POV
Soren

A full week it took for the poison to leave my system, I was laid in bed, the flog markings now two very thin scars. I sat up stretching, I was in my childhood bedroom. I stood up and made my way over to my window, looking out the window, I took in the moon.

It hung in the sky, the full moon a crisp golden color, the Hunters Moon, it was coming in only a night. The moon was gorgeous. The Hunters moon came once every nine years, the Hunters moon gave mate bonds a strong and sometimes intense boost. I stood watching the almost full moon go over the trees, the cool air breezing into my room.

I wondered if Stone was up, I wondered what he was doing. He hadn't tried to see me, not that my dad would let him. My parents never really got over Stone accepting Miro as his wolf. They didn't want me to be a hollowed wolf, but Miro still killed their true pup, my true wolf, the pup their wolves made together. My mom is always the saddest about it. With another breeze, I turned from my window and went back over to the bed. Climbing in I told myself that when I woke up, I would try something different.

I was stuck on pack territory, marked and stuck, so why not make the best of it. I always liked farming, so I decided to start again. I would rebuild my life in Brickston. See, even though Stone and I were being forcefully kept together, I didn't think we'd ever have our old relationship. But I could have some semblance of a normal life.

# # #

The next day I made my way downstairs after a long shower, my parents were eating breakfast. Boar sausage and her fluffy blueberry pancakes. They looked delicious, the sausages were stacked high and steaming.

The pancakes looked so fluffy, they were filled with blueberries and syrup dripped and drizzled down the sides, blueberries falling out of the batter.

"Good Morning, sit down breakfast just got done. How are you feeling?" My mama asked, as I took a seat and poured myself a glass of orange juice. "I feel better, poison should be out of my system. I think I want to start helping with farming again." I said.

"Well that's just great, I'm sure Campbell would love to have you help out. But I don't want you anywhere near Stone." My dad almost growled. "Daddy, I'm not a pup anymore, Stone marked me, so I'm already his, what am I supposed to do, sit around for the next hundred and ninety-nine years, and ignore him?" I asked, biting into a juicy sausage.

"I don't want you to ignore him, but that doesn't mean he gets to force himself on you. You don't owe him anything. That wolf of his is the reason we never got to meet our true pup, and don't get me wrong we love Mya, but she's never truly felt like ours." Mama said, and warmth built up starting with my feet.

"You may not have loved Mya as yours but that doesn't mean she doesn't love you like her parents. I think you two need to let it go. It was my choice to accept Mya, and my accepting her made Stone accept Miro. We were destined to be together, so as far as I'm concerned, Stone did the right thing. His only mistake was falling in love with me." I said, anger started building the longer I talked; until I found myself standing. I took two more bites of food, drank my juice, and excused myself.

"Soren, at least for a while, until the buzz dies down?" My daddy asked. I turned at the door and smirked, "Fine old man, I won't talk to the Alpha." I agreed, then I turned and walked out. Outside I looked up at the sun, inhaling that southern air, Mya hummed in satisfaction, glad to be back home, glad I was no longer gonna fight it. (Soren... May I stretch my legs?) Mya asked. I stretched, then removed my clothes,

I closed my eyes and focused on that primal place inside me, that animal spirit. The pain was quick and sharp, bones fall out of place and reformed in seconds. In an instant, I was a passenger, riding along in Mya's pure white body. She raced into the woods, and I knew where she was going. She ran over fallen trees' her body a white streak, zigzagging through the wilds of pack territory. She took in her surroundings, her emotions pulsing throughout my mind, endorphins giving me a major buzz.

She pushed on excitedly, not stopping until we were at the pond. She looked down into the clear water, her reflection playing back at me. Pure white fur and eyes a lot bluer than my own.

My parents might not have accepted her, but I did, she is my wolf, the only wolf I've ever known. She lapped lazily at the water, crouching and preparing to attack as seconds later, a loud noise broke through the silence. Two wolves ran through into the clearing; one of them was pitch black, his eyes a vibrant red.

He was fucking huge, but Mya growled as we recognized Billie, the slutty she-wolf stood beside Miro as if she belonged there.

Mya growled stalking forward, Miro didn't move as Mya snarled at Billie's wolf, the dark brown wolf didn't move, she lowered herself to the ground. (Control yourself ) Stone thought at me, before barking at Billie, the two of them running off. Mya turned and ran us to the farms...

# # #

Three hours later, after getting working orders from Campbell I was in the southeastern part of pack territory, working fencing off the carrot patch. Three small greenhouses were sat up in a row, the vegetable patches ran beside them, a healthy bunch of green.

I was surprised to see Cole, come walking from the treeline. I waved him over, ignoring the whispers of the other workers.

"Hey, Ren, what are you doing here?" He asked, "I decided to work here. Gotta do something now that I'm stuck here." I answered. "You want some help?" He asked, and I nodded handing him a pair of gloves.

# # #

After my first day of work, Cole and I found ourselves in the flow of pack life. It was an easy flow to fall into.

After a shower, we went to the packhouse for dinner. Everything was fine until I spotted Stone walk in, he spotted me and turned right back around and walked out.

"What the fuck, he's avoiding me," I said as a she-wolf brought me a plate of steak and rice. "He's hurt, Soren. And he gets that you don't want him anymore." Campbell said, reaching over and taking the breadbasket from Cole.

"He marked me, I didn't ask to be dragged back to Mississippi, and do you know I caught him on a run, with Billie," I said, and Campbell inhaled dramatically.

"Is this the same Billie who fucked with you about your and Stone's situation?" Cole asked, "The one and only." I responded.

"Pass the salt... And you, Ren, you should have wolfed out on that bitch, she's a big part of your insecurities." Cole said as I handed him the salt shaker.

"No, it's fine. I wanted him to move on, and if he wants to do that with her, so be it." I said, biting viciously into my steak.

"How about you and the Beta, Caleb's always been a mystery," Campbell said. Campbell is the great-grandson of the pack's farmer, he grew up in Texas and moved here when he was fifteen. We hit it off. He's an Omega only built thicker and taller because both his parents are potential Alpha's.

He and Cole got along famously after Cole predicted that if he remained the same person and didn't change. Then he'd meet his mate in a human and they'd live happily to see a hundred and eighty years.

"My guy, the dude is all over me. He tried yesterday to follow me all over our suite because I wanted to sleep in the living room, God what is it with him." Cole groaned.

"Have you tried telling him why you can't be intimate?" Campbell asked. "No, how can I? It's hard to say, hey baby I'm sorry I don't want you to touch me because I see crazy shit every time you do," Cole said cutting his steak.

"You know what guys, we need to just focus on each other, no mates," I said. Cole agreed while Campbell crumbled about not having a mate to be mad at.

"Just wait... and if he looks like what I feel he'll look like, you're blessed," Cole said, and Campbell looked off thoughtfully.

After dinner came a pack bonfire, Stone was present, it was mandatory for him to be there, but once again it was with her. He looked interested in everything she had to say.

They sat off near the podium where the high ranks sat, they both had beers and over the loud talk of other pack members, I could hear them laughing. He looked happy and that pissed me off.

I got up and went to get another beer, two turned into four and four became a blur. A run was scheduled for the Hunters moon, and while Stone stood up and climbed onto the podium to ready the wolves, Billie stood beside him.

It wasn't a formal gathering, but still. Why the fuck was she up there? Is she Luna? Was that it had he decided to move on with her.

Drunk me was a fool, and without a fuck to give I stormed through the crowd, I was almost there when surprisingly Lucas stopped me. "Hey, hey ... It's okay. You can not attack her, especially not after all you've done." Lucas said, his eyes going sharp and predatorial when he looked at Billie.

"He can have anyone else but her, that bitch needs to find another leg to fucking hump." I hissed. "So what, now you want him back?" Lucas asked, his aging eyes looking softly at me.

"I don't want him with her, let go of me Luna," I said trying and failing to pull away. "You're the Luna now, and I'm not about to let you embarrass yourself. You know damn well he doesn't want her. Calm down and go cool off." Lucas demanded. I felt like a little pup all over again, and with a whimper, I walked away.

# # #

As the sun was fully set and the moon started to rise, Stone stood up and climbed the podium again. "Tonight those of you who just found your mates, those of you looking. Those of us who have already found our mates, tonight we will be filled with our mates, captured by each other's being. Let us run and be free with each other..." He said. By this point, the pups were already indoors, and the only pack members present were those newly mated and those mated couples who wanted to run. "I'll see you tomorrow," Cole said, his eyes glancing over at the eastern treeline. Looking over I watched Caleb shift and head into the trees.

The wolves around me started to strip and shift down into their wolves. For some reason, Billie was still around. She watched as Stone stripped and shifted into Miro, her eyes were molesting him before she caught me staring and smirked, sending me a fucking wink.

I swallowed the growl Mya wanted me to release. Stone took off, leading his pack meant running with them, even when his mate was actively rejecting him. Billie watched him run off before turning and climbing down off the podium, then she approached me.

"Thank you so much. I was about to give up on SJ, but you fucked up just right. I mean but this is for the better, the pack will be better and I can give him an heir." The words left her mouth, and Mya completely took over, she pushed me into the back of my mind and shifted down into her form. Fear laced Billie's eyes and she screamed down the pack link for the Alpha.

Mya snarled at her, Billie's eyes turned black and she shifted into her blonde wolf, tattered clothes all around us.

She stood there growling and barking, trying to intimidate Mya, but the white wolf charged forward and started biting at her. Billie defended herself, clawing at me and biting back, but she wasn't trying to kill me, Mya wanted her dead though. We rolled, and circled each other, Mya was enraged and uncalculated, she just wanted blood. Leaping we landed on Billie's much bigger wolf, our mouth going over her muzzle, it was a kill move and would have worked if I wasn't knocked off of her.

Mya spun over onto her belly and stood growling and snarling, at whoever gave Billie the opening to run around the packhouse and out of sight.

Red eyes glared back at Mya's blue ones, and with a snarl from Miro, she gave me control. I shifted up into my human form and started to walk away. "Fuck that, what the hell was that!" Stone yelled from behind me after I heard his bones pop. "You can go ask your new Luna, asshole!" I yelled back.

I heard several swift steps and then I was knocked over. I looked up into Stone's eyes, and they were glowing red. "You're so stupid, there's no way your IQ is that close to mine. There will never be another Luna, cause they'll never be another you." He said.

"You can feel it, our bond, it's still there. When the moon hits its peak, this feeling is gonna get a lot stronger. So I'm gonna run, and I think you should sit this one out." He said, "Stay away from her, human." Mya snarled through me. "You don't get to be jealous, Soren is the one rejecting me." Stone shot back.

"Well, maybe a run will help me cool off," I said, shifting and taking off away from Stone. In Mya's form, I ran for miles, all over the western part of the territory. And Stone was right, a few hours in and I could feel him, I could practically see him running with the mated wolves, watching them chase each other, watching some of them break off to go, mate. He felt torn, he was both happy and jealous, he was mad at me, but also hopelessly in love.

Running I didn't even pay attention to where I was headed, just following the pull of the woods or so I thought. Jumping over a bush, I bumped right into a prowling wolf. Sparks filled Mya's fur, and I knew it was Stone. We stood up on all fours and looked at each other, and somehow I got lost in his eyes. Mya for the third time in all my life took control and charged past the Alpha, nipping his tail playfully, like when they were pups. Miro barked and started chasing me. I was tired and didn't see the harm in shutting down my consciousness, where was the harm in giving Mya one night of running with Miro... I would find that out when I awoke.