You know reality starts setting in when a part of you is ripped away--when the Moon Goddess abandons you. I was left completely broken with just my average self and my average wolf. I was lost. I couldn’t move or think. I couldn’t process how empty I felt. My body was on fire like it completely betrayed me. The Moon Goddess was a selfish one. She couldn’t get her mate so she left my body to give up. I don’t remember anything after being separated, but the faraway voices of Jack and Vincent. I slowly started to open my eyes which felt like they were super glued shut. An uncomfortable warmth was around me as I finally caught sight of who was there. I looked up to see the eyes of my daughter Ryn. She was combing my hair and my heart just melted. I looked at my surroundings and it was just us. Her eyes met mine and she stepped away from the bed. “DAD! Mom is awake!” With that, I heard feet enter the room and Jack was there. He was a mess. I took this second to look at his appearance and he obviously hadn’t been taking care of himself. His usual styled hair needed to be cut. His five o’clock shadow was now growing into a beard. The bags under his eyes were intense. He was leaning on the bed with his head on my chest. “Why are you freaking out?” Jack lifted his head and it looked like he was crying. “Babe, do you realize how long you’ve been asleep?” I searched my mind to try to find the answer and all I could do was shake my head no. “You were asleep for a week. Not to mention you had a seizure.” I slowly lifted myself against the headboard that wasn’t there. Looking back around I noticed we weren’t at home. We were still in Vincent’s pack.

“What do you mean I’ve been asleep for a week? What happened to me?” I think at this moment we both began to panic as I realized I probably had not showered or brushed my teeth in a week. I jolted from the bed and ran into the bathroom but was met with the bedroom floor. A loud crash sounded. The bedroom door opened and Vincent was staring at my face on the floor. “Is everything okay?” But just like that my heart skipped a few beats looking at him. My needy wolf was reaching for him like it had never done before. Red washed over my face to realize I was still crashed on the floor. I slowly lifted myself and tried to brush it off but I couldn’t stop the red on my brown skin from showing. Eyes burned my cheek as I looked at Jack. He had worry all over his face but Vincent stayed put. Why was I feeling like this? I saw Vincent’s eyes dart to my neck which could only mean one thing. I ran to the mirror and pulled my collar down. There was a faded bite mark there. “You marked me.”

I knew it would fade since it wasn’t both of us but still, I was angry that the decision wasn’t mine and he took that from me. Turning to face him, anger came over me but I was stopped by Jack. “He marked me without my permission, why are you stopping me?” I yelled. “Athena, he didn’t have a choice. I told him to. You were dying when the Moon Goddess left your body.” Meeting Vincent’s eyes I noticed the guilty look on his face. The tough Alpha we knew was now cowering. “It’ll fade by tomorrow, but that’s why you want him right now.” I knew this was hard for all of us and made me feel so conflicted. What was I supposed to do? Avoid him until it officially faded away? I don’t know if I can do that to him or myself. “I need to shower, please get out.” With one final look, I shut the bathroom door behind me and fell to the floor.

My heart and head were playing cat and mouse as nothing was keeping me from Vincent now. But I love another man that I would do anything for. In the real world, I couldn’t keep them both as much as I wanted to. A tear fell down my cheek knowing someone was going to get hurt out of this and it would be me. It was always me.