We all stared at him for a moment, struggling to comprehend what he was saying. Tyson was the one to finally break the silence. “That’s unnatural.”

            I agreed wholeheartedly. Wolves had human instincts as well as wolf instincts, which made them what they were. By being half human, they were able to control their more wild instincts. But the child of two wolf parents wouldn’t have the same control and it made them dangerous. Centuries ago wolves had mated with each other, and that was what gave birth to the common werewolf stories. Though where the half human looking creatures that everyone associated with werewolves came from was something I’d never understand.

             When wolves had suddenly started getting humans as mates, the species settled down and began blending into human society and became wolf shifters, rather than werewolves. While we still lived in packs, we also interacted with regular people on a daily basis. The human offspring of wolves had slightly enhanced senses and reflexes, but otherwise we were normal.

            “Two wolves haven’t mated since… well, a very long time ago,” Jaxon said. “How did this happen?”

            “They weren’t actually mates,” Jared told us. “Neither of them found their mates and ended up getting together. Derek and Lena are the result of that match up.”

            “But that’s not right. Everyone knows that full wolf children are dangerous. If they wanted to be together, that’s fine, but they should have known better than to have kids.” I pressed further into Jaxon’s side as I spoke. The idea of actual werewolves creeped me out.

            “I don’t think they planned on having kids. Derek and Lena are twins, and I think they were a bit of a surprise for their parents. I know that their parents were kicked out of their pack when they got pregnant and they turned into loners until after the twins were born. From what I can tell, they tried to join other packs afterwards, but no one would let them in with two full werewolf kids.”

            “How did we not hear about this?” Jaxon asked, tightening his arm around me.

            “They’re from South America,” Jared explained.

            “Where are their parents now?”

            “Dead. I don’t know the full story, but I think either Derek or Lena might have had something to do with their deaths. Derek started gathering up loners shortly after his parents’ death and then moved up here.”

            “Why is he trying to take over our territory?”

            Jared shrugged. “That I don’t know. He doesn’t exactly tell anyone his plans. He’s a pretty private person and only really opens up to his sister about anything, and she’s too crazy for anyone to want to get close to.”

            “How many wolves are in your pack?” Jaxon asked.

            “Fifteen; ten males and five females.”

            “Are any of them mated?”

            He shook his head. “No, none of us have found our mates yet. I don’t think Derek really wants us to either, so no one is really actively looking.”

            Jaxon was quiet for a minute as he thought everything over. “You said you didn’t want to be part of that pack?”

            “Honestly, I didn’t really want to be part of any pack right now. My dad passed away shortly after I was born, and it’s just been my mom and me for most of my life. I liked it that way, but I had to join Derek or he would have hurt her.”

            “I’ll tell you what; you can join this pack and we’ll send your mom somewhere that she’ll be safe, or we’ll find a way to get you both away from here and you can go back to being a lone wolf. It’s up to you.”

            “I’ll join with you,” Jared replied immediately. “Derek has moments of seeming normal, but Lena is unstable most of the time. I want to help you get rid of them.”

            “Alright. We’ll send your mom up to the main pack area and she can stay with my parents. My dad will be able to keep her safe up there. Do you want to go with her? Or will you stay here?”

            “I’ll stay here. Like I said, I want to help you.”

            “Then tell me why you were surprised that my Alpha command worked on the she wolf.”

            “Because her own brother has trouble controlling her sometimes. She’s able to ignore some of his commands, though it doesn’t happen very often. I think it’s because Derek is her twin, and they share too much of the same DNA. Since she’s full wolf and not half human like everyone else, I was surprised that you could threaten her.” Admiration filled his eyes as he looked at my mate. “That’s why I feel safe joining you guys. You must be really strong to be able to do that, and you’ll be able to protect my mom from them.”

            Jaxon and I exchanged looks. Was this why our bond was stronger than others? So that he’d be able to control the apparently crazy she wolf? Jaxon shrugged his shoulders very slightly and then looked back at Jared. “Tyson and Mark will go to your place with you and help you grab some stuff and bring your mom here. I’ll call my dad and arrange to have someone here to pick her up in the morning so she won’t be alone when we’re in school.”

            Tyson and Mark got up from the table and led Jared out of the kitchen. Jaxon turned to look at Sean. “Do you mind if he bunks with you for tonight? We’ll put his mom in the spare room and then Jared can have it tomorrow.”

            “Sure, I’ll go grab the cot and set it up in my room.”

            I pulled away from Jaxon and walked over to the phone. “I’m going to order pizzas so there will be food ready when they get back.”

            “Okay, I’ll go call my dad in the other room and let him know what’s going on. Then we’ll have to have a pack meeting so that everyone can get filled in on what’s happening with Jared.”

            That night, as we lay in bed together, I traced my fingers over his bare chest. “What are we going to do about the twins?” I asked him.

            He sighed and stroked my back. “I’m not entirely sure yet. My dad is going to do some research and see what he can find out about actual werewolves. It’s been so long since there’s been one that no one really knows how to deal with them anymore.” He hesitated for a moment. “It may come down to… putting them down,” he murmured.

            I closed my eyes and exhaled harshly. “I know, but I hope it doesn’t come to that. Our pack has lived in peace for so long and I don’t want that to change.”

            “Neither do I. But unless we can find another way to neutralize them, it might be our only solution.”

            “We don’t have to decide right now though, do we?”

            “No, not until my dad digs around a little. He wants to get in touch with the pack that the twins’ parents were from as well to get some insight. It might take a little while, so we just sit back and observe until then. Jared mentioned that some of the other wolves might not want to stay in that pack, so we’ll give them the chance to join with us if they want to.”

            “That’s a good idea. The smaller their pack is, the less of a threat they are to us.”

            “That’s what I was thinking. But I’m worried that Derek might find ways to prevent them from leaving now that Jared is gone.”

            I yawned and snuggled into him a little more. “We’ll get it figured out. But I really want to get some sleep now. This day was more exciting than I expected it to be.”

            “I agree. Good night Mia.”

            The next morning was a little hectic as we all got ready for school while keeping an eye out for Samuel, who was coming to pick up Jared’s mother before we left. He arrived fifteen minutes before we had to leave, and Jared spent a few minutes saying goodbye quietly. I knew it couldn’t be easy for him to be separated from her, and my heart went out to him.

            After Samuel had driven off, we all got into our vehicles and headed to the school. Jared rode with Tyson and Sean, since he’d seemed to get along well with both of them. When Jaxon pulled into the parking lot, he sat in his seat for a moment, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. “I think we may need to try and switch our third period class.”

            I shook my head. “Lena isn’t a threat as long as you’re around. I don’t really want to go through the hassle of trying to find another class for that period.”

            He frowned as he turned to look at me. “I don’t like you being near her.”

            “Jaxon, as long as you are with me I’ll be fine. She can’t hurt me and now that we know what she is, we know to be a little more cautious.”

            He blew out a breath before reluctantly nodding. “Okay, but if she threatens you again then we’re switching.”

            “We’ll worry about that if it happens. You ready to go inside?”

            He nodded and we went into the school together. We went to our first class and it went by smoothly. When we reached the change rooms before Gym, I tugged on Jaxon’s hand to get him to stop. “Try not to get into a fight while you’re in there, okay?”

            He rolled his eyes. “I won’t start anything, but I’m not going to let that punk get away with being an ass. If he starts it, I’ll finish it.”

             “Just keep in mind that if you get into a fight, you’ll be suspended and then you won’t be able to be with me in our third period class.”

            He scowled when he realized I was right. “I could always use compulsion on the principal if it came to that,” he muttered.

            I dropped his hand and fisted my hands on my hips. “Don’t you dare,” I warned him. “Compulsion is only allowed if there’s a threat to the pack.” Alpha wolves were able to use a mild form of compulsion on humans to keep the knowledge of wolves a secret, but it was frowned upon to use it unless absolutely necessary.

            “Technically it would be a threat to you if I wasn’t here, so it would be okay to use it.”

            “No it wouldn’t, because you can avoid getting suspended if you just don’t get into a fight. This isn’t like our old school, Jaxon; no one here knows the full consequences of messing with anyone in our pack. You need to give them a little time to figure it out, and you made a good start with Brett yesterday. Leave it at that.”

            He continued to scowl at me for a moment, but I didn’t back down. Finally he swore under his breath and took a step back. “Fine, but I’m not happy about this.”

            “I don’t care if you’re happy about it, as long as you listen to me. You know I’m right about this.”

            “Whatever, I said I’d leave him alone.” He turned on his heel and went into the boys change room.

            I shook my head and went into the girls change room, grumbling under my breath about stubborn idiots. Tasha looked at me in amusement when I stopped next to her. “Trouble in paradise?” she asked.

            I made a face and nodded. “He’s being an idiot, and when I pointed it out to him, he got all huffy and walked away. You’d think after two years of being together he’d realize that I actually know what I’m talking about sometimes.”

            “What did you fight about?”

            “I told him not to get into a fight with Brett, even if Brett tries something first. Jaxon knows I’m right, but he’s pissed that I pointed it out.”

            “Men suck, don’t they?”

            I laughed and shook my head. “Yeah, but they’re usually worth the hassle in the end.”

            I got changed and then Tasha and I left the room. Jaxon was standing with Trey and Mark, and he automatically looked over when I entered the gym. But then he frowned and turned his attention back to Trey. I rolled my eyes and decided to just stay with Tasha instead of going over to him and getting the silent treatment. I spent the class with the group of girls that I’d met yesterday, pointedly ignoring the glares that Jaxon kept sending my way.

            I got changed quickly after class and was tempted to go back through the gym to avoid Jaxon, but I knew that that was a stupid idea considering how protective he was of me. Instead I did the mature thing and left the normal way, sailing past him without a word. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that mature but in my defense, he had started it.

            I know he followed me out to the quad, but I purposely sat between Marissa and Jared so that he couldn’t sit next to me. The lunch period passed in tense silence, since everyone could feel the tension between me and Jaxon right now. I felt a little bad for Jared, since he was getting a few nasty glares from Jaxon for sitting next to me. It wasn’t his fault that I’d sat beside him, but of course Jaxon was too stubborn to realize that.

            On the way to third period, I walked beside Jaxon because I knew he wouldn’t be able to tolerate me being apart from him when we were going to be near Lena. I didn’t speak to him, but I also didn’t protest when he put his arm around my shoulders and tugged me a little closer to him when we went into the classroom.

            It turned out that there was no need to worry though, because Lena wasn’t even there today. I still refused to talk to my jerk of a mate during the class, and I knew it was starting to take a toll on him. He was getting a little twitchy because he wanted to touch me in some way, but I wouldn’t let him until he’d apologized for how he’d acted. Since he was nearly as stubborn as I was, I knew it might be a while before that happened.

            Fourth period rolled around and I paired with Marissa for our cooking project, leaving Jaxon to work with Chris. I saw his body tremble once when I walked away from him, but he didn’t come after me. Marissa lifted a brow when we were at our work station. “What’s going on?”

            I didn’t want Jaxon to overhear the conversation with his advanced hearing, so I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down what had happened. Marissa read it and then shook her head. “He had no reason to be an ass to you like that.”

            I held my finger to my lips and jerked my head in the direction of our mates. Understanding dawned and she smiled at me sympathetically. “Good luck with him.”

            “Thanks, I’ll need it.”

            It was on our way home that Jaxon finally broke. He pulled the car over and turned to face me. “Are you going to continue giving me the silent treatment?”

            I lifted a brow. “Are you going to keep being an ass?”

            “I’m always an ass,” he retorted.

            “Yeah, but not usually to me.”

            He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. “I was mad.”

            “So that gives you an excuse to just walk away from me and then act like you didn’t want me near you?”

            He was silent for a moment. “No,” he finally replied. “Sorry.”

            “For what?”

            He groaned. “Damn it, can’t you just let it go?”

            “I’m female, so that answer would be no.”

            “Fine, I’m sorry for being an ass and walking away from you like that. I know you were right about Brett, but I don’t like the idea of letting anyone get away with being rude to us.”

            “Did Brett try and start anything?”

            “No, he wouldn’t even look at me.”

            “Which is what I thought would happen. But if you’d gone in there with the intention of fighting him if he started something, then you would have found a way to provoke him. That’s why I had to get you to say you wouldn’t fight even if he started it.”

            “Sometimes it’s annoying that you know me so well.” His lips turned up into a small smile. “But most of the time it’s pretty cool. I really am sorry for acting like that.”

            I reached over and laced my fingers with his. “I forgive you. Let’s go home and have crazy make up sex.”

            A full-fledged grin spread over his face at my words. “I like the way you think.”

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I know this one is a little short, but I was fighting with Microsoft Word for two days and got annoyed lol. Next chapter should be longer. I'm going to try and update at least once a week, maybe two once I'm done with my exam next week. Comment to let me know what you thought! The better the response, the quicker I get the next chapter written :-)