"Evelyn get up! The council needs to see you immediately!"

"One more minute..." I mumble and dig my head into the pillow.

"Oh.... but the council demands you come at once... We can't go against their wishes." A girl's voice says worriedly.

I sigh and lean up on my bed. I look to my left and see Marla looking at me worriedly, she is impatiently tapping her foot. Stacey is frantically going through my wardrobe looking at clothes for me to wear.

"Fine..." I say. I get up slowly and then Marla drags me over to the front of the room. Stacey quickly strips me out of my night gown and throws on a dark blue tight shirt, a pair of black pants and the same belt and boots as yesterday.

While this is happening, Marla starts to prepare my hair. She brushes it out straight then braids a strip from each side and connects them in the back.

"Perfect." Marla says and looks me over on last time. "Okay, come on, we mustn't keep the council waiting."

"Okay." I say with a yawn. They hurry me down to the familiar council room. They open the doors and I see the five council men standing behind their giant table.

The one who normally speaks smiles and says, "Welcome back Evelyn. Thank you for coming."

I bow my head down. "It's a pleasure." I say and look back up. "What can I do for you?" I ask nicely.

He laughs. "It's not what you can do for us, but what we can do for you." He says and I give him a curious look. What is he talking about? "We have the fourth candidate here for you. He showed up this morning. We would like to introduce you to him."

Oh. Another one... I sigh but smile.

"Of course." I say in a friendly tone.

He motions toward the door. "Your fourth candidate, Gavin Coleman."

The door opens and I see Gavin walk through. His eyes meet mine immediately and he sighs in relief. My mouth drops open. Holy cow! It's Gavin!

"He will be taking Kenneth's place as your wolf trainer." Says the councilman.

Gavin walks up to me and shakes my hand. "Pleasure to meet you Evelyn Brewer." He says.

I give him a confused look. This isn't the first time we have met? Why is he playing stupid? Gavin must notice the conflict going on in my head.

He leans in closer and whispers, "Go with it."

Well, if that's what he wants... I suppose I can act like I don't know him.

I shake his hand back and smile. "Nice to meet you too Gavin."

"Well now that you have met your four official candidates you have two weeks to choose who you want to be your mate." The main councilman says. I look at him shocked.

"Two weeks...?" I ask surprised. He laughs.

"Of course. The sooner we have you mated, the sooner we can initiate a truce."

I blink a few times to take it in. This is all happening so fast... I'm only seventeen... I can't mate and have a kid yet.

"Well, I'm going to dismiss you so you can get ready for your training. You will be with Kenneth first, with hand to hand combat. Then with Gavin later in wolf training."

I look at Gavin worriedly. He gives me a calm smile and I relax a little bit. Okay, at least Gavin is the one teaching me for wolf training. He already knows I don't have a wolf and I know he won't tell anyone. I'm safe for now.

"Come on Evelyn, we must get you prepared for hand to hand combat training." Marla says from behind me.

I turn to her and sigh. "Alright..."

"It was a pleasure to meet you Evelyn, can't wait for our training." Gavin says.

I turn back to him in enough time to see him smirk at me then walk away. I feel my heart flutter a little bit. I'm so happy to have him here, I felt so alone.

"Evelyn?" Marla says. I turn back to her and blush. Oops, I forgot she wanted me to go get ready.

"Sorry about that, lets go!" I say and follow her quickly out of the room.

******

So apparently their idea of combat clothes here is a simple sports bra and gym shorts. Me, being the modest person I am, demanded a t-shirt. I mean I don't want to be seen in just a sports bra? Who do they think I am?

I am told to meet Kenneth inside the gymnasium. I have no idea where that is so Marla is taking me. I pay close attention on how to get there so that way when I have to train later in the week, I can get here on my own.

We finally reach a door. She opens it and I see a huge gymnasium. A section of the floor is padded and standing on top of that section is Kenneth. He smiles and approaches me.

"Evelyn, I'm excited to train you today. Have you ever done hand to hand combat before?" He asks me. I shake my head.

"I'm afraid I haven't..." I look behind him and see a couple of fighting gloves on the mats.

"That's perfectly fine, that's why we are here to train." He places his hand on my lower back and walks me toward the gloves. "Here you can use this pair."

He reaches down and grabs me a set of red gloves. I put them on as he puts on a black pair.

"So what do we do exactly?" I ask.

"Well here I'm going to teach you some offensive moves. Such as a simple jab all the way to a take down."

I look at him nervously. I don't have the muscles to take anyone down. Especially since I don't have werewolf strength.

"Um, this might take me a while to get... I hope you don't mind." I say lightly. He laughs.

"I don't mind at all. Now here, throw a punch at me." He says and puts his hands up. I blink a few times and he just looks at me expectantly.

He really wants me to do this? Well okay.

I throw a punch at his chest and he knocks my hand away. He smiles, stands up straight and then approaches me.

"See you have to place your feet like this." He says and moves my legs so I'm in a better fighting stance. "Also your hands should alway be up." He grabs my arms and moves them so that they are almost covering my face. "Now give it a go."

I try to punch him again but he still blocks it. I frown, damn. I hate when I suck at things.

"Good. See your punch was stronger that time... I have a feeling your strong point will be your speed and not your strength though..." he brings a hand up to his chin. "You are going to have to learn how to fake someone out. Like approach as if you are going to punch straight on, but switch half way through and uppercut with your left arm or something along those lines..."

"I mean I can give it a try." I say with a smile, my speed is pretty good so this could be fun.

He laughs. "Sure. Why don't you give it a go." I nod.

I ready myself and get into position. He does the same. I go to punch him straight in the chest. He goes to deflect it but I switch to my left hand. But instead of doing an uppercut like he said I jab straight for his chest. He goes to block an uppercut and I end up hitting him.

"I did it!" I say happily. He laughs.

"Wow... you actually fooled me. Well done Evelyn. Obviously this is the way we need to approach things because you are already starting to get the hang of it." He says.

I laugh. "I like this, teach me more." I say excitedly.

"Alrighty then." He says with a smirk.

*****

"Well done today." Kenneth says as he takes off his gloves. "You did very well for a first timer."

I smile and take mine off as well. "Thank you. You're a very good teacher. I surprisingly learned a lot today." I say.

He tosses his gloves on the floor and I follow suite. I'm a little sweaty right now but I'm not too bad. Kenneth took it kind of slow considering it was my first time training in hand to hand combat.

"Unfortunately I have to hand you off to Gavin now... It would have been fun training you twice in a row." he says. He looks me up and down and smiles. "I'm sure your wolf is as beautiful as your human form, I'm sad I have to miss out." I blush. Did he just call me beautiful?

"Oh you're too kind Kenneth." I say and look down. "But I should really get going. Can't be late for wolf training." I say and he laughs.

"I suppose not. I had fun today, I will see you at dinner tonight." He says and starts to walk off.

"Thank you for training me! See you tonight!" I shout as he is practically out the door.

As soon as he is gone I make my way to the other door. When I open it Marla pops her head out and surprises me. I gasp and hold onto my heart and take a few deep breathes. She laughs.

"Sorry about that! I was just told to tell you to meet Gavin at the barn." She says.

"The barn? Where is that?" I ask. She giggles.

"I will show you. Right this way." She says. I nod and follow her.

She leads me out of the building and through the extravagant garden. We eventually get to the end and I see a giant stable. Oh, this is the stable I can see from my room.

"He should be right in there. Did you want me to come with you?" She asks. I shake my head.

"No I should be fine, thank you." I say politely. She nods and heads back to the building.

I look at the giant red barn and start to walk toward it. Aren't we supposed to be doing wolf training? Why is he having me go to the barn?

I make my way down the dirt path that leads to the entrance. I've always loved horses but I've never had the chance to own one. I used to ride them every summer, but Bryce didn't want me to get a horse so I had to deal with going to the local stables near by. Eventually Kari stopped taking me and I stopped riding all together.

I get to the door of the barn and peak in. I don't see anyone, just a few stalls with horses in them and a bunch of open empty stalls. I start to walk through the barn when I hear a horse whinny. I turn to my right and see a beautiful black horse looking at me. I smile and take a step forward. This horse has a single white patch on it's forehead. I get up to it's stall and it rests its head on the bars of it's door.

I slip my hand through and pet it's head.

"You're a pretty one aren't you?" I say quietly. The horse whinnies again and I smile. He's so pretty, I just want to hug him!

"His name is Ace." a deep voice says from behind me. I turn around and see Gavin leaning on the stall that's behind me.

"He's really pretty." I say and glance back to look at Ace.

"Want to ride him?" Gavin asks. I turn quickly and look at Gavin's deep grey eyes.

"Are you serious?" I ask excitedly. He smirks and pushes off the wall. He walks up to me and opens the latch on Ace's door.

"Of course I'm serious. He seems to like you anyway." He pushes the door open and allows me to walk up to Ace. I grab onto his bridle and lead him out of the stall. "Hook him up right there and we will go get his saddle." Gavin says.

"Okay!" I say with an excited smile. I feel like a kid again.

I hook Ace up and follow Gavin to a room with a bunch of saddles. He grabs one that has the label 'Ace' in front of it and hands it to me. I reach out to take it, as soon as he lets go I practically fall because it weighs so much. He laughs.

"Watch out they're heavy." He says with a smirk. I stick my tongue out at him.

"I knew that... You just let go earlier than I thought you were going to..." I say. He shakes his head and grabs another saddle.

We walk back out and I struggle to put the saddle on Ace. Once I finally get it on his back, I make sure to tighten all the straps and do all the preparations for riding. When I look up I see that Gavin has a dark brown horse all saddled up and ready to ride.

"You ready to go?" he asks me. I smile brightly and nod.

"Of course I'm ready."

He gets on his horse and I walk up to Ace's side. I grab onto the top of the saddle and haul myself onto his back. The leather of the saddle feels so familiar and I smile. I gently reach out and stroke Ace's neck.

Gavin seems ready to go so I grab the reins. I follow Gavin out of the barn and onto the dirt path. Then he aims us for a trail in the woods. Suddenly he sprints forward and leaves me behind in the dust.

Oh really, so thats how you are going to play? Just because he caught me off guard doesn't mean anything!

Ace starts to sprint at full speed. Soon we are running right behind Gavin. I laugh as Ace begins to catch up to him. Wow he's a fast one!

We ride around for a while just enjoying the breeze. Hearing the sound of hooves pounding against the ground is oddly comforting. I close my eyes and smile. The wind brushes against my face as we weave through the trees at a fast pace.

After a while of riding, Gavin starts to slow down. I follow suit and notice something in the distance. As we get closer I can tell that it's a little resting place for the horses.

There is a big barrel of water and a place for the horses to be tied up. Gavin rides up to the small area and gets off his horse. I do the same thing and we hook the horses up to the poll.

"Okay, lets give the horses a break. Not many people ride them anymore so they aren't used to a lot of exercise." Gavin says. I nod and turn to Ace. I pet him on his huge neck one more time and smile.

"Okay, sounds like a plan." I turn to Gavin. "I didn't know you like horses." I say. He raises an eyebrow at me.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me." He says. He turns and starts to walk into the woods more. I let go of Ace and watch him. He keeps walking away from me.

"Wait where are you going?" I ask.

"I want to show you something." he says. I roll my eyes. Well why couldn't he just tell me that instead of walking away?

I quickly catch up to him and follow his every move. He ends up taking me on a long walk. After passing many trees and bushes we finally get to a small clearing.

I stare at it amazed. The field is filled with flowers and soft grass. It's breath taking, like a scene from a movie.

"This is where I used to take Ariana all the time when we were younger. She used to love being in the field and running around in the flowers." He says. I forgot that this is where Gavin and Adrianna are from. Oh right, that reminds me!

"How is she?" I ask.

He continues his lost gaze into the field. "She's doing great." He says and pauses. "Seth is her mate."

I look at him shocked. "Seth?" I say.

"Yeah. I was a little upset at first, but then I realized something. If I were to trust anyone with my little sister, it's him." He says.

I feel happiness bubble into my heart. That's awesome! Seth deserved to find his mate and honestly Ariana needs him right now. I know Seth will take care of her and look after her.

"That's amazing." I say.

I lean against the tree that's behind me. A light breeze swipes across the field and brushes my face gently.

"Why are you here?" I ask suddenly. He finally ends his gaze and turns to me.

"You don't want me here?" He asks. I frown.

"That's not it. Of course I'm glad you're here, but really, why are you here. Why didn't you just stay with your sister?" He looks down and runs a hand through his dark brown hair.

"I couldn't just leave you Evelyn. You gave up so much just for me." He says gently.

My heart sinks a little... I don't know why but it kind of hurts me to think he is only here to pay me back for helping him.

"Gavin this isn't a debt for you to pay back. I did this on my own." I say. I look out into the peaceful field. "You didn't have to come back because you owe me. I will be fine, just go back to your sister." I say in a sour tone.

"So you want to mate with one of those guys?" He says angrily. I turn to him and frown.

"I never said that. All I was trying to say is that I don't want you to feel obligated to pay me back."

"Maybe I didn't do it for you." He says angrily.

I pause and look at him shocked. Wait, if he didn't want to come here for me who did he come for? Himself? He actually wanted to come get me?

He looks out into the field. "I um... I mean Jason practically begged me to come get you." Oh. He was talking about Jason.

I look down at my shoes. For some reason that made me disappointed. I don't understand Gavin at all... Sometimes I feel like maybe I'm special to him, but he always makes me think otherwise immediately after that thought comes into my head.

I glance over at him. The way the sun radiates off of his skin makes him look almost magical.

Suddenly I hear a rustle from the bushes across the field. Gavin hears it too and we look across to see what it is. A few moments later a light brown wolf pops out of the bushes. I see Gavin frown then stand in front of me.

"What do you want Victoria." He says angrily. I look at it shocked.

That wolf is Tori?