Shades of Honor - Ebook

Is facing the past worth having a future?

Addie Chandler has kept her past a secret for nearly a decade. She has a new home, a new pack, and wants for very little. That was until Augie James stumbled into her life. Since then, she’s been fighting an uphill battle with herself, convinced it’s the only way to keep her secrets where they belong—buried.

Augie James has been out of sorts for months. His wolf runs at every chance, but Augie has no idea where he’s trying to run to. That is until Taya intervenes and sets him on the path to finding answers. Except there’s nothing easy about what he discovers.

Can Augie be the force Addie needs to move forward, or will her past continue to take away the happiness she deserves?

I’d spent ten years hiding from the monster that should have been my greatest protector. Ten agonizing and sorrowful years of missing the one my wolf loved even though he’d hurt us. Hurt us in the worst ways possible until I’d finally found my way out.
After spending months learning about the other packs when I was only nineteen, I’d been torn between finding my way to the Raven Point Pack in Oregon and the Catskills Pack in New York. Both alphas were powerful enough to keep me safe. Ultimately, I’d chosen the Catskills by dumb luck.
Elijah Anders, their alpha, had requested to stay within our small Minnesota pack while he was traveling through for business. I hadn’t known what for, and I hadn’t cared, either. I’d made a point to get him alone at the pack house where I was a prisoner.
He’d taken one look into my haunted eyes and understood.
“It’s okay, little wolf. We’ll get you out of here.”
Hearing those words had been the lifeline I’d needed to survive the mental and physical abuse Kane had caused me for two years after my father died.
My heart had been aching as of late, making me remember those dark days and keeping me on edge. I hated that I was still so affected after all this time. If Kane hadn’t come for me yet, I didn’t think he ever would. The part of me who’d learned to always be on alert wouldn’t ever shut down, though.
“Addie, dear. Are you decent?” Sera called from outside my door. It was only eight in the morning on my day off, but I’d been up and dressed for hours already.
Sera was Elijah’s mate, and as far as I was aware, knew nothing about where I’d come from ten years ago when Elijah brought me home to their pack. I’d made him alpha promise not to tell a soul where he’d found me, and that included his mate.
I hadn’t known Sera then, but I’d met other alpha mates, and they were vicious. I’d not only been bullied by my own mate, but his friends as well. I’d trusted no one during those early years.
“Come on in,” I called to her.
Even seeing Sera made the thoughts of my past smack me in the face. When Elijah had been killed, my secrets should have died with him, but they didn’t in my mind.
They haunted me more and more as the days passed while my heart ached for another I could never have.
Sera waltzed into my room, head held high as usual and a smile on her face, but it no longer reached her eyes. Not unless she was with her three sons. Even then, it wasn’t the same as when she’d had her mate at her side.
“I know you have the day off, but I wanted to speak with you. In private,” Sera said, and my heart sank.
I’d had another nightmare about my past, and my anxiety was already bordering on high, causing an irrational amount of fear to roll through me. What did Sera want? Had she learned where I’d come from? Did she want to kick me out, or worse, give me back to Kane?
My unease spiked to new levels as I nodded for Sera to continue.
“Addie, breathe. It’s okay. Nobody is going to hurt you. You’re safe here. Aiden would never let anyone harm you,” Sera whispered as she held my shaking hands, her blue-green eyes softening as I tried to pay more attention to the wisps of grey that had begun to show in her blonde hair.
The woman I’d considered my closest confidant knew exactly what to say, and that scared me almost as much. She shouldn’t have known my fears. Not unless she knew about my past.
A memory filtered in as I tried to remember if I’d slipped up. There was one time when I’d been caught emotionally exposed. I’d said things to Harper, things I should have kept to myself, but I’d known she needed to hear them as well. What if they’d put it all together…?