Word Count: 5320

Just before Harper's call.

Celie sat Eden down on a stool in her studio and turned him around a few times, looked him over with a critical eye, then turned him around again before she sat down on her own stool. She pulled over a cart out from under a shelf and arranged her pencils and erasers on it before picking up a large sketch pad and turning back to Eden.

Eden watched her intently, happy with this opportunity to just sit and look at her. She was mesmerizing to him; he didn't think she understood what a great beauty she was. He'd heard refer to herself as the cute one and Harper as the beautiful one several times. Though Harper always tried to correct Celie that she was beautiful, Celie always blew it off, clearly not believing it.

But Eden thought so, he thought no other female could compare to her. She had him sitting in a spot of sunlight from a large window and that light spilled like glory over her. It brought out the gold flecks in her hazel eyes and highlighted the smattering of freckles across her cute little button nose and cheeks. She chewed unconsciously on her luscious pink lips as she turned the sketch pad this way and that, drawing in sure strokes.

"It's bizarre, don't you think?" Celie asked suddenly, meeting his eyes quickly, but not pausing her drawing.

"What is?" Eden asked.

"That all this craziness has happened in just a week and a half?" Celie said, this time looking up at him seriously as her pencil hovered over the page. "You've only been here for ten days, and already we've been attacked by tritons three times and we declared our intention to mate."

"You think it's too soon to declare our intentions, or too soon to have intentions?" Eden ask, his eyebrows drew together in worry. Was she changing her mind about him?

Celie grinned at him, shaking her head.

"No, I asked if you think it's bizarre that all this happened so fast?" Celie said. "Not that I think it happened too fast. Wolves don't screw around with this long engagement bullshit. When we find our mates, we mate them. We don't wait around or date for ten years, we decide to make a commitment and we make it. Of course, most of the time there's the fated mate bond pulling us to mate immediately. Wolves don't understand waiting, at all. They think, 'I found mate, let's make pups' literally right then and there."

Eden stared at her for a second trying to figure out if she was serious. His doubting look made her chuckle.

"I'm not exaggerating about that," Celie smiled. "But even when there is no mate bond, like if a wolf is rejected, or has no mate because their mate died before they met, they still don't usually see a point in waiting long to mate. But then, we are wolves...so...we're not exactly known for patience."

"What do you mean their mate died before they met?" Eden asked.

"If your mate dies anytime after you get your wolf, you'll feel it, even if you're too young for the mate bond to have fully formed. Some people say the mate bond is determined before you're born and you are born connected, some people say it's determined when you get your wolf. I think it's probably when you get your wolf because before that you don't have a wolf to bond. And humans or people who never get a wolf, usually don't have fated mates," Celie explained, going back to her drawing. "It hurts when the mate dies once they're paired, not as badly as it would be if they were bonded, but it still hurts. Second chance mates usually take a lot longer to find that a fated mate, so many wolves will have a chosen mate if theirs died."

"Fated mate bonding sounds so complicated," Eden sighed. "Every time we speak of it I find out a new rule or requirement."

"It can be complex depending on the situation," Celie shook her head with a small smile. "But we grow up hearing about it, so it makes sense for us. We truly expect to find our mate when we're eighteen, mate with them within a week or two, then start having pups, and just live our lives. Most wolves lives are very simple, we're devoted to the pack, we do whatever job is needed, we don't often go to college or have careers. Some do, usually the lower ranked or weak wolves get education, the strong wolves are warriors who protect the pack."

"Is that the life you wanted?" Eden asked.

"Yes, it was, before I knew any better," Celie asked, she laid her sketch pad across her lap and looked at him seriously. "When I was young all I wanted was a mate and pups, that's all I aspired to. I wasn't like Harp, I had no big dreams I wanted to fulfil, no big adventures I wanted to have. My dreams were about what kind of house I might have, or what my mate would look like, or how many pups I wanted to have. But my dreams all crashed and burned to ashes on my eighteenth birthday, and my life turned in a direction I never expected. Not long ago, I was still mourning those dreams, still wishing for them, but now...now I'm not, I have new dreams. They're similar dreams, they still involve a mate and pups, but that's not all there is."

"Do you regret it?" Eden asked, watching her closely.

Celie's eyes took a far off look, her lips pursed a bit, and she slowly shook her head.

"Not anymore," Celie focused on him again, one corner of her lip lifted in a small smile. "I wish I hadn't been hurt so badly, I wish I hadn't been in pain for seven years, but I think the life I have now is better than the dreams I used to have. So I'm grateful things happened the way they did..."

Her half smiled turned into a full one and she rolled her eyes.

"It sucked!" Celie said flatly. "But if that's what had to happen, then it is what it is, I don't regret anything, I'm not sorry my life turned out like this. I'm glad it did."

Eden studied her for a moment before he got up from his stool and walked to her, her reached up slowly and places his palms on her cheeks. He stared into her eyes for a moment before he pulled her face up to his and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

Celie felt like the world exploded inside her, feeling rushed through her body, from her head down to her curling toes. Her body was alive and responded immediately, there were no sparks, but there were major tingles everywhere. She faintly heard Sira purr in the back of her mind. She reached up and grasped Eden's wrists, she was about to deepen the kiss when she heard someone at the door to her studio.

"Cel, someone who stinks is outside the house and we need you do to some recon commando shit and figure out if they're spying on us or just visiting your neighbor," Porter said, totally oblivious to the fact that he just interrupted them having a moment.

"What?" Celie asked, confusion and irritation in her eyes.

Porter gave them the rundown of the call with Harper and Celie's eyes were wide.

"Ooh, let me run and put on a gardening outfit, I'll be right down!" Celie dropped her sketch pad on a shelf and ran toward her room.

"What's 'recon commando shit'?" Eden asked curiously.

"You know, spying on them to figure out if they're spying on us," Porter answered, heading back toward the foyer.

"If it is dangerous, I would rather do it than have her out there," Eden stopped him.

"Unless you're familiar with all the scents normally around the house, it won't do any good for you to go out because you won't be able to recognize a scent that shouldn't be there," Porter told him. "From what you've told me about sirens you have some advanced senses, but super strong sense of smell isn't one of them, or at least it's not as strong as ours. Wolves are driven by scent, we always know what's around us by scent, we catalog and memorize scents so we can identify and remember enemies or threats. We can meet a wolf from another pack, and then recognize any member of their pack for years afterward because of that ability. Celie and Harper are the only ones who will be able to pick out an unfamiliar smell in the area around the house. If I'd ever been around under normal circumstances, I probably could, but last week was the first time I'd ever been over here. It didn't smell familiar to me when I sniffed it, but if it's a neighbor who's been out of town or something like that, I wouldn't know."

"I see," Eden frowned, he didn't like the idea of Celie doing recon commando shit.

Porter's phone rang again, "Yo."

He listened for a moment.

"Probably not long, there are always people hanging out or running errands in Miami, I wouldn't have to pull anyone from the packhouse," Porter said.

He listened again.

"Ok, I'll stop her, she was just about to take her pail and head out there, I feel like we're doing some mission impossible shit here, it's too bad they'll recognize me, I'd love to be 'tailing' someone."

Porter laughed, then sighed dramatically.

"I don't know if I can manage that, Harp. Sometimes you really ask too much."

Porter was still chuckling when Celie came into the foyer wearing an old pair of cut off shorts with a bandanna tying her hair up, she was carrying a pail with gloves and a spade in it.

"You can't go out now, Cel, we're going to look at it from another angle," Porter said turning to her.

"What do you mean I can't go out there?" Celie said, dropping her garden pail with a clang, her hands on her hips. She'd already changed into her cut offs and put her hair up in a bandanna, so she'd look like she was going to do yardwork.

"Harp said don't do anything that might spook them, if you go out checking them out, they might think you're watching them," Porter explained. "She said we should turn on some music, make some drinks, and sit by the pool."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Celie said, staring at him through the top of her eyes, with her jaw set, and her chin down. "You don't think I can be discreet and walk outside and weed a flowerbed without acting like I'm staring at their car?"

Celie huffed when Porter just shook his head 'no'.

Eden snickered, but tried to keep a straight face.

"Oh my fucking god! You think we should sit out by the pool when there are killer tritons and deranged humans watching the house?" Celie stared at him through narrowed eyes.

"Pretty much," Porter shrugged. "So, anyway, I called in a bunch of wolves, they are all already on their way, they're wolves that've never been to the house so if they've been watching us, they won't recognize these guys. They're all going to drive around the neighborhood until that car leaves then they're going to follow it. We're like super spies now."

"Fine! I'll go put on my bikini, drink some vodka, work on my damn tan, while I calmly wait for the shit to hit the fan, and the world to fucking fall down and go boom!" Celie snapped, throwing her hands in the air.

Eden put his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing at her mini temper tantrum.

"Good idea," Porter gave an insane clown smile and a thumbs up.

Eden just nodded with his lips pressed tightly together, struggling to hold in his smile.

Celie narrowed her eyes at Porter, then turned and stomped back up the stairs to her room.

Just as she reached the top and turned down the hallway Eden and Porter lost it.

After several minutes of just laughing, Porter said, "I love it when she has a tantrum, it's always hilarious, she's like a cute little puppy growling and shaking her head."

"I HEARD THAT!" Celie yelled down the hall, making them lose it all over again.

"Sorry, Baby!" Eden yelled up the stairs, still laughing.

"I love her," Porter laughed.

"Me too," Eden whispered with a smile.

-

Eden underestimated werewolf hearing if he thought he whispered quiet enough for her not to hear him, especially since she stood just out of sight at the top of the stairs listening to them and laughing to herself. She wasn't angry, she was a little offended that they thought she couldn't go outside without acting like some rube who was going to just stand and stare at the car of potential spies like some dumbass. But all that disappeared the second she heard him say he loved her too. Her heart almost stopped, and she grinned ear to ear as she went back to her room.

Celie sat on the edge of her bed, taking deep breaths, trying to talk herself down from the 'new love' high she had, she rolled her eyes at herself for being so affected. A part of her, which she figured was really Sira, felt bad because she knew Adam was hurting and here she was falling over Eden. But she couldn't live her life worrying about what Adam was feeling, she'd been doing that for the past seven years.

She sighed heavily as her high was effectively gone after the first thoughts of Adam, she still thought about everything he said, but there was still a part of her that didn't believe him. An angry little part of her soul just couldn't let go of the idea that he'd been living his best life while she'd been suffering. If she tried to convince herself that he'd been suffering for his mistake too, that he had wanted to fix it but couldn't find them, that angry voice piped in with the reminder that he's the one who made the choice to reject her, not the other way around.

It was true, what she told him, she couldn't let go of the pain and anger she felt. She couldn't forget it, she couldn't get over it, and she knew she never would if she stayed with him. She didn't want to live like that, and whether he realized it or not, she was doing him a favor by ending it. Did he really want to be mated to someone who was never going to be able to truly forgive him and forget his mistake? Did he really want to live the rest of his life trying to convince her every day of how sorry he was? He was lying to himself if he really believed it would just magically go away once they decided to be mates. It never would.

Adam didn't know about that angry little part of her soul, the devil on her shoulder that had been born of the rejection. The petty, vindictive, little devil that wanted to punish him, wanted to see him suffer for her pain. She told him that she wanted to lash out at him every time she was around him, he didn't seem to really believe that or understand it. But it was all too true, it took a lot of willpower not to snap at him at every opportunity. She would have turned him into her whipping boy, she would have become an angry, bitter person if she stayed by his side. That wasn't who she was, it wasn't who she wanted to be. She wanted to be her happy, bubbly self, and she wasn't that when he was around.

It was harder to tame that angry little piece of herself than it was to tame Sira when she was mad, of course, Sira never really got mad. But if she did, she would be no match for the little angry devil on her shoulder whispering in her ear. That devil was never going to leave her, the only way she could get away from it was to get away from him.

Celie shook her head, why was she thinking about Adam? Because she was mad! She was irritated that they told her she couldn't go do any recon commando shit. And Adam was the root of anger in her soul so if she got mad about anything, she thought of him. She pictured her snickering little devil sitting on her shoulder, laughing at her being pissed at Adam because she couldn't go outside and spy on the spy.

Why was it everyone thought Harper was the only one who could do the tough stuff? Celie wasn't jealous or envious of Harper, but she was tired of people not seeing her potential. She could totally be a spy and do recon commando shit if she tried. But she wasn't going to try because, as tough as she could be, she wasn't tough enough to go against Harper and an alpha who told her not to go out. She wasn't a rebellious wolf and trying to make herself do something an alpha told her not to do wasn't something she was capable of.

Celie sighed and got up off the bed, she was done sulking. She went to her dresser and started going through her impressive bikini collection, she had a suit in every shape, color, and style. She decided on a strappy, sexy one, that had brilliant green palm leaves on a black background. After she slipped into it she stood in front of the full length mirror in her closet surveying her appearance, she turned to the side, then looked over her shoulder at her back. She looked good.

Celie had once been very self conscious and insecure about her body; in high school they had teased her relentlessly for being skinny and having no curves. But she'd filled out since then, she had an athletic body with noticeable assets, just not huge ones. Her stomach was flat, and her muscles were sculpted from the rigorous training routine that Harper put her through every day. Harper's insistence on daily runs and excessive jump roping were entirely responsible for Celie's amazing legs and butt.

She slipped on her new Tom Ford sunglasses, gave herself a smug nod of approval, and she headed downstairs without bothering to put on a coverup. They wanted her to lay out by the pool and have a drink, she would, and she'd show that Sana bitch that she had some serious competition.

Celie sauntered into the rec room, with her back straight and her chin high, she totally ignored the stares from the others, made herself a martini, and headed out to the pool. She put a little wiggle in her walk as she went past them, not even sparing them a glance. She stopped next to the door, grabbed a towel out of the cabinet, put on her Shinedown playlist, and with loud music blaring out of the speakers she settled herself down on a lounge chair and sipped her drink.

Eden and Porter exchanged a long glance before Eden jumped from his seat and followed her outside. He stripped off his t-shirt slowly and stretched out on the lounge chair next to her.

A few seconds later, a grinning Porter grabbed a couple of beers out of the cooler and headed out to join them, he handed Eden a beer and stripped off his shirt, flexing his impressive muscles a little, then lay down on the chair on the other side of Celie. She hid a smirk and ignored them.

"So...uh Cel, you said you've got an exhibit in two months, what are you planning on showing?" Porter asked, trying to strike up some conversation.

"Art," Celie snarked and said nothing else. She was inwardly cracking up, she wasn't mad anymore, but it didn't hurt one thing to make them think she was still irritated at them. Watching them struggle was hilarious.

A few minutes passed in silence before Sana walked out wearing one of the bikini's Harper bought when they went clothes shopping. Though Sana was taller and had an impressive figure, she failed miserably to outshine Celie. Not only was Celie's body more toned and sculpted, but her cuteness and attitude added something Sana could never compete with. Personality.

Sana lay on the lounge chair on the other side of Eden, causing Eden to turn and give the stink eye to Porter for taking the chair next to Celie instead of the one next to him.

"So, this is how you spend your time?" Sana asked Eden.

"I spend my time with my mate," Eden answered. "So whatever she is doing, I am doing. Is this what you normally spend your time doing, Cel?"

Sana scowled at his answer and shot a murderous glance at Celie.