Tether

He was driving me insane with his plotting to avenge his mate. I might have been fine if it was anybody else, anyone a little less insane, but Logan has a huge problem. That problem was he killed his mate. Logan needed to stop fucking with himself and realize that it was his fault.

I glared at Logan at the helm of the table yammering on about his plan to take out Jaycen and his mate. The meeting including a few of Logan's most trusted men to scheme out 'his' plan in taking Sydney.

One man asked how this time would be different from the last. Logan simply answered with, "My idiot brother won't be here to screw us over."

That was the end of that conversation.

Now here I was pacing in my bedroom thinking on how to help this pack.

The first thing that needed to be done was Logan needed to be overthrown. I could care less if his parents were the best alphas' to have ever ruled the Fallen Pack, Logan was insane. He needed help and the only assistance he could have got was from his mate -who's five feet under.

We deserve to be alpha. My wolf growled in anger and shame of our current alpha.

Indeed we do. I told him.

And that was what we intended to do.

I was going to seemingly help Logan capture the girl that everyone was raving about, then I was going to chain him down and rip that girl's heart out to show him he had no power over anything. Then I would spare him from life without his true love and snap his neck peacefully. Respectfully.

I may not like him now, but once upon a time, we were close friends when we were younger. He wasn't always insane. We grew apart after he discovered his mate who couldn't shift. I hadn't heard much from him in those times, he was obsessed with the girl.

It wasn't until the whispers that Logan had triggered the war reached me in the aftermath of all that death that I refocused my attention on my old friend. After hearing the truth of the war that killed so many of us and the Blue Cresent pack, I swiftly made it my duty to deliver him his peace.

My thoughts were broken from the ringing of my phone. Walking over to my phone I picked it up and saw my mate was calling.

"Hello Jasmine," I greeted.

"Oh babe, do I have some news for you," Jasmine insisted.

☽✣☾

Jay

"Hold the milk and cookies. You are telling me you, you, and you are werewolves?" Emily asked pointing to Sydney, me, and Elliot-whose eyes were locked on Emily. I watched him out of the corner of my eye a little concerned with his attention being locked on Sydney's human friend.

Having just finished telling the girls everything from the night they pulled the prank on my team until now Emily and Megan were still reeling. Sydney seemed almost numb to the situation, but I didn't know if it was from her friends finding out or from our conversation from outside.

"Yes," I answered on behalf of our werewolf trio.

"Okay, and you and our girl here are mates, which is wolfie soul mates?"

I knew I had made a face at the description that Emily supplied but confirmed, "That is correct."

"And you-" Emily pointed to Elliot, "-you bit Sydney and she miraculously changed into a wolf-a white wolf which is like a super freaking awesome wolf?"

My eyes shifted to Elliot who had stiffened at Emily's question. "Yes."

"Alright, and your brother, Logan, is a load of crazy pants because he was trying to impress his mate, but ended up killing her?"

At this Elliot clutched his jaw, likely because his brother's acts got his mate, Ceciley, killed too.

Stiffly he nodded.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us!?" Emily shouted at Sydney.

Instinctually I growled at her friend and Emily's milk brown eyes grew in fear.

Sydney's head shot up from being buried in her hands and she swatted my shoulder. Hard.

My lips curved into a frown. "What was that for?"

"For growling at my friend you big jerk!"

"But Star I-"

"Ah ah ah!" Sydney immediately interrupted with her index finger raised. "No, you're not allowed to growl at my friends. Am I clear?"

I exhaled through my nose and fought to smirked.

"Fine..." I said roughly.

Meg's voice broke my attention, "Now I see it," she nodded crossing her arms and leaning back into my family's couch, "your 'mate bonded'."

"Huh?" Sydney sounded now looking at her friends.

Meg's lips curled into a smirk at our behavior. "Nothing, I just hadn't seen my best friend this true to herself since before her dad passed away."

Sydney's smile softened, "Meg..."

Megan, now sporting red hair, waggled her finger at Sydney, "No, no. I'm happy for you and glad. Now I want to know why you didn't have faith in Em and me about everything going on with you?"

My beautiful blonde pled with her closest friends, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys, I wanted to but I don't want you guys getting involved. You could get hurt! I would never be able to forgive myself if something happened to either of you."

It was Emily's turn to rolled her eyes, "You clearly don't understand our sweet naïve Syd. We're with you in the long run girl, nothing will change that. We know since your dad that you've been a little more... cautious of with your mom and brother, and us too. But you can't wrap us up in a cocoon of bubble wrap babe."

Before Sydney could say anything else Megan quipped, "I know what you're thinking Em's a little pipsqueak so I'll watch out for her too."

I was curious to see Sydney's reaction and was glad to see, while tears were shimmering in her eyes she laughed. "Good, Em definitely needs both of us watching out for her."

Emily scowled crossing her arms defensively at the two of them. "You two are jerks."

Sydney and Megan stopped and their eyes locked. Then they burst into laughter again and this time Emily joined in. I smiled and chuckled at their silliness.

"So how did you guys know that I was over here?" Sydney quizzed the two.

"Well let's just say had to bully a lot of people to hunt you down Missy." Emily said sharing a look with Megan.

Sensing they had smoother things over, I excused Elliot and myself from the conversation not wanting us to interfere with Sydney reuniting with her friends.

"Thank you," Sydney said shooting me a look right before I left.

"Anything for you Love," I thought to her sweetly.

Hurt and conflict flickered over her precious face and I knew she was thinking about the conversation we had outside.

"We'll talk later Star. I love you."

"I love you too Jay,"

With that I was happy. That was till I saw Elliot's face.

He looked slightly dazed and the only time I ever saw that look on his face when we were little was when he was thinking about a girl. The most recent time I saw that was in the school hallways when he was talking about loving Sydney.

"You better not be thinking about my girl," I warned him with a growl.

He looked to me confused. "No, I was thinking about Emily...she's so—so different."

"Well better her then Sydney. Anyways I need to interrogate you." I told him bluntly.

Elliot looked at me with his blonde brows crunched. "Wait what? Why?"

"Because there are some questions I need answered, and my father requested I do so."

"Alright, where do you want to do this?" He welcomed this, likely hoping to clear his sullied name.

"I'll take you to my office," I said jerking my head in the direction and had him follow me.

Once we reached my office and closed the door and had him sit down in front of my desk.

Fiddling around I found a little voice recorded and placed it on the table between us. Snagging a notepad and pen, I pressed the record button and began questioning him, not wanting to spend more time than necessary with him.

"Alright, so at the age of fourteen did you know that your brother was trying to start a war with us?"

"I didn't find out until minutes before. I left to go find Ceciley."

"What was Logan's original plan for that day?" I demanded.

"I'm not too sure. I know he wanted to impress Lilly and show that he was the rightful alpha of the Fallen Pack."

"Impress her why? Wasn't he in line for the succession of being alpha?"

Elliot thought on this and nodded, "Yeah he was next in line, he is the oldest of the three of us. But I'm sure you've heard of his mate's issues. I think...I think he felt he had more to prove to her because of her instability."

I could understand the need to go a step further for one's mate, but still. "Did he not consider the fact he killed an innocent girl from my pack, and that he ended up destroying so many lives after that?"

"I'm not sure he was in the right frame of mind, clearly. But I think once that girl was killed, there was no going back for him."

I still couldn't get in the mindset of Logan, and decided it wasn't going to happen, so I moved on, "Okay, what was Logan's plan when he kidnapped Sydney from the club? Why didn't he take the opportunity to..." I couldn't finish that sentence.

Elliot's eyes from mine to the ground. "No, originally that wasn't the plan...He planned to mark her, but wanted to wait for you to know..."

The muscles in my body felt like heavy metal at this shocking news.

The hell he was. My wolf snarled. I'll kill him the next time I lay eyes on him.

"He was going to mark her so you and her would feel the pain..."

"But she would have died!" I butchered through a clutched jaw.

"That was the second part of his plan." He said quietly.

My fist balled and I slammed my fist into the desk.

"Can I ask you something?" Elliot asked.

"What!?"

"Have you been having dreams that are like memories but they are altered. Or have you seen things like Logan and Sydney getting together in detail."

I looked at him cautiously remembering my two dreams of me transforming Sydney and Sydney with the bastard at the hotel. I didn't even need to say 'yes.'

"God damn it." He whispered tugging his hand frustrated through his hair.

"What is it?" I asked leaning forward in my chair.

"So it's true...Logan is connected to Sydney."

"Wait you're saying Sydney was having those dreams too?"

"...She never told you?" Elliot questioned apprehensively.

I made a mental note to talk to her later about not telling me about those dreams. "How?" I demanded.

"I thought he was crazy. Honest. He was rambling and-and he just hasn't been right since Lilly. Anyway, he needed a witch...something I didn't think he ever found. I thought he just wanted me to turn her, so you would feel the full effects of your mate bond."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I was the one who turned her. Having injected my DNA into her to provoke her shift and with Logan and I sharing DNA as twins somehow that created a loose tie between them. I don't know if has to be more then that..I guess between coming home in her blood and maybe that was his opportunity? That all combined with us being white wolves... I guess it's true that we can connect with her...worm inside her head..." Elliot turned his head away from me distressed. "Damn the bastard."

Alarm bells were teeming within me, "Wait so you are telling me he has full access to inside my mates head?"

He shook his head no. "No, he'd need a lot of energy to perform anything like that over such a wide distance and I'd imagine he can only be in her head for so long without her knowing, and especially him leaving thoughts there in her mind."

"Then how come I am getting the same dreams Sydney is?"

He paused then connected the rest of the dots, "Because you are her guardian. You guys are connected because of that."

"Fuck." I rasped.

"Fuck." Elliot reiterated.

☽✣☾

EDITED JULY 2 2020