“Mia.” Teeth grazed my shoulder blade lightly. “Wake up.”

I peeled my eyes open and glared blearily at Jaxon. “Didn’t we get enough practice in last night?” I grumbled.

            “There’s no such thing as too much practice. But that’s not why I woke you now; I just wanted to let you know that a few of the boys are going to go out for a run and I’m going with them.”

            I glanced at the clock beside the bed and groaned. “It’s not even five thirty in the damn morning yet. Why didn’t you just let me sleep?”

            He lifted a brow. “Because we both know that you would’ve woken up once I left the bed anyways.”

            For some reason, neither of us were able to sleep through the other getting out of bed, no matter how quiet or careful we were. We had been told that that was part of our unusually strong bond as well, and it made it difficult for Jaxon to go for early morning runs with the rest of the pack since he knew I hated mornings. We also were unable to sleep properly without each other, so with a sigh I sat up and rubbed my hands over my face. “Next time you want to go for a run in the morning, don’t wear me out so much the night before.”

            He grinned as he rolled off the bed and stood up. “I’m not promising anything.” He walked over to the closet and went inside, coming out a moment later in a pair of boxers. “Are you going to get up?”

            “I might as well since I won’t be able to get back to sleep without you. Maybe I’ll go make pancakes or something.” I got to my feet and stretched before heading over to get dressed. Jaxon stopped me before I reached the closet by grabbing my waist and pulling me against him. I laid my head on his chest and closed my eyes. “You know, if you stay here you can get laid again and then we can sleep some more,” I mumbled.

            He ran a hand down my back and over my butt. “As tempting as that is, I need to go out and run the perimeter with the others. When Mark and Sean went out last night, they caught a trace of another wolf’s scent near our territory. I want to go with them to where the scent was to see if it matches that she-wolf in our class, or any of the others. Chris and Tyson are coming as well to see if it matches the scent of either wolf in their classes.”

            I opened my eyes and kissed the tattoo over his heart that said my name before tilting my head to look at him. “Let me get dressed and I’ll walk downstairs with you.”

            He brushed his lips over mine lightly and then released me. “If you stay naked, then we might have time to fool around when I get back.”

            I shook my head as I walked into the closet. “If I’m awake at this horrible hour, then I’m going to be productive and make breakfast. I’ll wait to shower until you get back though.” I grabbed a pair of black cotton shorts and tugged them on and then found the shirt Jaxon had been wearing last night in the bathroom. I pulled it on over my head and joined him by the door. When I caught him staring at me, I paused. “What?”

            “Do you have anything on beneath my shirt?”

            I lifted the hem to show him the shorts. “Why?”

            “Because I don’t want the other guys seeing things they shouldn’t be seeing,” he grumbled.

            I rolled my eyes and grabbed his hand, tugging him out of the room. “They wouldn’t look anyways, because they value their lives too much.”

            “You’re probably right,” he said as we walked down the stairs. “Not that I’d blame them for looking. You’re pretty hot.”

            I fluttered my eyelashes at him. “Why thank you.”

            We reached the bottom of the stairs and walked to the back sliding door where the four other guys were waiting. Jaxon stopped and turned to face me. “Lock the door behind us. We shouldn’t be too long, and we’ll let you know when we’re back.”

            I looked past him to Chris. “Is Marissa awake?”

            Chris shook his head. “That girl sleeps like the dead. She’s still passed out in our room.”

            “Lucky girl,” I muttered. I looked back up at Jaxon. “I’ll be in the kitchen, so come to that door when you get back. Otherwise I might not hear you right away.”

            He pulled me into his body and lowered his head to give me a swift but thorough kiss. “See you soon.”

            They filed out through the door and I slid it shut and locked it behind them. Then I went into the kitchen and got the ingredients out to make pancakes. I turned the stereo on low so it didn’t wake anyone up and sang softly to myself as I whipped up the batter. I set up three frying pans and got them all going with pancakes, knowing I’d need to make a lot to feed all five of the guys when they got back.

            I piled all the pancakes onto a heating platter as they were made to keep them warm. Once I’d cooked them all, I set six places at the table and got the syrup and butter out. Then I went to the kitchen door and peered out into the dawn to see if I could spot any of them returning. When I didn’t see anything out there, I decided to make some bacon as well to kill more time.

            By the time I was done with that, I could sense the boys coming back. I walked back to the door and pulled it open just as they emerged from the trees, all still in wolf form. I leaned against the doorjamb and watched them roughhouse as they all made their way to the house. Jaxon spotted me and bounded forward, his tongue hanging out and his tail wagging. I dropped to my knees when he reached me and ran my hands over his silky fur. “Breakfast is ready,” I told him.

            He licked my face and then turned his head. He let out a low bark and the other wolves disappeared to the back of the house to shift back and get their clothes. I stood up and Jaxon’s body started to tremble, morphing and changing shape. When he was back in human form, he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me thoroughly. “You smell good,” he informed me when he let me come up for air.

            “You always think I smell good when you’re in wolf form.”

            “Because you do.” He pressed his face into the side of my neck and inhaled deeply. “You always smell good to me; it’s just more obvious when I’m a wolf.”

            The four guys came into the kitchen and Chris tossed Jaxon his boxers. “Put those on before you get too excited.”

            Jaxon muttered something uncomplimentary under his breath, but reluctantly released me and tugged them on. I took his hand and led him over to the table. “Let’s eat before the others wake up and try and steal the food.”

            We had just finished eating when everyone else woke up and came downstairs. There were some complaints over there not being any food left, but I ignored them and went upstairs to shower and get ready. Jaxon followed me and we had some fun under the hot spray before I asked him about the scent they’d found.

            “Tyson was pretty sure it belonged to the male wolf in his class. I’m going to find him at school today and have a little chat with him.” He stepped out of the shower and started drying himself off. “I don’t like having a strange wolf coming so close to the house, especially when the pack he’s in is trying to move in on our territory.”

            I shut the shower off and got out as well. Jaxon grabbed a fresh towel and wrapped it around me, rubbing his hands up and down my arms. I tilted my head so I could meet his eyes. “His was the only scent around though?”

            “Yeah, which is a little strange. I know that his pack isn’t very big, but it’s really risky sending only one wolf out near another packs border.”

            “It doesn’t make sense for the Alpha of the pack to be trying to encroach on our land in the first place,” I pointed out. “It’s not like there isn’t plenty of open territory around us.”

            The land on the other side of our border had been unclaimed for as long as anyone could remember. Our packs territory encompassed over half the province, with over five hundred adult wolves spread throughout it, most of whom had mates. Jaxon’s dad had wolves running the borders twice a week in every part of the territory, and it was at this part that someone had noticed other wolves trying to take over. Lone wolves were allowed to come and go on our territory, but anything more than one was too many. The house we were in was only a couple of miles from the border, which was why we were living in it.

            The next closest pack lived in the lower part of the province and wasn’t nearly as large as ours. Their territory was smaller and the pack had only about a hundred and fifty wolves or so. They were a newer pack, one that had broken off from another pack two generations ago. That happened when a pack became too large for the territory it was in, and some of the members wanted to leave but others didn’t. It also happened if there was fighting within the pack, but that was a lot less common, since the Alpha usually resolved any disputes with pack members.

            In between the two packs was a few hundred square miles of unclaimed land that this smaller pack could have easily claimed for their own. They also could have gone to the east of our land and likely found a decent chunk of unclaimed territory as well, since there was no pack in the northern part of that province. The fact that they had tried to take some of our land was strange and part of the reason we’d actually moved here rather than just confronted them right away. Jaxon’s dad wanted us to figure out their motives before we got rid of them.

            Jaxon frowned. “Hopefully I’ll get some answers once I talk to the wolf that was near our border.” He stepped back and went into our room to get dressed.

            Once we were both ready, we went downstairs and grabbed our bags. Some of the others had left already, so we got into Jaxon’s car and made the drive to school. Chris and Marissa showed up a few minutes later and we chatted in the parking lot for a few minutes before going inside.

            First period went by without incident aside from the fact that I was more tired than usual due to getting up so early. When the bell rang to go to second period, I reluctantly went to the change rooms. I stifled a yawn as I walked in and Tasha lifted an eyebrow when she saw me. “You look a little out of it.”

            I nodded as I got changed. “Jaxon woke me up early this morning and we didn’t get to sleep until pretty late. I’m running on only a few hours of sleep.”

            “Wait, you live with him?”

            “Yeah, we all live together.” I pulled my shirt on and smoothed out, then noticed that Tasha was staring at me. “What?”

            “You all live there? Where are your parents?”

            “My dad is back home and so are Jaxon’s parents. We’re eighteen, so we decided to split off from them and live on our own.” It wasn’t the exact truth, but at least it was an explanation.

            “And they don’t care that you’re living with Jaxon?”

            I laughed and shook my head. “Our families have been friends forever, and Jaxon and I have been dating for over two years. They’re all perfectly fine with us living together. We practically were before we moved here anyways.”

            Tasha shook her head in amazement. “Your parents must be pretty cool.”

            My smile faltered slightly. “Yeah, the best,” I murmured. I left the change room and crossed over to Jaxon, leaning into his side when he put his arm around me. I laid my cheek on his chest and breathed in his familiar scent, taking comfort in it.

            His hand came up to cup my chin, and he tilted my head up. “What’s wrong?”

            “Why do you think something is wrong?”

            “You know I can tell what you’re feeling, Mia. What happened? Did someone say something to you?”

            I shook my head. “No, I was just thinking about my mom.”

            His eyes softened and he brushed his thumb over my lips. “What made you think of her?”

            “I was telling one of the girls how we live together and she mentioned how my parents must be pretty cool. It just made me think of how amazing my mom really was.”

            He dropped his hand and wrapped me tightly in his arms, placing a kiss on top of my head. “She was awesome,” he agreed. “And I know she’d be happy with the person you’re becoming.”

            Trey and Mark crowded in behind me and both of them laid a hand on my shoulders. It was a natural reaction for a wolf to want to comfort a pack member, especially a female one. Jaxon tensed very slightly at their proximity to me, but then he relaxed. This was one of the few situations where he would allow other males to touch me without ripping their hands off.

            After a minute, I pulled away from them all with a small laugh. “Okay, we attract enough attention without this weird group hug thing.” I touched Trey and Mark on their arms lightly. “Thanks.”

            “Anytime,” Mark said.

            I turned to Jaxon and went up on tiptoe to kiss him gently. “I’m okay now,” I told him.

            He studied me closely for a minute before nodding. The teacher informed us that we would be running today, so we all headed outside. We warmed up and then were told to run three laps of the track. I groaned as I looked at the track that circled the football field. “Can he really make us run that much?”

            “You normally don’t mind running,” Jaxon said in surprise.

            “I’m not normally so tired,” I grumbled. “But a certain someone kept me up late last night and then woke me up at an inhuman hour this morning.”

            He had the grace to look a little sheepish. “We don’t have to run hard,” he told me. “We’ll just take it easy.”

            I snorted. “I know you better than that. You and Trey will get into a race and then Mark will join in.” I spotted Tasha wandering over to the track with a couple of other girls. “Why don’t you go with the boys? I’ll run with Tasha.”

             Jaxon followed my gaze and then looked back at me. “You don’t mind running with them?”

            “As long as they don’t mind having me tag along then I’m good.” I grinned mischievously at him. “Besides, that way I can admire your fine body while you show off.”

            He laughed and shook his head. “Pervert.”

            “You’re one to talk,” I retorted, heading towards Tasha.

            He laced his fingers with mine and walked with me. “I’m going to try and talk to the wolf from Tyson’s class at lunch. We’ll meet in the quad first and then go and find him.”

            “Okay. I might possibly fall asleep while you do that.”

            He paused before we reached the group of girls, pulling me to a stop. “I’m sorry for making you so tired today.”

            I looked up at him with a small smile. “I know I keep whining about being tired, but it isn’t really that big of a deal. We might just have to go to bed early tonight, that’s all.”

            “I think we can do that,” he agreed.

            I tugged him forward again and we finished walking over to Tasha. I smiled when we reached her. “Hey, do you mind if I run with you? Jaxon and the boys are a little too competitive for me today.”

            She seemed surprised, but she nodded anyways. “Sure, no problem. We’ll probably just jog for most of the way.”

              “Perfect, that’s about all I have energy for.” I turned to Jaxon and tilted my head up so he could bend down and kiss me. “Go and have some fun.”

            He smiled down at me. “Okay, have fun slacking off.” He squeezed my hand once and then released me, jogging off to where Trey and Mark were waiting for him.

            I shifted my attention to Tasha, and laughed when I saw that she was looking at Trey and Mark in admiration. “You know, both of them are single.”

            Her eyes lit up and she turned to me. “Really?”

            “Yeah. The only ones in our group who aren’t single are Jaxon and Chris. The other seven guys don’t have girlfriends.”

            “What about back where you’re from? None of them had anyone there?”

            I shrugged. “Nah, they broke off any relationships when we moved here. None of them were seriously involved with anyone anyways.”

            She gave me a charming smile. “I think you should invite me over to your place,” she said.

            I chuckled and nodded. “I’ll do that.”

            She introduced me to the rest of the girls in the group and then we set off around the track at a slow jog. I watched Jaxon and Trey race against each other and just as I’d predicted, Mark joined in as well. The three of them blew by everyone else, but they held back enough that no one would get suspicious. They completed a circuit of the track and approached the spot where we were jogging so they could pass us. Jaxon shot me a grin as he passed by and I shook my head at him.

            “You said you’ve been with Jaxon for two years, right?” Tasha asked once the boys had moved on.

            “Yeah, but we’ve known each other since we were kids.  Actually, all of us have aside from Marissa. I grew up with all the boys and Marissa kind of joined our ranks about six months ago.”

            “You didn’t have any female friends growing up?”

            “I did, and they’re still friends but they stayed behind. They weren’t quite as keen on moving this far from our families as we were.” That was a small lie, since the reason they hadn’t come with us was because they’d found their mates and for obvious reasons hadn’t wanted to leave them.

            “I still think it’s crazy that you all live together with no adult supervision.”

            I lifted a brow. “Technically, we are adults.”

            She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

            “It is odd,” I admitted. “But-”

            I was cut off when a group of guys suddenly surrounded us. I was a little startled, because we were still only jogging and there was plenty of room for them to pass by us. I glanced around and realized that they were the group of guys that Jaxon had been glaring at yesterday. I suddenly got a bad feeling and slid a look over at Tasha.

            She looked annoyed, but not concerned. “Brett, what do you guys want?”

            A blonde dude shrugged and fell back until he was jogging between us. “We just wanted to get the scoop on the new girl. This is the first time I’ve seen her without her bodyguard.” His eyes flickered over to me. “You’re Mia, right?”

            I decided to ignore him and slowed to a walk in an effort to get out of the group. Unfortunately, the guys slowed down as well, effectively forcing everyone into a walk. “You don’t need to know my name,” I told Brett, quickly figuring out that he was the leader of this little group.

            “Aw, don’t be like that. I just want to get to know you a little.”

            “Well, I have no interest in knowing you.” I stopped and of course everyone else did as well. “I suggest you continue running now and leave us alone.” I tried to look past them to find Jaxon, but I couldn’t see anything. I knew it would only be a matter of seconds before he was here though.

            Brett smirked and reached out to grab my arm. “But how am I supposed to learn stuff about you if I leave?”

            There was a commotion at the edge of the group and I turned my head to see Jaxon shoving his way through to me. Trey and Mark were right behind him and the three of them were big enough to get to me in less than five seconds. Jaxon grabbed Brett’s arm and squeezed it once, exerting enough pressure that he released me. When I was free, Jaxon gently gripped my waist and pushed me behind him, and then his arm shot forward and he slammed his fist into Brett’s face. Brett staggered backwards, his hands going to nose as blood started pouring out. Jaxon took a menacing step forward. “If you ever lay a single finger on her again, I will rip your arm off.” His voice was low and menacing, filled with promise. “Do you understand me?”

            I had a feeling Brett wanted to protest, but something in Jaxon’s eyes must have changed his mind. He backed up a few steps, bumping into Tasha. “I understand,” he mumbled.

            Jaxon looked at the half dozen other guys that were looking at him in astonishment. “That goes for the rest of you. No one touches my girl. Ever.” There were general nods of agreement and then the group quickly dispersed. Jaxon grabbed Brett’s arm before he could bolt. “If you tell the teacher that I hit you, I’ll make it ten times worse the next time I see you.”

            Brett nodded frantically and then left as quickly as he could. Jaxon turned to face me and cupped my face in his hands. “Are you okay?”

            “I’m fine. That guy is really annoying though.”

            He ran his fingers over the arm that Brett had grabbed. “Did he hurt you?”

            “No Jaxon, he didn’t grab me that hard.” I could see that he was struggling to keep himself under control, so I stepped forward and leaned into his body. “Thank you.”

            His arms came around me and he pressed his face into my hair. “You’re welcome.” When he pulled back, he glanced at the girls who were staring at us with a mix of shock and envy. His eyes were amused when they met mine again. “I think we shocked them.”

            I laughed and glanced at Tasha. “You okay?”

            “Yeah, but that was pretty amazing. I’ve never seen Brett back down like that.”

            “What can I say? My boyfriend is a badass.”

            She chuckled and shook her head. “That’s putting it mildly. You’re lucky the teacher wasn’t paying attention though; it’s an automatic suspension if there’s a fight.”

            Jaxon snorted. “That wasn’t a fight. It took only one punch to get that pussy to back off.”

            I laced my fingers with Jaxon’s and started walking around the track again. Mark and Trey flanked us and the girls all spread out a little to give the four of us some space. “I think that was enough excitement for one day.”

            “What was he saying to you?”

            I shrugged. “Nothing really. He just said he wanted to get to know me.” I rolled my eyes and laid my head on his shoulder. “As if I’d have any interest in getting to know that douche.”

            Most of our classmates avoided us after that, but Tasha said goodbye as we left the change rooms. We went into the quad and I flopped onto the ground, laying my head in Jaxon’s lap. “I know you want to go talk to that other wolf, but I’ll use you as a pillow until you leave.”

            Tyson sat down a few feet away and shook his head. “That wolf isn’t here today. He wasn’t in class and I searched for him afterwards with no luck.”

            Jaxon ran his fingers through my hair and frowned thoughtfully. “I want two sets of patrols tonight then. Hopefully we can catch him out there and avoid dealing with it here.”

            I closed my eyes and shifted into a more comfortable position. “That would probably be good, considering you already punched one idiot at the school.”

            “He punched someone?” Marissa asked.

            “Yeah, some moron in our Gym class decided it would be fun to bug me.” I cracked one eye open and smiled at her. “He quickly learned that it was a bad idea.”

            Marissa chuckled. “I’m surprised Jaxon only punched him once.”

            “He wasn’t worth anything more than that,” Jaxon stated.

            I half dozed throughout the lunch period. I was still full from breakfast, so I didn’t need to eat anything. I kept my head on Jaxon’s lap the whole time and he managed to eat his food without disturbing me.

            Third period rolled around and I walked to the classroom under Jaxon’s arm. He had me sit in the same spot as he had yesterday, but the she wolf didn’t even look at us when she came in. She kept her head down and sat at her desk without any nasty looks or growls. Jaxon remained alert for the whole class anyway, always keeping one eye on her.

            The bell rang and we went to our foods class, where we had to do theoretical work. It was incredibly boring, but at least I was able to gossip with Marissa during it so it didn’t drag on too badly.

            Once we were in the car driving home, I laid my head against the window. “What do you want to do tonight?” I asked Jaxon.

            He shrugged. “Nothing really. We can just relax and have an early night if you want.”

            “Mmm, that sounds like a good idea to me.” I sat up properly when we pulled into our driveway. “I think everyone can fend for themselves for dinner tonight.”

            He nodded and put the car into park. “I agree. Or maybe we can order pizzas or something.”

            I opened the car and stepped out, and immediately sensed that there was a strange wolf in the proximity. I stiffened slightly and waited until Jaxon had come around the vehicle. I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards me, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him quickly. “There’s an unknown wolf close to the house,” I murmured against his lips.

            He tensed immediately, but didn’t lift his head. “Stay right by my side when we go into the house. Is there only one of them?”

            I nodded. “I’m not getting the same odd feeling from this one as I do from the she wolf in class.” I pulled back and pressed into his side as we walked to the front door. “I’m also not getting any bad vibes from it.”

            We went inside and Jaxon immediately called for the guys that were already home. Tyson, Mark and Sean all came to the front door, looking at Jaxon curiously. “There’s a wolf close to the house. We’re going to go and bring it in here. Try not to hurt it too much.”

            They all nodded and Jaxon kissed me quickly before they went back out the door. In a split second, they had shifted into their wolves, clothes ripping and fluttering to the ground. The four of them tore off towards the trees and a moment later I heard the sounds of a scuffle. I went to the cabinet beside the door and pulled out five pairs of track pants. I thought about grabbing a shirt for the stranger, but I’d gotten the feeling that it was a male so I didn’t bother.

            When Jaxon and the boys emerged from the trees, they were surrounding a fifth wolf. The stranger was giving off submissive vibes and I suddenly understood that he had wanted to be found by them. The question was, why was he here?

            I set the pants on the ground outside and then went to the kitchen so they could all shift in privacy. A minute later they came into the kitchen and I studied the stranger. He looked to be around our age, with shaggy blonde hair and warm brown eyes. He was looking around nervously as Jaxon ordered him to sit in a chair.

            Tyson looked over at me as he took a seat. “This is the wolf from my class,” he informed me. “His name is Jared.”

            Jaxon came to my side and slid his arm around my waist, holding me close to his body. “He didn’t threaten us and submitted quickly, which is why we haven’t harmed him yet.”         He settled his eyes on Jared. “Explain why you’re here.”

            Jared shifted his gaze between all of us warily before dropping his eyes to the table. “I’ve been here for two years, just me and my mom,” he began.

            “Wait, you’re a lone wolf?” Jaxon interrupted.

            “Yeah; at least I was until a few months ago. Then Derek showed up with his little pack and I was forced to join him. I knew this wasn’t his territory, but I didn’t really have any choice. He threatened to hurt my mom if I didn’t join the pack.” 

            I frowned. “That’s not right,” I said. “Wolves never threaten to hurt humans.”

            Jared looked up at me. “Have you seen the she wolf in the school?”

            Jaxon nodded. “Yeah, she’s in our third period class. I had to use my Alpha influence on her yesterday so she would stop threatening my mate.”

            “You were able to command her?” Jared asked, surprise evident in his voice.

            “Yeah, it wasn’t that difficult. Why? Should it have been?”

            “Her name is Lena. It’s her brother, Derek, that is the Alpha.”

            I shook my head. “That’s not possible. They can’t be siblings if they’re both wolves.”

            Jared sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. “Unfortunately, it is possible. Have you noticed how she seems a little… off?”

            “We noticed it the first day,” Jaxon said.

            Jared’s next words shocked us all completely. “It’s because both of her parents were wolves.”

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Sorry it took so long guys. Been trying to get my research paper done for my class, and it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. Hopefully you liked the chapter, let me know if I made any mistakes or if something is unclear and I'll fix it. I'll explain why having two wolf parents is very bad in the next chapter :-)