The Crossroads were a place where you used to become an adult. It was off territory and only the big kids got to go because they were allowed to leave the territory. For a long time, it was a mythical place that the young kids fantasized about going. Over the past ten years though, Jackson had grown from a small town to more of a city. Now, that was the place where you could go to hang out if you were old enough to be off territory without your parents. The Crossroads became the thing of the past.There wasn’t much to it either. It just happened to be an plateau overlooking a lake. If you had the balls, you could jump off the edge into the lake. Otherwise, it was just a big open space, with no adults that we used to bring chairs, beers, smokes, and other shit to hang out. Outside the eyes of the adults and the pack.My truck was fairly large and since the dirt path hadn’t been used in so long, it was overgrown and I could hear a few tree branches scrap against it. But I pulled up to w

Storming off, she disappeared into the bar, the back door slamming shut behind her. Finn pulled me up by my underarm and I stood as straight as I could. He helped me back over to the bench and sat me down. I winced as the cracked or broken ribs shifted but I felt the throbbing headache from the knee to the eye. Aelia came back out with my clothes that I had changed from and a bag of frozen peas. She places the clothes on the table but gently placed the bag of cold peas on my eye.“Sorry. I wasn’t thinking about the level of power I was using.”Noah chuckled. “Yeah, no shit. He’s gonna have a time explaining his condition back at the pack. Man, we could be blamed for attacking an Alpha!”I snorted. “When I asked for it? No. I’ll make up something. It’s fine. I didn’t realize I’d get my ass beat so thoroughly.”Aelia helped me get dressed, allowing me to not move as much. I sat back on the bench, fully dressed, holding the peas to my eye as Finn served up the food. It was a pile of barb

I stood at the stove. The potatoes I was frying up were turning a delicious golden brown as I flipped the cubed pieces around. We were opening a little late today and it gave us the rare opportunity to eat together. Since, it was my turn to cook, I decided on a simple Cubano sandwich with potatoes. Solaris had made horchata earlier so that would be added as well. The plates were already set out on the bar counter and I was finishing up then potatoes before doing a final assembly of the sandwiches.Finn was sitting on the bed, leaning back, talking to Solaris about our next trip to the castle. We’d been requested to attend a meeting there and possibly end up heading out of a mission if that was the reason for the summons. The Alpha King didn’t give Solaris much but apparently it was important enough that all the Alpha Prince’s needed to show up.“Maybe it’s going to be an all out battle against them?”Solaris hummed, standing between Finn and the kitchen counter. “I’d finally take out

*** Silas POV *** I pounded on the door of the The Wayward Tap. The rain was pouring down and I was completed soaked through. Hell, I was lucky I even had sweatpants in the nearby tree from the other night. My wolf-ass ran all the way over here as fast as I could. The thunder rolled behind me and I pounded on the door again. Charles taught me how to ‘police knock’ when he first got into the force and I hoped it carried all the way up the stairs.Stepping back, I looked up at the window but the light wasn’t on. Cursing, I was about to knock again when the door swung open. Aelia was standing in the door in a huge shirt and clearly only half awake.“Sil, do you know what time it is?”“About three in the morning, I think.”She narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing here?”“I need your help.”“Help can wait till the morning, Sil.”She was abo

“You know I put my foot down whenever it came to you telling me about my fated pair.”She nodded. “Yeah. You would stick your fingers in your ears and start yelling that you couldn’t here me at the top of your lungs until I walked out of the room.”Sam giggled and it made Aelia smile. “Sounds like Alpha.”I ignored the both of them. “Over the years, I just thought I never had a connection. I’ve been nearly everywhere and I’ve never felt a connection with someone. I thought…I thought that you would end up telling me that I didn’t have someone. That I was destined to be alone.”Her face fell and tears filled her eyes. “Oh Sil…” Walking over to me, she gathered me into her arms. As her scent and her arms enveloped me, I let myself break. I pressing into her body and cried. Cried for all the nights I held it