Chapter One
Summerville Virginia 2013
Colette mated Jordan Giroux when she was fifteen years old. Their parents thought that it was a good idea not to stop them and decided it would calm them both down. At the time, they were both running wild, literally and hormonally. They were so in love that it was legendary. She scoffed at that thought. “Not anymore.” She muttered. Lettie scrubbed the kitchen floor for the third time this week and it was only Wednesday. There was nothing that Lettie hated more than a mess. Jordan Giroux was officially a pain in her ass. For the past few years, he’s had a bug up his butt about climbing the hierarchy of the pack. Lettie didn’t give a whit about pack politics and never had. The Jordan that she fell in love with didn’t either. All she ever wanted was to have a home with her mate, maybe a pup or two someday and to be happy. Happiness was evading her. Happiness was not scrubbing mud off the floors. If he came home once more with muddy boots, she and he were going to duke it out. He would stomp in from God knew where and leave mud on her floors. She may not whip his ass but he’d know she’d been there. That thought lifted the corner of her mouth. Lettie had been itching for a fight for awhile now. She was sick and tired of all of it and they needed to work this out one way or another. What happened to the romantic wolf she’d married? He used to bring her flowers that he picked on his way home because he was thinking of her. She hadn’t seen a petal in years. Lettie wrung out the mop and turned it upside down on the back porch to dry. She straightened her long golden brown pony tail and went to the fridge to get the chicken to start supper. His heavy boots stomped up the back porch. Lettie narrowed her golden green eyes on the back door waiting for him.
“Lettie!” His voice thundered as he slammed through the screen door in his muddy boots. “Where’s dinner? I got to go back out soon, pack business.” He plopped down in his chair at the kitchen table. As angry as Jordan could make her, he was still the sexiest man on the planet. Dark brown tousled hair fell over his forehead and amber brown eyes watched her. His nose twitched then he bared his teeth in a half smile. He stomped in here with muddy boots on purpose, she thought.
“I just mopped the floor and look what you’ve done.” She pointed at the boot prints crossing her clean floor. “Well?” He looked down at the footprints.
“You want my boots out of the kitchen?” He looked up at her angry face with one eyebrow peaked. He had that sarcastic look on his face that she wanted to smack off his face. It was the look that said ‘I’m about to piss you off and I’m thrilled about it.’
“Duh.” Her head jerked back and forth on her neck. He stood and marched through the kitchen, across the living room and into the bedroom. “Jordan! Damn it!” She screamed and followed him. He was sitting on the side of the bed taking his boots off. Mud splattered across her favorite shag rug, the one her Grandmother hooked by hand, as the heavy boots dropped to the floor with a thud.
“Dinner ready?” She blinked and narrowed her eyes at him. “What good are you anyway?” Lettie launched herself at him ready to tear his eyes out. He flipped her easily across the bed. “I remember what you’re good for now.” Jordan pushed her skirt up while he held her down with the other hand. He was laughing.
“Go ahead and do your business so I can mop the floor for the second time today.” Lettie climbed to all fours and waited. He froze staring at his mate. Her head hung between her shoulders as if she was waiting to be beaten. When had all this gone so wrong? Jordan wondered. When had they wandered so far from each other and so much farther from love? He flipped her skirt down and put his other boots on. Lettie looked over her shoulder at him on the side of the bed. “Well? I got things to do.”
“Go do them.” He didn’t look at her. The muscles in his back writhed under his tight tee shirt as he laced his boots and her fingers wanted to touch them but her mind held her back. They were fighting.
“It’s Friday.” She said hoping he would make a move. Her brows knitted over hazel green eyes.
“Yep.” He grunted and kept lacing his boots.
“Do it now Jordan, I’m not waiting up for you.” She brushed her ponytail over her other shoulder. Demanding never worked with him and she had no idea why she bothered.
“Don’t.” He didn’t look at her.
“You don’t want to?” His head shook and she set her jaw clearly miffed.
“Nope.” He got up and stomped through the house then slammed out of the back door. Lettie sat on the edge of the bed looking down at the muddy boots and sighed. She plucked them up with two fingers and carried them out to the porch then flung them out in the yard. Lettie grabbed the mop and refilled the bucket with pine cleaner. Jordan hated pine cleaner and she’d already decided to mix it strong. He said that it didn’t smell like pine at all, just chemicals. Every time he muddied her floor, she would mix it stronger. She was so tired of his crap.