Every Dawn Forever (Hyena Heat Two)

CHAPTER ONE

Sydney Nichols washed the dinner dishes as quietly and quickly as she could. The less attention she drew to herself, the better. Byron, her mate, was in the next room. No, mate wasn’t really the right word for him. He wasn’t her truemate, the one male that had been made for her. She had been given to him against her will, powerless to refuse or change her circumstances. As far as she was concerned, Byron was her mate in title only, and in no way was he the mate of her heart. That knowledge, that little secret that she kept locked up tightly in her mind, was the only thing that kept her sane when things got really bad. When his fists flew at her blindingly fast and his hateful words filled the air like buzzing insects, she could hold onto the truth: he was not really her mate.

She could picture him in her mind without even seeing him, and knew exactly what he was doing at that moment. He was stretched out on the beat-up leather recliner, which had been repaired with duct tape so often that it was more silver than brown, his dirty work boots on the footrest, one hand wrapped around a beer. The television blared through the thin walls of the single-wide trailer where she lived. She had never called it her home, because home was supposed to be a place where you were loved and kept safe. No, the walls that surrounded her were more like prison bars, and Byron was her jailer.

She settled the last dish in the drainer, released the plug to let the water drain out, and pulled the rubber gloves off her hands. Picking up a threadbare dishtowel, she looked out the small window over the sink and dried the dishes.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been happy. It certainly had been a long time ago. She had grown up in a single-parent home with her mother, in the busy city of Baltimore. Sydney was the product of a one-night-stand with a werewolf whose name she was never told. Sydney wasn’t even sure that her mom knew the male’s name. Her mother had a reputation for being the pack slut. Her earliest memories of her were the tight, revealing clothing that she wore whenever she went out. Sydney spent a lot of time alone as a child. Her mother’s parents had moved out of the country to retire and never had any contact with them, and the mothers of the other pack children never wanted Sydney to play with their kids, because they were worried about her mother trying to have sex with their mates.

She’d still managed to find a few friends in school who were human. The female wolves from her pack assumed she would take after her mother and become a whore too, and wanted nothing to do with her. The males also made that assumption, but unlike the females, they were hoping it was true. But Sydney wasn’t her mom, and had no intention of becoming like her.

Her eighteenth birthday had not come fast enough in her mind. That hot July day had been one full of celebration with her friends. In a few weeks, she would be moving out of her mother’s home and sharing an apartment with two friends, then starting community college in September. She felt like her whole life was spread out in front of her, and she had an opportunity to start fresh and become anyone that she wanted to be.

That night she came home after a dinner out, to change into more comfortable clothes before going to a drive-in. While she was changing she heard the doorbell ring, and assumed that her friends had come back to pick her up. When she came into the kitchen, it wasn’t her friends she found waiting for her, but a man that she had never met before. Her mother introduced him as Harris Monroe, alpha of a wolf pack that lived in the mountains in Virginia. Sydney noticed that her mother held a suitcase in one hand, and her stomach twisted in knots.

Mom? she asked.

Her mother smiled at her, but it wasn’t a sweet, loving smile. It was cold and distant. Alpha Monroe is taking you back with him to his pack. He will assign you a mate and you will be a good wife and mother to your cubs.

Sydney went pale. What? What are you talking about? I’m going to start college in September. I don’t want to leave.

It’s already done. Her mom set the suitcase down next to Sydney. As your mother, according to pack law, it is my right to choose a suitable mate for you.

Hot tears welled up in Sydney’s eyes. Why are you doing this to me? I’ll leave, I promise I won’t come back, just don’t send me away to be mated. Please, Mom, please!

The male that her mother had been dating for the last month came into the kitchen and settled his arm over her mother’s shoulder. His mouth curled up into a nasty smile, which he directed toward Sydney. Your momma don’t want you around anymore, little bitch. She’s ready to have her life back now that you’re going to be mated off.

A firm, calloused hand clamped down on Sydney’s arm and she was jerked abruptly toward the visitor. Get your bag and follow me immediately.

He released her arm and gave her a stern look. No! Sydney shouted. Mom! Please!

Alpha Monroe slapped her across the face so hard that she saw spots and blood filled her mouth. She whimpered as her teeth cut into her cheek, pressing her hand gently to the inflamed area. Now, Alpha Monroe growled.

She’d known that her mother hadn’t really enjoyed being a mom. She’d known that she thought of her as an inconvenience and not a cherished child. But she never imagined her mother would betray her. Fear knotted in her stomach as she picked up her suitcase and followed Monroe outside. An older-model black van was idling in the gravel driveway, with a man behind the wheel. Monroe went to the back and opened the door.

He pointed to the floor behind the third row and said, The floor is for cargo.

When she didn’t understand what he meant, he grabbed her by her long blonde ponytail and yanked her toward the van. Her legs crashed onto the floor of the van and her suitcase slid under the seat. With practiced ease, he slipped a dog collar that was chained to the inside of the van around her neck.

Gripping her chin firmly in his hand, he stared into her eyes and she only saw menace and anger. If you make a sound, I will gag you. Are we clear?

She opened her mouth to respond, thought better of it, and nodded.

The bitch can learn, he mused, releasing her chin. He slammed the back door shut and she could hear his footsteps as he moved around the van before opening the passenger door and getting in.

You really going to give her to Byron? the man in the front seat asked as the van backed out of the driveway.

My grandson needs a mate, and he’s bored with the females in the pack.

The man chuckled. After living with Byron, she’ll probably think this shithole is paradise.

How right the man, who Sydney came to know as Monroe’s beta, Gregory, would turn out to be. She’d been taken from the van straight to a clearing on the pack’s property, where the entire pack stood. Monroe told the pack that she and Byron were now mates, and the pack had cheered. There was no real mating ceremony, no vows exchanged, just a statement. As coldly delivered as a deli order. Sydney remembered looking around at the pack in bewilderment. The males were enthusiastic, but the females all looked at her with pity. Later, she would find out that they felt sorry for her because Byron didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘tender’. The night of their mating he brutalized her virgin body, slaking his need with her in the roughest and vilest of ways. Her cries of pain only seemed to spur him on.

She soon came to find out that Byron had a hair trigger and a violent temper. Once, when she’d only been with him for a few weeks, she hadn’t been able to get the laundry done before he got home from work. After throwing her against the wall in anger, he stripped her, took all her clothes and tossed them onto the grill, lighting them on fire. He said she needed to learn her place in the house, and that she had to earn her clothing by being obedient. Years later, he got a DUI and came home spoiling for a fight. After beating her so badly that she couldn’t see out of one eye for almost a week, he decided that, to save up the money needed to pay off the ticket, he would cut the amount of food she was allowed to eat. He put a padlock on the refrigerator, and only left out a small quantity of food for her during the day. Sometimes he forgot altogether. She still had to make his dinner, but he decided what she was allowed to eat. She’d been so hungry. A part of her had always hoped that he’d grow bored with her, the way that he supposedly had with the other females in the pack, but after six years, nothing had changed about her situation.

Byron rarely let her leave the house. He worked during the day, pouring concrete for his grandfather’s company. He would lock her in the house, where she would spend her time wishing she could run away. But escape was a pipe dream. She had no money, no identification, no where to go. For so long she’d resigned herself to someday dying at Byron’s hand that when help finally came, she almost didn’t believe it.

Byron’s grandmother grew ill in August. Byron and Monroe decided that Sydney would handle caring for Katharine. Sydney didn’t mind, because Katharine was one of the few females who would actually speak to her, and that Byron would allow to visit. Although she’d never been really kind to Sydney, she hadn’t been outright horrible or mean, and her emotionally starved heart was willing to take anything.

She had tirelessly taken care of Katharine as she grew weaker and weaker with each passing day. Normally, wolves didn’t get sick, so everyone was puzzled. She was only seventy, too young to waste away.

After the first week, when Sydney was spoon-feeding Katharine some broth because she was too weak to hold the bowl, she turned her head away from the spoon.

Can I get you something else, Katharine?

Katharine looked at her with soft gray eyes. She’d never considered her to be a real grandmother, because there was no tenderness between them, but now she could almost imagine it. "You can go to the bookshelf and find the book Songs and Poems of a Winter’s Night. It has a black leather cover."

Sydney found the book, pulled it from the shelf, and brought it over to Katharine. She opened the cover and Sydney was surprised to see that the interior of the book had been hollowed out. Inside the small space was a tiny cell phone and a scrap of paper.

Katharine? Sydney asked in confusion, when she handed the phone to her after turning it on.

Katharine’s eyes hardened. I was never allowed to love you the way that I wanted to. Harris refused to allow me to be overly kind to you, saying that it would only coddle you against the realities of life. You see, child, Byron learned how to treat women from Harris. I have suffered through his brutality since I was sixteen. It’s taken me a long time, but I am finally almost free of this life. I won’t go into the beyond and leave you defenseless.

Sydney looked down at the phone.

What are you saying?

Katharine licked her dry lips. There is a group of wolves that will help a female in your situation, Sydney. They’re called the Were-animal Relocation Group. You send a text to them and explain your situation and they will help you get away from Byron and the pack and start your life over.

Her whole world narrowed down to those last few words. She could start her life over again? She could actually be free of Byron and his abuse? The fragile seed of hope, which had never quite died completely, bloomed to life inside her. Fear and relief twined in her chest. Dare she hope that she might be free?

Her hands trembled and her eyes filled with tears. I don’t know what to say. It sounds too good to be true. Why would strangers help me?

Katharine sighed. Not all packs are like ours, Sydney. There are males out there that revere and love their mates and never strike them. This group is like that. They want to help people like you.

Sydney wiped away the tears on her cheeks. Why haven’t you called them?

Katharine smiled and coughed a few times. I didn’t find out about them until a few weeks ago. It’s too late for me now, child, but it’s not too late for you. Start your life right and find the male that is right for you, one that will worship you and treat you like a queen. Have lots of cubs and live a long, happy life.

Happiness. Was it really a text away?

She’d never been allowed to have a cell in high school because her mother couldn’t afford one, so she didn’t know how to send a text. Katharine taught her how to open a text message, and Sydney texted the phone number on the scrap of paper with the message that Katharine dictated: I need help. My mate beats and rapes me. My alpha refuses to intervene. My name is Sydney Nichols."

When she pressed the ‘send’ button, Katharine showed her how to turn off the phone and slipped it and the scrap of paper into the book before closing it gently. You need to run away, Sydney. Do you have any family?

My mother’s parents are in Europe somewhere, and she has a cousin in Alaska.

The relocation group will find a way to get you to safety. You must flee soon. Harris is riding Byron about your inability to provide children, and they’re going to take matters into their own hands soon.

Sydney’s mouth went dry. From time to time, Byron liked to inject Sydney with drugs that made her full moon desires ramp up. On a normal full moon, a she-wolf would be horny and excitable, but the drugs made her insatiable, turning her desires into pain-filled hours that would only ease when she was having sex.

Tears filled her eyes. I can’t do this anymore, Katharine.

Then leave, child. My time on this earth isn’t much longer. The last good thing I do in life will be to help you get free.

Sydney hugged the book to her chest, not sure she really believed it was possible. Could she really find freedom somewhere beyond the walls of her prison? Outside of the pack’s territory?

Hand me the bottle of pills on the dresser, dear, Katharine said. Sydney fetched them. I think I’ll take three this time.

Sydney held the glass of water for her as she placed three white oval pills on her tongue and then finished the water. Sydney returned the empty glass and the pills to the dresser.

It won’t be long now, child, Katharine said wearily.

What won’t be? Sydney smoothed the blanket.

The pills are taking me from this life, slowly, so that it won’t draw any attention to what I’m doing. Harris thinks they’re vitamins, but they’re poison. Promise me, dear. Promise me that you’ll get free and live the life that I could have had if I hadn’t mated Harris. Or that you could have had if your mother hadn’t betrayed you.

I promise, Katharine, Sydney whispered, crying softly.

The old woman’s eyes closed in sleep and Sydney leaned up and kissed her forehead, whispering thank you, before gathering the dishes and leaving the room. She glanced back at the frail-looking woman, who was sleeping soundly. She hadn’t known that Katharine wasn’t allowed to be kind to her, and she wondered if the other females were under similar orders from Monroe or Byron. It didn’t make her feel any less lonely, but she understood now why she’d been so isolated. She would have given anything for a few conversations with Katharine like this one. To know she wasn’t alone in her suffering. She opened the bedroom door and stepped out, and as she closed it, she silently wished for Katharine to find peace.

Katharine died in her sleep that night, and Monroe and Byron were beside themselves with grief. Sydney was mourning as well, but only because she wished that she’d had an opportunity to get to know her better, without the threats