Ellie POV

I can't get my mind off of Zea's reaction toward Rolfe. It doesn't make sense for her to be so terrified of him.

I first met Rolfe the night Axton introduced me to his family.

I was a complete mess and I couldn't stop shaking no matter how many times Axton told me that everything would be alright. My mind just kept going to what they would think and whether they would like me, but that all changed the second we walked in the door.

They welcomed me in with open arms and huge smiles. They seemed as happy as I was that Axton had found his mate. I seemed to fit right in, and since the loss of my parents, I felt like I was finally at home.

It was that night that I first met Rolfe. During dinner, there was a rogue attack. A few rogues decided to cross the border and tried to make trouble within the pack. So Axton and his father, the Alpha at the time, left to take care of it.

They weren't gone for long before a rogue came crashing into the house. The rogues that crossed the border were a distraction and this one was waiting for the Alpha to leave so he could come after the Luna. He charged right at her when I put myself between them, but before he reached us, another wolf came barreling through the house.

Rolfe, the beta at the time, killed the rogue. He protected the Luna and me. Since then, I have always known him as a kind person. Always one who wants nothing more than to protect his family.

But it has been seven years since I last spoke to him. He may not be the same person he used to be.

We shouldn't trust him, Raelynn says. He scares our pup.

But I don't understand why, I tell her, There has to be a reason. Something Zea can sense. She will be able to feel who he truly is, I just don't know what she senses.

Keep him away from Zea, she says before closing off the conversation.

I am so focused on thinking about Rolfe, I didn't even hear it when he left the room. Axton comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, "Hey, are you okay? You seemed to go somewhere else for a second."

"Hmm, oh yeah. I'm fine, don't worry," I tell him as he gives me a soft kiss on my neck.

I don't understand what's going on with Axton. I want to believe that he truly wants this, wants a family. But I still have that fear in the back of my mind that he will reject us again, if he even rejected us the first time.

Everything about that night still confuses me. I know what I saw and I know what I felt was a true rejection, but I can still feel the amazing electricity my mate's touch causes. I don't know what to believe is real anymore.

"You did it again," he mumbles as he kisses my neck again.

"Sorry," I whisper to him as I turn in his arms, but when I look up at him, his eyes are still zeroed in on my neck, "Axton? What's wrong?"

"Your mark," that is all he says but I know what he meant. The scar, "What happened?"

"Nothing," I lie as I try to cover it with my hand. I don't really want to bring up those memories, especially with Zea in the next room.

"It's not nothing, Ellie. What happened?" he says, anger and confusion and hurt all laced into his tone.

I look past him to the little girl in the other room, "Not here," I tell him as I motion to our daughter, "I'll tell you tonight. I promise."

He nods his head, but it doesn't seem like he really wants to let go of the subject. I knew he was going to be angry when he saw the scar.

Cortez's reminder, like I could ever forget that torture.

Axton goes to say something, but Walker beats him to the punch as he slams open the front door, "Morning!" he yells out.

"Walker," I scold him playfully, "That is not how you come into a house."

"Well Luna, without your loving guidance and expertise on the subject of etiquette, it seems all the pups will just have to learn from me," he smiles as he comes up to us.

I am about to comment on his remark when what he says finally connects to me.

"Wait a minute, you're teaching a class?" I ask, bewildered on why Axton will ever allow him to spoil the minds of the young.

"I thought Sawyer was doing that?" Axton asks.

"She was, but she's sick. So, it's up to me to shape the minds of today's youth," he says with a grin on his face.

"No, not happening," I tell him, "I'll do it."

"What?" he looks shocked, but relief quickly shows through, "Thank god. I thought I would actually have to teach a bunch of pups. Will you really do it, El?"

"Yes, if it means you never try to shape the minds of our youth," I tell him, before turning to Axton, "Is the training center still in the same place?"

"Yes, everything is in the same place," he states, but I can see sadness in his eyes as he remembers that I had left.

"Good. Will you watch Zea while I'm gone?" I ask him hesitantly, still concerned that I might not be able to fully trust him.

He lights up at my small request, "Of course. Good luck and be back by five. Pack barbeque is tonight," he tells me before kissing my head and walking quickly into the other room to sit down next to his daughter.

I watch for a second as they interact with each other. There is no hesitation in Zea's love for her father and the same love for her seems to be in his eyes. It's exactly how it should have been all along. Maybe there is more to that night seven years ago that I didn't know about yet. Maybe I was wrong.

"Are you sure?" Walker whispers beside me as we both watch them, "I mean, I know Axton will never hurt either of you, but after what you said happened and what you believed for so long to be true, do you truly trust Axton?"

"I want to. More than anything," I tell him honestly, "I just hope he doesn't prove me wrong."

*****

I laugh as I make my way back to the pack house.

"Thank you again for your help today, Luna. I don't know what we would have done if we had been stuck with Walker's help," Jade says, her red hair blowing past her shoulders as a gust of wind picks up.

Jade is the pack doctor and she volunteered to teach the kids with Sawyer. She is a little under my age, but we had been close friends when I first came here seven years ago. It seems to me the years had been different for her than mine. Her stressors are medical situations and kids running around. Mine are running from my mate and from darkness.

"It's no problem, Jade, and please just call me Ellie like everyone used to," I tell her.

"Alright Ellie," she says before pausing a second before asking me the question I could see forming in her eyes since I first walked into that class, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"I know you don't want to talk about why you left," she starts before quickly interrupting herself, blabbering, "and I mean I total get that. You don't have to talk about that and that isn't what I was going to ask you, and-"

I cut her off, "It's okay. What is it that you want to ask me?"

"Well, it's not about why you left, I promise."

"Then what is it about?" I am actually curious about what kind of point she is trying to make.

"Why you came back," she says so quietly that I almost miss it.

"What?" I say confused.

"I know you must have had your reasons for leaving and for staying gone, but what after all these years made you finally come back?"

Her question gives me pause. Not once has anyone asked that since I've been back. Axton has been so focused on why I left and trying to make me stay, that not even he asked me what made me come running back. No one knows what I am trying to hide my daughter from.

"That's a complicated question, Jade," I tell her, "With an even more complicated answer."

"I think I'll understand it," she says before sitting down on the bench outside the pack house. We were talking so much on the way back, I hadn't even realized we she had stopped us outside the front door, "So, why did you come back?"

"I was forced to. Things happened when I left, and the past finally caught up," I tell her a bit vaguely, in order to stop her from prying, but no such luck.

"That isn't an answer, Ellie," she says as she reaches out her hand to rest on mine. She may be younger than me and smaller than me, but she has this sense around her that is comforting and nonthreatening. It's probably what makes her an even better pack doctor.

"The pack I was staying with was attacked."

"Blue Moon. That's why Luna Layla came here," she says.

"Yes. I sent Layla here in order to protect Zea. I knew that even if Axton didn't know she is his, that he would protect her because she was with Layla. It's the only thing I could think of in that moment."

"What happened after Layla took Zea?" she asks.

"I make it back to the attack, and then I was captured along with some of the pack. The rogues were looking for someone. I told Axton the location of the rogue base this morning and he is sending warriors to rescue those still there. They should get back soon with those they found."

"I'll talk to them when they get here, but I still need you to tell me. But who was it?" she asks, gripping my hand even tighter, "Who attacked? What is his name? Did he have anyone else with him?"

"How do you know it was a he?" I ask, a little worried about all these questions. Why is she so interested?

"Rogues are usually male," she says, but the hesitation in her voice suggests that's not the reason, "Please just tell me, was there anyone else during the attack? Anyone who wasn't a rogue?"

It made me pause. Who isn't a rogue. How did she know about Cortez working the witches?

"Jade, I need you to tell me what you know about him, now."

She shakes her head at me, "I know we've known each other for a long time, Ellie, but there are some things I still can't tell you. Just tell me his name, please."

"Cortez."

The name alone seems to scare her. She knows who he is, maybe even why he is after me, but the only ones who know Cortez's obsession with me are me, him, and the witch who cursed him. Every rogue he hired to find me only know that I was a missing Luna and what I sort of look like. My appearance has changed slightly since he last tortured me.

"Does he know about Zea?" she asks me. That is the question that made me freeze completely. It's more than if Cortez know Zea existed. It's if he know who she is.

Did she know? She hasn't even seen Zea yet, so there is no way she could be able to tell, even as a doctor.

"How-"

My response is cut short as Reid comes barging out of the house, "Ellie!"

Jade shrinks back into the bench a little bit before whispering to me, "He has eyes everywhere. Be careful."

With that she gets up and leaves the porch. She watches Reid carefully before giving me one last look and walking back down the path.

"Where's the doc going?" Walker asks as he follows Reid out the door.

"She has patients to see," I say quickly, unsure of what Jade is actually doing.

She knows about Cortez and the warlock. She knows about Zea. Maybe these last seven years changed her more than I thought, but that don't explain how she seems to know what happened and what Cortez wants.

"What do you guys need?" I ask, trying to push Jade out of my mind, but failing to do so completely.

"Barbeque is starting soon, and Axton wants to see you," Walker quickly says.

"Why?"

"I don't know. He's your mate," Walker rolls his eyes playfully.

"If you need us, we'll be right outside," Reid says before dragging Walker out back to help set up.

I know what he wants to talk about. He wants to know about the scar, the question I had avoided answering earlier. But he deserves to know the truth, at least as much as I can talk about.

I need to trust him, and I want more than anything for him to still be the man who had earned it originally.

I take one last deep breathe before heading inside and walking slowly up the stairs to his room.

I open the door slowly and see him sitting on the bed staring at me as I walk in.

"Axton," I start, but I don't get any farther before he gets up and connects his lips with mine.