“My Pride is looking for a shifter-friendly place to take the family on vacation. I hear your national park boasts not only a mostly Lycan staff but can accommodate a large number with the lodge, cabins, and the many campsites. I’d like to rent them all for a period of two weeks.”

“You’re too late. Next summer is pretty much sold out.” Jude didn’t even have to look at the calendar. The prime months of June to August had almost been fully booked weeks ago.

“Not looking for a summer jaunt. I hear October is a quiet time for tourists, which would be ideal.”

Not a point Jude could refute. “Guess I can pencil you in for next fall.”

“Actually, I was hoping to do it this year.”

“You do realize the park shuts down in three weeks?” Every year the isle closed to tourists from the end of October until April.

“I’m aware. This was a last-minute decision. The teachers went on strike, and it’s not looking like there will be a fast resolution, so we thought we’d distract the children.” As if on cue Jude heard hollering in the background—"Give it back. It’s mine!” “Make me.” “Rawr” “Mom, Logan is trying to bite me again.”

The squabble had Jude wincing, and he cleared his throat. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. This time of year is fairly chilly and—”

“We’re New Yorkers. The cold doesn’t scare us.”

“Given we’re close to shutting down, there’s very little staff left on the isle.” Only a handful of rangers remained to close out the season.

“That’s not a problem. You can release any that are human, with full pay covered by us of course. The Pride will take care of all the cooking and cleaning.”

Before Jude could formulate an excuse that didn’t emerge as Fuck off, I hate cats, Arik added, “We’re prepared to pay handsomely.”

The sum the lion Alpha quoted couldn’t be resisted. A park ranger, taking a bribe? If you saw how much they got paid, you’d take it too. The money could be used for a myriad of things. Setting up a few college funds for the two newest editions to their group. Repairing their boat, their only means of transport to the mainland once the ferries stopped running. Life-changing money, and so, Jude made a deal with the feline devil and now that the lions had descended and wrecked his peace, Jude wished he’d held out for more.

The lion that had been chasing the kids suddenly bolted across the front of the lodge with a gaggle of cubs snarling in pursuit.

Too late to change his mind now. Jude just had to survive these two weeks, and then he’d get his calm oasis back.

“Hey, boss, got a minute?” Emery, one of the Pack who’d stayed behind, hailed him.

“What’s up?”

“Found a boat grounded by the Pickerel Cove campground.”

Jude’s lips pursed. “Did you locate the occupants?”

“Nope. Couldn’t scent a trace either. Not sure the boat had any to be honest, seeing as how we haven’t heard of anyone who’s gone missing that hasn’t been recovered.” Usually, people who went out boating and didn’t return caused search and rescue to launch.

“Could be it came loose and floated ashore.” Possible, but strange seeing as how the winds for this region tended to push things onto the east and southeast parts of the isle. “Go back and investigate the area just in case, though. With all these lions running around, flipping in and out of their animals, last thing we need is an incident with a human.”

“Got it, boss!” Emery jogged off, and Jude strolled away from Rock Harbor Lodge—and its invasion of felines who shed everywhere they sprawled—heading for the shoreline where he could breathe in the fresh air and clear the ringing from his ears.

It didn’t take long to reach the beach, and he stood for a moment admiring. Lake Superior could have almost been a small sea with how large of an area it covered, its water a deep, dark blue. There’d been a time when Isle Royale used to be in dispute, the Canadians trying to lay claim, but the US government eventually wrangled it into their possession. The isle had no population, unless the transient kind counted—tourists, rangers, and those running the lodge and other accommodations, most of them members of his pack. Jude had slowly but surely ensured all humans got replaced. A good chunk of the Pack left by the end of September once the ferries stopped running and the number of visitors dropped drastically. Jude, though, and a handful of others, remained behind to finish off the season.

“Grawr!”

Jude held in a sigh as a mob of cubs sprinted past him with a tiger in pursuit. Not the only non-lion on the isle. Apparently, the pride didn’t have issue with intermarriage. Since their arrival, he’d seen at least two tigers, a liger, a tigon, a bear, and a few humans who knew the shifter secret since they were mated to lions.

With his peace already ruined, Jude aimed for the Rocky Harbor Lighthouse, one of four in the area and the most accessible. The structure, built in 1855 and last used in 1879, had long been a place of historical interest.

As Jude neared the fifty-foot tower, he noticed a woman standing at its base looking up, hands on her hips.

“Matilda, get your furry butt down here right now!” she hollered at the cub scaling the tower’s white-painted brick.

Another lioness who’d lost control of her cub. Seemed to be a trend. While he usually wouldn’t care if the kid fell and injured themselves, there would be drama and tears and yelling that implied he was somehow at fault. Not today. He lacked the mood to be diplomatic about it.

Jude lengthened his stride and quickly reached the woman. “Doesn’t seem like your cub is listening too well,” he observed, seeing as how the tyke continued to climb.

“Trust me, I noticed,” groused the woman. “I swear she didn’t used to be this disobedient, but ever since her parents died, she’s turned into an utter handful.”

An orphan. Argh. Sympathy tempered some of his irritation; however, the fact remained—the child needed to get her ass back down. “Her name’s Matilda?”

“Yes, and I’m her aunt Hazel. We’re with—”

“The Lion’s Pride group. I know.” Apart from Jude’s remaining pack, they were the only people on the isle. The ferries that brought the tourists all stopped running early October. Arik had to pay a pretty penny to charter the main ferry to bring his people over. While someone could still try and land in the isle’s bay using a seaplane or speed in via private boat, this time of year it proved unlikely. The wind off the lake had a deep biting chill to it, and with most of the leaves fallen, selfie season had ended.

“I thought a vacation with the other cubs might help Mattie adjust to her new reality, you know get her mind off her parents, but she’s not shown any interest in hanging with the other kids.”

As if Jude cared about this child’s emotional state. His only duty was to make sure she didn’t die doing something stupid.

“Stand to the side, would you?” Jude asked before he craned to look upward.

“Why?”

“Because I said so,” he growled. The scent of her had his wolf urging him to get close. Not happening. But she smells good, whined his inner Lycan. Don’t fucking care.

“Excuse me, Mr. Bossy. Are you always this abrupt?”

“Yes.”

“Do you bark out orders in bed too?”

A sharp veer of his head showed her smirking. “Do you want my help or not?”

“I’d love for you to give me a hand,” she purred with a wink.

Bloody cats. Never took anything seriously. Ignoring her flirtatious remarks—and the fact he didn’t hate her cute smile, button nose, and twinkling eyes—Jude returned his attention to the child, now three-quarters of the way through her climb but slowing. Steep ascents took stamina and strength. A cub might begin a climb such as this easily, but the child had now reached the point where reality set in and muscles trembled.

Perfect. Using his most strict alpha tenor, he bellowed, “Get your ass down here right now, missy.”

His yell startled the cub, who peered down and, in the process, lost her grip.

As expected.

Jude held out his arms and caught the plummeting, yowling bundle of fur. “You’re safe,” he barked when the feline would have thrashed and clawed. The cub stilled and peered at him with big eyes before transforming to offer a cute, “Thank you.”

“Matilda Gertrude Mason-Guerra, what on earth were you thinking? That was super dangerous,” her aunt Hazel chided.

“Thorry,” the child mumbled. “Wanted to tee the big light.”

“You know you could have gone inside and used the stairs,” Jude drawled.

“Really?” The child brightened and wiggled, so he set her down. Her naked butt bolted for the house attached to the brick tower, once the home of the keeper, now a museum for tourists.

“Thanks for your help, Mr. Lykos.”

“You know my name?”

“Arik made sure we all knew your face and told us you were being very nice letting us come to your isle and to not do anything to fuck it up or he’ll skin us and have us mounted on the wall. I think he means it too. We’ve been banned from the last three resorts we vacationed at,” she confided.

Gee, color him surprised. “No harm done this time but you should keep a closer eye. Kids are curious by nature, with cats being worse than most.”

“Indeed, they are. Speaking of Matilda’s curiosity, I’d better get on her tail before she finds a new way to get in trouble.” Hazel, with the nicest bum he’d had the opportunity to admire in a while, went bolting, taking with her the most delectable scent.

Follow that yummy. At his inner wolf’s demand, he almost took a step in Hazel’s direction, only to come to his senses. A wolf did not chase cats. Okay, maybe they did, but only because they wanted to eat them.

Hmm. That wasn’t helping because the eating his mind conjured…definitely not happening.

Before Jude could do anything foolish—like maybe see if a certain feline liked taking orders in bed—a moose went bolting past in full-blown panic, likely because of the cub with its claws dug in atop its back.

Sigh. He should have asked for a bigger bribe.

Chapter 2

Hazel found her niece at the top of the lighthouse, hands pressed to the casing protecting the light, face practically glued to it.

“Matilda.” She tried using a stern voice, completely out of character, however, being rebuked by a grumpy and handsome wolf reminded she was the adult in charge, not her niece. “You know you’re not supposed to run off. This isle can be dangerous, and you need to be accompanied by a grownup at all times.”

“Told you wanna tee the light,” she lisped.

“And I told you we’d go soon as I finished my kitchen duties.” Given the lodge staff had been let go due to the late season and the fact they’d wanted privacy to be themselves, the Pride had created a chore chart to keep the place running. Since Hazel couldn’t cook—unless crackers and cheese counted—dishwashing had been assigned as one of her tasks.

“Too long,” griped the child.

“Patience is a virtue,” Hazel repeated and suddenly got an urge to gag, for she sounded just like every adult she’d rolled her eyes at as a child.

“No like waiting,” groused Matilda.

“I’m aware. You’re lucky that man was there to snatch you when you fell.” Hazel might have been able catch her tumbling niece, but with Hazel weighing in at just over a hundred and twenty pounds and Matilda weighing a solid forty, it could have been iffy. Imagine the look of the wolf if he’d come across her flattened by a toddler.

“The man mell like a dog,” complained the little girl, her lips dropping the s on smell, but Hazel had learned to decipher what she meant.

“Because he’s a wolf. Remember, I told you all the park rangers were shifters like us.”

“Not like me. I am a lion. Rawr!” Matilda flipped into fur and uttered a small roar before scooching for the stairs.

Here we go again. Hazel sighed. While she’d not hesitated to take her niece in after the death of her sister and husband, times like these had her questioning her decision. She’d gone from a life of work, and play, to work, wrangling a child, arguing with a child, cleaning up after a child, and wondering when it would get easier—and less sassy. Had she been this mouthy as a kid? Yes, and so had her sister. Guess it ran in the family. Ugh.

Hazel exited the lighthouse to see Arik, the Pride’s alpha, standing with arms crossed in front of Matilda. As usual, one of his brood clung to his back and peered over his shoulder.

“Are you running away from your aunt again?” he asked sternly. It had happened more than a few times in the condominium building the Pride called home. The first time Hazel had panicked and pulled the fire alarm, convinced Matilda had been kidnapped. She’d been found on the rooftop, claiming she wanted to see the city.

Matilda, bum plopped onto the ground, nodded her furry head before hanging it in most likely fake contrition.

Arik crouched to her level. “You know it’s scary for Hazel when you go missing. Try and take it easy on her. Your auntie is new to this whole parenting thing.”

Matilda swapped shapes to utter a belligerent, “Not my mommy,” before her naked butt bolted in the direction of the lodge. She’d not been dealing well with the death of her parents. Completely understandable. Hazel missed the kid she used to know, though. They used to have such grand adventures together visiting the zoo to scare the prey, racing through Central Park startling joggers, eating ice cream for dinner. The relationship changed when suddenly Hazel couldn’t just be the fun aunt but had to set rules and make Matilda abide by them.

“Thanks, Arik.” Their alpha insisted on them using his first name, as it raised less questions in public.

“Thanks for what? I don’t think she listened,” his wry reply.

“It’s a work in progress.” She eyed the cub peeking at her over Arik’s shoulder and asked, “How do you keep your guys in line?” Arik, and his human wife, Kira, had five kids now, rambunctious and lively, but when either parent spoke, the tykes obeyed.

“Depends on the kid. We make sure they know the rules and consequences for disobeying. My oldest hates losing gaming privileges. For Bonnie and Logan, it’s desserts. Francis is very familiar with our time-out corner, but Gigi”—he tugged the cub from his back to cradle it in his arms—“is an angel, aren’t you, sweetie?” He rubbed his nose against the cub’s, who chuffed in pleasure.

“Guess I need to be better at setting boundaries and making sure she understands the consequences when she doesn’t listen. It’s just…”

“You feel bad because she lost her parents, and she knows it, hence why she keeps defying you.”

“It’s been tough. I’ve explained I’m not trying to take the place of her mom and dad, but at the same time, I’m her guardian now. and I haven’t a clue what I’m doing.” Her lips twisted.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. After all, you graduated top of your class in both high school and college.”

She snorted. “And yet a not-even-five-year-old has the capacity to make me feel dumb.”

Arik grinned. “Sounds about right. When Peter starts reciting what he’s learned in school, I have to pretend I understand what he’s talking about.”

“Any other words of advice before I chase her down?”

“Give yourselves both time to figure out what works. And don’t be afraid to put your paw down. She needs to understand sooner than later who’s boss.”

Apparently not Hazel because when she came across Matilda sniffling, tucked under a picnic table, she forgot all about the speech she’d prepared and hunted down some ice cream.