A Knight's Purpose (Book 1) ✔️

Chapter 1 - A meeting with the (unhappy) Alpha

Present Day

I thought I had escaped it all. I thought I was fine, but I should have realized by now that just when things start to look up reality comes crashing back in. It was two days after I'd moved into my small apartment in the middle of nowhere town called Tershaw. I had never heard of it until two months ago when I came through looking for new territory and I suspected that no one else had either. The predatory packs in this area were mostly wolves and in my experience they tended to congregate around the pack home with only a few sentries prowling the boarder. This pack had a headquarters near a larger city a few hundred miles away, so I felt pretty safe.

In all the previous places I'd lived, small towns hidden in larger territories just like this, the non-predatory species had mostly ignored me and none were on speaking terms with the scary predators that might growl if bothered. That was the way I liked it. There hadn't been anything wrong with my last home it had simply been time to move on; I spend at most three years in one spot before moving just in case anyone got a hold of my trail.

While the town had the same characteristics as my last, this time was already a little different than normal. I couldn't count the number of stares I'd already received when normally I was simply ignored. My unease was proven again by the angry sheriff in uniform glaring around the old time diner where I'd had lunch the past few days. He zeroed in on me..

His green eyes stuck to me, tracking the smallest movements, narrowing. I couldn't breathe without him taking it in - so I froze and scanned him in return. He's young, appearing late twenties so probably mid thirties with his shifter metabolism, with nothing else to distinguish him from any other sheriff. With the one exception that no human would be eyeing me this carefully.

"Are you Eve Rutledge?" He growls, voice low, and my instincts start screaming what they'd only been worried about. Predator - that meant wolf in these parts. Definitely not good.

"Uhh." I stutter trying to find a way to deny the obvious. Two patrons and my waitress nod for me.

"Stand up and follow me outside. We need to have a little chat." He puts his hands on the hips of his dark brown pants. 

"I haven't paid for my meal yet," I hedge, hoping he'll wait so I can make a run out the back. I take his intensified glare and slight growl to mean he sees through me. Making sure to toss a few bucks onto the table from my wallet to pay for my meal I make my way over to him and follow him out to his cruiser.

"Take a seat in the back."

Well, fine, if that's the way we're going to play it. I glare right back at him as I slip into the backseat. The bars blocking me from reaching him buzz with power and my skin starts to itch. I try to focus on his head, the dark brown hair in a typical cut with hair fading out to stop just at his nape.

"You're to meet the Alpha." His rough voice breaks my concentration.

"I take it I don't have a choice?"

"Not really."

"Want to tell me why that is?"

"I think you know why. You don't move into a territory and not inform the local pack. Now you have to come and face the music."

Great. No way to wiggle out of this one. At that thought, the car starts to move and I realize that I can't get out of this cage.

It starts small, my heart speeds up. Then, my lungs tighten and it gets harder to breathe but I can ignore it. It's the shaking that really gets me though, as it travels from my hands and feet to my core until I'm rocking back and forth. As if of their own volition, my hands start to feel their way around the back searching for a lock, anything really. The zing as they brush the bars causes me to snarl.