Olivia didn't understand what was going on, but when Cameron told her to hide, the urgency in his demand drove her to obey.

Rocks lined the bank of the pond but most of them were too short to hide behind. Looking around frantically, she splashed through the water to a pointed rock about the size of her head peeking out from the water as a strange sound crackled nearby.

Peering over the rock, her mouth fell open as Cameron—at least, she thought it was Cameron—turned into a large wolf!

One second, he was crouching on the ground, and the next, fur sprouted from his skin, his arms and legs snapped and twisted, his chest grew outward, a tail popped out from behind, and a muzzle protruded out from his mouth and nose as his ears rose up on the side of his head.

Fear and horror gripped her as a wolf with a mixture of gray and white fur with a touch of black stood in his place. His ears pointed forward as he spread his paws out in an aggressive stance and lunged forward with a snarl.

Olivia stood frozen in place as another wolf came charging out of the forest—an equally large gray and silver wolf coated in dirt and mud. Cameron snapped his jaws at him and missed. He twisted around to try and bite him again, but a smaller black wolf cut in between the two larger ones and whined. The silver and gray wolf snarled, baring his teeth and snapping his jaws at them. Cameron's mixed gray wolf snapped at the black one and shoved him aside. The silver-gray wolf used this distraction to turn and run.

Barking, Cameron bound after him and sank his teeth into the silver-gray's hind leg. The silver-gray wolf yowled and twisted around, snapping his powerful jaws at Cameron's face. Cameron held on as the other wolf tried to kick free and the smaller black wolf whined, circling around them and nipping at Cameron's face and hind legs. The two larger wolves fought, biting and kicking, tearing open wounds as blood poured down their thick fur coats.

Olivia held onto the rock. Her breath caught in her throat. Her body was numb to the cold water that surrounded her as she watched the battle raging on the bank before her.

The silver-gray wolf made another attempt to run away and disappeared into the trees. Cameron's wolf chased after him with the small black one on his heels. Snarls and growls amidst the rustling of branches and leaves resounded before there was a series of high-pitched yips.

Then, silence.

Gasping, Olivia pulled away from the rock before falling back behind it.

What the fuck just happened?

She didn't actually see what she thought she saw, did she?

Cameron didn't turn into a wolf and fight with another wolf. It was a figment of her imagination. She was seeing things. Right?

Shivering in the cold water, she held herself and looked around, wondering what to do. Her clothes were still hanging from the branch of a tree she had hung them up on with Cameron's still on the ground.

This can't be real...

Hushed voices murmured in the cover of the forest where the wolves disappeared.

Swallowing, Olivia peered over the rock again and saw movement through the tree trunks and foliage where the voices were coming from.

"How could you, Cam? He's my mate!"

"He breached the border and wasn't listening to you! What would you have me do? Let him attack Olivia? Let him reach the packhouse and kill someone? Come on! Pick him up. We have to get out of here."

Twigs snapped under feet and fallen leaves rustled before a pair of figures emerged from the trees. Olivia inhaled sharply when Cameron emerged, naked, with blood pouring down one of his legs and splattered across his arms, face, and hands. Sam followed, butt-naked as well, carrying a bloody, dirt-coated man in his arms.

What the fuck is going on?

"Olivia!" Cameron called as he walked toward their clothes and looked around the pond for her.

Pulling back behind the rock, heart racing, she dragged air into her lungs as her mind whirled around, wondering what to do next. Should she go out or wait and hope for them to leave?

Idiot! As if Cam would leave without you! Fuck! What do I do? What did I see? Did he really turn into a wolf?

"Come on, Olivia! We need to go! Now!"

Olivia looked over the edge of the rock to watch them. Cameron turned to Sam and order him to go ahead to the car and he'd catch up. Sam nodded, closing his eyes and rubbing his nose in the man's dirt-encrusted hair in his arms. Cameron continued to pace around the pond, scanning every inch of it as he yanked on his boxers and shorts while Sam turned and walked through the trees on the path she and Cameron had taken.

Taking a deep breath in, she pulled away from the rock, knowing that she couldn't even try and hide or run from him.

His eyes quickly turned to her and he swore under his breath, but it was loud enough for her to catch it. Raking his hands down his face, he turned away to pick up his T-shirt. "Come on, Olivia. We don't have much time."

"Time for what, Cam?" she asked, finding her voice as she looked around for some rocks to climb out of the pond.

"It's not safe. We have to go." He wiped the blood from his face with his shirt.

His back was still facing her as she pulled herself out of the water and approached him with cautious steps. "What's going on?"

He stopped and slumped his shoulders. "How much did you see?"

She swallowed. "All of it."

He heaved a sigh. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way."

Anxiety gnawed. What was he saying? Why wouldn't he answer her question? "What the fuck, Cam?" she demanded. Panic set in as she held herself, shivering, dripping wet and not understanding a thing.

One minute they were making out naked in the pond next to the waterfall and the next he was turning into a wolf, fighting another wolf, and demanding they leave immediately.

"What's going on?" she reiterated. "What the fuck happened? I saw you turn..."

She trailed off, unable to spit out the impossible as Cameron turned around slowly. He pulled the blood-stained shirt from his face, regret reflecting in his cognac eyes. She turned away, hiding her body from him even though his eyes implored hers.

"You want to know the truth, Olivia?" He stepped toward her, unabashed by his nakedness, but his intense stare held her still as she shivered.

She looked away, her grip around herself tightening and drawing more into herself. "Yes."

Her whisper in the stillness around them was a haunting sound that made her skin crawl even more.

He stepped in front of her and tilted her chin up. Those tantalizing golden hues bore into her.

At first, she jerked away, but he held on firmly and pulled her gaze back to his. She clenched her jaw, anger bubbling up her throat from her roiling stomach.

"Olivia, calm down."

"What are you, Cameron? A werewolf or something?" she snapped, ignoring his command.

He gritted his teeth when she refused to back down. "In a way, yes. We are more like wolf-shifters, capable of transforming into a wolf at will rather than by the light of the full moon in the traditional horror-movie way, but both terms are acceptable."

"You're insane," she jeered, pulling away from him and stomping over to her clothes.

"Insane?" He followed, hot on her heels. "Which is crazier? Changing into a wolf or denying what you saw with your own two eyes?"

Her jaw hurt from grinding her teeth together as she ignored him and snatched her bra from the tree branch.

"Is this how you're going to respond when Chloe shifts for the first time?"

Her heart jumped. Whirling around, she could hardly speak. She was so mad she could spit. "Excuse me?"

"She's mine, right?" A fire of rage burned within his eyes, yet his voice was eerily calm and collected. "When she comes of age, she will shift for the first time against her will. Is this how you will react? How you will treat her when that happens?"

She opened her mouth only to snap it shut a second later.

Chloe was like him?

She wanted to scream that it was impossible, but couldn't. It was undeniable; Chloe was biologically his and inherited his DNA and everything that came with it.

She looked away and snapped her bra on before reaching for her shirt to pull it over her head. "Of course not."

He growled—actually growled like a freaking wolf! "You better not. You have every right to be pissed with me because I couldn't tell you, but Chloe is innocent and I'll be damned if you tear her down for what she is."

"You're right about one thing," she muttered as she struggled to pull her shirt over her still dripping-wet body. "Chloe's innocent. She's not the one who lied to me about being a fucking werewolf."

"And you think you'd be able to handle that fact if I told you straight up? 'Hey, I'm a werewolf, oh, and your soulmate! Let's go fuck in the bushes and seal the matebond so I don't constantly feel like jumping your bones every time I look at you!'" His voice was dripping with sarcasm as he grasped her chin once she pulled her head through her shirt. "Face it, Olivia! You know damn well that wouldn't blow over, and then I'd have to take you by force—and I'd rather not turn into that kind of prick!"

She yanked herself free from his hold. "You're still a fucking prick for fucking me and leaving!"

He growled as she snatched her panties and shorts from the tree to pull them on. "Don't you dare throw that in my face. You don't know the half of it. I left to protect my pack. We were being attacked like we are right now. I'm a warrior. It's my job to protect my pack. That's why I left. That's why we have to leave right now. I won't have you dying like Andrew."

With that, he picked her up and threw her over his broad shoulder. She flailed and screamed at him to put her down, but he ignored her and began to carry her through the forest. He jogged, his quick pace forced her to settle down and hold on tight in fear of him losing his grip and dropping her.

She had no idea he was this strong. She was far from being a light-weight, but she definitely wasn't overweight either. He man-handled her as if she weighed nothing as the forest rushed by. Soon, they cleared the woods and he set her down next to the car before opening the door and ordering her inside.

"Now is not the time to fight with me, Olivia. Get in and I'll answer your questions then."

"Asshole," she spat, rubbing her stomach from bouncing on his shoulder.

She climbed into the front passenger seat while Cameron ran around to the driver's. Sam was in the back, still naked as the day he was born, and cradling the unconscious, dirty, blood-soaked guy in his lap and whimpering.

"How could you—" Sam started but Cameron snarled as he shoved the keys in the ignition.

"Just shut up, Sam! He wasn't going to stop for you, okay? You can nurse him back to health and win him over then because the way I saw it, he didn't give a flying fuck about you and I wasn't about to let him get near my mate or the packhouse, you got it?"

Sam whimpered but was otherwise silent as Cameron backed out of the lane and onto the dirt road they had come.

"I'm going home," Olivia announced, crossing her arms over her chest. The need to run to her mother's and pull Chloe into her arms was overwhelming.

This was insane. She couldn't bring Chloe into this world. She could get hurt.

"Absolutely not," Cameron grumbled.

"You can't stop me!"

"I don't want you driving around with rogues running around!" he snapped. "Don't you get it? We're under attack right now. If they find you, they'll kill you."

She swallowed, biting back her hostile thoughts. What was going on out there? "Fine. I'll stay."

"Good. Take a hot shower and make sure all the windows and doors are locked and stay there until I come back."

"And then you'll tell me everything?"

He gritted his teeth, his grip tightening around the steering wheel. "What more is there to say? We're under attack. I don't know the full extent of it right now. My only concern is to get you to safety and get Sam and his mate to the infirmary before I go out there and rip some throats out."

They pulled up to the back door of the hotel and he wasted no time in putting the car in park and climbing out. He went around to her door and yanked it open. "Come on, I'll explain more upstairs."

He motioned for her to take the lead and he followed a few paces behind. She swiped her key card to open the door and climbed the stairs up to the top floor on the fifth level.

Once they were inside, he deflated. The fight left him and he rubbed his face as he looked around at the extravagant space. Olivia followed his gaze thinking to herself how crazy everything was. While she stayed in the luxurious honeymoon suite, alone, he would be out there somewhere, fighting with invading werewolves.

She followed him to the bathroom where he splashed cold water on his face and leaned over the counter as water droplets fell over the shallow porcelain bowl. Blood stained the side of his leg and there were scratches across his back, still oozing blood lightly, but he ignored them.

Standing in the doorway, she crossed her arms over her chest again as she took in the profile of this warrior. "So, what now? What's the plan?"

A wildness reflected in his eyes as he looked up to meet her gaze. "You stay here. I fight. That is my job. To protect you, Chloe, and my pack."

"And then what?" she asked as he snatched a small cloth and dried his face.

"Then you and I will finish this."

She raised her brows. "Excuse me, what? What are we finishing?"

He tossed the cloth in the bathtub and stepped toward her, closing in on her as his eyes bore down into hers. "This," his voice lowered as he motioned between them, "incomplete bond. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But someday, we will finish this."

His closeness drew heat to the surface of her skin. The hairs on her arms and neck stood to the electrical energy generating between them. "And what would that mean exactly?"

"We become one as we should have five years ago. It was too soon for me to claim you back then. I'm sure I would have in the days or weeks that followed when I would have revealed myself to you in the matter I meant to do today before we were interrupted. But to seal the matebond and claim you as mine would turn you into a werewolf like me. A choice you have the right to make and not be forced into." He brushed his fingers along her jaw. "Until we seal the matebond, our cravings and urges for each other will only intensify and we will fight and argue the more we resist its magnetic pull."

He closed the gap between their bodies. Her nipples puckered in her bra as her chest brushed against his. The air was thin around them and she struggled to breathe.

"So now you know. What more do I need to say?"

Her head was whirling with everything she saw, everything he told her, and his sheer closeness that affected her body in ways she had no control over.

"Come back in one piece," she whispered.

---- Author's Note ----

Next chapter will be up on the 13th or you can get it now on Inkitt! Link is in my profile.

Dedicated to HeartStone Packmate: blessmelord777 

Copyright Jo Lee Hunt ( Joflower ) 2018