---Paige's POV---

I slowly woke up from my carefree slumber. Purrs rolled through the air while I snuggled deeper in my pillow, my eyes too tired to pry open. Suddenly my pillow moved, making me aware that it was moving with the sound of rushing air below my ear.

Finally, I pried an eye open and looked straight at Jacob's well-toned biceps. I frowned, trying to remember what happened before... suddenly my mind was flooded with memories; I had been sick with the change... Jacob taking care of me...the kiss.... the mark.

Unconsciously, my hand crept up to my mark, slightly tracing the bite wound. I'd expected some blood on my fingers when I pulled them back gingerly but they were clean. A shiver ran through Jacob before he slightly turned, spooning me in the process while he wrapped me in his arms.

Jacob nuzzled the mark in my neck while he whispered, "Good morning." I shivered from the tingling sensation that flowed through the mark and his breath caressing my cheek. I smiled lazily, feeling too happy to get out of bed even if it was.... god knows how late.

"Morning" I yawned while I stretched myself like a cat. Jacob chuckled, pulling me closer to his chest. "I love it when you do that." He mumbled sleepy in a low, hushed voice. A smile slid over my face while I turned in his arms, facing Jacob.

I bit my lip while I looked at Jacob's appearance. Truth be told, Jacob looked so damn sexy with his bed hair and his bare chest that he gave me a hard time to focus on what I wanted to ask. The knowing smirk on his face didn't help either. Shaking my head from side to side in an attempt to focus on the question, I relaxed back in his hold while I traced the outline of his muscles.

"So, is this it? We're mated?" I asked while I waved at the mark in my neck. Jacob wasn't looking at my neck though; he was looking down at my left wrist. I followed his lead and gasped slightly when I noticed that I had a tattoo on my wrist similar like Jacob's.

Unlike Jacob's, mine didn't end in a tribal tattoo. Instead, the flowing lines made the impression that I was wearing a bracelet on my lower arm and wrist, with a capital J in the center. Below the letter was writing like Jacob's and it said "Just love." I traced the lines, instantly amazed by the fact that the tattoo felt warm to the touch.

"No." Jacob said, making me frown while I looked at him. Didn't he want me to have the same tattoo as he did? He must have sensed my confusion and hurt because he pulled me closer to him, if that was even possible, and said, "I was just answering your question Paige. No need to stress out."

My lips formed a small 'O' when I realized that I had asked Jacob if we were mated now. He smirked at me before he explained. "This is the first mark, showing others that you are my mate and that you're off limits. When we, uh-" Jacob swallowed harshly while his eyes gained a darker tint. "When we mate, we will both mark the other and the bond will be completed."

If it weren't for the fact that I was blushing ferociously, I would have laughed with Jacob's blush. He was looking away, trying to hide his scarlet cheeks while I bit my lip to contain the grin that wanted to appear.

"So, I've gone through the first part of the mating season... Luke said that the next part would be the heat?" I stated unsure, what made the end of the statement sound like a question. Jacob looked back at me; his eyes still dark while he explained further.

"Yeah, it's uh... god, why do I need to explain this?" he groaned slightly while he sat back up, rubbing his neck sheepishly. I giggled, unable to control my emotions; Jacob seemed desperate to find a hole to crawl into, his cheeks a deep red while his eyes darted around the room, looking at everything but me.

Jacob growled playfully at me, making me laugh harder before I sat up beside him and leaned against his shoulder. "I want to know Jacob. I don't like it when I'm left in the dark." I pouted, looking up at him while I was smiling on the inside. Jacob looked torn between telling me and saving himself from the embarrassment of the truth. Eventually he sighed and started playing with my fingers.

"The heat will start today but you'll probably won't notice it. It's....It's hard to explain for me, since males don't go to heat, they only experience the effects of it." He stated with a mocking smile on his face while he looked down at me. Confusion struck me while I frowned slightly, trying to figure out what he meant with that statement.

A soft smile lit up Jacob's face while he pulled me in his arms and leaned back against his bed. He placed me in between his legs as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I started to think that he liked doing that, now that I had accepted him. "When you're in heat, your body will emit a scent that would normally attract other males. Since I've marked you, the scent will only affect me."

I nodded; that didn't sound too bad. Jacob shocked me by bursting out into laughter, shaking his head slightly. "What?" I asked incredulously. Jacob just kept laughing and mentally replied "I can hear you through the mating bond.". When he calmed down slightly, he joked "It isn't that bad at all, beside the sexual tension that you'll be constantly sensing in the air."

My eyes widened until I felt like they would pop out of my head and roll on the ground; I couldn't help myself but flush scarlet while I muttered incoherently, "Wait, how did you-What! I wouldn't...Why?"

Jacob laughed louder, pulling me down on the bed while tears of laughter rolled down his cheeks. I pulled myself out of his grip and crossed my arms while I shot him a glare, only making him laugh even harder. "Stop laughing with me and explain!" I said with an annoyed expression on my face.

A knock on the door made me look behind me while Jacob tried to calm down from his hysterical laughter. Isabella walked in, shaking her head while she closed the door behind her. "I couldn't help but hear that my son was making a mess of things, so I decided that you need a female to explain this situation."

I smiled gratefully at her, nodding slightly before I shot a glare at Jacob, who had rolled of the bed from laughter. Talking about ROFL I thought while I rolled my eyes at my mate. Isabella shared my disapproving look before she looked at me. "Anyway sweetie, what my son here tried to say was that your scent would be packed with pheromones."

A sigh escaped my throat while it started to make sense. "Jacob and his wolf will be extremely attracted to you and vice versa. The scent will become stronger with each passing day but it has some consequences for you." Isabella frowned before she laid a hand on my shoulder, compassion in her eyes.

"Being in heat will bring you discomfort; it makes you feel overheated, scorching hot and only the presence of your mate can douse the flames. This will reoccur until you decide to mate with Jacob." I nodded slightly, my thoughts already going crazy about the information I got.

My thoughts were so over the place that I didn't noticed that Jacob stopped laughing up until he moved behind me and pulled me against his body. I looked up, slightly dazed and noticed that his mother had left the room. My cheeks flushed at Jacob's presence, knowing that my body was already appealing for him.

"Anymore questions?" Jacob breathed in my ear, his voice slightly hoarse. I swallowed before I quickly shook my head in denial. Jacob laughed again, softly this time. "Paige..." He waited until I turned around to look at him. He gave me a peck on the lips before he said "I'm not going to mate you yet; you've been sick since last evening. I can control my urges...for now."

I smiled at him, happy that he wanted to wait a little and excited that he knew me so well. The sound of the door being thrown open made us jolt from the bed. Laughter ran through the air before we turned around to look at the reason of the slight blush on our faces.

Nick, Amy and Grace were standing in our room; Adrianna and the others peaked around the doorway with smiles on their faces.

"Sorry to interrupt anything, lovebirds, but we have planned something today." Amy said with a smirk. I smiled at that, slightly shaking my head; Amy was known for planning surprises and parties. Her future mate would have his hands full with her.

Grace shook her head like me, her hands gently folded in front of her while she looked at me with puppy eyes. I groaned slightly when she pleaded, "Come on Paige. We want to celebrate that you're our new Alpha female-to-be." Looking at the others, I saw the same, hopeful expression in their eyes.

"Fine, but just us. I'm guessing that the pack will throw a party later on." I nearly had to yell at the end of the sentence, since the group were hollering out, cheering and running around to get some stuff together.

A mixture of a purr and a growl of approval rolled over my lips when Jacob pressed a kiss on my new mark. I was quickly yanked out of his grasp, followed by a pair of growls; Nick had grabbed me and pulled me away. "Just so you remember Jacob, that's my SISTER, so keep those paws where I can see them or you'll be losing your manhood very quickly."

Huh, overprotective brother-mode active? Check! I rolled my eyes at Nick, waving slightly at the mark in my neck while I said "I've accepted him as my mate and, just for the record, stealing the newly marked mate of a protective Alpha male is supposed to be a stupid thing to do, according to Luke."

Nick swallowed before he secretly shot a look over my shoulder, paling visibly while he slowly released me and raised his hands. Jacob quickly wrapped his arms around me, nuzzling my neck in an attempt to calm his wolf while he glared at Nick.

"Sorry man, I shouldn't grab your mate, but she still is my sister. You can't blame me that I want to protect her, even if it is from you." Jacob's cheek brushed against mine when he nodded curtly; that gesture, along with his breath that was fanning over my neck, was slowly sending me to cloud nine.

---Jacob's POV---

I took another deep breath of Paige' scent, soothing my wolf with it. Although it had been a few hours since Nick snatched her out of my arms and apologized, my wolf was still on edge. Probably because Paige was wearing a bikini while the triplets, Nick, Tyler and Damon were around.

"Come on Paige, let's go swimming." Amy shouted out before she darted towards the large pond. Grace and Alexis had found this place a few weeks ago and since then, the pack used it to go swimming and relax a bit. All eleven of us decided that we wanted to hang out here instead of going out clubbing.

Paige didn't move, much to my delight. Instead, she leaned back against my knees and tilted her face towards the sun. A soft growl rolled through my chest when her bare skin came in contact with mine, setting my skin ablaze with shocks and tingles.

"Nah, I'm fine. Go ahead and dunk Tyler when you get the chance." She replied, followed by an annoyed "Hey!" from Tyler, who playfully glared at Paige. "Will do!" Amy shouted before, true to her word, she leapt on Tyler, pulling him in the water with her.

Paige laughed silently when Tyler's soaked form popped back up and started yelling profanities at Amy. She laughed so hard that her body shaking with laughter while I smiled with her. It seems that, since I've marked her, she was the only thing on my mind. Another wave of her scent hit me and I could already detect the small hints of arousal that was induced by the beginning of her heat.

"You don't want to swim?" I asked, slightly curious to why she didn't go with Amy. Letting my legs fall open, I softly pulled her against my chest, enjoying the feeling of having her in my arms.

Paige shrugged slightly before she leaned back to look at me, her head upside-down, and shot me a wink. "I don't feel like it at the moment. Maybe later. Judging by the look on Tyler's face, he's going to drown Amy and I don't want to get in the middle of that. So I'm happy to stay put."

The blood rushed to my face, flushing my cheeks a bright red when she placed a kiss on the corner of my lips, but, due to our position, it wasn't the only places that flooded with blood. It was evident that Paige noticed it; as soon as she felt 'me', she froze, turning her head slightly and looked over her shoulder with a curious, slightly confused look.

"I'm.....sorry?" I said with a husky voice, leaning my head on her shoulder. "I can't help it, you're too damn irresistible." Paige relaxed slightly, even more so when I placed a kiss on her cheek. The next thing we know, we were lying in the grass, face first with a wolf on our back.

"You're it!" Nick shouted before he jumped of and bolted away. Paige jolted up and changed into her cheetah, pursuing Nick, who let out a startled yelp before he sped off.

"Hey! Only wolf forms! No fair, cheate-" Thud! Paige tackled him to the ground in a huge dust cloud and jumped on top of him as a wolf, her tail proudly in the air.

"You're it!" she replied smugly before she darted away, followed by Nick and Joshua. I chuckled slightly before I shifted mid-jump, running after my little mate.

We played tag and team-tag for a while before we lay down in our wolf forms to rest for a moment. I was half-asleep next to Paige when suddenly her ear darted up, followed by her head.

"What? What is it?" I asked with a huff, feeling drowsy and happy in the presence of my mate. Paige shook her head slightly before replying, "I don't know. I thought I heard something..." She stood up, facing the opposite side of the meadow that we were in and sniffed the air.

I followed her lead and frowned slightly at the scent that waved in my nose. It smelled like a combination of blood, flowers and pheromones. But that meant-

A shot rolled through the air, followed by a pained howl when Joshua rolled over with a bloodied shoulder. "Hunters!" Paige and I shouted before they charged out from the trees, shooting at us. Damon quickly pulled his own guns out and fired them at his former brothers.

I pushed Paige down before I rolled off her; the bullet flew over our heads with a deafening whistling sound. Paige already darted towards a hunter, dodging his shots before she had his throat secured in her jaws. I tore the throat of another hunter out whilst checking for the others; we were fine, they were heavily outnumbered.

"Vampire! Vampire!" Joshua yelped, his voice cracking with pain. I spun around to see a vampire looming over Joshua, his face pulled up in a smirk while he showed his fangs and aimed for Joshua's throat. "NO!!" Eric and David cried out in unison when the vampire darted towards their brother's neck.

A blur of movement, followed by snarls and thudding of paws, and both Nick and Paige stood over Joshua, the vampire a few feet away. His eyes were burning with thirst, black bleeding in the white of the eyeball. It was a male with short black hair, his body ripped with muscles and now black eyes. He hissed lowly, crouching down in a striking position while Nick and Paige hovered over Joshua.

"Guys, don't get bitten! It'll kill you in an instant." I ordered over the pack link while Nick called for aid to the rest of the pack. A bullet scraped over my leg, making me yelp in pain before I went after the other hunters. We couldn't do anything about that vampire for now. We needed to surprise it.

A sudden chain of thoughts made me stop tearing the hunter apart to look over my shoulder. It was just as I feared; the only one who wouldn't die from the vampire's bite, was Paige. And she was rolling and skidding over the ground while snarls erupted from her throat...with the vampire clinging on her back.

I quickly let go of the hunter I was mauling and darted forwards, barreling through another group of hunters that were in a fight with Amy and Grace. The girls quickly killed the distracted men while I darted towards the vampire in a red haze. Growls tore from my throat and the vampire snapped his head up towards me with a slightly shocked expression before he smirked slightly.

Paige's paw scrapped over his face, pulling chunks of flesh with it before she kicked the vampire in his chest, making it fly off her. Before it landed, Paige shifted back in her tigress and lunged forwards.

My heart skipped a beat when the vampire dodged her attack and kicked her full in the side, sending her towards the edge of the forest with a pained growl. I tripped over my own paws for a second when her pain flooded me but she reassured me with a quick "I'm fine, get him while he's distracted."

I saw Nick and Eric coming from the sides from the corner of my eyes while I lunged for the vampire. My jaws snapped shut over his hand and I quickly shook my head from side to side, tearing the limb off with a scrunching sound. Nick tackled the creature to the ground while Eric went in for the kill, tearing the throat out while we ripped it to shreds.

The forest behind us rustled when another small group of hunters rushed forwards, this time with silver blades. "David, Eric. You guys take the left. Grace and Amy, you take the right. Adrianna, Tyler and Nick, you go with me and we'll take the middle. Damon, shoot them back to the hellhole they came from! I want to check on my mate!" I snapped before all hell broke loose.

For a few minutes that seemed to last for hours, we jumped, lunged, clawed and bit at every hunter whilst dodging their bullets and daggers. When the last one fell, I looked around; the beautiful meadow that was previously filled with wildflowers and grass was trampled and now filled with blood, bodies scattered all over the place.

My muscles were shaking, the adrenaline still pumping through my blood while I thought back at the red haze that had filled my mind while I fought. I had killed without a second thought, only reacting on simple instinct; Dodge, lunge, kill.

"Everyone okay?" I said, taking deep breaths while my limbs shook with exhaustion. David and Eric stood by their brother's side, worried whimpers sounding from both of them while David replied, "he's bleeding bad, the silver is stopping the healing process."

I growled slightly, "Then shift back and pull the bullet out already! Are you going to let the poison spread more and more?" David quickly spun around and shifted before he leaned over the limp wolf body of his brother.

"A few scratches here and there but we'll manage." Damon spoke up next to me while he reloaded his guns and applied pressure to a long scratch on his arm. Adrianna stood by his side, ripping some hunter's clothes to pieces to make a bandage.

I sighed; We were safe. All ten of us. Wait, ten of us?

"Wait a second!" Nick yelped alarmed before he darted towards the forest. "Where's Paige?!"

Panic flooded me and I rushed after him, quickly passing him while I darted towards the spot where I last saw Paige's tigress. I whimpered while I walked forwards. I couldn't care less that it made me look soft; right now I needed my mate to calm myself down.

"Paige! Where are you?"

"Over here!" Grace shouted out and we darted towards her. The smell of blood, flowers and pheromones, the vampire scent, grew stronger until we reached Grace. She was looking at a piece of paper that lay in the middle of a small puddle of blood. Paige's blood. I shifted back, growling uncontrollably while I heard my father's voice in the distance. With shaking hands, I pulled the note out and read it.

'Dear mutts,

Let this be a message, from my family to yours.

As for Jacob; I got what I wanted after all.

Kale'

A pained howl escaped my throat while I shifted back, snarling and growling at everyone who came too close to my mate's scent. I felt several people push me down, forcing me to calm down while I looked with pained eyes at dad, who had a concerned expression on his face.

"We'll find her son. We WILL find her but we need to make a plan." He said with a stern voice. I growled slightly, shaking my head. "You don't understand! She's getting in her heat! We have to find her NOW! Before Kale-"

Father growled, along with Nick and the other males of the pack. He turned around and shifted, leading us all home at top speed. We needed to find Paige. Fast!