The next morning, a thick atmosphere settled over the pack house. Alpha Alexander left our bed early to make a conference call with Alphas from other continents—a concept that still sounded so foreign to me. When he woke at an absurd hour, he kissed me on the crown of my head and trailed his fingers lightly down my bare back. I tried to keep him in bed, but he broke away with a promise to return before I woke up.

When I finally did wake up, the sun was just starting to rise above the trees outside the large window. I grumbled and rolled over to discover an empty bed. My body echoed with aches from muscles that hadn't been used in a while but were definitely overused last night. I stood and hurried into the bathroom, my bare skin protesting the cool morning air. I showered quickly and wrapped one of the larger towels around my torso as I stepped in front of the wide countertop. As my hand rubbed the fog-covered mirror, removing the condensation from its surface, my arm slowed at the sight of my neck before my entire body froze completely.

"Oh my god," I whispered, stunned. The mark that once looked muddled like a Rorschach inkblot test was now clearly tattooed on my skin, its image sharp and outlined in a purple so dark it was nearly black. I'd seen the image before in horror movies and one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Charmed—it was a pentagram, practically branded on my throat. It was tilted, almost completely upside down, with a thin half-circle connecting around three of the five points of the star. My mind flooded with references of pentagrams in pop culture, and they all came to the same conclusion: A pentagram was the symbol of black magic.

My fingertips brushed lightly against the bruised flesh of my throat. I took a stabling breath and forced the nervousness tumbling around in my stomach to calm until I could visit the library and tear through every textbook to see what could explain why my mark was one, nearly three times the size of Julie's or any other female's mark that I've seen, and two, what a pentagram symbolizes.

I dressed and quickly braided my wet hair before slipping out of the bedroom and into the library. I shut the library doors and roamed through the rows of books until I found the section dedicated to mating. I pulled several books off the shelves, scanning their contents before replacing them. After an hour of scanning, I finally gave up. None of these books had the information I needed. I wanted to ask Alpha Alexander, but I assumed he was still in his meeting, so I left the library and wandered downstairs to find some breakfast. Once in the kitchen, I pulled out cereal and read the colored comics until I heard multiple sets of footsteps coming down the stairs.

"My, my, my. Don't we look radiant this morning?" came a familiar voice.

"You look well-rested, milady," said the second voice.

I glanced over my shoulder, frowning at my two friends as they entered the kitchen.

"Soooo," Kellan started as he sat at the counter beside me. "How was your birthday?"

I narrowed my eyes at his tone. "It was lovely. Thanks for asking."

"Oh, I'm sure you had a great time," Jason added.

Suddenly, Julie came racing into the kitchen. "STOP! Stop it right now!"

I blinked at her sudden appearance. "What the hell is wrong with everyone?"

"Oh, nothing," Jason sang as he pulled a bowl out of the cupboard and poured some cereal.

"We just wanted to know how her night went," Kellan said with a mockingly offended tone. "If there was any exciting news she wanted to share."

It clicked. "You assholes." I smacked the back of Kellan's head because he was one closest to me. "Who fucking told you? If it was Alpha Alexander, I swear to God . . ."

Kellan grinned mischievously. "Oh, he didn't tell us anything."

"Then how—?"

"Everyone knows, Phoebe," Julie said bluntly. My face heated with embarrassment. Julie caught it and quickly tried to explain, "As an Alpha's human mate, you are suppose to be mentally connected to every member of the pack. As members of the pack, we can sense when there is a new connection made, especially one as strong and dominant as yours. You were officially declared the Alpha Female of Luna Nova when you and Alpha Alexander mated, so when 'it' happened, everyone felt the connection, which is why everyone knows."

I tried to calm my beating heart. "Everyone knows?"

Kellan nodded. "Probably, like, the entire country."

"More like the whole continent," Jason added.

My eyes widened. "What?"

Julie took her turn to slap him on the back of the head. Kellan tried to back out of the hole he already dug himself in. "Well, you know, since you're Alpha Regina. I mean, it makes sense, right?"

I groaned. "Cool. So, like half the world knows about my sex life."

"More like a quarter of the world, but if it makes you feel any better, the first time is the only time we'll know about it."

I dropped my head onto my folded arms on the counter. "It doesn't, Jason."

My body tensed as Alpha Alexander stepped into the kitchen. I didn't see him, but I distinctly felt him approach my stool. His hands rested lightly on my shoulders. "Stop teasing my mate."

I sat up and leaned back so my head rested against his chest. "I can handle my evil friends." I glanced over my shoulder. "Apparently, my birthday night activities were broadcasted to the world."

"Just the United States," Jason said helpfully.

I cringed. "Right . . ."

Alpha Alexander rubbed circles with his thumbs into the back of my neck. Before he could comment, I asked, "How was the video conference?"

"I would have rather stayed in bed."

"I tried to keep you in bed."

In my peripheral, Kellan made a gagging motion, which Julie responded to with another slap to his head.

"Duty, mate. It comes with the title." He kissed the top of my head. "Jason, prepare the visitors' barracks."

Jason frowned, his spoonful of Cheerios frozen inches from his mouth. He look concerned, but didn't question his Alpha. He simply nodded and motioned at Kellan for the two of them to head out the back door. Julie took Jason's half-eaten bowl of cereal for herself. She glanced at Alpha Alexander before she asked, "Who's coming to visit our little corner of the world?"

Alpha Alexander's features hardened as he responded, "Everyone."

-One Month Later-

A month had passed since our mating. I continued training with Sarah. I moved from hand-to-hand combat to weapons training, which delighted me. I managed to show my skill with guns and other assault weapons. I favored guns, but I also showed promise in archery.

Alpha Alexander kept me closer than necessary. The visitors turned out to be enforcers or trained warriors from every pack allied with Luna Nova. I was surprised to see several females among their numbers, and even more surprised to see females literally knocking some of the males on their asses. It amused me to no end. The purpose of these enforcers coming to our pack was to learn from one another. Alpha Alexander's pack was large and considered to have the best warriors, but other packs had their own battle tactics. In order to fight a war together, they needed to train together, learn how to protect one another's back from the enemy. It was also intended to force them to bond with on another. To that end, it succeeded immensely—friendships that would last a lifetime were made over the last few weeks. Two enforcers from two different packs were mated before the first week of training was over. Julie and several other female pack members insisted on throwing a party for them.

April came and went. May was here, and I managed to catch up with my schoolwork enough to graduate with my class in a few weeks. It was still up in the air if I would be allowed to go to the actual graduation ceremony. I wanted to go but Alpha Alexander and several of the best enforcers from other packs insisted that it would be too difficult to protect me with so many people present. My mother was not happy to hear that.

Julie and other younger female pack members who shared some of my classes with me kept me updated on the gossip floating around the school. Apparently, I was the hottest topic in friendship circles. My sudden disappearance; news of my mating travelled quickly. Julie said some of the more dominant male wolves were suspended for a couple days because my friends-turned-worst-enemies, McKinley and Alice, were overheard talking badly about me in the girls' bathroom. The boys barged in when McKinley insulted Alpha Alexander. They wouldn't tell me what they said about me in that bathroom—and truthfully, I didn't want to know.

I insisted my family be protected at all times. My parents didn't know the entire situation—I told them a rival pack had been threatening Alpha Alexander, which was essentially the same story he told them when they found out I couldn't go to school for a while. I didn't want them near the pack house, which was the prime target for rogues, even though they hadn't been able to enter the territory since Alpha Alexander upgraded patrols, and my parents didn't want to disrupt Tommy's everyday routine. He was too young to understand what was happening.

I was laying in bed, alone, trying not to fall back asleep, when a buzzing came from the nightstand. I glanced at my phone as the buzzing stopped and started again. I reached for it, but it stopped. I unlocked my phone to check the caller ID: Mom, 4 missed calls. I groaned and rolled over in bed, sliding out from under the sheets and shuffling toward the bathroom, leaving the phone on the mattress. I showered and dressed before grabbing my phone and dialing my mother's cell phone number. The dial tone indicated it was busy as I wandered downstairs. I grabbed a mug of coffee and waited five minutes before trying to call her again—once more, it was busy. I stepped onto the front porch, placing my cell phone on the railing. I observed the dozens of moving bodies spread out on the training yard at the side of the house. A majority of the men had removed their shirts already and some of the women sparred in sports bras and athletic leggings. I noted their movements, memorizing their techniques so I could practice with Sarah, who encouraged my observation of other fighters.

My phone rang again. I was quick to answer. "Hey, Mom. Sorry, I was—"

"Phoebe," came my mother's voice. Alarms went off in my head. Something is wrong.

I frowned. "Mom? Are you okay?"

"They t-took him, Phoebe. They took Tommy."

Time slowed. The mug in my hand fell from my numb fingers. It slowly twisted in the air and coffee poured in slow motion onto the porch. It crashed on the polished wood, smashing into a dozen pieces. Heads turned toward the sound, worried gazes fell on my shaking body. Seth moved swiftly through the frozen crowd of bodies.

"What?" I said softly. I heard her, I knew what she said. I just didn't want to believe her.

"They took Tommy, Phoebe. They came into the house a-and took him. J-Jim fought them but they . . . Oh, god. Phoebe, T-Tommy is gone."

___

Author's Note:

I AM SO SORRY for the wait! I got caught up in college midterms. (No one panic. I got decent grades.)

Anyway, I'm SO PUMPED because shit is about to go down.

GIMME YOUR FEEDBACK! Vote and comment! It makes me super happy!

What's gonna happen next? (I mean, obviously I know but what do you think is gonna happen?)

Who's your favorite character?

Did your midterms suck your soul out, too? No? Just me? Okay...

Thank you for all the support and positive comments! I read every single one, even if I don't respond! *muah!*

xoxo -Willow

P.S. GUYZ I JUST FOUND OUT I'M RANKED! I AM FREAKING OUT! It's like #399 in Werewolf, but I AM SO PUMPED! AHHHHH! Bless up. Love you all.