We kept walking quietly with only the sound of the dirt crunching under our feet to disrupt the silence between us. Soon I felt Ethan's hand leave my back as he held it out in front of me and nodded to my binder. I handed it to him gratefully, I was tired of carrying that damn thing anyways. "Thanks," I breathed out.
He sighed as pulled his jacket through one arm, then shifted the binders so he could pull his other arm through the other sleeve He looked like he felt mildly uncomfortable, but I thought he looked like candy that needed to be unwrapped and my beast agreed. We had to push those thoughts back thought, those thoughts that were only fueled but the electric hum coming off of him.
He moved his hand back to the small of my back and kept us going forward. "Did you mean everything you said back there, at the tree house?"
"Every damn word," I replied instantly and truthfully, because it was.
He sighed and pulled me a bit closer to him. We didn't say anything else as we walked to the rest of the way to the pack house, but my beast and I did enjoy his closeness. Being away from him made the pull stressful on me, and at least having him close to me seemed to sate its hunger just enough.
We walked into the pack house and you could feel the energy in the air, the energy of strong wolves gathered around. Thomas was talking to an older wolf when he caught Ethan's eye and waved. Ethan nodded a little tensely then steered us near where Lander and Claire were standing.
Lander looked at us then flickered his eyes to Ethan while Claire gave me a knowing smirk. "Ready for the fun?" Lander teased. Ethan groaned a bit while Lander pulled at his tie, he looked down at Claire who was biting back a laugh and let out a hot huff. "Do I really have to wear this damn thing?"
"Fine have it your way," she said as she threw up her arms.
Lander chuckled a little and pulled it off then unbuttoned a few of the top buttons on his crisp gray shirt that he had tucked into black slacks. I shook my head and raised a brow at him. "We can't take you anywhere Lander."
"Hey! Ethan's not wearing one," he teasingly argued.
Ethan nodded a little. "We're going to be miserable enough as it is, might as well not make it worse."
His voice made me slightly shiver which only made Claire look at me a bit more deviously. I tried to hide my flush but there was no fooling this female. She was too sharp to miss a damn thing.
"You guys ready?" Thomas asked from behind us.
Ethan stiffened slightly and so did Lander. He turned us and pushed me slightly behind him while Lander stood up off the couch he was leaning on. Ethan was humming louder, with a bit more fire, and it made on of the gammas walking by with a drink tray tremble a little.
"Always a good time," Ethan replied.
Thomas eyed him for a while. "Yup, I think we're about ready to go."
"Babe, I think everyone is here," Miranda said as she walked up next to him.
Claire's eyes flickered to Miranda. She was not impressed with the female. Her brows raised a little as her lip twitched to show her teeth, but she didn't need to. She let her beast come forward and smiled when Miranda nervously flicked her hair out her face.
Thomas looked around and nodded. "Alight then, let's get this show on the road."
He walked away while Ethan linked his hand with mine. "Follow me," he whispered in my ear making the hair on the back of my neck stand.
We started to follow Thomas when Levi and Liam walked in with Remi in tow behind them. Liam's eyes flickered from me to Ethan before they swirled with anger. I could feel Ethan's annoyance. Liam may be a strong alpha blooded wolf, but Ethan was older and more mature than him; more grown into himself and capable of putting a beating on Liam if he really wanted to.
He huffed and let his beast come closer as he let out a low warning growl to Liam. Liam went to retaliate but Levi hissed something at him that made him settle, but only a little.
I rolled my eyes as I felt them walk behind us down a long hall. I squeezed Ethan's hand gently. "Play nice," I warned with a hint sarcasm in my voice.
"Just telling your boyfriend to stay the hell away," he quickly replied.
I growled softly and scowled at him. "Pettiness doesn't suit you."
He flickered his eyes that were laced with a challenge to me. "And what does?"
I smirked a little. "Oh, I think you know Ethan. I think you know very well."
He let out an annoyed growl as we continued to walk down the hall until we were in a big round room. I had no idea this damn place was back here. It was a round room with layers that descended until they reached the flat center of the room. There were wooden desks that sat in a circle on the stadium-like seating with what looked like large wooden chairs with plush leather cushions.
Levi looked over at me and nodded as he and Lander walked to the front where a small nameplate that said 'Tikanni' sat in two seats for him. Ethan pulled me along with him, stepping down the steps to a row behind Thomas and Miranda. They both stiffened as we sat down in our seats. Thomas turned back to us and gave Ethan a nod before flickering his eyes back to me.
I didn't break his gaze though, he just let out a hot breath and turned around to open his binder. I looked across the room to see Levi and Lander both smiling approvingly at me from the front row.
Ethan set my binder in front of me then shrugged off his jacket and put it over the back of my chair. I almost let out a growl of approval as his scent started to caress my skin, but I bit it back.
"Why is Lander sitting next to Levi?" I whispered to Ethan.
Ethan looked up then back to me. "Levi doesn't have a luna. If you don't have one then your beta can sit with you. There are a few others here who don't have one."
I nodded my head in understanding as a wave of sadness washed over me followed by bitter fury as I looked at the people sitting in front of me. Ethan sighed and slipped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him and calming my beast. "Not now sunshine," he whispered to me.
I looked at him curiously and nodded. I nodded right as Amber walked in with Aaron. Amber was surveying all the men in the room as she wiggled her hips when she stepped down the stairs in her form fitting long sleeve burgundy bodycon dress; tacky.
Arron looked nice though, surprisingly, in a light green buttoned up shirt and slacks, but he looked tired; disturbed by something. My wolf perked up, it was odd to see the cocky male look so unsettled.
Ethan tightened his arm around my waist as they sat behind us. Neither of us turned around to say hello, they weren't worth our words. I looked up to see Remi wave to me as he and Liam sat down behind Claire and Derek. Liam eyed Ethan again which only made Ethan pull me closer to him as his wolf flashed Liam his teeth.
My wolf was growling in approval in the back of my mind, but still, Ethan needed to calm the hell down. His blood was starting to hum louder which was starting to make Miranda squirm a little. I sighed and bit the bullet that I knew was necessary. I leaned up and kissed his cheek, stilling him with surprise before I kissed a place below his ear. "You need to calm the hell down," I whispered to him.
He rumbled and looked at me disapprovingly before looking back across the room. It was going to be a long ass meeting. I looked around a bit and watched all the alphas and their lunas walk in; old, young, with their betas loyally behind them.
"Well boys, it's good to see you," a husky voice said from next to Thomas.
I looked up to see a young alpha male, maybe a little older than Ethan, with a devious glint in his eyes look over at us. He was an attractive male; all American yet rugged with golden blonde hair and devilish green eyes. He was built well, built like the alpha male he smelled of. Thomas stood up and shook his hand with a warm smile. "Jaxon, it's good to see you."
Jaxon nodded as another male with short black hair, military cut style, and brown eyes stepped behind him. He looked over at Ethan and cocked his brow. Ethan stood, standing me up with him and nodded to Jaxon.
"Well Ethan, good to see you, who's this you got?" he said while letting his eyes wander over my form.
Ethan's blood hummed some more, making Jaxon flicker his eyes amusingly to Ethan before he looked back at me while Thomas and Miranda watched curiously. "Jaxon, this is my mate Charlotte."
Jaxon flickered his eyes to my neck then smirked. "She doesn't bare your mark."
Ethan growled lowly at him which made Thomas turn a hair more, eying us cautiously as the scene unfolded. "She will."
I shivered slightly as I flickered my eyes to Jaxon. He looked at me and I could feel his beast pushing forward, but I just smirked and pushed back hard. The young alpha breathed out a laugh then looked over at Levi before looking back to us. "So this is Thorne's pup?"
"That's right," I answered.
"Smells just like a damn Thorne," the dark haired beta said from next to Jaxon.
Jaxon nodded amusingly then stepped aside for his beta. "Ethan, you remember Caden?"
Ethan nodded at Caden who nodded smiled at me. I could see the moon shaped scar on his neck, he was a mated male but his female wasn't here. "Nice to meet you, Charlotte," he said as he sat down in his seat.
"Where's Carly?" Miranda leaned over Thomas to ask the young beta.
"Very pregnant," he replied. "I may have to leave early, she's close to having our pups."
"Congratulations," Thomas said with a warm smile.
I felt something stir in me at the word 'pups.' I couldn't help but wonder, but think about the future with Ethan. About future pups we would have which seemed to more than please my wolf.
Thomas grabbed a gavel then knocked it a few firm times on the table, quieting everyone as he stood. "Alright, well everyone, welcome to the annual Southern Alaska Alpha Council meeting, our favorite time of the year." He paused while the room chuckled warmly. "Let's get started, first up is the agenda, any changes proposed?"
He looked around the quiet room of men and women then nodded his head. "Good, that means we get to dinner quicker." The room laughed again as he flipped a page in his binder. "Alright, successors. Let's hear them," he called out as Miranda got her yellow pad ready to take notes.
My wolf perked up a little and met Claire's curious eyes who were also scanning the younger males in the room.
Thomas looked at an older dusty blonde male next to him and nodded. "Lilaq, who do you have?"
The male stood as a younger male, tall and lanky but strong, stood up as well. "I have my oldest, Nicholas Robert White."
"Very well, whose next?" Thomas said as Miranda wrote the names down.
The room was quiet until it got to Tikanni where Levi stood with Liam behind him. Thomas eyed Levi for a while before nodding. "Alright, Levi who do you have?"
"Liam Luke Thorne, my nephew."
Thomas sat down as Liam flickered his eyes back to me then to Ethan. Miranda wrote down the names as Thomas stood. I felt someone stand behind me, Aaron. My wolf tensed, as did Ethan's. I looked back Aaron who looked like dread was eating at his belly, he looked miserable.
"I have my son, Arron David Browning," Thomas said almost smugly. A few whispers scattered across the room as he finished between older males that looked almost confused.
Levi's eyes widened as did Lander's. He looked over at me and in that we both had a moment of realization. I mouth to him 'calm down' while Lander whispered something to Levi.
Ethan was humming louder. His arm was tense around my waist and when I looked up at him it looked like his jaw was clenched so tight that it would shatter. I let out my own frustration through a long breath as Aaron and Thomas sat down then leaned into Ethan a little and let my beast reach out to his, settling him down enough for us to suffer through this damn meeting together.
Aaron.
I can't believe Thomas would be so ballsy as to do something like that, but I guess it was expected. He wanted to keep Ethan and the other Everette children under his thumb so his line could continue.
"Thomas just named Aaron his successor," I whispered to Evangeline.
I heard her rumble loudly over our link. "It should be my brother. It should have always been Ethan."
"I know," I sighed out.
Liam looked over at us then flickered his eyes to Aaron amusingly like he was his next snack. I shook my head and rolled my eyes at him as Thomas continued with the other meeting items. Liam just smiled innocently while Remi shrugged.
"Come on Char, just let me have one go at him," he whispered to me.
"His ass is Ethan's Liam now pay attention," Levi barked out.
I smiled a little while Ethan eyed the two of us before pulling me closer to him as I flipped the pages of my binder and chuckled a little under my breath. Damn alpha males.
The rest of the meeting was the worst two hours I have ever endured. I have never been more bored in my life. I ended up playing tic-tac-toe with Ethan on the edge of some of the papers while Remi, Liam and I played 'I Spy' through our own link.
Eventually, though it ended. Thank God it ended. Levi looked miserable and Lander looked like someone sucked the fun out of him. Thomas hit the gavel against the table a few times, dismissing us to dinner to which many wolfs yipped at.
"Thank God," Ethan muttered under his breath as he unbuttoned a button on his shirt and loosened his collar.
Soon Levi was marching over to us, past Thomas and Miranda, until he was standing in front of Ethan and I. He looked over at Arron and Amber who seemed shocked into place then back to us. "Ready to eat girly?"
"Can we just go hunting?" I sighed out.
Levi chuckled while Ethan let out a breathy laugh. "Maybe after, come on you two."
Ethan linked our fingers together again and pulled me behind Levi as Lander and Claire caught up to us. He didn't even say goodbye to Thomas and Miranda, which I made a mental note of. A very approving mental note.
We walked back into the living room that had been cleared of all the furniture. Tall tables with black tablecloths on them were scattered around while the smell of the buffet coming from the kitchen invaded my nose.
"Well that was the best two hours of my life," Remi said from next to me.
I chuckled a little and nodded. "Why don't you bend over and I'll show you another good two hours," Liam snickered out as he trotted up to walk with Remi.
Remi growled a little while Ethan watched them amusingly. "What? Didn't get enough last time?"
Liam shook his head as his eyes swirled a little deviously. Levi looked behind us with Lander and rolled his eyes while he muttered a string of curses under his breath. Liam looked at me then over at Ethan. He seemed pained, stressed, he seemed on edge more than I usual. More than I would have expected.
"Are you ok?"
He shook his head. He looked around the room then back in front of him. "I don't know I felt like I'm going to break out of my damn skin soon."
I eyed him a curiously as we all halted when we got to the line of the buffet that had already formed. "So Char, how did you like it?" Derek asked cheekily as he walked up to us.
I rolled my eyes. "I think the only thing that kept me from pulling my hair out was the tic-tac-toe game that Ethan and I were playing. Well, more like losing. Ethan isn't quite on my level yet," I saiddeviously.
Ethan chuckled to himself before his blue-green eyes met mine with a wicked glint in them. "We'll see about that next time, won't we sunshine?"
I felt my wolf stir a little at the challenge that was more than a challenge and nodded. I looked back at Derek who was eyeing us amusingly as the line began to move. Which was a good thing because I was pretty sure Levi was going to eat the older alpha in front of him if he didn't get something to eat soon.
Ethan was different around me. He was behaving more like an alpha male should. He hummed the whole time I was with him, which made other wolves, including the ones in our group, eye him curiously.
"Do you want to go save a table while I get our plates?" he whispered into my ear which made me shiver a little.
I looked over into the room with big round plastic tables that were starting to fill up and nodded. "Alright, sounds good." He kissed my crown before I walked away, sending a little shiver across my body.
"Babe?" he gently called out. I looked back to see Levi's back tense and Liam growl under his breath. I raised my brow in question to him. "What do you want to drink?"
"Wine, you should know that by now," I replied cheekily.
Derek zipped to me and linked his arm in my with a smirk on his face. "Oh, your mate is something else Char."
"You're telling me," I grumbled as the pull fluttered.
We quickly found a big table with enough seats for all of us and sat down. I leaned back in my chair while Derek chatted with one of the other betas here and waited as patiently as I could for Ethan.
My hair stood on my neck a little as a male sat next to me. "Well Charlotte Thorne, you do amuse me," Alpha Jaxon said with a smug grin.
I rolled my eyes as my wolf came forward, licking her lips in a lust for blood at the male who was not ours. "Why's that?"
He looked at my neck then at Ethan before returning his eyes to me. "Well, last time I heard about you Lander was calling about you potentially coming to my pack."
I nodded as recognition hit me. His pack was one of the border packs that Levi had talked about. "I remember."
"I wonder how things would have turned out if you came there rather than here?" he asked as one of his brows raised.
I let my beast show him her teeth which only made him chuckle a little. "I think it would have turned out with my teeth in your ass Jaxon."
He laughed some more. "You know you're lucky, plenty of females would pay to have my ass whereas I would probably just let you have it. In fact, I know there's a closet nearby if you want to–" A rumble shook over the table and made me shiver a little. Ethan was staring furiously at Jaxon with our plates in his hand. Derek stopped his conversation and eyed the scene curiously.
Jaxon stood and laughed. "Easy Ethan, she's all your's friend. I was just giving her a hard time, you should know I like to play a little rough," he replied mischievously before he winked at me a little too seductively for my liking. Or for my beasts for that matter. We flashed him our teeth while Ethan rumbled some more.
Ethan's beast pushed a hair more. Jaxon tensed up slightly, his face turned from playful to serious quickly. I let out a hot breath and pushed back my anger, we didn't need a brawl right now, right here. "Ethan," I called out, breaking him from his starring match. "Come on," I said while patting the seat next to me.
He flickered his eyes back to Jaxon one last time before walking to me with two plates piled high with food. "Wasn't sure what all you would want so I got a little of everything."
I smiled as Levi walked up in relief with a bunch of wine glasses that he was holding between the fingers of one hand while he had a couple bottles tucked underneath his other arm. "And I got all the good wine."
He sat next to Ethan and passed us both a glass before setting the bottles on the table. Liam walked up with two plates and set one down for Levi then another for himself. He looked sick, pained. He looked almost flustered, like his skin was too tight for his body.
"Um, uncle, can I go?"
Levi looked at him curiously. "You ok Liam?"
Liam nodded quickly. "I think I just need some air."
Levi nodded slowly. "Alright, but don't be out long. Make sure you're back at the cabin tonight so we can all check in."
"Do you want us to bring your plate back home for you?" Derek asked gently.
Liam quickly shook his head. "No, thank you, though."
With that, he turned quickly and passed his parents before he tore out of the dining room. Ethan watched him for a minute before looking at Levi who looked like he was chewing on something.
"Where's Liam going?" Claire asked as she sat next to Lander.
"I don't know," Levi said while shaking his head. He paused a little then looked at Ethan as some kind of understanding clicked on in his brain.
Ethan looked back out of the kitchen where Liam had left us and smiled a little to himself. He stabbed at the rosemary potatoes on his plate with a satisfied smug. I eyed him curiously while I picked my fork up.
"He found his mate," Ethan said into our link.
I raised my brows a bit. "How do you know? I mean he looked kind of sick Ethan?"
Ethan nodded into his next bite while Lander uncorked a bottle. "Oh, I know that look sunshine. Believe me, he's chasing her down right now."
I sat back in my chair and looked at Remi who eyed me curiously. "Ethan thinks Liam found his mate," I said into a link just for Remi to hear.
He almost choked on his food after I said it. Lander patted his back and laughed a little. "Easy Remi, I'm not very good at the Heimlich."
Remi nodded then looked up at me again with wide eyes. "Is he sure?"
I shrugged a little before I took a full glass of wine from Lander with a smile. "He seems so."
Ethan bit back a smirk and took a long drink of his wine. I took a long drink of mine as well and when I set my down I could see Amber and Arron walking to join their parents at the table across from ours.
Our table stiffened while Ethan seemed to hum some more. He slipped an arm around my waist as he locked his eyes in on Arron. Arron twitched a bit then looked up; meeting our eyes with his that were not ready to handle our wolves. He almost spilled his drink then sat down quickly, averting his eyes–submitting.
Levi flickered his eyes to Lander then back to Ethan as a smirk tugged at his lip. A knowing smile lit up on Lander's face as he looked over at Ethan. I shivered a little. Ethan had something necessary coming but also something that I did not envy.
We continued to our food with polite small talk. Most of the time Ethan was either teasing me by rubbing small circles in the middle of my back with his fingers or having a little fun with Aaron in a staring contest that he was easily winning. I rolled my eyes and scolded him a few times, we didn't need to start anything just yet, there was a time and a place for that.
I couldn't help but let my mind wander to Liam and wonder about this 'mate' he was chasing, if Ethan was even right. But something told me he was; something told me he was and it brought me a great feeling of relief. I could only hope that she was a good wolf, good for Liam, he deserved a good woman.
We started to head back to the cabins. Levi was talking with Lander while Ethan pulled me along with his arm around my waist. Claire would look at us with Remi every now and then and smile. It made me flush, but not as much as the pull did. Every time Ethan touched me I felt like the pull was going to make me melt; it was a blissful torture.
We got to our cabin where Derek zipped in to greet Elliot. Levi walked to the door then turned around and eyed Ethan up and down before looking at me. "Come on Charlie girl."
I sighed and moved to step away from Ethan but he stopped me. "Charlotte–"
"Oh my God!" Evan ran out to us with a horrified look on his face. We all turned and looked at him as he came marching towards up. "Brother it's horrible! Oh my God, I don't even! I can't even-"
Ethan looked to Levi then at Evan who walked up to my front porch and slumped down in a chair with his head in his hands. Ethan and I rushed over to him with Levi as my heart started to pump harder.
"Evan, what is it?" Ethan rushed out.
"My eyes! Oh! My eyes! Dear God I am never going to unsee that!" He groaned.
Levi looked at Evan then up down path to the cabins as his eyes widened. "Shit," he hissed out. I looked up to see Lander marching furiously towards Ethan's cabin. Anger was rolling off of him in large waves that made Levi growl a little. "Lander," Levi warned as he jogged out to step in front of him.
"Evan you need to tell us what happened," I tried to say gently.
"It's Evangeline!" He threw up his and looked at us with tortured eyes.
Ethan paled and grabbed Evan's shoulder. "Evan," he growled out as he shook Evan's shoulder.
Evan shook his head and rubbed his face in his palms. "She and Liam were doing it on my favorite green couch! In our living room Ethan! Oh my God, we are going to have to burn that couch!"
Ethan growled a little loud. "What?!" he hissed out.
"It was horrible! My sister!" Evan exclaimed.
Ethan growled some more and started to walk toward his cabin. I ran after him and grabbed his hand so I could yank him back to me. "Ethan no, that's his mate. Evangeline is probably his mate! You said so yourself!"
"She is still my little sister and I loved that damn couch," he snarled out as he tried to pull away from me.
"Ethan!" Levi growled while Lander backed up and started to pace. "Just wait here, I don't want to have to beat your ass in front of the neighbors."
Ethan growled again and stepped forwards but Levi gave him a warning stare. I let out a stressed breath and walked to him then rubbed my hand over his tense back. "Ethan," I said softly.
"Evangeline, you and Liam need to put some clothes on Levi is coming and your brother is about to have Liam's hide," I rushed out to her before my lips twitched into a pleased smug.
Ethan turned back to me and huffed hotly. "Really?"
I smiled a little innocently. "Oh come on, be happy for her. It's not like he's a total asshole."
"We'll see," Ethan grumbled. He kept trying to slyly pull away from me, but I wasn't having that. Just because he had a horrible case of blue balls, didn't mean he needed to ruin this for his sister.
Soon Levi was at the front steps of their cabin and even from here, I could here him cursing. Ethan tried to step again but I just pulled him back to me while Claire called out to Lander.
Levi banged on the door a few times before it slowly opened. He let out an annoyed growl as Liam stepped out in some basketball shorts and a t-shirt with messy hair.
"Those are my clothes, are you kidding me?!" Evan yelled out. "Really bro?! First my sister, then my couch, and now my clothes!"
"Evan..." I touched his shoulder softly but he looked furious. "Derek has ice cream and beer in the house."
He snapped his eyes to me and nodded before he hotly marched back into our cabin. Levi was talking furiously with Liam, whose face grew redder and redder and redder by the second until a redhead poked her head out from around him.
Ethan snarled at the sight of his sister. I let out a tired sigh and rubbed his arm a little. Evangeline waved innocently to us which made me giggle while Levi started cursing some more.
Finally, Levi threw up his hands before he turned and walked back over to us. He didn't look as furious, he looked more pissed off–irritated. He looked over to Lander then to Liam and rolled his eyes. "Well Lander, looks like your son found himself a mate."
Lander let out a sigh of relief while Claire smiled brightly. "I take it you're just going to let them stay there?" Ethan asked as his eyes burned holes into his cabin.
Levi looked at him then to Ethan. "Unless you two wanna join their love fest, I suggest you stay out of there."
My cheeks reddened a little while Ethan hissed a few curses under his breath. "You've got to be kidding me?"
Levi shook his head and chuckled. "Nope, looks like you and Ev are on our couches."
Ethan grumbled a bit then looked back at me then to Levi. "I need to run."
Before I could say anything he broke away from me and trudged off back towards the path that I knew led to the treehouse. The pull twisted a little and without him there I felt empty.
I sighed as I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Come on Charlie girl, let's get some ice cream."