Shelby's pov

The drive was tedious, but here we were standing at the base of the mountain getting ready to sneak into one of the most dangerous packs on the Earth. I had changed into my suit and strapped one of the guns on my thigh and the other behind my back. The knife was on my other thigh and the daggers were strapped around my waist. "Darren and Thomas, stand guard, Amanda I need you to set up base," I ordered. I could see Thomas slightly laughing out of the corner of my eye.

"What is so funny?" I asked.

"You are going to be a great Luna," Thomas said looking proud.

"Thanks, Dad," I joked.

Amanda was plugging in computers in the van that Darren had picked, it reminded me of a tv van or a news van. I went in to check on her, "Are you sure that you want to go in alone?" she asked without looking up from her work.

"Yes, I can not risk any of you getting caught," I replied.

"Alright, camp is all set up. This is your earpiece, her is your microphone," She said handing me the earpiece and attaching the microphone to the top of my suit. "If you need help just say something and we will be there in seconds. Joey is going to be disabling the cameras as soon as you get in. We will be guiding you from here then," She explained. "Be safe," she said before I exited the van and began to climb the mountain. I would be entering from a small vent that was in the lower part of the mountain.

"Good luck," Thomas called as I began to free climb the mountain. His phone rang and he walked away to pick it up. I let out a small laugh betting myself that it was James calling to make sure everything was ok. Darren was stationed outside the van, I was halfway up the climb when I found the entrance.

"Hey there, Shelby," A voice came over the earpiece. "I am Joey, after you get into the vent, you will take your first right and go for about 15 feet then there will be a drop into a closet.

"Thanks, Joe,"

"Sure thing, no hard feeling about the attempt on your life, right?" He said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Nothing," he replied quickly.

I ignored him as the vent was a light bit of a tight fit, I focused on my mother, what else could I do? I had to get her out of here, I wondered what she meant about protecting Amanda and I, we were not blood relatives, so it could not have to do with family ties. I would have to ask her when we are home.

"Status update?" Thomas asked through the headset.

"Well, it's a bit of a tight fit. I'm almost there," I said turning right getting ready to drop into the closet. "Where do I go from here?"

"Give me a second to shut off the camera feed, and done," He said. "Turn left and head down the corridor,"

"Got it," I replied, turning left after quietly shutting the door. The hall was darker than I remember, I could tell that my eyes had a glow to them.

"Be careful with your night vision on, it could draw more attention," Thomas warned.

"It isn't exactly under my control," I replied.

"Pup," Thomas chuckled.

"I'll show you who the pup is," I said challenging him. "Don't forget I was the rightful Beta of our pack,"

"Is that an official challenge Scarlet, I will take you right here, right now," I could feel the smirk coming through the headset.

"You're eager to get your ass kicked,"

"Keep it to the mission, you can kick each other asses later," Amanda said.

"Buzzkill," I smirked.

"You are almost there, turn right and she is the last cell, straight at the back," he was right, I could sense her, I could smell her blood, it made my skin crawl, my fists clenched, I had a strong desire to find this son of a bitch and teach him a lesson about respect. 'Calm down,' a voice called in my head. I knew who it was, I smiled, he could feel my anger from over 100 miles away. I needed to get out of here before my temper got us into more trouble than we were prepared to handle. I came up to the door and saw that it required a three-digit code to unlock the door.

"What's the code for the cell?"

"Give me a second," Joey said. I could hear keys being hit, and an annoyed sigh. "Its 666,"

"Real original," I chuckled. If I had remembered correctly many of the wolf communities referred to hybrids as spawns of the devil. I had always found that amusing monsters calling other monsters spawns of the devil, not that I viewed all of the wolf communities as monsters, but there were those who abused their power. The legends tell us that we were created to protect humans and live among them in disguise. I put the code in and the door opened. "Mom?" I called to the slender figure in the cell.

"Angel?" She replied. "I thought I told you not to come back here," she lectured.

"I know but I had to save you. Now let's go, I will gladly listen to your lecture at home," I ushered her out of the door. "Target acquired now get us a way out of here," I said into the earpiece.

"There is a hidden hallway to your right, it looks like it should lead out to the side of the mountain, from there you should be able to climb down,"

"Alright mom," I helped her up and put her arm over my shoulder to help her walk. She was so weak; I was beyond pissed.

"Calm down child," my mother said sensing my anger starting to boil. "I would do it all again to protect you, but now we do need to hurry and get out of here before we get caught," I nodded and escorted my mother toward the hallway. It was long and dark; the only light came from candles placed along the walls. This was by far the creepiest hallway that I had ever walked down.

"Almost there," I told my mother.

"One more turn and you're out," Thomas said in the earpiece.

We took the final left turn, and we were met with one more locked door, "I am going to need another code," I said.

"They don't have any other codes in their system," Joey replied.

"Shit," I muttered.

"Shelby, remember what I told you the last time you were here?" She asked. "I will explain more later, but focus on where your friends are,"

I nodded thinking about the little camp in the forest behind the mountain. "Close your eyes and hold on tight," She instructed. I pulled her closer to me then closed my eyes, when I opened them, we were right outside the van. The door opened and Amanda poked her head out, looking confused.

"No, the screen is right they are right here," Amanda said into the van.

"What the hell?" Thomas said coming out of the van.

"I will explain everything to all of you, but first we need to get out of here. It is dangerous to have both of them here," my mother said getting into the van. We all nodded and went to our own vehicles. "Shelby and Amanda ride in separate cars, it will be harder to trace us like that," Amanda and I exchanged looks of confusion but did as we were told.

I started the Jeep and set my new phone on the dashboard, connecting to the car's Bluetooth. I was taking a different way home in an attempt to confuse them and make it harder to track us. I would be heading towards the Lunar pack then change direction to go past Trevor's pack, I should probably check in with him... and Olivia I corrected my thought. Before I had the chance to call, my phone was ringing, damn him.

"Hello?" I answered.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? I JUST GOT A CALL FROM JAMES SAYING THAT HE FOUND YOU AND THAT YOU ACCEPTED HIM?!?!?"

"Yea, I found my mom and I am on my way home. I did not mean to take off like that, but I was never part of your pack so it should not be that big of a deal," I explained.

"REALLY? IT'S NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL? I THOUGHT THAT WE HAD SOMETHING,"

"Trevor you knew that he was and is my mate. What were you expecting to happen? Me to leave him and be with you forever?" I defended myself.

"YES ACTUALLY, I THOUGHT THAT YOU WOULD LEAVE HIM FOR ME. YOU WERE CONSTANTLY FLIRTY WITH ME AND YOU WANTED ME. Don't deny it the whole school knew that you wanted me over him,"

"LISTEN HERE YOU COCKY ASSHAT, I LOVE JAMES," I stopped midsentence realizing what I had just said.

"What the hell did he do to you? I thought you were untamable Scarlet and yet here you are at the mercy of a weak Alpha who has you twisted around his finger,"

"And look at you, chasing something that will never be yours, I think that we are done here," I said and hung up the phone. How dare he? I am not tame; I am choosing to live my life with my soulmate. What is wrong with that? I am the same person that I always was, just as stubborn and strong as ever. My phone started ringing again and I got annoyed but answered assuming I knew who was calling me. "Trevor, will you just drop it? Yes, we got along while I was living with you, but you lied to me about our agreement. Why would I leave James for you?" I ranted at the phone.

There was a pause on the other line before an answer finally came, "Umm Shelby, I think you should check who calls before you pick up," Thomas said. "Oh, and I will be reporting that to James,"

"Shit," I cursed under my breath. "Don't tell James. I will tell him I promise, just not now," I begged Thomas.

He sighed on the other end of the phone, "You know that I don't have a choice, I have to tell him,"

"I know, I just want him to find out from me, so please don't tell him. I will as soon as we get back. Thomas, you know what he will do if he finds out from anyone else but me," I tried to reason with him.

He sighed again, "Fine, nut you are telling him as soon as we get back,"

"Thank you," I sighed a breath of relief knowing that I would be the one to break the news to him.

"How far are you? We just got back to the pack," he asked. "I expected for you to beat us back. We all know that you like to drive on the faster side," Thomas joked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I'm not that far, about 20 or 30 minutes away," I told him.

"Alright, we will all be in conference room A when you get here,"

"See you then," I hung up. Praying that Thomas would not say anything to James about where I had been for the last 6 months. If he found out that I had been with Trevor that whole time, he might just start a war with him. Not that I had romantic feelings for Trevor, but in the time, I had spent with the pack I had grown attached to several pack members and did not want anyone to get hurt. I learned the importance of being with your loved ones, the whole time I was there my heart was aching for James.

A smooth 25 minutes later, I parked the car and walked into the packhouse making my way toward conference room A. I paused before entering the room to take a breath and let out my frustration from the car ride. I reached for the handle but before I could turn it, the doors flew open to reveal a very pissed James. I peek around him to see a smirking Trevor who gives me a little wave. 'What the hell did you do?' I think to myself.

"We will be back," James gritted through his teeth. I swallowed hard, not sure what was going on but feeling a little terrified but also excited. "Let's go," he commanded before picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder. I pick my head up to see Amanda laughing with a guy who I had never seen before.

"Hey, put me down, I can walk for myself," I said slightly hitting his back.

"If it were up to me you wouldn't be able to walk for a week," He muttered.

"What was that?" I asked face ablaze hoping that I had heard him wrong. James however did not respond with words he simply hit my ass and laughed.

"You'll find out soon enough," He chuckled.

"Can you at least tell me where we are going?"

"We are here," He said opening a door.

"Great can you put me down now?" I asked.

"Keep giving me sass like that and I might have to punish you," He laughed darkly, and again I swallowed not knowing how to feel about his response. "If you keep that up, you won't make it to marking age without one on your neck,"

Part of me wanted to try him but the other part of me told me to behave myself, marking hurt from what I had heard, that is why the age for marking is 2 years after the age at which you meet your mate. 18 for most wolves. Before I could make up my mind, I was thrown from his shoulder to a soft bed, looking around I recognized it as his bedroom. "Where were you for those 6 months?" James asked with a seriousness that was reflected in his facial expression.

I sat up and looked away, "I just needed a place to think. So I went to Trevor, I knew that he would not make me explain anything to him and he would not hoover so I would have time to think," I closed my eyes not wanting to see what happened. I was confused when it was just silent for a couple of seconds. I felt fingers on my chin that turned my face toward his, I cautiously opened my eyes and was met with his brown eyes.

"You are a Luna now, you don't bow your head to anyone," his eyes relaxed. "Thank you for being honest with me. Now I have one more question," he paused.

"Okay," I replied slowly.

"Did you kiss him?" He asked.

"What?" I replied.

"Did you kiss him, or did he kiss you?" James repeated.

I thought back to one night that I had tried so hard to forget, Trevor had come into my room drunk and upset. I let him in trying to calm him down, we sat on the bed and he was talking the same nonsense as always. About how he was in love with me and how I should stay with him and become his Luna, but my heart would never let me leave James. Before I ever knew it, I was in love with him, I would never want to be without him. While he was sitting next to me, he leaned over and kissed me. I tried to move but he had me pinned in a matter of seconds. I did the only thing that I could think to do, I kneed his inner thigh and shoved him off of me. I screamed at him to get out and avoided him for a couple of weeks until he apologized.

"Red," James's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. His hand went up to my cheek wiping away tears that I did not even know were falling. "What did he do?" he was mad now. I knew James well; he was trying to control his anger.

"He didn't mean it, he was drunk," I tried to explain.

"I'm going to kill him," James saidand stormed out of the room.