Nate leads us through people, apparently with an end goal in mind. He squeezes my hand and I look up to meet his eyes before he bends down and mutters in my ear, "Who is that man following us?" I stifle a snort."That's Charlie. My brother." I whisper back up at him. His eyebrows shoot up and I smile. "He came to watch me fight, I guess." His eyes seem to focus on a table, and I assume that's where we're going. Ike is there, as well as Willow and Levi. There's a woman sitting right next to Ike as well, but I don't know her. I hope I'm not supposed to know her at least..."Found her." Nate says as he plops into an empty seat across from Ike. I want to sit next to Ike, but the woman has claimed the seat to his left, and Charlie slides into the seat to his right. So, I sigh to myself and sit next to Nate. It's not that I didn't want to sit next to him, but today I felt it was about Ike and me. However, I also didn't want to cause a scene by asking the woman to move. We could just make he
I'm fucking cranky.I somehow got dragged into setting up a bunch of stupid tables and chairs for all these stupid wolves to sit their big, fat, hairy butts in. No one even asked if I wanted to help, or said thank you.And now, I was alone.I don't know any of these people, and I have no fucking clue where Cleo wondered off to. And, I'm fucking hungry. I could literally eat an entire moose right now and still be hungry for more.Let's find Cleo first. I nod and stand up from where I'd been sitting watching everyone enjoy their stupid day. I lifted my nose into the air, inhaling deeply.So many different scents mingled in the wind today. Vanilla scented lotion, cigarette smoke, burning charcoal, beer. Where was the sweet, warm scent of honey I so desperately craved?I began walking around a little, still focusing my senses on smelling the air for my missing mate.Finally, my nose locks onto her scent, coming from the tree line across from me. I feel myself grinning as I quickly stride
My eyes finally lock onto Ike, and I begin pulling Cleo towards the table where the few people I've met so far are sitting. Besides the woman sitting next to Ike. I don't know who that is."Found her." I announce, claiming a seat across from the Alpha. I purposely picked this seat so Cleo would have a higher chance of sitting next to me. But hearing her sigh when she finally realizes she'll have to sit next to me makes me clench my fist in quiet anger. Second choice, again."You getting nervous?" Levi asks out of the blue. I can tell by the way he's bouncing around he's excited for the fighting. I guess I am too, but mostly because I wanna see how badass my mate is."Excuse my brother. He loves a good fight." Willow says, resting her hand on Levi's leg. I furrowed my brow at that. That wasn't very... sisterly."It's okay. I'm not nervous about the fighting, to be honest. I'm worried about everyone watching me the entire time, but I guess it's unavoidable."I smiled and crossed my arms
Her name is Lacy. Pack guard, very strong. Don't let her get behind you.I don't need to cheat to win. I say to Ike in my head before blocking him off and focusing on the girl in front of me.The crowd was yelling again, shouting insults at who they didn't want to win. Most of them were yelling at me, to be honest.That doesn't matter. I nod. My panther is right. I have to focus if I want to win.She's short and heavy looking, like a battering ram. She has her legs spread and her knees bent. Her arms are spread open like she's going to bear hug me."Begin!" I hear Ike yell.The crowd roars, demanding my defeat.Dirty dogs. Agreed.Lacy charges me, and I can tell she is in fact going to bear hug me. Or tackle me at the very least.Easy enough.Once she gets just close enough to me that she thinks her move has worked, I step to the side, making her stumble over my leg and fall forward. I snake behind her, grabbing a fistful of her hair and yanking her head back as hard as I could. There
"Why..." I muttered, looking him up and down. We had met at the bonfire a while back, when I first came to the pack. We had gotten along, or so I thought.But now he is standing in front of me, a look of challenge in his eyes and his stance clearly one of an opponent. I hadn't seen him since that night, and assumed he was busy with work and his own life. Now I could see he had been busy doing something else.Training.He looked wider in the shoulders and thighs. His hands clenched and unclenched, flexing the muscles in his forearms. Jeez, was this kid roided out? He even seemed a couple inches taller."I don't understand." I say out loud to Ike, my eyes never leaving Adan's."Anyone is allowed to challenge for the spot next to me tonight. Anyone." Ike says in a flat tone."Adan are you in love with my mate?" I ask, narrowing my eyes at him."I've known him so much longer than you. Not only him, but this pack. I know what we need more than you do. I am the better fit for Ike, and I'll
Silence.Silence was buzzing in my ears and had been for the last few minutes.I was awake. Sort of. I could hear things around me and feel my body, but it seemed as though everything wasn't quite in sync yet. So, for now, I was just laying here. Listening.I could hear the a.c running, so I assumed I was indoors somewhere. I could smell Ike all around me, and whatever I was laying on felt soft and warm. I was probably laying in our bed.My entire body ached, and don't even get me started on my head. I'm sure it would be much worse if not for my panther healing, but I could still feel everything screaming and throbbing in pain.I wanted to wake up now.I struggled trying to pry my eyes open for a few minutes before they finally listened. It was so bright. Why was it bright? Shit. Was it the next day? Did I really miss my after party? I never got to eat.My eyes felt crusty and heavy as I blinked, trying to clear my vision. Finally, my eyes cleared enough for me to focus on where I was
I've never been treated the way Ike treated me for the next fifteen minutes. He massaged shampoo into my scalp and hair very thoroughly. He covered my eyes when he rinsed my hair, and even washed my face. He scrubbed every area of my body clean with his hands and by the time he was done, I was on fucking fire.Finally, Ike was satisfied with my cleanliness, and turned off the water. He stepped out first, grabbing a towel and wrapping me in it. He yet again picked me up like a baby and carried me back towards our room."We're dripping water everywhere.""I'm about to make you drip everywhere too, Cleo." I gulped, looking up at him. He was clenching and unclenching his jaw. He really needed me to pay attention to him.He laid me on the bed and turned and left, coming back a moment later with a bottle of lotion.He flipped me on my stomach and hovered over my back. I rested my face on my folded up arms and closed my eyes. I still squealed a little when he squeezed the cold lotion onto my
It looked like there had been a frat party here last night.That was my first thought when I stepped outside our home and into the cool, fresh morning air.There are tables everywhere, all scattered and missing chairs. The aforementioned missing seats are in a circle, musical chairs maybe? There are bottles and cups and other trash littered everywhere. I shake my head, bend down and pick up an empty beer can. Wolves who litter. I continue to pick up trash here and there, piling it onto a stray table for lack of a better spot. It was ironic to me how much wolves liked to preach that humans were filthy monsters who polluted the earth with their existence, and yet here I was, picking up after their night of debauchery. "What are you doing?" A voice pierces the silence, making me jump a little. It's Nate. He's fully dressed and to be honest, looks like he's been up and ready for hours. Did he stay up all night too?"I was just picking up some of this trash before it ends up in the forest
"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