After the meeting, I told Callum I was going to see Romain and for him to help Ben get our luggage to the guest rooms. Sienna seeing my urgency to leave - alone - somehow corralled Callum into staying and helping. Quickly I reached the clinic and Romain's room. He was still sleeping, and it seemed odd standing there looking at Romain while he slept. Finally he opened his eyes.

"Eva, what are you doing here?" He questioned. Just then a beautiful girl with shoulder length hair dyed with blue and green enters the room, looking at me suspiciously but not speaking.

"You got injured. You don't think I'd go home without making sure you were ok. Devaney would never forgive me." I replied.

Romain just smiles, but the girl grunted a little then asked, "Devaney. Who's Devaney?"

"Relax Ao. Devaney is a little girl that Eva adopted from here. Her pack was wiped out six months before Eva got here. The girl never said a word until she said 'Mama" one day when Eva was visiting her." He explained. "Ao this is Eva - the girl I mentioned before. Eva this is Aoife or Ao for short. Ao is my mate. I meet her when the border was breached, by her as she was being chased by wolves. I caught her scent and got separated from the other warriors. I was protecting her when I got attacked."

Ao noticeably relaxed after the explanation.

"It's nice to meet you Eva." She smiled.

"You, too. Have you meet Devaney?"

"Not yet." She answered, so I got out my phone to show her pictures of Devaney.

"I just couldn't leave her here. She had made such progress, and I became attached to her. I came back within two weeks of me leaving and adopted her."

"I heard about Callum." Romain frowned.

"He is my mate, Romain. The fates made their decision. I won't interfere."

"Even if it isn't the right choice."

"Now you understand why i couldn't allow us to get any more serious than what we were - right?"

"I guess." He mumbled.

"I know you are thankful for Ao, and I got a second chance at having a mate. I am going to have to be grateful for it."

We visited for awhile longer, but kept the conversation light. I had no idea how much Ao knew about the impending battle and didn't want to overstep my bounds with her and Romain's relationship.

After visiting with Romain, I went to visit with Devaney and give Rin and Gryphon the good news. Devaney's speech seemed to be improving greatly.

"Mama, you're back!" Devaney yelled while running for me.

I scooped her up into my arms and hugged her tight.

"Too tight, mama." Devaney squealed.

"Sorry, Dev. I just missed you so."

"We heard the good news." Rin beamed.

"Yes, it's official - now I am Devaney's mama."

"What about this mate of yours?" Gryphon chimed in.

"He'll come around. It will just take time. We've only just marked and mated a few days ago, so all of this is new. He's probably overwhelmed." I explained. Well I hope it is just that he is overwhelmed.

"Probably." Gryphon mumbled as he turned to check on a few kids playing in the blocks.

Turning back, I take Devaney to the sitting room to talk with her some more - taking some of her favorite books with us so we can read after I give her the news.

"I have something exciting to tell you."

"What is it mama?" She said looking up through those beautiful curls.

"You're going home with me tomorrow."

"I thought this was home." She said sadly.

"Mama doesn't live here, and now I can take you wherever I go. Wouldn't you like that?"

"Of course." She smiled.

"There's someone I want to introduce you to tomorrow, he's going to be a part of our family...you think you would like to meet him?"

"Sure mama, how is he part of our family?"

"I have a mate now."

"What's a mate?"

"A partner - like Gryphon is for Rin."

"Oh, okay."

"I'm so glad. I love you, my sweet baby."

"I love you too."

We sit and read until it is time for her to go to bed. I explained to Rin and Gryphon that I would be going to training in the morning and coming to pick up Devaney after. They were sad to see her go but happy that she would be getting a permanent home - one full of love - even if all I could guarantee was that it would be my love she got unconditionally.

Walking back to the pack house I saw Juniper waving excitedly to catch my attention. I was pleasantly surprised to see Juniper and Mariah today since I didn't think they'd be back in time to see me.

"Juniper! Mariah! It's good to see you, I didn't think you'd be back before I left!" I said with smile, "how did everything go-?" I halted as I noticed Mariah's mark on her shoulder, exposed by her tank top, and then the juniper bonsai mark on Mariah's shoulder, my eyes widening in surprise.

"You completed the mate bond? And shifted?" I asked, and Juniper nodded excitedly.

"Yes! You helped so much Eva! I wanted to thank you again!" Juniper said as Juniper engulf me in a hug, and I grunted and winced in response.

"Juniper, baby, don't hurt her." Mariah said, and Juniper immediately let me go with an apologetic look.

"I'm so sorry...I'm still getting used to this." Juniper apologized as she held her arms behind my back.

"It's alright...it takes time to adjust for everyone." I smiled, rubbed my arms.

"So...does that mean you met your dad?" I asked, and Juniper nod and gesture to him where he stood in front his truck - watching the exchange with an amused expression, Juniper motioned at him to join us.

"Turns out there was some complicated stuff behind the story...he came with us to talk to my mom...to try and smooth things over." Juniper explained as he walked up, holding a hand out for me to shake.

"I'm Quill Warren, Junipers father. I heard you've been helping her a lot, and I wanted to thank you." He said, and I gave him a small smile.

"You're welcome, Juniper's a friend of mine. I was just doing what I would for any friend." I replied, and her dad smiled.

"I'm glad you could help her...I probably wouldn't know she existed otherwise."

Juniper smiled widely at our exchange, but with a bit of sadness in the corners of her eyes.

"I hate to run Eva, but I need to talk to my mom, there's going to be a lot to explain." Juniper said, and I nodded.

"It's alright, we can finish catching up later. Go see your mom." I replied as I was walking into the pack house with Juniper's father.

The happiness I'm feeling at the moment couldn't be dampened by anything.

-----

The next day I was up bright and early to head for my morning run and then head to the training grounds.

"It's too early, come back to bed sweetheart." Cal grumbled.

"You'd better get used to this. I run every morning and then do training."

"The Luna doesn't need to train."

"This Luna has powers that have to be trained. I have to keep in the right frame of mind at all times to keep these powers in control."

"What kind of powers do you have?"

"Telekinesis, teleportation, energy medicine, force fields - you know the normal stuff."

"Yeah, yeah - just the normal stuff. I am very blessed by the Moon Goddess, you know that sweetheart?"

"I don't know about all of that. The powers can be a curse also, but thanks for saying that. I really need to go."

"Fine." He mumbled turning back over and falling back asleep.

As much as I want to talk about everything with my mate, for some reason I don't trust him yet. Some things are better left buried. What have I gotten myself into?

I made it to training, but as soon as Julian showed up, I found it hard to concentrate. We have so much left unsaid.

Pulling myself together, I continued to train with some of the more seasoned warriors. I knew I could use my powers with them without being concerned about how they would react.

Tyson was my first victim, but he was expecting many of my moves this time.

"Someone's been practicing." I said as he dodged my attack and attempts his own, and I ducked out of the way at the last second.

"Of course, I wanted to impress teacher - is it working?" He grinned, and I smirked.

"A little, but-" I ducked underneath him as he swung a leg at me, and once I was behind him I dropped to the ground and swept out my leg to knock him to the ground, and he landed flat on his back with a grunt as the wind is knocked out of him. I stood up, and looked down at him with a smug smile.

"You still have a lot to learn, young grasshopper." I teased, both of us chuckling as I help him up.

------

Once training was over, someone grabs me by the arm.

"We need to talk." Julian hissed, and I'm concerned because he's never taken this tone with me.

However, I know where this conversation would go, so I just spit out the truth immediately - saving us both some time and potential embarrassment.

"I love you Julian, but I accepted Callum so you'd be free to accept your mate."

"I don't want another woman."

"But you promised your mom you'd wait on your mate. Don't go back on that promise, JD."

"I love you Eva."

"And I you, that is why I did what I did. You are free now." I stated kissing his cheek and running off.

Of course I didn't feel free myself, the love for Julian didn't die when I mated with Callum. Why did this hurt so badly if I accepted my fated mate?

Scarlett POV

"Alpha Blackrose, can I speak with you in private?" Mariah asked and I could see by the expression on her face that this was serious.

"Of course, let's go to my office."

We climbed the stairs, quickly reaching my office and entered to begin this conversation.

"What is so important that you must speak to me in private?" I asked curiously, the look on her face clearly pissed.

"Eva's mate is an arrogant asshole!" She growled, her eyes flashing as her wolf talked with her.

"And what brought this on?" I questioned with narrowed brows. I already agreed, but I still wanted to know what's got the usually stoic Mariah fuming.

"He was flirting with Juniper even though she bares a mark! He has a mate, why in the hell is he going to flirt with someone else especially if they are marked themselves?!" She explained, and my scowl deepened. No wonder she's pissed...I would be too if someone was flirting with Raphael.

"I have no idea. Did you confront him?"

"No I wasn't there. Juniper came home all upset about it though, and she wouldn't lie about it. Plus, I've heard rumors that Juniper isn't the only one he flirts with. Before I was just hoping it was rumors or at least just in his nature to be friendly, but now that I know for sure that he does flirt with people, I felt it necessary to tell you."

"I can't do much without proof, and telling Eva would break her heart." I frowned, not liking this situation at all.

"I know. Apparently he doesn't deserve her. She accepted him ignoring her own feelings for another."

"You know?"

Mariah chuckled. "It is quite obvious to everyone here about those two. We all secretly hoped that they would just openly admit their feelings and fate would be in their favor. I guess that didn't come through."

"I guess it didn't. Just keep an eye on him, if you can. Eva would know if he was actually unfaithful since she bares his mark."

"I guess you're right. Thanks for listening."

"Anytime. I just pray this all works out in the end."

"Me too." She replies as she gets up and exits my office.

I had a bad feeling about all of this, but my hands were tied as to what I could actually do. As a future Alpha I had to show him respect, whether I had any for him or not.

Eva POV

Once again, I was setting out to leave Blackrose - this time with my own little princess in tow. Not able to contain my excitement, I ran to the orphan home this morning, vaguely aware that three other people were behind me too.

Before I could even look for her - a head full of brown curls comes running at me.

"Mama!"

"Dev, are you ready to go home?"

Before she could answer, she was clinging to my leg.

"What's wrong Dev?"

"Who's that?" She asked pointing at Callum and Ben.

"You remember Sienna, yes? And that tall guy with blonde hair is her mate, Ben. This guy here is my mate, Callum."

Callum bent down to Devaney's level. "Hi, I'm Callum." Cal spoke rather gently, but Devaney didn't respond to him immediately.

"I don't think she likes me Eva." He said, slight frustration in his eyes.

"She's just shy Callum, she doesn't know you yet - she'll warm up to you." I replied, at least I hope she does.

Picking her up, Callum gathered her bags from Gryphon, and we were off to the Jeep. This was going to be a long drive back to New Dawn. Maybe it would give Callum time to bond with Devaney - at least some.