•Ryder's POV•

I just stare at her, all her features coming back to my memory.

She's older now, obviously, but I still see her as my big sister.

She looks at Josh panicked, like she doesn't know who he is although she's been his friend nearly all her life.

Before I can process anymore, Josh starts walking quickly towards her.

Her eyes widen and Mara jumps in front of her before Josh can make contact.

"Mara, get out of my way before I make you." Josh says through clenched teeth.

The causes a loud growl from me at how rude he's being to, not only my mate, but his Luna. I start making my way over there.

"Josh, I know you want to see her. But you need to understand that she's not the same Claire she was two years ago." Mara replies calmly.

I stop near Josh, he frowns and looks at me.

"We get that Mara, she's been with Cam for too long, that's got to have effected her." My dad says from behind me, like right behind me.

Mara shakes her head, "You're jumping to conclusions. Cam invented a substance that makes people forget their memories."

"What?" Mum frowns.

Mara sighs, "He used it on Claire when he faked her death."

"What do you mean exactly?" Dad asks.

My heart is pounding heavily in my chest, dreading the next words that come out of Mara's mouth.

"She can't remember anything from before she woke up with Cam."

•Claire's POV•

I stare at the people's expressions in front of me.

All their faces range from confusion, anger, and pure sadness.

I'm guessing this is my family, well at least I know who Ryder is, judging from the way he gave Mara such a warm greeting.

I look to the two older couple, and when I realise I have the same shade of blonde as the lady I know that they're my parents.

There's also a smaller boy, maybe around thirteen. He also has the same blonde hair as me and I blink as I wonder if I might have a second brother.

There are two other girls and two other guys there too, but I'm drawn to the one staring intently at me. Josh as they called him, or in other words, my mate.

I was quite surprised at my wolfs response, I thought that you usually couldn't control them and just wanted to run up to them. But she's hesitant, maybe from a feeling from last time, or just because I have no idea who the guys is.

Suddenly, the older women, who I think is my Mum, starts breaking down into tears. My maybe Dad looks down and comforts her, Ryder just looks at me with hopeful eyes, and the others still hold the look of sadness on there faces.

Except for Josh, he's looking almost lustfully at me.

I grip Mara's hand, her being the only person I trust right now.

She glances back at me and then turns back, "I know you just want to talk to her, but we're really tired."

I mentally sigh in relief about Mara's comment to exit, and also the thought of a warm comfy bed almost brought a smile to my lips.

My maybe Dad nods and starts to walk in the direction of the house, Mara pulls me along and Torah comes behind, keeping close to me.

As I go past Josh, a look of hurt crosses his face and it makes my heart clench, but I just look away and keep walking.

Ryder comes and takes Mara's other hand, occasionally glancing at me.

We enter the house and the man points to three doors, "Take your pick."

Torah gives us a small smile and heads into the first one. Mara is about to let go of my hand but I grip it tighter.

She turns to me, "Are you okay?"

I look around and see everyone looking at me.

"Um, yeah. I would just feel better if you were with me." I reply in a small voice.

She nods and pulls my into the second room, closing the door and shutting out all the faces.

I leto out a shaky breath and Mara pats the large King bed in the middle of the room.

I slide into the covers and Mara sits on the other side, "Ryder feels so mcuh more familiar than the rest of them, I just don't understand why." I say.

Mara shrugs, "Maybe it's because he's the only person you have a memory of."

I frown, "Maybe."

"I'm just going to talk to them, but I promise I'll come back and won't let anyone in." She says.

I nod, "Thank you."

She smiles, "I know this is going to take a while to get used to, but these are the nicest people I know."

I smile back and feel my eyelids getting heavy.

Mara give my hand one last squeeze and then I feel the bed release as she gets up.

•Mara's POV•

I come out and close the door behind me.

'Where are you?' I ask Ryder.

'We're all in the living room.' He replies.

I make my way there and walk in to see everyone's blank faces, except for Finn who looks very confused.

They all look at me when I come in, I lean against the wall and rest my head back, closing my eyes.

"Does she remember anything?" Harry asks.

I open my eyes and look at him, then I avert my gaze to Ryder and smile a little, "She has one short memory of running with Ryder when he was little. But that's all." I say.

Ryder gives me a small smile but everyone else's shoulders sag.

"When can I see her?" Josh asks.

I look at him, "She's exhusted and utterly confused Josh. I understand that you're mates, but if you really care about her you're going to have to give her time."

He nods.

"Okay, explain everything." Harry says.

I take a deep breath before I begin.

I tell them about when I woke up, when I first met Claire, what Cam was doing and the experiments her was holding, the underground hide-out and how his memory-loss substance didn't work on me.

It was probably half an hour later when I finished.

"Well shit." Trent lets out a breath.

I nod.

"So, Claire wasn't actually Cam's mate?" Josh asks.

I shake my head, "No, his mate died."

"What about Torah?" Ryder asks.

"We can trust her, as soon as she found out her mate was out there somewhere, she was on our side." I reply.

"What do we do about Claire?" Mandy asks.

I look at her, "We take it one step at a time, bringing her back to her old self and everything else. I think it's better if the pack didn't know, not yet anyway."

Everyone nods in agreement.

Ryder stands up, "You must be tired, go get some sleep, I'll come up with you if you like."

I smile but shake my head, "I promised Claire I'd stay with her."

"She trusts you." Tailah gives me a smile.

"I helped her get out of there, and I'm her brother's mate." I reply.

"And you're just a great person Mara. Thank you." Harry says.

I smile and start walking to the door, "Thank you Harry, I'll come back later."

They wave at me and I make my way back to Claire's room.

As I walk past Torah's room, I here a sniffle.

I knock on the door, "Torah? It's Mara."

"Come in." I hear her reply.

When I walk in I see her resting against the foot of her bed on the floor, her eyes red and her cheeks tear-stained.

I rush over to her and pull her into a hug, "What's wrong?" I ask.

She pulls me closer and sobs, "I hated who I was Mara, what I became. I almost killed Trent and Cam made me believe I was doing the right thing. I was a monster."

I shake my head and pull back a little, "You were hurt Torah, you thought your only mate had died and Cam was the only person you could hang on to. But now you have another chance, because somewhere out there, your mate is waiting for you and he's going to think you're beautiful and special."

I wipe a tear from her eye and she gives me a smile, "Sorry, I just had to let it all out, you know?"

I laugh and nod, "Oh, I know."

We stand up and she slips into the bed, "Thank you."

Jeez, the amount of times I've heard that today.

I smile at her, "No problem."

She starts to drift off and I silently move out the door.

'Ryder, get someone to guard Torah's door, I don't want anyone thinking she's a rouge.' I say.

'Done, beautiful.' He replies.

I smile as I walk to Claire's room, 'She knows you're her brother you know?' I say.

'I know, I could see that she really knew deep down when she looked at me.' He replies.

I walk in her room and make my way to the other side of the bed, 'Goodnight Ryder.'

'Goodnight baby.' He replies.

'I love you.' I say.

'I love you more.' He replies.

I giggle a little and notice Claire stir.

"Mara?" She mumbles, half a sleep.

"It's just me." I reply.

She takes my hand and falls back to sleep.

I close my eyes and as I'm about to drift off too, Ryder mind-links me again.

'She's still in there somewhere, I can feel it.'

I open my eyes again and look at her, so innocent and peaceful.

I think about the memory of Ryder she had, and how that was the only one she can remember.

She smiles a little suddenly, I have to squeeze her hand a little to make sure she's still asleep.

It's barely audible, but I still catch what she says.

"Mum, Dad. Look what Ryder and I made." She mumbles.

'Me too.' I reply to Ryder.

She smiles again.

Me too.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Hello!

It's a tiny bit shorter than what I hoped, but that's all I wanted to fit in this chapter.

I promise there will be more Mara-Ryder action next chapter, since they've been seperated for a few chapters.

Please comment what you thought and vote if you liked it!

Thanks! xx