Three.

Jaxon.

It’s the human that breaks. The one that Blue called her friend. The human is bawling her eyes out as she announces the truth. Blue takes off, slamming a door shut somewhere in the back of the apartment. She wasn’t crying. She was just silent as her friend made the announcement. Angry perhaps, but not at her friend. She was angry with the situation. Angry that we had found out part of the truth.

“What the fuck? Your brother hurt her?” Xander is shouting at the human. He is inches from her. Her body was trembling with fear.

“He’s dead. We killed him.” The human splutters. She was an ugly crier. Hey eyes puffy, her lips doing a weird pouty thing. Holy Goddess did I hate humans. 

“Bree, that’s your name isn’t it?” I crouch in front of her, taking her hands in mine and speak in a soothing tone. She nods her head, her red lips parting a little, almost as if she was in a trance. “What did he do to her?”

“I can’t. I promised.” She mutters and I feel Xander’s eyes roll from behind me.

“Speak Human!” He demands

I had more of a gentler approach whereas Xander liked to go in all guns blazing. “Bree, you are her friend. We only care about her welfare. After all, she was chosen for us.”

“Brother, she is useless. We might as well get the information from our mate.”

“She isn’t going to talk.” I mutter back. “And we can’t make her. You saw it, she could ignore our demands.”

“If I tell you, will you leave her alone?” Bree asks us. Her deep green eyes were bright and shining with tears.

“I will consider it.” After all, what could a human have possibly done to a wolf?

“No chance. She is ours, she is coming with us tonight.” Xander grumbles.

“Xander, shut your mouth.” I snap at my brother. “You want this girl to be happy?” 

"If we accept her, yes!” He grits his teeth together and growls at me. Because he wasn't keen on having a wolf as our mate.

“Then you have to realise not all females are going to be like the whores you bed.” I turn my attention back to Bree. “What happened?”

“It was her first shift.” And just like that, I already knew where this was going. “It was after her mum and dad died. My mum took her in. We were teenagers. She had already told me what she was, but she told no one else. I promised to keep it a secret. She is my best friend. Then the day she turned sixteen…” Tears were streaming down her face and dropping onto her large chest.

“Her first shift.” I mutter, bracing myself for what I knew was coming.

Xander had stopped fidgeting and was now paying attention. He knew as well as I did where this story was going. His jaw was clenched, his hands in fists. He wasn't as good as I was at hiding his anger.

“When Blue first moved in, my brother always commented about how she was developing. How he couldn’t wait until she was old enough. Blue always rejected him.” She wipes her tears from her eyes and flashes them at me. “She shifted in the woods behind our house. She didn’t know it was coming until it was too late. She told me to go. It was quiet for a while, then I heard her scream as I waited outside the house. But I thought it was her shifting so I stayed away like she told me too. Because she was afraid that she would hurt me.”

“Go on.” Xander snarls, sitting next to Bree.

“I went back, hours later, looking for her. I saw my brother, standing over her naked body, fastening his jeans as he spat on her. Blood coated her skin. She was still, but trembling. Her eyes on the sky as the rain hit her face. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He was my big brother. We looked up to him and he did that to her!”

“And Blue? What did she do?”

Bree closes her eyes, all emotion draining from her face. “I helped her kill him an hour later.”

Xander pulls me away from the human, shaking his head at me. “She is a wolf and she is damaged goods. Why the hell would we be paired with her?”

“You’re right.” Blue appears around the corner. Her eyes wide. “I am damaged goods. My body is littered in scars from that bastard. So you might as well reject me.”

“Scars?” Bree hadn’t mentioned anything about scars only blood

“It was after I shifted back to my human form. He found me naked in the woods. He pinned me down and stuck his dick in me. Afterwards, he used a knife to carve away parts of my flesh. Shouting how it was a reminder that I should have just accepted him. That I wasn’t too good for him or for anyone. That these scars would make me hideous to all men. Like I’m going to let another man touch me after that.” She makes a point of staring at me. It was her strange way of letting me know why she had recoiled when I tried touching her.

“Reject me!” She folds her arms across her chest and doesn’t break eye contact with me.

“She is giving us a way out, brother.” Xander mutters.

“No.” I murmur and Xander frowns at me. He knew as well as I did that we both had to agree to the rejection, otherwise it wouldn’t work.

“What do you mean ‘no’?” Blue and Xander speak in unison

“Exactly what I said. Now are you certain that he is dead? The human that did that to you?”

Blue nods at me, “Bree tricked him. I shifted for the last time and ripped out his throat. If only I had done that the first time.”

“First shift makes you weak. It is why you were unable to protect yourself. And why your body was unable to heal.”

She nods her head at me. “I know that now. Vita explained everything to me.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

She scowls at me.

“I would very much like to talk to you again. Are you free tomorrow? My brother and I shall return.”

“No, not tomorrow. I need to work.”

“No you don’t.” I pull out my wallet and chuck some money down on the table. Xander does the same. “I already told you that we will provide for you. You can stop going to that hideous place.”

The women don’t move so Xander and I see ourselves out. As I jump into the driver’s seat of my truck, Xander asks me if I’m sure about this one.

“We have already rejected three. I don’t think the Moon Goddess will give us another option if we reject this one.”

“She has history.” He grumbles “And she isn’t going to do what she needs to do! She said it herself, she won’t let another man touch her.”

“You have history and so do I. It’s not like we have just turned eighteen, is it?”

“You seem to have taken a keen interest in this one. Why?” My brother questions me

“Maybe you need to look into her eyes. Maybe then you will see what I see.”

“Fine. But she doesn’t seem any more special than the others, well, apart from the blue hair.”

“My point exactly. How many wolves do you know that have natural blue hair?” It wasn’t dyed, I would have been able to smell it when I circled her. I had never seen another wolf with hair like hers and I found it absolutely fascinating. Blue hair and odd coloured eyes, she is definitely a special one.”

“I am assuming we are not telling father yet?”

“You would be right.” I mutter. 

When we arrive at Black Moon’s packhouse, our father was standing on the porch. He looks around the truck as we climb out, like he was expecting to see someone.

“Still no luck? You boys are running out of time. You know I will not hand the pack over unless you have a Luna by your side.”

“Not yet, but we feel we have narrowed it down.” Xander gives our father a wide grin.

“She isn’t looking for you?”

“Maybe she is unable to scent us yet. It could be possible that she is not yet eighteen.” I offer, knowing I was lying through my teeth. “We are going out again tomorrow. We may have some luck then.”

“Luck! It took me six hours to find your mother and I located her before my brothers did. So far, you have been looking for six days and you are still no closer. I think the Moon Goddess may be punishing you for your rejections.” He shakes his head at us. His long grey hair fanning out.

“We know she is out there, we have a scent. It just appears that she moves around a lot. Making it difficult for us to track her down.” It was a necessary lie.

“Very well, but you have less than a week. Or the pack will be going to your sister. Need I remind you that a female should not be an Alpha!”

“We know!” Xander and I speak together. It was a constant reminder from our father that we were running out of time to take over the pack. We follow our father inside but make our way upstairs. 

“You really think she is the one?” Xander asks for the millionth time.

“Yes.” I had no doubt about it. This time the Moon Goddess had paired us with someone incredible and there was no way that I was going to share her. Xander would find that out soon enough.