**Elliott POV**This was NOT happening right now. I’ve never even heard of a female going into heat after literally a day and a half of not mating. That usually wouldn’t happen for a few weeks! I thought we had time to take things slow!“What do I do?” Jade cried from my bed, still naked and now lightly sweating.“I can give you a cold bath or—“ I started before thinking the better of it.Jade shivered seemingly involuntarily. “Or what?” She whimpered.“I’m not sure you’re ready for anything else and I don’t want to push you.” I confessed, turning around but still avoiding looking at her. A cold bath was basically just a Hail Mary at this point. Everything I knew about she wolf cycles was against my will learning inflicted upon me by my mother, but I already knew with a heat this severe, a cold bath would MAYBE give her relief for a few minutes before the pain would come back worse than before“There’s only one thing we can do to help her for now,” Aries said triumphantly.“No, she’s
**Emma POV**Running with my wolf was amazing, even if it was slightly cut short! I’d always heard the other omegas talking about how freeing it would feel, but I guess you never fully get it until you experience it. I’d shifted back and gotten dressed with Cleo and Vera while William and Jasper took Cameron to the lake to try and get him to come to his senses. I’d dealt with females in heat before when the ranked members would lock themselves in a room for days with their mates and refuse to come out even to eat, so we’d have to drop food off at their door multiple times a day. I was so happy for Jade that she found her mate, but I was a little worried she’d be MIA for a few days and I’d be all on my own in a brand new pack. At least Cleo had showed me how to use my TV, and turned on a nice movie for me. I didn’t know what it was called, but it had a man and a woman kissing on it. I sighed, hopefully I’d find my mate sooner rather than later. I hit the “pause” button Cleo had showe
**Elliott POV**The sunrise began to peak through the blinds before I realized I’d fallen asleep with my naked mate in my arms. I looked down at her peaceful face, not being able to bring myself to wake her. I slipped out of bed as subtly as I could manage and slipped on some basketball shorts and a T-shirt.I made my way down to the kitchen, hoping to find enough stuff to assemble a halfway decent breakfast for Jade since the combo of her first heat and last night most likely would create quite an appetite for her today. Goosebumps climbed up my arms as I thought of the look on her face as she put her mouth around my cock last night. I shook my head, trying not to let my mind wander too much. I’m surprised I made it through that without literally begging to be inside her delicious p***y.As I entered the room, I saw Cameron sitting at the table with only a coffee in front of him, bags under his eyes, and a sorrowful look on his face. I knew he’d take this hard.“You can say it, I’m t
“I would love to.” Without warning, he gently slung me over his shoulder and I couldn’t help but giggle. He set me down on the bathroom counter and quickly disposed of his clothes, lowering himself into the bath tub. “Come on in!” He grinned at me and I remembered I didn’t have any clothes on since last night, my cheeks going pink immediately.“I’ve already seen every magnificent inch of you, baby you don’t have to be shy.” Elliott winked and I realized he had a point. I padded over to the tub and he helped me in before lowering me just in front of him. I instinctually leaned back against his chest and an involuntary contented sigh left my lips. The feeling of his skin against mine was so relaxing and soothing, and I felt surrounded by his scent. I breathed in the smell of pine and felt completely at ease. In this particular moment, all was right in the world.“This is really nice,” I said turning my face so his cheek was against my temple. “You make me feel so safe.”“I’m glad you fe
**Jade POV**I tried to find some clothes with a similar vibe to Elliott’s, hoping not to over or under dress. I ended up choosing some high waisted jeans and a black, lace tank top that caught my eye. I knew it was too cold to wear just this, but it was so pretty I couldn’t resist putting it on. I looked through the sweaters neatly hung a shelf over and chose a loose fitting dark red colored one that was open in the front so the tank top could be seen, but thick enough to keep me warm. I’d put my hair half back into a large black bow I’d found in the small basket of hair stuff in the bathroom, and threw a pair of fluffy moccasins.I went back into the bathroom and decided to give myself a few sprays of one of the perfumes Cleo had picked out for me, and gave myself a quick once over in the mirror. I smiled widely, I’d never been excited about clothes before but I felt like a whole new person. I could already tell that if this was going to be my life, I would be quickly turning into a
**Jade POV**Elliott took my hand and led me out of our room. OUR room. Even that thought made me smile. As we were walking toward the elevator, I saw Emma’s door open. She looked a little tired, which was confusing given we’d never had such comfortable accommodations, but maybe she just missed being roommates. She smiled weakly at me, her long dark hair falling perfectly straight around her. She was wearing leggings, a cute flannel, some sneakers, and a light brown jacket. She looked so beautiful, I couldn’t help but smile at my best friend.“How’d you sleep?” Elliott asked, his voice colored with concern, which warmed my heart.Emma muttered something along the lines of “really good” and tried her best to give him a convincing smile, but I could tell it didn’t quite touch her eyes. What was wrong?The elevator opened and we all piled in, Elliott pressing the button for the bottom floor. “Hey Emma, Jade and I were going to drive separate so we could get a coffee on the way. Wanna rid
“Oh, sorry too early for nicknames isn’t it?” I asked guiltily.“No, I just… I think I’ve heard that nickname before.” She said softly.“Well, I think some of the other omegas called you that back at river bed didn’t they, drama queen?” Jade joked before blowing softly into the opening in the lid of her cup.“No, I feel like i’ve heard that name before…. From Elliott….” Emma said mysteriously. I began to think back myself, and I felt a memory of calling for Jade after a round of hide and go seek while the adults were having a meeting on the alpha floor.“Jade?! Em?! This isn’t funny, guys come out or your moms are gonna kill me!” My own voice rung in my head, as if the memory had been planted there but it rung true the more I thought about it.“Emma, are you originally from river bed pack?” I asked her urgently.“Um, the older omegas said I was dropped off one day by a couple they assumed to be my parents. They said they didn’t want me anymore, I was dead weight I guess.” She said sad
**Elliot POV**“Yeah, this is one of the malls closer to the pack house. I figure we’ll start with this one and maybe make another trip to the next town over— they have a really big one— in the next few weeks to see if there’s any other must-haves for your closets.” I could see Jade smiling ear to ear, but Emma looked hesitant. “Emma, I want you to pick whatever you want with Jade. I’ve got you both.”“I couldn’t possibly let you do anything more for me!” Emma cried, looking embarrassed.“Em, I make great money. I invest well, I own my own advertisement firm, and i’m a silent partner in several businesses. Think of it as your future brother in law earning some brownie points, trust me I can afford it!” I winked at her. Emma continued to shake her head and I sighed. “You have to pick stuff or I’ll pick out the ugliest things possible and fill your closet with them, I promise you I’ll do it! Give me an excuse!” I joked, and she busted out laughing.“Fine!” She got out between chuckles.
**Emma POV**I had to get out of there. I didn’t know what else to do besides bolt. Taking a moment to silently thank Elliott for giving me my own space just down the hall, I crashed through the door and locked it. What had just happened? My heart was racing; I didn’t know how to make it slow or calm down. I’d looked into a pair of striking green eyes and now everything was somehow different.“He’s our mate, you dumb bitch!” Leona, my wolf who had even less qualms about telling it like it was than I did, purred in my mind.“I don’t think he’s out mate, he’s too hot,” I confessed out loud. It was just her and I, why have a silent conversation? Especially when I was getting the sense that I’d need to vent my frustration through yelling.“We’re hot!” Leona retorted, offended I didn’t agree.“Not as hot as him, or as Jade or Cleo!” I yelled back. “He met them first, he’s probably so disappointed he didn’t get one of them! He’s going to reject us.”“I think you’re wrong. You didn’t even gi
**Jade POV**Jasper nodded slowly; his eyes still illuminated in an eerie way. “We hid you and ran to help Mom and dad. We thought we’d be able to get back to you. We thought wrong. Jasper didn’t know what to do, he was so afraid. I was still dormant, but I managed to find the strength to take over and carry him through.” He was looking stoically only at me as if we were the only two people in the world. I could sense Cleo’s eyes on me, could hear her sobs, but somehow, I couldn’t break this eye contact.“We were on our way up to the alpha floor when we saw Laurel. We grabbed her and told her exactly where to find you. She tried to make us leave with her, but we ran away before she could catch us. We had to help mom and dad. We couldn’t just leave them to die.” He sounded robotic, devoid of emotion, but I knew Axel had come forward to protect Jasper from having to speak through this new memory. While Axel seemed calm and in control, I could only conclude that Jasper was everything but
**Jade POV**“What do you mean? She was the beta’s daughter?” I asked Logan as more of a question than a statement, but I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he was telling the truth. It was like it had all hit me at once.Chasing each other through the hallways of the packhouse, making flower crowns with our mothers in the forests, playing princesses, sleepovers, hide and go seek when Elliott and his family would visit, her having a silly crush on my older cousin when he moved to the—I looked to Elliott whose eyes looked almost the size of golf balls. What was he thinking? Was he remembering things too?“I think he’s telling the truth.” Elliott linked me and I nodded slowly, trying to refocus.“Well, let’s move past that part for now.” Elliott offered diplomatically. “We’ll circle back at the end of the story.”“Okay,” Logan sniffed, looking positively bereaved as if he were the one who’d done all of this and not his father. “Well, I looked for Emma and her parents, but all I saw was—wa
**Cameron POV**I took Emma with me down the hall and we got onto the elevator. I snuck a glance at her to see how she was handling all of this, and she definitely looked shell-shocked. “I sent Sebastian to tell William and Vera what’s going on, so they can communicate our regrets to Juliet that we’ll all more than likely miss brunch and have to meet her at dinner.” I tried to ease her into the nitty-grity of the situation.To my surprise, Emma nodded and turned to me. “Okay, what’s happened and what do you need me to do?” she asked, all business. My heart swelled with pride at the seriousness with which she took the situation before she even knew what it was. A true leader.I’d told her about our search of Mystic Moon’s grounds and our run-in with some warriors and the stranger who appeared to be escaping. I’d confessed I’d only gotten the abridged secondhand version from Elliott about what was going on there because the most important thing for me to focus on was the prisoner. I tol
“I’m sorry, I lost my train of thought. I should probably start from the beginning of what I know, that’s why I’m here.” He smiled sheepishly at me, almost as if he were trying to read my face to see if I’d lumped him in with his father or if there was any level of trust. I decided to be open-minded and give him a chance to explain himself.Elliott gestured for Logan to come and sit in the sitting area Emma and I had just been in the day before talking about her strange dream. I wondered why he wouldn’t want this meeting to be more formal and at his desk, but I didn’t question him. Jasper pushed one of the larger chairs in front of the desk over to the area, and Logan gratefully took it. As he plopped into the chair, he closed his eyes almost as if he hadn’t sat anywhere remotely as comfortable in a long time. I began to look him over. The scars on his face were nothing compared to the rest of his body. Though he did appear to be wearing Elliott’s clothes as they were a bit too large,
**Elliott POV**So strange. One moment, Jade was reaching out for a handshake and then next, she was gasping, and her eyes clouded over as if in a private link. When they came back into focus, she looked blankly and wordlessly at our guest for at least 15 seconds.“You’re Logan.” She almost whispered. How could she know that? He’d only just told me his first name on our way up to my office so I would know how to introduce him.“Do you trust me?” He asked my mate, looking almost as if he could see into her very core.I saw Jade nod stoically in response. “But I don’t know why.” She admitted in a whisper.I saw him reach out as if to hug MY mate, and I couldn’t stop Aries from interfering. I liked to think of myself as more evolved than my wolf, but he had a point. Why was this stranger touching our mate knowing she bore our mark?A growl came from deep inside me, a carnal and possessive one. I could see the fear on Logan’s face, and I didn’t care. It wasn’t until I looked at Jade and s
Before I could spin out too much, the door swung open. My breath hitched and I sprinted toward my mate, jumping into his arms, and inhaling deeply into his hair. “Are you okay?!” I realized I was crying.“Yes, love. I’m just fine, and I think we may have made a major breakthrough about your old pack. Mystic Moon, I mean.” Elliott’s voice was the greatest sound I’d ever heard. I was barely processing what he was saying and just wept into his shoulder. I knew he was fine now, but I realized the thought that he’d been hurt—or maybe even worse—had frightened me more than anything ever had in my life.I finally realized what Elliott had just said to me when I heard someone clearing their throat. The sound was coming from behind Elliott, so this must’ve been the ‘them’ they were talking about.I slid slowly down from my mate’s grasp before looking behind him. There stood a man with dirty blonde hair falling in messy-looking curls down past his shoulders. His hair was even longer than Elliot
**Jade POV**Cleo pulled away suddenly and I could see a very confused and slightly alarmed look on her face. “That was Cameron. Evidently there’s some sort of emergency and we all need to go into Elliott’s office and wait for them.”“Is Elliott okay?!” I asked, wondering why he didn’t link me himself.“I’m not sure.” Cleo bit her lip. Her eyes clouded over, and I wondered if she was mindlinking back to ask.“I just linked Jasper. He said Cam asked him to come too, but if Elliott were hurt Jasper would be one of the first people to be linked,” she seemed to be trying to calm me, but my eyes got a bit wider wondering why the beta would be told before Elliott’s mate. Why was Jasper more important? And why was I so upset about it? “You’ll be the first to know as soon as you’re able to be linked!” Cleo patted my arm, trying to explain it to me and I felt a bit of relief.We made our way into the hallway, and I saw Cameron and Sebastian naked and rushing toward us. Being wolves, nudity was
**Cleo POV**We’d had an eventful few hours. Vera had thrown a few scenarios at the girls, who had taken it all in stride. Jade seemed to have a natural hosting ability just like rumor has it her own mother did, but it was beginning to seem kind of obvious to me that Emma was of some sort of high-ranking descent. Maybe not an alpha, but she could easily be a gamma or maybe even a beta. She seemed to not only catch on to the more tedious aspects of her role quickly, but she also seemed to enjoy learning what was expected of her.Both girls were taking notes so quickly and diligently that I could swear I could almost see steam coming from their pens, Jade writing little notes next to her notes on occasion and Emma looking like she wished she had some sort of recording device. I made a mental note to ask Vera if we should record lessons or even make flashcards to quiz them later on.I knew the expectations of a ranked female could be daunting. When I’d realized that becoming Jasper’s mat