A tear tracked down Olivia’s face as she opened the door to the small building. If she couldn’t help Micah, he might lose the child he loved. And, if she allowed her heart to open that much, the child she cherished as well. She loved him too much to let that happen. It was time for her to overcome her terror and embrace the beast inside her.

Stepping inside, she laid her tailored jacket on the desk and followed it with her skirt. The rest of her clothing followed, then Olivia stood there shivering in the damp air. Focusing on the feeling she’d had before when shifting from wolf to human, Olivia closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

And nothing happened.

Her eyes flew open in horror to see her well-manicured nails in front of her instead of furry paws. Squinting her eyes shut again, Olivia tried to will herself into wolf form again and on opening her eyes again, was still met with her human self. Pacing in the small room did little to alleviate her fears. She could feel her heartbeat increasing and in spite of the chill in the air and her nudity, she felt sweat starting to break out on her forehead.

“Monster.” She whispered the word to herself. Clenching her teeth and her fists, Olivia strode back across the room. For so long she’d kept her fears about the monster living in her body at bay-through therapy, medication, meditation and everything else she could think of or had heard about. To consciously reach for that monster…

Not a monster…not really…Micah isn’t a monster, Gareth and Talia and Pete aren’t monsters. They’re my friends and, they could be my family…

That thought-so out of the blue but so bone-shakingly true-nearly tripped Olivia as she crisscrossed the small room.

“Family.” That word she said louder than the previous one. “My family is a bunch of doctors, lawyers, waitresses, housewives, factory workers, real people who just happen to be wolves too.”

As soon as she gave voice to what Micah had told her that night of the Gathering, Olivia knew. She belonged with them, she belonged with Micah and Talia and the rest of the wolves in Wisconsin. Stopping in the middle of the room, she glanced outside. A long tree-lined drive led the way to the man she loved and the child she wanted to claim. All she had to do was be true to herself, true to her own nature, accept who and what she was.

“Okay, Olivia, okay. You can do this.” Coaching herself out loud helped a bit. She searched her mind for images of wolves, imagining herself running in the woods, remembering seeing Micah playing in the snow, running with Micah, making love with Micah, seeing the pride on his face when she’d shifted. A ripple pulsed through her body at the sight of a blonde wolf in her mind and she knew she was seeing her wolf form for the first time. A smile crossed her lips as she reached for that form with her whole being. She could do this. Micah believed in her. She believed in herself.

Another ripple ran through her body, she could feel her skin and bones realigning, felt a slight sense of falling. This time the shift didn’t feel as strange to her although Olivia still didn’t like the elongating of her face into the muzzle of her wolf self. Still, she gave a brief howl of triumph only to follow it with a yelp of frustration when she realized paws would not open the door. Throwing her body against the wood, Olivia gave voice to her situation.

“All right, already! Shut up, will ya?” One of the guards stood at the door. “So, are you going in like that or as your two-legged self?”

Olivia’s answering snarl sent him stumbling back a few steps. Once he was out of her sight, she focused on what Micah had said before. Just put the pieces of the puzzle back together, Liv. Remember yourself human. Concentrating again, she willed herself back to human form.

The joy she felt in finding her human form much faster than she’d found the wolf spurred Olivia. Dressing quickly, she returned to the gate. “Now tell me where Talia and Micah are.”

With a knowing grin, one of the guards jerked a thumb toward the house. “In the door and to your left. Great room. Hearing’s been going on for forty-five minutes though. You’d better hurry.”

“Your Honor! It’s clear this shifter is not fit to be this child’s guardian. Surely her mother would not have wanted a man who would so casually mate and mark another and then let her leave him to rear her only child? Surely she would want the security of a real Pack for this poor orphaned child.” The words rang in the room as Micah’s nails dug into the arms of the chair where he sat.

The Pack had set the great room up as close to a courtroom as they could. The judge, also a shifter, sat in the front of the room and another shifter worked the steno machine. For all intents and purposes this was a legal proceeding and Micah had never felt more out of his element.

The judge nodded. “Is this true, Mr. Keeps Vigil? Smell would tell me that you are bonded, but I can get no aroma of your mate. Why are you here without her? You have no Pack, no mate. Are you a lone wolf, sir? Remember you are under oath.”

Micah stood. The air crackled with the anticipation of the Compound Pack. He could see Frank smirking at him and knew the bastard was smelling victory. His friends sat silently waiting for him to call them to his defense, but he felt mute. The judge was right. What kind of man was he who wouldn’t take up his role as Alpha-who lost his mate because he couldn’t convince her to accept his life? Opening his mouth, he began to declare defeat.

“You are right, Your Honor,” was all he got out before another voice interrupted him.

“No, actually, Your Honor, you are wrong. Micah does have a mate and I’m here now. Where I was is really not important. All that matters is that I am right where I belong. With my mate.” The feel of Olivia’s hand tucking into his made Micah want to howl with joy. He couldn’t help but turn to face her, he wanted desperately to pull her into his arms.

“Olivia? What are you doing here? Did you get my message?” Micah heard his own voice break and felt torn between his desire to sweep Olivia into his arms and his anguish over losing Talia. Turning to the judge, he began to speak again.

“Your Honor, I’d like you to meet my-” But another voice rang out.

“Pack, Your Honor. He’d like you meet at least part of his Pack. I am Gareth Volpe, this is Pete Standing Elk and his mate Margie and we represent the forty-seven members of the Wild Haven Lodge Pack from Howard, Wisconsin.” Gareth paused to stare straight at Micah, standing with his head up and not trying to hide his scars or the patch over his eye in any way. “We’re Micah Keeps Vigil’s Pack.”

Micah swallowed hard, nodding at Gareth standing unflinching in front of his former Pack as the room filled with whispers. Pete and several other members of the now named Lodge Pack stood at Gareth’s back, all of them smiling at Micah and Olivia. Olivia put her arm around Micah and turned him back to face the judge as angry voices erupted from the room. The Compound Pack shifters stood to challenge the strangers in their midst. The judge bellowed over everyone until order could be restored. The burly were-bear judge glowered around the now-silent room. “Another outburst like that and I’ll shred the lot of you. No one does that in my courtroom, do you hear me? No one.”

At the thundering echo of his roar every shifter in the room managed to find their seat. Even Micah swiftly sat, pulling Olivia into his lap. She tucked her head under his chin and whispered, “I’m so sorry, Micah.”

He silenced her with a kiss. A cough from the front of the room reminded him where he was so he raised his eyes to the judge.

“Given the overwhelming last-minute evidence, Mr. Keeps Vigil, I must reconsider my lone wolf statement. For you are certainly overwhelmed with Pack for a so-called loner.” The judge leveled a cold look at the compound’s lawyers. “I suppose there is a good reason for that vicious accusation?”