I woke up the next morning around eight. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I sat up and stretched. I looked lazily around my sea style room, blue walls with sea animals, sandy colored carpet and a light blue ceiling. I was rather peaceful, until I remembered what I was supposed to do today. I jolted out of bed. I had to meet an entire pack of werewolves in just a couple hours.

Jackson hadn't actually said what time he would come, so I had no idea when I had to be ready by. I had to be presentable and outgoing and...and...I don't know. Perfect? Yes, I know, no one is perfect, but I was going to do my absolute best to be!

I ran to my bathroom, stripping and jumping into the shower. I got cleaned and shaved and then climbed back out, wrapping myself in a robe while I went to find myself an outfit. I searched through my closet, looking for something classy, dressy and casual, all at the same time. Finally, I picked out a pair of my dark wash jeans, a dressy pastel blouse and a matching scarf. Pulling the clothing on, I headed back to the bathroom to figure out my hair.

After wrestling and trying to reason with my ridiculous hair, and failing, I gave in and plugged in my straight iron. I ran it thoroughly through my hair and finally deemed myself presentable.

Downstairs, my dad was already at the table, going over some papers from work. He's a lawyer, so I could usually find him at the table reading case files in the morning, preparing for the day ahead of him. My mom was standing in front of the stove, delicious scents emanating from the sizzling skillets in front of her.

"Morning, baby," my dad greeted me as I sat down at the table.

"Morning, dad," I replied. "Good morning, mom!" I added over my shoulder.

"Morning, honey!" she replied cheerfully. "Breakfast is almost finished. When is that wonderful boy coming today?" she asked.

I heard a snort from my father and we both turned to look at him. "You haven't met the boy, Evelyn," my dad said. "How do you know he's wonderful?"

My mom glared at him, just like she had multiple times the night before. "Ceci picked him, John. Of course he's wonderful!"

I smiled at their bickering and continued to watch them go back and forth for a bit. They were just so entertaining. It wasn't long before my dad was admitting defeat. He always did when faced with the decision between the couch and the bed. He hated spending a night away from my mom and it's just so adorable. She uses it against him all the time, but she never actually follows through. She either lets him back in bed when he crawls back upstairs at midnight or she ends up down on the couch with him.

"So when is the boy coming?" my dad asked me, his argument with my mom over.

"I don't actually know," I replied, slightly sheepish. "He just said he would pick me up."

My dad shook his head, but wisely didn't say anything. My mom was way too excited about the possibility of me having a boyfriend that it wouldn't be wise to start another argument and he knew it.

My mom served breakfast and we all made small talk while eating, talking about my dad's work, school, college and Jackson. We always take advantage of being together at breakfast to talk about our lives as my dad often worked through lunch and dinner when he was working on a case. It was our time to catch up because we were all here.

I was helping my mom wash the dishes from breakfast when the doorbell rang. I looked towards the front door, ready to wipe off my hands and go answer it, but my mom put a soapy hand on my arm.

"Let your father answer the door," she told me.

I sighed and went back to the dishes. I wanted to argue with her, but knew that I wouldn't change her mind in time to stop my dad from answering the door. I couldn't hear them, but when I looked over my shoulder, my dad was taking Jackson into the living room. I groaned. "Oh, no. Dad's going to scare him away!"

My mom laughed, handing me a now clean frying pan. "Have some faith in your date, dear," she told me. "If he can't handle your father, you two are doomed anyway. He'll have no idea what to do with you!"

I gasped, pretending to be offended, and flicked water at her. She laughed again and flicked my nose. I scrunched up my face and grabbed my aching nose. That really hurts!

Grinning at my face, my mom threw a towel over the clean dishes on the counter. "Let's go save Jackson from your father."

I giggled and followed her out of the kitchen.

We found both Jackson and my dad standing in the living room, shaking hands. Jackson had a smile on his face and my mom smiled at the sight. Obviously, he wasn't having any problems with my father.

"Hello, Jackson!" my mom said cheerfully, stepping forward and taking his hand. "I'm Cecilia's mother, Evelyn, but you can call me Evie."

"It's nice to meet you, Evie," he responded, giving her a charming smile.

I took the opportunity to look him over as my mom held his attention. His black hair was in the same spiky do as the beach and he was dressed in dark jeans and an off white shirt that showed off his muscles. I liked what I saw, that's for sure. Then I noticed the grin on his face as he noticed me checking him out. I blushed and looked down at my feet, making him chuckle slightly.

"It's good to see you again, Celia," he said to me.

I smiled at him and said, "It's good to see you too."

We all stood there and looked at each other. The silence was awkward and deafening, everyone waiting for someone else to speak. After a few minutes of Jackson staring at me, my dad staring at Jackson, my mom staring at my dad and me watching them all, I decided that I should break the silence.

"Well, we'd better be off!" I announced loudly, grabbing Jackson's hand and pulling him towards the door. "Bye mom, bye dad!" I yelled and slammed the door behind us.

"I'm sorry about my dad," I told him as we walked together towards his black mustang.

He laughed as he opened the door for me. "Don't worry about your dad, Celia," he assured me. "I already knew he was protective."

I blushed as I got in the car. Sometimes it was easy to forget that he had pretended to be my dog for a month.

He chuckled and closed the door softly behind me. He went around to his side and got in, starting the car. He smiled over at me and took my hand before pulling the car smoothly away from my house.

I couldn't help but be nervous as we drove. My nerves were dancing a tap dance that picked up in tempo the longer we drove. I began fidgeting and grabbed my right hand with my left to try to stop myself.

Jackson turned his attention to me, obviously noticing my small spastic movements. "You don't have to be nervous, Celia," he told me calmly. "Everyone is going to love you."

I didn't care what he thought, I didn't believe him. "How many people is everyone?" I asked, hoping that he wasn't going to say more than ten, but knowing it was inevitable.

"Well, you won't meet everyone today," he replied, raising my hopes that maybe it could be under ten. "Some people are on trips or don't live in the pack house. You'll see maybe 80 or 90 people today."

I stared at him in disbelief, my eyes wide and my jaw practically in my lap. "80 to 90?" I parroted in a high pitched voice that easily betrayed the nerves that I had been trying to hide just moments ago.

He raised an eyebrow as he glanced over at me. "You don't seem like the type of girl to be scared so easily," he taunted me.

I immediately took offense to his statement, being a self-sufficient woman that could take care of herself. "I'm not scared!" I scoffed, completely lying though I'd never admit it to anyone.

He grinned mischievously and winked at me as he spun the wheel to the left. "Good, because we're here."

My head shot up to look out the windows. We'd left the main road and were driving down a wide dirt lane lined with Japanese maple trees spaced by roses. The color of the roses alternated between the trees, every color I could imagine and the path was long enough for them to repeat. Through breaks in the branches and bushes, I could see that we had driven into the copse of trees that populated this side of town.

I was sure my jaw was someone down by my feet as I admired the beautiful landscaping around me. And then the house came into view. Or should I say mansion? Counting the windows, there seemed to be six floors. There was a cozy, wrap-around porch all the way around, stained to match to forest surrounding the house and it's large yard. The porch was dotted with patio sets including tables, chairs and umbrellas. The siding was a light oak and I could see white lace curtains in most of the downstairs windows.

The yard was decorated with medium sized, flowering trees spread out in an aesthetically pleasing way, along with flowers and bushes. Whoever did their landscaping was a genius. The yard itself was huge, but it was also completely surrounded by woods. I had no trouble imagining a pack of werewolves living comfortably here.

"Your house is through the woods, about three and a half miles that way," Jackson told me, pointing a little to the right of the pack house.

I smiled at him and looked around again. "This place is amazing!" I told him, looking around in amazement and admiration.

He gave me a happy grin and opened his door to get out of the car. He walked around the hood of the car and opened my door. Extending his hand, he helped me step out and closed the door behind me. "Thanks, I'm glad you like it," he told me. "Let's get inside. Eli sent everyone out back so that you wouldn't be bombarded when you walked in the door."

I sighed in relief and he laughed. "Oh, they're still coming, just not until you've met Eli and my parents."

I gulped. His parents. Oh god, this was just so nerve-wracking. He wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulders and led the way to the porch. He swung open the front door and announced grandly, "We're here!"

I heard footsteps making their way to the grand entryway we were standing in and suddenly found myself facing three new people. Jackson's mom was a natural blonde with blue eyes and a kind and welcoming smile. She was an inch or so shorter than me and was cuddled up to, who I assume, is Jackson's dad. He was a big, intimidating guy with short black hair and hazel eyes. He was taller than Jackson, but not by much. Beside him was another guy, and I could only guess he was Eli, Jackson's brother and the alpha. He looked nearly identical to Jackson, except he has his mother's blue eyes and he was about an inch taller.

I was immediately pulled from Jackson's arms to his mother's embrace. "It's so nice to finally meet you!" she exclaimed happily. She pulled back, keeping her hands on my shoulders and said, "My name is Eliza but everyone calls me Lizzie."

I smiled nervously and said, "It's nice to meet you, too. I'm Cecilia."

Jackson pulled me back to his side when his mom released my shoulders and introduced me to the other two men. "This is my dad, Benjamin, who prefers Ben, and my brother and alpha, Eli."

I shook hands with both of the men and we got our 'nice to meet you's out of the way.

"She's a pretty little thing. You did good brother," Eli said to Jackson with a wink, giving me a teasing smile as well. Lizzie slapped the back of his head and I had to hold back a grin and he whined, "Ow! What was that for?"

His mom raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at me. "Don't make your brother's mate feel uncomfortable," she scolded.

Ben laughed and put his arm around Lizzie's shoulders. "Welcome to the pack, Cecilia. I'm sure glad that Jackson found you. Are you ready to meet the rest of the pack?"

I stared at him with wide eyes, not quite expecting to get right to it once Jackson told me that the others were waiting out back. I still managed to stutter out an understandable "S-sure."

He smiled at my nerves and patted my shoulder. "Don't worry, dear. They're all very welcoming."

Jackson gave my shoulders a comforting squeeze as Eli smiled and started walking away. "They're all waiting in the back yard," Jackson informed me as he started us following Eli and his parents.

We walked down the hallway lined with entries to other rooms such as the large living room, dining room, kitchen and a bathroom. I didn't get to see much of them as we walked by as my eyes were trained on the sliding glass door at the end of the hallway that I had no doubt led to the back yard.

As we approached the door, I could see the rest of the wrap-around porch that hadn't been visible from the front yard. I could also see a large crowd of people mingling amongst themselves as they waited to meet the mate of one of their leaders.

Seeing all the waiting and expectant faces through the glass door really kicked my nerves through the roof. There was just so many of them. It definitely looked like there was more than 80 or 90 people in the crowd, but I didn't exactly have the time to count them. I don't know where they all came from because the town isn't that big and I hadn't seen any of these people around before.

There was a really pretty brunette on the porch with a tiny frame and a pixy-ish stature. She was talking to a tall blonde guy that looked like he'd be right at home amidst some surfer dudes in California. As soon as we stepped through the door, she walked up to Eli and wrapped her arms around him. He smiled down at her lovingly and then turned her to face me.

"Cecilia, this is my mate and the Luna of our pack, Alice. Alice, this is Jackson's mate, Cecilia."

Alice grinned happily and pulled away from Eli to try to squeeze me to death in a bone crushing bear hug. "We are going to be best friends!" she assured me. "We have to if we're going to help these rascals keep the pack in line."

Jackson rolled his eyes at her exuberance and carefully pulled me out of the suffocating embrace and back into his arms. "Careful with her Alice," he told her, ruffling her short, spiky hair.

She glared up at him as her hands raised to fix it. "You did not just touch my hair," she growled.

Jackson took a second to pretend to think about the question before a grin took over his face and he finally said, "Actually, I think I did.'

Alice lunged at him and Eli caught her with an ease that suggested their teasing was a common thing around here. "Play nicely you two," Eli playfully reprimanded his mate and brother before returning to introductions, but not releasing Alice. She didn't seem to mind as she snuggled closer to his chest with a content smile on her face. "This is my third in command, Kaden," Eli told me, gesturing to the surfer dude that Alice had been talking to when we came outside.

Kaden gave me a warm smile and shook my hand with a firm, yet gentle grip. "It's nice to meet you, Cecilia."

"It's nice to meet you too," I told him, returning the smile.

Eli turned to face the crowd of people in the yard and Jackson wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me tight against his side. I knew that I was about to be introduced to the pack and my pulse skyrocketed as fear of their opinions filled me. Jackson rubbed soothing circles on my hip with his thumb and smiled down at me confidently.

"Hey, everyone!" Eli called and the crowd fell silent. I was impressed with how quickly they had turned their attention to him, halting conversations in the middle of sentences to turn to face their alpha. "I think you all know why we are here today. Jackson has been absent for close to a month because he found his mate."

Eli had to pause his speech as the entire crowd cheered boisterously, their happiness filling the yard as congratulations were tossed around. I was amazed by the amount of support, given the fact that they didn't know me and probably knew that I wasn't one of them.

When the cheering died down, Eli continued. "It's a funny story that I'm sure Jackson will be happy to share if you ask nicely," he winked in Jackson's direction and I heard a slight rumble from Jackson, probably showing his displeasure at the mention of his embarrassing experience at the pound, "but, for now, this is your newest human pack member, Cecilia." He gestured back to me and everyone cheered again when I gave them an awkward wave.

"Maggie has cooked up a storm to feed everyone, so let's dig in and you can all take turns getting to know Cecilia!" Eli announced and everyone started to move at once. Some people made their way towards the buffet of food waiting, some started to make their way up to the porch to greet us and others moved around, conversing.

Jackson kept me close to his side the entire time I was meeting the pack members. I started with the upper ranks of the pack, like the lead warriors in the pack and strategists. Everyone was really friendly and welcoming, not seeming to mid at all that I was human.

Then I met Mason. I'm not sure if he has an official title in the pack, but Jackson introduced him as a close friend and also said that he had taken over for him while he was with me. Mason was a couple inches shorter than Jackson, with sandy brown hair and really bright blue eyes. Also, flaming gay. Although, I don't think anyone knows.

We spent quite a while talking with Mason and I really liked him. He was a funny guy with a great sense of humor and was very outgoing. Eli interrupted us in the middle of a conversation about water balloon fights, which we both enjoyed.

"Sorry, Cecilia," he told me, his face serious and grave. "I need to steal Jackson away from you for a few minutes." Despite his facial expression, I could tell that he tried to sound light and carefree. He didn't fool me, but I decided not to mention it. He obviously didn't want me to know.

I smiled and nodded. "That's fine," I assured him. "I'll just hang out with Mason here until you guys are done."

Jackson and Mason exchanged a look that I assumed meant something along the lines of 'keep an eye on her or I'll kick your ass' and Mason's was an affirmative along the lines of 'I'll protect her with my life'...probably not, but it was fun to think about.

Jackson dropped a kiss on my forehead and squeezed me in a quick hug. "I'll go see what Eli needs and then I'll be right back. Don't worry, no one will bite," he added with a wink as he released me and headed back towards the pack house.

As he disappeared through the slider door, I turned to face the crowd and bumped shoulders with Mason. "So, Mase, any boys spark your interest?"

Shock covered his features as he looked down at me quickly and then he pulled himself together and a look of disbelief took its place. "I don't know what you're talking about, Cecilia Moore. I'm a ladies man."

I snorted. "Yeeaah. Right."

His face straightened and he looked straight into my eyes as he said, "You are not to tell anyone. As far as the pack is concerned, I'm straight and it needs to stay that way."

I held up my right hand. "I, Cecilia Jean Moore, solemnly swear to never divulge your sacred secret to another living soul unless otherwise instructed by you." I gave him a cheeky grin as I finished my promise and he chuckled.