“Jessica.”

I tore my heavy-lidded eyes away from the deep forest behind my grandmother’s estate.

It’d been weeks since I had a good night’s sleep. The green-eyed man in my dreams had sucked my body dry of rest. I was certain I had never seen him before. If I had, I would have stopped in my tracks.

He was tall, muscular, and full of secrets. As many times as I prompted him, he would never speak.

I would wake up with the feeling of being watched in my one-bedroom apartment back home in Denver.

Now, I was here. In the place where the dreams took place. Maybe it was just a coincidence. However, I hadn’t been here since I was a little girl. Before my mother passed away and my dad moved us several states away.

“Jessica,” Aunt Tasha said.

I blinked; attempting to draw myself out of the groggy place, I called my brain. She had on a black wide-brimmed hat with an oversized black dress. I wasn’t quite sure how she wore it in the humid Louisiana heat.

I was warm in the black summer dress I wore. She insisted I wear a hat to block out the sun while burying my grandmother.

She’d been right. The sun was heavy during those thirty minutes of lowering Grandmother into the ground.

“Can you go grab the paper plates from the pantry?” she asked.

I nodded and unfolded my arms from around my stomach. There were tons of people I didn’t know wafting in and out of the house today. I appreciated the food because neither Aunt Tasha nor I were in the mood to cook.

The pantry closet was full of canned vegetables and outdated appliances it seemed she never used.

I grabbed all of the paper plates and brought them to the kitchen counter full of casseroles and side dishes.

Several male voices were coming from the living room but I didn’t venture there to see the culprit. I rubbed my makeup-free eyes until they burned.

“Excuse me, miss? Are you Jessica Lowery?”

I turned to see a somewhat familiar face hovering in the doorjamb. He’d been at the funeral awkwardly staring at me from a distance. Folding my arms, I leaned backward against the kitchen counter and swiped a piece of auburn hair from my forehead.

“I am. Who’s asking?”

He took off his top hat revealing a comb over and an aged face. He was the same height as me, which was on the shorter side and wobbled with each step.

“I’m Mr. Henley, your grandmother’s attorney. Do you have a moment to chat?”

Why would he need to speak to me? Aunt Tasha was her only living child. Maybe she left me something to remember her by. “Are you sure you need to speak to me?” I asked.

He nodded. “I’m very certain, Ms. Lowery.”

I nodded and led him down a side hall toward the room where I knew Grandmother used to pay her bills. It had a small desk and two chairs. The smell of stale furniture hung in the humid air as dust particles floated in the sunbeams from the uncovered window.

I sat down and faced Mr. Henley.

He pulled out a folder and opened it on the desk between us. I didn’t pretend to know what a will looked like but it seemed to me that was the culprit behind this meeting.

“Your grandmother was very specific about what she wanted to do with her estate.”

I lifted both brows at him.

“Wouldn’t it go to Aunt Tasha?” I asked.

He tilted his head. “Normally, yes, but since she stated for you to have it, then it’s yours.”

“Mine?” I repeated.

I couldn’t imagine living in this Podunk town or taking care of such a huge place. Plus, it needed a lot of tender love and care that I couldn’t possibly afford. I leaned back in the high-back chair and laughed. “You’re sure?” I asked. “I can’t live here, Mr. Henley. I just graduated from college. I plan to become a journalist in Denver.”

Mr. Henley pressed his mouth into a thin line and intertwined his fingers on the desk. “Your grandmother was afraid that you may say that. When your father moved you up north, she was afraid you wouldn’t want to come back.”

I shifted nervously in my chair. She was right. There was nothing for me here.

“She asks that you live here for one year, give this place a try, and then if you don’t find what you’re looking for, you may leave.”

What was I looking for? A job? A future? I was sure I wouldn’t find it here.

I crossed my legs and leaned my elbows against the desk. “I’m—I’m not sure, Mr. Henley…”

Aunt Tasha’s heavy heels thundered down the hallway and she stopped cold in the doorway. “What’s going on? Mr. Henley, didn’t I ask you to wait until after the funeral to corner Jess?”

He huffed and shut the folder. “Her plane is leaving in the morning, Tasha.”

Tasha’s dark eyes shifted toward mine. “You’re leaving in the morning, Jess?”

Embarrassment climbed my body. I wanted to get back home. I had job interviews next week, and frankly, being here gave me the creeps.

“Yes ma’am,” I said softly.

She huffed and rubbed her temple. “The food is ready. We’ll talk about all of this in just a little while.”

Mr. Henley left the will on the desk and pointed toward it. “You look over this and please do not leave tomorrow without talking to me.”

“Sure,” I said.

Mr. Henley walked swiftly out of the room, leaving Aunt Tasha to glare at me. “I was hoping you could stay longer. Come on, I heated up that chicken and rice casserole. Jacob is here with a few of his friends.”

Jacob was Aunt Tasha’s only son. My only cousin on my mother’s side. While my father had multiple siblings and a larger family.

Jacob stood with his back to me when I walked into the kitchen with Aunt Tasha. He looked over, and familiar brown eyes greeted me.

I smiled, so many memories surfaced from that mischievous grin. “Well, look what the cat dragged in. Good to see you, Jessica.”

He bent down and hugged me tightly. He was taller than I ever thought he would be. I didn’t remember his dad, David, being that tall before he ran off when Jacob was ten years old.

“Good to see you, too,” I said pulling back to look at the three men standing in the room.

“These are a few of my friends.”

I really tried not to gawk. They were all huge. Bigger than the boys back in Denver, for sure. I knew they said many boys south of the Mason-Dixon Line were corn-fed. This seemed to prove the point validly.

I waved politely.

“This is Liam, Aaron, and Seth,” he said, pointing at each one separately.

“Nice to meet you,” I said.

Aunt Tasha sliced through my glancing at them with a plate of food. “Here. You haven’t eaten all day, you need it.”

I took the plate and walked into the living room. A few older people from the funeral spoke to be polite while I made my way into the dining area. The high-back chairs and dusty table were the fanciest pieces in the house.

The memories of eating fried bologna and homemade biscuits brought tears to my eyes.

Jacob slid into the chair on the opposite side of the table. “It’s really good to see you, Jess. It’s been so long. Momma said you graduated?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I have interviews next week in Denver. It’s a new world being tossed into the wild to fend for yourself.”

He gave me his infamous lopsided grin. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you,” I said, pushing my food around my plate.

The front door opened, but I didn’t look up from my plate. “What are you doing nowadays?”

“I’ve been working at the sawmill…”

A shadow drew over the table and I glanced up above Jacob’s head. Two of Jacob’s friends had sat down and I hadn’t even noticed.

But it wasn’t their presence that shook me to my core.

It was the green-eyed man standing behind Jacob. His ebony hair was wind-blown as if he’d been running. The same intense glare from my dreams was brought to life in front of me.

I pinched my leg quietly to see if I was perhaps dreaming again.

No, this was real.

“About time you made it. Jessica, this is Mason. Mason this is Jessica.”

I couldn’t get my mouth to work. I just stared at him while everyone stared at me.

Jacob lifted a brow, drawing my attention away from this gawking man. “Nice to meet you,” I whispered as Aunt Tasha made her way into the dining room.

“Alright,” she said. “Mason, I left you a plate on the kitchen counter. You can join us. We’re about to persuade Jessica to take over the estate.”

Oh, God.

I couldn’t even think straight with this man in the room. How would I state my case of not moving here and uprooting my plans?

Mason left the room and I let out a heavy breath. My entire body had lit fire at the sight of him. There was something magnetic. The other three chatting boys at the table were good-looking, but this man warmed me from head to toe.

Aunt Tasha sat her fork down. “Now, let’s talk about the estate, Jessica.”

My wolf had been right. I’d spent the entire night fighting him. The urge to come to the Lowery’s estate had been hard on his mind for over twenty-four hours.

Now I knew why.

Her.

Jacob’s cousin Jessica. It’d been Hell working at my grandmother’s bookstore for the morning shift. He’d clawed and pleaded with me to leave. However, my Gran was close with Mrs. Lowery and I told her I would watch the store while she attended the funeral.

I didn’t like them anyway. There was enough sadness in the world to go see someone being laid to rest.

Now I was sitting across the table with her, my fingers curled into a fist against my thigh. My wolf wanted her. Even after spending the morning crying, her eyes puffy with half-moon shadows underneath each one, she was beautiful.

Her light blue eyes were curious and kind. The dark color of her auburn hair reminded me of younger pictures that I’d seen of Mrs. Lowery. Even the feminine heart shape of her face made him hot. It made me hot. There was nothing about her that I didn't find appealing. It was a consuming pressure in my chest that grew heavier by the minute.

“I can’t live here, Aunt Tasha. I just graduated. I have interviews next week. Where would I work?

Tasha was known to hold grudges. Believe me, I knew. Once I broke one of her flower pots and she was short with me for an entire week afterwards.

Tasha sat back in her seat. “I understand, sweetie, but Momma wanted you to have it. She was dead set on you at least trying it. You can write online, can’t you?”

Jessica continued to push her food around her plate. “Maybe…but, I want to live in Denver. This house is too big for me. I can’t afford to keep it up. It's spooky out here by myself."

“I’ll help you,” she said, reaching over to touch her hand. “The will asks that you give it a chance for one year. You could write for a year, and if you don’t like it, you can move back.”

My wolf could sense her unease. I didn’t know her but I wanted to console her, even if it meant telling her to go with her gut.

Seth leaned over and bumped his shoulder into hers. Fire erupted underneath my skin. I didn’t like him sitting next to her or touching her. My fingers tightened into my fists making my palm scream out in pain.

It was the start of shifting all over again. That unimaginable anger that every wolf goes through when they are close to shifting. However, this time I wanted to rip Seth’s head clean off his shoulders.

“We aren’t that bad, Jessica. I know the town is small but we find plenty to do," he said.

Jessica smiled softly at him. “I dunno. Maybe. I’ll think about it tonight. Either way, I have to go back to Denver to get my clothes.”

Tasha nodded though I noticed the irritation in her features. She loved her mother’s house, like Jacob did but Mrs. Lowery had been adamant from what I’d been told for Jessica to inherit it.

“Please think about it,” Tasha said.

Jessica looked up at Tasha and her gaze slid to mine. Did she have the same feeling that I did? Was it mutual? Those light eyes felt like a heating lamp being pointed at my skin.

Unable to stop my wolf, I smiled at her and a feverish blush blossomed under her cheeks.

“Can I talk to you outside?” Jacob said, standing suddenly.

I looked up, realizing he was speaking to me, and lifted both eyebrows. Slowly, I stood up to his height and gave him a daring gaze. He stalked out of the house and I followed him.

He pushed open the old wood door and took several steps before turning to me. “What’s the matter with you?”

I interlaced my fingers against the back of my head and shrugged. “What are you talking about?”

He tilted his head and gave me a look. “You’re wolf is on edge. What has you so wound up? Did you see something on your way here? Another spotting?"

I ran my palm down my face. It wasn’t the time, if it ever would be, to tell him my wolf was reacting to Jessica. “No, I don’t know what’s going on with him today.”

Jacob didn’t believe it for one second. “Fine. Tell me when you feel like it. Don’t forget we have patrol duty tonight. We need to keep an extra close eye out for Jessica. I don’t want there to be any way she doesn’t take this house. Grandma wanted her to have it and I think having her here to take over would be a good idea.”

Me, too, my wolf said.

He didn’t speak too often. Being he was a giant dickhead at times, and only talked when he felt like it.

“Do you think she’ll move here? There is nothing here.”

Jacob shrugged. “We enjoy it enough.”

“Yeah, because we don’t know anything different. She’s lived somewhere else for most of her life.”

Jacob sighed heavily. “I’m being optimistic for my mother’s sake. She doesn’t want to take care of this and be reminded of her mother every day. Maybe we could invite her to go mud riding today. Something to show her a different side of the town?”

The thought of spending any extra time with her sounded exciting. “Are you sure she’ll be up for it after the funeral?”

“Let’s go find out,” he said.

We walked back into the house. My wolf was vibrating with excitement. He was thinking of ways to get her on the back of my four-wheeler. When we got back inside, Jessica had her foot on the seat of her chair and was resting her cheek against her knee.

“Hey, Jess,” Jacob said. “Why don’t you come four-wheeler riding with us? It’ll lighten the mood and we can show you around town.”

Jessica looked up. “That sounds fun. I could use some of that.”

Tasha clapped her hand as if she understood our motive. “That’s a great idea. You kids go reminisce in your childhood and I’ll clean up everything in here.”

Jessica stood up slowly and tugged at her black dress. “I’ll go get changed.”

She disappeared into one of the many guestrooms leaving us alone. Tasha began to gather dishes and walked toward the kitchen.

My wolf’s attention drew me to Seth. He seemed too interested in the way she walked.

Jacob and I had been friends since birth. We lived just down the road from one another. When we found out about our family's lineage and how they were protectors of our town, it only brought us closer.

Seth, Liam, and Aaron came into our friendship circle later. We had an inseparable, brotherly bond. Or so I thought. I couldn’t think of anything other than smacking the smirk off Seth’s face at the moment.

“So, I’m just going to say it,” Seth said, lifting his arms playfully. “Is your cousin single?”

Jacob scoffed. “Leave her alone. I mean it. She doesn’t need to find out about us, because she’ll be on the first plane out of here if she does.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “Come on, you know how popular those werewolf romances are. I can imagine it going completely differently—”

“Didn’t he just say to drop it?” I asked.

Seth’s dark gaze moved to mine. “Wow, touchy are we? Both of you need to chill the hell out. I’m not going to force myself on the girl. I just think she’s attractive.”

Aaron slung his arm around Seth’s shoulder and tugged at him playfully. “We all know who needs to get laid, don’t we?”

Aaron was the nonchalant, peacemaker of the bunch. He’d been star quarterback in high school and pulled every girl within a two-mile radius.

Seth was the class clown who thought he was funnier than he actually was.

“Maybe if Mason and Jacob would loosen the reigns a bit and let us enjoy a night out, we wouldn’t be wound so tight,” Liam said, grabbing his over-the-shoulder bag.

Liam was in college, wanting to start a welding company out of our town. He’s always been the studious one that we knew would make a bad thing good.

“Cool it, all of you. We all know why it’s important to stay on our toes. Especially you, Seth. You are the one who saw it.”

He claimed to have seen another beast in the woods that wasn't one of us. We'd all been on our toes since he claimed to have seen it. There hadn't been another wolf or supernatural wander through our town in years.

Seth sighed. “I know. I know. I would just enjoy a break. I would love a cold one from the tap at Maurice’s.”

Jacob mumbled under his breath. “We’ll make a point to go soon.”

Seth pursed his lips as Jessica came around the corner. She’d changed into a University of Denver sweatshirt and cut-off blue jeans.

My blood ran hot at the sight of her. She’d tied her auburn hair into a bun on top of her head and glanced down at her tennis shoes. “I didn’t bring any boots, and you’re lucky I brought these for the flight home.”

“You look fine. Come on. My four-wheeler is at Mom’s house," Jacob said.

Jessica eyed us but didn’t look for too long. She followed Jacob out of the door and her scent flooded me with a heat that ran bone-deep.

Seth and Aaron chatted amongst themselves as I swallowed the need to touch her. Maybe one touch would cool my wolf's need.

Liam caught my gaze and lifted a dark eyebrow at me. I ignored his stare and walked out of the house with my wolf running circles inside of me.