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Prologue: Stella

Dawn broke silently over Glacier National Park Stella sighed as the sun peeked through theof the shadowed mountain peaks, she pushed herself to her feet It was tio to work

Stella and her daughter Eva had been living by Glacier Park for just over a month now, back in Stella’s childhood home Stella’s sister Lynn had—

—well, Lynn hadn’t taken them in, exactly Stella had inherited half of the house froht to live there as Lynn did

But Lynn had been the one to get Stella and Eva froht them back home, and Lynn and her mate and her friends had scared Todd’s wolf pack away

Lynn had been the big sister, like she alas

Stella,her best to be as responsible as Lynn was, and part of that was having a regular job waiting tables at Oliver’s, the local diner

Back when Eva was a baby, Stella had tried waitressing at Oliver’s for a while But she’d been too flighty, back in her twenties, to work long hours on her feet and co child Resentment had built up in her, and she’d missed too much work Eventually, she’d found an out-of-town boyfriend and left without a backward glance, bringing Eva with her

Of course, the boyfriend had been no-good, and the opportunities he’d pro time to learn that , endlessly repeating, but gone in an instant

Now, in her forties, she still chafed at being told what to do, still got frustrated with tedious jobs But she was older She couldn’t justify shirking responsibilities just by saying, oh, I’m a free spirit, I can’t be tied down!

As much as she still sometimes wanted to

So she worked at Oliver’s, she showed up on ti friends with her coworkers, chatting with the custo wistfully over all the exotic places they’d come from

Well, that last one was somewhat bittersweet

But she hter firmly in first priority Eva was about to start her senior year in high school, and she was thinking about college Stella was so proud she could burst—Eva would be the first one in their fae

Of course, Stella didn’t have the money to pay for an expensive school, and probably never would But maybe if she worked her butt off at the diner, and lived at hoh saved up to pay for so local

Eva was a brilliant student, so she’d probably get financial aid

Andabout this earlier She was terrible at planning ahead, always had been

She shifted into her lynx for that was nice about living at horown up Shifters were an open secret around here Especially out in the forest, you never had to worry about being caught

The run felt good, exertion burning through her lynx’s li off to the horizon, seeking out unknown lands, and that she wouldn’t stop until she found happiness

Then she came back to herself Stop it You’re happy

She had a good job, a cohter was excited to start school Her sister loved and supported her She lived practically on top of one of theout loud! Every ti in pure ic

If all of that wasn’t happiness, as?

She didn’t know All of her life, she’d been looking for soured out what it was