Word Count : 5167

Reese

Reese had to admit the rooms were super nice here, but he was dreading the bill when it came time to leave. Staying at the Ritz, he laughed to himself, never thought that would be happening. It's a good thing he'd learned to manage the finances and make the pack money. He took a shower and changed into some clean clothes and got ready to head down to the dining room to meet the guys, then he would take a long walk on the beach, since they were here, he might as well try to enjoy it.

He entered the restaurant and saw Adam and Callum in deep conversation and sighed, they were plotting no doubt.

"Hey guys." Reese said, sitting down and motioning to the server.

"This place is amazing, huh?" Adam said, looking around. "Never thought we'd be staying in a hotel like this. I would have booked us a cheaper place, but this was the only hotel on the island. Gotta say, this whole place is like paradise."

"If you can take the heat." Callum laughed. "Been sitting under the AC and I still haven't cooled back off yet."

"I'm planning on checking out the beach a little later, probably nice with the breeze once the sun has gone down." Reese said. "So what are you plotting?"

"We're going to pick up another couple of rental cars in the morning and I'm going to run over to Celie's gallery tomorrow afternoon, see if she'll see me alone." Adam said, he held up his hand before Reese could say anything. "If she throws me out, I'll leave, I swear."

"I'm going with you." Reese said.

"No, I want to talk to her alone..." Adam started protesting.

"It wasn't a request, Adam." Reese stopped him. "I'll stay outside, you can talk as long as you want, but I don't trust you where Celie is concerned, and she is not as strong as Harper. Harper will hand Callum his ass if he steps over the line, and Harper is not his mate, so rejection is easier for him to take. But Celie is not as strong as Harper, and she is your mate, I just don't trust you to take no for an answer the first time you hear it."

Adam glared at Reese, but he couldn't argue with his alpha when he gave a direct order, no matter how much he disagreed. But he understood where Reese was coming from, he realized Reese really was trying to protect Celie, even though Adam knew he wouldn't hurt her, he couldn't guarantee he would leave quickly even if she asked him to.

"But she accepted my rejection! I have to talk to her; I have to get her to accept me before her second chance comes along and takes her from me forever." Adam pleaded.

"I said you can talk as much as you want, but I'm not going to let you force her into anything. Just being here and pressuring her is illegal, you realize that right? The laws my parents wrote state you can't force her, I would have to consider that, as your alpha."

Adam said nothing else, just stared down at his menu, his appetite gone.

"What about you, how are you taking all this?" Callum asked carefully, he didn't want to piss Reese off, but he wanted to know what was going on in his head.

"She made herself clear. I'd like to speak to her alone, of course, and speak my mind a little more clearly and personally, but if she insists I go away, I will." Reese said, though he knew it would be one of the hardest things he would ever do. "She's married, she has a life here, as much as I'd like to have my mate, she would never leave here, and I will never leave my pack. So either way, it's impossible. You were right earlier, she will never go back to the pack, there are too many bad memories, and too people who hurt her, people she never wants to see or deal with again, I have to accept that."

"But you need a mate, Reese, if we can't have a Luna, we at least need an alpha female." Adam said. "I don't know how much you've thought about that, we do need a Luna, every pack does, if you can't get her back, which I think we all agree you can't. You need to start thinking about finding a chosen mate to balance you."

"I'm not thinking about that right now." Reese said, annoyed that Adam brought it up. "That's an issue for another day, let's just have some dinner and try to relax."

Harper

"Are you sure, baby?" Harper asked, worry on her face.

"Yeah, I caught it's scent twice now, not in the immediate vicinity, and it could just swim on by, but I've got to keep a closer eye on the coast for a while." Matt said, he reached up and stroked Harper's cheek, trying to ease her fear. "It's ok, Harp. Don't worry about me, how many of these things have I killed? I'll be fine."

"I don't like this, Mattie." Harper said. "Mating season is coming up, they are getting stirred up, you said it yourself, they are stronger this time of year, and there are more of them out there. Can't you go look during the day? I can go with you then, follow with the boat and I'll be there if anything happens."

"I need to sweep the coast at night, that's when it will be hunting, I need you here watching the beaches. Take a few jogs tonight, keep anyone you see out of the water." Matt said.

Harper gave a nod, frowning.

"Be careful." She whispered, turning back toward the house, but Matt jumped forward and grabbed her hand.

"Baby, I'm coming home, nothing is going to get me. I've done this a million times, everything is going to be ok, we'll sweep tomorrow too, I just need to keep it away at night, you know that."

"You said there could be two, you said it smelled different the second time you caught it." Harper reminded him. "Mattie, please, let's take the boat out, I can follow behind you, if they attack, I can pull you in and make sure you don't bleed to death if they hurt you. Please Mattie, don't do this alone."

"Harper, I'll be ok, if I sense two I'll come back, I won't start anything with them, but we need to know for sure, and we need to keep the beaches safe." Matt said, he hated seeing this look in her eyes, he hated denying her, she was just worried about him. He knew if the tables were turned and she were about to go hunting rogues again, he would be just as upset as she was.

"I know." Harper said frowning, looking down at the water. "Just go before I throw a net over your ass and haul you in before you can leave." She cracked a small smile.

"I love you." Matt said, kissing her.

"I love you too, Mattie." Harper said. "I'll never forgive you if you don't come home to me."

"I'll come home, beautiful girl." Matt said slipping into the water.

Harper was doing her second run when she saw someone in the distance on the beach, there was a man walking alone, she slowed down and hung back waiting. She would follow him for a while, then move to another part of the beach, she just prayed he wouldn't go into the water. She followed quietly for about fifteen minutes but just as she was about to turn she saw him take off his shirt and walk toward the water and she took off toward him.

Reese wasn't sure why he decided to take a swim, he hadn't come out here to take a swim, but he found himself wading into the water, part of his mind wondered what he was doing. But the water felt so good, cool, and inviting against his legs, the waves crashed against his thighs now as he moved deeper into the water until a voice shouted at him.

"Stop!" Harper yelled, "Stop!!! Stop!!! Don't go into the water!"

Something about the voice was familiar, something pulled him toward it, but he wanted his swim, so he resisted and kept wading deeper, until a hand grabbed him, sparks exploded across his skin and it jerked him back to awareness, he found himself being hauled back to the beach by Harper.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Harper screamed at him; her eyes were wild. "Don't ever do that again!"

"Harper..." Reese said her name, and reached for her, only to have her jump back out of his reach. "What are you doing?"

"I'm saving your life you idiot!" Harper snapped at him. "Do not go into the ocean at night! What the fuck, don't you know anything?"

"You need to remember respect." Reese growled, starting to get angry, nobody screamed at him and called him an idiot, not even his mate.

"I'll show you some respect when you earn it, Alpha!" Harper growled back, returning his anger, she wasn't scared of him.

They stared at each other angrily for a few moments before Reese realized what he was doing, this was Harper, his mate, he'd come here to get her, to bring her home, he shouldn't be yelling at her.

"I'm sorry, Harper." Reese began. "I'm not used to people screaming at me and calling me an idiot."

"I wouldn't be calling you an idiot if you weren't acting like one." Harper snapped. He'd scared her to death when he started walking into the surf, she hadn't realized it was him, but when she called to him and he didn't answer, her greatest fears were realized. There was one out there. Mattie was in danger, and she didn't have the patience for a childish alpha right now. "Listen to me and listen good, Alpha Reese. Do not ever go swimming in the ocean at night. Not unless you have a death wish that is."

"What are you talking about Harper?" Reese asked, feeling annoyed again.

"Sharks." Harper said. "Don't you learn about a place before you go there? In Florida there are two things you don't do at night. You don't wander around a wet land or swamp at night or your ass will get eaten by an alligator, and you don't go swimming in the ocean at night or your ass will get eaten by a shark. Wolves are not apex predators here."

"Eaten by a shark?" Reese scoffed. "Really?"

"You're a dumbass." Harper said, pissing Reese off again. "Two months ago a 16 foot 2000 pound great white was tagged a mile off the coast about 30 minutes south of here. One bite would rip you in half, alpha or not. They hunt at night, genius, and that's not the only one out there. You want to get eaten, knock yourself out, hope you have a nice relaxing swim before you become fish bait."

Harper turned and started to stomp away; she didn't want to deal with his ass. She didn't want to have anything to do with him at all, she just wanted to do her sweep and get back home to wait for Matt but she turned back to him because she had to be sure.

"Why were you going for a swim at night?" Harper asked, looking at him closely. "Did you plan on swimming when you came out, is that why you were out here?

"Am I not allowed to want to take a swim?" Reese snapped.

"Did you come out here intending to swim, or did you just absently decide to swim without conscious thought about it after you got out here?" Harper prodded, praying he was planning to swim when he left his room.

"No, I wasn't planning on it, I was just going to walk, then, I don't know, I just thought a swim would feel good." Reese said, thinking for a moment about it.

"Oh goddess, no, no, no..." Harper whispered softly to herself, she pulled a pair of small binoculars out of a pouch on her side and scanned the water, before turning back to Reese. "Listen, I have to go but can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, of course." Reese answered quickly, anything to be able to get closer to her.

"Is your room facing the water?" Harper asked. "Do you have an ocean view?"

"Yes, I do." Reese answered, getting a little excited, maybe he could get her into his room.

"Then keep an eye out your window, and don't let anyone near the water. If you see someone out here, stop them if they try to swim." Harper said. "It's important. You're just going to have to trust me, don't let anyone near that water tonight. It's getting late, hopefully no one else will be out here and I have to go."

"What? You're leaving?" Reese asked, "Why are you asking me to watch the beach? Because there 'might' be a great white out there?"

"Listen, we have to keep people out of the fucking water tonight!" Harper shouted, getting frustrated. "There are miles of beach out here, I need to go make sure no one else has suddenly and inexplicably decided to go swimming."

Reese was looking at her like she'd lost her mind, but she didn't have time to mess with him right now.

"Fine, you know what, go do whatever the hell you want to do, I have to keep people out of the damn ocean, just don't go swimming after I leave, or you'll find out first fucking hand why I pulled you out of the water." Harper said before turning and running down the beach toward the next set of beach houses.

Harper reached for Celie through the link.

Celie answered.

Harper said.

Celie said.

Harper responded.

Celie said.

Harper reached the northern edge of Crandon park, there shouldn't be anyone out here, it was after 1 am, but she would go a little further just to be sure before turning back. She thought of shifting, she could cover a lot more ground in her wolf form, but she couldn't let anyone see her, a wolf sighting on key Biscayne would cause one hell of an uproar, once she was south of the towers she could shift when she hit the woods, but there were always too many people and tourists on the north part of the key for her to get away with it.

While she ran she prayed, a mantra running on an endless loop, "Goddess, please let Mattie be ok. Goddess, please let Mattie be ok."

Reese

Reese lay staring at the ceiling of his room, something was up. The look in Harper's eyes bothered him, she wasn't worried about a random shark. The more he thought about it the more suspicious it became, she wasn't just jogging on the beach, she was patrolling. But patrolling for what? She wasn't hunting rogues; rogues don't attack you from the water, and that's what she'd been worried about, keeping people out of the water. What did she know that he didn't? And why had he been taking a midnight swim? He'd never had any desire to swim in the ocean at night, he'd had no intention of swimming when he'd gone out, but he'd found himself walking out into the water without any thought at all, it had almost felt like a dream.

Adam

Adam walked aimlessly, he wanted to shift and run, but he had no idea where a safe place to do that would be, he couldn't risk getting caught in his wolf form out here. He felt so helpless, his mate was here, just down the street from where he walked but he couldn't get to her, he couldn't go to her. The ache in his chest grew and tears stung his eyes as his wolf howled it's pain and loneliness inside him.

Celie had felt it, he'd seen it in her eyes when she'd looked at him, he'd seen the spark, the bond. But he'd also seen pain, immense pain. The words of her letter echoed in his mind, 'I don't understand Daddy...' goddess the pain in those words repeating in his head had him stopping. There was a walkway toward the beach, he was on the west side of the island, he wasn't even sure how he'd gotten here, he'd just been walking, but that didn't matter, all that mattered was the pain in his heart. He remembered the lost look in her eyes, then the resolve in her eyes, the will in her eyes, as she accepted his rejection. He should have taken his rejection back, that should have been the first thing he said when he saw her, if he'd revoked his rejection she would not have just been able to accept it, she would have had to reject him. He didn't think she would have done that, hell, who knew though? She was different, not a lot, but she was, she was stronger than she had been. The girl he'd seen this morning would never kneel in the dirt and beg anyone. He couldn't help but feel proud of her, she'd come so far, after losing so much. He'd only walked a little ways out onto the beach when a voice shouted.

Celie

"Stop!" Celie screamed at the man walking toward the water. "Stop! Stop! Don't go to the water!"

Celie ran toward him as fast as she could, ready to pull him back when he turned, and she stopped cold. Adam.

"Celie?" Adam couldn't believe his eyes, what was she doing here?

"Adam, don't go toward the water, come on, you have to get off the beach, stay away from the water!" Celie said, motioning for him to come toward her, back toward the walkway to the street.

Adam hurried toward Celie, he needed to be near her, he needed to touch her to talk to her, to say all the things he'd come here to say.

Celie was trying to come up with an excuse to keep him away from the water when he rushed forward, before she could back away he grabbed her in a crushing embrace. Sparks erupted all over her body making her gasp as his lips crashed down on hers.

Celie tried to step back, but he just crushed her harder against him, deepening the kiss, his tongue pushed into her mouth when she opened her mouth to speak and she found herself engaged in the hottest kiss imaginable.

It took a few seconds, but Celie came to her senses and pushed him back.

"What the hell, Adam?!" Celie shouted at him, remembering her anger at what he had done to her.

"Celie, please listen to me. Please. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I will do anything, anything for you to just listen to me. Please." Adam begged.

Celie linked Harper.

Harper said.

Adam knew Celie was linking someone, probably Harper, and he prayed to the moon goddess that Harper was not convincing her not to talk to him. He wasn't sure, the look Harper had given him earlier hadn't been that hostile, not like the looks she'd given Reese and Callum, it had almost seemed...sad.

"Did you see anyone else, Adam?" Celie asked when her attention came back to him. "Anyone walking on the beach? Was there anyone else near the water?"

"What? I don't know, why are you asking that?" Adam asked perplexed, they'd just had a steamy mate kiss and she was asking about other people.

"Adam think!" Celie snapped at him. "Have you seen anyone else out here, near the water?"

"No, not that I can remember, I was walking out here to be alone." Adam answered. "Why?"

"The water is dangerous at night." Celie hedged, she looked down and away from him, pricking his senses, she wasn't being honest.