•Ryder's POV•

Why is it that whenever Mara is around Cam her mind-link switches off?

I find I can never get to her when she is talking to him, like there is a barrier between us.

It's been just under an hour now and to say I'm worried now is an understatement.

Mandy puts a hand on my shoulder, "Ryder calm down, there's warriors looking for her."

I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"I was so stupid, why would I let her go out alone?" I say.

"None of this is your fault Ryder." Layla says from the other side of room. She's a little panicked too because Trent's patrol finished almost an hour ago too, and he's not responding either.

"Ryder?" I hear Mara faintly through the mind-link.

I instantly stand up, getting everyone in the rooms attention. That being Mandy, Layla, Josh and Cole.

"Mara, where are you?" I ask.

"I need help, I'm coming up to the pack house now." She says.

"Come on." I say to everyone. They jump up and we walk outside.

When I look up I see Mara coming through the forest, supporting a very tired and drained looking Trent.

Layla and I run forward and the others follow close behind.

"What happened?" I ask, taking Trent from Mara, since he's a lot heavier than her.

Mara starts breaking down into tears, "H-he died, and then something happened, and I did something, and he woke up. It was horrible." She sobs.

Layla and Mandy come up and wipe her tears away, giving her hugs. I wish I could too, but I need to tend to my Third who is berely staying awake.

"Dad, get the pack doctor to the pack house, Trent's hurt." I mind-link dad.

"Of course son." He replies.

I look around the forest, "Come on, lets get inside." I say.

Everyone nods and we go inside, I go up and lay Trent down on one of the spare beds in the guest room of the pack house.

"I don't get it." He mumbles.

"Don't get what?" I reply.

"I-I'm sure." He says.

"You're sure what?" I ask.

"I'm sure I died." He says.

I frown and am about to ask more, but I feel the presence of the pack doctor coming in.

I look up and he bows his head at me, "Alpha."

I nod back, "Hello, treat my third with the best care." I say.

"Of course." He replies.

I walk down the stairs to see Mara sitting on the couch with a blanket over her and a cup of hot tea in her hands.

I slide in next to her and pull her to me by her waist, knowing that the matebond will ease her a little.

The others come in and sit down.

"How is he?" Layla asks.

I give her a small smile, "He seems fine, just a little tired maybe. Mara, you need to tell us what happened." I say, looking down at her.

She nods and takes her head off my shoulder, putting her tea onto the coffee table in front of her.

She explains how Cam threatened her and she found Trent with the stick in his side. Then how he died and she felt hopeless.

Then she told us about the sensation she got and how Trent's wound healed.

"Wait," Josh says, "You think you healed him?" He asks.

Mara shrugs, "I don't know, it was just weird. I'm sure I saw something running through my arms." She replies.

"Werewolves heal fast, maybe Trent just healed extra quickly because he, ah, died." Mandy says, careful with her words since Layla looks a little pale.

Mara shakes her head and looks out the window, "I'm sure." She trails off.

"Well, one thing we know. You have to stay away from Cam now." Cole says.

I nod in agreement, "That's a definite." I add.

Mara nods too, "I don't want to be anywhere near him, I think I'll just kill him myself if I do." She says.

Trent's mum and dad come rushing into the room, his mum runs to Layla while his dad looks at me, "Where is he?" He asks.

"He's upstairs with the pack doctor." I reply.

"Can we go up?" His mum asks.

"Hang on." I reply.

"Can my third's family come up?" I ask the pack doctor.

"Yes, I have finished. I'll be down to tell you how he is." He replies.

"He's coming down." I tell everyone.

Several seconds later, the pack doctor travels down the stairs.

We all look at him expectedly.

He looks to me, "Did you find out what happened?" He asks.

I nod, "He got stabbed in the side with a tree branch." I reply.

The doctor frowns, "I found no such injury, are you sure?" This time he looks at Mara.

She nods, "Positive, I had to pull it out."

The doctor looks at his clipboard, "I only found a slight head injury, everything else was perfectly healthy."

"Well that's good isn't it?" Trents mum asks.

The doctor nods, "Yes, he's asleep right now, but you're most welcome to go see him." He says.

I stand up, "Thank you doctor."

"Of course Alpha, Luna." He nods at us.

I hear a bit of commotion from the front of the house, probably the new additions to the pack coming in, they live here until they find a mate or a house.

Mara grabs her now empty cup and stands up, "I'm just going to wash this." She says.

I nod and kiss her hand before she walks out of the room.

•Mara's POV•

I walk, holding the cup, to the kitchen.

On the way there, I catch some of the new werewolves in the pack climbing the stairs.

I turn around and nearly scream, clutching my chest as I see Torah standing there.

"Torah, you scared me." I say.

"Sorry." She replies.

I study her, her hair is a little messy and she has some dirt on her cheek and her arms, "Where have you been?" I ask.

She shrugs, "Down to the river and stuff."

Torah confuses me, she's quite distant compared to the rest of the new werewolves. She doesn't have any friends and she sticks to herself, I always try to make conversation when I see her, but she tends to leave as fast as she can.

I nod and hold up the cup, "I was just going to the kitchen."

"You don't look so clean yourself." She comments.

I'm a little surprised, she usually doesn't say anything.

"Oh, long day already." I sigh.

"What happened?" She asks.

"The Third got injured." I say.

"The Third?" She asks, although I hear something weird in her voice, "Isn't that Troy or something?"

"Trent, yeah." I reply.

"Is he okay?" She asks, but her eyes don't look sincere, instead they hold a tiny amount of, amusment?

I nod, "He's fine. Just resting now."

I see confusion flash through her eyes, but she then nods, hiding any further emotion I see.

"Oh okay, that's good then." She starts to walk past me, but a spot of red on her shirt catches my attention.

I grip her arm and inspect her shirt, "Torah you have blood on your shirt, are you okay?" I ask.

She pulls out of grip, "I'm fine, just scraped myself on a branch when I was running back."

"But-"

"Don't you need to get ready Luna? The cememony is soon." She cuts me off.

I eye her suspsicously, "Yeah, I do."

"Alright, well I'll get out of your way then." She says.

Before I can ask anything else, she's bolted up the stairs.

Ryder comes in and looks at me weirdly as he sees me staring at the stairs weirdly.

"I thought you were putting that in the sink, are you okay?" He asks.

"What do you know about Torah? The new werewolf?" I ask.

He shrugs, "She used to be a rouge, but she wanted to lay down somewhere."

I nod and continue walking to the kitchen.

"Why?" Ryder asks, following me.

"She's just very," I sift around for the right word, "Mysterious."

He nods, "I agree."

I rinse the cup under the sink, "But I mean, she's new. Maybe shes just a little shy."

"Maybe." Ryder replies.

I sigh and put the cup down, turning to him, "Are you sure you still want to do this?" I ask.

He gives me a supportive smile and steps forward, so our bodies are in contact, "Yes, I'm sure. Then we can be the main Alphas and we can lead the way we want. Also our pack is running with two Alphas and it starts to get confusing."

I nod and smile, "As long as you're in, I am too." I reply.

He bends down and captures my lips in his. Giving me and deep and passionate kiss, one that reminds me of our first kiss.

When we break away, he holds my head in his hands and rests his forhead on mine, "I thought something happened to you today." He says.

"I'm sorry, the stupid mind-link wasn't working." I reply.

"Why was that?" Ryder asks, stepping away.

I sigh and shrug, "I have no idea."

"It seems to happen whenever you're with Cam." He states.

"You think he has something to do with it?" I ask.

He sighs, "It's Cam we're talking about, he could have everything to do with it."

I nod, "I know what you mean."

Layla and Mandy come in, "How is he?" I ask.

Layla and smiles and nods, "He's a big boy, he'll be fine."

I laugh and give her a hug, "I'm so sorry Layla."

She giggles, "What for?" She asks pulling away.

"I still don't understand what happened, but if what happened didn't, Trent would be dead and I wouldn't have been able to do anything." I admit.

She shakes her head, "And I understand that, but you know, I believe you about the healing thing." She says.

"You do?" I ask.

She nods, "You're a tiger shifter, why would it be weird if you have healing powers?"

I frown but nod, healing powers? I've never thought of it like that before.

"But we can talk about that later," Mandy cuts in, "Lets get you ready now."

She grabs me and takes me up the stairs.

They shove me into the bathroom and tell me to have a shower.

Before I do, I grab the paper and the my phone that I still had in my pocket and dial the number.

On the forth ring it picks up, "Hello?"

I frown at the voice and stay silent.

"Hello?" He repeats.

I hang up and take a breath, that was Ryan.

I shake it out of my brain for now and hop into the bath.

I take my time in their, watching the dirt that falls from my body wash down the drain, hopefully with everything else that is happening.

But of course that doesn't happen.

I decide that when my fingertips start to resemble prunes I should get out.

I turn off the water and step out, wrapping a white towel firmly around my body. I open the door and see Mandy and Layla all dressed and ready.

Mandy wears a cream coloured dress that falls to the floor, it's strapless and flows down in ruffles from the waist. Her make up is neat and light, while her brown locks are tied up into a neat bun with two stray bangs curled down her face. She looks delicate and stunning.

Layla, on the other hand, looks completely different to Mandy. She wears a long black dress, it's strapless too and the torso is covered in beads and sequins, contrasting with the black material elegantly. After the waist, it flares out to the ground and some of the beads statter to about mid-thigh on the dress. She's done the smokey-eye effect and she's pulled her red hair black into a sleek ponytail.

I smile at the girls, "You both look amazing."

They smile back, "Now lets get you ready!" Mandy claps.

They lead me back into the bathroom and sit me on a chair, purposely facing away from the mirror. They don't want me to see until I'm ready.

I feel Mandy applying my make up while Layla gets stuck into my hair with something hot. When they finish, they lead me to the room again, making sure to hide the mirror and make me close my eyes as they guide me into the dress.

They told me events like this were very formal, it was strickly a black tie event and women are to wear long dresses.

"Okay, ready?" Layla asks.

I nod, keeping my eyes closed, "Yes."

"Open!" They say together.

I open my eyes and gasp as I see my reflection.

I'm wearing a striking red dress, the material light and flowy. It's a halter-neck and is decorated in beads and sequins along the 'V' part. The same beads wrap around my waist and the dress falls lightly down to the ground.

My long, blonde hair is curled and pulled to one side where is flows down my shoulder and to my stomach. My make up is light and neat, alot like Mandy, but my lips are painted a bright red that matches my dress.

"You guys are amazing, I love it." I say, swishing around the in the dress.

"You look stunning! Definitely stand out." Layla nods.

I smile at them and Mandy looks at the time, "Ready to face the music?" She asks.

I link my arms through theirs and take a deep breath.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

___________________________________________________________________________________

Hello!

I made pizza and it was sooooo good :P

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter! What do you think about Torah? What's she up to?

Picture of Mara's dress (I'm in love with it *-*) ------------>

Please vote and comment! You people are amazing!

Thanks! xx