Zeke was standing between my legs, his hands combing through my hair. I was sitting on the edge of the bed, my head resting against him. We had been sitting like this since I woke up. Someone must have carried me back. Mom got a little too into her fight and knocked me the hell out, forcing Lucy to come over. She had to rearrange my face back to normal and Zeke was apparently hovering the whole time. Now, he was just holding me.“You know, you could have just had her fix my crooked nose and stuff.”He hummed. “I think it’s part of you. Plus, you got it when you ran away from me when we first met. It’s a symbol of what you shouldn’t do. Otherwise, you get your face rearranged.”I laughed and shook my head. “I just got my face rearranged, Z. I didn’t even run away this time.”“I heard back from Morgan this morning.”My head lifted from his chest and I leaned back. Zeke wasn’t look at me but out of the balcony. There was a frown on his face as his chest rose and fell.“What did he say?”

I stood looking out over my old stomping grounds. We decided to bring back Jax’s body to Harvest Moon pack, to our home pack. He was laid to rest next to his parents, since he never was able to find another mate. I stared out at the forest from my mom’s old house. The earth had recovered from when they torched her garden and now it was pretty much being reclaimed by the forest itself. It had been a week, but there wasn’t any news. We had no information. Nothing on Reagan or Rowan. Not a peep difference from Oran. None of our contracts had seen them. It’s like they vanished completely.Mom had come with us but I honestly couldn’t say that she was there. I only saw her during the ceremony and that was from the back. If I even thought I saw her, I would blink and she was gone. Hector was easier to find but there was a pain and anger that scared me. His words from the hospital kept me from speaking to him. Lucy wasn’t able to come with us. She barely managed to survive the surgery but she

I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the entire convoy behind us. We had multiple trucks fulled with supplies and then a ton of Hummers. It looked like we were moving an army, which we were, but it was odd seeing that behind you as we drove down seaside road. Zeke pointed out farther down the road and there were two figures standing on the cliffside of the road. ‘Mom, set up the portal. We are close.’ I reached out to her through the Alpha King link. Usually, it felt weird reaching out to people who weren’t part of the pack. I felt it when I mind-linked Hector now but with Mom is was as easy as mind-linking Zeke. The road ahead started to shimmer and I held tight to the steering wheel. The flash of light from the truck that was headed towards us filled my mind as the memory haunted me. Zeke grabbed my wrist and I blinked. The fear and the lights disappeared as the portal grew and shimmered blue. Steeling myself, I continued to drive down the road, steadying the speed. I couldn’t

*** Ezekiel’s POV ***My leg wouldn’t stop bouncing all through dinner. It was excellent as usual with Auri’s cooking but I couldn’t concentrate. Vale was making it impossible. His need was so intense that I wondered how he could talk normally with everyone. He would send flashes of what he wanted to do to me mid-bite and I nearly choked a few times. Everyone but Auri would look at me weird. I wanted to kick Vale. Auri was probably getting the images as well. She said sometimes thoughts were shouted at her. I doubted Vale was doing anything to not project.Once I finished my food, the others were planning on staying for a pie that somehow Auri had made in the short amount of time that we had, but I excused myself from the table. I’d been a bundle of nerves all day. The only thing holding me together was doing things; taking action. I couldn’t deal with just sitting still. I tried to stuff it down but I knew Vale could feel it. What I didn’t want to do right now was cut him off from my

There was no sound in the clearing for a while. Auri had pinned me with her stare but her words looped in my head. They didn’t want to take root. They shouldn’t take root. How could Auri say something like that right before we were going into battle. Was this just fear? Was this her own inadequacy that she was making this statement? Was she telling me that she wasn’t going to fight and that was why?“Zeke…”“No.”It was the only word I could get out. The only one that made any logical sense. No. He wasn’t going anywhere. He was my mate. He was too young. He was a father. He was our king. He was a son. He was an Alpha. He was everything to me and I would not lose him.“No.” It came out again. Stronger this time.“Zeke, please…”I shook my head. “No, Auri. No. I won’t let him. You won’t let him. How could you even say anything like that? How could you? Are you planning on killing him yourself?”My last question was too far and I knew it. A hand wrapped around my throat as my back collid