After getting our clothes from near the gym, we return to the pack hospital and find Doctor Connors waiting for me in my room.

“You appear to be feeling better, Miss Argos,” Doctor Connors says with a smile.

“I’m feeling heaps better, thanks. So, when can I get out of here?” I ask.

“Let me look at your eye,” she says, motioning for me to sit on the bed.

She takes the penlight from her pocket and shines it into my eye as I sit down. “Could you please follow the light?”

I follow the light, thankful that it isn’t as painful as it was yesterday.

“The scar is nice and pink, and it will fade over time,” she states. “Your pupil’s reaction is a little sluggish, but that should correct itself as well. Show me your arm, stomach, and leg, please.”

I show her the pink scars that have formed over the cuts on my body.

“No dizziness or vision problems?” She inquires after inspecting the other scars.

“Nothing,” I say.

“Her wolf didn’t have any problems with depth perception or anything like that?” She directs the question to Mom.

“She didn’t even seem like she was injured,” Mom tells her.

“Well, okay then. I’ll organize your discharge papers, and then you can go,” she says with a smile and leaves the room.

‘Let’s get the hell out of here,’ Enyo says.

An hour later

“When is the council supposed to be getting here?” I ask Uncle Alex, who is standing at the window, looking out over the pack house’s backyard.

“Sometime this afternoon,” he says distantly.

“Are you okay?” I ask him.

“Your mate had to be nearby to realize you were in trouble,” he says. “I’m not sure if that’s a relief or a concern.” He pauses.

“Why would it worry you?” I ask, a little surprised.

“We do not know who he is, Athena. Just because he’s your mate, it doesn’t mean he’s not a threat. We shouldn’t just blindly believe him. Not with everything that’s happened recently. There’s also the possibility that he could reject you.”

“Well, thanks for putting that thought in my head,” I mumble as I sit on my bed.

“I’m sorry, Athena. I’m sure that won’t be the case. I just want you to be careful. You’re the closest thing to a daughter that I will ever have. If anything ever happened to you,” he pauses and comes and sits next to me on the bed and wraps his massive arm around my shoulders. “All I want is for you to be safe.”

I cuddle into him, wrapping my arms around him as I place my head on his chest, thankful that he’s here. “You’ve always had my back, Uncle Alex. Especially since Daddy died. But you have to let me grow up sometime,” I say, looking up at him with a smile.

“If I had my way,” he sighs, “you’d still be that cheeky little girl who used to follow your dad and me around, yelling at all the warriors to do better,” he laughs.

“I was a bit of a brat, wasn’t I?” I laugh.

Uncle Alex kisses my forehead. “Why don’t you get some rest? I’ll come and get you before the council gets here,” he says, and stands from the bed.

“Thank you, Uncle Alex,” I say as he walks out of my room, closing the door behind him.

I get up from the bed and go to the desk where I sat my phone. I find Andreas’s number and call him.

“Athena,” he answers on the first ring. His deep, husky voice makes my stomach feel likes it’s doing somersaults.

“I’m free. They think I’m resting,” I whisper quietly.

“Meet me where you lost my trail. Make sure no one follows you,” he says sharply and hangs up.

‘What’s up his arse?’ Enyo asks, whimpering.

‘Let’s find out,’ I say as I think about how we’re going to get out of the pack house without being seen.

I take the manila folders with the files inside from the table and place them in my backpack as I walk over to the window where Uncle Alex was standing and open it. Then I look out the window to see how far it is to the ground. It’s not that far, so I take off my clothes and get ready to jump down.

‘We need to get down and shift straight away and make a break for the tree line. Are you ready?’ I ask Enyo.

‘I’ve got this,’ she says confidently.

I drop the bag down onto the ground, then we jump out the window, shifting mid-air. As soon as Enyo’s paws touch the ground, she grabs the backpack and sprints for the closest tree line.

She runs through the trees at full speed, and it still amazes me how stealthy she is, despite her size. Even if someone wanted to follow us, I doubt many could keep up, let alone hear where she was.

We find the creek where we lost Andreas’ scent about ten minutes later. As we slow down, someone from the side collides with us, causing us to roll down a small hill and land on our back. We look up to find our mate on top of us in his wolf form. He licks our face happily, and Enyo squeals in excitement, ‘MATE!’

He jumps off us and begins prancing around, sniffing and licking our fur. Enyo rolls over onto her paws and happily chases our mate around. As they play, I can’t help but giggle at their playfulness. When they’ve finished playing, our mate stands before us and stares intensely into our eyes.

‘Woah,’ Enyo shivers from the intensity.

Our mate then turns and starts running, and Enyo follows him, grabbing the backpack as she runs past it.

After about fifteen minutes, our mate slows down as we approach a small cave. He sniffs around, and I take that moment to take control back and shift while he isn’t looking. I suddenly feel nervous and self-conscious as my mate turns and stops sniffing around and looks me over with a low growl. His wolf leans forward and licks my hand, and I place my hand on his forehead where his crescent mark is. He whimpers when I remove my hand and then shift, and Andreas is now kneeling in front of me. He stands slowly, and I’m finally face to face with my mate. My heart is beating so fast that it feels like it could jump out of my chest at any moment. I’ve always been tall, so at 6’1, he’s only slightly taller than me at around 6’5.

He stares down at me intensely. The golden hue of his amber eyes feels like they pierce straight through me, as he seems to have an internal battle with himself or his wolf. His unkempt, shoulder-length dark brown hair flops in his face, and my fingers twitch as I stop myself from reaching up to run my fingers through his hair or his thick dark beard.

My senses feel like they’re overloaded. His sweet butterscotch smell filling my nose is making my brain short circuit. I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. He steps forward and places his hand on my cheek, sending tingles all over my body.

“Athena,” he says, his voice filled with lust as he drops his lips to mine.

Sparks shoot through my whole body as he runs his tongue over my bottom lip, and I wrap my arms around his shoulders as we deepen the kiss. Our tongues clash as he holds my neck with one hand and his fingers trail down my back with the other. I whimper as he wraps his arms around me and lifts me off the ground, and it feels like our bodies were made for each other. I wrap my legs around his waist, and as he moves a few steps, my back touches the cool wall of the cave. He pulls his face away from mine and pulls my hair aside and starts kissing and nipping at the sensitive spot of my neck, where he will mark me as his mate. I gasp as a rush of arousal floods my system, and I lean my head back against the wall.

But he stops suddenly and carefully places me down, then steps away. Both of us are breathless as we stare at each other for a quiet moment.

“We can’t do this, Athena,” he finally says, turning away from me.