A loud CLUNK against my window woke me from my restless slumber. I jolted upright and shuffled toward the window so that I could see what was going on.

"You woke her up, dummy!" A girl who looked about ten years old yelled at her young companion, a boy with dark waves of hair, from below my window.

The little boy was chasing after his foam football, which was most likely what hit my window and caused the disturbance. At least my window did not kill a bird, I thought to myself

I smiled at the two children before stepping away from the window to let them continue with their games, but a familiar voice made me peek back down at them. Nolan had walked out of the house and was now talking to the two youngsters, although I could not decipher what they were saying. All I could focus on was the way his dark hair seemed to reflect the sun beams and the movement of his muscles beneath his tight-fitting shirt. Suddenly, before I could turn away, the young girl pointed up at me and Nolan's gaze rose to meet mine.

I immediately spun away from the window, praying that he did not catch me spying on him, even though I know that he did. Blush formed on my cheeks at the thought that he had seen me with my hair a mess and my gross pajamas on. I quickly shook my head. Why should I care about what he thinks about my appearance?

While I was still reflecting on this, someone knocked on my door and I bit my lip. A part of me wished that Alpha Nolan would be the one to enter. But instead, Sophia walked in to the room with a smile on her face.

"Nolan wants to see you." Her voice was chipper, as if she had forgotten what happened the night before.

The last thing I wanted to do was go downstairs and face the pack members that had humiliated me the night before, "Okay..." I sighed, "Then tell him he can come up here and talk to me."

Sophia's eyes widened slightly at my words but then she laughed, "Okay, I will let him know." Her eyes glazed over for a moment as she relayed the message to my not-so-mate.

She laughed even harder at his reply, "Okay, he is on his way up here."

"What'd he say?" I tried my best to sound indifferent, but, really, I ached to know.

"He asked for the strength not to kill you." She giggled slightly before nodding to me, "I will see you later."

When she closed the door, I rushed to my bathroom in a frenzy to try and smooth down my hair and apply some sort of cream to my face to make the bags under my eyes disappear.

In a matter of moments, Nolan knocked on the door and I rushed over to the bed to make it seem like I had been sitting there the entire time.

The second he walked in, I rolled my eyes. "You know it would be so much easier if you did not have to use others to communicate with me."

"You're not part of the pack, so there is no way for us to mind-link." Of course, I already knew that. But the bluntness in his tone cut me like a knife nonetheless, and I flinched. Just another reminder that I did not belong here.

I struggled to regain my composure and flashed him a smirk. "Well then, maybe we could get pagers or something?"

His eyes hardened at my disrespectful comment. Good. I'm not going to let you push me around anymore.

Nolan cut to the chase, "There was a rogue wolf extremely close to the pack house last night. It was the same one that caused the car accident."

"Oh really?" I lied and nearly convinced myself of my own aloofness. There was no way I was going to rat-out my new and only friend.

"Your scent was there as well." He growled, and the weight of his gaze held me in place.

"Right... because I was out on a walk, but I never met up with the wolf." I explained to the best of my ability. "He must have just missed me. "

"What were you doing walking alone at night?" He took a step closer to me and folded his arms across his broad chest.

"Why does it matter?" I muttered in disgust, trying to act like I could not stand his possessive questions.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because we are at war with a superior species of hybrids that roam the woods at night." His snarled and took another step closer to me, so that we were only a few feet apart.

"You can't even shift. You would never be able to put up a fight against anything!" I knew he was losing his tempter, and fast.

Suddenly, an idea came to me. "Well then teach me to fight."

He glanced at me, as if wondering if I was serious.

"Teach me to fight against one of them. It makes since because, apparently, I am at some great risk." I gestured to the outside world beyond the window, "According to you, everything out there wants to kill me!"

"Didn't they teach you to fight at the Golden Walker's Pack?" Nolan narrowed his eyes, but I could see that he was considering it.

"...Not like here," I replied softly, "The Black Lupis Pack is known for being..."

"Killing machines?" He finished and shot a glare in my direction.

"No. Extremely skillful warriors. And I know that people here would respect me... Well... I just want to prove to the pack that I am not completely useless." I looked down at my shoes and fidgeted with the hem of my shirt. Thoughts of last night came back to my mind, and, against my will, my eyes started to brim with salty tears.

Suddenly, Nolan's hand cupped my chin, moving my head back so that I was looking at him.

His beautiful eyes were now gentle as he stared at me, a look of concern spread across his face. This was a completely different side of him, and, for a moment, it felt like he was finally treating me like his mate.

"Charlotte," he breathed out, his fingers still brushing my face gently, "You're not..." He fumbled for words before clearing his throat slightly and regaining himself, "I will privately train you to fight, but only until you are good enough to train with the rest of the pack."

His hand dropped from my face and he stepped away from me, unable to meet my gaze again.

"We will start today. Go eat something and then meet me outside at the training grounds," he turned to leave, suddenly very rash and distant.

"I'm not hungry!" I lied, "I'll just go with you now."

Nolan gave me a skeptic look before shrugging, "Okay, get changed."

Realization dawned on me that I was still wearing the ugly pajamas and a small blush formed on my cheeks as I noticed his eyes traveling down my body.

The moment he turned to leave, I began to rummage through the drawers. Finally, I found a dark gray, long sleeved t-shirt that clung to my skin tightly and a pair of black yoga pants.

After braiding my long, brown hair down my back and applying more foundation to my face, I jogged out of the door and almost ran in to Nolan's huge figure.

His strong hands grabbed my shoulders before I could hit him though and he gave me an annoyed look, "Okay, let's go."

I sighed in relief when we made it out the doors without being confronted by any other pack member. I did not want to have to deal with the humiliation from the night before again.

Nolan brought me to a clearing where there were numerous targets and dummies. Along the edge of the clearing were small dueling rings.

Some were larger than others, and I guessed that the pack used the rings in both their wolf and human forms.

"So what's first?" I asked while looking around the vast training area. The Golden Walkers' facility was not half as nice as this.

"Go ahead and stretch." He folded his arms across his muscular chest in a very uninterested manner, as if he would rather be anywhere else but here.

I did as I was told and spread my legs so that I could bend over and stretch my legs.

As I did so, Nolan let out a sharp breath from behind me followed by a small, rumbling growl and, although at first I was confused, realization finally dawned on me. I was bending over in front of him with my rear end sticking up in the air.

My face began to heat up as I hurriedly switched to a different stretch, mentally cursing myself in the process. But there was a part of me that was almost satisfied by his reaction. By the time I was done, Nolan looked more disgruntled than before, but managed to uncross his arms and approach me.

"Attack me." He instructed, his cold blue eyes never leaving mine.

"Excuse me?" I had expected him to give me a little training first.

"I need to see what your strengths are... or if you have any." He added the last part under his breath, but I still could hear him. A low blow, meant to fire me up. So I had no problem when I lunged at him a little too aggressively.

Nolan expertly side stepped and avoided my fists, and when I brought my other arm around to hit his face, he stopped me with his forearm.

The hint of amusement in his eyes proved that he was obviously not trying at all as I continued to swing at him feebly.

I had been a good enough fighter at the Golden Walkers Pack, but the way he easily parried any blow I sent his way indicated just how much better the Black Lupis Pack was at fighting.

After a few minutes, I started to get tired and my swings became weaker and weaker.

"You have no strength or stamina, and your fighting technique is sloppy and predictable," he growled, "Is this really how they teach you to fight at the Golden Walkers Pack?"

I glared at him, my chest heaving, "I did not ask for you to come out here and insult my pack."

Suddenly, he took a step closer to me, completely catching me off guard. Anger and dominance pulsed off of his body in waves.

"They are not your pack anymore," his tone was dark and controlling, "You belong to me... and the Black Lupis Pack."

His words stunned me; I did not think he would ever be so unashamedly possessive with me. Then I realized it must have been his inner wolf saying those things and urging that reaction.

The fire in his eyes and glare made me want to turn away and cower, but I resisted the urge and just looked down, "Y-yes, Alpha."

"Nolan," he seemed to calm down considerably, "Call me Nolan."

I was extremely flustered by his outburst, but hated the control he had over me.

"Okay... Are you gonna teach me anything?" I rolled my eyes and stepped away from him, unable to stand the heat of his gaze.

"Go run two miles," Nolan ordered and turned away from me.

"What?" Impulsively, I grabbed his arm to try and force him to face me again. He was making me run? Big mistake. He barely budged when I grabbed him, but instead he spun around dangerously, his entire body shaking with rage.

"You, never try to do anything like that again," his voice was dangerously low, "Know your place."

"Know my place where?" I raised my voice, not going to back down to this man. "Huh? Because I sure as hell don't belong here with you." I was only saying what we already knew; fate really messed up when it forced us to be mates.

He began to shake more, probably trying his best not to lash out at me. But part of me wanted him to. I wanted to get all of my anger out towards him.

"I have been more than lenient with your disrespect, but I am your Alpha. And you are a weak, insignificant girl who is hardly a werewolf at all," his words were like poison, and I could tell they were intended to make me back down and put me in place.

Instead, they were like gasoline to my fire.

"You aren't my Alpha. My Alpha is miles away. You aren't my mate either. Because my mate was always supposed to be so much more than you," I could feel tears in my eyes, but my voice continued to be strong.

He opened his mouth to growl something, but I cut him off, "And I can't help from wonder what I did to piss Fate off so much that it would force me to be mates with you. Because, honestly, you are the last man in the world that I could ever be prevailed upon to be mates with."

That did it. Nolan let out a fierce, animal-like growl, and suddenly, chaos erupted.

Before me, the huge, menacing form that was Nolan began to shift and distort into a huge, Alpha wolf.

Suddenly, several wolves appeared around us, each one growling at Nolan, as if warning him to calm down.

One of them positioned themselves protectively in front of me, while snarling at Nolan. He had rusty fur and was considerably smaller than Nolan; if it came down to a fight, I knew who would win.

Once Nolan was completely shifted, he dangerously bared is teeth at his pack members that were only trying to help poor, defenseless me.

His eyes were completely glazed over, indicating that his wolf was in full command right now.

I emitted shaky breaths as I started to back away from his looming figure, honestly being more scared now than ever before.

Nolan's piercing eyes locked on me and he started to advance, only to be interrupted by the small russet wolf in his way.

The russet wolf snarled and nipped at Nolan, not to harm him, but to snap him out of this sudden frenzy that was caused by my careless words.

Instantly, Nolan roared and attacked the small wolf. Within seconds, the small wolf was on the ground, defenseless beneath Nolan's heavy weight. Another wolf jumped on Nolan's back, only to be easily shaken off.

I could only stand there and watch with a horrified expression as Nolan nearly tore apart his pack member, but when he opened his jaw to bite down on the wolf's neck, I screamed.

"Stop! Nolan!" the panic in my voice was evident as I stared at my dangerous mate, "Stop right now!" I ran toward the mass of wolves, now attempting to stop the turmoil.

My voice made Nolan's head snap up, and his eyes met mine. They refocused as I got even closer, and the animal-like nature seemed to fade away at my voice.

"There, calm down. I'm sorry," I panted, "I'm sorry."

My hands were raised in the air, still trying to make him calm down.

Nolan looked down at the squirming wolf beneath him before stepping off of the rusty wolf, as if realizing what he had done.

"I did not mean what I said..." I think we both knew this was a lie, but, at the moment, I was willing to say anything to make him be composed again.

Hesitantly, I reached out to touch him, causing him to immediately stiffen at my touch. To my surprise, his large wolf leaned into my hand and a current of electricity coursed through my body.

A small whimper escaped my mate and he glanced at his fellow pack members, as if apologizing for the outburst.

For some reason, I though back to what Adriano said; "You do not have to love each other. Only lead a pack together." Finally, his words made sense.

Nolan and I may not love each other, but nonetheless we are mates. And I know that I am the only one who would have been able to calm him down like I just did. Then again, I was the one who started the entire fight.

I realized that an audience had congregated, both in human and wolf form. The pack watched in silence as their Alpha nearly killed one of the members, although I was sure that they were probably all mind-linking.

"Charli!" Sophia came running up, breaking the calm after the storm. "Come on," she obviously wanted to get me as far away from Nolan as possible, in case he snapped again. Maybe he was the one that ordered her to do it?

She led me back into the house without saying a word, but once we were in the closure of my room, she turned to me.

"You shouldn't have pushed him," she sighed, running a hand through her dark, silky hair.

"I know," I admitted shamefully, "But I couldn't help it. I just needed to let out my frustration. And he was pushing me too."

"We all heard and felt what was going on," she tapped her head, indicating the mind link. "We could feel him losing control. You were lucky that Will, Raegan, and Christina were nearby."

"Christina?" Why would the girl that mortified me the night before want to protect me?

"Yeah," Sophia sat on the edge of my bed, "She's the reddish wolf that he almost killed."

Oh.

"You know, he wasn't always this...mean," her voice was quiet. "She changed him. And, regardless of what Christina says, I think you can too."

"What happened to her?" Sarah, his first mate.

Even when I asked it, I knew I wasn't ready for the answer.