MIA

I woke up the next day in bed with no memory of how I got there. I was extremely sore but I felt a million times better than I did the day prior. I turned to the right and found Shawn laying next to me he was on top of the covers while I was laying under them.

I sat up pulling the sheets along with me because I realized I was completely naked. I glanced around the room and noticed all my clothes on the floor across the room. Shawn shifted next to me, "You're awake." He said smiling. "How do you feel."

"Sore. Hungry. Thirsty." I managed to say. My throat was sore and raw making talking difficult. Shawn stretched and got out of the bed. He bent down and picked up a folded pile of clothes off the floor. A tank top and some yoga pants. "I had someone bring these in. I figured they would be more comfortable than the jeans you had on yesterday. I'm going to leave so you can change. And I'll be back in a little while with food, ok?" I nodded and he walked out the door.

I slowly got out of bed to stand up and get dressed. I really wished I could get a quick shower but there wasn't one in the room plus I wasn't sure I could stand long enough to take one. After I was dressed I walked around the room to try and stretch my muscles. By the time I took one extremely slow lap around the room Shawn was back with another person I didn't recognize. They each carried a tray with a picture of water and huge stacks of meat. They sat everything down on the table and the girl walked out.

Shawn poured me a glass of water and handed it to me. It wasn't extremely cold so it helped to soothe my dry scratchy throat. Next he brought over one of the trays of meat. I frowned. No way I could eat all that!

"Trust me. You need every bit of this."  He said as if reading my mind. We sat on the bed next to each other in silence and to my surprise I ate all of my food and some of his. With no tv in the room to keep me occupied all I could do is think while I ate. Something in me felt different. Not necessarily good or bad. Just different.

After we ate, the same girl from earlier materialized to take our dirty dishes. I hadn't been awake long at all but I already felt exhausted. I climbed back under the covers to get some more sleep. "What happens now, Shawn?" I whispered since my voice was still out of service.

"Now you rest and once your energy is back up we will start getting you use to life as a werewolf." He said standing back up.

"Leaving?" I asked.

"Yeah. I have some pack business to handle but I'll be back to check on you."

"Shawn!" I called out just as he reached the door. He turned around expectantly. "Thank you so much for everything."

He smiled, "Anytime Mia."

Shawn had only been gone a few minutes and I was starting to doze off when there was a knock at the door. My voice was still too hoarse to yell for the person to come in but after a second knock the door opened and Beth popped her head in.

"I know you are upset with me but I really wanted to come see you and make sure you're ok." She said once she realized I was awake.

"I don't think mad quite describes it." I replied quietly.

"Mia...I couldn't tell you about being a werewolf. We have rules to abide by and rule number one is don't tell humans."

"I would probably be ok with that under any other set of circumstances except the ones we are currently in. First, you forced me to come here. After my tour was over I wanted to go back to making music but as my manager YOU made the decision that I needed a vacation and scheduled this whole thing. Now, had you schedule us a trip to Cancun and I was bitten by some random werewolf I wouldn't be mad, however, you brought me to a place where I would be completely and utterly surrounded by wolves. Oh! Let's not forget the vampire. How can you not understand that I'm pissed that you brought me to a place where I am surrounded by predators? I get that your family is here but the bed and breakfast caters to wolves so you really have no idea what type of person will show up on your door step looking for a room. If it wasn't Ethan it could have been someone else. AND not to mention I got Shawn to confess and tell me what you all had learned about my change. Why was he the one to tell me? I asked you point blank and you lied to my face, Beth! That's not how friends act." My throat was on fire but I had to tell her what my feelings were on this whole situation.

"Listen. I would have never brought you if I though harm would come to you. True, we never know who is going to arrive at the bed and breakfast so you have a point but...I guess I didn't think of any of that because that's not something I've ever had to worry about before. Honestly, you are my first close human friend. And I didn't schedule this retreat as your manager I did it as your friend. After the accident it killed me to see you so depressed. Being on tour lifted your spirits but I didn't want to sit back and watch you slid back into that dark place again once it was all over. I wanted you to have a chance to heal."

"You could have talked to me about how you felt and what you wanted to do regarding this trip. My family is..." I could barely get it out with our getting choked up "...dead, Beth. My mom, dad, sister, fiancé all dead so yeah I'm gonna be in a dark place every now and then." I closed my eyes. "Thanks for checking on me but can you just go? I'm tired and my body hurts and my throat is killing me right now."

She nodded, "Sure no problem." She said sadly and left the room.

ETHAN

After three days at Jenny's house I returned to my pack. My first stop was the pack house. I knew there were things that I needed to take care of. I walked in my office and tossed my phone on my desk. Between my parents, Beth and Ian I had at least 75 messages. Curiously, I had nothing from Shawn except a couple messages from the first two days related to the pack.  All the other messages were in  relation to my mate which wasn't something I wanted to deal with. The pack business needed to come first.

I sat down at the desk and started looking through my emails but I was having trouble concentrating. My wolf was acting up making it near impossible for me to concentrate. Now that I was back on pack lands the pull to find my mate was stronger.

I managed to work for two hours, in spite of my wolf. I sighed and decided to go out for a run. No sooner than I stepped outside I shifted and took off towards the trees. I ran for what seemed like hours and before I knew it I realized my wolf had brought me straight to he hospital. I didn't know for sure but I assumed that since he directed me here that my mate was here or at least he assumed she was. I briefly wondered why she would be here but I wasn't about to go in there. Since I refused to go inside, my wolf decided to do a through check of the perimeter checking for any signs of danger. Once satisfied I managed to head back towards the pack house to shower and get back to work.

After my shower I made my way back to my office and was surprised to see Shawn in my office. "What are you going in here?"

"Just dropping off some paperwork for you to review." He said. He sounded and looked like hell. He walked past me and I was instantly alert, he reeked of my mate putting me on edge.

"You smell like her."

He was almost at the door and he turned around to look at me. For a moment he didn't say anything, "Is there anything you need me to do right now? If not I'm going to finish my work, shower, and take a quick nap."

"Why do you smell like her?" I asked sniffing again. Her sent was so strong on him I couldn't help but wonder what the hell they had been up to.

"If you were handling your responsibilities like a man then maybe you would smell like her." He replied instead of answering my question. " You don't have the right to question me about anything when it comes to a mate you abandoned like yesterday's trash."

I narrowed my eyes at him. Shawn and I were best friends and had been ever since I could remember. We disagreed all the time over pack matters but he had never challenged me in the way he was a this moment. "What did you just say to me, Shawn?"

He stepped closer to me, "You heard exactly what I said and I meant every word of it."

"I suggest you back up Shawn, you are treading on thin ice."

He opened his mouth to respond but before he could the door swung opened and my family walked in. I groaned.

"You better have a good fucking explanation for what you did, Ethan." My dad said, although he was no longer the alpha in title he was still an alpha and my dad so my initial instinct was to back down.

"Listen, I don't want to discuss this with any of you. I have my reasons for doing what I did and I am not obligated to share." I said, I knew standing there looking at my family that I couldn't admit to them what caused my dislike of humans. I had been carrying the burden for so long...how could I admit to my family...to my father...that I let humans violate me all those years ago. I'm supposed to be an Alpha and an Alpha wouldn't allow that to happen to him.

"I shouldnt have givent you the Alpha title at all. You clearly aren't man enough for the challenge." My dad said shaking his head.

"You don't have to discuss with us but you need to discuss with your Mate." Beth said stepping close to me. "Do you have any idea what she went through when you were gone? Any idea at all?"

"I'm not discussing this!"

"Son," My mother said stepping forward with tears in her eyes, "I don't know what is going on with you lately but your father and I didn't raise you this way and I have never been more disappointed in your than I am right now." She said, she turned and walked out and my father and sister followed behind her. Shawn followed as well after giving me one more dirty look.

"Fuck." I muttered and went back to my desk to sit down.