Jake POV

"Hey Jake, you got a minute to talk?" Uncle Hunter asked me from the living room door at the pack house. I'm watching a movie with my brothers and Colson.

"Sure. I'll be right back." I told them and walked out of the living room to follow him to his office.

When we get there, I take a seat in front of his desk and him behind and he folded his hands and looked at me with a serious face.

"Ok so how are you feeling about becoming Alpha Jake? Do you feel you are ready, or do you want and need more time? I don't want to rush you into it, and you feel pressure and make mistakes. I want you to be ready before you take over the pack, if you aren't that's ok. No one will think your weak or a coward because you aren't ready. They will think you have strength because you don't want to lead them down the wrong path when you aren't ready. I know you went to camp and I know you have been working along side me but doing it yourself, that's a whole different story." He said with such a confidence I have not mastered myself.

"Honestly, I'm not, not right at the moment. I just found my mate and I want us to be mated and him marked before I take the position and him done with Luna training before we take our positions. I want us to be a stronger mated couple before we do as well. If we are stronger, the pack will be, with a non-mated pair who isn't ready I know the pack will fall apart. I don't want to let you and papaw down; you both have done an amazing job over the years and I want to make you both proud of me. I know I have made some mistakes in the past when it comes to dad, so I also want to make him proud. I think when the twins turn eighteen is when Colson and I will take the positions. I want them to be my betas, no one else so they have a few more years before they turn eighteen so by that time, Colson should be ready to take the Luna position and I of course will be ready by then. Is that alright?"

"Yes of course. I don't see anyone else being the beta besides the twins anyways. I'm proud of you Jake, you just made one of the most important decisions of your adult life. How are you and Colson doing now, I see you spend a lot of time together so I'm assuming things are good?"

"Yes, they aren't perfect, and Stone is still having a lot of trouble trusting him, but we are better than before. It's just taking time which is another reason why I don't want to take the position, I need to work on my relationship with my mate."

"I understand and I'm glad things are getting better. Having a strong bond is important so I'm glad you are working on it, is he though? He is the reason why you got sick and hurt and almost dying so many times. I still want to rip his head off for hurting you like that." He said and growled a little bit which made me smile a little.

"He is yes. With his job and living twenty minutes away and me being busy we don't have a lot of time together, but we make it worth it when we do see one another. Dad told me about him and Colson having a talk, he didn't tell me what it was about, but he told me his feelings toward Colson have somewhat changed so it must have been good. The twins have pretty much forgiven him but at still on edge about him and me, I haven't. I think it will take more time. I told him from the start when I met him and well you know the rest and I can't just ignore what he did and said. It's still painful to think of and to think of what we all went through because of it, I want to forgive him and trust him again but something in me is telling me not to, that he is somehow going to hurt me again and I can't ignore that feeling. I hope and pray it's wrong I really do but I'm not sure."

"I understand. Just like I have told your dad many many times, you are not alone. You don't have to face things alone and we are here for you. It took a while for him to actually see that and when he did, things got better for him. He wasn't as stressed looking and he was happier. Don't forget my words, alright? Now get out of here and go finish that movie. I will let your dad know what you told me, we have a meeting in a little bit so I'll fill him in before the others arrive."

"Alright, thanks Alpha." I said chuckling.

"It's not Alpha to you unless we have something serious going on and I give orders Mr." He laughed and we hugged, and I left his office. I was walking down the stairs and I heard Colson on the phone.

"Understood sir, yes sir, alright I will see you and everyone else at 0530 at the airport." After that he hung up and I watched him sigh and run his hand through his hair and close his eyes.

"Colson, are you alright?" I asked coming up behind him. He jumped and turned around and he started crying and grabbed me and pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly.

"What's going on Colson?" I asked him and he sobbed even louder. I rubbed his back gently and kissed his head to try to calm him down some. After a bit he let me go and backed up and sat on the steps and looked down.

"I'm leaving, I don't know for how long. I leave in the morning." He said in a soft tone that I had a hard time hearing, but I did. I felt the air rush out of my lungs and my knees buckle.

"What, what do you mean you're leaving Colson?" I asked squatting in front of him and taking his hands in mine. He looked up at me and smiled a heart-breaking smile at me with his cheeks wet from his tears and his eyes red and puffy.

"I'm going on deployment to Iraq. I'm in the Army reserves and I got deployed. I leave tomorrow in the morning and I don't know how long I'll be gone." With those words, my almost healed heart shattered once again.