefront of my mind. But there was only so much I can do to prevent those memories from flooding into me. The rumble of my tires over the old oakwood bridge rattled and jolted the emotions out of my subconsciousness.

Nikolai

Even in my thoughts, I muttered his name like a curse as his face was suddenly front and center, pushing back all the other enjoyable memories. Before I wrangled him back into the box I'd put him in, he invaded every inch of my mind. What was supposed to be a relaxing drive through the mountains now had me stressed and on edge. The familiar winding road cutting through the mountains was alien to me now, and the turns came as a surprise as I heard his husky voice whispering in my ear.

Nikolai's stark, caramel brown eyes bored into my mind, making it impossible for me to see anything else. I found myself drawn to him, and each beat of my heart pulled me closer to him. He's like a siren from one of those mythological books I had to read in college.

Everything about Nikolai captivated me. I tried to shove his image out of my mind, but it was no use. I'm not a quitter, though. Each new memory that flickered into my head gets pushed back into the darkest recesses as I fight the desires building up inside me.

Why does he get to me so easily? Why can't I come back home and not have his memory haunt me?

The need for him was overbearing and powerful. There was a sharpness to the memories that aroused a yearning in me I couldn't explain. The pull to Nikolai had never been so strong, so persistent. It felt as if he was a blackhole and Im trapped in his orbit. Theres no escape as I realized it's him that drew me closer to Moon Valley.

In the depths of my being, I felt the alpha's call--a low ring in my ears that I couldnt get rid of. It drew my attention like a light in a dark room. A part of me wished I could ignore the ringing, but I knew I couldn't. When the alpha calls, one cannot refuse or hide from it, but I do my best to ignore it.

With a shaky hand, I reached for the coffee Cyrus gave me. The creamy latte was bitter despite the sugar. Repulsed by the flavor, I fumbled the cup, and it dropped from my hand, crashing against the console between the seats.

As I shifted my attention from the road to the mess, I gasped. My eyes widened as reality jolted me like a bolt of lightning striking a steel rod. A massive, dark wolf with silvery gray fur bounded over the highway in two long strides before disappearing into the woods.

What the...

I jerked the wheel and held my breath as if I were about to plunge into the depths of the ocean. It's as if I was the last survivor of the Titanic. I knew I was going down; the question was how far will I fall? The vision of Nikolai with his crooked grin and steely gaze vanished from my mind. All I saw was the blurry green shrubs as my car careened off the black asphalt.

Shit.

With my heart frantically pounding , I blinked until the world came into focus. Sharp flickers of reds and blues exploded behind my eyes as throbbing pain radiated through my neck and shoulders. Warm liquid flowed down my cheek and I wasnt entirely sure if it was tears or blood. The white air bag ballooning out from the steering wheel pinned me against the seat. I squirmed and twisted, trying to get out from under it, but there's no place I can move where it didn't accost me.

To say the struggle was real was an understatement as I hunted for the knife in the console to pop the air bag. My skin tingled from the cold metal as I curled my fingers around the hilt of the knife. One jab was all it took to deflate the massive balloon, and my mouth dropped open.

Son of a...

A puffy gray cloud of steam rose from the front of my car. Through the mist, I could just make out the large trunk of an oak tree lodged into the front of my jeep. Although I'm grateful I didn't fly off into the ravine, I cursed the tree and slammed my hand against the steering wheel in frustration. Pain shot through every inch of my body, making me wince and regret my outburst.

Carefully, I turned my head to the left, checking for broken bones and bruises. When I turned my head to the right, tiny pops rattled from the base of my skull to my hip. Everything was fuzzy--the colors mixed like cake batter. Hesitant, I reached for the seatbelt and unbuckled. Despite every muscle in my body screaming in protest, I couldn't stay in the wrecked car.

The pain nearly crippled me as I twisted in my seat and reached for the door. With as much force as I could muster, I shoved the car door--to no avail. I tried again, and this time I was met with a low moan of metal scraping against metal. There's only one way out of this mangled mess. Sighing, I gritted my teeth and used the hilt of my knife to smash the window.

Glass rained down around me like hail. I carefully pried my legs out from under the dashboard. Small shards of glass lodged into my palms as I crawled through the open window and poured out onto the wet, mossy mud drenching the left side of my body as I fell.

I'm alive.

I'm fine. My car is fucked. But I'm fine.

Cautiously, I moved to the nearest tree and leaned back against the trunk. Relief flooded me as I stared at the sky, grateful to be alive. I swallowed hard between rasping breaths, then looked at the damage to my hands. Jagged shards of glass riddled my palms, and I clenched my jaw as I popped each shard out of my skin with the tip of my knife.

Somewhere behind me, I heard the crackle of twigs snapping in quick procession. Panic instantly gripped my chest. I was in no condition to ward off an attack, but there's no stopping what was coming, and I had to be ready for anything.

"What the hell?"

The husky voice was muffled. I glanced over my shoulder, trying not to let my imagination get the better of me. My jaw dropped as the face became clearer.

"AP?" I whispered in shock. The tension in my body eased as I stared at the half-naked man before me. His chest was smooth and sculpted, and his shoulder-length hair flowed with the breeze. A slight chuckle escaped my lips. With the orange glow of the setting sun filtering through the canopy of the trees, he looked like a cover model for a bad romance novel. AP's eyelids fluttered as color flashed through his cheeks.

Out of all the people I could have run in to, it just had to be him. My heart seemed to stutter as I stared at him in disbelief. He's taller than he was in high school, and filled out in the chest. I always thought he was handsome with his shaggy hair and green eyes. And him being the running back for the football team made a lot of the girl's swoon.

His tense gaze fell on me, and I wanted to shrink away from it.

"Kenna? Is that really you? Or did I crack my skull harder than I thought back there?"

"Dude, look what you did to my car."

A mischievous grin stretched across his face as his hearty laughter bounced from tree to tree. It's a laugh I've heard a thousand times before--most often at the bar right after he bested every challenger at the billiard table. But I found nothing about this situation humorous.

"Oh, man," he said as he glanced at my Jeep. "If you were human, I'd almost feel sorry for you."

"AP." The way I said his name made it sound like a curse, which only caused him to laugh harder.

"Nikolai is going to flip when he finds out you're here."