JAY

The scent of Mat practically coated the wall and window seat of her room and inside it had Jay's wolf steaming. It took all his might to pull his gaze away from the spot and to Sydney as she shuffled to pull off her shoes.

Jay could scent her nervousness, and coupled with her unwillingness to make eye contact was all the confirmation Jay needed to know that the omega really had been in her room, and recently.

"Oh, yeah." She feigned remembering her now obvious lie that she tricked him with this morning over text. "I needed to sort some things out but I'm okay now."

Jay only replied with a small nod and stuffing his hands into his pockets. Finally the question bubbled out of his throat against his will, "Was Mathew here?"

The sharp inhale she took was easy for his sensitive ears to catch.

"What did he tell you?"

'Why is she being evasive and secretive!'

He tried pushing his wolf down to reply in a reasonable manner, "Nothing, I can just smell him all over the seat." A nod towards the window, Sydney's eyes followed and seemed to be glued there much like his was moments ago.

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Jay rebutted.

Green eyes pulled from the spot and back to him, firm, but apprehension lay beneath, "That you and Mat are brothers?"

'He told her!'

Closing his eyes, he confessed what he wanted to tell her when he saw the posted notes the other night, "Yes, Mathew is my brother."

He didn't hear anything, so he slowly opened his eyes.

Shocked, he saw her eyes were glassy with unshed tears. "How can your kind be so cruel? Why did your parents give him away? It wasn't his fault."

This lightly riled Jay, he always got this question when he was younger and people didn't understand the world of the werewolves yet. "I don't appreciate the guilt that comes with being first born Sydney. It wasn't like I asked to be born first, or as though I begged my parents to outcast him. I am as innocent as him."

Surprisingly, Jay saw his anger and hurt concerning Sydney as she came closer to him, and cupped one of his hands with both of hers. She fumbled over her words, "No, no." Her head shook, "I'm sorry. I don't mean it as though it's your fault, but please I don't understand."

An ease rushed over him, with her hands cupping his, and Sydney's just overall dismay at the situation and not an arrow of anger pointed at him.

"It's common practice for alpha families to ban the omega from their household. It's said to show the strength of the home. The whole saying, you are only as strong as your weakest link. Despite what Mathew may say, people in our community whisper how he is the closest to being human again Sydney. He isn't confined to all of our restrictions. He can go and marry and be with whoever he wants. He doesn't have to lead any part of the pack and take on responsibilities that prevent him from pursuing whatever his heart desires. People outcast him because they envy him."

She shook her head at this and looked up to Jay with wet green eyes, "But Jay, the whole point of being an Alpha should be to be a leader that protects everyone. The supposed weak included. Not only is Mat never going to have a mate or children, he doesn't even have a family to begin with! How is he, or any omega supposed to go out into the world and find love and happiness, when they were never shown it?"

He was reluctant to admit it, but Jay had never seen it quiet in that light.

'She is a fair and compassionate woman. She will serve as a marvelous alpha.'

Jay couldn't agree more.

He squeezed her hands, "You're right Sydney. A true leader would be strong enough to help everyone, not cut out people who seem different or intimidate them."

While these were honest words, the smile radiating from Sydney after he shared them brought him even more joy. A sense of pride that he usually only experienced on the field washed over him.

He smiled down at her as Sydney nodded and relief brushed into her smile.

Whether it was the wave of emotions rushing over him, or simply the sheer beauty of Sydney, her radiate blonde hair, and her radiantly happy green eyes, his own eyes dropped to the peach of her lips.

Jay felt Sydney hold her breath as he used his free hand to lightly rest on her hip. When she didn't object, his hand ghost to the middle of her back, her spine arched with his hand to press her body closer to his body. Her scent washed over and he bathed in the calming aroma. When one of her hands left his, his heart raced thinking she was going to put an end to this, but instead her small, soft hand went to rest on the back of his neck.

Nervous with the prospect she could change her mind, he no longer wanted to give her a chance to back away. But just as he went to close his eyes, he saw her eyes flutter shut. His heart soared as his own eyes followed sync, and together they found each other's lips as though they had been doing this for a lifetime.

Starting out as a light brush of their lips, so gentle, it was almost as if they read each other's minds, and needed to confirm their presence to one and other as they both went back for another taste.

'Want...'

Still gentle, their lips pressed fuller together, marking their existence on one and other. Jay's blood and wolf hummed with pleasure, he squeezed the hand he was holding before letting go of that one hand and burying it in her lusciously soft hair. Her newly freed hand found a home hooked around his arm spayed on his strong shoulder blade. He could feel her fanned out fingers as though they were his first experience of the sensation of touch.

Angling his head, he pressed deeper into the kiss, they pulled apart to catch their breath quickly, only to have Sydney come back equally as desperate and passionate as Jay was.

The hand around his neck found its way into the thick locks of his hair, this ever deepening the kiss that had started out ever so faint and was now turning into a fire.

Jay pulled her body flush against his, provoking a small gasp from her. This caused a small grin to take hold of Jay, one that she felt as they kissed, making her smile, which turned into a great opportunity for Jay to take hold of her bottom lip playfully with his teeth.

'Play and care for our mate.'

He couldn't help himself, he didn't realize till now how close his wolf was to the surface. Either way, instead of scaring her off, this made her grin grow, and Jay let go. Their blossoming kiss turned into a mess of smiles and laughter.

Still wrapped in each other's arms, Sydney laughed, "New headline for tomorrow: Jaycen Ward Star Lacrosse Player, also a Star Sweet Talker Turned Breathtaking Kisser? What girls need to be on the lookout for dot dot dot."

Laughter radiated from his chest at her dramatics and pulled her up into a hug, squeezing her tightly. Her giggles turned into full blown mirth when he pulled her so tight that her feet came off the floor, and he couldn't resist spinning her around. Joy was radiating from what felt like every pore of his body.

"Jay! Stop messing around, you're going to break me or break something around me."

He laughed but complied to her wishes. Letting her back on her feet, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Alright alright, now enough giving me epiphanies and trying to seduce me in my emotional after toll, I come bearing gifts!"

Green eyes rolled, and Sydney sat in a huff on her bed as Jay pulled out the homework he collected for her. He saw her struggling to contain her smirk, a sweet blush covered her cheeks as he rummaged through his bags.

Sydney must have caught a glance and moaned at the sight of the small pile of paperwork.

"Aye, no complaining, if you had A, either come to school like the good little student you usually are or B, you had just let me come keep you company, then you wouldn't have this work to do."

She snorted at this backwards way of thinking but thanked him and fingered through the work.

"And speaking of which, since I know that you weren't really taking care of family things, where were you today?"

This dampened the beautiful smile that had graced her lips moments ago.

"You may wanna sit down for this. A lot happened today,"

Panic licked at him, "You're not hurt are you?"

Prefusically shaking her head, she said, "No, nothing like that. But I found some things out today and I'm not sure how you're going to take it."

"Okay...Tell me what's going on."

☽✣☾

After she recapped her adventures to the library and running into this scoundrel Logan, Jay wasn't too sure what to make of it all.

Sydney had bundled up on her bed with a blanket swaddling her, a small leather backed notebook at her side to jot down seemingly important notes and thoughts.

"I mean it's possible," Jay said, considering all the information she had given him. "It's just I think for the entirety of werewolf existence, we assumed the Enclave was the closest thing to Nature, and all of us just assumed that they have some kind of a magical connection to It."

Sydney nodded at this, understanding what he was saying seeing as she had made the same misconception since Jay and Mat were her resources.

Jay still wasn't sure he wanted to trust Logan despite Sydney even showing him some of her small abilities to manipulate the craft of the air around them. His wolf rumbled slightly at the idea of Sydney being ambushed in a place she found comfortable without him present.

He was glad though that from what Sydney was sharing with him that Logan seemed to encourage Sydney going with him on their expedition to the Enclave, and that Logan seemed to be working in Jay's favor. That by no means made him think he could completely trust Logan though in case there's a possibility of having alternative motives, especially if he was as closely tied to Nature as he was claiming to be.

Jay and Sydney hadn't come back to conversation in regards to Mat but Jay was satisfied enough with the embrace and kiss they shared to let it go for the time being.

"Why do you think all this is happening now?" Sydney posed the question. Jay sat there in contemplation thinking the same thing.

"I think it's possible that like Logan was saying that Nature has some plan for us and in order to make that happen I need to find my mate. I think in order for my wolf to recognize you, you needed to have some interaction with wolves, and that must've led to whatever bizarre and insane reasoning that Elliot meant to attack you. Whatever his reasoning may be, when he attacked you, it must've provoked or triggered some kind of gene and you in order for my wolf to identify you as my mate."

"So you're saying I'm some hybrid of a strange white wolf? Part white soul part werewolf?" She offered with a small smile that held mirth in it.

Jay snorted, crossing his arms leaning back in her desk chair, "As much as you're making a joke out of it you actually do I have the mane of a white wolf."

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "And the plot thickens."

She buried her head in her notebook and scribbled down a few more notes. Jay sat there and took in the sight of the beautiful blonde young woman acting like a paranormal sleuthing detective all cozy in her bed. It put a soft smile on Jay's face thinking of how different they were yet how good a pair they made. He despised the situation they were in but also could acknowledge it was highly unlikely that they would've met any other way.

He didn't realize she was done writing till she cleared her throat, making him realize he'd just been staring at her.

"Got down all your ideas?" Jay asked.

Eyes fluttering back down to her notes, she tapped her pen as she went down the list.

"So, we have: the young prosperous lacrosse high school player who doubles as a soon-to-be alpha to the local wolf pack; we have a young blonde journalist who was attacked, provoking a shifting to being a werewolf but does not have the usual conscience of a wolf to guide her and she also doubles as a fairy-not-fairy; we got some crazy werewolf who has a vendetta against you, check; this Nature character seems to want you and I together; we have another player in the game, Logan, who seems to want to help guide us through Nature's plans, but doesn't seem to know what said plans are; and lastly it's our senior year and this is throwing a giant wrench in our plans for now and the future."

Ending her recap she smiled somewhat annoyingly at the compilation of craziness that had taken over their lives.

Trying to lighten the daunting weight of the list, Jay just smiled and nodded, "Seems about right."

This summoned a small snort and with what was slowly becoming an iconic eye roll as she settled back into her pillow leading her. Tapping the pen against her lush bottom lip she asked, "So what's the game plan for Saturday then?"

Before Jay could propose the schedule he had in mind for Saturday morning, the door to her bedroom flew open and led Jay to initially believe he was going to be a fierce sister asking why the door was closed and a teenage boy in the room with her beautiful sister. Instead, he was shocked and surprised with himself for not even detecting the incoming presence of the person that was trying to threaten Jay's relationship.

Mathew came into the room, eyes like that of Jaycen and his family, blazing as he took in the presence of Jay and what he could only hope was Mat saw as his best friend.

Nevertheless, Jay knew that was all too optimistic when Mathew's eyes sharpened into the predatoral gaze as his eyes narrowed on Jay ready to defend what Mathew clearly thought was his claim.

'It's time we settle this.'