Jack Dawson, Alpha of the Cold Mountain Pack, was a large pack of werebears; all of them were bikers. He sat just outside the forest, waiting for Duncan's beta.
When Duncan told him everything that was going on with that stupid pack, he wanted to run down there and wipe them all out.
Putting a tracker on a girl, there is only one, maybe two reasons that someone would do that, and neither of them was good.
Jack could hear a bike coming off in the distance, perhaps two or three miles away. He hoped that those damn
fleabags would come here looking for her. He'd show them what bears could do to weak wolves.
First, though he would lead them on a merry chase, right smack dab into the middle of his territory.
He also sent two of his best hunters
and trackers to Duncan to help patrol his borders in case they wanted a war.
He was sick of the kind of crap. It seems like there is at least one in every
kind of were species, and he'd personally wiped out another werebear pack last month; they were running drugs and kidnapping young human children.
The motor of the bike coming up to him took him from his thoughts as he watched Beta Marco pull up to him.
"Hey, Marco, long time no see." He held out his hand to hand him the
tracker.
"Jack, I didn't know it was you, but I was handing it off too."
"Yeah, it's me alright. You better get going; you don't want to hang around here too long in case they are already looking for her.
With a salute, Marco was gone again.
"Well, I better get gone as well if I want this plan to work," Jack said to nobody as he disappeared back into the forest.
Duncan took Adira out for dinner; she chose pizza. They sat together in a small booth, waiting for the pizza.
Adira thought that this place smelled like heaven; she was all but drooling in anticipation. She looked at Duncan; he was so handsome, that she couldn't get enough of looking at him, and she realized that she was starting to trust him. He never berated her or was violent; he was patient with her.
Mate bond or not, she wanted to know what it was like to kiss him. What if he thinks she is one of those kinds of girls and decides to cast her aside?
Artemis growled in her head, "Will you stop that crap? Every time you start to doubt yourself or run yourself down, it is just another win for them.
We made a pact that no matter how bad it gets, we will never give them anything for free. If they want to take it from us, we fight; if they want us to do something, we do the opposite.
Remember, Adira, we are beautiful, smart, and strong. Our mate loves us as we are and is willing to take on all of our shit. If that isn't love, Adira, then what the hell is?"
Adira's eyes started to tear up as she mentally hugged her wolf. "I remember Artemis; I remember. I love you, Artemis."
Duncan was looking at Adira; she was starting to cry, and he had no idea why. He could tell that she was talking to her wolf, but he had no idea what was being said. They were not fully mated yet, so he had no way of speaking to Artemis.
That was when his wolf jumped in,
"Maybe you can't, but I can." "Adira was doubting herself, and Artemis was setting her straight."
"Apollo, come on, what else did she say? What is making her cry? Why was she doubting herself?"
"The crying she is doing is because she is happy with what her wolf said to her. As for what made her doubt in the first place, Artemis won't tell me; she says it's a female thing."
With that, Apollo went back to sleep.
Duncan decided to take a chance and put his arm around her in comfort.
She didn't try to move away; in fact, she moved closer.
She rested her sweet head on his shoulder, and he was almost lost in her warmth and scent. Thank god the pizza came then. He watched Adira eating the pizza and was glad that getting her to eat wasn't going to be a big problem.
She had finished off half of the large pizza before he had finished his; she was looking at that last piece with almost a predatory smile.
Duncan looked into her eyes and realized that it was Artemis. He chuckled and slid itover to her; she gave him a 1000-watt smile, and before long it was gone.
"Artemis?" Duncan asked.
"Yes, Alpha mate?"
"Why are you here instead of Adira?"
"It is a pretty long explanation; are you sure you want to hear it?"
"Yes, we have plenty of time."
"It all started when we were very young; the neglect and abuse that she was going through, I knew I couldn't leave her to deal with it alone."
"I asked the Moon Goddess to help me find a way to save her. The Goddess answered by allowing me to take Adira away from the pain by bringing her into my special world. She built a doorway so when Adira was in trouble, I could go through the door and bring her to my side."