River Run Pack

Jeff’s POV

I was in mid conversation trying to explain to my father, the Alpha about what happened at school with Kiara. He was very interested in how a supernatural went so long undetected living with the humans. That’s when I heard it, well we all heard it. It was the most piercing scream and it shocked the whole pack . It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I had a horrible gut feeling something bad was happening. That scream, that was my mate. I looked at my father and it was like he knew what I was thinking without saying it. He nodded his head and I ran and instantly shifted. My mate needed me and she needed me now. I just hoped I wasn’t too late. I saw the flames coming from the entrance of the forest. It must be the old witches house. As I came up the little cabin was engulfed in Flames and one wall looked like someone was thrown straight threw. My mates scent was getting weaker, I needed to find her and fast. Jackson wasted no time running into the burning cabin. We ran in and were hit with the burning smell, faint smell of blood and the smell of death. There she was in a small ball completely knocked out near Ketzia’s lifeless body. I shifted back to my human form so I could carry her out. I picked up my poor mate bridal style and ran out the cabin as fast as I could. When I got out some of my pack members were showing up trying to put the fire out. My soon to be beta Trevor came up to me and handed me some basketball shorts. I grabbed them and handed off Kiara to him so I could put them on. Once I was done I took her back bridal style and I looked down at her. “ My poor mate, I’m here now. I will never let anything else happen to you” I said to her as I kissed her gently on the forehead. I was grateful my beta had thought to bring the car instead of running like I did. He opened the passenger side door for me and I carefully got in as not to hit my mates head. Once settled in my beta drove us back to pack house. Once there I took Kiara straight to the pack doctors to have her checked. Once I walked into the hospital Dr. Kelly ran right up to me. " Oh my poor dear, what happened to her? Was she in that house fire?" I nodded my head yes. " Poor poor girl bring her this way" I  followed doc to empty room she pointed me towards and gently lay my little mate on the bed. " I'll be back soon my Kiara" I whispered to her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. I needed to go find out what the hell happened at the witches house. Something was definitely off, I could feel it through the pack link. Everyone was on edge after Kiara's piercing scream.

Kiara’s POV

I woke to the smell of fresh roses, and something that smelled of the woods. I inhaled deeply and let out a sigh of satisfaction. “ Ah, welcome back to the land of the living" a familiar voice said. I knew it was Jeff right away. I shot my eyes open and the minute those deep blue eyes made contact with mine tears swelled up and began to fall. The memory of my murdered best friend and meemaw came swirling back to me. My so called father murdered the people I loved. I looked up at Jeff with tears in my eyes and he wiped the stray tears from my cheeks that’s when I felt the tingling sensation where ever he touched. Through my sobs I managed to say, “he killed them Jeff , he’s coming for me. You’re not safe, no one is safe near me". I got up to leave but Jeff wouldn’t let me get off the bed. He firmly placed his hand on my shoulder to keep me from getting up. “ Calm down little one, I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Now tell me what happened and who attacked you?”. In that moment I knew I was safe with Jeff and knew he was serious about protecting me. I let it all out, I told him everything I knew. Everything that had happened leading up to Ketzias murder and even about my recurring dream that was really a memory. He listened quietly and asked very minimal questions. Once I was done I let out a sigh of relief. Telling Jeff all of this made me feel a bit better and it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I wasn’t in this alone and that made it easier to breath. After I was done I expected him to freak out a bit about all this supernatural nonsense but he took it all in and acted like it was a normal Tuesday. He was asking me how the fire started but I had questions of my own. Like why was he so darn calm hearing about witches and vampires? I tried to think of the right words to say but blurted out “Jeff what the hell are you?” I internally smacked myself in the head, what is wrong with me? Way to be subtle Kiara. He chuckled loud after I said that and looked at me with, is that love? Lust? Admiration? After he wiped what was a fake tear off his cheek after laughing so hard. He then started to explain he was a werewolf?! I was shocked hearing his explanation of where we were and who he really was. How he managed to hide this for so long is beyond me. After he was done telling me about the real him he paused and looked at me. “Did meemaw get to explain to you about mates and the mate pull?” I looked up at him with dried up tears on my cheeks and shook my head yes, “ sort of ya. I know my mom and dad were mates, he abused her and used her for her power. She said the mate pull is something you can’t resist and if you try to it will make you weaker. Like they are the other half to your heart and you can’t live without them.” “ Yes exactly, mates are for life and are meant to protect each other and love each other unconditionally not what your father did to your mother”. I put my head down after hearing those words, my poor mother just wanted he mate, the love of her life. A stray tear fell down and Jeff reached for my chin and lifted it up. He wiped away that stray tear and looked at me with that loving look again. It made my heart skip a beat. “I wasn’t trying to make you cry Kiara, I’m so sorry this has happened to you. How about you get some rest and we can talk more about it later okay?”. I nodded my head yes and was ready to let the sleep take over me but before it could I thought of something else. “ Nanna and gramps Jeff!? I need to go check on them, I need to tell them, they must be warned! I’m sure they’ve been worried all day!” “Get back to bed and I’ll handle it don’t worry, you need to rest okay.” He said with such an aura that pushed me back to my bed and I slowly let the darkness take over me again.