Derek was right. I did feel better in the morning.

Although, sleeping in a bed that still had Ethan's scent on it made my heart throb a little in the morning. The pull twisted slightly, causing me to curse and resent it. I hated that it had this much control over my emotions, this much control over me. It made me feel like everything was heightened when it came to Ethan, like a balance that would easily tip.

I was drinking some coffee in the kitchen and nibbling on some toast when Evangeline knocked on the door gently then opened it. "Can I come in."

I nodded and smiled at her. "Always, there's coffee?"

"Oh no, I already had two earlier, but thanks," she said as she walked over to me. She rubbed her cheek against mine while seemed to calm my beast and lift her spirits a bit. She liked the red headed female; she felt more than a friend to her, she felt like a sister.

She walked around the island and sat across from me with a half smile. "Well, last night Ethan came home pissed off and broody, which is pretty typical. He snapped at Evan who kept poking him about you, which eventually resulted in him and Evan having an all out brawl in our backyard that I had to call Jake and Ryder to help me break it up."

I almost dropped my coffee cup on the counter and looked at her with my mouth open. My beast growled lowly. Our male knows better, he had no right to treat his brother that way. "Is Evan ok?"

Evangeline chuckled and nodded. "Evan holds himself well against our brother, he's really the only one besides Thomas and Billy. Some of our more seasoned warriors don't fare so bad also, but anyways yes he's fine and he told me to tell you not to worry about him and that he wants to see if you want to have margaritas with us tonight?"

I smiled a little before it turned into a thin line of worry. "Will Ethan–"

"Nope," she replied cheekily as she popped the 'p.' "It's just you, me, Evan, and Andrea. Jake and Ryder may come too. Ryder is our scouting and today's Jake's turn with Billy so we're not sure. Anyways, Ethan can't sit with us right now because of his dickish behavior."

"You don't even know what happened." I smiled at her with a raised brow but she just shrugged.

She tossed one of her long red french-braided pig-tails behind her shoulder and looked at me with mischievous green eyes. "Doesn't matter. I know my brother, and I know in this case he's probably very wrong."

I nodded into my coffee cup as I took another sip. "He was a dick."

"Well?" she eyed me curiously.

I sighed then proceeded to recap the events from the previous night to which most of her comments included things like; 'That asshole!'; 'What a little shit!'; 'Pussy.'; 'Ball-less bastard!'

I couldn't stop laughing and I was thankful. It was good to feel the joy of laughter when the pull between us was still dully throbbing with pain. I sighed to her while she thought a bit. She looked at me with hopeful eyes that even gave my cynical mood a some hope. "Well, first with Amber, there's only so much you can do. You're not pack or you could totally challenge her."

I raised my brow a bit and mused. "Might not be a bad idea, I mean, I guess I am sort of staying here after all."

Evangeline grinned wickedly before nodded. "Just don't rush it, think it over ok?"

"Ok," I sighed out.

"Ok, then there's my dick-headed spineless shit of a brother. Don't worry about him, first, the pull is going to drive him crazy, he won't be able to stay away from you for that long. Second, well Ethan is known to beat himself up when he's in the wrong about things, so know that if he suspects his own fault, which I think he does, that he will probably punish himself more than you could."

I felt my heart twist a bit at her words. "Why? He shouldn't be that hard on himself."

She shrugged a little. "It's just how he is. Anyways, want to go for a run? Billy said that you could take the day off since you're still nursing those injuries and that I got to stay with you. I figured we could have a girls day?"

I felt a big smile tug on my lips as I nodded. Evangeline squealed excitedly which made me laugh before she ran over to me and pulled me off the stool towards the door.

She tugged me outside where we started jogging towards the packhorse to a trail that she had mentioned to me a time or two before. It was nice out, and both our wolves were humming of contentment of being with each other. Females bonding together, building each other up, and strengthening our blood.

Her blood was humming today, more than usual. It made me smile. She was getting stronger; were making each other stronger.

We heard laughter as we walked past the pack house. It snapped my attention away from Evangeline because it was his laughter that I could hear. He was sitting at a table outside alongside the pack house with some other males and females, but there was one female that caught my attention.

Amber said something that made everyone laugh, well she said it more to Ethan, before turning to the males that eyed her lustfully and the females who eyed her longingly as they wished to have what she had. She ruffled her fingers through Ethan's hair again and it took everything I had to not hiss out from the bitter twist I felt. I could see Ethan cringe. I could feel pain across the pull, I knew it pained him. The mate-pull was throbbing a hair harder with pain, and my beast let out a long whine. She didn't understand why her male didn't chase the females away, why he didn't eliminate the females who insulted us by thinking that they could take what's ours. She didn't understand because she would have chased every male away and left a mark from her teeth on them to remind them to stay away.

Ethan's eyes flickered to mine. He opened his mouth and started to move but I huffed then let her come forward. I wanted him to feel exactly who it was that he was hurting.

My beast agreed, our male underestimated us. She pulled from deep in our veins and reached out to the group with her essence. The females all visibly shuddered while the males stiffened, a few letting out little rumbles from the threat they felt.

Amber was stiff as a board and staring straight at me with wide eyes. My wolf scoffed at her, that female's blood was a watered down version of ours that had been filtered through a Brita before someone added one of those 'diet' instant lemonades to it.

Weak...

I agreed with my beast. I could feel Ethan. I know he could feel me. He didn't move like the other's, his beast reached out for mine longingly. The beast side of him wanted his mate, as did mine, but he needed to get the human side to pull his head out of his ass first.

Evangeline tugged at my arm and gave me a small smile. "Come on Char, believe me. He's going to learn his lesson. Although Amber looked like she was about to shit herself back there, which I kinda wish you would have pushed harder so she would have."

I coughed out a laugh as she winked at me. We made it to the path, stripped down quickly, then shifted to our fur. My beast shook her fur out and stretched. She was happy to be out, she needed to run out her frustration and pain from the bond.

The red female, Evangeline, walked to us and rubbed her cheek soothingly against my. My wolf licked her cheek approvingly, she loved the female like she was of our blood and was thankful that we had her in our lives, as was I.

We tore off down the path that weaved, twisted, and cut deeper into the forest. I had not been out this way before, but I loved the challenge it was giving me. I sat back some more and let my beast have this moment, she needed to let loose. She smiled inwardly and pushed forward as she and Evangeline played with each other as they ran.

Our wolves would nip at each other, race, or try to jump on each other. We found that Evangeline's beast was getting stronger. Before, she would almost cower away from our teasing, but now she was bolder; she would tease herself and return ours with her own. My beast approved, it was about damn time the female started to realize what she was.

We stopped by a small pond to get a sip of water. My beast let Evangeline drink first while she kept watch. We were letting the sun coat our skin and wash away our troubles with its gentle rays when we heard it.

We heard the whispers.

My beast stepped forward to where they were calling her, towards the west. They sounded like they were singing there were so many of them. It was almost impossible to pick out one voice, and the more my wolf tried to more frustrated she got.

I nudged her gently and pushed forward until I was back in my skin. The wind blew and it was chilly. I felt goosebumps rise on my skin as I looked towards where the sound was coming from.

They whispered again.

They whispered again and ignited the itch that I thought I had lost.

I paled as it started to scratch and scratch and scratch at my mind and remind me that it was there.

"Charlotte," one of them called out like it was a song.

"Come and see," another practically sang out.

Evangeline was still next to me and looking in the same direction as I was. She shifted and looked back at me with wide green eyes. "What the hell is that?"

"You hear it too?"

She nodded. She nodded and when she did we heard another one gently say, "Evangeline, she needs to see."

Evangeline stilled as the color drained from her face, but my wolf was curious. She didn't sense danger, but the sound of them still made the hair on the back of my neck rise.

I stepped towards it and Evangeline quickly grabbed my arm and looked at me like I was crazy. The itch was scratching harder, compelling me to go whether I wanted to or not. "Come on, if there's danger we can handle it."

She sighed then nodded firmly. We started to walk in the direction of the whispers, careful not to make a sound as our feet stepped forward almost instinctually. We kept close together, maybe a fingertip's length apart, neither of our beasts wanted to do this without the other.

They started to get louder until I heard a snap echo through the forest.

I quickly pulled Evangeline down with me behind a boulder. Our breath was labored and my heart felt like a frantic butterfly's wings.

I took a deep breath and immediately knew that we were in fact in danger.

Rogues.

The stench almost made me vomit; these ones smelled worse than any of the others that I had ever encountered.

Evangeline paled a little. I nodded reassuringly to her and held my finger to my lips. She nodded as I raised up a bit to peak over the boulder we were hiding behind.

There were three of them. They were just standing around, looking around on the ground for something. They looked sick. All men that were far too skinny, their wolves were too weak to catch anything.

What were they even doing out here? How did we not smell them before? How did they even get past the patrols, I mean, they are such weak ass wolves.

I sighed as my wolf get pacing back and forth, she wanted a bite out of their ass, but I was curious. I wanted to know more about what they were doing, I wanted to watch them a little longer.

"What are they doing?" Evangeline asked.

"They are just standing around, looking down at the ground for something. I don't know..."

"How the hell did they get past the patrols."

I gave her a concerned look as my brows scrunched together in confusion while my shoulders shrugged.

"Derek!"

"Little one? Are you alright?"

"No, well yes. There are rogues, three of them south of the pack house about seven-ish miles."

I felt him rumble over our link. "Elliot and I are out hunting, maybe thirty minutes out. Shit!" he hissed. "I'm on my way, link Ethan now!"

I wanted to groan at the sound of Ethan's name. It brought back frustration that I didn't have time for; but Derek was right, Ethan was probably closer and could reach us in time.

"Ethan..."

I felt nothing for a long moment which made my stomach turn. The rogues were still walking around, unaware of our presence. I figured that they were too sick for any of their normal functioning senses, like smell, to work properly. They should have smelled Evangeline and I, but they didn't. Curious.

"Sunshine?"

My wolf let out a sigh of relief. I blinked back the frustration and kept my eyes focused on the rogues. "There are rogues, three of them. Evangeline and I are hidden behind a boulder, they have no idea we are here. We're down that trail near the pack house about seven miles."

I felt anger, cold fury, and self-imposed guilt surged over the link. My beast reached out towards the pull and tried to calm it, we needed Ethan to keep is head level right now.

"I'm on my way. Do not let them see you, and do not move. Do you understand?"

I wanted to growl at his orders. I felt like a child incapable of fending for myself.

"They're are not doing anything. I would have torn them up already but I wanted to watch them and see what the hell they are doing here."

"Char..."

"Fine Ethan," I clipped out. I wasn't in the mood for arguing with him now.

The rogues started to move and I could see Evangeline's wolf pace behind her eyes. She wanted a bite of them, but she was curious too.

"Should we follow them?"

"Well, Ethan and Derek are on their way. Ethan said to stay, but my wolf wants to follow then. I do too."

"Screw Ethan, we need to trail them so they don't get away."

I smiled approvingly at her before we crept forward quietly We were jumping between boulders, following them as they casually continued to walk to the west.

My beast was so confused, as was I. They were not looking for food, and they were not looking to harm anyone. So what the hell were they doing?

"Can you shift quietly?" Evangeline asked. I nodded as we let them get a few yards ahead of us before we jumped behind another boulder. "I think they are too sick to hear us. We'll be safer in our fur."

I nodded again in agreement then quickly let my beast come forward. The shift was kind of painful. She was slow and careful. She didn't want too many bones to crack and scare off the rogues.

Evangeline shook out her fur then nudged me a little. We crept through the forest, trailing them as they continued to walk carelessly. Our beasts were both on edge. We wanted blood, but we also wanted information.

A loud crack rang through the forest. It startled us and captured both of our attention's, taking our eyes away from the rogues.

There was nothing.

I let out a huff of frustration. I turned back towards them and they were gone. Completely gone.

Evangeline looked at me with wide eyes then looked around the area while I did the same. Nothing.

We sprang forward and looked for them, but they were completely gone as if the wind had swept them away. We sniffed around too, but their scent was fading quickly. It was bizzar; their scent, like most things, should stick to something longer than that.

Evangeline looked around with anxious eyes before she trotted around the perimeter. I kept sniffing, digging, and searching, but we both came up empty. "What the hell?"

I turned and went back to where we first saw them. My wolf was pushing me there, maybe we would find something; a tiny shred of evidence.

The scent was gone. Their stench was gone from the place.

My wolf's hair rose as the lack of smell perturbed her instincts and caused our anxiety to rise. I looked back to Evangeline who was frustratedly digging around. "Evangeline, the scent is gone."

She snapped her eyes to mine wide with traces of known fear. "What?"

"Come here, it's gone."

She ran quickly towards me and stopped as shock still her body. She stiffened up like a board as her nose smelled the air and came up empty as mine did. "What the hell?!" She sighed and looked around with heavy wary eyes. "I already alerted our patrols in this area and some scouts."

"Good."

We continued to sniff a bit longer but found nothing. The twigs, rocks, leaves, and dirt left no evidence for us. My wolf was so irritated at the incident that went against the laws of what we knew possible in this world.

I felt dread.

I felt dread creep up because this reminded me too much of the rogue attack at Levi's. The rogue attack that came in without a trace. The rogues that we were never able to get wind of.

I felt Ethan coming and my beast sighed as relief swept over her. We turned to see a large dark chocolate wolf with blue eyes that almost looked frantic and a few other wolves behind him as they ran towards us. Thomas was with him. It was easy to pick out the alpha in the group. His wolf was dark too, almost black, with two white paws on his front feet. He was big, but Ethan matched him in size, what he lacked was the feeling of that raw pack alpha power that always oozed off people like Thomas or Levi.

He trotted up next to Ethan as he looked around the area. He broke away and ran to the direction where Evangeline and I saw the rogues disappear as Ethan's beast slowed down before rubbing his cheek against mine.

I couldn't be mad. It was more his beast than him, and his wolf had done nothing wrong. He let out a sigh of relief and rubbed my neck some more before licking my cheek.

He looked around and smelled the air before eying Evangeline and I curiously. "Where are they? I don't smell them?"

"They were here! We literally watching them before they walked to where Thomas is and disappeared."

"Brother she's right," Evangeline added. "Something took our attention back to them and when we looked back they were gone. Their scent faded fast, it's like nothing I've ever seen!"

Ethan sighed and looked at both of us then around the area. "Ok, everyone shift. You two wait here, there's a burrow with some clothes not far."

He quickly ran away while Thomas trotted over to us. "You're sure?"

Evangeline nodded. "Thomas I swear."

"It's ok Evangeline. Let's get in our skin and talk. Ethan should be back soon with some clothes."

He looked at the other wolves who were sniffing around the area and barked a little at them. They looked back to their alpha, locking eyes with him, before running back towards the pack house.

Ethan trotted up shortly with a bundle of clothes in his mouth that he dropped between us. Evangeline and I each grabbed a big shirt before running to a large boulder to change behind.

"Charlotte, what the hell was that?!" she whisper-yelled to me while I pulled the shirt down over my thighs.

I shook my head. "I don't know." My wolf was anxious because of the unknown. Something didn't feel right, well, nothing felt right about any of this; but even worse was there was no evidence to go off of.

We walked back out to Thomas and Ethan who were walking around the area; looking, sniffing, and turning up stones as they went. Thomas looked back at us as a small smiled tugged at his lips. "Ok, now tell me what happened."

"Well," Evangeline sighed. "We were just running, when–"

She paused for a moment and looked at me. The whispers. It was a moment that we questioned whether to tell them or not, but something in my gut told me not to.

"We smelled them," I finished. "We saw three of them standing literally where we are now. We crept around and hit behind those boulders," I said while pointing back to our previous hiding place. "And we just watched them. We watched them for a few moments before they started to walk that way." I pointed towards where Thomas had been, directing everyone's attention there.

"And then we heard this loud crack, it was almost like a firecracker," Evangeline said quickly. "When we looked back they were completely gone. We tried to follow the scent but it faded." She sighed and looked at Thomas then her brother anxiously as her wolf began to hum with trepidation. "I mean I found it on these leaves and it was like gone in like ten seconds. We came back here and looked around, but nothing."

"They were here, though," I firmly added as the men looked around a warily. "I mean, literally right where we are standing."

"What were they doing?" Thomas asked.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "They were just walked around, almost like they were looking for something. I don't know. They were strange. They were so sick, they didn't even smell us and I mean, we are not that far away. They had to be close to dying. It was so strange, they just kept walking around like they were looking for something." I let out a hot breath while I kicked a porous little black stone around with my toe.

I couldn't shake it. It felt so weird, so off. It had my wolf on edge as the memories from our rogue incidence back home came to mind.

Thomas sighed then scratched at his scruff. "Well, shit." He sighed a little and crossed his arms.

"I told our patrols and Ryder," Evangeline said as her eyes continued to scan the area.

Thomas nodded. "Good, if they are on foot then they are not getting out of this territory alive." He sighed again and looked over at Ethan who kept scanning the area with what looked like familiar dread. "What do you think?"

Ethan drank in the scene and chewed on his thoughts a bit. "I don't know. There's nothing here. We can have some of Ryder's guys come back and look through here, see if we missed something, but otherwise, I don't know."

Thomas nodded and looked around the permitter quickly one more time. "Alright, tell Ryder to send them. Otherwise, I want everyone close to the pack house for the rest of the day, no one needs to go venturing far today or tonight. We're not taking any chances."

I looked over at Ethan whose eyes flickered with past pain that seemed to spread to Evangeline. Thomas looked around one more time then nodded to us. "Alright let's get back and get you two home."

I started to follow him when I felt an arm gently tug on my wrist. "Can I talk to you?" Ethan's eyes were hopeful and full of need.

Thomas looked at Ethan then back at me and nodded at Ethan before he put a protective arm around Evangeline's back and walked with her back towards the path. She looked back at me a little deviously and winked.

"Give him hell."

I bit back a chuckle as I walked around to sit on a smaller boulder in the area. Ethan shifted a bit and turned towards me. I could feel the pull humming. It was pulling hard at us, harder than before. I startled me a little. I wondered how long I could fight this mate-pull before it drove me crazy, literally.

Ethan looked up at me with eyes that looked tired and filled with confliction. He hadn't slept last night. One look at him was all it took for me to know that. He looked like he was warring between guilt and mild anger, although he had nothing to be angry about.

He had a few scratches on his neck, and a good gash across his torso. There were nasty bruises littering his shoulder as well as his lower abdomen. Evan had really laid into him from the looks of it.

I sighed a little as he opened his mouth then closed it. He tugged at his hair before walking to a tree and leaning on it before he looked back at me. "I don't want us to fight. I don't want us to be angry with each other. It pains me too much sunshine."

"Apparently," I mused as I looked at the new nasty gash on his abdomen, probably from his fight with Evan.

"I just felt like it would have been inappropriate to tell our alpha and the host of our dinner's daughter to piss off. I wanted to, it pained me just as much as it pained you."

"Did it pain you today?" I asked sharply. His eyes looked at me a little defeatedly, which made my chest rumble. "I could care less about pain Ethan. Pain, at this point, honestly means very little to me. I can take pain all day, hell, there were days when I welcomed it. I don't want you to do something because you're afraid of how the pull will lash out at me, I want you to do it because you want to."

His eyes were searching for something but they were disappointed when they didn't found what they were looking for. "Do you not think I want you?"

"What do you think Ethan?" I bit out sharply. My wolf rumbled again. She could see him fighting with his beast, she just wanted a turn with this human for a while. "How do you think it looks from my eyes when I have to watch some other female throw herself at you while you just lay there belly up while it happens?" His chest rumbled. I just rolled my eyes while my chest vibrated in return. My beast wasn't in the mood for this kind of shit. "Or how do you think it looked when I saw you today laughing while you let her touch you and seemed to enjoy it?"

He let out a long sigh and looked at me apologetically. "Char, I don't want her. I don't want anyone else but you, you know that!"

I huffed and crossed my arms while I leaned back against the rock. It wasn't that I doubted that he wanted me, I knew how strong the pull was. But males, especially males with strong blood like Ethan's, stand by their females and protect them. I won't have another asshole in my life who would rather throw me in a hole rather than jump in with me.

Ethan growled a bit and prowled over me. I stiffened up, but I dare not move. I dare not take my eyes away from him. My beast was pacing back and forth in the back of my mind; her chest was rumbling and her teeth were ready.

He stopped and put his arms on either side of me and lowered his face towards mine. I felt the bond sizzle, but I wouldn't give into it. He wasn't about to kiss me and try to 'kiss it better.' I would not have that.

"Do you know how hard it is to stay away from you?" he whispered as he let his nose gently caress my cheek. "Do you know how hard it is to walk away from you? To try and resist you when all I want is to sink my teeth in your neck." I shivered as he moved to my ear, letting his scruff gently scratch at my cheek as he did.

I felt the pull hum louder but I stood firm. I wasn't giving into him, I wasn't a game you could win. My wolf agreed. I felt her stir inside me and caress my mind reassuringly that she would stand by me, she always would stand by me.

Ethan pulled back so we were only inches apart. His eyes scanned my face while his beast pushed forwards, his wolf wanted his female. "I want you. I don't just want you because we're mates and the pull between us literally feels like it's going to drive me insane eventually. I want you."

"I don't doubt that Ethan," I let out a disappointed sigh and pushed him away before taking a step away from him. A step that was so damn hard to take.

"What else do you want? You can't keep punish–"

"I want you to stop flippantly throwing 'I'm sorry' around like it will make everything better. Like it is all I need to be satisfied because you know what? It won't." I felt my beast stir some more as her teeth longed to come out. She wanted to put our male in his place, but I pushed her back. There was a time and a place for everything and this was not the time. "Because you know what? You'll just say it then we'll go back to the pack where she will continue to throw herself at you like a desperate housewife and you'll let her! Did you know that every time that Marcus put a line on the back of my leg that he said 'I'm sorry?'"

Ethan's chest rumbled a little more loudly, but I didn't care. I was humming with anger and the needed to be justified. "He would always say 'Oh baby I'm so sorry,' or 'Baby, it won't happy again, you just pissed me off, baby,' or my personal favorite 'Baby I'm so sorry, now lie back and let me show you how much I love you–' " A vicious growl from his lips cut me off. Ethan was clenching his jaw, trying to push back his wolf who wanted blood for what happened to his female. But I didn't care. I didn't give one shit. If there was one thing I learned from all of this, it was that I was no longer going to put up with bullshit.

I took a step towards him and cocked my head. Challenging him to a fight that my beast and I were feeling pretty confident about at the moment. "I don't want you to tell me you're sorry, or how much you want to be with me, I have heard all of that damn bullshit before. If we are going to do this, this mate thing, then I am not going to have some damn male whose too damn weak to stand by me."

Ethan snarled at me but my beast flashed her teeth which made him widened his eyes with shock. I took another step. "I won't have it, not anymore. I don't care who it is. I flashed my teeth more than one time at Aaron because my beast and I wanted to rip him apart for thinking that he could ever take your place. I won't have it. I won't have and if you can't handle that, then too damn bad. It's your loss."

With that, I turned on my heal and started to march away. My wolf whined a bit, the pull twisted and was begging me desperately to go back. But I couldn't. We needed this. Not everything in a relationship is a bunch of rainbows and bullshit butterflies. We needed to prove to each other that we would work through things, small and large, and still stand by each other.

That's all I wanted. A man that would stand by me; stand in my corner forever to be with me through the fire and the rain.

"You're just going to walk away? Dammit, Charlotte!" I could feel him coming but I didn't slow down. He soon had a hand on my shoulder that yanked me around to face him.

"I'm done with this conversation, I have nothing left to say," I bit out. A low growl vibrated off his chest and I wanted to match it but I stopped myself. I sighed and collected my emotions; letting things escalate was not going to solve anything. "What are you so damn afraid of?" Something flashed across his eyes before his hand loosened a bit as I started to pull away. "I want you to do that right thing Ethan, but because you want to do it. I'm not going to force you."

He opened his mouth but I had to get away before the bond twisted again. It felt like glass cracking and I felt like I was about to crack with it. I felt my wolf caress my mind soothingly, we're stronger than this.

I knew that we were stronger than this.