Nicholas looked over at Clara sleeping quietly in her bed. His daughter was just ten years old, but sometimes it felt like she was going on thirty. He knew it was hard on her not having a mom like the other pups in her new school, but Maccon City was going to be good for them.
He believed that with all his heart. Had to, for Clara’s sake. After three tours of duty, losing his right foot for Uncle Sam, and serving for six years as a beat cop in the 135th precinct in New York City, he was ready for a different kind of life. For himself, and for his pup.
Technically, a member of the Macconwood Pack, though it had been years since he’d visited the almost all Shifter town of Maccon City, Nicholas reached out to the Wolf Guard for permission to move within city limits. He’d heard a rumor the new Alpha, son of one of the most ruthless SOBs ever to rule a Pack, was nothing like his father.
With the end of the Curse of St. Natalis, all Werewolves had been experiencing a huge shift in their relationship with their beasts. His Wolf was present all the time, in the forefront of his mind, in his heart, and never had his Wolf appeared so effortlessly.
The change from human to beast was swifter than ever, and his animal’s ability to push his desires on his human mind fiercer. Yes, they needed a change. And it would be good for Clara to get out of the city. To be with pups like her.
“Maccon City, here we come,” he murmured, checking the stacked boxes and suitcases. Their apartment was small, but it was still a lifetime’s worth of memories and things to pack.
He was renting a small place in Maccon City for now and hoped to find something to buy in the future. Money was not an issue, but he did not want to rush things.
That’s how he wound up with a kid at twenty-two years old, no wife, and a stint in the army while his parents helped raise his little girl. Dad was gone now, Mom retired to Florida, and it was time for Nick to step up.
He loved his Clara, so it was no hardship. The decision to move was easy.
“Daddy?”
“What’s that, honey?”
“Will Santa find us all the way in Maccon City?”
“Of course he will. I sent him a change of address form and everything,” he told his daughter with a straight face.
“Because I really have been extra good, and I really want him to get me what I asked for.”
“Well, you know, honey, Santa does his best.”
“I know, Daddy.”
“What was it you asked for?” Curiosity piqued as he thought of the list of toys and clothes he’d already bought and stashed away for Christmas for his baby girl.
“Well, I know I have you and Nana, but I wanted a bigger family this year,” she said, averting her gaze to follow the snow on the side of the highway.
His heart squeezed inside his chest, and he sucked in a breath. Nick could only imagine how difficult it was for his daughter to not have a mother, especially now that she was entering her pre-teen years. He would do his best, though. Always had.
“We’re gonna have a good life, Clara. I swear it.”
It was the least he could promise his only child.
“I know, Daddy, and this Christmas will be great.”
If only he could share her enthusiasm. New Pack. New Life. New location. Same Loneliness. But they had each other, and that was enough.