Four Days (Seven Series #4) by Dannika Dark
Prologue
When a blanket of stars stretched overhead and the luminous moon enveloped the brisk night, Lorenzo’s wolf trotted up the steps of a spacious mansion nestled deep in the woods.
His home.
Lorenzo Church led one of the largest wolf packs in Austin, Texas. His home accommodated roughly fifty Shifters, including women and children. Perhaps it was an ambitious size, but Lorenzo believed strength lay in numbers. Only a formidable leader could control a pack with that many wolves, and it required him to be demanding and merciless.
The contemporary home had sleek lines, plenty of windows, and a boxy look on the outside. While it appeared cold and unwelcoming, it gave off the impression that Lorenzo was a man to admire. The interior contradicted its modern, outward appearance. Lorenzo had customized the inside to resemble a rustic cabin of epic proportions. The social rooms were warm and inviting, each with wood floors and Native American décor. Only the kitchen and game rooms were styled with a modern touch to provide the pack a diverse environment. Towering three stories high, the Church house was an impressive estate overlooking five hundred acres of property.
He lifted his snout in the air, smelling the bitter scent of wild weeds. A small vine had tangled around one of his dirty paws, but Lorenzo ignored it and lurched up the steps. Most Shifters had no memory once their animal took over, but alphas had a powerful bond with their spirit wolf, one that made it possible for them to remember the shift and have a degree of control while they were in animal form.
Late October usually meant agreeable weather with a few cold snaps. But over the last few weeks, Lorenzo’s wolf had sensed a hard winter approaching that would bring record temperatures. The wind had shifted that morning and had been gusting all day. His wolf glanced up at the moon; dark clouds raced across the sky.
Lorenzo shifted into human form long enough to open the front door.
He’d spared no expense in building this home, which was nestled high on a hill in the forest. As soon as the air-conditioning raised the hair on his arms, Lorenzo shifted back into his wolf. His ebony toenails clicked on the reddish wood floor, and an amber glow from the light fixtures illuminated the interior.
Most of the men were at the Shifter bar, searching for the kind of gratification that only the company of an unmated woman could bring. There were sixteen bitches in his pack, all mated with the exception of five. Two of those five were teenage girls nearing the age of maturity. Lorenzo protected them, as did their fathers, since young women didn’t date until they went through their first change, which usually happened in their late teens or early twenties. It was considered a rite of passage for a young woman when her wolf emerged for the first time—symbolizing the loss of innocence, and only then did they begin to search for a mate. If they were unlucky finding a suitable Shifter, Lorenzo would relocate them to a pack of their choice, as was also the custom for young men. The remaining three unmated women were untouchable to the rest of the men because Lorenzo shared his bed with them, but only on his terms.
“Hey, Enzo,” one of his men said in greeting. Friends called him Enzo, while business associates addressed him as Church.
His wolf growled, tail high as he trotted past the man and scurried up the staircase. Lorenzo could have walked in the house in human form since Shifters didn’t have inhibitions when it came to nudity, but his men needed contact with his wolf on a regular basis. They were both in charge, and each deserved the same magnitude of respect. He polished his fangs with his tongue, the taste of blood still fresh on his palate from the hunt.
Lorenzo resided in the largest room on the third floor, and he had the entire level to himself. When he reached his door, he shifted into human form again and went inside. The door closed behind him, and he touched one of the tall bedposts on his right. Each had intricate carvings of wolves and other Native American symbols.
The room had a unique and sizeable layout. The bed and fireplace were to his right, and on the left was a dark wall with a low chest of drawers. Various heirlooms passed down from his ancestors decorated the shelf and walls. But midway through the room, the wall stopped and became a long row of floor-to-ceiling windows that extended all the way to his luxurious bathroom. His room branched farther off the left side of the house than the others to give him the scenic view. Because they were on a hill, it placed his room high above the treetops. The view in the morning was exquisite, with soft gold and copper hues spreading across the land like a brilliant tapestry of light.