**Elliott POV**The drive home was filled with incessant “thank you”s from Emma and Jade, followed by a recap of their favorite parts of the day. I listened to them both talk excitedly about girl’s night and just smiled. After all they’d been put through, the girls deserved some time like this where they could just have fun and focus on being young. I looked back on my teenage memories with my friends and felt a pang of guilt. My teen years and early twenties so far had been filled with so much fun and good times and while I was out having the time of my life, my mate and every other omega in river bed were being tormented, demeaned, and made to work like slaves. I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, hoping the girls didn’t take it as anger toward them, but I just really hoped the elders had found something on Victor already. If not, I was perfectly happy to extend an invitation to every omega in the pack that they were more than welcome to join Silver Moon if they wanted. Vi
**Jade’s POV**I’d fallen asleep shortly after Elliott had poured me a glass of wine and started a movie. I felt horrible, but everything I’d heard about heat told me that exhaustion was a normal symptom and it was best to rest as much as possible. I was grateful—not for the first time— to be away from river bed because if I’d found my mate there in a warrior or another omega, I’d likely be expected to work through the pain and weather the exhaustion plus the onslaught of unmated males who’d be no doubt trailing and attempting to attack me. The more time I spent away from river bed, the more barbaric I’d realized they were.I felt soft lips on my forehead and my eyes fluttered open to reveal Elliott’s handsome face. He was holding a glass of water and my next round of meds to help with my heat. “I’m so sorry I fell asleep,” I mumbled, stretching and accepting the meds from him. “I guess this heat is taking more out of me than I thought.”“It’s fine, love. I’m glad you got some rest. P
**Elliott POV**I’d spent the time Jade was asleep trying to throw together as much pampering as possible for my mate and her friends. Thankfully, it was a nice distraction from mystic moon and all the questions swirling around in my mind. Once the girls arrived to keep Jade company, I decided to go to my office and put a call in to the elders.The elders told me they’d already unearthed many issues with the treatment of the omegas at river bed, enough to require a trial for sure. They asked me if they could borrow some soldiers and if I’d be willing to also offer my assistance in transporting Victor to trial once he was officially under arrest since we were the closest pack with to river bed that had the resources necessary for the job. They were still gathering information to figure out exactly what to bring forth in the way of charges. The Elder I spoke with did tell me he was reasonably sure Victor at least would be stripped of his title, and depending on what the rest of his fami
**Elliott POV**“Dad, this is going to freak her out.” I stated. My mate had been through so much, I couldn’t imagine telling her we had to find and figure out what happened to Mystic Moon and she’d have to relive her parents dying and her being most likely kidnapped by river bed in order to get her to her destiny of running two huge and ancient packs with me. If I were in her position, my head would’ve exploded.“It may,” my father said, getting up and refilling his glass before coming back to join me. “But I’m sensing a great deal of her mother’s spunk and toughness, so don’t underestimate the strength of your mate. Yes, this may overwhelm her but I really do think she can do it, Elliott. Matthew and I wondered since Jade’s birth if the two of you were the mates as foretold in the prophecy. I think you both have more strength than you give yourselves credit for, and you won’t be alone. You’ll have your mother and I.”I nodded absentmindedly, suddenly remembering more of my questions
**Elliott POV**I’d had a hard time falling asleep without Jade last night. It was funny to think about considering we’d only slept together for one night so far, but nevertheless it was unpleasant without her. The information my dad had given me wasn’t a big help either. I ended up giving up and going back to my office, finishing most of my overdue work before crashing on the couch. At least I’d be caught up enough to catch up on the time I was missing with my new mate for girls’ night.I was already anxious to see my mate, but after Jasper told me about the drinks he sent the girls when we were at morning training and knowing I’d made them one round of margaritas and bought them another with dinner, I knew the girls would likely be asleep until noon. Wolves typically had a higher tolerance for alcohol and a faster metabolism, so I was hoping we hadn’t overserved and they wouldn’t be too hungover today, because I was ready to see what my dad could figure out from Emma and Jade’s memo
**Jade POV**I woke up feeling somewhat dizzy. I stretched and rubbed my eyes before seeing Cleo still asleep in the bed next to me, but Emma was missing. I got up, grabbing my robe off the floor and started looking around the room for her before seeing her curled up in a chair on the deck and looking out over the mountains.“Good morning,” I said, walking onto the deck and taking the seat next to my best friend. “How long have you been up?”Emma shrugged. “Hours.”“Okay, what’s wrong?” I asked with a lightly accusatory tone.“What do you mean?” Emma said, looking surprised I would even ask which was a definitive sign that there was something wrong. I just stared at her. “Okay, fine. Our first night here I had a really odd dream and last night I had it again.” She confessed.“That’s weird. What happened in the dream?” I asked, wondering what could possibly have happened that would leave her this shaken. Emma was a tough cookie. Hardly the type of person to be shaken by a simple nightma
**Jade POV**Before long, Emma entered the room looking very unsure of herself. William and Elliott took the larger sofa, leaving Emma and I the love seat, probably so she could sit closer to me for moral support. “Well, let’s dig in to breakfast and see if we can get to the bottom of a few things.” Elliott said, cutting the tension slightly. Everyone began to eat in awkward silence, no one really hungry enough to eat much.“So,” William started after it looked like everyone was finished eating. “Jade, what’s the earliest memory you have?”It took a moment for me to think about it. “Um, I remember being in the snow and thinking someone was after me,” as soon as I said the word “snow”, Emma seemed to come alive and turned her entire body rapidly to stare at me, listening intently. “Then I remember darkness, and waking up at river bed to one of the omegas telling me I’d been brought here after the rogue attack and my scent smelled like I was one of them. I asked where my mom and dad wer
**Elliott POV**“We need to get Sebastians old room ready for him since I’m willing to bet he’ll be staying here for at least a couple weeks before his graduation. Cleo, I was hoping you could arrange that and maybe a welcome back dinner party. Keep it small, maybe just us and my parents and we’ll have a bigger one with the whole pack in a few weeks once he and my sister are both officially back for good. Jasper, I was wondering if you could pull records of pack members from 12 years ago to see if Emma was possibly a member here. I know it’ll be hard, but I’m hoping I can do some digging and see if I can find any census Mystic Moon had done of all their members around that time as well. I have a strong feeling she’s from one of the two packs. Cam, I’d like you to hand pick several guards to accompany us to River bed. Once the elders officially put Victor under arrest, they’ll be requiring some of our resources for his transport to trial, and we’ll need some focused and experienced war