Axton POV

*7 Years Ago*

I feel a light tapping on my chest, drawing me out of my peaceful sleep. Sparks are erupting through my body from the soft pressure as my mate continues to poke me.

Keeping my eyes close, a small smile forms on my face, "You shouldn't poke a sleeping bear, sweetheart."

"Oh really?" she laughs quietly. I can feel her smiling at me even with my eyes close, "What about poking a sleeping Alpha?"

My eyelids peel apart, my eyes immediately connecting with hers. She is glowing in every way. My beautiful mate.

"Ah!" she laughs, "So he finally wakes up. It's about time, Axton. You have a meeting with your father, remember?" she reminds me.

"No, I don't think I do," I tease her.

"Oh really? It wasn't you who kept telling me yesterday to remind you to wake up in time?"

"No, I don't think so," I say as I roll over and hover above her.

She smiles up at me mischievously, "Then it must have been my other mate then?"

I growl at her lightly, "Mine."

I claim her lips at once, drawing her closer to me still. Every kiss we share is like the first one all over again. An explosion of fireworks goes off as we both fight for dominance. I win of course. Her hands pull at my hair, drawing me closer to her lips as my hands explore every curve and surface of her body.

She pulls away in need of more air, but I quickly move down to her neck and to her mark, causing her to moan as I suck at it.

"Axton, as much as I would love to stay in bed with you all day, you still have a meeting to get to," she says as she pushes on my shoulders. Lust and love clearly in her eyes as they probably are in mine.

"I think we should go with that first thought instead and just stay in bed," I tease, kissing her again.

"Axton," she breathes out.

"Ellie," I say as I move to hover over her again. She stares up at me as I get lost in her eyes once more.

As if she can't stand even the little amount of separation there as I can't, she closes the gap again with another heated kiss, "I love you Axton."

"I love you too Ellie," I tell her as I go in for another kiss. I just can't seem to stay away from her for even a moment since we fully mated.

"Good, cause if you truly love me, you will listen to me when I say that you need to leave for your meeting," she says as she pushes us both up into a sitting position.

I tighten my eyes at her, "You tricked me," I accuse.

Ellie smiles again, "Of course I did, sweetheart. If I don't, we will never leave this room and you need to make it to that meeting on time today."

"Fine," I give up, knowing she is right. Giving one last peck, I get out of bed and hop into the shower before getting ready for the day. When I finally come out, Ellie is sitting on the bed in just one of my t-shirts that has official become hers, "You know we could-" I start pulling her up into my arms before she cuts me off.

"No Axton. You have to go and I have things to do today as well," she says before giving me one last peck on the cheek and directing me toward the door, "Now go. I'll meet you at the bonfire tonight."

"Okay. I'll go endure another boring alpha meeting."

"Have fun!" she calls out as I leave. I can still hear her soft jingle of laughter through the door as my smile can't escape my face.

Go back to bed with mate! Knox screams at me.

"Axton! There you are," my father says as he comes down the hallway, "I would have bet money that you forgot about the meeting this morning with the Hollows Pack. Let's go."

He places his hand on my shoulder as we make our way into the alpha's office, a room that will be soon be going to me. One I will be in for the next five or six hours, instead of spending time with me mate.

You should have stayed in bed, Knox teases me.

Where were you when Ellie made us go? I ask as I put on my alpha face and turn my thoughts into the meeting.

*****

"Why do alpha meetings always take so long?" Walker, my soon-to-be beta, groans.

"Because all alphas want to be heard and need the right amount of time to do it," I tell him after the meeting goes three hours longer than it should have. I mean he did have a point. It was way too long only so a treaty that is already in place could just be reagreed to uphold.

"I know, but it's like each meeting we go to gets longer and longer."

"They are designed to bore you personally Walker," Sawyer tells him as she walks up to her mate. I start laughing as he pouts at her before turning his attention to me.

"Hey, where's Ellie? I thought she was helping to set up for the bonfire," Walker asks.

"I don't know. She told me she'll meet me there. Said there is some things she has to take care of today," I tell them.

"I just saw her," Sawyer spoke up, "She was heading upstairs. Looked like she was going to be sick."

The second she says that, I race to our room and throw open the door. But I don't find my mate sick. It looks like I have interrupted her pacing.

"Axton," she says, drawing my eyes into hers, "What's wrong?"

She knows I am worried as she moves closer to me. I close the door and take her into my arms, pulling her close as I take in her intoxicating scent, "Sawyer said you looked like you were going to be sick.

Ellie pulls back slightly, "I'm fine Axton. It's just the fish in the fridge. You know how I feel about sea food."

I nod my head, knowing I am being overprotective again, but I just can't help it when it comes to Ellie, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine. I promise, Axton," she tells me before connect her lips with mine.

It's supposed to be a slow kiss, one of reassurance, but it picks up quickly.

I lift her into my arms as her legs wrap around my waist, drawing our bodies closer. Her back connects to the wall as I deepen the kiss even more. Electricity shoots through me from every touch we share.

Knowing we both need air, I pull back and move from her lips to my mark on her neck.

I nip and suck on the sensitive spot as her nails dig into my shoulders and she lets out a soft moan, which just turns both of us on even more.

She lifts my shirt over my head as our lips connect once more into another heated kiss. Pulling her closer, I move away from the wall and towards the bed when a knock interrupts us mid-kiss.

"Axton! Let's go!" pounds through the door.

I growl at the intrusion, telling him to go away as Ellie laughs before climbing down out of my arms. But she doesn't make it a foot away before a wrap my hands around her waist and pulls her back towards me, kissing my way down her neck and to her mark.

"Axton! Stop trying to make babies in there! Luna wants your help with set-up!" Reid, my gamma, screams through the door.

Ellie pulls back, while laughing, "He'll be out in a minute!" she shouts back before looking at me, "Alright maybe five!"

I raise my eyebrow at her, "Sweetheart, we'll going to need a lot more than five minutes."

She laughs as she pushes her way out of my arms and throws a shirt at my head, "Well I guess we will have to just pick this up later," she says walking up to me as I put on the white t-shirt.

"Oh, I promise you, we will," I lean in for another kiss, but before our lips can even connect, Reid starts pounding on the door again.

"Let's go, Axton!"

"I'm going to kill him," I grumble as Ellie laughs again, "Do you want me to wait for you before heading over to the bonfire?"

"No, I have some things to take care of before it starts," she says, although I can tell she is trying to hide something from me, "I'll meet you at the bonfire."

Before I even have an opportunity to ask her about what she is doing, I am on the other side of a closed door, "Well that was quick," Walker comments to Reid as they both give me a smug look.

"Yeah. Who know he was a minute man," Reid says back.

I growl at the two of them.

Reid raises his hands, "What? Was it something I said?" he smirks as both of them start laughing.

"I'm going to kill both of you," I say before they drag me away from my room to go help my mother set up for tonight.

I wonder what Ellie is hiding, I tell my wolf.

I don't know. Raelynn won't tell me either. She says it will be a surprise, Knox answers back.

Huh, I wonder what surprise my mate has for me.

*****

The bonfire set-up only took about two hours, but by the time we finished, half the pack had already shown up and we weren't a small pack. Everyone is here, all with their mates and kids.

I wonder about that for a second as I watch a woman from the pack play with her son. She smiles at the boy as he runs around the adults and goes off with the other kids. I think about what it will be like when Ellie and I have kids. We haven't talked about any of it yet, but I know that I will want exactly that. A happy family.

I am pulled out of my thoughts as my sister run up to me with my parents, "Hey, where's Ellie?"

"She's on her way," I tell Alex.

"Okay, tell her to come talk to me when she gets here. I have news!" she jumps up and down before running off.

"Did you give her sugar or something?" I ask my mother.

"No, she was born that way," she laughs as my uncle approaches my dad and whispers something in his ear, "Is everything alright?" she asks, noticing my father's now sullen domineer.

"It's fine, just a few rogues that got near the border. It's been taken care of," he reassures her before giving her a light kiss on the forehead.

"Are you sure, dad?" I ask him, not liking the idea of rogues either.

"Yes, the border patrol and your uncle took care of it," he tells me before smiling and changing the subject.

"Excuse me, Alpha, Luna, but do you mind if I borrow your son?" Walker asks as he approaches us.

"Of course Walker, but you don't have to borrow him. He's yours to keep," my mother laughs as Walker pulls me away to our friends. I thought Ellie would already be with them, but it seems she still isn't here yet.

"So, I was just telling Sawyer about when you broke your arm losing to me in an arm wrestling match," Walker says as he takes a sip of his drink and Sawyer laughs saying that she betted that he is lying.

"That is not how I remember it," I tell him.

"Well, it's what happened," he says, "So, Axton-"

Walker keeps talking, but I hear nothing. No words, no laughter, no sound at all. It's as if the entire world goes silent.

Then I feel it.

Pain.

Pain shoots through my body in an immense burst, shooting out from my heart. Clutching my chest, I double over as I scream out, the pain being too much to hold in.

Everyone rushes forward. Walker keeps screaming at me to say what is wrong as Sawyer screams for the pack doctor.

But I hear none of it. I can't focus on anything but the pain. My wolf is whimpering at me in my head as I try to figure out what is happening.

It feels like death itself.

"Why is he in pain? What's happening?" Sawyer weeps as she clutches my hand, but the only one who I want to be there is Ellie.

The pain dies a bit after a moment, but all I feel is hollow, like my heart had been ripped from my chest.

My wolf cries out to me, She's gone.

"Ellie," those two words from my wolf are everything. It isn't me who is hurt. It's my mate.

Pushing off from the ground, I run into the woods and toward the house. The pain is Ellie's. She is hurt. I push harder as I try to numb the stinging and focus on only getting to her.

I think about everything as I run towards that house. All the smiles and the kisses. All the moments we have had and all the ones we still will. I think about the family I want for us, the one I am going to tell her about when I get to the house.

I keep telling myself that she is fine. That I am going to walk into the house and she will be just standing there. She will smile when I walk in and I will tell her that I loved her. I will tell her about being a family.

But when I get to the house, my heart breaks even more.

The door is broken down, shattered pieces are all over the floor. Running faster, I start searching every room, trying to find her scent, "Ellie! Ellie, where are you!"

Every room is torn apart. The furniture is ripped to shreds as claw marks cover the walls. But there is no sign of Ellie. It's like she has vanished.

"Ellie!" I call out again, but to hear only silence once more.

She's gone. Someone took her.

Running out of the house, I shift midair and start racing towards the pack line. If someone has her, then they will be leaving the pack's land and I'm not going to let that happen.

I race through the woods as I scan every area, trying to find her scent or any foreign scent. But there is nothing to catch.

My mate is gone, and I have no idea how or where she went.

My wolf whimpers as he shrinks into the depths of my mind and I release a long and broken howl.