Zeke

"Hey" Someone was shaking me awake. "Zeke. You're gonna leave in like ten minutes" I jolted awake, bumping heads with Valerie. "Ow!" she rubbed her forehead, moving away from me.

I shook it off before looking at her. "Sorry" I apologized, taking a look at her head. "It won't bruise or anything" I informed her.

She nodded, still rubbing her head. "Go get ready" she demanded. I quickly got up and went to the closet to change. "Your bag is on the bed!" she shouted. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. I never packed. "You fell asleep before me last night. And you didn't pack. So I just packed for you. But you need to add your toothbrush and deodorant after you use them" she informed me as I walked back into the room.

I thanked her before I rushed to brush my teeth. After packing up my toothbrush and deodorant, I grabbed my bag and walked out the room. "Crap" I muttered, going back into the room. Valerie was standing up and holding my phone for me to take. I slid the device into my pocket before hugging her and pecking her cheek. "Thanks for packing. Don't make a mess in my room. Bye" I said quickly before going downstairs.

Nick was waiting by the door. He sighed when he saw me. "Took you long enough" he stated, walking out the door. I made faces at him from behind as we walked to his car. I grunted in response, throwing my duffle into the trunk. I hopped in the backseat, where Thalia was sitting. "You didn't invite Valerie" Nick huffed, driving away from the packhouse.

I sighed. "She wouldn't even know anyone there. And there's not really a point if you're only gonna be there for a few hours" I reminded him.

"But she could've stayed longer, like you are" he pointed out. I rolled my eyes and decided against responding. We could just go back and forth the whole car ride. But that would only result in us being scolded by Thalia.

We all fell silent. For the next half hour, the air was awkward, until Caroline spoke up. "Maybe while we're out there, the girls and I can help you pick out a gift for Valerie. The mall over there has better stuff than our mall" she offered.

I nodded my head. "Just make sure I'm not broke by the gifts you pick out" I said sternly. Caroline waved me off as she unlocked her phone and began searching for gifts. "Why does Piper want us to come?" I asked, randomly.

Nick never gave me a reason. They all shrugged. "I'm betting she's pregnant!" Thalia exclaimed, beaming at her theory. I slowly nodded my head. It's a possibility. They have been trying. "Come on. I have ten bucks!" she exclaimed, pulling the bill out of her pocket.

I laughed. Just for the amusement, I also pulled out a ten. "You're on" We shook hands as the couple in the front seat laughed at us. "I'm probably gonna lose this bet" I admitted. Everyone nodded in agreement. "Or maybe someone met their mate" They hummed in agreement.

Both scenarios are possible. "Hey. Valerie said to text her when we get there" Nick told me.

I nodded as the women in the car awed. "You two would be so cute together" Caroline squealed. Thalia nodded in agreement. "It's like a hero/badboy love story. You saved her from that stupid pup. And she's totally gonna make everyone forget about the whole monster thing. You're gonna be such a softie" she cooed.

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. "People don't just forget about labels once the person gets a mate. Things don't work that way" I replied.

She huffed, but Thalia butted in. "You're just in denial. Just watch. You'll find your mate- even if it's not Valerie. Then you're gonna go all soft. And people will change their views on you" Thalia stated. With the look she was giving me, I didn't dare to argue.

"By the way, Collin wanders around the territory like a lost puppy" Nick informed me. Collin, the guy who tried getting information out of Valerie. Yeah, we didn't banish the guy. We just forbid him from entering the packhouse and from participating in any pack events. Basically, he's a stray living on our territory. "His parents won't allow him into their house after they heard what happened" he stated.

Wow. He messed up bad. "I heard from the teens that no one wants to talk to him. They don't know who he snapped on, they just know that he beat someone that was supposedly a friend. So they don't associate with him either" Caroline piped in.

I feel kinda bad that everyone ditched him. But on the other hand, he deserves it. "What was Valerie doing with him anyway?" Nick questioned.

The women turned to look at me, while Nick glanced at me in the rearview mirror. "That's not my secret to tell" I muttered, facing the window. We were about five minutes from Caleb's packhouse. Caroline was still staring at me as if I was keeping some huge secret from her. "Don't look at me like that" I snapped at Caroline. She quickly turned back in her seat. Thalia gave me a look. "Sorry" I apologized.

"Don't be. It's Valerie's secret. I'm just sticking my nose in places it doesn't belong" Caroline confessed. Nick drove up the driveway and stopped the car in front of the packhouse. "We're here" Caroline squealed.

We all got out the car as people came out the house to greet us. "You're so gonna owe me ten bucks" Thalia stated, cackling as we started hugging everyone.

I chuckled, knowing that she's probably right. "Bubba!" A familiar pair of arms wrapped around my neck. Rolling my eyes at the nickname, I hugged my sister back. "God, I missed you" Piper muttered, squeezing me tighter.

I smiled as we pulled away. Caleb hugged me, purposefully patting my back harder than normal. "I hope you don't mind. I'll be a guest for a couple days" I informed them, holding up my dufflebag.

Piper's eyes lit up. "Not at all! You know you're welcome here for as long as you want!" she chirped.

Caleb wrapped an arm around her waist. "Poptart, we gotta limit his time here. He'll probably never go back to his pack if he had a choice in it" he said seriously.

Much to their surprise, I shook my head. "The place is warming up on me" I admitted. Piper squealed, kissing my cheek.

"That's just because of-" I glared at Nick and he shut his mouth. However, Piper began pestering him about there being a girl. I narrowed my eyes even more, daring him to say something. "It's just because of Thalia's cooking. You know he loved her cooking as a kid" Nick played it off.

Piper nodded her head. "I do too! It's been so long since I've had that pasta you always made. That's delicious" she told Thalia.

Grams went over to Thalia and draped an arm over her shoulder. "We should definitely swap recipes" Grams suggested. Thalia nodded and they disappeared into the house.

I continued to greet everyone. I finally made it to Caleb's younger sister. Beaming, I wrapped my arms around her. "Oh! My lovely Amanda! The brightest star in my dull night sky! The music to my melody! The words in my novel! The money in my wallet! The-"

Amanda put her hand over my lips. "Can't you just say 'I missed you', like a normal person?" she questioned, but there was a smile on her lips. I shook my head as she removed her hand from my face. "I missed you too, dufus" she laughed, pushing me away.

We all went into the house and crowded in the living room. Most of the girls sat on their mates' laps so we would all be able to fit. Some people were standing though. "So why are we here?" I asked once we all settled down.

Piper grinned. Caleb came up from behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. His hands were on top of hers, which laid on her belly. "I'm pregnant" my sister announced. All the girls squealed as the guys hollered out congratulations.

After things quieted down a little, I pulled the ten out of my pocket and handed it to Thalia. Everyone looked at me curiously. "You couldn't keep shooting out duds? Now I'm ten bucks poorer" I joked.

Everyone chuckled, some shook their heads in amusement. "Just name the baby after me, okay?" I looked at Sam and Liam who said the same thing as me. "Copy cat!" We exclaimed. "Stop that!" We narrowed our eyes at each other. "This reminds me of 22 Jump Street" We mumbled.

"Dumb minds think alike" Amanda muttered. The three of us turned to her and glared. She smiled and held her hands up in surrender. We continued to catch up, talking about random things. There was a lot of our usual banter that I missed. The whole situation was very nostalgic. I missed these weirdos.

We started talking about baby stuff. I wanted to leave when they started to talk about breast-feeding. "We should play tag!" Wyatt exclaimed randomly. We all turned to him. "This baby talk is boring" he said honestly.

I nodded in agreement. "The girls and I are staying here" Piper said, motioning for us guys to leave. I plugged my phone in as we passed by the kitchen. We all went to the backyard. "Don't get hurt!" she shouted after us.

Once we were outside, we looked at each other. "Nose goes!" I shouted, touching the tip of my nose. Liam was the last one to touch his nose. We all sprinted away, while he chased. Liam tagged Caleb, who chased me. We were on opposite sides of a large bush. "Da na na na. Da na. Da na, can't touch this" I sang MC Hammer's song.

Caleb laughed. I took advantage of the distraction and sprinted off. He sighed before quickly tagging Nick, who wasn't even paying attention. He cursed and ran after Sam. "Hey. Did you meet your mate yet?" Liam asked as we watched Nick chase Sam around.

I shook my head. "Did you?" He had the same response. "If we don't meet our mates, at least we'll have each other" I dramatically wrapped my arms around him, then I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"You're it!" Sam exclaimed. When did he even get tagged?

I quickly tagged Liam before running off. "Zeke!" I turned to the packhouse. "Your phone keeps ringing!" Kat informed me, bringing the device outside. "You have seven missed calls" she stated.

Nick and I locked eyes. "You forgot to text her, didn't you?" he guessed. I nodded, grabbing the phone from Kat. Nick laughed at me.

I flipped him off before walking into the house. I answered the phone, but wasn't even able to get a greeting out, since I was being shouted at. "You're alive! You freaking jerk! I told Nick to tell you to text me! And I know he told you because he told me he told you! It's been like two hours! It takes less than an hour to get there! What the hell?! I thought you guys got into an accident or something! Your shitty memory fucking sucks! And I called you like ten times! Learn to pick up the phone! Or at least reply to one of my texts! Damn!"

I waited a few moments. "Are you done?" I asked. Valerie grunted in response. "I am alive. Thank you for your concern. It completely slipped my mind to text you, and I'm sorry. I was busy catching up with everyone. And my sister told us that she's pregnant" I informed her.

Valerie sighed on the other end. "Your room is boring when you're not here" she muttered.

I grinned. "Does Valerie miss me?" I teased.

"Honestly, a little" Well. I wasn't expecting that answer. "Now, I have no one to get me food. I don't feel like going downstairs at the moment" That's more like Valerie. "Hey. Are you busy right now?" she asked softly.

I looked around, realizing that all the girls in the kitchen were staring at me instead of having their baby-talk. "Nope. Just let me go upstairs, away from eavesdroppers!" I exclaimed. The girls pouted at me as I walked away. "What's wrong?" I asked, slipping into my old bedroom.

She sighed heavily. "I went on a walk after you left and I bumped into Collin" she said softly. My mind immediately went to the worst case-scenario. "He didn't hurt me" Valerie said quickly. I sighed in relief. "He just told me some things"

"Like what?" I heard her sniffle. "Sad Valerie isn't cool. Give me back Sassy Pants" I attempted to lighten up her mood.

She actually let out a small laugh. "All sides of Valerie are cool!" she stated. I chuckled at her response. "My dad was the one that told Collin to get info. He wasn't supposed to hurt me or you. I wasn't even included in their arrangement. My dad just told him to get information. It didn't matter where it came from" she got quiet again.

I heard another sniffle. "Your dad didn't want you to get hurt. I'm sure of that. I'll look into it when I get back" I offered. She mumbled out a reply. "Now, stop crying. I don't want your nasty snot all over my room" I teased. She laughed and we both said goodbye before hanging up.

I sighed, knowing that everyone will gonna ask me a million questions when I get downstairs.  

_______________

"You can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep rereading the last one"

-Michael McMillan

It has been decided by me, myself, and I that Zeke's mate will be revealed sometime in the next four chapters. I know you guys want to know who she is. And being the nice person I am, I will give you what you want! Soon.

Kayyyzzz Byeeezzz

~A.J.