Shade pov

"Will you shut up if we come?" Hunter snaps at Dylan who keeps prattling on about a "guys night." The man's as loyal as they get and a hell of a sharpshooter but he talks non-stop. He's been trying to get us on to come with him to the Black peony for years.

"Sure dude." Dylan answers distracted by something on his phone. "Tonight's the perfect night." He exclaimed face lighting up. "They just posted that a new dancer's on the stage tonight. Let's go check her out." He bounces in place like an excited over grown puppy.

Jeremy shrig8 not against going. He's the more social of us and can stand Dylan's incessant chatter. I'll go if the others do, I don't really care either way.

Hunter makes a show of looking pissed, which he does most of the time. He rarely smiles anymore. He mostly works and keeps to himself.

Ryder looks to me and I give him a shrug that says it's up to the others. He's the unannounaced leader of our group. Though we try to be a democracy, Ryder's the one who makes the split decisions if there's no time to discuss. I can see the thoughts churning in his head, always calculating. He's probably thinking that going with some of the younger wolves, and one or two of the pups, to the strip club will strengthen our bonds with them and strengthen the pack.

"Alright, let's go." Ryder nods to the park9 lot and Dylan squeals jogging to Jeremy's truck.

I make a mental note to check up on Allison while we're there as a throw a leg over my bike and start it up. Ryder's bike is parked next to mine and he nods before disappearing down the road. I follow behind Jem's truck before gliding up next to the passenger seat where Hunter sits looking glum. Breezing past them I ride next to Ryder brining his competitive side into light. Our motorcycle pick up speed as we compete to reach the clubs parking a lot first. I beat him by a corner. Ryder glares at me as he turns his bike off and grumbles something about it needing an upgrade.

"Don't blame the bike, you're only as good as you drive," I teased as Jem parks next to us. Ryder lunges for me wrestling my head under his arm and ruffling up my dark hair. Shoving out of his grip I stumbled away chuckling.

The light are dimmed and takes a while for a guard keeping the crowd at bay to recognize us. His black immediately strengthens and head dips in respect as he let us pass.

We're led by a waitress in high heels and a short black dress to one of the tables that sit front and middle. Two pups and give of the other wolves our age sit there, drinks in hand. They make room for us and people rush away to get our order.

Closer by nine inch nails blasts through the speakers as a girl in a red lace set moves around the pole. I sink into my seat, eyes locked on her as she dances. She's absolutely stunning. The way she hits every beat and comes alive to the rhythm. As if they're one and the same. It doesn't hurt that her ass is fucking perfect. I'm not normally a fan of places like this but I'd come here every night just to see her.

Anger rises unbidden as I noticed every other guy in this place watching her every move. Hunter's glower is gone replaced by absolute awe. Jem's drooling and Ryder's leaning back hit thumb resting against his lower lip.

Dylan stops one of the waitresses carrying our drinks and asks "who is she?"

The waitress looks up at the stage and smiles wide. "She's made quite the entrance, hasn't she?" She muses as she appreciates her new colleagues moves. "Lexie. Her name is Lexie." She added before walking away.

Lexie. I nicknamed a friend that once.

Alexa.

Her name strikes a chord in my chest in my chest which echoes through my head. I try not to think about her, but sometimes the sky reminds me of her eyes or I imagined I hear her a laugh in a crowd and I can't help but remember. Then there's the songs that none of us listen to anymore.

They come on the radio and Ryder changes the channel. Sometimes, when I'm alone, I torture myself by playing them over and over again. I have a feeling Hunter and Jem do the same. She broke something vital in all four of us the day she took her fathers diary and skipped town without even leaving so much as a note. Hunter became obsessed with finding her and I don't think he ever stopped searching. Not even when Ryder ordered us to stop. I don't think Ry could take coming up empty again.

The music shifts and the crowd goes wild, begging the dark-haired woman in red to stay on stage. U + Ur hand by pink starts playing instead and I catch a bright smile as she stripper spins. Her red painted lips move along to the lyrics as she lets loose. She gradually lowers herself into a crouch in front of our table. Falling to her knees, she skims her fingers up her thighs, over stomach and above her head. Flipping her hair in a circle her knees slide apart and she places her hands on the ground and leans forward giving our table an eyeful of her chest. One of the pups jumps forward and tuckes a dollar bill into the strap of her bra. She winks at him and straightens on her knees rolling her body to the beat.

Her eyes flutter open and locked with mine.

Everything stops. The air in my lungs dissipates. My muscles lock and I can't hear a thing.

Lexie.

She's here. On stage. Stripping. My lexie is dancing on stage in her underwear being watched by over a hundred men.

She's here.

Lexie.

My lexie.

"What did you just say?" Ryder snarls. His black eyes are furious. Jem and Hunter are all staring at me. Jem's expressions is sad, worry shining in his grey eyes. Hunter's face is a carefully blank not an emotion shows on his features.

I look at my friends. The fear of being wrong, of my eyes betraying me. Creeps in. But I'd know those eyes anywhere. It's her. I know it is. "Lexie. She's here."

My own feelings are reflected back at me in their faces. Shock and hope mixing in their eyes.

"Where?" Hunter snaps back first. He turns in his chair searching the room for her famili6 ashy blonde hair. His gaze is frantic, the way he snaps his head around desperate.

I tilt my chin at the stage in front of us. "Up there."

Their brows furrow as their expressions start to fall with disappoinment. All they see is a grown dark-haired woman. But as they look closer at her face, they noticed what I did. Jem's gaze falls on her stomach as his face lights with hope. He's looking for the tiny round birthmark that sits right above her navel.

"It's her." Jem turns back to me a choked laugh bubbling out his throat. Right there, above her navel is the mark.

I take in the black and white flowers tattooed over her right shoulder. The delicate leaves end right beneath her key bone and it seems to climb behind her shoulder too. A black lily climbs its way up the side of her left hip. The same lily in white is wrapped around yhe the black one snaking down it.

I remember the day she got her first tattoo. I kept telling her that she could squeeze my hand as hard as she wanted too. That it'd be over quick and anything else I could to reassure her she could handle the pain. When the needles pierced her skin, she didn't even flinch. She sat there gazing stead8 at me not moving a muscle. She said it fucking tickled. Jem had groaned and nearly broken the bones in Hunter's hand as he got his first. But she took it like a pro.

The word thats marring all of our skin burns where it sits over the elbow pit of my left arm. My fingers trace the letters over the fabric of the black shirt I wear. Knowing them my heart.

Ryder's voice snaps me back to reality. He's waved a waitress over. "We want a private dance with Lexie." His tone brokers no argument making the waut8 shuffle her feet.

"I'm sorry, sir, it's her first night I don't know if she'll do private dances tonight." She responds, eyes wary.

"Then find out." Ryder bites through clenched teeth. The womam scurries away on her high heels while Ryder turns back to Lexie. His fists are clenched and shoulders tight as he fights the urge to pummel the man who slips a dollar bill into Lexie's thong.

"She's a stripper." Huntet stated talking to himself more than us. He stared at her in disbelief pain twisting his features and worry darkening his forest green eyes.

"Not anymore." Ryder growls eyes never leaving her.

We've all dreamed of her. Of seeing her again. Of getting her back. Wondered what she looks like now. Where she's been and what she's doing. If she's okay. If she'll ever come back.

Now here she is. Hair dark and dancing in a fucking strio club. Doing a great job at it too. This isn't her first time on stage. I wonder if this is how she's gotten by all these years. How young she was when she had to resort to stripping to survive.

Not that there's anything wrong with the profession but there are establishment that are wrong. Worry over what else she may have done to survive. All of it leads me back to the question it always does:

Why did she leave?

Shade pov

The waitress returns turning all our heads.

"She'll be expensive. A lot of people have requested private dancers before you."

Ryder sucks his cheeks in biting on the inside of his mouth. "We'll pay whatever you want in order to move to the stop of that list."

The waitress nods quickly. "Yes, sir. I'll come fetch you when she's ready." She curtsies before hurrying off strawberry coloured Ponyta swishing as she goes. It doesn't take long before the lights on the main stage darken and Lexie slips off the stage. Men boo and call out for her to come back while another dancer takes the stage.

Ten minutes later, the swishing ponytail came back and leads us to a private room off the left. The four of us follow her walking stiffly. We look as if we're heading to our execution. Faces grim and postures rigid. We're all scared. Terrified that it won't be her. Equally terrified that it will be. Longing for answers to our questions and afraid of the answers.

The room is dim. There's a small round stage with a pole on it in the middle of the room. A black couch sits in a half circle against the wall. I stay standing as Jem perches on the edge of it.

Ryder leans back folding an ankle onto his knee. Hunter paces back and forth impatiently. New drinks are already waiting for us on the small tables spread out in front of the couch.

Hunter downs his one swoop. Tossing the whiskey back and slamming the glass back down without making a face before resuming his pacing.

It feels like hours before the door opens and Lexie saunters in. She heads for the pole slipping of the see through red tinted robe she wears as she goes. Tossing it to the ground she takes to the stage. She looks so goddamn professional.

The music stops and Lexie abruptly halts her movements, her back to us. I can't help but admire her ass. Then my gaze falls on the black and white lilies on her left thigh. I eye the faint scar beneath it. It's not really visible under the tattoo but the flowers aren't as long as the scar which goes all the way down to her knee.

A flood of memories from that day surfaces. The way of my heart stopped as she pushed past us and jumped. How seeing her disappear beneath the waves made me sick with worry. How I went to jump after her but Hunter being the rational one stopped me.

All of us raced to the beach and sprinted to the water. I've never felt such strong relief as I did when I spott her swimm toward us. We released a collective breath of relief. Our instict was to get her to a hospital but Lexie couldn't be able to afford it.

So, we went to the den where one of the wolves that's ex military and has stitched people up before took care of it. With only oainkill in dull the pain Lexie gritted her teeth and cried silently as he brought the needle in and out of her skin.

I remember wishing I could take her pain. Feeling useless I sat down and started talking about the Harry Potter books. Lexie used to love them, she could talk about it for hours and got me and Jem hooked. Ryder and Hunter only read them and got invested for her sake. I talked and talked, tried to make her laugh even as she cried and did anything to get her mind off of the pain. We went back to the beach afterwards, stole some choc ice cream which is Lexie's favorite and watched the sunset.

Pushing the memory back I draw my gaze away from the scar.

Slowly, Lexie turns on her heels meeting each of our gazes. The blank mask on her face could rival Hunters. It reveals nothing.

"Hello, boys." She drawls her voice deep and sexy as hell making my cock jump to attention. "Long time, no see." Her eyes rake over us. Noting all the changes. They linger on Hunter's long nearly white hair pulled back in a bun. Jem's little muscled form. Ryder's tattoo in his left arm. My height and hazel eyes.

"What did you do to your hair?" Jem blurts returning to the shy boy with zero game that he was the last time he set eyes on her.

She huffs out a short cold laugh. "It's been ten years and the first thing you're going to ask is what I did to my hair?" Her voice is icy and cuts sharply.

"It was the first thing I could think of," the poor msn mutters in defen lower his head defeatedly.

"Where have you been?" Hunter snaps stalking forward before coming to a halt at the edge of the stage. Lexie turns her icy blue gaze on him. Hunter meets the challenge in them head on.

"A lot of places, non of them good," she responds her lips curling up in a cruel smile. It makes my heart clenched. This isn't Lexie. This is not the girl we once knew.

"What happened to you?" Hunter snaps back his eyes scanning her face searching for the smiling girl who used to dream big. She always found the good in the world. In us. Brought it out too. Made us dream right alongside her. Our dreams were often the same as hers. They still are. Though it seems as if she's got new dreams now. Or none at all.

She sighs and turns away avoiding our eyes. Then she snaps her gaze back to Hunter. "Long story short; I survived."

Hunter's nose twitches the only outside sign of his aggravation. He resumes his pacing right in front of the stage and Lexie's narrowd eyes follow him.

"By stripping," Ryder speaks for the first time drawing Lexie's focus to him. She lifts one shoulder in response. Seeming totally unfazed by the dange power oozing fron the man. "Why are you back?" He questions. The man on the couch isn't my friend Ryder. It's Mr. Rux future leader of the pack and business man.

She shrugs again, "Was no better place to go."

His gaze narrows on her scrutinising every word. "How long are you staying?" Ryder goes on knowing when to push and when not to.

"Who knows," she raises a brow at him completely unbothered.

"Where are you staying?"

"None of your business."

Ryder nods realizing how this conversation will go and switches tactics. He rises from his place on the counch, Jem following. The three of us close in on Ryder recognizing the set of his shoulders and glint in his eyes. "Have you signed a contract?"

Her brows furrow slightly creasing the skin in between them. "What do you care?" Her voice is laced in suspicion.

That's a no. Quick as a viper. Ryder lunges grabbing her behind the knees and tosses Lexie over his shoulder. He wraps an arm around her thighs right beneath her ass keeping her locked in place as she kicks and slams her small first into his back.

"Ryder put me down!" She strikes sounding so muck like the Lexie I know that it brings a smile to my mouth. She's still there somewhere. We just need to draw her out. Hunter pulls his jacket off and hepls Ryder stuff it around Lexie's middle covering her almost naked form. Her fists swing for him and Hunter barely avoids a punch to the face.

Striding out of the room with a shrieking stripper on his shoulder Ryder pushes through the crowd with Hunter, Jem and me in tow. Workers and guests alike stare as we pass.

The commotuo has drawn Kai out of his office and he square off against us by the door. Protecting his dancers from anyth and anyon. "Put her down, Ry," he orders staring Ryder down. "I don't give a fuck that your father owns this town, you do not touch my girls." I admire that the man sticks by his morals even as he's faced with a man like Ryder.

"Alexa Johnson doesn't work for you anymore," Ryder states calmly and Ken's face flashes with a recognization at the name. Everyone who lived here when we grew up knows about our friendship with the beautifully wild orphan girl.

"What?" Lexie shrieks kicking her feet. "You can't do that!"

Ken sighs amd steps aside. "I'll send a check for tonight."

Ryder nodd pleased with that answer as Lexie shouts "traitor!" at Ken who only murmurs a "good luck" at us before going back to the office. He knows we'd never hurt her. Knowd that she's in good hands with us.

Excitement mixes with concern as Ryder dumps Lexie in the back of Jems truck who slips inside along with Hunter and locks the doors so she can't jump out. Hunter barks at her to put her seatbelt on fron the oassen seat. Lexie sticks her tongue out him and holds up her middle finger before crossing her arms and glaring out the window. For the first time tonight, Hunter laughs.

Hoping onto my motorcycle I wonder how Lexie will react when we get home. What she'll say when she sees the white house that she built in her imagination for us. There's always been a piece missing within those walls and it's finally being filled. Ryder and I exchange a knowing look. Both feeling the same thing as we start up our bikes and pull out of the parking lot behind the truck. Heart hammering in my chest, I race home.

Alexa pov

What the actual fuck?

The rumbling of Jem's truck grows quieter as we reach the suckenly rich part of the city. As we slow down I watch the giant houses with green gardens roll past. Wondering what the hell we're doing here, because they can't actually live in one of these houses. I scowl at the world. We come to a stop outside of a gate. Behind it sits a beautiful white house. It takes me a moment to realize which house this is and why it seems so familiar. Stipping, we wait as a wolf sitting in a little box houses exchanges a few words with Ryder before pressing a couple of buttons to let us in. The gate slides open and we roll inside.

My heart beats out of rythym as my gaze falls on the entire house. Big black double doors sit above a small half-moon staircase that leads to the front door. Jem, veers the car to the right and a black garage door opens. A narrow road tilts down and leads us underground to a massive garage. Multiple cars and bikes, all expensive as hell, is lined up facing the wall in a neat extremely expensive row.

The engine turns off and Jem hops out pulling my door open with a flourish.

"My lady," he drawls and bows at the waist.

Tentatively I scoot to the edge of the jeeps seat peering out. Ryders jacket is still around my middle I climb out of the jeep and walk along the line of vehicles looking at them all with wide disbelieving eyes.

They're rich. The four boys who used to steal croissants from the small bakery down by the beach for me are fucking rich. My mind can't really wrap itself around them here. I always imagine. It's the same house. The one I wanted to buy and renovate. They bought it. Renovated. Live in it.

Without me.

They took my dream and made it their own.

A fist wraps itself around the organ slamming against my chest protecting it from any further harm.

Four pairs of eyes watch me closely as I move closer to a door at the end of the line. The air is thick with tension and when Jem slips past me to hold the door open, he looks almost nervous. Silently, I move through the basement. Noting the gym on the right and a closed door to the left of a staircase that leads up into the house.

Jem walks ahead of me. He swiftly enters a code on the keypad which blips and opens the door. Jems tall lithe frame blocked my view of the pad keeping me from seeing what numbers he pushed. Mentally cataloguing to find the member combination later, I step into a living room.

To my right, there's floor to ceiling windows looking over a dark wooden deck with a pool, bar and grill. The ocean sits beyond it and I can see the cliff peak to the left from here even in the dark.

Inside to my left is the wide expanse of the living room. White couches sit in front of a flat screen TV with a massive speaker system. On the TVs right side is another door that, if this place is built like I imagined it to be, leads to the office/library.

Ahead of me is the dark brown and white kitchen. Isle, barstools and all. Mouth open and body numb I take in everything from the wooden floor to the large photograph hanging on the wall next to the staircase that leads to the second floor. It's a blown-up polaroid picture.

Of me.

Hunter took it years ago with a stolen instant camera. The body twirling in the blue ocean is blurry. Blonde strands block out the young girls face but a hint of a wide smile can be seen. Worn jean shorts and a white flowy long-sleeved top covers her skin. There's a bandage around her left thigh starting at her knee and disappearing behind the storts.

My fingers skim over faint white line beneath the tattoo. It never faded completely, the wound deep enough to scar.

That photo was taken the day I turned thirteen. We'd been celebrating with a picnic on a cliffside on the other side of the city. The beach there is made up of huge rocks and continues onto a cliff smaller than one here.

Hunter challenged the other boys to jump off it. There weren't many stones jutting up the water so they deemed it safe enough. Asking me to guard their stufg they stepped up to the edge gazing down below gauging the distance. Angry at being left out and because I know they thought it was too dangerous for me to jump I rushed past them and threw myself into the air. Freefalling into the waves. The water gripped me tight and slammed me against a rock before I could breach the surface giving me the scar on my left thigh. That photo was taken shortly after.

"What do you think?" Jem questions a bit hesitantly.

Turning I find all four behind me standing shoulder to shoulder creating a wall of muscle and intense gazes. "What the fuck?" I snap glaring at each and every one them.

They look a bit taken aback by my reaction. All except Hunter who's face remains impassive.

"That's-what?" Jem stutters looking from me yo the others confused.

"You stole my house!" I throw my arms out enveloping the space. "What the fuck!" I shout anger rising in me. They live in the house I created for all five of us and they built it for themselves.

"Stole?" Ryder drawls raising a brow at me. "We bought and built it just the way you always wanted to." His voice is steady and slow as if he's explaining something to a child. It makes me want to stomp my feet. Like a child. My muscles bunch as I resist the urge.

"For you!" I point at him accusingly. "You took my house and built it for you!"

Their brows furrow in confusion. Ryder shakes his head at me. "No," he says calmly, "we built it for you." He clarifies pointing his own finger at my forehead. "This house belongs to you just as much as any of us. More even. It's yours. Your home."

"I don't have a home," I mutter under my breath on instinct.

"Yeah, you do." Shade snaps back. "You always have."

My head throbs. I can't wrap my mind around this. They're the ones who had me sent away. They wanted me gone so they could take the treasure and split it four ways instead of five. Yet they built this house that I dreamed of saying it's mine. My home. I drag my fingers through my hair turning my gaze to the floor. Trying to piece this together is giving me a headache.

"Come on," Shade always holds a hand out, "today's been a lot. Go get some rest and well talk more tomorrow." He says noticing the growing ache in my head. Always so attentive and turned in to the people around him.

Shaking my head, I take a step back. "I'm not staying here."

My protest falls on deaf ears. Ryder steps forward stalking after me as I back away. My back meets the wall. Caging me in Ryder swoops his arms low and tosses me over his shoulder again. I don't even fight as he carries me up the stairs and down a hall. Four doors face each other and fifth sits right ahead. Ryder opens that one and carefully sets me down on my feet inside.

A large queen-sized bed stands in front of me. The bedsheets white and at least ten pillows are learning against the dark brown wooden headboard. There's a small nightstand on the left and right side of it in the same wooden color. Lamps and vases with fresh flowers standing on them.

A dark wood peeking out where it ends. The right wall one large window. There's even the window seat decorated with plush pillows that I always wanted. A glass door next to it leads out to a balcony. The wall next to the door we stepped through is a built in dark brown bookshelf.

The wall opposite the window is bare except for the two doors sitting far apart.

Ryder points to the one farthest away. "Closet," he states before moving to the door closest to us. "Bathroom."

My head is spinning as I roll my eyes over the space. It's fully decorated in my favorite colors. The bed made and the flowers blooming in the nightstands. It sits untouched but still cared for. Someone must clean it and keep it from becoming dusty as its6 left unused. It's clear no one lives here but still ready for someone to move in.

It's as if they've been waiting for its owner. For me. My eyes burn and my stomach aches as I stand completely frozen by the threshold.

"Get some sleep." Shade repeats leading me over to the bed when my feet don't move. He tosses the covers back and I climb in.

"Holy fuck. This is the most comfortable bed I have ever lain in. It's soft but not too soft. It's like a big hug. The pillows fluffy beneath my head. Like soft clouds.

Sighing deeply, I sink into the mountain of them. Grabbing one to hug as I sleep precisely like I always do. Turning on my right side I draw my legs up, flip the cover up so it wraps under my feet and tucking a piece of it between my thighs. I don't even notice that my bra and makeup is still on. Mind's too scrambled from the day's events. Forgetting my protests about staying in this house I close my eyes and slip into a deep slumber.

I wake up to the smell of pancakes, coffee and croissants. Mouth-watering, I slip out of the cloud and I slept on and stumble into the wardrobe.

Which isn't empty. There's some pyjamas, shorts, shirts and workout gear in the rectangular room. Empty hangars fill both sides intercepted by short shelves where folded clothes lay. Beneath the hangers are rows meant for shoes and on the wall facing the door is a full body mirror.

Finding some clean underwear, I slip out of the stripper ones and into the panties forgoing a bra. I drag an oversized white t-shirt over my head and slip my legs into some chocolate brown track shorts.

The bathroom is white with a built-in bathtub beneath a round window. A shower sits against the far wall, a rack with shampoo and body wash inside. The cabinet over the sink has a toothbrush, toothpaste and a couple of bottles with night and day cream as well as sun lotion.

Leaving the doors it open I take some makeup remover and wash my face. Then add some sun lotion onto my face before heading downstairs. Following the steps to where the smell of delicious food is coming from. My stomach growls loudly and realized I haven't eaten anything since the night before yesterday.

I find Ryder behind the stove flipping pancakes and Jem setting the table whilst the coffee is brewing. They're both bare chested and in sweatpants. One balck the other is grey. I admire their asses from my place on the stairs. It's a nice view.

Ryder's shoulders are broad, his back and arms corded with muscle. Jem's slightly shorter and his muscles learner but just as defined. They grew up to be hot. As in steaming-mounth-watering-panty dropping eyes popping out of my head-hot.

Ryder's tattoos are on display. The viper wrapping itself around his right forearm is detailed and absolutely stunning. I can't see the word I know is tattooed above his right knee. Nor do I see the same word under Jem's collar bone when his back is too me. I absently trace the word on the left side of my ribcage the "A" starting right where my breast ends. My fingers pass over the cursive and four stars spread out around the letters. I was the only one who got the stars the others complaining it was too feminine for them. Huffing out a breath I take the last steps and head to the kitchen isle slipping onto a barstool.

"Goodmorning," Jem greets cheerfully, "sleep we-" his words stop on his tongue as he turn around.