Fingers were drawing circles on my back. Small circles that left trails of flames in their path.

I could feel my beast start to wake up and yawn out from a peaceful sleep. We had slept well, better than we had slept in a long time. A deep sleep without nightmares, whispers, or tormenting dreams.

The only torment right now were the fingers drawing circles on my back, stirring up a feeling in my belly that seemed like a bottomless pit. A feeling that we both sated over and over and over again only to crave more. We had been out here so far for a day and a half; last night was the first night we actually slept. Well, after he caught me rummaging through the refrigerator which was the epitome of bachelordom; peanut butter, beer, milk, bacon, and spaghetti sauce; but hey, there was some wine. We ended up breaking in the kitchen island after that, then the counter, then the shower before he carried me back to bed where he apparently was holding me 'hostage' indefinitely.

I fluttered my eyes open to see Ethan looking down at me through his thick lashes. I sighed against his chest and smiled sleepily before a yawn surprisingly tore out of my lips. His chest vibrated before he dipped down to kiss me.

"Morning sunshine."

"Morning," I sighed out. I turned my head a little and looked out the windows. The sun was started to gently pour through the windows; morning was indeed here and a new day was upon us. "We should get up," I mused softly.

He stirred and started to run his fingers through through my hair. It made me purr against his chest. His chest vibrated some more as he let out a long breath. "We could."

I looked back at him with a raised brow to only get innocent eyes looking back at me. "Ethan," I playfully warned. He dramatically sighed before his eyes flickered to me deviously. Before I knew what was happening, I was on my back with him looking down at me with a sly grin. "Ethan?"

He dipped down and kissed me softly, drawing a purr from my lips, distracting me. I sighed a little and tilted my head up to reach him. He tugged on my bottom lip while his legs slid in between mine. He let out a low rumble and started to kiss his way down my jaw until he reached the mark on my neck, making my body swirl as he ran his tongue over it.

"Ethan," I breathed out.

"Mmm?" I murmured against my neck as he continued to slowly assault it.

"We have pack things to do, and your brother–"

"Sunshine," he growled softly as he nipped at my earlobe. "Now is not the time to talk about my brother, besides," he murmured against my lips before he kissed me. I felt a familiar wetness start to pool between my legs as he rubbed his hardness against me. I let out a breathy sigh into his lips as he kissed me again. "We have things to do."

Before I could reply, he slipped himself inside of me. Into territory that was so familiar yet so new and unexplored. Needless to say, Ethan I didn't leave the bed until well into the morning when I convinced him that I needed a shower.

We didn't leave the shower until there was only cold water pouring down our backs.

"Hey, Ethan?"

"Ya sunshine?" he said as he shook his wet hair on my from the shower.

I squealed and smacked him playfully as I tried to wring my own hair out. "How did you get out of that collar?"

Ethan shrugged. "I saw Andrea marching furiously towards your cabin then the next thing I knew the same kid that put this on me was taking it off. He said that Andrea cleared you and, I quote, 'beta Everette please don't rip my throat out or let Charlotte rip my fangs out I was just doing my job.'"

I felt my mouth drop slightly. "What?"

Ethan chuckled and kissed the crown of my wet hair before kissing my bare shoulder. "I thought it was humorous. Poor kid."

"I was so terrified when I couldn't you, you know," I murmured.

He kissed my bare shoulder then pushed some wet hair away. "I'm sorry baby," he whispered against my skin before kissing me again. "He was more in control then. I was so thirsty and just wanted to be somewhere safe where I could wash all that damn blood off. I was too tired to fight him."

"You didn't seem that tired," I grumbled as I continued to squeeze the water out of my hair with a towel.

Ethan's chest vibrated behind me as his lips kissed right below my mark. "Sunshine I will never be too tired for you."

I looked over at him with a raised brow before I smiled tiredly. As much as I wanted to just spend the day like how we had spent the night, we both knew we had to talk about things, sort through things, but in our nest, it was nice to avoid for a moment. A moment that was abruptly broken when there was banging on the front door.

I pulled on one of Ethan's shirts while he dried the dripping droplets out of his hair with a towel. He snapped up growling then started to march down the stairs with me hotly behind him. My beast stirred and shook her fur out.

More banging.

Ethan snarled while my chest rumbled. He pushed me behind a counter in the kitchen while he eyed the front door for a moment then let out a groan. "Shit."

"What? What is it?" I asked as he reached for a pair of shorts that he had lost in the kitchen at some point yesterday.

"My brother," he grumbled. He tugged the shorts on then let out a grouchy grumble. "And Ryder."

I bit back a laugh and leaned against the counter. "Well, let's go see what he wants."

Ethan rolled his eyes then padded to what I found out was the back door. Apparently, there was a whole other living room on the other side of the stairs that looked out over the valley like our balcony. He said he and Eli were going to make it the ultimate bachelor pad with a hot tub and pool table at one point. I was just glad that we had a broken in leather couch and a couple of boxes for a make-shift coffee table.

"Well good morning brother," Evan said with a shit eating grin as Ethan opened the door.

"You smell like sex!" Ryder called from behind Evan.

Ethan growled lowly which only made Ryder laugh while Evan just bit back an amused grin. Evan looked past Ethan and waved at me. "Hey, little sister!"

My cheeks flushed as I walked to the refrigerator. I pulled out some coffee then walked over to the coffee pot he apparently got when he realized that I loved coffee almost as much as my damn wolf.

"Well?" Evan asked slyly. "Aren't you going to invite us in?"

Ethan groaned then stood out of the way. Evan walked straight to me with a shit-eating grin that made me roll my eyes. He hugged me before kissing my cheek with a wink.

"Well Char, at least I brought the goods," Ryder said as he set a few cooler like totes on the island.

"Ryder can stay babe," I called out to Ethan who was walking about with an annoyed scowl on his face.

Ryder chuckled while Evan faked a mock hurt. "Sister, you wound me."

"I'm about to wound you," Ethan grumbled out.

Evan rolled his eyes a little. "Well, I thought that we get everyone caught up on what the hell has been happening here since you two came up here to the love shack."

Ryder bit back a laugh as he started to open the bag as did I. Ethan started to fill the coffee pot up with water while he muttered a string of curses under his breath while he poured the water in then started to scoop some coffee of a carton of Foldger's I had pulled out as he let out a tired sigh. "Alright let's hear it."

He shut the lid and hit a button that made the Mr. Coffeepot start to gurgle; then walked back over to me and pulled over to him so I was leaning with my back against his chest while he rested his hand on my hip.

Evan sighed while Ryder started to unpack various item, mostly dishes that Derek had made and packed up for us, and started to shove them into the refrigerator like it was a game of Tetris. "Well, first off Thomas has been laying low the last few days as have Miranda and their pups."

"Do they know we're up here?" I asked.

Evan shook his head. "I think he knows you're together, well I think everyone knows," he said with a knowing smile. I let out a flushed breath while Ethan grumbled. "Anyways, they don't know. We've had patrols out here and they haven't seen anything suspicious, but I assume they will find out soon."

"Let them, I wouldn't watering our yard with his blood," Ethan practically hissed out.

Evan nodded in agreement. "Don't know how good that will be for those rose bushes Derek planted."

"There are rose bushes?" I asked over my shoulder.

Ethan smiled and nodded. "Derek said we needed some color so I let him go crazy with the plants."

I felt my cheeks warm while Evan made a mock throwing up sound as Ryder just laughed. Ethan just rolled his eyes then looked back at Evan. "What about Larissa?" he asked calmly even though I could detect the venom in his voice.

"Punishment still to be determined..." Evan's voices trailed off as my chest rumbled. Ethan rubbed my hip, settling me but the anger I had towards her wasn't going away. Evan sighed a little and shrugged while Ryder put the last of the food in the refrigerator. "Andrea's still pushing for you two to decide."

Ethan's chest vibrated and shook through my body. I knew he was angry but the feeling was anything but angry as it rocked through me. "Alright, what about Andrea and Billy?"

"Andrea is fine, feeling much better. Billy has a good grip on the warriors. There's a good chunk of loyalists to Thomas but I think with the right reasoning they can be swayed," Evan answered. "A lot of them have already flipped since this bullshit happened, especially the mated ones. You need to speak with them, as does Charlotte."

Ethan mused for a bit. "Agreed. What else? Rogue search? Witnesses?"

"Well, Sam talked to a woman who saw the attack at Char's. She gave us a description of them but she didn't see them come in. She just saw them there when it was happening, she said she ran back to her bathroom to get her mate to help. Apparently, she linked some patrols who passed it to Thomas. But by the time her mate and her came back from the bathroom the rogues were gone. She said that her mate actually went outside and tried to sniff around when you can, but he couldn't find anything or anyone."

Ethan rumbled a little and moved his hand over my belly. "No one else?"

Evan shook his head. "All the other neighbors seem to know nothing. Billy talked to that old warrior who he thought saw something ten years ago but the wolf is real skittish. Billy's going to send Andrea probably tomorrow to see if she can talk to him.

"Levi and Lander got a lead though, apparently there was a pack member whose parents were on his territory when rogues came there. According to him, the gammas said that they're parents freaked out when they asked them about it. They are on vacation and should be back in a few days, when they get back Lander is going to go with Claire to question them."

"That's good news," I replied a little hopefully. My beast agreed. Scared wolves like that, they had something to hide. Secrets. We could only hope they had the answers we needed.

"Other good news, Remi and I think we have a lead on why the scent is always gone," Ryder announced proudly.

Ethan's chest stiffened from behind me while my wolf perked up. "Well?" Ethan asked as the coffee pot started to beep as it finished brewing the dark liquid that made the house smell a little more homey.

I stood away from Ethan while he pulled out some cups and poured us two cups while Ryder dug around in one of the bags. Ethan started to mix cream and sugar in mine, handing it to me with a chaste kiss before walking to stand next to me in front of the island. Ryder finally found what he was looking for then proceeded to toss out a handful of black porous rocks in front of us.

Ethan I both looked back at Ryder skeptically while he stood a bit taller, clearly proud of himself. I sipped my coffee then looked back at Ryder who picked one of them up with a pleased smile. "Ryder they're rocks," I said dryly.

He rolled his eyes and handed it to me. "Obviously, but these are special rocks."

Ethan looked down and muttered something before sharply looking back at Ryder. "Ryder..." his voice trailed off in low annoyance.

"Ok, ok," Ryder said in surrender. "So, we looked everywhere for something. Seriously Remi and I have probably tore up an absurd amount of land. We could always smell this faint, um, whisper if you will. It was weird because in patches we would really smell it and then it would be gone."

"Remi's been in our land?" I asked with a raised brow.

Ryder chuckled with a nod. "That wolf is too damn fast for anyone to catch him. Don't worry about him Char.

"Anyways, so one day Remi had the idea that we should take something with a rogue scent on it and drop it in one of the places where Char had seen them. Lucky for us, Levi and Lander had gone to Wal-Mart that day and saw three that they proceeded to bring home us to use."

"How?" I asked while Ryder gave me an innocent shrug.

"Char what do you think?" he replied with a chuckle.

I shook my head into my coffee cup as Ethan slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me into him. It calmed my beast that was starting to get antsy. Ethan kissed my hair then nodded again at Ryder who was tossing the rock around between his hands.

"Anyways, it was not the most efficient process, but we dropped the pieces then chased the scent. It took us hours. At first, it would go so fast that it had Remi, Bowie, and I were totally stumped. We were over at that spot where they took that kid near out near our line, and I mean, I think I wanted to ram my head into all those rocks it was so frustrating.

"Eventually, though we traced it to these spots and we were hella confused because there was nothing there but these rocks, which we thought nothing of until we noticed that they were in another spot we tested.

"So yesterday Jake and I went to two other spots on our land and dropped some pieces and sure enough these little bastards were right where the damn scent was being sucked towards."

I looked down at the rock and picked it up. My beast perked up a little as we looked at it. "I've seen these. I remember seeing these."

"What?" Ethan looked over at me then at the rock in my palm before he picked it up and examined it.

I sipped my coffee and nodded. "I remember kicking it around one of the times I saw them. I think I was with Evangeline. I remember I saw them again, I think I was with you. I didn't think anything though, I mean, it's a rock and it doesn't smell like anything."

"That's just surface level, smell it," Ryder said with an amused smile. I picked one up and started to smell it while Ethan did as well. We both looked at each other then back to Ryder who just rolled his eyes. "No, you idiots, like really smell the damn thing."

I rumbled then held the rock under my nose. I closed my eyes and let her come closer, a lot closer. She sniffed and sniffed and sniffed. We were getting frustrated, but I pushed a little harder. She let out a hot breath in the back of my mind then pushed closer. We were deep in concentration when it hit us. When it really hit us.

The scent.

It was faint but it smelled foul. Foul and like it was decaying, like a damn rogue. I released the stone with a snarl and looked back at Ryder with wide eyes. An infuriated growl tore Ethan's chest as he dropped the stones like they had burned his hand.

"Holy shit," I breathed out. "How?"

Ryder shrugged. "We don't know. We've sent them to Lander to see if those cooky ass witches know. It's a powerful form of magic. It has to be. It's sucking up the scent like a sponge and hard to trace.

"Actually, and I don't think anyone noticed until we looked into it, but it sucks up all the scent of an area that it's in. In some of the spots we were in you could barely smell the grass or leaves, but it has a capacity. Like a sponge, it can only go until it's full. We've been testing them out for the last few days while we wait back to hear from the witches.

"Remi and I got a lot of them and dropped them around random things besides those rogues Levi tore up, like a cup of coffee. A few worked more than others, which made us think that maybe it was like a sponge. You know? Like some can suck up more because they are still not to capacity while other's have no room for anything extra, kinda like a sponge and water."

"Where all have you found these?" Ethan asked a little tensely.

Evan sighed and looked up at Ethan warily. "Well, besides where Char saw the rogues, they were at the spot where she and Andrea were attacked, Levi found them around his house, we actually found some outside around Char's house and quite a few inside, some pushed under the couches–"

"What?" Ethan hissed out.

Evan nodded grimly. "Ethan we didn't just find them there, they are scattered over the pack line. The worst part is some of them are older, they look dull and faded almost graying. Bowie thinks that–" he paused and let out a sharp breath, "he thinks that those were there from the attack, they found them all over Tikanni too."

The next thing I knew I was chasing after Ethan. I threw myself in front of the door, blocking him and a wave of rage from leaving. "Ethan calm down." His eyes were burning with a furious fire. He looked at me, then over the door, then at me, then over the door. I snarled at him. "Ethan you may be my mate but I will beat your ass down if you try to walk out of here and do what I know you're wanting to do."

He turned and pulled at his hair then let out a hot breath as the hair on the back of his neck settled. I let out a relieved sigh and walked over to him; my hand ran up his tense back. He turned to me and pulled me against his chest, close to the skin that his wolf was ready to break out of. "I'm sorry, you're right," he murmured into my hair.

He rumble then pulled me back to the kitchen where Evan gave me a sympathetic smile. Ethan went back to his coffee and took a long sip. "Do we think they are trying to invade?"

Ryder shook his head. "I don't think so. The older rocks were scattered in more organized rows across the lines if you will. I have no idea how we or anyone missed it, it seems so obvious now." He sighed tiredly and looked back at the stones. "Right now they are just in a few patches, but I think you were right before Ethan, I think they are testing the borders.

"Tikanni is the same. Nothing new but a few areas, but the older ones are in more planned areas. It looks like there's a good amount of the older ones around the territory from back then."

"I want them gone, every last one of them. Pick them all up," Ethan firmly ordered.

Evan nodded. "We've got our patrols on it. They know if they see them to stop and get them. We can't get them all brother, I mean look at them. It's so easy to miss, hell, we've missed them–but we are trying, like I said the patrols are trying to pick them up as they go. We have them all cleaned up around Char's and Levi's."

"Good," Ethan breathed out before he took another long sip of coffee. He pulled me over to him again and wrapped an arm around my waist. "What else?"

Evan shook his head. "Nothing yet. Derek said the vamps in the region are getting wary."

"Shit," Ethan hissed. "That's the last thing we need."

"No shit," Evan agreed.

Ethan nodded. "What about dad's office?"

Evan rocked his head back and forth. "You would know more than me, you spent more time in there. I say we go, but right now we have to be careful. There are a lot of eyes on the pack house, on you two. If we go it has to be at night and in time for us to air it out before morning."

"We could do that," Ethan mused. "What do you think we should be looking for?"

"Anything," Evan replied before he bit down on his bottom lip as his brows furrowed a little.

"What about Thomas?" Ryder asked carefully. "You can't stay up here forever Ethan. You're still technically the beta and a good chunk of the pack is already starting to feel the challenge coming."

Ethan sighed and rubbed his face. Evan tugged at his hair and shrugged a little. "Brother it looks like there's two options. One, you challenge him now. We all know you would win, and you have enough with the rogues to do it."

"But then we wouldn't be able to get him on the attack, if he was actually involved," Ethan sighed out. I rubbed his arm as he warred with himself. His beast wanted blood; he was close to tearing out of his skin and having it. "I'll kill him, Evan. I will kill him and probably the rest of them."

I shivered; It was a promise not a threat. Thomas was eventually going to die, it was just a matter of when. I sighed and leaned into Ethan, nuzzling his side to calm him down.

"So option two, we have to play the game. Lay low, kiss ass, as much as I hate it, and just keep digging." My beast rumbled as Evan paused before looking back at Ethan and I. "We have to find out where these rogues are coming from and if it is what happened before. I feel like we're close, I know we are, we just need a little more time. If we take him out now, we may lose the trail; or worse, if he gets too nervous, he may destroy anything he has.

"If it gets worse, though, if something happens, then do it. I don't want to see Char or anyone else get hurt anymore. I think we have enough of the pack on our side now that a challenge, while it would be rough on them, it would still blow over in a few months."

Ethan's chest shook as an icy growl flowed through it. "Better find it soon, I don't know how much longer my beast and I can hold out. He wants his damn throat and I do too."

"As do I," I added with a rumble of agreement following my words.

"Speaking of him," Evan started to slowly say calmly, breaking the tension in the air that was caused from the slow burning anger coming off Ethan. "Jake has been schmoozing Amber. He said we owe him big time for it, but he thinks in a week or so he may be able to get her drunk at a party and see if she'll start talking. I know that they have the initiation for new members soon, there's usually a party after, I think it's in a week? Maybe then?" Evan said hopefully.

Ethan groaned. "I assume we have to be there?"

"You're still the beta brother, unless something happens between now and then, then yes. It look odd if you weren't."

"What if you broke into your dad's office then?" I mused a little.

Ethan looked over me with a cocked brow as he started to raise his coffee cup to his lips. I rocked my head back and forth a bit. "Think about it, the pack house will be swarming with wolves, tons of scents. First off, Thomas and Miranda will be too distracted to notice. Secondly, your scent would be easy to cover, I mean there's going to be a ton of other scents in there and if you leave a window open then it should be fine. You just slip out during the party after everyone has had a few drinks in them, search, and come back; you could play it off like you were in the bathroom or something.

"Hell, if those rocks really work, why don't you take some with you and just scatter them in there as well? I mean, the ones that aren't 'full' so to speak."

"Have I told you how much I love you this morning?" Ethan said with a sly smiled.

My cheeks flushed as I smiled into my glass. Evan just rolled his eyes while Ryder mock vomited. Ethan chuckled and shrugged into his cup unapologetically.

"It's a good plan," Evan said as he sighed. "Alright, unless we find anything, then we wait until then. If we wait long enough that night everyone will be drunk and no one will notice."

"Also, Lyanna is right about Aaron," Ryder added.

Ethan cocked his head a little. "What do you mean?"

Evan sighed. "Well, remember me telling you how Evangeline and Lyanna thought it was odd that Aaron goes to being submissive to the point he was about to piss himself around you to just openly challenging you?"

Ethan nodded with a sly smile. "Not like it was a bad thing."

"I did like my scalp," I added as a coy smile tugged at lips while Ethan chuckled slightly darkly.

He kissed my crown and nodded. "I liked your scalp too."

Evan rolled his eyes while Ryder just bit back an amused smile. "Anyways, it doesn't make sense. So we've had our guys trailing both of them and the ones on Arron noticed it. They said he goes from this confident ass to being close to peeing his pants scared."

"He does like Lyanna though," Ryder added which earned him a dark snarl from Evan. I cocked my brow at Ryder while Evan let out an angry breath. Ryder shrugged a little innocently. "He's chatted with her a few times in the sparring rings. She said that he seems torn up over something, almost isolated."

"He did look like he felt guilty when Thomas came to the house when Andrea woke up," I added.

Ethan took a sip of his coffee before looking at Ryder then Evan. "Think he would talk to her?"

"Out of the question," Evan bit out.

Ethan sighed and nodded. "I understand but we need to get him talking."

Evan let out a low growl. "Not with my mate."

"Why don't we hit up Larissa and Amber first? If we get something useful we may not have to even bother with Aaron," I injected calmly.

Evan seemed to visibly relax and nodded while Ethan mused a little then looked over at Evan. "What did Levi say to do about Larissa?"

Evan chuckled. "Exact words, 'tail her for a few days then when Ethan gets out of that collar, let my girl have at her.'"

Ethan laughed a little darkly while my beast rumbled in approval. "I think I need some more fangs."

He squeezed my side playfully. "Why? Going to start a collection?"

"I was thinking that Andrea would want a necklace," I replied with devious innocence.

The boys laughed and Ethan kissed my shoulder. My beast stirred  as the bond started to sizzle a little. I didn't know how many more of these kisses and touches I could take before I would drag him back upstairs.

"Trail Larissa for a few more days then we'll decide how we want to question her," Ethan said as he raised his cup to his mouth. He took a sip then set it down while his fingers trailed the rim as he fell into what looked like a sea of flustered thoughts. "There has to be more, there has to be a trail."

I nodded in agreement. I felt like we are so close to what we needed. So damn close that it was probably right in front of us. I sighed and scratched at my head.

Ethan looked into his cup that was now empty before looking up to Evan again. "It may have been in the past but there has to be something. Someone has to know something."

I felt realization hit me. I snapped my eyes to Evan's who widened as understanding came to him. He shook his head. "No Char, it's tense right now. You need to let things cool down."

"Ev, we're running out of time, we need to do it now. Tonight."

"Do what?" Ethan's eyes bore into more before he flickered them to Evan who was starting to nervously bite the inside of his lip.

"The tree," I replied. "We need to go to the tree. It showed me things last time, things from that day. What if it can show us more?"

"Do you really think it will?" Ryder asked a little skeptically.

"It's whispered to me for a reason, I don't see what it could hurt?"

"I don't know Char," Evan said doubtfully. "I am sure it will but right now, Char right now it's tense. Hell, Ethan will most likely kill Thomas next time he sees them, you two sneaking around isn't a good idea."

"We have to Ev, we don't have time to wait around," I replied a little more firmly.

Ethan sighed and looked over at me. "What did it show you last time?"

I bit my lip as I thought back to the memories. I felt him press around in my mind for the bond and while I knew he had the vague outline of what I saw, he didn't know the vivid details.

I let him in, though. I let him in and sent the images of what I saw, everything that I saw, flash to him over our bond–our link. It was some very trippy, but very useful shit this mate bond. It was also a tool that my wolf had devious plans for later, to torture Ethan of course.

Ethan stilled as his eyes widened in realization. "What?" he breathed out.

I felt my heart twist as I nodded. "I felt it too Ethan."

He let out a sharp breath then looked over at Evan. "Get some ash to make the mud that dad used to use. We'll do it in the back by the hose."

"Mud?" I asked as Evan nodded a little reluctantly back to Ethan.

Ethan sighed and toyed with the edge of his coffee cup. "Dad used to make this mud that you could slather over yourself. It was a way to hide your scent. We used it sometimes when we were hunting. He said a few times when there were battles they used it."

"And we're using it because?"

"Because we are going out to that damn tree sunshine and I don't want anyone to trail us," he replied before flickering his eyes to me. I felt how unsettled he was. My beast whined as I nodded. It needed to be done.

"Alright," I breathed out. "When?"

"Tonight," he said firmly. "Last patrols are around two, right?"

Evan nodded. "Two on the dot and they should be done by three. It's the late shift so I wouldn't be surprised if they're done earlier."

Ethan nodded a little and scratched at his scruff that was starting to grow. I liked it, as did my beast. It made him look damn sexy. "We go at three then. Moon's a crescent tonight, so we should have some cover."

"You're sure?" Evan asked a little cautiously.

"Yes, we need to see. I don't know if it will help at all but it seems like it can't hurt."

"Yes it can," I mumbled to myself. "The truth from that tree seems to always hurt."