Andrea smiled at me as the keys landed at my feet. I felt my heart burst with a fountain of relief. Evan nodded to Jake who started to chase after me because once those keys hit the ground, they were in my hands that were pumping hard as I ran to Ethan.

My beast howled out for him and I wasn't going to keep her away from him much longer. I lunged and let my shift come; paws hitting the dirt with the keys in my mouth. I ran hard towards him; I didn't give a shit about who saw, I was innocent. It was made public, and I was getting him out of there come hell or high-water.

I tore through the bushes towards the familiar scent that made my heart leap. It sang to me as I neared it; as I neared him. However, once I broke through the bushes and landed on the dirt, all I saw was dried blood and an empty collar.

I barked out angrily as my heart stilled in my chest. My beast panicked, as did I. I looked around in a circle before looking back to the empty collar.

"Ethan?!"

I jumped into the bushes again and smelled around furiously for him. He wasn't there. He wasn't there, but his scent and blood were. I felt my heart twist some more. He had just been there, the scent was fresh, but he wasn't there.

"Ethan?!"

"Evan! Evan he's not here."

"WHAT?!" Evan roared across our link.

I circled around again as panic started to invade my brain. "He was just here but now he's not."

I took a deep breath and tried to smell him out, feel him, find him. I caught a trail in the breeze; it smelled like him and the energy that was constantly rolling off of him now. My beast growled and took off towards it, passing a confused Jake along the way.

We ran hard. The trail wound us between trees and led us further than we thought it would. His scent grew stronger, but he also smelled of blood and small traces of silver. I growled some more. My beast was ready to protect her mate, to find him.

We pushed some more and got to a creek where we could smell that he had been. We furrowed our brows. Where the hell was he?!

"Alright, calm down Char Ryder, Jake, and I are out now. We'll find him, little sister."

I knew Evan's words were meant to be comforting but they did nothing for me. "Ethan where are you?!"

I sniffed the air and caught the scent again. I wondered if he could even link, if his mind was still too weak from all the silver. I groaned. I groaned as I saw little droplets of blood that littered the trail, a familiar trail–Billy's trail.

My beast snapped her teeth in the air. So help us if someone was hurting him; there would be a trail of bodies in our wake if that ended up being the case.

I ran hard up the challenging trail. His scent got stronger which made me run harder. My beast slipped a few times and stumbled as her frantic feet sloppily ran; we were too consumed with a mix of fear and panic to pay attention to our feet. Fear that was making every horrible thing run through my mind.

I quickly turned a corner down a familiar tree-lined path. The trees were swaying in the night wind that was sweet and carried his scent to my nose; he smelled so good, so much like a damn alpha male. It made me shiver. I rumbled and pushed forwards until I broke through the tree line to my favorite creek.

A creek that he was in.

I let out a sigh out relief when I saw him. My heart seemed to slow down and take a breather while my anxiety dissipated.

"Evan go home I found him."

"Just don't do it in our damn house, I really want to sleep in my bed tonight."

"I'll relay the message. I'm sure your brother will appreciate that comment," I responded a little darkly with a chuckle.

Evan tried to respond but I cut off the links. Right now all I was focused on and wanted to be focused on was him.

He was washing off in the creek; letting the cool water clean away the blood and dirt from his perfect skin. God, he looked good. My beast vibrated a little at the sight of her male bathing in the faint moonlight of the early nightfall.

He dipped his head under the water as we walked closer, closer enough until we could see the small circle burns that the damn silver had left on his neck. I bit back a growl. My beast pushed me forwards, she just wanted to lick them then nuzzle her male.

I stepped closer and the hair on his neck raised. He turned slowly around as my paws hit the cool water; meeting my eyes with his blue-green ones that stilled me in place. He rumbled a little when his eyes landed on me. My skin shivered as my beast walked closer to him, closer to the scent and hum that was calling to her.

She got about to where the water hit her belly then whimpered at him. He looked down at the water and shook his head a little with a ghost smile on his lips before wading to the sand bar we were standing on.

The water was covering his lower half but his torso was exposed to us, and with all those little droplets of water sliding down his deep 'v,' it made us thing of a hundred other things we would like to do right now.

He reached out to me and rubbed his fingers against my cheek before running his fingers through the soft fur of our neck. My beast purred softly and leaned into him as his chest vibrated a little more. Scratching and caressing our skin, it was a blissful torture for us that we didn't want to break away from.

We felt his breath on our snout as he nuzzled his cheek against mine while his other hand rubbed the other side of it. My wolf leaned into him and purred some more, she missed our male. Our mate.

He pulled away and looked at me as an amused smirk tugged at his lips. "Now, am I going to have to chase you up a tree this time?"

His eyes filled with a seductive challenge than made my beast rumble. We cocked our head at him and stepped away stealthily as we held his gaze. His gaze that seemed to be stripping us naked with his desire.

He shook his head as he grinned slightly more wickedly. "Well then, I suggest you start running sunshine."

My wolf barked at him as she whipped around and hauled ass into the forest. We heard a loud growl right behind us followed by an energy of furious desire chasing after us. We yipped.

Our body was filled with flames of lust as our blood started to burn brightly and dance with his. Paws were tearing hard into the ground; deep in the forest where the night air seemed to only blow around scents of our lust.

I turned and tried to make fake trails as I pumped through the trees, but he was onto me. He was close. I could feel him as if he was breathing down my neck. I heard another growl; a growl that made me shiver with desire.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him gaining on my right, so I hung a sharp left. There was a little cliff around eight or feet so above the ground. I looked back at him then let out a low growl of my own. My feet pushed off the edge and launched me into the air, landing on solid ground that gave me a false sense of confidence.

I thought I had a lead now. I thought, until I heard him growl again as his paws hit the dirt behind me. I growled again. My beast wanted our male but we also wanted to win.

He nipped playfully at my tail and my beast let out a mock snarl. We hung a sharp right, heading for some rocks that sloped and tore through the side of a hill. Ethan started to run around them, but we were a little too committed to winning.

My beast jumped on them then proceeded to tumble down to the ground. A long ass tumble. I caught my balance right before I hit the ground below as I heard him bark from above.

I quickly shifted to my skin and turned around to look for him. He was coming down the rocks, but only doing slightly better than I was. I let out a devious chuckle. "Found some nice trees up ahead, have fun with the rocks!"

I sprinted forward and lunged into my shift again as he growled a little louder. My beast was running hard now; weaving in and out of trees. Eventually, though, we would have to stop. There would have to be an end, there's always an end to all things

Ethan gained quickly on me though, soon I could see him on my left. I growled a little and turned a hard right. A hard right that had me running up a damn hill. Damn hills.

My beast didn't quit though, we climbed up the steep hill until we found a small path. My brows perked in curiosity as I started to run on it. It smelled familiar, but it was such an old scent that I couldn't get a read on it; that, and I was too busy running from my mate to focus.

He growled again lowly; a growl filled with so much pent up tension and desire. My beast purred as she ran hard up the path that wound through the trees and around the hill like a snake. We slid around the curves and leaped over fallen limbs with him right on our tail; he felt like a tidal wave coming for me. A tidal wave I would gladly let pull me out to sea.

I tore up the path until I could see a little cabin in the distance; two stories with a green grass flowing from the front steps. It looked empty, but not completely unkept. I cocked my brow as I ran hard towards it. I didn't know there was a cabin out here.

It was nestled in trees but around the side, I could see where the trees thinned out a little. I couldn't see past the trees; the sight caught my attention and distracted me as I wondered what was back there. My beast started to turn towards it but we were knocked hard into the green grass.

We rolled a few times over the grass, tumbling hard together until we skidded to a stop. My beast growled then immediately tried to roll away but we were pinned down. We were pinned down by a male dripping with an energy that stirred up my blood and desire in my belly.

Teeth.

His teeth were around my neck before I could blink; it shocked me. I felt them graze my skin a teasingly. I knew that it should be something that frightened me but in reality, it was just an erotic sensation.

I breathed heavily as he growled seductively low, sending vibrations through my body. I let out a hot breath as my female stirred, stirred with approval for her male. We thrust our neck up to him; he held us for another tense moment before gently releasing our neck and licking at the little at the areas his teeth had been.

A hot breath escaped my lips. I felt my fur start to ripple until I was laying in my skin. My breath was labored and my body was buzzing with delicious sensations that made me bite back a moan.

I looked up at his blue-green eyes that were starring down at me and almost lost my damn breath. He moved his snout closer to me; breathing out a hot breath that tickled my skin as he rubbed his wet nose against my cheek. I felt him start to move to my neck, to a place that seemed to be burning with desire of its own.

As I closed my eyes I felt him graze his nose across my neck and leaving trails of fire from his touch. I whimpered on a breathy whisper. I was starting to slowly burn, starting to crave more.

Soon I heard cracking. Skin pressed against mine causing my eyes to flutter open. Ethan was still pressed against my neck, nuzzling it as his chest vibrated against mine.

I sighed and wrapped my arms around his back as he slowly kissed the skin; moving his way along my neck until I let out a breathy moan as he kissed a spot that sent flames throughout my body. He let out a seductive growl and kissed it harder, causing me to slightly arch into him as the sensation poured through me.

"You are mine sunshine," he murmured against my skin.

My beast rumbled in approval, I rumbled in approval. I blinked again and looked back up to see blue-green eyes staring down at me. Our breaths were heavy as we held each other's gaze for a tense moment. A moment that stirred something in me, stirred a desire that clawed out for more.

Then his lips where on mine.

His lips were on mine in a frenzy that I returned. There was nothing slow about the moment; this was raw pure animalistic desire pouring and consuming us. Tendrils of pleasure rocking through me as he moved his mouth over mine and reminded me who it belonged to.

I moaned into his mouth as he growled into his kiss. He moved his hands feverishly over me, tracing the hills that were my breasts and the valley that was my belly. My legs found their way around him and pulled him closer to me, closer to a need that seemed insatiable to fill.

He growled some more and ground his pelvis against mine; against the wetness that was already starting to pool. I let out another breathy moan as he rocked his length against me; it made me arch my back as tingles ran over my body.

"Ethan," I sighed out as he nibbled on my lips while his hand ran along the inside of my thigh until it found what it was looking for. Until fingers found what they were looking for. Until they started to trace me and toy with me; the need growled in hunger. I tugged at his silky hair as he growled into my mouth sending vibrations through me that were deliciously tantalizing.

He kissed me hard again and found the entrance of my mouth with his tongue; his tongue found the entrance of my mouth as his fingers found an entrance between my slick folds. I arched my back as my breath caught when he started to move them inside of me. He rumbled against my skin and took a nipple in his mouth, nipping at it and running his tongue around the now oversensitive nub while his fingers rocked inside of me.

I thought I was going to loose my damn mind.

He tugged at a place I wasn't even sure existed and fed the hungry animal that was my need for him. My chest rumbled as I started to grind against his hand, pushing it a little closer to a place that was begging for release.

He released my breast then moved to the next one and looked up at me wickedly. I felt my body flush some more as another rumble vibrated through his chest and through me. I tossed my head back and tugged at his hair while he continued to move his fingers around in the most deliciously tortuous way possible.

Soon his mouth was back on mine and he was moving his fingers faster with a little more need. I felt like a time bomb ready to go off as that euphoric sensation built inside of me. I rocked harder against him, kissing him as the simmering ball of fire in me grew and grew.

I let out another breathy moan as it crept closer, so damn close. Ethan kissed me hard again then kissed at my collar bone. "Let go, baby," he breathed against me.

I don't know what I was waiting for but a rush poured over me. A rush that felt like white hot fire sliding over my skin as my release rocked through me. I let out another hot breath, but I didn't have much time to recover.

His mouth was back on mine in a feverish hunger that spread to me; I was starving. The need was back. The need was back and it was so much more hungry. It was starving.

He was hard against me and all I wanted was to be entirely consumed by him. He ground against me and rubbed his fingers back over my folds drawing soft mews from my lips between kisses. He moved a hand down to my legs and wrapped it around one of my thighs, pulling me a little closer to him as he started to press against me. Our kiss broke as I felt him slip inside me, fill me, and stretch me as a moaned breath breathed off my lips to his that were just brushing against mine. I sighed a little and fluttered my eyes open as my body adjusted to him, the sensation itself seemed to stop all coherent thought as a sharp breath escaped my lips.

His eyes were burning down into mine, glowing and brewing like a damn hurricane. I felt my heart start to beat a little faster and my veins start to burn slowly brighter. His blood burned as well, reaching out to mine and making love to it like they had been lovers for a long time.

He let out another growl and kissed me hard as he started to rock against me. He was not gentle. He was not slow. He was not sweet and tender. But I didn't want him to be. We had waited damn long for this, too damn long to take this slow.

I clawed at his back and moved my hands down to his perfect ass, pushing him against me as he pulled my hips closer to him while he rocked hard against me; grinding skin against skin, slick, wet, hot, and full of a need that was demanded to be sated. I felt like I was being rocked between hungry tides; back and forth and back and forth as his length slid in and out of me.

Grunts, groans, moans, sighs, cries, and sloppy kisses while he thrust harder into me, pushing my body closer and closer to the place it was trying to reach. I thrust my hips up to meet his, I was getting hungrier, and needier for him. He was a drug that I never wanted to stop using.

Skin against skin. Lips against lips. Pleasure meeting pleasure. I was lost in him.

I was lost and I felt my fangs start to grow as the needs grew closer to being released; it was like Pandora's box filled with pleasure instead of pain that was begging to be ripped open. My neck started to throb with another need; the tingling sensation growing on it became almost unbearable.

Ethan looked down and me in a heated glance then kissed me hard before kissing his way to my neck. He growled against my skin as he kissed and sucked and licked and nipped at the tender flesh. I moaned against his shoulder as he found an area that sent a wickedly fantastic sensation over my skin. He growled some more against me as he continued to spread hot kisses over the area.

I was close. I was so close and I could feel him start to stiffen inside me. His thrusts became shorter, quicker, and more frenzied as he rolled himself into me over and over and over again. I felt him kiss my neck again before he growled against my skin and sent vibrations down my shoulder.

A breathy moan mixed with a growl of approval ripped through my lips as I felt teeth start to graze my neck. Teeth that started to test and tease the area. Teeth that drove me wild with need; they stirred something in me that had me pulling him closer into me as my eyes eyed a spot on his neck where it slopped into his shoulder. It was like I was hypnotized.

A bite.

It was just one bite.

It was one bite that broke my skin and temporarily blinded me as an almost violent orgasmic high ripped through me and pushed me to a climax that felt like it was temporarily blinding me. I wasn't even really sure what I was doing. My blood was pumping and my brain was running on my own personal ecstasy and animalistic need that seemed to override my logical thinking.

Teeth.

My teeth sunk into his neck, into the crook that sloped into his shoulder Teeth found muscle. Teeth found flesh. Teeth drew blood that tasted sweeter than red wine as it caressed my tongue. It was like a part of his soul poured into my mouth. It was like our souls reached out to each other and welded together.

I felt so much. Saw so much. In a split moment, it was like I saw everything.

I saw memories.

I saw him when he was a boy. He was running with Eli in his backyard while his dad chased them. It was spring outside and there were daffodil's in a garden where a little red-headed baby played while a younger boy built pies out of mud from the hose that his father kept squirting at him.

I saw his shift. His first shift. He was in so much pain and laying in a backyard. His father and brother sat next to him and watched. His brother kept telling him to push, push harder.

There was another memory, it was a woman. She had strawberry blonde hair, his mother. She was shooting a water hose at him in the middle of summer while he chased her and Evangeline around. Evangeline squealed as Ethan picked her up and ran with her over his shoulder; spinning them round and round and round and round.

I felt him.

I felt his fears. His fears of losing the ones he loves again. His fear of losing me and being afraid that he won't be who I deserve him to be.

I felt his love of the morning sun shining on his face and the bond he has with his beast; his beast who was fiercely loyal to him and constantly pushing him. His beast that longs to be at his rightful place in the pack. His beast that loves the feeling of tall grass under his belly when he's running through the valley they first took me hunting to. His beast that reaches out to mine like she is the only thing keeping him alive on this planet.

I felt his pain. I felt the pain when he lost his family. The pain when he held the claw up to his neck and almost took his life, and the pain he felt when he had to walk home and face the world. The pain of when he first hurt me; the look on my face felt like a hammer to his soul. The pain of seeing his brother who he looked up to laying in the dirt, unrecognizable in the pool of blood coming out from under his chest.

I felt his strength. I felt the way his beast's chest tightens before he roars and the rush of adrenaline he gets before a fight. I felt the way he pulled himself up out of his room as a teenager to help his grandparents look after his siblings and the way he dug deep into himself to unleash what was always there.

Love. I felt his rush when he first smelled me and the way his heart almost burst when he first saw me. I felt the way his lips tingled when he first kissed me and how much his nose craves the smell of my hair. I felt the joy that he gets when I make him laugh and the way he and his beast crave the challenge from me. I felt his lips spread into a grin when he saw me walking into his office, and his heart almost stop when he saw me at the party.

I felt the way he wants to hold me and care for me. The way he wanted to rip everyone down who hurt me. The way he feels when I say his name or when he's just laying next to me and how much he loves waking up to me in the morning.

I saw his anger through his eyes when Levi laid into him and I felt his realization come when he looked up at silver eyes that were my father's. I felt him embrace the man he is and who he always was, and his new need, new life, new drive to take care of his pack. His anger. Anger that he feels towards those who hurt him and the ones he loves, feeding a bloodlust that I can taste on my tongue.

His fire.

It burned through me and intertwined with mine. Two fires becoming one as souls fused together. Veins humming louder and louder and louder as the energy in them lit up like the damn sun.

I felt him pump into me one more time, riding out the wave of our climax; he stiffened inside me and released my neck with a sharp cry before settling like putty on top of me as his chest pressed against mine while deep labored breaths came out of his lips.

I released his neck and sucked in a big breath that had been taken away from me. Then another. Then another. Then another.

My mark.

My head fell back as I closed my eyes and let the air fill my lungs again. Saying I was winded, was an understatement. Tendrils of pleasure were still coursing through me, slowly fading to a simmer like embers on a fire.

God, I loved that fire.

Ethan was licking and nuzzled my neck; kissing at his mark again which made me purr. He chuckled through labored breaths against my skin then let out a hot breath against my shoulder. I sighed and pushed some of the sweaty hair out of his face while he kissed the skin of my collar bone.

He leaned up and kissed me again; long, slow, and lazily as he pulled himself out of me, leaving a sticky trail behind as he did. He smiled against my lips and kissed me again. Fingers started to brush my hair out of my face as I blinked my eyes open lazily to look up at him.

His eyes trailed the features of my faces while his fingers played with the wet tendrils of hair that framed my face. He looked at me like he had known me my whole life, like he knew every inch of my being and adored it. I leaned up and kissed him again before I leaned back and looked around while he kissed the edge of my jaw.

"Where are we?" I breathed out.

He chuckled to himself against my skin. "Our house."

"Our house?" I flickered my eyes to him as he lazily propped his face up on his fist.

"Where else did you think I would be herding you to?" he replied with a smirk.

I furrowed my brows a little. "What do you mean our house?"

"Well, sunshine where else are we going to live?" I felt my mouth open then close then open and close again. Ethan chuckled playfully then nipped at my lips. "Come on sunshine."

I eyed him curiously but he just grabbed my legs and pulled them around his waist again. He kissed me again then shook his head mischievously. "Hold on." I wrapped my arms around his neck as he sat back on his knees; our dewy bodies slid together which made me purr at the sensation. Ethan cocked his head slightly then nipped at the fresh mark on my neck. "Wait until we get inside sunshine," he murmured against my skin as he stood up. I breathed out a sigh then leaned by head on his shoulder.

He walked up quickly up a few steps then through a door into a living room scattered with boxes and a few pieces of furniture; a sofa, couch, cardboard boxes that were set up as a make-shift coffee table, and a television on a wooden credenza that looked hand made. I lifted my head up and looked around as he kept walking through the house; past the kitchen that still had shelves that needed to be finished and a half bathroom that had toilette paper on the floor still in the plastic package.

"Did you build this?" I asked as we turned and started to walk up some stairs.

"Sort of," he breathed out. I could feel his heart swell over the bond. The bond we shared now. It was insane. Right now it was still buzzed like it was drunk and starting to grow hungry again. "Eli and I actually built this, well, with my dad and granddad's help."

We turned up the landing as I pulled away from him with wide eyes. "What?"

He kissed the corner of my mouth then stepped up off the stairs. "We were going to live here, Eli and I, at the end of summer. Dad had already told us we could. We planned on Evan moving in too when he got a little older."

Shock coursed through me as we passed what looked like two bed rooms and a bathroom. I looked around at the house then back at him. A ghost smile was on his lips as he started to near a door at the end of the hall. "Ethan, are you sure? You built this back then? It looks like someone's been in here."

It did. There was still paint that looked fresh on the walls and tools laying around in various places; a screwdriver and some wood glue near a railing by the stairs, a hammer and box of nails on a little step ladder where it looked like a few framed pictures or pieces of art were leaning against the wall.

"That's because I've been in here sunshine."

"What?" I breathed out again as he walked through the door.

He opened the door with one hand as the smell of pine and summer air rushed through. He kissed my shoulder and smiled. "I've been coming out here little by little since you came. I guess more so after the council meeting, I was kind of in a rush to get things at least livable in here for us. I figured you wouldn't want to live with my siblings. It's kind of why I was a little MIA. I was just a little too focused on getting our den together," he said while he set me down.

I was pretty sure my mouth was still wide. I turned around as he wrapped his warms around my waist and kissed my crown. It was perfect.

There were boxes around everywhere, but I didn't care. There was a king-sized bed with a hand-carved wooden frame in the center of the left wall that ran to the windows in front of us. The wall in front of us was all big windows; one was slid open in front of the other, a sliding door that opened up to the outside.

I walked forwards towards the view that almost took my breath away. There was a balcony with a railing made of cedar outside and a lawn chair. It looked over the whole pack. A few trees were thinned out in front of us, lining the edge of the house so it nestled safely in a little cove, but the view was still insanely gorgeous.

The house wasn't very far away, just on the edge of the other cabins. You could see the whole valley from here, the mountain ranges, the rooftops of other cabins, wolves running throughout the night, and I could even make out some of the sparring rings in the distance.

I felt Ethan walk up behind me and wrap his arms around my torso before he kissed my shoulder. I had no words. No words at all. "This is beautiful." I leaned back against his chest a little and sighed. "Are you sure?"

"Baby," he sighed out. "This is our home. This is our pack. This is where we are going to live until we are old and wrinkly before they have to spread our ashes under the tree." I turned around slowly to him as he cupped my face. His thumb traced my bottom lip while another hand slid around my waist. I shivered a little. The bond was licking its lips; it needed to be fed.

He leaned down and kissed me slowly, letting out a sigh as he did. He pulled away for a moment and leaned his forehead against mine. "I love you, Charlotte. I love you and I all want to spend the rest of our days up here building a life together."

My breath left me as my eyes snapped up to him. My heart stilled. My heart stilled because I could feel it. I could feel it over the bond, feel his love for me pouring out of him and around me. It was like water tugging me into a warm bath; my breath hitched in the back of my throat, and for a second I didn't know if I would catch it again.

I leaned up and kissed him. Kissed him and let my feelings pour over the bond, the bond that seemed to be sparking like electricity between us. "I love you too Ethan," I whispered against his lips.

I said it and I knew it was more than true. I knew that what I felt for him was something I wouldn't feel for anyone else or want to feel for anyone else. He was mine. My mate. Mine even when we walked to the moon together.

He smiled into my kiss as his chest started to vibrate a little. "Let's go break in our house sunshine."