When Everly Reed collides with the cynical and devilishly handsome Mason Valdez, she knows trouble is ahead, but she never could have guessed how much she would be drawn to the storm. ***** Nineteen-year-old Ever Reed likes when things make sense. Which is probably why she excels at math, enough to secure her a spot at an Ivy League school out of state. Sheltered by her mother and older brother Asher for most of her life, Ever hasn't experienced much of the world, but she knows New York will be an adventure. Enter Mason Valdez: cynical, arrogant, and undeniably attractive-exactly what Ever doesn't need. But as their paths keep crossing, Ever finds herself intrigued by Mason, and eager to know the boy behind the bitter mask. As secrets, scars, and painful pasts rise to the surface, Ever knows one thing for sure: they can only make it through if they face their storms together. [[word count: 150,000 - 200,000]] Cover designed by Frances Louise De Ramos Spinoff to The Hoodie Girl Book One of the A Thousand Storms series [[The Fiction Awards 2018 Best Overall Story and Best Romance Winner]] Content/trigger warning: This story mentions sexual assault and childhood abuse

"Will you be mine?" he asked me in a husky voice. I stared at him apprehensively for a moment, thinking over his proposal carefully before finally settling on an answer that would, in the end, please us both. "Yes, Alpha. I'll be yours." For Claire life was rather mundane and boring. Nothing particularly exciting or interesting ever happened to her. Well except that she would meet her mate any day now. And for her, that day couldn’t come soon enough. When Claire finally meets her mate she is all but shocked to find that it’s the Alpha of her pack. Let’s just say they were both a little thrown by the sudden realization. For Daniel, he had always pictured himself settling down and mating his longtime girlfriend Jasmine Marshall. He was head over hills in love with her. Throw in another hot Alpha from a rival pack and a painful rejection and what do you have? A mess! A million thoughts were whirling through Claire’s mind. One of them being, why was this hot, sexy, Alpha, willing to help her? She was no one of importance in the pack nor was she his mate. She was just plain old Claire. So what did he want with her exactly? And what was with this Surrendering thing he kept insisting on? Well she’s soon to find out. Life for Claire was about to become much more complicated than she ever knew. If only she could see what was coming her way before hand. Too bad she wasn’t that lucky.