When I walk into the house, I let out a scream. I hear things drop and I rush to the source to find Mary picking pans and broken glass. I immediately feel bad.

I bend down and help but when she sees me she only shakes her head. "Its alright dear, I can manage."

I ignore her and continue on. "Are you alright dear? You gave me a scare."

"I'm sorry about that. Just things in mind," I grumble.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Shaking my head, I throw the broken pieces away and lie on the couch. Mary goes back to whatever she was doing.

Glancing at the time, I notice that I missed lunch which is probably what Mary is making right now. I probably still have time to take a nap, I guess. I mean I'm not really hungry and it's only two ten in the afternoon. I go up the stairs and I'm about to walk into Thaddeus's room when I remember the fall out we just had. Not wanting to remember last night even though it's impossible, I head to my room and get into bed.

It takes a while for me to fall a sleep but when I do, its wierd. For a moment, I shut my eyes but all I think about is Thaddeus. I realize then that the bond is stronger than ever now that we've mated and all I want at the moment is to see him and be with him.

Go to him, My Wolf tells me.

No, I'm done with chasing him. If he wants to fix this, he can come to me himself, I reply.

But, he's hurting!

And what do you think we feel right now?!

She gets quiet but then she begins to whimper at the back of my mind. I try to block her out but its nearly impossible to do so. Her whimpering and the pain of arguing with Thaddeus, all feels like bricks hitting my heart on repeat. Can we go out for a run then? she asks.

I sigh but agree with her needing something to get my mind off of the current situation. Walking out of the house, I glance cautiously so I don't run into Thaddeus. Sensing that the coast is clear, I begin to walk into the woods. I find a good spot to remove my clothes and do so quickly shifting.

I stretch my limbs out and slowly pad around in a circle. I then begin to increase in speed and run throughout the woods. As I breeze through, I take pleasure in the wind brushing through the tips of my fur. My enhanced senses make me pay attention to everything around me rather than the situation at hand. I love it.

I drown myself in the beauty of nature for a long time. I don't know what how long I've been running for as I pause at a familiar looking scene. I paddle closer to the clear blue lake and sit there staring at my reflection. I swipe my paw out and across the water watching as the water ripples in front of me. Slowly and surely enough the water stills again giving me a chance to observe my reflection. Though I just do the same thing over and over again. After what feels like an hour but really could have just been no more than twenty minutes, I lower my head and drink from the pond.

After a few minutes, I feel a nearby presence but I growl in annoyance when I notice who it is. He steps closer to me but I don't do anything but stare straight at our reflection. I accidentally meet his gaze through the mirror like reflection and turn my head away from him. My Wolf whines as I walk farther away from him but I shut her out.

"Stop," his voice is loud and firm. I turn my head and glance at him before snorting and walking away. "Please, I'm sorry."

Now this is different. I pause and slowly turn around facing him now. He takes a deep breath now that my full attention is on him. He looks really nervous which is also different but it somehow satisfies me. "I need you to shift to talk to you."

When I don't make a move to do so, his eyes flash in realization before he removes his own shirt and tosses it to me. It lands in front of me but instead of taking it and changing behind a tree, I shift on the spot. I pick the shirt up and stand up in all my glory hiding the grin I want to express when I hear my mate swallow rather loudly.

"What do you need?" I ask after putting the shirt on.

"I don't want to fight with you. I know what I put you through ever since you first got here and I don't want to hurt you anymore," he says. My heart swells up at his words.

Somewhere deep inside of me, I feel as if I should still be mad at him. It's like in the movies when the main character has to make an important decision and the angel is on one side and the devil is on the other. Should I still be annoyed with his actions? I already know deep down I forgive him because of the Mate bond.

"I guess if we're talking, I should apologize for calling you stupid," I respond.

He glances down at the space between us before slowly closing it. I stare at him as he comes closer before finally standing in front of me. His hand reaches up to cup my chin lifting it up towards him. He runs his thumb over my bottom lip making me feel butterflies in my stomach. Right then I thought he was going to kiss me but he steps back.

Trying to hide the look of disappointment on my face, I watch as he plays with something in his hand. I look down not remembering when he had the flower. He reaches forward to hand me it. I take it from him and watch as he slowly becomes sheepish looking. "Thank you."

He nods and looks away with his ears reddening. A moment of silence passes by as we stare at each other in a trance. I break away first wanting to know what happened earlier. "Why?" Is all I ask.

Sighing, he responds. "Scott told me it was a mistake. We should have taken it slow and at least tried to figure out what to do when the time comes. My ignorance to the situation has us not knowing what comes now."

I rush forward and wrap my arms around his torso. He doesn't tense up or stiffen, instead he relaxes. We stand still in a moment of beautiful silence. "Thaddeus its not you're fault. I shouldn't have pushed you into mating with me when all you were trying to do was protect me."

"Like you said, holding it out wouldn't have helped us much. The need to be with each other physically would have been too much. Way more than I could handle."

When I glance up at him confused, he explains even further. "I'm an Alpha male who- before last night- hadn't marked his Mate. When you first got here, my Alpha side wanted me to mark you as soon as possible. My male side though wanted to see you under me moaning in pleasure," I turned bright red at his words. "By trying to keep my distance from you, my urges became amplified."

I tighten my hold around him and place my head on his chest listening to his steady heartbeat. He runs his hand up and down my back slightly tickling me. I let out a giggle making him look down at me. "What's so funny?"

"It just tickles," I tell him. We continue to stand in absolute silence until a monster decides to growl at that moment. Sighing I look down at my stomach in embarrassment before Thaddeus grabs a hold on my hand and begins leading the way back to our home.

When we reach there, we head straight to the dining room where everything is set for us. I sit across from him and without another thought, I dig in.

Normally people say it's embarrassing to eat in front of someone; specifically a guy in most cases but I am probably the few who just doesn't care at all. It's food. Its not going anywhere but my stomach.

We eat in silence before I lean back full and satisfied. Thaddeus leans back as well before I see his eyes unfocus for a few seconds because of a mind link. When he's finished he glances back at me sighing. "There's some pack business I must attend to."

I nod in understanding. "Is there anything you'd like me to help you with?"

He shakes his head before leaving the room. I place the dishes inside the sink and wash them before leaving the room as well and laying down on the couch.

I guess I could use a nap.

----

"Wake up," a voice urgently says. I can tell it's none other than my mate. "Annabel wake up."

Slowly peeling my eyes open, I stare into the face of my mate. "What?" I groggily ask.

"I need you to change right now."

"Huh?" I stare at him as if he is crazy right now for waking me up at six in the afternoon only to tell me to change.

"You'll be late for the pack barbecue," he says. My eyes observe his clothing for the night: dark jeans, and a white tight fitting long sleeve that was rolled up to his elbows.

"Why wasn't I told of this sooner?" Thaddeus just gives me an impatient look before I begrudgingly stand up and head to my room.

I pull out a black dress thinking of how Thaddeus and I were going to match. Heading into the bathroom, I quickly shower and clean myself off before stepping into my room with my towel wrapped around myself.

I grab my curling iron before beginning to curl my straight hair. When I'm done, I place the dress on and grin at myself in the mirror. Like I said before, it was a simple black summer dress that ended just above my knees at the front but touched the ground at the back.

I put mascara on before applying a small amount of lip balm and finish by putting on a pair of black sandals. Glancing at myself once more, I make a twirl before leaving the room feeling happy for some reason.

When I reach the bottom of the stairs, I notice Thaddeus isn't here. I hear some noise from the kitchen and head inside there. Thaddeus turns around immediately before taking me in.

His eyes widen for a millisecond before returning to normal size. A blush forms on my cheeks when his eyes roam all over me. I giggle nervously making Thaddeus snap out of it. "Should we go now?" I ask. His eyes are now focused on my face.

He nods once before passing me and heading to the door. I follow him noticing something very quickly. The guards normally positioned in front of the house aren't there at all.

I close the door behind me rushing to Thaddeus who is waiting for me. "So what's the special occasion for? I mean we just had a funeral this morning."

We walk side by side hands so close yet so far. I so badly want to reach out but for some reason I can't. Thaddeus side glances at me before taking my small hand in his very large one. "It was sort of last minute," he explains. I glance at him in confusion but soon realizing that he won't say anything more.

We walk in silence until we reach the back of the pack house. Basically the back yard was where it was happening. As the voices of many enter my ears, I am suddenly turned around. "You look amazing by the way," Thaddeus says this so lowly, I barely have time to register what he said before he is pulling me to the back yard.

I ignore him and observe the very large backyard full of pack members. Many heads turn to us as we walk by; everyone that sees us bow their heads before continuing with whatever.

Glancing around I notice that everyone seems full of happiness unlike this morning. I look at Thaddeus who is gently weaving me through everyone. We sort of just walk until I see where Thaddeus is trying to take us.

I grin so widely at Jay who is sitting on a foldable chair with his broken leg propped up and a drink in his hand. He is speaking with some people who I immediately recognise as the ones I came across to when I entered the meeting room with Thaddeus. They look up when we are a few feet away and Jay shoots Thaddeus and I a bow. The rest do so as well but all Thaddeus does in return is nod once. I scoff at his lack of communication.

"Hi," I say waving at everyone. Jay is the only one that grins at me but everyone else says 'hello' or 'hi'.

I don't know how or when it happens but Jay says something and immediately everyone including Thaddeus is talking about it. I am extremely confused as to what they're talking about and feel so out of place that I tune everything out.

I glance at Thaddeus and I's still linked hands before some ladies interrupt the conversation the men are having.

One of them is Mary who asks Thaddeus if they could have a chat with me. I don't know why they asked him instead of me but nonetheless he agrees letting me get swallowed up by a sea of women and children.

I glance at Thaddeus with wide frantic eyes but he isn't even paying attention to me anymore. All he does, is go back to his conversation about whatever men talk about but I could see the side of his lip turned up in a small grin.

"Hi Luna," a small boy says. He has his hands behind his back and when he speaks you could see his dimples. I don't think he was even older than 5.

"Hi," I speak up.

"You're really pretty. Can I hug you?" I raise an eyebrow at the sudden question but don't hesitate to embrace the child. He looked so adorable with his small hands covering his mouth in shock when I pulled back that I awed at him. He suddenly took off towards a group of kids. "I did it! Now Bailee give me five bucks," I could here him yelling.

I chuckle at his antics and so do the other women around me before we begin addressing each other.

"Luna, you look absolutely breathtaking," someone says. I just say thank you but another voice pipes in. "Just like her mother."

We all take a sit on some chairs in a circle. "Happy birthday Luna," a young girl says. "How old are you?"

A realization dawns on me. I completely forgot about my birthday! Glancing at Thaddeus, I am trying to connect the dots. Was the barbecue for me?

"I'm twenty now," I answer the young girl. She stares at me with wide innocent eyes.

"Really?!" She gasps. I nod as the women around me begin talking to each other. "You're old," she mumbles. Laughing, I shake my head.

A tap on my shoulder has me turning around. "Beth!"

The adorable eight year old girl is practically grinning from ear to ear. I envelop her in a large bear hug practically squeezing the life out of her. "Anna, I can't breathe," she says while struggling.

"I'm sorry," I say grinning at her. "So what have you been up to all this time?"

"I have been playing with my friends and having so much fun!" She practically exclaims.

"Aww, that's great."

She suddenly motions for me to lean closer and so I do. Cupping my ear, she says, "You have a lot of presents."

"Where?"

She points to a table I hadn't seen before. Stacked on that table are gifts wrapped or just in gift bags. Beth was certainly right; there are a lot on the table.

"Are you sure that's for me?" I ask nervously.

"Oh sweetheart, that table of presents is all yours. The Alpha told us we didn't have to get presents but majority of us did. It's your birthday!" I glance at Mary wide eyes.

"When was this?" I ask surprised.

Many of them laugh while I sit there absolutely baffled. "Yesterday Luna."

"Oh, I should go get you a plate," Mary says standing up to her feet. I glance at what she was looking at. Everyone- if not, most- were already lining up to get some food. It was a pretty long line but from what I could see, kids were up first and then the elders. The adults and teens weren't up yet.

When I turn back to Mary, I realized she had already gone up and was coming back. She probably cut the line, I thought.

"Thank you," I say as she hands it over to me. "I'll be right back."

Standing up, I head over to the drinks. I open the cooler and glance inside just as a voice speaks from behind me. "Hey Luna."

I turn and realize it's Cassie; the girl that gave me heels when I was trying on a dress at the mall. "Hi Cassie," I reply and give up pulling out a sprite can.

"So how's it going? Happy birthday by the way," she says pulling out her own drink.

"It's pretty calm," I say glancing around the clearing. "I really like it."

She nods. "I know what you're talking about but that's not what I meant."

I turn to her confused before she says, "Mason and Rose?"

"Oh," I say nodding. That just brought my mood to a whole new level. "I miss Mason already, Rose not so much."

"I'm just saying now," she says looking me straight in the eyes. "If you need someone to talk to about anything, I'm here for you."

A warm smile makes its way onto my face. "Thank you," I say making her send me a cheeky grin.

"Do you want to hang out with us?" She says nodding her head towards the small group of teens nearby.

"Not right now," I say glancing at the group of women. She follows my line of eyesight and nods.

"Alright, well when you're done, I'm just right here."

I smile walking back to my group. "So what did I miss?" I ask taking a seat back in my chair.

Everyone is eating right now and some kids are in the middle of our small circle giggling at each other. "Oh we were just speaking of which baby names would fit your future child." I stare at them in horror.

"Like Thaddeus said we aren't ready to have kids yet," I say. I hadn't realized this yet but my mom is sitting next to me.

"Yes, but Annabel I really want grandkids sometime soon."

"We thought of the names Aiden, Ethan, Damon, Stefan, Michael-"

"Alright no more please," I beg. I try to eat quickly so I can be with Cassie and her friends. When I'm done, a small hand holds my hand. I smile down at the young girl no older than Beth herself. "Hi," I say bending down to her height.

"Can you play with me and my friends please?" She's looking at me with adorable wide brown eyes and I can't say no.

Nodding, she grins before yanking me towards her friends. Beth is one of them and when she sees me she smiles. "So what are we doing?"

"Limbo!" Many of them practically shout. Majority of people begin rushing to us as I lift the limbo stick. No one want to hold the other side as the kids are eager to participate. Cassie though comes over and lifts the other side. I smile, thankful for her help.

I glance at the line of kids all bouncing with energy. At the corner of my eye, I see Thaddeus watching me. I focus on the kids though.

Beth and her friends are one of the first to go under and when they do, they form another line on the opposite side. We wait for everyone to go and Cassie and I cheer the kids on. A few of them make me laugh seeing as they don't even have to bend their backs, all they do is walk straight.

While we lower the stick, a few kids sit out because they didn't make it to the other side. As we continue though, I notice that the girl who asked me to join them to play is extremely great. "Great job," I say to her and everyone else.

When the stick is less than three feet from the ground, a very young boy probably two years old, crawls under. Cassie and I giggle uncontrollably while others are just mumbling about how that's cheating.

When the cute little boy stands to his feet, he starts giggling and clapping his small hands together. Aww, he's congratulating himself, I thought. I reach over to him giving him a high five.

As the game finally comes to an end, Cassie and I high five everyone who participated. The kids all scatter away and go on with whatever they were doing before. Cassie suddenly grins before nodding behind me. When I turn around, all I see is a wide platform deck behind me.

I then take notice of how everyone is crowding around the deck. It's quiet for a few moments until heads snap towards me. "Go up birthday girl," Cassie says.

A few women gently push me towards the deck making me stand alone at the front of everyone. I search the crowd for Thaddeus but be isn't nowhere to be seen. There is a moment of silence but as if rehearsed, the pack takes a deep breath.

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Luna! Happy birthday to you!"

I immediately cover my burning red face. This is so awkward. If someone had told me a year ago that I would be celebrating my 20th birthday with the Dark Moons pack as Luna, I would've laughed in their face. Now, all I want to do is leave. This was not my type of scene at all. Honestly, I would have expected to celebrate with Mason and Rose if Rose hadn't messed it all up.

When they're done, I leave the deck only for something sugary to be rolled out from the pack house on a cart. My eyes widen when I see cupcakes. I'm honestly glad we weren't having cake because I feel like cake was just too plain messy.

Glancing around, I look for my mate who somehow disappeared. Some helpers begin handing out cupcakes while I wait at the side with Cassie. When the kids each have cupcakes, I get into line and wait for my turn. When I get to the front, I pick a red velvet cupcake and Cassie picks a chocolate one. We walk around for a bit before some guys walk over to us.

"Hey, do you two want to join us for a run?" Dan asks. Cassie glances at me while I just shrug.

"I'm not too sure. I need to find my Mate," I say. Cassie nods and leaves with Dan. I walk towards the men who were speaking with Thaddeus earlier. Jay is amongst them. "Do you guys know where my Thaddeus is?"

Jay doesn't meet my eye, instead he pretends to observe his broken leg. The others shake their heads no before suggesting some places he might be. I stare hard at Jay. Jay...

He doesn't respond.

I leave them heading inside the pack house. Most people are outside while others are inside chatting or watching TV. I smile at people before continuing on my search for Thaddeus. I try the mind link as I go to the front door but he is blocking me. Rolling my eyes in annoyance, I sigh taking a break and getting water from the kitchen.

Gulping down my glass of water in just seconds, I turn around completely tired. Honestly, all I wanted right now was to go to sleep. It was probably a little bit less than two hours since we got here. I couldn't leave since this is my birthday party. I'm also almost one hundred percent sure, I have to open the gifts too. There had to be almost one hundred presents.

I stretch before taking a deep breath and leaving the kitchen with a smile on my face. I walk pass everyone and stop when a few people stop me to speak. My dad is amongst the group of people.

A real smile stretches across my face at the sight of him. Its been way too long since I've seen him which makes me sad. "Happy birthday sweetheart," he says pulling me in for a hug. He kisses the top of my head before pulling away.

"How have you been?" He says the exact say time I ask him. Chuckling, I answer first.

"I've been sort of good." He nods his head before replying with the same answer. I roll my eyes jokingly before I tell him I have to leave. I wave to the people with him who simply bow their heads down.

When I reach the back door, I see him. Sighing with relief, I practically speed walk towards him where he is getting a drink.

I tap his back making him turn around. "I've been looking for you. Where have you been?" I say. My voice is slightly husky which makes me blush.

"I had to go get something but I'm here," he says taking a sip from his coke.

"OK, uh thanks for all this by the way." He nods. "Um, not to be rude but when does this end?" I have no idea why I'm telling him this.

He frowns before concealing the look in his eyes. "You can leave anytime you want. I can get some people to bring the gifts to the house."

"Oh," Is all I reply with.

"Are you leaving now?" He asks.

"I guess," I say. "See you later."

He surprises me by throwing his can into a garbage bag. "I'll go with you."

We walk side by side passing many who just smile. I take Thaddeus's hand into mine. He tightens his fingers as if giving me a small squeeze just as we leave the backyard.

We walk in silence before he breaks it. "How was it?"

"Honestly, it was very overwhelming. I mean I keep forgetting how many people are actually in the pack. I probably spoke with more than half of the pack," I say.

"How was everything else?" I turn my head to him.

"Why do I have a feeling a barbecue isn't something the pack normally has?"

"Because it isn't," he simply replies. "The last one was many years ago."

"Thanks by the way. Again," I say. He looks away before looking back at me.

"I didn't plan the whole thing. I told some people that it was your birthday and that we were going to have a barbecue but some elders took it seriously. They insisted on getting gifts, singing for you and even baking cupcakes," he explains. I raise an eyebrow at him.

"Was it worth it?"

He doesn't reply as fast as I thought he would. It kind of dims my happiness until he answers. "Yes," he says staring into my eyes.

I smile before I think of something. "What did you need to get by the way? I tried to ask Jay where you were but he wouldn't even look me in the eyes so I'm guessing if was pretty important."

He doesn't reply at first but he stops and turns to me. "Close your eyes," he says. His voice is hesitant but I do as he says.

I wait for a few moments until I hear something being shut. I want to open my eyes but I feel as if I can't just yet. I wait in curiousity until a cold object is placed around my neck. Holding in the gasp, I realize it's a necklace.

"Open your eyes." My eyes flutter open and I look down to see a small golden heart on a gold chain.

"It's beautiful," I say fingering the object. "Where..."

"My mother wanted me to give this to my mate," he retorts.

"Was it a family heirloom?"

He sighs. "Something like that."

"Thank you," I say staring into his dark intriguing eyes.

My mouth was going dry from the way he was staring at me which had me thinking some very inappropriate thoughts. He must have known what I was thinking because in a few seconds he was kissing me. This came naturally to me, so I simply kissed him back.

There was no more hesitation. I simply went along with it. When we pulled away for air, we continued walking towards the house but with a better purpose.

The moment we walked inside, Thaddeus slammed the door shut. I had time to slip off my shoes before Thaddeus was already on me again. He pressed me up against a wall just as I pulled his shirt up. Automatically understanding he flung it off lifting me onto him. My fingers wove into his hair as I teased him. He let out a deep growl before he tears my dress off.

Gasping, I push him away looking down at the torn material. "Thaddeus," I whine. He doesn't look like he cares at all.

"I'll buy you another one," is all he says before he continues his assault on me.

His hands explore my body as he takes me into his room again and kicks the door closed. When my back touches his bed, I shoot up. "Wait," I begin pushing on his chest. "If we do it again does it mean you don't care about what Scott told you?"

He nods once. "I'm scared of what could happen but Scott has no business in deciding if we should mate or not."

Smiling, I attack his lips while removing the extra clothing between us.

The restricted scene is on my profile under "Restricted Chapters."

I open my tired eyes and stare at my sleeping mate. My head lays on his sweaty chest listening to his calm breathing.

I glance up at my mark on his neck briefly before seeing a glimpse of the scar on the inside of his leg. Gazing at my mate I have only two questions in mind; What will happen to us and will we be OK in the end?

The curse.

The only thing stuck in our way to true happiness.

Whatever happens, it has to happen. There is no way it could be fixed or undone.

No way at all.

But from what I've heard once, nothing is ever truly impossible. You'll just have to wait and see for when the time is right and the opportunity is in your reach.

So I guess we'll have to just wait and see for what happens next.

Comment. Vote. Fan.

~MissieA out!

♥