One True Mate 1: Shifter's Sacrifice by Lisa Ladew Page A

Wade held a favored position, as the leader of the region where Rhen’s physical body was housed, and the region where Khain was said to reside within the Pravus .
    So Trevor was pulled from duty as a Sergeant in his local police station, transferred to Serenity, IL, promoted, and put in charge of the Khain Special Response Team, an unlikely collection of wolven who all had been named in prophecies, but Trevor was the only one who appeared to be named in two of them. He also was the only one with a Citlali for a father, but many had said that Crew could be a Citlali if he were fit for the job, so Trevor didn’t think that part mattered.
    Trevor sighed, missing the old days, when packs were small enough that they were made up of only family and mates. His own father had been born into a pack at the turn of the last century that only had eighteen wolven in it. His father had shared many stories of pranks and jokes played on his brothers and sisters, the smile on his face revealing how close they had all been, how much they had loved each other.
    But today, with the way the job of the wolven had grown with the populace of the country, there was no such thing as a small pack anymore. Alpha leaders had been replaced by Chiefs and Lieutenants and Sergeants of sprawling police forces, and that just didn’t work as well. Some families still tried to keep pack alliances strong within the family, but when a working wolven’s first loyalty had to be to his chain of command, there were conflicts.
    Serenity PD had two hundred and ninety sworn police officers, all wolven . That was no simple pack. Truth be told, Trevor thought the lack of one clear alpha that every wolfen worked with on a daily basis created many of the problems that Mac thought a rut was going to fix. He would see. After the rut, he would check the temperament of the KSRT and see if anything had changed. He doubted it. The KSRT was a boiling pot of nine alphas, all trying to live together and do the same job, without killing each other. It barely worked. So far, most of them tolerated him, but none of them accepted him as leader, and he didn’t think they ever would. According to Wade, when Mac had been leader they hadn’t accepted him either. Too much aggression, drive, and testosterone crashing around, but then, their aggression and drive were reasons why each of them had been chosen for the job.
    Trevor thought about going home, but decided against it. If Khain had crossed over once, he might do it again. Trevor wanted to be ready. He wanted to be close.
    He crossed his arms over his chest and relaxed in the mildly-comfortable chair, but with no place to put his legs. Sleep tried to come quickly, as he was exhausted from not having slept the night before, but the chair was not made for sleeping.
    Desperate for just a few hours of shut-eye, Trevor slid to the area rug on the cold ground, laid his head on the pillow of his arms and fell asleep immediately with his boots still on.
    He dreamed of his One True Mate. Sleeping somewhere close by. Needing him. Wanting him.
    Made just for him.

Chapter 12
     
    Ella’s eyes snapped open and she shifted uncomfortably, her body stiff from sleeping on the basement floor. She groaned and wondered how long she’d been there. She forced herself to her feet and stretched her back, turning in a circle towards the window, staring for a long time at the early morning sunshine. Had she really slept all night? The sun, barely skimming the tops of the trees from the east, said she had.
    No wonder she felt stiff. She used the tiny unfinished bathroom in the corner of the basement, not bothering to check her hair or face. She knew she looked awful. Her mind began spinning almost immediately with what she needed to do that day. Paint over the white splash on the front of the house, then head downtown and check out Mrs. White’s shop. Assure herself it had all been a─ what’s a nice word for a hallucination? A fantasy maybe, or a