TALIA The next morning, after Alex called a tow truck and secured a car rental, we loaded my few possessions into the back of the temporary vehicle. After he shut the trunk, he pulled me against him, staring into my eyes. “It feels too good to be true.” He smiled widely, his whole face glowing. He kissed me deeply and we got into the car, stopping at the packhouse to say goodbye to Blake and Jasmine. “If you need someone to walk you down the aisle at your wedding, just give me a buzz.” Blake hugged me. “And I hope you’re still planning to come to mine!” “I’ll be there,” I replied, hugging him back. Even though we hadn’t known each other long, I could feel that we had developed a close, familial relationship, and I hoped we’d be able to sustain it from a distance. “I’m so glad things worked out with your mate,” Jasmine said. “Stay in touch.” “I will. We’re friends, right?” “Right.” She gave me a huge smile, and I felt a warmth in the knowledge that I was finally making friends and

JASMINE It wasn’t long before word got around about what happened to Charlie. Additionally, his two friends that were involved were discharged from being warriors and given jail sentences, now stuck in the cells for the foreseeable future. Sam went from being a sub to a permanent trainer for our group. For strength training that day, Sam set up a circuit for us inside the gym. He went around and paired us off in partners for the different stations. I was, unfortunately, paired with Tina, who was not my favorite person. She’d been a year above me in high school, friends with Alyssa, and was never particularly nice to me. Fortunately, she wasn’t in a talking mood that day. I got through deadlifts, overhead presses, and walking lunges just fine. Then when we got to the plank station where we had to hold a plank for five minutes straight, Sam came by. “Nice form, Dale.” He nodded at me. Then he looked over at Tina and said, “Butt down, Mitchell.” “Are you sucking his cock too, PJ?” Ti

TALIA Alex was quiet throughout our meal, giving me sad glances as we ate. I could sense his anxiety—it overwhelmed me. I knew whatever he discovered was not good. I almost wondered if I even wanted to know. It was difficult to learn so much about my mother that she’d hidden from me all these years. I not only had to accept that there was so much I never knew about her but also address my grief at the same time. I couldn’t even enjoy the food that came out. I was just eating for the sake of eating. When we stepped out into the cold air after our meal, Alex took my hand and looked down at me, giving me a heartbreaking look, only made more intense by the emotion being emitted from him. “Talia, I want to say I’m very sorry again for all of the pain and suffering my family has caused you and your mom. I honestly had no idea how evil my father was. I mean, he’d always been tough on me growing up, but there were a lot of things he did that I never knew about. And learning about them now, I

TALIA A few days after Alex moved me into his house, the two of us went for a walk in the forest. The day was marginally warmer than it had been, now slightly above freezing. We bundled up so that Alex could bring me to where he normally sketched when it was warmer out. Our feet crunched in the snow that was slowly melting from the warmer climate. We made it out to a clearing in the forest with a river running through it, a large tree trunk had fallen over it like a bridge. “I sometimes sit on that trunk and put my feet in the water during the summer. And sometimes I sit on this rock over here.” He took my hands and brought me over to a large rock that was beside the water. “It’s so peaceful out here. I can just forget about my responsibilities for a few hours.” “Is it hard being the alpha?” I asked. “It’s definitely not easy.” He stared into my eyes. “Ultimately, I’m accountable for the pack—from the income that’s generated by the dairy plant to the safety of all the pack members.

JASMINE “You know, you don’t have to eat with me if you don’t want,” I said to Paige one day during lunch. “Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the company, but I feel bad taking you away from your other friends. I won’t be offended if you go back to eating with them.” “Eating with them wasn’t that much fun anyway. They mostly gossiped about other people all the time. That’s not really my thing,” Paige replied. “It’s not really my thing either. But my mom loves it. You should see her at temple every week. She’s basically the president of the rumor mill.” I laughed. “When I was in high school, she knew more about everyone I went to school with than I did!” “She must love that you’re engaged to the alpha then because she’ll get to know all the really good stuff before everyone else.” “Ha, that’s true! Maybe that’s why she’s so friendly with him.” I smiled. “I kept wondering how Blake was able to get her to warm up to him.” “Blake’s pretty suave though, isn’t he? I mean, he has a really cha