Chapter Notes: Ava-Rain's POV

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- '. . .I'm done with burning bridges to the sun.' -

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"Please don't tell me that you've been driving around like a crazy person, praying to the high heavens to rain down cell reception just so that you could call me." I laughed as I took a seat on the couch in the living room.

Knowing Kasey, that was exactly what she had done. She had always been a go-getter, and whenever she had a goal in sight, she went after it and always achieved it. There were never any limits for her, at least none that she wouldn't obliterate for having the audacity to stand in her way. Kasey Helland was a spitfire and a personification of excellence, all wrapped in an exterior of strength that I wished I had.

"Please, lady, I may be crazy but I'm not that crazy. I totally suckered Luke into driving," she laughed and in the background I heard her seventeen year old brother shout a greeting directed at me.

"Aw, Luky! Tell him I said 'hi'!" She did as requested. "So what's with the phone call? I mean, I'm happy to hear your voice and all, but you guys aren't due back until the end of the week, right?" In that moment, I heard the shower in Caleb's room turn on.

"Yeah, that was the plan, but mom, dad, grams and gramps want to stay another week or so. Even Luke is surprisingly having the time of his depressing little life. I totally threatened to steal the car and drive home if they made me stay another day because, you know, I knew there was no way that my best friend could handle another week without my absence, which is why I'm now currently sitting in the middle of nowhere just so that I could give you the heads up. But, clearly, I thought wrong and my intentions are unappreciated."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Did the sadness in my voice not reach the quota you were expecting?"

"No! Come on, where's the sighs of defeat? The choked up sobs full of anguish and despair? The promises to lay in bed all day and everyday, counting down the minutes until my return while you stare at the millions of pictures you have of me tucked away in a box underneath your bed? Jeez, you haven't even told me that you've missed me yet!"

Ladies and gentleman, I introduce to you, my best friend Kasey, in all of her dramatic glory.

"I freaking miss you, Kasey Helland! You know I do."

"Did you miss me so much that you broke your phone out of frustration? You're lucky, I almost deleted your text without reading it. So, what the heck did you do to your phone exactly?"

Oh, you know, threw it at a wolf in hopes of distracting it from tearing me to shreds after I stupidly fell asleep in the backyard forest we used to play in.

"You know me, doesn't take much to leave a trail of destruction in my path. Poor thing was just an innocent victim."

"Yeah, you and Jennifer were always akin to weapons of mass destruction. And speaking of the little princess, have you heard from her? Got a text from her as well wondering if you changed your number. Clearly, you have, so I guess my question is what the hell did she do to piss you off if you haven't talked her?" I hadn't miss the fact that Kasey had assumed that Jennifer was the guilty party and not me. I guess it was because we had grown used to Jennifer always starting the drama and us having to be the ones to end it. But this time, Jennifer was the innocent one because I was the one that had been ignoring her.

But how exactly was I going to tell Kasey that the reason I had not spoken with Jennifer in weeks was because I had gotten kicked out, learned that I was mated to a werewolf and now living with said werewolf, who just so happened to be the only heir of the four elements in a supernatural world I was now a part of? There was absolutely nothing that Kasey and I kept from each other, but this was a secret that I just couldn't share. As Caleb once said, if information were to be revealed that only put himself on the line, then he would have told me many things from the beginning. And I was beginning to better understand that now. There were so many people that I cared about now, whose safety and well-being would be jeopardized if I were to reveal certain secrets that were not necessarily mine to tell.

Reaching out to pick up the blanket I had covered Caleb's sleeping body with when I had woken up in the middle of the night, I draped it over my lap. "She hasn't done anything really. I guess I've just been keeping my distance. I'll probably give her a call after."

"Ava-Rain Tolbert, don't you dare defend her if she's done something to you, you hear me?"

And there was the protective best friend I knew so well and loved.

"She hasn't done anything, I promise. I've just been avoiding her. Drama, you know?" I didn't have to elaborate for her to know that I was referring to my grandmother.

"Say the word and I'll leave right now to come get you. As a matter of fact, hold on," she said and I heard her asking Lukas in the background how much gas they had in the car before she returned her attention to me. "Luke and I will be there in two and a half hours, probably three since he drives like an old lady."

I laughed as I pulled the blanket up to my chest. Kasey was not one to make half-hearted suggestions. She would literally drop everything and come back to Toronto to come get me. Rescuing me from my grandmother was not something new; she had done it so many times before and I loved her to death for that. The Helland family was the family I wished I had and they had always treated me as a part of their family. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate or welcome her plan, it was just that, for the first time, I truly felt like it wasn't necessary. And although it had a lot to do with the boy in the room down the hall, who did not give me confidence but rather helped me find it within myself, my newfound strength to reject Kasey's offer didn't entirely come from Caleb.

It probably sounds stupid, but I wasn't the girl that I was a couple of weeks ago, who would have had no qualms about Kasey and Luke's rescue plan. A part of me had changed. Things that used to seem so important, I now viewed as insignificant and trivial. My insecurities, which not even I was going to pretend would go away overnight, no longer held as much power as they once had. Now that I was a part of a new world, the path laid before me was one in which only I could walk. I was bound to get knocked onto my butt every now and again, but my own two feet were the only ones that I could rise to and stand on after getting back up.

"Absolutely not! I'm fine. I promise it's nothing that I can't handle."

Thoughts of Caleb, of his pack and the threats against them now that I had become a part of their lives drifted through my mind. Even if I wanted to walk away, which I had already proved time and time again wasn't going to happen, I couldn't. They were, like the Hellands, my family. And I was a part of theirs. I owed it not just to them but to myself to be the strength that they needed, to not allow what they sacrificed by accepting me go in vain. Even if that meant keeping them from my best friend, the only other person that I had ever equated as being my 'other half' and my 'soul sister'. If there was a balance to be made between maintaining the honest relationship with Kasey and protecting Caleb and his pack, I would fight my damn hardest to find it. But, at least for right now, that possible balance was so far out of sight that it must have been treading in the realm of impossibilities.

"How are Grams and Gramps? Haven't seen them in a while. How much are they missing me right now?"

"Fine. I'll go along with you trying to change the subject, lady. They're both fine. Grams accused me of being a horrible friend for not making you come up. Like, sure Grandma, why don't I just chloroform her and keep her hogtied in my trunk the next time?" Again, I laughed at her sarcastic outburst. "Mom and Dad miss you, too. Although, I think it's because I get on their nerves less when you're around. And Lukas misses you, but we both know it's because he can't follow you around like a lost little puppy this time—" She was cut off by, I assumed, Lukas attempting to grab the phone from her. When his deep voice came on the line, I guessed he had won the battle.

"Excuse my sister, Ava-Rain. The smell of nature has gotten to her head. You sure you don't want us to come down there? I'll gladly drop her off and have no problem leaving her there."

When I heard Kasey's laughter in the background, I joined in. Kasey had always believed that Lukas had a crush on me when we were kids and never let him live it down. To be honest, I think I was just the only one out of Kasey, Jennifer and I that didn't give him a hard time or pick on him, and it was my kindness towards him and his appreciation that she mistook for a crush and used as ammunition to tease him with ever since.

"Tempting offer, kid, but you can keep her." The smile on my face soon faded when I heard the shower in the bedroom shut off. Instantly, realization decided to rear its ugly head once again. The fates had delivered another week for me to work out some sort of story to explain to Kasey upon her return why I was no longer living with my grandmother. So, as much as I wanted to see my best friend, it was simply too soon and would have to be put off for as long as possible.

I laughed when Lukas released an over dramatic sigh of defeat. "I thought you loved me? Thought I earned a special place in your heart? Why have you forsaken me? Do you really think I can handle another week out here with her—in the middle of nowhere—without you to keep her in line?"

I could literally imagine the eye roll that Kasey had most likely thrown Lukas' way and chuckled at the thought. However, before I could reply, Kasey's voice chimed through the phone once more.

"And you guys call me the dramatic one," she mumbled. "Seriously, Lukas, would you like a tissue? And they say the outdoors is suppose to toughen you up! Anyway, lady," her attention returned to me, "I'm sure mom and dad are thinking I probably tricked Luke into coming, only to lead him to his death and that I am probably disposing of his body. So we better get back before they force the police to send out an AMBER alert. Wait, you are under eighteen right?" She directed at Luke and another laugh escaped me as I couldn't help but shake my head. This girl was way too much. "So, you're absolutely sure you're okay? If so, then I guess this is when we shall part ways."

"I'm fine." It was hard to deny the smile that had been fixed on my face from the moment Kasey's name flashed on the screen. "Your phone call definitely brightened my day. Tell everybody I said 'hi', stay safe, and lay off of my little Luky!"

"No guarantees there. We haven't had our camp out yet, so if he happens to get mauled by a bear out in the woods, it's not my fault. Just saying."

"You're absolutely horrible, Kassandra Helland." I rose to my feet and walked over to the large window. It had begun to rain outside, but there was absolutely nothing that could dampen my mood right now. "We both know you'd destroy that bear with your bare hands before it could harm a single hair on his head. Alright, hope you enjoy the rest of your cottage life and, seriously, thanks for calling to check up. We'll definitely talk when you get back, okay? Love you."

"Love you more, lady."

I held the phone in my hand after the call ended and continued to stare out the window. The very first time I stared out of this window, my amazement over the view of the Toronto sky line had not been properly enjoyed due to my devastation over my argument with my grandmother. That had been weeks ago, but I could still remember the intensity of those emotions and the weight of the loss of the one and only person I could call family.

That day, I had been given a second chance. A different path. A choice. To rise from the ashes or allow them to be blown in the wind, scattered everywhere and, ultimately, nowhere. I chose to rise and I did, but embracing a new life didn't mean that I had to forget the old one, did it? My grandmother was still my grandmother and I was still her granddaughter, her last connection to my mother. No matter what had transpired between us, I still needed her as much as she needed me, even if neither of us were willing to admit or accept that realization.

But, like every road to be travelled, it had to be taken one step at a time. So, even as I held up the phone and typed in the number to my grandmother's house, I didn't have the courage to hit the call button.

Coward, I know.

Or maybe it was my fear that kept me from doing such a simple act. Fear that she was going to ruin my high in the ways that only Gladys Washington knew how to. I knew with an almost innate certainty that others could only make you feel bad if you allowed them to, but the power to refrain my grandmother from breaking through the barriers I cascaded around my self, I simply just didn't have. Like I said, we were all we had for the longest time and, as a result, there was no other person in the world that understood us better than each other. So, a coward I may have been, but a glutton for punishment I certainly was not.

So, choosing the lesser of two evils, I sent a quick text to Jennifer instead, then shoved the phone in the back pocket of my shorts. Allowing myself a couple more silent moments staring out into the city, I turned, only to find Caleb leaning against the wall closest to the hallway. I swear this kid was a freaking ninja the way he could easily sneak up on me without making so much as a sound.

I offered him a smile, which he returned, but he still remained leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest. He had on a white t-shirt and a pair of black jeans tucked into his infamous black combat boots. His wet hair, now a bit darker than the light blond it would return to once dried, was effortlessly slicked back, leaving his face free from any obstructions from the strands.

Smirking to myself, I met his gaze. "We match," I said, referring to the matching colours of our attire.

"In more ways than one." Finally, he pushed off of the wall and entered further into the living room. "How's your friend and her family?"

Heading over to the couch, I picked up the blanket and folded it before tossing it over the armrest. "She's good. They're extending their stay for another week."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I miss her, but at the same time I'm sort of glad, I guess. Another week gives me time to figure everything out. Figure out what I'm going to tell her about. . .everything."

Caleb, at that point, was standing in front of me. I looked up into his eyes, falling prey to the grey orbs and the sanctuary they always seemed to offer. "I will not nor will I ever ask you to lie for me. You know that, right?"

I did. I knew that Caleb would never ask me to to keep secrets from those I cared about for his sake. But he didn't have to request full disclosure because I already knew what I had to do. I had to protect him and his world, as well as protect Kasey from that world as much as possible. As horrible as The Council sounded, their need and mission to maintain the balance between the worlds was understandable and necessary to ensure the protection and, ultimately, the survival of those from both sides. Kasey couldn't know what Caleb was, nor the depths of my relationship with him. She may not even be safe enough to know about Caleb at all. I hadn't forgotten that, upon first sight of him, she had warned him to stay away from me. If I were to now tell her that I just so happened to be living with that same guy and that we couldn't stay away from each other even if we wanted to because we were fated to be together, she would tell fate to shove it.

"I know," I replied. "I hate lying to her but she can't know. I would never jeopardize you or your family. You know that, right?" He nodded once. "Well, I still have a week, so I have a bit of time to figure something out."

He reached out and took my hand in his. "We will figure something out together." The warmth from his touch did manage to sooth me, but it was the embrace he pulled me into that filled me down to the very core with comfort. My arms slid around his torso and my head rested against his chest.

In that moment, my thoughts carried me away to the days earlier events. I was now finally receiving the comfort I had gone searching for, and not a moment too late either. I never knew what it meant to feel safe in somebody's arms until now, because that sort of shelter wasn't just something physical. In Caleb's arms, I truly felt with absolute certainty that no harm could ever reach me. Not mentally nor physically. In his embrace, I was merely a valuable and precious item that the world could see but could not touch because of the protective casing that was Caleb. How I could ever accuse him of not wanting or desiring me was the stupidest thing I could have ever thrown at him. Caleb and I were made for each other. We fit perfectly. We made sense. We were fated.

"But you're not, under any circumstance, going back to your grandmother's house, do you understand?"

I could only smile at the authoritative flair in his tone. Of course, he had to ruin the moment with his. . .alpha-ness.

I turned around in his arms, my back now against his front and his arms now around my body. "I hadn't even thought about that, Caleb. Although—"

"Although nothing, Ava-Rain. We'll figure it out, but know that that's not an option."

"She's my grandmother," I whispered. "The only family I have left."

"And she threw you away. You're mine now. She doesn't get you back. Ever."

"Well, you know what they say about one man's trash. . ." I smiled. "Am I your treasure?" When he placed his head in the crook of my neck, I turned my head to the side to look at him. "If so, you could totally pawn me off and buy yourself something nice. Perhaps some furniture for this condo or something. Just saying."

He chuckled and pressed a kiss to my shoulder. "Although that sounds like a good idea," he placed a hand on the side of my face, "I have a good feeling you might be priceless."

I smiled, even as he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. "Still as charming as ever, I see."

"So, what's my running total of brownie points now. That had to have earned me at least a hundred of them." He turned me around so that we stood face to face once more and lowered his head until our foreheads touched.

"It was actually pretty corny. So much so that I should deduct a hundred of your already dwindling brownie points." My arms slid around his neck as he placed his hands on my hips. His lips curled into a smirk, one that I was all too familiar with and knew what was to follow.

"That mouth. . ." He did not have to finish his sentence; I already knew it would have been a reference to my sassy mouth that not even he could deny he could ever live without.

"You should probably put it to better use then."

"Yeah, probably," he whispered right before he moved in and pressed his mouth to mine.

As always and whenever we kissed, time seemed to pass us by without rousing so much as an ounce of our attention. Nothing else seemed to exist and all that mattered was him and I. So, I couldn't tell how long we stood there in the living room, making out like teenagers and enjoying each other's taste far too much to stop, but it wasn't long enough before the vibrating phone in my back pocket interrupted our moment.

"Ignore it," I whispered against his mouth. My arms around his neck tightened, letting him know that I didn't want his shower of desire laced kisses to end just yet.

In response to my comment, he laughed, probably because I sounded like someone who had not eaten in days and his kiss was the only thing that could satisfy me. Well, it was entirely his fault for turning me into a wanton girl, making me fall in love with him and turn into a fool with the slightest of touches and kisses.

"You should answer it. Could be Kasey again. Don't pout," he smiled. One of his hands dropped from my waist to retrieve the phone from the back pocket of my shorts.

"Pretty sure you totally used that as a reason to touch my butt."

He laughed again, a sound I would never get tired of hearing. "As if I need a reason." He held up the phone between us with the screen facing me. I looked at it, surprised to see Jennifer's name.

"Well, that was surprisingly quick. It's Jennifer." I went to take it out of his hand but it was quickly pulled out of my reach. When I looked up to meet Caleb's eyes, they were already so intensely focused on the screen. "Caleb?" He didn't look at me right away. Instead, it was as if he was waiting for the vibrating to stop. Once it did, he finally looked at me, but didn't offer me the phone back. "Caleb, what's wrong?"

"Ava-Rain," he started, but was cut off by my phone vibrating again. It was only once, which either meant there was a voicemail or a text message. He quickly glanced down at the phone in his hand before handing it to me. "Will you please unlock it?" Even if I wanted to ask him why, which I didn't, I already knew by the tone in which he asked—which wasn't harsh but, rather, urgent—that it was vital his request be carried out without any questions asked.

My arms slid from his neck and I did what he asked. After a couple of taps on the screen, it was confirmed that there was a text from Jennifer. "It's just a text from Jennifer." I thought maybe to show him the screen, as if to offer some sort of proof, but thought better of it. He didn't ask to see it but I wouldn't have refused if he had. "She just wants to know if we can meet."

"Absolutely not."

My eyes lifted and sought out his. "What? Why not?"

Was I missing something here? I may have mentioned countless times to him that Jennifer and I weren't always on the best of terms, especially lately—after the way she had treated Kasey and I at the twins' birthday party at that stupid club by flat out ignoring us for, literally, the whole night—but I hadn't meant for Caleb to dislike her because of my totally biased opinions. She was still my friend.

He didn't respond for a couple of moments. He simply continued to look at me, obviously battling with something deep within himself if the torture in his eyes were any indication. His gaze lowered only for a couple of seconds until he deemed himself ready to finally reveal what was on his mind. "Did you ever wonder how I found out where you were the night after we met? I mean, I know I told you that I was drawn to you, which was true, but that answered the 'why'. Did you ever once wonder 'how?'"

"I guess. . .Well, I remember thinking you were crazy for saying something so ridiculous and unheard of in this day and age, but I believed you."

Was he now trying to get me to realize that I had believed him far too easily?

"It was because that Saturday, the day after we met, I went to Jennifer's house and asked her where I could find you." He stopped, but only for a moment, I assumed, to allow what he had just said to sink in. "I never met her before, only knew her to be Rickon's girlfriend. But the fact that I was a stranger inquiring about you didn't stop her from telling me exactly where you lived. Without pause or hesitation, just like that. To be honest, I was quite thankful that she hadn't made it difficult; I was so entirely consumed with the need to find you that I didn't even care about how easily I obtained the information. She just gave it to me, Ava-Rain. Do you understand?"

Maybe she had seen Caleb and I talking at the club and just wanted to do him a favour? She had to have known that Caleb and Rickon were friends and, therefore, that he could be trusted. I knew Jennifer for a very long time and I knew how her mind sometimes worked. She talked before thinking far too often, dug herself into deep holes but she always knew when to pull herself back from the edge before falling off the cliff entirely.

"Don't, Ava-Rain. I can see you trying to rationalize what she did, trying to make excuses for her. But please don't."

"What are you trying to say Caleb? She's my friend and I'm sure she meant well when she told you. Why are you even telling me this now?"

"I'm telling you this because as of an hour ago, I received confirmation that Jennifer—your friend who you claim you know so well—has been spotted in the company of pure bloods."

Pure bloods? As in the wolves that were dispersed in the north by The Council, investigating claims that mixed bloods were taking humans as mates? Those pure bloods? No, that was impossible. "There's no way. How certain are you?"

"Pretty damned certain. Mixed bloods tend to stick together and we called in some favours. We're not the only pack out there watching our steps and treading carefully. We've been tailing her, and when Chase called earlier, it was to confirm our suspicions."

"Wait, hold on a second." I took a step back. "What do you mean you've been tailing her? Why and for how long?" Jennifer was a nobody to him, and from what he said a couple of moments ago, she was just a means to an end. A way for him to find me the day after we met. That was as far as their relationship went so why would he have had her followed?

"Since you told me about your run in downstairs in the lobby."

"That was. . .that was weeks ago, Caleb. You've been having her followed for weeks because we ran into each other coincidentally?"

"I didn't believe there to be anything coincidental about it. You said it yourself that night when you ran into her that she looked determined to leave, as if you caught her off guard."

"I never said that last part, Caleb."

"Doesn't matter. She doesn't live remotely close to here and I highly doubt that she was visiting somebody. As you said, she's not the type to go out of her way for anybody. You thought it was strange and, in response, I felt it to be strange as well. What bothers you bothers me tenfold. I made a decision and it turned out to be the right one. She can't be trusted, Ava-Rain."

I simply shook my head, trying my hardest not to believe what he way saying. He didn't know Jennifer like I had. He didn't know the certain lines that she would never cross. She would never betray me. What would she have to gain from that? It didn't make any sense.

I turned and walked away, putting space between us by stationing myself across the living room. "For argument's sake," I turned to face him, "why would the pure bloods even need her? She's human and knows nothing of your world. What help could she be to the most deadly of your kind?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know? As in you just randomly spotted her with the pure bloods but don't know if that may or may not have simply just been a coincidence? It's not out of the norm for your kind to associate with humans without having to reveal who they are, am I right?" Rickon and Jennifer did date, after all, and she didn't know that he happened to be a delta to my mate, his alpha.

"I don't know what they want from her. I don't know what she knows." He didn't elaborate nor did he seem like he had any intention to either.

"Caleb, I know that pack matters stay between the pack, but can you please just not be an alpha for five minutes." Without thought, my feet took me back to him. "Please."

"I swear to you, Ava-Rain, that I don't know. Just as you thought, it doesn't make any sense for them to be keeping her as company. And under any other circumstances, I would have no problem believing that it is just a coincidence, but my gut refuses to accept that." He closed the space between us and placed a hand gently on the side of my face. "She's connected to you which connects her to me. And if she's connected to them, in any way, I have no other choice but to make damned sure that no harm falls upon you because of her."

I placed a hand on top of his, which was still held against my face. I closed my eyes, feeling as though the world was, as always whenever I found some shred of peace or happiness, crashing down around me. If this were true then it was on me. My fault. I had once almost chosen to walk away because of the trouble I knew I would bring if I stayed. I knew that I would only be another burden being placed upon the shoulders of the pack I cared deeply about. This was all on me.

"Caleb," I whispered. The range of emotions I was feeling were so intense, I knew that, even though I was not much of a crier, the only way they were going to find release was through the form of tears. I didn't want him to see that, to see me being so weak, so I began to turn away from him.

"No," he said, keeping us face to face. When I refused to meet his eyes, he placed his other hand on my face and gently lifted my head until I had no choice but to look at him. "No." He had said it so firmly that it was hard not to hear the message delivered within that one word. He was telling me that this was not my fault, even if I believed, wholeheartedly, that it was.

"Chase and the rest of us believe that they don't know anything about us or about me." It was hard to miss that his tone had softened a great deal, probably done for my sake as some sort of consolation. "If they did, we would have already been thrown to the wolves." He smiled, as if he was some comical genius. But it did force a playful eye roll out of me. "Jennifer knows nothing about our relationship, so there's nothing that she could tell them in that regards. So don't you dare blame yourself for any of this, you hear me? Don't you dare.

"They're here for one reason and one reason only, and that's to investigate these stupid claims, which are, for the most part, bogus. They're great manipulators and using humans, even if they can't stand them, isn't beneath them, especially if it gets their jobs done quicker. But until I find out the reason for their involvement of your friend, I can't. . .I'm just not okay with you having any contact with her."

He forced my tears back to where they come from in the way that only he could. As much as I still wanted to believe that maybe, just maybe, Caleb was wrong about Jennifer, not even I could say with absolute certainty that my gut wasn't potentially leading me astray. "I told you I was trouble," I mumbled.

He smiled. "And I told you that I liked challenges." My arms snaked around his waist in a tight embrace. "If they're going to come then let them come. But I promise you, Ava-Rain, that they will never lay a hand on you. You will never be within their reach, I promise you that."

"I'm not going anywhere where you're not, so don't even think about sending me somewhere a trillion miles away. This is my fight as much as it's yours."

"I refuse to allow you to be caught in the cross fire."

"Shut up," I whispered and held him tighter, placing my head against his chest and causing his hands to fall from my face. He placed them on my back, running them up and down in a soothing manner. "You'll never have enough brownie points to coerce me into leaving your side."

He laughed and continued to rub my back. "I'm sorry I had to tell you about Jennifer. I knew it was going to be hard on you, but I had to."

I knew that Caleb wasn't going to offer up any excuses for Jennifer for my sake. That he wasn't going to pretend that maybe he was wrong or that he was reading way too much into whatever evidence he had found. He wasn't going to say things just to make me feel better, or for me to feel less betrayed because my feelings were hurt and he simply wanted to lessen the pain. That just wasn't Caleb. He didn't think he was always right or that his word was law. He had just simply grown up in a world where he could not afford to be optimistic because that very world had never offered him such an attribute.

He had probably been the most sheltered wolf in his entire world, simply because of the blood in his veins. But his upbringing had not turned him into a paranoid alpha that couldn't trust anybody except for those close to him. He had been protected his whole life from being found out but his motivation in life was not solely on keeping himself protected. It was his pack, his family, and myself that he placed above his own well-being and would protect at all costs. Even if he didn't say it, I knew that if the pure bloods did come, he would sooner give himself up before allowing any punishment to fall upon us.

The only thing was, I would gladly and willingly do the same, no matter what it would cost me. If Jennifer did play a part in any of this, then the termination of our friendship would surely be the least of her worries.

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Authour's Note: HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Hoping & wishing that 2016 is a great year for you all! :)