Waking up, I roll over to cuddle into Maverick more, but I'm met with a cold, empty space instead of my warm mate. Frowning to myself, I sit up, stretching my arms above my head. Yawning dramatically as I get up, I make my way to the bathroom to complete my morning routine of brushing my teeth and combing my hair out.

I let out a squeak as I feel slight soreness between my thighs, and we didn't even have sex last night.

I definitely won't be able to walk once we do, if I'm even feeling this sore with only him pleasuring me with his fingers.

Blushing to myself at the thought of last night, I finish getting ready in the bathroom and head towards my closet. Picking out a simple black t-shirt with a pair of athletic shorts and running shoes, I head down the stairs.

Expecting to see Maverick, I am shocked to see a taller man with the same blonde hair and tan complexion. He appears to be an older version of Maverick.

"Excuse me?" My voice comes out stronger than I intend, making the man turn around with a sharp look. His eyes are a similar brown color to most of the pack's, but many of his facial features resemble that of Maverick's.

Just then his small scowl turns into a smile.

"You must be Elora. " He walks over towards the other side of the kitchen where I'm standing, extending his hand out towards me. "I'm Maverick's father, Mathew. Pleasure to finally meet you."

His smile is so bright as I shake his hand.

Just then I become puzzled. Why did I not see them at the pack dinner? Surely, they would've been there considering their son is the Alpha.

My mouth speaks before I can stop myself.

"It's nice to meet you. How come you and your wife were not at the pack dinner awhile ago?" I bounce awkwardly on the balls of my feet as he gives me a sad smile.

"We don't attend those anymore. Especially after what happened to Millie." His voice is low and grave, and his eyes well up but the tears are blinked away before he can actually cry.

Something really bad must have happened to her by the way everyone acts whenever her name is mentioned.

"What happened to her?" I ask with a solemn expression.

"Has Maverick not told you?" My answer is a shake of the head, and he lets out a long sigh. "He needs to be the one to tell you. It's not my place to do so."

As I'm about to protest, a very familiar scent arose through the house; Maverick is home.

"What are you doing here?" His voice is predatory, and I can feel the tension in the air thicken an immense amount.

His father gives him a stern look, not backing down from his place. Even though he is older, Maverick can still take him down due to his enormous height, muscle build. Maverick also has that dark side to him that gives him the ability to literally pop the head off of someone without feeling remorse.

Thinking about that makes me inwardly cringe.

"Can I not come to visit my boy and his mate?" Mathew asks with an eyebrow arched while crossing his arms.

The testosterone is overwhelming as the father and son stare each other down.

Maverick saunters over towards him, letting out a hearty, sarcastic laugh.

"Yeah right. You never come to visit me. What do you need?" His sneer towards his father gives me goosebumps, and I see his eyes flash to the intense yellow before I grab his arm, calming him slightly.

I look down, both of his hands are clenched into fists. His knuckles are white with how tightly he is squeezing them.

"You haven't marked her yet? And she doesn't even know about your twin sister. My boy, you know keeping secrets from you mate isn't good-"

"DAMN IT DAD! Spit it out! Why the hell are you here antagonizing me about my mate?!" Maverick yells in his father's face, his-now-yellow eyes are in slits as he glares at his father.

My hold on his arm isn't doing much, so I try rubbing his arm in a soothing fashion. His gaze shifts to me; his eyes going back to the usual golden color.

"Your mother wants to meet Elora. She wants to invite you two for dinner sometime this week, if that's okay? We miss you, Maverick."

Maverick doesn't say anything, but his look says it all. He wants his father out of the house. His father, taking the hint, shoves his hands in the front pockets of his jeans, sighing.

"I'll go now. It was nice meeting you, Elora. And Maverick, please tell her everything. Before she gets hurt." I nod my head with a small smile towards him.

His father begins to exit the kitchen, and Maverick and I watch as he does so. Before he fully leaves the house, Maverick's next statement gives me chills.

"It may be too late."

I quickly let go of Maverick's arm, my stomach feeling queasy.

I think I'm going to be sick.

Just then, I dash towards the sink, vomiting out my food from last night.

As I finish emptying out my stomach, I'm handed a towel to wipe my mouth. Maverick leads me to the bathroom upstairs as another wave of nausea hits me. I know this sick feeling has something to do with my heat, not from what Maverick said.

As we walk into the bathroom, with Maverick's hand leading me, I feel the queasiness in my stomach again before I run to the toilet, vomiting out everything until it was just me dry heaving. I slump onto the toilet.

I'm absolutely exhausted.

"Elora? Do you want me to run you a bath?" Maverick's surprisingly soft voice asks from behind me. I let out a barely audible 'yes', and soon after the sound of running water filling the bathtub could be heard. I still held my slouched position as I feel Maverick tap my shoulder a few minutes later. "Babe. Let's get you in the tub. I put in some soap that Miss Adelaide would put in the bath for us kids. The lavender scent is supposed to help you feel better."

His strong arms help stand me up, and I feel myself falling into his arms. I can barely stand up with how weak I am. This heat is a bitch, that's for sure.

"Babe, I'm going to help you strip, and don't worry I'm not gonna pull any tricks. Okay?" I nodded along. He raised my arms up, and helped pull my shirt over my head, next he helped strip my pants down, and I was left in my undergarments. He un-clipped my bra, and while he slipped it off, his breath fanned over my neck, making me burn up slightly inside. He helped slipped off my underwear, picking me up and placing me in the tub. The bubbles and strong smell of lavender instantly made me feel a bit better. I let myelf soak, feeling myself drift off to sleep.

I woke up to pruned fingers and toes and the urge to eat five cheeseburgers. The bubbles had fizzled down in the bath, yet the strong lavender smell was still very prominent.

My eyes found some of my undergarments, a towel and a robe on the bathroom counter. I made my way out of the bath, and began putting on the undergarments and robe after drying off.

Once I tied my robe up, a faint knock at the bathroom door nearly made me shriek.

"Elora... how're you feeling?" Miss Adelaide's sweet voice asked me as I opened the door. She held a tray with some soup and a glass of water. A sad smile was on her face.

"I'm feeling better. Maverick put that lavender soap in the bath like you used to use. I'm not sure what special ingredients are put in there, but it definitely helped a lot." She warmly smiled as I made my way to the bed. She set the tray on the bed beside me. "Thank you so much. Is it okay if we make cookies sometime this week?"

I remembered I had forgotten to do that with her yesterday, and today I still wasn't in the mood to bake. Let alone smell anything that wasn't soup. I knew letting our wolves run today wouldn't be a good idea either.

Her eyes lit up when I asked. "Oh yes yes. Of course! I'll get all my recipes ready and maybe tomorrow we can after you're done with school?"

"Perfect!" I exclaimed, setting the tray on my lap, eyeing up the yummy chicken soup and glass of water.

"Sounds wonderful. Now you better eat and get some rest my dear." She said as she walked out the door, slightly waving before fully exiting.

I managed to eat most of the soup before drifting off to sleep again. After what only felt like a few minutes, I felt the presence of a warm body next to me.

"Hello Elora." Maverick's eyes shot open as he spoke in a deeper voice. I noticed his eyes were neither golden or yellow, but a pitch black.

"Um Maverick? Are you okay?" I sat up slightly in bed, beginning to feel very nervous. Why was he looking at me like that. Like that demonic wolf did in my dreams.

"I'm perfect baby." Baby? Maverick never calls me 'baby'. It's either Elora or 'babe'. Did he hit his head or something?

"Mhm yeah okay. Well I'm gonna go downstairs." I began to scurry out of the bed, using my wolf speed to run to the door, but before I could, deep claws grabbed my arm, puncturing through the skin. I could feel my blood beginning to seep out.

"OH MY GOD MAVERICK! What the actual hell?!" I screamed, trying to release my arm from his grasp. His soulless dark orbs bore into me as his grip tightened; his hands now covered in my blood.

"Maverick isn't here right now. But I can send him a message if you'd like baby." His deep voice seethed as he pulled me closer to him, dipping his head further into the crook of my neck. "God. You smell so sweet... I can't believe your boy hasn't marked you yet. I'm sure his wolf is just clawing to get a taste of you."

I felt his nose touch my skin as he sniffed me. I tried wriggling away, but his grip was too strong. Maybe if I let my wolf out she could get away.

Without another thought I let my wolf come forward, letting my bones shift and crack before my wolf took over.

Finally!!! My wolf yelled as we thrashed at the possessed Maverick, dashing out down the stairs and out the front door. We kept running and running, letting the wind run through our light brown fur, until we stopped near the packhouse. I knew if we shifted back, I'd be unclothed, so we howled to get someone's attention.

Just then Ian and Vander came out. Both out of breath from booking it by us.

Ian was the first to notice me, his nose taking a sniff before his eyes slightly darkened.

"Elora...is that you? Why are you in wolf form?" Vander asked, confusion written all over his face. I noticed both were in workout gear and were glistening in sweat.

My wolf turned towards the Alpha house and back towards the two men. They weren't in their wolf form so my wolf couldn't really communicate with them through mind link. Mind link could allow us to talk to others while in wolf form, yet it wasn't something that could be used in human form. Although, when you are mated and marked, you do feel the emotions and some underlying thoughts of your mate. But, otherwise, we used phones and emails to get our messages across to others in human form.

"Ian. Go find Maverick. I think something is up because she has claw marks on her front leg. A Drac or some other wolf must have tried to fight her." At that command my wolf began to cower, shaking her head while whining. Xander quirked an eyebrow before his face went deathly pale. "Wait. I-I think she ran from Maverick." My wolf gazed into Vander's eyes, trying to tell him 'yes'.

"Vander... I can't be around her much longer. My wolf is going crazy at her scent right now!" Ian said, clearly shaking from how strong my heat odor was to him. This was one of the many reasons why wolves tend to mark their mates right away, as the scent from the She-wolf's heat is tempting to other unmated wolves.

"Crap. Ian go back to the Alpha's house and search for Maverick. Elora, follow me into the house." With that Ian ran towards the direction I came from as Vander and I made our way into the pack house. Joy and Duke were in the living room. Joy gave her mate a questionable look before shifting her gaze to me.

"Oh my god... what happened? I-is that Elora?" Joy asked Vander, who nodded his head.

"Yes. Can you bring her up to the spare room and get her clothes. I think Maverick did this..."

Joy immediately got up and ushered my wolf and I up the stairs. We entered a plain, smaller room. She quick grabbed some undergarments and a t shirt and sweatpants for me.

"Here. I'll be right up with some cream and bandages for your arm." She rushed out as my wolf shifted back into my human form. I stretched out my limbs, aching slightly since I haven't gone fully into my wolf form in a few weeks.

I put on the clothes that she laid out for me just before she came back with the first aid kit. Even though us werewolves heal fairly fast, we still tend to need ointment and bandaging to make sure no bacteria or diseases seep through the wound.

As she began to put the last of the bandaging around my arm, her bright blue eyes met mine as she gave me a sad smile.

"Elora... I'm sorry. I had a feeling this was going to happen sooner than later. We should've warned you. I should've warned you." Her voice was soft, and I could see the tears forming in her eyes. "Maverick... Alpha Maverick has something wrong with him."

"Wow. Really? I wouldn't of guessed that." I deadpanned with a slight smirk. She let out a giggle before her face was serious again.

"Yeah well... I think we need to tell you the story of Alpha Haku and Luna Keaka . The first Alpha and the first Luna of our pack."

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Hey!!!

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to my beautiful readers!

I apologize for a VERY late update, but finals were sorta taking up most of my time for the last couple weeks 😅

BUT they're finally over, and now I have my winter break!! I'll be able to post much more within the next couple months! Yay!!

Anyways, I just want to say thank you to those who take the time to read, comment, and vote! It seriously means the world to me, and I honestly can't help but to feel giddy everytime I see someone comment and vote! Literally makes my day :)

I sorta feel like this chapter sucks, but I will be editing through later. So, hopefully, it'll sound a bit better!

Questions for my readers:
-Which characters do you want to see more of?
-have you figured out what may be wrong with Maverick?
-Who's excited to find out about this strange story that Joy is about to tell?? ( I know I am😏)

Thank you again! Please don't forget to comment and vote! Also feel free to message me! I'm literally going to be on here a lot😉👍🏼

Much love <3
~Madelyn Joy