Drawn To You by Preston Walker

JACK: My life ended when I was sixteen. Not literally – I’m no ghost, I just feel like one. Byproduct of losing your pack to a plague that skips you by like you’re not worth the effort. Chose all the good ones and you’re what was left behind. Survivor’s guilt, people call it. I just call it like I see it. I do a decent job of going through the motions. I’ve got a good reputation as an alpha, and everyone loves to joke about the only vegan alpha in North America. Some days even I’m convinced that this is it. As good as it gets.

Then Dylan Kapernit walks into my shop and blows that theory to hell. Its like everything was gray and now there’s technicolor. He pops, no matter what corner he tries to hide in. Like my eye can’t help but be drawn to him, just to make sure he’s alright. There’s something about this widowed father that brings my protective alpha instincts surging to the surface. In ways I’ve forgotten how to handle. So of course my efforts to make things better only make it all worse. Put Dylan, his whole family in danger. For a second, I forgot about the curse of being me. But I won’t forget again. And I’ll do whatever it takes to make it right. To make sure nothing ever threatens the man I love again. Even once I’m gone…

DYLAN: After my mate died, I was sure I would never love again. But I’ve got a track record of being wrong about everything. I thought Micah and I would grow old together. That one stupid mistake couldn’t destroy my whole world. That I could be enough for my daughter, that I could make up for my past sins. I thought I was doing okay.

I don’t know what I believe in anymore, but I know its not myself. Which is why I can’t tell if Jack Hickam is my redemption or my punishment. One moment he’s everything I thought I’d never have again, and the next he’s my new greatest mistake, bringing unimaginable danger to my door. My daughter’s door. Only now it seems I was wrong again, that I turned my back on the one man who just wanted to have it. I don’t know if I’m too late to fix things. I always have been before. All I know is I still have to try.