{Mary}

The next time I woke up I heard the radio playing in the kitchen. I blinked and thought, What the fuck?

I got out of bed and noticed that I wasn't in any pain so I walked over to the kitchen with no problem at all. I paused when I heard the song that was playing and smiled.

"Devil, Devil I wouldn't like you even if you were my next of kin I'd still hate you. Isn't that what siblings do? We see who can do better when we hate each other? Why does it matter if we're brother or sister?"

I loved that part of the song because of the breakdown that happens next in the song. The song was by my favorite artist who goes by the name Jade Fire as her stage name. She started singing with a band called HourGlass and her first album went platinum within weeks of its release.

I saw Sharry sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee as if this was her house and not mine. I rolled my eyes. "Well gee make yourself at home why don't ya?"

She chuckled, "As you can see I already did that. I was going to wake you up but you didn't look so well so I let you sleep."

"You do realize this isn't your house right?" I asked, not bothering to hide my annoyance with her at the moment.

"Yeah, and? I came to check on you because I could sense that you weren't doing so well," Sharry said.

"Exactly how did-" I said.

She cut me off, "Your mother and I have no idea how she does it. It must be one of the perks of being a High Priestess or something like that. And as usual your mother was right."

I grit my teeth. "Of course she is. That woman can't stay out of my life even if it is to save her life."

"Wow you really hate her don't you?" Sharry asked.

I nodded. "Yup! Although the word 'hate' would be an understatement as to how I feel about her."

"Why don't you-" She said.

"Bury the hatchet? Forgive and forget and move on? Yeah that's not happening! Besides I am her bastard child after all," I said.

Sharry gasped then she narrowed her eyes at me. "Don't you ever say that about yourself ever again!"

"Or what? You know it's true because that's how mom addresses me!" I declared.

"You should know that every witch in the coven hates what your mom thinks of you!" Sharry said, "If you ask me I think she's jealous."

I raised an eyebrow and gave her a look of disbelief. "Huh?"

"You heard me," said Sharry, "she's jealous because you have more power than you think."

"How do you know this?" I asked.

She rubbed the back of her neck and shifted her gaze downward a bit. "Well I can't tell you everything at the moment but I can sense that there is a lot of power within you and you haven't even begun to scratch the surface of it! Just whatever you do, don't tell your mom I said that."

I snorted. "Yeah like that'll ever happen considering I'm not talking to her at the moment. So your secret's safe with me."

I made a motion like I was zipping my mouth shut with an imaginary zipper. Sharry laughed, "You are something else aren't you?"

I shrugged. "I guess so."

Sharry chuckled and then she looked like she remembered something. I tilted my head. "What?"

"I almost forgot but I have another client for you. They've been searching for a good editor for some time and couldn't find anyone. I recommended her to you and she wants to meet you either today or sometime tomorrow." Sharry said.

"Okay then," I said, "what time does she want to meet today?"

Sharry took out her cell phone and sent a text message. About a couple of minutes later there was a response. I raised an eyebrow. "Wow, that was the fastest reply ever."

"Oh that's because she was off work today so she had some time to kill so to speak," Sharry said. "She said that she can meet up at the café down the street from here within a couple of hours. And since I'm here…"

"Okay I get it I'll go get dressed and we can head out," I said.

***

When she got to the café we were greeted by a young woman who looked like she was in her early 20's with long blonde hair and black eyes. She smiled at me and I had no idea why she looked at me with a mix of admiration and excitement.

"Hi there, my name is Lauren and I want to hire you to edit my book," the woman said. She shook my hand and we sat down at a nearby table.

"Okay then," I said, "questions, how long is the story, and what is my deadline to get this done?"

"The story is at least about sixty thousand words long," Lauren replied. "And as far as the deadline goes I have a rather strange request."

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay what is it?"

She pulled out of her backpack that she had with her a vanilla envelope and passed it to me. I opened it up and was rather surprised about the request. She wanted me to edit the story at her home and stay at her home the whole entire time! Not to mention the money they were giving was a little bit over five hundred thousand dollars! There's no way I could pass this offer up. This job would give me enough money so I could finally take a little bit of a vacation.

Thankfully I didn't live with anyone and I didn't have any pets or anything like that so I could take the offer no problem.

I looked up at Lauren and nodded. "Yeah know what? This offer is too good to pass up, I'll take it. Of course we need to write out a written agreement and once everything is said and done I'll get started on it!"

"Alright then, when will you have the contract ready?" Lauren asked.

"I can have it to you by Saturday, how does that sound?" I said.

She smiled and nodded. "Sounds good to me!"

After exchanging phone numbers and grabbing a quick bite to eat we parted ways. I still have no idea why Lauren was so excited to meet me.

***

{Alpha Tyler}

I couldn't help but be excited about the fact that Mary was coming to stay on pack grounds because she took the offer that Lauren gave her. I had a feeling she would take it considering how much money she was being offered.

I found it funny that as mom and dad found out that Mary was coming they started barking orders at the maids to get her cabin ready to go. I have a small cabin that's next to my house that normally I have set aside for guests. I figured since Mary was going to be a guest and had no idea that she would be living amongst a pack of werewolves, she would be more comfortable living in the cabin and not at my house or the pack house for that matter.

Also after having a pack meeting about this I gave an order to not address Mary as Luna because she has no idea what that means or that she's going to be the next Luna of the pack. I also let them know about Mary's wolf named Danger and I told them to resist the urge to kneel in front of her because she would have no idea what it meant. I didn't want to scare her off when she won't even accept the fact that she's half werewolf.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked after I saw mom come out of the cabin for the one hundredth time.

She looked up at me and shook her head. "Nope! I got it covered, just leave this job to the women!"

"But-" I said.

"Look I know you're excited Mary is your mate and all that jazz, but I think it's best for you to go take care of some 'Alpha business'. " Mom said. "You need to do something to calm your nerves."

"What? Me, nervous? I'm not nervous!" I declared.

Mom raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Uh-huh sure you're not! Go for a jog or something like that. Like I said, leave this to the women. This cabin needs a woman's touch to it and not a man's touch."

It took everything within me to not roll my eyes at that statement. That's mostly because I know of some guys that work in interior design and they are awesome at their jobs! My mom is such a traditionalist it gets on my nerves sometimes. Instead of saying anything I just nodded and went to the pack house to find Theo.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

When I found Theo he was sitting at the kitchen table he was munching on a turkey sandwich. I rolled my eyes. "Isn't that like the fourth meal you've had today?"

He shrugged. "I guess so? Even so, at least I'm training to burn the calories off so I don't think I'll be gaining any weight any time soon. Besides, I'm just as nervous as you are for Mary to get here. Food seems to help calm my nerves at least."

"I'm not nervous!" I declared.

He rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh sure, then why does your heart sound like you've run a mile and back?"

"Uh…" I said. I felt my cheeks turn red and Theo burst into laughter. When Lauren walked by she started laughing too. I narrowed my eyes. "What is so funny?"

"Aww I don't think it's funny I think it's cute!" Lauren said, "But seriously I think you should find a way to calm your nerves Tyler. It's not like you're asking her out on a date or something. Honestly, I think everyone needs to calm down. Mary's not our Luna yet and she doesn't even know you're her mate for crying out loud!"

I paused because I remembered when I heard Mary's thoughts when I met her at that party a couple weeks ago. I know she knows that I'm her mate because of that voice I heard talking to and I'm going to assume that was her wolf telling her I was her mate. I also wondered if that's why she got spooked and left the party. But instead of saying anything about it I nodded in agreement. "Yeah you're right I should just play it cool and act natural right?"

Lauren nodded. "Exactly! And think that should go for-"

"It's ready!" I heard mom exclaim.

I turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What's ready?"

"The cabin!" Mom said in a sing-song voice. "And since it's ready to go for Mary no one is allowed in there until Mary arrives and gets situated."

I nodded.

"By the way, when will she be here?" Mom asked.

"She'll be here tomorrow by 12pm!" Lauren answered.

Mom's eyes lit up. "Wonderful! She'll be here just in time for lunch!" She tilted her head. "You know something son? Maybe you should go for a jog or something like that. It will help calm you down a bit and don't say you're not nervous because I hate it when you lie like that."

"Okay fine," I said, "If it makes you feel better I will do just that."

So that's exactly what I did. When I left the house, I shifted into my wolf form and ran out into the forest as fast as I could.

***

{Mary}

I was blown away when I saw a black limousine pull up to the driveway of my house. But then again I shouldn't have been so shocked because Lauren did offer me over five hundred thousand dollars to edit her story so she had to be loaded right? At the same time I didn't think that I deserved such special treatment just because I was going to edit her story for her.

I was even more surprised after the driver loaded my luggage which wasn't much because I tend to pack light anyway but the driver actually bowed to me as if I were royalty!

I didn't say anything even though I wanted to. I brushed it off as maybe this was something a rich person's employees were supposed to do when it comes down to greeting someone.

The drive was a two hour drive from my house to Lauren's house. I looked out the window in curiosity when part of the drive went down into a forest and on a winding road. It was a good thing I didn't get carsick like some people do because when I say winding road I mean the curves on the were ridiculous!

Once we arrived at the house my jaw dropped at how big it was. The house was pretty much a mansion! It was big enough to fit three small houses inside of it combined. As I looked at the house in awe I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Lauren say, "Hey Mary! I'm so glad you finally came!"

She came up to me and hugged me as if I were a long lost friend. I smiled. "No problem this is part of the contract to live with you."

"Okay then," said Lauren, "I'll give you a tour of the house if you want? Don't worry about your luggage, the maids will set it up in your cabin."

I blinked. "Huh? Cabin?"

"Oh yes, there's a cabin that my family uses as a guest house, don't worry it'll have everything you need in it during your stay here," Lauren said. "The cabin's very private and we want you to feel comfortable here."

The fact that I would be living in my own house or cabin in this case, made me feel even more special. But I still didn't feel that I needed it because I'm just editing her story and once it's done I'm going back home. Thankfully the deadline to edit this book was at the end of the year. Even so I still had other books I needed to edit too so I took those with me and I would try to stop by the post office when I finished with those.

Lauren showed me around the house. "I have a HUGE family emphasis on the word huge and we all live under the same roof that's why we live in a mansion like this. None of my siblings move out of the house even when they get married. Their spouses live with us in the house along with their children and sometimes in-laws."

I whistled at that. Lauren smiled and nodded. "Yeah I know, I get that reaction every time a guest stays here."

When we were just about half way through the tour, I paused when I saw him. It was the same guy that I met at that party a few weeks ago.

MATE!!!! Danger practically screamed inside my head.

Okay, Danger chill out! I thought.

Okay then, fine I'll wait until you're ready to accept reality for what it is! Danger growled. Thankfully she went quiet after that.

Lauren looked at me and frowned. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Yes I'm fine. I just had no idea that Tyler was from a big family!"

She looked over at Tyler who for some reason had an amused look on his face and covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. When she composed herself she said, "So I take it you've met him before?"

I nodded. "Oh yeah I met a party that my friend Sharry dragged me to a few weeks ago."

Lauren chuckled, "You say that as if you're not the partying type."

"Yeah I don't really like parties or large crowds much," I said.

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why?"

"Well I used to work as a cop before I started working as an editor and my instincts seemed to be heightened when it comes down to being in a crowd," I explained. "Even Sharry had to tell me to act natural at the party because she knows exactly how I am."

Before Lauren could say anything Tyler said, "You know what Lauren? I can take over the tour from here."

"Are you sure about that?" Lauren said.

Tyler nodded. For some reason when Lauren she walked off laughing and I had no idea what was so funny. I looked at Tyler. "What was so funny that Lauren couldn't stop laughing?"

He shrugged. "I don't know but for some reason Lauren tends to find things funny when it comes down to me."

"I see," I said.

Tyler finished showing me around the house and led me to the cabin where I would be staying. As soon as we opened the door my jaw dropped. Even though the cabin looked like a simple cabin on the outside, the inside looked nothing like a setup that one would think a cabin would look like on the inside.

The inside of the cabin looked like a small apartment with a kitchen that had marble floors and a gold plated chandelier hanging over the kitchen table. It had one bedroom with a huge walk-in closet and one and a half bathrooms. The living room had a flat screen Tv that was hanging above a fireplace.

For the first time in a while I couldn't think of anything to say, I was speechless.

Tyler smiled at me. "Yeah we get that reaction a lot when we show guests where they're staying."

I nodded. "Okay."

He looked up at the clock on the wall and then said, "It's almost time for lunch. We should get back to the house now."

I nodded and followed Tyler back to the mansion. I tried my best to keep myself composed when I saw how many people were sitting at the dining room table. There were enough people sitting there to create a small army! Lauren did say she had a huge family and she wasn't kidding about that. I smiled when I saw Lauren motion for me to sit next to her and then Tyler took his seat across from me.

There were two elderly people, a man and a woman sitting at the head of the table. I'm going to assume these two people were the parents of the family and possibly the owners of this mansion.

Soon lunch was served and everyone waited until the elderly people sitting at the head of the table ate first before we could eat. When I finished eating I looked up to see the two elderly people smiling at me with a twinkle in their eyes. I sat there completely confused and feeling awkward. Okay what's so great about someone editing a book for a member of this family? Or do they not get very many guests?

The elderly couple dismissed everyone at the table except Lauren, Tyler and I. There was a bit of an award silence until the elderly woman spoke, "It's so nice to finally meet you Mary. I must say you have quite the resume when it comes down to editing."

"Um, thank you," I said.

"Where are my manners? I'm Mrs. Amoria and of course my husband over here is Mr. Amoria," Mrs. Amoria said.

Mr. Amoria nodded. "Oh yes I'm glad we found you based on a recommendation from your friend Sharry. Let's just say this isn't going to be an easy job for you."

I raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Well how do I put this nicely? My daughter's story needs a lot of work to be at least presentable," Mr. Amoria said.

"And don't forget about talent!" Mrs. Amoria chirped. "Honestly, I'm not sure what Lauren gave you would count as a story."

Tyler snorted and then covered his mouth. He looked like he was having a hard time keeping his composure at Mrs. Amoria's comment.

"Hey!" Lauren protested. "At least I tried!"

Mrs. Amoria rolled her eyes. "Well trying doesn't mean you'll get your book published. Anyway Lauren, sit down with Mary show her your book so you guys can get started."

Lauren nodded. "Yes Lu- I mean mom, I'll get right on it!"

Mr. and Mrs. Amoria nodded and dismissed us from the table.

***

{Alpha Tyler}

I tried so hard not to laugh when Lauren showed Mary her story. I was trying not to laugh because the first thing Mary said when she saw that title was, "Okay, the story is called: The Princess and the Magical Dog Poop?"

I covered my mouth to keep myself from laughing.

"Okay the title of the story is uh, creative. What's the story about?" Mary said.

"Well it's about a Princess who was going to buy something special for her mom because it was her birthday," Lauren replied, "She had thirteen coins in her bag just enough money for it and then an evil wizard came by and turned the coins into dog poop…"

I couldn't take it anymore and I left the house and went around the corner to laugh to my heart's content. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. I finally regained my composure when Theo came around the corner.

"What's so funny?" Theo asked.

"Lauren's pitching her story to Mary!" I laughed, "I'm already feeling sorry for Mary and she hasn't even started reading the book yet."

Theo snorted. "Yeah I feel sorry for her too. At least she has until the end of the year to get it done."

"No kidding," I agreed.

"So what do you want to do now?" Theo said.

"Honestly," I said, "I have no idea. But I do know that I'll be-"

"Sleeping outside Mary's door tonight?" Theo said.

I nodded. "Yup."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Theo said after rolling his eyes.

I did somewhat feel bad about Mary dealing with Lauren's writing but I was happy that she was here on pack grounds now.

***

That night well after Mary went to sleep I changed into my wolf form and fell asleep outside next to her house. The strangest thing happened. I woke up when I saw a beam of light coming from behind her house. When I went to go check it out my jaw dropped.

Door! Jacob thought.

What Jacob thought was right, I saw Mary sleeping on the ground in the grass like she was sleeping in her bed. Right behind her was a door that looked like a regular door from a house. The door was cracked open. Once I got close to the door it opened wide and it sucked me along with Mary in it.