•Mara's POV•

Ryder leads me into the crowd and I follow him to meet his parents.

As I walk along, people move aside for us to pass, saying nice comments and congratulating me.

Congratulating me? People really do see this as important as a wedding.

We get to a tall, muscular man and a petite lady. The man looks in his mid-forties, his hair is starting to grow a little grey and he has a slight stubble. The lady has short blonde hair and green eyes, not as bright at Ryder's, but I can see most of his resemblance from his mother.

"Mara, this is my dad Harry and my mum Taliah." Ryder introduces, "Mum, dad, this is my mate Mara." He gestures to me.

Harry holds out a hand and I politely shake it, "Hi nice to meet you." I smile.

"It's wonderful to finally," He looks to Ryder, "Meet you too, dear." He smiles back.

Taliah comes up and gives me a hug and I giggle and return it.

"I'm so happy my Ryder has finally met his mate, I know he'll treat you well." She smiles warmly.

Ryder pulls me to him and frowns at his mum, "Of course I will mum."

She laughs and starts to pull her husband away, "Have fun you two."

We wave as they exit and other werewolves in our pack come up to me and introduce themselves. About half an hour into the greetings, Ryder wanders off to get me a drink.

A little boy runs up to me and gives me a big smile, his smile reminds me of Ryder for some reason.

"Hello Luna! My brother has told me so much about you." He says.

"And who would your brother be?" I ask.

I sighs and roll his eyes, "Figures he wouldn't have mentioned me, I'm Finn, Ryder's little brother." He replies.

My eyebrows raise, "So, how old are you Finn?" I ask.

"I'll be thirteen soon." He says.

"Wow, a teenager this year. That's pretty exciting." I smile.

"Yeah, Ryder's promised me this big party and everything. It's gonna' be great!" He grins.

Ryder comes up and snakes an arm around my waist, "Oh, you've met Finn." He says, handing me a drink.

"Yes, why didn't you tell me you have a brother?" I ask.

He shrugs, "Never came up."

"Well it seems like I came up in your conversations quite a bit." I raise my eyebrows.

Finn chuckles and Ryder coughs a little awkwardly.

"Yeah, well you know." He answers.

I giggle and shake my head, I look back to Finn, "Well I'll definitely be part of this party now Finn." I smile.

He high-fives me and cheers, "Awesome! You're really nice Mara, you'll make a great Luna." He says.

"Thanks Finn." I smile back.

He waves as goes off when he sees some of his friends.

"Ah, being twelve. My thirteenth birthday was one I'll never forget." I smile.

"Did you have a big party or something?" Ryder asks.

"No, only went out for dinner." I reply.

Ryder frowns, "Then what's so memorable about it?"

I smirk, "It was the first time I shifted."

Ryder smiles, "Yeah, I'll always remember that too. But it was my sixteenth birthday." He replies.

My smile turns into a scowl when I see Jessica glaring at me.

She comes over to us, making sure she swings her hips, which causes a few males to earn her attention.

She gives me a fake smile and then turns her attention to Ryder.

"Just remember Ryder, when you're sick of her I'm always here." She winks and puffs her lips up a little before walking away.

I scoff and stare after her, "The nerve." I whisper.

Ryder chuckles and kisses my cheek, causing me to blush a little, "I'll never get sick of you, don't worry." He grins.

I laugh and my eyes lock on some food being put out, "Food! Lets go." I pull Ryder along.

He chuckles and follows.

•Ryder's POV•

Once we finish eating, we go around near the outside of the large pack, trying to speak to everyone we've missed.

"Alpha, we've seen some paw prints and can smell something off." One of my guards tell me.

"Like rogues?" I ask.

"Yes, we're pretty sure." He answers.

I mind-link all my guards, "Get more protection around the pack."

"Yes Alpha." They all answer.

I look to my side and notice Mara isn't there anymore.

"Mara, where are you?" I ask, my eyes searching for her.

"Talking to your mum. Is everything okay?" She asks.

"I'm not sure, I need you to come back to me right now." I say.

"Okay." She replies.

I stay where I am, growing more anxious by the second.

Suddenly, the pack goes silent.

"Ryder!" Mara says frantically.

I follow her scent wildly, pushing through the crowd to find her.

When I push through the final people, I see a disgusting looking rogue smirking at me while two others hold Mara back.

"I was waiting for you Alpha." He says, the smirk still evident on his face.

"Who are you?" I growl.

"I thought you would remember me. You know, by the way you used to take everything from me?" He sneers.

I focus closer on his features and suddenly it all comes back to me.

"Cole?" I frown.

"Ah! You do remember me, I thought you would." He grins.

"You're a rogue now?" I question, trying to keep both me and Caleb calm from seeing two rogue's hands on my mate.

He laughs with no emotion, "Well, you just got everything. You're becoming the Alpha, you got all the girls, you got the highest grades, and you even got all the looks. But me? I got pushed to the side, all eyes were on you when I wanted them on me." He hisses.

"What happened to you?" I ask, my voice soft.

"My pack ditched me that's what!" He shouts, "So, I formed a pack rouges. I trained them to be stronger, fitter and faster." He smiles evilly.

"Leave." My Alpha voice comes out, I take a threatening step forward. As I do, Josh and Trent follow, I didn't even realise they had come.

Cole holds up a finger, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Remember, I do have your mate in my hands." He smirks.

"Let. Her. Go." I demand.

"And why would I do that?" He asks.

Mara whimpers as the guards tighten their grip on her.

"She's too vulnerable." My dad mind-links me.

I know Mara can beat their asses up, but I also know how much she'd put on the line to keep her secret. The whole pack is watching, every eye is on her. She doesn't want questions that she's too afraid to answer, so she is stuck acting like the helpless human I know she isn't.

"Cole is it?" She speaks up suddenly.

Cole quickly moves his eye contact to her and then back to me.

"Yeah." He replies.

"As soon as he faces my way, you get him. Don't kill him just yet Ryder, I want to question him." Mara says to me.

Man, she's amazing.

I look to her giving her a silent, 'okay'.

"I know you're supposed to be all 'Make the girl look in danger' and stuff, but your poop smelling mutts here are actually really hurting my arms." She says.

I hear a couple of faint snickers from the pack.

Cole clenches his jaw, but still doesn't take his eyes off me.

"I mean," Mara continues, "When was the last time you took a shower? Do you even know what that is?"

Cole looks monstrous now, his lips curling in anger. Yet, he still has his eyes on me.

Just a little bit more Mara.

"Or are you so busy trying to be better than Ryder that you just can't keep up your hygiene routines anymore?" She says.

He flicks around in anger.

"Kill all the rogues, get all the women and children in the pack house. I'll handle Cole." I quickly mind-link the pack.

A few "Yes Alpha"'s go around, but I'm too busy charging at Cole to listen to them. I stay in my human form and tackle him to the ground.

He reacts quickly and throws a punch in my direction, just scrapping my jaw.

We roll on the ground a bit more before I see a clear shot and I pull my elbow back, packing power in the punch. I bring my fist around and hit him near the temple, his eyes roll back and close shut as he falls to the ground. Knocked out cold.

I get up and brush my self off.

I look to some guards watching aimlessly.

"Take him to the holding cells." I instruct. They nod and drag Cole away.

I see bodies of rogues around the place and winkle my nose in disgust of the smell.

If you thought the smell of rogue is bad, wait until you smell dead rogue.

"Dispose of the bodies, this smell is horrible." I say through mind-link.

Men start heading towards the bodies.

"Mara, where are you? Are you hurt?" I ask.

"I'm fine Ryder, I'm with Josh and Trent in your office." She says.

"Okay, as long as you're alright." I sigh in relief.

"Yes, I'm fine. Now get the girls here too, you have a bit of explaining to do." Mara says.

"Okay." I sulk.

I start heading towards the office, mind-linking the girls as I do.

I knew I had to get this out sometime. I guess I had no choice but to now.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Hello!

Ugh, I really hate shifts at work that take up your whole day. I had the longest shift ever today!

But I still managed to get a chapter in so yay!

I know I say this heaps, but thank you for all the reads and votes!! You guys make my day!

Oh and pic of Mandy to the side (Played by Troian Bellisario) ----------->

Thanks! Vote and comment :D xx