Run, run that’s all I can think of as my feet carry me across the woods, the clear night sky brimming with stars lighting my way in the darkness. I stop and hide behind a tree to catch my breath and to look down at the sleeping baby wrapped in my arms hoping he’s okay. Caden was thankfully still asleep. I look down at myself, my blouse and jeans are covered in sweat, my bare feet are bloody from all the twigs and rocks digging into them. I move some strands of my hair out of my face and fix the blanket wrapped around Caden, making sure his head is covered. I steal a glance at the wedding band on my ring finger fighting back the tears that threaten to surface, wishing David was alive. I take one more deep breath and resume running.

I should have known something was wrong when Keith invited me on this camping trip. Ever since David died six months ago Keith had been acting strange trying to get me to go out with him. Even after I told him that I was in no mood for a relationship so soon after David died and with Caden to take care of he kept acting clingy and touchy whenever he was around me. But I couldn’t just cut him out completely, he was David’s best friend, and now it’s too late. NO, I can’t think like that I have to think about Caden, I hold him close and keep running.

“KAREN!!!”

Oh no, he’s so close, I’ve got to keep moving. There must be a ranger’s station or somebody in these woods that can help. I come up to a steep hill. If a can find a safe way down this could help put some much-needed distance between us.

BANG

Hot searing pain hits my right shoulder forcing me over the edge. CADEN! I quickly turn myself into a ball, making sure I’m covering Caden with my whole body. As I roll down the hill, I can feel the wood and rocks scrape against my body. A sudden excruciating pain pierces my side making me scream, just as my back is slammed against a tree knocking the wind and of me. I slowly open my eyes my body lying on its side. My first thought is to check Caden. I look at the bundle in my arms, miraculously he’s okay. I let out a sigh of relief and that’s when the pain hits me. I’m covered with cuts and my clothes are torn from the fall. I look over at my shoulder to see a hole in it, blood spilling out. The bastard shot me! I go to move, but an excruciating pain in my side stops me. I look down to see a large splinter of wood sticking through my abdomen, blood just pouring out. I hold Caden in one arm, using my free hand to pull the splinter out, as I do I let out an ear-splitting scream. The pain was unbearable, but adrenalin and thoughts of keeping Caden safe kept me conscious. I drop the splinter and put pressure on the wound with my hand, I move into a sitting position using the tree as support.

Snap

The sound of a twig snapping makes me look up, and I see Keith standing there, out of breath with a rifle in his hands, his jeans and shirt covered with sap and sweat. His face is covered with blood from the four slashes I made with my nails, from when he tried to force himself on me.

“You shouldn’t have run Karen, look at the mess you’ve made.” His voice was calm, but I could hear the anger behind it.

Keith looks at me with a disgusting smile “You're losing too much blood now, the only sensible thing to do would be to put you both out of your misery.”

“Go to hell Keith.” Using both arms to cover Caden, Keith just chuckles.

“That’s what I always liked about you Karen, you were always a tough one, David wasn’t man enough to handle you. You needed someone like me to break you in.”

“You’ll never be man enough for me or be half the man David was. He was a doctor and cared about people. You’re just a drunk fry cook, you always were and always will be a leech who sponged off David!” I yell back at him his insult towards David making me angry.

With a furious expression, he raises the gun. I hug Caden, trying to shield him and close my eyes.

Click, Click

I open my eyes and see Keith fidgeting with the gun, something was clearly wrong with it. He throws it aside in frustration and pulls out a hunting knife. I move Caden to one arm and grab the only sharp thing close to me, the splinter that had pierced my side. I hold it up toward Keith and make one last prayer for someone to please help. Keith slowly starts moving towards us.

Suddenly a loud howl is heard all around us, so loud, I have to close my eyes. I wanted to cover my ears as well, but I dared not put either Caden or the splinter down. I looked up to see Keith opening his eyes and uncovering his ears, a terrified expression slowly dawning on his face as he looks at something behind us. Suddenly Keith is tackled into a brush away from us so fast I didn’t see what it was. I couldn’t see what was happening, but I could hear it, a low growl followed by Keith letting out a short scream and then a sickening snap. I don’t know what just happened, but Keith is gone and that’s all I care about. But with the relief comes pain, I drop the splinter clutching my side again. I look down, I’ve lost too much blood. I feel eyes on me so look back up and see eight giant wolves staring down at me. I can feel my eyes widen from my shock. The wolves make no move towards me, they just keep staring at me with a strange look in their eyes as if they’re trying not to scare me.

I cough and see blood come out, my eyes are getting hazy, and my head is feeling light. With the adrenalin fading the blood loss is getting to me. I get on my knees and place Caden on the ground in front of me and bow my head, the thought of entrusting these wolves with Caden pops into my head. Why, I don’t know but it’s probably the loss of blood making me delirious. I look up and see a wolf with reddish fur move toward Caden and gently sniffs. I don’t know why but I can just tell that this wolf is female, a mother. I slowly grab the wolf’s large head between my bloody hands and look directly into her eyes and will with every fiber of my being for her to understand.

“Please, please take care of him.” It comes out as barely a whisper

The wolf’s eyes seem to widen as if in shock but then slowly start to close as she places her forehead against mine as if sealing the promise.

“Thank you.” I whisper as I let go of the wolf.

I look down at Caden hoping he can feel how much I love him and how much his father loved him. With what little strength I have left I reach around my neck and unclasp a small locket and open it, a small picture of me, Caden, and David taken a week before the crash was inside. I place the locket in the blanket with Caden and give him one last kiss. I lay my head down next to him, I don’t feel any pain anymore I just feel tired, I just need a little rest…. just…. a little……res………

***

I walk up to the human female lying next to my mate Laura and see she has passed on; I offer a small prayer to the moon goddess hoping this human finds peace. I feel my mate shift into human form next to me, so I do the same and the others follow suit. Through the mental link I order Charles my beta to bring over two blankets. He quickly goes over to one of the wolves carrying our things and brings over two blankets. I hand one of the blankets to my mate she carefully removes the blanket covering the child, now stained by his mother’s blood, and wraps him in the clean blanket. I use the second blanket to cover the mother’s body as a sign of respect for the poor woman. As I cover the body and see the poor state she was in, rage fills me, no female deserves this, human or not. I look over to the brush where I had killed the human male a short while ago and wished I had killed him slowly and more painfully.

It was only by chance that we were coming down this way back to our territory. Having just finished a meeting with all the Alpha’s in the area. When we heard the female scream, we ran to investigate, but by the time we got here it was too late. I see my mate stand cradling the human baby in her arms, which makes me remember the matter at hand.

I turn towards the others. “Alright, first things first: everybody get dressed, we are headed to the nearest town, Tom and Megan you will go to the police station. Tell them you came across these two bodies while camping in the area. Charles, you start making phone calls to the nearby packs, I don’t want them finding out about this from someone else and start thinking we’re trying to move in on their territory. Barry and Will, you guys start looking for hotels with rooms available, we don’t know how long this will take we may end up spending the night. Zaya, call the pack back home and let everyone know what’s going on. Laura and I are going to take the baby to the hospital and make sure he’s okay before turning him over to the authorities. Got it?”

“The baby is staying with us.” Laura’s calm voice comes from behind me.

A collective gasp escapes from the others’ throats, I turned towards my mate shocked by her statement, she’s still looking down at the baby who is now awake and playing with her long red hair.

“Laura? What do you mean?” Confusion now replacing my shock.

She looks at me with a smile on her face. “I mean exactly what I said, this baby is ours now.”

“But Laura we can’t, that baby is human.” The others begin murmuring amongst themselves.

She looks at me with a stern expression across her face. “We can and we will. This woman entrusted her child to me through blood and dying breath.”

I begin to try and explain. “You don’t understand…”

“No Mattias, you don’t understand, this human created a bond between us, not just between females, but a bond between mothers. Which is something you will never understand so stop fighting me on this!” Some of the others begin to whimper, the aura she was exerting was not something to be taken lightly.

I try to reason with her. “But Laura, werewolves adopting a human has never been heard of.”

She scuffs and rolls her eyes at me. “Oh please, there have been plenty of humans who have joined packs.”

“But that’s different they were mates and none of them were….” I stop as soon as I see that my mate’s eyes have started to glow an icy blue. Anger clearly showing on her face, she stalks toward me with the baby still in her arms. I maybe the alpha of the pack but she is my mate and I know better than anyone not to argue with her when she gets like this. The aura she’s exerting makes the others behind me cower to the floor from the pressure, it’s even hitting me hard. Her usually small frame seems to somehow tower over me, which should be impossible because I’m a 6’0” and she’s 5’7”.

“He is coming with us and that is final.” The angry tone and finality in her voice gave no room for debate. I can only assume she didn’t yell because she didn’t want to scare the baby.

I look at her for a brief second before giving her a nod of resignation. Satisfied she releases her aura and with that, the pressure. Everyone, including myself, sigh in relief. The others who were on the floor were finally able to get up, some of them breathing heavily.

I turn back towards others. “Ok, Zaya when you call the pack back home let them know about the baby, everyone else your orders stay the same. Now go!” I use my alpha tone for the last part to make sure they start moving.

When I see they’ve cleared out I turn back to my mate. I see her standing over the dead female’s body, I can hear her murmuring something that I can only assume is a prayer. When she finishes, I walk up beside her, she smiles at me and the baby. When I see her like this, I can’t help but think of her holding our own son Lucas.

“Would you like to hold him?” She asks in a gentle voice.

Feeling kind of awkward about the whole situation from before, I simply smile and nod holding my arms out. She gently places the baby in my arms. I’m surprised, he feels heavier than I thought he would be. But that could just be the weight of responsibility I feel for bringing in a human into a pack of werewolves. I look down at the baby and he seems to look right back up at me, he’s soft brown eyes seemingly staring into my soul. He starts to coo and giggle, his little hand reaching up to me, and I feel my heart give way at that moment. I smile back down at him joy now filling me, now unable to fault my mate for wanting him.

“What are you thinking about?” Curiosity in her eyes and a smile on her lips.

I chuckle and gently hand the baby back to her, leaning down I kiss her on the lips and put my arms around them both.

“Nothing, just that Lucas has a baby brother now.”

Chapter One

Beep, Beep, Beep

I reach for the alarm clock on the nightstand to my right, when I finally feel it, I slam my hand down on the snooze button hard. I lift my head up from my bed to look at it, my eyes are still groggy, but I can see the time, 6 a.m. I push myself off my stomach, sitting up I rub my eyes trying to wake myself up. I look out the window, its barely light out, I get up and go to my bathroom to shower and wash my face. When I’m done in the bathroom I walk over to my dresser and put on my grey sweats and a white muscle shirt, training clothes, for my morning work out before school. Before I put on my jogging shoes, I walk over to nightstand and grab the locket my birth mother left me. I open it up and look at the picture inside, the picture is of me as a baby with my birth parents. I thank my birth parents for loving me and bringing me into this world and press the picture to my lips. Mattias and Laura, my foster parents, made sure I knew about my human parents from an early age. My birth father David had been a doctor, and my birth mother Karen had been some sort of financial consultant. Mom keeps telling me that Karen was warrior, having given her life to save mine, she fought so I could live. They tell me how much my birth parents loved me every day, they even kept my original birth name Caden to honor them. Sadly, both were the only child in their families and had no living relatives, so now I’m all that’s left of them. I shake off the momentary sadness and think about my adopted family. I love my current family my big, weird, werewolf family and they love me, and I know that my birth parents would be happy for me. I place the locket around my neck, put on my jogging shoes, and head out the door.

As I walk down the hall I decide to check in on Lucas and Noel, their rooms are next to mine, we have the entire third floor of the four-story mansion to ourselves. The mansion is referred to as the main house because this is where all the higher ups in the pack live with their families. I check in on my brother Lucas first, I crack his door open and peek inside, he’s completely knocked out. I notice he still seems to be wearing his clothes from yesterday, the pack meeting must have run long last night. I close the door and go to check on Noel in the next room. Noel is Charles’s son and Lucas’s best friend, the three of us grew up together so Noel is practically brother. I barely have the door open and I can already hear Noel’s loud snoring, he’s also still wearing his clothes from yesterday, I close the door and chuckle. I make my way down to the first floor where the kitchen is, I pour myself some cereal and quickly eat it.

I open the glass sliding door that leads to the backyard, the chill morning air hits me as I step out. The yard is just a small patch of lawn leading into the open woods, I breath in the air and it’s filled with the smell of trees and water from the nearby lake. As I start doing my stretches I look towards the house, it’s kind of strange to see a huge four-story mansion deep in the middle of the woods. With only a long dirt path to connect it to the main road, it’s very the definition of isolated, but I guess you can’t really have packs of werewolves coming and going out in the open and not have humans get suspicious. I finish my stretches and walk over to the lake a few yards away.

I look across the big circular lake, seeing the smaller houses where the other pack members live. My dad’s pack is a medium sized pack consisting of around twenty members, but what our pack lacks in size we make up for in quality. Our pack is part of the council, the council is made up of the eight strongest and most influential packs in the region, the unofficial leaders of the community. Packs on the council have anywhere from thirty to forty members, growing or shrinking depending on the situation, which makes us the smallest pack on the council. Though unofficial; other packs have come to crave the influence gained by being part of the council. Because of this, attacks on packs part of the council aren’t uncommon, even from each other, and since our pack is the smallest, we make good targets. Even the size of our territory is small compared to the others, but regardless of how small we are, our pack is highly influential among the others, this is mostly because our pack is loaded. Unlike what you see in movies being immortal doesn’t automatically make you rich, not growing old doesn’t get you paid. Most werewolves have to go to school and get jobs just like normal humans. As a young pup my dad was smart when it came to money. He started school at a young age and even went to college and got a business degree. To this day he swears he was the first werewolf to go to college, which I highly doubt. But because of his education, keen business mind, and good instincts he has a good eye when it comes to investing in companies. Many of his investments panned out extremely well and once the internet came around there was no stopping him. Now he owns and runs multiple businesses, and single handily supports the entire pack. Because of this, other alphas come to him for financial advice and support. But that’s not to say money is our only merit, our pack is strong, it’s a proven fact that some of the strongest and most skilled wolves in the region are in our pack.

I let out a yawn and stretch out my back, I’m about to start my morning jog, when I hear footsteps behind me. I look back to see Lucas and Noel in their training clothes jogging towards me.

Lucas calls out to me. “Hey wait up!”

“Couldn’t you just wait 10 minutes for us.” Noel’s tone makes his statement sound like an accusation, but the smile on his face lets me know he’s just messing around.

I grin. “It’s not my fault you two are slackers.” They both feigned being offended. “Well hurry up and stretch, I want to get going.”

Lucas and Noel both roll their eyes and speak in unison. “Yes, mooom.”

I chuckle, knowing they don’t need to stretch, I just enjoy busting their balls. Werewolves in human form are perfectly fit without the need to work out. Lucas stands at 5’11” and is built like a linebacker, Noel at 5’10” is a bit sleeker, kind of like a swimmer. Their much stronger and faster than normal humans like me. Add to that their amazing looks with Lucas’s white skin, thick reddish-brown hair, and clear blue eyes, and Noel’s dark skin, chiseled features, and hazel eyes. It’s no wonder all the girls at school, human and were, throw themselves at them. At 5’8” my fast metabolism keeps me from gaining any real muscle, but I do keep myself relatively toned and in good shape. Combined with my short brown hair and light brown eyes I wouldn’t call myself ugly, but girls aren’t exactly lining up to meet me. Heck I’ve never even had a girlfriend, I once asked my human friend Marisol how she would describe me, and she said, “Your kind of plain, not ugly just plain.” Also, I’m pretty sure being constantly surrounded by handsome werewolves doesn’t help at all, I shake the depressing thoughts out of my head and see Lucas and Noel are ready to go. We start to jog around the lake with Lucas and Noel matching my pace, I know for them this is the same as walking in slow motion. But no matter how many times I’ve told them to go at their own pace they just ignore me.

“So, what do you want to do for your birthday?” Lucas’s question makes me look over at him in confusion. “You do remember it’s your birthday today?”

Then it hits me. “Oh man, today is my birthday.”

Lucas and Noel begin to laugh at me, it had completely slipped my mind. Wow, it’s the end of December already, I’m eighteen years old! This is the age where I would officially join the pack and start helping in pack activities, or at least I should. No one really expects anything of me because I’m human, and I haven’t really told anyone about my plans for joining the pack because I’m not sure on how they’ll react. Lucas and Noel are both a year older than me and have already been officially accepted, but they’ve been helping with the pack ever since they were fifteen. As son of the alpha and next in line to take over, Lucas has been groomed since birth to take over the pack from our father. Charles as the beta, second in command under the alpha, has also made sure that Noel was trained from a young age as well, so he can be Lucas’s beta. They both know what they’re going to do and what the pack expects from them, not me.

There have been humans that have been accepted into packs before but it’s extremely rare and looked down upon by some werewolves. The main difference being that they were all females, they were either someone’s mate or the mother of a werewolf. A mate is a werewolf’s other half, in other words their soulmate and on the rare occasions a wolf’s mate was human they have always been female. There’s never been a human male who’s joined a pack before, let alone being adopted into one. I am neither a werewolf, someone’s mate, or female and unlike popular tv shows and movies, a werewolf’s bite does not turn you into a werewolf. You must be born a werewolf period. So, do I even have the right to join the pack, there have already been other packs who have openly expressed their unhappiness with my family adopting me?

“Earth to Caden.” Noel is waving his hand in front of my face. “You still with us?”

Startled I look around, that’s when I noticed that we had stopped jogging and I was standing there like a statue. “Y-yeah, sorry I totally spaced, I just can’t believe I’m eighteen already.” My voice coming out a bit more nervous than I intended. Lucas looks down at me and seems to know what I’m thinking. He stands in front of me and places both of his hands on my shoulders.

“Hey, you are the son of an alpha and my brother, you have just as much right to be in this pack as any other wolf.” The expression on his face serious. “Okay?” His eyes stare straight into mine.

His words comfort me, some tension I didn’t even realize I had in my chest goes away. I nod and look at Lucas. “Yeah, okay.” Lucas smiles and drops his hands from my shoulders.

Noel pats my back and looks at me. “Damn right, and don’t worry about the other packs, they’ve known about you for a long time now. They had to know this was coming and if any of them have a problem with you they have a problem with us.” He puts his arm around Lucas and me when he says that.

“Pfft alright, alright.” I pretend to be exasperated, but I’m grateful to Noel and brother.

“And I got the perfect job for you.” A devilish grin is spread across Noel’s face. “You can be rogue bait.” Both me and Noel laugh.

But Lucas smack Noel upside the head and points at him. “Hey, that’s not funny don’t even joke about that.” But we can see him trying hard not to laugh.

Noel rubs the back of his head. “Fine geez, I got something else he can do.” I see a stupid grin spread across his face. “He can be my valet and scratch the back of my ears for me.”

Ok, that one got to me a little, so he wants to be like that huh. “Ok that’s fine, Gina was just telling me how good I was getting at it last night.” Noel’s jaw drops when he hears the name of his current girlfriend and Lucas starts laughing his ass off.

Noel moves to bop me on the head, but Lucas catches his hand, and bops him on the head instead. Noel retaliates by sweeping Lucas’s leg causing him to fall on the ground, I stand back because I can already tell where this is going. With one of his hands Lucas grabs Noel’s leg and pulls it out from under him, now they’re both on the ground wrestling. Noel manages to push Lucas off him, they both get up, growling at each other in a standoff. They both shift at the same time exploding out of their clothes, Lucas’s wolf has silver fur with subtle streaks of red and stands just a bit taller than Noels dark brown wolf. They go at each other, swiping their paws and snapping their jaws, both trying to get at the other’s back. Lucas is the stronger of the two, using his brute strength he hits Noel with his shoulder hard. I can hear a bones snap as he hits the ground, he quickly shakes it off. Werewolves heal at an amazing rate; those broken bones will be fine in a moment. Lucas tries to pounce on Noel while he’s down, but Noel is fast probably the fastest wolf in the pack, he easily dodges leaving Lucas’s side exposed. Using his hind legs, Noel kicks Lucas’s side, sending him flying into a tree, he definitely has a few broken bones after that. Lucas shakes it off and now they’re circling each other, snarling back and forth. Lucas seems to be limping from the kick to his side, his wounds not fully healed yet, Noel notices and jumps at this chance, but Lucas was faking it, he grabs Noel’s throat with his teeth in midair and pins him to the ground on his back. Noel tries to kick him off, but Lucas’s superior strength keeps him locked in place. Lucas growls and tightens his jaws around Noel’s throat. Noel stops and finally lets out a whimper confirming his surrender, Lucas releases Noel’s throat and lets out a howl of victory.

If a normal human saw this they would be petrified and think these wolfs were trying to kill each other, but this is just them rough housing.

“Woo, way to go Lucas, woo.” I cheer at Lucas’s victory; he trots over to me, and I fist bump his head. Noel comes up next to Lucas grumbling. “Aww, come on man don’t be like that you know Lucas won fair and square.” Noel just lets out a big huff making me chuckle, I notice the sun is starting to peek out over the horizon. If we don’t hurry this up, we’re going to be late. “Ok how about this, while I finish this lap around the lake, you guys can race to see who can lap me the most times.” This time Noel is the one that lets out a happy bark while Lucas lets out a huff, because we all know that Noel is the faster of the two. “Alright, ready... steady... and…. Go!” They both shoot off practically a blur.

After finishing my lap around the lake, Lucas and Noel shift back and put on some new clothes so that the three of us can start our sparring session. Unfortunately, fighting is something werewolves must be ready for always. Whether it be rival packs or rogues, a wolf has to be ready to fight and kill when needed. I’ve already lost few friends and pack members to pack fighting and rogues. Rogues are werewolf’s who have turned completely feral and have no reason or consciousness. It can happen several ways, from staying in wolf form too long to the human mind in the wolf breaking. We always need to be ready and know how to defend ourselves, admittedly I’m not really all that good at fighting even by human standards. Lucas and Noel assure me that in a straight up fight with a human I should be able to hold my own, but that I should avoid fighting a werewolf. We go through some light sparring and then knife training; knife training is what they have me focus on most of the time. It’s rare but there have been some instances of werewolves fighting in human form with silver daggers, silver can negate a werewolf’s healing ability, it’s one of the few things the movies got right. Lucas is always telling me that if I ever do get into a fight with a werewolf, the element of surprise is my best chance of winning. Since most human don’t know about werewolves, most werewolves don’t see humans as a threat, this would give them a false since of security. One I could take advantage of if I ever had to, which I hope I never do. But if push comes to shove, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that even Lucas and Noel don’t know about. Once they finish with my training, they start to spar with each other, and I can immediately tell that it’s going to turn into a rematch for the fight from earlier.

I leave them to it and head back to the main house, after taking another shower and getting dressed for school, standard jeans and shirt, I head back down to the kitchen. I start the coffee maker and begin making breakfast for everyone. I keep it simple, scrambled eggs, pancakes, and bacon lots of bacon. Werewolves eat meat more than anything else so just to be on the safe side I start to cook some ham as well. While I’m cooking the omegas Shawn and Linda walk in, omegas are werewolves usually at the bottom of the werewolf hierarchy. Not to say that they’re slaves or servants, even though some packs treat them as such, omegas are just more submissive than regular werewolves and are usually in charge of cooking, cleaning, and maintaining the houses.

Shawn and Linda are mates, they found each other a few years after I was born. They both have brown hair and good features and dress themselves like a butler and a maid. My father would constantly tell them to dress normally, but they would just respond saying, ‘this is them dressing normally.’ When they see me cooking an annoyed expression crosses their faces, they hate it when I cook or clean because they feel that I’m taking their job from them. Thankfully this time they don’t say anything and proceed to take the finished food to the dining room and begin to set the table.

Sorry guys but this is one of the few things I can do for my family, I need to feel useful, plus I like cooking for my family and pack.

The coffee maker dings letting me know it’s ready, I pour two mugs, putting cream in one for mom and brown sugar in the other for dad. I lift the mugs up and as if on cue both mom and dad walk into the kitchen, when they see me, their faces light up and smile. When a werewolf reaches its prime, which is anywhere between twenty to forty years old, they stop aging the perks of immortality. Mom’s clear skin and lush red hair mixed with her simple sundress makes her look my age, which freaks normal people out when they find out she’s my mom. Dad’s tailored suit and neatly trimmed hair and beard with slight streaks of grey are the only indication that he might be older than he looks.

I hand them their coffees. “Your morning fixes.” I make sure to give them the right cups.

Mom puts her nose to the coffee and breathes in, letting out a satisfied sigh. “Thank you. You were always our favorite.” I chuckle, as she gives me a peck on the cheek.

Dad takes a sip of his coffee and groans in approval. “Thanks, Caden and don’t tell Lucas.” He says while giving me a wink.

“Don’t tell me what?” Both Lucas and Noel walk into the kitchen from outside and start picking at the food.

Mom smacks both their hands away from the food. “Oh nothing, just that you’ve been replaced as the favorite.”

Lucas laughs. “Is coffee really all it takes?”

They continue to banter back, and forth which makes me laugh. “Hey, I’m still cooking here, there’s food already in the dining room so go eat, and make sure you leave some for everyone else.” I shoo them out of the kitchen with my spatula.

About ten seconds later Claire walks in. “I smell coffee.” Without turning around, I point to the pot with my spatula. “Thanks kiddo.” Claire is the gamma of the pack, third in command, she’s twenty-eight and has punk rock look to her. Even with her shoulder length hair dyed blue she still manages to look like a total knockout. She pours herself a cup of coffee and smacks my ass on her way out to the dining room making me yelp and drop a pancake.

The next to show up was Selene, Noel’s mom, carrying her twin daughters Katie and Lanie under her arms. I can see Katie and Lanie struggling against their mother’s hold trying to get down; but it’s useless. At eight years old Katie and Lanie are hell raisers, easily bored and constantly running around, they can be quite and handful. I turn around and give the three of them a good morning. Selene smiles and says good morning back, with her caramel skin and long naturally silky brown hair, she reminds me of a young Beyoncé. Katie and Lanie stop their struggling for a minute to give me a good morning as well. They have their mothers skin tone but their father’s black curly hair. I had just finished up, so I decide to walk with them to the dining room, I leave the dishes for Shawn and Linda, knowing that for some reason they enjoy doing them.

“Where’s Charles?” I only ask because Charles is usually never far from Selene or the girls, his overprotective nature wouldn’t allow it.

Selene looks down and gives each of the girls a stern look, who I notice have resumed their struggle, and growls out. “He is currently trying to wash out Claire’s blue hair dye hopefully before it sets. These two thought it would be funny to swap it out with their father’s shampoo.”

Katie starts. “We just wanted to see how it works.” Followed by Lanie. “Personally, I think daddy would look great with blue hair.” Both acting as if they did nothing wrong.

“That’s not the issue!” Raising her voice to the girls, I look over to her wondering what she means. She looks over to me and speaks in a low voice so the girls can’t hear. “The soap ran out halfway through this morning, so he was using the shampoo to wash his….” She motions downward with her eyes. I burst out laughing right as we reach the dining room, everyone stops what they’re doing to look at me curiously. With tear in my eyes, I try to hold in my laughter which makes my stomach hurt. I sit down in the seat between mom and Lucas, everyone keeps staring at me waiting for me to explain, but I just shake my head and begin to eat.

After a while Shawn brings out a birthday cake and everyone starts to sing me happy birthday to my surprise and dismay. I groan, because no matter how many times I tell them not to bother with my birthday, they do anyway. I quickly blow out the candles and silently thank the goddess for my werewolf family.

Chapter Two

After breakfast, while Lucas and Noel got ready, I make sure to have everything I need for school in my bag, I give mom a peck on the cheek and say my goodbyes to everyone else. By the time Lucas and Noel come down I’m already in the car waiting. The three of us head out to school together in Lucas’s car, a Shelby Mustang GT500, all three of us are in our final year of high school. We go to school in Crestwood, a large town close to where a lot of packs live. It was agreed upon by the council that Crestwood is neutral territory. No pack can claim it as their own or cause trouble for the humans in it, which would just draw unneeded attention. Because of this Crestwood has become the unofficial capital for all the werewolves in the region, with many pack and packless wolves working and going to school here. Packless wolves are wolves who don’t belong to any pack. Some like it this way and just come to find work while others come with the hope of finding a pack that will take them. Packs from across the country come here, even sending their kids here to build connections with other packs.

Lucas is driving and Noel is in the passenger seat while I’m in the back. I notice through the rearview mirror Lucas has a blank stare on his face, which is a telltale sign that he is talking to someone through the mental link. A mental link is something werewolves in a pack together share, it's a form of telepathy. It's perfect for when the alpha needs to give out orders or for coordinating with each other during a fight. Usually when a werewolf becomes of age and are officially accepted by the alpha and extension the pack, a mental link is established. The only exemption being the bond between mates. Mates once found can immediately communicate with each other. But just like everything else I can’t get a mental link; human minds aren’t built for it.

I wait for Lucas’s eyes to regain their focus before asking. “So, what was that about?” But its Noel who answers me. “It was just your mom reminding us to keep you safe.” Something tells me there’s more to it than that, but I don’t push it any further.

School is rough for me, there are some werewolves not happy with a human like me being part of a pack and their attitudes are picked up by their kids, especially high school kids. I do have werewolf friends outside of my own pack, but there are some that try to take advantage of the fact that I’m human. They never straight up attack me, because human or not I’m still the son of an alpha and a direct attack like that could start a war between packs. So, they stick to the basics like tripping me, bumping into me, smacking my books out of my hands, and other non-direct forms of bullying. Lucas and Noel do their best help but that can’t be with me all the time, and I’ll be damned before I let them win by going to my father for help. Thankfully this year hasn’t been too bad thanks to Alice and Cora having classes close to mine.

I’m roused out of my thoughts by the car pulling into the school parking lot, we managed to get a spot not too far from the school. I let out a sigh as I wait for Noel to let me out hoping today goes by quick.

Ring, ring, ring

“Ooh thank the goddess, lunch time, I don’t think I could’ve taken another minute of math.” Cora says loud enough for everyone in the room to hear but doesn’t seem to care. With her pale skin and dirty blonde hair, Cora’s beauty is always drawing people’s attention anyway.

“No, you’re just a glutton who can’t go five minutes without eating.” Alice teases, she sits behind Cora. Not one to be out done, Alice also has quite a few admirers, drawn in by her olive skin, long jet-black hair, and facial features that make her appear exotic.

I decide to chip in. “Oh, please your just as bad. I saw you sneaking that honeybun during class.” Cora gasps and Alice gives me a dirty look.

Cora turns to Alice. “You had a honeybun and didn’t share with me? Your buying lunch for the three of us, humph.”

Alice groans while I chuckle.

As we leave the classroom and head towards the cafeteria, Alice and Cora walk on either side of me, vigilant and ready for anything. Alice and Cora are werewolves and my best friends, they also happen to be mates. Being gay or lesbian is not looked upon very well by other werewolves especially since werewolves have low birthrates to begin with. A lot of werewolves believe that it is a wolf’s duty to continue their species, so when a gay couple comes out its not usually received very well. Alice and Cora themselves were kicked out of their pack by their own parents, disowning them and making them packless and homeless.

I first met Alice and Cora during our freshman year. I had spotted them during lunch eating by themselves at a table away from everyone. They were being shunned by the other werewolves and no human could get close because of the aura they were exerting. I had heard the gossip surrounding them, but my parents had taught me well. Told me to respect everyone, werewolf and human even if they were different, so I decided to try and get to know them. As I walked toward their table the pressure from their aura hit me, but since I had been trained to fight and withstand a werewolf’s aura since I was young, so I had no problem reaching them.

“Hey, do you mind if I sit here with you guys.” At first both of them just sat there staring at me shocked by the fact that a human had just walked right through their aura and had asked if he could take a seat. They finally just nodded still too shocked to speak, as I sat down and grabbed my lunch from my bag I continued to talk. “So, you guys are mates, that’s pretty amazing, finding your mate at such a young age is pretty rare.”

Werewolves usually can’t sense or smell their mate until they become of age, usually around eighteen or nineteen. Even if your mate had been next to you your whole life, you wouldn’t know it until you became of age. There have been some cases where if one mate is of age and the other isn’t, they would both feel something but wouldn’t know for sure until the other reached maturity as well. So, for Alice and Cora to feel the connection and become mates at such a young age is pretty rare and remarkable.

When I looked back at them their eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets stunned by the fact that a human knew what they were let alone what mates are. When they finally recovered from their shock, I explained to them who I was and how I knew all this. From then on, we just seemed to click, I suspect it’s from our mutual understanding of being part of the werewolf community but not being entirely accepted by it, we were outcasts. We became fast friends, which automatically put them in Lucas and Noel’s good graces. At first, they were afraid of how Lucas and Noel might react to them being lesbians, but they quickly realized that Lucas and Noel couldn’t give a rat’s ass about their sexual orientation. As long as they were my friends, they were okay in their book, so over the next few years we grew closer. They would even spend the night and train with us sometimes, and they’re strong, even giving Lucas a run for his money a couple of times. Knowing they were homeless and had to hunt in the woods to eat, I offered them a place to live at the main house and to join our pack, with my father’s permission of course. But they were proud and said no, saying that it would feel like they were taking advantage of me. Not willing to watch my friends go hungry I instead had dad pull a few strings and got them both part time jobs in town after school. They were going to turn that down too but after a stern look from me told them I wasn’t having it they accepted and thanked me.

One day during our junior year, while they were walking me down to my next class, a voice called out to us. “Hey dead ends, if your gonna put a male between you why not me!” All three of us stopped in our tracks. “Dead ends” is a derogatory term for gay werewolves referring to the fact that they can’t procreate with each other, effectively ending their blood lines. We turn around to see who it was that said that and see it was Cole Bloodfang and his stupid posse.

Cole is the son of the alpha Demetri, leader of the Bloodfang pack the largest pack in the area with a whopping sixty wolves. He’s also a class A asshole who thinks he’s God’s gift to women with his blonde hair and blue eyes. Like his father he believes he’s entitled to anything and everything, for years Demetri has been clamoring for a spot on the council. Only concerned with his packs size Demetri let’s just about any werewolf join his pack good or bad, usually bad, in the hopes that the council will make him a member. This has put a strain on his packs living space and financials which he can barely maintain as it is. He uses most of the money the pack makes for himself and on those that kiss his ass. Most of his wolves are struggling just to get by making them all weak; in reality his pack only has a few good warriors.

Cole is also my main tormentor, all the bullying that happens to me is usually from him, not that I’m the only one. He’s constantly talking shit about Lucas and Noel behind their backs and he’s always using his status as son of an alpha to bully, take advantage of, and beat up weaker wolves. He’s never flat out hit me because he knows he would have to answer to Lucas and Noel if he did, not that I think he could even take on Alice or Cora for that matter. Who were at that moment furious from the remark, visibly shaking from trying to control their anger from making them shift.

The humans that were in the hall quickly left, not really understanding why their instincts told them to run. Plus, the pressure the girls were exerting would make them want to run away regardless. Cole and his posse begin to laugh while he continues with his insults.

Cole points at me. “I mean come on the monkey; you might as well stick to plastic.”

The girls are snarling at this point, but Cole just continues to laugh knowing they can’t do anything. As packless wolves, if they were to attack him, he could go to his father and have them banished or worse, the girls can’t do anything, and he knows this. He’s always throwing insults or snide remarks at me, which is fine I can take it, I just shake them off. But this was the first time he’d ever gone after my friends. I was livid, with blood boiling in my veins I walked right up to Cole and putting everything I had into my fist I cracked him right across his jaw. It was like punching a wall, I was pretty sure my hand was broken or at the very least sprained pretty badly. But I was too hopped up on anger and adrenalin to care or even feel it. Cole immediately went down, he wasn’t knocked out, but the hit definitely rattled his brain, and he stumbled to get back up.

I looked at his posse who were just gaping at me astonished, not believing what they had just witnessed. I turn around to Alice and Cora whose mouths were also hanging open, but they quickly recover, grab me and place themselves in front of me ready for anything. Cole roared as he finally stood back up. The girls get into a low stance ready to fight, sending Cole glares as they smile, daring him to attack. Cole snarled at us while his friends pull him back, his handsome face contorted into a mask of pure hatred as he stared at me and I just stared right back. When they were gone the girls pulled me into an empty class. Confused, I just looked at them as they each got unto one knee.

“Caden Silverblood, we swear ourselves to you, we will protect you until our dying breath and follow you until forever.” As they said this in unison, I could feel my eyes bulge. This was something werewolves said to an alpha to join their pack. They had basically just sworn their lives and loyalty to me, I had no idea what to do so I just bowed and told them I accept.

Now with their birthdays just a month away, they’ll be officially joining the pack and will be moving into the main house as my personal guards. As we enter the cafeteria, I spot Lucas and Noel at their usual table; surrounded by girls that want to be with them and guys that want to be them. They wave us over to sit with them, but I shake my head, I don’t feel like putting up with all fake interest from girls today. It’s a well-known fact by all the girls in school that the quickest way to get into Lucas’s or Noel’s good graces is to be nice to me. It happened when a girl Lucas was dating made a snide remark about me. He promptly dumped her on the spot very loudly and publicly.

As we get our food and sit down at a table, I notice a lot of new faces around and all of them werewolves, I can tell by the way they act and move.

“What’s up with all the new wolves in school?” I ask Alice and Cora because their good at keeping their ears to the ground and know all the gossip.

“You haven’t heard, I thought you guys had a pack meeting last night?” Alice asks me first.

“Technically I’m not part of the pack yet, usually Lucas and Noel tell me everything afterwards, but the meeting ran long last night, and I forgot to ask them about it this morning.” A weird look crosses their faces when I tell them this, something I said had them fidgeting. I think back to the car ride to school and how Lucas and Noel were keeping something from me after they got that mental communication from mom. “Why, what do you know?” Alice starts stuffing her mouth trying to avoid my question, so I turn to Cora a who also starts eating a little too intently. I pull her lunch plate away from her. “Cora?”

Cora looks at me like a deer caught in headlights, swallowing the food in her mouth she lets out a deep sigh. “Apparently two new packs have moved into the region with a third on the way. Word has it they were run out of their own region by the White Moon pack.”

Whoa, two packs moved in already with a third on the way, that’s crazy! Though packs within the region will sometimes fight each other for whatever reason, there’s always been an unspoken truce when it comes to the region as a whole. For them to allow three new packs to move in so quickly means something big is going down. “White Moon? I’ve never heard of them who are they?”

Alice finally chips in. “That’s not surprising all the alphas have been trying to keep it hush hush not wanting to worry everyone. But the White Moon pack is one of the largest and most brutal packs in the country. Over the last two years they’ve been aggressively expanding their territory, any packs caught in their way is given the option of submission or destruction. The alphas are worried that this is a sign that the White Moon pack might be headed our way.”

“Yeah, and they say that the alpha of the White Moon pack is smart, dangerous, and unpredictable. Rumor has it he fought and killed ten rogues by himself and when one of his own tried to jump in and help him he killed him too. The other alphas are letting the three packs into the region to bolster our numbers in case the White Moon pack does decide to head our way.” Cora adds in.

“Geez, alright I get it; but I still don’t see why you guys were so hesitant to tell me this or why you think Lucas and Noel were trying to keep this from me.” Both their faces scrunch up which was not a good sign.

Cora starts to tell me as gently as possible. “Weeell, that’s not the reason, the truth is Demetri has stepped down and has made Cole alpha of the Bloodfang pack.”

I close my eyes and can feel myself shaking in anger. “Are you fucking kidding me? Cole just turned nineteen a few months ago. He’s years away from being ready to lead a pack what the hell is his father thinking?” My voice came out a lot calmer than I thought it would.

Alice places her hand on top of mine trying to calm me. “Hell if we know, but you’ve met his parents, to them he can do no wrong. They refuse to see what we see what everyone else sees, a spoiled egotistical asshole.” Cora grabs my other hand to calm me down as well. It works and I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding.

Our human friends, Peter and Marisol, spot us and walk over to sit with us effectively ending any more wolf conversations for now. After lunch, the girls walk me to my third period class, world history, which is thankfully right across from their class. I head straight to my seat in the back when I walk into class. With my mind still reeling from all the things the girls told me during lunch. I didn’t notice my friend Hannah take her seat next to me or the good morning she was clearly waiting for me to return until she snapped her fingers in front of my face.

“You ok?” Genuine concern in her eyes and tone.

Disgusted with myself I tell her I’m sorry. “My mind is just kind of all over the place right now, but how are you, you doing ok?”

Hannah’s a werewolf, and someone I genuinely like, she’s one of the only girls at school who hasn’t tried to suck up to me just to get closer to Lucas. When I asked her about this she just snorted and said, “I’m just being realistic I’m nowhere near your brother’s league.” Which kinda made me angry that she thought of herself that way. With her wavy brown shoulder length hair and soft features, she definitely wasn’t ugly. The only negative thing I think of is the fact that she’s in the Bloodfang pack, Cole’s pack, ugh.

I refocus my attention to her as she talks to me. “I’m fine, just the homework due today was really giving me problems last night.”

“You could’ve called me if you needed help.” I inwardly cringe, I could hear the eagerness in my own voice. I had asked Hannah out on a date four months ago in which she very politely told me she didn’t see me that way, which stung, but was to be expected she’s a werewolf and I’m human. Ever since then I’ve been trying very hard not to become that creepy guy friend who’s always trying to be next to her, and as far as I could tell I was failing horribly.

“Nah, I was stuck in a pretty long pack meeting last night anyway which didn’t help.” She either didn’t notice the eagerness in my voice or choose to ignore it, either way I was thankful.

“Yeah, I heard Cole was made alpha of the pack.” I couldn’t keep the disgust completely out of my voice when I spoke. “That’s gotta be tough I mean regardless of my personal feelings towards him, which you know, he’s way too young to be an alpha he’s not ready.”

Hannah lets out a sigh. “Yeah, you may be right, I mean he was bad before but ever since last night he’s been even worse. He’s even picking on wolves in his own pack just because he can.” The look on my face must’ve told her what I was thinking, because she answered my question before I even asked. “I’m fine though, I don’t seem to be on his radar, yet.” The last part of that sentence came out a little angrier than I expected.

“Have you ever thought of… you know… joining a different pack?” I regretted the words as soon as I said them. Way to not seem desperate dude, I chastise myself.

“It has crossed my mind, but I could never leave my family like that. Besides, as bad as it is right now, I just know things are gonna turn around soon.” The certainty in her voice made me want to believe her, but with Cole as alpha I just didn’t see how

Most wolves join the pack they’re born into, but some leave to join a different pack. This usually happens because their mate was in the other pack other times some they just want to try and make it on their own until they find a pack they do want to join.

“Ahem, anything you two would like to share with the class?” Our teacher Mr. Cutters voice snaps us out of our conversation, he’s one of the teachers that’s also a werewolf.

I notice that the rest of the class is looking as us, some were even snickering. “J-Just that the homework from last night was really tough and was giving us problems.”

But Mr. Cutter wasn’t having it. “Oh, well if that the case you two don’t have to worry about turning it in.”

“Really? Why?” Hannah gives him a skeptical look.

“Because you two will be writing me a 2000-word essay on why you shouldn’t be talking during class!” The look on his face told us he was dead serious.

“2000! There’s no way we can do that in one night!” Hannah exclaims rising from her seat.

“You have until Friday, that gives you the rest of today and tomorrow to work on it. Now sit down and pay attention.” Mr. Cutter’s words were final. Hannah sinks back into her seat; we don’t speak for the rest of class.

After class, me and Hannah decided to each write a thousand words tonight and then meet up tomorrow to compare and combine them for Mr. Cutter for Friday. The rest of the day was uneventful, once school was done Alice, Cora, and I made our way to the parking lot.

While walking a sudden pain in the back of my head knocks me forward to the ground, something hit me. I can feel the girls’ hands on me trying to figure out what’s wrong and saying something, but I can barely hear them. The blow to the back of my head caused a ringing in my ears. I touch where I was hit, it’s tender but no bleeding thanks goodness. I look around and see a tennis ball on the ground, that must’ve been what hit me. The girls help me up, I turn around and see what I expected to see, Cole and a buddy of his laughing. I can feel Alice and Cora getting ready to lunge at him, but I grip them by their arms.

“I’m fine, let it go.” I rub the back of my head hoping it won’t leave a bump.

Cole and his buddy walk up to us. “Sorry monkey, I didn’t see you there.” The smile on his face said he was lying, “monkey” is a derogatory term werewolves use to refer to humans. The girls growl at him. “Ooh scary, I said it was an accident.”

Every part of me wanted to scream FUCK YOU at him, but that’s what he wanted, he wanted to get a rise out of me. “Heard the news about you becoming alpha, congrats.” That threw him off he wasn’t expecting that, the stupid look on his face was almost worth it.

He quickly recovered though. “Yeah it was about time, the old fart took his sweet time, big changes are coming now that I’m in charge and after tomorrow night, every pack in the region is gonna know it too.” The smile on his face when he says this gives me a bad feeling. “We’re actually hosting a small party tomorrow night for the last pack moving into the region and to also celebrate my ascension. I’m feeling rather generous today so you should come by, you’ll get a front row seat and see firsthand what’s coming.”

Hell no! I’d rather take a tennis ball to the face then deal with you for an entire night. “Sorry but I’m busy tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I heard about your little homework assignment from Hannah, well I’m sorry to say she won’t be going anywhere tomorrow.” He’s challenging me, if I refuse he can label me a coward and if I go he’ll spend the whole night making me miserable, he knows it and I know it.

“Fine, I’ll be there.” I refuse to back down; I’ll never show him my back physically or metaphorically. I hear soft whimpers behind me, I look at the girls and see worried expressions on their faces. “It’ll be fine don’t worry.” I try to reassure them.

“Feel free to bring your dogs with you.” This causes the girls to snarl at him. With a smug look on his face Cole walks off and I swear I hear him say, “Not that it will help.” Under his breath. It was another challenge.

The girls walk me all the way to the car. Even after telling them not to say anything to Lucas they tell him everything anyway. Him and Noel both get angry and scan the area for Cole, their faces looking like they want to tear something apart.

I try to calm them down. “Look it’s no big deal, don’t worry about Cole, I can handle him. And thanks for the heads up on him becoming alpha last night.” The sarcasm in my voice had Noel cringing.

Lucas snaps his head towards me. “Look we didn’t tell you because we knew you’d be upset, and mom didn’t want to worry you. And just to be clear you are not going to his territory tomorrow, that’s an order.”

At his tone and words, my human teenage hormones kick in. “What the hell makes you think you can order me around!”

“As future alpha of this pack you will obey my orders.” He lets out some of his alpha aura to put pressure behind his words to make me submit.

A small part in the back of my brain was happy that he was treating me like a pack member, a werewolf. But my hormones mixed in with my lingering anger from earlier made me want to fight, and with my training over the of years I can easily resist even an alpha’s aura.

“Well I am not a werewolf or a member of this pack yet, so I can do whatever the hell I want!” I can sense that Noel, Alice, and Cora are getting uncomfortable, but me and Lucas just continue to stare each other down. Which is harder for me because I’m shorter than him.

But suddenly Lucas gets a thoughtful look in his eyes and stops his aura, a wide smile spreads across his face; that can’t be good. “Well your still my little brother and as your big brother it’s my duty to tell mom and dad about this.”

Shit, he’s got me, he knows I haven’t told either of them about my real trouble with Cole; they just know a watered-down version and he promised not to tell them. “You wouldn’t, you promised.”

“Yeah well that was because you asked me no to and I said okay as long as you weren’t in danger. And I think going into a different pack’s territory by yourself qualifies as danger.”

Out of the corner of my eye I can see the other three nodding their heads in agreement with Lucas. “Oh, shut up.” I tell them even though they didn’t say anything.

Lucas continues. “Either you listen to me or we can talk to mom and dad about it when we get back home, your call.”

I growl in frustration. “Fine.” With that I get in the car and slam the door. I can still hear Lucas talking to the girls outside.

“We’re going on patrol tonight, Zaya is babysitting the girls. Can you guys come over and watch over Caden?”

“Sure.”

“No problem.”

“Cool, just come over whenever you guys are ready, I’ll make sure to tell Shawn and Linda to make dinner for you guys too, see you soon.”

With that Lucas and Noel get in the car and we drive home with me grumbling the whole way.

Chapter Three

When we get back to our territory I’m in a better mood, after saying hello to everyone at the house I quickly duck out and head towards the lake. From there I head to James’s house, James is the pack doctor. I knock twice before entering, the first floor of his house acts as a medical clinic for the pack, the second floor is James’s personal living space. You wouldn’t guess it from the outside but the small clinic inside has top of the line medical supplies and equipment.

Even though werewolves are immortal with incredible healing abilities, it doesn’t mean they can’t be killed. If they sustain too many wounds or if an injury is too severe, they can die without any help. That’s where James comes in, he’s the best pack doctor in the region, other pack doctor’s come to consulate and learn from him. But the main reason werewolves need a doctor is for pregnancies. Werewolves have a low birthrate, finding it hard just getting pregnant in the first place. Even if they do manage to get pregnant the birthing process can still be dangerous. The first nine months of the pregnancy are just like that of a human’s, but once it’s time for the actual birth it becomes a bit more difficult. A werewolf’s body is in a constant state of regeneration and is always trying to keep the body in peak physical condition. So once the baby is fully developed and ready to be born the body begins trying to revert itself to its natural state. Which can end up hurting or even killing the baby, it’s a delicate balance, one that needs a doctor’s help. Since James is the best, other packs and expecting werewolves often ask for his services during pregnancies. My father sometimes uses this to curry favor or even as a form of payment to other packs and werewolves.

Needless to say, werewolves take pregnancies very seriously, and is the only other reason a human female may be allowed to join a pack. It is extremely difficult for humans and werewolves to get each other pregnant. On the off chance a male werewolf does get a human female pregnant they must wait until the baby is born to see if it’s human or wolf. If the baby is human nothing happens depending on the wolf if the mother wishes for financial support, the male will usually help, and it ends there. But if the baby is a werewolf, the pack claims the baby. The mother is vetted and if she seems capable of handling the truth and keeping the secret, they are both integrated into the pack. If not, the pack will go through different options until they get the baby. This can happen smoothly without problems or it can go very badly usually for the mother. If a female werewolf gets pregnant by a human male the baby is always a wolf, so the male is never a factor. But all of this is extremely rare and almost never happens. With all my years living with my family and interacting with other werewolves and packs. I have yet to meet or even see another human pack member, I’ve only heard the rumors and stories.

The reason I’m going to see James is because over the past few years I have been secretly studying how to be a pack doctor from him. When you join a pack, you need to contribute something, most often a wolf will just join in as another fighter or guard for the territory. Seeing as how I’m human that particular route is out of the question for me, nobody in the pack expects anything of me when I join, and I hate that. So, I decided to go the opposite route and would help to heal instead, just like my birth father. No one knows about this yet and James has been kind enough to keep it a secret. This is what I’m hoping to contribute to the pack, another doctor. When I first came to James and asked him to teach me he looked at me like I was crazy, but after explaining to him my feelings and how this was the only real way I could help the pack he relented and started to teach me.

As I walk into the clinic, I see James going through and checking all the medical supplies and equipment.

“Hey James, need help with that?”

He looks at me with a jolly smile on his face, his red hair and grizzled beard along with his large physique make him look more like a lumberjack than a doctor. “Caden, I didn’t know you’d be coming today. If you don’t mind start with the cabinets behind me.”

By the time we finish checking everything, it’s almost time for me to head back for dinner before everyone goes on patrol. It takes me a while before I finally work up the nerve to talk to James about joining the pack.

“So, James…look it’s my birthday today, my eightieth birthday and…technically today is when I join the pack and I want to know if you think I’m ready.”

James looks at me for a second before motioning me to follow him upstairs. He motions for me to sit down on the couch while he goes over to a small cabinet and pulls out a bottle of whiskey with two glasses. He pours the two glasses and hands me one before sitting down in the armchair across from me. I don’t drink so I just stare at the glass for a while before James starts talking.

“Look, before you go asking me if I think you’re ready, you need to ask yourself if you think you’re ready. This job is more than just fixing wolves up, you need be ready to lose here. You’ve been here and seen wolves, friends die on that very table downstairs with their blood on my hands. What you don’t see is how it kills me a bit inside every time it happens. Are you ready for that?” He sips his whiskey while he waits for me to answer.

After thinking about what he said for a few minutes I answer him truthfully. “No, I don’t think I am, but I don’t think any doctor is until they’re in that moment.” I let out a heavy sigh, “To be honest I don’t even know if I should even be joining the pack in general, all I can hope to do is try my best and hope it’s enough.”

James looks me in the eye for a good while before his mouth spreads into a grin. “Your right, no one’s ever ready and whether you decide to tell your family or not, just know you got my vote.” He raises his glass towards me, I smile back and clink my glass against his before we both take a sip. I instantly start coughing and sputtering the whiskey out of my mouth. James let’s out a roar of laughter. “Well least we know that’s one thing your definitely not ready for.”

After finishing with James, I head back to the main house, there’s still some daylight left by the time I get there. When I get to the main hall, I see Claire and the other wolves with the night off getting ready to head out. My guess they’re going into to town to blow off some steam and have some fun, Claire seems to be going over the ground rules.

“Alright let’s keep this simple; don’t start any fights, but if someone else starts one make sure you finish it.” She gets a few growls of approval for that. “Next if you do end up staying out late tonight just make sure you’re back by noon tomorrow. If not, your ass is getting an appointment with my boot. And lastly when it comes to sex,” she glances at me and smiles, “Just don’t get caught.” I feel my face turn beet red while everyone laughs and walks out except for Claire.

Oh, great she must’ve told everyone about the accident. Last week Claire brought a guy over and I walked in on them having sex. Claire thought it was hilarious while I just found it embarrassing. Which is something I should be used to by now, werewolves especially mated werewolves are constantly going at it. Werewolves are physical creatures, if they’re not fighting, they’re having sex. I must have caught or have walked in on almost everyone one in the pack having sex at one point or another multiple times, the worst is when it’s my parents ugh.

“Did you have to tell them about last week?” My face is still a little red.

Claire just chuckles. “What? It was funny I’m not embarrassed, besides it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.” She waggles her eyebrows at me.

“Shhhhhhhh!” My face goes bright red again as I look around to make sure nobody is around to hear her.

It happened four months ago, on the same day Hannah had turned me down; Claire was bored, and I was depressed and feeling lonely. One thing led to another and we ended up having sex in her room. At that point, I had still been a virgin so when I woke up the next morning and realized what I’d done I felt ashamed. She works directly under my father, she’s third in command of the pack what would the others think? But Claire couldn’t have cared less she said, “it was just sex and good sex at that,” which I had to admit made me happy to hear. But I told her it was a onetime thing and made her swear not to tell anyone. Not that she ever lets ME forget.

“What’s the big deal? So, we had sex, there’s nothing wrong with that.” Still amused by my reaction.

“Keep your voice down! The big deal is that you’re the gamma of the pack and…and.” I honestly couldn’t think of anything else. Truthfully, I was just embarrassed by the fact that I had lost my virginity to a friend and not somebody I truly loved. Don’t get me wrong I care for Claire love her even, but not in that way she’s practically family.

“Kiddo your way too stressed you need to get laid more. Come out with us tonight I’ll even be your wing man.” She was smiling but she was also serious.

I scratch my forehead almost considering it. “Not tonight I have homework I need to do.”

Claire sighs. “Alright, but just so you know I know a lot of females who would be happy with your services, and I would know.”

“Know what?” My mom’s voice sounds behind me as she’s walking down the stairs.

I slap my hand against my forehead and turn towards my mother. “Nothing, Claire was just being Claire.” I look back towards Claire, she’s at the front door looking back at me with a mischievous smirk on her face. She opens the door and walks out as Alice and Cora arrive, they give each other hellos and goodbyes as they pass each other.

I look back at mom and that’s when I notice she’s naked, she must be going out on patrol tonight too. Just like sex, nudity is something you get use to very quickly with werewolves. Shifting back and forth between human and wolf form ends up shredding any clothes anyway so they usually don’t bother. You try to be as respectful as you can, but it’s hard sometimes. It’s just another part of their culture and who they are, it’s unavoidable. It’s a little harder for me because unlike everyone else I’m not naked with them so it’s a little unfair on my end.

Mom has a confused look on her face, she opens her mouth to I can only assume ask what that was about, but she’s distracted by dad coming down the stairs with everyone going on patrol tonight. Alice and Cora take everyone’s nudity in stride unfazed by it whatsoever.

My father steps up to the girls unashamed. “Thank you for coming on such short notice, as always there’s dinner waiting for you and help yourselves to anything else you may want.”

Cora gives my father a slight bow with her head. “Of course, he’s our family too, besides it’s our duty anyway.”

My mom pokes her head out from behind dad. “Oh, is that a formal declaration?

Alice laughs. “No, at least not for another month.”

My mom smiles at that. “Well until then thank you for watching over our little boy.”

“Ugh, mom! Don’t say it like that.” She makes it sound like I’m a toddler.

My mom doesn’t seem to care. “What? You are our little boy.” Everyone laughs while I groan in embarrassment.

As they all start heading out the door, I give Noel and Lucas fist bumps. “Be careful out there and watch each other’s backs.”

Noel is all business when it comes to going on patrol just like his father. “Don’t worry I won’t let anything happen to any of them.” I can see the promise in his eyes.

The only ones’ left are Charles and Selene, I look over to see them performing the same ritual they always do when they go on patrol together.

They give each other a small kiss on their marks and then touch foreheads as they hold hands. The mark is something mated werewolves give each other, it’s a bite mark on the left crook of their neck where the shoulder and neck meet. It lets other wolves know that they are taken.

I face Alice and Cora and make small talk before walking with them to the kitchen, trying to give Charles and Selene some privacy. But I could still hear Charles low voice. “If any trouble comes up tonight make sure you keep close to Lucas and Noel.” His overprotectiveness towards his mate on full display.

Selene scoffs at him. “You should know better than anyone, I can take care of myself.”

“That’s why I want you close to them, their young and still need someone watching out for them.” The smile in his voice made it hard to believe.

Selene rolls her eyes and smiles but gives Charles a tender kiss on the lips before nodding and walking out after everyone else with Charles right behind her.

As the beta, Charles is responsible for looking out for alpha during trouble, so he can’t be distracted or focused on his mate during patrols. The pack tries to not to schedule mates on patrol together, but sometimes it can’t be helped given our packs small size.

As I walk towards the dining room with the girls, I send a silent prayer to the goddess asking her to bring everyone home safely.

After dinner, I went to my room to do homework while the girls watched tv in the family room downstairs; by the time I finished the sun was setting and it was dusk outside. I stretch out my back and let out a yawn. I decide to go downstairs and see what the girls are up to. I’m not halfway down the second flight of stairs when I begin to hear them arguing, which is a rare.

“It makes no sense!”

“It makes perfect sense; we would be doubling our chances!”

“What’s going on?” I pop my head into the room and see Alice and Cora on the couch facing each other.

“Nothing!” They say angrily in unison.

“Riight.” I lean against the doorway. “Okay, spill it.”

They sit there reluctant to say anything which was strange because they usually tell me everything, sometimes telling me too much.

Cora finally breaks the silence. “We were talking about kids, specifically our kids.”

I just stood there stunned for a second. “Wait, what?”

Alice finally spoke up. “We were talking about the future and how we would like try to have kids.”

“Oh, wow.” I had always assumed that since they were lesbians that they didn’t care about having kids. Which I guess was dumb of me since their both still females and everyone thinks about their future children.

Alice continued to explain. “We were thinking about going to a human clinic and trying artificial insemination.”

“Wow, I never would’ve thought you guys would consider that option. So, what were you guys arguing about?”

As if remembering they were just arguing, they return to scowling at each other but continue to talk to me.

“Cora has the bright idea of both of us getting treated at the same time, which I’m telling her is a dumb idea.”

“It’s not dumb! It’s faster than alternating between us and we would be doubling the chances of one of us getting pregnant.”

I hate it when they fight, it just feels wrong, I gotta find a way to snap them out of it.

“And what happens if we both end up getting pregnant Cora, whose gonna take care of us!?”

“Don’t be ridiculous the chances of that happening is slim to none.”

“But there’s still a chance and pregnancies are not a walk in the park, it’ll be hard enough with just one of us pregnant.”

“Goddess listen to yourself! We’re not on our own anymore we have Caden and the rest of the pack.”

I respond without hesitation. “Cora’s right, we’re here for you guys, whatever you need. I’ll take care of you both myself if I have to.” It was the truth.

Alice focuses back on me. “You’re willing to put up with us while we’re both bitchy, emotional, wrecks for nine months?” Her tone disbelieving.

“Of course, not much different now.”

I hear them both let out small gasps of indignation, but I’m already halfway down the stairs laughing when I hear them screaming after me.

“You asshole!”

“You better run!”

This is exactly what they needed, a way to vent their feelings and forget their fight. I’m already out the sliding glass door when I hear them clamoring down the stairs, I don’t stop or look back because I know it will only take them seconds to catch up to me.

When I finally have a few trees between me and the house I finally look back just in time to see both Alice and Cora jump out the sliding door and explode out of their clothes and into their wolf forms, Alice has jet black fur while Cora has Blonde fur. They’re both on me in seconds, I barely manage to avoid them as they swipe at me with their massive paws. Alice come’s at me from the front while Cora tries to flank me from the side, a simple but effective strategy Alice has strength while Cora has technique. But I’ve trained and seen my share of fights so I’m not going down that easy.

I charge toward Alice confusing her for a second, using my momentum I slide underneath her giant frame taking her back. I give her backside a small smack and continue to jog backwards making sure to keep the trees between us never taking my eyes off them.

“Is that all you got!” I laugh.

Alice growls at me while Cora lets out a small whine, they both look at each other, a sign they’re communicating, and nod. Then they both explode towards me.

“Oh, shit!”

Their new speed and aggressiveness taking me by surprise I narrowly dodge out of the way. We keep going at it but I’m quickly losing stamina from constantly laughing, I can tell the girls having fun too from the small barks of laughter they let out while nipping and swiping at me. Besides, if they were serious, I would’ve never made past the sliding door. Finally, out of breath I make a last-ditch effort and tackle Cora, the impact barely nudges her, it was like hitting a soft tree. My feet dangle a foot off the ground the only thing keeping me up are my arms wrapped around Cora’s massive neck. Just thinking about how dumb I must look makes me laugh causing me to lose strength in my arms. Losing my grip on her neck I manage to steady myself as my feet hit the ground but Alice wanting to get back at me for earlier uses her snout to sweep my legs out from under me and I hit the ground with a thud. As I lay staring at the now orange sky I chuckle, Alice and Cora’s giant wolf heads come into my view and look down at me.

“Give up?” I say through my chuckles.

Alice and Cora growl and procced to lick my face with their tongues getting slobber all over my face, which they know I hate.

“UGH!! Okay, okay I give up! Uncle, uncle!!”

They stop, and I immediately get up and start wiping the slobber off my face.

“Argh, you know I hate that!”

From behind me I hear them both break into howls of victory which quickly morph into bouts of laughter, I turn to see them both laying on the ground in their human forms laughing. After a good minute they finally stop laughing and just lay there looking into each other eyes. They slowly reach out to each other and entwine their hands together never looking away. Their love for each other so clear on their faces its almost palpable. I quickly turn away feeling that just by looking at them I was somehow intruding, so I head towards the house.

“I’ll go grab you guys some fresh clothes.”

As happy as I was that they finally stopped fighting I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness at the fact that I’ll never have the kind of love that they have. At first it scared me; the intensity of the love wolves can have for each other. But after seeing how fragile and fickle the love of humans can be, I came to admire it. Wolves may party and treat sex just like humans but when it comes to love there is no comparison. I’ve never resented not being a wolf I was never jealous of their strength, agility, or immortality, but I am jealous of that.

Chapter Four

The next morning, I decided to sleep in a bit, I was still a little sore from running around with the girls. When I finally did come down for breakfast everyone was already up and eating and chatting at the table. I was happy to see the girls were still here, after making up yesterday they wanted some alone time, so I didn’t see them for the rest of the night. When I sit down at my usual seat between to mom and Lucas, I noticed Shawn and Linda seemed to be in a particularly good mood, probably because they got to make breakfast instead of me.

“Morning, how did things go last night?”

The table went quite making me look up from the food I was serving myself, well that’s not good. Lucas was the first to answer.

“We ran into a bit of trouble near the end of the night.”

“What?! How bad?” I couldn’t keep the panic from my voice.

This time mom answered, “Calm down, we’re all fine just a few scrapes here and there.”

“Bullshit, you guys wouldn’t be this reluctant to tell me if it wasn’t serious.”

My father smacked his hand on the table causing the whole thing to shake. “Caden! Watch your language when talking to your mother!”

“Sorry.” Was all I could say in a small voice.

My father just looked at me for a moment before letting out a sigh. “We ran into a few rogues last night and they were different stronger than usual, but the troubling thing was that we were being watched. They were too far away for us to get a good look and by the time we reached them they were long gone, but they were definitely wolves.”

“Could it have been one of the newer packs that recently moved here?” Alice asked.

Charles answered her, “It’s possible but unlikely the new packs have been told to restrict their movements to their host’s land until the community meeting this Saturday.”

A community meeting is when all the wolves in Crestwood get together and go over everything and anything, like an open court.

Cora asked before I could, “Host’s land?”

Claire spoke up this time, “The new packs are currently guests in another packs land until the meeting.”

My father puts his aura behind his words, “What I’m about to say does not leave this table.” Nobody responds and just nods. “Rumors have it that the White Moon pack uses rogues like this to weaken and test packs.”

Everyone is stunned by this revelation no one says anything.

After a moment mom finally breaks the silence, “Alright, that’s enough depressing talk. Caden, I forgot to tell you I met the most wonderful girl yesterday. She’s from the Blackwood pack one of the new packs here and she’s perfect for you.”

I groan, “I thought you said no more depressing talk.”

I get a few snickers for that one and Noel who was in the middle of drinking orange juice chokes a bit, but my mother remains unfazed.

“Wolf or human?” I ask.

“Wolf obviously.” She responds.

“And did you tell her I’m human?”

“Well, no but-”

“Mooom.” My tone was that of a parent scolding their child.

“Will you relax she’s the one I can feel it! You’re going to meet her at Geno’s at 7.”

My mother has this crazy idea that I have a mate out there somewhere, so she sets me up on these blind dates with werewolves hoping to find her. But all I end up finding are disappointed and sometimes angry women. I look at Lucas and when he sees the look I’m giving him he simply nods knowing what I want to do. Before my mother can keep going, I decide now is as good a time as any.

“Dad, I want to join the pack.”

“Well of course Caden.” His nonchalant response told me he clearly didn’t understand my intention.

“No dad, I mean I want to join the PACK, like really join.” With that everyone stops to look at me, but I keep focused on my parents. My father has a surprised look on his face while my mother looks at me worriedly, grabbing hold of my hand. I use my other hand cover hers over mine to soothe her and quickly explain myself.

“Don’t get me wrong I don’t mean to go out with you guys, I’ve been learning from James for a while now and I would like to be another pack doctor like him.”

Mom breathes a sigh of relief while dad gets a serious look on his face. Everyone else starts to get up to starts their day.

Lucas places his hand on my shoulder, “Hey we better get going we don’t want to be late.”

I look to dad and he nods at me. “We’ll discuss this more later tonight.”

Mom squeezes my hand a little giving me a small proud smile.

School was pretty uneventful; the sudden influx of new students was not lost on the humans and they’re already planning a huge welcoming party for all the new students. Like they need an excuse to party. At lunch Peter and Marisol were already talking about the upcoming party strategizing which of the new students they were gonna try and make a move on.

“I’m telling you that new hottie in our English class, Gabriella, was giving me the look all period.” Peter was bragging to us. Peter is American Vietnamese; he was born here but his parent are Vietnamese. He has a skater boy look to him complete with a beanie hat and tight ripped up jeans.

“Pfft, en tus sueños.” Marisol responded in Spanish.

Marisol is a curvy latina I’m not sure from where, she has one lip piercing and quit a few ear piercings. Her arms are tatted up with tribal tattoos which she proudly shows off regardless of the trouble teachers give her. She pretty much looks like a bad girl, but despite her looks she’s actually a pretty big softy.

“What?” Peter asked not understanding

Cora translates it for him, “She said in your dreams.”

“I’m telling you Mari her eyes were all over me, you just didn’t see it.” Peter defended

“No, but you know what I do see, the boy two tables down blushes every time I catch him looking at me.” Her accent making her sound sexy.

We all turn to look; he has slim grey glasses and short blonde hair. I recognize him from my history class his name is Quill and at the moment he looks like a deer caught in headlights as he sees us looking at him. His face goes bright red and quickly looks down.

Marisol get up from our table, “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ve caught something nice.”

“Daamn, get it girl.” Alice says Marisol as she walks by and towards Quill.

“Try not to scare him too bad.” Peter calls out to her to which she promptly responds by flipping him off without turning around.

Peter looks to me, “So are you coming to the party?”

“When is it?” I ask.

“Saturday.”

“Saturday!? Damn, that was fast.” I say surprised. Remembering what Claire said about me getting out more I decide why not. “Sure, I guess if it finally gets you to shut up about it.”

Peter just chuckles, “Dude it’s gonna be lit your gonna thank me. Hey, I didn’t see Hanna in class today, is she sick?”

“No just dealing with some family stuff.” I lie.

Nobody from the Bloodfang pack was at school today, probably getting everything ready for Cole’s ascension ceremony and the welcoming party for the last pack moving here. Which had the added benefit of making the rest of the school day pass rather peacefully. After walking me to Lucas’s car I say goodbye to the girls and tell them I’ll see them tomorrow, they work today so they won’t be coming over. Opening the car door, I notice Noel isn’t here it’s just Lucas in the driver seat.

“Where’s Noel?” I ask while getting in the front seat.

“He decided to go to Julie’s place today.”

“Julie? Don’t you mean Gina.”

“No, I mean Julie.” He says exasperated

“Ah, geez what a man whore he’s just asking for trouble.”

“Yes, he is.” Lucas pulls out of the school parking lot and instead of heading home he takes the turn to go downtown.

“Where we headed?” I ask

“Mom wants you to get a new suit for your date tonight.”

“Oh, c’mon Lucas.” I whine.

“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger you know how mom gets.”

“Yeah, I know.” Just remembering the few times my father made the mistake of getting on her bad side was enough to end any argument I had.

“Besides Geno’s is a high-end restaurant and you need a new suit anyways. In fact, I’ll get one too.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

By the time we got home from getting fitted and the suits adjusted it was already almost time for my date. I quickly shower and get dressed, I look at the two silver daggers I usually take with me whenever I go out without my family or Alice and Cora. You never know when rogues might show up or worse another pack might try something. I decide against putting them on rather I’ll just leave them in the car just in case. I grab the shoes I’m going to wear and check the sole of the heel and pop open a piece revealing a small secret compartment where I have hidden a small vial in one and a syringe in the other. I’ve done this to all my shoes, no one knows about it not even my family, it’s one of the few tricks I have that they don’t know about. I make sure both the vial and syringe are okay and finish getting ready.

Finally making my way downstairs I spot mom and dad talking to members of our pack, Zaya and Barry, they seem to be in a meeting. They both see me and smile in my direction Zaya and Barry turn around and wave to me and I wave back letting them go back to their talks. As I continue down, I see Lucas at the bottom of the staircase wearing his new suit as well.

“Where are you off to?” I question

“You really think mom and dad are going to let you go out alone with an unknown wolf, I don’t think so.”

I roll my eyes at him, “Okay, I get that but why the suit?”

“Do I need an excuse to look good?” He runs his hand through his still damp hair.

I laugh, “Well excuuuse me princess.”

Now we’re both laughing. As we head out Claire is coming in, she must be coming back from training because she’s covered in sweat.

“My, my where are you handsome studs off to?” Claire asks while eyeing us both up and down.

Lucas answers her first, “This one has a date while I’m playing chaperone.”

Miffed at his dig I shove him out the door, “Go get the car you ass.”

“Finally taking my advice?” Claire proudly asks.

“Yes and no, no because this date was set up by my mom and yes because there’s going to be a party Saturday that I’m going to.”

“Well good, I’m glad to see you loosening up a bit.” She then leans in close to whisper in my ear, “But if you do end up striking out tonight feel free to visit me in my room dressed just like that.” She then proceeds to smack my ass like usual.

Flustered I just look at her, “Your relentless aren’t you.”

She laughs, “Only when it come to you sweetie.”

I scoff and roll my eyes at her; we both know that’s a lie. Lucas finally pulls up in the car, I tell Claire goodnight before getting in the car and driving off.

When we finally pull up to Geno’s it’s 5 minutes to 8, Lucas tells me he’s gonna drive around for a bit to call him if anything. When I walk into the restaurant, I see that my date is already sitting at the table, she hasn’t spotted me yet, so I take a minute to watch her. She was stunning to say the least her hazelnut hair was in a very stylish top bun, loose curls framing her very pretty face. She was wearing a red strapless dress that helped show off her features and her naturally sun kissed skin. But what really caught my eye was how nervous she was, she was constantly looking around then looking down at her dress smoothing out wrinkles that weren’t there. She reaches for a glass of water and ends up knocking it over, I see her mouth the word shit as she grabs a tablecloth and tries to dry the table. Feeling a bit more relaxed I finally decided to walk up to her.

“Hi, I’m Caden.” I hold out my hand to her.

Embarrassed she takes my hand, “Hi, I’m Daniella.”

After a brief second, I could see the realization that I’m human dawn on her followed by disappointment. The disappointment on her face only lasted a second before she schooled her features into a smile, but that second is all I need, and it still hurts to see. But for once I actually felt bad, maybe it was seeing how nervous she was or maybe it’s the fact that she hasn’t walked out yet and is actually trying to hide her disappointment. Either way I felt bad and was surprised by the fact that I wanted to help her. I was even more surprised by the words I said next.

“I just came by to tell you that my brother is running a little late and he should be here soon.” I don’t know what I was doing but I was gonna have to let Lucas know.

“But I thought, I was told that you-” She was looking at me confused.

“Oh, no, this is just a small prank my mother likes to play on people.” I lie hoping she buys it.

Which she seems to because she starts to chuckle. “Well that threw me for a loop, I had heard the rumors about you, so it caught me off guard.”

“Yeah, I tend to do that to new wolves in the area, so I’m a rumor?” I haven’t heard about that.

“Well yeah, I human male adopted by a pack is unheard of, it’s kind of fascinating.” She looks at me curiously.

“Well I wish some of the others shared your view of me, so anyway it was nice meeting you Daniella hope you and my brother have a pleasant evening.”

“Please wait, you said you brother was running late. Do you mind keeping me company until he gets here? I’m kind of out of my element here and a bit nervous, having someone to talk to will help calm me down, please?” The sincerity in her voice stops me, she sits and stretches out her hand offering me the seat across from her.

Surprised by her offer and still feeling sorry for her I accept and sit, “Of course, why not.”

When I sit, she gives me a genuine smile that I can’t help but return, a waiter comes by seeing the spilled water. She offers the waiter an apology for the mess, while she’s distracted, I text Lucas.

Hey, need U text me when outside.

While waiting for Lucas Daniella and I talked, and I found that she has a great sense of humor and is wicked smart, she’s a genuinely good person and someone I’d like to be friends with. After a while I feel my phone vibrate and I look to see Lucas has texted me, he’s outside.

“Times up?” Daniella says to me jokingly.

“Looks that way, Daniella again it was a pleasure to meet you, I hope that even if things don’t work out with my brother, we can still be friends.”

“Of course, you were wonderful, thank you for keeping me company.”

I wave her goodbye.

When I get outside Lucas is parked out front sitting idle, he rolls down the window.

“Hey, hurry up I’m starving I didn’t get a chance to eat.”

Perfect, “Good because need you to go on my date.” I open the driver side door letting Lucas out.

“What?” He looks at me confused.

“Look it’s a long story but I need you to go an-” I stop because Lucas has started sniffing me. “What the hell are you doing?” I push him off me and this seems to make him come to his senses.

“Sorry, you just smell really good, it’s probably the food sorry.”

“Well then you’re in luck now go get in there, and Lucas I like her so be a gentleman.” Still feeling a little protective.

“No worries but what are you going to do?”

“Nothing, head home I guess.”

“What are you gonna tell mom?”

“Shit, I’ll figure something out don’t worry now go.”

As Lucas walks in, I take off toward home, as I drive I think about how well my day went. Today was a great day, meeting Daniella was amazing, finally telling dad I want to join the pack, and school went by without a hitch thanks to…

Then it hits me that’s what I could do, by now Cole probably thinks I wussed out in coming tonight, I could totally crash Cole’s party by showing up now. Just thinking about the reaction on his stupid face when he sees me is enough to put a smile on my face. His territory is only couple of miles east of ours, so it won’t take me long to get back home. I can totally do this and be back before Lucas or anyone else notices. With my mind made up I turn the car and head towards Bloodfang territory.

The road to the Bloodfang’s main house is in a poor state, potholes everywhere with some parts even eroded. A clear sign that Demetri hasn’t bothered with its maintenance I have no doubt he’s spending the money on himself instead. When I pull up to the main house, I see its surrounded by trees not even having bothered to clear the area for any cars but their own. Their house is slightly bigger than ours which is to be expected since they are a bigger pack. I start to feel uneasy, but I shake it off. I get out of the car and make my way towards the front door where I see to two guards. As I get closer, I realize I don’t recognize them they are not from the Bloodfang pack. They’re both big and built, and they must be related because their faces are too similar, brothers maybe? One has a black hair with a buzz cut and the other is bald. They must be from the new pack but why are they on guard duty?

“What are you doing here? Your kind isn’t welcomed here.” The guards with the buzz cut calls out to me.

That’s when I notice they have released their auras and have tensed up ready to attack. Shit, they don’t know who I am, and I forgot my daggers in the car. Is this what Cole was after, have an outside pack attack me and start a pack war? No, no way is Cole that smart, regardless I need to get out of here quick.

“Speak!” The bald one call yells. Both their auras intensify but it’s nothing I can’t handle, they think I’m a normal human, I’ll use that.

“I-I-I c-came to speak with m-my classmate Hannah w-w-we have a project due t-tomorrow.” I pretend to be scared.

“Isn’t it a little late for that?” The bald one looks at me skeptically.

“I-I just got out of work.”

“Dressed like that?” The one with the buzz cut calls out.

“I work at Men’s Warehouse we have to wear suits for work.” Shit I forgot to stutter.

They both just stand there and look at me, I begin counting down in my head ready to make a run for it. Suddenly I feel both their auras disappear.

“Get out of here, there is a private event in progress, so no one is getting in.” The buzz cut explains.

“N-no problem.” I turn and head back towards the car breathing out a sigh of relief, that was close.

When I reach the car, I go to open the door when I’m suddenly tackled to the ground from the side, the hit was hard enough to knock the air out of my lungs, it also rattled my brain so I’m losing consciousness. Before I blackout I turn to see who got me, I expected to see one of the guards from before but what I end up seeing is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my entire life. She seems to be smiling down at me, that last thing I hear before darkness finally takes me is one word.

“Mine.”

Chapter Five

The first thing I noticed when I regained consciousness was that I was lying on a bed, and I could hear someone moving around next to me. I don’t open my eyes right away instead I do a mental check of my body to make sure I’m okay. Thankfully besides a few aches and what I’m sure to be bruises I seem to be okay, except there’s this weird humming sensation running through my body. As if a chill was constantly running down my spine, I quickly start thinking of any drugs they could have given me to cause it, but I can’t think of anything.

“You can open your eyes; I know your awake.”

At the sound of her smooth husky voice my eyes snapped opened, Goddess she sounded like…well a Goddess. I slowly raise my upper body with my elbows feeling some aches from the hit earlier. I look around to see that I’m in a small room in I’m assuming the Bloodfang pack’s main house. Judging by the room’s small size and simple furnishing it must be a guest room, the bed is up against a wall to my right and I spot a door a little bit past the foot of the bed. Looking to my left my jaw literally drops at the sight in front of me. Before I blacked out, I thought I imagined that girl, but there’s nothing imaginary about the girl in front of me right now.

She was facing away from me combing her hair in front of the mirror on top a dresser. Her hair is pale blonde, reaching just below her shoulders. I can imagine under the light the moon it glowing white. I notice the tips of her hair seem to be damp, that’s when I spot the door farther left that leads to a bathroom and a towel on the floor next to her bare feet. Just thinking of this beautiful creature naked and showering only moments earlier made my mouth go dry. She was wearing a long-sleeved black crop top that showed off her midriff with tight blue jeans that hugged every inch of her long legs. The outfit was simple enough, but on her it looked downright decadent. Her body looked like it came straight out of Sports Illustrated, and I’m not just referring to her curves which she most certainly has. I mean she’s FIT, from the reflection in the mirror I can see her stomach is flat, smooth, and as hard as steel. Her whole body seemed to radiate power and that’s without her aura, she is calm and collected just brushing her hair. Focusing now on her face in the mirror I still can’t believe she’s real, she is gorgeous. Smooth pale skin, soft features, but it was her eyes that captivated me. Long dark lashes surrounded the most beautiful light blue eyes I had ever seen, and they were looking right at me.

She turns to face me, quirks one eyebrow and gives me a mischievous smile, as if asking if I had finished with my appraisal. My mouth snapped close and I couldn’t stop myself from letting out a loud gulp.

Focus and say something you idiot! I chastise myself.

Right when I open my mouth to say something the girl saunters over to the bed and slowly climbs on. Her sensual movements, like a wolf cornering prey, leaves me speechless. She slowly climbs on top of me and sits on my lap straddling me. The humming sensation from before seems to intensify and my body lets out an involuntary shudder of pleasure. Seeing my reaction, the girl just looks at me with a wolfish grin, I try in vain to compose myself.

Goddess, this is insane, what is happening right now? I need to focus and find out who she is, what she wants, and what the hell is going on.

I open my mouth to ask her, but at that moment she decides to lean forward, her face at the crook of my neck and breathes in deeply. The sensation of which sends a shiver down my spine and straight to my groin. My whole-body shudders so hard I have to clutch the bed sheets just to steady myself, but she didn’t stop there. Next, she scrapes her elongated canines across the skin at the base of my neck sending another shiver down my spine and straight to my groin. If she didn’t feel anything sitting on my lap before she most definitely feels it now, because I can perfectly feel her tight firm rump.

“You liked that?” Her tone was pure sex.

Goddess, even her voice was giving me chills, I can feel my face go beet red, I look away embarrassed. Her hand gently grabs my chin and slowly makes me look at her. Her eyes captivate me and everything around us just seems to melt away, every fiber of my being now focused on this beautiful creature in front of me. The humming sensation from before was now roaring throughout my body, I’m not sure how but I know she’s feeling it too. Her light blue eyes were cloudy with desire and I can only assume mine were as well. Her eyes look down to my lips, I can feel myself struggling to breathe as she slowly begins to move her lips towards mine.

Knock, Knock

The knocking on the door breaks us both out of whatever trance we were just in.

“WHAT!!!” The girl snarls at the door.

“Forgive me alpha, but the pup wants to speak to you.” The voice on the other side of the door sounded scared.

The girl rolls her eyes sits up and lets out an agitated huff. The pup the other wolf was referring to has be Cole he’s the only person I know that can cause that look on someone’s face. Wait a second, did that other wolf just refer to her as alpha!? Female alphas aren’t rare but they’re not common. In fact, this is my first-time meeting one, if you can consider this whole crazy situation a meeting. But first things first I need to get out of here, I need to contact someone at home to come get me before either Cole tries something or I end up doing something stupid with this female alpha. I reach into my pocket for my phone, but it’s gone, confused I check my other pocket but still nothing.

“Uh, uh.” The girl lets out in a playful tone.

I look to see her pull my phone out of her back pocket, I reach for it, but she pulls away tucking the phone back into her pocket. She swiftly grabs my wrists and pins them over my head, her eyes become serious and I can feel her release some of her aura.

Oh, oh this could be bad.

“STAY.” Her tone was commanding, and she used her aura to enforce it.

If I was a normal human that would’ve been enough to stop me flat. Still, I decide to play along for now, so I make my body go limp to show her I’m complying. She eyes me carefully for a moment before smiling seemingly satisfied that I wasn’t going anywhere. She quickly jumps off the bed and checks herself in the mirror one last time before opening the door to go out.

“No one enters or leaves this room but me.” Her tone was hard and commanding.

I couldn’t see the other wolf, but I heard him respond.

“Yes, alpha.”

She looks over to me longingly one last time before leaving and closing the door behind her. I wait a few minutes to be sure she’s gone before I slowly get up off the bed. I still need to be quite with a guard outside the door.

The head of the bed is up against a wall with a window, I look through it and see its still nighttime. Looks like I’m on the second floor of the main house and I’m looking out to what I assume is the backyard. A small incline from the main house leads to the backyard which is currently filled with people who seem to be celebrating. I recognize them as people from the Bloodfang pack. They’re eating, drinking and dancing around a small round stage where at the center I see Cole alone.

This must still be the party, that’s good that means I’ve only been out for a little while. Okay, our territory is only a few miles west of here. If I’m quick and careful I can get there with no problems, because staying here is too risky. I don’t trust Cole and I don’t know what to make of that female alpha.

With my mind set I open the small compartments in my shoes and take out the syringe and vial. The vial contains a powerful anesthesia, strong enough to knockout a wolf, James uses it when performing surgery. I carefully fill the syringe and make my way to the door; I lay down to look the through the crack and see the guard is right outside with his back to the door.

Perfect, he’s in reach. I quickly jab the syringe through his shoe and into his foot and inject the anesthesia.

“Ow.” The guard says jumping away from the door.

I open the door to see the guard already swaying on his feet trying to stay upright but after another few seconds he begins to fall. Not wanting him to get needlessly hurt I move to catch him.

“Jesus, this guy weighs a ton.”

He was about the same size as Lucas, it took almost everything just to keep him from knocking me over. After setting him down gently I drag his body into the room and start searching through his pockets for a phone. He was wearing jeans, a white t-shirt and a black jacket so it shouldn’t take long.

“Yes.”

I find a touchscreen phone in his inside jacket pocket. When I swipe the screen to open it, it asks a password.

“Damn.”

I should still take it just in case. I need to hurry; someone might try to call him through a mental link and when he doesn’t respond they’re going to want to find out why. I take off my suit jacket and put on his, it’s a little too big for me but that’s fine. This should help mask my scent for a while and throw them off in case they try to track me. I leave the room and start looking for the stairs down, I move as quickly and quietly as I can, making sure to check my corners. Everyone from the Bloodfang pack should be outside at the celebration, but I can’t be too careful especially with this new pack in the area. I finally find the stairs and make my way to the ground floor; I see the front entrance but then I remember the two guards from before. I make my way to the west side of the house and spot a bathroom with a window leading outside.

That’s my way out, from there if I keep heading west, I should reach our territory and if I’m really lucky whosever on patrol tonight. As I head toward the bathroom, I hear a loud cheer erupt from outside. Further down the hall from the bathroom there’s a window with a view of the backyard. I tell myself to just forget it, but my curiosity gets the better of me and I make my way to the window. Careful not to be seen I look out and see everyone was now focused on the stage and Cole seemed to be talking but I couldn’t make it out. But whatever it is it’s not good, it has a lot of his pack members looking wary and scared. Against my better judgement I crack the window open, so I can hear what he’s saying.

“For far too long this pack has been too compliant, and not working to its full potential. We should be leading this region not the council. They have grown weak, letting strangers cross our borders.”

This is bad, looks like Cole is about to do something stupid even by his standards. I pull out the cellphone I grabbed earlier and see if it has the option to use the camera without the password. Luckily it does, I flip the camera to landscape mode and start recording Cole’s tirade.

“It’s time for us to take control.”

“Cole stop this foolishness at once!” An older man calls out, I recognize him as Cole’s father Demetri.

“Can it old man you had your chance. You prostrate yourself in front the council in the hopes that they’ll accept you, but not me. I’m going to take my seat on the council and deal with anyone that says otherwise. Let me show you how.”

At that moment the female alpha walks up on stage and stands in front of Cole her back to me. “You wanted to speak to me?” Her tone was hard and uncaring.

“You will submit and hand over your pack to me.” Cole declared.

Everything became dead quiet; you could hear a pin drop.

“What did you say?” The female alpha’s tone in disbelief.

“You heard me, you will submit and hand your pack over to me.” Cole boldly declared again.

“This is not what we were promised by your council we were told-” Before she could finish Cole backhanded her across the face. Multiple gasps erupt from the crowd. The blow across the female alpha’s face caused her head to snap to the side but her body didn’t move an inch and I can see Cole rubbing the back of his hand having hurt himself. But what really took me by surprise was my bodies reaction to her getting hit. Every inch of me wanted run out there and kill Cole. It took all my self-control and rational thought, to stop myself running out there and trying to rip Cole’s his head off. The female alpha makes a small stop gesture, I can only assume it was her telling her pack to hold and not attack.

“I don’t care about the council or any deal you had with them. You will do as I say!” Cole yelled.

From where I stood, I can see the female alpha was shaking with rage barely containing herself.

“If you wish to make a formal declaration of combat for control of my pack then I will accept.” Her voice seemingly calm but her tone was menacing.

Cole slapped her again, and again I had to force myself not to do anything stupid and just keep recording.

“There will be no combat, you will do what I tell you, you stupid bit-”

Cole suddenly went silent and I couldn’t tell why until I noticed half of his throat was missing, the only thing holding his head up was the back half of his neck. Cole tries to talk, spurting out blood, not even realizing what had just happened. The female alpha had ripped out his throat with her bare human hands, after another moment Cole clutches his throat and falls back dead. No one made a sound, everyone just stood there in shock including me, I couldn’t believe what just happened. A scream rings out bringing people back to their senses.

That’s when I notice three wolves charging toward the stage, one small wolf followed by two larger ones. I don’t know who the smaller wolf is, but I’m pretty sure the two larger wolves are Cole’s parents. The female alpha doesn’t run, shift, or call for help she just stands there holding her ground. The smaller wolf reaches the stage first and lunges at the alpha, who proceeds to kick the wolf away knocking it off the stage and into a tree rendering it unconscious with one hit. When Cole’s parents reach the stage, they lunge for her together, but faster than I thought possible in human form the female alpha moves to intercept them, grabbing them both by their throats, and slamming them down on to the stage on their backs. With their backs on the floor and her hands on their throats, Cole’s parents knew they couldn’t do anything but whimper in surrender.

“Holy shit.”

While still holding down the two wolves with what looked like little effort, her heads snaps in my direction. Realizing I had spoken out loud I run towards the bathroom, open the window, and climb out breaking into a run the second my feet hit the ground.

I zig zag through the trees while trying to maintain a steady pace. It’ll buy me some time if they start tracking me, not much but better than nothing.

Hooooooowl.

It was her, not sure how I knew, but I just know that was her. I stop zig zagging through the tree and break into a run again. If she was that powerful in human form, she must be a total monster in wolf form. After about 5 minutes I come across a small shallow river, without thinking too long I take off the guard’s jacket and my shirt. I toss the guard’s jacket as far as I can into some bushes and throw my shirt up into a tree, hopefully that will keep them busy for a while. I run across the river making sure to keep the phone dry, I need to show my father this recording. After running for about 15 more minutes I stop to catch my breath, I was covered from head to toe in sweat, dirt, and grime. I can see a clearing just a few feet in front of me, I’ve gotta be close to our territory by now.

That’s when I felt it, a chill running up my spine, she’s here! I looked around, but couldn’t see her, but I knew she was here. Should I try calling out to her? Explain who I am? No, at best she could try holding me ransom, and at worst she might not believe me and just execute me for knowing about werewolves.

“You can feel it can’t you?” Her voice seemed to emanate from all around me.

“Feel what?” I ask, knowing exactly what she was talking about. I slowly back towards the clearing to try and make a break for it. She lets out a chuckle amused by what I was trying to do.

Her tone turns husky. “The connection, it’s proof.”

“Proof of what?” Genuinely interested in what it means.

“That you belong to me.” Her voice whispers in my ear.

I jerk away and turn but still don’t see her, I look all round me and still nothing. Her tone was so sensual, but the way she said those words scared me. All the while I can hear her laughter all around me.

Hooowl.

Her laughter stops, but I begin to smile because I recognize that howl.

“Mom!” I shout looking towards the clearing.

“!”

From the other side of the clearing I see my mother’s wolf form and she’s not alone the whole pack is with her. I run to her, meeting me halfway I hug her as soon as she’s close enough and she uses her giant wolf head to hug me back. Everyone else circles around me nudging me with their noses and letting out grunts and huffs to let me know they were worried. There was one wolf in the group I didn’t recognize standing next to Lucas. The biggest wolf my father comes close and lets out a low growl in his chest and my mother does the same. They’re way of letting me know I was in big trouble; I nod letting them know I understand. My dad then puts his forehead to mine letting me know he’s glad I’m okay. Everyone snaps their heads toward the other end of the clearing. That’s when I see her, standing at the edge of the clearing on the other side, still wearing the same outfit from earlier. She just stands there looking at me curiously. My father begins to let out a growl.

“No dad it’s okay.”

My dad stares at me for a second before letting out a huff, with that everyone turns to head home. My father uses his head to help lift me up onto mom’s back. As my parents turn to head home I look back towards the clearing, but she’s gone.

Chapter Six

After making safely it back home my father took us to his study where he and mom wasted no time laying into me. My mother never curses so when she does it hurts to hear, for a good thirty minutes she alternated between cursing me for my stupidity and hugging me; glad that I was okay. After mom finished dad took his turn reprimanding me which consisted of the same thing but without the hugging. When I asked how they knew where I was, they told me it was Lucas who figured it out. Turns out the wolf I didn’t recognize next to Lucas earlier was Daniella. Apparently, they’re mates and recognized each other the moment Lucas walked into the restaurant. Not wanting to waste any time telling everyone the good news he hurried home with Daniella in wolf form. After a while he realized I still hadn’t come home and tried calling me. When I didn’t answer he called Alice and Cora, but they told him they hadn’t heard from me either. That’s when he remembered our argument about Cole’s party and put two and two together, after telling mom and dad everything they left to come get me.

As happy as I was for Lucas and Daniella, and the pack coming to rescue me, I couldn’t get what happened out of my mind. After everything was said and done, I told dad I needed to speak to him privately. Seeing the serious look on my face he asked everyone to leave except for mom because he tells her everything anyway. After everyone else left the room I told him what happened and showed him the recording. I left out the parts about me and the female alpha in the bedroom. A look of utter shock was on my father’s face by the time he finished watching the recording.

“Who is she?” I asked.

With a grim look on his face he passes the recording to mom and answers, “Alpha Keira of the Thorn-apple pack.” He turns to me. “I don’t know much about her, from what I’ve been told she’s about your age and she’s only been alpha for a little over a year.”

Keira, just hearing her name sends a shiver down my spine. I see my mother put a hand over her mouth as she watches the video.

“This is not good.” My father states as he moves to sit behind his large wooden desk. “Demetri is not going to let this go. If he’s still alive come Saturday, he’ll probably lie about what happened tonight and petition the council for help against the Thorn-apple pack during the community meeting.”

“Will he get it?” I ask nervously, not sure why I was getting worried for her sake.

“Hard to say.” My father responds.

Mom, finally done with the video explains to me. “The female gave Cole plenty of chances to back off, but he didn’t he continued to attack and insult her. No alpha can blame her for her actions, if we present this video as evidence it could justify her actions and his death.” My mother paused for a moment before continuing. “But that in itself could be a problem, they’re going to question where the video came from and why you where there in the first place.”

“I’ll just tell them the truth, Cole invited me. I even have witnesses Alice, Cora, even one of Cole’s flunkies was there; they all heard him invite me.”

My father slowly shook his head, “Everyone knows Alice and Cora are heavily connected to our pack and I wouldn’t be surprised if Demetri somehow got the poor boy to lie for him. Hell, I wouldn’t put it pass the slime ball to accuse us of having orchestrated the whole thing.”

I realized my father was right if not handled properly this could end up a total shit storm for both our packs.

A look of realization crosses my mother’s face. “If the fear is them thinking we colluded with the Thorn-apple pack, let’s do just that.” I look at my mother confused. “Think about it Mattias, if we want to prove her case, we need her on our side.”

I was still confused, but my father seemed to understand. “Your right, your absolutely right, Goddess I love you.” He pulls mom into his lap and kisses her.

I look at them both still lost. “Can one of you please explain it to me?”

Mom breaks the kiss with dad and gives me a stern look. “It’s nothing you need to worry about. You need to go to bed, you have school in the morning.” She points me to the door.

“School seriously!? Your worried about school after everything that’s happened tonight?” I couldn’t believe this.

“Yep, now GO.” She points towards the door again.

I let out an exasperated sigh as I get up and go to my room. After a quick shower I crawl into bed and let the exhaustion of the whole ordeal take over.

I was still exhausted when we pulled into school. Walking in I could see all the wolves were on edge, had the news already spread? Lucas and Noel were also on edge, but for different reasons, Lucas was on edge because Daniella had to leave this morning and check in with her pack. While Noel was anxious about running into Gina after spending yesterday with her friend Julie.

As we walk down the halls, I hear Lucas blurt out, “Oh shit.” and turns to me. “I forgot to tell you to call Alice and Cora last night. They blew up my phone trying to find out if you were okay. They almost walked out of their jobs to come help last night but I convinced them not to.”

“Crap, their gonna be pissed.” As if on cue I feel a hand smack me upside the head.

“Damn right we are! How could you be so stupid!” Cora yells at me from behind.

Lucas and Noel leave to their classes, not wanting to get in the middle of this.

“Ow.” I rub the back of my head as I turn to her. “Yeah I know, not my brightest moment.”

I feel another hand smack me upside the head. “Ouch.” I turn to see Alice.

“Goddess, of all the stupidest fucking things you...” Alice didn’t even finish her sentence she just slowly shook her head at me.

“I know, I know, I messed up. I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.” I apologize to both of them.

Tears start to swell up in Cora’s eyes and she lets out a sob as she pulls me into a hug, “Goddess, I’m happy you’re okay.”

Oh geez, her crying is getting me all misty eyed. I let go of Cora and go to hug Alice, but she raises her finger at me with a stern look on her face.

“I promise, never again.” I tell her.

Satisfied she then pulls me into a hug tighter than Cora’s. As we walked towards our classes I ask them what they’ve heard.

“Not much.” Says Alice. “Only that early this morning Demetri and a little over half his pack were kicked out of their territory.”

Huh, she let Demetri go? And why would she only keep a portion of his pack and not keep or kick out all of them? Hmmm, this has gotta be part of mom and dad’s plan.

Cora chimes in, “Also, a few of the new wolves have been asking about you.”

“Me? What about me?”

“Simple stuff like who you are and what pack you belong to.”

Shit, was it Keira?

Cora continued, “There’s also a rumor going around that Cole is dead, but nobody from the Bloodfang pack has shown up today, so we’re not sure.”

“That’s no rumor, I was there I saw it happen.”

“What!?” They both turn to me wide eyed.

“Yeah, I…”

That’s when I feel it, the humming sensation from before and the hairs on the back of my neck begin to stand. I slowly turn around and standing only a few feet away from me was Keira. She was wearing a white baggy sweater that hung over her left shoulder with a black tank top underneath. Dark blue jeans cover her long legs and black boots now cover her once bare feet. Now, standing so close, I notice that she’s almost as tall as Lucas maybe even taller, forcing me to tilt my head up to look at her face. But she wasn’t looking at me, her angry gaze was alternating between Alice and Cora, who I hadn’t noticed until now were slowly inching themselves between me and Keira. Readying themselves to protect me. Everyone around us noticed something was going on and were now staring at us.

“LEAVE!” Keira barked out, her eyes never leaving Alice or Cora.

Everyone quickly started to leave the hall some even tripping over themselves, even on an instinctual level the humans knew not to disobey. The hall quickly emptied leaving the four of us alone.

“Get away from him.” Keira spoke in a low menacing voice.

But Alice and Cora didn’t move, instead they let out their auras and braced themselves for a fight. Keira’s eyes narrowed, letting out a low growl as she released her aura as well. In a fight, auras can be used to pressure an opponent and throw them off balance. Sort of like a battle of wills but with physical consequences. I see Keira begin to lean forward ready to attack.

I had stop them! They didn’t know who Keira was or how powerful she is, Alice and Cora don’t stand a chance.

“Stop!” I call out as I push past both Alice and Cora. “They’re my bodyguards.”

Alice and Cora both pull me back behind them, placing themselves between me and Keira again.

Keira looks at me and considers me a moment before looking back to Alice and Cora, a curious expression now on her face. She slowly leans back and releases her aura; but the girls stay at the ready not releasing their auras or standing down.

“Guys it’s okay.” Alice and Cora both glance at me unsure, but slowly comply releasing their auras and backing down. But they refused to move from in front of me, their eyes still focused on Keira watching her for any signs of hostility.

Keira continued to eye them both carefully before finally giving them a slight nod, as if giving them her approval. She looks to me again with some type of emotion I couldn’t quite decipher in her eyes. She turns to walk away; and sudden feeling of loss overwhelms me.

Pushing my way past the girls again I call out. “Wait!”

Keira stops and turns to me, but I can’t think of what to say. Goddess what’s wrong with me why am I acting this way? She raises an eyebrow waiting for me to say something.

“M-my phone, you still have my phone.” You’re an idiot, I tell myself.

Surprisingly, Keira reaches into her back pocket and pulls out my phone, holding it out to me. I take a few steps toward her and reach out to grab it when she suddenly pulls it back.

She gives me a playful smile that takes my breath away. “You want it? Come find me after class.”

She turns and walks away as the last bell rings, the sway of her hips leaving me wondering where the hell is her first period is?

I found myself looking at the clock all period long, class seemed to drag on longer than usual. When the bell finally did ring I all but ran out of the room and headed to the girls’ classroom which was two halls down from mine. After Keira had left; the girls grilled me on who she was and what all that was about. I told them who Keira was, but as for what just happened, I had no idea. What did she want, I mean besides obvious, what was she hoping to gain by coming after me? The girls and I decided to find out and are going to go look for her after class.

I’m almost to the girls’ class when I’m suddenly pulled out of the hall and into an empty classroom.

Keira!?

Her mouth is on mine before I could utter a sound, her tongue pushes into my mouth causing me to moan. Her arms wrap around my waist pulling me closer, my arms instinctively wrap around her neck. A small voice in the back of my head tells me this isn’t how it goes, but I ignore it, my whole-body was humming with pleasure. The kiss is so intense I feel my legs give way, but she keeps me up with her arms, her tongue continuing to explore every inch of my mouth. The same voice from earlier yells at me to get a grip, you don’t even know her. Returning to my senses, I try pushing her away with little success until she finally lets me. When the kiss finally does break, I’m left panting, desperately trying to catch my breath.

“Keira.” I finally manage to gasp out.

“Caden.” She smiles.

Unlike me she seems perfectly fine and continues to trace small kisses along my jaw.

“Stop.” I finally manage to ground out. “Why are you after me, what’s your game?”

She chuckles, “Game?” Her lips hover over mine. “Your mine, I don’t need a reason.” Her tone is so blasé, as if she’s stating a fact.

Her response annoys me, I didn’t like the idea of someone claiming me as their own personal toy.

I narrow my eyes at her. “I don’t belong to anyone, now where’s my phone?” I cross my arms over my chest hoping to form some type of barrier between us.

She smiles amused by my response, she pulls my phone from her back pocket and hands it to me. As she continues to stare at me with her light blue eyes, I feel myself starting to get lost in them again, so look away in nervous embarrassment and squeak out a thank you.

Goddess, what’s wrong with me. Why am I such a hot mess around her, I’m acting like mom whenever she and dad get all lovey-dovey.

She sighs, “I wish I could take you home now, but we’ll have to wait until this whole Bloodfang thing is taken care of.” She lets out a small laugh. “You should’ve seen the look on my packs face when I told them you’d be moving in, priceless.”

Whoa, what? Take me home, move in? What is she talking about?

“Don’t worry, they’re all excited to meet you.” She must have mistaken my confusion for worry.

What the! Does she seriously think she owns me!?

“H-H-Hold on, I’m not moving anywhere.” She’s taken aback by my response, as if not even considering I would object. “Look, I’m not going to deny there’s this thing between us, but I don’t even know you.”

She looks at me her expression now serious. “For now, you don’t need to know me, just obey me.”

My jaw drops, I flash back to my argument with Lucas the other day when he tried bossing me around too, now I was pissed.

“You are NOT my alpha! So you can’t tell me what to do!” I yell at her angrily.

I push pass her and head towards the door, but she grabs me and pushes me back against the wall, slamming her hands against the wall on either side of my head caging me in. Angry at my defiance her light blue eyes were now beginning to glow; a low growl escaping through her now clenched teeth. My eyes widen with fear, like an idiot I had forgotten who and what she was; dangerous.

“WATCH. YOUR. TONE.” The pressure from her aura was intense, but I refuse to back down and stare back at her defiantly.

Her angry eyes suddenly become clouded with desire and her mouth spreads into a Cheshire grin revealing her now elongated canines; the sudden change in her demeanor causes me to lose a little bit of my confidence.

“I’m going to enjoy fucking that attitude right out of you.”

My eyes widen in shock and my throat dries at her words. As she slowly leans toward me, my heart begins to race in a mixture of fear and excitement. Suddenly she stops, her eyes are no longer focused on me. I know that look, someone is talking to her through a mental link. After a moment she lets out a groan of frustration and then focuses back on me.

“I have to go, but we’ll finish this later.” She puts her arms down and walks toward the door. “I’ll save you a seat at lunch.” She opens the door and looks back at me. “And don’t even think about running.”

She walks out leaving me alone in the empty classroom. Once she’s gone my whole body gives out and I sag against the wall dropping to the floor. My whole body begins to tremble, I’m not sure if its’s from fear, excitement, or both.

What the fuck is happening to me? I’ve never let anyone human or werewolf get to me like this. After a few moments my body calms down and I remember Alice and Cora. Still not able to stand I decide to text them.

Ran into Keira, everything’s fine, got phone back.

Stuck in bathroom, see you at lunch.

After a moment of probably trying to decide if the message was really from me, they replied ok. Relieved I wasn’t going to have to explained what just happened, I just sit there trying to figure out what hell just happened.

By the time I finally felt like myself again it was already time for lunch. When I get to the cafeteria, I see Lucas and Noel at their usual table and Marisol was sitting was Quill, but I saw no sign of Alice, Cora, or Peter.

They must not be here yet.

As I continue to look around, I see Keira, sitting at a table not too far from where I usually sit, looking straight at me. She motions to me with her head to sit in the empty seat beside her. But determined to show her she’s not the boss of me I raise my chin at her and proceed to sit at Lucas and Noel’s table, too scared to sit by myself. Unfortunately, Lucas and Noel have me to sit on their side of the table which is the same side facing a now annoyed looking Keira.

Shit.

Not ready to face her I take out my lunch and keep my head down. After staring and picking at my food for a few minutes I decide to peek up at Keira, and like I thought she’s staring straight at me. Even as three other people who I assume are from her pack join her, she never takes her eyes off me. She didn’t look angry anymore, but I couldn’t decide if that’s a good or bad thing, so I decide to just keep my head down.

“Soooo, you gonna tell me what’s going on?” Noel asks me.

“Whadda you mean?” I pretend not to know what he’s talking about as I continue picking at my food.

“I mean the chick who hasn’t stop staring at you since you walked in the room.” Noel didn’t buy it for a second.

Shrugging my shoulders, I lie. “I don’t know.”

Noel looks at Keira then back to me. “But isn’t that the same girl from the clearing last night?”

“Yeah.” I shift uncomfortably in my seat.

“And isn’t she the alpha who-?”

“You do know she’s listening, right?” I interrupt him.

“With the way she keeps staring at you, I kinda figured. Doesn’t make me any less curious, so what’s the deal?”

I really didn’t feel like explaining this when I don’t even know what THIS is. I look over to Lucas for some help, but he isn’t even paying attention. He’s off in la la land probably thinking about Daniella.

“She’s probably just curious, like all the other wolves who find out about me.” I tell him.

“Then why are you so scared?” He asks.

My head snaps to Noel. “What? I am not scared.”

Noel looks at me in disbelief. “Bruh, who are you kidding?

Hearing a familiar chuckle, I look toward Keira and see a self-satisfied smirk playing across her full pink lips, she was enjoying this. I feel my face go red and put my head back down, angry at myself for not controlling my emotions better. Thankfully Noel didn’t push me any further on the subject. Alice and Cora eventually showed up with Peter, joining us for lunch, I was glad for the distraction

For the rest of the day I didn’t see Keira, but every so often I would feel her watching me. At the end of the day as the girls walked me to the parking lot, I began to think about her. Trying to figure out why she wants me but couldn’t come up with anything. Then an impossible thought crosses my mind.

Could she be my…mate? I quickly shake the notion out of my head, no that’s impossible, isn’t?

When we reach the parking lot, I see Lucas and Noel waiting outside the car and a few yards away from them was Keira, standing next to a white sports car, waiting for me. My heart began to race as we got closer, I had a sudden need to go and talk to her. Show her that she didn’t scare me, that she couldn’t control me, and if she wanted me it would have to be on equal terms.

“You guys go wait by the car.” I told the girls

“Cadeeen.” Alice calls out to me in a warning tone.

I give her a reassuring look and continue walking over to Keira. Even without Lucas, Noel, and the girls close by, there were still plenty of people around. She’s not going to try anything with so many potential witnesses. I stop a few feet away from Keira and knowing everyone would be listening I speak in a low voice so only she would be able to hear me.

“I’m not afraid of you and I won’t be pushed around.” She didn’t respond, she just stood there straight-faced. “But I do want to get to know you, as equals.” I reach out my hand to her for a handshake.

She looks at my hand for a moment and then laughs. I start to let my hand drop when she reaches out and grabs it, but instead of a handshake she pulls me in close and smashes her mouth against mine in front of everyone. Goddess, she tasted even better than before, but I can’t think of that now everyone’s watching us. I turn my head away breaking the kiss, already breathing heavy.

“We are not equals and I don’t tolerate disobedience.” She says to me matching my low voice. She grabs my chin and turns me to look at her. “Remember that and remember that the next time I get you alone I’m going to take care of that attitude of yours.” She was serious, not a trace of a smile on her face. Her declaration sends a shiver down my spine.

She releases me causing me to fall back on my butt. She then turns, gets into the white sports car, and drives off. As I sit there stunned, I glance around the parking lot and see almost everyone was staring at me. I look behind me to Lucas, Noel, and the girls I see all of them with their jaws practically on the floor, a million different questions in each of their eyes.

“Shit.”

Chapter Seven

“Then she got in her car and left.”

Noel finished telling my dad what had happened at the school parking lot with Keira. But only after the girls had told him about what had happened this morning too. After Keira left, the four of them had bombarded me with questions. I told them I had no idea what that was about, but they didn’t believe me and decided to tell dad. The four of us were currently in my dad’s study, I was seated in a chair right in front of dad’s desk while the others stood behind me. My dad sat behind his desk and was now looking at me expectantly waiting for me to explain.

“Well?” His tone was calm and emotionless, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“Dad, I seriously don’t know what all that was about. Maybe she’s mad about last night, I mean me a human escaping from a bunch of werewolves, that’s gotta be embarrassing.”

“She practically shoved her tongue down your throat, and you think it’s because she’s mad at you?” Cora asked me skeptically.

It sounded stupid even to me, but I couldn’t really tell them what Keira really wanted, or the fact that a part of me thinks she might even be my mate.

“He could be right.” My father answers.

Wait? What?

“Really?” I asked dumbfounded.

Everyone looks to my father as he continues. “Female alphas are more aggressive than other werewolves, any slight towards them could trigger a need to reestablish dominance. Now this can be done with a fight or in this case a more sexual nature. When she found out your status as my son she probably opted for the latter. This all started after you escaped correct?” My father asks me.

My mind quickly flashes back to me and Keira in bed, she was clearly all over me even before I escaped.

“Wow, so I piss off a female and she wants to kill me but Caden pisses off a female and she wants to jump his bones, how is that fair.” I hear Noel complain.

I hear three different whacks followed by Noel saying ow, I guess the girls and Lucas must have hit Noel.

“Caden, you didn’t say or do anything before you escaped that might have set her off?” My father asked me again noticing my pause.

I quickly cool my expression, “Um…no, I mean I was pretty out of it at the time so I’m not sure.”

I don’t know why I was lying. For some reason I just couldn’t bring myself to tell the truth, I couldn’t stand the thought of them looking at me like I was crazy.

“Well for now don’t do anything, I’ll call alpha Keira and try to get a read on what she wants. So just avoid going out alone for now.”

“She made it pretty clear what she wants.” Noel snickered.

I hear another smack.

“Dude, this is serious.” Lucas chastises Noel.

“I’m being serious, why not just let her have him?” Noel asked.

“Because I’m not a human dildo and I’m not gonna drop-trou every time I piss someone off.” I answer annoyed.

“Nor would I ask anyone in my pack to do so, least of all my son.” My father responded. “Now go, the four of you are dismissed.” My father looks to me. “And don’t forget your still grounded for that stunt you pulled last night.”

“Don’t worry I’m not going anywhere.”

After the grilling in the study everyone went on like usual, well except for Lucas who was still hopelessly pining for Daniella, waiting to hear back from her. The girls decided to go on patrol with Claire and the others tonight while I was stuck in my room. After finishing my homework, I just laid in bed staring at the ceiling, unable to get Keira out of my head. Ever since we kissed, every time I think about her my body starts to get that humming feeling again. But what’s really scaring me is the fact that I’m beginning to enjoy it. When I finally looked toward the window, I see it’s dark out. I make a half assed attempt to get up but give up halfway and lay back down.

Jesus, what’s wrong with me? “Argh, this is stupid just stop thinking about her.” I chastise myself.

Knock, knock.

“Come in.”

I sit up as the door opens and see that it’s mom.

“Hey sweetie, just wanted to check to see how you were doing.”

She walks over and sits on the bed next to me

“Your father told me about your having lady troubles.” I can see her struggling to keep a straight face.

I laugh, “Yeah, I guess you could call it that.”

Leave it to mom to cheer me up, it felt good to laugh, relieve some of the tension I was feeling.

“You like her, don’t you?”

How does she do that, see right through me like that?

I let out a heavy sigh, “Yeah.”

No point in denying it, not to her anyway or myself for that matter.

“I’m sorry, this has got to be tough for you” She tries to comfort me.

“Does everybody else know too?” I ask dreading her answer.

She smiles at me, “No, the girls and your father are just worried about you, Noel wants you to use this opportunity to get laid, and Lucas is thinking about Daniella and not much else.” She chuckles at Lucas.

Relief washes over me.

“I’m surprised you’re not jumping for joy and trying to convince me she might be my mate.”

“Well I haven’t met her yet so there’s still time for that later.”

We both chuckle.

“Mom, why are you so adamant that I find my mate or that I even have one to begin with?” I sincerely ask her.

“Because some human floosy isn’t good enough for you.” She jokes.

“Mom come on.” I say rolling my eyes at her

She lets out a sigh and starts combing my hair with her fingers like when I was a kid.

“Well, there are two reasons. The main reason is because I want you to be happy, I want you to have and feel that love, there’s no greater joy than being with your mate. As your mother I want that for you.”

I smile, “And the other reason?”

My mother looks at me guiltily, “The second reason is a bit of selfishness on my part.”

She looks at me with a sad smile and I can already tell what she’s thinking.

“Your referring to the fact that human mates don’t age.” I tell her with a small smile.

She looks at me, not really surprised that I knew.

“If you found your mate then I wouldn’t have to watch my baby boy grow old and die. I wouldn’t have to be secretly dread every time your birthday came around, knowing you’ve grown another year older.” She looks down sad and ashamed.

THIS, this is why I hate celebrating my birthday, it’s a harsh reminder that unlike the rest of my family my days are numbered. I’ve known for a while now that she felt this way, I hated to see her like this. I made peace with my mortality a long time ago, but I guess mom hasn’t.

“Okay I get that, but why do you believe a male like me even has a mate out there somewhere?”

My mother gets a thoughtful look on her face.

“Hmmm, that’s a bit hard to explain. I just…feel it, I can’t explain it any other way. Since the moment I held you in my arms I just knew, like the Goddess herself told me.” My mother smiles as if remembering a cherished memory.

All werewolves believe in the Moon Goddess in some way, some more than others. My family was never overly religious, so it’s a bit surprising seeing my mother speak of the Goddess.

“Well if the Goddess told you who am I to argue.” I say jokingly to elevate the mood.

Mom rolls her eyes and nudges me, causing us both to laugh. It was nice talking to mom one on one like this, we hadn’t done it in a while. After all this talk about mates my mind begins to wander back to Keira again.

“Thinking about her.” She says breaking into my train of thought.

“Yeah. So how did you figure it out I like Keira?”

“It was easy really, I just noticed you’d hadn’t mentioned Hannah even once these last two days since your run in with Keira.”

“Hannah!” She completely slipped my mind. I have no idea if she’s okay or where she’s at.

I jump up off the bed and dial her number, but it goes straight to voicemail. I begin pacing back and forth trying in vain to get a hold of her. Mom grabs my shoulders forcing me to look at her.

“Caden, calm down. Hannah is okay.” She reassures me, sitting me back down on the bed beside her. “She’s part of the group that left with Demetri, she’s fine.”

I sigh in relief.

Jesus, some friend I am. Mom was right, ever since I met Keira, I haven’t thought about Hannah even once. Even though I’m happy I’m no longer pining after Hannah, I still feel like a dick for not worrying about a friend.

“Tell me about her.” She asks

“Mom, you know Hannah.”

“Don’t be smart, you know what I mean.” She chastises me.

“I honestly don’t know what to say, I barely know her.” Which is true, even after all these encounters I still don’t know anything about Keira.

“That’s because you’re over thinking it, close your eyes.”

Rolling my eyes, I do as she says.

“Know think about Keira and tell me about her. What is your gut telling you?”

I think about our run ins at school, I start saying the first things that pop into my head, “

“She’s rude, demanding, stern, aggressive-” Then I started say what I felt, “but also brave, honest, strong, mischievous…. beautiful…lonely, and we kissed I felt whole.”

I open my eyes surprised by what I just said, I guess I knew more than I thought. I turn to mom who’s looking at me with wide eyes and then screams.

“Mom! What’s wrong?”

“They’ve been ambushed!” She yells.

That’s when I realize she wasn’t looking at me, she was seeing through the mental link what was happening to the others. An ambush, oh no the Alice and Cora! Me and mom race out of my room and head toward my father’s study. When we get there the rest of the wolves with the night off are already crowding the room waiting for their alpha to tell them what to do.

“Charles take four with you and go help the others, the rest of you will stay here on alert!” My father commands.

“Only five Alpha, shouldn’t we send more warriors?” Will, a long-time pack member, questions in an agitated voice.

“Our warriors aren’t so weak, and we must be cautious. I’ve already received dozens of messages from other alphas requesting help, saying their territories are under attack. Make no mistake these aren’t some mindless rogues; this is a coordinated attack on all of us.”

My father’s words shock everyone into action, my mind goes to Keira. Her pack only recently moved in and they might not be ready for an attack. I quickly shake the thoughts out of my head, this isn’t the time for that I need to go with James to the clinic and be ready to help. This is my chance to prove my worth to my family and the pack.

As I follow James out the door my father’s hand stops me.

“No, you’re staying here.” My father orders.

“Dad I have to help James.” I plead with him.

“Not this time, I want you to here in the house where it’s safe.”

“Dad this is not my first attack I know what to do, I need to be at the clinic.” I try to persuade him.

“No, those were just mindless rogues and small pack skirmishes this is something else entirely. You need to stay here.” His voice now stern.

“But dad they were ambushed, there are going to need help, James is going to need me.” I try to make him understand.

“James has been doing this since before you were born, he doesn’t need you!” My father yells releasing his aura.

My father’s words wash over me like ice water, I’m unneeded, useless to the pack. My father walks away ending our conversation, I feel my mother’s hand on my shoulder.

“For now, go to your room, we’ll call you when everything has settled down.” She tells me in a soft voice and gently nudges me in the direction of my room.

Not able to do anything else, I do as I’m told and wait in my room for the killing to stop.

Chapter Eight

It’s been two hours and still no word, Linda came by about a half hour ago to bring me some food, but I haven’t touched it. Every so often I’ll hear howls in the distance, but I can’t make out who is making them or why. As I sit in my bed with my head in my hands, my father’s words echo through my mind. I know he didn’t mean to hurt me, and he just wants me to be safe, but I can’t help but get angry. I know it’s stupid and illogical but just can’t help it, it’s also not helping that I’m worried about everyone out there right now. Alice, Cora, Claire, Lucas, Noel, Selene, Charles and my parents; their all out there and anyone of them could be hurt and in trouble and I’m up here not doing anything. My mind slowly drifts back to Keira, hoping and praying that she’s alright, I can’t help but imagine her hurt and alone needing me.

That’s it, I can’t take it anymore! I need to do something!

I go to my closet and grab some bed sheets and start tying them together by the ends. Part of me knows this is a stupid idea but I ignore it and hope this works like it does in the movies. I open my window and look down, eyeballing the distance to the ground I’m satisfied with the length of my makeshift rope and tie one end to my bed post and throw the other end out the window. I strap my silver daggers to the back of my waist and give the blankets a good tug to make sure its solid. I take another look out the window to make sure no one from the pack is around to see or stop me. James’s clinic isn’t far, if I stay downwind and move fast, I can get there before anyone can pick up my scent. I know mom and dad are gonna be pissed when they find out I left to the clinic, but I can’t just sit around and do nothing. I need to show them I can do this, that I can help that I can be of use to the pack.

I take a deep breath to steady myself and proceed out the window, as I slowly make my way down, I pray that the sheets hold, when my feet finally touch the ground I let out a sigh of relief.

“Huh, I’m surprised that actually worked.” I muse to myself.

Snap

The sound of a twig snapping behind me has me groaning in frustration, not even a minute into my escape and I’m already caught. As I slowly turn around, I try to think up a good excuse.

“So yeah, this isn’t what it looks like. I was jus-”

My words die on my lips as I finish turning and see that the giant wolf behind me is not a wolf I recognize; it isn’t from our pack. This is not good; my hand moves slowly towards one of my daggers.

The wolf growls and moves in front of me so quick I have to fight the urge to cower back. The fact that this wolf hasn’t already torn me to shreds is a miracle, so I decide not to push my luck and raise my hands in surrender. Up close and out in the open I’m taken aback by the sheer size of the wolf, it’s as big as my father maybe even bigger and he’s considered large even among the other alphas. Its white fur and fluid movements make it look almost ethereal, even through human eyes I can tell that this wolf is beautiful. Its light blue eyes continue to watch me, eyes that I recognize.

“Keira!?” I say incredulously

The wolf slowly circles around me letting its large body graze mine as it moves, as if trying to caress me, causing the humming feeling to wash through my body.

“Well I guess that answers that question, but what are you doing here? Scratch that you need to leave, if my pack catches you here there’s gonna be trouble and I don’t want YOU hurting anyone.” I say in a hushed voice.

I was more worried for my pack than Keira, as strong as she was in human form, I can’t even begin to imagine how powerful she must be on her wolf form. This seemed to make Keira happy as she seemed to stand up straighter and gave a low growl of approval. I hear a low howl in the distance, and it reminds me of what I was doing.

“Look I need to go, and you need to get back to your pack. We’ll talk tomorrow I promise.”

I turn to walk away but she jumps in front of me and growls.

“What the-, what are you doing?” I question.

She uses her snout to point at the rope of bedsheets and pushes me back towards it. She’s stopping me!

“I don’t have time for this, I need to go help James our pack doctor.”

Keira growls at me and I see her take in a deep breath. She’s going to howl!

“Okay, okay, okay.” I jump at her to stop her. “I’m going, I’m going.”

I begin to climb back up; she uses her head to help push me up. When I’m finally back in my room I go to my door and listen to see if anyone is coming. Thankfully everything is still quiet, I turn around and see Keira in human form standing in the middle of my room gloriously naked. I quickly turn around; her body is perfect. I call upon every ounce of self-control I have left to not walk over there and take her or realistically let her take me.

“What’s wrong?” Keira asks me in a worried tone.

“Nothing, I just need you to grab one of those bed sheets and use it to cover yourself.” I say in a strained voice.

“Why? Aren’t you used to seeing naked werewolves by now?” She asks me curiously.

“I am, I just...” The urge to turn around was getting stronger so I decide to tell her the truth. “It’s different with you, I don’t think I have the self-control and I’m pretty sure you know why.” My voice getting even more strained.

A few seconds pass and she doesn’t say anything, I start to wonder if she’s still here when I feel her arms wrap around me and her lips near my ear.

“It’s nice to know I have that effect on you.” She whispers huskily in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.

The sensation of fabric on my back lets me know she’s using a bedsheet, which surprises me. I turn around not bothering to move out of her arms and look up at her.

“Why do you look so surprised?” She asks smiling.

“Because I am, I thought you might try and use this to your advantage.” I answered honestly.

“Hmm, the thought did cross my mind, but after working so hard to get here without getting caught I figured it’d be a shame for it to happen now from you screaming my name.”

“Screaming your name?” I ask confused. She quirks an eyebrow at me and I realize what she means. Tired of her always taking charge I decide to fight back a little, “How do you know it wouldn’t be you screaming my name?” I put my arms around her waist to show her I can give as good as I get.

She looks down at my arms around her waist and then back up at me, her eyes were now glowing her wolven instincts rising to the challenge. The intensity if her gaze makes my legs shake and my breathing hard. Goddess she’s beautiful.

Another howl, it breaks us both out of our reverie. I recognize the howl as Zaya’s, it’s an all clear signal, I can tell from the pitch and length. Remembering the situation outside I force myself to back away from Keira, she’s visibly saddened by this but doesn’t stop me or say anything.

“You should leave, they’ll find your scent any second now.”

“Doubtful, I covered my tracks and hid my scent. The only way they’ll catch me is if I let them.” She walks around my room looking at my belongings.

“Hide your scent, how do manage that?”

“Tsk, tsk, I can’t give away all my secrets.” Her tone playful.

I roll my eyes, “So, what are you doing here?”

“I think a better question is why were you sneaking out of your own room? You said you were going to go help your pack doctor so why do you need to sneak out to do that?” She eyes me curiously.

I let out a sigh, “Its complicated, my family is a bit overprotective right now and they didn’t want me going out. But the pack is my family and I need to help however I can.”

I look over to Keira, she’s smiling at me, but her expression is one of surprise.

“What?” I ask.

“You may not be a werewolf, but you sure do act like one.” She looks at me with an expression full of pride.

Embarrassed I look away.

“Now, why are you here and shouldn’t you be with your pack for an attack like this?” I ask again.

“An attack of this scale is precisely why I came here, I had to make sure you were safe, no offense to your family. And my pack is fine without me, they aren’t that weak.” She moves and sits on my bed.

“But why? What am I to you, you say that I’m yours but in what way? Am I just a notch for your bedpost, some challenge that needs conquering, or a quick way to curry favor with my father and the council?” I looked down as I spoke, afraid to hear her answer.

But she doesn’t say anything, I hear her get up from the bed and walks over to stand in front of me.

“Caden.” She calls in a gentle voice. “Look at me.”

I slowly raise my head and see her smiling at me.

“You already know the answer to that question.” She looks at me expectantly, waiting for me to say it.

“I-I’m you’re ma-”

“CADEN!!! CADEN WE NEED YOU!!!!”

It was Claire calling from downstairs.

“Shit just hide out here for a while, I’ll be right back. Please don’t leave.” I practically beg her.

Keira just smiles and nods. Satisfied I grab a few different bottles of cologne and give myself one spray of each, hopefully this will keep anyone from picking Keira’s scent on me. I quickly make my way downstairs, when I get to the last set stairs, I see Claire at the base of the staircase holding up Barry, they’re both covered in blood.

“Jesus, what happened!?” I say as I scamper down the stairs.

“I don’t know! He was fine just a moment ago, we were walking up to the house when he just doubled over and started bleeding.” Claire says in a panic.

“And you?”

“Don’t worry not my blood, belongs to the fucker that did this.” She nods her head toward Barry.

When I reach them, I see black blood oozing out of Barry’s side.

“This is bad, get him to the dining table. Why didn’t you take him to James?” I help Claire carry Barry to the dining table.

“James has his hands full and Barry seemed fine up until a moment ago. I remembered you saying you wanted to be a pack doctor and you were closer so.”

"Alice and Cora!?" I ask panicked

"Their fine, in fact if it weren't for them, I'm pretty sure some of us would be dead."

I breathe a sigh of relief. Shawn and Linda hearing the commotion run in, seeing what was happening they quickly clear the dining table knocking everything over and help me and Claire lay Barry on top. I quickly assess the wound, it’s a small but deep cut with the area around it turning black, no other sign of injury.

“How did this happen?” I ask Claire

“Some of the fuckers were hiding in the trees in human form with silver daggers, came down right on top of us.”

“Shit.” I look over to Shawn and Linda. “I need towels, lots hot water, and a knife now.”

Shawn and Linda move without hesitation.

I look over to Claire, “Claire I need tweezers, rubbing alcohol, and a lighter.”

She nods and is gone, in moments Shawn and Linda return with Shawn carrying a large bowl of hot water. I use the towels and water to clean the area, so I can see the wound better. Claire returns, and I use the alcohol to disinfect the area around the cut. I clean the knife with hot water and then pour rubbing alcohol on it before lighting it with the lighter, to disinfect it.

“You guys are going to have to hold him down, Barry if you can hear me, I’m sorry but this is going to hurt.” I warn them.

As they hold him down, I take a deep breath to steady myself. I use the knife to make an incision and make the wound bigger, making sure not to cut deeper than I need to. Barry screams and I can see everyone straining to keep him steady.

“I don’t understand, why isn’t he healing and why is his skin black?” Linda asks me.

I carefully spread the wound open to look inside.

“Unfortunately for us silver is a soft metal and can break easily, it looks like a small piece of the dagger broke off and is stuck somewhere in here.” I answer while carefully looking for the broken piece.

“But why did he collapse?” Claire asks.

“It looks likes it nicked the artery and is poisoning his blood, I need to find it fast.” I pick up the pace.

“His breathing is getting shallow.” Shawn warns me.

“Damn it, Shawn get me the turkey baster I need to clear out some of this black blood to see, Linda I need more towels.” I order.

Nothing like trial by fire, I chide myself.

Shawn returns with the turkey baster and I use it to suck out the surrounding blood, so I can see.

“There!! I see it!!”

Using the tweezers, I carefully grab the piece of silver and slowly pull it out placing it in one of the towels Linda just brought. Using the baster, towels and hot water I clean out as much of the infected blood as I can. All we can do now is wait, a few moments pass, and nothing changes.

“Come on Barry.” Claire yells.

After a few more moments I see the wound starting to regenerate and Barry inhales a deep breath. I exhale a sigh of relief, letting everyone know were good, Shawn and Linda hug while Claire hugs me covering the rest of me in blood.

“Oops, sorry.” Claire apologizes

From the corner of my eye I see Keira in the doorway, oh oh. Barry groans and we look all look at him, he seems to be coming to. I look back toward the doorway, but Keira is gone and no one else seems to have noticed her. I leave the clean up to Shawn and Linda, I take off my bloody shirt and hand it to Linda which she happily takes. Making the excuse of wanting to wash up I head back upstairs. While heading back to my room I stop by one of the bathrooms to clean myself up, I begin to worry about what Keira might do. She just saw another female werewolf covered in blood, naked, hugging me. She is not going to be happy.

When I get to my room, I slowly open the door and peak inside, Keira was at the other end of the room and was visibly shaking.

“Crap.” I say to myself in a low voice.

I enter and slowly close the door behind me.

“Keira, I know your angry, but it was just a hug between friends, heat of the moment. Claire is-”

Before I could finish my back was slammed against the wall and her mouth was on mine. The kiss was hard, deep, and demanding. It felt as if I might be consumed by it, part of me was scared but another part relished the feeling letting myself drown in it. The bedsheet fell away, and I could feel Keira bare nipples against my skin, causing my already growing erection to become painfully obvious. Surprisingly Keira was the one to break the kiss.

“So, I take it you’re not angry.” I gasp between breaths.

“Angry? You were amazing down there.”

She starts kissing me again and starts grinding her hips against mine causing me to moan into her mouth. Fighting to regain control I break the kiss.

“You saw all that?” I gasp.

She nods, “I wanted to make sure you were okay, so I followed you and saw everything.”

This time I kiss her, letting my hands explore her back and grabbing her ass. She growls with pleasure into my mouth, letting me know that she very much likes what I’m doing. After a few more intense moments she grabs my hands and pins them to the wall above my head. She breaks the kiss, and like me she’s panting, taking in deep breaths. Her eyes close and I see her struggling for control.

“I want you so badly it hurts.” Keira growls out. “But not yet, not like this.”

She opens her lust crazed eyes, somehow, she’s barely managing to stay in control. She pushes away from me towards the window.

“Tomorrow, tomorrow you’ll be mine.” She says in a sinisterly sensual tone.

With that she jumps out the window, I run over and look out to see her, but she’s gone not a single trace of her left.

Chapter Nine

The next morning my father calls a pack meeting and has everyone gather in main house. Thankfully no one from our pack was killed last night, but there were a few seriously injured. Still in a daze from the events of last night I struggle to concentrate as everyone gathers in the main hall. Linda brings me a cup of coffee which I gratefully accept, after a few sips I start feeling better. After everyone arrives my father address the pack.

“You all know why I’ve called you here, the attack last night took us all by surprise, but what you may not know is that it wasn’t just an attack on us. They attacked all major packs in the region the council included.”

A few shocked murmurs broke out, my father raised his hand and they instantly quieted down.

“First let me just say we were lucky, apart from a few injuries we managed to not lose anyone and that’s mostly because of these two.”

My father extends his hand and Alice and Cora walk up looking a bit embarrassed. Claire steps up to speak.

“It’s true, without them we would have been severely outnumbered. It was dumb fucking luck that they went on patrol with us last night.”

“So, on behalf of me and my pack, thank you.” My father says with a bow and the pack follows suit.

As I bow with everyone else, I can see the girl’s faces are full of pride and bow back.

My father raises his head and looks to the pack again.

“I would also like to acknowledge and commend our newest pack member for saving one of our own.” My father looks to me and I realize what he just said. “Caden.” My father calls me forward.

Surprised, it takes me a few seconds to gather myself up. As I walk towards my father, I get a few claps and pats on the pack from members as I pass. When I reach my father, he looks at me with such pride.

I can’t believe it, this is it, my dream come true. After years of hoping and wondering if I could or even deserve to be in the pack. I feel a weight lift off my shoulders, feeling so light and happy I wanted to cry but I shake it off, now isn’t the time.

“To Caden, our newest pack doctor!” My father exclaims.

The room erupts in cheers, out of nowhere my mother comes out and hugs me followed by the girls, my brother and Claire.

My father raises his hand again to quiet everyone down.

“Now, as Claire said before it was just luck that these two were with us last night. From what I’ve gathered so far other packs weren’t so lucky. I’m hearing that many wolves were either killed or captured.”

“Captured?” One of the pack members asks.

Charles responds. “Yes, from the way the attackers ambushed us and fought, it seems capturing was their priority, killing when not possible.”

“But why?” Asks another member.

Charles looks to my father who gives him a reluctant nod, from there Charles tells everyone about the White Moon pack. Many were shocked by this new information while others were angry this was kept from them. After explaining that at the time they weren’t sure the White Moon pack would be coming this way and didn’t want to cause a panic, the pack settled down.

“The community meeting today is going to be very important; we got a lot of question and very few answers.” Claire pipes in.

“Yes, but there is a pack that may have some answers.” My father says.

“Who?” I ask.

“The Thorn-apple pack.” My father answers

My body stiffens from hearing the name of Keira’s pack.

“How?” Asks Alice.

“The Thorn-apple pack actually escaped their territory when the White Moon pack attacked. They’re the ones that warned the Blackwood and Evergreen packs and got them to head here. A big part of the community meeting will be finding out what they know about the White Moon pack and what we should expect next.” My father answers.

Geez, I had no idea. I keep forgetting that I really don’t know anything about Keira or her pack, they must have gone through hell.

“I don’t think we can leave our land undermanned. I believe that anyone not going to the community meeting needs to stay here on standby.” Charles states to my father.

My father agrees and approves of Charles suggestion. He looks towards the girls again.

“Given the situation, I know it’s a month early, but I would like you to seriously consider joining our pack now.” Shocked the girls are lost for words. “I know its sudden but please take a couple of days to think about it.” My father quickly adds.

The girls just nod.

The rest of the meeting was just patrol assignments and changes. As we finished, I received a text from Peter.

U still down 4 prty tonight?

Shit, I completely forgot about the party.

“You should go.” My mother’s voice says from behind me.

“Mom, I don-”

“You need to celebrate and who knows when or if you’ll get another chance.” She says solemnly.

She was right, with the White Moon pack here and the fighting that’s to come, dark days were ahead of us.

“Fine, but only after the community meeting.” I tell her, a bit happy I get to go the party.

It was late afternoon when we headed out for the community meeting, the only ones going were me, dad, Lucas, Charles, Claire and the girls Alice and Cora. The meetings are held deep in the woods in a small arena built with the approval of all the packs. The arena is fenced off and marked as private property to keep humans out, the road leading to it is hidden and can’t be seen unless you know where it is. When we arrive the parking lot is already full, forcing us to park in the woods. As we walk toward the entrance a can see dozens of wolves crowded around the doors as they make their way inside. Some were friends catching up while others were rivals sizing each other up after the events of last night. As we make our way up to the entrance the other wolves immediately clear a pass for us. As part of the council our pack commands a certain amount of respect. It also doesn’t hurt that my father and our pack have been proven to be among the strongest wolves in the region.

“Caden!”

I turn to see who called me and I’m surprised by who it is. “Javier?!”

As the rest my pack goes inside, I stay behind to wait for Javier, Alice and Cora wait with me. When he reaches me, we give each other a quick bro hug and shake hands.

“Where’s your brother?” I ask him.

“He was right behind me.” Confused, he turns and calls out in his heavy Spanish accent. “Miguel! Where you at?”

“I’m here don’t get your panties in a wad.” Calls out a voice from behind a crowd of wolves, his accent just as strong as Javier’s.

“What are you guys doing here? I thought you had gone to visit your pack for the month.” I ask

Javier and Miguel aren’t originally from Crestwood, their father sent them to school here to help build relations with other packs. Their father is the alpha of the Menos pack, their territory is far east of Crestwood where they, with the help of other packs, guard the boundary.

“We were, but big things are happening on the other side of the boundary. Stuff your father and the council are going to want to hear.” We move away from the crowds so that we can talk.

“What going on? Are the vamps making a move on the boundary?” I ask Javier

“Not exactly. How much do you know about the vamps?” Javier asks.

“Not much.” I admit.

Vampires like werewolves have been grossly misrepresented in the media. Like werewolves’ you must be born a vampire, they’re not made by some crazy infectious disease. Vampires do need blood to survive, but they need blood from other vampires usually of the opposite sex, human blood is just too weak it can’t sustain them. And while sunlight doesn’t outright kill vampires, it does weaken them considerably. A long time ago a truce was struck between them and us, we stay on our side of the boundary and they stay on theirs.

“Well the main thing to know is that the vamps have a king, like us they have their own packs called covens, but they all answer to the king and his coven. Recently it seems a war has broken out between the current king and another coven.” Javier explains.

“Holy shit.” I hear Alice say behind me.

“A few days ago, the king sent an envoy to the boundary asking for our help.” Javier continues.

‘No way.” I blurt out shocked.

“What did you guys say?” Cora asks.

“Nothing, they gave us a week to respond. But there’s more, after the king’s envoy left another vamp came to see us and this guy seemed to be the leader of the opposing coven.”

“Let me guess, he asked for help too.” I guessed.

“Actually no, the opposite. He asked us to stay out of it, to let vampire problems be left to vampires. He said that he and his people have no plans on moving against us or the boundary but can’t promise it will stay that way if we decide to intervene.” Javier finishes.

“So it was a threat.” Alice says.

“No, a warning.” I amend.

“Nice to know we’re not the only ones with problems.” Cora says sarcastically.

“Yeah, but how long until it becomes our problem.” I say worriedly.

“You can see why we had to come back; Crestwood has the largest gathering of wolves closest to the boundary. Whatever happens Crestwood will be affected, so we came for the council’s opinion.” Javier explains.

The sound of wolves howling tells us the community meeting is about to start, so we head into the arena. Inside the small arena is filled with bleachers surrounding a small circular stage, the bleachers are quickly filled up leaving packs, including mine, to stand near the stage. As we walk in a feeling of unease settles over me. I look over and see Keira’s eyes watching me but unlike usual her eyes and face are cold and unemotional, she was a stranger to me, after a few moments she turns away. And I could see why she had, Demetri was here with his group of wolves and they were eyeing Keira with pure hatred. Her cold expression shook me, but I understood, with so many wolves watching she couldn’t afford to show weakness.

Alpha Rodrick another council member calls the meeting to order.

“I know you all have questions about the attack last night, but I do not wish to start this meeting with sadness and anger. So first I would like to open the floor to any claims.”

At that a male wolf jumps up and races to the center of the stage.

Claims are when a wolf asks for their mate from another pack, it doesn’t have to been publicly, it’s just a fun way of announcing that they’ve found their mate.

“I, Jason Ward of the Kenway pack would like to claim my mate Izzy Jackson from the Evergreen pack.” The male wolf proudly declares.

A female wolf makes her way down and stands next to the man. Followed by two other males, clearly the alphas of the Evergreen and Kenway packs.

“Do you oppose?” Asks the alpha of the Kenway pack.

“No.” Replies the alpha of the Evergreen pack.

“Do you require compensation?” Asks Kenway.

It’s hard for some packs to lose a member so compensation is offered to make up for it. It can be anything from land, money, or even another pack member in exchange.

“I only wish to be invited to the wedding.” Answers Evergreen.

With that done all parties smile and shake hands, the other packs giving them a small round of applause. When they finish the female follows her mate to his pack. Lucas nudges me, looking at him he winks at me before going up onto the stage.

“I Lucas Silverblood of the Silverblood pack would like to claim my mate Daniella Blackwood from the Blackwood pack.” Lucas proclaims loudly.

Everyone from our pack cheers, I was surprised to learn Daniella was the alphas daughter. The whole stadium seems to buzz with excitement at the announcement. When someone from a council pack finds their mate it’s always big news, on top of that it being the son the alpha, they’re going to be the talk of the town for weeks. When Lucas and Daniella make their way back, I give her a small hug and welcome her to the family. As other wolves start to make their way down and announce their claims, I scan the room hoping to see Hannah to see if she’s okay. But as I look around my eyes seem to gravitate back towards Keira. I can’t help but stare, her beautiful face still cold and emotionless sends a shiver down my spine. Sensing my gaze Keira looks to me, her eyes locking onto mine, they hold me in place pulling me deeper into them. Unable to look away my body begins to tremble; my reaction seems to amuse her as I see the faintest of smiles play on her lips.

“Enough of this nonsense !!”

Demetri’s angry yell draws everyone’s attention as he jumps up onto the stage.

“My son’s killer stands in this very room and you all do nothing! I demand justice!!!”

Murmurs break out amongst the wolves.

“Fights between packs are not are not our responsibility, we mediate if asked but we do not interfere, you know this better than anyone Demetri.” Rodrick tells Demetri in a calm voice.

“It was the council who invited her and her pack onto our lands and it was the council who convinced me to let her stay in my territory. And how was my generosity repaid? By killing my son in cold bold.”

I was angered by his lie and was about to stand and say something.

“Liar!”

The wolves look to Keira who shouted, outraged by Demetri’s lies, she proceeds to makes her way to the stage. As she jumps up onto the stage, she continues to address the other wolves and Demetri.

“I gave your son more than one chance to stop his idiotic tirade, but he ignored them. He killed himself.” Keira spat in disgust.

“You bitch.” Demetri says with pure venom in his voice.

“I have witnesses from your own pack that can back my claim.” Keira said.

“You mean the wolves you bribed; those traitors are no pack mates of mine.” Demetri refuted. “Besides why should they believe the words of a stranger over a respected member of this community.”

“More like tolerated.” Said a random wolf from the crowd.

The comment brought out a few chuckles from the crowd while Demetri scowled in the direction of the voice.

“Again, the council brought this plague upon me, so I demand they help me take my vengeance and reclaim my land.” Demetri stated to the all the wolves.

Whispers broke out from amongst the wolves, some were agreeing with Demetri while others doubted his words. My father made his way to the stage.

“I must say I agree with Demetri.” My father said.

My jaw dropped at his words. Even Demetri looked taken aback, it was no secret that Demetri hated my father, jealous of his position and influence.

“If it’s true that Alpha Keira attacked first without provocation or merit, then it is our fault and responsibility to make right.” My father continued.

Demetri seemed to recover from his surprise. “Finally, someone seeing sense.”

“I vote that if Demetri’s claims are true and that the ‘Thorn-apple pack did attack first without warning’ then we help him in their subjugation.” My father stated to the other council members.

I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my father’s mouth, I thought he was going to help Keira not throw her under the bus. But as I look over to Keira, I don’t see the surprise or anger I expected to see. Instead her face was clear of all emotion, but her eyes, in them I could see what looked like, satisfaction?

Following my father’s lead the other council members agreed with his statement. A vicious smile spread over Demetri’s face as he looked over to Keira.

“You hear that, it’s over for you, I’ll have you on your knees begging me for mercy you-”

“Now, now. I said IF your claims were true.” My father interrupted Demetri.

My father pulls out the phone with the video from that night and presses play. He hands the phone over to Rodrick while the other council members cluster around him to watch the video. The volume was set all the way up and the whole arena was dead quite so even though most of the wolves couldn’t see the video they could all clearly hear what was happening. As Cole’s tirade is heard by everyone a look of dread falls on Demetri’s face and now Keira’s has the vicious smile. When the video finishes all the wolves seem to stare at Demetri, waiting for him to say something, but instead Rodrick is the one to break the silence first, addressing everyone.

“For those that couldn’t see, this video clearly shows Cole attacking Alpha Keira first and as she stated before she gave him multiple chances to back down.” Rodrick explained to everyone.

“I am truly sorry for your loss Demetri, but Alpha Keira’s was within her right to do what she did.” My father says to Demetri.

“She killed a child, a child who did not know what he was doing!!!” Demetri snapped.

“Child? He was an alpha and alphas are responsible for their own actions. If he didn’t know what he was doing it was because YOU didn’t teach him properly, it’s because YOU gave him a position, he clearly wasn’t ready for.” My father snapped back.

Demetri roared with anger and lunged at my father, unfazed my father calmly knock Demetri away with one punch.

“ENOUGH.” Shouts Rodrick. “Demetri if you wish to take vengeance upon the Thorn-apple pack that is your choice, but the council will not help you.” Rodrick declared.

Keira walked to the center of the arena.

“And to any pack that is thinking of helping this moron attack my pack, just know that my pack is ready, and we will show no mercy.” Keira releases her aura full blast.

The pressure from her aura was intense and it seemed to fill the entire arena. Weaker wolves immediately started to whine and cower in fear. While others were struggling to catch their breath, even my father and the other council members were breathing heavily. After a few moments Keira cuts off her aura, smiling as she sees the fear in the other pack’s eyes.

“Goddess, after that I doubt anyone is going to want to help Demetri.” Lucas says while catching his breath.

Demetri, who was still on the floor where my father knocked him down, looks around and seeing no one coming to his aid turns to my father, Keira, and the council.

“You will all pay for this.” Demetri says in a low sinister voice.

With that Demetri stands and leaves, heading for the exit, what was left of his pack following behind him.

After a few moments of no one saying anything, my father finally breaks the silence.

“I believe it’s about time we get back on track. Alpha Keira since your already here please tell us what you know of the White Moon pack.” My father asks.

“Of course.” Keira replies.

Keira goes on to explains what she knew of the White moon pack and what we should expect. The captured wolves were probably being pushed for information, for everything and anything that could give the White Moon pack an edge. We should expect small incursions by wolves sent to spy on us. We should also be ready for more attacks on a regular basis, apparently the White Moon pack liked to use its sheer numbers to tire and whittle packs down.

When Keira finished the council thanked her and apologized for what happened with Demetri, but she just brushed it off as no big deal. Afterwards Keira turns to me and smiles, with her cold mask gone I could see the Keira I knew was back, and I couldn’t help but smile back.

But then her smile turned into a devious grin, which immediately set off my ‘oh shit alarm’, and I could feel myself starting to panic.

Oh, goddess what is she planning.

“Before I go, I would also like to announce my claim.” Keira told the council.

“Oh, fuck.” I couldn’t help but blurt out.

The whole stadium seemed to come alive with excitement again. After Keira’s impressive display of strength, I’m sure everyone was curious to see who could be mated to such a powerful werewolf.

“By all means go ahead.” My father replied.

“I Keira Thorn-apple of the Thorn-apple pack would like to claim my mate Caden Silverblood from the Silverblood pack.” Keira proudly declared.

The whole stadium falls silent as everyone turns to look at me. I feel all the blood drain out of my face, causing me to faint.

Chapter Ten

I find myself standing in the clearing from a few days ago complete with stars and a full moon overhead. Confused as to how I got here I look around for my family and pack, but don’t see anyone.

“I have to be dreaming.” I tell myself.

The last thing I remember was being at the community meeting and then-!

My thoughts are interrupted when I feel a hand at my throat, I stiffen not daring to move a muscle. I feel a warm body press up against my back and lips by my ear.

“Now your mine.”

Keira’s low whispering breath tickles my ear causing me to shiver, the strange familiar feeling engulfing my body. With her hand still on my throat she leans my head back and begins tracing kisses down my neck. All the while her other hand begins to move across my chest, slowly moving downward. As her hand moves lower and lower my breaths get shorter and shorter. When her hand finally reaches the hem of my pants I’m practically gasping for breath. But she doesn’t stop there, her hand continued to move down inside my pants while still maintaining the kisses down my neck. No longer able to stand still I begin to squirm trying to break free, but she keeps a tight hold around me. As her hand begins to encircle my growing erection, she gives it a small squeeze.

“Ahh!”

I jump awake as I cry out, I look around and see my family looking at me with surprised looks on their faces, my sudden yell having startled them. Quickly realizing it was all a dream, I try to slow my breathing. Goddess, what a dream to have in front of my family.

Remembering what had happened I ask, “How long was I out?”

“About 30 minutes.” My father replies

As I look around, I notice that we’re outside the arena, I was sitting on the ground with my back leaned up against something warm while my family was standing around me. I look back to see what it is that I’m leaned up against and see its Cora’s wolf form.

“What did I miss?”

“You fainted.” Claire replies trying to hold back a smile.

“I know that,” I roll my eyes, “I meant what happened with Keira?” I ask again.

“Don’t you have something to tell us first?” I hear Cora ask from behind, having shifted back into human form and was putting her clothes back on.

“Is it true, is she your mate?” My father asks me.

Letting out a deep sigh, I answer, “I think so, there’s this feeling between us that I just can’t seem to…. understand.”

“Is it a humming tingling sensation?” Daniella asked, who I just realized was standing next to Lucas.

“Yeah.” I answered surprised.

Everyone seems to exhale a sigh of relief at the same time, which confused me.

“Can somebody explain?” I asked slowly.

“Well, she’s your mate alright.” Alice begins to explain, “That feeling you’ve been getting is your body aligning to your mates.”

“Aligning?” I question, still not getting it.

“Synchronizing.” Alice amends. “You know how sometimes me, and Cora just seem to know how the other is feeling without saying anything?”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed it with my parents and other mates as well, it’s the mating bond.”

“Exactly, well part of the mating bond is the syncing of the mates together. Everything from your mind, body, and if you want to get religious, soul starts to sync up with that of your mate’s.” Claire finishes.

“So, in short what I’ve been feeling is the mating bond?” I say uncertainly.

Looking at me as if I missed the whole point, Alice lets out an exasperated sigh and answers. “Yeah.”

“So, is that how you guys always feel around each other?” I mean it would certainly explain all the sex.

“No.” My father chuckles, “Once the bond is complete the feeling…changes. It’s hard to explain.”

“Ok, so how long does it take the bond to complete, is there anything I have to do?” I ask.

I hear Claire sputter from trying to hold back her laughter and I see Alice and Cora fighting to keep straight faces. I look over to see Lucas with his head turned away also trying to fight back a smile and Daniella trying to hide her clearly beet red face by burying it in Lucas’s chest.

From their reactions I quickly realize the answer, “Ah, right. Was Keira upset about me fainting?” I ask as I get up off the floor.

“No.” My father replied, “She actually seemed quite amused by it.”

I let out a heavy sigh, “Of course she did, so what happened after?”

“Well needless to say I was shocked by her claim and asked if we could hold off on it for now.”

Uh oh, denying a wolf their mate is one of the quickest way’s packs can go to war, “How did she take that?”

“Not well, she must’ve thought I was denying her claim outright because she started to get angry. But after quickly explaining that we had just officially accepted you as a pack doctor and needed time to sort things out, she calmed down.” My father finished.

I was relieved to hear that, as much as I have faith in my family and our pack, I just can’t picture any of them winning a fight against Keira.

“I better go talk to her.”

“You can’t, she already left.” Lucas says.

“Already?”

“Right after she finished talking to dad about claiming you, she excused herself saying she had some preparations she needed to finish.” Lucas shrugs.

I couldn’t help feeling a little down that I didn’t get a chance to talk to her, but after the dream I just had, maybe it’s for the best.

“Dad, was that whole thing about you agreeing with Demetri part of you and Keira’s plan?” I ask my father.

“Yeah, and it worked even better than I thought it would, Demetri didn’t even question where the video came from. It was a simple plan, Keira would enrage him, then I would through him off kilter by agreeing with him and then I would deal the final blow and let his rage cloud his thinking.” My father explained.

Just then Charles comes out of the arena.

“You guys should probably get back in here, the kid from the Menos pack has some pretty important information for us.” Charles tell us.

Heading back into the arena, Javier tells everyone what he had already told us outside. Unfortunately, the help he was looking for didn’t come, none of the packs including the council members could agree on anything. Some packs wanted to help the current vamp King, others wanted to stay out of it, and there were even some that thought we should use this opportunity to attack the vamps. The meeting ended with no clear answer, but I was barely thinking about any of that. My mind was consumed with thoughts of Keira, and all the stares I was still receiving from wolves who were no doubt wondering how a human male like me is mated to a powerful female Alpha like Keira.

As all the packs start to leave the Alpha of the Blackwood pack, Ray, came to talk to us. After congratulating Lucas and Daniella again, he turns to me.

“I guess congratulations are in order for you too.” He says as he reaches out for a handshake, which I gratefully accept. “I must say I had no idea Tom had such a powerful pack or daughter.”

“You knew Keira’s father the previous Alpha?” I ask him.

“Not well, unlike here there was no city or town in our region for us to congregate. So even though we would meet every so often to discuss things, we all kept pretty much to ourselves. Hell, I didn’t even know Tom had a daughter till she and her pack showed up to warn us about the White Moon pack, Tom and some of the others died during their escape.”

“Damn, that means she lost her father not too long ago.” I say saddened by this new revelation.

“Yeah, he was a good wolf, a good alpha.” Ray says with regret in his voice, “But enough sad talk, this is a night to celebrate, my baby girl found her mate, so that means food and drinks are on me while we discuss wedding plans.

“Daaad.” Daniella warns.

“Now don’t you start. Your mother, bless her soul, would kill me if I didn’t go all out for this.”

Daniella groans and covers her face with her hands, trying to hide her embarrassment, which Lucas seemed to enjoy as I see him chuckles into Daniella’s hair and kiss her head.

My phone rings, I look to see who it is. “Oh shit, its Peter, I need to go. Lucas, can you and Daniella give me a ride to his place?”

“Of course.” Daniella answered before Lucas could even say anything.

After some quick goodbyes, I tell Alice and Cora I’ll see them later at the party. When we get to Peter’s house, I see Peter is already waiting for me in his car. After saying goodbye to Lucas and Daniella, I jump into Peter’s car.

“Dude, finally!” Peter exclaims.

“Calm down, it’s still early.” I say.

As Peter begins to drive, he turns on the radio and begins to sing along with the lyrics of the song. As Peter continues to sing, I let my mind drift back to Keira, and what my next step should be the next time I see her.

After driving for a while, I notice Peter isn’t heading into town. Big parties like these are usually held in a huge club downtown.

“Dude, where are you going?” I ask.

“I actually don’t know, there was a last-minute change in venue, and everyone was texted the new address.” Peter answered. “And according to my GPS, we’re almost there.”

Looking out the window I realize I know these woods. As Peter turns onto a familiar road it hits me.

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.” I blurt out as I realize I’m back in Bloodfang territory, or should I say Thorn-apple territory now.

The reason it took me so long to recognize it is because the poorly maintained road from before was completely gone. Not only was the road fixed but it was completely repaved, as we pull up to the house, I’m even more surprised. Not only have some of the trees been cleared away but the driveway has been extended with an extra parking area. Even the house itself looks like it has been cleaned of debris and repainted.

Keira has been busy! In just a few short days I barely recognize this place.

Peter parks the car and we both get out. Peter lets out a long whistle, amazed by the sheer size of the house.

“Wow, who the hell lives here?” He asks out loud to no one.

As we walk up to the front door, I recognize the same two guards from before. When they see me, they just smile, one gives me a nod while the other gives me a small salute.

“You know those guys?” Peter asks me as we enter the house.

“No clue.” I lie.

Inside, the house was full of teens both human and werewolf just hanging out talking. A waiter, who I notice is a werewolf most likely an omega, comes over to us offering beers. Peter takes one, but I decline.

“Feel free to hang around here to socialize but the real party is out back.” The omega tells us with a smile.

After thanking him Peter and I make our way to the back of the house, as we get closer, the music keeps getting louder and louder. Finally getting outside we see its packed with people dancing and drinking, lights were going off in time to the music.

“There she is Peter!” Peter yells to me over the music.

“Who!?” I ask, looking around to see who he’s talking about.

“Gabriella, the girl from my English class!” Peter answers back, while pointing her out to me.

Looking over to where he’s pointing, I see a stunning brunette signaling Peter to come over, but something was off. The way she moved, it wasn’t like a werewolf, but it didn’t seem human either.

What the hell?

“Sorry dude you’re on your own.” Peter yells back to me as he heads over to Gabriella.

“Peter, wait!” I yell to him.

I go to follow him, but a hand grabs my arm, making me turn to see who it is.

“Hannah!” I say surprised

I pull her in for a quick hug and pull back.

“I’m sorry about Cole and Demetri, are you okay?” I ask.

“I’m ok.” She responds stiffly.

Looking her over, I see she’s wearing a red exceedingly low-cut party dress with a plunging v neck. In all the time I’ve known Hannah she’s never been the type to wear or even enjoy dress like this.

“Wow, that’s some dress.” I comment, not sure what else to say.

“Thanks, wanted to try something new, what do you think?”

“It looks good.” I reply, not saying what I really thought which was that the dress seemed a little too slutty and out of character for her.

“Hey Caden, considering recent events I’ve had time to think, and I’ve changed my mind and I would love to go out with you.” Hannah says as she wraps her arms around my neck and presses her body against mine.

What the hell? I’ve longed to hear her say those words, and if she had just a few days ago I would’ve been over the moon, but now with Keira, I don’t feel anything towards Hannah.

I gently but firmly extract myself from Hannah’s hold, which seems to surprise her.

“Sorry Hannah but I’ve already found my mate.”

Hannah’s jaw drops, and even I’m surprised by what I just said.

My mate, Keira is my mate, goddess that felt good to say. Even just saying it in my head makes me feel giddy. Hannah starts to say something, but I can’t hear a word she’s saying because I just spotted Keira dancing and am instantly captivated. She was wearing a simple but form fitting black party dress. The way the lights were bouncing off her skin and hair as she moved her body and hips to the beat had me and everyone else around her mesmerized. I barely notice Hannah still trying to talk to me as I walk past her. As I make my way towards Keira everything else seems to stand still. All I could see was Keira, all I could hear was the drum of the beat as Keira moved to its rhythm.

I start to notice other guys trying to go up and dance with her, which pisses me off, but she pushes them away rejecting them. Which made me ridiculously happy, deep down I knew it was childish, but I didn’t care. Finally reaching her, she quickly pulls me into her rhythm, neither of us say anything, we didn’t need to, not with the familiar feeling I know now as the mating bond radiating throughout our bodies. As we danced together, my body just seemed to know where to move with hers, we were completely in sync with each other. The longer we danced the stronger the feeling got until it felt like my whole body was on fire.

Keira moves behind me taking my back placing one hand on my chest and another at my throat. I stiffen as I start to recall the dream from earlier.

“Any good dreams lately?” Keira chuckles into my ear preceding to nibble on it.

My jaw drops, I’m in complete shock.

“That was you?! You did that!? I ask incredulously.

Keira just continues to chuckle in my ear.

I couldn’t believe it, this freakin female. My mind began to race as a million different emotions and thoughts flooded my head. But my main thought was how annoyed I was at her, even in my own dreams she takes control and treats me as her own plaything. Something inside me seemed to snap, grabbing Keira’s hand, I pull her back towards the house, once inside I pull open the first door I see and thankfully it’s an empty guest room.

Tossing her onto the bed, I jump on top of her smashing my mouth against hers, putting everything I have into the kiss. She moans against my mouth letting me gain access to her tongue which I precede to suck on, causing her to moan even more. As I continue exploring her mouth, I move my hand up her thigh and under her dress grabbing hold of her firm perfect ass. Realizing she isn’t wearing any underwear; I break the kiss and look at her curiously.

“Let’s just say I was confidant on how this night was gonna end.” She says to me with a naughty smile.

Argh, it was infuriating to know that even now she seemed to be in total control, but DAMN if it isn’t turning me on! Using both hands I pull her dress over her head in one fluid motion tossing it aside. Seeing Keira gloriously naked beneath me takes my breath away and causes me to pause for a moment and just take in how beautiful she is. I quickly recover and begin to kiss my way down her body. Getting to her breasts I take her left nipple into my mouth and begin to suck and tease it with my tongue. Keira’s back arches as she cries out.

“Oh goddess, please don’t stop.” The pleasure in her voice bringing me satisfaction.

As I switch over to her right breast, I continue stimulating her left nipple with my thumb causing Keira let out another cry of pleasure. While alternating between her breasts I slowly move my hand downward and find that Keira is already hot, wet, and waiting for me. I slowly insert my finger into velvet folds and start a nice slow rhythm while my thumb stimulates her clit. It doesn’t take long before her legs start to shake, and I feel her walls tighten around my finger. As she’s about to let out another cry of pleasure I cover her mouth with mine. Not stopping the rhythm, I ride out her orgasm with her with my hand, prolonging her pleasure as much as possible. Coming down from her orgasm Keira is gasping for air.

“Caden (pant) please I need (pant).” Keira whines.

Oh no, as much as I was dying to sink into her, I wasn’t letting her off that easy, not after all she’s put me through. I kiss my way down her body, all the way to her glistening core, feeling a hunger I’ve never felt before I take her into my mouth and suck, kiss, and tease every inch of her. She runs her hands through my hair as she lets out moans of pleasure, I pull one of her legs over my shoulder, opening her up wider for me, putting my tongue to work.

“Caden (gasp) I’m gonna!”

I feel her tightening around me, but I don’t stop I continue devour every inch of her until I finally taste her on my tongue, greedily lapping up everything she was giving me. Keira suddenly pulls me up to her mouth by my shirt collar, kissing me with an intense need that matched my own. She growls as she tears my shirt off, kissing and nibbling on my collar bone. I quickly take off my remaining clothes, she stops to stare and growls in appreciation at my naked body. She quickly positions herself in front me, I knew what my mate wanted what we both wanted, but not yet, I wanted to tease her just a little bit longer. Instead of thrusting into her like I knew she wanted, I push myself into her as slowly as my own willpower allowed me causing sweat to drip off my brow. We both let out a hiss of pleasure and frustration at the sensation, but I maintain control holding Keira still as she tries to move herself against me. Keira growls as she glares up at me with lust filled eyes, we both knew she could easily overpower me and take over. Even now her alpha instincts were probably screaming at her to take control and dominate me. Feeling cheeky, I dare her to do it with my eyes. Her eyes narrow and as I feel her start to move, I thrust into her all the way, causing us both to cry out.

But that’s it for myself control, and I begin thrusting into her with wild abandon, giving us both what we wanted what we needed.

“Kiss me.” Keira tells me, which I eagerly oblige.

The kiss seems to push her over the edge as I feel her tighten around me forcing me over the edge as well. As we both cry out, Keira bites down on my neck, her fangs piercing my skin, but I feel more pleasure than pain. The urge to follow suit overwhelms me and I bite down on her neck as well, the taste of her blood like honey on my tongue. With the mating bond complete the feeling from before melts away, all I feel now is Keira. Her every breath, her every move I could now feel it as if we were one, which with how Alice described it we sort of were.

“Say it.” I hear her growl into my ear.

I know what she wants me to say. No matter how amazing this was or how much she enjoyed it, her alpha instincts would not let it stand. She is the alpha, she is the dominate one, not even me her mate can change that. I know that if I just say the words, it would be enough to satisfy her.

“No,” I replied with a smile.

Before I knew what happened, I was now the one on my back with Keira on top of me. Her eyes glowed as a devilish smile spread across her face.

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

My lower half was already raring to go as she grabbed it and slowly eased herself on to it. Letting out a hiss I go to grab her hips, but she grabs my hands and pins them down, the look in her eye letting me know this was revenge for my little stunt earlier. As she begins to ride me, she uses her superior strength and movements to bring me to the edge and back multiple times, driving me crazy with need. I continue to fight to maintain control, but she starts to kiss me as well, leaving me a panting mess. As I look up at her, I see her reveling in her power over me, her control over me.

“Keira.” I gasp out.

Saying her names seems to break her control as she begins riding me full out, I cry out as she finally pushes me over the edge, her own release following my own. She slowly collapses on top of me, her breathing was slow and calm, she was back in control.

“Say it.” She says again, but this time it was more of an order.

Knowing that no matter how much I fight it, her in control being the dominate one. This is how it will always be, so I give her what she wants, “I’m yours.”

Chapter Eleven

Waking up to an unfamiliar ceiling, it takes me a second to remember where I am. As I look down at my body, I see Keira’s head on my chest her body lying on top of mine. She was still asleep which was good because I needed some time to think. Last night had been amazing, our sexual marathon had lasted the whole night. Even when we did fall asleep it wasn’t long until one of us woke the other for another round. There were even a few times were Keira let me take the lead, but it would always end with her on top, which I’ve come to find I don’t mind one bit. Thinking back to the party, I wonder how all that went, me and Keira never left the room after we went in, so I have no idea what happened after.

I’ll probably have to ask Peter. Peter! I completely forgot about Peter and that strange girl Gabriella. I’m going to have ask the girls to swing by his place and make sure he’s okay.

The girls! They were probably looking for me at the party, aw shit, they’re going to kill me!

Sensing my agitation Keira stirs awake and lifts her head to look at me.

“What’s wrong baby?” Keira asks in a sleepy voice.

“Nothing, everything is fine.” I say reassuring her, “I’m just going to have a lot of explaining to do.”

Seemingly satisfied Keira closes her eyes and lays her head back down holding me tighter.

“If it’s about your guards, they’re asleep in one of the guest rooms upstairs.” Keira says with a yawn.

“What?”

“I had the guards tell them they could crash here after they saw you with me.”

“When was this?”

Keira looks up at me and smiles, “Right as you were pulling me into this room.”

I laugh in embarrassment, “I don’t know if that makes things better or worse.”

Keira joins me in my laughter. Seeing her laugh makes my chest ache, I love her so much it hurts.

Goddess, I’m amazed by how much I love her already. Moving a strand of hair away from her face, I cup Keira’s cheek, and she leans into my touch.

“What happens now?” I ask.

Keira raises an eyebrow at me, “You know what I want, you, here, with me.”

Of course, she did.

“Is it true, are you a pack doctor? Or is that just something your dad made up to buy time?” Keira questioned.

“No, it’s true. I’ve been studying and learning from our current pack doctor, James, for a few years now. It was finally official yesterday”

“That’s amazing, I mean I saw you save that wolf’s life the other night, but I had no idea you were an actual pack doctor.” The excitement in Keira’s voice makes me blush.

“Well it maybe official, but I still have a lot to learn.” I say that knowing it was the truth.

“It’s better than nothing, we don’t have a pack doctor at all.”

“Well, you do now.” I say with a smile as I look at her.

Keira’s eyes light up and she pushes herself up to kiss me, but unlike the hard-demanding kisses from before this one was soft, tender, and full of love. Breaking the kiss, I roll out of bed.

“Come on, there is going to be a lot to do today.” I say as I roll the stiffness from my shoulders.

As I reach down for my boxers, Keira’s arms wrap around my chest and pull me back into bed.

“Nuh-uh, not yet. Before I forget, don’t think I didn’t see you hug that bitch last night.” Keira’s voice had gotten low. “The only reason I didn’t run over and break her face, was because I figured she was a friend of yours.”

Oh, oh.

“But when that whore threw herself at you, friend or no friend, I was ready to rip her head off.” Keira’s voice turned sinister and I could feel the killing intent coming off her.

“She is a friend and I’m glad you didn’t.” I said with complete sincerity, hoping to calm her down.

“You’re going to make it up to me.” Her hold on me getting a little too tight, “And you’re going to do it right now.” The hard edge in Keira’s voice left no room for argument.

She leans my head back and kisses me as her nails scrape against my chest. I shiver as I realize our sexacapade from last night was far from over.

It was noon when I was finally able to get my pants on, as I look down at my shirt, I see that it’s completely shredded. Feeling her gaze, I turn and see Keira still in bed watching me, a smile on her face. I could feel her happiness, her satisfaction, and it seemed to amplify my own.

“Will you stop that.” I whine as I feel my face growing red.

“What?” She responds a little too sweetly.

Geez, if this is what it’s like being mates then I’m surprised by how much mom and dad get done every day, Charles and Selene too. Taking a deep breath to calm myself down I spot Keira’s dress from last night in the corner, having landed there after I tossed it. Picking it up I offer it to her.

“There should be some clothes for me right outside the door and a shirt for you too.”

Surprised, I walk towards the door and crack it open, and sure enough, a small pile of clothes was on the floor. I pick up the clothes and close the door, turning back towards Keira I toss her a pair of frayed blue jeans, a plain white tee, and bra that were clearly meant for her. While I got a plan white button up shirt. As I start shrugging the shirt on, I freeze as I catch a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror on top of the dresser. There were nail marks on my chest and shoulders, not deep enough to draw blood but clear enough to see. But what had really caught my eye was the mark at the base of my neck where Keira had bitten me. Part of my brain still couldn’t comprehend that last night really happened, Keira marked me.

Having finished putting on her jeans and bra Keira sees me looking at the mark. She hops over to my side, concern furrowing her brow, “You ok?”

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt, in fact…I feel great.” I tell her truthfully, besides some sore muscles, I felt oddly energized my, body felt lighter.

I look at Keira’s reflection in the mirror and my eyes widen in shock as I notice there’s a mark at the base of her neck where I bit her.

“How is this possible, shouldn’t yours be healed?” I ask.

Keira wraps her arms around me and chuckles, “You’re asking the wrong wolf, I don’t know how any of this works. The only thing I do know is the fact that it hasn’t disappeared is undeniable proof that we are mates.”

Hearing Keira’s words I realize that up until now I never really thought about the fact that the marks mates give each other don’t heal, they stay there permanently.

With her arms still wrapped around me Keira leans her head down and kisses the mark on my neck, sending shivers down my entire body. Unwrapping her arms from around me Keira turns and grabs the t-shirt off the bed and quickly put it on.

“I’m sure somewhere out there is a wolf scientist who can probably explain all this, but for now I like to think it’s just love and magic.” Keira says with a smile as she combs her hair with her fingers.

Surprised to hear her say that I turn to her while buttoning up the shirt, “I would’ve never pegged you for a romantic.”

She shrugs, “Neither did I, but it seems having a mate changes the way I look at somethings.”

Again, I’m struck by how little I know about her. Well that was gonna change right now.

“What’s your favorite color?”

Confused by my sudden random question, Keira answers slowly, “Red, why?”

“I’ve always liked purple, dark purple specifically. Movies or books?” I continue as I put on my shoes.

“Movies or books?” Keira repeats back still confused by my questions.

“Yeah, which do you like more, movies or books?” I clarify.

Realizing what I was trying to do Keira smiles and answers, “Movies, I usually don’t have the time or patience for books.”

I laugh, “Yeah, I kind of figured. Books for me, one of my guilty pleasures is actually reading those short cheesy romance novels you can find at the supermarket.” I confide to her.

She laughs, “Really? And you called me a romantic.”

My stomach growls, opening the door, I turn to her, “Come on let gets some food, I’m starved.”

“Want me to call one of the omegas to make us something?” She asks while walking me toward the kitchen.

I shake my head, “No, I think we can manage. So, what’s your favorite food?”

Keira tilts her head and thinks for a moment before responding, “Bacon, anything with bacon.”

“Well you’re in luck, for I am the bacon king!” I declare with gusto as we walk into the kitchen, causing Keira to laugh.

The kitchen here was similar to the kitchen at home except the island that doubled as a bar was a bit larger.

“What about you?” Keira asks me.

“I would have to say it’s pastelóne.”

“What’s that?” Keira questions.

“It’s a Spanish dish my human friend Marisol introduced me to. It’s basically a lasagna, but instead of using pasta they use plantains.” I explain.

“That sounds amazing, I’d love to try some.”

“I’ll make it for you someday, now, sit and watch me work.” I point to a stool for her to sit.

“You’re going to cook?” Keira questions, clearly surprised.

“Don’t sound so surprised, it’s not that big of a deal.” I reply as I rummage through the kitchen trying to find everything needed to make some scrambled eggs with bacon.

As I start making what would be our lunch, I continued asking Keira all sorts of question finding out everything I could about her. Eventually she started asking me questions of her own; questions about me, my family, the town.

With the food almost ready I started getting the tableware out.

“Mmmmm, it smells delicious.” Keira says while sniffing the air.

“Drink?” I ask her.

“Ummm, I think there’s orange juice in the fridge can you give me some of that?”

“Of course.” I quickly find the O.J. and pour her some. “You mind if I make the girls some coffee?”

“No go ahead, do you want me to send someone to get them?” Keira offers.

“Nah, in about 10 mins when this coffee’s done, they’ll both come down on their own and once they see I’m okay they’ll want to take their food back upstairs to bed.” I explain as I start the coffee maker. “And about other people, it’s hard not to notice the clear lack of them this morning. Have you been telling your pack to leave us alone?” I ask as I serve Keira a large plate of food.

“Would you be angry if I said I was?” Keira coyly questions back.

“I wouldn’t be angry, just wondering why, you said your pack was excited to meet me.” I answer as I prepare two plates of food for the girls.

“They are, and I haven’t told anyone to stay away, they’re all just outback training.” Keira reassures me as she takes a bite of food. “Mmmmmmmmm, this is delicious!” She exclaims.

Happy that she’s enjoying the food I made I smile as I look out the window. As I look outside, I see different groups of wolves going through various drills and exercises, some of the wolves were clearly falling behind the others, already exhausted. My guess these were the hold overs from Demetri’s pack, the ones Keira decided to keep.

The coffee maker dings, and as if on cue Cora and Alice show up. Seeing Keira, they give her a quick bow of respect.

“Thank you for letting us stay the night.” Cora says to Keira.

Keira scoffs, “You say that as if you wouldn’t have caused a mess if I hadn’t.”

Alice smiles. “Probably.”

Keira returns her smile, and I could feel a little admiration coming from Keira.

“All right you two here’s your food.” I hand the girls each a large plate of food and a cup of coffee. “Now go eat.”

Taking their food, the girls head back upstairs.

After the girls are gone Keira turns to me, “You guys must be really close.”

Her tone was nonchalant, but I could feel a tiny bit of jealousy coming from Keira.

“They’re my bodyguards and my best friends.” I tell her. “You don’t have to be jealous.”

“I’m not jealous.” She defends, as she polishes off the last little bit of food off her plate. “That was amazing, I’m starting to think I should just keep you here and not let you go home.”

I laugh, “You already tried that, and I escaped remember?”

“You didn’t escape, I let you go.” Keira counters, her face becoming serious.

“What? I clearly escaped.” I reply.

“I had you at the clearing.” Keira retorts.

I could feel her agitation growing, and it seemed to aggravate my own.

“No, you had your chance to catch me at the clearing, which you missed because I knew someone from my pack would be close by to help me, ergo I escaped.” I explain.

Keira quickly gets up from the table and stalks over to me, her every step forward making me take a step back until I hit the countertop behind me.

Her full height looming over me, Keira uses her finger to tilt my head up forcing me to face her. “YOU. DID. NOT. ESCAPE. ME.”

Her soft yet cold tone seemed to wash over me, making it hard to breath and her eyes, Goddess her eyes the fire in them, the need to put me in my place made me shake. I forcefully turn my head away, trying in vain to escape her gaze.

“Sorry.” Was all I could manage to croak out while looking down.

“Get on your knees and show me your sorry.”

My eyes shoot back up to Keira, it seems my apology wasn’t enough to satiate her. Her eyes were glowing with desire, her need to dominate me was in full control. As the sexual tension between us heightens I let out an audible gulp.

I slowly start to lower myself as Keira’s hands slowly move to the hem of her jeans.

“Alpha. We found-!”

I jump back away from Keira as soon as I hear the wolf embarrassment flooding my face, the wolf stops as soon as he sees us, sensing the what was happening the wolf quickly begins backing away.

“Oh goddess, forgive me alpha, I’m so sorry please forgive me!” The fear in the wolf’s eyes and voice, took me by surprise. We hadn’t even done anything, but this wolf seemed scared to death of Keira’s reaction.

Keira let’s out an agitated huff and turns to the wolf, “STOP.”

The wolf seems to freeze, as if frozen in place.

Keira turns back to me her eyes back to normal, “We’ll finish this later.” Keira leans in for a quick kiss on the lips and whispers to me, “Be safe, come back to me.” Her voice sincere and loving.

I smile and nod, ‘I will.”

With that Keira turns and walks toward the wolf, “Show me what you found.”

The wolf hands Keira a report and they both walk out of the room.

Letting out a sigh of relief I run a hand through my hair, “Alright, time to get things done.”

Chapter Twelve

After eating I went and got the girls and had them drive me home. As we pulled up to the house I remembered about Peter.

“Hey, do me a favor and check on Peter for me, there was something off about that Gabriella girl he was with last night.”

“What do you mean?” Asked Alice.

“I don’t know, the way she moved wasn’t human, but it wasn’t were either. I don’t, can you please check?” I asked again.

“Sure, we’ll swing by his place later.” Alice reassured me.

“Thanks, well wish me luck.” I said as I got out of the car.

The girls drive off as I make my way to the door, opening it I find my mother sitting on the staircase waiting for me. Seeing her I immediately notice the annoyed look on her face, letting out a deep sigh I go up and take a seat next to her. Neither of us say anything for a moment and then I feel a sharp pain in arm.

“OW!” I exclaim.

My mother had pinched me quite hard.

“What was that for?” I asked while rubbing my arm.

“Don’t play dumb, it doesn’t suit you.” She answered.

“Sorry, it just sort of happened.” I answered with a deep sigh.

“Well, I really can’t blame you, I mean apparently she’s your mate. Honestly nothing is going how I hoped it would.” Her annoyed tone amused me.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“I was hoping for you to find a nice normal wolf girl, not freaking alpha.” She answered.

“What’s the difference?”

My mother gives me a sideways glance, “Are you really going to tell me that you aren’t here to pack your things to leave and move in with her?”

“Oh.” Was all I could say.

If Keira had been a regular wolf, she would’ve more than likely been the one to join our pack, instead of me joining hers. That’s when the gravity of the situation really hit me.

Holy shit, I’m moving out and practically married all at once!

The ridiculousness of the entire situation made me chuckle.

“Wow, either she really is your mate or you two had a REALLY good time last night, or was it both?” She asked with a questioning smile.

I just stared straight ahead not taking her bait, but I could feel the embarrassed flush on my face, this was one conversation I did not want to have with my mother.

Unfazed by my unwillingness to answer my mother just continued to stare at me, I could practically hear the gears in her head turning.

“Well, at least you’re in a better mood than last time. After your first time with Claire you seemed more guilty then happy.” My mother stated.

My eyes widen in shock and I slowly turn my head to look at her.

“Oh, come on, you really thought we wouldn’t know?” She asked.

“Dammit Claire.” I said exasperated.

“Oh please, Claire never said a word. She didn’t have to.” My mother said coming to Claire defense.

“Then how?” I asked

“Honey, we’re werewolves, we could smell it the moment it happened.” She answered.

I slap myself in the forehead, like an idiot I completely forgot about a werewolves’ keen sense of smell. Here I am trying to keep my night with Claire a secret and everyone already knew the moment it happened.

“Wait a sec, if you all knew about it the whole time why didn’t any of you say anything?” I asked.

The smile on my mother’s face grew wider and I could see her trying to hold back a laugh.

“Oh, that’s just great, the whole pack having at laugh at my expense.” I said with my tone filled with annoyance.

Just great, my own family laughing at my naivety.

“It was just funny that you didn’t think we would know.” My mother said while still smiling.

And of course, Claire had to know that they knew, it’s probably the reason for all her innuendo and ass slaps.

Goddess I’m an idiot.

Feeling a bit defeated, with a heavy sigh, I decided to answer my mother’s previous question.

“Yes, she is my mate and yes we had a very good time last night.” I said, blushing on the last part.

“May I see it?” My mother asks me with a victorious smile on her face.

“Yeah.” I reply as pull the shirt over my right shoulder exposing my mark.

“Ouch, it looks deep, are you ok are you in any pain?” She asks in a worried tone.

“I’m fine, it doesn’t even hurt.” I tell her truthfully.

“And were you able to mark her?” My mother asks me in a wary tone, as if afraid of the answer, she even stops breathing.

“Breath mom, yes I was able to mark her. Which I gotta say is confusing the hell out of me right now. I mean, I know there have been other human mates, all females of course, but even if that wasn’t the case, I still have no idea how any of this works. Were they all able to mark their mates too, and on that note why don’t mating marks heal? I mean I never thought about it until now but shouldn’t a bite like that heal instantly?”

I start to ramble but am interrupted when my mother grabs my shoulders and turns me to look at her.

“And your body does it feel any different?” My mother questions me in an excited tone.

“I feel great, I feel lighter than normal. How did you know?” I shift and move my shoulders to get a feel of this new lightness. “Is this a mating thing, I mean is this feeling normal?” I ask.

But instead of answering my question my mother begins to cry and pulls me into a bear hug so tight I can hardly breath.

“Mom?” I wheeze out.

Her hold loosens enough for me to breath.

“Sorry.” She says as she continues to bawl.

“What’s wrong?” I ask worriedly.

She pulls away and wipes her face, “No, I’m just happy.”, a small laugh coming through her tears.

I look at her confused.

“I’m not sure on the details but that lightness your feeling is from the fact that your body’s growth is beginning to slow down.” My mother explains.

“What? Wait you mean!?” I slowly realize what she’s telling me.

“Yes, in a few more years you’ll stop aging completely.” My mother says with a big smile.

I just sat there dumbstruck by this sudden revelation; I now understood my mother’s sudden jubilation. Her fear of watching me grow old and die, had just been resolved.

“Wait, wait, wait, how do you know this? The little information I was able to find on human mates only mentioned that they don’t age. It never said how it happened or what the signs of it happening were.” I stated

My mother scoffs. “Please, the information in those old scrap books is hundreds of years old. Not to mention the wolves who wrote them were clearly not fans of humans or human mates and refused to write about them.” She answered.

“Then how do you know about this?”

“Easy, we just asked wolves with human mates.” My mother replied nonchalantly.

“What, when! Are there wolves with human mates around here? How come I haven’t seen any, and what do you mean by ‘we’? Are you saying dad knew about this too?” I was completely lost. A dozen different question running through my head.

“First off, of course your father knows about this, you’re his son he loves you. Second, no, there are no wolves with human mates around here.” She stopped to gather her thoughts before continuing. “A few months after we adopted you, your father put the word out that he was looking for wolves with human mates who could help us and was willing to pay. It took a couple of years, but we finally found two couples who were willing to talk to us.”

“Why didn’t you guys ever tell me this before?”

“Well we didn’t know if any of this would apply to you and we didn’t want to get your hopes up.” My mother explained.

Hearing that I understood their hesitation, we’re in uncharted territory when it comes to me, the first male human mate.

“Soo what did they say?” I said eager to learn what I could.

“Well just like you, neither had a problem marking their mates, and their bodies started feeling slightly more energetic. At first neither knew what it meant, but after a few years went by and they saw no signs of aging it finally clicked.”

“How old were they?” I asked curiously.

“Well they both looked to be in their twenties, but one was about fifty and the other one around eighty.”

“Are you still in contact with them? There’s so much I want to ask them.”

“Unfortunately, no, just getting them to meet us was hard enough, once they answered our questions, they took their money and left. But the good news is the mating process between a wolf and a human is the same as the mating process between two wolves.” My mother reassured me.

“Well that’s good to know.”

“Now as for why mating marks don’t heal, if you’re looking for a rational answer ask your father, I’m sure he has some theories. As for me, I just believe it is what it is, love.” She smiles at me.

I couldn’t help but smile back, I’ve always thought of my life as having an expiration date. But now, not only am I going to be around for a long time, but I get to spend it with my soulmate. Which now that I’m thinking about it is still a mystery to me, I’ve never even had a girlfriend before. I’ve literally gone from being single to being mated in the span of a week, and I have no idea how relationships work let alone being mated.

“Mom, what should I expect from being mated?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I know that Keira is an alpha and that she’ll always be the dominant personality in our relationship. But you and dad have always seemed so equal in everything and I’m just wondering if that’s possible for me and Keira?”

“Honey, there are no set rules for being mated. You and Keira have to figure out your relationship on your own.”

I let out a sigh, ‘It’s hard, she’s my mate but a stranger at the same time.”

“Surely you’ve gotten to know her a little by now.”

“Oh sure, like the fact that she can be quite forceful when she wants something.” My mind flashes back to what happened earlier in the kitchen and what would’ve happened if that wolf hadn’t walked in.

Hearing that, a worried look crosses my mother’s face.

“I didn’t mean it like that, she hasn’t forced me to do anything. There have just been some moments where I felt…compelled to do as she says.” I try to explain and reassure her.

She considers me a moment before finally speaking, “That could just be fear.”

‘Fear?” I repeat confused.

“Yes, the fear that she’ll leave you if you don’t do what she wants.” My mother explained.

“No, no, that can’t be the case. I mean I…”

I trail off as I start to really think about it, am I afraid that she’ll leave me?

“You just have to remember that she is your mate, and she’ll always loves you. So, don’t be afraid to speak up or challenge her on things. If you don’t, you’ll eventually become unhappy which in turn will make her unhappy which will then make the pack miserable.”

“Are you saying this happened with you and dad?” I asked surprised.

“Yeah, it’s a bit hard picturing me not speaking my mind huh?” She replied.

“That’s an understatement.” I scoff.

I feel another pinch on my arm.

“Ow!”

“Anyway, you should go see your father while I finish packing your things.” Her tone becoming melancholy.

“Don’t worry mom, I’ll still be over here all the time. Besides I have to bring you Keira so you can meet her.” I said with a soft smile.

“You better.” She smiles with a few tears in her eyes and hugs me.

Getting up, I head upstairs to my father’s study, I knock on the door before entering and hope things go as smoothly as they did with mom.

Chapter Thirteen

Walking in I see my father working at his desk, I can immediately tell he’s upset by the fact that he doesn’t look up to greet me. I calmly walk to the front of his desk and wait to be spoken to, when he’s upset like this it’s always better to wait for him to speak first.

Only minutes have passed, but under the intense silence it feels like forever when my father finally looks up at me.

“I’m angry.” Was all he said in a calm voice, but it was enough to rake me with guilt.

“I know I’m sorry. The moment I realized where we were, I should have called.” I said remorsefully.

“Yes, you should have, but…(sigh) I’m angry at myself.” My father clarifies.

“Why?” I asked perplexed.

“Because as much as I believed that your mother was right and that you did have a mate out there, I did nothing to prepare you for it. Nor did I even consider the possibility that you would be the one to leave our pack.” My father guilty explains.

“Oh…well to be fair I don’t think anyone could’ve prepared me for a wolf like Keira.” I smiled, hoping to lessen his guilt. “Still, it would’ve been nice to know about the whole dream sharing thing earlier.” I say with a small laugh.

“Dream sharing? You two shared a dream on your first mating?” My father asked with a surprised look on his face.

“Well no, it was actually before that.” I tell him.

The look on my father’s face goes from surprise to shock.

“Dad? What’s wrong?”

My father shakes his head recomposing himself.

“Nothing, just that everything about that female is ridiculous.” My father mumbles under his breath.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

My father looks to me, “Caden, dream sharing between mates is a rare and special thing, and it usually only happens after your mated. Even your mother and I have only shared dreams a handful of times in all our years together. For Keira to be able to influence your dreams before you were properly mated means she possesses incredible mental fortitude. Which could also explain that ridiculous aura she let out during the meeting.” My father says the last part to himself.

“Well that’s good isn’t it? I mean war with the White Moon pack has already started, isn’t it good to have someone so powerful with us? I ask.

“Well I suppose.” My father says in an unsure tone. “But the thing I really wanted to talk to you about is your joining of her pack, and the troubles you may face there.”

“Well, I know it’s going to be weird. I mean after working so hard to join the family pack and finally getting in, I’m already leaving.” I responded solemnly, thinking of how I now must consider my family a different pack then my own.

“Yes, but it’s not just that Caden.” My father gets up from his desk and walks over to me, putting his hand on my shoulder. “You have to understand that Keira may not do things the way I do, she will run her pack differently than me.”

This doesn’t surprise me; living in Crestwood I have seen a range of different packs run different ways, some like my father with fairness. But also, others who are more tyrannical, who lead by violence. So, when he tells me that Keira will not be the same alpha he is, it doesn’t surprise me, but it does scares me.

I slowly take a seat in one of the chairs in front of my father’s desk. The memory of this morning and the fear I saw in the wolf’s eyes as he looked at Keira fills my mind.

“Yeah, I’ve already noticed, Keira’s pack fears her.” I say in a sad tone.

“I know it will be hard, but you have to help and support her.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“By being her mate.” My father says.

“You say that, but I’m not sure how to do that either.” I say with an exasperated sigh. “I’ve gone from being single all of my life to being mated in the span of a week. I tried asking mom about it, but she said I have to figure it out on my own with Keira.”

“Well that part is true, your relationship with Keira is something you two have to work on by yourselves. But that’s not what I was referring to when I said to help and support her as her mate. What I meant is that you need to support her as your alpha.” He clarified.

“Oh.” Was all I could say.

“It won’t be easy, but you are my son and I know you have the strength.” He stated proudly.

I smile, “Thanks dad, so any advice on dealing with my mate?” I ask.

My father chuckles and pulls up a seat next to me, “Well, all I can say is that being mated is just like any other relationship. Be open and honest with each other, and don’t expect everything to go smoothly just because you’re mated.”

“Yeah, mom said something similar. She also mentioned you two having problems in the beginning.” I said incredulously.

My father laughs, “Problems? That’s a light way of putting it.”

I continue to look at him to elaborate.

“Look…(sigh) Goddess, I don’t know how to explain this without making myself sound like an ass. You know what, I if your mother didn’t go into specifics neither am I.”

“Oh, come on!” I whined.

“Caden, just know that relationships take work and problems won’t magically solve themselves just because your mated. Ok?”

“Ok.” I respond while nodding my head.

“Good, now your mother should be still packing your things, so let’s go help her. Once you get settled in Keira’s pack will start sending your stuff over.” My father says as he gets up.

I quickly get up and look my father in the eye.

“Dad, I already told mom, but I want to let you know too that this isn’t goodbye. I’m human, so that means pack or no pack your still my family and a part of my life. And I’m going to make sure that Keira knows that.”

My father just looks at me and smiles, “Of course.”

After a few hours of packing, we decided to call it a day, and went on a family outing. Lucas of course brought Daniella, and we all spent the whole day going around town eating and having fun as a family. No one said anything, but we all knew this was probably the last time we would do something like this for a long while. When night rolled around, they took me back to Keira’s, driving up to the house nobody spoke. When we reached the house, I got out two luggage bags from the trunk of the car, and after a few tearful hugs and see you laters, they drove off. I waited until they were completely out of site before I turned to face the house, which seemed to loom over me, shaking it off I walk up and inside the house.

Once inside two female omegas begin to take my luggage, unlike this morning the house was now full of wolves. Some I recognized as former members of Demetri’s pack, the other I can only assume are members of Keira’s pack. Though none stop what they’re doing to say hi to me, I can clearly see a few of them eyeing me.

I quickly turn to one of the omegas taking my luggage, “Where can I find Kei- I.. I mean the alpha.”

I have to be careful on how I address Keira in front of others until I talk to her. Some might consider it rude or disrespectful for me to use her name while in a public setting. The omega I spoke to was a small brunette, attractive in a girl next door kind of way. She stood there and considered me for a moment, from the look in her eye I can tell she seemed to be sizing me up. After another moment passed, she finally answered.

“Office, second floor first door on the left.”

“Thanks, I’m Caden by the way.”

I offer her my hand, but she ignores it stating, “We know who you are.” And walks off.

“Clearly.” I mumble to myself letting my hand drop.

“Don’t take it personally, Lisa doesn’t care for males, even the ones in our own pack.” The second omega says. “Matilda, friends call me Matty.” She says offering me her hand.

Taking her hand, I give a firm shake, “Caden.”

Taking a good look at her I can say Matilda was a cute girl, she had short black hair, brown eyes, and a small diamond stud nose piercing

With that Matilda walks away, so following Lisa’s instructions I make my way to the second-floor office Keira is in and knock on the door.

“Come in.”

Opening the door, I enter a large but rather empty office, seated at a small desk in the back was Keira filling out some papers. There were a few bookshelves on the wall behind her filled with a variety of books, but they seemed to be more for show than actual reading judging by the amount of dust I can see on the books from here. It didn’t really surprise me that Demetri didn’t utilize this office. Looking up and seeing me, her mouth immediately spreads into a large smile that I can’t seem to help but return. Faster than humanly possible she quickly gets up and rushes over to me, wrapping her arms around my neck and kisses me. Surprised by her sudden speed and embrace, I grab her waist to steady her and myself. After a long moment Keira finally breaks the kiss and starts to nuzzle my neck.

“I missed you.” Keira whispers as she begins nibbling on my ear.

“We just saw each other this morning.” I say flustered.

“And it felt like forever.” She whines.

I scoff, “Okay.”

“You’ve lived with werewolves long enough to know how clingy we can be towards our mates, especially alphas.” Keira says unabashed.

Giving me another peck on the lips, Keira releases me from her embrace and walks back toward the desk.

“Yeah I know, I just never thought it would apply to me.” I say red-faced.

Keira looks back and smiles at me as she continues to organize and stack some papers on the desk.

“So, what are you working on?” I ask pointing at the papers in her hand.

“These are documents transferring ownership of this land and house to our pack from the Bloodfang pack. And these, are the Bloodfang pack’s financial records.” She says as she grabs a large messy file from the desk.

“Anything useful? I ask.

“Not even in the slightest.” She replies as she throws the file in a plastic trash bin next to the desk. “The few businesses Demetri owned were hemorrhaging money, and he was using his packs earnings just to keep them afloat.”

“Are any of them salvageable?”

‘No, but even if they were, I wouldn’t bother. I’m going to liquidate all his assets and get what I can for them anyway.”

“You’re not gonna leave Demetri or his pack anything?” I ask, thinking it was a little harsh even for someone like Demetri.

“I let him, and the rest of his pack live, I think that’s more than enough.” Her cold tone sending a shiver down my back. “In fact, the only reason he’s still alive is because your father convinced me that it wouldn’t look good for me to kill a long-standing member of the community so soon after arriving.” She says with an irritated tone.

“Probably the right move, as disliked as Demetri is by most packs, he does have a few that he’s friendly with. Not that any of them will help him now, not after your little display during the community meeting.”

Keira smiles a proud smile and sits on the small desk, “Enough boring talk, tell me, how did things go with your parents?”

“Surprisingly well, they were open, understanding, and just want me to be happy. Which reminds me, I still have to properly introduce you to them.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so. I mean why bother; they already know who I am.” She says in an indifferent tone that leaves me slightly taken aback.

“Keira, they’re my family. I’m talking about presenting you, my mate, to my family.” I try explaining.

“I get what you’re saying I just don’t see the need.” Keira shrugs.

Stunned by her refusal I begin to get upset, “Look, I know that when wolves leave one pack for another their new pack becomes their family regardless of the blood relation left behind. But I’m human, and my family is an extremely important part of my life. One that I am not and will not give up.” I say stubbornly.

Keira’s eyes go wide surprised at my angry tone. For a split second I worry that I’ve upset her, but I quickly brush it aside, this is my family we’re talking about.

“Come here.” She calls to me

I walk toward her as she sits on the desk, the moment I’m in reach, Keira wraps her legs around me and pulls me in close. While sitting, Keira’s height is equal to mine, so we’re face to face as she wraps her arms around my neck and looks me in the eyes.

“Caden, you’re my mate. If your family is that important to you, then ok, I’ll meet them.” I could feel the sincerity in her voice.

“Thank you, and I’m sorry if I came off a litt-”

“It’s okay.” She interrupts.

I smile and lean in to kiss her when I suddenly remember, “Oh, before I forget I have big news.”

“Oh?”

“This might sound hard to believe, but I’m no longer aging. It’s proof that our mating bond is complete. Can you believe it?”

Keira chuckles, “I already knew that.”

“You did? H-”

I begin to ask how but stop when I noticed Keira’s eyes were staring off into space. She was communicating with someone through the mental link. Not wanting to disrupt her I just stood there with Keira’s arms and legs still wrapped around me. After a few minutes Keira’s focus comes back, letting me know she had finished.

“Sorry about that.” Keira apologizes, unwrapping her arms from around my neck but keeping her legs firmly wrapped around my legs.

“Don’t be, you’re the alpha. I knew what I was getting into.” I soothe her. “Is everything alright?” I ask.

“Everything is fine, a suspicion I had while looking through the Bloodfang’s financials was just confirmed.” Keira answered.

“What?” I asked curiously.

“One of Demetri’s pack members was their accountant, and it seems he had been secretly syphoning funds to his own personal bank account.’ She explained “I had some of my own look into it, and they just confirmed my suspicions when he just now tried syphoning funds from my accounts. They’re bringing him to me now.” She said with an evil smile.

“Wait, he’s here? Is he one of wolves from Demetri’s pack that you accepted?” I speculated.

“Yep, how else do you think I got access to Demetri and the Bloodfang’s financials.” Keira confirmed.

“So, what are you going to do?” I slowly ask, but I could already sense her murderous intentions.

“What I should’ve the moment I got what I needed from him.” Her cold tone sending another shiver down my spine.

“Is killing him really necessary?” I slowly question.

Keira unwraps her legs from around me and gets up off the desk, standing at her full height in front of me. I’m forced to tilt my head back to keep her gaze, the height difference between us once again apparent. Her face the same cold emotionless mask she had during the community meeting.

“Yes.” Was all she replied.

Her stoic expression and firm answer told me that this wasn’t Keira my mate, but Keira my alpha and I wasn’t going to change her mind. My father’s words from earlier begin ringing in my ear, ‘-Keira may not do things the way I do, she will run her pack differently than me.’ Taking a deep breath, I let go of any notion I had to try and convince her otherwise.

Slightly bowing my head in a show of respect to her decision, I firmly reply, “As you decide my alpha.”

I sense a shift in her mood, looking back up I see a small smile playing on Keira’s lips.

“What?” I ask.

“You called me alpha.” She said in a loving tone.

I knew she’d like that, but I just smile and shrug my shoulders.

“Did I?” I say in a playful tone.

Keira’s eyes narrow and behind her smile she lets out a low growl. The sound of which immediately gets my blood flowing. The air around us begins to fill with the scent of our arousals.

Knock, Knock

The knock at the door quickly dispels the moment between us. Keira’s cold mask comes back on and reminds me of what is about to happen.

“Wait for me in our room.” She says in a neutral tone, not even looking at me.

Once again, my father’s words from earlier come back to me; about how I need to support Keira, not just because she’s my mate but because she’s also my alpha.

“I’ll stay.” I tell her

She turns and looks at me, sensing my determination she gives me a firm nod before walking into the center of the room.

“Come in.”

The door opens, I recognize the first one to walk in, it was the male wolf with the buzz cut who was guarding the doors during both parties. After him was a wolf I didn’t recognize at all, he had short brown hair, squinty eyes, and a sharp nose. He had to be Demetri’s accountant, he gave off a weaselly vibe that immediately made me distrust him, why Demetri allowed him to be the Bloodfang pack’s accountant is beyond me. The last one to walk in is the other wolf who was guarding the doors during the parties, the bald one. I still think they’re brothers, there are too many similarities between them to make me think otherwise.

All three come to stand in a row in facing Keira, the weaselly looking wolf between the two brothers. The brother with the buzz cut pushes the accountant forward, leaving him only a few steps away from Keira.

“You called for me alpha?”

Goddess! He even sounded like a weasel, how was Demetri so blind!

“Yes Jason, it has come to my attention that there has been some unusual activity lately, regarding the pack’s bank account.” Keira says in a calm neutral tone.

The Jason’s eyes go wide, and he audibly gulps.

“Stealing from Demetri is one thing but stealing from me is something else entirely.” Keira said in a steely edge tone.

Jason immediately got on his knees and prostrates himself.

“Forgive me alpha, they were going to kill me!” Jason wailed.

“Explain.” She commanded.

Keira slowly released some of her aura around Jason, he visibly started to tremble and had a hard time breathing.

“The Clearwater pack, I owed money to the Clearwater pack.” Jason panted out.

“Who, are they?” Keira asked.

Before Jason could reply I answered instead, “There a small pack in town who run illegal card games out of small building they own in town. But only idiots go to them, they’re scum who purposely keep they’re players in debt.”

I couldn’t see Keira’s face, but I could feel her displeasure.

“We can get the money back! It’s just like he said, the Clearwater pack is small and nowhere near as strong as you. We can easily take the money back and then some. I’ve gotten a quick look at their books in the past, and they have enough money stashed away that you won’t need to be mated to the human anymore.” Jason says desperately.

Keira went deathly still.

“What?” She asked slowly.

“It’s why you’re here in Crestwood isn’t it? It’s why you chose that human to be your mate.” Jason slowly stated.

I was taken back by his words, I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant, but that’s when I felt it.

Keira’s anger and rage were overwhelming, the unbridled fury coursing through Keira’s veins had me dropping to my knees and clutching my chest. Behind Jason I see the two brother’s eyes go wide and step further back, fear clearly itched on their faces. Keira launches herself at Jason, with one hand she grabs Jason by the neck and effortlessly lifts him off his feet and into the air holding him there as if he were just a piece of paper.

“YOU. DARE. YOU FUCKING DARE MAKE LIGHT OF OUR MATING BOND!!” Keira bellows, her voice distorted by rage.

Jason desperately claws at Keira’s arm trying to break her hold on is neck to no avail. He then tries to shift into his wolf form, but his panicked state and lack of oxygen stop him. After a few moments Jason’s arms lose all their strength falling helplessly to his sides. His eyes roll back, and his face begins losing its color.

Keira’s back was still facing me so I couldn’t see her face, but I knew she was smiling. I could feel her joy and excitement; she was enjoying his death reveling in it. For a moment I became afraid, not of Keira but of what she was capable of. Must of having sensed my fear, Keira looks back at me. Seeing me on my knees and clutching my chest seemed to bring her back to her senses, because all her anger and joy from before was now replaced with worry. Looking back at Jason, Keira uses her other hand to pull down on Jason’s shoulder exposing the base of his neck. Keira proceeds to bite through his neck like butter, tearing his head clean off. Keira tosses Jason’s body aside as if it were nothing, she then tosses his head at the floor in front of the wolf brothers who were now both on one knee with their heads bowed down awaiting orders.

“Give it to the Clearwater pack and tell him his debt is payed.” Keira ordered.

“Yes alpha!” Both brothers say in unison.

Keira turns and walks over to me, her mouth, neck, and some of her shirt now covered in blood. Still a little weak from the surge of emotions I was hit by, I struggle to get back on my feet.

“I’m fine, just give me a minute.” I try and reassure her.

But Keira ignores me and in one fluid movement picks me up in her arms and carries me out of the office. Slightly embarrassed by having everyone see me being carried around like a princess, I go to tell Keira to put me down, but the look on her face said she wasn’t having it. When we finally get to what I guess is our room, I’m feeling fine. But Keira refuses to put me down, instead she walks over to the massive bed and gently lays me down.

I can feel my face turning bright red, it’s such a simple and silly thing but I can’t help but find it super embarrassing, I should be the one carrying her and laying her down not the other way around. As if understanding my thoughts Keira looks down at me and smirks a devilish smirk.

Goddess, even covered in blood Keira still looked sexy as hell, in fact it made her look even more badass.

“Let me clean myself up.” Keira said as she turned and headed into the bathroom.

I get up and look around the room, it was huge, probably as big as my parent’s room back home. The room was wonderfully furnished, a window overlooking the back of the house was at the far end of the room across the door we came in from. Between the door and the window was a fireplace which in front of was a simple coffee table with two love seats on either side and a single chair at the head. That’s when I notice my luggage neatly sitting on one of the love seats. Looking towards the bathroom door I decide to unpack while waiting for Keira, opening one of the dressers to see how much space I would be working with I notice that room had already been made for me. Not only the dressers but the closet too, seeing as how I only brought a few things with me with the rest being brought later I was done unpacking in a matter of minutes. Sitting back down on the bed I look around the room.

“Man, this feels weird.” I mumble to myself.

The more I look around the more unfamiliar everything feels. I know I’ll eventually get used to it but until then it feels weird not being in my room. Shaking off the weird feelings, I undress and pull on a t-shirt to go with my boxers to sleep. As I get into bed, I start going over the events of the last three days in my mind.

Geez, school tomorrow is going to be a trip.

School!

“Shit!” I say to myself.

I completely forget to bring my school stuff! Dammit let me text the Lucas and Noel and see if they can bring me my stuff.

After a few minutes Noel thankfully replied and said he would bring me my stuff before class. Just as I finished replying my thanks the bathroom door opens and out comes Keira freshly showered with a towel wrapped neatly around her hair and nothing else.

“Goddess.” I breathe.

No matter how many times I see her naked body it still takes my breath away, I quickly avert my eyes to regain control of my thoughts.

“What’s wrong?” Keira asked.

Glancing in Keira’s direction, she was still naked, but she had unwrapped the towel around her hair and was now drying it.

“Nothing, do you mind putting something on?” I ask, closing my eyes.

“Why, nothing you haven’t seen before.” Keira says cheekily.

“True, but a little modesty goes long way.” I state.

I feel the bed dip near my feet, opening my eyes I see Keira sensually crawling up toward me. My mind goes blank and my mouth goes dry.

“There’s nothing modest about ‘us.” She said, her tone dripping with sex. Keira was now on top of me, her left hand was next to my head holding her over me while her right hand traced the collar of my t-shirt with her fingertip. “And what’s the point of putting on, what’s about to come off.”

Keira uses her finger to rip my t-shirt right down the middle exposing my chest. Before I could complain about the unnecessary destruction of my shirt. Keira begins placing small kisses on my chest, the coolness from her still damp hair making me gasp as it touches my skin. She begins kissing her way up my neck, making me let out a small involuntary moan. My hands begin to move on their own, my fingers begin combing through her damp hair. It was gearing up to be another late night.

“Waking up for school tomorrow is going to be a pain.” I mumble to myself.

Keira stops and looks at me with confusion, “School?”

“Yeah, tomorrows Monday, did you forget?” I ask.

“No, I know what day it is, why are you going to school?” Keira asks me.

Sitting up while Keira sits back, I look at her confused.

“What do you mean, why? It’s school.” I state.

“You’re going to be our pack doctor; you don’t need to go to school.” She says.

“Even if that’s the case, it’s my senior year I’m not going to stop so close to the end. Also, my time with my human friends is now limited. I want to spend as much time as I can with them before I can’t see them anymore.” I explain.

“Fine let me rephrase that, you are not going to school.” Keira dictated.

“What?” I ask incredulously.

“Now that other packs know you’re my mate it’s too dangerous.” She said.

“First of all, I’m human and the son of an alpha, which made me a target day one. And, even if that wasn’t the case, I have my brother and my friends backing me up. Not to mention you’ll be there.”

“I’m not going, school is a waste of time. I’m an alpha I have more important things to do then go to school.”

“Then why did you go to school in the first place?”

Keira looks at me as if I’m missing the obvious.

“Right, of course, me.” I scoff.

“I’m sorry Caden, but it’s too dangerous the best place for you now is here with me.”

I begin remembering what my mother had said, when it comes to me and Keira, I can’t be afraid of pushing back.

“No, I’m going to school tomorrow.” I said firmly.

Keira is taken back by my defiance and lets out a small growl.

“I said NO.” Keira enforces her words with her aura.

It was a little rough but nothing I couldn’t handle.

“And I said yes.” I say firmly again.

Keira is once again surprised by my lack of compliance.

“I’m sorry Keira, I love and you’re my alpha, but I will not be the punching bag in this relationship.” I state.

Keira seems offended by the accusation, “I would never hurt you.” Keira declares.

“Then don’t try to stop me.”

Keira looks away and growls in frustration, I could see in her face that she was thinking.

After a few moments I see a smile spread across Keira’s face, which immediately sets off warning bells in my head.

Keira looks back at me, “Fine, you wanna go to school, okay. Let’s see how you manage that without being able to walk.” She says in a sensually sinister tone.

My eyes go wide, “I thought you said you’d never hurt me?”

“Oh baby, I’m not going to hurt you.” She says as she pushes me back down onto the bed. “I’m just going to fuck you so good you won’t be able to walk.” Her tone dripping with sex.

Before I could say anything, Keira captures my mouth with her own and begins touching my body, causing me to moan into her mouth. My body immediately responds to her touch, Keira waste no time ripping me free of my boxers and begins gently stroking me. My breath hitches but Keira doesn’t stop, in fact she deepens the kiss exploring my mouth with her tongue. Only when I’m a panting whimpering mess does she finally stop allowing me to breathe. This gives her time to place us in a reverse missionary position. Confused, I try to move but she holds my knees steady as she slowly takes me into her wet core. As she begins moving her hips, as her rhythm begins building, I can’t help but cry out.

“Oh, fuck!”

This seems to excite Keira as her movement become faster and harder. I struggle to stay in control, but Keira begins gyrating her hips and then kisses me hard. My whole body begins to strain as my orgasm rockets through me, causing me to cry out Keira name. This seems to set off Keira’s own orgasm as I feel her tighten around and she lets out a growl of satisfaction. Looking up at Keira I see that while she’s breathing a little hard, she’s otherwise fine. I on the other hand was a complete mess, my breathing was erratic and my whole body felt numb. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me, I wasn’t going to let her win, it was my turn to show her what I could do. I start rolling us over so that I would be on top, but I’m stopped and rolled back by Keira, she grabs my wrists and pins them to the sides near my head. Her eyes were glowing and clouded with lust, and her wolfish grin revealed her now elongated canines.

“Oh no baby, I’m nowhere near done with you yet.”

All eyes seemed to be on me as I make my way to my first period class, I’m not sure if it’s from wolves who had by now heard I was Keira’s mate, or from the fact that I’m rolling around in a wheelchair. Last night after our first bout of sex Keira refused to let up, we went at it for hours and not once did she allow me control. True to her word I could barely move a muscle this morning, it took a great deal of effort just getting out of bed without waking her up. I practically had to crawl to the bathroom and into the shower, I got dressed on the floor because I couldn’t stand up straight. Finally making out the door I was lucky enough to spot the nice omega from last night Matty and convinced her to drive me to school. Wobbling my way outside and into her car, a very nice white Nissan Altima, I could tell she knew why I was like this as she was struggling not to laugh the whole ride here. But she lost it when we got here, I had opened the door to leave only for my legs to give out and fall flat on the sidewalk. After she finished laughing her ass off, she helped me up and ran inside to the nurse’s office and got this wheelchair. She offered to push but I’d had enough humiliation this morning and told her I was fine. Finally reaching the door of my first period I see Noel holding my stuff.

“Jesus, what happened to you?” Noel asked concerned.

“Nothing, just pulled something during my morning training.” I lied.

Finally feeling strong enough to stand I get up off the wheelchair and I’m happy find that with a little effort I can stand up and walk straight just fine, well straight-ish.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Noel asks again.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I say trying to hide the strain in my voice. “Thanks again for bringing me my stuff. Have you seen the girls at all?” I ask.

“No, not since Saturday, have you tried calling them?” Noel asked

“No, they were supposed to check on Pete and get back to me.”

“Check on Pete? What happened to Pete?” Noel asked, his tone now getting worried.

“Nothing. Look their probably just running a little late. I’ll call them after class, ok?” I reassure Noel.

“If you say so, but let me know if anything, ok?” Noel insisted.

“Promise.”

“Alright, here before I forget this came in the mail for you.” Noel hands me a manila envelope along with my school things. “I wanted to open it, but Lucas wouldn’t let me.” He whined.

“Remind me to thank him later.” I say as I snatch my stuff out of his hands.

Noel scoffs and leaves, while I head into class. Finally sitting down in my seat, a feeling of normality washes over me.

Never thought I’d be happy to be in school, but after everything that’s happened, school seems to be exactly what I need right now. Not that I regret anything, it’s just that a little normal is nice every now and then. I mean how can I not be happy, I’m finally part of the pack, well a pack. I found my mate, MY MATE, it still sounds weird to me. And despite having a few things we need to work out I love her, and she loves me. I mean let’s be honest with myself, as much as last night’s activities are a pain in the ass for me right now, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I’m also on the path to becoming a pack doctor.

“Are you high?”

I look over to the classmate who sits to the right of me, his name eluding me.

“What? No, why?” I ask.

“Because you have a big goofy smile on your face.” He says

“Oh, sorry I didn’t even notice.”

He turns away and inwardly laugh at myself. Class doesn’t start for another five minutes, so I decide to open the envelope Noel gave me. Opening it out comes some black and white photos with a folded note. Looking through the pictures it takes me a moment to notice their surveillance photos of me and my family, all dated three weeks ago! I scramble to open the folded note only to find it contained three big bold words.

Don’t

Trust

Her

That’s when I notice the surveillance photo of me, it seemed to have been taken from the inside of a car, and the photographer captured their reflection in one of the sideview mirrors.

“Keira?”

Chapter Fourteen

My mind was racing to make sense of things as I walked aimlessly down the school halls. I had been so absorbed in my thoughts I hadn’t realized class had ended until someone from the next class tapped me on the shoulder asking for his seat. As I continue walking down the halls, I try calling both Alice and Cora for the tenth time, but they’re still not picking up. I decide to leave another voicemail.

“Where the fuck are you guys? I need you to call me as soon as you can, something major has come up.”

I hang up and my gaze falls to the envelope in my hands, my mind once again going over the photos inside. The pictures were clearly taken before Keira’s pack had arrived in Crestwood, but that IS Keira in the photo. What does this mean? Should I tell my parents? Should I confront Keira about this? So many different thoughts and questions were running through my head, I didn’t know what to do!

I’m snapped out of my thoughts when I’m suddenly jerked back by someone grabbing my arm, that’s when I notice the wall in front of my face. If the person hadn’t grabbed me, I would’ve walked straight into the wall, I turn around to thank the person who stopped me and see that its Hannah.

“Are you okay?” Hannah asks me. “I was calling your name, but you didn’t respond, at first I thought you were ignoring me but then I saw you about to walk into that wall.”

“Yeah, sorry. There’s just a lot going through my mind right now.” I haven’t spoken to her since that awkward moment at the party, I wasn’t sure what to say.

“Look Caden I’m sorry about how I acted at the party, so much happened with Cole, Demetri and the pack that I went looking for something anything to take my mind off it. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” Hannah explains to me.

“No Hannah you don’t have to explai-”

Hannah cuts me off, “Yes, I do. I consider you a friend and I want you to know that you can come to me if you need someone to talk to.”

“Thanks.” I replied.

“Now, you want to tell me what’s got you so distracted.” Hannah asks and looks at me with anticipation.

Even though I do consider Hannah a friend it felt wrong to share this with her.

“Hannah I can’t-”

“Well, well, well, seems I went a little too easy on you last night.” Keira’s voice says, cutting in from behind.

I turn around surprised to see her here, the surprised look on my face making her smile. But the smile quickly disappears when she sees Hannah and lets out a low growl. Hannah’s eyes narrow but she quickly turns and leaves. I try to stop her, but she’s gone before I could say anything.

“What the hell was that!?” I exclaim.

“I don’t want you talking to that bitch.” Keira tells me in a steely voice.

“I already told you she’s just a friend, and what are you even doing here? You made your feelings about school abundantly clear last night.” I say in a low voice, annoyed by her use of the word bitch for Hannah.

“Obviously I’m here for you and forgive me if I’m a little less than happy by the fact that your friends with a girl that practically threw herself at you two days ago.” Keira says sarcastically.

Okay, she had me there and it’s not like I can take the moral high ground here, since only a week ago I was the one pining after Hannah. I had decided not to tell Keira about my previous crush on Hannah, for fear of what she might do to her.

“Besides, I don’t trust her.” Keira says.

“Pfft, that’s funny coming from you.” I blurt out without thinking.

I slap my hand over my mouth as if trying to take back the words that just came out, but it was too late. Keira’s eyes narrow at me, her intense questioning gaze has me fighting the urge to squirm.

Well it’s too late now, I tell myself.

Rolling back my shoulders and straightening my back I look Keira straight in the eye and hand her the envelope with the pictures. “Explain this.” I demand.

Keira opens the envelope and her eyes go immediately wide with shock.

“Where did you get these?!” Keira demands.

“You first, explain!” I demand back.

Annoyance at my attitude flashes in Keira’s eyes, she lets out a huff and grabs my hand.

“Come on we’re going home.” Keira states.

I pull my hand back, “No, I’m not going anywhere until you explain.” I say defiantly.

Keira’s hands clench into fists, crushing the envelope with the pictures inside. I could feel her anger at my defiance growing. In her eyes I could see the internal battle she was having, the alpha who wants to punish my disobedience conflicting with her instincts as my mate to protect me.

By this point the people around us had noticed us arguing and were now actively listening in on our conversation. Looking around I notice some had even stopped what they were doing and were now looking at us.

Keira suddenly grabs me by the collar and slams her mouth against mine. The kiss was hard and unapologetic, leaving me dizzy. She then pulls me by the collar toward the closest classroom and slams the door open stunning the teacher and students inside.

“Excuse me! What do you two think you’re doing we’re in the middle of class!” The female teacher yells.

Keira just stares at the teacher and releases her aura and in a steely voice says, “LEAVE.”

The teacher’s eyes go wide, and she immediately rushes out of the classroom, Keira turns her head and looks toward the students. Without her having to say a word the kids immediately get up and rush out after the teacher leaving just me and Keira in the classroom.

Finally releasing her hold on me I stumble forward.

“Are you out of your mind!” I yell at her.

“Tell me, where did you get these photos?” Keira asks me again.

“No, not until you tell me why you were taking surveillance photos of my family weeks before you arrived here. I mean, was this all planned were you targeting me and my family from the beginning, goddess are we even mates?” I begin to question.

Keira gets in my face with inhuman speed causing me to stumble back into the teacher’s desk.

With our faces barely an inch apart Keira looks me dead in the eye. “Don’t you ever say that again, YOU. ARE. MINE.” Keira says to me in a dangerous tone.

Her tone sends a shiver down my spine and all I could do is nod. She takes a single step back giving me just enough room to straighten myself out again.

“Yes, I took these pictures a few weeks back, but I took pictures of all the packs here.” Keira admitted.

“Why?” I ask.

“Because I was being careful, I didn’t know if your council could be trusted. I had to be sure it was safe for my pack here.” Keira explained.

It made sense, if I was in her shoes, I would’ve probably done the same thing.

“And just so we’re clear, when I took this picture of you, I had no idea who you were. I didn’t find out until that night in the clearing.” Keira continued.

“Then why did you take a picture of me.” I asked confused.

“Because the moment I saw you I felt an attraction I’d never felt before. You’re the only reason I even bothered registering for school. I was planning on looking for you that first day, but you just happened to show up the night before at that idiots party.” Keira said.

I look down in shame, “I’m sorry.” Was all I could say, feeling like a total jerk for doubting my mate.

“It’s okay, I could understand your confusion if I was in your shoe’s.” Keira says with a small smile. “Now Caden please, where did you get these pictures?”

“Noel brought me the envelope with the pictures earlier this morning when I got to school, apparently it had been mailed to my parents’ house.” I tell her.

Keira frowned; I could feel her concern.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“I had left these and the other pictures in my office so the only way for someone to have mailed them to you…”

“Is if they took them from your office.” I finished, stunned by this revelation.

“My only real question is why? I just had one of the wolves at home check and all the other pack photos are still in my office. Only these were taken.” Keira wondered.

I could understand Keira’s confusion, if whoever sent me these photos wanted to cause any real trouble for Keira, they could have taken all the pictures and sent them out to all the packs. Instead they just took these and sent them to me her mate, that’s when it hits me.

“Keira, you said at the time of this picture you didn’t know who I was, so did you keep the picture by itself or did you file it with the others?” I ask.

“I kept it by itself.” She answered. “Why?”

“It means that whoever sent me these photos was hoping to cause a rift between us. It’s the only explanation that makes sense when you think about it. Why else would they make sure to include my picture when sending me these but leave all the others. But I’m not sure what the benefit of having us fighting is.” I explained.

I feel Keira go deathly still beside me, and then a sudden burst of anger hits me.

“Keira, calm down its okay.” I say trying to soothe her.

“Okay, okay! Someone just tried to fuck things up between me and you, my mate.” Keira replied through clenched teeth.

Her anger was still building, I have to calm her down.

Not knowing what else to do I wrap my arms around her neck and pull her down into a kiss. Her shock lasts only for a moment before she starts kissing me back, her anger beginning to fade. Once I feel she’s back to normal I break the kiss.

Keira rest her forehead against mine, “Sorry, and thank you.” She says.

“So, what now?” I ask.

“Now, you’re staying here while I go back home.” Keira tells me.

“You’re not taking me back with you?” I ask surprised.

“The only way someone could’ve gotten these photos, is if someone from my pack gave it to them. So, until I find out who, I thinks it’s better for you to stay here at school.”

Just then the bell rings.

“Come on let’s get out of here.” I tell her.

Walking out of the classroom and into the hall Keira turns to me and gives me another quick kiss before disappearing into the crowd of students.

The moment she disappears a wave of exhaustion hits me. The whole situation with the pictures had completely drained me. I look around trying to remember where exactly I was in the school, finding my bearings I’m thankfully not too far from my next class. While making my way to class I feel my phone start to vibrate, taking it out and looking at it, the caller id says Peter.

The moment my finger swipes left to answer; a tirade of indecipherable words starts coming from the earpiece.

“Peter! Pete! Stop! Slow down.” I say through his yelling.

But Peter continues to ramble, “Dude I’m freaking out! Some weird shit just went down, and I don’t know what to do! First Gabriella isn’t really Gabriella and now Alice and Cora are out cold on the floor and-”

“WHAT?!” I yell over Peter. “Alice and Cora are unconscious?!”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you!” Pete yells back.

Taking a deep breath, I calm myself down and think back on my training with James.

“Where are you guys?” I ask.

“At my house.”

“How’s there breathing, is it even and steady?”

“Yeah, it looks normal, I guess.”

“Are there any visible injuries?”

“No, they look fine but there not waking up. I tried calling their names and poking them with a stick.”

“You poked them with a stick?”

“Well not a stick, stick a broom stick.”

“That’s not really answering my question.”

“Dude, just get over here!” Peter yelled annoyed.

“Okay, me, Lucas, and Noel should be there in 15 minutes.”

Hanging up I text both Lucas and Noel emergency, all three of us are in Lucas’s car and driving towards Peter’s within minutes. Arriving exactly 15 minutes later I jump out of Lucas’s car and run towards the front door. Before I can even knock Pete opens the door and stands in my way.

“Before you guys come in you gotta promise not to freak out.” Peter asks.

“What?” I ask.

“Just promise.” Peter asks again.

“We don’t have time for this!” I exclaim pushing past Pete.

Rounding the corner to Peter’s living room I see Alice and Cora and I can immediately see why Pete would think we would freak out. Alice and Cora were both in their wolf forms and taking up most of the living room.

Fuck, this is not good. Especially for Peter, but I’ll deal with that later.

“See this why I said not to freak out.” Peter says to us.

“Lucas, Noel check on Alice I’ll check Cora.” I say quickly.

I get right to it and immediately start checking on Cora. All her vitals seem normal and her healing factor seems to be fine.

I look over to Lucas and Noel and they give me a thumbs up for Alice.

“Hey, how did you guys know which one was Alice and which one was Cora?” Peter asks.

Me, Lucas, and Noel just look at each other before looking back at Peter.

“Holy shit, you guys knew they were wolves all along, didn’t you?” Peter asks.

“Peter this isn’t the time for that, what happened to Alice and Cora?” I demand.

“I don’t know man it all happened so fast. You remember that new girl I was telling you about, the one at the party?” Peter asks me.

“Yeah, Gabriella.” I answer, remembering my suspicions about her.

“Well turns out Gabriella isn’t her real name, its Aspen, and she’s some sort of witch.”

Chapter Fifteen

“Caden, Caden!”

I’m pulled out of my thoughts by Keira’s voice.

“Are you okay?” Keira asks, concern filling her voice.

“I’m fine.” I respond.

“Are you sure, because you’ve been staring at that paper for the last 30 minutes and its upside down.”

Refocusing on the paper in my hand, I notice that it is indeed upside down. Letting out a heavy sigh, I lay the paper down on top of all the other papers I still need to go over. I was currently in mine and Keira’s room sitting on our bed going over lists of medical supplies I’ll need as the pack doctor. Most of the medical equipment needed can be bought with relative ease but for some of the more high-end equipment and regulated substances I’ll be asking James to help me out. But as Keira pointed out I’m distracted; my mind keeps going back to what happened earlier today at Pete’s house.

“Pete, I need you to tell me exactly what happened.”

“After meeting up at the party me and Gabi- I mean Aspen seemed to really hit it off. I think she really liked me.”

“Pete focus.”

“Right, sorry. After a while she asked if we could go to my place, and since my parents are out of town this week, I of course said yes. We came back here and proceeded to have what I can honestly say was the greatest night of my life. Seriously dude it was amazing.”

“Pete!”

“Yeah, right, focus. The next morning is when things started to get weird, she grabbed my suitcase from the closet and told me to start packing. When I tried asking her why she just cut me off and started rambling. Saying weird things like, how we had to leave before the fighting started and that she had to talk to the witch’s council about the coming war?”

“War? What war?”

“I don’t know, at that point she was starting to weird me out, so I told her I wasn’t going anywhere. She didn’t seem to like that cause next thing I know she’s grabbing some sort of powder out of her purse and blowing it in my face. My whole body froze up and I couldn’t move, then she walked over picked me up like I was nothing and started carrying me out like a surfboard. That’s when I started yelling for help and Alice and Cora busted in and the three of them started fighting. Alice managed to get me away from Aspen while Cora started fighting her one on one. It felt like I was watching a movie, they were both so fast and the way they went at each other was incredible. Aspen managed to get a few good hits in, but Cora was an absolute beast countering all her punches and kicks with her own. Cora really did a number on her cause by the end Aspen was limping. Hurt an outmatched, Aspen let out an ear-piercing scream that seemed to rattle the entire house. That’s when both Cora and Alice exploded into giant wolves.”

“Pete! As riveting as all that is, none of it is explaining how Cora and Alice where rendered unconscious.”

“I’m getting to that hold on. Anyway, seeing Cora and Alice turn into wolves seemed to surprise and scare Aspen because she started backing up towards the front door. Judging by their snarls, Alice and Cora didn’t seem too keen on the idea of just letting Aspen walk out of here and seemed to be getting ready to jump her. But before they could, Aspen pulled something out of her hair and blew it in our direction. That’s when Alice and Cora started to wobble then fall over, the last thing I saw before I knocked out was Aspen staring at me before bolting out the front door. The next thing I know I’m waking up and Alice and Cora still haven’t gotten up.”

“Jesus Pete! That’s all you had to say, she blew something at you guys, and you fell asleep!”

“That’s what I just said!”

“If it was another powder, like the one she used to paralyze you, that would explain why the girls aren’t up yet. Since their sense of smell is so much stronger than yours, they probably got hit with a larger dose.”

“So, they’re going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I think they’ll be alright. That’s one problem down, on to the other.”

“What’s the other problem?”

“You are Peter, I have to figure out how I’m going to deal with you.”

The feeling of warm lips touching my own brings me back to the present, Keira’s kiss instantly clearing my mind.

Keira pulls back from the kiss, “Do I finally have your attention?”

Looking at her face I could see amusement playing on her lips but also worry furrowing her brow.

“I’m sorry.” I say solemnly.

“Don’t be, I can pretty much guess what you’re thinking about.” Keira says with chagrin. “According to your father no one has heard from the witch community in the last eighty years. So, for one to turn up here out of the blue right when things are getting crazy can’t be a coincidence.” Keira tone became more speculative as she spoke.

“Yeah.” I agreed.

“Also, what was that witch thinking, getting into a fight with werewolves in a human’s house with the human still there? It’s a good thing your friend Peter was out for all of it, it would have sucked if you would have had to turn him over to the council.” Keira’s tone became suspicious when she spoke of Peter.

“Yeah…real lucky, whatever Aspen used to put the girls to sleep, she must have used it on Peter first.” I lied.

The lie came out smoother than I thought it would, but Keira seems to sense that I’m hiding something. But for whatever reason she doesn’t pushed me on it.

After explaining the dangers of knowing about werewolves to Peter, I had him swear to not talk about what happened at his house with anyone besides me. After a while the girls started to come to and I had them, Lucas, and Noel go along with the story that the girls confronted Aspen when they saw her trying to kidnap an unconscious Peter. While all four of them were uncomfortable keeping Peter’s knowledge a secret, they all agreed to go along with the story. Both Lucas and Noel knew how much I valued my human friends, and both Alice and Cora had come to see Peter as a friend as well. So, no one wanted to see him hurt or worse killed by the council, especially since finding out wasn’t even his fault.

“I wonder what she could have wanted from him?” Keira muses out loud.

Keira gets up off the bed and walks over to the dresser, looking in the mirror she continues putting on a light touch of make-up. That’s when I notice she’s wearing a rather stunning thigh high black dinner dress.

‘You look incredible, what’s the occasion?” I ask.

Keira chuckles, “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for the last half hour. We’re having dinner at your parents’ house.”

“We are? I don’t remember setting that up.” I say as I think back.

“You didn’t, I did.” Keira explains.

“You did?” I say surprised.

“Don’t sound too surprised.” Keira said with a small hint of annoyance in her voice.

“It’s kind of hard not be, you weren’t exactly jumping for joy when I mentioned wanting you to meet my family yesterday, and now your scheduling a dinner date?”

“I said I would meet them.” Keira said defensively.

“Yeah, but only after a little push from me. What’s changed?”

She hesitated; it was only for a second, but she hesitated.

“Nothing’s changed, I just felt like getting it over with.” Keira responded coolly.

She’s hiding something, and she knew I knew.

“Just out of curiosity how long have you known your human friend Peter?”

Her sudden question about Peter and her use of the word human, was her way of warning me. If I didn’t let this drop, then she wouldn’t let my thing with Peter drop.

“Okay.” I say raising my hands up in defeat. “Give me a few minutes to get ready.”

Having finished applying her make up Keira walks over and gives me a peck on the cheek, “I’ll be in my office when you’re ready.” She says with a self-satisfied smile on her face.

I quickly get up and head to the bathroom, after a quick shower I put on one of my old dinner suits since the one I had boughten for my date with Daniella got ruined that same night. I was trying to straighten out my tie when there’s a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

The door opens and I see Matty peek in.

“Hey.” I say with smile.

I haven’t really interacted with Keira’s pack all that much, but by far Matty has been the most open and friendly, so I was genuinely glad to see her.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“Keira asked me to check and see if you’re ready.”

“Yeah I’m ready, just trying to straighten out this damn tie.” I grunt in frustration.

“Well come on, you don’t want to keep the alpha waiting.”

I walk out and see that Matty is naked and just as if I were home, I take it in stride and don’t let it faze me. Seeing me still struggling with the tie, Matty turns and helps me with it.

“You’re going on patrol tonight?”

“No, I just need some wolf time so I’m going for a run. Lisa and her group are going on patrol tonight. There that looks good.”

“Thanks. Lisa has her own group? That’s impressive for an omega.” I state as we begin walking towards Keira’s office.

“How so?” Matty asks, narrowing her eyes at me.

Oh oh, I rush to apologize, “Sorry that came out wrong, I just meant that omegas aren’t usually combat focused so-”

Matty laughs, “Calm down, I’m just fucking with you. Actually, me and Lisa usually co-lead the group, but she wanted to go it alone tonight.”

“Why?”

Matty sighs, “She’s trying to impress Keira, like that’s going to change her mind.”

“Change her mind about what?”

Matty doesn’t answer, we are a few feet from Keira’s office when Matty grabs my arm, “Wait.”

A few seconds later the door to Keira’s office slams open and a naked Lisa stomps out upset; with clear signs she’s been crying on her face. She turns and walks toward me and Matty.

“This is all your fault.” Lisa tells me with angry tears running down her face.

Lisa glares over at Matty, judging by the look on her face she must have said something to Lisa through a mental link. After a few seconds Lisa glares back at me and purposely pushes past me walking off.

“Ok, Lisa has been giving me the stink eye since the moment I walked in, but what the hell was that?” I ask, confused as hell.

Matty lets out a heavy sigh then looks over to me, “Up until recently, Lisa used to be the alpha’s…favorite.”

I felt a pit in my stomach, “Her favorite what?”

Matty looks at me with a pained expression on her face, “Bed partner.”

I let what she said wash over me for a moment.

“It was only for a month and Keira put an end to it two months ago. The exact reason BEING because Lisa was getting too attached. So, will you please calm down and relax your hands before you start to bleed, and I get in trouble for causing it.” Matty hurriedly explained.

Confused by her comment about my hands I look down and sure enough both my hands were clenched into tight fists. I quickly relax my hands and take a long deep breath to calm myself down. I know the anger and jealousy I’m feeling is completely irrational and was just being amplified by my mating bond. Besides did I really expect someone as incredible as Keira to stay a virgin all this time, and it’s not like I have any moral high ground to stand on either.

I think about my night with Claire and immediately feel guilty, shaking my head I push down the negative thoughts and emotions and I give my cheeks a few quick smacks.

“It’s in hers and mines past, we’re together now and that’s what matters.” I say to both myself and Matty.

Feeling like myself again we enter Keira’s office and let her know I’m ready.

Keira drove us to my parent’s house in the white sports car I had seen her drive off in at school. The entire drive there I could feel Keira’s irritation growing, it only got worse as we parked and started walking toward the front door.

“Keira, wait.” I gently tug her hand to stop her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m fine.”

I give her a skeptical look.

Keira lets out a huff, “Look, I’m just not good with the whole parents and family’s thing.”

“What do you mean, why?” I ask.

Keira looks away, “Let’s just say I have some unresolved family issues.”

It was small but I could feel her anger, fear, and pain as she spoke those words.

“I really don’t want to talk about it, at least not now.” Keira takes my other hand and holds it, as if trying to balance herself both emotionally and physically.

“Clearly, look Keira if you don’t want to do this, I won’t force you to. I’ll just tell my family there was a pack emergency and you couldn’t make it.” I offered.

It saddened me to see her this way.

Keira takes a deep calming breath, “No, I know how much you value your family and I’m not going to let my family issues keep you from yours.”

I can’t help but admire her thoughtfulness and strength. I raise her left hand up to cup my face knowing it’s what she both wanted and needed. For a moment she just stands there gently caressing my cheek with her thumb. Then slowly, she leans forward and gives me a deep, soft, and passionate kiss.

“Thank you.” Keira says with a smile, sounding much calmer now.

We continue walking towards the front door and before we can even knock, my mother opens the door and greets Keira with an excited hug, telling her how grateful she is to Keira for being my mate. Stunned and clearly at a lost on what to do, Keira just stands there awkwardly trying to hug my mother back.

Getting inside we were greeted and congratulated by everyone in my family; first my parents, then Lucas and Daniella, flowed by Charles, Selene, and Claire. I don’t see Noel, but I’m guessing he got stuck babysitting the twins tonight. I was surprised to see Daniella’s father Ray, or rather Alpha Blackwood, was also here and offered his congratulations as well. My parents had turned this meet the parent’s dinner into a full-blown mating celebration for both me and Lucas.

Keira was a little stiff at first but after chatting with my family for while she seemed to relax a bit, by the time dinner was served she evened seemed to be enjoying herself.

“This roast is delicious! May I please ask your omega for the recipe?” Rays asks my father.

“Of course, I’ll ask Linda to write it down for you.” My father obliged.

“Thank you, has the council made any progress in coordinating a defensive for the next White Moon attack?” Ray inquires.

Keira seemed to perk up at the question, “That’s something I’ve been wondering too, I haven’t heard anything from the council or even the smaller packs in the area either.” Keira added.

My father pinches the bridge of his nose, frustration clearly etched on his face, “No, instead of working together those fools continue to bicker about past transgressions. I’ve even heard rumblings that some of them don’t even want to fight, instead they wish to run to the boundary.”

“Cowardly dogs, the lot of them.” Ray growls.

“If they’re already thinking of running, who’s to say they won’t run to the White Moon pack themselves.” Daniella says to her father.

“Gotta say, your council isn’t as tightknit as I thought it was.” Keira stated.

My father sighs, “Yes, and this division is causing all the other packs to be divisive as well. I sometimes wonder if the alpha of the White Moon pack has the right idea of bringing all packs together under one rule.”

Everyone stops and look toward my father, stunned by his comment.

“Dad!” Lucas says in an admonishing tone.

“Don’t get me wrong, I completely disagree with their method of accomplishing it.” My father quickly clarifies.

“But is there really any other way? I mean c’mon let’s be honest, no alpha is going to give up their authority without a fight.” Keira states.

Ray and my father both stay silent, knowing that what Keira said was true.

“Okay that’s enough! No more pack talk, this is supposed to be a celebration for our children and their mates.” My mother declares.

“Yes of course, forgive me.”

“Me as well.”

Both my father and Ray apologize.

“Now then, Daniella, Keira would the two of you like to see embarrassing baby pictures of Lucas and Caden?” My mother asks.

“Mom!!!” Both me and Lucas yell at the same time.

“You two shush, this is a tradition as old as time and I won’t have you two ruining it for me.”

We groan but keep silent causing both Keira and Daniella laugh.

“We’d love to.” Keira states.

With that my mother leads Keira and Daniella away.

Once they finished eating dinner Charles and Selene excused themselves, saying they weren’t going to miss this chance for some alone time. The rest of us headed into the the main living room and chatted. I hadn’t even been gone a day, but I’ve missed so much already; like James being sent out to a pack we’re friendly with to help oversee a birth. Alice and Cora have now officially joined my dad’s pack and are out on patrol right now, and they’re staying in my old room.

I felt a small twinge of sadness at the fact that I’ll no longer be as close to me family as I was before.

Claire comes over and sits next to me. “What’s wrong?” She asks.

“Nothing, just realizing things are changing.” I answer with a sigh.

“Yeah, sucks don’t it?” Claire responds drily.

I chuckle at her response, “I have to say you clean up nice.”

Unlike usual Claire’s hair was done up nicely and she was wearing a rather lovely formal white sundress.

“Thanks, you mom got her hands on me. Said this was a special night and didn’t trust me to dress properly for the occasion.”

“Was she wrong?” I ask with a smile.

“Hmm, probably not.” Claire answers with a smile.

We both laugh.

“So, how is it?” Claire asks.

“How’s what?” I ask back, taking a sip of my champagne.

“The sex.”

Startled by her question, I choke a little on the champagne before forcing it down. I shouldn’t be surprised; Claire is going to be Claire. I look over and see her looking at me with an innocent expression on her face.

I pat my chest to help the champagne down. “Geez, jumping right to it huh.”

Claire laughs, “Hey I’m just wondering if you’ve learned anything new since our night together.”

The sound of glass shattering has everyone looking toward the entryway. Standing there was Keira with my mother and Daniella behind her. Her eyes were glued to me and Claire.

“Your ‘what’ together!” Keira demands.

I can feel Keira’s jealousy and anger as she stomps toward us. I immediately get up and put myself between her and Claire.

“Keira, stop!” I spread my arms out to block her path. “It happened once long before we met, so calm down!”

Behind Keira I see my father and Lucas slowly positioning themselves to grab and subdue Keira in case she attacks, everyone else freezes not wanting to antagonize the situation.

“Get out of my way Caden!” Keira spoke to me, but her eyes were fixated on Claire.

“No, you’ll hurt her if I do!”

“I have to, she touched what’s mine.” Keira growled.

“I wasn’t yours four month ago, so calm down!”

“You were always mine!”

Now I was getting angry, “Then what about you and Lisa!”

Stunned Keira finally looks at me. For a moment I sense guilt mixed in with her anger. “Who told you?”

“Why does that matter?”

Keira’s anger rises again at my disobedience, and her anger seems to fuel my own.

“That’s different, that was just some fun between girls.” Keira angrily states.

“I think Lisa would beg to differ, and sex is still sex Keira!” I snap back.

Keira stays silent, she knew I had her.

“Now back off, I’m not letting you hurt Claire, she’s family.”

“Family, FAMILY! You have no family, you’re adopted Caden. Everyone here might as well be strangers!” Keira yells.

I flinch back as if I’ve been struck, her words painfully piercing my chest. A pain I hadn’t felt in a long-time begins to flow through me.

Sensing my pain seems to knock Keira back to her senses, a horrified expression now covering her face.

“Caden, I’m so sorry, I-I didn’t mean it.” Keira quickly tries to apologize.

“Please leave.” I say softly.

“Caden.” Keira pleads, reaching out to me.

But I turn away.

“Please just go.” I say again softly. Afraid that if I speak any louder, I might break.

I hear her slowly turn and leave, no one says a word. When I hear the front to door close shut I turn back.

“Sorry everyone, mom I’ll be in my room for a bit.”

“O-of course, just call down if you need anything.”

I quickly make my way up to my room, desperately trying to not lose myself to the pain.

Chapter Sixteen

The sky was perfect tonight, dark and clear, allowing the stars to beautifully shine all across the night sky. I reach up and pretend to grab a handful of stars out of the sea of glittering lights, this view reminded me of why I liked coming up here so much. I open my hand back up as if to let the stars go, laying my back down on the cold roof tiles I find them oddly comforting. I had always found this roof a quiet and peaceful place to gather my thoughts, my parents on the other hand hated that I came up here always worried that I would fall.

After my fight with Keira I tried going to my room to calm down and gather my thoughts, but the room wasn’t mine anymore, Alice and Cora had clearly made themselves at home. Their clothes were strewn about the room, a bra was hanging from the ceiling fan, and a pair of panties were sitting on top of the desk were some of my books still sat. Sprays, lotions, and perfumes were on top of almost every flat surface and I couldn’t even see the top of the dresser.

Looking around at the carnage in my old room I couldn’t help but laugh. It had reminded me of the times I would go over to their apartment to help clean only to go over the next day and find the same mess all over again. Thankfully, laughing had helped calm me down and that’s when I remembered the roof. Up here the quite of the night and the view of the stars immediately helped put my mind at ease.

As I lay here looking up at the stars, I no longer felt angry. So, I guess it’s time for us to talk.

“You can come out now, I know you’re there, I can feel you.” I say aloud.

Even though Keira left the house she never left the area. The moment I calmed down I could feel her presence nearby watching and waiting for me.

After a few moments I hear soft steps approach me from the side. I look over to see Keira hesitantly making her way over to me with fear in her eyes. I could sense her fear wasn’t of me, but rather she was scared of hurting me again.

Sitting up I pat the spot next to me, “Come here.”

Keira sits down and immediately begins to apologize. “Caden, I’m so sorry. I-I don’t know why I said those things. And I swear as soon as we get home, Lisa is gone I’ll-”

I put a finger to her lips to stop her from talking. “It’s okay and you don’t have to get rid of Lisa”

Keira tries to speak again but I beat her to it. “Lisa already hates me, and I don’t want to add any more fuel to that fire. Besides I’m not angry anymore and if your pack hears you got rid of Lisa because of me, they’ll assume it’s because I asked you to and lose all respect for me.”

To tell the truth I don’t think I was ever really mad at Keira, I mean how could I be? How could she possibly know how and why my family came to mean so much to me.

I take the locket with the picture of me with my birth parents from around my neck and hand it to her. “Here, open it.”

Keira opens the locket and sees the picture inside.

“That’s me with my birth parents, they died when I was still just a baby. They never hid the fact that I was adopted, in fact they made sure to explain it to me the moment they felt I would understand.”

“Why?”

“Because they wanted me to know from the beginning that I was loved by my birth parents and that even though I wasn’t their biological son, and a human to boot, that they loved me too.”

Keira hands me back the locket. “They looked like good people.” Keira offers with a sad smile.

“Thank you.”

“Is that why you’re so loyal to them, your adopted family, because they took you in even though they knew you were human?” Keira asks.

“I’m loyal because my family loves me and I know that without question they would do anything for me, even fight for me.”

Keira looks at me, curiosity oozing out of her.

I chuckle, “I’m assuming you wanna hear this story?”

Keira just nods, her eyes as wide as a little kid’s.

I let out a sigh and begin, “It was about ten years ago, I was eight at the time and by this point I already knew that I was adopted and understood that I was different from the rest of my family. My parents had been invited to some big formal black-tie event outside of Crestwood, I don’t remember what the party was for, but I remember it being a big deal. By this point all the packs knew about my brother Lucas, but only a few knew about me. So, my parents decided that this party was going to be where they showed me not just to the rest of Crestwood, but to packs outside of Crestwood as well.

I remember being soo nervous when my parents told me; I was so scared of doing or saying the wrong thing and embarrassing them. I still remember standing in front of the mirror practicing what I was going to say when I met these new wolves.” I say with a self-deprecating smile.

Keira smiles too, I could tell she was picturing me as a little kid practicing in front of the mirror.

“The night of the party it was just me and parents, they had left everyone else behind as an act of trust toward the hosts of the party. I remember walking into a huge dining hall filled with rows of tables brimming with all kinds of foods, beautiful chandeliers hanging high above lighting up the entire room, and I remember the deafening silence that filled that room when they all saw me walk in with my parents. The silence lasted a second longer than comfortable, but despite a few disapproving glances, everyone still showed my parents the respect of an alpha and his mate. Some were friendly enough and even said hi to me, others thought I was some sort of pet being kept by the pack, and some just pretended I didn’t even exist.”

Keira tenses up beside me, her anger rising on my behalf.

“The night seemed to be going well enough, until Clermon showed up; he was the alpha of the New Shire pack and an avid human hater. I had heard my father talk about him before, at one point they had been friends with my father helping him not only financially but with pack matters as well. But their friendship had reached a breaking point when my father found out that Clermon had been secretly making slanderous comments about him behind his back to the other alphas in an effort to gain their help in taking over my father’s pack.

Of course, at the time I didn’t know about any of that, I just remembered hearing my father say his name a few times and thought they were friends. So, when I heard his name and saw him being greeted by some other wolves, I thought I would make a good first impression by introducing myself. I slowly made my way up to him, the whole time practicing what I was going to say to him in my head. When I finally reached him, and I gently tugged his tux to get his attention, said excuse me, and I stuck out my hand to begin introducing myself but the moment he saw me he backhanded me away.”

Anger and killing intent begin to flow out from Keira, but she surprisingly keeps control of herself and continues to listen.

“I fell to the floor stunned, I rubbed my eyes trying not to cry, but I’ll never forget the look of disgust and contempt on his face as he looked down at me. But his words are what really hurt, I clearly remember him looking down at me yelling, ‘Filthy human, what were you thinking touching me!’ Some of the other wolves quickly told him who I was, but he just sneered and said, ‘I know who he is, honestly what was Mattias thinking taking this human in, its nothing but a useless burden.’ He went on to claim that my father wasn’t capable of being an alpha and wasted no time in promoting himself as the right wolf to oversee him and his pack. Proclaiming he would be doing him favor as they were old friends."

My chest tightens at the memory.

“The next thing I know my father is stepping in and decking Clermon right in the face, breaking his nose and covering him in his own blood. Needless to say, Clermon was pissed, he called my father crazy and blamed me for his actions. Claiming I was somehow manipulating him and that I was a curse on their lives.

My father just glared at him angrily telling him, ‘I just wanted my shot before she got hers’

That’s when Clermon turned around and saw my mother towering over him, she had transformed into her wolf form and was radiating pure rage. Clermon fell to the floor terrified, there was no aura just pure killing intent, there wasn’t going to be a fight she was going to kill him pure and simple. Her murderous intentions filled the room, everyone was afraid she’d lost herself and gone rogue. They were afraid to even move, worried that if they did, she would kill them instead. Now my mother is the sweetest most gentle person I know, but at that moment she looked more like a demon than a wolf, it was the first and only time I have ever been afraid of my family.

I’m not even sure how I did it, but somehow, I managed to pick myself up, walk over to her, and tell her that I was okay that it was okay and that she didn’t need to be angry anymore. She looked at me for a moment and then decided she didn’t want me to see her like that, so she stopped herself from killing Clermon. Afterward I turned to Clermon and apologized for my behavior, before I could say anything else my father picked me up, put me on my mother back, and told everyone that we were leaving.”

Keira continues to silently listen, her anger from earlier is still there but now there’s something else there bubbling up with it.

“After getting back home, while my parents tucked me in for the night, I asked if I really was a burden for them. My mother looked at me and yelled me to never say that again, that I was a GIFT straight from the moon goddess herself. Hearing her say that both comforted me and broke me, I ended up crying myself to sleep while my mother held me. Afterword my father gathered up his pack and immediately set out to attack Clermon and his pack.

Clermon was completely unprepared, he just assumed that my father wouldn’t have the gall to attack him after the events at the party. Honestly, I doubt it would have even mattered if they had prepared. My father may have a calm and peaceful nature but he’s a cunning strategist and fierce warrior. By the time Clermon realized what was happening my father had already taken out half is pack. With his pack in ruins Clermon tried to run, but my mother quickly caught up to him and this time I wasn’t there to stop her.

In a single night my family annihilated the New Shire pack and they did it for me, to show everyone what they would do for me. And for good measure my father also financially destroyed any pack associated with Clermon, to serve as a warning. I guess that’s where and when the rumors Daniella mentioned about me began.” I said the last part more for myself that for Keira.

I look over to Keira and see her looking out in front of her, deep in thought, I could feel a certain sadness coming from her.

“I can see why you value your family so much.” She says as she continues to look forward.

A few moments go by without either of us saying anything. I could feel Keira struggling with something, something she wanted to tell me. And as much as I wanted to know what that was, I decided not to push it, “It’s getting late we should head back insi-”

“How much do you know about the moon goddess religion?” Keira asks.

The sudden question catches me off guard, “Honestly, not much.”

“Well, my parents were fervent believers in the moon goddess religion. They were obsessed really; in fact, you could even say they were zealots. They were especially obsessed with certain rituals mentioned in some old texts, rituals that pertained to a certain prophecy.” Keira rolled her eyes in disgust at the last part.

Now it was my turn to stare with wide eyed curiosity.

“The prophecy said that the wolf born of these rituals would be the True Alpha the King Alpha, and that together with two other kings they would defend and rule their people.”

“You’re saying that you…”

“Yep, two lunatics trying to fulfill some sort of prophecy, that’s how I was born and that’s when I was immediately labeled a failure and a mistake by my parents.”

“What? Why?”

Keira scoffs, “Because I was born a girl, therefore ruining their plans of giving birth to the King Alpha. Honestly to this day I’m amazed they didn’t just kill me outright. I can’t think of a single moment where my parents didn’t hate me. Every day they had something new to blame me for, I was beaten or punished constantly. I learned early on that family didn’t mean jack shit, that your own blood can hate your very existence and make that existence a living hell. The rest of the pack were either too scared to say something or they just didn’t care, some even took part in the abuse, called it training. Some of the males would sometimes hunt me as a group and take turns running me down.”

“Oh Keira, please tell me they didn’t!” I start to panic.

Keira feels my panic and I could see the realization of what I was thinking dawning on her, “No, no, no Caden I swear they never did.”

She looks me in the eyes, and I could see it was the truth. I let out a sigh of relief, but now I’m hit with feelings of sadness and anger on Keira’s behalf.

“My father’s beta Mason would always step in before things went too far, Mason was the closest thing to a friend I had in the pack. Like most wolves Mason was born into the pack, his father was my grandfather’s beta. He didn’t always agree with what my father did, especially when it came to me, but he also never stopped him either. He would at least make it up to me by PROPERLY training me how to fight and thankfully I was a fast learner. Every day I got stronger and faster, and after a while no one dared to fight me one on one anymore, not even my parents.” A satisfied smile spread across Keira’s mouth as she said the last part.

“Why didn’t you just leave?”

“Because that would have meant they won, that they had broken me and I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction, besides I didn’t want to leave the only friend I had behind. Then one day I started to notice Mason acting weird, it started with him being distracted all the time like something else was on his mind. Soon after he started disappearing for hours at a time during the day and at night, he would go out alone and wouldn’t come back till morning, this went on for about a year and a half. Then, for seemingly no reason at all, Mason tells my father that he’s leaving the pack. Everyone was stunned especially my father, up to that point Mason hadn’t just been his beta but his friend as well.

I knew something was up, so that night I decide to follow him. I ended up following him to a house just outside a small nearby town, and that’s when I first saw her, his mate Jess. Seeing as how he was the one who taught me, Mason knew I had followed him and called me over to meet her. She was a wonderful lady whose warm smile made me want to smile, but what really surprised me at the time was the fact that she was human.”

Hearing Mason’s mate was human had a dozen different questions running through my head, but I control myself and just continue to listen to Keira’s story.

“Up to that point all I knew about humans was my father’s hatred toward them, he considered them inferior beings that we shouldn’t taint ourselves with. But seeing as how my father was a child abusing asshole I didn’t much buy into that bullshit. So, when I met Jess, I immediately took a liking to her. She was warm, funny, and knew how to put Mason in his place when he got overbearing. I also realized why Mason chose to leave my father’s pack, he couldn’t very well bring Jess in knowing full well of my father hatred toward humans. So, he chose his mate, a human woman he’s known less than two years, over the pack and family he’s known his whole life. But Mason didn’t care, he was happy, he loved her that much already.”

Keira smiled at the memory and I couldn’t help but smile with her.

She glances toward me, “I can see you have questions but I’m sorry to say I don’t have a lot of answers. Like us, Mason and Jess didn’t have a clue on how the mating bond between a wolf and human worked. Wanting to help them I started sneaking into my father’s study and began reading the old texts he had lying around, hoping at least one of them had some information. It took me a week get through it all and most of it was just more nonsense, but after checking some texts my father had labeled as ‘heresy’, which probably should’ve been the first place I should have checked, I did find out one thing. And that’s the fact that a human mate will stop or regress in age to match that of their wolf mate.”

So that’s how she already knew when I tried telling her yesterday.

“Unfortunately, that’s all it said. But it was enough, her aging was the biggest concern Mason and Jess had, they were fine with finding out the rest on their own. They were so happy when I told them they practically glowed. They were going to have a happy long life together, or at least they would have.”

The pain in her voice felt like a stab to my heart.

“Apparently my mother had seen me going into my father’s study.” The venom in Keira’s voice when she said mother sent a chill up my spine. “She immediately told my father, but instead of confronting me about it they watched and waited, curious about what I was up too. That night as I headed back from telling Mason and Jess what I’d learned, my parents and the pack ambushed me. They followed my trail back to Mason and Jess and grabbed them too, dragging them both back to my father. They brought us to the back of the pack house and surrounded us so we couldn’t escape.

My father was furious, he had pack members holding us down as he questioned us. He asked Mason if Jess was the reason he left the pack and why he would defile himself by being with a human woman. Mason screamed at my father to not talk about his mate like that and to let them go. My father was stunned when Mason called Jess his mate, after a moment my father looked at me and said that it was my fault, that I had corrupted Mason somehow. He began slapping me, yelling at me to undo whatever it was I did to Mason. Both Mason and Jess yelled at him to stop, that I had nothing to do with it that they were true mates. But my father didn’t listen he told Mason that he was being deceived and that he needed to let go of the fake bond. But Mason refused calling my father insane, yelling that their bond was real. But still my father refused to listen, he gave Mason a pitiful look and told him not to worry that he would be free soon. Then my father took out his silver knife and began walking over to Jess, both Mason and I struggled to free ourselves, but more wolves just came to help hold us down. Mason began pleading to the other wolves, his family, to stop my father but no one moved, no one did anything but watch as my father stabbed Jess.”

I clutch my chest as begin to feel Keira’s sadness and anger grow.

“I was stunned, I couldn’t believe that my father, this pack, could do something so horrible to someone they called family. As Jess slumped to the floor Mason let out a roar of pure rage transforming and knocking everyone back. He dashed over to Jess changing back into his human form and held her in his arms. As he’s holding her, I can hear her tell him that she loves him with her last breath. And that’s when he snapped, Mason’s mind just shattered, and he turned rogue. He transformed again and immediately went after my father, but the other pack members got in his way. He tore through and killed a few of them before they were able to pin him down. My father and his pack had the audacity to look confused, they couldn’t understand why Mason had gone rogue. These wolves had been his family, and they had utterly destroyed him, it was at that moment that the word family lost all meaning to me.

And that’s when I swore to myself that….”

Keira seems to catch herself, and the emotions I was feeling before suddenly cut off.

“Keira? What happened?” I ask

“Nothing, that’s when the White Moon pack first attacked.” Keira said in a flat tone. Before I can tell her that that wasn’t what I was referring to, she continues, “Caden my point is, when you say family, I just don’t get it that word means nothing to me.”

“Keira it’s okay, after hearing all that I completely understand, how couldn’t I. The people you were supposed to trust the most in this world betrayed you, hurt you. I’m so sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry. Not every family was like my family, there are those that are like yours. Loving, funny, and quirky.” Keira smile.

I chuckle. I lean my head on Keira’s shoulder and feel her lean her head against mine.

“Still not a fan of Alice though.” Keira says in a playful tone.

This time I can’t help but laugh. I look up at Keira and she looks down at me, we both just stare at each other for a moment and then Keira leans in and kisses me softly on the lips. I guess this was us making up.

After a while Keira breaks the kiss, I use my hand to tuck a loose strand of hair back behind her ear and she leans into my touch.

Keira get ups and offers me her hand, “Come on, lets head back inside my butt is getting numb.”

I laugh again and take her hand. As she pulls me up a howl breaks out.

I immediately recognize it, “Oh no, it’s an attack! They’ll be here any second!”

Keira positions herself in front of me, “No, there already here.” Keira growls.

As if on que three wolves land on the roof, they snarl and growl as they slowly begin to approach us, pushing us to the edge of the roof. Keira takes a step back but one of the tiles give way and she’s put off balance, two of the wolves see this and immediately jump to attack. I manage to pull Keira out of the way seconds before both wolves’ land where she would have been. The tiles give way to their combined weight and both wolves tumble over the edge. There’s still one left but he’s no match for Keira alone. Keira gets ready to make her move but stops, looking down there’s a hand grabbing her ankle. One of the wolves that fell earlier had managed to catch himself on the edge of the roof by turning into his human form. Letting go of the ledge he lets gravity and his body weight do the rest as he pulls Keira over the edge with him.

“Keira!!!” I yell as I try to grab her hand but miss.

I turn around as I hear a low growl behind me. The one remaining wolf had me locked in his sights and I was completely defenseless.

Chapter Seventeen

Alone and defenseless I was surprisingly calm as I stared down the giant wolf in front of me. I guess all the years of training weren’t a complete waste, but without my daggers there wasn’t much I could do, I’m pretty much done for. The wolf takes a step forward preparing to attack, but the roof tile he stepped on gives way causing him to lose balance. The force from when his two friends jumped earlier must have loosened all the tile around them. As the wolf struggles to keep his balance I realize this maybe my only chance. I quickly make my way over to the wolf and proceed to stomp my feet against the roof tiles. The vibrations from my stomps combined with the wolf’s weight cause even more tiles to come loose, causing the wolf to fall and tumble towards the edge. But just like his friend from earlier this wolf is also smart enough to turn human and catch himself before he falls.

“Shit.” I blurt out.

I hear a knock on the roof next to me, looking down I realize it’s coming from underneath the roof. I immediately understand and look toward the wolf still in human form as he finally manages to get back up, I motion to him to come and get me. The cocky gesture seems to piss him off, I could easily tell what he was thinking, ‘how dare a HUMAN mock me’.

As he charges toward me, I jump back and yell, “Now!”

As soon as do the roof underneath the man explodes, my father’s wolf form reaches out with its massive jaw filled with fangs and bites down on the man's leg. The man screams out in pain as he’s dragged down into the house. His screams quickly turn in to a gurgle and then I hear a sickening snap. I look down the hole and see my father standing over the mangled human body of the wolf, his head was now resting by his own feet.

“Are you guys okay, where’s mom?” I ask.

Just then my mother’s wolfen head comes into view, showing me she’s okay.

“Alright, I’m coming down.”

I carefully jump down into the hole and land in one if the still empty rooms on the third floor. My mother looks me over and makes a whining sound.

“Yeah, I’m okay but you have to help Keira.”

Before I can explain two more enemy wolves crash through the wall, my parents immediately engage them, both parties locked in a deadly ballet. I do the only thing I can do and get the hell out of there, knowing full well I’d only be a hindrance if I stay. I quickly run to my old room and open the closet door looking for my spare daggers to not feel completely defenseless. After digging through a mountain of the girls’ clothes I finally find my spare daggers. I hear the sounds of walls breaking, glass shattering, and wolves howling out in pain right outside the door.

I don’t understand, why are they fighting inside the house? Wolves rely heavily on their mobility during a fight, there’s no benefit in fighting in an enclosed space, mom and dad are too smart to limit themselves this way. If there fighting inside the house it’s because those wolves are making them fight inside the house, but why? It’s just as much of a disadvantage to them as it is us, are they after something inside the house, oh fuck, are they after me!?

As the realization dawns on me, the wall next to me explodes as another wolf crashes through with its sights set on me. It lunges at me, but I wasn’t so defenseless anymore I had my daggers, I quickly dodge out of the way and swipe at its face with one of my daggers as I do. The wolf sees the dagger and jumps back in surprise, but I still manage to cut it. The wound isn’t deep enough to kill, but with the silver negating its healing, a nice steady stream of blood continues to run down its face. The wolf snarls at me in anger but as scared as I was, I still manage to stay calm and take up a fighting stance. This wolf was slightly bigger that the other wolves, it had to be either the alpha or the beta, either way its massive frame took up most of what was left of the room. This was both good and bad; good because it limited its mobility, but bad because there isn’t any room for me to escape. Even worse the wolf was cautious now; I no longer had the element of surprise; dammit I don’t know what to do.

A howl breaks out just outside getting both mine and the wolf’s attention, we both look to see another wolf jump through the same whole in the wall and tackle the wolf in front me into the opposing wall.

“Daniella!” I cry out, both relieved and surprised to see her.

But as glad as I was to see her, we were both still in trouble. The room could barely contain both wolves, I had to back into the closet just so that I wouldn’t be unintentionally smush by Daniella. With no room to maneuver and the other wolf clearly bigger and stronger than her, Daniella was outmatched. Still that didn’t seem to bother Daniella in the least, as she went at the wolf, swiping and biting at it wildly. She manages to push the wolf slightly back before it begins to overpower her, using its massive body to push her back. But it was so preoccupied with Daniella that it forgot about me. I ready one of my daggers, holding the blade between my thumb and forefinger, and throw the blade at the wolf with all my might. It stabs into the wolf’s side causing it to howl out in pain, not wasting a second Daniella knocks the wolf through the hole in the wall, causing it to fall outside to the ground below. Because of the sudden disorientation and pain the wolf lands hard on its back. Daniella immediately jumps after the wolf, tearing into its now unprotected neck. After a moment to make sure the wolf was dead, Daniella looks up at me and I give her a thumbs up, she lets out a howl of victory. Lucas comes shooting out of the woods, his fur and teeth covered in blood, he immediately goes to check on Daniella to make sure she’s okay. But she just brushes him off and barks at him to ‘come on’ and runs back into the woods, Lucas whines like a scolded puppy before running after his mate. My guess: that was her way of telling him that she could take care of herself. It was a bit funny to watch it play out between two giant wolves, but there wasn’t any time for that the attack was still going on.

“Caden.” My father calls out behind me.

I turn to see my father in human form followed by my mother still in wolf form.

“They were after me.” I tell them.

My parents look at each other, unsurprised that I had figured it out.

“Not just you, you and Keira. The rest of the attacking wolves were just a distraction to get as many wolves away from here as possible. They must have figured that since you were human you would be left behind here at the house.”

“I guess they didn’t plan for Keira and you guys to still be here.”

“No, they didn’t. Regardless, even with the attackers here dead I think it best we regroup with the others in case more arrive.”

My mother growls in the direction of the trees.

“I think it’s too late for that.” I tell my father.

At that same moment ten more wolves step out from the trees; damn, they must have waited for Daniella and Lucas to leave. Both my parents jump down to face them, with my father shifting mid jump, ten on two was not going to be easy, even with my father. Just then another wolf shoots out from the trees and in one swift motion crushes one of the wolves facing my parents. Even in her wolf form she still manages to take my breath away; her white fur and massive frame making her seem so, for lack of a better word, majestic.

The other nines wolves were clearly shaken by her sudden arrival, two of them split off to face my parents while the other seven attack Keira. Fear for my mate gripped me, but only for a moment, I was to busy being in complete awe of her to be scared for her. The speed in which she moved and danced around the attacking wolves had my jaw on the floor. It should be impossible for a wolf her size to be able to move so…beautifully. After dealing with their opponents, even my parents seemed to be in awe of her. Then everything changed as Keira began her attack, the once beautiful and elegant creature was now replaced by a ferocious beast. She tore through the seven wolves as if they were nothing with brutal efficiency. One wolf managed to get behind her and attacked, but Keira easily avoided the attack grabbing the back of the wolf’s neck with her teeth as she dodged. In a feat of incredible strength Keira proceeded to brutally slam the wolf’s body over and over again against the ground, even though it was clearly dead after the first slam broke its neck. She then throws the body at another wolf the sheer force of which knocks it out cold, but that doesn’t stop her from going over biting down and breaking its neck. The rest of the wolves were visibly shaken, in a last desperate attempt the remaining wolves charge at her, but it was useless she kills them all within seconds. We hear the all clear signal from the others and with the battle here done, it seems to really be over. Hearing that Keira lets out a howl of victory.

As I make my way down the stairs to meet with everyone, I look around to see the damage done to the house. Some of the walls were missing and quite a few pieces of furniture got trashed, but all in all it wasn’t too bad. Reaching the the sliding glass door that led outside I see that the glass is completely shattered, judging by the direction of the glass it was broken by someone in the house running out. My money is on Lucas, either way Mom is going to be pissed

Going outside I don’t see my mother and it’s just my dad and Keira talking in their human forms.

“Oh come on, we both know it was Demetri!” I hear Keira snap at my father.

“I recognize these wolves, they’re mercenaries, they could have just been as easily been hired by the White Moon pack.” My father calmly tries to reason with her.

“The White Moon pack wouldn’t need to; they have dozens of packs and wolves under their control that they could send instead hiring mercenaries. Face it your spy is either dead or captured.” Keira argues.

“Or he just hasn’t had the opportunity to check in.” My father defends.

“Spy?” I say out loud, letting them both know I’m here.

Both look to me, but my father speaks first, “Yes, I have a spy in what’s left of Demetri’s pack.”

“Why would you need a spy in Demetri’s pack now of all times?” I question.

“I don’t.” My father responds.

My father’s words confuse me, but then it hits me.

“Your hoping Demetri goes to the White Moon pack.” I say in a loud whisper to myself.

No wonder no one’s gone after Demetri in his weakened state, he’s being used as a Trojan horse for my father’s spy. And there’s no way this would work without the council's help so they must be in on it too, a spy inside the White Moon pack could be huge!

“Dad, you’re a genius.”

“Actually, as much as I would like to take credit, it was your mate’s idea.” My father corrects.

I look at my mate in awe of her once again, beauty, brawns, and brains? Everything about her is ridiculous!

She gives me a cocky smile, before turning to address my father, “But as I was saying, the White Moon pack wouldn’t hire mercenaries and we didn’t hear anything about this attack from your spy, so he has to be compromised somehow. Meaning there’s no reason in keeping Demetri alive anymore.”

My father doesn’t respond right away, he closes his eyes and thinks for a moment before opening them back up.

“Give my man twenty-four hours, if hasn’t checked in by then, then Demetri is all yours.”

Keira thinks for moment before nodding her head, “Fine, as much as I want to kill him for going after my mate, I’ll hold off.”

“Speaking of which, are you two okay?” My father asks.

“There’s few things we still need to work out, but we’re getting there.” I answer, giving Keira a small smile, which she returns. “Anyway, how is everyone, are they okay?”

My father hesitates.

“Oh no.” I whisper. “Who?”

My father answers with a solemn expression, “We lost Barry.”

I get a small ache in my chest when I hear Barry’s name. We’ve lost friends and pack members before, but this was different I had just saved him the day before, only for him to die now. Is this the pain James was referring to when he talked about being ready to lose?

“Damn.” Was all I could say.

Sensing my sorrow Keira holds my hand, “I’m sorry.”

Grateful for her touch, I let out a deep breath and steady myself, “He was a good wolf.”

“Yes, he was.” My father responds. “You two should probably head back home, it’s going to be a busy night for me and my pack.”

It felt strange to leave my family with everything that just happened, but they’re my family not my pack and from here on it was pack business.

“Give everyone my love.” Tell my father.

He smiles and nods before heading out. Next to me Keira shifts into her wolf form and lowers herself for me to get on.

“We’re leaving your car here?” I ask.

Keira huffs like it’s no big deal. Shrugging my shoulders, I climb onto her back and grab on as she shoots into the direction of home. Now I’ve ridden on other wolves before, but it felt weird riding on top of Keira, for some reason it felt naughty and I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. Thankfully with Keira’s speed we were back home in minutes, something told me she could have gone even faster but just decided not to. As we reach the hose there were a few pack members congregating outside talking and drinking, but they all stopped and stared with open mouths when they saw me riding on top of Keira.

Okay, now I felt even more embarrassed

Keira stops and lowers herself for me to get off, shifting back into her human form after I do. The other wolves just continue to stare as if in shock until Keira glares at them, causing them all to look down and away. We quickly make our way to our room, after a quick shower we both settle onto our bed. A wave of exhaustion quickly washes over me making me realize how tired I was after everything that happened today, I would love nothing more than to sleep. Keira on the other hand was a bit worked up, the adrenaline from her battle and victory over the mercenary pack still coursing through her. I could feel what she wanted so I slowly caress her cheek and give her a long slow kiss. But after a moment Keira breaks the kiss and pushes me slightly away, which is something Keira never does.

“You’re exhausted, sleep.” Keira tells me.

“Yeah, but you’re not.”

Keira chuckles, “I’ll live, beside as you so plainly made clear last night it’s not always about what I want.”

“Keira I…”

But Keira just puts a finger to my lips and shushes me, “Sleep.”

Grateful for her consideration, we snuggle in close to each other.

“Besides, there’s always morning sex.” Keira states with a flippant tone.

Causing us both to burst out laughing as we both fall asleep.

Chapter Eighteen

The next morning, I wake up wrapped in Keira's arms, after carefully extracting myself from her hold I realize that Keira is quite the heavy sleeper. Even after showering and getting ready for school, she's barely moved an inch. Only after giving her a small goodbye kiss on the cheek did she finally stir awake, groggily wishing me to stay. But I just give her another peck on the cheek and wish her a good day.

Going outside I see few cars parked out on the driveway and decide to drive myself to school today.

One of Keira's wolves that was outside spots me and sees me looking at the cars, "Keys are in the ignition of the Altima if you want." He calls out.

"Thanks." I yell back.

Getting to school I find both Alice and Cora waiting for me and both looking exasperated. At first, I thought it was because I didn't stay to talk to them after the attack last night, but then I see the actual reason. Peter was following them, and his mouth was moving a hundred miles a minute bombarding them with questions.

Shit, I completely forgot about Peter.

For a moment, the thought of just turning around and going back home crossed my mind, but as if reading my thoughts, the girls send me death glares saying, 'don't even think about it'. Resigning myself to my fate I let out a heavy breath and walk over to them.

"Hey, thanks for not killing him." I say with a straight face.

Peter stops and after seeing the dead pan expressions on me and the girls faces, he visibly retracts from the girls and moves over behind me.

Now I know the girls would never do that, but Peter doesn't, and he needs to be a little more aware of his situation.

"He's your problem now." Says Cora.

"We'll see you at lunch." Follows Alice.

As if they'd had a weight lifted off their shoulders the girls walk off with a little more pep in their step.

When their finally out of sight Peter turns to me, "They wouldn't really have killed me, would they?"

Not answering his question, I tell Peter to follow me and lead him down near the music hall, all the noise here will keep any wolves bothering to eavesdrop from listening in on us. Once I felt it was safe enough to talk, I started at the beginning. I explained to him what werewolves are and what a pack is. He seemed a little bummed when I told him you had to be born a werewolf, which had me rolling my eyes. Then I explained who I was and how I was adopted by my werewolf family. Feeling a bit elated at having another human in the know to talk to, I spent the entire morning telling him everything about werewolves and Crestwood. I decided to leave out the stuff about the boundary and vampires, he had enough to worry about as is. By the time I got to Keira, mates, and the current situation with the White Moon pack it was already lunch time.

We are sitting at our lunch table when Peter turns to me and says, "I don't get it."

"I know it's a little weird, but just think of her as my wife." I say in a hushed tone.

"No, not that. I mean the whole White Moon pack thing. I mean don't get me wrong but seriously what are they waiting for?" He whispers back.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said they basically have an army right, so what's taking them so long to make a move?"

"Well like I said, they're a lot of wolves in Crestwood a lot of packs, they can't attack needlessly."

"Can't they? You said it yourself that the packs here are still splintered and not working together very well after the first attack. If the White Moon pack were to attack again right now, they would see that, so why haven't they?"

"Because they don't know what going on in Crestwood, we've been careful to keep an eye out for any spies."

"Yeah, but why haven't there been more attacks in general, is what I'm getting at. I mean I don't know if wars between werewolves is different, but shouldn't there be more fighting than this? Instead of a war this is more like a siege, but even then, it's still weird because they aren't even attacking."

As rare as it was, Peter was actually making some sense. After that first initial attack there hasn't been any contact or sightings of the White Moon pack, which makes no sense considering their past MO. So why?

"Holy shit Pete, I think you're right." I say, surprised by his insight.

"I have my moments." Pete says looking smug.

I roll my eyes.

"So...um...have you heard anything about Aspen?" Pete asks.

"No, why?"

"No reason, just curious."

I scoff and roll my eyes, "C'mon Pete, you don't ask about someone for no reason, especially a witch. What's going on?"

"Bro, seriously its nothing, she's just been on my mind is all." Pete said in a somber tone.

Oh boy, looks like that witch really got to him, I think he genuinely liked her.

"Pete, you need to be careful, if you see her again, you need to tell me."

"Don't worry I will."

"I'm serious Pete." I tell him.

"Caden, I'm not an idiot. I'm not one of those morons you see on tv that say they will and then don't, I promise I'll let you know if I see anything."

I believed him; his tone was the most serious I've ever heard from him. I see Alice and Cora walk into the lunchroom; I wave them over. After grabbing their respective lunches, they come and sit with us.

"Okay, so what have you heard?" I ask them.

They both glance over at Pete.

"It's too late worrying about that now, so go ahead." I tell them.

"Well it looks like Demetri was not the one who hired those mercenaries last night, but apparently they were hired using his money. Turns out Demetri had quite a bit of money stashed away, and someone stole it." Alice explained.

"You're shitting me." I say surprised.

"I haven't even gotten to the juicy part. Figuring it was an inside job Demetri confronted what was left of his pack about the money, but apparently none of them even knew it existed. When they found out that Demetri had money hidden away and hadn't used it to help them, it was the last straw and they left him."

"Wait you can just do that, leave a pack?" Pete asks.

"Sort of, it's a bit complicated." Cora answers.

"The point is Demetri is pretty much done for; he only has five wolves left in his pack." Alice states with a smile.

"Unbelievable, I almost feel sorry for Demetri." I say that knowing that one of those pack members must be my father's spy, so in reality Demetri is down to four.

"Wait, werewolf mercenaries are a thing and they attacked you last night!" Pete exclaims.

"Shhh!" I shush Pete.

Pete looks over to the girls who just nonchalantly nod yes while eating their food.

"I've got so many questions." Pete says in an excited tone.

"Sorry bro, but no more questions for now." I state as I see Mari walking towards us.

Following my gaze Pete sees Mari too, "Damn."

After lunch I force Pete to go to class even though he begs me not to, saying he had more questions, but I needed a break. Plus, I wanted to ask the girls about what happened last night, even though I knew it meant hearing how Barry died. As much as it hurt, I was glad to hear he went down fighting, taking two of the mercenary wolves down with him.

"The funeral is tomorrow, are you going to come?" Cora asked.

"Of course, he was my first patient and a friend." I replied.

As we continue to walk the girls' eyes become unfocused, they were talking to someone through a mental link, the three of us stop when we reach the door to my class. I wait for their eyes to refocus, signaling the end of their mental conversation, before speaking again.

"So how was it, hearing someone else's voice in your head again?" I ask.

"Weird." Replies Alice.

Cora looks over to Alice and answers, "Yeah, after hearing only each other's voices for so long it's a bit jarring."

"The good thing is your dad, and the others rarely ever calls us; our duty hasn't really changed." Says Alice.

"Wait really, you guys are still my bodyguards?" I ask, surprised.

"Of course, we swore our lives to you, your dad respects that." Alice stated.

"Still, you guys are part of the pack now and I'm not." I state.

"But your still his son, and our best friend." Replies Cora.

I grab my chest in pretend pain, "Ugh, my chest. The feels are just too much." I say in a strained voice.

"Oh, fuck off."

"Fuck you."

I laugh as they both reply in unison, Alice nudging me in the shoulder while Cora flips me off, smiles on both their faces. But it really did warm me to hear those words.

"Anyway, that was your dad, he wants us to go check on something nearby, we'll be back before class is over." Alice explains.

"No worries." I reply.

Which was true, ever since Cole died and Keira claimed me as her mate no one has tried to mess with me, even wolves I was friendly with have started avoiding me. Stepping into class I was surprised to see Hanna sitting in her seat, it had been a while since we last spoke, and I had been worried about her. As I approached my seat, Hannah turned to me and smiled, but her smile didn't seem to reach her eyes. But it's not surprising given what Alice just told us during lunch.

Seating down I turn to her and ask, "Are you okay?"

She waves it off, 'I'm fine, just dealing with a few setbacks. How are you, I heard about the attack last night?

"I'm fine, but my dad lost a wolf." I told her.

"Sorry to hear that. How about your mate? I heard she was quite the badass, taking out most of the mercenaries by herself."

"Yeah, she's quite the wolf." I say with a strange sense of pride filling my chest.

"So, she wasn't injured at all?" Hannah asks with a speculative tone.

Before I can respond I feel my phone vibrating, pulling it out of my pocket I see its Keira calling, class was just about to start so I excuse myself to take the call.

I make my way over to one of the more secluded hallways during this period, making sure no teachers or students could hear before swiping to answer, "Hey, is everything okay?"

"I'm fine, but your father called; things with the council have gotten worse; it looks like one of its members have fled taking two other packs with them. Your father is sending someone to check if it's true."

"Ah, geez." I sigh, that must be what the girls went to go check.

Goddess, Crestwood is falling apart, and the White Moon pack have barely done a thing.

"You know, I came here expecting a unified community of werewolves, but this place is just as disjointed as everywhere else if not more so. Honestly, what is the point of this council?" Keira asks exasperated.

"At this point I'm not even sure." I say honestly.

"Your father and his pack may be the only wolves here worth a damn, but seriously if not for you, coming here would have been a complete waste of time."

I felt a knot in the pit of my stomach.

"Keira, are you thinking of...abandoning Crestwood?"

There was a long pause that seemed to last forever.

Keira suddenly asks, "Caden, do you love me?"

"Yes, of course." I reply confused.

"Do you trust me?" Keira continues.

"You know I do."

"Then come home, we need to talk." Keira stated.

My chest tightened at the thought of Keira asking me to abandon Crestwood, to abandon my family.

"Okay." I replied.

At this point class had already started and the halls were empty, so I was surprised to see Lisa standing at the end of the hall looking at me.

"You didn't have to send someone to come get me I drove myself to school today, also why'd you send Lisa?" I whispered the last part.

"Lisa? What are you talking about? Lisa shouldn't be anywhere near there." Keira stated.

"Well I'm looking right at her." I tell her.

Keira goes silent and at the same time I see Lisa's whole body begin to visibly shake; she furiously begins shaking her head, trying to physically force herself to disobey whatever it was Keira was telling her.

This is not good; I need to get out of here quick.

I turn to leave but bump right into Hannah, "Hannah, sorry but we need to get out of here quick."

"No Caden, I' sorry. I really did consider you a friend." Hannah replies.

Confused, I look at her and that's when I notice her arm was out with a knife in her hand, a knife that was now partially sticking out of my abdomen.

"CADEN!!!" A distorted voice calls out from Lisa's mouth.

Even though it came from Lisa I knew that it was really Keira calling out to me through her. Dropping my phone my instincts seem to take over as I grab the knife making sure it doesn't go in any further and headbutt Hannah right in the nose with my forehead breaking it. Hannah yelps, the sudden pain and blood causing Hannah to stumble back, letting go of the knife.

"Fucker!" She yells out as she covers her nose.

The sudden commotion grabs the attention of a few passersby’s, who call out to what's going on. Hannah quickly runs away, and I fall to the ground, blood seeping through the wound the shock about to render me unconscious. Falling next to my phone I hear Keira calling out to me from it.

"Caden just hold on, help is on its way, you’re going to be fine! Caden! Caden, talk to me!"

I fight to stay conscious, but I know it's a losing battle.

"Keira, I love you," I croak out.

As everything begins to fade to black, I smile, knowing that if those are to be my final words, I'm glad that she was able to hear them.

Chapter Nineteen

As I slowly started coming to, I didn't feel the pain I expected to feel after getting stabbed by Hannah. Opening my eyes, I once again found myself in the same clearing from the night I met Keira, confused I slowly get up and look around.

"Am I dead?" I ask myself.

"Do you really think I'd let that happen?"

Hearing Keira's voice I turn around, but before I can utter a sound, she pulls me in close and smashes her lips against mine. The kiss was desperate and full of need, I could feel all her fear and worry. I quickly kiss her back needing to assuage all these emotions I know I was the cause of. As I feel these emotions slowly fade away from her, Keira breaks the kiss and seems to breathe a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry." I state.

"Don't be, it’s not your fault." Keira replies.

Looking around I notice that the clearing we were standing in seemed to appear slightly off.

"This is a dream, isn't it?" I ask.

"You were taking too long waking up, so I decided this was worth the mental strain." She answered, as she looked around as well.

"How long has it been?" I asked.

As I began to worry the clearing began to shiver.

"Calm down, it only been a day." Keira said in a soothing voice.

As I calm down the clearing stops shivering.

Keira sits on the grassy ground and motions me to join her, "Thankfully, the knife missed all your vitals and you stopped it from going too deep, so you have a few stitches, and it might hurt for a while but you're going to be okay." Keira continued.

I breathe a sigh of relief and sit down beside Keira, "That's good. What happened to Hannah?"

"She got away." Keira scowled, "She slipped out while everyone was focused on you. I swear the next time I see her..." Keira growled in anger.

The clearing began to rumble and the everything began to take on a blood red tinge.

I grab Keira's hands and in a soothing motion rub my thumbs over her hands, "Shhhhh, it's okay. I understand."

As Keira regains her composure, the clearing slowly goes back to normal.

"How are my parents, are they okay?" I ask.

"They were obviously upset; they sent their pack doctor James straight to the house to look you over."

"The house? I'm not at the hospital?" I questioned.

"You really think I'm going to trust anyone at that hospital or in this town after what happened? The second they finished stitching you up I got you the hell out of there, even your parents backed me." Keira answered.

Probably knew they couldn't have stopped her anyway; I think to myself.

"Actually, the ones who took it the hardest were your friends Alice and Cora, it took your father and a couple of his wolves to calm them down." Keira said, sounding rather impressed.

"They have to know it wasn't their fault, it wasn't anyone's fault, no one would've suspected Hannah." I say in frustration.

"Like I said they took it hard, it seems they're already talking to your father about leaving his pack to join mine so that they can watch over you better."

"No, I can't let them do that." I stated.

"Why? They're your friends I figured you'd be happy." Keira questioned.

"They're my best friends and I love them, and that's why I feel better knowing they're there to protect my family. Besides, I have you and you're all the protection I need." I state.

The air around Keira changes, she pushes me down and kisses me with a passion not meant for public viewing, but then I remembered this was a dream and we were alone, so I kissed her back.

After a moment Keira breaks the kiss, "It’s when you say things like that, that push the limits of my self-control." Keira growls out with lust.

As Keira looks down at me with hooded eyes, every cell in my body begins to burn with need, I close my eyes and take hold of the feeling. Opening my eyes again I see a ceiling, I get up with a jolt and see I'm lying naked in mine and Keira's bed with sheets covering my lower half. Still a bit confused I sit up and look around, I see Keira sitting by the bed with her head resting beside me, she was wearing simple black dress with a black long-sleeved mini blazer on top.

Sitting up Keira lets out a small yawn, "We were just getting to the good part too."

"Sorry." I say, realizing I must have woken up.

"Don't be, ahh!" Keira winces in pain, her fingers rubbing the sides of her temple.

"What's wrong!" I say in panic.

"Nothing, it's just a headache, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yeah, I got one the last time too, it'll pass. In fact, it's not even as bad as last time" Keira says, already sounding better.

"Going by what my father said, dream sharing is usually a random natural thing. This is probably feedback from forcing the connection." I speculated.

"Good to know, I'll be more ready next time." Keira notes.

"No, no next time, no more forcing the connection. If it's going to happen it's going to happen naturally or not at all, promise me." I said in a serious tone.

Keira looks into my eyes and sees how serious I am, "Fine, I promise."

"Good, beside I much more prefer the real thing." I say as I grab one of Keira's hands and start kissing the inside of her palm.

Just like in the dream, the air surrounding Keira changes, but instead of following up like last time Keira pull her hand away and places her forefinger on my lips stopping me.

"As much as I want to, it's not a good idea." Keira states.

"Why not?" I ask I lean toward her.

Suddenly a jolt near my stomach has me grunting out in pain, looking down I see some gauze wrapped around my stomach. Oh, right I was stabbed.

"Tis but a flesh wound." I say in crappy English accent.

But instead of laughing like I'd hoped she would, Keira just sits there staring at me in confusion.

"It's a line from an old...never mind." I say fully embarrassed now.

Keira chuckles, "I think you need more rest."

Keira grabs a pill bottle and a glass of water from the nightstand and hands them to me, I recognize them as pain pills, I take out two and quickly drink them down.

"By the way, why are you in all black?" I ask her.

"Your friend's funeral was today, since you couldn't go, I went for you." She answered.

I was saddened to hear that I missed Barry's funeral, but at the same time I couldn't help but smile at the fact that Keira went in my stead. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for her to leave me, especially for the funeral of a wolf she didn't even know. But she knew it was important to me and went anyway.

I reach out and grab her hand, "Thank you." I say with utmost sincerity.

From the look in Keira's eyes, I could tell she was struggling to control herself; I start tracing small circles in her hand with my thumb.

"Will you stay with me?" I ask in a soft voice.

"I probably shouldn't, my self-control is razor thin at the moment." Keira grinds out.

I slowly pull her onto the bed and position her on top of me, wrapping my arms around her neck.

"The pain will be worth it." I say to her in a low whisper.

I could practically hear the snap of Keira's self-control going off in her head, she immediately takes my mouth and kisses me with a ferociousness I struggle to keep up with. Without breaking the kiss I help her take off her mini blazer throwing it over the bed. Keira then breaks the kiss to pull the dress off over her head, revealing only a pair of black lacey panties underneath. No matter how many times I see it the sight of Keira's body still takes my breath away. Not able to help myself I bring my mouth up to one of Keira's breast and begin to suck, lick, and tease it. Keira begins rubbing herself up against me and lets out a moan of pleasure as I alternate my attention between her breasts and use my thumbs to gently caress her nipples. I was in control, and I wanted more, grabbing her backside and pulling her closer I begin kneading her cheeks with my fingers. She was already so close, she just needed one more little push, so I gently nip one of her nipples with my teeth sending her over the edge as she cries out in both pain and pleasure.

I smile as a look of disbelief at what just happened crosses Keira's face, when Keira sees the smile, her face turns serious and she lets out a low lusty growl. Her alpha instinct demanding to take back control, but more than that she wanted payback. Keira rips the covers away from me and I brace myself for her sensual fury, but instead she slowly leans in and gives me a soft kiss on the lips and then begins tracing small kisses down my chin, neck, and chest. As she continues down to my navel, I finally realize what she's planning to do, and I immediately feel my face go red.

"Stop!" I yelp.

Keira looks at me curiously, "What's wrong?"

With my face beet red, I can't bring myself to look Keira in the eyes.

"Please don't." I say in a small voice.

Keira could sense my embarrassment and it seemed to excite her even more, her alpha instinct coming out in full force with the need to dominate me.

"Oh, why not?" She asks as she runs a finger up the length of my shaft causing me to shudder.

She knew why, but she wanted to hear me say it out loud.

"Because it's...it's too embarrassing." I reply while covering my face in embarrassment.

It must sound so stupid; a guy finding blowjobs embarrassing, not sure why but I just do. Even during my first time with Claire I found it too embarrassing to let her give me one.

"So, you’re saying I'm the only one who's had the pleasure of tasting you?"

My hands shoot to my sides, gripping the bed covers, as the breath of Keira's sultry words touch the bulbous tip of my manhood.

I struggle to get words out, "Yes, no, Keira I-!"

My words are lost as I gasp at the sensation of Keira tongue running up the length of my manhood. My eyes slam shut as I struggle to concentrate, I squirm as Keira begins peppering my manhood with small licks and kisses, but Keira and my own treacherous body keep me firmly in place. I should be in pain from the strain on my wound, but the dull ache is completely overwhelmed by the indescribable sensations Keira was subjecting me to.

"Caden, look at me. Look at me Caden." Keira demanded in a sultry tone.

Her voice was so hypnotic I couldn't resist; looking down, her eyes capture mine and I could see the ecstasy she felt having me at her mercy. Then I watched as she slowly enveloped the tip of my manhood between her soft warm lips.

My eyes slam shut and my head reels back as I hiss through clenched teeth, I could barely hold on as Keira continued to torture me with her sweet mouth. My legs were beginning to shake, it was getting to be too much. I reach out for Keira, but she lets out warning growl, the sensation of which causes my body to buck a bit.

"Keira...(pant) please, I can't." I strain to get the words out.

But my words just seem to excite her even more, her movements becoming even more intense until finally I can't hold on anymore and I'm pushed over the edge, letting out a guttural yell. Keira doesn't stop until she's drunk every last bit of what I had to give, leaving me a whimpering mess.

Lightheaded and seeing stars, I cover my face with my hands utterly embarrassed by what just happened. I feel Keira lie down next to me, she leans in, her lips next to my ear.

"Delicious." She says in a sultry whisper.

I could feel my ears begin to burn, I could only imagine how red my face was, this simultaneously the most mortifying and erotic experience of my entire life. Sensing my conflicting emotions, Keira chuckles.

"Are you saying you didn't enjoy it?" Keira's tone was innocent enough, but I could hear the smile in her voice.

"No, I did, but somehow that makes it worse." I answer in a small voice.

I peek through my fingers and see Keira propped up on her elbow looking down at me with a smirk on her face that screamed, I win, and as strange as it was that's what it felt like too.

"You don't play fair." I say with a pout.

"You don't get what you want by playing fair." She says in a serious tone.

Keira lies down and drapes one arm over me pulling herself in close, careful to not agitate my wound. Feeling a bit calmer I uncover my face and put one arm underneath Keira letting her head rest on my shoulder.

Seeing my face Keira smiles, "That's better." She then leans in and gives me a peck on the cheek. "You know I love you, right?" She asks.

"I know, I love you too." I reply and give her a small peck on the lips.

And just like that we both drift off to sleep.

I wake up to the sound of the bedroom door closing, looking around I see Keira is gone, I check the clock on the wall and see it's a little after midnight. Normally this wouldn't be that strange, wolves, especially alphas, are usually up all throughout the night checking patrols, going over reports, or just lounging. But something was off, I couldn't put my finger on what, but something just didn't seem right. I decide to get up and change the dressings on my stab wound, knowing James he probably knew I was going to want to do it myself, so there's probably some stuff in the bathroom.

As I get up off the bed I wince in pain, the pills from earlier having worn off. I enter the bathroom and see bandages, gauze, and antibacterial cream sitting on the counter.

"Thank you, James." I say to myself.

After getting rid of the old dressings, I decide to check the wound myself, the stitches were expertly done I should be fine in about a week, ten days tops. I carefully clean the wound and then let it dry, after that I put on the antibacterial and then a fresh bandage and gauze. I turn off the bathroom light and head for the bed when it hits me, lights, there are no lights outside. Usually there are some lights on indicating that someone was awake, but now looking through the window I see it's completely dark out. I put on some sweats and a t-shirt and take two more pain pills from the bottle on the nightstand. I then go to the closet and grab one of my silver daggers, just in case. I open the bedroom door and see nothing but darkness, I wait for my eyes to adjust before proceeding out into the hall.

Nothing, the house was completely empty, no lights no sound, nothing. I make my way to the stairs looking and listening for anything, a stray light, or the sound of people, but I don't see or hear anything.

"Hello, is anybody there? Keira? Matty?" I call out.

Again nothing, I begin to panic, I start opening and checking every room, flipping on the lights and calling out, but still no answer. I'm in the bottom floor kitchen when I hear the front door open, I rush to the door praying to the goddess that it was Keira. My stab wound was starting to ache from the strain of me running, even with the pain pills I took. As I turn the corner, I'm about to call out Keira's name when I'm frozen at the sight of the person standing before me.

"Aspen?"

Hearing my voice, Aspen turns to me.

"Oh hi, you must be Caden. I've heard a lot of good things about you from Pete, nice to meet you."

Aspen holds out her hand and takes a step forward, but I immediately take a step back and ready my dagger, making her stop.

"I guess you heard about what happened at Pete's house." Aspen states, seemingly embarrassed.

"Did you do this, where is everyone, what have you done to them, tell me!" I yell, while taking a step forward, dagger ready.

This time it was Aspen who took a step back, raising her hands in the air.

"Woah there, I just got here. All I know is that I'm supposed to take you somewhere, show you something, and bring you back; that's it, honest." Aspen quickly answers.

I look into her eyes, and I could see she was telling the truth; I lower my dagger but keep it ready.

"Ok." I tell her.

"Really? Just like that?" She responds, apparently surprised by my sudden compliance.

"I could tell you weren't lying, and let's not bullshit each other, you were able to hold your own against a werewolf at Pete's house. Meaning your strength and speed are far beyond that of a normal human, you could have probably just taken this dagger away from me and forced me to come with you." I state.

Aspen smiles, she puts her hands down and steps toward me, unafraid of the dagger I still had in my hand.

"True." She admitted, the innocent facade from a second ago completely gone.

Injured and alone meant I couldn't put up much of a fight anyway, besides, if she's working for someone then maybe that someone knows where Keira and the others are. It was my best move from a tactical standpoint.

"Wait here while I get some shoes on." I tell her as I make my way up the stairs.

"Still, given your mate's reputation, I'm surprised you gave in so easily." Aspen responded, sounding a bit disappointed.

I was a third of the way up the stairs when Aspen's words stop me. Looking back over my shoulder and see Aspen leaning against the front door; I quickly turn around, using the momentum to throw my dagger straight toward my target. The dagger pierces the door an inch away from Aspen's neck. Aspen stands there stunned, she slowly looks down at the dagger while her hand reflexively reaches for her throat.

"Let me be clear, I'm not giving in. I am allowing you to take me to wherever it is you need to take me. And given my mate's reputation, you'd do well to remember how she'll react if anything were to happen to me." I declare in a threatening tone.

Aspen lets out an audible gulp, "You might want to bring a jacket, it's a bit nippy out."

Chapter Twenty

"Did you have to park your truck so far from the house?" I called out to Aspen.

"Look, had I known the place was going to be empty besides you I would have just driven up to the house." Aspen replied.

We've been walking for the last twenty minutes to reach Aspen's truck, normally this wouldn't have been a problem, but the stab wound was slowing me down. I wasn't able to find my phone before we left but at least the moon was out tonight, making visibility the least of my concerns. As we walked; I carefully studied Aspen, she was wearing a brown jacket over a green blouse, snug blue jeans, and proper hiking boots. Her long brown hair hung loose around her shoulders and after getting a good look at her face earlier, I could see why Pete was attracted to her, she was pretty. But the thing that caught my eyes the most was the assortment of belts and pouches wrapped around her waist and hips.

As we walked, I noticed Aspen curiously glancing over at me every so often.

"What?" I ask.

"Sorry, I'm not trying to be rude, it's just that I know some witches that would kill to be this close to you." Aspen explains.

"To me? Why?" I ask incredulously.

"To study you, don't you know, you're quite the subject of conversation in certain circles; the first human male to ever be raised and accepted by a pack of werewolves. Not only that but also actually turning out to be a werewolf's mate!" Aspen exclaims, becoming more and more animated as she talks. "It's mind boggling, I mean think about it, until now the only human mates ever found have always been female. But now with you, people are wondering what's changed, is it genetic, a mutation, environmental, evolution! Your very existence questions our knowledge of humans and werewolves since-since the beginning of time!"

"Ok, ok I get it." I say as I try to calm her down. "But why would witches care, I mean get werewolves and humans, but why would witches?"

"Why does anyone care about anything, it's interesting it gives them something to talk about. And it's not just witches, there are a lot of groups who are interested in you." Aspen states.

I'm surprised and a little taken aback by Aspen's words, I mean I always knew my situation was abnormal and a topic of conversation between certain packs, like when Daniella brought it up when we first met. But I never thought it was anything more than that or to this extreme, have I've been living in a bubble this whole time and not even realized it?

As we continued to walk; I kept falling further and further behind, even with the pain killers I took earlier, my stab wound kept acting up. Aspen looks back at me and after seeing how far behind I am lets out an exasperated sigh.

"Ok, what going on, what's wrong?" She asks.

"Nothing, my stab wound is just acting up." I answer her.

"Stab wound!?" Aspen exclaims, shocked.

"You didn't know? It happened yesterday at school."

"No, I didn't know. I can't exactly go around all willy-nilly after getting my cover blown and you guys finding out I'm a witch." Aspen replied.

"Oh yeah, I guess that's true." I concede.

"Lift up your shirt and let me see it." She says as she walks over to me.

I hesitate for a moment but then do as she asks, lifting my shirt and begin unwrapping the the gauze. While I'm doing that Aspen takes something out of one of the pouches around her waist; it appears to be a small vial containing some type of ointment. Using her finger, she takes out small portion and smears it on her hand, Aspen then closes her eyes and begins to concentrate. After a moment, the ointment in her hand begins to emit a faint glow that I couldn't help but marvel at.

"Okay this is going to feel a little cold and weird, so don't freak out." Aspen explains, as she removes the bandage and exposing the wound.

I nod and brace myself, but as her hand touches the wound, I can't help but take in a sharp breath, cold was right! As she continues to smear the ointment on the wound, I begin to feel a weird tingling sensation around the wound. After about ten seconds she stops and nods in approval of her work. I look down and see that the stab wound has completely disappeared, stunned, I touch and prod the area with my hand, but it really was gone, not even a scar.

"Holy shit." I state, amazed by what just happened.

"Alright come on, my truck isn't that much farther." Aspen says and continues to walk, ignoring my reaction.

"Oh no, you are not going to just breeze by what just happened." I argue.

Aspen sighs, "Fine, but let's keep walking."

"After you." I say, following right behind her.

"Well to start witches are just people who are born with magic, and we can use and manipulate that magic to heighten or bring out certain properties in different things. For example, that ointment I just used is actually just mixture of different herbs and flowers known to promote healing you can find anywhere."

"And by infusing it with your magic you just strengthened the effect." I chimed in.

"Exactly." Aspen verified.

"So, no eyes of newt, weird chants, or flying broom sticks?" I ask.

Aspen snorts, "No, and just to be clear, that ointment only works for small stuff like your stab wound, it can't regrow limbs or heal any extensive injuries." She cautions me.

"Good to know." I reply.

"But that's pretty much it, magic is mostly about finding the right combination of things to infuse with magic to get the desired effect. There are a few exceptions, but I'm not allowed to talk about that." Aspen finished.

"Does that include how you were able to go toe to toe with a werewolf at Pete's house." I ask.

"No, every witch can do that, we just infuse our muscles with magic to make us faster and stronger. The more magic you use the faster and stronger you are, but the strain on your body afterward is a BITCH." She explained.

Interesting, I wonder if Aspen noticed her slip, certain magic is limited to certain witches.

"So, are you guys immortal like werewolves and vampires?" I continue.

"Not exactly, we still age, but because of the magic in our bodies it's a lot slower than normal humans." Aspen answered.

"How slow?" I inquire.

Aspen thinks for a moment before answering, "I've never thought about it in terms of years but if you need an example, my grandmother looks about fifty but she's closing in on seven hundred."

"Wow, so how old are you?"

"I'm eighteen, thank you very much!" Aspen fires back, insulted by my question.

"Oh sorry, I swear I didn't mean anything by it." I apologize with my hands up.

At this point a blue pickup truck I'm assuming is Aspen's comes into view.

"Just get in the truck." Aspen retorts.

Neither of us spoke as Aspen drove, I decided not to push my luck with any more questions. But with the silence also came questions and doubts, where is Keira, why did they leave, and why was I left behind? From the corner of my eye, I catch Aspen still glancing over at me.

"What now?" I ask.

"Nothing, I was just wondering...has Pete asked about me at all?" She asks.

"Depends, did you do something to him, back at his house?" I question.

"No, never, I just...really liked him." She answers bashfully.

Oh boy, this is getting complicated.

I let out a sigh before answering, "He didn't outright say it, but he's worried about you."

"Really?" She says with a smile.

Hmmm, maybe I can use this to my advantage, "You know, if you're willing to answer a few more questions, I can put in a good word for you with Pete."

Aspen keeps her eyes on the road, but I could see the internal conflict reflected in her eyes.

"And you don't have to answer any question you're not allowed to." I offer.

That's seems to be just the push she needed.

"Okay." She answers cautiously.

I decide to start off easy.

"So, are there a lot of you, witches I mean?"

"There's a good number of us and before you ask, yes there are male witches, but our birth rates are about the same as that of werewolves, and then there's the possibility that the child could be born a normal human without magic." She explains, her voice becoming somber at the last part.

We stop at a red light and Aspen looks down at an old bracelet she has around her wrist, by the way she stared at it, it must be very important.

"I'm guessing you knew someone that was born without magic." I infer softly.

Without looking up she answers, "My twin brother."

"What happ-"

Aspen cuts me off. "I don't want to talk about it."

Judging by her tone and reaction it wasn't something she couldn't talk about, but rather, something she wouldn't talk about. The light turns green, and Aspen continues to drive.

"My father said that nobody has heard from the witch community in a long time, why show up now?" I ask.

"We didn't just show up, we've been around. We've just been really careful about who we interact with." She answers.

"So, you guys have been purposely avoiding Crestwood?"

Aspen ponders for a second before answering, "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"So, you've dealt with werewolves before, just not in Crestwood." I state.

"Yes." Was all she replied.

"Why not Crestwood?""

"I can't say."

"What kind of deals have you made?"

"I can't say."

"Have you dealt with the White Moon pack?"

"I can't say."

Ok, now I was getting frustrated.

"You said you were told to come get me, was it by another pack?"

"No."

"Okay, then who?"

"I can't say."

Argh, this was getting annoying.

"Do I know the person who told you to come get me?"

"No."

"But they know me?"

"I doubt it."

"Then why did they tell you to come get me?"

"Don't know."

I let out a frustrated sigh, "Your answers are really starting to annoy me."

"Not my problem." Aspen responds in a snooty tone.

I narrow my eyes and just stare at her.

After a minute she finally breaks, "Look, the higher ups pick a witch, call them up, and tell them what they need them to do, so I don't know any details."

Not exactly the answer I was expecting but it did give me some useful information, I was about to ask Aspen who these 'higher ups' she mentioned were, when she stops the car.

"Okay, we're here."

I look to see where we are and I recognize the area, we were near the outskirts on the opposite side of town, but I don't recognize the house we're parked in front of.

"So, what now, what am I supposed to see?" I ask.

"Beats me." Aspen answers.

We both get out of the car a head toward the house.

"Wait a second." Aspen call out.

Digging into one of her pouches again, she takes out what seems to be some sort of powder, she pours a small handful and sprinkles it over me.

"What's this?" I ask.

"This will keep any wolves from picking up your scent, can't be too careful." She explains.

"What about you?"

"I put some on before I went to get you."

"How long does the effect last?"

"About a day or until you take a shower."

We continue up the walkway toward the house, there were no lights or sounds indicating anyone was home, reaching the house we try the front door and sure enough it wasn't locked. Opening the door and stepping inside we look around and see indicators that at one-point people lived here, but for whatever reason they seemed to have abandoned it. We search the first and second floor but find nothing. We head back downstairs and are about to leave when we hear what seems to be rumbling. Peeking through one of the windows we see dozens of werewolves running away from Crestwood. There were way too many for them to be all from one pack.

"Where are they all going?" Aspen asks.

"I don't know, they're not howling or in formation so don't think it's an attack."

Then I remembered what the Keira had told me yesterday about packs abandoning Crestwood, with one of them being a council member. The news must have spread, and now even more packs were leaving.

"This is bad I have to let my father know; Aspen I need-!"

The words die on my lips as I see the last wolf heading out with the others.

I run out of the house and call out to her, "Keira!"

She stops and turns; I could sense her shock and confusion at my being here.

"Keira what's going on where are you going?"

I take a step towards her, but she lets out a growl, and not a playful worrisome growl, but a low threatening growl that screamed stay back. I'm stunned by her reaction, I don't know what to do or say, I'm at a complete loss. Before I could think of something, Keira turns and runs off, following after all the other wolfs that just left.

Aspen, who had stayed hidden inside the house, comes out and asks, "What just happened?"

"I...I... I don't know." I respond.

But even as I said those words a part of me knew that wasn't entirely true, and I couldn't help but wonder.

Did Keira just abandon Crestwood, did she just abandon me?

Chapter Twenty-One

"Are you sure it was her?" Lucas asked.

"It was her." I responded.

Not knowing what else to do after my strange encounter with Keira, I had Aspen take me to my parent's house. Neither of us said a word on the ride there and when we finally did reach my parent's house all she could offer was a single apology before leaving. My family had luckily not gone on patrol tonight, so I was able to tell them everything that happened. We were currently in one of the family rooms on the second floor, my father was sitting opposite of me and my mother with Lucas was standing nearby.

"Maybe she didn't recognize you because of what that witch did. Even sitting here next you I can't smell you and it's a little confusing." My mother stated.

"No, she knew, I could feel her, and she could feel me." I responded somberly.

"What worries me, are the other wolves that left with her." My father thought out loud, his mind distracted by what this could mean for Crestwood."

"Mattias!" My mother shouted in a scolding tone.

My father is startled from his thoughts, immediately realizes his callous remark.

"Of course, I'm worried about you as well and I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation for alpha Keira's actions." My father quickly amended.

"It's okay dad, I'm fine. Look I'm exhausted, and I don't want to go back to that empty house, can I spend the night here?" I asked, feeling a little strange since this was a place, I called home just last week.

"Of course, you don't even have to ask." My mother stated.

"Thanks, I'm gonna pop in the shower real quick and wash off this stuff Aspen put on me."

"Ok, since your old room or rather the girls' room is still a bit smashed up, I'll get Shawn to ready one of the guest rooms for you."

"Thanks mom."

I get up and walk out into the hall and begin walking towards one of the bathrooms, as I get closer Linda walks out and hands me a folded up fresh towel."

"Thanks." I tell her.

"Of course." She replies with a soft smile. "There should still have some clothes here, I'll put some right outside the door for you."

"I appreciate it." I say with a soft smile in return.

Entering the bathroom, I quickly take off my clothes and jump in the shower. I was both physically and mentally tired from the stress of tonight's events, and the hot water running down my face and body helped to alleviate some of it if only for a moment. But a moment was all I got, no sooner did I start to feel better, than all the doubts and questions came pouring into my mind. I quickly finish up and get out, drying myself off with the towel Linda gave me, I open the bathroom door and check outside and just like she promised a small pile of folded clothes were waiting for me.

I quickly change and right as I finish there's a small knock on the bathroom door, it was Shawn telling me the guest room was ready. He leads me to a guest room on the same floor near the end of the hall, after making sure I didn't need anything else he dismisses himself by wishing me a goodnight which I return. I turn to go into the room when I hear the front door slam open and two sets of feet clamoring up the stairs.

Oh boy, here we go.

I turn and see both Alice and Cora dashing toward me, their nudity letting me know they were supposed to be on patrol. As they got closer, they showed no signs of slowing down.

"Woah, woah, woah!"

I put my arms out to try and stop Cora who was slightly ahead of Alice, but she completely ignores them and slams me into a hug. The only reason we both didn't fall to the floor was because Alice caught us in a hug of her own leaving me no choice but to hug them back. Before I couldn't utter a sound, Cora was already blubbering away.

"Caden, we are so sorry it's all our fault, we should have never left you behind. We didn't do our jobs and you got hurt, it's all our fault and we are so sorry."

While Cora kept blubbering away, Alice just kept saying sorry over and over again, neither one realizing that the group hug they have me in was beginning to cut off my air supply. I quickly start tapping their backs to make them realize I was suffocating, it takes them a moment, but they quickly realize and let me go.

"It’s not your fault, it would have happened if if you had been there. Nobody suspected Hannah, so believe me when I say it’s alright." I quickly tell them.

"We heard about what happened tonight, are you ok?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, take a look." I respond.

I lift my shirt up and show them the spot where the stab wound would've been.

"We're glad you’re all healed up, but that not what I was talking about, I'm asking if you okay?" Alice asked again.

I look at both Alice and Cora and I can see the worry in their eyes, but unlike with my parents I couldn't lie and just say I'm fine.

"Honestly, I...I... I don't know. I'm angry, sad, scared, and confused all at the same time. I just don't know." I say truthfully.

"Whatever you need we're here for you." Cora says.

"Thanks, I'm going to try and get some sleep I'll catch you guys in the morning."

I walk inside the guest and go to close the door only to find Alice and Cora come in after me.

"What are you guys doing?" I ask.

"Staying with you obviously." Cora responded.

"Guys I- "

"Caden don't even start, if you really think we're going to let you out of our sights after what happened with Hannah, then you are the stupidest man alive. So again, don't even start." Alice snapped.

"And what is my dad, your alpha going to say when he learns you guys left your patrol?" I counter.

"He already gave us the okay, not that it would have mattered." Alice responded.

"Really?" I said incredulously.

"Like I said before, your dad respects our oath to you and after recent events he respects it all the more." Alice answers back.

"Exactly, so go ahead and go to bed, and before you start with all that uppity male bullshit about you taking the floor and us taking the bed, just stop we'll be fine on the floor." Cora adds.

Before I could complain both Alice and Cora shift into their wolf forms, their massive sizes taking up half the room, and promptly lay down on the floor. Seeing there was no use in complaining, I give up and get into bed.

"We better pray Keira doesn't find out about this or she'll kill us." I comment before getting under the covers.

The girls both let out a huff, and I could tell it was them chuckling. By mentioning Keira's name thoughts of her plagued my mind. I close my eyes and try with all my might to somehow call out to her, to please connect us through a dream. But nothing happens my human mind hindering me from calling out to my own mate, and so I sleep a dreamless sleep.

The next morning my parents allow me to forego school given the circumstances. We were all having breakfast in the dining room, Daniella and the girls now permanent members, when my dad brings us news.

"I finally got word from my contact in Demetri's group, he couldn't say much other than Demetri has made contact with the White Moon pack, and they plan to make their move tomorrow night." My father said in a calm voice.

"This can't be a coincidence; they finally start moving only after we just lost one of our strongest fighting forces." Charles speculates out loud.

He was talking about Keira; he didn't say her name, but I knew he was referring to her.

"We still don't know if that's really the case so we shouldn't jump to any conclusions." Selene quickly adds while looking at me.

I appreciated Selene's subtle attempt at assuaging my worst fear.

"Unfortunately, that not even the bad news." Claire chimes in. "Me, Alice, and Cora have been poking around and found that all the packs that have left so far including the ones from last night, but not counting Keira's, all have past ties to Demetri and his pack."

This was bad very bad.

"Even the Council pack that left?" I ask.

I look at the girls and they just nod with grim expressions on their faces.

"Dad if that's the case, he could have told Demetri about your spy and-"

My father raises his hand signaling everyone to stop.

"Calm down, I've only told the council members I trust the most about my spy, and alpha Rodrick wasn't one of them precisely because of his past interactions with Demetri. So, we don't have to worry about that, what we do have to worry about is that Rodrick was around for the initial planning stages of our defensive formations and counter measures against the White Moon pack." My father calmly explained.

"We could still be jumping the gun here; we don't know for sure that these packs are going to help Demetri." Selene reaffirmed adamantly.

"True, unlike Demetri, something would have had to drastically change for those packs to willing offer themselves up to the White Moon pack." Charles reasoned.

"Regardless, I've asked the remaining alphas and council members for an emergency meeting, I'm going to inform them of the news and the loss of manpower. Hopefully with the threat just around the corner they'll stop fighting each other and start working together." My father said in an exasperated tone.

After breakfast I had the girls take me to Keira's place, it didn't feel right calling it home without her there. A part of me had hoped that she had come back and that she was there waiting for me, but as we pulled up, we found it just as empty as last night. I ask the girls to wait downstairs as I go up to mine and Keira's room to grab my phone, I had forgotten to take it with me last night when I left with Aspen. Again, as I reach our room and see my phone on the nightstand a part of me hopes that Keira has left me some sort of message. But again, I'm just left with disappointment, not a single new message, not even from Pete. Thinking about Pete reminded me of my deal with Aspen last night. Wanting to stay true to my word I send Pete a quick message informing him I saw Aspen last night and that she might not be as bad as we think. I'm about to leave when I spot an envelope with my name on it sitting on top of Keira's dresser. I get closer and recognize the handwriting is Keira's. My hands shake as I grab the envelope and take out the letter inside.

Dear Caden, please forgive me but this was the only way I can think of to not make you have to choose between me and your family.

Please believe me when I say I love you and I'm doing this for you.

Yours' Forever, Keira

Not really the comforting answer I was hoping for, basically it's my fault we're not together. If I hadn't made such a big deal about my family and how much they mean to me I would be with Keira right now.

A part of me is stunned by the revelation that I would have given up my family for Keira, I didn't even notice I was crying till the tears started hitting the letter, damn this mating bond. I quickly wipe away my tears and gather myself, this was also a good thing; her leaving me here has got to mean Keira believes we at least have a chance at beating the White Moon pack. I fold the letter back up and put it in my pocket and call out to the girls that I'm ready to leave.

After getting back I spend the rest of the day with James getting the clinic ready and making sure we're prepared for worst. I don't tell anyone about the letter, not even the girls, it would only cause them to worry, and they needed to focus on fight to come. By the time we finished it was already nighttime, we headed up to the main house where the rest of the pack was already waiting. Tonight, the pack was having a party, for some it might even be their last party. Usually, the party is kept private and only for the pack, but this time my father extended an invitation to Daniella's father and his pack. Thankfully, his pack are relatively good wolves, and we end up getting along just fine except for one guy who seems to hang back and away from everyone. I had to order Alice and Cora to give me some space and enjoy the party, but instead they decided to join the first shift of patrols so that some of the others could enjoy the party first. I understood their overprotectiveness considering what happened with Hannah, but they were beginning to suffocate me.

I was sitting out back staring out toward the lake alone thinking about Keira when Daniella's father, Ray, comes and sits next to me.

Like me Ray stares out toward the lake as he begins to talk, "I heard about what happened between you and your mate, I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Ray takes a sip of beer form the glass bottle he was holding in one hand and offers me an unopened one with the other. I don't particularly like beer or any alcohol for that matter but decide 'fuck it' and take the bottle. I twist off the cap and take a sip and I grimace at the taste, it was awful, and I hated it, but somehow it seemed to match how I was feeling at the moment.

"Big day tomorrow." I say, taking another sip and grimacing at the taste.

"Yep." Ray responded, popping the p at the end.

"You think we'll be okay?"

Ray sighs, "Possibly, don't get me wrong your dad is one smart wolf and he's doing his best to keep all the other alphas including your council in line, but it’s an uphill battle. One he might find himself climbing while trying to deal with the White Moon pack." He said, taking a sip of his own beer.

Not the most reassuring sentiment, but not at all unexpected.

"I'd feel a lot better if we had that mate of yours, I still can't believe she's gone, she just didn't seem the type to turn tail and run. Her father Tom would have stayed and fought; he was a good alpha." Ray repeated somberly.

Hearing Ray call Keira's father a good alpha after hearing what he did to her growing up made me angry.

"Keira's father was not a good alpha or even a good wolf, him and his pack were a bunch of religious zealots who enjoyed torturing Keira and I'm glad he's dead!" I spit out, unable to hold back my anger for Keira's sake.

"What are you talking about?" Ray asks.

"Keira's father." I reply.

"Look, I don't know anything about him abusing his own child, but I'm positive he wasn't a religious zealot." Ray stated, assure of himself.

"How?" I ask.

"Because he was an atheist, it was one of the few things we knew about him." Ray answered.

"What? No, he had to have been lying, trying to hide it." I state, confused by this new information.

"It didn't seem like he was at the time, but if what you said before is true, then he had us all fooled." Ray admitted.

Ray seemed certain that Tom was an atheist, but he couldn't have been, why would Keira make something like that up?

A howl breaks out and both me and Ray go stiff, they're coming, wolves and a lot of them. We head back inside; everyone was on high alert.

"Are the girls, okay?" Is the first thing ask my father.

"The patrols are fine, they're headed back this way, but they're saying that we're surrounded." My father informs us.

"Alpha, none of the phones are working." One of Ray's pack members call out.

I take out my phone and check it, full bars but no signal.

"A signal jammer?! What kind of sci-fi military bullshit is this, and where would werewolves even get this sort of thing?" I ask to no one in particular.

"How many of us?" Ray asks.

"With both yours and mine, thirty-six." My father answers.

"How many of them?"

"Around forty."

"Is it the White Moon pack, I thought your spy said they were making their move tomorrow night?" I ask my father.

"So, they either suddenly changed their plans, or they purposely fed your spy false info." Ray theorized.

Just then the power goes out.

My father and Ray look at each other and nod in silent agreement, and just like that everyone files outside and shift into their wolf forms, readying for what to come.

My father turns to me, "Caden, I want you to stick close to Alice and Cora when they get here, but for now stay close to your brother and Noel."

"Okay, let me go grab my dagger from the room." I respond.

I'm about to go up the stairs when someone grabs my arm and stops me, it was Ray's pack member, the one who kept to himself during the party.

"Sorry about this." He says, before grabbing me from behind and putting his hand on my throat.

My father immediately turns towards Ray, a furious expression etched on his face.

"What the hell are you doing Blackwood, tell him to let go of my on now!" My father snarls.

"Me?! I thought he was one of yours?!" Ray snaps back.

That's when all three of us realize the truth, this wolf purposely snuck in during the party knowing neither pack knew each other yet.

"Who are you?" My father questions, ready to strike the moment an opportunity arises.

"I'm the guy who'll tear out your son throat if you and Blackwood don't do as I say." The man replies.

He orders them to go outside and slowly follows afterward, stepping outside the patrols have we see the patrols just getting back. When Alice and Cora see the man holding me, they fly off into a rage, but my father stops them knowing that one wrong move and I'm dead.

"Tell everyone to shift back into human form." The man orders."

My father and Ray say nothing, but everyone shifts back. As if on cue a group of about forty wolves emerge and surround everyone. I recognize most of them; they're the packs that left Crestwood, but I don't see any of the ones I saw last night with Keira. Damn it, so they really were siding with Demetri.

"Show yourself Rodrick, I know Demetri isn't smart enough to come up with this on his own." My father calls out.

The circle of wolves in front of us opens and allowing a wolf through, but it wasn't alpha Rodrick, it was large white wolf.

"Keira?!" I call out in shock.

My mind started racing, but as the wolf gets closer, I quickly realize it wasn't Keira. It was smaller than Keira and its fur was more grey than white, but the biggest give away was that this wolf was clearly a male. From behind him two more wolves come out, one I quickly recognize as alpha Rodrick, and the other was a smaller wolf recognize but I couldn't remember from where. The smaller wolf tosses something from its mouth to my father's feet, it was Demetri's head, judging by the freshness of the blood on the smaller wolf's mouth it must have just killed him not too long ago. Everyone but my father seemed surprised by Demetri's death, myself included, but now the question becomes what's next.

The smaller wolf walks towards me and that's when I remember where I'd seen it before. During Cole's party, after Keira had killed him, this was the smaller wolf that Keira had kicked away. She stares at me, and I just stare back refusing to show any fear, she shifts into her human form.

"Hannah." I practically spit.

Behind her Rodrick and the greyish white wolf also shift into human form.

"Why, kill Demetri?" I ask Hannah, trying to buy time to think of something.

"Because he was an idiot that kept getting in the way." Hannah answers.

"So, you and Rodrick get him to do all the work and then kill him off, not exactly original." I mock.

"Oh, please Demetri didn't do shit this was all me." Hannah protested.

"So, your taking orders from a little girl now Rodrick?" My father, following my idea, mocks Rodrick.

But unlike Hannah, Rodrick doesn't bite, and just snarls at my father.

"Dad, come on, they're the White Moon's bitches now, treat them with a little respect."

Hannah raises her hand to slap me, but stops and just starts laughing, with Rodrick and the other male joining in.

"I don't know what's funnier your fake courage or your stupidity. News flash guys, there is no White Moon pack." Hannah announces.

Everyone is surprised and confused by this sudden revelation.

"Then who is that?" My father asks, pointing at the other male.

"This is alpha Talon of the Talon pack." Rodrick answered with a smile.

"Sorry, I misspoke, there is a White Moon pack, but they were never here in Crestwood. Alpha Talon here and his pack members are thieves. They've been going around pretending to be the White Moon pack and stealing everything the scared packs leave behind." Hannah clarifies.

"But their pack attacked and kidnapped so many that during that first attack." Ray called out.

"Mercenaries, one of the same ones I hired to kill Caden." Hannah answers.

The realization hit me like a ton of bricks, Pete was right, their actions didn't make any sense until now.

"So, you were the one that stole Demetri's hidden stash." I look toward Hannah. "I'm guessing that beside hiring those mercenaries to kill me, you used what was left to hire these packs into spreading fear and panic within the community hoping to get them to turn tail and run." I infer.

"Unfortunately, you Mattias were doing too good of a job of keeping the packs unified and none of them were leaving." Rodrick inserted.

"So, you and the other packs left hoping y our status as a council member would cause a panic." My father inferred. "But that means you must have known truth for a while now."

"Yes, I have the girl to thank for that." Rodrick replied.

"I went to find the White Moon pack the day after Cole was killed, hoping to get them in helping me with my revenge, but instead I found alpha Talon. I knew Demetri would be useless, so I went to Rodrick after the community meeting." Hannah explained.

"That's when we decided to use Talon and his packs ploy to further our own goal. You see I want what you have Mattias, I want to rule Crestwood." Hammond tells my father.

"I don't rule Crestwood, the council- "

"Oh spare me Mattias, everyone knows that out of all the council members you hold the most sway. Just look at the evidence, even with all the fear and panic you've still managed to keep the council and all the other packs in line. Can you honestly say that without you the council and the other packs wouldn't have imploded by now?" Hammond questions.

"I never wanted or asked for that." My father snaps.

"But you do have it and I want it, and once everyone hears that I saved Crestwood from the White Moon pack I will have it, but sadly I was too late to save you and alpha Blackwood." Rodrick says feigning sadness.

"So why aren't we dead yet?" Ray barks out.

Talon walks up to Ray and smiles, "Alpha Rodrick here says the Silverblood pack is the richest pack in all of Crestwood, and I find that rather interesting, especially since all this took quite a bit of money to pull off in the first place. But don't worry I'm an equal opportunity thief you'll get your fair shakedown yourself Blackwood."

"And you Hannah?" I ask Hannah.

"Simple, I want revenge against Keira." She answers.

"Keira, why Keira?"

"Because she killed Cole, my mate."

Chapter Twenty-Two

I was stunned, I struggled to comprehend what Hannah just said.

"You're not even of age, how could you possibly know that Cole was your mate?" I questioned.

Hannah scoffs, "I've always known he was my mate; I could sense our bond ever sense we were kids, I tried telling Cole, but he wouldn't listen. That's when I started getting closer to you, I had hoped his hatred of you would jump start his feelings for me when he saw us together."

Even though I no longer felt anything towards Hannah, it still hurt to hear that our entire friendship was based on her trying to make Cole jealous.

"When that didn't work, I decided to just wait until he became of age. But even then, on the day of his party, I tried to get him to accept me as his mate, but he still wouldn't admit it." Hannah fumed out.

I was shocked; had Hannah always been this crazy?

"And then your bitch of a mate had to go and kill him before we could ever get the chance to be together!" Hannah exclaimed in a sad voice.

I began to pity Hannah, and hoped that she really had been Cole's mate, at least then there'd be a reason to her madness.

Alpha Rodrick steps in, "Enough, it's time to ends things."

Rodrick hands Hannah a silver dagger which she grabs and holds toward me. I look over at Rodrick and anger grips me as I see the murderous gleam in his eyes as he looks down at my family.

"I was hoping to kill Keira, but we never expected her to be the type to run. By now the two packs that left with her last night have already led her into an ambush. So, I'll just have to settle with killing her mate like she did mine." Hannah says with a smile, her voice becoming more and more crazed as she spoke.

My anger turns into rage at the thought of Keira being led into an ambush.

"Don't worry, unlike Keira I'll make this quick." Hannah says still smiling.

As Hannah steps towards me I should have felt scared, but I wasn't, in fact I smiled because all I could feel was rage. A pure rage I had only felt once before, a pure rage that wasn't entirely my own.

At that moment the hands that were holding me hostage just a second ago go limp and the sensation of warm blood running down my back has me shaking them off. I glance down at the body and see a hand shaped hole in the back base of his skull severing his nerves and spinal column. Soon after, a second pair of arms wrap themselves around me but unlike the first these arms are warm and possessive.

"Keira." I say in relief, letting myself fall into her arms.

"Sorry I'm late." She whispers in my ear.

Keira's sudden appearance left stunned expressions on everyone's faces. My father was the first to recover, seeing I was free, he explodes into his wolf form and charges toward Rodrick. And then all hell breaks loose, following my father's lead everyone else also shift and begin to attack. Two of Rodrick's pack members try to intercept my father, but my mother being slightly faster than my father breaks out ahead of him and manages to knock them both away, giving my father a straight shot to Rodrick. Alice and Cora immediately run over to me and Keira and focus on covering her back. Lucas, Daniella, and Noel begin to move as a team around the field taking out and distracting as many wolves as they can. Charles joins my mother in covering my father, while Selene and the others form a protective circle around the twins and three other children from the Blackwood pack. Blackwood himself goes after Talon, while the rest of his pack split into teams and follow Lucas, Daniella, and Noel's lead.

While all this is going on Keira and Hannah never take their eyes off each other, and I dare not move. In any other situation Keira would have already dealt with Hannah by now, but after seeing Keira, Hannah 's hatred of her seems to have unhinged her mind. Hannah also still had the silver dagger in her hand, people with nothing to lose are not to be taken lightly.

"I'm surprised to see you came alone." Hannah taunts.

"Fortunately for you I had to leave my pack behind as insurance." Keira responds unfazed.

Keira's statement confuses me, and for a moment a look of confusion passes over Hannah's face as well, but she quickly recovers and shrugs the statement aside.

Bam!

Before I knew what had happened, Keira had body checked Hannah hard enough to launch her tumbling to the ground. The sudden hit caused Hannah to lose her grip on the dagger, sending it flying into the air and then landing just a few feet away from me. I go and quickly grab the dagger off the ground, giving me some way of protecting myself. I turn and see Alice and Cora using their impeccable coordination to get the two wolves they were fighting to run into each other and get into each other's way. Though bigger, the two wolves were clearly uncoordinated and seemed to have no training whatsoever. Having relied solely on their brute strength till now. Frustrated the two wolves start growling at each other, distracted they don't notice Alice using Cora as a springboard to jump behind them, surprising them. As she lands, Alice uses her hind legs to kick the wolf closest to her in the head as he turns towards her. Distracted by the sound of his partner's skull cracking, the wolf doesn't see Cora close the distance between them and use her hind legs to knock him into his partner knocking them both to the ground. Before they could get up and recover, Alice and Cora pounce and begin to tear into them, blood splattering all over their fur as blood pours from their mouths.

This surprised me as the girls usually killed their opponents more cleanly than this. Once they were satisfied the girls quickly rush over to my side to watch over and defend me. Keira glances back at them and gives them a nod, as if to tell them good job, before fixing her gaze back on to Hannah.

"You stabbed Caden, so don't expect this to be quick." Keira states.

Hannah smiles, "I never thought it would be. You alphas are all the same, you have this biological need to show off your superiority. It's the reason I had to have a backup plan in case Rodrick and Talon decided to screw me over."

To our surprise ten wolves run out from the woods behind Hannah and charge towards Keira, she barley manages to shift into her wolf form before the wolves start piling on top of her. I quickly run to try and help Keira, but Cora grabs the back of my shirt with her teeth and pulls me back just as three wolves jump in my way. I go into a defense position with the dagger in front of me while Alice and Cora get in front of me. But the three wolves didn't attack, they kept their distance and blocked us from getting to Keira, while the other seven and Hannah continued to gang up on her. These wolves had to be one of the mercenary packs Hannah mentioned before, they were highly skilled, much better than the ones sent to kill me. But even still Keira was holding her own, for every bite, kick, and scratch she received the attacker would receive as well.

Still at this rate she wouldn't last long, red blotches of blood were appearing all over her white fur, I look around for help, but my family and the others were still fighting their own battles. Even though the fight began with them outnumbered my family and the Blackwood pack quickly closed the gap and were now in a stalemate. And judging by the way the three wolves kept watching us, they were ready to block any attempts at helping my family as well.

Dammit, what do I do, I can't help Keira or my family!

A feeling of self-loathing I hadn't felt in a long time began to fill my chest; it was times like these that I hated being human.

I felt a sudden sharp pang of anger directed towards me.

It was Keira, even under constant attack she was still able to sense my self-loathing and was not happy about it. For the briefest of moments our eyes lock, and I could practically hear her yelling at me to stop being stupid, and it made me laugh.

I quickly shake the negative thought out of my head and focus on what to do.

Then it hits me, I meant nothing to these wolves, even with the dagger I was only a weak human in their eyes. My mind flashes back to the night of the last attack and how I managed to surprise and wound the wolf long enough for Daniella to come. Lucas and Noel always said that the element of surprise was my best asset when fighting, but unlike in training I wasn't alone.

I calmly step forward, sensing my determination the girls don't try to stop me. Without looking back at the girls, I say one simple command, "Go."

The girls hesitate for only a second before shooting out towards the guards blocking us. Alice goes left while Cora goes right to split up the wolves, two go after Alice while one goes after Cora, just like I figured not one of them spared me a glance. None of them considered me a human a threat, so none of them saw as I ran toward one of the wolves attacking Alice and quickly stab the dagger into the wolf's side, causing him to yelp out in pain. Not giving it time to recover; I grab a portion of its fur with my free hand and use it as leverage to jump up high enough to bring the dagger down on the back of the wolf's head for a quick clean kill.

The wolf slumps to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut, as I pull the dagger out my hand shakes slightly. I have seen others kill or be killed and have helped in the past, but this was my first time killing an actual werewolf directly.

Having lost its advantage, Alice is able to quickly outmaneuver the second wolf and takes it back and then its throat. I look over to check on Cora but having had to deal with only one wolf to begin with, she like Alice, makes quick work of the wolf and runs over to join us.

The girls look over at the dead wolf I killed and then over to me, I could sense their surprise as I look over to my family and then Keira.

"C'mon let's go." I state.

Without hesitation Cora leans down, I quickly jump on her back, and then the three of us head toward Keira.

As we reach Keira none of the wolves fighting notice us coming, they were so focused on not giving Keira a moment to rest that they hadn't even noticed that we killed the three sent to block us. I jump off Cora's back and onto one of the wolves attacking Keira, and quickly bring the dagger down on its head before it could shake me off. From the corner of my eye, I see both Alice and Cora take down two other wolves. The remaining four mercenaries and Hannah stop attacking and look over at us, stunned expressions on their wolfen faces, seizing the opportunity Keira jumps back to catch her breath.

I run over to Keira and check on her, she was visibly exhausted, and her beautiful white fur was soaked in blood. I hear a few loud snarls and yelps of pain coming from where my family was fighting, I face the five wolves attacking my mate and ready myself with dagger in hand.

"Alice, Cora go help my family!"

They both give Keira a small nod before running off to help my family. I was surprised to see them comply so easily, their trust in Keira seemed to reflect Keira's trust in them.

Despite Keira being exhausted and us being outnumbered, I wasn't afraid. Keira leans her large wolf head against my chest and pushes me back. I could feel Keira's calm and confidence and it seems to bolster my own. Hannah and the mercenaries snarl with anger and hatred in their eyes, but also fear. They've lost half of their fighting force and they've also lost their biggest advantage of keeping Keira pressured. They were clearly no longer confident that they could win this fight. Hannah barks something out, prompting the mercenaries to begin their attack on Keira again.

As they come in close, I feel Keira release her aura, the mercenaries are immediately affected by it with their movements becoming sluggish. Before, the eight wolves had to work together to suppress Keira's aura with their own, but now with fewer numbers their auras couldn't match hers.

Keira shoots out from beside me like a bullet from a gun and makes quick work of one of the mercenaries leaving only three left. Hannah quickly runs over to join the mercenaries as if thinking her being there would make a difference, but no. No longer outnumbered and pressured like before, they couldn't even touch Keira, she danced around them like a ghost.

I was a bit sad that my hero moment had already come and gone, but the feeling quickly went away as I stood in awe of Keira and her fight with Hannah and the other wolves. They had clearly lost their composure and coordination as Keira kept leading them into each other and took them out one by one until only Hannah was left.

I hear a rustling of leaves behind me; turning around I see that it's my family, the fighting on their end had finished. I look over and see both Talon and Rodrick dead, though not unscathed our side had managed no deaths. My parents rub their large wolf heads against me in a show of affection, they were clearly glad that I was okay. We watch as Keira continues to dodge Hannah's attacks that have now become wild and clumsy. Having grown tired Hannah shifts back into her human form and surprisingly Keira does as well.

"It’s not fair!!" Hannah screeches.

Hannah attacks Keira in human form and is surprisingly a better fighter in human form than in wolf form. She manages to land a few blows on Keira and push her back slightly, but Keira quickly pushes back showing she's just as capable in human form as well. It was evident that Keira was purposely matching Hannah's speed and strength to make this a battle of skill. After a few more exchanges Keira proves to be the superior fighter, deflecting one of Hannah's punches and then landing a one two punch before knocking her to the ground with a series of kicks.

Keira goes over to Hannah and picks her up from behind with her arm around her neck.

"I understand your reason for wanting to kill me, but you shouldn't have touched my mate." Keira says, snapping Hannah's neck.

Keira shifts back into her wolf form and lets out a howl of victory prompting everyone to do the same including myself. After we're done, I examine my family and the other pack members; some of them were in rough shape. Some of the broken bones sustained while fighting have healed wrong and needed to be rebroken to set right. I go over to Keira to check on her, as I approach, she shifts back into her human form and pulls me into her arms and kisses me passionately. I could taste the blood on her lips, some of it hers and some of it not, but I didn't care, she was back, and I was happy to see her.

Keira breaks the kiss as growls break out among the wolves, as an unknown wolf in human form approaches from the woods.

My family was already getting into defensive positions when Keira stops them.

"Wait, he's not an enemy." Keira calls out.

The man lazily puts his hands up to show he meant no harm. He wore a jean jacket with a white shirt underneath and blue jean with black loafers.

"He's the reason I left, or more precisely he's what I left to find." Keira continues.

The man stops when he reaches us."

"Hi yawl my name is Zero and I'm from the White Moon pack, and I think we need to have a chat about the future of this town."

Chapter Twenty-Three

No one said a word, the wolf named Zero just stood there waiting for someone to respond but no one did we all just stood there flummoxed by the sudden proclamation. I peek up at Keira who was still holding me in her arms, her face was the same cold unemotional mask from before. Not wanting to get in her way, I try to move away from her. But without looking down, Keira just tightens her grip around me.

After a few more beats of silence, Blackwood was the one to finally speak out.

"We just got done dealing with a pack pretending to be the White Moon pack, so you'll forgive us for not exactly putting much stock in what you just claimed." Blackwood said in a gruff voice.

Zero smiled, "Yeah, I got the gist of it from the Alpha there." He nodded toward Keira. "If you're wanting verification, just ask her."

"He was there when my father died." Keira answers in a cold unemotional tone without looking away.

Hearing this had me confused, I had assumed that Keira's pack had been attacked by Talon and his pack? But if Keira's pack was attacked by the real White Moon pack, why would-

I mentally shake my head and I push those thoughts back, now wasn't the time or place.

"Now that that's settled let's get down to business." Zero says as he puts on a lazy smile. "As you can see, I came alone and before you ask, no, I'm not the Alpha. Unfortunately, our Alpha is currently dealing with...a certain situation and couldn't come."

Keira turns to my father and Blackwood, "I left my pack behind to help and as a sign of good faith."

Everyone was a bit stunned by this, an Alpha leaving their pack to someone outside the pack, even momentarily, was dangerous and a sign of absolute trust. Given Keira's personality it was even more shocking that she volunteered it.

"What is it your Alpha wants?" My father asks.

"Simple, from now on Crestwood and all the packs within, belong to the White Moon pack." Zero says with another lazy smile.

Everyone pretty much expected him to say that, but it didn't stop some from murmuring their disapproval and other from straight up growling. But just as quickly as it started it also stopped, most likely both my father and Blackwood told them to quiet down through their mental links.

"Now, now, before you all get upset let me explain. Technically nothing here would change, your packs and your land will all stay the same. The only difference would be that one pack we designate as our representative will be in charge of keeping an open line of communication with us in case either side needs anything." Zero explains.

"That's all?" My father asks, unable to hide his confusion.

"Yep." Zero replies.

"Why not just put them in charge of everything?" My father questions.

"Well that usually depends on the pack chosen, and something tells me that she would just find running all of this a hassle." Zero says and looks over at Keira.

"That's not- " Keira began, but Zero interrupts.

"Yes, we know you recommended we make Silverblood the one, but we chose you." Zero says with a tone of finality.

I could hear a low growl building in Keira's chest, I look up and see the cold unemotional mask from before was gone, replaced with an angry glare and her lips peeling back over her teeth.

Oh, oh that's not good, I get ready to calm Keira down when my father calls out.

"That's fine, and I'll make sure the council understands."

"No." Keira call out. "If I'm going to be the representative, then I don't want to have to deal with a council, it's time for you to step up and take command Silverblood."

My father audibly sighs, he looked like someone who was just given an annoying task, it made me want to almost laugh.

"If it helps, just say it was one of our conditions for not coming through and killing you all." Zero says with a tone that was only half joking.

Instantly the air become serious again and growls broke out, but just like before with just a look from Blackwood and my father, it stops. Keira on the other hand was absolutely furious, her whole body was vibrating, my arms tighten around her, and I begin to rub her back with my hand to calm her down.

Both my father and Blackwood fix Zero with a hard glare.

"I suggest you watch you say, because there are quite a few packs here in Crestwood who are willing to fight to the death, mine included." My father threatens.

"And if did come to that, remember that you are alone." Blackwood adds with a lazy smile of his own.

Zero eyes harden and the smile on his face falters. After a few tense moments, Blackwood was the one to finally break the silence.

"You taking charge may be for the best Mattias." Blackwood states, patting my father on the shoulder.

My father looks over to Blackwood and then over to my mother who had entwined her hand with his. Looking up at him she gives him a small smile and nods.

My father lets out another sigh, "Fine, from now on I'll oversee Crestwood and all the packs within. But if any of the packs want to leave, I will not stop them nor will I force them to stay."

It was a nice sentiment, but realistically most of the packs in Crestwood wouldn't want to leave just because of the change in leadership. As long as their territory was still theirs and no strict rules where imposed, which I doubt my father would do, very few packs if any will try to leave.

"Well alright then, I guess I'll just leave you folks to eat." Zero says with another smile, before turning and leaving.

Once Zero was gone, a collective sigh of relief was felt by everyone.

"Caden! Come on, we got work to do." James calls out.

Despite the situation I was happy to finally be of some real use, and I quickly go about helping James check on everyone. My family and the girls also helped by bringing us whatever we needed from James's house. Even Keira chipped in, holding down the wolves whose bones had healed improperly and had to be re-broken to set right.

As strange as it was, I was relieved with everything that had happened. With this, Crestwood and my family would now be safe, and with my father in charge I could only see Crestwood prospering.

As I finish resetting the last bone in one of Blackwood's wolves I look over at Keira, I was relieved and overjoyed that she was back. But at the same time, I felt a pang of something I couldn't quite put my finger on. As James and I continue our work the feeling keeps growing and growing.

Anxious to get me home, Keira declined celebrating our victory over Rodrick, Talon, and Hannah as James and I cleared the last few wolves. As I say my goodbyes to my family, my father tells me that he is sending Alice and Cora to join Keira's pack so that they could continue to act as my bodyguards whenever she is unable. It was at that moment I realized what the feeling growing inside me was, I was angry, angry at Keira. Looking back over to her, I see her talking to Alice and Cora, the three of them sharing in their new comradery. After their done Keira shifts into her wolf form and waits for me to get on.

I walk over to Alice and Cora, "Are you guys going to follows us home?" I ask.

"No, we're going to hang back and celebrate for a bit." Cora replies.

"We are?" Alice asks back confused.

To which Cora nudges her with her elbow.

"Guys, you don't need to make up an excuse, Keira asked you to give us some alone time." I say with a chuckle.

They both then proceed to give me a hug, which given their naked bodies, had me ready to defend them from Keira. But surprisingly she didn't show any signs of hostility or make a sound of displeasure.

Where did this newfound trust come from?

I give them my goodbyes and then jump on Keira's back and hold on tightly as she shoots off towards home. As we head home, I try to make sense of my feelings, as happy as I was that Keira was back, I also felt this anger towards her.

When we reach the house, I jump off Keira's back as she shifts back into human form.

"I'm going to go ahead and shower first." I tell her.

I needed some more time to process my feelings.

"Since we're the only ones here I'll just use one of the spare bathrooms." Keira answers back.

I quickly head inside and upstairs to our room where I quickly peel of my clothes which were covered in blood, sweat, and dirt. I jump into the shower and start cleaning the blood off my neck and back. The warm water helping to calm my erratic thoughts.

Why didn't she just tell me her plan, I get her not wanting to force me to choose between her and my family, but it was still my choice, and it was one I needed to make.

I think back at the trust she showed Alice and Cora.

Why couldn't she have trusted me to choose her?

"Stop it." I growl to myself, slamming the side of my fist against the shower wall,

Those were just excuses; the simple fact is I'm just angry at her for leaving. I didn't care about all that other stuff. I'm just angry at the fact that she left, I know it's stupid and petty given everything that's happened, but I just can't help it.

I focus on the warm water cascading down my body and take a few deep breaths, my muscles begin to relax and the soreness I was feeling just moments ago begins to fade.

She's back and she's here with me, I just need to focus on that.

I hear the bathroom door slam open and the next thing I know Keira is pinning me to the shower wall, the cool tile sends a chill down my spine.

"I can't hold back any longer." Keira states breathlessly as she runs her teeth along my jaw.

Keira then kisses me with the same intensity as someone who has just gone days without water in a desert finally finding an oasis. I grab onto her; afraid I'll be devoured otherwise. Her body was already slick and wet, she must have come straight from the other shower to this one. She grabs the back of my head and pulls it back, giving her better access to my mouth. Slipping her tongue into my mouth she begins to reexplore it with fervor. I moan into her mouth, which excites her even more making her increases the intensity. My whole body seemed to come to life the moment Keira grabbed me. It yearns for her touch even though it’s only been a little more than a day since we were last together.

Keira breaks the kiss and turns us so that the water from the shower head was now hitting the back of my legs.

"Get on your knees." Keira says in a sultry voice as she runs her thumb down my neck.

Her tone sends another shiver down my spine and straight to my already hardened member, causing it to ache with need. I look up at her and see her eyes were glowing and clouded with need.

"I said ON. YOUR. KNEES." Keira demanded with the same sultry tone as before.

There was no aura behind her words, but I still felt compelled to do as she says. An audible gulp escapes my lips as I slowly lower myself onto my knees, our eyes never breaking contact. As the warm water hits my back, Keira lifts up one of her legs and places it over my shoulder, giving me full access to her already glistening velvet folds. But I don't start there right away, instead I start peppering kisses along the inner thigh wrapped around my shoulder.

Keira let's out a hiss of pleasure and anticipation.

I continue the trail of kisses all the way across to her waiting core, but even then, I only continue to place gentle kisses along her velvet folds, with only the briefest of flicks from my tongue.

Keira lets out another hiss of pleasure followed by a growl of frustration.

With that I finally move on to the main course, the moment lips reach her core, Keira lets out a shaky breath and places her hand on the shower wall to steady herself. I give her clit a deep long kiss, using my tongue to draw small circles around it. I then procced to gently suck and nibble on it, causing Keira to shake slightly. Unable to hold back, Keira grabs my head and holds it steady as she begins to move her hips against my mouth.

"Look at me." Keira whispers in a low growl.

I strain to look up at Keira as she continues to hold my head, as our eyes meet, she procced to move slower but harder against my mouth. Her eyes never leaving mine, increasing her pleasure which in turn increases my own. I feel Keira muscles begin to tighten, and after a few more long and deep gyrations, her head falls back as she cries out in pleasure. As Keira climaxes I hear a loud crack come from the shower wall but am unable to see what it was since Keira was still holding my head. Keira's body begins to slightly shake as she comes down from her orgasm, I use my arms to help keep her steady. After a few seconds pass the shaking stops and Keira's hold on my head loosens. She looks down at me and begins to gently run her fingers through my hair, a look of pure satisfaction across her face. But the look is soon replaced with one of hunger again, she was by no means done with me.

Keira lifts her leg off my shoulder and helps me to my feet; I look over at the shower wall and see a hand shaped crack in the exact spot Keira had placed her hand to steady herself. I look back at Keira, but she wasn't looking at me she, was looking down at my aching member and biting her lower lip in anticipation. Keira reaches past me and turns off the shower, grabbing my hand she leads me out of the shower and into our room grabbing two towels on the way out. She hands me one of the towels and we quickly dry ourselves as best we can. I was almost done when Keira grabs me and presses her lips against mine. I don't even realize we're moving until I feel the foot of the bed hit the back of my legs. Keira stops and looks at me with such love that my heart aches.

"I missed this." Keira states.

And just like that, all the anger I had been feeling before came rushing back to the surface.

"Then why'd you leave." I snap back.

Before Keira could answer I switch our positions and push her onto the bed.

"Get on your stomach." I growl.

Still surprised by my sudden shift in attitude Keira doesn't move right away so I grab and flip her over myself. Unsure if it was instinct or if she finally realized my intent Keira lifts hips towards me. Either way I gladly grab hold with one hand as I position myself at her entrance with the other. Then without warning or remorse I thrust myself into her, causing her to gasp and suck in a shaky breath. Using all my pent-up anger I begin fucking Keira relentlessly, Keira lets out a cry of pleasure and begins moving her hips in time with my thrusts.

Again, I knew I was being stupid, her reason for leaving made sense, and leaving me behind was also the best way to keep me safe, but dammit it still hurt. I spent a whole day thinking she had left for good, even now just thinking about it know made my heart ache. Through our mating bond I can feel Keira urging me on to keep going and let out all the anger, she was ready to accept all of it. So, I do just that, I poured every ounce of anger and pain I felt from her leaving into every thrust.

Keira moans and cries out with every thrust; her nails begin to tear through the sheets. I then slow down before stopping completely.

"Move your hips." I tell Keira.

She slowly starts moving her hip on her own and then quickly picks up speed. While she's doing that, I run my fingers up and down her back. I feel Keira tighten around me, her release was close and mine wasn't far off either. I stop Keira and flip her over, her face was flush, and her breathing was heavy. As I look at her, all the anger and pain I had felt moments ago melts away, none of it mattering anymore, all I felt now was my overwhelming love for her. I begin to make sweet gentle love to Keira, every thrust now slow and deep. Keira wraps her arms around me and pulls me in for a long deep kiss, and just like that we both go over the edge together.

I slowly get up and look down at Keira, and like always the sight of her takes my breath away. I get up off the bed and pull Keira up with me so that we're standing in front of each other. I look up at Keira and open my mouth to explain, but Keira puts her finger on my lips stopping me.

"It's okay, I know and I'm sorry." Keira states with an apologetic smile.

I smile back, "Don't be, you did what you thought was best for the us and the pack."

"So, we're good?" Keira asks.

"Yeah, we're good." I answer.

"Good, because I don't think I can hold back much longer." Keira says in a strained voice.

"What?"

Keira throws me back onto the bed, as I prop myself up on my elbows, I see Keira crawling towards me on her hands and knees. Her every movement fluid and predatory, her wolven nature unmistakable even in her human form. And her eyes, oh goddess, her eyes, a mixture of fear and excitement shot through me as I looked at them. They were both sexual and predatory, I could imagine them in both my sweetest dreams and most haunting nightmares.

My eyes widen as I realize my anger had blinded me to the fact that I had just dominated Keira, something her Alpha instincts would not abide. Fighting her instincts and letting me do what I did is amazing enough and it showed just how sorry she was. But that was over with now, and her Alpha instincts were probably screaming at her to reestablish dominance and put me in my place. And judging by the look on her face, Keira seemed more than happy to do just that.

My hardened member throbbed with need again as Keira slowly climbed on top of me and purposely grazed it with her exquisite breasts. My breath hitches as she plants kisses on my abdomen and begins to trace my abs with her tongue. She then continues to kiss her way up my chest, when she reaches my neck her eyes lock onto the mark she left on me. She kisses it and what I can only describe as a jolt of electricity shoots through my entire body. My body shakes as I tried to comprehend what just happened, but my reaction only spurs Keira on. She continues to kiss and lick the mark incessantly, causing me to cry out in pleasure. As she continues her sexual onslaught through the mark, Keira finally lowers herself onto me and begins riding me.

It was too much, the sensation of Keira riding me mixed with what she was doing to my mark was driving me crazy.

"Keira...(ahh)...please...I."

Hearing my plea Keira rears her head back, peels back her lips and then bites down hard on the mark. My release rockets through me, but Keira doesn't stop, and begins riding me even faster, milking me for everything I had. As Keira continues to ride me, I feel a second release already building up behind the first. Keira's own body begins to shake as her own release builds towards its climax.

"Look at me Caden." Keira growls.

I hadn't even noticed my eyes were closed, I open my eyes and look up at Keira. She had a wolfish grin on her lips that had drops of my blood dripping from it, and her eyes had a vibrancy and clarity in them that I'd never seen before.

"You are mine." Keira whispers in the most sexually sinister tone I have ever heard.

My second release shoots through me harder than the first, triggering Keira's and sending us both over the edge for the second time together. Keira kisses me long and hard, letting me taste my blood on her lips. Breaking the kiss my eyes are drawn to the mark I left on Keira, following my gaze Keira offers up her shoulder where the marks is with a smile. The overpowering need to re-mark my mate fills me, and I do so without hesitation, biting down on the mark. Keira cries out as her fourth and last orgasm of the night shoots through her. I hold her until the orgasm passes and she stops shaking. Grabbing my chin with her hand, Keira kisses me ever so gently on the lips before snuggling in close and resting her head on my chest. Exhaustion finally hitting us, we both fall asleep in seconds.

I wake up and see it's still nighttime, looking down and can't help but smile. Having obviously recovered faster than me, Keira had at some point grabbed what was left of the sheets she tore up and covered us both. Keira's head was still on my chest, and I could somewhat feel her arm around my stomach and her leg on top of mine. My whole body felt numb, and I could barely lift a finger, but I have never felt happier in my entire life.

I have found my place within the pack, even though it's not the pack I was expecting. My family is not only safe but thriving, and most importantly I have found a mate, a mate! Never in my wildest dream did I ever think it possible.

But it wasn't without its costs, Barry, Hannah, and Crestwood's future with the White Moon pack is still unknown. And there's still so many unanswered questions and things that don't make sense.

Like why did the witch's council send Aspen to Crestwood? Or now that dad is in charge what is he going to do about the vampire situation at the boundary? And if the White Moon pack was never near Crestwood, how was Keira able to find them so fast.

And then there are still the question surrounding Keira; was her pack attacked by the real White Moon pack or Talon's fake one? Was her father an atheist like Blackwood said or was he a religious zealot pretending to be one?

An answer to a lot of these questions' pops into my head, I look down at Keira's sleeping face, and quickly shake the answer away. It doesn't matter, Keira is my mate and whatever the answers are won't change that.

Keira's hold on me tightens, looking down I see her eyes are open, watching me with a loving yet sinful smile. She closes her eyes and places her head back on my chest.

"Say it." She says in a sleepy tone.

I smile; yeah, no matter what comes next or what truths come to light this is the one thing that will never change.

"I'm yours."

Epilogue

The following night somewhere outside Crestwood

Keira was at the edge of a small cliff looking up at the night sky; the moon was full, and the sky was clear, it reminded her of the night her and Caden talked on his parent's roof. The moment they shared had been short but perfect, it was the first time Keira truly opened up to Caden. Thinking about him made Keira's body ache with the need to be near him even though they've only been apart a few hours. Keira began considering shifting into her wolf form and running back to check on him. She looks down at the tight black jeans and creamy white turtleneck she was wearing. She would have to take them off if she didn't want to end up shredding them when she shifted. Normally she wouldn't have cared, but Caden had gotten them as a gift for her when they went shopping today.

The gesture had been so simple and sweet, she had wanted to pull him into a dressing room and take him right then and there. But she didn't, they're love making from last night had been quite intense and she needed to give him time to recover, and as if to keep her honest a small ache between her legs reminds her that she needed some time as well.

Tomorrow night, he should be fine by tomorrow night, she tells herself.

Keira began to think of all the different things she would do to him.

Maybe I'll take him into my mouth again, Keira contemplates with a smile.

Just remembering his embarrassed face and whimpering voice had Keira's blood pumping and her Alpha instincts roaring to the surface.

A sound in the far-off distance reaches Keira's ears and her mood instantly sours. After a while, the wolf known as Zero begins to approach Keira from behind still wearing the same clothes as last time.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you?" Keira asks, without looking back.

Zero stops, his lips forming his signature lazy smile.

"Well for one-"

Zero is cut off when Keira using her inhuman speed and strength rushes towards him, grabs him by the throat, and slowly lifts him into the air.

"I'm not in the mood." Keira states angrily.

Zero could do nothing but nod as the lack of oxygen blurs his vision. Satisfied she got her point across Keira drops him, turning away to keep looking at the moon.

"I told you to make Silverblood the representative, so why did you appoint me?"

"Convenience." Zero states as he rubs his throat. "I figured if you ever needed an excuse to leave for a while, you could just use your role as representative."

"It wouldn't have mattered, my mate's going to be with me from now on." Keira states.

"You told him?" Zero asks.

"No, but I think he suspects."

Keira sighs, she had been wanting to tell Caden the truth for a while now, but just hadn't found the right opportunity. She had almost told him that night on the roof of his parent's house, the truth that her name wasn't Keira Thorn-apple, but Keira White Moon.

"If that's the case I think it be better if you told him yourself then letting him find out on his own." Zero advises.

Keira looks back at Zero, her gaze seemingly piercing right through him.

"Not that I would ever try to tell you what to do with your mate. In fact, forget I said anything." Zero rambles.

Keira looks back out at the moon, "That's a shame, I was about to say thank you for the sound advice."

Zero is left dejected by Keira's mean trick.

"Gotta say, that was quite the risk you took last night, whole thing could have gone sideways real quick." Zero states.

"I trusted in my mate's family, or rather, my family." Keira answers.

That word still felt foreign on Keira's tongue, but she was making the effort, for Caden.

"Any sign of Lisa?" Keira asks.

"No, she seems to have disappeared, after your mate was stabbed." Zero answers.

Looking back, Keira was surprised by the fact that she didn't order Lisa's death right away. Apparently deep down she had considered Lisa a friend, but this head start was all it amounted to, she tried to hurt her mate and there's no saving her from that.

"Get the pack ready, we're heading to Port Iron." Keira orders.

"Port Iron, why?"

"There's someone there I need to meet."

Zero turns to leave but stops.

"Just in case, the next time I see you with your mate, how should I address you?"

For the first time in a long time the prophecy of the King Alpha pops into Keira's head.

Keira smiles as she replies, "Queen Alpha."

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POSTEDSep 5, 2022

ARCHIVEDJun 10, 2026

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