Neaera-“Absolutely not.” I looked between Stryker and Mathew in disbelief.They had just finished telling me about Stryker’s idea to relocate the pack until he felt the pack was ready to face the vampires again. He also voiced his thoughts about not doing it, but he wanted to hear my opinion on the matter. Mathew hadn’t said much, but he hadn’t tried talking Stryker out of it.“Even if we start training tonight, there is no telling when another attack will happen. I was just thinking it would buy us a little time to better prepare everyone.” Stryker explained.“Sure, if you want to get everyone killed then go ahead, move them.” I rolled my eyes at him, not bothering to hide my annoyance. “If you move them, they will be in more danger than if they remained here. At least here they know the territory and have the advantage here that they won’t have anywhere else.”Stryker, myself, and Mathew were currently sitting in the living room discussing what to do next. I asked Zach to come, but

Stryker-I couldn’t believe my ears. As happy as I was about her willingness to let me claim her, I was also a little hesitant. This wasn’t the way I wanted to make her mine. If only I had more time, I could have allowed her a chance to warm up to the idea.With my birthday still a bit away, I figured it would allow me enough time to fix things between us. The last thing I wanted was for her to tie herself to me by force. I certainly hadn’t expected to run out of time.I admit that I have been feeling a little strange, but I thought it was just because Nea was back in my life and things weren’t what I expected them to be. Now that I knew what the cause was, I wondered if her return had sped the process up. Before I had just been on edge, but I thought it was because I had been no closer to finding her.After her return, I ignored everything else as my main concern was getting closer to Nea. If I had more time, I wouldn’t let her tie herself to me without being sure. Being that I didn’

Neaera-Even though I felt much better now that I had talked to him, I knew that I wasn’t entirely fixed. For now, I was ready to put my uncertainty to rest. I would continue to be aware of the possibility that I could lose control, but I was going to start believing in myself a little more.The urge to kiss him had me leaning forward. A smile spread across his lips, and his hand moved to rest behind my head. Just before our lips met, a commotion downstairs stopped us. Stryker let out a curse before moving me off him.Since he hadn’t removed his clothes, it didn’t take long for him to fix his appearance enough to leave the room to check out what was going on. Finding my pants, I quickly pulled them on, while forgoing my underwear.As soon as I was dressed, I slipped into the bathroom in the hallway to grab a hair tie. Pulling my hair into a messy bun, I headed down the stairs only to stop when I saw Chloe was there. She was crying on the floor at Stryker’s feet, with her arms wrapped

Neaera-I didn’t know why Zach was so upset about me being mated, although I couldn’t blame him. As far as he knows, I didn’t want anything to do with anyone in this pack. Since arriving, we haven’t talked much about what has been going on.Everything happened so fast that I haven’t had a chance to explain things to him. Then there was the fact that I am the Beta of his pack but was now mated to an Alpha of another pack. That was the only thing I could think of, of why he is upset.“I can explain.” I said to Zach once we were inside.“Do you know how hard I have worked to make it so other werewolves will accept your kind? This could jeopardize everything.” Zach turned on me, his eyes changing colors from a light shade of blue, to a darker shade of blue.It was exceedingly rare for me to see him on the verge of losing control of his wolf. From what I could tell, he was remarkably close to having his wolf take over. Even black fur was starting to appear on his arms and his face.Steppin

Neaera-I thought that if I waited until after the training sessions, it would be better for everyone. I was quickly proven wrong. During the first round, it was clear that I was going to need to step up my game.To do that, I would need to reveal what I was to everyone. Their tactics were good, but not good enough. Unless I attacked them as a vampire would, they wouldn’t be able to fully fight against one.When the first round ended, I felt frustrated. At this rate, we were never going to get through training. There were too many of them and not enough of me. Turning to face Zach, I saw he was just as frustrated. The members of the first group hadn’t seemed to learn anything, other than gain a little knowledge, it hadn’t sunk in.“We aren’t going to prepare them if we don’t give them all the information that they need.” I sighed. I knew what needed to be done, but I was dreading the outcome.“What did you have in mind?” Zach asked, but from his expression, I was sure he knew where I