"Be gentle, please. You already roughed her up more than I wish you would have." I move Cleo's hair out of her face once my men set her down on my bed. I grit my teeth at the sight of dried blood around her nose and the corner of her mouth."Leave." They shuffle out without a word, leaving me to her. When I first seen her, unconcious and with broken fingers and bruises all over her body, my first desire was to kill every single idiot I had stupidly sent out to retrieve my mate. But then I told myself, it was my own fault. I never should've trusted anyone but myself with this task. It had been a stragetic move, I hadn't wanted to be recognized by anyone and blow the whole thing. But seeing Cleo all battered and torn up, made me deeply regret my choice. I was as stupid as them, and so I let them live. "You finally came back to me..." I sit on my knees beside the bed we would now be sharing, watching her sleep. I smiled a little at how peacful she looked right now. Even as a child, she a
I have to pee.So bad.My arms won't move, my legs either.My eyes feel like they've been glued shut. No matter how hard I try, I can't pry them open.I can't remember the last time I moved. It feels like ages, but for all I know, it could've been seconds. It was like I was asleep, unable to respond to the outside world, but was aware of it. Just sort of... Floating around in my own head.I could hear voices, they claimed I had a lot of drugs put into me because of how strong I was, but I would be coming out of it soon. What did that mean?I was having a hard time remembering how I got in this situation.Last I remember... Nate was carrying me up the stairs out of the club. Everything after that was fuzzy and hurt my head to think about. I hope Nate is here when I wake up. I miss him.For now, I needed to focus on moving, or I would pee myself.Are you in there? I prodded my mind for my panther. She was unresponsive. I would have to get myself out of this one."Cleo." Whose voice is t
"Finally, you were taking forever." I freeze in panic when Charlie wraps me in a hug as soon as I step out of the bathroom a few minutes later. He's much taller than me now, and certainly more muscular than he was when we were kids. I hadn't paid too much attention to the way he looked when I saw him at the challenge ceremony; I had been so focused on everything going on around me, and he had left so quickly afterwards we never got a chance to talk. But now that he was the only thing in front of me to look at, I could tell how much he'd grown up.I can feel his hard body as he buries my face in his chest. This used to comfort me, now it just made me feel uneasy. He holds me back to stare me in the eyes. His hair has grown out, it's shaggier and scruffier now. It had only been a week and a half since I'd last seen him. He had to have been shaving it every day before.He must have caught me looking at it, because he let go for a second to run a hand through it."What do you think? I not
I take the water from Charlie, slowly taking a sip and staring at the floor. I have no idea how to get out of this. I have no idea where I am, I have no idea how many people are here. When I lived in this pack as a child, it had over two hundred members. Even I couldn't dream of fighting off that many wolves.Worst of all, I can't get my panther to respond to me. I'm assuming whatever they gave me still had her knocked out. But I really needed her right now to help me fucking process this."You have another question."I flick my gaze up to him then. He's gone back to watching me, a chip already prepared in his hand for me to eat."Why did you have to hide me in your family?" I wanted to ask him what the fuck was wrong with him, and why was he acting like he wanted me to be his mate when he was my brother. But I was being careful. He has the upper hand in this situation, by a long shot. I don't want to piss him off and make things harder for myself. So, I will try my best to appease hi
"Ike...?" I could hear someone approaching me, paper crunching under their feet. "Ike... are you okay?""What the fuck do I have to be okay about?" I growl, not lifting my head.I sat in the middle of my destroyed living room. I was on the floor on my ass with my knees up, head hanging in between my legs. I stared down at the shag carpet that sparkled with glass shards."We can get her back...""Fuck!" I yell, lashing out and crashing my fist in into the closet thing I could find, which ended up being the wooden coffee table. The leg I hit split. I could feel chunks of wood lodged in my fists, but I didn't care. "I shouldn't have to get her back. I never should have let her leave." I can hear my wolf's growls slipping through my mouth. He was pissed, and I was no different. I'm trembling with rage. I've never felt so ready to kill anyone and anything. They took her. They took Cleo, my mate. They dragged her away and drugged her like some rabid animal.Zane had called me and filled me
Nate rubs at his nose, wincing."I'll give you that one, because I deserve it. There won't be a second." He scowls at me, looking down his nose into my eyes. What a cock sucker. Acting like he let me hit him. "I came because we need to work together on this. I know where she is."I feel my heart freeze. I can hear voices murmuring around me. I growl once over my shoulder, and they stop at once. I see the panther roll his eyes and it pisses me off."Where is our Luna?" I'm surprised when Matt is the one who steps forward, his chest puffed out and his face serious. He looks at me, and nods. He's right. Finding Cleo is more important than my pride. I feel the anger melting away, and the well organized and collected Alpha personality returns."Where is she, Nate?" He looks back at me, running a hand through his hair. He closes his eyes, and I notice how ragged he looks. He has dark shadows under his eyes and his hair is wild with leaves stuck in it. His boots and clothes are filthy, his h
God, it's hot.I sighed, rolling my eyes.My panther had woken up.I was so glad I wasn't so alone now.But she didn't really have anything helpful to say.She said she hadn't come to me until much after Charlie claimed to have met me, so she can't say whether or not I was saved by him that day. She couldn't tell me anything about my old pack or why it got wiped out.Basically, she was as useless as I was.Push him off. If I do that he will wake up. So? So, I'm playing a long con here. Psh. Did you just psh me?I was currently lying in Charlie's bed with him clinging to pretty much my entire body. His fingers were tangled up with my hair, his legs were wrapped around mine. My head was resting on his chin as he slept quietly buried in my decollete. It wasn't the ideal position for me, but once he got ahold of me, I couldn't untangle myself discreetly.I sigh, staring at the wall in front of me. I couldn't sleep. Not like this. Not with Charlie rubbing all over me. It was weird. I was s
Before..."Cleo! Are you training with us today?" Zach happily skips beside me as I walk across the pack grounds to get to Willow's place. I had something I needed to talk with her about."I'm sorry, I'm busy." I flinch a little as his face drops and his eyes fill up with tears. "Okay, that feels like a bit much. Come on, smile." His face immediately clears, and a grin replaces his previous pout. He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Go on then. Go do boy things." I attempt to wave him off again."Come on Cleo, don't be like that. You know you want to play with us." He calls after me as I leave him behind. He was such a flirt. I was surprised it didn't bother Ike. I hadn't seen enough of Nate lately to judge if it bothered him or not. I liked to see their reactions to things. It was... interesting.But now wasn't the time for that.I approached Willow's door, knocking softly and listening for movement.I jump back a little when it opens right away."Cleo. What brings you here?" Sh
"You little shit, get your ass back here." I laugh from my spot on the kitchen counter, watching Nate chase our naked child, Liam around the living room with a yellow bath towel clutched in his hand. Liam stops then, turning around to grin at his dad. He was only three, but was already extremely mobile, and had a smile just like his dad's. "Are you going to help me?" Nate sighs, glaring up at me as Liam yells and resumes running around like a mad man with his arms up in the air. I shake my head a little, pointing to where Liam is now standing on the couch. He grins at his dad, who finally swoops in and grabs him in his arms, wrapping the towel around him tightly as he does so. "Ha! Got you!" Nate declares as he wrestles Liam so he's upside down in his arms. He squeals with delight as Nate carries him like that back towards his room to put clothes on, calling him a weakling the entire time. But Liam loves it. He loves his dad, and he loves playing and "fighting" with him.I smile a
Why is it so often when I'm waking up in the morning, I'm in pain? I groan, stretching my arms above my head and blinking away sleep. I wince as harsh daylight assaults my eyes. My head pounds, and I bring a hand up to rub at my temple."Fuck." I groan, sitting up and leaning against the bed's headboard. I look down at where Ike is facing away from me, towards the wall, hugging himself and with no blanket. Nate is on the other side, also facing away, burrioted up in the entire blanket. I fall forward and start to crawl between them to get out of the bed. I stop when I feel a hand grabbing my ankle. Nate's green eyes are already staring at me. He's rolled over and untucked himself from his blanket tomb. "You're not going to make me chase you again, are you?" I furrow my brow, sitting in a crawling position, trying to think why I would run away. "Oh." I say when I finally realize what Ike had done to Nate last night. I didn't actually see anything, but I remember one of Ike's hands
I leave Ike at the bottom of the stairs, taking Cleo into my bedroom first and laying her down gently. She starts wiggling around, smiling and rubbing all over the sheets. Weirdo. I go back for Ike, who is pulling himself up the stairs, or trying to. He's got one hand on the second step, his other on the first. "Can I help you?" I ask, bending down to wrap one of his arms around my shoulder and putting my arm around his middle. "Here we go." He mumbles as I half drag him to my bed.I let him fall onto it, barely avoiding Cleo, who has taken her leggings off finally and is laying like a starfish on the bed. I sigh. I turn and flip the light off, kicking my shoes off as I do. Off come my pants and shirt. "Move." I huff, closing Cleo's legs and scooting her to one side of the bed. "You too." Ike listens for once, but only because he wants to be Cleo's big spoon. I roll my eyes and fall into the empty space beside them.I lay on one arm, staring at the ceiling for a moment before clo
"You know what her parents told me earlier?" Ike tilts his head to stare at me. I shake my head. "They told me, that this is the last time they'll be seeing Cleo." I freeze at his words. My eyes dart around to try and find the two in question. "Don't bother looking for them. They went back to their place and are leaving first thing in the morning. They aren't even planning on saying goodbye." He shakes his head at me. "I mean, why come in the first place?" He scoffs, finishing off his drink. "Just to rub it in her face that you exist?" He's staring at Cleo, muttering to himself now really more than talking to me. "Did they say why?" I nudge him to try and get his drunk ass to focus. He kind of blinks and shakes his head before looking back to me again. "They said they couldn't stay or come visit her because of the rules of being part of The Circle," He scoffs at their title. "And that she couldn't visit them because if anyone knew they had a daughter out there they'd try and make he
My peace with Cleo is ripped away by that fuck head Thomas, who snatches Cleo away over his shoulder and yells something about loving tequila. Had he just been waiting for the perfect chance to steal her away again? "Oh my god." I rub the bridge of my nose and make eye contact with Cleo as she sits up on Thomas to grin at me like a child. I lean back and cross my arms as I watch him take her to a group of guards. "I got her!" He yells in victory. The guards cheer and whoop in excitement. "Your mates have had enough of your time!" Zach proclaims as Thomas sets Cleo down. "And besides, it's your turn to chug something!" I groan, and I'm about to rush over and stop her, but I halt when Ike and Parker walk up to me from their spot in the crowd. "I wanted to introduce you two." Ike says, stopping in front of me. I'm half sitting, half standing, midway to snatching Cleo away from the frat boys. I glance at her for a second and see her snapping the neck off a bottle of tequila. I sigh,
"Why do you people insist on doing this to me?" She complains as I carry her away from her group of fans. "It's just easier than arguing with you." I reply. She makes an offended noise, struggles to sit up for a moment, and then flicks me on the back of the head. I roll my eyes, hiking my shoulder up a little into her gut and smiling at the noise she makes. I approach a table that's empty on one end and set Cleo down in a chair. "Wait here." I look her in the eye to make sure she's paying attention, and then turn to track down some water.I spot coolers near one of the tables closest to the fire and make my way through chatting and drinking people. I didn't realize how many people were a part of Ike's pack now a days until they were all converged together like this.I finally make it to the line of eight coolers and start opening them to find one not filled to the brim with liquor. Finally, I get my hands on a cold bottle of water. There was only a single cooler with them in it; ty
Fuck that guy. Fuck him. I fucking hated him. He was fucking dick. I wanted to shove his face into the ground and rub it in. I ran through the trees, pine needles whipping at my panther's face as we escaped, past the pack's borders, further and further into the forest. My rage drives me to run for almost three hours before my panther finally stops, gasping for air and muscles aching. He finds a stream nearby and hunches over to take a long drink before we head back. What did I think was going to happen? I mean, I knew who this guy was, or at least what other's told me about him. And no one had anything good to say, not so far. They all said he was mean, and petty, and demanding as hell. He abandoned me in the woods to fend for myself when I so small, I couldn't even remember it happening. But the way he looked at me, pissed me off. Like I was scum. Like I was the one who should be begging for forgiveness. He was the asshole.But as we start running back to our pack, I can't st
I look away from the lively party scene after a moment, back to the table behind me. "Ooo." I snatch an unopened bottle of tiny blue vodka someone had left behind. Hoped they hadn't planned on coming back for it. "Excuse you." I make a whining noise when Nate is snatching the bottle from my lips before I can chug it. "Drink this instead." I sigh at the cold bottle of water he's put in my hand. "If I must." I crack the top. "You must." He plops in a chair beside me, sighing heavily and watching me drink. "Where have you been?" I ask once I've twisted the top back on the now half empty bottle. "You've been gone a really long time." I raise by brows at him, and the corner of his lip lifts up a little."And that drove you to drink?" I laugh loudly. "No, I just felt like it was time to get drunk." "Right." He nods, eyeing me. I blink innocently at him. "Can I say something?" I blurt out as he watches me. He ticks his eyebrow. "I think your dad is a fucking chode." He shakes his hea
"You better chug that shit!" "Come on bitch!" I jump in the air, yelling with Noah and Thomas at Zach, who was halfway through chugging an entire bottle of peach flavored vodka. "Don't be a pussy!" I punch him in the arm, a grin spread across my face. He pushes me off a little, flipping me off and continuing to guzzle the artificially flavored rubbing alcohol. "Let's go!" Thomas yells, throwing his half full beer on the ground in overly excited celebration at his friend finally reaching the neck of the bottle. Zach holds his hand up, and we all stare at him silently in eager anticipation for a moment, until he finally pulls the empty bottle away and makes a loud "ah" noise like it was a refreshing drink on a hot day. "Suck it, sluts." He slurs, grinning at us and throwing the bottle on the ground. I laugh, clapping my hands and stumbling back a little. "You thought I couldn't do it." He points his finger towards me, wiggling it a little in my face. I grin and clap him on the shou