Jackson wants me to meet his pack? Tomorrow? What the heck is he thinking? I was freaking out on the way back down the beach to my friends. He wanted me to meet god knows how many werewolves with only ONE day to prepare myself? He's insane! I've barely gotten used to the fact that he's a werewolf!

I slapped myself mentally. Pull yourself together, I scolded myself. I had to go act like someone had taken my wonderful wolf dog. Stopping, I took a deep breath and then put on my best depressed face. When I thought I had succeeded I walked the last few steps and plopped down on the blanket next to Lisa.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Aiden asked me, sitting up to look at me more closely. The girls did the same. "Where's Rafe?"

I sighed dramatically, looking down at my hands. "I just ran into his previous owners in the octagon. He was theirs first, so I let them take him back."

They all gasped in surprise. "But he loved you!" Taylor exclaimed in disbelief.

I smiled slightly at her, not having to entirely pretend that I was sad. I was going to miss my dog, even if he did sort of turn into my maybe boyfriend. "And I loved him," I told her, "but I've only had him a month. Imagine how those people felt, losing him after a few years."

I watched as they let that sink in. Then I was suddenly in the middle of a group hug with all of them speaking at one.

"I'm sorry!"

"You still have us!"

"We love you!"

"You should've told them they couldn't have him back!"

I raised my eyebrows at Aiden. "Really, Aiden?" I asked of him.

He shrugged, not at all abashed about his comment. "They couldn't have cared that much if they live around here and you've had him for a month."

He had a point, but I didn't say so because of the fact that no one had actually taken my dog. My dog hadn't even really been a dog, so there was no point in continuing this conversation any longer than necessary. I just shrugged.

"He was theirs first and it would have been rude for me to tell them they couldn't have him back."

Aiden didn't look like he agreed, but he let the subject drop. Glancing around, his eyes landed on the football in the sand where those guys had been playing with it. They were now occupied in the water. "What do you say we play some catch?" Aiden suggested, looking around at us.

I couldn't catch a ball to save my life and Aiden knew that. At the look on my face, he grinned. "We'll go easy on you," he assured me.

The other girls were up for it so I agreed. "Just don't aim for my face," I joked as we headed over to form a circle by the ball. Well, I was totally serious, but they laughed anyway.

Aiden grabbed the ball as the rest of us formed a circle. He threw the ball to Lisa first, putting power behind it. She caught it easily, grinning as she shook out her hand. She's pretty good at most sports because that's how she gets her aggression out most of the time. She threw it back at Aiden even harder, making the rest of us laugh.

The ball went a pretty quick speed between everyone until someone threw it to me. They threw it softly to me, knowing it was probably the only way I'd be able to catch it. I didn't have a problem throwing, just catching. I grinned when Aiden shook his hands out when I threw it to him.

"You're going to regret that one later, Ceci," he warned me as he tossed it over to Taylor.

I wasn't too worried about his threat and we continued to toss the ball around for a while. It didn't take too long for the ball to end up back in Aiden's hand, courtesy of Kayla. Suddenly, the ball was flying at me at warp speed. I knew there was no way that I could catch it and my only option would be to try to dodge it.

I stepped back a little, preparing to do just that, but ultimately just tripped over my own two feet. I flailed slightly as I started falling backwards. Before I could hit the sand, I felt warm arms go around my body, holding me up while those now familiar sparks and tingles spread outwards from the contact. Jackson.

"Whoa, you okay there?" he asked, looking down at me with a mischievous smile.

I was surprised at how happy I was to see him. "All better now," I replied with a smirk of my own.

He stood me upright and held out his hand like we didn't already know each other. "Jackson Walker."

I smiled and shook his hand. "Cecilia Moore. Thanks for catching me."

"Anytime," he replied with a flirty smile. "It's not often I have people falling for me."

I snorted, unimpressed with his attempt at a pick up line. "Oh, please. Would you like some wine with that cheese?"

His eyes widened in surprise and then he laughed at my crazy statement. He turned to face my friends, reminding me that we weren't alone. "Are you trying to kill her?" he asked Aiden. His voice sounded teasing, but I detected the undercurrent of anger in it. Aiden obviously did too, if his face was any indication. The girls all seemed a little surprised by how quickly this meeting was escalating.

"I think I know what my friend can or cannot handle," Aiden retorted.

I could feel a slight tremor work its way through Jackson and I knew that he was really angry. "Obviously you don't!" he snapped. "She just tripped trying to avoid the ball that you just rocketed at her."

I put my hand gently on his arm. "I'm fine," I assured him. "We were just messing around. We do it all the time. I'm not normally so clumsy."

He looked down at me and the anger drained from his face. He smiled softly at me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Look, man, I like your friend here, so I'd like for us to be friends as well."

Lisa looked skeptical, her eyebrow raised as she looked him over. "You just met her," she stated.

He smiled charmingly back at her, making it hard for me not to smile as well. "Well, when you know, you know."

I couldn't help my laugh and Lisa rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm Lisa," she told him. "You hurt Celia and I'll kick your ass."

Jackson nodded in understanding. "Perfectly acceptable," he replied as he shook her hand.

"Of course, you'll first have to convince her to go out with you."

I chuckled and Jackson looked at me sideways. "I don't think that will be a problem. Do you, Cecilia?"

I shrugged coyly and his eyes narrowed.

He was distracted from replying when Kayla stepped forward, her hand out to shake his. "I'm Kayla," she told him with her usual flirty smile. "You got any brothers?"

Jackson laughed. "One, but sorry, he's taken," he replied, making Kayla pout and move away so that Taylor could introduce herself to Jackson.

"Taylor. It's nice to meet you," she told him. "You be nice to Celia, I'm pretty sure she could take you down before Lisa even gets to you."

I laughed at Taylor's statement, though it was true that I knew how to defend myself. And Jackson knew it as well. I might have a hard time against his werewolf strength though.

Aiden stepped forward next. "Aiden." He shook Jackson's hand and it looked as if they were having a squeezing contest for a moment, before Aiden let go, giving Jackson a look of respect. "You up for a game of catch?"

I stared between them in amazement, wondering at the strange traditions guys had.

Jackson quickly agreed and took his spot in the circle to my left. He was probably prepared to save me from anymore rocket balls that the group might send my way. I rolled my eyes. He had gotten so angry that Aiden had thrown the ball at me so hard, but I shrugged it off. He had been protective since we brought him home from the pound. I giggled a little at the thought.

Everyone paused the game, staring at me in surprise and I shrugged, blushing slightly. "Just something funny that I thought of," I told them, trying to brush off my embarrassment from laughing at seemingly nothing.

Aiden rolled his eyes and threw the ball to me. I fumbled a little bit, but I didn't drop it, so I smiled proudly at everyone and tossed the ball to Taylor. Jackson laughed at the spastic wobble my ball performed, but covered it with a cough when I glared at him. Just because my ball didn't spiral this time did not give him the right to laugh at me.

We played catch for a while longer. Aiden and Lisa started an interrogation with Jackson while Kayla, Taylor and I looked on in amusement. I hadn't even agreed to go on a date with him yet, though it was only a matter of time, and they were acting like he was a boyfriend they were just meeting.

I did learn some fun facts about him, though. He was nineteen, graduated last year, his brother was 21, he loved playing football, soccer and tennis and he had a very minimal dating record (three short term girlfriends). That last line of questioning had jealousy simmering in my stomach and I had to mentally slap myself.

He wasn't yours then, I told myself. Well, if you want to get technical: he still isn't mine. Or is he? He did say we were mates after all. Didn't that mean that I had some claim to him? Certainly more than any other girl did. We were soul mates. The more that I thought about it, I decided that he was mine and that was that.

I was broken from my ridiculous thought pattern by the ball knocking into my arm, most likely leaving a bruise behind. Taylor had thrown it to me while I was distracted by my own thoughts. I laughed as I picked it up from the sand at my feet.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Jackson asked me with a raised brow.

"None of your business," I told him, sticking my tongue out at him like a five-year-old. I wasn't going to tell him that I was distracted thinking about the fact that he was mine and my jealousy wasn't all that ridiculous. That would just be too embarrassing and wasn't going to happen.

He gave me a knowing smile anyway and I threw the ball at him, aiming for his face. He laughed at my reaction and caught it easily. He threw it to Kayla and gave me a charming smile that warmed me from the inside out.

To cover my reaction to the simple gesture, I rolled my eyes.