30k reads? 30K READS?! I don't even know what to say to that. Except thank you, of course. Your support means so much, which sort of goes without saying. Every time I get a notification that someone has voted or commented, I start grinning like a crazy person.

Now I was arguing with my sister the other day (as we do, daily). She happens to be a huge Leo fan, but I've always had a soft spot for Rhys. So out of curiosity, who is your favourite character? And who's your least favourite? Besides Brandon, of course. That goes without saying.

The cabins were scattered across a mountainside, jutting from the cliff face as if they had grown out of the rock itself. They were connected by walkways and stairs, all lined with lanterns. It looked like something you would see in a movie. So beautiful it felt almost surreal.

The owners had welcomed us with open arms and given us the keys to the two luxury cabins on the penthouse level. Whatever favour they had owed Rhodric, it must have been a big one. They had made the easy assumption we were two happy couples and I hadn't even thought to ask Cassidy how she felt about sharing with Rhys.

There was enough space between the cabins that I was confident Rhys wouldn't hear a thing. But with hours before sunset, the four of us were crowded into one cabin. There were three rooms — a living area with a tiny kitchen, a spacious bedroom and a small ensuite bathroom. And on the floor of the living room was something I didn't see all that often. Carpet. The feeling of fabric under my bare feet was strange enough that I stayed on the sofa, legs crossed underneath me, rather than step on it.

It also had central heating — a luxury I had never experienced before. Spring in Wales was neither dry nor warm. Piece by piece, I stripped off my many layers of warm and waterproof clothing until I was wearing only a shirt and trousers, and the boys followed my example. I made sure, though, to move my knife from my coat pocket. You could never be too careful.

We were playing 'cheat' to pass the time. Poor Cassidy actually seemed to be following the rules, so she was losing every game. One day, I would have to teach her about rogues.

"Three sevens and I'm out," I announced smugly, while throwing down an assortment of five picture cards.

"Skye," Leo sighed. "We established ten minutes ago that you don't have any sevens. You're terrible at this."

I grinned and flipped the top cards over, making sure to slip the five kings and queens up my sleeve while he wasn't watching. I proceeded to display all the sevens that Cassidy had just put down. It was really lucky for me that she didn't cheat.

Leo narrowed his eyes, but he couldn't exactly argue with the proof. My poor, innocent mate was relatively new to this as well. He didn't expect us to cheat after we'd been called out for cheating. Rhys, on the other hand, was trying to subtly peak at his own mate's cards every few minutes.

"Fine, you win." Leo gave in, throwing down his cards. Rhys followed suit, and I didn't miss when he retrieved a few cards from behind him to join the pile in the middle. I stood up to get a drink, and my arms hung straight down for a split second. The dozen cards I had smuggled there over the course of the game fell out.

Oops.

Leo rolled his eyes, Cassidy looked alarmed, and Rhys just laughed at me. I was spared from having to defend myself when I realised that my collar had slipped down — it hadn't been the cards Cassidy was staring at. Leo's mark on my neck was showing.

Double oops.

"What's that? Why isn't it healing?" she asked quietly. Rhys swore under his breath and gave me a pleading glance.

"There's something we've neglected to tell you about werewolves," I began carefully. I raised my eyebrows slightly at Rhys, asking if he wanted me to explain mates, or make up some crap about wolfsbane or silver. He flicked his eyes up and down once, giving me the go ahead. She might even take it better from another girl.

"Do you want me to tell her that she's your mate? Or are you going to do a Leo and make her fall in love with you for who you are?" I asked him through the mind-link.

"Tell her. It won't mean the same thing to a human, anyway. Make sure she knows she still has a choice in the matter," he replied the same way.

"Why don't you two go and fetch some pillows from the other cabin? We might as well get comfortable," I suggested aloud to the boys. They went out without complaint, leaving me to explain the tricky part. I decided to start gently.

"Okay. The thing about werewolves, Cassie, is that we're stronger in packs. The more wolves, the better. So to speed that along, there's this thing called a mate bond."

"Soulmates?" she asked unsurely.

"Yes, pretty much. Leo's mine. Once a werewolf meets their mate, they complete the mating process, first by marking, which is the thing on my neck. The second half of the process is well ... mating."

"I'm starting to understand why you sent the boys away," Cassidy said. Oh, she'd picked up on that, had she? "Does Rhys have a mate?"

I smiled. Of course she'd be curious. "Yes. Actually, he does."

She didn't manage to hide the disappointment on her face. "Oh..."

"He met her today," I continued, watching her closely. "And to be honest, I think he's already head over heels."

Cassidy shuffled in her chair. "You don't mean... I'm not..."

"Yeah, to put it bluntly, that's you. I'm obvious very biased, but if you do decide to give him a chance, you won't regret it. Mates are irreplaceable. Leo and I haven't even finished the bond, and we'd die for each other. If it came down to it, Rhys would give his life for yours without a second thought. That's why we had to be so careful in the warehouse earlier," I finished.

"This is a lot to take in."

"I know. You don't have to make a decision straight away. I'll make sure he sleeps on the sofa tonight," I promised.

"Won't he be uncomfortable?" she asked.

"A sofa would actually be an upgrade for Rhys. We've slept in worse places, you know," I replied with a shrug.

Cassidy was silent for a moment. "You haven't had easy lives, have you?"

"Nobody has an easy life," I said.

Rhys and Leo returned noisily. Between them, they were carrying every pillow from our cabin. Boys. They proceeded to dump them all onto the carpet of the main room. I imagined lying back on them, sinking into them ... and stayed sat in my chair. Sure, I could see the appeal of the indoors, but it wasn't for me. I missed the grass under my toes and the wind on my face. Leo looked at me sharply, and I knew the mate bond was telling on me.

"The stars are out," he said. "I was thinking we could go and sit outside."

I could have kissed him right there and then. The four of us went, in the end, pulling on extra layers of clothing and boots to protect us against the chill. There was a sheltered ledge of rock with a truly spectacular view. We had a carpet of moss and a ceiling of stars.

We stayed there until well after midnight, chatting and joking. At some point, Cassidy finally admitted to being cold and Rhys took the excuse of warming her up to slip his arm around her. Leo didn't need an excuse to do the same with me.

The rain started as a few drops, but soon it was coming down hard and fast enough that we retreated to our respective rooms. And once our door was closed — and Leo and I were completely alone for the first time since we'd met — we weren't hanging around.

We went straight to the bedroom, and there he kissed me. With his lips on mine, I didn't even mind when my back hit the soft mattress of the double bed. His shirt came off first, then mine. It didn't take long for the other items of clothing to follow.

I could tell you the details of that night, because I remember it was if it were yesterday. But there are some things an author shouldn't have to tell their readers, for the privacy of everyone involved. That night belongs to Leo and I, and I don't really feel like sharing it with anyone.

***

Nestled in the warm blankets, I stretched out like a cat. The morning sun was creeping over the horizon, and the first of its rays had infiltrated our room. Leo lay next to me in all of his shirtless glory. I took a minute to admire the clearly-defined muscles while he was too fast asleep to tease me.

With primal satisfaction, I noted how his scent had changed to accommodate mine even more. The mating bond was finally complete. My own scent had changed as well, which Rhys wouldn't fail to notice.

I supposed that I would need to get dressed. I wouldn't put it past my little brother to barge in here at any time of the morning. As quickly as possible with waking my mate, I pulled on enough clothes to pass as decent.

Without even opening his eyes, Leo said, "Running off so soon?"

Of course. His wolf would have noticed my absence as soon as we broke contact.

"I was just going to make breakfast, jackass."

"You and cooking don't really go together, Skye. I'd rather you stayed in bed." Leo slipped an arm around my waist and tried to drag me back onto the mattress. I gave him a playful shove and stepped out of the way.

"I'm hungry," I told him.

"So ask Rhys. He's Maggie's grandson, he's got to have some talent in the kitchen. And that way, you don't have to go anywhere."

I didn't want to leave the room any more than he wanted me to. Now that we were fully mated, everything was heightened. Every touch, every emotion. Until we could get used to the new, deepened bond, we would be utterly co-dependent. But my stomach was grumbling, and I wasn't in the habit of refusing it.

"Are you kidding me? That boy doesn't know burnt from raw. I'm literally walking to the sideboard and back," I told him, even as I left the room.

By the time I reached the bread bin and identified a cuboid appliance as a toaster, Leo had managed to get himself partially dressed and followed me. Laughing, he took the piece of bread out of my hands.

"That's the microwave," he smirked. "We don't put bread in the microwave."

I wrinkled up my nose. "This is all so dumb. We don't need a special machine to make something crispy. Fire does that beautifully all by itself."

"I love a good fire as much as the next person, but we're going to lose our deposit if we light one in here," Leo sighed.

I accepted that with a grimace, and I didn't argue when Leo put the bread into a different device and then made it disappear. I stood on my tiptoes to peer inside — it glowed orange in there, almost like an actual fire, so I didn't mind it so much.

Meanwhile, Leo was pulling a saucepan out of a cupboard. I reached over his shoulder to crack some eggs. Finally, something I could actually do. Next came the bacon, and soon the smells of breakfast cooking filled the air.

"Do you want to go and get the others? I can finish up here," Leo suggested.

I gasped in mock surprise. "You'd let me out of your sight. Willingly?"

He flicked a breadcrumb at me. "Only if you hurry back."

Before leaving, I seized his collar and pulled him down to my level for a kiss that left both of us a little breathless. "Mm. I will."

I went across the walkway as fast as I dared. I began to notice the other occupants of the holiday park stirring all around us. Couples were everywhere, but one group was made up entirely of men, strangely enough. I might have explained it away as a bachelor party had they not looked vaguely familiar.

One or two, I was sure we had seen in the warehouse yesterday. Even their scents matched. They'd washed the grime and blood from their faces, but they were still wearing the same ragged, dirty clothes. It didn't take me long to realise that half of the group — perhaps even more — had been rescued by us. Odd.

It was enough of a coincidence for me to slip down a staircase and press my back against a cliff face. Out of sight, but not out of earshot. They were coming out of hostel-type accommodation in which you shared a room with a dozen strangers — noisy but wonderfully cheap.

"Malcolm is expecting us at noon," one said. That interested me quite a bit. Surely they didn't just happen to be friends with a Malcolm.

"Then he'll have to wait," a raspy voice replied. "The girl's pack isn't far from here. We can be there and back within a day."

So clearly, they knew that werewolves existed. And there was only one 'pack' led by a girl within half a day's drive. Last Haven.

"We have no reason to go there. Cassidy Forster made her choice. And she chose the wolves, not us."

"You're a damned fool! Cassidy saw an opportunity and took it. What do you think her father will do if we don't find her again?"

Oh, Goddess... If they meant what I thought they meant and they were telling the truth, blood would spill. Cassidy's blood, to be specific.

When I was finished with her, she'd wish she'd never been born. There was a special place in my heart for traitors, and it was devoid of all feeling. Brandon could testify to that. Oh, it would be clever, pretending she didn't know about werewolves, using the mate bond with Rhys to integrate herself... If I was right about this, she'd been laughing at us the damn whole time.

"Either way, we should report to Malcolm first. He would want to know that the Llewellyns freed us."

"Let's be quick about it, then. Just don't tell him we lost track of Cassidy."

Holding in a snarl, I padded my way back up the stairs. My brother's mate might be a traitor. We might have killed werewolves to free hunters. How could I have been so damned stupid?