*Maggie*I spent the better part of the night searching for Axel and Billy. The moment the show ended, I snuck into the woods, hoping to catch wind of them. Axel’s scent was nowhere in the air and Billy’s had long been gone, so I wandered, calling Brutus and making him join the fray. He searched further into the woods than I did, and I’m supposed to be meeting him in ten minutes by a dead willow tree just out of scent range from camp.Walking deeper into the woods to find our meeting spot, I hear the timbre of two voices, and I try to get closer. The words they are saying are too low of a decibel for me to make out, but I can identify a half-naked Billy looking mighty fine and a gaunt and exhausted looking, Axel. My heart lurches at the state of him as my feet propel me forward.Axel’s normally styled hair is damp with perspiration and his face is pale. Even in his disarray, he is breathtaking from this angle. I mar

*Axel*I help as much as I can with the unloading of the tents, doing my best to avoid Maggie and her heavy glances. Ever since the car ride, I’m more resolved than ever to keep my distance from her. All it did was further prove how much power she and the mate bond have over me. A few kind words from her and I felt like I was the most handsome man ever produced in the world. No woman should have that power over a man, let alone a beast.Everyone is busy running around and finding the best spot for their personal tent. Billy and Freddie are having a heated conversation with hands animatedly flying about and their faces red. Freddie suddenly looks over at me and frowns, then turns his back on the still irate Billy, who shouts at Freddie as he shifts into his hawk form and flies high into a tree.I saunter over to Billy as he mumbles and grumbles about petulant young people who are selfish and have no respect for their elders. Which I f

*Maggie* I survey the entire tent from up here, smiling widely at the view. I can see everything from the floor below to the nosebleed section. It’s spectacular. Almost like the air is less suffocating up here. Axel steps up beside me on the small platform, hardly big enough for the two of us. It has been a week since his illness. A week of him trying to make amends for the cold way he had treated me at first. His first attempt at remedying it all was offering me a position in the show.  He added a tightrope segment but felt it would be far more intriguing if I did it partially in human form and partially in wolf form. Today is the first day up this high and I couldn’t be more excited. I spin a little too fast to face Axel and he lurches to the side slightly and I cling onto him as he rights his footing. “Oh, shit.” Axel says, turning pale. I chuckle as I look at him, my hold on him tight. “You ok?” I ask. “I don’t

*Axel*I have trained since I was old enough to walk. Fighting always came naturally to me, even though I hate it. I learned as a child that controlling your breathing could help you control your heart rate. So why, after all these damn years and training exercises, is my heart pattering away like a tap dancer trying to keep a hip-hop beat?I can stand before hundreds of humans, putting the reality of the shifter world on full display for them to gawk at and hoping they don’t realize the secret to our magic. But a simple dinner with my mate, the woman who just professed her feelings for me, has me feeling like I am going to vomit. Nothing, no amount of training, routine, or, hell, even Ultima powers could have prepared me for a single first date with my mate. I feel like a fool as I grin, just waiting for her to emerge in my tent. I got dressed forty-five minutes ago, just in case she might show up early. Would she show up fort

“It’s just, Axel has a facial scar too, so shouldn’t I stay and monitor him here? What if the guy you are going to go see isn’t the ultima and we ruin the trust I have here? It would be better for me to…” I say as Brutus cuts me off.“I need the backup,” Brutus says sternly.“No. You are wrong. I know he isn’t the Ultima.” I say back, holding my ground. “You seem mighty sure of that,” “I am!”“So then, tell me who do you think it is?”My blood runs cold. I have backed myself into a corner and I know it. I sigh heavily.&ld