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I’m a human girl raised in a wolf pack, spoiled by my Alpha brother, Jeremiah, but I know I won’t be a wolf’s mate—until the day Jeremiah finds his mate, whose brother, Alpha Ryker, is a well-known and feared Alpha King. That’s when everything changes... -- Kennedy's POV “Stop trying to kill me! Jeremiah is just like my brother.” I breathe hard, my hands pinning Rayna’s wrists above her head. Rayna is Jeremiah’s mate and future Luna, but a total fool when it comes to jealousy. She’s still flailing as I’m straddling her torso leaning in almost nose to nose. I say again, “Jeremiah should have told you about me. I’m a human, his female best friend. I live here in the packhouse. I’ve been here for the last three years. My mom was his mom’s best friend and I’m here because my parents died three years ago. I still have nightmares from that day! Anyway, I won’t be a wolf’s mate!” I rolled my eyes and finally looked up at Jeremiah just staring at us and noticed we have a whole audience. “Oh Goddess! That is so f*cking hot! How did you get so lucky?” Tommy slaps Jeremiah on the back and bites down on his lower lip. Such a perv. “So all four of you a$$holes just stood there and let us fight? You weren’t concerned for your best friend or your future Luna hurting each other? We should beat the sh*t out of all of you instead.” Ben and Jason roll their eyes. The guys look like a Magic Mike runway show before all the clothes come off. Not gonna lie, all of my friends are hot as f*ck. Too bad none of them are my type, and I’m not their mate. And I have tested all the waters, except Jeremiah. It’s just an unspoken rule that none of us bring it up or discuss it at all. Ben is our dark haired, tattooed and broody Beta. Tommy is our fun loving Delta and Jason our blonde surfer boy Gamma. They are all tall, and wide like Jer, with Adonis muscles crammed into too tight shirts. I always wonder if that’s on purpose or if they just can’t be bothered to find clothes that fit. Ben walks over. “You two get it out of your system?” He reaches his hand out to me. “Maybe.” I raise an eyebrow looking back at her, slowly releasing her arms and sitting back, straddling her waist, waiting for her to take a cheap shot. Nothing comes so I take his offered hand. Jason helps Rayna up. I fix my clothes and run my fingers through my hair, not looking at anyone. “I’m ready Ben, let’s go.” They need to talk and decide if this is something she can deal with. I don’t want to walk away and leave the packhouse I've lived for years, but an Alpha needs his Luna. In this case she is more important. My friendship with Jeremiah is solely in her hands. If she says no, then that'st it, for now at least. I start walking toward the front door. I set my jaw, I will not cry again. I have said my peace and I can only hope she believes my words. This is for Jeremiah to explain and fix if he wants to keep me in his life. He has to make her see what he and I are, and she has to believe it’s not romantic. “Wait, don’t go.” Her voice is sweet but confident and I don’t know if I can do this. I shake my head and keep moving. “Please, we should talk.” I keep looking at the door. “I really do need to try and sleep, that wasn’t a line. Don’t make this any harder for me. Please. I need to go.” My plea came out barely audible to my own ears, but I know they can hear me. It is getting harder to breathe. “But you live here…” She’s right behind me whispering. I know the guys can hear us though. I keep my eyes locked in the door. Each breath is controlled in and then out. “Yep… for now… and soon you will too. I need to learn how to work through the nightmares and bullsh*t on my own anyway, but this was kind of a shock.” I bend over and grab my bags, my hands still sore from my impromptu workout earlier. She stops me, her hand on mine. The first tear falls. I shake my head side to side, my heart is breaking. “Let’s go put these away and we can get to know each other. It seems like we will be spending a lot of time together.” She pulls on my hand holding the strap to my duffel bag. It wasn’t anything harsh or controlling, but something in me just snapped, and I don’t have the energy to fight her anymore. There go my tears again, stupid emotions. She takes my bag and slides her gentle hand on my upper arm turning me around. I sling my backpack on my shoulder, eyes down just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. We both walk up the stairs to head back to my room, Rayna right behind me without a backwards glance at the guys. “Ken…” Jeremiah breathes. I just shake my head and keep walking. “I think your girls just left you hanging, I hope you finished whatever you started in here brother otherwise you’re going to sleep with some blue balls.” Tommy is always the charmer. But the rest of the guys laugh as well. We get to my room and I drop my bag by my desk and take a deep breath before I turn around. I move to take my duffle from her and drop it next to my school bag. “Were you really just going to leave? No fight at all?” She seems appalled. “He’s my brother, not my boyfriend.” I’m kind of getting tired of saying that. “There’s never been anything like that between us. I may be human, but I’ve known him my whole life and we are tight. I understand how mates work, how integral they are. He’s an Alpha and an Alpha needs his Luna. There is nothing more important than that for the future of the pack. I’m not getting in the way of that out of selfishness. So yes, I was going to leave, because you don’t want me near him. You don't want me here.” I rub my face and go to sit on my bed and pat the place next to me. “I have never once run at my brother like that. I’m usually more inclined to throw something at him.” This has the effect of breaking the tension as I let out a strangled laugh. “But how close are you and your brother? In age, I mean?” “Six years difference. He’s 26, I’m 20” I nod. “ Jer and I are the same age, literally. We were born on the same day in the same hospital. That’s how close our mom’s were. My mom was visiting and they both went into labor at the same time. We are more like twins, basically raised that way.” She nods. “That explains a few things then. Not why he sleeps in your room, but we’ll get to that. What about the other guys?” “What about them?” I am trying to get my breathing under control now that she isn’t growling at me. I have a headache from all the crying too. “Oh, come on. There’s no way you left all of them alone! That much hotness and no mate yet. And they are all so protective over you. You are close with all of them, anyone can see it.” “What are you talking about ‘no mate yet?’ I’m human, do you know the odds of me being mated to someone? I can’t even be inducted into the pack, because the elders think it will kill me. I’m sure being marked would be just as bad.” I chose to skip her other statement. I don’t know her that well. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard that before. We don’t have any humans in our pack right now though, so I’m not sure how that works.” “No idea, but Aunt Beth won’t even entertain the idea. So I’m a human in a werewolf pack with no actual connection to the pack, living with the Alpha’s family, but not blood related.” I say darkly. “So…I believe you’ve never had any romantic interest in Jeremiah. It’s written all over your face.” She giggles, like an actual little girl. “But, you avoided my other question, that means you have given the other guys a test drive.” She winks and I look at the door, sure someone is probably listening. “Test drive is a strong phrase.” I try to dodge. “Oh give it up! I need to know these guys and I will get some of that in my own time here, but I want to know what kind of team the Goddess put around my Alpha. How they treat a woman can be a big indicator of the type of people they are.” She giggles again. ‘My Alpha.’ Her brain has already made the switch. “They are all great, but I might be biased.” I shrug and smile. “So which one are you dating right now? I feel like each one would bring something different. Who was your first?” My eyes go wide. “First what?” Still dodging, I’m sure they all talk but it’s not something we talk about out loud as a group. “Yes!! I knew it! Who was your first kiss?” “Huh?!” “Don’t play dumb, any red blooded non-mated woman would be a complete moron for not taking whatever they were offering. And you are beautiful, and they have definitely noticed. Who. Was. Your. First. Kiss?” “Jason.” I covered my face. I don’t know why I was embarrassed to tell her. It was nice and he was so sweet with me and everyone was around for that one. “But just the one, during a game of spin the bottle. Not something any of us talk about really.” “What about Tommy? He doesn’t seem like the type to stop at kissing. But I also don’t get the feeling you slept with him.” I shake my head no. And she smiles like the Cheshire Cat. “Yes! How far did you let it go?” “What are you, a mind reader?” I sit there and she just looks at me expectantly. It must be the alpha blood, she’s just used to getting her way. I finally cave. “Far enough. Look, the guys and I really don’t talk about this stuff. I don’t know how much they’ve said to Jer, and I don’t want him to get weird with me if he doesn’t know and finds out. Or getting in a fight with them, he’s super protective, if you haven’t noticed.” I stare again at her and she just stares back, lifting an eyebrow. She just waits, damn patience. “Fine. It was during a seven minutes in heaven game and didn’t mean anything…” I look down at my lap, twisting my fingers together. “Oh, but it did! Look at your face!! How many times did he make you org@sm? He seems like a more-than-one kind of guy. Were they your first ever?” “Seriously, this is so weird.” I scrub my hands over my face. She shoves me playfully and I almost fall off my bed. “How many times?” Her smile is infectious. I can see why Jeremiah would love her even without the mate bond. “Twice…” “In seven minutes? Using what?!” “Just his hand.” I shrug again, giving up on holding out on her. She’s clearly going to push for information until I give up anyway and it’s nice to have a girl to talk to. “Also my first from someone who is not myself. And yes I had s*x with Ben. I didn’t want to give my ‘V’ card to just anyone and I wanted to have some kind of idea of how it all worked. He was super gentle and patient with me. He’s not a small guy. And again, I don’t know if Jer knows. He probably does, but it’s not something I discuss.” “So hot!” She rubs her hands together. “Not nearly as hot as what I walked into downstairs a little bit ago. Did he forget other people live here or is that like a mate bond thing where you get horny all of a sudden and have to f*ck right where you are?” I was kind of joking, but it’s her turn to blush. “Maybe a little of both. I mean I didn’t know you lived here and his parents are still at the meeting. They'll be back in the morning so I didn’t see anything wrong with it. And it is kind of hard to keep my hands to myself when he’s around, you’ve seen him. Do you really talk to him everyday?” She’s blushing, but there’s a little tone of disbelief in her voice. “Yeah we have for as long as I can remember. Always checking in before school and before bed back, well before. Now we are at the same school and I train with them, so I’m with almost all the guys everyday.” “Knock, knock! Is it safe? I would like to be able to have kids someday, Ken.” My door cracks open and my best friend stands in the frame, but waits for me to give him the okay. “We’re fine Jer. We just had to fill in some gaps you missed because you are a moron and let your d*ck take over thinking for you.” He huffed a laugh and walked in with two mugs, set them down on the side table and climbed on my bed behind Rayna. “I brought tea, thought it might help. We have an early start tomorrow, we all need to sleep.” He can’t keep his hands to himself either and it’s really cute watching him wrap her up in his arms. Her dark hair frames her heart shaped face contrasting with his light blonde hair. She leans back into his embrace. “What’s tomorrow?” I ask, confused, grabbing for the cup of tea. It’s a blend that the healer made when I told her I was still having nightmares and nothing else is working. “We are traveling to my pack so Jeremiah can meet my brother. He’s the Alpha, but was dealing with another urgent matter so my dad and I went to the meeting in his place.” “I'm glad you did.” He nuzzles her neck and I can hear his wolf purr. “Okay please don’t have s*x in my room. You have your own for those extra curricular activities. Jer,” I slap his leg. “Thank you for the tea, I should be good. Did the guys leave already? I didn’t even think to say goodbye.” I’m trying to rush them out. As cute as it is, I have heard that new mates escalate from light touching to f*cking quickly. And that isn’t something I want to see, no matter how hot my best friend and his new mate are. “Nah, they're all in the Media room. We figured it would be easier for everyone if we all just left from here in the morning.” “Why do you all have to go?” I’m still learning all the nuances of pack politics, but the thought of all of them being gone makes my heart sink. “We are all going, you included. When an Alpha travels for more than just a couple days, usually his team goes as well as long as someone is here to run the pack and Beta Daniel is still here and my parents will be back tomorrow too.” “What does any of that have to do with me?” “I’m sure that Rayna would like to have another female along. Traveling with all males all the time, can’t be fun. Besides, you’re one of my warriors and my best friend, I would like you there when I have to meet Rayna’s brother.” “Is that code for you’re afraid of my brother?!” Rayna laughs at him. “Umm, yes Luna!” He growls in her ear. “No sass from you. She’s always the buffer when there’s too much testosterone in the room. Kennedy has actually been to several meets with me. She’s really good with all the small talk and she remembers everything. It’s very handy. It doesn't hurt that she's beautiful and typically earns attention quickly. And your brother has the biggest pack territory and is one of the most notoriously dangerous Alphas, not to mention I’m about to take his sister away. I need all the help I can get.” I ignore the backhanded distraction comment and ask, “Wait, what pack are you from?” “Dark Moon.” My eyebrows shoot up. Even I have heard of them. I can’t remember the Alpha’s name, but he is ruthless from what I have heard. He takes over weak packs and eliminates Alphas like I go to school and turn in assignments. “Relax, He’s not that scary.” “Maybe for you, he loves you, for the rest of the world he’s intimidating. If the situation was reversed and someone came and told me they were Kennedy's mate and she’s packing her stuff and leaving today. I would probably try to beat the sh*t out of them. Mate bond or not.” I laugh with Rayna and then stop and stare at him. A thought just occurred to me, “Is that why no one here tries to date me? Cause you told them you’d beat the sh*t out of them?” “Uh…no…not exactly.” “But pretty close to being accurate?” “We may have insinuated that you could handle yourself and we would take care of whatever was left over.” “Good to know there’s a ‘we’ to yell at.” I look at Rayna. “How far is the drive to your pack? I need to make sure I have enough topics to yell at them for over the whole drive.” She giggles again and Jeremiah blanches, knowing I’m not lying. He only calms when she turns her head and gives him a kiss on the cheek. “Okay go, you two are making me nauseous. I will see you in the morning.” They both get up to leave and make it to the door when Jer turns, “Do you need a shirt? I can grab one.” “I still have the one you gave me a couple days ago, I should be good. I have to start weaning sometime.” And just like that, we’re back to being weird. Even with a little history I don’t know how Rayna will feel about him giving clothes that smell like him to me. “Let me know if you need me, alright?” I just nod my head. There’s no way I’m yelling for him with his mate here. I fall asleep more quickly than I have in the last 3 nights. But, I’m not sure if that’s from him being back in the packhouse or being so tired I had no choice. That was where the good night ended though. Screeching tires rattle my ears, acrid burning rubber singes my nose, blood slicked everywhere, screams from all around me… This time it’s not my parents with me though. It’s Jeremiah and Ben and Tommy and Jason. I’m screaming for them, but no one is answering, they are all looking at me, eyes wide open, but not seeing me. Then I’m screaming, I’ve lost them. They shouldn’t even be here. They weren’t supposed to be in the car. Why were they here? “Kennedy!! Wake up! Ken!! Come on girl, come back to me! KENNEDY!!” My eyes fly open and I blink slowly to focus. It feels like I’m moving through wet sand, my whole body is limp and I can’t seem to control my muscles. “Kennedy, we’re here, you’re safe now, stop fighting.” A calm washes over me the familiar sandalwood scent registers. Jeremiah. I breathe deep again, this time a sweet floral note mixes with the sandalwood making the calm feeling deepen, until I realize it’s not familiar.. Who else is with me? No one can see me like this. It’s bad enough Ben was subjected to it. A part of my brain is being logical, but then it’s all foggy and slow. “Mmmokay!” I slur out. “Be okay. Go bed.” “Why does she sound drunk this time? She’s never sounded like that before.” Ben, I think. “Jus tire, Ben. Back sleep.” I can’t move my body but I can feel myself collapsing backwards. I think arms are trying to hold onto me. “Kennedy, wake up for us, please. Just for a few minutes, then you can sleep.” It’s that soft voice again. Someone is brushing hair out of my face. The scent is earthy, like damp wood and fresh pine, with something primal, something I can’t quite place but feels... protective. The hands are gentle, like my mom’s, but with an unfamiliar warmth that sends a shiver down my spine. “Nice hands.” I mumble. I can feel my brain working, but everything is all disjointed and confusing. I try to blink and I think I can feel something moving. There’s tightness around my arms, but it doesn’t hurt. I breathe in again, it seems to be the only thing I have control over. I feel a squeeze on my hands and my eyes finally open. Ryker's POV I am so sick of all these damn meetings, but I can’t say that out loud, because this was my idea in the first place. I just didn’t expect all of these former Alphas and Betas to be whiny b*tches. They get worse every time we do this. I guess this explains why they couldn’t hold onto their packs, especially after taking a mate. The mateship just makes an Alpha weak and lose focus. Many have been corrupted by terrible mates. I would rather stay alone than be controlled. I am supposed to be getting ready for the new Alphas ceremony. I do not envy the three new Alphas coming up. Some of the old pompous assholes like to throw their weight around and try to make these kids bow down and convince them not to make waves, but that is the point of appointing the next Alpha, new blood, new ideas. We get better and learn from past mistakes and triumphs. Some of these guys though, they need to be put out to pasture and not even allowed a seat on the Elders council. “If you will excuse me, I have another meeting that I must get to. Make sure you get your proposal, in writing, to my Beta Danny. I will let you know the results of your proposal by the end of the week.” I leave them just staring at my back. I need to get to the Elders Council. My sister and my dad went in my place and I trust both of them to hold off the as/sholes for me, but I hate it when my sister is alone with unmated alphas. She hasn’t found her mate yet and she is 20. Many older alphas started eyeing her last year as a chosen or second chance mate since she is of alpha descent. I shot all of that down immediately, but that won’t stop them from trying while I’m not around. She needs to be protected at all times from that bullsh*t. We are more than halfway into our trip and I get a mindlink from Danny. “Alpha, you are not going to believe what happened in the Council.” “I hate guessing games Danny. What’s going on?” I rub my temples. “Rayna has found her mate. They’re on their way back—with his human sister!”