“I didn’t know any of this until her aunt told me, that’s why I left before winter break last year. I don’t know how we are able to be mates based on our backgrounds, but that’s how it is and I love her.” He turned and looked at Emily curled up on the sofa looking like she wanted to sink right in and have it swallow her up from this moment. He mouthed the ‘I love you’ to her and she did the same to him. She nodded her head for him to continue and turned back around to face eight piercing eyes. “Her father is Orfeo.” He glanced at Jacob and then Danny and saw confusion then recognition of who and what she was crossing over their faces. Jacob stood up and took two steps forward. Zach automatically let out a low growl and stood in between him and Emily.Madison pulled on Jacob’s arm so he would come back to her, which he did by one step. “I don’t get it. I thought they could only have sons.&rd

“No to what?” Zach and Danny both sat down with their lunches. Zach looked at all three girls, seeing if anyone was going to answer his question.Emily gave a slight shake of the head to Madison and Alex, then turned to address her mate. “We were talking about prom and what’s going on afterward.” That was the best she could come up with on limited time and the pressure Zach was putting on her with his intense stare.Zach knew Emily was lying about something, he could tell by the fact that she wouldn’t look him directly in the eyes. “So, what is going on?” He decided to play along with her little charade and get the answers that he wanted later on.Madison held up her finger and took a drink of her water. “I thought we were all heading back over to your house afterward, that’s what Jacob said.”Zach shrugged his shoulders and took a big bite of his burger. He held it in front of Emily’

“Bro’, you’re on Adam’s shit list now.” Jacob greeted Zach at the front door when he finally got home the next morning. He had exactly fifteen minutes to get a short shower and change before heading back over to Emily’s house to pick her up for school. “Yeah, for what now?” Zach jogged up the stairs with Jacob following behind. “You didn’t show up for the planned hunt yesterday. I told them last time I’d seen you were in the library studying for some final exam coming up.” Jacob stopped outside of Zach’s bedroom as his brother rummaged around his room, looking through a pile of clothes on the floor. Zach was shocked his brother had covered up for him. Seemed since he’d gotten with Madison and they all had revealed their individual secrets, his whole demeanor had changed. Not to be fooled, though, Jacob was still a cocky, arrogant son-of-a-bitch at times, but for the most part, it seemed that Madison had tamed a portion of the wild beast. “Thanks for the alibi

Jacob waited patiently in the parking lot for school to be let out. He’d spent the day out doing a lot of nothing. He realized without having Madison around, or any of the pack, there just wasn’t much to do in West Lakes. He heard the final bell ring and saw the students flooding out through the main doors. Most were heading to the buses parked along the curbside but there were several walking down the sidewalk toward the student parking lot. One was Madison. He got out of his car and stood by the rear bumper so that she would see him when she came around the corner.Madison wasn’t paying any attention to what was going on around her. The events of the morning still played fresh in her mind and the fact that nothing had been resolved was enough to make her even more frustrated. She turned down the final row of cars and looked up as a car went past. She waved as she recognized the girl from her English class. Madison looked down the row of cars to where she h

“Jacob,” Madison whispered in his ear and shook his shoulder. He grumbled something, then rolled over on the other side, pulling the pillow over his head. “Jacob,” she yelled a little bit louder, hopefully not enough that her mom would hear, and then pushed him until he was halfway off the bed. He pulled the pillow off and looked up at her with sleep still wanting to take over his eyes. “It’s time to get up for school.” She pointed to the clock, which showed they had one hour before classes. “I’m going to take a shower.” She wrapped herself in a sheet and walked over to her small closet. Madison was sifting through her hanging clothes when two strong, warm arms went around her waist.Jacob started to nibble on his mate’s ear and tried to pull the tightly held sheet off of her. After being unsuccessful in his morning endeavor, he kissed her one last time on the cheek, then backed off. “I’ll be back i