“Do I have a sign on my forehead that says Matefinder?” I probed him.

Kai looked annoyed. “No.”

“Good, then it’s settled. No one will know what I am.” I popped a sautéed mushroom in my mouth and kissed him quickly on the cheek.

He groaned. “Fine. There’s one last piece of business you need to attend to before we leave. Finish your breakfast and meet me outside.” He handed me a plate and stalked off with Jake.

“She doesn’t exactly get the Alpha orders thing yet, huh?” Jake mumbled to Kai.

I rolled my eyes. He knew I could hear him.

I ate quickly and made my way outside so I could see what this business involved. Max was standing against a tree looking down at his feet. Burn marks from the places I tied him up with silver marked his skin. Oh, crap. I walked slower, treading carefully. Kai stood a few feet off, talking with Jake and Sadie, but motioned me towards Max.

“Max.” I nodded, not sure what to say.  In all of the recent drama, I had forgotten about him completely.

He sighed for a second and then looked up at me. “Kai’s my best friend. I never could have lived with myself if I had challenged him. Brother wolf was too close and I couldn’t stop him. Thank you for what you did. You may be inexperienced but you are a worthy second. You acted on instinct and saved me from doing something horrible.” He extended his hand as I stood there in shock.

“Friends?” he asked.

A slow grin crept across my face. “So, I knock you out, tie you up with silver and cage you, and you’re thanking me?” I didn’t take his hand yet, pretending to look suspicious.

He laughed deeply. “I know, pretty stupid, right?”

I smiled genuinely and extended my hand. “Friends.”

We shook. I felt more at home here than I ever had before in my life. These were my wolves, as much mine as I was theirs. I felt Kai’s approval at that thought.

Anna

On the flight to Arizona, Jake kept tapping his foot incessantly. He wiped his palms on his jeans for the fifth time as our plane prepared to land.

“Jake, it’s going to be fine.” I squeezed his hand.

He let out a deep breath. “My mate is dying of cancer. That’s not fine. She’s in pain. What if we don’t make it in time?”

“Look at me,” I commanded him.

His eyes locked on mine. “I have seen it. We get there in time. They give her two days left to live and we get there in time.”

He swallowed. “Okay.”

Room number 314. We all stand outside the door. The nurses were more than delighted to let us through after I explained that I was college roommates with the patient in room 314. Jake looked at me expectantly. I shrugged. This is as far as my vision goes. Kai seemed to pick up on my apprehension. He looked at Jake.  “Go introduce yourself to your future mate while Aurora and I figure out a way to get her out of here without alerting the police or the Scottsdale pack.”

Jake swallowed hard and let himself into the room. After the door closed, Kai looked at me. “There are two ways I see this going down. We take her out of here by force and anyone in our way gets wolfed, or we try to create a lie.”

I snorted. “Wolfed?”

He smiled. “Your laugh is cute.”

“Focus,” I reminded him playfully.

He stared at the nurses’ station. “You go tell the nurses you would like to take her home to pass on in peace. I call the Scottsdale Alpha and tell him we will be leaving shortly with a college friend of my new mate. What can go wrong?”

I took in a deep breath. “Let’s find out.”

After getting all of the necessary paperwork in order, the hospital staff was pleased to release Anna into our care. Jake had found out her name was Anna after chatting with her and explaining that he was here to help her with her treatment.

“You what?” I shouted, getting stares from the nurses in the hallway.

Jake rubbed the back of his head nervously. “I told her we were from a private research group and we wanted to try a very risky gene therapy procedure to cure her cancer. Now she is willing to hop on the next flight to Oregon.”

Kai groaned. “Well, it’s not like we can change her here. Poor thing will be in for a scare when we really tell her who we are and what we have to do to save her life.” A look passed over his face. I knew he was thinking of when he bit me to save my life. I could already see he was becoming protective over Anna. He was already accepting her as pack.

After introducing myself to Anna as Vice President of the research company, and Kai as President, we made our way out of the hospital. Jake tenderly pushed Anna in her wheel chair.

“How did you hear of my case? Did Dr. Pasternick call you?” She asked in a frail voice.

“Yes, he called us. Like I said, we have a very high success rate. Once you get to our clinic in Oregon, we can tell you more about our methods,”  Jake offered. We all exchanged a look.

“Well, I am surprised my case passed your approval. I had given up.” The look on Jake’s face was torture. Anna was slumped in her wheelchair and her skin was translucent. Her hair was gone, even her eyebrows, but her eyes were a deep hazel and there was so much life, so much fight left in her. I could see that she would survive the change; she had no fear of death. Maybe that was the key. Even in her sickened state, she was beautiful. She was ready for a new beginning.

The Scottsdale Alpha had sent two wolves to tail us from the airport, and they leaned against our rental car. Jake let out a low growl. Kai motioned for Jake and Anna to hang back. I approached the men with him, ignoring his gesture for me to stay back as well.