Pansy Medeela swallowed heavily as she watched the man of her dreams approach. Yes, she had had a crush on him for the last five years, but she knew that, to him, she was simply a mechanic.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Barkley.” She hadn’t had time to clean up, so she stood there in her boiler suit and grease smudges.

“Afternoon, Prix. Is she ready yet?” He referred to his 1960 Oldsmobile 98.

“She’s ready, but you have to take better care of her. She is not designed for country roads. I pulled two pounds of gravel from her undercarriage.” Pansy handed him the bill and watched him sign for the repairs before giving him his keys. The repairs would be put on his account and settled at the end of the month.

“Well, I am glad that I got this out of the way. I am heading to the Crossroads at the end of the month. Hopefully, I will find the woman for me.”

He winked at her and left her standing behind the counter, her hopes and dreams crushed in his wake.

Pansy was reeling. She didn’t know what to do. Since she had first found him and his classic car by the side of the road, she had had a crush on Axander Barkley, honey badger.

“Who was that, Prickles?” Her brother Thomas came up beside her.

“Barkley. He retrieved his Olds.”

“Right. You did great work on that. She looks like new.”

“She deserves better than a self-centred jackass like him. Excuse me.” She left her stunned brother and retreated to the break room where two more of her relatives were sitting and having coffee.

Her father and second youngest brother blinked at her arrival and got to their feet.

She snarled at them and slammed out the back door of the shop, heading for the woods.

Pansy climbed a tree and sat there, trying to figure out what to do next. Her life revolved around her family and fixing cars. She loved the cars, but she wanted more from life than simply fixing other people’s toys.

Andrew came and stood at the foot of the tree. “What is wrong, Pansy?”

He was the only one of her brothers not to call her Prickles or Little Prick. It was hard being not only the only girl in a family of men, but also the only porcupine in a family of wolves. She was a random, and it made her life hell when she tried to get outside her own social circle. No one wanted to mess with the pack.

“I am stuck, Andrew.”

He blinked. “In the tree?”

She laughed. “No. In my life. Even Barkley is heading off to the Crossroads and I am stuck fixing car after car and being surrounded by fangs and tails. I want a life. I want a family, babies, a chance to have a man that doesn’t hump the couch in his shifted form.”

He chortled. “Yeesh, do it once and you are branded for life.”