33 - KennedyBeta Josh gives a tight little half smile, mischief dancing in his eyes. “Let’s go then.” He crouches down and I match him, letting my anger at their silent conversation fuel me. They were probably discussing how weak I am and if the Alpha can hold back enough to not hurt me. This is just a game to them and I don’t like being the butt of their stupid ass jokes.Then a growl vibrates the group, Alpha Ryker grunts ‘fine!’ as someone else calls ‘GO!’I have a split second to react. Josh jumps back and Ryler comes at me from behind. I duck to avoid his outstretched arms and get a hit to his upper thigh, that probably felt more like a bee sting than a blow to his gigantic muscle. I am not going to think about those absolutely defined muscles. The hit does change his momentum enough for me to spin out of his way, mostly. He grabs my left arm and I am flipped and land on my back before I can even blink once. The wind is knocked out of me, but not nearly as bad as it shou
34 - KennedyI have to be cool though. I cannot act like the freakish girls that I have seen around Jeremiah, or even Amy last night. These alphas have girls throw themselves at them all the time. Girls that only want a piece of the ‘alpha,’ not the guy who happens to have the title of alpha. He also doesn’t seem super happy about having to deal with the presence of a human. Although, I thought last night might have at least made him more open to me.We had a moment last night and then again on the training grounds. I know he could feel it too, see it in his eyes, even if he won’t admit it, but this little flirtation will end when I go back with Jeremiah, Rayna and the guys in a few days. I may never see him again after this. I just need to relax, he’s just a guy like all the other guys I hang out with daily. Just treat him like one of the guys. A really big, really hot, alpha male kind of guy. Just one of the guys. Just one of the guys. That’s the mantra I have in my head as he
35 - Ryker“Why don’t you just go and talk to her?” My wolf’s question has been the same everyday. Today we are watching Kennedy, Rayna and some of the guys play with the pups. It’s fascinating. It didn’t take much to convince him to stop on our border run.“I can’t trust you to behave yourself, that’s why.”“So you’re just going to hide like a p*ssy and then follow her around like a stalker instead. That makes so much more sense.”“I am not stalking her. I’m trying to understand her. Besides, she hasn’t made any effort to come to me either.”“That’s what you’re going with? Leaving your balcony door open hoping to hear her moaning your name is not an invitation to come talk to you. She’s also human and doesn’t have the same senses that we do. You’re going to have to be in the same room as her for her to talk to you, dumbass.”“I swear to the Goddess if Danny hugs her one more time, I am going to rip his arms off.” They know I am here and he’s doing it to get a reaction. It’s wor
36 - KennedyAs much as I want it, nothing else happens between Alpha Ryker and I again. In fact, I only caught glimpses of him coming and going from the pack house during the week and I didn't see him at all the last two days we had before heading back to Silver Crescent. I know he’s busy running a combined set of packs with probably thousands of pack members, but his room is right next door to mine and I can smell his cologne in the hallway and even on the balcony, so I know he’s still here. He’s just out of reach.Realistically we should have come across each other at least once or twice, but I feel like he’s avoiding me. And then I want to smack myself, because why should I even care? I have never wanted a second round with any of the guys I have been with. I even kept Ben at a distance, even though I’ve been with him a few times. I don’t know why this is different, but it is. As much as he riles me up, something about him settles me, although I’ll never admit that out loud.
37- KennedyAunt Beth had the Luna Ceremony planned in under a month. This woman does not waste time, she wants her son and his Luna settled and ready to bring in the next generation of the pack. AKA she wants grandbabies. I just have to laugh at her while she buzzes around the kitchen while I am doing my homework, or trying really hard to get it done. I could honestly do it in my room, but where would the fun in that be? The nice thing is, I worked really hard so I could start a few college courses during my senior year. So this semester is light with only a half class load, which has come in handy since apparently Jer finding his mate completely upends everyone’s world around here. Jeremiah never returned to school. He has been working full time with Uncle James, while Rayna has been with Aunt Beth planning the Luna Ceremony and getting to know the pack and what her duties are. I know that Aunt Beth volunteers a lot with the pack hospital and the school, but there is so much
38 - RykerAt this point I’m really thinking about taking everyone’s advice and just ripping Claude’s head off. We never caught him on our last visit. Somehow he managed to find out we were coming for him, meaning he has someone in my pack feeding him information. So we had to play it off like we were visiting to reprimand him for his lack of leadership ability and start our investigation over. This time inside our home pack. We were at least able to take care of the pack members that he had been neglecting. Josh and I found a few trusted members who seem to be handling things better than Claude or the people he put into place. At least I can bestow delta class ranks to those who deserve it. They now have authority to help and protect on my behalf and have a direct link to Danny and the rest of my team if needed. I told them to reach out directly to Robin for anything else they needed that Claude wasn’t providing. I’m done trying to be politically correct. I’m going to ice him
39 - RykerI have my fists balled to my sides and I can’t look away, but I am mentally willing him to release her. She just needs to know and understand that she can’t be that close to him, or any guy that looks at her like that, then my wolf will settle and we can go talk to them like a normal person.The exact opposite happens though. Something amusing is said and they all laugh. Ben grips her waist tighter and rubs circles on her hip bone with his thumb… and she leans into him. Oh f*ck no!“Easy, Alpha. Take a breath before you go over and rip his arms off. They don’t know because you are a dumbass and let your mate go.” Danny warns me. He knows me too well for my liking, but it’s for my own good.“F*ck off. You know how I feel about mates.” I growl, but take a deep breath anyway.“And yet, you are about to forcefully claim her in front of all her friends and family. You and your wolf need to figure this out. He doesn’t seem to share your thoughts on mates now that you have f
40 - RykerI grab her arm as she moves away from us. “What are you talking about? What’s wrong with her?” What other weakness could she possibly have? Naturally, when I need answers, my sister ignores me, so the rest of Jeremiah’s team leaves me guessing too. They clearly care more about her feelings than my anger.“You maybe should have talked to her before claiming and embarrassing her in front of her friends and family like an alpha-hole.” Rayna pulls her arm from my grasp and I just stare at her as she goes.What the hell just happened? Josh pats me on the shoulder as Jeremiah reaches out and shakes my hand.“It’ll be okay, just give Rayna a bit to calm Ken down. I guess congrats are in order, and maybe good luck.” He winces. “My mom is going to lose her mind when she finds out.” He chuckles under his breath then follows my sister in the house.“We’ll show you where you and your guys are staying.” Ben walks up to us with the delta, I think his name is Tommy. Ben is smart enough
31 - GretaWalking down the hall, I hear Landon and Ryker. “Yeah, we don’t know what happened exactly. The fire was just too big and everyone was running around. Peyton and I were at training and someone came in and yelled ‘FIRE’ then all the kids went crazy. Peyton and I ran together, cause we’re neighbors but the wind was too bad and there were sparks everywhere. I got burned on the arm and she told me we can’t search anymore. We told you how we found Gabriel and Trinity. Do you think that our parents are still alive?” I finally hear a whisper of the little boy he is in the question.“I hope so buddy. But you are here now and you can stay as long as you want to. In the morning I’ll have my guys start looking into your pack’s situation, now that we have an idea of what happened. You have done a great job protecting your pack. Your parents and your alpha will be so proud.”“Speaking of the littles,” I step into Bennet’s room where they are sitting on the bed. They both look over a
30 - GretaThis little doll of a girl is wrapped in Finn’s arms like a koala. She tucks her face back under Finn’s chin so she can look at me while maintaining full contact with him. Her posture is shy, but the look in her eye is most definitely not. It is almost territorial. My wolf grumbles in my head before I remind her that this baby has been through a lot and isn’t a threat. But she knows my name. That is interesting.“Oh! I am so excited to see you all!” Kennedy gushes unable to help herself. “Are you hungry? Samuel said you hunted before you left your camp. Or are you tired? We’re going to set you up here with us tonight.”“I’m hungry!” The youngest boy says and we all laugh.“Gabriel, you’re always hungry.” The oldest girl laughs at him.“Well Gabriel, you are in luck, I just had the fridge stocked. I’m always hungry too.” Kennedy giggles, patting her stomach. “Let’s get a snack and then you can all get cleaned up and in bed. Sound good?” She reaches her hand out to him. H
29 - FinnI give her fingers a squeeze and shift to follow Landon and Gabriel to get water. I lose count of how many trips we make, but Landon is smart and kept them close to a stream so it wasn’t terrible. Seth and Sameul talk the kids through what they do to process the deer and how we use everything. Nothing goes to waste. We eat and use the deer skin to hold what we don’t consume. Trinity doesn’t leave my side and only breaks contact to eat. Her cute little hand is wrapped around my pinky finger and her warm body is pressed up into my side.All the kids are fascinated with the whole food prep process, asking question after question to Seth as he cooks and hands off finished pieces of meat. After, we all wash off in the stream and head back to sit around the fire, talking comfortably. “You know you remind me of a friend of mine.” I tell Trinity.“I do? Who?” She has gotten more confident around us, but her voice is still strong, but shy.“Her name is Greta and your hair is almos
28 - FinnHe pads over to the opening and crawls in. I can hear muffled talking, but I don’t try to listen in. If she’s younger than Gabriel, she’s just a baby and I have no idea where her mind might be at. Other than my friends we never came across too many pups in our journey and I always thought that was because situations like Sammmy’s and mine were a fluke. But after seeing these kids, I wonder if it’s because they didn’t survive long enough to get help.I hear a little squeak behind me as Gabriel sits next to me. When I turn he shrugs his shoulders. I guess that means I’m up. I chance a slight look and my breath catches. This tiny little thing is huddled in a ball next to the opening, staring right back at me. Her body language says she’s afraid, but her eyes tell me a different story. She has piercing green eyes that are hard and fierce. Her look is almost a dare to go over there and see what she’ll do to me.I keep my ass on the ground and lift my hand in a wave. “Hi.” I say
27 - FinnI hear a grumbled ‘jackass’ from one of them. I try to fight a smile, kind of. “The Luna said you need help, what can I do? The Alpha is already planning how to remove my head from my body for leaving my partner alone to defend the Luna…”“WHAT!?! Why in the hell would you leave her?” The bulkier of the two warriors steps towards me.I throw my hands up. “Because SHE had a pregnant tantrum about rescuing these kids! I chose to piss off the lesser of the two evils! Have either of you dealt with a pregnant she wolf?” Both males stop in their tracks and share a look before laughing. “Wait. What’d I miss?”“I take it you don’t have kids?” Lean man asks.“No?” “The Luna is intense on her own, the hormones are making it tenfold. The name’s Samuel.” The larger built warrior says extending his hand to me. I shake it, a little confused. “Finn, nice to meet you I guess.” That’s it? All I had to do was tell them their Luna scared the crap out of me and they decide I’m not a threat?
26 - FinnWe can’t catch a break. Every time I get Greta to talk to me about this whole mate thing, something interrupts. Neither of us is stupid enough to go against our very pregnant luna though.“What’s up Boss lady?” Greta puffs out. Even she isn’t immune to these f*cking stairs.“Samuel and Seth found some abandoned pups on the border.” She screeches.“I don’t understand.” I step forward, but stay behind Greta’s shoulder. I haven’t been around many pregnant she-wolves, but I have heard they can go from sweet to violent in a blink and Kennedy is still getting used to the heightened emotions of her wolf. She’s less likely to hurt Greta in this situation.“They need your help! What’s not to understand?!” She’s frantically running her fingers through her hair, pacing and I am at a loss. I look sideways at my mate. Greta’s glassy eyed, meaning she’s hopefully getting some insight from the alpha.“Luna…LUNA!” She finally looks at me. “Can you give me more details? Are they being c
25 - FinnDeal. That’s all we were told, to deal. I am now stuck here, for who knows how long with her. I can’t deal witht this right now, I have to get out of here.“I’m going to go look around.” I drop my bag and scurry to the door.“Finn, wait..”I don’t hear anything else she says as I spring like a coward down the hall, down the stairs, past a confused Kennedy and out to the massive patio. I’m panting, my lungs won’t take in air. I can’t do this. I can’t be around her. Her scent in the car was difficult enough to deal with. I am the most relaxed and at the same time the most tense than I have been in weeks.“You need to calm down. This is a good thing.”“How can it be a good thing?! I was just getting used to not being around her.”“You get another shot, that’s why it’s a good thing!”“I don’t want it. She doesn’t want me. I am a rogue with nothing. Just let me reject her and we can move on. The rest of our group is settled and Ryker is going to make them all pack soon.”“NO!
24 - FinnI slide out of the SUV looking around. This feels like a trap, and yet none of the usual alarms are going off in my head. My wolf and I have established a decent radar for bad situations. Avoiding them is our top priority. I’m not sure what it is about Kennedy and Ryker, but I have not had one single instance of distrust with either of them the entire time we have been in the Dark Moon pack.“Greta! Finn!” I whip around to see Kennedy at the top of a ridiculously tall staircase. “Well, don’t just stand there, come on!” She waves us up excitedly.It’s almost strange to have someone excited to see me. Nan was it, as far as I can remember, other than the pups at Dark Moon. But, they are excited to see most people, so they don’t really count. I always have Sammy and some of the other guys. We fight side by side and hope each one makes it out alive. We have had to leave guys behind and move forward, move on to the next location. I couldn’t tell you where we laid those people to
23 - GretaI sit and stare at the door for a long while. There’s no sound on the other side. He’s not showering or anything, just waiting for me to leave. I should feel relieved. He told me to go and I wish I could make my body do just that, but I’m locked here in place, my wolf is willing him to come out. His wolf is blocking her and I can feel her heartbreak. Something’s changed and she’s hurting. Add it to the list of things for me to feel guilty about.I stand, frustrated, and take a deep breath of his lingering scent, then get an idea. I run my hands on the pillows and blankets. Anything soft in this room I touch. At the very least, maybe he will sleep okay tonight. I need to talk to Kennedy, this is something I don’t know how to navigate. I still don’t want a mate. It’s not fair to Finn that I am broken and can’t be fixed. I don’t like the idea of him hurting over it either._It has been weeks and FInn is nowhere in sight. I can feel him when he’s near, but he is avoiding m