After the awkwardness that was the car ride with Lance and I, I had come to the decision that I would stay here temporarily. It would be nice to feel a little safe here, by my mate. I swallow thinking about the stiffness and distance Lance gave me in the morning after we left from Alpha Dylan's. I felt extremely guilty for running off like that and making a fast one. And complete shame. Lance wouldn't even look at me. The tension in the car was almost suffocating. Especially since I hated silences.

I would have rather died than told Lance to stop at a gas station because I had to use the bathroom.

When we got to the mansion/pack house, Lance just straight up disappeared while we were at the door. I could see Cole from the peripheral vision. He was totally following me. Great. The Beta was following me.

Meg greeted me with a glare at the living room. I hope they didn't do anything to her because of me. Would Lance have harmed her?

"I can't believe someone like you would one up me like that," Meg crosses her arms accusingly.

"Nothing personal," I tell her, meeting her eyes so she could tell that I meant it. She steps in front of me.

Meg scoffs, "Seriously though I can't believe I couldn't find you."

"I hope you didn't get in trouble," I sheepishly admit.

"Puh-lease," Meg waves a hand like she didn't care, "like anyone could do anything to me." I smile a little.

"I'm sorry though," I confess.

Meg gives me another stank look. "Meredith, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

I gulp, looking away from her. She's right of course. Lance was the one that may have gotten hurt. I thought Lance would lock me up or something but he didn't. This was a relief to know he wouldn't, but now I would always be with Cole . Or, Cole was following me around and I don't think I can get out or escape easily with. Plus this guy was like some intense rock so conversation with him would be awkward.

Meg brushes past me, giving me one last look, and that's when I notice my surroundings. What I saw when I first came here was no one. Now? I see so many wolves buzzing past me, not saying anything to me but doing their own thing with each other.

Some pups were running, laughing away from the kitchen in which and older werewolf was chasing them out of the kitchen. I sidestep out of their way, smiling at them.

Those pups are so me. The eating the raw cookie dough part, I mean.

"You guys can't eat raw cookie dough, you pups!" the werewolf wearing a chef's hat and a big round stomach yelled after them, a distinct southern accent prominent in his words. He then notices me and frowns. "Who are you?"

"Av-Meredith," I stutter.

"Cook," the man jutted out his hand. His name was literally Cook and he was a cook? That's so cool. "It's nice to meet Alpha's mate."

I'm taken by surprise that Lance had told any of his pack mate's. "Nice to meet you too," I say taking his hand. "I ate your pizza the other day and it was great."

Cook smiles. "I like a gal that can eat."

I laugh a little, "Oh trust me, I eat a lot."

"We'll get along just fine," Cook nods.

"Dad-" a girl around my age with long blonde hair and big blue/green eyes came out of the kitchen and stopped what she was about to say when she sees me. Her eyes narrow into slits. "Who are you?"

"Grace, this is no way to treat your future Luna," Cook scolds to his daughter

"Luna?" she asks with full attitude. This chick looked like a doll.

Can I make at least one friend here? I do what the bigger person would do and smile, "Hi, I'm...Meredith."

"Dad, you're saying she's my Alpha's mate?" Grace ask giving me a once over and turns her nose as it she smelled something bad. I'm not the skinniest wolf around nor an I the fattest- I was just average. I like my curves enough except I was working on my six pack which is not coming along good at all. I don't even have a one pack. I should stop eating junk food altogether but I don't know if I can ever stop eating donuts or cookies. So there's a huge obstacle. Sometimes I'd feel self conscious being around my older sister who's skinny or this Grace right in front of me looking like a model, but I'm awesome and at a normal weight with my 5'6 height. I hate people who made you feel less because of your weight. Yes you can change it but don't make someone feel like they're less of a person. It was something I accepted a long time ago.

I do not like the way she said that in a really condescending tone.

"Surprise," I deadpan at her. Grace scowls at me. Like she had any claim to Lance. Her Alpha? Did she not know that the entire pack shared one Alpha. I've got news for you, Grace...

"Come on Grace we have a lot of cooking to do," Cook pats me on the shoulder, and goes back into the kitchen, but Grace doesn't move and is still glaring at me.

I hate girl on girl hate. Why can't we all get along? Us girls need to stick together. Especially in this horrible werewolf patriarchy were the males think they're dominant over us.

"I will make my Alpha's favorite dessert. He loves it the most," Grace says smirking at me. This whole looking innocent charade is so fake. Ugh.

"Cool? Thanks?" I say not knowing why she's telling me this. Does she want a prize? I continue to smile to make sure she knows I mean no threat to her. Blame the Moon Goddess, not me for having Lance as a mate, jeez.

"He always loves whatever I make him."

My smiling stops and I just look at her in disbelief. "What are you even getting at?"

"Grace come on!" Cook's voice bellows. Grace gives me another weird smirk and flips her hair around, going into the kitchen.

I don't even know what just happened. Did she like Lance? What was up with her and food and giving her food to Lance? Something knotted in my stomach thinking about her being with Lance. Being strictly with no one else but your mate was a very traditional method- one that I didn't abide by and maybe Lance didn't either. I only had one crush but it was never going to have happened.

I'm getting a headache.

***

On the serious note, I do need to go to the mall and buy some clothes because my clothes smell bad.

"I do need to go to the mall and buy some clothes," I tell Cole the stalker behind me. I give him my best impression as what a Luna might do and raise my chin. If it was another situation I would have never asked for permission, but this was my karma for running away the first time I went to the mall so there definitely would be mistrust there.

I can tell Cole is mind-linking Lance. I'm not ready to face him yet.

Cole is coming to the mall with me this time.

We're in the car, and it'd had been silent so far.

"So why did you run away?" Cole asks me. I'm surprised he even spoke to me. He's so intense I want to get out of his way. He casts me a side way glance. "And don't think you can this time."

"I told you, I'm not going to run away. I just really want some cute stuff to wear because, you know, I'm a GIRL," I answer him, irritated. Cole doesn't say anything.

After a few moments, "You never answered my question."

"What do you think?" I ask him. Not that I cared, really. As if he could know two Alphas want to kill me. I have a huge secret of theirs that I have no idea what to do with. It'd be a burden to put on anyone to know this information.

"I think you might have been scared," Cole says after a pause. "I know Lance has done nothing to make you dislike him. You might have been scared of your own feelings."

Annoyed with his confident answer I huff, "Who are you, my therapist?"

I think for once I saw a glint of amusement in his eyes as he looked at me. "You might be scared or you might be hiding something. Rest assured, my Luna, you should know no harm will ever come to you." The intensity of his gaze unnerved me, so I looked away. Him already accepting my position as a Luna made me anxious. These high expectations they had of me, like, they were going to be disappointed. Big time. Plus, I had no right to have that title. Also, for a Beta, Cole was really really powerful. His aura was different. More like... "And if someone tries to harm you, they'll have to go through Lance's and mine's dead bodies."

I gulped. That's exactly what I don't want to happen. "What if that's what I'm scared of?" I nearly whisper and we come to an abrupt stop as I see Cole give me a perplexed expression for a millisecond before he continues on to drive.

***

When we get into the mall, Cole is staring at my every move while we're at the mall. "You're coming to the fitting room with me?" I joke, and he turns away. I sigh, "I'm not going to run away."

"Precaution," Cole answers me.

"Hey Cole do you know what your Alpha likes?" I ask him. Cole handed me that black credit card again, but I wasn't going to give a gift to Lance that Lance has to pay for.

"Books," Cole answers.

"Ugh, not helpful," I say, going into a bookstore. What can I get him? What does an Alpha that's rich need? Does he have a good sense of humor if I get him Twilight? I snicker at the thought.

After our shopping trip, I bought Cole something and Lance something too. I bought Bo a small cactus plant. Maybe I bought them gifts because I felt guilty. Cole was right, they have done nothing to make me dislike them.

"Um Cole," I start to say. Cole looks over at me and hand him a bag. "This is for you...while you weren't looking." He looks genuinely surprised. First time for everything, I think. "I did not use the Alpha's money because I had my own, and I wanted to spend it on you guys."

"Thank you, Luna," he starts to say. "You did not have to-"

"Shut up," I swat his arm out of reflex. "Your fashion is a disaster." He looks over to me, a little startled until he sees my grin then he relaxes and I swear I see his lips almost twitch.

I go inside the mansion to the main area, where I see Grace, Bo and Lance talking and I yell, "Bo! I bought something that screams you."

Bo looks over to me excitedly. "What? Serious?"

I hand him the baby cactus plant.

Bo looks at it for a second and laughs out loud. "Gosh, you know me."

I narrow my eyes at him, "It's a great gift!"

Bo snorts. "Thank you, I'll add it to my cactus collection." Bo taps my head as he walks out, leaving me, Grace and Lance alone. I can feel Lance's eyes on me. Isn't he like super pissed off at me?

I did not want to give his gift with...Grace around. I also had to work up the nerve to meet his eyes. I take a deep breath and take a few steps towards him, around the huge island in the middle. "Can I speak to you?" I ask Lance, my voice a little squeaker than I liked.

Grace shrugs, "I'm not leaving-"

"Alone?" I ask, ignoring her. Screw being the bigger person.

"Leave, Grace," Lance tells her in his baritone. She gives me a look before leaving, not disobeying the Alpha's orders.

I clear my throat. "Well- this is nothing really special but I thought it suited you," I hand him a bag, my face flaming. It was actually the worst gift on the planet. Who gifts people a bookmark?? What was I thinking?

Where was a black hole to suck me up right now?

"I...never received a gift before," Lance looks the small bag, unsure. He opens it and it's a book mark with his name because I know he likes to read, or Cole says he does. His electric blue eyes looks up at me after inspecting the book mark. "Thank you, Meredith. This is not nothing."

I felt warm all over. It was just a simple book mark, but Lance thought it was like some kind of grand gift. My demeanor relaxed then. The little things in life, I thought. And it says a lot about a person who appreciates them.

After a few seconds of just looking at each other- because I can look into his eyes all day- he looks away quickly and says, "We have a library upstairs if you ever want to go and visit."

I open my mouth flabbergasted, "You have a library?!" I am a total book worm. The fact that this place has a library really makes me want to live here.

It also saddens me about my predicament.

***

Later in the evening, I'm munching on some cookies because what else would I do when Cole my stalker body guard enters the kitchen as if he hadn't been stalking me.

"I have to ask something important from you Cole," I say conspiratorially . Cole leans down as if I were going to tell him a secret.

"What is it?" he asks.

"What's the wifi password?"