by Tami Payton
I’m pissed, who do they think they are? They can’t walk in there and treat me like a damn two-year-old! I stomp outside and get into the truck with Sam, “Take me home now!” He tries to talk to me, but I turn my back on him and ignore him, I’m too upset to talk right now. We pull up to his cabin and as I’m getting out I see Casey walking up. Casey is a young wolf, around 21, he’s one of the few people that I’ve made friends with. He’s easy going and fun, he looks worried and runs over to see if I’m ok. “Cammie are you ok? Quinn said you ran off and were upset.” I nod, a little upset with myself that I made him worry. “Yeah, sorry Casey. I didn’t mean to make you worry, I just needed to get away. I’ll explain later.” He reaches in and hugs me, I hug him back and am distracted by the sound of Cameron’s truck pulling up behind Sam’s. My mood changes back to sour, I want to lay into Mason and Cameron. “Cammie what the hell were you thinking going into a bar like that? Something could have happened to you?” Cameron is barely out of the truck before he’s on me, Mason is right behind him. “You put yourself in danger. The bar was full of shifters and you weren’t even aware of the dangers around you. You could have been taken or worse killed. My God woman!” I roll my eyes and am really trying to keep my cool. “Well you know what Mason? I am not yours to keep watch over, you do not have to worry about me. I am free to do as I please. So, screw both of you, now I am going to bed. Mason, you are free to take your cabin as it’s yours when you are here. Casey is it ok if I stay with you for tonight?” I look at Casey and he nods. “Yeah, that’s fine I have the spare room you can use.” Mason growls. Sam sighs, “alright everyone, get some sleep. We need to go over how we’re gonna deal with the meeting with Zander on Monday. So, we will meet tomorrow morning to go over everything. Meet at my cabin at 10:00.” I nod, “fine, Mason I will stop by to get my clothes in the morning. Goodnight everyone.” I walk away with Casey, screw them.
MASON
I swear this woman is gonna be the death of me. I mean she was standing next to a wolf the whole time at the bar and didn’t even know it! Not to mention one of our biggest rivals, and he’s her best friend? What the fuck? Did Gage know who she was before we did? There’s so many questions that we don’t know the answers to and I know Cameron and Sam are just as concerned as I am. “Hey, are you ok? You look like you’re about to snap.” Cameron looks at me with a worried look in his eyes. I sigh and run my hand over my face, “man I don’t know. She really doesn’t understand how much danger she was in tonight. I mean Gage? There’s no telling what could have happened if we hadn’t of gotten there.” I shudder at the thought, I mean I don’t think that Gage would have of done anything but there’s still the chance. Cameron nods, “Were gonna have to tell her everything tomorrow, she’s gonna have to learn the truth about Gage. There’s no way that she knows who he is. I just don’t know how we missed his scent when we picked her up.” He’s shaking his head, I shake mine as well. “We all missed it. You and Sam were focused on the fact that you found her, and I was just focused on her. He also had an air purifying system in his house, she had vapors, candles, and all that other crap going because she thought she was sick. It threw off our senses, so we can’t really be too hard on ourselves about that.” Cameron nods, “well we need to keep a better eye on her, she’s in danger even more now. First whoever thinks they have claim over her, and now this with Gage. I guess when it rains it really does pour. Ya’ll picked a hell of a time to fight over being fated mates.” He looks at me and smiles, I give him the finger. “Fuck you man. She may not realize it yet, but she’s been mine since the moment my eyes landed on her. Now I must convince her to be mine, after our show earlier it’s not gonna be easy.” Cameron laughs, “Yeah, bro, it’s gonna be hard as hell. I’m gonna have a blast watching that.”
I barely got any sleep last night, I tossed and turned all night all my thoughts were filled with Cammie. I dragged myself out of bed and make some coffee. The cabin smells of Cammie. I look around and notice all the small things she’s done to make it feel like home for herself. I walk back to the bedroom with my coffee, as I’m sitting on the bed, I notice some of Cammie’s clothes are still on the floor. I start picking up, putting the dirty ones in the hamper and I put the cleans ones from the basket away in the dresser the best I can. My mind is still trying to wrap around the fact that we’re fated mates. That Gage has known her basically her whole life, and that I know he’s got something up his sleeve and I just haven’t figured it out yet. I finish my coffee and figure I better get in the shower and ready before Cammie comes by.
I hear the front door open when I’m in the shower, figuring it’s Cammie coming to get her stuff. I just yell out, “Be out in a minute, help yourself to coffee.” I know she will no matter how pissed she is at me, that girl loves coffee more than anything in the world. I’m in the shower for about eight more minutes or so, when I get out I hear a couple of voices and let me tell you the feeling I have is not good. After getting dressed I walk out into the living room and see Cammie, Cameron and Jenny? I’m standing there confused and shocked. Cameron is giving me a sympathy look, and Cammie could put me six feet under with her glare. Jenny looks like she’s won the jackpot, as she walks over to me and wraps her arm around mine. I wiggle out of her hold. “Jenny, what the hell are you doing here?” I look at her confused as to why she is here. She shakes her head and laughs. “Baby I told you I was gonna come and see you. See, I said that you don’t always listen when I talk.” She sighs and shakes her head, I shake mine as well. “Why exactly would you come and see me? What would be the point in that Jenny?” My tone is starting to get angry. She waves her hand at me as if to wave me off. “Mase, baby let’s not be rude. We have guests right now, you never told me that Cameron had a sister. We were just talking while you were in the shower, Cammie is so sweet.” She clasps her hands together like they’re gonna be best friends, Cammie puts on the sweetest smile, but her eyes are shooting daggers. They’ve turned the darkest green I’ve ever seen and have a gold ring around them, it’s her kill look. “Yes, Mase, I was just telling Jenny here how I was going to stay with a friend while you were here so you could have your cabin back. I know you guys would want your privacy, and I’m all for giving it to you.” She smiles even wider as she looks at me. Jenny claps her hands together, “Cammie that is so sweet of you! Thank you so much. Are you sure it’s not too much to ask? I mean I would really like to spend some time with him, but I don’t want to put you out of your home.” I interrupt them, “that’s right, we don’t want to put Cammie out, so sorry Jenny you’re gonna have to leave.” Cammie looks at me, “of course it’s no problem. I’m more than happy to help. I stay here when Mason isn’t until the other cabin is fixed, when he comes around I just stay with a friend. So, it’s perfectly fine, I just need to grab my things.” I watch her walk to the bedroom and my heart drops into my stomach. Cameron nods his head towards her for me to follow. I nod to Jenny and he nods as he starts to distract her, I head towards Cammie.
CAMMIE
“Cammie, let me explain please” I hear Mason come up behind me and I spin to face him. “I don’t want to hear a word from you, you had the nerve to fucking growl, fucking growl Mason, every time a guy would look at me or talk to me. You like to act like you fucking own some type of claim over me. Then when we find out we do have some type of claim with each other you want nothing to do with it. Now there’s a bimbo out there who says you knew she was coming to spend time with you and that you planned it! I’m fucking done, do you hear me done! No more growling, no more telling me what I can do, or fuck it, WHO I can do! I want nothing to do with you. Go fuck your blonde bimbo and please do it soon, because the sooner it’s done the sooner this bond is broken, and I can be free. Goodbye Mason, I don’t want to see you anymore at all.” I stomp out of the room before I can let any tears escape, I march out the front door without saying anything to Cameron or the bimbo.
I hear footsteps come up behind me and know it’s Cameron, he sits down
next to me in the grass. He puts his arm around me and pulls me against him. “I’m sorry Cammie, I know that sucked. If it helps I know that he does love you.” I glare up at him and sniff. “No. Cameron that doesn’t help. He’s got one hell of a way of showing me, and if that bimbo is a way then I don’t want to be told again.” I go to pull away, ashamed that anyone has seen me cry but he pulls me closer. “Jenny doesn’t mean anything to him, he didn’t even know that she was coming. He was really shocked and confused. He hasn’t had anything to do with her in years and trust me she’s been trying to snag her claws in him.” I just sigh, “Cameron it doesn’t matter, it will never work with Mason. He wants a domestic mate and we all know that’s not me and will never be me. He will never be able to accept that, so it’s best to just deal with this now. Thanks for this, I needed it, you’re a great big brother.” I stand up and hug him, he hugs me back. “You’re still coming to the meeting, right?” I shake my head, “No. I’m not really needed there, and I really don’t want to be around Mason. Casey, Eric, Izzy, Megan, and I are gonna go for a run and hang out in the field by the lake. Izzy and Megan want to go over some hand to hand combat moves and asked me to help them. So, this will be the perfect distraction for me.” Cameron nods his head, “I understand, I will find you after the meeting and at least let you know what we planned.” He gives me a hug and kisses my forehead, and then heads off to Sam’s cabin. I head back to Casey’s to get ready for my day.
When everyone is here and ready to go we take off towards the woods, we had to wait a little longer than we wanted to for Eric, but he finally made it. Izzy and Megan are so excited, they’ve been looking forward to working on their hand to hand combat, but we haven’t had time. We’ve been running for about an hour before we come to the lake, next to it is a huge field that backs the woods. The sight is beautiful and there are times I’ve come down here just to relax and meditate, that’s how peaceful it is. We all shift back and change into the clothes we carried in our mouths. The guys head over to field and start their training, us girls take a break at the lake first. “Hey Cammie? I don’t mean to be nosey or rude but is everything ok with you and Mason? We overheard you guys fighting last night?” Izzy asks me, I moan and hang my head, “um, yeah, everything is fine. I was pissed at him and Cameron last night. I decided I wanted to go out to the bar, and they decided that they were gonna drag me home. So yeah, it didn’t end well, at all.” I laughed, and they did too. Megan shook her head, “men, why do they think they can control everything?” She’s looking at Eric as she says this, and I look over and notice he’s watching her like a hawk as well. I smile to myself, there’s a mating around the corner. “Alright girls let’s do this and hope Eric doesn’t try to kill me in the process.” Megan looks at me funny and Izzy laughs.
We’ve been practicing for about an hour and the girls are doing great, they’re a lot better than I thought they would be. We stopped for a break and are laying by the lake when Eric is suddenly on alert. I sit up looking around when I hear a growling coming from the woods, walking out of the woods comes four large wolves. Eric and Casey get in front of Megan, Izzy, I stand to the side of them all, so I can assess the situation and see if there’s anymore coming out of the woods. Eric and Casey have crouched low into a fighting stance, ready to protect the girls. Megan and Izzy are just as ready, all of them ready to shift. Out of the corner of my eyes I see two more wolves walking out, I swallow hard. Well here goes nothing, it’s go big or go home. I yell out to my friends, “Shift now!”
MASON
“That was a fucking disaster.” I meet up with Cameron outside of Sam’s cabin after the meltdown with Jenny and Cammie this morning. “Dude, what the fuck was Jenny doing here? Cammie is a hot mess.” I shake my head, “I have no idea what she was doing here, but I sent her on her way. I told her I want nothing to do with her ever again and to leave me alone. I even told her that I found my mate.” Cameron’s eyes went wide, “You did what? Dude, that’s fucking awesome!” I laugh, “don’t get so happy yet, I still have to convince my mate to take me back.” He laughs as we walk inside but stops as we see Sam sitting at the table with Zander, the Alpha from the Omron pack. “Hey dad, I thought the meeting was tomorrow? My apologies, it’s good to see you Zander.” Cameron shakes Zander’s hand, and I follow behind him out of respect for a fellow Alpha. “Cameron, Mason how are you two doing? It’s good to see you. Yes, the meeting was set for tomorrow, but there was a change in the circumstances and I felt it was urgent to bring them to your fathers’ attention as soon as possible.” I look at Sam and he nods towards a chair, so I sit. “We understand. So, what has changed that made you come all the way out here?” Zander looks at Sam and Sam looks at me and all he says is “it’s Cammie.”
My heart starts pumping harder than it already is, “what do you mean?” Sam sighs, “well there was a report made to Zander stating that we stole a female wolf from one of his wolves, and that this wolf was his mate.” Sam looks at Zander, who nods and continues, “now I usually don’t get involved in issues like these, but since my wolf stated that this was his mate you see how I had to investigate.” We all nod. Mating is sacred and if this claim is true then it would need to be righted. Zander continues, “Well last night I learned that it was all a ploy to try and steal one of your wolves out of revenge. My wolf has gone rogue and is working with Micah and his group now and I’m afraid the girl may be in trouble. I wanted to come as soon as I could to warn you.” My fists are balled tight by my side, I know the answer but need to hear it. “Who is the wolf? I want his name.” Zander nods his head, “Sam said you have already had an encounter with him. His name is Gage, and she knows him but not of his wolf. That makes this even more dangerous. He believes that since he knew her before she shifted that she belongs to him and to him only.” I jump to my feet, my blood is boiling, all I can see is killing Gage. “Zander, no disrespect to you or your pack, but I will be killing Gage when I get my hands on him. If he thinks he can lay a finger on Cammie, he will die.” Zander shakes his head, “Mason, I understand that you’re protective of your friend’s sister, but it’s pack law. You are to bring him to his Alpha for justice and I expect you to do so.” I look at Cameron and Sam who are smiling and shaking their heads. “It’s also pack law that you don’t touch an Alpha’s mate, and as an Alpha I have the right to rip his heart out for doing so. If you want him returned to your pack so be it. I will have him returned in pieces for touching my mate.” I stand as I speak my mind to Zander, he cocks his brow at me. “Mate? Are you saying that the daughter of the Hallow pack is your mate Mason?” I shake my head “No.” I take my shirt off, so I can show off my arm, “I am saying that Cammie, daughter to the Alpha of the Hallow pack is my fated mate.” Everyone in the room smiles.
Before anyone can say anything else a young female crashes through the door, she looks like she’s been through hell and back. Sam and Cameron jump up, “Izzy. Oh my God, what happened?” She’s crying, “Oh God, Cameron you need to get there, there’s so many of them. Eric, Casey, Megan, and Cammie, they’re trying to keep them back, but I don’t know how much longer they’re gonna be able to hold out. More keep showing up, Cammie told me to come get help. Please go help them.” I take off out the door and reach out to feel for Cammie. I know that there is a bond somewhere and if I try to open it, I will be able to feel it. In a flash I’ve shifted and am headed towards the lake, I don’t know why but I’m being pulled that way. Sam, Cameron, Zander and a few others are behind me. As I enter the clearing of the field and lake what I see is shocking. I can see Eric and Casey, there’s a smaller wolf who I’m guessing is Megan and they’re tired but holding on damn well. I search the clearing for Cammie and see her with two wolves circling her, ready to pounce. Oh, hell no. I take off as one goes to attack on the ground, she goes after him. I take the one that launches at her in the air, I grab him midair, yanking him down and breaking his neck. She looks at me and nods, then takes off towards Megan to check on her, I look around
and see that wolves just keep showing up. It’s like they’re multiplying in the woods, we take one down and two more show up.
