After I hung up the phone I decided to go over to Andrea's. Derek and Elliot were out hunting and I mostly wanted to pick her brain and see what she thought of everything.

I grabbed a ziplock back of chocolate chip cookies on my way out, hoping the chocolate would sway her to my side. Although I figured Andrea would be more than likely to answer my questions anyways.

I could see her in the window. She was reclining in a chair with ice taped around her calf and a book in her hand. She looked up and gave me a warm smile while she waved before she put her book down.

I jogged up the steps of her cabin right as she opened the door with an amused smirk on her face. "Here for another beating?"

I scoffed. "No, I am here to see you and I come bearing gifts," I said while holding out the bag of cookies in front of me.

Andrea growled in approval then stepped aside. "By all means, then come on in. Want some wine?"

"Course," I answered quickly.

She chuckled and walked over to a cabinet then pulled out a bottle of merlot with two stemless glasses, plastic with small grooves for your thumb to sit. "Hope you don't mind plastic?"

I shook my head as I slid into a chair set in front of their kitchen table. "You know me, I will take wine in any vehicle that it is delivered in."

She smiled and popped the cork before bringing the bottle to the table. She set it down and started to pour me a fat glass while I opened the cookies and set them in the middle of the table. I tore two napkins off a roll for us and set one across from me for her.

She walked around as I reached for my glass and sat down. "Well, what's on your mind?"

She picked up her glass and clinked it with mine. I took a long drink and let the red liquid try to calm down the itch that was still stirring my wolf. "Well," I said as I set my glass down and reached for a cookie. "I need to ask you some things."

She chuckled softly. "Char, we're friends. More than that, my wolf sees you like a sister to us. You don't need to beat around the bushes or walk on egg shells around me."

I smiled and bit into my cookie, groaning as the chocolate started to coat my tongue. "Ok, let me just tell you what happened first."

"Glad I got the wine," she said with a smile before she took another sip.

Like with Levi, I explained everything to her. We went through the rouges first. She knew about the first time with Evangeline and I, but this time, she asked more questions. Questions I hadn't thought of before. It was the warrior in her. She was always thinking about a strategy, an angle.

Next, we went over the whispers and the tree. Her expression was one that both amused me and stirred me a little. She looked like she saw it coming. She looked like she wasn't surprised at all.

After I finished I took another sip of wine then let her top me off. "Well?"

"Well I think Levi is right about the tree, you need to go back and see what it wants."

"Come with me?" I asked as she bit into a cookie.

She shook her head. "I need to let this calf heel, dad got into it pretty good today." She took another bite then smiled at me  slyly. "Don't want to call your mate?"

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. "I just don't understand. I feel like something is going on. I mean, am I wrong? Am I the only one? I can't imagine that I am, I just don't see how Ethan has his head stuck so far up his ass."

She took a sip of wine and nodded. "Sometimes when you've been in the middle of a storm for so long you forget it's storming." I looked at her curiously as she reached for another cookie. "Think about it this way. Ethan has been here trying to pull this pack back together with Thomas for the past eight years. Right now, compared to after the attack, this is like the best its been.

"Sometimes it's hard to fix a problem when you're in the middle of it. Sometimes so much time has gone by that you forget it's even a problem until someone, like you, shakes you around and reminds you that it is."

I nodded in agreement. I could understand that. It really wasn't until my maid found me in that bathroom and talked to me that I realized that I needed to leave Marcus, that something had to be done.

I had plenty of chances to leave, but I was so brainwashed that I didn't even think that anything was wrong for a while. It was until a seed of doubt started to creep in, a seed that my maid watered and watered and watered until it bloomed. Until I left.

"So what does that mean? I mean, am I crazy?"

"No," she practically scoffed out. "I believe you and my dad does too. You have to remember Char, this pack was torn up, like literally torn in half, after the attack. Thomas rebuilt it and a lot of people are really grateful."

"And?" I questioned with a soft push as I took a sip of wine.

"And, between you and me here, I've always gotten a weird vibe."

"What do you mean?" I asked as I picked around at my cookie.

She shrugged. "I think that's what drives me the most crazy is that I couldn't tell you because I don't know. I mean honestly, I can't put my finger on it."

"Were you here during the attack?"

She shook her head as she put her wine glass down. "No, I had already left with my potential bond mate by then and my dad was visiting David, but I remember him before. There was never anything wrong with him, he was a good beta to Chris. Miranda has always been, well a bitch, but she wasn't a bad woman. She was a good beta female, did her job and helped Margaret. I don't know. I agree with you, something is off."

"Do you think that any of it could be connected?"

She shrugged. "I mean, maybe? It would be hard to say that now without proof, but maybe. We just need to keep digging."

"We?" She smiled a little deviously and nodded.

"What? You think I'm going to let you go down that rabbit hole by yourself? I don't think so."

"Thanks, Andrea," I said with a warm smile before I took another sip of my wine. "What should I do about Ethan?"

She mused for a bit and shook her head. "Well, it's your choice if you want to bring him with you. I don't blame you if you don't." She sighed frustratedly. "I'll talk to my dad about it tonight, he may have some ideas."

"That involve his ass in the dirt?" I said deviously.

Andrea chuckled into her glass. "I am sure that will be part of it."

"Evan?"

"Ya? What's up?"

"Can you come to Andrea's?"

"Sure, everything ok?"

"Just come over."

"Ok, give me a little bit, I'm a bit out."

"Ok see you soon."

"What was that?" she asked me with a cocked brow.

"Evan. I'm going to see if he will go with me."

She nodded knowingly. "I'll see what dad says about Ethan, but Char, you need to start thinking about when you're going to let him mark you."

I blushed slightly at the thought as I looked into my glass. "I know."

She bit into a cookie and gave me a knowing look. "I know it's hard, and for you I know it must be hard. Ethan may be a little sissy dick right now, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't care greatly for you. Anyone can see that. Dad told me the other day that he didn't think he would ever see Ethan this happy again."

I smiled to myself as warmth rushed through my body. "He does make me happy. I would be lying if I said he didn't. But he also drives me up the damn wall."

She sighed and nodded. "I know, but no one is perfect, you know? The man I was with before he found his true mate, I mean we loved each other and we also fought hard. Love is hard, relationships are harder. Not everything is sunshine and rainbows, you have to fight to make things work." She looked at me with eyes that held years of wisdom. I felt like she was an older sister of some sort as she looked at me like she was looking at her younger self. "You and Ethan are going to have your fights, and there will be times when you are going to want to rip his head off. It's how it is, but you work through it.

"I just say this as your friend because the pull is going to get stronger. Eventually, it's going to drive you crazy. I am totally shocked you two have lasted this long without screwing each other's brains out–"

"Andrea!!" I tossed a napkin at her while my face went beat red. She died laughing and just shrugged innocently at me.

"What?! It's true! Listen, I get that you need more time. Just think about it, ok? That alpha council thing is coming up and you will have high ranked wolves around here, some that are unmated. At least let him put a mark on you, you can always complete the bond when you're ready."

I blushed a little and looked into my glass. Technically Levi nor Derek had told me about how the logistics of all that worked. I think both of them just were not a huge fan of having 'the talk' with me. I would have died of embarrassment if Levi would have tried.

Andrea looked at me curiously then smiled softly. "Char, did Levi not tell you about that?"

I shook my head as the blush. "No."

She smiled wickedly and poured more wine into both our glasses. "Oh, I am so going to enjoy this." I groaned while she laughed a little evilly before she took a drink of her wine. "Ok, so you know that mated wolves have a mark right? Like a scar on their neck?"

I nodded. "Yes, yes I know that."

"Good. When you mark your mate, you basically are not only claiming them, but you're connecting your souls together. I mean, your true mate is your soul mate. When you bite the, to mark them, obviously you break the skin. They say that the blood that flows into your mouth is, in a sense, a blood oath between the two of you that connects your souls and pours a bit of them into you."

I raised my brows then took another long sip of wine. "So what do you mean bite to mate? Like, how is that different?"

Andrea smiled wickedly again. "You just know. Usually, it's in the heat of the moment and you just, well, you just know."

"Hold on wh–"

"Yes, you have to sleep with them to complete the bond you idiot. Otherwise, the mark will fade, even with a true mate. Usually, you do both at the same time. You know, kill two birds with one bone, I mean stone."

I groaned and slid down in my chair. I was pretty sure I was going to burn up from embarrassment right there as Andrea just laughed amusingly. "I hate you," I groaned out.

"No, you don't, come one. Not like you haven't done it before," she teased.

It was true. I was no virgin, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was the thought of doing it with him. With Ethan. Dear God, it made my body flush wildly at the thought.

"True. So you could, theoretically, mark someone and then complete the bond later?"

She nodded. "Yes, but once you mark them then the bond will push you hard to finish what you started. If you think the pull is bad now, it will be a hell of a lot worse if you have a mark on your neck." I grimaced. It was already getting to be tough to deal with. Andrea seemed to sense this and gave me a kind smile. "Listen Char, I am only saying think about it. A mark on your neck is something that is his privilege to do, not his right. He's got to earn that shit. If you're not ready and your beast isn't ready to give him your neck, then don't. You're not just an average she-wolf, and he knows that. It will be harder, yes, but you're strong and you'll know what to do and when it's the right time to do it."

"Thanks, Andrea," I said before I took a sip of wine.

She nodded before a devious smile tugged at her lips. "No problem, just make sure you let me know when you plan on doing it. I want to make sure I have enough earplugs."

"Andrea!" I exclaimed. She was dying of laughter and about to reply when Evan knocked on the door.

I let out a relieved breath while she waved to Evan. She looked back at me and nodded. "Tell me how it goes?"

"Will do," I replied as I turned and headed to the door.

Evan was looking at me curiously. The night was started to set in and I knew that we would have the perfect amount of cover to allow us to sneak to the tree. "So little sister, want to tell me what's going on?"

I nodded. "I need you to come somewhere with me. I'll tell you more over the link, but I need you to just trust me and follow."

He looked at me warily and nodded. "Ok, lead the way."

I went by the side of the house and quickly shifted then trotted out to him right as his shift finished. He shook out his fur the bumped me playfully on the side with his head.

"Alright, what's going on?"

"The tree, the tree the alpha's take their oath on–" I started to say as I trotted away from Andrea's cabin with him next to me.

"Ya, what about it?"

"I think it's the source of the whispers. I almost touched it today before Thomas stopped me. I'll tell you more on the way, just follow me."

Evan sighed then nodded. We made good pace and talked along the way. Evan was a little worried that I didn't tell Ethan, and I was starting to feel guilty about it, but Evan also understood. After today he said that it made sense. I felt like he had more to say on the subject, but I would push him for that later. Right now, I needed to focus on the damn tree.

As we got closer I could feel it pulling me, humming to me, and reaching out to me like it had before. I shivered slightly which caught Evan's attention as we slowed down. He sniffed the air as the hair on his back started to raise.

"Do you feel that?" he asked as we slowed to a walk.

"Ya, it felt like this before."

He nodded then looked forward with a cautious eye. We crept quietly through the night. Making sure we made no sounds as we neared and neared it.

After we climbed up the rocks to the area of perfect green grass that it stood proudly in the middle of, a breeze swept through. It carried whispers with it, whispers of so many voices that it was hard to make out.

"Char..."

"I know but we have to Ev," I replied back as reassuringly as I could, but even my skin was starting to shake a bit.

I shifted to my skin as it started to hum louder. It was like a song calling me to the trunk. The energy coming off of it was reaching to me, calling me, holding it's hand out and asking me to take a chance.

I looked behind me to see Evan give me the best encouraging nod he could. I let out a shaky breath and stepped towards it. The blood seemed to hum and come alive as I neared. It was almost like it was still alive and not dried out and dead on the trunk.

I held my palm up to it and it felt like I met another cool palm. I couldn't explain it. It made me jump a bit as cold electricity sent chills across my skin.

"Come and see," it whispered before it let me put my hand to the base.

I felt another shock as my eyes closed. A hand wrapped around mine and seemed to pull me somewhere with it, to a world that felt like I was in a dream; in that place between awake and asleep.

I opened my eyes. I opened my eyes and saw.

"Baby?" a woman with long red curly hair called out. She was beautiful, like an angel. "Are you sure that you can't come today?"

"You know if I could I would," the voice answered. It was a voice I knew, a voice I knew well. Levi.

He was younger. His hair was blonde, almost white blonde, and he had less wrinkles. He looked different. He looked happier.

That mean the woman was... Eve. Holy shit.

"Are you sure?" she asked a little seductively before she kissed the corner of his mouth.

He pulled her closer to him and sighed as he ran his fingers through her vibrant red hair. "I'll be there first thing tomorrow little red."

He went to kiss her put my vision blurred as something pulled me away. I closed my eyes again because the feeling of spinning, flying, and tumbling was making me dizzy.

"She'll be there around four," Thomas said over the phone. His hair was shorter and his eyes less tired. I didn't realize how tired he looked until now.

He was on the phone with someone with a gruff voice. I tried to listen but it was muffled, so muffled that it just sounded like jibberish.

He nodded and hung the phone up the looked up at someone. "We're ready to go."

I wanted to turn around to see who it was but I was being pulled again. I felt like I was on a merry-go-round that was spinning wildly out of control. My head was dizzy, but I knew I had to push through it.

I opened my eyes to see another woman with strawberry blonde hair. She had a button nose and blue-green eyes that I would recognize anywhere. She was cutting the edges off of a ham and cheese sandwich, singing the song from 'Anastasia' about the dancing bears.

A boy walks up to her. A boy about sixteen, not a man, but at that age, he was quite big. She flickers her eyes to him and smiled. She kisses his cheek then looks at his face while she holds it in her hands. "I see your dad had a go with you today?"

"More like Eli," he said. Ethan.

I felt my stomach flip flop as the woman walked back to her task. She finished cutting the sandwich then put it on the plate before turning to Ethan. "And how's Eli?"

Ethan turned and even at that age I could recognize him. He smiled a little deviously, the devious smile I love and shrugged. "Probably trying to lick all his wounds clean before Lydia gets here."

He looked so different. He looked the same, but different. Besides that he looked around sixteen, he looked like there was a fire in him. A strong one. I could feel it, even from here there was this energy in his veins that rolled off him like a wave of flames licking their way to shore.

The woman smiled as she looked back at him. "Get get washed up then white hot," she said a little teasingly.

I tried to see more but I was being pulled again, pushed. I felt like I was doing somersault after somersault after somersault until I was being thrown.

My ass hit the ground with a loud 'thud' before my head hit the ground hard. I opened my eyes but only saw stars flying around.

"Charlotte?!" Evan called out. I felt hands pick me up and cradle me. My head was starting to settle but my ass hurt like hell. "Char?!"

I opened my eyes to see Evan looking down at me with panicked eyes. "What happened?" I said almost hoarsely.

He let out a hot breath and looked back at the tree, that we were sitting around twenty yards away from, then back at me. "You touched it and just stood there. It was like you were asleep. I walked to you but you wouldn't budge. Then all the sudden after a few minutes, it was like someone threw you back." He sighed and pushed the hair out of my face. "And now we're here."

I let out a breath and sat up slowly. The tree was swaying and my mind was heavy. I had the feeling that we needed to leave, that the tree had shown me all it wanted to.

"We need to go," I said as I stood up. Evan looked at me curiously then back at the tree. "I'll tell you on the way back."

We quickly left the tree as quietly as I could. It wasn't because we didn't want to get caught, it was more because I felt like we would be disturbing the tree if we were too loud, my wolf felt the same. It was like the thing was it's own being to be revered and respected.

Evan stopped along the way and got me a shirt while he pulled on some shorts before he looked at me with worried eyes that begged for answers. "Char please, what the hell was that?"

"I think I was seeing memories," I said as I thought out loud and tried to piece it all together.

Evan scrunched his brows a bit. "Whose? What did you see?"

I looked back at him at the memories came back. Memories that I realized would be hard for them to hear but they had to hear them. "I saw three different ones, they were all different, but I feel like they were the same day or within the same time frame."

"Char," Evan stepped in front of me then grabbed my shoulders. "What did you see?" he said more firmly.

I sighed. I took a step back and walked to a tree to lean on it. "I first saw Levi and Eve. She was leaving and asking him if could come with her but he promised he would go the next day in the morning."

Evan scrunched his brows and shook his head. "That's, are you sure?"

I let out a breath as my mind continued to race. "Did he call her little red?"

Evan stilled for a bit and looked at me. His mouth opened a bit before it closed. He nodded to me. A nod that made my heart almost stop, but my heart really stopped when my brain put together the first pieces of the puzzle. "Oh my God, it was that day."

"What day?"

"The day Eve left and came here. The day of the attack. I remember Levi saying that he was coming the next day because he had to finish some work. Oh my God. She was asking him to go with her. To come here. Oh my god..."

Evan fell back against a tree and tugged at his hair. "Holy shit Char. What else?! What else."

My breath was still labored at the memory of what I saw, of Eve. God, she was beautiful She was like a walking light. My wolf whined in the back of my mind. She whined for the mother that we would never know.

I looked back to him then leaned my head back as I thought. "I saw Thomas. He was on the phone. He said that she would be there at four then he told someone something like 'we're ready'."

Evan shook his head side to side as he thought. "Thomas used to handle all the visitor paperwork then. He was in charge of making sure it was all set, even for them. Dad was always big on rules."

I nodded to myself and bit my lip as I thought of the last memory I saw. Evan looked at me with desperate eyes. I blinked back small tears at the thought. The thought that I saw his mother.

"Char..."

"I saw your mother. She was making a sandwich for someone. She cut all the crust off, it was ham and cheese. Ethan walked in, he was sparing with Eli and I guess had a black eye or something because you're mom looked his face, I couldn't really see.

"She was singing that song from 'Anastasia,' the one I think about the bears dancing? She called Ethan white hot..."

I stopped because Evan had slid down the tree with his head in his hands. He looked forward with wide eyes full of shock and old pains. "Shit."

"Evan..." I walked over to him and sat in front of him.

He was fighting back the pain, I could see it. I could see his beast howling behind his eyes that he kept closing as he tried to push the beast back. He looked back at me with a sad smile that made my heart crack a little more. "She used to sing that all the time. She sang to us as kids, she had a voice like an angel. Sometimes when I sleep I still feel like I hear her."

"What about Ethan?"

Evan smiled to himself. "She used to call him white hot because she said that when he really pushed, that the blood in his veins was like white hot fire."

I sat back and nodded. "I could feel it. Even in the memory. I mean, it was Ethan, but it wasn't. It's hard to explain. I could feel this energy rolling off of him that I haven't felt before."

"No one has since that day," Evan replied quietly.

I sucked in a breath before letting it slowly out. "What do we do?"

He shook his head and tugged at his hair. "I don't know. This is all insane you know?"

I nodded to him. It was insane, there was no denying it. "I know."

"Why didn't you ask Ethan Char?" His eyes were conflicted. Conflicted because it looked like he asked a question that he already knew the answer to.

I sighed and shrugged. "After this morning. I don't know Ev. I don't think he fully buys it. I could see doubt in his eyes, it was small but it was there. I guess, I don't know, the whole thing isn't sitting well with me and with Ethan acting like that, it just...I don't know, I guess I am just hesitant right now."

Evan sighed and leaned back on the tree. "My damn brother," he grumbled lowly under his breath. He leaned back and looked at me a little apologetically. "Listen, I would have said more but it's not my place. Thomas is law here. I believe you, and so does Ryder and Jake. Ryder looked everywhere today Char, I mean everywhere. He couldn't find anything. He's going again tomorrow, though. He told Thomas that he wants a fresh nose to which Thomas agreed."

"But?" I prodded some more.

Evan sighed and shook his head. "I think that Thomas has doubts, and Char I mean no offense, but in a way I get it. I mean there was absolutely nothing there. You know how that looks right?"

I nodded frustratedly. "I know, I know."

"I believe you, but Thomas isn't going to waste resources on what he thinks is a wild goose chase."

"But it's not a wild goose chase!"

"I know," he said calmly as he held up his hands defensively. "But he isn't seeing it that way."

"But what about Ethan?"

Evan sighed and shook his head. "Ethan is bound by Thomas' word. If he says no, then there isn't much Ethan can do, but that doesn't mean he couldn't do something under the radar."

"So why doesn't he? I mean come one! Evan twice! This has happened twice!"

"Char, you're preaching to the choir here, ok?

I let out a short breath and nodded. "Sorry."

Evan smiled a little and nudged my chin playfully with his fingers. "It's ok little sister, it's frustrating as hell to me too." He leaned forward and scratched at his scruff that was starting to grow in. "Well, two things. First, like I said before, Ethan is a peace keeper. Any talk of rogues around here could set people in a frenzy and we don't need that. I mean Char, it may have been like ten years ago, but it's a lot closer to us than a lot of people would like to admit."

"I get it. I mean, I do. I hate saying Ethan's right on that one, but he is." My wolf grumbled but he was right. We shouldn't scare the whole pack until we could confirm a threat. Should we tighten up security? Sure, but we need to be more sensitive to the health of the pack. A panicked pack is like an angry mob, and we don't need that.

"I know, but well, he is. Second is Ethan isn't going to go outside of his position. I mean, if Thomas knew his beta was conducting all these investigations, then how would that look? A beta challenging a direct order from his alpha?"

"But that doesn't mean he can't push back. I mean, Lander and Levi are going at each other all the time! Honestly, Lander pushes Levi hard, real hard."

"Yes, but Levi also respects Lander and respects his opinion. He also knows that Lander probably has the bite to back up his bark, that's why he's a good beta."

I shook my head as my wolf started to pace. "But what you're saying is?" I looked up and met Evan's knowing smile.

He leaned back and nodded. "Now you're starting to see little sister."

"So why doesn't Ethan grow a pair then?"

Evan sighed and shook his head as he let out a breathy laugh. "He has a pair little sister, believe me. He and Thomas do get into it from time to time, and he will do some things under the rug from time to time."

"So why not now? I don't understand."

Evan shrugged. "I don't know either. He's been less ballsy and broody than usual lately. I think it has to do with a lot of things, but when I try to press him he just doesn't budge."

"So what do we do? What do I do?"

"Well, first on the rogues, I say we hold off until after Ryder has another go, ok? There is no use in getting worked up yet."

"If Ryder doesn't find anything?"

"Ethan said something about looking into it himself, we can talk to him about it. As for all this crazy ass shit," he said while waving his hand back toward the direction of the tree. "I don't know. I need to sleep on it, but you can't keep this from Ethan Char. He needs to know."

I nodded. "I know. I'll tell him tomorrow."