(Emily POV)

It had been three days since I'd had my talk with Noah, and I couldn't stop thinking about his situation. I was so worried for my little brother I felt like I was in a trance. I'd gone with him to meet his girlfriend, Tara, and try to pick up on the scent of the rouge wolf. I could see why Noah was drawn to her, she was beautiful and kind. She had a warm sense of humor, and an innocence about her that reminded me so much of myself before I was bitten. They'd shown me sonogram pictures from their first doctors appointment and told me that the baby was due at the end of the year. I could tell they were both scared out of their minds at the thought of being parents, but both had resolved to keep the child and raise it in a loving home. I knew why Noah was so adamant about being a good father, from the stories I'd heard his real father was a piece of work. But they were both so young, at just 19 they had no idea how to take care of themselves much less an innocent child. I knew the moment Noah told me about the baby I couldn't refuse to help him, maybe in a sense I felt it would be some sort of redemption for what I had done. I added that to my growing list of concerns about the situation. I didn't have the heart to tell Noah that I recognized the scent well. My heart going into overdrive the second I picked it up. It was him. I growled lowly at the thought and tried to pull myself back to reality, finals were quickly approaching and I couldn't afford to flunk another semester.

I tried to get back to studying but I couldn't force my mind to think about anything else. He was close. Too close. And now he was coming for my family, for my brother and his mate. He's coming for more innocents my wolf chimed in. I couldn't let that happen, I need to end this before it begins. I let out another small growl and slammed my computer shut, a bit too hard, causing Reese to look up at me from his perch beside Noah on the couch. He eyed me quizzically as I hopped up and mumbled off an indecipherable explanation about burnout. I felt like my senses were on constant alert, my stomach flipping and twisting with every waking even Reese's scent was enough to calm me into a restful sleep last night. I started toward the kitchen for a snack and then thought better of it, I needed to be strong to help my brother. I turned and headed to the stairs to go down to the training room. If I didn't get some of this pent up energy out I knew I was going to force a change, and I didn't want to do that with our pack run scheduled for tomorrow evening. I was getting much better at changing at Will, but I still have a long way to go.

I shoved the heavy doors to the training room open and flipped on the lights. Taking a deep breath I walked forward to one of the punching bags and I let all of my emotions fly into it. Picturing the bag as the mutt I felt the fury rise inside of me. Hit. Kick. Hit. Hit. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn't even hear anyone come into the room. I felt a hand on my shoulder and before I had time to register who it belonged to I turned around and threw a punch. It hit its mark with a satisfying smack. I whirled around and gasped at the sight of Reese standing there staring at me with wide eyes, a small trickle of blood coming from his lip. We stood frozen in place for a moment before he broke out in a huge grin. "Damn girl, remind me not to sneak up on you when you're in your zone. You've been pulling your punches during training." He teased as he wiped the blood off his lip. I was still frozen in place, I couldn't believe I had just hurt Reese. He was right, I had been pulling my punches, but so had he. It's why I asked Clay to help me train on the weekends. I could never hurt Reese and we both knew it, even though I'm pretty sure I could give it my all and he wouldn't be hurt. I felt heat creep into my cheeks as I quickly looked up at him, and submitted to his wolf. He growled as he stepped toward me, pulling me into his arms. "Don't do that again. We are equals Emily, I'm not upset about you hitting me but I will be if you submit to me again." He reassured me as I buried my face into his warm chest. I took a deep breath and allowed the scent of my mate calm my racing thoughts before I pulled away.

"What's going on with you? For the last few days it's like your mind has been a million miles away, you're jumpy and you aren't sleeping. Don't even get me started on the fact that you've barely touched a decent amount of food." He chided at me. I didn't want to lie to my mate, so I settled on a half truth at the time. My word was my bond and I'd given Noah my word to keep his secret, even if I wanted nothing more than to tell my mate everything. "I've just been thinking, when they come back I want to be ready. They're going to come back, we all know it, we just don't know when." I said lowly before I turned to walk toward the couch on the far side of the room. Reese grabbed my hand tightly and tugged me back to face him. "Emily when that time comes you won't be anywhere near those fucking bastards" he growled. We'd talked about this until we were blue in our faces. He said I would distract him from getting revenge on the mutt who bit me if I was there. I argued that I didn't need anyone to defend my honor and I thought I had more than earned the right to rip him to shreds myself. I sighed, not willing or able to have that conversation again.

Once he saw my resignation from the argument he took a deep breath and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to him for a deep kiss. I returned it eagerly, if anything could make me forget my problems for just a little while this was it. I smiled into our kiss when he picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He trudged forward and laid me down on the couch softly. Easing my mind the very best way he knew how.

. . . . . .

(Reese POV)

Something was wrong with Emily. I've known for the last few days that something was up but I couldn't put my finger on it. She's been going about her day completely lost to her thoughts, eating barely enough food not to raise questions, even when I pulled her into my chest at night she was still restless. Noah wasn't much better, I know something is going on that involves both of them. I was sitting on the couch with Noah watching a movie while Emily sat in a chair by the door studying for her finals. Every time I glanced over at her in the last hour she was looking at a small notch on the hardwood floor, lost in her thoughts. I tried to chalk it up to studying stress. She's been putting so much pressure on herself to get back into the swing of college, but Antonio and Jeremy didn't feel that she was ready or safe enough to go back to traditional classes. I was deep in thought about what could be troubling my mate when I heard her growl softly, then she slammed her computer shut and hopped up. I met her eyes for a moment before she quickly looked away and murmured something about a burnout, whatever that means. I turned to Noah after she left "Hey mate, you wouldn't know what's bothering Emily would you?" I heard his heartbeat pick up slightly. He glanced around to the doorway she had just walked out and for a moment thought about jumping up to leave the room too before he thought better of it and settled back into the couch. "Nah dude, she's probably just stressed out about finals and stuff. You know she taking freakishly hard classes. I tried helping her one day and I was lost before we got through the first chapter. I think I'm going to go shower up before dinner." He said before leaping off the couch and all but running to the stairs. He had skirted around the question. Interesting. Whatever's going on has something to do with both of them. My wolf grumbled with jealousy before I batted away the thought. I trust my brother and my mate, whatever's going on has nothing to do with anything like that. But why would they have a secret they felt like they couldn't tell me?

I decided question Noah was out so I headed into the hallway to find Emily. I followed her scent toward the kitchen but her track stopped just short of the doorway, I sniffed around a bit before I found it again on the stairs heading down to the training room. I walked quietly down and peered through the crack in the training room door. My tiny wolf was inside, releasing a flurry of hits on the punching bag. Her wolf was out in full view, she was lost to her thoughts again. I stepped inside and made my way over to her. I placed a hand on her shoulder and felt her tense up. Just as I was about to take a step back she twirled around with speed I had never seen from her before and she punched me square in the mouth. Damn. Our mate can throw a punch. I stood in shock as she turned around, her eyes going wide when she realized what she had done. "Damn girl, remind me not to sneak up on you when you're in your zone. You've been pulling your punches during training."I grinned at her, trying to lighten the mood. I could see shock written all over her face as she stared at the ground. She looked up to meet my eyes, then she submitted to me. I growled as I stepped forward to pull her into me. She shouldn't be submitting to me, she is my mate which makes us equal. Two sides of the same coin as Elena had put it once. I tried to reassure her that I wasn't upset with her as she snuggled her face into my chest and inhaled deeply. I smiled knowing she was using my scent to calm her nerves.

I tried getting her to tell me what was wrong, pointing out all of the things I've noticed going on with her over the last few days. I saw her waging a war inside her head, I knew there was something she wanted to share with me desperately but she just couldn't make it come out. This only worried my wolf even more, this was bigger than I first thought. Something is wrong, my wolf knows it. She told me that she wanted to be ready when the mutt who hurt her came back and I inwardly groaned. How many times we've had this conversation in the past few weeks. There's no way in hell I'll let my mate anywhere near those sick fucks. They hurt her in the worst of ways and I had already gotten permission from Jeremy to be the one to end them when the time came. She sighed in resignation, I could see that she mentally wasn't able to have that argument right now. My wolf wined at me to make our mate feel better. I pulled her by her hand and leaned down to kiss her. She stood on her top toes to return it, smiling into our kiss when I picked her up and she wrapped her legs around my waist. I carried her over to the couch on the side of the room and helping her forget the best way I know how.