Knox’s POV

A month has passed since Sophia and I shared our first kiss. We still have not mated yet, but we were getting there. However, let’s just say that going to bed was a lot more fun. Making out was such a turn on, who knew.

Other things in our lives have definitely improved as well. Ella is pretty much back to her normal self. All of their casts have come off and physically they are both all healed. Something that I was very happy about.

Ella has joined Noah at the pack school. And she has made a few friends, all girls, since Noah won’t let a boy near her. Jane was right, the apple doesn’t fall far from that tree.

I was sitting in my office catching up on some pack business, trying to focus. But it is impossible. My thoughts keep drifting back to Sophia…and how much I wanted to claim her as mine. Rafe was growing impatient as he wanted his mate. We still needed to have the talk about her wanted to go through the change or not. My first mate refused and I was okay with that, but for some reason if Sophia refused, well that bothered me, deeply.

We both realized that she was still scared, but each night it was getting more and more difficult resisting her. She smelled so sweet and I couldn’t wait to taste her.

Oh man, just thinking about her had me hard. I leaned back in my chair and palmed my dick, hell it was going to fall off if I didn’t get some release soon. There were only so many cold showers a man could take.

The door swung opened as Sophia waltzed in. Guilty I sat up quickly in my seat so that she didn’t see what my hand was doing.

“Hey baby, what brings you by? I thought you were with Jane?”

“I was but she had to do some pack stuff so I figured I would come see you. Is that okay?”

“Yes, you never need a reason to come here, my door is always open to you.”

“Oh, um okay. It just looked like you were busy. I didn’t want to interrupt you.”

Well shit. She did see me. “Never. So what’s up?”

“Well the kids and I were going to head to the lake and I didn’t know if you could join us?”

“I would love to.”

The kids barreled in rearing to go. The lake has become our special hang out, a place where we were first together as a family. Calling for one of the warriors to carry the kids, we shifted. Sophia climbed on me and Noah and Ella climbed on him, and raced off to the lake.

After spending the hour running and playing we packed up our stuff to head back home. I called for John, the warrior, to return. As I reached down to pick up the blanket, my body froze. Lifting my nose into the air I smelled…rogues. Shifting I called for my Beta.

Alex!

Yes Alpha

Rogues…by the lake. Hurry I have Sophia and the kids with me.

We are on our way.

I knew it would take them at least 10 minutes to get to us and I didn’t know how many rogues were headed my way. Nudging I pushed Sophia and the kids behind me, with the lake to our backs. They knew instantly that something was wrong, and she was terrified as she held onto the children.

Three wolves jumped out of the tree line to our left and two more from the right. How the hell did 5 rogues get onto my land unnoticed? Patrol should have spotted this group. Oh heads are going to roll…

The three from the left charged me at once. Letting out a growl I prepared for their attack. The first one to hit me was easily tossed to the left, hitting a tree and falling to the ground unconscious. Pathetic. The second and the third began circling me, planning out their attack. Before they could I grabbed the one on the left and quickly pinned him to the ground tearing out his throat.

The third wolf jumped on my back snapping his jaws, aiming for my neck. Not happening today pup. Using my hind legs I pushed off sending us both backwards, landing on our backs. Jumping up I prepared for another attack.

The wolves regrouped, growling and snapping at me. I stood strong…waiting.

Alex, where the hell are you?

3 minutes Alpha

Glancing over to my family, Sophia was assisting the kids as the climbed into the trees. Smart women. Wolves are not great tree climbers.

Turning around I faced off the wolves. All three ran directly at me, the first aimed for my front legs and I was able to knock him to the side, the second wolf grabbed ahold of my back leg and bit down.

Shit…that hurt. As I tried to shake him off my leg, the third one took aim for my neck. Before his jaws latched on, he yelped and fell off to my side, leaving me the opportunity shake the other wolf off me.

To my side Sophia stood with a large tree branch which she must have used to hit the wolf on my back.

Stupid women. What the hell does she think she is doing?

Standing up, I put myself in front of her. There was no way they were going to get to her.

Just then Alex, John and three other warriors sprung out of the tree line. They easily took down the remaining wolves.

Sophia fell to the ground, shaking as she ran her hands over my body. “Are you okay?”

Nodding my head, she wrapped her arms around my neck.

Alpha, 4 wolves are dead. What do you want with the one that is still unconscious?

Take him to the cells, we will question him later.

Yes Alpha.

Alex, take Noah and Ella back to Jane. We will be along shortly. Have patrol do an extra sweep as well.

Of Course Alpha

Alex helped the kids out of the tree and then shifted again for them to ride on his back. The warriors carried the other wolf behind them.

Nudging out from Sophia’s death grip on me, I scooted back and shifted. Not caring that I was naked, I grabbed for her and pulled her to my lap.

“Shh baby…you are safe now. I have you.”

She seemed to be holding up, but I wasn’t sure for how long. This type of violence was a part of our world, but for a human it wasn’t. Especially a human who was abused. Shit, I should have been more aware of my surroundings. The rogues should have never gotten this close to us in the first place. Dammit! What the hell was wrong with patrol? They fucked up that was for sure. This will not go unpunished, that is…

“Hey, calm down…I can hear the wheels spinning from here.”

Sophia’s voice knocked me out of my internal ranting. She was staring up into my eyes…and she seemed…fine? What? I expected my little mate to be terrified, instead she had a huge smile gracing her face.

“Soph? Are you okay?”

“Yes silly, of course I am okay. Why wouldn’t I be?

“Um…well we were just attacked by rogues.”

“I know that, but why wouldn’t I be okay? I put the kids in the tree because I remember you telling me that wolves cannot climb. Was I wrong?”

“No, no. That was smart on your part, we are horrible climbers, that is unless we shift back to human form, but then we are more vulnerable. I was just concerned for your safety.”

“Oh, you are expecting me to fall apart aren’t you? Well first off, you were here and I knew that you had called in reinforcements. And I also knew that you would never let anything happen to me so in reality we were essentially fine. Once I got the kids to safety I was even better, I just had to remain calm. I knew you had everything handled, but I didn’t want that beast to hurt you so I grabbed the tree branch and swung with all my might. I am not totally useless you know. I was more pissed that our day was ruined than what happened.”

Throwing my head back I laughed, “Oh baby, you are far from useless. I am so proud of you. You did everything correct, well except coming to help me. I did have everything under control, your safety is THE most important thing. If you got hurt, well that is not something I could live with. Next time, climb in the tree with the kids. And thank you for your faith in me to protect you, you don’t know what that means to me”

“Yeah, not going to happen superman, I am your mate and I will always stand by your side. So get used to it. I am a lot stronger than I look. Well I am getting stronger, you make me want to be stronger. Now let’s head home to make sure the kids are okay.”

Did I mention my mate was amazing? Well she is.

After shifting, Sophia climbed on my back and we headed home. Damn how did I get so lucky? Here I was worried she was going to breakdown, instead she was fine and pissed our day got ruined? I am glad she was getting stronger. The more time she was here, the more confident she became. She was going to make a wonderful Luna, now all I had to do was convince her to be turned…