Missy

Today had been weird, to say the least. It was fun, and the party Lemon and Amy threw together was excellent. I also enjoyed shopping with Lemon beforehand. I was pretty sure I was overthinking things because all of a sudden, it seemed like Maddox was always standing or sitting closer to me. And I liked it. I slung my arm over my very warm face. Vlad is my mate, so why were these thoughts going through my head?

Vlad called me earlier, and I let it go to voicemail. He sent me a text message after, asking me to call him when I was free. I never told him that Maddox came with me this weekend. For some reason, I wasn’t looking forward to calling him. I knew I couldn’t put it off forever, but it just felt weird for some reason. I sighed and pulled out my phone, staring at his name on the dialer.

In a cruel twist of fate, my screen lit up with an incoming call from V. Mustering up my resolve, I flicked the green phone icon and answered.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey, princess. I’ve been trying to get ahold of you,” he sounded upset or maybe annoyed.

“Sorry. Lea’s friends threw her a baby shower, and we were all there most of the day,” I apologized.

“Oh,” he said. Silence stretched between us. “I miss you,” he said as someone knocked on the door. I sat up, looking confused. The door cracked open, and Maddox popped his head in.

“Oh, you’re on the phone,” he whispered. I shook my head quickly, motioning for him to come in.

“Hey, I have to go. I’ll text you tomorrow, okay?” I said into my phone.

“Wait, why?” he asked.

“I just do. Sorry,” I said. I hung up before he could argue anymore.

“You didn’t have to hang up on him,” Maddox said with a frown.

“No, it’s okay. What’s up?” I asked.

“I, uh, couldn’t sleep, so I thought I might see if you were still awake,” he said with a shrug.

“Oh,” I said. To my annoyance, I could feel my cheeks warm up. Why was I blushing?

“Do you want to watch a movie or something?” he asked, breaking the awkward tension.

“Sure,” I agreed. There was a small TV in my room across from the bed. I sat up properly and scooted over so he could come to sit against the headboard with me. He climbed onto the bed, and I suddenly realized how small it was when we were squished next to each other.

Maddox gave me a wary look. “I can move to the end of the bed if you’re uncomfortable,” he offered. I looked away from him, a little embarrassed. I snatched the remote from the nightstand and handed it to him.

“Just don’t pick anything scary,” I said.

Lacey

I sat on the little couch in the sitting room, looking over at Felix, who continued to stand in the doorway. His face didn’t give anything away, which was a little frustrating. I always knew what Harry was thinking or feeling. We were so in sync with each other.

I looked over to the desk, where there was now no one standing. I sighed, standing up. I meant what I told Azalea; I wasn’t going to follow him unless he asked me to. I approached him slowly, his eyes on me the entire time. I took a deep breath before speaking.

“Look, I am only here until tomorrow night. Once I take care of everything for work, I am headed back home. Just because we are each other’s second chance doesn’t mean we owe each other anything. You don’t seem to want a second chance. We can go our separate ways, no harm, no foul.” I paused for a minute, looking up at him. His face wore the same neutral, stern expression it had been. I gave him a tight smile and turned to leave. A hot shower and comfy pajamas were what I wanted right now. His presence made me crave his touch, and that was dangerous if this wasn’t going to happen.

My motion was stopped when his hand reached out and grabbed my arm. I turned my head back to look at him. His eyes softened a bit. “Don’t go,” he said in a low voice. I knitted my eyebrows in confusion. I waited for him to say something, anything more. We stood there, frozen for a solid minute. Finally, he released my arm.

“What do you want, Felix?” I asked him. I waited for his answer patiently.

“They almost got hurt,” he answered. Now I was even more confused. Who almost got hurt? And how did that answer my question? Clearly, I was going to have to take this slow with him.

“Why don’t we go somewhere and talk? We aren’t going to get anywhere like this,” I sighed. He nodded his head. He reached out and, this time gently took my hand. I was taken aback by the gesture. His hand swallowed mine completely, but it was warm and firm. He pulled gently in the other direction toward his room. I let him lead me there, thinking maybe he would feel more comfortable opening up in his own environment.

Once we were inside, he closed the door and turned to me. We were standing inches apart as I gazed up into his handsome face. Even without a smile, he was beautiful. My fingers wanted to trace the scar over his eyes, and my heart wanted to know how he got it. I clenched my fists, refraining from touching him.

His warm breath fanned my face, and I wondered if I should speak first. I needed to move from him, create space. My body was warming up, and his scent was surrounding me. I stepped back, needing to put that space between us. I closed my eyes, trying to focus on what was important here. I sucked in a deep breath through my mouth, trying not to breathe in his scent as much as possible.

“Who almost got hurt?” I asked.

“The children,” he answered. I thought for a moment.

“The ones you were with this morning?” I asked. He nodded. “Are they the Alpha and Luna’s pups?” He nodded again. It took me a moment, but then my brain started connecting the dots. He is the Luna’s appointed guard and probably also takes responsibility for the children’s safety as well. She mentioned he had been with her for six years and two of the boys looked pretty young. He has probably been around since they were born. This was going to be harder than I thought. I turned and walked over to his bed, sitting down and patting the spot next to me to see if he would come to join me. He made no motion to join me, so I sighed and tried again.

“Can you tell me what happened? Is that why you ran off last night?”

He nodded his head. I dropped my face into my hands in frustration. Why did the Moon Goddess give me an almost mute, sexy giant as my second chance mate? “There were rogues in the territory yesterday. We have fewer patrols around here, so they slip in easily. I gave poor directions to the patrols and left the Alpha and Luna’s children unattended. The youngest two were caught in a tree surrounded by rogues. It was only by chance they weren’t found,” he said slowly. I froze, listening to his words. When he finished, I looked up slowly from my hands to see him staring at the ground.

“That is why you ran out of here? Because the children were in danger?” He nodded again.

“But if they are okay now, why have you deliberately ignored me?”

His fists clenched. “I failed my Alpha and endangered the future Alpha.” I was at a loss here. I can understand being upset that the pups were in danger, but they were okay, so why was he still so worked up?

“Felix, do you want me here?” I finally asked. Maybe a direct approach would get me the answers I was trying to find. I observed him. He turned his eyes to me slowly, then nodded once more. His face was still expressionless, but his eyes were a different story. I couldn’t figure out what was going on in his head, but he was sincere. He wanted me here.

I let out a breath. “Felix, I need you to communicate with me… You’re so silent and stoic. I don’t know what to think. Azalea asked me to come to your packhouse-”

“Please.” he interrupted. I paused. Did he just ask me to go with him to their packhouse?

“Are you asking me to come with you?” I clarified; he nodded. I chewed on my l*p for a moment. The only thing waiting for me in my apartment in the city was my half-dead cactus and an empty fridge. I was drawn to the idea of spending time with him, but how were we supposed to get to know each other if he won’t open up?

“Alright,” I finally agreed. His eyes lit up for a brief moment. “I will come back to your packhouse with you, but only if you come over here, sit down, and tell me about yourself.”

Missy

I shrunk down even further into the blanket, not even pretending to keep my eyes above it anymore. “I thought you said this was a thriller,” I whined in my cocoon.

“It is,” Maddox said from above me. “I can turn it off.” His offer was no longer helpful. The damage was done by this point. I shook my head inside the blanket. “Are you really scared, Miss?” he asked gently, his voice closer now. I nodded my head but didn’t come out of the blanket. “I’m sorry,” he said. The blanket lifted next to me, and Maddox inserted himself into my little safe place. My eyes went wide at his sudden closeness. His arm came around my middle, and he pulled me flush to him, still under the blanket.

“Maddox, what are you doing?” I asked. I realized that the room was now quiet; he must have stopped the movie.

“We didn’t get to finish our conversation last night, but I did tell you that I wanted to protect you,” he said in a low voice. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat.

“I-I’m okay,” I stuttered.

“I know you are dating Vlad and think he is your mate, but I think you should know that I really hope he isn’t. I pray the Moon Goddess at least gives me a fighting chance at being your mate,” he confessed. My mouth dropped open in surprise. “Missy, I am going to become the strongest and fastest warrior in the pack. I am going to work harder than everyone else so I can protect you and the pack. I am going to make sure that you don’t ever have to be scared ever again.”

My stomach jumped into my throat, and my heart was beating ten times its normal speed. Why is he saying all of this?

I got no time to process any of his words, though, because there was pounding at the door. “Missy, we need to leave. Get Maddox and get your things,” Liam linked me.

“What’s going on?” I asked, shooting up and throwing the blanket off of us.

“I need to bring Azalea to the doctor.”Content rights belong to .