“Do you want to come to my check up?” I asked Griff as he leisurely ran his large hand up and down my back. I had an appointment with the pack doctor to make sure that the baby was ok and I wanted Griff to be there; both as my best friend and the father of the life inside me.

He didn’t hesitate to answer, “Yes.”

We had some shower fun before heading down towards the kitchen to get food as we’d been locked up in my room for three days, only poking our heads out to get food. The pack was in chaos when we walked down; mates and families were hugging, there were people everywhere and it was loud.

I walked over to where Pierre was standing with other warriors and tapped his shoulder. “What’s going on?”

He shot a look up to where Jenna and my fathers had appeared. “We’re going on a raid to free captives and kill the hunters in a compound in Ukraine; wolves over there have been dropping like flies because of them.”

Hunters were humans who hunted wolves and other supernatural creatures; they were cruel and inhumane and thought that all supernaturals and anyone associated with them need to be exterminated. Many had ties with gangs and mobs and were ruthless; they often tortured wolves or sent them to labs or dog fighting rings. I knew that Jenna had once been forced into the fights and her father had been killed by them; she had a burning hatred for hunters and I didn’t blame her.

“Kick their asses.” I said, lightly punching his arm.

After that I was pulled away by my dads who enveloped me in a hug. I hugged them back, knowing that where they were going was dangerous and what they were doing was deadly. “I’ll see you when you get back.” I told them. It was my way of saying ‘stay safe, I love you’. I wasn’t overly emotional and although I didn’t show it, I really did care.

They both smiled and gave me one last squeeze before walking out the door with Jenna and the other wolves going on the raid. Jenna had taken a few hundred men with her and the rest stayed behind to guard the pack.

We had a full English breakfast… well Griff did, I simply nibbled on a salad; anything else would have probably made me sick, though I hadn’t tried and wouldn’t risk it.

The appointment went much like the others with weight check, blood pressure and ultra sounds but when the doctor frowned and stared at the screen where our baby lay curled inside me, I became worried.

“What’s wrong?”

He frowned and moved the ultrasound wand again. “I’m not sure; it looks like you have a cyst on your ovary.”

“Will it hurt the baby?” Griff asked, his hand tightening on mine.

The doctor pursed his lips and stared at the screen. “Right now it’s about the size of a grape and won’t hurt the baby, however if it continues to grow and eventually bursts, it could hurt the baby or cause a miscarriage. Right now there’s nothing we can do except keep an eye on it.”

I cleaned up and walked up the steps of the basement without a word to Griff or the doctor. I was angry… angry at myself and my body, anger that I got pregnant in the first place and scared… scared for my baby. Nothing seemed to be going right! I just wanted to punch something!

I was a person that didn’t dwell on bad things but instead let them motivate me to do better, but it was becoming difficult; I’d been captured by terrorists, tortured for weeks, practically been kicked out of the military because I was ‘unstable’, I was still the outcast of the pack and now my baby could very well die.

Griff left me alone for the rest of the day and I holed myself up in my room, laying on my bed and staring up at the ceiling. He knew that I just wanted to be alone.

Obviously someone, probably Griffin, told my parents what had happened, because they left me alone when they got back as well. It seemed that both my dad’s got along well with Griffin and I think they’d forgiven him for getting me pregnant after realising how much he meant to me.

I stayed in my room for days, food was left at my door and all I did was lay on my bed, hugging my stomach numbly.

I snapped out of it on the third day and had a long hot shower, some rest and food. When I went downstairs to the kitchen, the house was abuzz with preparations for a barbeque.

I spotted Jenna in the kitchen and approached. “What’s going on?”

Jenna seemed surprised to see me but smiled none the less. “Pack barbeque; we rescued close to a hundred wolves in the compound and over half are staying, the rest have been returned to their previous pack. Most are warriors and either have memory loss or have chosen to join our pack; many are from extinct packs so they have nowhere else to go.” I nodded and poured myself a tall glass of water and downed it all in on gulp. “Where have you been the past few days? Griffin told us that it’d be best to leave you alone; why?”

My grip on the glass tightened as I shook my head. “I got some bad news.”

She looked at me like I was a puzzle as my gaze landed on her slightly protruding stomach, almost identical to mine. Jenna would have a healthy baby long before me and the birth was almost guaranteed; unlike mine. My body could literally kill the life inside me at any moment and that scared me. I had no control over what happened to my baby and if something were to happen, I wouldn’t be able to stop it; my own body was now against me… against the life nestled inside me.

My face was blank and when Jenna realised that she couldn’t read me like the wolves she controlled, she backed off and left the kitchen without a word.

I spent the next twenty minutes slowly chowing my way through crackers, plain toast, fruit and raw vegetables; the only things that didn’t make me sick, though sometimes even that didn’t stop it. It seemed that today would be a good day though as I kept everything down, pausing when my stomach rolled slightly. When they began cooking meat I was out of there faster than you could say ‘scat’.

When I made it back to my room I looked out the window to stare outside. It was a beautiful day; not too hot, not too cold, not too many clouds in the sky. I slipped on a tank top, shorts and boots, picking up my back pack and filling the water camel up in the bathroom. I slipped a gun into a holster on my hip, letting my shirt fall back over it as I slipped my biggest knife into my boot before heading out.

As I was walking down the stairs I bumped into Griff. “Hey.”

“Hey.” I said, shifting from foot to foot. I’d been cooped up for so long I just wanted to get outside.

“Where are you going?”

“Hiking.”

“Want company?” He asked, leaning against the wall. I paused and began thinking. Did I want company?

“No thanks, I’m good. I’ll see you at the barbeque tonight; I’m sure the others will be at the top of their game.” With so many attractive, single wolves around I knew that at least a few of them would be getting lucky. They were all pretty smooth and none were in a relationship; they wouldn’t be here if they did, they’d be reuniting with their lucky ladies.

He nodded and walked with me downstairs but left me alone as I walked out the front door into the crisp air. I chose a different direction to walk in and set off, humming to myself. I was relaxed but I kept an eye and an ear on my surroundings.

For hours I walked, the sun slowly descending over the horizon. As I turned to begin my trek back, a shadow caught my eye. It was so quick that I wouldn’t have picked it if I hadn’t been watching out. I kept a poker face and kept walking, straining my hearing as I tucked my thumb underneath the hem of my shirt, brushing the side of my gun. I knew that I could draw it in a spilt second if need be and although it wasn’t silver and wouldn’t kill a wolf, it’d definitely slow them down.

When I saw the slight shadow again I turned in that direction. “I’ll bust a cap in your ass if you don’t quit stalking me.” I said loudly, my eyes searching the undergrowth.

A few minutes later, there was a rustling and a giant shadow slowly slunk out of the bushes, observing me with cool almost translucent blue eyes. They were far too intelligent and human so I knew that it wasn’t a normal wolf. My eyes narrowed as I held his gaze and my thumb rubbed the cool metal of the weapon on my hip. He was far bigger than any other wolf in the pack I’d seen so far, save for my fathers and Klaus so I knew that he wasn’t in the pack. “You’re not part of the pack, so who are you and why are you following me?”

His eyes narrowed on me and I heard a low growl as he took a step towards me. Before he could blink he was staring down the barrel of my gun. “Go on, try me; I dare you.” I hissed, staring him down. “If you’re a rouge here to hurt the pack I can guarantee that you won’t get far.” The pack was heavily guarded and he wouldn’t make it a hundred metres near the house before he was killed. “So I’ll ask you again; who are you?”

His gaze drifted toward the gun and his lips pulled back in a snarl. I gritted my teeth and narrowed my eyes after seeing a flash of hatred towards the weapon in my hand. There was tense silence for a few seconds before I sighed and shook my head. “I’m not a hunter you idiot and I’m not a normal human so stop fucking around and shift, because I know that you’re a werewolf.”

After a few minutes I realised that he wasn’t going to shift so I let it be. I knew that he wouldn’t attack me, wouldn’t hurt me; call it a gut feeling, intuition or plain stupidity, but I tucked my gun back onto my hip and pushed past the wolf, heading back toward the pack house. I could feel his gaze on me until the shadow was once again stalked me.

I rolled my eyes and decided to let him be. It was a few hours before I made it back to the pack house and I was sweating enough to warrant a shower… or a dip in the pool. I could smell the meat cooking out back where the chatter of voices was pretty loud and my stomach did a tiny flip; it was a pretty good day it seemed. I watched as the wolf slunk out from the shadows until he met my gaze. Those eyes, they were…. indescribable.

“Eve!”

In a second the connection was broken and I was spun around to face my fathers. “You were gone for hours; where were you?”

“Hiking.”

“Did you at least take someone with you?” I looked over my shoulder to where the wolf had been, only to find it empty. “Well Eve?”

I bent down and pulled out my knife. “I went armed.”

They looked unimpressed as they stood with their arms crossed but nodded. “We know you’re capable but can you take someone next time? We worry about you; we don’t want to lose you again.”

I gave them a small smile and showed my gun. “I like being alone on my walks but maybe I’ll let someone shadow me.” I said, emphasising the ‘maybe’. It was nice that they cared but I could handle myself and they knew it. “I’ll see you soon.” I said before dashing up to my room.

I ditched my sweaty clothes, had a quick shower and got changed into my bikini, pulled a pair of tattered shorts over the bottoms, let my hair down and slipped on my sunnies. Looking in the mirror the scars had faded a little bit and were a silvery tone now. My stomach protruded a few inches from the waistband of my pants and at first glance, one might assume that I was simply very bloated; with a second look however, it was obvious that I was pregnant.

I sighed, rubbing the bump before exiting my room, going to search for the boys. I knew that they’d probably be in or around the pool so I headed down there first.

I elbowed my way through countless wolves as I walked towards the pool, only to find my team lounging in the deep end of the pool, surrounded by women who were desperately flirting with them.

They spotted me and held up their beers in a toast with grins. “Why did you tell us about this place? We would’ve forced you to have a holiday earlier!” They all laughed except Griffin who looked very uncomfortable with the attention he was getting from a few of the pack girls; including Lani.

I rolled my eyes at their behaviour; did they not see that he wasn’t interested? His pleading gaze landed on me, begging me to get him out of there. I smirked and shook my head, choosing instead to walk away from the boys and head towards where Pierre lounged with some of his friends and a few wolves I’d never seen before.

“Hey Eve!” He said happily as I slipped off my shorts, throwing them onto a nearby lounger, and slipped into the cold water. “How’ve you been?”

I shrugged and propped my body against the side of the pool. “Fine.” It was far from the truth but I didn’t care to talk about my feelings right now; he didn’t truly care anyway. Pierre was a… what was he? An acquaintance? A friend?

He hesitated but accepted it as an answer. There was relaxed chatter as I sat back and observed; something I’d always done. Body language spoke louder than words most of the time and I had always been good at reading people.

My thoughts drifted to the wolf on my walk and his eyes. So brown they were almost black; so cold and emotionless. “Hey Kade!” Pierre yelled, waving a hand to whomever this ‘Kade’ was.

I could feel the presence of someone behind me and slowly I turned to see a towering figure. He stood tall at around six foot seven, covered in muscle; he was taller than any wolf I’d ever seen, save for Ace. My gaze drifted upwards until my head was full tilted back. His eyes were the first thing I noticed; so blue, so clear they were almost translucent. They held me in place with a piercing gaze and I honestly felt like he was staring right into my soul.

Something stirred inside me as I stared into his eyes; corny yes, but very, very true.

“You.”

The connection was broken as I went to haul myself out of the water but I was beaten to them punch when large hand wrapped around my arms and hoisted me out of the water like I was a rag doll. Warmth invaded the front of my body as he pressed me up against him, staring down at me again. My head was tilted back as I stared at him in confusion. His hair was the same colour as his coat as the wolf; a dark brown, almost sooty kind of black and similar to his eyes. He had high cheek bones, a slightly crooked nose and a straight jaw covered in stubble. He was extremely attractive. I knew without a doubt that the wolf on my walk was the man standing before me. The question was, why did he follow me; both then and now?

“Why did you follow me on my walk?”

His face was blank and for a moment I thought he was mute or deaf, until he spoke. “Mate.” His voice was a deep rumble and I could detect a hint of some kind of European accent; Bulgarian or something close to it.

There was silence total silence as I and everyone around us froze. The expression on his face told me that he was dead serious; he thought I was his mate. I was human and the chance that my mate was a werewolf was one to a million; it just didn’t happen. I’d always dreamed of a mate as a little girl but as I grew up, I realised that people like me don’t have mates.

I was snapped out of my daze as he bent down and began sniffing my neck, his hands resting on the small of my back and my hip as his face trailed downwards. Dread settled heavy in my stomach as he hovered over my stomach before a loud growl escaped his lips. His gaze was settled on my bloated stomach and for the first time in a long time, I felt my eyes prickle as I held back tears.

I was about to lose the one thing I had wanted for so long; clung on to like a life line. I’d given up the idea of a mate years ago, though I guess I’d always had that small amount of hope. But now, here was a man who claimed to be my mate and I was about to lose him because of my actions. He would reject me for being pregnant with another man’s child.

I watched as his head tilted up to my face, teeth pulled back in a snarl, eyes holding more fury than I’d ever seen. “You’re pregnant.”

It wasn’t a question or a doubt; he knew and he was mad. I swallowed and forced back tears as he abruptly stood and pushed through the crowd, practically running away from me.

As stupid as it sounds, it felt like my heat had broken in two. I tried to reason with myself; I’d only met him less than an hour ago, he shouldn’t matter. The thing was though, deep down I knew he did.

To add insult to injury, Lani’s voice pierced through the haze I felt myself in. “How does it know you’re mate’s rejecting you? I guess it’s what you get for being such a slut.” She’s one to talk; she just can’t get pregnant by one of her random hook-ups.

I turned to her, a red haze descending over my vision, staring at her with uncontained hate. “One more word and I’ll kick your ass into next week.” Just like I should’ve done all those years ago.

She raised an eyebrow and looked dead into my eyes. “Whor-,”

I grabbed the back of her head, bought my knee up and slammed her face into my knee. She screamed as I pushed her to the ground and straddled her waist, laying into her with my fists. All the years of bullying, of rejection and torment, of hatred and self-loathing poured out and I punched her until I was pulled off her. Lani’s face was a mangled mess, spurting blood everywhere; she was conscious, barely though.

Because she has werewolf healing, I knew she’d be better in a few days; she’d have a broken nose though and I only hoped that it remained crooked.

“You fucking bi-,” She was cut off by Jenna who hauled her to her feet with a growl.

“Shut up Lani!” She bellowed, holding the struggling bitch by her neck. “You’ve caused enough problems for me and guess what? Not only were you an utter bitch to me before I became alpha, but your treatment of my pack members, including my niece is unacceptable.” Lani’s face drained of colour behind all the blood and I saw her eye, the one that wasn’t swollen shut, widen. “I’ve tolerated you for years, but this is the last straw; you’re out of the pack.” Jenna released her as my dad came forward with a nasty silver knife. “Hold her down.” Jenna ordered.

Four enforcers grabbed Lani’s limbs and held them still as she thrashed; we all knew what was about to happen. Jenna approached the struggling girl and grabbed her face. “I want you off my territory by night fall or so help me, I will send every man I have to hunt you down and slaughter you like the pig you are.” Without further ado, Jenna dug the knife into the side of her face and ran it from temple to chin; it was the mark of a traitor and now no other packs would accept her.

Lani would die out there; be it by rouges, hunters or starvation. I found it hard to care though; she’d bullied me for years and today I’d snapped.

She howled and screamed in pain until Jenna stood back and she was released. “You can’t do this!” For someone so beat up so was still arguing pretty hard and it just made me want to smack her around again. I didn’t usually hit people for simple name calling and insults but Lani had thoroughly deserved it; in my opinion at least.

“I can and I will; complain one more time and I’ll throw you on your ass faster than you can say ‘dead doggy’.” Jenna growled.

Lani finally seemed to realise that there was no point arguing, that it would only get her into deeper shit. She bowed her head and I watched as tears mixed with blood.

“You can only blame yourself.” I said before walking away. I felt someone grab my arm and I turned to see Griff.

“Are you ok?”

I shook my head as my chin wobbled. “No.”

“Is there an-,”



“No.” I said cutting him off. “There’s nothing you can do; not this time.” This time the only person that could fix it was the man who claimed to be made just for me; the one who didn’t want me.