I woke up with the sun shining on my face. Annoyed, I flipped over and pull the covers completely over my head. I heard thundering footsteps running toward my room and I cringed in response. My door was slammed open, hitting the wall with a painful bang. I was sure that the door knob left a gaping hole in my bedroom wall. The source of the stampede jumped and landed on top of me; effectively knocking the air out of my lungs. Another jumped on my hip, one on my legs and two others topped it off. I groaned in annoyance as they yanked the covers off my face; exposing me to the sun.

As my eyes squinted open I was greeted with the smiling faces of my 5 brothers.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" They belted into my ear. I wanted to be so mad, but when I saw their smiling faces, I couldn't help but let a smile tug on the corners of my lips.

My oldest brother, Junior (Jacob Ephraim Black Jr.), got up from my bed and kissed my forehead before leaving. "Happy Birthday ducky." I smiled and mouthed "thanks"

My little brothers Liam and Elijah situated themselves on top of me again and looked at me with a glint in their eyes that I knew so well; mischievousness. I started to protest but before I could, they each took a cheek of mine and pinched it 16 times each. They laughed at my reddened cheeks before kissing each one and jumping off my bed, making their way downstairs for breakfast.

Left on my bed was my two older brothers, Will and Hunter. They smiled at expectantly. I just rolled my eyes and lifted the covers off and pushed my legs off the side of my bed. Once my toes touched the hardwood floor I hissed and pulled them back as if I had been electrocuted. My brothers just laughed at me. Hunter got up and grabbed my slippers from my closet and placed them under my feet.

He kissed my cheek and started leaving my room, but not before turning around and grabbing Will by the nape of the neck and dragging him out of the room. "Hurry up and get ready duck, mom and dad have a big day planned for you today!"

I slipped on my yellow ducky slippers and sighed. I wasn't one for having a dolled up birthday party. If I could, I would just stay at home and watch movies with my brothers. But that's not the way it works in this family, every birthday is a huge celebration where basically the whole town is called.

I shuffled into the bathroom and brushed my teeth before pulling my hair into a fishtail braid. My raven black hair was getting so long; it was almost touching my waist. I looked in the mirror, my light brown eyes staring back at me intently. I was 5'8 and was the perfect combination of my parents. I had a lighter version of my dad's eyes, my dad's nose and lips, but my body structure was completely my mom's; except for the fact that I was about 3 inches taller than her thanks to my dad.

A loud banging noise of my door shook me out of my thoughts.

"Charlotte Sarah Black! Let's go! Your mom has breakfast ready."

"Coming!" I shouted back

As I made my way down stairs, I saw my mom had set up the table beautifully, filled with all of my favorite foods. There was bacon, and pancakes, and sausage, and grits, and eggs, and strawberries with whipped cream. My mouth watered just looking at it. Today, I sat at the head of the table, which was usually Junior's seat, directly opposite of where dad sat. Mom and dad came over and kissed my forehead. Once we were all situated at the table, I had Junior on my right and Hunter on my left. Will was sitting next to Junior, since he idolized him so much, and mom sat next to him. Next to Hunter was the twins Liam and Elijah. And like always, dad sat at the head of the table. Once I had my plate filled mom gave the okay for the boys to eat. They shoveled as much as they could on their plates before dad barked at them to save some for mom.

I laughed, I loved my family. The boys devoured their food in no time and of course had to politely wait for me to finish my food. It was a tradition in my family, but it was mostly only followed on my birthday, that the birthday girl/boy sits at the head of the table and must be treated like a princess. So you as you can see, they only really did that on my birthday. I was the only girl, so I was to be treated like a baby.

Once the table was cleared by the boys, mom and dad walked over to me with a grin on my face. I thought it was a little suspicious, since I never know what to expect with my family.

My brothers waited for me at the door, all of them ready to go to school, except for Junior who needed to go on patrol. Will and Hunter were put on afternoon patrols so that they wouldn't miss school.

My mom pulled out a small white box tied in a beautiful green bow, my favorite color, out from behind her back. I squealed and thanked them.

My dad laughed "Duck, you don't even know what it is yet."

I pulled the bow undone carefully and lifted the lid. Inside the box lay a car key. I was a little confused until realization dawned on my face. I looked up at my parents with the biggest grin on my face.

"No way! Are you serious?" I jumped up and down not believing this.

"It's right outside, go look" My mom said as she snuggled into my dad, their smiles matching my own.

I rushed outside past my brothers and stopped on the porch. At the end of the driveway behind the rest of my family's car was a dark green Ford F150 truck. It was perfect! I squealed in delight as I ran to it. Leather interior, 4-cylinder, I threw my bag in the passenger seat and lifted the hood. It was absolutely perfect. I couldn't ask for a better gift.

It wasn't typical for a girl to get a pickup truck, but I wasn't like every other girl. I grew up with 5 brothers and was constantly around the pack. I was anything but a girly girl. This was my kind of car and I couldn't believe that my parents actually got this for me.

I ran over to them and thanked them over and over again.

My dad laughed "Alright we get it, you're welcome. Now go to school before you're late."

My parents kissed me goodbye and I jumped into my truck. I heard the passenger door and the back seat door open as the twins piled into the car.

"You're not going with Will and Hunter?" I asked, that was the usual routine. They just shook their head and I shrugged.

"We wanted to be the first to get into the car. Plus Will and Hunter never let us choose the radio." They complained.

Fortunately they knew that I had a soft spot for them since they were my brothers. I just smiled and the fought over what radio to pick. I pulled out of the driveway and took the usual route to school; Will and Hunter's black hummer following us.

Our parents decided it was best to get them one car since they were so close in age. Will had just turned 18 last month and Hunter had been 17 for a while.

We pulled into the Reservation High School parking lot. Will and Hunter were both seniors, I was a junior, and Liam and Elijah were freshman.

While I was unbuckling my seat belt, my door was opened and I was dragged out of my seat and into a pair of warm, strong arms. I inhaled his scent and knew immediately who it was.

I pulled away from my best friend with a huge smile on my face. Ayden Cameron was the person that I was closest to out of all the wolves, other than my brothers. He was the son of Jared and Kim Cameron. We had always been attached at the hip; so much that our parents even thought that when he first phased, he would imprint on me. But he didn't, and we were both perfectly okay with that, we never saw each other like that anyways; we knew it would be awkward.

"Close your eyes." He said, his smile never leaving his face.

I did as he asked and waited.

"Okay. Open." In front of me was another little box, this one made out of wood. It looked hand carved. I looked at it in awe and opened it. Inside was a leather bracelet with all different tribal markings on it. I held my wrist out and waited for him to lock it in place. I held it up to the sun and it looked beautiful. I wrapped my arm around his neck and thanked him.

"Look." He said, pointing down to his ankle.

He had an exact replica around his ankle, which meant that when he phased it wouldn't come off. I looked up at him expecting an explanation of the gift.

"They're friendship bracelets. Yeah yeah, don't give me crap about being sappy."

Instead, I punched him in the arm and turned back around to grab my bag out of the car. Once my car was locked Ayden and I started walking and he placed his arm over my shoulder.

"So you got a new car, huh? It's nice. It's perfectly you ducky."

I rolled my eyes, the childhood nickname seemed to catch on with everyone.

Ayden walked me to my first period, before turning and going to his class; no doubt ending up late. But he didn't mind, he was in fact my best friend.

The rest of the day seemed to pass by in a blur. My best friend Angie wasn't here at all during the first half of school so all my classes were boring.

At the bell dismissed us for lunch I stood from my desk and started to pack my things away carefully in my backpack. As I was preparing to leave the class someone passed by me and smacked my ass. I turned quick to see who it was and of course it was Cael.

Cael was Collin's son, one of the original wolves. Cael was an arrogant boy who thought he could get whoever he wanted, including me. He was fit but not as fit as the wolves. He still hadn't phased but was expected to any time this year.

I gritted my teeth in anger and bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from going off on him. He looked back at me with his signature smirk that made girls fall for him and a wink to top it off.

I walked down the hallway looking pissed, Ayden who came up to walk me to lunch noticed.

"What's wrong duck?" He looked worried.

"Cael. Stupid, arrogant Cael smacked my ass." I was seething.

Ayden chuckled a little which caused me to whip my head in his direction.

"You think this is funny?"

He could barely contain himself "No. Not at all Ducky, it's just that you two are ridiculous."

"He smacked my ass Ayden!"

"I know. But hey, it's your birthday so don't let it get to you alright?"

I nodded and tried to relieve my tension as I made my way to the lunchroom. Ayden got our lunches and brought them to the table that we sat at with all the wolves.

Sitting at the table was my brothers; Will, Hunter, Liam, and Elijah.

Aunt Rebecca and Embry's sons: Darrion and Jay who were twins and the same age as Liam and Elijah. (Aunt Rachael and Paul's kids were still in elementary school.)

Claire and Quil's son: Quil VI (the 6th)

Sam and Emily's son: Levi. They also had a three year old daughter name Elizabeth, Lizzie for short. Lizzie was imprinted on by one of the original wolves, Brady Fuller. Sam was not happy, but now Lizzie has a protector and best friend.

And lastly and most definitely the least was Cael. I resisted rolling my eyes as I neared the table. The boys made room for me and Ayden in between Hunter and Levi. Not only was I the only girl at home, I was also the only girl here. As soon as I sat down, everyone stopped talking. I looked around in confusion until I realized what they were going to do. Horror flashed across my face –

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"

I covered my ears and lowered my head to the table. My cheeks flamed red as the entire cafeteria turned to look at me.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR DUCKY!"

"STOP!" I cut them off before I could be any further humiliated. The boys all burst into laughter, even Cael who hadn't participating in singing. I sent a glare to every single one of them, and if looks could kill, I would've striked them all dead.

Thankfully lunch was over, and we all got up to finish the last three periods of the day. As I was waiting for Ayden to clean up the mess that he made while eating, Cael snuck up behind me and grabbed me ass and this time held his hand there and squeezed. HARD.

I gasped, all the boys seemed to hear and their eyes widened as they took in the scene in front of them. My jaw clenched and I paused to take a deep breath. But that didn't work, of course it didn't.

My body whipped around in his direction and my arm pulled back, only to snap forward and punch Cael right in the face. I could hear my hand crunch.

Cael's head flew back and he grabbed his nose which was now flowing with blood. He stared at me with pure hate and started shaking. Since Levi, Will, and Ayden were the oldest, they dragged Cael, who was now a blur, out of school. The principal came in then and called me to her office. I rolled my eyes and had my brothers each pat my back. They were beaming with pride.

Hunter whispered in my ear before going off to class "Damn Ducky, you sure have good right hook"

I smirked at him and cradled my right hand against my chest. Once I got into the principal's office she gave me a bag of ice for my sprain and called my parents.

I was not looking forward to going home. I was scared of what awaited me. So much for it being my birthday. Hunter didn't think it was smart for me to drive with only one hand, and since Will was still with Cael, he decided to leave the car at school so that Will could drive it back, and the four of us piled into my car. The twins in the back and me and Hunter in the front.

About 10 minutes into the drive the twins busted out in hysterics. They were falling over each other in laughter and were gasping for breath at the same time. Hunter and I looked at them like they had grown three heads.

After they calmed down, and Elijah got the hiccups, I turned to them wanting an explanation.

"You..you…your face when you hit Cael was perfect!"

"You should've—hiccup - seen your face sis! I wouldn't - hiccup - want to - hiccup - mess with you!"

They went back into hysterics and Hunter cracked a smile. He turned to me then, completely ignoring the road.

"I'm proud of you ducky. People should know not to mess with you now. "

"Well I was raised with wolves" he chuckled at my joke and pulled into our driveway.

I took a deep breath before opening to door.

"Charlotte Sarah Black, could you please come in here."

I tried to grab one of my brothers to go with me but they all raced upstairs, eager to get out of there.

I stalled before walking into the living room. On the couch sat Collin, Cael's father.

They all looked at me when I walked in and I smiled nervously.

"Hey ducky, I just stopped by to see how your hand was. Man, I never thought I'd see the day that Ducky would break my son's nose. "

My dad and Collin laughed, my mom looked pissed.

I laughed nervously along with them, not knowing if I was in trouble or not.

"Yeah my hand is fine, just a sprain. It'll be fine in a couple weeks. So, I'm guessing the principal called you too?

He shook his head "No, Ayden stopped by to tell me. He was updating me on how Cael was with the whole phasing thing."

"Oh so he did phase. Whoopdy do for him." Sarcasm leaking off my tongue.

"Charlotte!" My mom scolded

I apologized to Collin and he just waved me off.

"I'll be stopping by later for your birthday party with Cael, you deserve an apology from him. I just wish his mom was here. Maybe if she was, he wouldn't be acting out like this."

He looked so sad, I felt the need to go to him and comfort him. Instead, my dad went over and patted his back. He whispered something to him and Collin just nodded. My dad escorted him out the door.

I sat on the couch awaiting my punishment but to my surprise there was none.

"Go start getting ready for the party" My eyes widened in surprise

"So… I'm not in trouble?"

My mom shook her head "It's your birthday today, we've decided to let this one slide."

I ran up to my parents and gave them the biggest hugs and kisses on the cheeks.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you."

They laughed at me and I ran up the stairs.

I hopped in my shower and washed my hair. Once I stepped out of the shower and onto the freezing cold tile floor I jumped to my room. My room was the only one, other than my parents, who had a bathroom connected to their bedroom. My parents knew not to torture me with having to share a bathroom with five teenage boys.

I decided on a simple white cocktail dress and some nude flats. I was already tall, and plus I didn't want to be uncomfortable all night. The white contrasted my skin beautifully and I curled the tips of my hair. I applied light make up and some lip gloss. I still wore Ayden's black leather bracelet, I never wanted to take it off. I put on some diamond studs and checked myself out in the mirror. I looked pretty good. Except that I now wore a brace on my right wirst.

Downstairs I could already hear that most of the guests had arrived so I made my way down the steps. All eyes fell on me and my wolf brothers hollered and whistled. I blushed so hard. The party was set up outside in our back yard where lights hung from the tree and the BBQ was going thanks to Sam and my dad.

I went around mingling with everyone, but stopped to sit on the swing with Ayden. I leaned against him, already exhausted of talking to every single pack member and relative. He chuckled when he saw me and just held me tight against him.

"Tired already Ducky? The party hasn't even been going on for an hour."

I growled at him, obviously annoyed. "Yeah well you're not the one that got sexually harassed today and punched Cael in the face."

"Well…."

"What? Ayden what did you do?"

"After we calmed him down enough to phase back I punched him in the jaw. Just for you. Of course Levi and your brother were mad at me beacause that made him phase again."

He acted so nonchalant about it. I just stared at him in complete surprise. Then I started laughing.

"Oh my… I love you so much for that!"

He smirked. "You're welcome"

After a while I started getting thirsty so Ayden and I made our way into the empty house and into the kitchen to get some drinks. There was a knock on the door so I made my way there, not at all expecting Collin and Cael to be on the other side of the door.

Collin smiled at me and Cael was staring at the floor.

"Happy Birthday Charlotte" Collin said as he kissed my cheek and handed me a present.

"Come on in." For some reason I was completely tense. I wanted Ayden to come out of the kithen but he of course didn't.

Collin nudged Cael with his shoulder

"Don't you have something to say to Charlotte, Cael?" He voice was laced with demand.

"No."

"Cael apologize to her. NOW."

After an exasperated sigh Cael shuffled his feet and looked up at me with annoyance.

"I…" He didn't finish. When I looked at him, he was staring at my face. Staring at me as if he'd never seen me before. I started getting irritated. That's when Ayden came to stand next to me.

"Shit." He cursed under his breath. I looked up at him and saw him staring intently at Cael. Cael however still had his gaze glued to me. The more I looked at him the more I couldn't look at him. I felt an invisible tug at my heart, almost as if It was leading me closer to Cael.

I stopped short. My breathing stopped. That's when I saw his face.

Shit! Are you kidding me? Him of all people!

Ayden was no longer at my side, instead it was my dad. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and I found myself crying into his chest.