I find myself standing in the clearing from a few days ago complete with stars and a full moon overhead. Confused as to how I got here I look around for my family and pack, but don't see anyone.

"I have to be dreaming." I tell myself.

The last thing I remember was being at the community meeting and then-!

My thoughts are interrupted when I feel a hand at my throat, I stiffen not daring to move a muscle. I feel a warm body press up against my back and lips by my ear.

"Now your mine."

Keira's low whispering breath tickles my ear causing me to shiver, the strange familiar feeling engulfing my body. With her hand still on my throat she leans my head back and begins tracing kisses down my neck. All the while her other hand begins to move across my chest, slowly moving downward. As her hand moves lower and lower my breaths get shorter and shorter. When her hand finally reaches the hem of my pants I'm practically gasping for breath. But she doesn't stop there, her hand continued to move down inside my pants while still maintaining the kisses down my neck. No longer able to stand still I begin to squirm trying to break free, but she keeps a tight hold around me. As her hand begins to encircle my growing erection, she gives it a small squeeze.

"Ahh!"

I jump awake as I cry out, I look around and see my family looking at me with surprised looks on their faces, my sudden yell having startled them. Quickly realizing it was all a dream and try to slow my breathing.

Goddess, what a dream to have in front of my family.

Remembering what had happened I ask, "How long was I out?"

"About 30 minutes." My father replies

As I look around, I notice that we're outside the arena, I was sitting on the ground with my back leaned up against something warm while my family was standing around me. I look back to see what it is that I'm leaned up against and see its Cora's wolf form.

"What did I miss?"

"You fainted." Claire replies trying to hold back a smile.

"I know that," I roll my eyes, "I meant what happened with Keira?" I ask again.

"Don't you have something to tell us first?" I hear Cora ask from behind, having shifted back into human form and was currently putting her clothes back on.

"Is it true, is she your mate?" My father asks me.

Letting out a deep sigh, I answer, "I think so, there's this feeling between us that I just can't seem to.... understand."

"Is it a humming tingling sensation?" Daniella asks, who I just realized was standing next to Lucas.

"Yeah." I answered surprised.

Everyone seems to exhale a sigh of relief at the same time, which confused me.

"Can somebody explain?" I asked slowly.

"Well, she's your mate alright." Alice begins to explain, "That feeling you've been getting is your body aligning to your mates."

"Aligning?" I question, still not getting it.

"Synchronizing." Alice amends. "You know how sometimes me, and Cora just seem to know how the other is feeling without saying anything?"

"Yeah, I've noticed it with my parents and other mates as well, it's the mating bond."

"Exactly, well part of the mating bond is the syncing of the mates together. Everything from your mind, body, and if you want to get religious, soul starts to sync up with that of your mate's." Cora finishes.

"So, in short what I've been feeling is the mating bond?" I say uncertainly.

Looking at me as if I missed the whole point, Alice lets out an exasperated sigh and answers. "Yeah."

"So, is that how you guys always feel around each other?" I mean it would certainly explain all the sex.

"No." My father chuckles, "Once the bond is complete the feeling...changes. It's hard to explain."

"Ok, so how long does it take the bond to complete, is there anything I have to do?" I ask.

I hear Claire sputter from trying to hold back her laughter and I see Alice and Cora fighting to keep straight faces. I look over to see Lucas with his head turned away also trying to fight back a smile and Daniella trying to hide her clearly beet red face by burying it in Lucas's chest.

From their reactions I quickly realize the answer, "Ah, right. Was Keira upset about me fainting?" I ask as I get up off the floor.

"No." My father replied, "She actually seemed quite amused by it."

I let out a heavy sigh, "Of course she did, so what happened after?"

"Well needless to say I was shocked by her claim and asked if we could hold off on it for now."

Uh oh, denying a wolf their mate is one of the quickest way's packs can go to war, "How did she take that?"

"Not well, she must've thought I was denying her claim outright because she started to get angry. But after quickly explaining that we had just officially accepted you as a pack doctor and needed time to sort things out, she calmed down." My father finished.

I was relieved to hear that, as much as I have faith in my family and our pack, I just can't picture any of them winning a fight against Keira.

"I better go talk to her."

"You can't, she already left." Lucas says.

"Already?"

"Right after she finished talking to dad about claiming you, she excused herself saying she had some preparations she needed to finish." Lucas shrugs.

I couldn't help feeling a little down that I didn't get a chance to talk to her, but after the dream I just had, maybe it's for the best.

"Dad, was that whole thing about you agreeing with Demetri part of your and Keira's plan?" I ask my father.

"Yeah, and it worked even better than I thought it would, Demetri didn't even question where the video came from. It was a simple plan, Keira would enrage him, then I would throw him off kilter by agreeing with him, and then I would deal the final blow and let his rage cloud his thinking." My father explained.

Just then Charles comes out of the arena.

"You guys should probably get back in there, the kid from the Menos pack has some pretty important information for us." Charles tell my father.

Heading back into the arena, Javier tells everyone what he had already told us outside. Unfortunately, the help he was looking for didn't come, none of the packs including the council members could agree on anything. Some packs wanted to help the current vamp King, others wanted to stay out of it, and there were even some that thought we should use this opportunity to attack the vamps. The meeting ended with no clear answer, but I was barely thinking about any of that. My mind was consumed with thoughts of Keira, and all the stares I was still receiving from wolves who were no doubt wondering how a human male like me is mated to a powerful female Alpha like her.

As all the packs start to leave the Alpha of the Blackwood pack, Ray, came to talk to us. After congratulating Lucas and Daniella again, he turns to me.

"I guess congratulations are in order for you too." He says as he reaches out for a handshake, which I gratefully accept. "I must say I had no idea Tom had such a powerful pack or daughter."

"You knew Keira's father the previous Alpha?" I ask him.

"Not well, unlike here there was no city or town in our region for us to congregate. So even though we would meet every so often to discuss things, we all kept pretty much to ourselves. Hell, I didn't even know Tom had a daughter till she and her pack showed up to warn us about the White Moon pack, apparently Tom and some of the others died during their escape."

"Damn, that means she lost her father not too long ago." I say saddened by this new revelation.

"Yeah, he was a good wolf, a good alpha." Ray says with regret in his voice, "But enough sad talk, this is a night to celebrate, my baby girl found her mate, so that means food and drinks are on me while we discuss wedding plans.

"Daaad." Daniella warns.

"Now don't you start. Your mother, bless her soul, would kill me if I didn't go all out for this."

Daniella groans and covers her face with her hands, trying to hide her embarrassment, which Lucas seemed to enjoy as I see him chuckles into Daniella's hair and kiss her head.

My phone starts to ring, I look to see who it is. "Oh shit, its Peter, I need to go. Lucas, can you and Daniella give me a ride to his place?"

"Of course." Daniella answered before Lucas could even say anything.

After some quick goodbyes, I tell Alice and Cora I'll see them later at the party. When we get to Peter's house, I see Peter is already waiting for me in his car. After saying goodbye to Lucas and Daniella, I jump into Peter's car.

"Dude, finally!" Peter exclaims.

"Calm down, its still early." I say.

As Peter begins to drive, he turns on the radio and begins to sing along to the music. As Peter continues to sing, I let my mind drift back to Keira, and what my next step should be the next time I see her.

After driving for a while, I notice Peter isn't heading into town. Big parties like these are usually held in a huge club downtown.

"Dude, where are you going?" I ask.

"I actually don't know, there was a last-minute change in venue and everyone was texted the new address." Peter answered. "And according to my GPS, we're almost there."

Looking out the window I realize I know these woods. As Peter turns onto a familiar road it hits me.

"You've gotta be shitting me." I blurt out as I realize I'm back in Bloodfang territory, or should I say Thorn-apple territory now.

The reason it took me so long to recognize it was because the poorly maintained road from before is completely gone. Not only was the road fixed, but it was completely repaved. As we pull up to the house, I'm even more surprised, not only have some of the trees been cleared away but the driveway has been extended with an extra parking area. Even the house looks like it has been cleaned of debris and repainted.

Keira has been busy! In just a few short days I barely recognize this place.

Peter parks the car and as we both get out, Peter lets out a long whistle, amazed by the sheer size of the house.

"Wow, who the hell lives here?" He asks out loud to no one.

As we walk up to the front door, I recognize the same two guards from before. When they see me they just smile, one gives me a nod while the other gives me a small salute.

"You know those guys?" Peter asks me as we enter the house.

"No clue." I lie.

Inside, the house was full of teens both human and werewolf just hanging out talking and drinking. A waiter, who I notice is a werewolf most likely an omega, comes over to us offering beers. Peter takes one, but I decline.

"Feel free to hang around here to socialize but the real party is out back." The omega tells us with a smile.

After thanking him Peter and I make our way to the back, as we get closer, we start to hear the music getting louder and louder. Finally getting outside we see its packed with people dancing and drinking, lights were going off in time to the music.

"There she is!" Peter yells to me over the music.

"Who!?" I ask, looking around to see who he's talking about.

"Gabriella, the girl from my English class!" Peter answers back, while pointing her out to me.

Looking over to where he's pointing, I see a stunning brunette signaling Peter to come over, but something was off. The way she moved, it wasn't like a werewolf, but it didn't seem human either.

What the hell?

"Sorry dude you're on your own." Peter yells back to me as he heads over to Gabriella.

"Peter, wait!" I yell to him.

I go to follow him, but a hand grabs my arm, making me turn to see who it is.

"Hannah!" I say surprised

I pull her in for a quick hug and pull back.

"I'm sorry about Cole and Demetri, are you okay?" I ask.

"I'm ok." She responds stiffly.

Looking her over, I see she's wearing a red exceedingly low-cut party dress with a plunging v neck. In all the time I've known Hannah she's never been the type to wear or even enjoy dress like this.

"Wow, that's some dress." I comment, not sure what else to say.

"Thanks, wanted to try something new, what do you think?"

"It looks good." I reply, not saying what I really thought which was that the dress seemed a little too slutty and out of character for her.

"Hey Caden, considering recent events I've had time to think and I've changed my mind and I would love to go out with you." Hannah says this as she wraps her arms around my neck and presses her body against mine.

What the hell? I've longed to hear her say those words, and if she had just a few days ago I would've been over the moon, but now with Keira, I don't feel anything towards Hannah.

I gently but firmly extract myself from Hannah's hold, which seems to surprise her.

"Sorry Hannah, you're a great friend and I hope we can continue to be friends, but I've already found my mate."

Hannah's jaw drops, and even I'm surprised by what I just said.

My mate, Keira is my mate, goddess that felt good to say. Even just saying it in my head makes me feel giddy. Hannah starts to say something, but I can't hear a word she's saying because I just spotted Keira dancing and am instantly captivated. She was wearing a simple but form fitting black party dress. The way the lights were bouncing off her skin and hair as she moved her body and hips to the beat had me and everyone else around her mesmerized. I barely notice Hannah still trying to talk to me as I walk past her. As I make my way towards Keira everything else seems to stand still. All I could see was Keira, all I could hear was the drum of the beat as Keira moved to its rhythm.

I start to notice other guys trying to go up and dance with her, which pisses me off, but she pushes them away rejecting them. Which made me ridiculously happy, deep down I knew it was childish, but I didn't care. Finally reaching her, she quickly pulls me into her rhythm, neither of us say anything, we didn't need to, not with the familiar feeling I know now as the mating bond radiating throughout our bodies. As we danced together, my body just seemed to know where to move with hers, we were completely in sync with each other. The longer we danced the stronger the feeling got until it felt like my whole body was on fire.

Keira moves behind me taking my back placing one hand on my chest and another at my throat. I stiffen as I start to recall the dream from earlier.

"Any good dreams lately?" Keira chuckles into my ear preceding to nibble on it.

My jaw drops, I'm in complete shock.

"That was you?! You did that!?" I ask incredulously.

Keira just continues to chuckle in my ear.

I couldn't believe it, this freakin female. My mind began to race as a million different emotions and thoughts flooded my head. But my main thought was how annoyed I was at her, even in my own dreams she takes control. Something inside me seemed to snap, grabbing Keira's hand, I pull her back towards the house. Once inside I pull open the first door I see and thankfully it's an empty guest room.

Tossing her onto the bed, I jump on top of her smashing my mouth against hers, putting everything I have into the kiss. She moans against my mouth letting me gain access to her tongue which I precede to suck on, causing her to moan even more. As I continue exploring her mouth, I move my hand up her thigh and under her dress grabbing hold of her firm perfect ass. Realizing she isn't wearing any underwear, I break the kiss and look at her curiously.

"Let's just say I was confidant on how this night was gonna end." She says to me with a naughty smile.

Argh, it was infuriating to know that even now she seemed to be in total control, but DAMN if it isn't turning me on! Using both hands I pull her dress over her head in one fluid motion tossing it aside. Seeing Keira gloriously naked beneath me took my breath away and caused me to pause for a moment and just take in how beautiful she is. But I quickly recover and begin to kiss my way down her body. Getting to her breasts I take her left nipple into my mouth and begin to suck and tease it with my tongue. Keira's back arches as she cries out.

"Oh goddess, please don't stop." The pleasure in her voice bringing me satisfaction.

As I switch over to her right breast, I continue stimulating her left nipple with my thumb causing Keira to let out another cry of pleasure. While alternating between her breasts I slowly move my hand downward and find that Keira is already hot, wet, and waiting for me. I slowly insert my finger into her velvet folds and start a nice slow rhythm while my thumb stimulates her clit. It doesn't take long before her legs start to shake, and I feel her walls tighten around my finger. As she's about to let out another cry of pleasure I cover her mouth with mine. Not stopping the rhythm, I ride out her orgasm with her, prolonging her pleasure as much as possible. Coming down from her orgasm, Keira is gasping for air.

"Caden (pant) please I need (pant)." Kiera whines.

Oh no, as much as I was dying to sink into her, I wasn't letting her off that easy. Not after all she's put me through. I continue to kiss my way down her body, all the way to her glistening core. Feeling a hunger I've never felt before, I take her into my mouth and suck, kiss, and tease every inch of her. She runs her hands through my hair as she lets out moans of pleasure. I pull one of her legs over my shoulder, opening her up wider for me, putting my tongue to work.

"Caden (gasp) I'm gonna!"

I feel her tightening around me, but I don't stop I continue devour every inch of her until I finally taste her on my tongue, greedily lapping up everything she was giving me. Keira suddenly pulls me up to her mouth by my shirt collar, kissing me with an intense need that matched my own. She growls as she tears my shirt off, kissing and nibbling on my collar bone. I quickly take off my remaining clothes, she stops to stare and growls in appreciation at my naked body. She quickly positions herself in front me, I knew what my mate wanted what we both wanted, but not yet, I wanted to tease her just a little bit longer. Instead of thrusting into her like I knew she wanted, I push myself into her as slowly as my own willpower allowed me to, causing sweat to drip off my brow. We both let out a hiss of pleasure and frustration at the sensation, but I maintain control holding Keira still as she tries to move herself against me. Keira growls as she glares up at me with lust filled eyes, we both knew she could easily overpower me and take over. Even now her alpha instincts were probably screaming at her to take control and dominate me. Feeling cheeky, I dare her to do it with my eyes. Her eyes narrow and as I feel her start to move, I thrust into her all the way, causing us both to cry out.

But that was it for myself control, and I begin thrusting into her with wild abandon, giving us both what we wanted what we needed.

"Kiss me." Keira tells me, which I eagerly oblige.

The kiss seems to push her over the edge as I feel her tighten around me forcing me over the edge as well. As we both cry out, Keira bites down on my neck, her fangs piercing my skin, but I feel more pleasure than pain. The urge to follow suit overwhelms me and I bite down on her neck as well, the taste of her blood like honey on my tongue. With the mating bond complete the feeling from before melts away, all I feel now is Keira. Her every breath, her every move I could now feel it as if we were one, which with how Alice described it we sort of were.

"Say it." I hear her growl into my ear.

I know what she wants me to say. No matter how amazing this was or how much she enjoyed it, her alpha instincts would not let it stand. She is the alpha, she is the dominate one, not even me her mate can change that. I know that if I just say the words, it would be enough to satisfy her.

"No," I replied with a smile.

Before I knew what happened, I was now the one on my back with Keira on top of me. Her eyes glowed as a devilish smile spread across her face.

"I was hoping you'd say that."

My lower half was already raring to go as she grabbed it and slowly eased herself on to it. Letting out a hiss, I go to grab her hips, but she grabs my hands and pins them down, the look in her eye letting me know this was revenge for my little stunt earlier. As she begins to ride me, she uses her superior strength and movements to bring me to the edge and back multiple times, driving me crazy with need. I continue to fight to maintain control, but she starts to kiss me as well, leaving me a panting mess. As I look up at her, I see her reveling in her power over me, her control over me.

"Keira." I gasp out.

Saying her names seems to break her control as she begins riding me full out, I cry out as she finally pushes me over the edge, her own release following my own. She slowly collapses on top of me, her breathing was slow and calm, she was back in control.

"Say it." She says again, but this time it was more of an order.

Knowing that no matter how much I fight it, her being the one in control her being the dominate one. This is how it would always be, so I give her what she wants, "I'm yours."