Elena's POV

I open my eyes and glance at the clock on the bedside table before closing my eyes once again.

"Good morning," comes a gruff voice next to me.

My eyes shoot back open and I look to my side and see Pierson staring at me. At the sight of him the memories of last night come flooding back to my mind.

A slow smile creeps onto my face. I glance down and see the mark he had created on me last night that now symbolizes our bond to one another.

I turn to my side to face him. "Good morning," I softly reply back to him.

"How are you?"

"I'm good. Great actually," I say.

Last night was amazing. It's something I'll never forget. Now that we have mated it's kinda odd, this new connection, I feel to him. It's not a bad one. It feels soothing, strong, and unbreakable.

My wolf feels at ease and I can feel her presence more than I ever have in my entire life.

Pierson smiles at me and grabs my hand before intertwining our fingers together. He places a soft kiss on the back of it and rests it over his chest.

I can feel the steady thud of his heart before it increases as I make eye contact with him. His eyes drop to my mark on my collarbone and the corners of his lips turn up.

"I can't believe you're mine and I'm yours," he says huskly.

I grin at him. "Well believe it because it's true," I tease. "I can't wait to tell the pack about us."

Something flickers in his eyes and it unsettles me.

"I love you so much Elena and I can't wait to introduce you as my mate either, but at this moment we can't," he says lowly.

My smile falls. "What do you mean?"

His chest rises and falls slowly and he looks at me sadly.

"I haven't had the chance to talk to you about what's all really happening in the pack right now," comes his cryptic reply.

"Pierson, what are you talking about?" He can't say we're together because the pack? It doesn't make any sense.

"Elena, the rogues are back and they want this pack. That means they will want you. They will try to take you from me." The words leave his mouth through gritted teeth.

"Pierson..."

"They can't know you're my mate. I don't know who's working with them. It could be somebody we know and I just can't take the chance," he interrupts.

"And if they..."

Before he goes on I push my hand over his mouth and it muffles any of his remaining words.

"Ok, I understand. We catch the rogues and we can be together publicly. Gotcha. So let's do this," I say seriously.

Pierson's face deadpans.

"Elena I don't want you involved in this."

I roll my eyes, totally expecting him to have said that.

"I want to help. Obviously, what you're doing isn't working because you would of already have caught them," I say.

Pierson's jaw clenches and his eyes narrow. He looks really intimidating when he does that, but I can see in his eyes that he found my answer amusing.

"No, I would never forgive myself if something were to happen to you."

"I..."

"End of discussion Elena. By keeping your importance to me a secret six years ago worked then it will work now. You working with me will raise questions from the pack. You're a doctor not someone who gets involved in situations like this one. It'll alert the rogues around us," he reasons sternly.

I huff a breath out. What he says does make sense, but I won't admit that to him. I'm just glad this time he's letting me in on what's happening instead of pushing me away. I know he had his reasons on why he did it the first time, but now he seems to want to find an alternate way of keeping me close instead of repeating our dramatic situation in our teenage years.

I don't think I could handle that pain again. Not when I have come to love him in a way I never thought was posssible. I know he doesn't want me to get involved because that leads to a greater probability of me getting hurt in some way.

"Ok," I sigh.

Pierson's body relaxes and he gives me a half, grateful smile.

"Thank you," he replies in a soft tone.

I offer him a smile and we both get up and get dressed for the day.

****

"But nobody and I mean nobody can know Em. So, don't be going around with your big fat blubber mouth telling everybody who will listen," I direct.

Em's eyes are shining as she nods robotically at me with her wide smile plastered on her face.

"Got it. Don't tell anybody you've been marked by the Alpha...Can I tell Grayson?"

"Em!" I exclaim.

"Right nobody." She makes the motion of zipping her mouth, locking it with an imaginary key and tossing it behind her back.

She's unbelievable. I knew as soon as she saw me she would know. As hard as I tried to seem indifferent she could tell right away what was lying beneath my facade.

I'm completely to blame. I just had to tell somebody and who better than my best friend. She was beyond happy for me like I knew she would be.

Of course, I explained about the rogues and she completely understood because Grayson has been working with the investigators so closely. He's in the same boat as every important member of the pack and fears that his family will also get hurt.

"On another note, Grayson tells me that they're close. A pack about a hundred miles from us was attacked. Victoria, the woman Pierson brought to the party, told them that she heard the rogues say when she was a captive that our pack is going to be their more prized conquest because they failed the first time," she says.

Gone is her smile and happiness and now dread and fright are replaced on her perfect face. Two emotions I am not used to seeing on Em.

"I'm telling you this cause I want you to be careful E. You're the Alpha's mate and even though I joke about telling people, I worry what can happen to you. The stories I hear about what they do to people like us even give me nightmares."

I swallow hard and nod at her to confirm my seriousness and understanding of what she's telling me.

I can't take this situation lightly. I need to watch my back and those around me.

____________________________________________________________________________

Sorry if this chapter didn't have much action in it. It just was kinda of a filler and maybe even included some foreshadowing *wink *wink. Things might be getting tense soon.

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Until next time...