My eyes fluttered open, the bright light shining in through the tiny crack in the curtain causing them to sting. I yawned, looking around the room, noticing my mate asleep next to me, his arm dangling over my stomach, a slight snore escaping from his mouth.

Chuckling, I pushed the covers off of me, padding my way across the room and hopping in the shower, smiling to myself as the boiling hot water cascaded down my body, bringing back memories of last night.

I hadn't imagined finally sleeping with Dylan to feel so good, but it was beyond anything I could have imagined. The way he kissed down the insides of my legs, teasing me, leaving me squirming underneath him. The way Dylan's muscles felt underneath my hands was mesmerising, slightly tensing and untensing every time I made a sound.

I was worried my Father had heard, and I knew that conversation would be very embarrassing, worried he would have a few things to say about 'safety'.

I stepped out of the shower, gasping as Dylan stood smirking at me on the other side of the curtain, causing me to jump.

"You scared me," I mumbled as I shook my head, squealing as Dylan picked me up, placing his hands underneath my bare backside and hoisting me up so my legs were wrapped around his waist.

"You're so beautiful," whispered my mate as he pressed his lips to mine, kissing me passionately, his tongue exploring my mouth, causing me to moan. He spun around, placing me on the bathroom counter, pressing his body against mine as he placed gentle kisses down my neck, his hands massaging my back.

"My Dad is going to hear us," I laughed, gently pushing Dylan away, causing him to huff, chuckling.

"You didn't seem to care last night."

Scoffing, I shook my head, hopping off the counter and rummaging through my draws, raking my paddle brush through my hair. "I want to visit your pack today."

"Today?" asked Dylan from the shower, peeking his head out from behind the curtain.

"Is that okay? Is there time?"

Dylan squinted his eyes, thinking for a second before nodding, a smile making its way up onto his face. "I have to be back by four for my training session, but if we leave soon, we should have time."

I was nervous about meeting Dylan's Mother, worried that she may not like me, but I wanted to get it over and done with, knowing it would be one less thing on my mind, reducing the amount of stress I was feeling right now.

After pulling on a pair of ripped jeans and a red knitted sweatshirt, I made my way down to Jared's room, peeking through the door to see my brother sound asleep, his face calm and peaceful, causing me to smile sadly.

"Are you going out?"

I whirled around at my Father's voice, sighing as I ran my hands through my damp hair. "Yeah, I'm going to visit Dylan's pack for a few hours, but I'll be back later."

"Okay, Jared woke up last night and made himself some food, which is a very good sign. I think he's starting to feel more like himself," stated my Father, smiling down at me.

"I'm glad he's getting better, I can't stand seeing him like this," I replied, shutting Jared's door fully, just in case our conversation woke him.

"How are you feeling though, Clara? You went through a lot."

I sighed, shaking my head. "I'm just happy everyone's alive."

"Except Sawyer," growled my Father, shaking his head.

"I can't believe she killed him, Dad, and she showed no emotion about it either."

"I know, Clara," said my Father, cupping both of my cheeks, looking deeply into my eyes, "but we don't need her anymore. We are so much better off without her."

"When she found out what Sawyer had done to us, she got mad; it was almost as if she didn't want us to get hurt, but I don't know, she may have just been angry that he was wasting his time with us," I mumbled, furrowing my brows, confused.

My father let go of me, sighing, shaking his head. "I don't know what to say, all I know is we've survived this long without her, and we will continue to do it."

"How did you all find us? I've asked Dylan multiple times but he keeps dodging the question."

"There you are," said Dylan, making his way down the stairs, freshly showered and dressed. "We can have brunch at mine; my Mother makes a mean mushroom and ham omelette."

"Um, yeah, okay," I replied as I made my way down the corridor, looking back to see Dylan and my my Father exchanging a tense look, nodding quickly before following me.

"You can drive my car if you'd like," suggested my Father, throwing his car keys over to Dylan, who quickly caught them, nodding as a 'thank you'.

"Ready?" asked Dylan as we both pulled on our shoes, politely opening the door for me.

We walked towards the pack garage in silence for a few minutes, twiddling with my fingers nervously as my heart started to palpitate in my chest.

"Are you okay, baby? You look nervous."

I sighed, shaking my head. "Yeah, I am nervous, but I also want to know how you found me, it's a pretty simple question, and you always avoid it."

"You're my mate, of course I knew where you were," stated Dylan as he opened the door to the pack garage for me, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Dylan, you know it doesn't work like that, you didn't magically gain some sixth sense when I went missing. How did you know where Jared and I were?"

My mate shrugged, making his way over to my Father's car, hopping in and starting the engine as I buckled up my seatbelt. "I followed your scent."

I shook my head, bracing my feet up against the dashboard and I turned to Dylan with raised eyebrows, waiting for the real answer.

"Why do you need to know, Clara?" questioned Dylan as he pulled out of the garage, avoiding eye contact with me.

I laughed, rolling my eyes. "What do you mean by that? Obviously I want to know how you found us? We would probably be dead if you didn't!"

"Your Mother, okay, Clara? Your Mother called me!"

I swallowed harshly, staring at my mate with wide eyes as he drove through town. "What?"

"She didn't want this to give you false hope that you could be a family again, so she asked me not to tell you."

"You weren't ever going to tell me?" I asked with furrowed brows, anger bubbling up inside of me. "She's my Mother, don't you think I have the right to know?"

Dylan sighed, scratching at the back of his neck as he chewed on his bottom lip. "I didn't know what to think. I just didn't want you thinking you could be a family again in the future, because she's gone, Clara."

"You don't think I know that, Dylan? I'm not blind," I growled, my hands balling into fists.

"Not telling you was in your best interest, but now you know anyway. She wants you to let her go," replied my mate, pulling over to the side of the road, turning to me with furrowed brows, his eyes becoming softer once he saw my teary ones. "Please don't cry."

I whimpered, causing Dylan to unbuckle my seatbelt, pulling me onto his lap, stroking my still wet hair out of my face.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, your Father and I just wanted you to be able to fully move on."

"That's the thing Dylan, she's my Mother, so I'll never fully move on. I can't just forget about her like that. I don't want her in my life anymore, but that doesn't mean I should forget about her completely."

Dylan nodded as I climbed over to my seat again, buckling up my seatbelt. "Can we just go? I need a distraction."

"Alright," mumbled Dylan, sighing before starting up the engine again and pulling back onto the road, giving me one last longing look.

The rest of the car journey was silent, besides from the small talk on the radio and the occasional over auto-tuned song they would play.

Part of me felt bad for lashing out at Dylan, but I felt like it wasn't his call to make, and all I was asking for was the truth. I was aware he was trying to put me first and ensure that I wasn't left wondering about the whereabouts of my Mother, but the sad truth was that, I was always going to wonder about her- no matter what she had done.

"We're here," said Dylan as he rounded the corner, pulling up on the curb, parking next to a long line of cars that I assumed all belonged to members of his pack. "This is the last I'm going to say of it Clara, but I really am sorry. I was just trying to do what was best for you. I didn't mean to hurt you."

I sighed, unbuckling my seatbelt, leaning forward to plant a quick kiss on Dylan's pursed lips. "Let's just forget about it for now. I want to see your pack."

I hopped out of the passenger seat, allowing Dylan to lead me towards his pack grounds, my mouth subconsciously hanging open as I gazed up at the sight in front of me. The grounds were awfully quiet, with each house dotted a fair distance from each other, to maintain privacy. A few members of the pack walked past us, smiling and nodding at their Alpha in respect, their confused eyes lingering on me, realising I wasn't from their pack.

We strolled past an array of blossom trees; their pastel pink petals blowing in the wind, swaying as if dancing together soulfully.

"My house is over there," said Dylan, pointing off into the distance, where a large house was just about visible over the large hill, "but my Mother's house is this one, here."

I gazed up at the small cottage in front of us, swallowing nervously as anxiety flowed throughout my veins, my adrenaline increasing and my heart starting to race.

"Relax, darling," soothed my mate, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind and planting a quick kiss on the top of my head. "Just be yourself; I know she'll love you."

I nodded, smiling as Dylan gently knocked on the bright red door that was surrounded by multiple shades of brown bricks, making the small cottage look even more homely and magical, as if from some kind of fairy-tale.

"Dylan!" cheered a tall dark haired lady as she opened the door, the smile lines on her face becoming prominent as she beamed, her ocean blue eyes fixated on her son. "It's so good to have you back! I didn't know you were coming!"

"Well, you know me Mother, full of surprises," laughed my mate, engulfing her in a quick hug before pulling away and taking a step back, wrapping his arm around my waist.

"You must be Clara! I'm Mandy, Dylan's Mother!"

"It's nice to finally meet you," I said, forcing my nerves away and smiling, causing Dylan to squeeze me slightly, offering comfort and support.

"Well, you two must come in! Tell me everything, how did the training go?" asked Mandy as she waved us in, pulling out a couple of chairs for us from underneath her kitchen table.

"I'm not quite finished with them yet, they still have a bit of work to do. We're just here visiting," replied Dylan, settling down on one of the chairs and smiling at me when I did the same, raising his eyebrows humorously as Mandy placed a plate in front of me, pulling out a few ingredients from the fridge.

"Do you two fancy a sandwich? What do you like Clara? Ham? Cheese?"

"Oh, um, cheese is fine, thank you," I laughed as Dylan rolled his eyes.

"Ethan has missed you, he's been pretty lost without his best friend around," said Mandy, buttering the bread.

"He's a big boy, Mother, besides, I've spoken to him a few times on the phone and I saw him the other day, anyway."

Mandy raised her eyebrows, turning around. "Oh, you did? Why was that?"

I cleared my throat, causing Dylan to look at me with furrowed brows, nodding at me once when I shook my head at him, understanding that I didn't want him to mention anything about Sawyer.

"I was just checking up on him."

"Well, it looks like it's going to rain out there, so if you wanted a tour, Clara, I would get out there now. I'll have your lunch ready for both of you when you get back," said Mandy, causing Dylan to nod, getting up from his chair.

"Sure, let me just quickly show you around, and then we can come back."

After agreeing and waving a quick 'goodbye' to Dylan's Mother, we stepped outside, looking up at the gloomy clouds above, a grey cast laying across the scenery.

"This way, I'll show you our training area," said my mate, grabbing my hand and linking it with his, gently pulling me along.

"Your Mother is nice," I said as we quickly made our way away from the cottage; Dylan turning to me to smile.

"I'm glad you like her, I can already tell you're going to get on pretty well."

"Do you think so?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows.

Dylan laughed, shaking his head. "I mean, I know she always wanted a daughter, but never got one So she'll be excited to have you in the family."

Once we reached the training area, I released Dylan's hand, making my way over to all of the large metal pieces of equipment, all loaded with weights that definitely weighed double me.

"You train your fighters here?"

Dylan nodded, smiling, happy that I was interested in his pack and how everything worked. "We do circuits, so one group will be training using the weights whilst the other group works on their fighting techniques, or they do boxing."

"Boxing? Do you have a punching bag?" I asked, causing Dylan to nod.

"Yeah, it's in that shed there," replied Dylan, pointing over to a small wooden shed located next to one of the bench presses. "I'll get the training rota quickly so I can show you what we do."

I smiled, watching my mate jog over to the shed, disappearing. He seemed in his element here, and I enjoyed watching him knowing he felt so proud of what he had created. His excitement to show me made my stomach flutter, and although he looked like an intimidating scary giant on the outside, I knew he was really just a happy and loving teddy bear on the inside.

Noticing Dylan still hadn't returned from the shed, I decided to go and help him. I turned to walk, my eyes still fixated on all of the heavy equipment, not understanding how anyone could lift so much.

Suddenly, a burning feeling spread across my chest and I gasped, looking down to see a steaming brown liquid splattered all over my red knitted sweatshirt.

"That was my coffee, why don't you watch where you're going?" growled a young blonde girl, glaring at me with frustrated brown eyes, shaking her head as she reached down to pick up her travel flask that was now on the floor.

"Sorry, but I didn't see you," I mumbled, attempting to wipe the boiling hot coffee off me, burning my hands in the process.

"Well now I have to go home and make another one," said the young girl, huffing.

"Is everything okay here?" asked Dylan as he made his way over to us, carrying the portable punching bag under one arm, his brows furrowed.

"Yeah, I'm just drenched in coffee," I replied, a slight chuckle escaping my lips.

"Well, she wasn't looking where she was going," sulked the young girl, running her hands through her silky blonde hair, checking that no coffee had tainted her.

"I'm sure my mate didn't mean to, Amelia."

The young girl's eyes widened slightly, and she raised her eyebrows, looking at me suspiciously.

"I didn't mean to Amelia, sorry," I spoke, causing her to nod, swallowing.

"I didn't know you were Dylan's mate," she said, slightly embarrassed, avoiding eye contact.

"You're going to need to change your sweatshirt, Clara. That one is soaked," said my mate, scratching at the back of his head.

Amelia sighed, rummaging through her bag and pulling out a pale pink sweatshirt. "Here, just have this. You can give it back to me whenever."

"Oh, are you sure? Thank you," I replied, watching as the young girl nodded once, making her way away from us, causing Dylan to chuckle slightly, shaking his head.

"That's Amelia, isn't she a delight?" laughed Dylan, setting the punching bag down next to him.

"How old is she? She's kind of rude," I asked, pulling my coffee soaked sweatshirt over my head, replacing it with Amelia's pale pink once, Dylan's eyes lingering on my black lacey bra.

"Eighteen, she's just a bit of a know-it-all teenager at the moment; something I'm hoping she'll grow out of."

I laughed, smiling up at my mate as I wrung out my knitted sweatshirt, scrunching up my nose at the amount of coffee that dripped out of it, landing on the perfectly green grass, noticing that it was now wet from the spitting rain that had started to fall.

"Come on, it'll start pouring in a minute, let's get back to my Mother's," said Dylan, putting his arm over my shoulder and shoving the other one in the pocket of his jeans.

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I hope you all enjoyed his chapter! It's a pretty long one!

What do you guys think of Amelia? What do you think of Mandy?

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I hope you are all having a great day, and if you're not, I hope this chapter made it at least a little bit better!

Lots of love xxx