JAXON’S POV I don’t know what to think right now. I feel there is a lot the elders have hidden from us; I’m hoping this conversation with Art will bring a lot of things to light and answer a lot of the questions I’ve been asking myself since we set foot on this island. I looked over at Art, her eyes clouded over as she was contacting Aidan through their mind link. “He’s on his way,” she says. I lost myself in thought, there is just so much I’m questioning, like why does Art not have a mate, or does she have one and just not realize it? Our feelings for her cannot be just a simple attraction, they go way beyond anything I’ve ever felt for anyone or heard about any normal mate or romantic connection. How do you explain that? Then there is all the secrecy behind who she really is, why keep her hidden all these years? Isn’t hiding someone right under our noses safer than keeping her locked up like some little bird, and then releasing her to all these wolves for feeding? Had she been all

ARTEMIS POV“There was nothing more important to Selene than her family, and so her reply was automatically, ‘Everything, I would give everything.’ Noticing how assertive Selene was Celeste decided to open herself up and tell Selene her story. Selene sadden by Celeste misfortune wanted to help her, but didn’t see how she could be of help, or how Celeste could guarantee her promises. Seeing her confusion Celeste told Selene, “I am here to be held accountable for the mistake I made and from what little the fates have allowed me to see; you’re going to help me fix it.”“How, I am only human?” she asked.“You must, for if you don’t you will lose those you love most,” replied Celeste.“The gods having had their role to play on the unfolding events decided it was time to clean up the mess and kill all the Lycans and eradicate their kind from existence. So, the two paired up to try and work on a way to prevent the genocide from happening, work, and work they did tirelessly, but to no avail.

ARTEMIS POV“I know it’s a lot to process but, I know that if I truly want to count on you guys for support and assistance then you needed to know what I know. As more details begin to clear up for me, I will be able to share more information with you, but for now that is all that I know.”“What about your connection with Jax and Ares, what do you know about that?” Asks Aidan giving me a skeptical look.Really Aidan?‘Way to throw me under bus!’ I say through our mind link.‘Answer the question,’ he replies and smirks.“Nothing is clear to me about that! But my guess would be that it stems from the connection I have with Ares and our history,” I reply. “Connection? What connection?” asks Ethan.For fuck’s sakes, what is it with these alphas?I was just about to come up with some dumb excuse when Jaxon answers, “it’s just the feeling we of comfort with have with each other as if we are connected. But like Art said it’s probably from the history she and Selena share with my wolf.”“Ok,

ARTEMIS POVIf that’s his reaction, how will she react?Gods why didn’t I just tell her? Why did I have to mask her mate bond and make it pass for a simple attraction?‘At first we didn’t know,’ Selena chimes in trying to help.‘But something did tell us Gabe was her mate. And then when he was there on Friday, we hid it Sel. How do we tell Ale and Aria that it wasn’t our intention to keep her away from him?’‘The first thing you have to do is be honest with yourself and answer those questions then go to her with the truth,’ she replies.“Oh baby, why didn’t you tell her?” asks my father.“It’s a long story so I’ll try and make it short; we met Jaxon and Gabriel six months ago during the opening of my last project in Bal Harbour. I knew what he was and so I masked our scents and my aura. We all hung out, I wasn’t certain, not one hundred percent, but I had this inkling that they were attached, it was a very strong connection, something told me he was her mate, but I didn’t want to get

ARTEMIS POVI felt when they completed the mate bond, why I have no clue, but I’m about to find out, because my mother forgot to warn me about this little bit. I was in my room cuddled up my chaise with a fire going after steaking one of my father’s seven-hundred-dollar bottles of scotch from his study. Man, daddy really does have good taste. “I agree,” says my mother as she sets her hand on my shoulder giving me a death scare.“A little warning next time mom might be nice, “I tell her while still trying to get my heart rate under control.“Scared? I heard you call for me,” she says while standing by the fire taking it in. “Hecate is doing a marvelous job with you, and the magic. The weather resembles a crispy fall day in the mountains in here.”“Yea, she’s a great teacher, but I don’t think this has so much to do with my magic as it does with my elemental powers. Did you know Aidan is an empath?” I ask.“Your brother is more than an empath; your brother is earth.”Wait… what? Did she