My pencil teeter tottered between my fingers as I tapped it against my desk. It had been almost a week since Caleb left, but he was coming back today. I'd practically been counting down the minutes.

I wondered when I became this girl. When I became a girl who pined over her boyfriend. A girl who'd  lost her independence.

I concluded that it happened around the same time I let said werewolf boyfriend bite me.

My last class seemed to drag on forever, my mind only focusing on seeing him.

I hadn't run into Alec since the night in front of the hospital. I was ashamed to admit I was disappointed. I needed Caleb to come home. I needed him to distract me from the intruding thoughts. He made dealing with this, less than ideal, situation easier.

Being with him. Being close to him. It eased the tightness in my chest, which, at this point, was next to unbearable.

The bell rang and I wasted no time packing up my things and finding my Jeep in the parking lot.

Caleb was busy, but he had called a few times, at night, to ask me about my day and to tell me about his. He'd stay on the line until I was asleep. He was good like that. It only made me miss him more.

I'd been keeping tabs on my grandmother as well. She was still in the hospital, where she'd stay, doing physical therapy, until she was well enough to walk on her own. The guilt I continued to feel about abandoning her wrecked me. I promised myself that I'd make it right, but, with the downward spiral my life was falling into, it was in my best interest to stay away from her for the time being.

Jack had been keeping most of my company. After school we'd study together, he was quickly overtaking the title of my best friend. It was nice to have someone. He'd talk to me about Sophie as well. I didn't tell him about my plans to convince Caleb to abolish the role of the Beta's daughter. I didn't want to get his hopes up. What Sophie had said, about other Lunas wanting change, worried me. I didn't have a lot of confidence in my negotiating skills.

I parked my Jeep in it's usual spot in front of the pack house. The two black SUVs that Caleb and the other's left in weren't in the driveway, to my disappointment. Last we talked Caleb didn't exactly give me a time to expect him. I just hoped that he'd be here by the time I got back. Without the distraction of school the time would surely skid to a pace my patience couldn't handle.

The atmosphere of the pack house seemed busier than usual. With the return of the Alpha, I could only assume they all wanted to seem busy. There was the occasional passerby that nodded their head towards me, but other than that my beeline to Caleb's bedroom was uninterrupted.

I tossed my bag onto the couch, which I'd moved next to the door in one of my attempts to distract myself by rearranging the bedroom, and sat on the bed. Sighing I fell back against the mattress and ran my hands over my face. I was extra jittery today, not only because of Caleb's return, but because there was a theory that was itching against the back of my mind.

Shortly after I met Caleb, I went into heat. The convenience of meeting Alec around a specific time of month was beginning to worry me. I was marked by Caleb, so under normal circumstances this wouldn't be a problem. However, having more than one mate didn't fit under the category of normal.

I'd convinced myself that it was all in my head, my anxiety once again getting the better of me. But, my body has been on overdrive all day. My temperature was rising by the minute and I was unable to stop the impatient fidgeting of my limbs. I wrung my fingers together, ran them through my hair, my leg bounced up and down despite my attempts to stop it.

The door to the bedroom burst open, the handle of the door putting a dent in the wall. I sat up straight only to see a puffy eyed Molly crawl her way onto the bed, wrapping her small arms around my neck.

"What's wrong?" I asked, panicked. "What happened?"

Instinctively I put my arms around her, letting her cry into my chest. I was concerned, but also surprised. I hadn't spent a lot of time with Molly, not that I meant to avoid her, everything had just been so out of control. I didn't think of getting to know my boyfriend's little sister as a priority. So, the fact that she was coming to me for comfort was strange.

"My mom yelled at me," she said, barely getting out the sentence through her sobs.

Adeline hadn't left her and Arthur's room since he died. I hadn't seen her at all since I got back. From what I'd heard she was depressed, a wolf who'd lost her mate, she was in agony. As far as I knew, Sophie had taken on Molly as a responsibility.

"Where's Sophie at?" I asked, brushing her dark hair away from her face.

"She's with Jack," she said. Her sobs had slowed into small hiccups.

"There you are!"

I look up to see a distressed Charlotte run into the room.

"I'm so sorry, she wasn't bothering you was she?" She asked, taking Molly into her arms.

"No, not at all," I said, standing. Molly buried her face in Charlotte's strawberry blonde hair. "Has anyone been checking on Adeline?" I asked, lowering my voice.

Charlotte nodded. "We have a few members looking after her. Though, she's having a really hard time." Her hand ran absentmindedly along Molly's back. "I was taking Molly to visit, but Adeline just wanted to be left alone. She felt really guilty blowing up like that."

"Maybe we should take her to see a doctor?" I asked.

"She's not the first Luna to go through this," she said, shrugging. "She'll be okay, it's just going to take some time. I mean, look at Mother Luna Rose. She was okay towards the end."

My eyebrows shot up. "Towards the end?"

"She died when Redwood was attacked by those wolves, did no one tell you?" She asked.

I sighed, running a hand along my face. I'd become so engulfed in my own issues, I was oblivious to all that was going on around me.

I shook my head to answer her.

"Char?"

We both turn to see Alison in the door way, bags in her hands. She set them down on the couch and walked towards her mate, wrapping Charlotte, who was still holding a sulking Molly, in her arms.

After a few sappy moments between them Alison turned to me.

"The Alpha will come to see you shortly," she said.

"Thank you," I said, sitting back down and fidgeting with my hands.

As if summoned, Caleb appeared in the door way. He looked so handsome in the sharkskin suit he was sporting, which complemented his honey complexion. His white button up was opened at the collar and a discarded black tie laid in his hands. I pushed off the mattress and met him in the middle of the room, relaxing only once I was in his arms.

Alison and Charlotte took Molly and left the room, closing the door behind them. Caleb walked us over to the bed, crushing me under his weight as we fell onto the duvet. He buried his face in my neck, inhaling deeply, before leaving small kisses on the sensitive skin there.

"I missed you," I said, letting my fingers get lost in his hair as his hands explored the curves of my body. They ran down my sides, under then up my thighs, before stopping at the crook of my knee and moving down again.

He hummed. "Say it again," he said, slipping his hands under the hem of my shirt.

"I missed you," I said, smiling.

He kissed my neck, my jaw, my cheeks, my closed eye lids, before hovering over my lips. His nose brushed against mine. He furrowed his brows before dipping his head into the crook of my neck once more and inhaling.

"Something wrong?" I asked, pulling my head away to try and look at him.

"Are you feeling okay?" He asked, setting the back of his hand on my forehead. "You're burning up."

My face paled at his confirmation to my earlier thoughts. Embarrassed, I rolled out from under him to bury my face in the pillows.

I heard him sigh before he ran a comforting hand up and down my back. We both knew what was happening to me but neither of us wanted to verbally acknowledge the truth.

His touch is like fire and my back is kindling to the flame. I can feel my impatience climbing by the second, right behind my temperature.

"What are we gonna do?" I asked, my voice muffled by the pillows.

I yelp in surprise as Caleb flipped me over onto my back, climbing on top of me once more.

"I'll do whatever I can to make you feel better," he said. "I just need a minute first."

He pulled away, shrugging off his blazer and tossing it to the floor. Walking over to the side table, he picked up the phone there and made a call.

"Hey Beau," he said. "I need you to increase security tonight." A pause. A look at me. A small smile. "Yes. Thank you."

I pushed myself up to the top of the bed, resting against the pillows. "Why do we need to increase security?" I asked.

Caleb walked to the bathroom, slowly unbuttoning his shirt. "He's going to be able to tell you're in heat. He'll feel it."

Nervous butterflies wreaked havoc in my stomach.

Caleb spoke again, his voice echoing out to me. "If he feels anything like I did, it will be hard for him to resist coming to find you."

He comes out of the bathroom in nothing but his briefs. I swallowed hard, trying not to think about the painful heat that was radiating in my stomach.

Caleb walked to the foot of the bed, reaching out to wrap one of his hands around my ankle. Gently, he pulled me down so that my back was flat against the mattress. My chest was moving faster now, the air too thin to satisfy.

My gaze was focused on the ceiling above me, but his touch set me on fire. His hands skimmed their way up my legs.

"We didn't really get to enjoy this last time," he said, nipping my calf. 

A/N: It feels good to be back! Let me know what you think - E