Chapter 5 — The Lake

The next morning, we quickly got up and got ready to head back to the pack house to have breakfast with our families.

I followed Silas back in my car and made sure I was all packed up and ready to go. I was not going to stay here after midnight for my birthday. I know it might sound like I am being selfish and so what if I am? This is my life, and it is my choice to either meet my mate now or wait.

Sasha: Traitor.

Me: Stop it.

Sasha: I want our mate. I have been a good girl and have patiently waited for you to become of age for us to find our mate. All I want to do is mate with our true mate and start making pups with him.

Me: You sound so slutty right now.

Sasha: What? I never made you do anything more with those other wolves, I could have made you bed so many of those wolves you were seeing but I didn’t.

Me: Forgive me for wanting to save myself for something more special.

Sasha: So then why are you punishing us and making us wait longer?

Me: Because I am enjoying life. I am taking time for myself while I still can. I have seen what the bond can do. I will lose myself to my mate. I will only want to please him and make sure that he is happy.

Sasha: As he will do the same for us.

Me: No! It is different. I will have to give up so many things and I just want to enjoy me for just a little bit longer. Right now, I am not Charity Meadows troublemaker or Charity Meadows the Beta’s daughter. I am simply Charity Meadows.

Sasha: I understand about wanting your independence. But I will not be able to wait endlessly for my mate. The desire to be with our mate will grow. But for now, I will try and respect your wishes.

Me: Thank you.

Silas makes a turn and I follow him coming up to the gate to get into the pack town and make our way back to the pack house.

After parking the cars, Silas and I walk into the pack house together as we walk in, I let out a sigh. Ahh sometimes I really miss this place. We head into the dining hall and grab plates to start picking items that we wanted for breakfast.

Yes! Bacon, I love Bacon. I fill up my plate with different items and then head over to the table where my family and Silas’ family was sitting at. Our table is starting to grow as our families grow.

“Morning Everyone, Alpha Spencer, Luna Gloria,” I say as I do a slight bow to both of them before sitting in my seat.

“Charity” They both respond.

“It’s good to see you this morning. I did not get a chance to speak with you last night before you left. I was surprised to hear how early you were leaving.” Luna Gloria said as she continued to eat her breakfast.

“Yes, I am sorry about that. I was not feeling like myself last night,” I tell her.

Silas comes to the table just in time to finish. “Like I told you mom, I felt that it would be safer for me to drive her home rather than a stranger.”

“Yes, of course. We were all just caught off guard that you decided to stay in another town rather than stay here with your family.” My mom chimed in.

“Mom, I wanted to surprise you all. I would have had to check in with one of the guards and then you would have known.”

My mom let’s out a deep sigh. “Okay dear, I will let it go.”

“Thank you,” I tell her and smile.

“So, what do you kids have planned for today?” Alpha Spencer asks us.

“Sam and I were talking about taking a group of us down to the lake later to do a barbecue and bonfire.” Silas answers between chews of his food.

“Oh, just in time for Charity’s twenty-first birthday. How wonderful.” My mom says.

I immediately shoot my head up and look over at Silas pleading with my eyes not to say anything.

“Yep, that is exactly what I was thinking of.”

Sam looks at us both questionably but does not say a thing. Thank Goddess.

Going to the lake was more about the boys last night of freedom before both of their dads stepped down and the responsibility of the pack rested on their shoulders.

It was going to take some time getting used to addressing them as Alpha Sam or Beta Christopher, and even Silas, Gamma Silas. I can’t believe how quickly things change. To me they will always be Sam, Christopher, and Silas.

We take the rest of the day to prepare for the trip to the lake. It was about an hour drive from the pack house, but we needed to get food, drinks, blankets and make sure we get plenty of pallets to burn for the bonfire.

I headed up to my room to grab some clothes to wear out to the lake and some warmer clothes to change into in the evening.

Once I entered, nostalgia hit me quick as I looked around at my old room. I had had some great times in this room. Coming in here really made me miss home. This was one of the other reasons why I did not want to stay in the pack lands while I was here. All the memories would make me miss home and it would make it harder for me to leave.

Knock, Knock.

“Hey Char, are you almost ready?” Silas asks as he walks into my room.

“Sorry, I got caught up walking down memory lane when I walked in here.” I said as I started digging through my closet looking for the clothes I wanted to grab.

“Yeah, we sure had some fun times here,” he says as he puts his arm around me when I go to stand next to him.

He looks down at me and smiles. I look at him and take a deep breath but am unable to return the smile. I missed my friend so much.

He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead and said, “Come on, let’s go make some more memories.”

“Yeah” I said with a nod of my head. We turned and made our way out of my room I turn to look into my room one last time before closing the door to my room and to my past. I followed Silas out of the house and headed for the cars.

Again, I was bringing the Beast to make sure I had an exit strategy and did not have to depend on someone else to be able to leave.

It was the early afternoon when we started making our way to the lake. Chris was driving our Dad’s truck with the pallets. Sam had his truck with the barbeque, some chairs and Silas had his trunk filled with the drinks and food.

I was carrying some blankets for people to sit on if they did not bring their own chairs. While driving there I noticed quite a few cars following behind us, it looks like the word got out and it was going to be a big party at the lake tonight. I was kind of excited/nervous. It’s been a few years since I have seen a lot of people, I wonder how much everyone has changed since High School. I know I have.

Once we got to the Lake everyone started grabbing stuff to help set up for the night. After finishing setting everything up I was sweating like crazy. It was warmer down at the lake than I anticipated so I changed into a denim mesh splice skirt with a white halter top.

As I walked back to our site where we were set up, I felt myself being picked up and thrown over their shoulder.

“Silas!”

“You look a little hot and need to cool off,” he says as he makes his way out to the water.

“No Silas, please! Don’t drop me into the water.” I scream.

“Come on, it will be fun,” he says with a laugh.

I start to scream and try to squirm my way out of his grasp, when my brother comes running up “Hey let’s throw her in together” he yells out and decides to have one hold me by the arms and the other by the legs as they swing me into the water.

Luckily, the water was not that deep where they threw me into, and I was able to get out of there quick.

I look at Silas with death in my eyes and say, “You better run.”

“Oh crap,” Silas says as he starts to take off running.

I may be shorter than him, but I was a fast runner. I was about to catch up to him too until Sam extended his arm out and caught me.

“Alright Squirt. That’s enough.”

“But Sam!”

“I mean it. You can’t kill my Gamma.”

I glared at Sam and said, “I wasn’t going to kill him. Just hurt him really bad.”

He leaned down to look me straight in the eye before saying, “I remember quite well, what kind of damage you could do Squirt.”

Sasha: Maybe Sam is our mate. He had always been a flirt with us.

Me: What? Sam uh-uh no way. He just treats me like a kid sister.

I nudge him with my arm before turning to make my way to grab a towel. Sam swats my butt as I start to walk away.

I yip while covering my butt and turn to look back at him. He gives me a wink and then walks back to the barbeque to finish cooking.

Sasha: Right, kid sister. Yep, I see it now.

Me: I still say no way.

I continue to make my way to grab a towel and take a seat to let myself cool down. I felt someone’s arms wrap around me and knew it was Silas.

“Do you forgive me?”

I give a long pause before answering pretending I am ignoring him. He starts to whine a little and I roll my eyes and say, “Don’t I always forgive you.”

He gives me a tighter squeeze and then gives me a kiss on my cheek before planting himself down in the seat next to me.

I closed my eyes as I soaked in the sun and hoped it would dry my clothes quickly. I pulled out my sunglasses and put them on. I am glad I was not wearing them when they threw me in the water.

“Char?”

“Yeah”

He was silent for a moment, and I turned to look at him. “What’s up Silas?”

“I don’t want you to leave.”

I looked at him and smiled. Oh Silas.

“It’s just another year and then I will be back,” I tell him.

“But what if you don’t. What if you decide to get a job that takes you far away from here?”

I turn to him, and I take my sunglasses off so that I could look him straight into his eyes and say, “Silas, you know I would never leave for good. I love all of you way too much to leave forever. I just needed to get away for college so that I could find myself before having to settle down.”

“I know. But what if your mate isn’t here and he is with another pack?”

I let out a slight laugh and answer with, “Well then I will make sure to persuade him that our pack is way better and request a transfer to this pack.”

“But what if…”

I interrupt him by covering his mouth with my hand.

“Listen, I am currently dealing with enough what if’s right now in my own head. I need my best friend to help me forget those what if’s and help me establish some unforgettable memories tonight. Can you do that?”

He nods his head and I remove my hand from his mouth.

“Thank you.”

“Hey guys, foods about to be ready if you want to start serving it up.” Sam calls to us.

Immediately we jump up to grab food. I know how these guys eat so I grab food as soon as I can, or they will eat it all and not think twice.

After we all ate, the day was starting to end, and night was slowly approaching it would be almost time to start the bonfire. I headed back to my car and changed into a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. I tied my hair up in a messy bun and put on a pair of vans.

Walking back, I started to smell a scent.

Sasha: I smell something heavenly.

Me: No, it can’t be.

I look at the clock and it was just a little after ten-thirty. I let out a sigh of relief there’s no way she can be smelling my mate, yet.

I continued to make my way back to the site, but I was definitely on guard.

“Hey, where’d you go?” Silas asked when I was walking back.

“I went to my car to change; I was starting to get a little cold.”

“Oh, come here I would have kept you warm,” he says as he wraps his arms around me and tries to suffocate me.

I double tap his arm before he releases me.

“You are lucky Sam is here, he already stopped me once from hurting you.” I said as I continued to walk over to the fire.

My brother walks up and stands beside me and says, “Here” while he hands me a beer. I take it and we both tap each other’s bottle before taking a drink.

“Happy twenty-first!” He says after taking a long drink.

“It’s not my birthday yet,” I say as I pull out my phone to look at the time again.

“I know, but I figured you are probably going to try and get out of here before midnight hits. So better to celebrate with you now, right?”

I look down at the bottle of beer.

“You know me so well,” I say as I pull on the label that was wrapped around the beer bottle.

He put his arm around me bringing me in close to him. He gave me a kiss on the forehead and said, “Just don’t run forever, being mated is not the end of the world.”

He turned and looked over at Rosie who was talking to a couple of wolves from her old pack. She looked over at him and smiled lovingly at him.

“Easy for you to say, you didn’t have to give up anything because you are the man and Beta of our pack, she would never ask you to give it all up to go to her pack.”

“No, but if she really wanted me too, I might have seriously considered it.”

I stood back in utter shock from what my brother just said. He loved that he was taking our father’s place as Beta. He had been dreaming about it since we were kids. I can’t believe he said he would have considered stepping down from the position if Rosie asked him to.

“Love can make you do crazy things,” he says as he scratches the back of his head.

He takes another drink from his beer.

“Are you in love? Or is it just the bond that makes you think it’s love?” I ask him.

“Honestly. Maybe both,” he says with a shrug. “I’m not going to sit and over analyze whether it’s really love or the bond. What I am going to do is spend the rest of my life making sure that my mate is happy and knows that I would walk through fire for her.”

I rubbed his arm as I smiled at him and then we both stilled as we started to smell a foul odor in the air.

“Crap, you smell what I smell.” I ask my brother.

“Yep, sure do. Quick let’s get moving,” he says as he starts to push me before yelling, “ROGUES!”

It wasn’t long before we started hearing screams and fights starting to break out. As much as I wanted to stay and start a fight, I knew I had to try and make it to my car before anything else happens.

A wolf caught my scent and started to run after me as I was trying to make my way to my car. I noticed some trees coming up and knew I could jump up there as a last resort. I really wanted to get to my car, but I was not going to make it unless I lost this wolf behind me.

I started to run faster making it through the trees and finding a place to jump up to when I was suddenly picked up and pulled into their chest. I tried to quickly pull away, but they kept me close to them.

“Stop moving or you are going to cause more trouble.”

Oh no! I know that voice, I looked up and sure enough it was Dom.

“Let go of me Dom,” I say as I try to pull away.

“Stop you want to fall?” He says as he continues to hold me but looking around to see if the wolves are still around.

No.

Sasha: He smells so yummy. Let’s rub our face into his chest so that we can be drenched in his scent.

Me: Down Sasha. Chill.

“What are you doing up here anyway. Shouldn’t you be fighting off the rogues?” I ask him in a mocking tone.

“I was on look out and was just about to jump down until I realized it was you passing by me and decided to lend you a hand.” Giving me a smirk.

“I can take care of myself,” I say as continue to put some distance between us. He still kept a tight hold on me. Damn him.

“Sure, you can cupcake.”

I lean back and give him a look of utter disgust. “What did you just call me?”

“What? You want me to call you by your other name troublemaker?” He says with a smirk.

“No, I don’t want either of them. Especially from you,” I tell him and look him straight in the eye. Those icy blue eyes.

He laughs with a deep husky voice.

Sasha: I think we might be wet for him.

Great.

Me: Sasha No! Please do not get attached to Dom.

I hear him starting to sniff. Oh no. Please no, not now.

“What are you doing?” I ask defensively.

“Relax, I am trying to see if any of them are close by before I jump down.”

He continues to sniff but now I feel him sniffing closer to my neck.

“Dom, please stop.”

“I can’t,” he says as he continues to smell me.

Not now, it’s not my Birthday yet. No, no, NO!

Before he could look into my eyes. I push away from him and jump down. I started to hear growling and I take off. I would rather deal with a rogue then deal with what was going on back there.

I start weaving in and out of the trees, trying to look behind me but I don’t see anything or smell anything.

Sasha: Go back! It might be him. OH, he was smelling so good. I was liking his wolf.

Me: Sasha please.

I hear in the far distance a yell.

“CHARITY!!!”

I stopped for a second to turn and look back.

Sasha: GO BACK!!!!

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

I turn and continue to run to my car. I quickly unlocked the beast and got in, locking my car just in case there were Rogues around me. I was so shaky it took me a minute to get my key into the ignition. But once I did the beast came to life and roared. I quickly shifted him into drive and was off. Refusing to look behind me.

My phone started to ring, I look down and saw it was Silas.

“Silas”

“Charity, where are you? Are you ok?” He asks in a worried tone.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m in my car and I’m leaving. Don’t ask me to go back. Please.”

He took a deep breath.

“No, I know you can’t risk it. Who screamed your name?”

“No clue. That’s why I left.”

It could have been anyone that knew me.

He let out a heavy sigh that broke my heart. I hated that I was leaving my best friend.

“Silas.”

“Happy Birthday Charity.”

“Thanks.”

I hung up and continued to drive. I just need to get out of here.

As I continue to drive into the night, I can hear Sasha’s constant whimpers.

Sasha: He was there. I could feel him. He was there and you let us get away from him.

Me: Sasha please, it’s not forever, it’s just for right now.

Sasha: I don’t feel like talking right now, I want to be alone right now.

Me: Alright.

I let out a sigh, realizing it’s just me and my own thoughts that I am left with about the situation.

I was almost certain that the guy that kissed me at the Masquerade was Dom. Those icy blue eyes. Damn those eyes, No! I can’t think like that. I have made my decision. I will not think about love or mates or anything that could jeopardize my choices at this time.

It takes me a few hours, but I am finally back on the College Campus and make my way to the Campus apartments.

I grab my suitcase and make it towards the building and make my way to the elevator. I sigh once I am inside the elevator. What a weekend. I make it inside my apartment and head to the bathroom before collapsing in the bed. I stare at myself in the mirror.

“Happy twenty-first Birthday,” I say to myself. You really thought this one through didn’t you.

I walk out of the bathroom and crawl into my bed not caring that I am still in my clothes, I can still smell Dom on my clothes and feel the tears streaming down my face as I pull the covers over my head and cry myself to sleep.