Mariah

"Marzie...time to get up..."

I crack my eyes open as the sound of my mates voice pierces through the haze of sleep, and my mouth twitches upwards as I see her face lean close to mine...her scent filling the air around me as I inhale it deeply.

Ever since she started feeling the mate bond because of Eva, we've become close to inseparable. She's been spending almost every night sleeping in my bed, and I have to say I enjoy waking up to her in my arms...and the fact that she's wanting to move in with me.

"Five more minutes..." I mumble, trying not to laugh at her cute scowling face.

"Come on...we gotta get on the road now...the sooner we leave the sooner we can get there without hitting traffic." She argues, to which me and my wolf internally sigh in resignation. We had both made plans to leave for the state of Oklahoma today, and spend some time away from the pack to help Juniper work on connecting better with her wolf, have some personal time to deepen our relationship...and to hopefully find the last piece needed to help Juniper shift...

Finding and uniting with her father.

Oklahoma is where her father's pack is located, and the last place her mom saw him. So after having a discussion with Junipers mom, Alpha Scarlett, and with each other...we decided to give it a try. Even if we don't find him, considering how busy our lives are, it still would be good for us to get away.

"Marzie come on..." She pouts, and as she leans in closer, I grab her hand and pull her back into bed, pinning her beneath me as she squeals in surprise. I chuckle as I nuzzle her neck, enjoying the blush on her face as her wolf let's out a content purr. I love how much she responds to me now that she has her wolf, she's much more expressive with her emotions than before.

"You know the rules Junebug, if you spend the night with me, I'm not getting out of bed until I get my good morning kiss..." I remind her teasingly, grinning as she turns even redder. I have to admit it's entertaining to watch her go from confidently initiating a display of affection...to being bashful when she's caught of guard by one.

Gently pressing my lips to hers, I enjoy the sparks that erupt as she begins to kiss back while sliding her hands up my back, my wolf rumbling happily as she pulls me closer. After a minute or two I pull back a little and begin trailing kisses across her jaw and down her neck, lingering a bit as I occasionally nip the sensitive skin with my teeth and make her gasp. As I reach the place where her neck meets her shoulder in curve, I pause there, listening to her little pants as I attack the place a little more feverishly than the rest, definitely going to be leaving a hickey there once I'm done.

"M-Mariah..." June gasps, and I can't help but growl in response.

~Mark her...make her ours...~ Ariana almost demands, snapping me back to reality as I feel my canines start to descend. I can't...not yet, June has to be ready for this.

Damn this is hard...

Separating myself from June, I try to regain control of myself...feeling guilty as I see my mate look at me with a hurt expression, no doubt from how I jumped away from her like she was the plague.

"I'm sorry June...it's just..." I struggle to explain, but at the sight of my descended canines she seems to understand.

"It's okay...you were just caught up in the moment and following your wolf's instincts, I understand." She murmurs as she comes towards me, cupping my cheeks affectionately. "You don't have to apologize for wanting to mark me...because once I figure out what's going on with my wolf, that's the first I want to do with you."

She kisses me this time, and a grin stretches across my face.

"What's the second thing?" I tease, and my grin turns into a smug smirk as she flushes beet red, all the way to her ears...

"You-!!" She exclaims as she smacks me in the face with one of my pillows, throwing me off guard just enough so that she can tackle me, straddling my hips as she glares down at me with crossed arms and a red face. I know she means to be intimidating, but I can only chuckle.

"I kind of like this position..." I rumble out, and her startled expression is priceless.

"Damn it Marzie!!!" She cries out as she jumps up and flees the bedroom, throwing a pillow from my living room couch at me as I try to follow her.

After a few more minutes of chasing and teasing, I finally decide to let her cool off as I take my shower and get ready for our road trip, while she gets any last minute things that we didn't do last night finished up. Once we both are ready to go, we get in my loaded up truck and head out.

Oklahoma, here we come.

~~~~~~~~

After over eight hours, multiple pit stops and two meals, we finally reach our destination of Talequah, Oklahoma. The area seems to be full of parks, trees and bodies of water, so it's a wonder I actually found the town. And of course, only a few minutes away from our hotel it started to pour down rain, so as I pull into the parking lot I gently shake Juniper awake. She slept the rest of the way down here after we stopped for lunch a couple hours ago, her head resting on my shoulder as she snored softly.

"We're here Ollie, time to get up." I murmur as she grunts and tries to ignore me. Chuckling, I reach for her side and slide my hand under her shirt, and immediately begin tickling the spot. Her grunts turns to laughter as she squirms, attempting to wiggle away from my grasp.

"Okay, okay!! I'm up!" She exclaims between laughter, and I just continue my attack.

"Marzie! Please!" She squeals, and I finally let her go to catch her breath, her little pout adorable.

"Sorry Junebug, but you were being adorably stubborn." I chuckle, and she huffs.

"Come on, we're at the hotel, let's rest in there a little while before we go out for dinner." I urge, and she continues to pout...but I know how to convince her.

"Please Ollie baby? I promise I won't bite..." I purr as I touch my nose to hers, and her face flushes that lovely shade of red again. After a moment of deliberation, she gets this mischievous twinkle in her eyes while giving me a grin.

"I can't promise the same thing Marzi." She murmurs, and I can only sit in shock as she gently bites the tip of my nose before snatching her bags out of the backseat and flying out the truck, the second I recover me and my wolf growl lowly before chasing after her.

I have a feeling this time away is going to be fun for both of us...

Juniper

This has probably been the best vacation I've had, even with the concerns I've had over meeting my father. Mariah has helped make the search enjoyable, with mixing in our trips to pack territories with visiting landmarks and nature trails, gathering ingredients and plants I can't find in Louisiana, and even taking me to special shops and restaurants. It's really helped settle my nerves over the past few days, especially when she surprised me by scheduling a spa day at the nearby spa...and after some convincing she joined me on the pampering, and I know that she enjoyed it even if she won't admit it.

But despite all her efforts, I still feel nervous about finding my father. This is going to be the fifth pack we've met with since arriving here, the four previous ones were busts, none of them have ever heard of a Quill Warren...if he isn't in the pack we're going to now then he's either moved...or left pack life completely.

"I can feel your stress from here Juniper, try to relax...you're going to worry yourself sick at this rate." Mariah murmurs as she turns onto the dirt path on our right, no doubt it leads to the pack house on this territory.

~She's right girl, you shouldn't be so overworked about this...he's going to love you, no question about it.~ My wolf agrees, and I take a deep breath as I try to embrace the words of both my mate and my wolf.

"I guess I'm just worried about how our first meeting will go...I have no idea if he'll even like me...or want to meet me." I admit.

"I'm sure he will Junebug, only a fool wouldn't want to meet you." She replies, taking one of her hands off the steering wheel so she can intertwine her fingers with mine. "And no matter how it goes down, I'll be right by your side."

Smiling, I squeeze her hand in return as I spend the rest of the ride trying to relax and focus on the scenery, the wide expanse of trees and bushes, and the river that cuts through the land. It is quite beautiful here, and I can tell Mariah has been resisting the urge to shift and go on runs through the forest, and I personally have a strong desire to do so as well...to race through the grass with Mariah by my side, chasing our wolves shadows cast by the full moon...

It makes me even more impatient to go through my first shift.

"We're here Ollie."

I snap out of my thoughts at the sound of Mariah's voice, and I look up to see a large house sprawled out in the clearing of the woods...no doubt it's the pack house for the Harvest Moon pack here.

"Let's go talk to the Alpha, let him know we've arrived and what exactly we're here for." Mariah murmurs, and I nod before exiting the truck, taking in a deep breath as I do.

Here goes nothing.