After an hour I seemed to calm myself down enough to talk again. "I love him, I have to love him; he's my mate. But I'm scared of him. I'm afraid that if I make one wrong move he's gonna hurt me or even himself or even worse he hurts my family." I look up to see Jenny looking at me. 

"Jenny, I need you to please not tell mom and dad. I'll tell them on my own time." I hold Jenny by her arms. She placed her hands on the side of my face. "My baby. I can't believe he's done this to you." She let a couple of tears slip from her eyes. "Jenny, I know what you must be feeling but I'll be okay. What happened, happened and we can't change that. Jacob is not like that, it's his wolf. I believe things will change in time." Jenny gave me a big hug. "Oh honey, you're going to be one strong Luna. But I will say if I ever see him, I will give him a piece of my mind." A small chuckle left my lips as she hugged me one more time. 

"Elizabeth? Baby is that you?" My father rushing into the sitting area, alongside my mother at his hip. My mother came rushing into my arms, crushing into a hug. "Where have you been?" She whispered into my ear. I look over her shoulder to see my dad giving me a long look. "He's of high ranks." He said in a deadly tone. My mom loosened the hug and looked at dad. "Who is he?" My dad took a step closer. 

"You found your mate. Baby thats amazing! Who is he, I want to meet him." Mother started to become more and more excited by the second. "Mom calm down." I laugh. 

"Who is he." My father stated again in that same chilling tone. 

"Charles, Jesus please, she seems already shocked please don't push her." My mother started coming to my defense. "Is that why you've been gone?" My mom asked. 

"Yes, I've found my mate. Yes, he's an Alpha." I trail on. My mother began to clap. "Yes, yes, yes. I want to meet him." She took her place back at my father's hip. I look back at Jenny and she returns a nod in my favor. "Mother, I don't think it's a good time. He's very busy and I'm not sure if I'm ready... that's why I'm back. He gave me time to think. He's of an a...rival pack." The lie slipped through my teeth. I could see that this was subject that my parents were going to pry at me later about. "I'm glad your back my little lily." My father came up and gave me a warm hug. He gave me a warm smile then turned to look back at mom. "I've got some work to do before the ball tomorrow. You know how Alphas egos can get with big events like this." He gave me a warm smile. He began to walk to the Alpha wing, towards his office. My mom turned to look at me, she gave Jenny a look that pleads for privacy. Jenny on nodded her head and gave me a look before she walked out of the room. Mother started to give me a look like a school girl just got asked out by her crush. "Ugh, please Elizabeth tell me everything." She pulled me down onto a seat. "Mom," I blush. I felt like a little girl. It felt weird. Why was I blushing? Jacob had done damage to me and I was just setting it aside like it was nothing. 

"I know its hard for such a big jump. But I know that you'll make a beautiful and strong Luna." We stayed silent for a little while as she held me. "So what does he look like?" She wiggled her eyebrows and get out a little giggle. I smiled, "oh please tell me." She persisted. "Okay, okay." I laugh back. "He's tall an-" I start, "how tall?", she interrupted. "I'd say maybe 6'5, 6'6," I say thoughtfully thinking about Jacobs tall figure towering over me. "Uh, I love a tall man." She had a freaky tone to her voice. "Oh my God mom, gross." I laugh. She gives me a big smile, God, how much I've missed her. "Keep going!". "Um... he's tall and well built. Brown hair, he has bright blue eyes." I seemed to be caught in a haze. The more I talked of light of him, I could feel my love for him grow stronger and that scared me. My mother sat quietly and waited for me to continue. "He's personal with his people, they like him and that's good, his home is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Oh! and his beta, Ryan, is nice and caring - he has a mate named Anna, she's a school teacher." I stopped myself. It almost felt weird saying all these things. My mother cut me from thought, "you've mated with him." She said as she stroked my hair. "Let me guess, you can smell him?" I roll my eyes. "Thomas?" Mom asked. "Oh yes, Thomas has given me his word on the matter," I say. "Thomas and your father are just looking out for you. You and Thomas both have big shoes to fill and I want you to know that we're not going to push you into telling us something that your not ready for. Finding your mate is a big deal and I understand that you need time to think. I think father just doesn't want his little girl to grow up. When you're ready to tell us everything, we'll be waiting for you honey." She brushed a hair behind my ear. I put my head down and gave her a weak smile.

"Would you like to see something?" I ask, a brighter smile now placed on my face. "Of course!" She stood up from the seat and pulled me up with her. "This way." I began to drop her down a number of always and up staircases till we reached my bedroom door. We walked in as I turned on the lights she took a seat one of the couches. 

"So I totally forgot about the Alpha ball and-", I paused to pull out the box with the dress in it from the little shop, "Jacob refused to let me come back home without a dress. There was a little sho-", my voice began to fall silent as I looked down at the box. "Jacob? So his name is Jacob?" I looked over to see my mom wiggling her eyebrows once again. Shit. "Um...yes. His name is Jacob." I say giving her a worried look. "Why do you look like you just committed a crime?" She began to look worried. "I don't know, I-I just let it slip. I really didn't wanna tell anybody anything about him till we were both ready." I began to lift the lid of the box, cursing myself in my head. "Well if it makes you feel better, I think Jacob is a nice name and with your description, I think he's a dreamboat." 

Yeah some kind of dream.

Luckily nobody knew Alpha Jacob Collin as Jacob, only Alpha Collin.

"Here." I pull out the dress an hold it out in front of me for her to see. 

She gasped. "Oh my goodness Elizabeth. This is beautiful!", she jumped from her spot and hurried over to the dress. "He got this for you?" She asked as she looked over the dress. "Yes; we were walking in the town and I saw the dress in the window of the little shop. He persisted that I should get it for the ball." I say shyly. It warmed my heart, the memory of Jacob buying me the dress. "He must know that your favorite color is hunter green." She smiled as she moved the dress all around to get a good look. Every second I spent talking about him the more I missed him, the more I wanted to forgive him and tell him that I love him. The mate bond was getting stronger by the second and what Ryan said kept playing in my head. That with each hour goes by Jacob becomes more resettles. "I must see it on you!" She clapped. She began to pull on my shirt. I stepped back quickly, she gave me a weird look. 

"Okay give me a second", I walked towards the bathroom as I grabbed the dress from her hands. Once I closed the door with a lock I began to take my shirt and pants off. I look in the mirror; bruises. The two hand prints just above my hips and in between my thigh. I felt bad hiding it from my mother but I couldn't let her know, she would freak.  I pulled the dress over my hips and up and onto my shoulders. I brushed my hands over the dress and looked at my body in the mirror. I felt good, the more I looked at it the more I found myself missing Jacob. I tried to set the thought to the side and walked back into the room. My mom stayed silent as she looked at me. 

"Oh Elizabeth, you look beautiful." I could see the tears welling in her eyes. "Mom don't cry." I hug her, "I'm sorry you just look so beautiful and grown up." She gushes. 

After a few moments of her gushing about the dress. I spoke, "Mom thank you for the complements but I kinda wanna go talk to dad." 

"Of course. I think Jenny and I are going to go into town tonight to get some things, do you need anything?" She asked. "No thank you, I'm good," I say.  She smiled and walked out of my room but not before kissing me on the cheek.

I slipped off the dress and placed it back into the box. I changed into a tee-shirt and some old sweatpants before I made my way to the Alpha wing. I found myself getting nervous as I knocked on the door before I slowly opened the door. 

"Hey, dad." I give him a soft smile. He looked busy with paperwork, his eyebrows were ruffled together, telling me that he was deep in thought. "Oh...um...sorry. I see that your busy, I'll come back later." I began to step back and close the door behind me. 

"You're friend Brandon has gone missing - presumed dead." His tone was heavy. He laid down his paper on the desk and looked up at me. He moved his hand in a way to move me to sit down. I took a seat on the identical chairs. 

"Yes, Marcy showed me a paper in the diner about it," I say, trying to make my tone sound worried. Father didn't stop looking at me. My stomach started to turn. "Who is your mate." He said in a deadly tone.

"Dad I don't know if I'm ready for this - to jump right into the whole mate thing." I say using my hands to try to get the point across. 

"Then why did you mate with him." He pulled the glasses off his face and laid them on the desk. 

"Da-ad, I don't know how to respond to that." My face must have shown my confusion. "You have his wicked sent all over you." His tone turned even harsher. "Wicked, what?" I sat up in my seat. 

"I know you know what happened to Brandon." 

It was silent in the room, I could hear my heart racing.

"Dad, I d-don't know what hap-."

"What did your loving mate Collins do to Brandon." He leaned forward in his chair and placed his elbows on the desk.  

"What, dad..." My heart was racing.

How did he know?

"How do you know who my mate is?" I ask, defeated. 

"I know more than you think. I've me smelt him before. When I first became Alpha I've come across one of his bloodbaths. His smell was strong, old, and powerful. How could I forget it? I know why you're giving yourself time to think. He's a monster." He looked down at his lap.

"You don't know him." I defended.

"No, I don't, never even seen him. But I've known what he's done Elizabeth and I don't want him near you." 

"You know you can't do that." I say with a tear slipping out of my eye. 

"I know. I just don't want you to get hurt." Father lowered his head even more. I picked up myself from the chair and walked over to him. He pulled me into his lap holding me tight. 

"Jacob he," I was cut off.

"His name is Jacob?" Dad asked.

"Yes dad his name is Jacob." I say rolling my eyes. It feels weird that nobody really knew who his name was.

"Brandon -- he got his heart ripped out by Jacob." I look at my father, waiting for him to respond to what I just said.

"You know thats something I can't do anything about, once he stepped into the Collin Woods I can't do anything, nobody can." He held me a little tighter. "He just ripped him open like it was nothing. The guards fed his body to the prisoners." I tucked my head on his shoulder. "Prisoners? How did see the prisoners?" He pulled my head off his shoulder to look at me. 

"Dad, please. I'm fine." I console him. "He locked you in a cell?" His voice raised a little. I pulled myself off his lap to stand in front of him. "What did he do to you." He sounded broken. "Nothing", I said quickly. He stood up and lifted up the side of my shirt. He saw the handprint on my side. He backed away from me and walked towards the window looking out at the snow. He stayed silent for while. The only sound you could hear was my quiet cries. I wrapped my arms around my body. "Do you love him?" He asked quietly. 

Did I? I felt like I did, or maybe it was the mate bond talking.

"You know the answer to that." I began to walk out if the room, stopping at the door waiting to see if he would say anything.

He didn't.

I ran back to my room, locking myself in. I decided to skip dinner. I took a well needed shower and laid in bed worrying about the ball tomorrow till I finally fell asleep.

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The photo is of Alpha Charles office.