Chapter 24

Later that night, John and I were talking upstairs in his room while mom watched TV downstairs.

We had spent an hour or two cleaning the house together.

" So what did Tasha want to talk to you about?" asks John.

" She told me that I am to be spending the night at her place tomorrow night," I say.

He smiles. " You mean she organized the entire thing and told you what you had to do, not giving you a choice, right?"

I laugh and nod. " Basically, but we haven't been able to hang out for a while. So I think a sleep-over might be good for us," I say.

He smiles. " Well, I hope you have fun tomorrow."

" What will you be doing tomorrow?" I ask.

" I have got more training to do and that's going to take all day," says John.

I nod. " I see."

We talk for a while longer before dad gets home, and we all go to bed.

I, however, stay in my day clothes and lay in bed until it's time to go.

Once I know for sure everyone is asleep, I quietly sneak out of bed and slip downstairs to the kitchen.

I had grabbed a bag from my room on the way down to put my surprise for him.

I found out that he's spent more than a year in his old pack prison.

Which also means he never got to celebrate his 17th birthday. So that's what we're going to do tonight.

I'm bringing a few brownies I saved, some candles and a lighter.

I am also bringing a gift for him that I know he will love.

I also snuck one of my brother's shirts from the clean clothes. A shirt I know John doesn't wear and won't miss or even know it's gone.

I then make my way to the door when I have all I need and manage to sneak out.

I then started making my way towards the woods when I saw his grey wolf emerge from the trees and make his way to me.

He kneels down next to me wanting me to get on his back.

I get on his wolf's back and make sure I have a good hold on my bag before he takes off.

I have a tight grip on his grey fur while he runs to make sure I don't fall off myself.

Soon we make it to where he sleeps and I hop off.

He runs behind a tree and comes back seconds later in his shorts.

I reached into the bag and took out the shirt.

He laughs lightly. He takes it as I hand it to him. " I thought you might want a shirt," I say.

He slips it on and it's a perfect fit. He walks up to me and plants a kiss to my lips before he speaks.

" Thank you Amber. It gets cold some nights," he says.

I smiled. "OK, sit down. I'm going to give you your surprise," I say.

He nods and sits down with me. He has a big smile on his face that makes me want to smile too.

I reached a hand into the bag. "OK, so I got to thinking about you being in the pack prison for over a year, which means no one has celebrated your birthday, so I thought, let's celebrate it here and now with these," I said, showing him the brownies, candles and the lighter.

He laughs, but his eyes show a lot of excitement. I can tell he's very happy about this.

I hand him one and I take the other. I put a candle in his and lit the top.

" Happy birthday Connor. My wonderful mate," I say.

He grins at me. " Well, blow it out silly," I say.

He does. He then looks at me. " Thank you, Amber. You have no idea how much this actually means to me," he says.

I scooted over next to him and hugged him. He hugs me back right away and breathes in my scent.

I then take the candle out of his brownie and he takes a bite.

" You guys are the best brownie makers ever. These are so good," he said.

I smiled and took a bite of my own. " Well, you're not wrong," I say.

He chuckles. " This isn't it. I also got you a gift," I say.

He smiles. " I really appreciate this Amber. However, you know you didn't have to do this, right?" he says.

I turned to look at him. " I wanted to. Now shut up and accept your gift," I say.

" Yes ma'am," he says.

I reached back into the back and took out the picture frame.

I hand it to him, and he looks at it with wonder.

" I made this one sleep over with Tasha. We used to fantasize about how great our mates would be when we found them and what they would look like. That was my drawing of it," I say.

He looks at it. " I didn't know what my mate would look like, no one ever does until they find the other, but I drew this and the picture I drew is pretty close to my actual mate when you look closely. It means a lot to me and I wanted you to have it. I am giving it to you because my real mate is so much better than my drawing could ever have been," I say.

He looks at me. It's hard to describe his look.

It's a mix between amazement, wonder and... Love.

" This is beautiful Amber. I — I can't thank you enough. This means more to me and is so much more than anything I could ever have asked for. I don't know what I did to deserve you. You are the best thing to happen to me. Thank you Amber. Thank you so much," he says, embracing me in a huge bear hug.

I hugged him back and closed my eyes. I've never felt this way towards anyone before.

It feels different. I'm not sure how to describe it.

When I saw the look in his eyes as he saw this gift and the look on his face, my stomach felt fuzzy, and I couldn't help but to smile.

Then I realized what it was. I think I...

Before I can even finish that thought, a twig snaps loudly behind us and our heads snap towards it.

" No... I—it can't be. " Says Tasha.

I scrambled to my feet. " Wait, please Tasha. Don't be scared of him," I say.

She is about to say something else, but shuts her mouth and takes off running before we could stop her.

I look at Connor, who has the same look of panic on his face as I do.

This is bad, this is so, so bad.

Connor gets up, and we take off after Tasha in hopes of catching her before she can contact anyone.

Because if she makes it to the street, mine and Connor's lives are over as we know it.

With that thought, all my focus is on catching her, and we run faster through the woods.