Chris woke me up the following morning caressing my cheek. I blinked to bring my eyes into focus against the sleep. We had been up late, he insisted I soak before bed.

"Morning beautiful," he says kissing my temple. He was already dressed and nearly ready to go, his dress shirt was undone at the top with his tie just looped over his shoulder.

"Sorry to wake you up but I'm in meetings all day, I'm going to talk to the kitchen before hand-"

"Please don't make a big deal about it," I begged, sitting up, clutching the blankets tight.

"Baby," he starts as he sits next to me. "It's important that you're taken care of, you have elevated status. A slight to you is a slight to me and the pack, it's unacceptable."

My eyes dropped to the side of his neck, I was shocked to see just the edge of something under his collar. I slide the collar away, lightly brushing the skin as he shivers. It was faint but there, it should have long healed.

"Admiring your handy work?" He asks, eyes dancing with amusement and excitement. I just smile back.

"How is it still there? You heal so fast," I trial off as my fingers trace it. He gently grabs my hand, stilling it and shifting my gaze from his neck to his darkening gaze.

"Mate marks heal differently," he offers, the desire dripping from his voice.

"I marked you?!" I ask, stunned. His sultry chuckle instantly made me blush.

"Not quite baby, it's a love bite, like yours," he says tracing the mark, causing me to shiver in delight. "Though I think I may have gotten carried away," he grumbles, getting up.

I walk to the bathroom ignoring the ach in my core, to check the mirror. His love bite is there but it's surrounded by a faint wolf bite bruise. I catch him in the background frowning, ticking his jaw.

"It doesn't hurt," I say, trying to reassure him. He looks ashamed and it hurts.

"Not wanting to having sex with you when we've been drinking is every bit as much to do with me loosing control." He can barely look at me when he says it. 

"I'm fine, you didn't lose control and it was exactly what I needed and wanted," I reassure.

"Baby I can't lose you," he whispers, pained. "You don't know me from before but I was different; harder, colder, more ruthless. I was getting worse the older I got. Now that I've had you I can't go back to that, I'd go mad." His eyes showed every emotion and it pains me to see.

"I'm not going anywhere, ever," I whisper before kissing him. "I promise."

"So what are you going to do today?" He asks, changing the subject as he finishes getting ready.

"No plans really, going next door with Ethan to the Guardians, he wants to show me something." Derek has really stepped up his training and it's showing, I swear the kid is growing daily. He nods in approval.

"Other than that probably spend some time with Jude, he's been really off," I trail off. He frowns and nods.

"See if you can dig to the bottom of it, Jace mentioned it too. Jude's always on point, for him to be that off for so long isn't good," he admits.

An hour later I was watching Dex fly through the air as Ethan pulled off another flawless combo.

"Now there's a student, why can't you be more like Ethan," Derek teases. I just raise a challenging brow to his smirk.

"There are about a dozen reasons, but let's just go with he's better than me," I say with a laugh.

"Fucken better be," he chirps back. "We're gonna have to call you super Dex the way that pup has you flying."

"Fuck off mate," Dex cut in.

"Thanks for breakfast and a show," I nod. "I'll catch up tonight? Claire's doing a big bbq at the house." He grins at that.

"Where are you going?" Mack asks, catching me near the door. "Aren't you training?"

"Um," I stammer as I blush. Chris's exuberance has left me sore and the thought of training is nonexistent. 

"Oh," she whispers dramatically, eyeing my neck. I felt the snap of the push before I even realized she had grabbed my wrist.

"Mack," I chide, secretly relieved to be at 100% again.

"What?" She asks innocently. "It's no big deal, take advantage of it while you can," she says with a sly smile.

"I heal Derek all the time," she mumbles. I don't miss the faint blush that flashes before she banishes it. Guardian Makenzie Wright has the hots for Derek? Holy shit!

-----

Willow insists on walking around the training yard. Much like Still Waters, it has a large open grassy area where sparring takes place but there was also an unused archery range. Looks like everyone prefers the practice dummies and knives.

"You shoot right?" She asks, innocently.

"A bit yeah," I dismissed.

"It was in the report," she deadpans. "Can you show me?" She was pulling out all the stops, big ol puppy dog eyes and pouting.

"Only if you want to give it a shot," I concede. Her eyes light up as she runs over and grabs a bow off of the rack. It was a left and she turns out to be a right like me.

I went over the options, finally finding a bow small enough and light enough for us, clearly most were mens.

After taking a couple quick shots to check for accuracy, I handed the bow over and walked her through posture and aiming. She took a couple shots and was excited to hit the target. After a couple dozen shots her arms were tiring.

I felt his eyes on us before I saw him but I couldn't help the panic when I realized we were being watched by a councilman.

'Fuck, time to go!' 'Don't have to tell me twice.'

I hang the bow up and grab the arrows, returning them to their quiver. Willow gave me a pout as I made a move to leave.

"Don't leave on my account," he said in a silky smooth voice. He was the youngest of the council members, I'd guess early 40s? Tall with a trackers build, neither bulky or lean. Dirty blond hair and brown eyes complemented his light complexion. He had pleasantly sharp features and a red stubble covered jaw, there was no doubt he was attractive.

"Willow's first time shooting," I deflect. "You know how it is, her arms are tired." I made sure to keep my voice and energy stable but deep down I was anything but.

"And your arms Luna?" He asks, raising a brow. "Let's start again like normal people. Hi I'm Nathaniel, and you are?"

"Jess," I answer skeptically, shaking his outstretched hand. Even with the pendant, the contact smashed his energy into me. Sickeningly powerful swept under a rug poorly. No particular malace but an overwhelming curiosity. The more I dug the less I liked.

His curiosity wasn't in a sense of awe and wanting to understand, it was more like how one studies a bug as they decide whether to step on it or throw it outside. The realization made me bristle.

He frowned as he studied me, his expression was unreadable, but his body language sang.

"What?" I finally asked in annoyance, which took him by surprise. "I take it from your silence that you're not used to being questioned?"

"No," he replied with a smirk. "It's surprisingly, refreshing. Most just see my position and either cower in fear or kiss ass."

"Neither are my strong suit," I deadpan. 

"Well that is... Refreshing," he admits as I see him relax. "Care for a round? It's not often I have a worthy opponent."

"I'm not sure how worthy I'll be but I'll see what I can do," I say selecting the bow we've been using.

"You know that's a kids bow right?" He asks with a smirk.

"Well aware, but I didn't think to bring mine and the others are all too big," I admit as he nods. I watch as he takes a left.

He flips the target to the opposite side with two triple targets stacked like snow men.

"Ladies first," he prompts as Willow claps excitedly. We are close, just a bit further then where Willow was shooting. My first three shots are flawless and land dead center.

"Nice," he says, genuinely excited. He draws and takes his first shot, flawless. His form is perfect, his release fluid and his aim true. In that moment his walls are down and he's at ease. He loves this.

"Your form is perfect," I mention and he grins.

"Yours also," he replies, a bit surprised as he hands me my arrows. We pace back further and match off again, tied. I can see the excitement dancing in his eyes as he returns from collecting the arrows.

"How long have you been shooting?" He asks.

"Since I was eight? Somewhere around there," I mumble. "You?"

"Much later in life, I was nearly your age when I picked up my first bow," he muses.

"Looks like you made up for lost time," I admit and he grins.

A couple more rounds and my arms were tiring. The distance was about my max and I was keen to end it on a high note.

"Think that's it for me for today," I say, bowing out.

"Of course, perhaps tomorrow?" He asks, hopeful.

"I'll see what I can do," I say with a nod.

"He's not what I expected," Willow whispers as we walk away.

"No?" I ask innocently.

"He's normal and sad," she replies. 

"Sad?"

"Didn't you see how happy he was to just play with the bow? He was normal then." Her observation was interesting, I'll pay closer attention next time.

Bzzz

"Hello?" I answer my cell.

"Jess where are you?!" I hear Sara's panic laden voice.

"Just leaving the training field, what's wrong?" I ask, trying to keep calm.

"You need to get to the park now!" 

"What's going on?" I ask, taking off for the park.

"I don't know, but Jude just challenged Alpha Dimitri," she warns.

"What the fuck? No! Can he do that?" What the fuck is he thinking?!

"Not without the approval of one of his Alphas," she trails off.

"The answer is no, I'm sure Chris will say no too," I snap. "I'm not far off where are you?"

"Look for the crowd," she says, hanging up. Her voice hid nothing and I hated it.

She wasn't kidding, there was quite a crowd gathering around the spectacle. There was the Councilwoman I'd met first along with a half dozen guards. I also spotted a couple Guardians but the real problem was in the center.

Dimitri stood arrogantly chirping with his Beta while another pack member and a collared female were behind. Jace was struggling to hold back a fired up Jude while Sara tried to play diplomat in the middle.

'Sara as a diplomat? Oh this will end well.' 'For fucks sake.'

"Ah Luna," Dimitri sneers out my title, "how nice of you to join us."

"What's going on?" I snap, not wanting to be anywhere near him.

"Your pack is being sloppy," he digs. 

'This fucker is cruising for a bruising.'

"I'll worry about my pack, stay out of it," I snapped.

"Start talking," I say lowly. 

"This idiot walked right up to Dimitri and dropped a challenge like he was saying hi. What the fuck were you thinking Jude," Jace chides.

"Fuck off Jace, this doesn't concern you," Jude snarls. Scratch that Asher's at the wheel.

"Enough Asher," I boomed hoping to break his hold. Jude's eyes locked on mine, flickering between shades of blue.

"Please Jess, I've never asked you for a thing the whole time I've been with you," he begs. The desperation was clear in his eyes and voice.

"No, I'm sorry Jude but I can't just let you do this, we represent the pack, challenging an Alpha could-"

"Then I will do it without your permission," he snarls.

"You would renounce your position? Leave a pack that loves you?" Jace snaps, pushing Jude back clearly pissed. Jude didn't confirm it but stared stubbornly ahead at Dimitri. 

"You would turn your back on your pack?" I asked wrapping an arm on his arm. "On me?" It was a low blow but I needed to get through to him. His eyes snapped to mine and I could see the pain it was causing him. He was a mess, anger, duty, desperation and agony battled for supremacy. 

"But Jess... She's my mate," he admits in anguish.