**A/N-Warning: Sexual content**

            The sound of the alarm going off, followed by a muttered curse, roused me from my peaceful sleep. I grunted and turned on my side, burying my head underneath my pillow. I felt the bed shift and then a hand landed smartly on my ass, making me yelp and rip my head out from under the pillow. “What the hell?” I glared at the smirking male that was currently standing beside the bed and looking down at me.

            “It’s time to get up. Stop being lazy and haul your ass out of bed.”

             I made a face at him and put my head back on the pillow. “I hate you sometimes,” I grumbled under my breath.

            He laughed and went to the bathroom that was attached to the room. “You didn’t say that last night,” he replied teasingly, before disappearing from sight.

            I rolled my eyes and reluctantly sat up. I rubbed my hands over my face and climbed out of the bed, yawning as I stumbled my way into the bathroom as well. Since I was already naked, I climbed into the shower and turned it on while he brushed his teeth. I let the hot water beat into my muscles, relaxing away the ache that had been in them.

            I felt a draft of cooler air and then he joined me in the shower. I moved slightly so he could get under the spray as well, but instead of doing that, he took my hand and tugged it toward him. I looked up at his face and saw that he was frowning as he looked at the slight bruise that was on my wrist. “I hurt you last night,” he said, his voice huskier than usual.

            I put my hand on his cheek and forced him to look up at me. “No you didn’t,” I assured him.

            He looked down at my wrist again. “But I put marks on you.”

            I tried to tug my hand away, but he held it firmly. “It didn’t hurt me. You know I like it when it’s a little rough sometimes. Last night was one of those times.”

            His eyes lifted to mine again before he raised my wrist to his mouth and brushed a tender kiss over it. “I don’t like knowing that I did this.”

            I melted a little at the look on his face. “Jaxon, I swear to you that it didn’t hurt. You would never hurt me; we both know that.”

            He sighed and dropped my wrist, only to cup my face in his hands. “Are you sure?” His eyes searched mine, and I knew he was making sure I wasn’t lying.

            “I’m positive.” I let the truth of the statement show on my face, and he let out a breath of relief. I kissed him lightly and then pulled away. “We need to get ready.”

            He grabbed my shampoo bottle and poured some into his hands. Then he massaged it into my scalp, which had me practically purring. He wasn’t often this tender with me, and I knew it was because he felt guilty over the marks. It didn’t matter that it hadn’t hurt; he couldn’t stand seeing any kind of mark on me. I let him wash my hair, but when he reached for my body wash, I shook my head. “No way. If I let you do that, we’ll never get out of here.”

            I was relieved when he gave me his familiar cocky grin. “That’s the point.”

            I narrowed my eyes at him. “You dragged my ass out of bed, so it’s your fault you aren’t getting lucky this morning. You’re the one insisting we go to this stupid new school.”

            “You know why we have to go, Mia. We have to at least try and look a little normal, or else everyone gets suspicious.”

            “Yeah, because having a bunch of random teenagers who live on their own move into town isn’t going to look strange at all,” I replied sarcastically, putting some body wash on a loofah and rubbing it over my body. “I know why we had to come here, but I still don’t know why we have to go to school.”

            “Because part of the problem is at the school,” he replied patiently. “My father wants me to deal with it; it’s a test to see how I’ll handle the duties when I take over.”

            “Why didn’t you tell me that before?” I rinsed the body wash off and moved out of the way so he could wash his hair.

            “Because I didn’t actually know the reason until a few days ago. My dad only told me on Friday, and I just haven’t had a chance to tell you yet.”

            “So this is some kind of initiation thing?” I asked as I got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around me, snagging another one for my hair.

            “You could say that,” he said.

            “So there’s no pressure or anything, is there?”

            He stuck his head out of the shower curtain and smirked. “Nothing I can’t handle, babe.”

            I laughed as he pulled his head back in. I towelled my hair and plugged in my blow dryer, drying my hair as I brushed it. Jaxon got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. I didn’t bother to hide the fact that I was checking him out as he left the bathroom and went to our closet. I didn't think I would ever get tired of looking at him. With his short, pitch black hair, brilliant green eyes and perfectly sculpted body, there was nothing not to like.

            “I can feel you staring at me, you know,” he called over his shoulder.

            “That’s okay; I’m allowed to,” I replied, making him chuckle. I finished drying my hair and headed over to our walk-in closet. I dropped my towel and slipped on a pair of underwear and a bra, ignoring Jaxon’s lustful growl as I did so. I grabbed a pair of jeans and pulled them on, then wandered over to my shirts and stood there for a moment, debating on which one to wear. I finally decided on a simple army green tank top and pulled it on over my head.

            Jaxon came up behind me and pulled my hair out of the back of my shirt for me before wrapping his arms around my waist and pressing his lips into the spot where my neck joined my right shoulder. He inhaled deeply once and then released me without saying anything.

            I turned to face him with a small smile. “Ready to go rally the troops?”

            He snorted. “They can rally themselves. If they don’t have their asses out of bed by now, they can screw themselves. I’m not chasing them.”

            I rolled my eyes as we left the room. “They’re your responsibility,” I pointed out.

            He groaned and ran his fingers through his still damp hair. “I’m not their fucking mother,” he complained.

            “But you are kind of their boss.” An evil smiled stole across my lips. “You could have some fun with this.”

            He cocked his head to the side and looked at me curiously. When he saw my evil smile, an answering one came to his lips. “What did you have in mind?”

            “Let’s see who’s already up, first.” We entered the kitchen and I was slightly disappointed when I saw that almost everyone was already there. “Damn, there goes that plan.” My eyes scanned the eight people in the room, all of whom were either eating or drinking some kind of caffeine. “It looks like only Trey is still sleeping.”

            “What diabolical plan do you have for waking him up?” Jaxon asked.

            I walked over to the fridge, grabbing a piece of paper towel on the way. I opened the freezer and grabbed a few ice cubes, putting them in the paper towel so I didn’t freeze my hand. I turned to Jaxon and lifted a brow. “Shall we?”

            He smirked devilishly and nodded. We headed back up the stairs, and I was amused to find a few of the other guys were following behind us to watch the show. I put a finger to my lips when we reached Trey’s door, and I cautiously opened it. I heard him snoring softly and I put a hand over my mouth to keep me from laughing as I snuck up to his bed. I reached down and yanked the covers off of him, dropping the ice cubes onto his crotch at nearly the same time.

            Trey screamed like a little girl and leapt out of the bed, his hands going down to cover his private area. He looked up and glared at all of us, since we were all laughing hysterically. “Not cool guys.”

            I chortled and doubled over since I was laughing so hard I could barely stand. “On the contrary, I think it was very ‘cool’,” I gasped out.

            He scowled at me and ripped his blanket off the bed with one hand, wrapping it around his waist. “Was there a point to this?”

            Jaxon stepped forward. “Yeah, to get your ass out of bed. We have to leave soon.”

            Trey looked like he wanted to snap back, but then his eyes landed on the clock. “Shit! Why didn’t my alarm wake me?”

            “It did, moron,” one of the other guys said. “You just hit the snooze button too many times.”

            Jaxon took my hand and started pulling me out of the room. “Show’s over guys. Trey, you’re on clean up duty tonight. From now on, the last guy out of bed every morning is going to be the one who does dishes at night. Aside from me, of course.”

            There was some grumbling over that, but no one argued with it. We all left Trey to get dressed and went back downstairs. I grabbed an apple and bit into it while Jaxon got a bowl of cereal for himself. I wandered to the table and sat down beside Marissa, the only other girl in the house and my best friend. She glanced over at me and smirked. “Thanks for the entertainment a few minutes ago.”

            “I do what I can,” I replied humbly. “How was your night?”

            She looked over at Chris and a goofy smile crept over her face. “Oh, it was pretty good.”

            I giggled and bumped her shoulder with mine. “Have I mentioned that I’m glad you’re here? Who else would I be able to talk about my sex life to if you weren’t?”

            “You could talk to me about it,” Jaxon stated as he sat on my other side.

            I shook my head. “No way. The sex life is with you, so that automatically cancels you out.”

            His brow furrowed as he took a bite of his cereal. “That makes absolutely no sense.”

            Marissa nodded sagely. “It does make sense. Who else is she going to complain about when you don’t get her off?”

            I had just taken a bite of my apple, and I nearly choked on it when she said that, and then I nearly spit it out when I saw the look on Jaxon’s face. His mouth was hanging open and he was staring at the two of us like we had each had grown an extra head. “What?”

            I burst out laughing and leaned in to give him a light kiss. “Relax, she was kidding.” He still seemed a little unsure, so I put my lips next to his ear. “Do you really think you’d ever be able to not get me off? Are you forgetting last night already?” I murmured.

            I saw something flash in his eyes when I pulled back, but it was gone quickly and he gave me his trademark smirk. “Good point.”

            The rest of breakfast passed without incident, and soon we were all going outside to get into our respective vehicles. I climbed into the passenger seat of Jaxon’s car and he pulled out of the driveway a moment later. I glanced behind us at all the other vehicles and I chewed on my bottom lip thoughtfully. “You know, it might be a good idea to stagger the arrival of everyone in the future. It’ll only draw more attention to us if six cars pull in together like this.”

            Jaxon looked in the rear-view mirror, his expression thoughtful. “You’re probably right,” he agreed. “It’s too late to do anything about it now though. We’ll be at the school in a few minutes.”

            I sat back in my seat and watched the scenery going by. Our house was a little out of town to give us some privacy, but it was less than a ten minute drive to get to the school. We pulled into the parking lot and everyone found parking spots. I climbed out of the car and Jaxon reached into the backseat and pulled out our bags. He slung them both over his shoulder and then came around the front of the car, taking my hand in his and lacing our fingers together.

            We started to walk towards the school, the rest of our group falling in around us as we went. People fell silent as we passed and I tried not to let it bother me. In our old school, people had left us to ourselves and it was because the nine guys were all slightly above average height and really well built. Add in the fact that they could all look scary as hell and had tattoos, and it made for a bunch of people that gave off the vibe “don’t screw with us”.

            I wasn’t sure what was going to happen here. Jaxon had told me on the ride over that another pack, a very small one, was trying to encroach on his pack’s territory. His father had sent him here to deal with it, to see if he was ready to be an Alpha. It was usually passed on when the Alpha’s son was twenty, and since Jaxon was already eighteen, his dad thought this would be a good test for him.

            I wasn’t a werewolf myself, but my father and brother had been. There were female werewolves, but wolves never mated with another wolf. Their mates were always human, to keep the wolf blood from getting too strong. Fifty percent of the time mates came from families that had wolves in them, but the other fifty percent they were normal humans, to keep the bloodlines fresh. The children of any of these mating’s were evenly split between human and werewolf. If the wolf in the couple was male, any male offspring would be wolves as well. If the wolf was female, then the female offspring would be wolves. Since my dad was the wolf in my parent’s case, I was human but my brother wasn’t. I’d grown up knowing what they were though, and I’d hoped to be mated to one of the other wolves one day. On Jaxon’s sixteenth birthday, he’d seen me and known right away that I was his mate. We’d been friends before, so I was ecstatic to be with him. And he’d been there for me when my world had come crashing down around me.

            Jaxon squeezed my hand gently, and I shook myself out of my reverie. I looked up at him and there was concern in his eyes, though he tried to hide it. I gave him a small smile and he smiled back, obviously relieved that I had snapped out of my memories.

            We walked into the school and the group split to head to their lockers. Jaxon and I were sharing a locker, and our class schedule was the same, so we headed in the same direction. We got to the locker and he released my hand to open it and put our bags inside. He pulled a binder out of one of the bags and shut the door, taking my hand once again.

            We found our first class easily, since it was right next to our classroom. We went in and I saw him scanning the room, assessing the other people in the there. He led us to the back and sat down at a desk, pulling me onto his lap instead of letting me sit in the seat next to him. When I looked at him with an eyebrow raised, he shrugged. “Gotta make sure the assholes in the school know that you belong to me.”

            I rolled my eyes but didn’t attempt to get off his lap. Wolves were extremely possessive of their mates, so it didn’t really surprise me that he wanted to show the guys in this school that I was taken right away. I didn’t mind, since it also showed all the girls that he belonged to me. I may not have the insane wolfy possessiveness that he had, but I still wasn’t going to tolerate a bunch of girls thinking they could be with him.

            I stayed on his lap until the bell rang and then he allowed me to get up and go to the seat beside him. I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes while I waited for the teacher to show up. I wasn’t much of a morning person, and I knew it would take a while to get used to getting up for school again, since we’d been on summer vacation for the past couple of months.

            I heard the teacher come in so I opened my eyes again. I looked at Jaxon and saw that he was smirking as he looked at the teacher that had come in. I followed his gaze and bit my lip to keep from laughing at the teacher’s expression as he stared at Jaxon. The fact that Jaxon had his eyebrow pierced and tattoos visible on both arms had obviously caught the poor man off guard, and he was gaping at Jaxon with his jaw hanging open.

            He finally snapped out of it and shook his head slightly, muttering something under his breath. He started the class and I kind of zoned out a little, since it was a Geography class and I found it boring beyond belief. I jolted a little when the bell signalling the end of class sounded. I got to my feet, ignoring Jaxon who was laughing at my reaction. He picked up the binder that he hadn’t opened and followed me out of the room. His free hand found mine once again, and he gripped it firmly as we walked down the hall.

            The next class was Gym, and I was happy that it was co-ed. Jaxon and I separated to go into the change rooms after grabbing our changes of clothes from the locker. I walked into the girls change room and past the few girls that were already in there. They all stopped talking when I came in, but when I made no attempt to interact with them they slowly started their conversations up again. I changed into my shorts and sports top, then left the change room through the door that connected to the gymnasium. Jaxon was leaning against the wall to the side, talking to Trey and Mark who were obviously in the class as well.

            Jaxon’s head turned in my direction when I came in, an automatic reaction for him. Since we had mated, he had become aware of where I was at all times, even if we weren’t in the same room. He automatically knew where to find me, which we’d been told was rare in mated couples, but not unheard of. It meant that our bond was stronger than most and it actually made Jaxon a little stronger physically apparently.

            He kept talking to the other two, but his eyes were on me as I walked up to them. His arm lifted when I was close enough so that I could slide under it and stand next to him. He didn’t break the conversation as his hand absently played with a strand of my hair. I relaxed into his side and watched as the other students came out of the change rooms. A lot of them kept looking over at the four of us, but no one was brave enough to approach us.

             The teacher announced that we’d be playing badminton today and told us to split into pairs. Trey and Mark paired up and we faced off against each other. Mark smirked at us over the net. “You’re going down,” he taunted.

            “Not likely,” I retorted. “I kick ass at badminton.”

            The whistle blew and we engaged in an intense battle against each other. I may not have been a werewolf, but since I was from a wolf family, I had slightly heightened reflexes. That meant that I was able to play better than most of the other people in the class. And since Jaxon was a future Alpha, his reflexes were insanely quick, which helped us win against them. I smiled smugly at them as the whistle blew again, signalling that we had to change opponents.

            No one came close to beating us after that. I actually grew a little bored near the end since there wasn’t a challenge from anyone. I went back into the girls change room after the class ended and changed back into my normal clothes.

            After that class, it was time for lunch and I was grateful because I was starving. That apple apparently hadn’t been enough to tide me over. Our group went out into the quad that was in the middle of the school, spreading out on the grass. Jaxon sent a couple of the guys to get food for all of us, so that we didn’t all have to stand in line. I flopped down beside him and stretched out, putting my head in his lap with a sigh. “I hate school.”

            He tangled the fingers of one hand into my hair. “No you don’t. You just hate that they make you try to learn.”

            I made a face up at him. “You do too.”

            “Not as much as you. I don’t mind some subjects.”

            “I like food class,” I defended myself. “And we have that last period, right?”

            “Yeah, with Chris and Marissa.”

            My eyes lit up. “Oh, that’s going to be a very fun class.”

            Marissa laughed from where she was leaning against Chris. “Fun for us, dangerous for others,” she said happily.

            “That’s always the best fun.”

            Mark and Tyson came out loaded down with food, and I sat up eagerly. Tyson handed one tray to Jaxon and I snagged a piece of pizza right away, biting into it and nearly groaning at the taste. I chewed and swallowed quickly. “One good thing about this school; they have awesome cafeteria food.”

            Everyone laughed and dug into their own food. I finished my pizza and eyed the fries that were still on the tray. Jaxon pushed them towards me, so I started to pick at them as well until I was full. Jaxon polished off the rest of them and then set the tray aside. I shuffled over until I was sitting between his legs with my back against his chest. He put one arm around my waist and I laid my head back on his shoulder.

            “Has anyone caught sight of any of the members from the other pack so far?” he asked.

            “I think one of them is in my first class,” Tyson replied. “He caught a whiff of my scent and froze. I could smell that he was a wolf as well, but I didn’t smell a pack scent on him. Either he’s a loner or the pack is too small to have a significant scent yet.”

            “It’s probably the latter. It’s unlikely that there would be a loner in the territory, especially since there’s already another pack fighting to gain control over it. Loners will be staying the hell away from here for a while in fear of coming into contact with us.” Jaxon leaned back on his free arm. “From the reports we’ve gotten, there are only three wolves in this school, and none of them are the Alpha. We need to find the three wolves and get them to take us to their leader.”

            “How do we do that?” Chris asked.

            Jaxon shrugged. “I’ll figure that out later. Our first priority is to ferret out all three wolves.”

            We found one of them in our next class. Max, Seth and Trey were all in the class with me and Jaxon, and we sat close together in the room. A few minutes before class started, a girl came in and froze when she saw the five of us. Her nostrils flared and a nearly silent growl rumbled out of her chest. My eyebrows rose at that. Female wolves were usually submissive to males because they were more powerful. It was strange to see one challenge four males at once.

            I studied the girl as she moved stiffly to a chair on the opposite side of the room from us. There was something that felt a little off about her, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. She was tall and lanky, not necessarily attractive traits in a woman. Her hair was a mousy brown colour and hung limply past her shoulders. Her face was angular with cold brown eyes, and I shuddered internally when she focused them on me. Her lips pulled back in a silent snarl, and Jaxon went rigid beside me immediately.

            I tore my eyes away from the girl to look at my mate and saw that his eyes were flashing between his normal green and the black that showed his wolf was fighting for control. This girl had been perceived as a threat to me, and Jaxon’s wolf went straight into protective mode. I reached over and laid my hand on his arm. “We’re in school, Jax. You need to calm down.”

            His eyes shifted to me, and I saw him battle with his wolf to regain control. The contact with me helped and he slowly relaxed his tense posture. Around me, I heard the other three guys blow out breaths of relief that I had gotten him back under control. None of us wanted to deal with the shit that would come if Jaxon shifted in the middle of the school.

            I took my hand off his arm when the teacher came in, and the class passed in tense silence. The girl kept shooting nasty looks at us throughout the whole period, and Jaxon was becoming more and more agitated as the class neared the end.

            When the bell finally rang, Jaxon got to his feet right away and stood in front of me as I got up. He wouldn’t let me move until that girl had left the room, and then he took my hand and kept me slightly behind him as we left as well.

            His grip was tighter than usual, and I knew there was no way we were going to get through the last class of the day if he was this tense. I made a quick decision and yanked him to a stop. Before he could ask me what I was doing, I had hauled him into an empty classroom and shut the door behind us. “Mia, what are you doing?”

            Instead of replying, I turned to face him and grabbed the back of his head, pulling him down so I could kiss him. He made a sound of surprise, but then his arms came around my waist and he pulled me flush against his body. His tongue swept out and invaded my mouth, tangling with mine in a desperate dance. He twisted us around and pushed my back against the wall, his hips pinning mine as his hands released me to race down my sides. They slid up under my shirt and found my breasts. I arched my back as he ran his thumbs over my nipples, causing them to harden into peaks.

            He pulled one hand out and yanked my shirt and bra down so he could suck my right nipple into his mouth. My breathing sped up and I started grinding into him, feeling the hardness of him through our pants. He groaned at the feeling and then started fumbling at the buttons of both our jeans. He pulled mine down, taking my panties with them and I returned the favour by shoving his pants and boxers down. He bent down briefly so he could yank off one of my shoes and pull my jeans off that leg, and then he straightened up again. He slid into me, and I moaned at the pleasure of having him inside me. I wrapped one of my legs around his waist and he slid in deeper, filling me completely. His mouth latched onto the side of my neck, his teeth grazing me lightly but not piercing the skin. That was his wolf claiming me, and I found it incredibly erotic.

            He started pumping his hips, slipping in and out of me with practiced ease. His breathing became ragged as the pace increased and my own breath was coming out in gasps. I buried my fingers in his hair to help anchor myself as my body got close to erupting. With two more hard thrusts, I reached my release and I cried out as the pleasure flooded me. Jaxon started grunting with each thrust now and a moment later he stiffened and then his body jerked as he emptied himself inside of me.

            He sagged against me momentarily, releasing my neck and pressing his forehead into my shoulder. He caught his breath and then straightened up. His eyes were bright with excitement as he leaned in to kiss me warmly. “I needed that,” he murmured against my lips.

            “I know; that’s why I dragged you in here. I knew we wouldn’t make it through our last class if you didn’t do something to lessen the tension you were feeling.”

            “Well, thanks for that,” he said with a smirk. “This is definitely my favourite way of releasing tension.” He slid out of me and pulled his pants back up. Then he knelt down to help me get my jeans and panties back on properly, pressing a kiss to the inside of my left thigh as he did so.

            Once we were both back to normal, he led me back out of the room. Since there was a fifteen minute break between the classes, we managed to get to our foods class just before the bell rang. Marissa raised an eyebrow when we came in. “Nice hair,” she commented to Jaxon.

            He reached up and ran his fingers through his messy black hair. “Thanks,” he replied with a grin.

            She turned to me with a smirk. “You’ve got a little something on your neck.”

            My eyes widened and I slapped my hand over the spot that Jaxon had latched onto me. “Damn it Jaxon, I don’t have anything with me to cover that up.”

            He sat down with a satisfied look. “So what?”

            I rolled my eyes and sat next to him, turning my attention to Marissa. “Do you have a mirror with you?”

            She dug into her purse and produced a small one. “I have some concealer too, if you want.”

            I used the mirror to see the mark he’d left, scowling when I saw how dark it was. “This is going to take forever to fade away,” I complained. “Give me the damn concealer; not that it’s going to do a lot of good.”

            Instead of handing it to me, Marissa put it on for me, since she could see it better. Luckily, the teacher was late getting to class so we didn’t get into trouble for doing it. When she was satisfied with her work, she went back to her spot beside Chris. “Much better.”

            “I don’t think it is,” Jaxon grumbled. “Everyone knew you belonged to someone when you could see it.”

            “I’m sure all the guys in the school know by now anyways,” I told him. “You’ve been with me all day.”

            “Chris has been the same way with me,” Marissa informed me. “Damn wolf boys and their possessiveness,” she added with a grumble.

            I laughed and reached over to pat her hand. “You’ll get used to it eventually,” I promised. Marissa wasn’t from a wolf family, so when Chris had found her it had been quite a shock to her to find out that werewolves existed. That had been six months ago, and I thought she was doing remarkably well, especially since she’d had to leave her family when we moved here last week.

            Jaxon was more relaxed in class now that he’d released some tension, but he was a lot more alert and wary when we moved through the halls at the end of the day. The other pack members reacted off of him, closing ranks as we moved into the parking lot. Jaxon remained watchful as we drove home, only relaxing once we were back in the house. He called a pack meeting immediately, and we all gathered in the living room. Jaxon turned to Tyson first. “Did you sense something different about the wolf in your second class?”

            Tyson frowned. “What do you mean?”

            “There was a female wolf in our third period class, but there was something off about her. I don’t know what it was, but there was something definitely not right.” Jaxon paced back and forth as he explained what had happened in the class. “We need to find out what’s going on with her.”

            “She felt corrupted,” I said softly, surprising everyone, including myself.

            Jaxon came to a stop in front of me. “What do you mean?”

            “I don’t know,” I admitted with a frown. “It just felt like she wasn’t a normal werewolf like everyone else. Like she was corrupted,” I repeated.

            “But what do you mean she ‘felt’ like that?” Chris asked.

            I hesitated. “It was like I could sense her… essence? It was a little weird, and I don’t really know how to explain it.” I looked up at Jaxon. “Did you never tell them what I can do?”

            “I never had a reason to,” he replied before turning to face everyone again. “When Mia and I mated, she gained the ability sense when other wolves are around, and if their intentions are good or not. We think it’s because of our abnormally strong bond that she can do that.”

            Eight sets of eyes turned to me and I squirmed in my seat a little. “It’s not that big of a deal,” I mumbled. “It’s not like it’s very useful.”

            “The fact that you say she’s corrupted is very helpful,” Jaxon said. “Now we know there really is something wrong with her. Maybe if you see the other two wolves in the school from that pack, you’ll be able to tell us if they’re the same way.”

            I wrinkled my nose. “I hope they aren’t. That girl was creepy.”

            “Did anyone see the third wolf?” Jaxon asked.

            “We did,” Chris responded. “In our third period class. Another male and nothing seemed unusual about him. He was a little skittish when he caught our scent, but he wasn’t aggressive or anything.”

            Jaxon dismissed everyone after that. I got up so I could go start dinner, but he stopped me. “Are you okay?”

            I shrugged. “The feel of that girl shook me up a little, that’s all.”

            He pulled me into his arms for a hug, resting his chin on top of my head. “We’ll get to the bottom of this,” he promised.

            “I know. I need to go get started on dinner, or else I’ll have a pack of starving werewolves on my hands.”

            “What are you making?”

            “Chicken stir fry. Marissa is helping me since I need to make four pans of it to feed all of you guys.” I pulled back from him. “That reminds me; we need to go grocery shopping tomorrow or else there won’t be any food in the house.”

            He grimaced. “Can’t I send some of the guys to do it?”

            “No way. They’ll come home with only junk food and crap. I can go by myself if you want.”

            He sighed. “No, I’ll go with you,” he grumbled. “It’s not fair to make you do it on your own.”

            “Okay. We have to go into the city, so I’ll feel better having you drive anyways. I hate driving in crowded places.”

            “Well, if we’re going into the city then I might as well take you out for dinner while we’re there,” he said grumpily.

            “Oh be still my heart,” I responded dryly. “How am I supposed to react to so much romance?”

            He made a face at me. “You know I’m no good at all that romantic crap.”

            “I know, but you could at least try and be excited about taking me out somewhere.”

            “Sorry. I am looking forward to that; it’s just the whole shopping thing that I’m not going to enjoy.”

            “It’s not that bad. At least we won’t have a bunch of the other guys with us complaining the whole time.”

            “No, you’ll just have me,” he said with a small grin.

            “I can handle you easily enough.” I patted his cheek lightly. “I’m going to go cook now.”

            “What do you mean you can handle me?” he asked as I walked away.

            I looked at him over my shoulder. “I mean I can use sex to get what I want with you. Somehow I don’t think that would go over well if I tried it with the other guys.” When he let out a low growl, I raised an eyebrow. “That’s what I thought.” I continued walking away, a smirk playing on my lips over getting the last word.

            After dinner, Trey grudgingly started on the dishes while I went into the games room, followed by a couple of the guys. “Who’s up for a game of Mariokart?”

            Three of them quickly volunteered and we started the game. It soon turned into a tournament, where whoever lost had to pass the control to someone else. I managed to keep on winning, so I kept on playing. “Damn it, who keeps shooting those stupid spiky shells at me?” I asked as I was taken out once again. “I swear I’ve been hit with four of them in this race alone.”

            Tyson chuckled evilly from his spot on one of the chairs. “That’s what you get for being in the lead all the time.”

            I scowled and managed to get my character back on track. I finished the race and grinned in triumph when I was once again in first. “Ha, it takes more than that to beat me!” I crowed.

            Jaxon put his controller down and stretched his arms over his head. “It’s getting pretty late. Maybe we should call it a night.”

            I pouted. “You’re just saying that because I’m winning.”

            “No, I’m saying that because you hate mornings enough as it is. The fact that you’re winning is only a side benefit to having you quit.”

            I sighed and reluctantly put the controller down. “You’re probably right. Okay, let’s go to bed.”

            “I’ll be up in a few minutes. I just need to call my father first.”

            “I’ll meet you up there then.” I said goodnight to everyone and left the games room, climbing the stairs to go to our room. I changed out of my clothes and pulled one of Jaxon’s shirts on over my head. I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, then climbed into bed to wait for him.

            He came in a few minutes later and went into the bathroom first before stripping down to his boxers and climbing in next to me. He put his arm around me and tugged until I was curled up next to him with my head on his chest. “You tired?”

            I yawned and closed my eyes. “Yeah, but if you want to fool around I’m up for it.”

            His chest rumbled beneath my cheek as he chuckled. “I think I can restrain myself for tonight, especially since we already got to mess around during school.”

            “Don’t expect that every day,” I warned him. “I have no desire to get caught doing that.”

            “But what if I get that tense every day?” he asked teasingly.

            “Then you can go into the bathroom and take care of it yourself,” I replied dryly.

            He laughed and kissed the top of my head. “Good night, Mia.”

            “Good night.” I drifted off to sleep, with my head still pillowed on his chest.

*********************************************************************

A/N- I know there's a lot of info packed into this chapter. Did I make everything clear? Or is there something I need to clear up? Comment to let me know what you thought :-)