"Being unapologetically yourself makes you invincible." -The Monster

"Is there a reason all of you are here?"

"What? No, we are just here to spend time with you," Lilia says.

"Yeah! I feel like Zane is always hogging you, like what about us?" Hiro adds.

Callie and Lilia look at Hiro with wide eyes. He responds with a what-did-I-do-wrong gesture.

"Uh ok," I say with an awkward laugh.

I was laying on the hammock outside when these three pulled up beach chairs and surrounded me. In all honesty, I was hoping to catch some extra hours of sleep. Zane had the same nightmare last night and we both ended up waking much earlier than we are used to. The good thing is that we have figured out he only gets these nightmares on full moons, so we know to be prepared now.

Hiro looks down at his phone then back up at me.

"Alessandra! We have to go to the front of the house right now," he says before grabbing my hand and dragging me out of the hammock.

"Why?"

My feet drag against the dirt as I'm practically dragged to my front yard.

"Your car is on fire!"

"What? Oh my god-"

As we round the house, the vision in front of me halts my words. Zane's gray Jeep Wrangler is loaded up with coolers, surfboards, and luggage. His biceps flex through his dark blue shirt as he loads up the stuff into the back of his car. Something is on fire but it's not the car.

"Are we going somewhere?"

He turns around and looks at me sheepishly.

"I thought it was about time I took you out on a date," he says with a grin.

I let out a laugh before launching myself at him. He catches me and swings me around with his arms around my waist.

"Where are we going?" I ask, looking up at him.

"Hmm, I guess you'll just have to be patient, little wolf," he replies before dropping a quick kiss on the tip of my nose. I resist the urge to pout at the mention of waiting but control myself.

"Don't knock my sister up!" Ricardo shouts, his hands holding a box of stuff labeled "".

"Don't worry Ric, we're just going to practice," Zane responds with his usual smirk.

Ricardo looks about ready to charge over here so I latch onto Zane's bicep and pull him to the Jeep.

"Can you tell me where we are going now?" I ask, once we've settled in.

Zane puts the car into the ignition.

"Patience little wolf, patience."

There are moments when I think that life cannot get any better. Sitting in my mate's Jeep with the crisp wind of the California coast blowing through my hair is one of those moments. Zane's hand is wrapped around my left thigh as we cruise down Route 1. We've already stopped in Big Sur to take pictures and grab some food. I'd sent the pictures Zane took of me to my family and friends and set one of us as our wallpaper.

When I was scrolling through his photo album, I came across what must have been hundreds of pictures of me. In some of them I'm sleeping, others are candid, but most of them are from the random times he told me to smile and pose. I never realized how many he had really taken of me before and I felt kind of sad about it.

"What's wrong?"

"I just realized I don't have enough pictures of you."

"Sweetheart, you're stuck with me for life, I'll doubt you'll need any pictures when you've got the real thing right here."

I almost roll my eyes but decide to rectify the situation instead. Grabbing my phone, I take a quick picture of him. It's simple with a scenic view behind him as he drives down the coast. His sunglasses are the black ones I see most men wear but no one wears them quite like he does. A tight shirt spans across his chest and at this angle, his jawline looks even more magnificent than usual.

His nose scrunches as he sniffs the air.

"Really, Alessandra? Right now?"

"I'm sorry, ok! I can't control it."

"I'm not even doing anything right now."

"Driving is sexy, ask any woman and she'll agree with me."

"I'll be sure to keep you away from chauffeurs and Uber drivers then."

The downside to being part-wolf is that your fellow packmates can smell your arousal. Can't I just be horny without judgment?

"Zane..."

"Oh no you don't. I know what that tone means."

"Oh, come on!"

"We are on a strict schedule right now. I have to drive nonstop for us to get there in time."

I never thought I would be denied sex by my own mate but here I am.

"Oh, cheer up, amore. I promise that after this trip you'll feel me for days."

A smile creeps up my face as I think of having some alone time with Zane. It's been stressful with planning the pack run and making sure there have been no Nightshade sightings nearby. Often times, I begin to wonder how Alpha Giovanni did this by himself for so many years. I can't imagine not having Zane's support through the long pack meetings and just the company of my mate after I've had a long day.

A yawn escapes my mouth as the sleepless night begins to catch up to me.

"Sleep Al, I know you barely got any sleep after my nightmare," Zane says, regret apparent in his voice.

I place my hand on top of his and doze off.

I wake up on a comfy couch with the view of the Pacific Ocean in front of me. The glass doors open up to a big deck stocked with a grill and a hot tub.

Bang!

"Zane?"

My voice comes out raspy. I must have slept the whole way here.

"Oh fuck!"

I stumble off the couch at the sound of Zane's voice and find him at the entrance of the beach house. A splay of ice cubes covers the floor, and the red cooler is knocked over on the floor. Zane is also on the floor staring at the ceiling.

A little giggle escapes me at the sight of an alpha who was defeated by ice cubes.

"Oh, Zane! Are you ok? Are you hurt?" Zane says in a voice that's supposed to sound like mine (it doesn't).

"Well Alessandra I accidentally dropped this cooler and all the ice fell out and I slipped. I'm ok though, thanks for asking!"

"Sarcasm is unbecoming," I reply.

"You're unbecoming."

A couple of the drinks from the cooler had spilled out onto the floor. Beer, water bottles, and is that?

"You know I can survive without Shirley Temples, right?"

"Oh, I've seen it, and it's not pretty."

I roll my eyes and give him a hand.

"This place is amazing. Thank you."

"We've got the whole beach to ourselves, only residents of the beach houses can use this area."

"Where are we anyway?"

"Avila Beach."

"It's perfect."

"Go get dressed, we've got places to see."

After a short drive, we arrive at the pier. Since we are here on a Tuesday, there's no rush which I'm grateful for. Humans get really stinky at the beach. The sunscreen mixed with sweat and beer is not a good combo.

With my hand in his, Zane leads us down the beach. The sand is wet and the occasional wave brushes by our feet. The bottom on my white sundress is already dripping water but I don't care. The temperature is perfect, the sunset is beautiful, and Zane and I have talked about the littlest things and the biggest things. My heart feels full whenever I think of how far we've come. There was a time when opening up to one another seemed impossible but now I'm sure he knows me better than I know myself.

"When do you want kids?" I ask.

"Later. I want more alone time with you, and I still think we are really young to be mated but definitely too young to have kids."

"Me too, I think we should wait a bit more."

"You know that means no sex during your heat?"

"No, that means no unprotected sex during my heat."

Condoms were not as effective with werewolves, but oracles or healers could make some concoctions to lessen the chance of pregnancy during heats. They always made it every full moon since that's when oracles were the strongest, and then they saved it for whatever poor woman went through her heat that month.

"How many kids do you want?" I ask.

"I'm not sure. Definitely more than one. I always wished I had siblings growing up since it got so boring."

"I always wished I didn't have siblings growing up but now I'm glad I had them."

Dealing with my mom's antics by myself? No thanks.

Eventually, we make it back to the pier. The sun has disappeared, and the moon has taken its place. The pier is illuminated by the lights of restaurants, stores, and arcades.

"Oh! Let's go to the arcade," I shout, before dragging Zane to the colorful and lit up building.

I slide two ten-dollar bills into the red machine marked The cool fake gold meets my hand as I place the tokens into Zane's pockets.

"I'm going to whoop your ass in Skee-Ball!" I shout, running over to the blue machine with flashing pink lights.

"Oh, you're on."

After dropping five tokens into the machine, a group of white balls slide down the clear cylinder. I shoot one up the ramp and watch as it lands in the 100 slot.

"Hah!"

Zane goes to do the same and even blows on his ball before releasing it. It skates up the ramp and lands in the ten.

"Damn it!"

When the timer goes off, I have 660 points while Zane has 50.

"Since I'm clearly carrying this team, we will be buying that huge teddy bear with our tickets," I say, before heading in the direction of the Pac-Man machine.

So far, I've earned a pretty large number of tickets. Eventually, Zane got sick of it and decided to just cheer me on and hold the tokens instead of facing the humiliation of defeat.

I only have ten tokens left and I know exactly where I'm spending them. The claw machine.

I have never successfully earned anything from that thing. It's the bane of my existence and I'm determined to keep my winning streak going.

"Zane, if I don't get anything from this, I need you to shoot me."

"You've gone off the deep-end, woman."

After the token has been inserted, I have a minute to grab one of the prizes. Do I need a stupid octopus plushie? No, of course not, I'm a grown woman. Do I need the achievement it symbolizes? Of course.

The joystick is slick with the sweat from my palm as I maneuver it just over the plushie. The cute black eyes of the octopus stare back at me, and I know I've got this in the bag. With a push of a button, the claw lowers. It grasps onto the purple head of the octopus and my mouth drops open as it floats into the air making its way to the exit.

I can almost feel the soft plushie in my hand when everything falls apart.

The motherfucker falls.

For a second, I'm silent. I can feel Zane going out to reach towards me, but I lose it.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Kick.

"This game is rigged! You saw that didn't you? It was right there!" I yell at Zane, who looks like he wants to pretend he doesn't know me.

"Stupid."

Kick.

"Fucking."

Kick.

"Machine!"

Kick.

"Alessandra, there are children here! You know? Because this is an arcade?"

I glare at Zane in response.

He lets out a sigh and grabs a token from his pocket.

"Watch and learn."

He steps up the machine and grabs the joystick. The outline of his back muscles appears as he rolls out his shoulders and begins.

Two seconds, in two seconds the purple octopus plushie is in my hands.

"I-"

"No need to thank me, amore. I can see it all over your face," he smirks.

"Let's get my teddy bear and go," I grumble, walking over to the counter.

Zane laughs behind me.