Chapter 7

I had managed to unpack all my belongings and change before Jaxon and his mate arrived. I opened the door to my room to find a small brunette grinning at me as she stood beside an oversized blonde male. I knew it was the beta and his mate, but his size was terrifying.

“Hannah! I’m so excited that you’re finally here! I can’t tell you how happy I am that Tristan has found our luna!” The woman squealed, pulling me into a hug.

“Cam, let her go before you scare the poor girl. I’m Jaxon by the way, everyone calls me Jax and this is my mate Cam.” He said, pointing his thumb in the direction of the woman who had been squeezing the air out of me.

I didn’t bother to introduce myself as it was apparent, they already knew my name. Instead I allowed Cam to take my hand and pull me behind her through the pack house to the wooded area outside. There was a building just before the woods that looked similar to a campground bathroom that I had visited once as a child. Cam led me inside, telling me that when we were near the pack house, most of the pack would shift inside so they had privacy. Nudity wasn’t necessarily taboo in a pack, but there had been an issue over a mated female in the past so Tristan had established the changing rooms to prevent further disagreements among pack members.

I hung my clothes on the hook inside the female side of the changing rooms and shifted. My wolf howled as soon as she had taken over, her joy at finally being mated and a member of a pack too much to contain. I noticed Cam’s wolf was just as tiny as her human form, but it was an attractive blend of brown and silver fur. She nuzzled me with her snout, her wolf as affectionate as her person, before leading me outside to meet Jax. His wolf wasn’t as large as I had expected, though still much larger than his mate.

Ready? I heard Cam’s voice through the mind link. I jumped, the whole mind link thing still being new to me, and then lowered my head as if I were nodding. We took off into the woods, following Jax’s silver fur as we weaved in and out of the trees. The pack lands were expansive, further confirming that Iron Hide pack was large and wealthy. The run through them was exhilarating. It was the first time since I had met my wolf that I could run without worrying about being mistaken for a rogue threat.

My heart was filled with joy. My wolf wanted to run until she collapsed enjoying the ability to run carefree as much as I was. Sensing my excitement, Cam sprinted past Jax, forcing us to increase our speed. I wasn’t sure how much of my history either of them had been told through the mind link, but she seemed to understand that this was the first time I had been able to let go and run.

We raced around the pack lands, making laps around the perimeter so that I could learn the boarder. Once I felt confident that I had the lay of the land, I pushed ahead of Cam and Jax, occasionally turning back to push them to move faster. Cam yipped with excitement; she was enjoying the play. Jax humored me but seemed more content to watch his mate enjoy playing with their new luna.

I had pushed ahead again, leaving them to catch up when a howl cut through the night air, stopping me in my tracks. I froze in fear as I heard Jax call my name through the mind link. I turned to make my way back to them when I scented an unfamiliar wolf. It didn’t smell like a rogue, but it wasn’t Jax or Cam either. I tried not to panic as a jet-black wolf stepped into my path, preventing me from running back towards my friends.

The low growl that rumbled in the wolf’s chest was enough to tell me that this was not a member of my new pack. While my scent would be unfamiliar to them, I knew instinctively that they would have recognized it as one of their own. I began backing away, hoping to put some distance between myself and the unknown wolf when another growl erupted from his throat. In my panic I hadn’t realized that I was screaming for help through the pack mind link. I didn’t know exactly where I was on pack lands, but I knew that the entire pack had heard my call.

“SHIFT NOW!” I heard Jax command. The black wolf before me turned to look at him. “I said shift. You are on Iron Hide lands Gamma, shift now and explain why you are threatening our luna!”

Cam’s wolf moved to my side and leaned into me, offering comfort, as the wolf in front of me shifted into human form. Before us stood a six foot something, muscular male, with jet black hair that matched the color of his wolf’s fur. He glanced over his shoulder at us and smirked, before returning his focus to Jax. I couldn’t help but notice that both men were stark naked and felt myself inwardly blush at my first look at a naked man.

“Beta Jaxon. I thought the female was a rogue. With her being so close to our boarder, I decided to investigate.” The man spoke in a smooth voice.

“Bullshit Mack, she is a part of our pack and doesn’t scent like a rogue. What the hell were you doing?” Jaxon scowled, not accepting the man’s explanation.

“You got me.” The man called Mack chuckled. “I scented a female and wanted to have a little fun. She doesn’t smell like anyone I know from your pack so I thought she must be a visitor from another pack.”

Jax remained silent, as if waiting for Mack to continue explaining why he had scared me so badly I had screamed for help for the whole pack to hear.

“It was all in good fun, wasn’t it sweetheart?” Mack said, flashing me a smile over his shoulder.

“She is our luna. Hold your fucking tongue!” Jax roared, grabbing Mack by the throat. “Cam, take the luna back to the pack house. I’m going to make sure Mack makes his way back to his own pack lands and then fill Alpha Tristan in on the need to hold a meeting with the Alpha of the Blood Rose pack.”