The Forgotten Claim (The Claim: Book 1)

Chapter 1 - Cameron

A mental command thrust Cameron out of bed with enough force to crack his head open on the floor. Had he not been a werewolf and the floor covered in his clothes from last night, he could have very well been knocked out cold.

Clutching his head, he peered around the plush, carpeted hotel floor and gathered his bearings.

Last night...

He grinned as he pushed himself up and peered over the mattress.

...was a night I'll never forget.

He couldn't wipe the shit-eating grin from his face as he gazed upon the female he found less than 24 hours ago.

Not just any female though—his soulmate. His moon-blessed gift from the Goddess above.

With his twenty-second birthday in a few weeks, he was beginning to worry if he'd ever find her and could barely contain his excitement when he did.

Olivia had just finished showing a cozy beach house to a young couple in love and was about to head back out to the big city some fifty miles away when he stopped her and managed to ask her out to dinner.

Well, it took a little more coaxing than that.

He stood there on the side of the road staring at her, unable to move from the spot, and she thought he was interested in the house.

She didn't have any other plans and offered to show him the house for sale, which then led to her showing him the beach, and walking along the beach while talking about the house, the town, the investment itself and future prospects. With everything she told him, he tried turning the conversation toward finding out more about herself—her hopes, dreams, and plans for the future.

She was a human and didn't understand the pull of the matebond and the strong and unprecedented attraction was she experiencing. Becoming increasingly flustered, she tried to steer the conversation away from herself, only for him to turn things back around and ask her out to dinner. Or more precisely, he asked her to suggest a good restaurant and then invited her to join him.

Secretly, he knew the beach town like the back of his hand but he wasn't about to let her know that.

Aspen Beach was founded roughly a hundred years ago and home to a few hundred humans who owned and worked the shops and lived in the spaces above them. Some commuted to the big city for work but most of them were dedicated to the love and prosperity of the tourist town.

Cameron's pack, the Zhooniyaa Miskwi Pack (Silver Blood Pack), traced its roots back to an ancient line of Ojibwa people, who harnessed the spirit of the wolf within. His pack had occupied the territory that Aspen Beach was built on for hundreds of years. Everyone in the pack visited it in the summer months for a day trip of fun in the sun with pups or a weekend getaway for rest and relaxation. No one had been there that day and he was surprised to find himself there, if not for the knowledge that his soul led him there on its own accord.

He could picture himself spending many days there with her and their pups like he had with his family growing up.

The thought of their future brought a smile to his face over dinner as the conversation grew more intimate.

He found out Olivia's parents divorced when she was eight.

Her father up and left her and her mother for some hot young thing overseas. The divorce was messy and drawn out over four years. It would have been longer, she said, if it weren't for the fact his girlfriend got pregnant. Then he quickly wrapped up the divorce proceeding in a nice little bow so he could marry the woman and her family wouldn't ostracize them for having a child out of wedlock.