Nervous energy floods me as time ticks away. I'm still waiting for them to get here. Still waiting to see they are okay, to see how Reed is.

I have gotten use to the uncomfortable feeling inside me, and honestly it is probably because there was so much going on. But the more time that passes as I wait for them, the more I begin to feel it again.

"So, how did you end up here anyway?" Asher asks as he drums his fingers against the arm of the couch.

After leaving the dungeon interrogation room, he thought it best we wait in the living room of the pack house. That way we could eat and talk until they arrived.

"Jaclyn ran here" I shrug. I mean he knows that I was found on her back, so how else would we have gotten here?

"Jaclyn?" He asks, but she doesn't look at him.

I don't think it is my place to tell Asher all about what happened to her and why she is so skittish of him. But I can see him starting to figure it out. She is fine with the women. Some brought us better fitting clothes. Others brought food and each time she would thank them and make eye contact even for the briefest moments.

But with all the men, she would cower and stare at her feet.

"We were already running this way. So I just continued until you found us." Her voice is small, but still I can't help but smile that she talked to him.

"And who were the ones that we killed?" My eyes snap to Asher in shock.

This was news to me. I didn't know anyone got killed. I thought they just intercepted us first. What the hell did I miss?

"What?" Shock was evident in my voice as both Jaclyn and Asher turned to face me.

"We smelled rogues so we went to investigate. We found her wolf and you bleeding on her back. Not long after, more wolves showed up" I look at Asher with wide eyes, listening intently to his words.

A sob breaks through my mind and I turn to see Jaclyn trying to silence her cries.

"I'm sorry! I didn't save us!" She drops her face into her hands as her body begins to shake.

I look to Asher in confusion. Maybe I missed something? Didn't she just say that she ran us the rest of the way here? Isn't that saving us?

"What are you talking about, sweetie?" I kneel down in front of her, pulling her hands gently away from her face.

She sniffles a couple of times and my heart breaks at how upset she looks. She has come to far to be this broken. She is free from under Harley's thumb, she needs to keep her head up.

"They saved us. When they found me I got scared and then Harley's men surrounded us and I got even more scared. I was a coward and tried to hide." She sobbed and I took her in my arms stroking down her back.

She isn't a coward. It took so much strength to get us here and I don't blame her nor do I think less of her. She saved me. She saved us.

"Hey. You saved us. You got us to someone who could help. You're no coward." I pull her from my chest to make her look at me.

Asher clears his throat and I can't tell if it was from being uncomfortable or if he has something to say, but I just ignore it.

"Hey, I don't blame you for being scared. But you are strong and you saved me." My ears perk when I hear a car door slam, followed by quick footsteps.

With one last look at Jaclyn, I stand quickly and move towards the door. My dad's scent engulfs me as I am pulled into his familiar embrace.

"Thank Goddess." He mumbles, tightening his grip around me.

I press my head into his shoulder before looking pass him at Ian and some of the guards.

I am so relieved that they are all okay, but where is Reed? I don't see him, but I can smell him. I can feel myself being pulled towards him, that uncomfortable feeling inside me growing the closer that I get to the car my dad was in.

"He isn't well. He hasn't been since you left." Ian hugs me quickly and I smile a little at the growl that I hear through the door.

My breath catches when I open the back door. Reed is slouched in his seat, his chest rising rapidly with deep breaths. Sweat is beaded on his forehead and I am frozen in my spot.

"A-Aspen" He rasps out and it kicks me into overdrive.

I jump into the car and carefully wrap him in my arms. He sighs in content and I take his head into my hands.

"I'm sorry" I whisper before my lips crash against his.

I wasn't going to kiss him. I can't deny that his lips looked kissable despite everything, but somewhere in my mind, I knew that I shouldn't.

But his smell was intoxicating and it flooded my senses, kicking out all common sense that I had.

Reed responds eagerly, almost like the kiss brought back the life to him. His arms wrap around me and pulls me impossibly closer to him as his lips move roughly against my own.

I waste no time giving him access to my mouth. Our tongues move together in perfect sync. My hands move to his hair giving a gentle tug, and the sound that I elicit from him sends a jolt to my core.

As much as I don't want to, I pull away from him. This is not the place for this and I don't even know what came over me. I wonder if this is how he would feel if it were me in heat?

"Let's go inside" I help him out of the car, my hands lingering on the firm feeling of his chest.

I am so conflicted right now. On the one hand, I want to make him mine. To have nothing between us or standing in our way so we can finally be mates. But on the other, would I be taking advantage of the situation?

I get sympathetic smiles from everyone as we make our way towards the the room I am staying in. Ian had tried to help me, but when he touched Reed, it caused Reed to cry out in pain. Only my touch seems to be helping.

I close the door behind us, helping Reed to the bed. The sexiest groan leaves his lips as he lays down. The sound alone, almost has me coming undone as I bite down on my lip.

"Lay with me?" he asks and I so badly want to say yes.

But can I control myself? I already feel a heat spreading through me and a warmth pooling in my lower stomach. I don't know that I can resist him that much longer. I don't want to leave him alone to suffer either.

"The roles are reversed" I mutter, trying to push the sudden onset of nerves that have flooded me.

He surprises me by letting out an breathy laugh that sends my resolve out the door. I want to comfort him, in any way that he needs. I need to take his pain away.

I place my hands on either thigh, slowly spreading his legs apart so I can stand between them. He looks at me curiously, through hooded eyes, but no protest leaves his lips.

I push my hands forward, grabbing his shirt along the way. He lets out a gasp as my lips leave little kisses along his abdomen as I continue to pull his shirt off his body.

When I get to his jaw, he growls in impatience, pulling my lips to his own in a heated kiss that has my toes curling and the little hairs on my neck standing.

Oxygen begins to run short and I break away for a second. The lust in his eyes is clear, but when I go in for another kiss, he stops me.

"As much as I am going to kick myself for this. I think we should stop before I can't stop" a look of disappointment must cross my face because he is quick to continue.

"Is this really how you want our first time together to be? Right after you were kidnapped and me suffering through a heat. Which by the way, I will make sure you never have to go through" He says seriously and I can't help but laugh.

How did I get so lucky to have someone so amazing as Reed as my mate? I am practically throwing myself at him and he's the one going through heat pain. Yet somehow, he manages to keep his head.

"How can I help?" My hands draw patterns on his bare chest as I memorize every dip and curve of him with my fingers.

"Just lay with me, your touch helps." I lean down and press a lingering kiss to his lips, before resting my cheek right over his heart.

The steady beat of our hearts, the only noise that fills the space around us. Finally we are together again, and no matter what, we will stay that way.