"Stop it! Grayson stop!" I squeal at the top of my lungs as Grayson refuses to stop tickling my sides. He just recently found out about a very ticklish spot right below my ribs and for the past few minutes he has been harassing me non-stop. I swear, once I find one weakness in this perfect man I will exploit it every chance I get. He's too perfect.

"Make me," he teases as he continues to mercilessly attack my sides as I uncontrollably laugh.I most likely sound like an insane person with my full blown cackling, but it's his fault for tickling me!

I kick out at him, trying to get him off of me. He stops when he senses that I need to breathe, opting to rub my sides instead. My eyes are now watering from the non-stop laughing and I wipe away the tears from the outer corners of my eyes.

"You're pure evil," I mumble, giving him an evil glare as I recover. He only grins at me and hugs me tighter to him. "You haven't seen evil yet. Wait until you see me wolf out," he jokes. I remind him that I've already seen it, and now that I'm prepared for it I think I'll be able to handle it. We debate him showing me his wolf side for a few minutes until there's a firm knock on his bedroom door.

"Who's that?" I ask, wondering who in the pack house would want to speak to him this early in the morning.

"I don't know. One sec," he groans as he lifts himself up from his laying-down position and walks over to the door. I watch his back muscles move against his tight black shirt as he moves to open the door. I'll never get tired of admiring my mate.

He opens the door, and I can't see who's on the other side because Grayson is blocking my view. When I hear a massive growl I jerk my head up and fear instantly creeps into me when I see what is happening.

A large gray wolf is snarling at us, the wolf's teeth sharp like a knife. Saliva is dripping from its mouth as its lip is peeled back to reveal more vicious teeth. Instead of fighting like I thought Grayson would do, he just stands there. He doesn't move at all, and I'm questioning why he's doing nothing when it clearly isn't a friendly wolf approaching us.

At that moment, the wolf lunges at Grayson, easily digging its claws into his chest and knocking him down as if he were a bowling pin.

"GRAYSON!" I scream out in fear, hoping that he'll get up and shift into his wolf. Just looking at the gray wolf, I know Grayson is bigger and could take it. Grayson is just laying on the floor, frozen, as the wolf claws and bites at him. All the while, I'm screaming and crying as I can't even see his body with the wolf covering him and the blue fog rolling in from the doorway.

I look around for a weapon to fight the werewolf with, and by the time I find a pocket knife in one of his dresser drawers, the wolf isn't there. It's gone. I rush to Grayson's side to find endless claw and bite marks on him, the most notable bite mark being right on the side of his neck. An entire chunk of his skin is ripped out, and his lifeless blue eyes are staring at the ceiling. All I can do is scream at the heavens for taking him away from me prematurely.

I wake up gasping for air. I look to my right and see the sheets from that side of the bed are rumpled and cold. Then I realize that this isn't my bed. Memories of last night flood through my brain, but I can't smile. Not right now. My heart is racing and tears are still streaming down my face at the horrible nightmare. It was a nightmare... right?

The dream happened in this room. I throw the sheets off of me and jump off of the bed, not even caring about how cold my feet feel after touching the tile floor. My eyes search the place on the floor where I last saw Grayson's body, and I let out a sigh of relief when I see the spot is empty.

It was just a dream. A horrible, scary, vivid dream. I look at the clock next to the bed and see that it's seven in the morning. That means that I only slept for a little over two hours while Grayson slept for even less. Normally I would find myself going back to sleep, but right now I need to go in search of Grayson and coffee. There's no chance I'm going to sleep after that nightmare.

I walk down the stairs and find myself at the front door. Now where would Grayson be? I go in search of the kitchen and after a few minutes of wandering I finally find it. It's an empty kitchen which makes me a little anxious as to where else he would be this early, but I decide that he won't mind if I use his coffee maker. He should know about my coffee addiction at this point, so he shouldn't be surprised.

He has a fancy machine, which I of course know how to use, and I make sure to make the coffee extra strong so that I can wake up faster. My hands are still shaking from fear but at least I stopped crying. Progress.

After the coffee is done brewing, I find some cream and sugar and stir it in. I decide to sit at the enormous kitchen table that looks as if it can seat an entire army. I choose a seat towards the end. I only get a few sips in before I hear footsteps. More than one pair of footsteps. My heart races and my hands begin to sweat as it dawns on me- this is the pack house. My stupid self was too tired this morning to think about how other people live here- other werewolves live here. What are they going to say when they see a random human girl sipping coffee at their table? Did Grayson tell them about me?

Their chattering gets louder as they head in my direction. I know that I don't have enough time to run away to another part of the house. I'd probably get lost anyways. So, I sit and shake in my seat as I finally start seeing people walk into the kitchen area. I see them before they see me, they all seem too caught up with talking to each other to notice me.

Another thing I should mention- they're all ripped. I count seven men and four girls, and all of them have muscles upon muscles just like Grayson. They all seem to have just been working out because their skin glistens from the bright lights in the room. All the guys are shirtless, and the girls are all wearing sports bras and shorts.

The man walking in front stops when he sees me, causing the two people behind him to ram right into his back. They look like they're about to complain when they look up and see me, and the same curious looks arise on their faces.

At this point, everyone has stopped talking and is wondering what to do. I don't know if they think I'm an intruder or if they don't know what to do with me. I continue to stare back at them, unsure of what to do or say. I don't make any sudden moves, hoping they aren't going to hurt me or do anything out of confusion or fear.

"Hey guys! Why isn't anyone starting the waffles? I'm starving!" a familiar voice screams from the hallway and I physically relax. "Cole? What's going-" When Cooper's head peeks out from the mass of people crowding in the kitchen, a huge smile spreads across his face. Just like the others, he is shirtless and sweaty. If it wasn't for the sweat I would give him a huge hug right now.

"Thea? What the hell are you doing here?" he excitedly screams as he runs over to me and wraps me up in a bear hug- or wolf hug, I should say. The moment my nostrils take in his nasty smell, I push him away from me. Thankfully he lets me go without a struggle.

"Ew, you smell!" I scrunch my nose up in disgust as I try to collect normal air to breathe.

"No, you smell!" he whines at me. That is the most pathetic response he could have given me, yet it makes me grin anyway. Cooper being here makes my anxiety lessen so much.

"Who is this? Your girlfriend?" a dark-skinned guy asks jokingly. He was the man leading the group into the kitchen, and he looks to Cooper for an explanation. He seems light-hearted, yet there's still a dangerous edge to him that makes me slightly nervous. His deep brown eyes look over my small figure, not in a creepy way, but almost as if he were analyzing me and look for any possibilities of me being a threat- like I could ever be considered one. He seems to be in his twenties, but I'm not sure exactly how old he is.

"This is my best friend Thea. And before you ask, yes, she knows we're werewolves," Cooper adds, adding a reassuring pat to my shoulder for effect. "Ooh, coffee!" Cooper yells as he leaps for the pot and pours himself some. He adds some cream and sugar all while the other men and women slowly start to talk once more and gather ingredients for breakfast. Some are nice enough to wave at me or give me a small smile, which makes me feel more comfortable. I still don't know where Grayson is, though...

"Wow! This shit is strong!" Cooper exclaims as he takes a seat beside me. I try to ignore his stench and focus on how happy I am to see him.

"Sorry. I didn't sleep well last night," I mumble as I take a sip of my coffee. I sigh as the drink coats my tongue with its sweet taste- I added a lot of sugar.

"I bet," Cooper waggles his eyebrows at me suggestively. "I knew you two would make up soon. It was only a matter of time before one of you broke."

"Oh my god! No! We didn't..." I look around to see if anyone is paying attention to our conversation. When I'm sure that no one is paying any attention to us, I lean in and whisper. "have sex." I back up and finish the rest of the story of how I got here in a normal voice. A few others join the table as I'm finishing the story, and by the time I'm done telling it, breakfast is ready and being served.

Cooper makes sure I get a big helping, and even though I insist that there's no way I can finish all the food he gives me, he doesn't listen. He even adds more food on after. "I'm glad you two worked it out," he says. He then proceeds stuffs his face with a quarter of a belgian waffle. I don't even know how he fit it all in his mouth to begin with, but I'm seeing it with my own two eyes.

Choosing to ignore Cooper's large feat, I ask him the question that has been plaguing my mind for the past 20 minutes. "Where's Grayson?" I ask, and at my question the entire table seems to stop talking and look at me. I feel as if I'm under a microscope at this point. Why is everyone staring at me?

Cooper finishes swallowing, apparently oblivious to others staring. "He's finishing up training some other wolves. He wanted to give them a little extra training. He should be here soon, Thee."

I nod my head and continue to eat my food. In fear of making a mess like I usually do when I eat, I make sure to take small bites of the food and eat slowly instead of scarfing it down like I really want to.

"Do you guys all live here?" I direct the question at Cooper, but another guy with shoulder-length blonde hair answers me instead. "Yeah, we do. Makes it easier to follow Alpha Grayson's orders immediately when we're all already here."

I nod shyly at him, hoping that he'll go back to eating his breakfast instead of talking to me. However, I'm not so lucky. "What's your name, little human?" the guy asks. The grin on his face along with the tone of his voice clues me into the fact that he's flirting with me. I don't like the way he's speaking to me, but I go to answer his question anyway. He's looking right at me, so it's not like I can avoid his question.

"I told you her name was Thea. And I wouldn't do that if I were you, Clay." Cooper jumps in to rescue me, yet again, from unwanted attention and I couldn't be more grateful. Clay only smirks at Cooper and continues talking about me.

"Aww, why not? She's so little and cute. I bet she would feel so good around my-"

Clay doesn't get the privilege to finish his sentence before he's lifted from his seat by his throat. I only see a blur of flesh until I hear a growl. My eyes widen with the realization that the growl is coming from Grayson as he pummels Clay. I stand up from my seat and run over to Grayson's side. I make sure to stay far away from him as to not get accidentally punched by an angry Alpha. I'm pretty sure that werewolves are calmed by their mates, so I just need to figure out a way to calm him down enough so that he doesn't kill this Clay person. Although I dislike how he was speaking to me, he still doesn't deserve to die.

"Don't you dare fucking talk like that about my mate. Your LUNA!" Grayson roars at Clay, only stopping his attack to speak. Nobody makes a move to help Clay, and as if in a movie, their eyes all widen at the same time when Grayson reveals that I'm his mate. I guess he hasn't told anyone yet...

"Grayson, please stop. You're gonna kill him," I say calmly. At least, I try to say it calmly, but how can I stay calm when Grayson won't stop hitting an already bleeding and passed out guy?

"Grayson," I whisper. He abruptly stops punching Clay as he clenches his jaw tightly. He growls, standing to his full height. He turns around and heads right towards me. If this were any other male walking towards me like this, I would be running for the hills. Since it's Grayson, I trust that he won't hurt me.

When he reaches me, his hands instantly find their place on my waist as he pulls me in for a hug. His face instantly finds its way to my neck as he sniffs me, possibly collecting my scent to calm him down. I think that's what Cooper told me once...

I ignore the fact that he's sweaty as I hug him back, knowing that he needs the comfort right now. He's still breathing heavily, but at least he's not beating Clay to death. When he calms down enough, he picks me up and sits down in the seat I was in previously. I'm placed on his lap as he rests his chin on the top of my head.

"I'm gonna rip his tongue out for what he said to you," Grayson growls. He's doing a lot of growling today and it's not even eight o'clock!

Nobody moves a muscle at the table, all are afraid of their Alpha who just freaked out and attacked someone for saying something offensive about me. To make everyone less nervous, I decide to speak.

"He's just kidding," I laugh, making a few others at the table hesitantly laugh along with me. I turn my head to look at Grayson, his eye color shifting back to blue now. "Right?" I whisper, however everyone at the table apparently heard me as they all begin laughing at my question. Stupid super hearing...

One look at Grayson's face tells me that he wasn't kidding...