17. Relationships: Dylan's Pov

Link to the official book trailer is: http://youtu.be/DoVQ_UvW8zc

I couldn't link it to this chapter for some reason. If you don't want to retype that link, then look at the last thing that I posted on my message board or in my Wattpad bio. Tap/click on the orange link and it'll direct you to the video.

The bolded circles (•••) mark where the Christmas part of the chapter is. If you do not celebrate the holiday, there isn't any crucial information in that part.

QOTC- who's read the Adventures with Brody?

'No longer than three days, I promise.' Maddison tells me. ''I have your Gamma with me, your Delta is handling Red Stone right now.'

I let out a frustrated groan and start banging on the metal bars of my cell. All of this, just for one unworthy slut. At first, I didn't understand why Maddison sold me a child or why I accepted her offer, but I started to learn all of the simple things that Charlotte couldn't do and how her size was embarrassing to her pack. The things that I did were for her own good, she deserved every punch, kick, and thrust that she received.

Few people in ever went against me, there were only a few women and children who thought that her lessons were unnecessary, but they didn't dare to stand up to their Alpha. Everyone else knew that she was simply a toy for us to use. I have questions, Dylan." the familiar voice of the 'all-mighty', Xander Reynolds reels me back into reality. "You better have answers."

I roll my eyes as I hear him say this, they've been asking the same questions for the last few days; today won't be any different. Maddison will most likely come to break me out of this place today or tomorrow, there's no doubt about it. All I have to do and keep myself from getting a punch to my face; I can't have my best features damaged.

Xander's Pov

"It's okay." I move my hand off of Charlotte's flat stomach and pull her shirt down, not bothering to find my own. "We don't have to go any farther unless you want to. I can wait."

"I-I'm sorry." she apologizes again. It's the same conversation every time our kisses turn into make-out sessions, she stops and starts apologizing for not letting me go further than French kissing.

"Stop apologizing. Mating is something that I don't want to do until you're ready, I won't do anything without your consent. I'm fine with what we have right now, it's a lot better than when you were too afraid of me to even talk." I put my hands on the exposed skin of her waist and pull her against me. The sparks from her lips have already diminished, but there is a tingling sensation left behind. All of things she does has an effect on me; she just doesn't realize it yet.

"How long?" she asks.

'Mate wants to know how big we are.' my wolf breathes. 'Say twelve inches.'

"What?" I clear my throat as I speak, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. Please don't ask about thickness. Please don't ask about thickness.

"H-How long until we have to m-mate?"

"I still don't get it."

"How long until the pack wants us to mate." she explains. "Th-They're gonna need a new line o-of Alphas."

I frown as she speaks; I don't like how she thinks that the pack is pressuring us to mate and have a child. I know how she feels about this and I don't want her to think that she has to do anything with me. 'I want to do things with mate!' my wolf hollers. 'I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!'

"No one is expecting for us to have a kid yet." I tell Charlotte, looking into her sparkling eyes. "We're still young so we don't have to worry about that yet. I won't force you to do anything if you don't want to." I pause and wait for her to say something about mating, only to see her with tears in her eyes.

"W-What if I can't have k-kids?" she asks. "Alpha Jo-"

"He is not your Alpha." I growl, cutting her off.

"D-Dylan..." she pauses and scoots a bit closer to me. "When I was in R-Red Stone territory, I never g-got pregnant. What if it's b-because I can't?"

"Sweetheart, female wolves can only get pregnant by their mate. I'm the only man who can impregnate you." I wipe away a tear that fell from me eyes and gently kiss her lips. "I know you want children in the future, I do too... But I'll wait until the right time comes and you're ready."

"Is it true th-that Alpha couples always h-have a boy first?"

I nod, "It's weird, but that's how it always is. Our first baby is going to be a mini-me... We should name him Xavier."

"Or Aaron. Jacob... Hunter."

"Why not Xavier? It sounds a lot like Xander, Xander's a nice name."

'That's such a Xander thing to say.' she thinks to herself. 'Old people are weird.' Charlotte smiles at me, biting her lip to hold on her laughter, "B-Before we mate, I'll buy s-some Viagra or something for you. I heard that p-people your age need it."

'I don't need Viagra. You might, I'm stiffer than the Eiffel Tower.' my wolf howls. 'You human men aren't as strong as you used to be.'

'I'm a wolf.'

'I'm a wolf.' he counters. 'I make you special. Not the other way around.'

'Charlotte was talking about Viagra for the both of us. Not just me.'

"I'm the grape i-in this relationship." she mutters. "You're the raisin."

"What are you doing?" I ask as I see Charlotte turn away from me, her phone brightly lit in her hands. I know that she isn't taking pictures or videos, I'm just wondering why she's trying to hide the device.

"I'm on Tinder."

"No." I growl, reaching out for her waist. She's most likely playing around with me, but I'm not a fan of anything that refers to her being with/looking for someone who isn't me; I just have to have her in my arms to ensure that she isn't going anywhere. She hands me her phone, obviously not caring about whatever app she had open.

"I was on I-Instagram."

"How do you have more followers than me?" I unlock my own phone and open the Instagram app. Charlotte has only had her phone for about a month, she can't gain more followers than me during that short time span.

"Because my selfies are fire." she says in a 'duh' tone. I just stare at her, not understanding how an Instagram selfie can catch fire.

****

Charlotte's Pov

"I don't like this." Xander frowns. He turns off the tv and turns me around so that I'm straddling his lap. He sits up, our faces only inches away from each other.

"Don't like wh-what?" I ask, not knowing what he's talking about. We were just watching a movie before he started talking.

"How we act towards each other. I don't like it." he states. "It's like we're best friends or something. We kiss and sleep on the same bed, but it's not how all the other couple act." He stares at me with an unreadable expression, as if he's trying to figure out what I'm thinking about his words. "I'm not saying that we need to mate soon, I'm saying that I don't like the whole 'best friend' relationship. You are my mate and I am yours. Whenever I do something special to wow you, you never notice. How do I get you to notice me as your mate?"

He plays with the ends of my hair, waiting for an answer that I don't have.

I don't get what he means by "best friend relationship". We marked each other already, shouldn't that let him know that I accepted him as my mate? When I first met him in the hospital, he was afraid that I wouldn't want to be with him because of my past. "Sweetheart, I want to make you happy... like how all of my friends make their mates happy. Every time I talk to my guards, trackers, and warriors, we all talk about how strong our bonds are with our mates. You and I have a strong bond, but you treat me like I'm your best friend. I think it's good that we're close like that. I just want to bring out the couple side of us."

"I-I still don't know what y-you mean."

I like- I love Xander, I've told him that before. What he's saying doesn't make sense to me, we do lots of "romantic" things that friends wouldn't do together. The love I feel for him and the love that I would feel for a friend are completely different; Brody would be an example of love for a brother/best friend.

"I want to make you know that you're special to me, take you out on a public date. You always say that you don't want to do dinner and a movie or anything where people can see us. Are you embarrassed to be seen with me, sweetheart?" Xander asks with a look of hurt in his eyes.

"No." I shake my head. "I d-don't want you to w-waste your money on me. The cabin was nice, you don't have t-to do anything extra."

"Taking you out on a date isn't 'extra'." he presses his lips to my forehead before continuing. "I want to take you out on dates and surprise you with things.... just because we're Luna and Alpha doesn't mean that we can't do things that other couples do."

Is this entire conversation about Xander wanting to go out on a date? It seems like all of the things that he's saying all refers to going on a date together. "Do you like flowers?" he asks, twirling my hair in his fingers. "Chocolate? I can get you both- I just realized that your name sounds a lot like chocolate. I love chocolate."

He continues to list ideas and things that he wants to do together. The look in his eyes tells me how much he wants to do them all. "We'll go on a date soon, but after holiday season is over. I don't want our first public date to be winter-themed." he says, before faceplate for himself. "Shit." he curses. "Christmas is in five days."

Xander's Pov

"I thought y-you already went shopping?" Charlotte tilts her head to the side as she asks this. She obviously doesn't know that I didn't get her anything yet, I didn't know what to buy for her.

"I did..." I trail off. "My mom's gift came from Amazon, it might not deliver in time."

My wolf whines as we lie to our mate, but it'll just make us look worse if we say that we didn't get her anything. Shopping for Charlotte is supposed to be easy. Everything that I picked up didn't seem to be good enough, I don't even know what she wants or if she thinks that she's going to receive any presents at all. "My parents and everybody go to Brody's place every year for Christmas." I inform. "Even though your stocking was still up, it wasn't as festive without you. Usually we just eat dinner together and let the kids open their presents."

"D-Do all of your b-brothers have kids?"

"Only Collin. He has two boys, ages five and six." I answer. "You see them a lot in the pack house and park. They look nothing like him though."

"Reynolds....." she trails off. "Cole and Corbin?"

"That's them." I nod, So.... What do you want for Christmas? I just want make sure I got you the right thing." My wolf growls at me, hating the fact that we're lying to Charlotte. She'll probably say that she doesn't need or want anything, but it's worth a shot. I know that she got everybody a gift, I hoping that mine anything expensive. It would mean that she started working on the complicated claims and stocks that I has in file. We both bring in money, she showed me little things that I didn't think we're important and we gained nearly a million dollars for the pack.

"Orange juice." she immediately replies. "N-No pulp. Extra sunny."

"You're difficult to shop for, sweetheart." I state. "You never want anything. Anything, anything you want, I'll get for you." Speak to me! I stare at her and wait for an answer, hoping that it's not "nothing"or orange juice. I was thinking about buying her a bracelet or a necklace with both of our names on it, but I want to save that for Valentine's Day or her birthday. "I'm the man in this relationship, I want to make you know that special you're special to me."

"I'm the man in the relationship." Charlotte shakes her head.

"No you aren't." I deny. "Why would you say that?"

"D-Do you really want to kn-know?" she smirks when I nod in response. She leans in closer to me and whispers, "Because my penis is bigger than yours."

"I'm gonna go shower." she pecks my cheek and walks into the closet to get her clothes, leaving me blushing on the bed. Most mates choose their clothes after they shower, but Charlotte still isn't comfortable enough to do that yet.

'Go outside. You, Collin, and I are going to the mall. We didn't get our mates gifts, I'm pretty that you didn't either. Let's go.' my dad's voice invades my mind. 'I'm dropping off your mom and Bryanna so don't worry about Charlotte being home alone. Hurry up before the females suspect something.' I know that he's most likely talking about my mom and Collin's mate, Bryanna. Charlotte probably knows that I didn't get her a present yet, I just hope that she's not the type of person who would get mad at me because of it.

"I can read your thoughts, X-Xander." her soft voice calls out.

"Are you mad?" I ask, looking to see if she if she got her foot stuck in another hanger. "My dad and Collin are going to the mall, they're going to bring his mate and my mom over here if I go. I'll stay home if you don't want to go-"

Charlotte walks out of the closet and shakes her head, "G-Go." She makes her way I tot the bathroom, ready to take a shower and adds, "Can you b-bring me back a pretzel? Please?"

*** (three days until Chrsitmas)

"I'm n-not shy." I hear Charlotte mumble. She softly growls at Brody across the table and raises her hands up like bear claws. "Rawr." she whispers.

I put an arm around her waist as a couple of teenagers walk by and try to use my leg to push Brody's chair away from us. It was suppose to be only Charlotte and I sitting together, but he decided to tag along to make sure that there isn't any "funny business" going on. "You're such a bear." he childishly sticks his tongue out.

"And you're a f-fish. Bears eat fish, Br-Brody." Charlotte doesn't even hold my hand or lean closer to me, she just puts all of her attention on her brother. "Boys are so stupid." she mutters under her breath.

I refrain from asking if I'm included in what she just said. I'm a man, not a boy. "Go play f-football or something." her soft voice snaps me out of my thoughts. "The dudes over th-there are your age." She nods in the direction of the men playing outside, all of them I recognize as people who I went to high school with. I know all of their names, but I didn't really talk to them during school.

"I don't know them." I whisper loudly in her ear.

"They're our pack members." she slowly tells me.

"But I'm out of shape." When I say this, she scoffs and rolls her eyes.

"You h-have abs." she lightly pokes my belly. 'And muscle boobs.' she smiles at me and rests her head on my chest. Ever since the man-boob incident, we've come to a compromise of calling my pecks muscle boobs. I woke up from a nap yesterday to find her trying to measure what size bra I would fit in, but that topic hasn't been brought into any conversations yet. I've learned that some of the things that my mate does are better unquestioned.

"I don't want to leave you here alone, though." I try to think of excuses to not play football. During my high school years I wasn't the popular Alpha teenager, I just did my work and forged signatures on my report cards. The most athletic thing I did was try out for the football team; I didn't make the team because apparently it's unfair to have a player with a Alpha genes on the field. I take hold of Charlotte's hand and kiss her cheek, ready to growl at anyone who shows any signs of disrespect to her,

"I know a-almost everybody here. I h-have more fr-friends than you." she waves at one of the girls at the table across from us.

"I have lots of friends-"

"Brody doesn't count." I try to think of someone who I hang out with who isn't Brody, but come up blank. He was the only person who I actually interacted with during high school, I didn't really approach anyone or try to make friends. I probably still owe time in detention for all of the fights that I got in; some of them were between Brody and I, others were with stupid wolves who thought that they could challenge me for my title. "G-Go out there."

"Fine." I groan, getting up from the table and heading to the backyard of the pack house. The moment I leave my seat, Brody fills it and sends me a smug look.

He and Charlotte are too far for me to hear their conversation over all of the noise, all I can do is look at them. "Are you playing, Xander?" one of the guys asks as he sees me approaching.

"Yeah." I jog the rest of the way, hoping that my mate will watch me play. I see girls talking and watching their mates play; yet, my mate is inside of the pack house not even paying attention to what I'm doing. Having wolf genes means that I'm somewhat athletic so I didn't really mind going outside, I just knew that Charlotte wouldn't look at me. All I want is for us to be like other couples.

"Oh shit." Zachary, the guy in front of me, curses when I bend my knees to get in the right position. He's one of my top trackers, he knows how hard I tackle when I want to win.

"Aye, the food's done!" somebody shouts about thirty minutes into the game. Those four words cause the guys and I to stop in our tracks, football no longer on our minds. I sprint inside of the pack house, already smelling the delicious scent of meat. The other guys meet up with their mates who were outside watching the game, I know that Charlotte isn't out there, but I saw her watching through the windows a couple of times.

"H-Hi, Xander." someone greets as I make my way to the kitchen where I saw her sitting earlier. By the time I pass all of the people in the living room, I find Charlotte sitting outside on a picnic table waving at me. She must've been the person who said hi to me in the living room.

Shaking me head, I back outside just in time to see her standing on top of a table, mouthing the words, "I can't believe I'm doing th-this."

"Everybody say sausage keep it going!"

••• <--- Christmas part starts

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." I curse under my breath.

"You bought her a present already, I don't know why you're so worried." Collin pats me on the back and swallows the rest of his cookie.

"I don't even know if Charlotte's wants it. She knows that I got her a last-minute gift." I sigh, running a hand through my hair. "She might be mad or disappointed... I already know that her gift is better than mine." Everyone is trying to make sure that that nothing goes wrong. It's the first Christmas that Charlotte will remember and no one wants to ruin it; I'm afraid that my present might ruin her day. I can tell that she and Brody are the happiest today, though. Last night she told me how she usually celebrated Christmas and she asked me if all the stories about everybody being happy were true.

Flashback (last night)

"I used to watch all the kids open presents through the window." Charlotte tells me, with a sad smile on her face. "I-I always wondered how it felt to h-have family. And to love, and to be happy." she whispers. "I d-don't want to mess up and ruin it t-tomorrow."

"You won't. We've been waiting to celebrate Christmas with you for a long time."

Flashback Over

'We need to find a mistletoe and meet Charlotte under it.' I tell my wolf. Not only do I want to kiss my mate, I want to finally be able to kiss someone on Christmas. Charlotte was my first first, first love, and first person who I've cuddled with; she'll be the first person who I love romantically to kiss under the mistletoe. That's partially why we aren't in the pack house right now, there are too many wolves who would purposely get under the mistletoe with her.

"Mistletoe!" I shout when I finally spot one under the kitchen entrance. 'Sweetheart, come over here. Before Brody ruins it.'

'Ruin what?'

I see her approaching and quickly pull her close to me. "Mistletoe." I smile at her.

'Xander's toe got hit by a missal.' she thinks to herself.

"That's not what mistletoe means." I slowly shake my head. "When two people go under the mistletoe, like us, they kiss... Or hug, but I think a kiss is better." With a shrug, Charlotte stands on her toes and presses her lips to mine. "Do I get another one?"

"Merry Christmas, Xander." She wraps her arms around my neck and leans in for another kiss. I gladly return the kiss and put my hands on her waist to keep her close to me. This is probably the first time she has ever kissed me outside our home without being shy about it. The only person who could ruin this is Brody.

"Merry Christmas, sweetheart." I say in between kisses. By the time we pull away from each other, she's blushing bright red and I'm smiling like a mad man. We walk hand in hand to the living room where everyone is about to open presents. I can feel Brody glaring holes into the back of my head, but it only causes the smile on my face to widen.

"The big b-boxes are for you two." Charlotte whispers to Cole and Corbin, pointing to the two largest boxes under the Christmas tree. "G-Go see wh-what's inside."

"Mom! Can I open it?" Corbin rapidly taps Bryanna's shoulder while he gets little Cole to drag the boxes over. After one nod, the two boys are ripping the wrapping paper off of the gifts that Charlotte and I got them. "Woah...." Corbin's jaw drops when he sees the massive dinosaur under the wrapping paper.

"What do you say?" Bryanna asks the boys.

"Thank you, Aunt Charlotte." the two of them thank before quickly adding, "And Uncle Xandy."

"Spawns, Brody, come here." my mom stands up with five small presents in her arms. All of them have the names of my brothers and I on them, but Brody's box is larger than ours. "These should fit you well."

I look over to Vince, my youngest brother, and shrug. Mom's gifts usually aren't bad. "The hell?" Collin mutters under his breath. "Did you get all of us condoms, mom?"

I slowly walk back to the beanbag chair that Charlotte and I were sitting on. "She gave me condoms. I'll throw them say later." Instead of blushing in embarrassment like I thought she would, Charlotte bursts out laughing. Giggling hysterically and taking the small package from my hands.

"Sh-She got you extra small!" she giggles. "What did y-you get Brody?"

"Condoms and lotion." he answers. "I'll take those," he takes the package that my mom gave me and says, "You two won't be needing them."

Luckily, Cole and Corbin were too occupied with their dinosaurs that they didn't notice the adult gift exchanges. "D-Did you see what I-I got you?" Charlotte asks her brother. She pulls out a medium sized box covered with fish-themed wrapping paper. "Open it." she smiles.

Brody doesn't pick a random spot to start ripping the wrapping paper; he finds where the tape is and starts slowly peeling it off. "J-Just rip it." Charlotte tells him. It takes full five minutes for him to neatly open his present.

"I always wanted this car." he whispers.

"I saw the little version in your r-room. I g-got you the big one." Charlotte watches as Brody inspects the remote controlled car. It seems silly to buy a grown man a toy car, but Brody's been obsessed with them since he was a kid. "Thanks, sis."

"Open mine. You're really going to like it." Brody hands Charlotte and I gifts that he bought for us, Charlotte's in a bag instead of a box. "I'm not good at wrapping, don't judge."

Knowing that I either got a gift card or cash, I watch as my mate takes her present out of the bag. "It's a poop!" she squeals, hugging the object to her chest. "I-It's a poop emoji pillow!" Brody smiles down at her giggling form. Every time Charlotte looks away from the pillow to calm her breathing, she bursts out laughing again when she sees the emoticon. "This i-is my new favorite pillow."

"What? I thought that I was your favorite pillow?!?" I exclaim. Charlotte's my teddy bear, I'm her pillow. The gift that Brody gave her just ruined our sleeping arrangements. "Stupid little shit."

'Are you on your man period?' she jokingly asks through our mind link.

'I'm your favorite pillow.' I grumble, pulling her onto my lap. I don't care if anybody calls me the "jealous type", I can be jealous of anyone or anything that threatens my relationship with Charlotte.

"I g-got you this." she hands me a small tin box with a thin red ribbon tied on top. I slowly untie it, already knowing that what she got me had some thought put into it. "You can return it if you d-don't, like it."

"No, no. It's perfect." I mutter, inspecting the watch. I've been keeping my eye on it for a while, but I never asked or showed my interest in the fancy accessory. Charlotte must've saw me looking at it when we went to the mall. "Here's yours." I nervously hand her my wrapped gift.

"It's a......." she trails off, beginning to rip the wrapping paper. "Camera."

"Do you like it?" I ask as she turns on the device.

"I love it." she smiles. "T-Take a picture w-with me."

She places a memory card in one of the slots and turns the camera so that we can see ourselves on the screen. I turn my head just as the camera flashes and press my lips to my mate's.

••• <-- Christmas part ends

"Move him to the interrogation room, slaughter-house level." I nod at Brody and watch as he roughly grabs Dylan's right arm and drags him across the floor. We've let him and his pack members in the cells with no determined punishment for nearly two months already, it's time to find out why they were doing all of these things to Charlotte.

After finding out about the hate-mail and bruises that she was getting from our own pack members, I've been spending extra hours in the meeting rooms to tell my guards and warriors about the situation. The three guards who laid their hands on my mate have already been stripped of their titles and are now in the cells. Certain females in the pack are down there two; my dad found out that some of them have also been harassing my mom as well.

'Don't do anything to Dylan. Patrol wolves spotted Maddison in sector seven, forest area.' my dad tells Brody and I.

'Where are you?' I ask.

'I'm heading towards sector seven, go get Charlotte after you secure the cells and Red Stone prisoners, we can't let her get taken again.' My dad has always has a close relationship to Charlotte, but she's still afraid of him with her memory gone. He was like a second father to her.

I calmly open the file cabinet and place it on the steel table. As much as I need to get to my mate, I can't let Dylan or anyone in the cells think that something is going on; it'll only make them think that they have a chance of escaping. "You aren't scheduled until tomorrow." I announce, pretending to look over the paperwork. "That doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want, any wrong moves and you're going straight into the slaughter-house."

'Take him back to his cell, double lock and redo the silver lining.' I tell Brody, knowing that he won't be weakened by the silver. 'You secure this floor and lock up the slaughter-house level, we need to get my mom and Charlotte. I'm sending extra guards over there and to the parks.'

Just in case something does happen, then my warriors will be ready to attack and my guards will get everyone safely into the packhouse. It's been a long time since anyone has been stupid enough to even threaten my pack, but all the wolves in my pack still knows what to do if there ever is an actual attack. 'Alpha, the Luna and is in your home. We have the perimeter and surrounding woods covered, ten wolves are inside.' one of my warriors reports.

I would mind-link Charlotte myself, but I don't want to cause her to panic over something that might not even happen. The wolves that I have running patrol see Maddie all the time, the only difference is that she's planning something. We don't know if she has numbers on her side or if she's alone and waiting to attack. She and Dylan have taken Charlotte away before, I won't let anything like that happen again. "Someone better capture that bitch." Brody mutters behind me. "Where's Charlotte? She's okay right?"

"She's at home, we have to get there fast." I push open the ground-level doors and shift once I get outside. The faster I get home, the better. Today might be the day that Maddie finally does something. She doesn't care about harming the wolves of Lunar Shadow, it's just my mate and best-friend.

'Xander, there's a bunch of people outside.' Charlotte tells me.

'It's fine, I just sent extra guards. Are you okay?' I ask.

'I see Gamma Dolan.' she whimpers. 'They're here.'

'Shit.' I curse through the mind-link. 'Brody and I are almost there, stay next to Lilian and Jimmy. Stay inside, you remember when I taught you how to fire the gun, right?'

'Yeah.'

'How does the Gamma look like and where is he? I'll take him and the other Red Stone wolves down first.' I open the conversation to let Brody listen in. As I receive details and information from Charlotte, he'll be able to get the warriors in position.

'He has a Red Stone tattoo covering his entire back.' she immediately answers. 'He's in the back of the house, near our bedroom.'

'Everything's going to be okay, don't worry, sweetheart.' I share a look with Brody and we both start running faster. The Gamma should be easy for us to take down, but we have to figure out how our warriors didn't notice him first. They're all lined up and surrounding the house, anyone who isn't in the pack should be easy to spot.

'Don't call my sister pet names.' Brody growls at me. 'If I ever hear her call you daddy, I'm gonna kill you.'

'The Gamma of the Red Stone pack is near the house. Don't let anyone in or out.' I inform the wolves surrounding my home. As Brody and I approach, I try to smell the mixed scents in the air for anything unfamiliar; no matter what, everyone in the same pack/coven will have the same distinct scent. Being an Alpha, I have to know how to separate my pack members from other wolves.

'Don't attack until I say so; the Gamma is for Brody and I. About twenty wolves are behind the house in sector seven, kill them all.' I stop a few yards away from the Red Stone intruders. If they didn't notice Brody and I sprinting in their direction, then they won't realize that we're right behind them. I know that none of them wolves were forced to come with the Gamma, they wouldn't be laughing and playing around if they were. All of these unfamiliar men and women abused my mate; both physically and mentally. 'NOW!'

I pounce on top of one of the already shifted wolves, sinking my claws into its skin and moving onto the next. I don't bother finishing them off, I'm confident that one of my own warriors will do it. The man with the Red Stone pack symbol tattoo is who I make my way over to. During he twenty seconds of bloodshed, he hasn't even moved a muscle or shown any signs that he heard what was going on behind him. It isn't until I tackle him to the ground that he finally reacts.

'Don't kill him yet.' my wolf growls, instantly stopping me from clamping my jaw down on the enemy Gamma's neck. 'He made mate suffer. Remember the nightmares she had about him?'

'This one goes into the slaughter-house.' I make a few cuts on the Gamma's chest and knock him out. He barely resisted or fought back, his reflexes were a lot slower than other Gammas.

'I got this, go inside.' Brody nods as he runs past me. I sprint through the front door, not bothering to ask anyone to let me inside. Once the door breaks, four of my guards stand in the place it used to be and point upstairs to tell me where Charlotte is.

As I enter the bedroom and throw on a pair of shorts, the sound of her voice is the first thing that I take notice to, "H-He's here." There are guards standing outside of the bathroom and near the windows, all of tell me that they don't know what's going on. "He's gonna t-take m-me back." I storm into the bathroom and see my mate standing in front of the mirror, her hands tangled in her hair. Her cheeks are rosy and eyes wide.

"Sweetheart, I'm here. No one is taking you away." When she hears my voice, she turns around and walks straight into my embrace. I hold onto her trembling body, trying my best to calm her down.

"Baby, look at me. I have him in chains down in the cells, no one willtake you away." I repeat for what seems like the millionth time. That sentence finally seems to make sense to here because her next few words surprise me;

"I'm done crying over them." she whispers.

&/$;$/$;)/$($/);&)&)/(-&($)/)(-:&@(&:(-();)

"💩"
-Xander

QOTC- do you think Brody will find his mate?

It's been three weeks since the last update and I'm SUPER sorry about that, but I tried it make this chapter longer to make up for it. I've been trying to make a book trailer which I finished yesterday, it's linked to this chapter. If you can't see/watch it, the link is: http://youtu.be/DoVQ_UvW8zc (tap/click the link in my Wattpad bio to go straight to the video, I couldn't attach it to the chapter for some reason)

I have also been busy handling one particular user who "rewrote" My Broken Luna and claimed that she came up with the idea. The first chapter was literally titled "Found Her", the first chapter of this book is titled "Finding Her". Just clarifying, all of the content in this book is completely original.

I promise that there will be an update next week for New Years. Teaser; there will be a lot more romance action for you Charlotte/Xander (<-- I can't think of a ship name) fans.

Thank you all so much for 1M reads!

Adventures with Brody: (age six)        Bodey- (boed-ee)

"BAHHHHHHHHHH!!!" I hear my baby sister groan. "BAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

"Char, I'm coming!" I shout, picking up a fork and running to the couch where she's sitting. As I get ready to attack the monster that I thought was scaring my sister. In reality, she's sitting on the couch with a bag clip attached to her chin. "What are you doing? Mom said no more clips remember?"

She turns her head to look at me, then screams, "BAAHHHHHH!!!". I slowly approach her, trying to make sure that she doesn't run away from me is that the clip still on her face. The two year old stumbles over to me and wraps her arms around me. "Bodey... BAAAHHHH!!!"

"Stay still, let me take it off."

She does as I tell her to, but when I take the bag clip off, she screams again. "BAAAHHHHH!" Char looks at me and then at the clip, suddenly calming down. "M-Momma s-say take nap. Can you lay with me? I'm sc-scared." she points outside the window.

"Lay right here." I sit down on the couch and pull her body over mine. I know that she didn't want to go to sleep because it's raining outside, the thunder always scares her. Every time it rains at night, we have a sleepover on each other's beds. Mom and dad said that once Char gets olde, she'll have the room next to mine. Right now we share the same room, but have different beds.

"Why your berry-button look like dat, B-B-Bodey?" my baby sister asks, pointing to my belly-button. She climbs on top of me to get a closer look at my stomach. She raises her own shirt a little bit to expose belly-button and says, "M-Mine goes out."

"Because you're a baby." I tell her, pulling her shirt back down. "Babies have outies."

"No." she shakes her head. "I-I-I'm two now, Bodey. I'm a big girl."

"Fine then." I shrug, not wanting to argue with her. Out of all the stupid things that we argue about, I learned that Char always finds a way to win. When I tried to drink the last of the orange juice yesterday, she put the empty carton inside of my pillow case.

"You w-want outie, Bodey?" she raises up my shirt and inspects my belly-button. This would be considered weird to most people, but this is probably the most normal thing that Char's done all day; especially considering the bag clip incidents ten minutes ago. "I give you outie."

Before I can stop her, she pinches my belly-button with her tiny fingers and pulls the skin outward. "BAAHHHH!!!" she shouts as a battle cry.

Happy Holidays,

xoxo Priscilla