The White Wolf

Chapter Seventeen

~Jake~

I lay in bed; Payton is curled up beside me. I watch her sleep, her little breathes going in and out, relaxes me. I feel on edge being here, yesterday was intense, how could it not be, from Payton killing her stepfather, to the pack wanting her and by default us as Alphas to her unfreezing her heart. She grew up here, she knows this place better than anyone, she was allowed to explore, whereas the other kids wouldn’t have been. When I trained here it felt like a cold place, the moon pack runs on the warmth of others, this place is all about oneself. Payton may want us too to move here, but I am unsure of how that would work, the more I think about it the tenser and stressed I get. I used to hear stories about Payton, how even though she was under sixteen and not shifted yet she was a talented fighter, how she could take out half a dozen of men without breaking a sweat. It was hard wondering the halls her showing me around, when you’re a guest here training, you get to sleep eat and train, nothing else. I pull her closer to me, in the hopes that having her so nearby, the real, kind caring Payton will help me relax. It didn’t, it just reminded me that I had her, lost her, and having her so close and yet so far was torture. I knew I couldn’t tell her; it would break her heart now to know. Other girls would hit on me all the time, to the point I withdrew from the pack, the men never went near her because they knew I would kill them if they did, but knowing that she didn’t care whether the girls threw themselves at me hurt me the most. They would flirt with me in front of her and she wouldn’t bat an eyelid. They would whisper that she wouldn’t care and that it was up to me to carry on the Alpha line, I love her and I would never knowingly hurt her she may not care but me mating with someone else would cause her a tremendous amount of pain, so I never touched another girl for that reason alone. she murmured something that I didn’t catch as I was in my own headspace.

“Jake, let me go please, your kind of hurting holding on so tight and I need a wee.” I hear her say. I instantly let her go.

“I’m sorry,” I say, my voice gruff from sleep and sadness.

“Oh Jake, I’m sorry for moaning that you're holding me too tight, I know the last few months have been hard, I remember it all, I will never freeze my heart again.” She smiles then kisses me, as she gets up for the toilet. I hear the toilet flush and then the taps go. She comes running in and jumps on me. she lays down on top of me, kissing me. I instantly respond. “Jake, just so you know, it hurts me too. I knew girls were hitting on you, I knew but I didn’t care, but I do now, and I will never freeze my heart for as long as your alive.” She says as she buries her head in my chest, her ear above my heart.

“How did you know that was what I was thinking about?” I say, as I lift my arm and embrace her.

“I felt your thoughts through the link” she goes back to kissing me. There was a slight knock at the door, she gets up and pads over to the door and opens it. We have clothes on, but I am a little excited, I sit up and try to hide it a bit better.

“Hey Luana, I love your dress, everything ok?” Payton says, Luana hovers in the door, I didn’t really pay much attention to the pack yesterday, Luana has a huge scar down her face, she tries to hide it with makeup, it doesn’t work really, I bet Steph could show her how to hide it better, she’s really good with makeup. I think Luana should own her scar it would make her more of a catch.

“Yes Luna, I came to tell you, breakfast will be served in a minute and that your car has been re-packed.” She says, she’s very timid, although she seems more confident talking to Payton.

“Please call me Payton, we are long-time friends after all” Payton smiles at her. “are you and your friends sure you want to come with?”

“Yeah, well I am not so sure, but I know you will protect us, but Mason and Gertie want to know if their mates are in the other camp and don’t want to wait.” She shrugs,

“yeah I get that, I didn’t want to wait either, and they are the same age as us. I will protect you Launa, and you don’t need to be scared of the outside world, I lived alone for months, maybe a year before I found Jake.” Payton explains

“I know, but everyone looks at my scar and then I feel I have to tell people,”

“I know, we have a great makeup artist at the moon pack, she might be able to help but you know how I feel about it, I think you should just own it, I would. You have no reason to be ashamed, everyone has battle scars.” Payton looks at her with sadness “Thank you for reminding me about breakfast, I completely forgot.” Payton smiles at her as she turns and leaves, closing the door with a click. “Let’s get dressed, you can remind me why I love you later,” she winks at me. We instantly fall back into old patterns, showering together, washing each other, I pull her close and she tiptoes to kiss me, it's slow and passionate, I deepen the kiss, pick her up and push her against the cold tiles, she gasps as her back hits the tiles allowing me to slide my tongue in, she changes her position and slides down upon me, making me moan in pleasure, it didn’t take long for us to finish. We quickly finish up showering and get dressed, we then head down to the dining hall. This pack is very traditional and has been waiting for us to appear. I know the wolves can all sense what we have just done.

“We are sorry that we are late, everyone may eat,” Payton says, she sits in her seat looking at me. I take my seat.

Once we are all finished. We all clear the tables and say our thanks to the pack. We talk with Valerie and tell her we will be in contact as soon as we know more. I offer to take the first drive, knowing it would be easier than making small talk with people I don’t know. Mason and Elijah argue over where they will sit. Luana barks at them and they both settle in the very back. Gertie and Luana sit in the middle row with their backpacks between them. Payton sits in the front seat putting the iPod on low so that they can still talk.

“Hey guys, I know you're excited about leaving the pack to go on this little adventure but it can be dangerous, so if I say something you need to do it, if there is trouble, I know you can handle yourselves, but don’t stick too close to me, as I can call the elements, you might end up hurt.” I look in the mirror and they are all nodding. Payton puts her hand on my leg. “We are going to stop at a shopping centre to get some baby stuff for Jay’s mate and Jake’s sister, you stay close to us, Jake will move you out of the way if I need to call the elements. I do not want to report you as dead.” She looks at them, her hand never leaving my thigh.

“Yes, Luna,” they say in unison. I half-smile at her while driving. Weirdly, they are all the same age, I am only a few years older than them but even Payton seems more mature than these. It didn’t take long to get to the centre so we split up boys and girls and looks for presents for them, Payton found some really cute, onesies for the babies to sleep in, and then she found some cute little sleeping bags for babies, she also got three wolf teddies for them, I managed to find some cute blankets, and some baby toys. The way Payton looked me when we were discussing babies, made me just want to take her, and we could have cute baby babies. We found a takeaway place and got some food that we took to the car, Payton was getting antsy, so I ate my dinner quick and got on the way. Halfway Payton took over driving, we stopped to refuel the car, we got more dinner too, Payton got easy to eat food, which was chips and chicken nuggets. I fed them too her as she’s driving. she was constantly looking in the mirrors to check to see if we are being followed. All they spoke off was how it was weird to be out in the real world, then they started asking about us, how we met and how Payton froze her heart. Then they asked about me, I guess to learn about their new Alpha, I answered all of their questions thought it would be easier.

When Payton pulls into the turning and drives towards home, I can feel her relax under my touch. Nick, Jamie, Steph, and Zoey were waiting outside, then mum and the warriors join them as we pull up. Zoey was eating ice cream out of the tub with a spoon, Zoey baby bump was bigger, she looked uncomfortable whereas Steph looked more at ease with it. Jamie tried to take the ice cream from her, and she growls at him. He slowly removes his hand. I did chuckle. We get out and introduce everyone, the say a quick hello and then start bombarding us with questions.

“Hey, before you continue with this constant string of questions, may I remind you its been a long journey and a tough time, can we do this later?” Payton snaps at them.

Elizabeth comes running out of the house and up to Payton to give up a big hug.

“Oh, I’ve missed you!” Elizabeth says into Payton’s ear. Mason goes storming up to them, grabs Payton and sends her flying across the drive and into the drive, Elizabeth’s eyes widen and then backs away from him.

I grab hold of him, “How dare you!”

“Mate” is all he replies. The other males all relax.

“You do not harm your Luna for your mate!” I shout at him, I catch in the corner of my eye, Payton storming over. She is angry, I put him down and turn him to her. “Good luck mate.” I step back.

She gets to him, she’s a lot smaller than him, he must have been about 6ft 2. She slaps him hard across his face.

“Do not test me!” she screams at him, “you do not touch your Luna like that ever!” she growls at him.

“She is my mate, not for you to touch.”

“Oh, sorry I didn’t realise I am into women” she stands there hand on hip,

Jay turns to Elijah, “Now he’s in trouble” he laughs,

“I am your Luna, if I want to hug my friend, I will hug my dam friend”

“She is my mate, mine.”  it was like he couldn’t hear her.

“I am your Luna!” she growls, using her Alpha voice. He freezes, Elizabeth moves to stand by Payton.

As soon as he sees her, he softens, then he takes in what he’s done.

“Luna, I am sorry.” I put my hand on his shoulder.

“Payton, it is hard for an unmated male to find their mate and to see them hug or show affection to another.”

“And you think that it is ok for him to throw me into a dam car?”

“No, I do not, of course, I don’t, I would kill him if I didn’t know what he was going through, every man here knows how he feels.”  

“I am so sorry Luna, I have it under control now, I am so sorry.” He gets down and begs for his forgiveness,

“ok, ok, fine, but you pull that again on me, and a slap will not be all you get. Can someone show our guests to their room?”

“I'll show Mason his room,” Elizabeth says, we all laugh, Marc and Josh show the rest of them to their rooms.

“Ok guys, it’s been a long journey, we are going to have a nap, Nick can you wake us up 30mins before dinner?” I say.

Nick turns to me “Wait, mate, we heard you are now Alpha’s to another pack, the shadow pack, we just want to know what is happening?” concern was written all over his face.

“Well Nick, we aren’t sure, we want to get your opinion on it, we were thinking of moving our pack there, it’s much safer for starters, but then we have reservations on how that would work practically as their pack runs differently to ours,” I say being honest with him.

“Oh, how much safer?”

“They have a hospital wing, I didn’t get to see it, but Payton said it’s there. Means Steph doesn’t need to leave the castle to give birth, meaning both of them will be safer in the protection of the pack” I add.

“Oh, ok we will discuss it, have a nap, we will get our feelings in order then we can tell you after dinner?”

“Sounds like a plan, just make sure you wake us 30mins before dinner, so we don’t oversleep”

“sure thing” Nick Laughs. “Sleeping my arse” he whispers to Jamie who laughs. Seems they have gotten closer since I left for only three days. We head upstairs and Payton dithers at the top of the stairs, I pick her up and cradle her near my torso. She giggles and leans into me, I open my bedroom door, walking through and kicking it closed. I placed her on the bed, and climb between her legs, kissing her.

“Jake,” she mummers. I continue kissing her, lowering my hand down her trousers, she moans a little, pulling my trousers off, before long we are making love. Once we are finished, we shower really

quick and get into some comfy clothes. Payton dresses in a sports bra and jogging bottoms. Her peach little bum looks so good, makes me want round two. She curls up in my arms and cuddles into me until we both fall asleep.

~Payton~

I am rudely woken by Elizabeth shaking me awake. “What is it?” I mummer to her. trying to turn over and go back to sleep.

“I need to talk to you.”

“Can it wait? like when I’m awake after my nap before dinner?” I beg.

“No, you know Mason, or at least knew him, please I need to talk to you,” she begs.

“For the love of the Goddess, Payton gets up and talk to her, because I don’t want to wake up just yet” he grumbles.

“Fine,” I say as I grudgingly get up and follow her out of the room, I look back and Jake had turned over and was snoring lightly. I smile as I close the door.

We walk down to Jake’s office; it will be the quietest place to talk without interruptions.

“Elizabeth, I’ve had a very long and tiring few days, coming back from the deep freeze and travelling, killing my stepfather, who murdered my mother without my deep freeze to protect me, I need the sleep.” I look at her.

“I know you do, you might want to wear makeup to cover that up,” she says laughing, “anyway, you’re the only one who would understand, Steph is pregnant and all loved up with a guy she has known since she was born, she thinks our mates are chosen for a reason which makes me feel worse because well Mason, after what he did to you, I don’t trust him,”

“Elizabeth, trust isn’t just a natural given, it is earned you don’t have to trust him, but there’s more to the story?” I say sensing she’s not telling me everything.

“Is Mason a good guy?” she sits, looking sad.

“Elizabeth, men finding their mates is different for men and women. For men, it is a much stronger pull, not because we don’t love the same amount, but the goddess made it harder for men for some reason, maybe because they are idiots and don’t know what they got until it’s too late so she made their feelings stronger to stop them from rejecting their mate. When I knew him, he was a lovely guy, girls loved him, he didn’t sleep about, he treated women with respect, he lost his father young like me, so he was raised by his mother. He was an awesome fighter, one of few who kept up with me until we were 13 anyway, I’m not sure what you want me to say, but honestly, he was a great guy, I don’t know about his recent history, but I doubt his personality could change that much.” I say trying to find her hope.

“I won't let him touch me, because I don’t trust him,” she sobs.

“That’s ok, as mates they should be whatever we need them to be, same as we do for them, did you talk about respecting your need to wait?”

“Not really no, I didn’t know how.” She replies.

“Maybe you should, I know it’s hard, to have faith in another human being, but honestly, Jake stayed with me, and stayed faithful while I wasn’t me before he met me did you ever think that was possible?” I say to her, hoping her answer would be yes, and that way I didn’t expect too much from him.

“Honestly, no.” she looks at me sadly.

There was a knock at the door, it slightly opened and Jake popped his head in, “I couldn’t return to a peaceful sleep as someone stole my mate, so I’ve come to help.” he smiles at Elizabeth, walks in and sits on his office chair.

“You can’t help,” Elizabeth says quickly, Jake narrows his eyes at her,

“Yes, he can Elizabeth, he is your Alpha, Jake what are your impressions of Mason?” I say giving her a stern look. “The Alpha’s first impressions are based on instinct; therefore, it is quite valuable,” I say to her.

“Well, I liked him, until he touched you. When we were are the Shadow pack, he only spoke to a select few. He was happy to introduce himself in wolf form and he didn’t flee with the others, he stayed at fought until everyone was safe. I didn’t like that way he spoke to his Luna regardless.” Jake ends as he deepens in thought. “Why don’t you do what Payton, and I did? We dated, I know we married first, but if that weren’t a must then we would have dated and not rushed.” He says looking hopefully at her.

“See, now that’s something we could work with, right?” I say to Elizabeth.

“ok, yeah, I could work around that, without touching him for a while.” She says thinking. “So, what happened at the shadow pack?”

“It’s a long story”

“Payton and I snuck into the castle, Payton killed Sebastian, then gave control back to the pack and they chose us to be their Alpha’s, well Payton really, but I am her mate some by default. Payton passed out when she unfroze her heart. She showed me around the castle, then we left.”

“Ok, well apparently not that long” I laugh.

“Huh, well the other pack will they be happy to have us?” her face says she’s nervous, playing with her dress.

“If we are happy to be there and pitch in, then I don’t see why not, their numbers are dwindling, so they need the help. its also a great home base, easily protected hard to penetrate.” I say,

“will our pack be safer?” she says.

“Yeah, it would be, plus Zoey and Steph can give birth within the compound meaning they don’t have to leave,” I say.

“I vote yes then.” She says as she stands to exit.

I feel for her, having a mate from another pack, Clarissa is living proof that your mate isn’t always good. She doesn’t know him. She can get to know him though like I did Jake. Jamie and Nick walk in, as Elizabeth leaves.

“Everything ok?” I say to them.

“Yeah, everything is fine, we spoke to the highest-ranking pack members yesterday, some of them have questions, I answered what I could. They are more interested in practicalities and safety of the back.” Jamie answers.

“Ok that makes sense, that’s what we were questioning too if we are honest,” Jake says.

“Nick and I don’t doubt the safety, we just worried about how it would work?”

“Well, I was thinking that we would have the same rules for the packs, but have our own in charge of our own until such a time where the two packs could co-inside,” Jake said, “To be honest, our pack will be helping them out with numbers and they will be helping us out with training, I think from meeting the management team, it would all work out eventually. The only thing I can see is having two beta’s they probably aren’t going to end well”

“I was thinking the same,” I say to Jake, “Both betas are really good, while each pack is in charge of each pack, having two will be ok, it will be if they decide to become one big back, however, I doubt that Valerie will step down and I don’t think Nick should either, but I think they work on rotation, during a fight they are allocated teams to watch, they work together, during non-warlike times, I think having two would actually benefit the pack as a whole, Nick can have rotated days off like those working for us, the same as Valerie can. That way Nick can have time with Steph and the baby and I know Valerie before I left said that being beta was hard work. So she might be open to the new possibility. The one thing I don’t want to do, is pushing anyone out of their position, that is our pack too, the Shadow pack may be the pack that raised me, and I will always be loyal to them, but this pack, this pack has a special place in my heart, this pack, took me in and hid me, accepted me for me, and hold my mate, I am also loyal to this pack.”

“Thank you, Payton, it actually means a lot that you think I am good enough for Valerie, I have heard her reputation, she is ruthless. If she would be ok with it, I would be.” Nick smiles.

“I think us moving should be a pack decision, not just a high-rank decision, this affects everyone and not everyone is ready or wants this war,” I say,

“I agree.” Say the three boys,

“After dinner, we shall set up a pack meeting,” Jake commands. I smile at him, this whole time my stomach feels weird. I feel sick and clammy.

“I don’t feel too well,” I start to feel dizzy “something is wrong,” I say as I blackout. I hear talking as I come too. I try to open my eyes, but they feel heavy, I start to sit up and feel Jake’s hand on my back and a cold glass places into my hand. I take a sip; someone is directing the cup to my lips. I still don’t open my eyes, I hear Elijah, “The Shadow pack are fine, no-one has attacked them either, no-one is outside the wall like the Luna asked, Elizabeth and Mason are ringing around the other packs, putting them on high alert as well as putting it on the website.” I never said anyone was under attack, why would they assume that.

I could feel my body react to the news; I wonder why I felt like that. I lean up again Jake. I could feel him rubbing my back, relaxing me into him more.

“Payton, how are you feeling now?”

“Hmmm,” I manage to get out before the doctor comes in.

“Her blood sugar is dangerously low, typically wolves don’t get such problems, but I feel the goddess has tied her to more than the wolves. She could also be pregnant; I asked the nurse to test her blood. I will know more this evening.”

“I am not pregnant,” I mummer. Jake squeezes me tighter,

“If you are, then we will deal with it,” he whispers in my ear.

I just nod, Claire comes in with some food, I can smell its good, “It’s a taster of dinner tonight.” She says it’s sausages with like a weird honey glaze.

“Thanks, Claire, I can’t wait for dinner now,”

“Won’t be long Luna.” I hear the door close; the others had left as well. Jake readjusts himself and then lays be beside him, I close my eyes. Someone brought in flannel for my eyes.

After about forty minutes later, Steph comes and gets us for dinner. I smile at her, and her baby bump, she’s in leggings and a cute baby maternity top. Everyone is already seated; we take our seats. There were so many questions for the shadow pack,

‘where is Caleb?’ I link Jamie,

‘On the watch, he didn’t want to meet more of us. Plus, he’s scared one of the girls could be his mate and therefore he is avoiding that.’

‘Typical man’ then I laugh.  Gertie and Elijah do most of the talking, they are the most confident out of all of my friends. I part took occasionally, mostly I kept quiet worrying about if I’m pregnant or not, I really hoped I wasn’t as I wouldn’t be allowed to shift. Dinner was lovely as always, and we head out to the clearly to meet the pack. It was a clear nights sky. I stopped looking out to the stars they were pretty; everyone had overtaken me and was heading to the stage. I just stood mesmerised by the stars, for a second, they looked weird, as if I were looking through my wolf eyes.

“Jamie, what the hell?” I say when I continue to walk and bump into him.  

“You just shifted,” he says still not moving.

“Huh? No, I didn’t.” I reply.  

“Yes, you did, what where you are thinking about?” he questions.

“How pretty the stars where, why am I losing control?” I look at him,

“Not sure. Maybe its why you passed out?” he shrugs. “Were you bitten by a vampire?” he adds.

“No,” I frown at him. He touches my body all over, there was a place on the side of my chest that hurt, I didn’t notice before, he lifted the top. There was a cut there. “see I wasn’t bitten,” I shrug,

“How did you get the cut?” I shrug about to answer, I didn’t even know I had a cut, let alone how I got it.  

“She’s been poisoned.” Says James the pack doctor answering Jamie’s question as he approaches us. “Here take this.” He handed me a glass vile. I drank it. “She will be fine.” He walks to where the rest of the pack had been congregating.

“See, now you have been extra careful,” Jamie says. I glare at him, I don’t remember being cut, but by the looks of the wound, it was probably from my fight with Sebastian. We walk over towards the pack. Jake was already on the makeshift stage; I took my place and Jamie took his.

“Hello Moon pack, now that everyone is here, we shall start. We want to be completely honest with you, so please any question just raise your hand. So, most of you know why we left, it was to kill Sebastian, the Alpha to the Shadow pack. He was the one who killed Payton’s mother. Before we left, Payton explained that whoever killed the Alpha would take his spot, she explained she only wanted revenge and not the power of another pack and asked me on what we should do. So, I thought we would give the pack back to their people, they can decide on who they wanted to lead them. They chose Payton, for many reasons. So now, we are Alphas to two packs. Payton has been warned of an evil coming, therefore we believe that the best thing for this pack is to move to the Shadow pack castle, it is a lot safer there, and easily defendable. However, we believe this is a decision for you the pack. We have brought back people from shadow pack to answer any questions, we do not plan on demoting any of our people or theirs. We plan to co-habitat, learn from each other, work together, the two packs will run separately for the time being. I’ll introduce those from the Shadow pack, this is Mason, who is Elizabeth’s mate, Elijah, Gertie and Launa.” Jake points to them as he names them, they come up on stage and stand by me, giving a small wave to the pack. “Any questions?”

The first hand went up was Lisa, “yes Lisa, what is your question?”

“What about our children and their schoolwork?” She looked worried.

Luana stepped forward, “So within the Shadow pack, which is known for it’s fighting skillset, our old Alpha took education very seriously within the pack, he sent out wolves to become qualified teachers, so on a Saturday we teach wolf history, I work in a nearby school which has a good relationship with the pack, and if we are put into lockdown then those of us who are teacher trained teach the children in the library.”

Then Steph’s friend, Madeline, she was training to become a midwife I believe, she also had children, “how safe is the castle?”

Elijah stepped forward, “So the castle has a moat, which Payton has asked us to re-fill, there is one way in the castle, the wall is almost impenetrable, plus you will be surrounded and trained by black wolves, for the pups, there are multiple hideouts for children who will be trained where to hide. The castle has stood for 100’s of years, is well maintained and has been attacked often.”

“What about jobs?” someone else shouted, I didn’t catch who shouted it though.

Gertie stepped forward. “Well, so I’m not sure how much you know about black wolves, but slowly and surely, we are declining in numbers, depending on what you’re interested in, there are plenty of paid jobs within the pack, from castle maintenance, kitchen work, anyone training for working in a hospital, you can transfer your studies and work within our health team, they will train you up, for wolf and human doctoring, nursing and midwifery, teaching, vehicle maintenance. If you can work from home for your outside the pack job, then we have great Wi-Fi. We Payless too our workers, this is because we provide food, and housing to our pack, electric and other amenities. While we will be running as separate packs, there will be some overlap within areas. We do not expect you to bow to our rules but create new ones with us, we are not your enemy.”

No-one else put their hands up or shouted questions.

“Payton anything to add?” Jake asked.

“Yes please,” he nodded and I stepped forward, trying to project my voice, “I know moving from your ancestral home is scary, and many of you may think that it is unnecessary and right now I would have to agree, we are proposing moving sooner rather than later, when it is necessary, for safety reasons, so that we aren’t fleeing our home. We are bringing this now so that we can move safely so that no-one is missed. We want to create a safe place for you to do your training, for you to work, for you to raise your children. It is hard, and although I’ve not been here long, this place is beautiful, and it is home. Jake and I wouldn’t have brought this to you if it weren’t important, neither Jake nor myself want to leave here, but practically speaking, it is nearly impossible to defend even with my powers. We want our pack safe, the land we can reclaim, rebuild but the loss of life, that pain never goes away.”

 “Let’s take a vote” someone shouts from the back. My palms go sweety, and I instantly feel nauseous. I take Jake’s hand. I need to be close to him.

Jake starts projecting his voice, “Ok let’s vote, how is ok with them move? Put your hand up if you want to move.”

We wait while families and couples talk, one by one people's hand went up, even the children put their hands up. I was for sure not expecting anyone want to move, to have the whole pack behind us. I could feel Jake relax.

“Ok, thank you for supporting us in making this decision. Over the next few days, I will be making plans for us to move. I am going to hire coaches for us to our move, pack what you want to take, valuables, clothes, keepsakes. We will ensure that the coaches don’t stop, there will be a toilet on the coach, we will pack food. I will ensure there are 2 or 3 drivers to ensure they can rotate. Payton will cover us with her magic, so hopefully, we have no issues. We will start making our plans in the morning, for tonight enjoy it.” A nod from Jake and everyone starts to head home, some lingering talking to other members, some had cornered those we brought with us question about their family life, Luana said that they will create an information sheet with everything they need to know. We head inside and chat with Claire about making enough food for everyone to travel with, and for us to take food there. She also said she will ask everyone if they don’t get a chance to use it at home if they could bring it here for us to take. Elizabeth asks to talk to us in the office.

“Is everything ok?” I ask her to sit on the couch, Jake takes the office seat but wheels it closer to us,

“No, he said the whole dating thing is stupid and that we should mate and get it over with.” she sobs. Jake moves to comfort her. I’m not exactly the comforting sort, he’s pushed me too far this time, I walk straight to the door, slamming it closed behind me, I hear Jake shout, “don’t do anything stupid.” I use his scent to find his room, being that I didn’t pay attention to who had been housed where. I push it open, clearly not taking any notice of my face,

“Hey, how may I help you Luna?” keeping his face neutral.

 “Help me? you could help me by not treating my friend like s**t, by not reducing her to tears. We have known each other for years; we grew up together.”

“Yes Luna, but I don’t understand what you mean?”

“So, from what I can remember from when we were sixteen, I remember you waiting for your mate. You now have her and your trying to push her into something she isn’t ready for. Are you dying?” he shakes his head no, “right, then stop messing her around, wait as she has asked, be the person she needs you to be.”

He sat down on the bed with his head in his hands. “it’s not that, I’ve done this all wrong, Payton after you disappeared. They bullied me for being a virgin. They were awful to me, you remember them, right?” I nod, I remember them alright, they had been bullying him since they were five. They were the Jocks or popular ones of the school until I came and took the pack by storm. I would have befriended them of course, but I prefer the underdog. They weren’t nice people, they wanted the Block wolf elite, all about black wolves being supreme. Hardly anyone within the black wolves felt like that, but they wanted to bring it back, I bet they kick up when they learn the moon pack are coming to live with them. “You saved us from their torment, but when you left, well locked away at sixteen, they went back to bullying us. I didn’t want to return to the pack with my mate but being unmated.” He looked sad like he had given into peer pressure.

“Be the Mason I remember, and she will fall in love with you harder, do they have their mates yet?”    

“No, they don’t” looking more hopefully, “she will?” I nod at her.

“Then you rub in that you’ve found your mate, I will deal with them if they try anything,” I smile at him, “you’re such a muppet.”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” he begins, Gertie comes in with Elijah. Mason got up to shut the door, I took his place, I laid belly down the bed, feet up by the pillows, Gertie joined me jumping on the bed and nearly rolled into me. Elijah takes one of the chairs in the room.

“So, what’s going on?” Gertie laughs,

“Mason’s being an i***t and nearly losing his mate.” I knock shoulders with her as she rolls her eyes before anyone can answer, there is a knock at the door, Mason opens it and Luana and Jamie come in, this made me smile, it felt like I was fifteen again with the whole gang back together. Jamie sits on the floor leaning against the wardrobe, Lua

na sits in the seat that Mason was occupying, Mason joins Jamie on the floor.  

“Seriously Mas, you worried about being bullied again?” Gertie asks. He gives her the ‘you know I am’ look.

“Pay, you don’t know what was like without there. It wasn’t so bad until Jay disappeared too. Then they bullied us relentlessly, I tried to fight them, but that was always stopped by Valerie. They bullied Luana for working for you, saying it was the only reason you were friends because she needed to work form them, Gertie for being her usual quirky self, me for still being a virgin and they just point blank ignore Elijah.”

“Oh god, you never thought that was why we were friend Launa? Because it’s not.” I say panicking.

“No, no I didn’t, you befriended me when you were 5, I didn’t think you would behave the foresight at that age” she laughs.

“That is very true!” I say to her.

The others continue to chat about being bullied, I thought I would mind link Jake to bring Elizabeth up to Mason’s room, he answers a will do, he doesn’t need my thought process. It would be good for her to see and learn the mason I know.

After a few minutes, I guess it took longer for Jake to convince her to come up. Mason opens the door and freezes.

“Let them in you fool” I laugh. Jake comes in nudging Elizabeth into the room.

Jake comes and sits at the foot of the bed and I put my arms around him and kiss his cheek, he can also get to know a different side of me through these people. Mason sits back down next to Jamie, and Elizbeth sits next to the bed.

I wink at Mason and he groans, “Elizabeth, Mason didn’t mean to be awful to you. There are some people at the other pack that have been bullying him because he wanted to wait for his mate, he didn’t want to be with anyone else but her.” I smile, it is like the sweetest sentiment, I think.

“Thanks, P. I am so sorry Elizabeth, I hope we can talk later?” he looks hopefully at her, she nods, “Payton has spoken to me and told me that I should just be myself and be dammed of the bullies because I am being who I want to me.”

“So, what has happened since I was locked away?” I question.

“So Luana got a tattoo, a butterfly on her hip,” Gertie laughs,

“but Gertie got her belly button and n*****s pierced” Luana adds, Gertie quickly sobers up laughing and sticks her tongue out at Launa.

“Oh god, that sounds painful, what on earth made you two do that?”

“Erm, a dare.” They both laugh and the boys shake their heads at them.

“Oh, did any of you find your mates?” I ask.

“Gertie found hers, but it turns out he’s a complete d**k,” Elijah added.

“Yeah, he rejected me, then he died. It was awful, I had to go through it twice.” She says, slightly sniffling. I give her a big hug,

“I wish I could have been there for you.”

“He was human, he died of cancer. He rejected me thinking his death wouldn’t hurt so much.” She says sadly. “I am doing ok now though, the Goddess I believe will send me love again, doesn’t have to be in the form of a mate, but I will feel something again.” She smiles at me as I take her hand.

“Launa, how are your parents?” I ask. I always hated the way they treated Launa, that was the reason she worked for me, so she could save money and get some independence from them.

“Got taken down by rogues” she shrugs, “they were told they weren’t allowed to go where they did, they went anyway and got killed.” She looked at Elijah, who added,

“I went to recover the bodies after days, rogues killed them but then vampires fed off them. It was how we knew things were getting worse, then all of a sudden it stopped. We suspected Sebastian had stopped them by making a deal with them. Your mum used to feed us information on you. We never gave up on you.” she smiles.

“Thank you, I am so sorry, I should have been there for you guys, I hate Sebastian separating us,” Gertie squeezes my hand and Jake kisses the other one.

We continue to talk about what we had done, I told them about how I was kept prisoner, how I escaped, how Jake found me, Jamie talking about his torture, his escape finding me, Jake added how I saved Jamie, and then Jamie added he found his mate and accidentally knocked her up the first time. Elijah came him the who safe s*x talk, we all joked how he would know. Elijah is extremely good looking, smart and a seriously good fighter. He looks like he’s walked out of a supermodel magazine, dark brown hair, and brown eyes. All the girls fancied and threw themselves at him. Mason, on the other hand, he has sandy brown hair, blue eyes, girls still threw themselves at him, but he always turned them down, making them want him more. They told me about their jobs, Luana left being a maid and trained to be a teacher, Elijah and Mason left to go to university, Mason did business studies, and Elijah did sports science. Mason found out about Elizabeth, how Nick is her brother, how she will have a little niece or nephew soon, that she studied to be a teacher at university but is currently working as a bookkeeper, Luana offered her a job as a teacher when they move. Elizabeth accepted, she will make a great teacher with all the kid’s running around her, she offered to look after the babies more than teach. Luana said that would be a great idea, give the packs somewhere to take the babies when they need time to train or fight. We covered everything to be honest, how life was for everyone until Gertie pointed out the time. We decided to all head to bed. Jake and I make our way to our bedroom, wondering if Elizabeth is ok and that Jake was sure she would tell us via the link if not. We get undress and cuddle in the bed. It feels so good being so close to him, we soon fell asleep cuddling up to bed.