Chapter 1 The Beginning
Keir
I know a Royal Squad is following me, and I am grateful I won't be entering the territory on my own, but I don't look behind me to see if they can keep up with me. The closer I get to my Pack's territory, the more outraged my Lycan becomes.
I had roared at the first sign of trouble. I felt the bond with Pack-members sever one after the other, and my roar had turned to one of pure outrage the moment I felt that my Mate was in serious pain. It had gotten worse within seconds, and my knees had buckled when the Mate-bond got severed. My Lycan had released a mournful howl.
I hadn't explained myself as I had run out of the Council's Chamber, and I knew I didn't have to. I barely registered the Wolves and Lycans outside as I got out of the building, but I felt it as they followed me at high speed. I knew I had my dear friend Armas to thank for their presence, and I would take advantage of their presence if I needed it.
I smell the scent of blood and death as I approach the border; another scent hits my nostrils, and I know that Rogues are responsible for what I am about to see. The first body I come across is that of my Beta, and I roar as I see the injuries covering his body.
The further into the territory I get, the more heartbroken I feel—some had barely made it out of their homes, and when I neared the house of a Pack-member with a newborn Pup, I went inside. The Wolf following behind me loses his breakfast at the scene in the master bedroom—the Pup and his Mother are unrecognizably injured.
Closer to the Pack-house, I find multiple bodies of Warriors and Omegas, and I already know their efforts to protect their Luna have failed. I just hope they were able to protect their heir, and I am holding out hope to find her alive. I find the body of my Gamma on the front steps of the Pack-house with his Mate lying dead in the doorway.
I roar as I find the bodies of their Pups in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, and halfway up the stairs, I find the body of my Beta's Mate, and I know it is only a matter of time before I find my Mate. My Lycan roars in pure rage when our eyes land on our Mate, lying face down on the landing of the second floor.
A member of the Royal Squad that followed me here steps next to me, and I hear him gasp as his eyes land on my Mate. I growl as he steps towards my Mate. "Take it easy, Keir. I hear a faint heartbeat." The male says, and as I look at him, I understand how he knows my name; we once belonged to the same Pack.
He slowly makes his way over to my Mate, and as he turns her on her back, my Daughter comes into view; the sight of her makes me crash to the floor. My Lycan whimpers as we look at the bloodied body of our Pup. Her faint heartbeat makes us feel a tiny bit better, and I swear to the Goddess that I will protect her with my life.
"Keir, I linked one of the Squad to take a look at her. He has a medical background and will be able to tell us a bit more about her injuries." Armand says, and I am grateful there is someone that can check my Daughter. He asks if I know where her Father, the Alpha, is, and when I tell him he is looking at him, his jaw drops.
He knows I never wanted to become an Alpha, at least not in my birth Pack, and he understands like no other why. The young male has finished checking my Daughter, and he tells me that the blood is from my Mate; the only injury she has is on her head, probably from when my Mate fell down with her in her arms.
Armand and I exchange numbers after he tells me to leave the territory. We both fear it might have been an attack targeted at me, and neither one of us is willing to put my Daughter's life on the line. I had grabbed a huge backpack to pack a few things I didn't want to get lost and some clothing for the both of us.
My Daughter had woken up hours later screaming at the top of her lungs, and it had taken a long time before she had calmed down enough for me to ask her what she remembered, but she can't tell me anything as her Mother had grabbed her to run up the stairs.
"Mommy had arm around me, my face against shirt." My Daughter says, and I know my Mate did everything she could to prevent her Daughter from seeing anything. At least I know she won't have nightmares about what happened. I am glad she might never remember how her Mother died as she is only two years old.
Echo is keeping a tight leash on our Alpha aura as we travel further and further away from our territory. We don't want anyone to think we mean them harm or to get sent away if we find a Pack willing to take us in. I don't care what I have to do in the Pack as long as I can keep my Daughter safe.
I stay clear of a few territories I know are able to sense that I am a Lycan; not many Packs are willing to take in a Lycan if they are an all Werewolf Pack, and I want to find a Pack that cannot sense that I am a Lycan. It will be the safest thing for me and my Daughter.
Traveling with a two-year-old shouldn't be this easy, but my Daughter doesn't complain as we travel every single day, and I truly believe she understands more than she should. It has been almost a week since the attack that left me without my Mate and my Pack, that left my Daughter without her Mother, and I really hope I find a Pack to settle in soon.
"Daddy." My Daughter says as I see her hand point towards my right, and I hear growls coming from that direction, followed by the screams of young Pups.
I lift my Daughter on my shoulders as I quietly make my way over towards the sounds, and when I see a perfect hiding place for my Daughter, I lift her high into the tree.
I tell her to be quiet and wait for me to come get her, and she nods her head as she places her hands over her mouth. I place the backpack against a tree a few feet away from my Daughter's hiding place. I step out of the tree line to a scene that nearly makes me lose control of Echo, but reminding him of our Pup is enough for him to back down.
I place myself between the Rogues and the Pups that are backed up against a tree; the Wolf is fighting two Rogues as the other two lunge at me, and I grab both of them by the throat. I quickly break their necks before I toss their bodies aside and grab another Rogue by his hair.
I pull him away from the Wolf that was protecting the Pups, and I toss him as far as I can before I turn towards the Pups. Three Wolves appear from the other side of the clearing, and they take care of the two Rogues that are still breathing before they rush towards us.
The young male Pup reaches for the black Wolf, and I know he is the Alpha of this Pack, probably also the Father of the Pup. Another Wolf slowly walks towards the female Pup, and I see her give him a smile as he nuzzles her neck, probably her Father.
The third Wolf has shifted to Human form and has two sweat pants in his hands as he turns to the other two Wolves; both of them shift to put the pants on. The male that had been protecting the Pups is breathing raggedly, and I can hear his heartbeat fade with every breath he takes; he gave his life for these two Pups.
A mournful howl is heard as he stops breathing, and I know he left a Mate behind. The Alpha—who introduces himself as Alpha Geofry of Silver Shadow Pack—invites me to come with them.
"I'll be right back. I left something in the forest I need to get." I say, and the Alpha nods his head before I go back to get my Daughter.
On our way to the Pack-house, I learn that the male that died was his Gamma and that the female Pup was the Daughter of his Beta, the male Pup his Son as I already suspected. My Daughter is walking hand in hand with the female Pup, and the Alpha's Son is on her other side.
For the first time in a week, my Daughter is able to take a shower, and I am grateful for the clothes they provided for us. After she gets out of the shower, she crawls into bed and falls asleep without saying a word, and I decide to take a second shower to really clean my body.
A knock on the door pulls me from my thoughts, and I open the door for an Omega that tells me that dinner is ready. My Daughter is beside me within a second at the mention of food. I chuckle as I lift her in my arms to follow the Omega down the stairs to the dining room.
After dinner, the Omega walks over to us and tells me she will look after my Daughter while I talk to the Alpha and his Beta. My Daughter grabs her hand without hesitation, and I follow the Alpha to his office as the two of them head up the stairs.
Chapter 2 Fifteen Years Later
Keir
It has been fifteen years since I lost almost everything I valued in life, but it doesn't become easier with the years that have passed, and the only reason I am still breathing has everything to do with the female I am looking at.
She is the reason I get out of bed every morning; she is the reason I keep going through the motions every single day, and I thank the Goddess every single day for keeping her safe.
Ever since Lakota turned fifteen, we have been sneaking out of the Pack-house at night, and we do it at least once a week. Our Alpha is a pompous ass, as Lakota says; he thinks he knows how to run a Pack, and that is to our advantage.
No one ever figured out that we are Lycans or that we are of an Alpha bloodline. They are too stupid to see or notice it, and our Alpha doesn't train his members correctly. In a few weeks, Lakota will turn eighteen, and that will be the day that we will leave this Pack in search of a new home.
My mind wanders back to my birth Pack, a Pack that no longer exists, and I feel nothing thinking about it. My Father was a Werewolf and my Mother was a Lycan, but with her low rank as a Lycan, she would give birth to Werewolves. My Father wasn't a big fan of Lycans, and our entire Pack was aware of that.
He had been very disappointed when he found out his fated Mate was a Lycan and a Lycan of a low rank as well. He never hid his disappointment from anyone. The only time he was pleased with his Mate was the day she gave him an heir to the Pack, and even that didn't turn out the way he wanted.
My Brother's training to become the Alpha started when he turned sixteen, and I was ignored even more from that day on, not that I gave a damn. I enjoyed training with the Warriors, and I was damn good at it too. I turned thirteen about three months after my Brother turned sixteen, and I shifted for the first time.
I scared the shit out of my Mother that day as I turned out to be a Lycan and a black-furred one at that, something my Brother wouldn't like at all. My Mother warned me not to show anyone that I was a Lycan, and I knew exactly why she said it, because I had witnessed it more than once that Pack-members were bad-mouthing their Luna for being a Lycan.
My Father and my Brother both ignored what the Pack did to her, and that was one of the major reasons I didn't care that my Father ignored me. Echo had trouble standing down whenever we heard Pack-members talking about our Mother, but we both knew it wouldn't do us any good.
My Mother had been excited the day my Brother turned eighteen, but we both knew my Father would be disappointed in him and his Wolf. The moment he had shifted into his Wolf, my Father walked away as his Wolf was a dark brown wolf instead of the black Wolf my Father had expected, after all, he was the future Alpha.
My Father began to include me in the Alpha training, and my Brother had despised me for it, taking every opportunity he had to make me look bad. I tried to talk to him about it, but he didn't want to listen to what I had to say, and after a while, I gave up trying to explain things to him.
Until the day I turned eighteen, I had no idea what I would do. Would I shift and show everyone that I am an Alpha Lycan, or would I act as if I was Wolfless? I had no idea, and it wasn't until I woke up on my eighteenth birthday that Echo and I decided not to shift, hoping my Father would go back to ignoring me.
It turned out a little bit different from what I had hoped, and it would lead to the event that forced me to leave home for good. My Father did go back to ignoring me, but it also gave my Brother an excuse to throw insults in my direction, and it didn't take long before most Pack-members joined him.
The only ones that didn't care about me being Wolfless were the Omegas and the Warriors; the Omegas didn't care because they knew how spiteful our Pack could be, and the Warriors didn't care because they knew the kind of fighter I was.
My Mother started to join my Father and Brother in ignoring me, and that hurt me more than the insults my Brother and Pack-members threw my way. I had just returned from night patrol and I was later than usual thanks to a handful of Rogues, when I heard my Mother's voice coming from the living room.
"Sweetheart, you are right. Keir is a burden to our Pack as a Wolfless male, and he will never contribute to this Pack in any way." She giggled before she said, "If he thinks he will ever get a Mate, he is in for a surprise. That Wolfless idiot is only kidding himself."
I heard her laugh along with my Brother and Father as I walked over to the living room. "I, Keir, Son of Alpha Matt and Luna Linda, hereby sever ties with Yellow Stone Pack." I growled as I shifted into Echo and stalked over to our Mother. "I hope the rest of your life in this Pack will be as miserable as hell." Echo growled.
In my Lycan form, I stalked up the stairs to the Alpha floor, and I shifted back just outside my bedroom. I packed some clothes into a backpack together with some other necessities. An Omega was waiting for me outside my room, and she handed me a bag filled with food and snacks before she bowed her head and left me standing there.
Everyone in the living room was still in shock as I walked out of the Pack-house, and it was the last time I saw my birth Pack. I know Yellow Stone Pack no longer exists; the Council took care of that when Armand found evidence that my Brother had been behind the massacre of Crystal Blood Pack.
He had found out I was Alpha of a Pack that was bigger than his and had better Warriors than he had. He was jealous of the fact that I had a Mate and was happy, while his Mate had rejected him for the pompous ass he was. All those lives lost because of a jealous Alpha.
My Father was put to death for killing my Mother; he had killed her because she had known I was an Alpha Lycan and she had kept it hidden from him. But even that didn't make me feel anything. I had closed the book on my birth Pack and my family the day I had walked out. I don't regret what I did that day, and I am grateful for the time I got with my Mate.
"Dad, stop reliving the past. There was nothing you could have done, and the things you did do are what matter." Lakota's voice pulls me from my memories, and I know that she is right. After she shifted for the first time, I told her my life story, from the day I was born until the day I ended up at Silver Shadow Pack.
Lakota has known since she was ten years old that Silver Shadow Pack was not her birth Pack; I had been contacted by Council-member Armas, and I had been forced to tell Lakota. She hadn't been completely surprised, but she had surprised me when she had asked if I ever wanted to return.
I had thought about it for a while, and when I told her it held a lot of sorrowful memories for me, she told me to sell it. It wasn't her home; she didn't remember it, and if it was too painful for me, then why would I want to keep it? The only request Lakota had was to keep our Pack name; she couldn't explain why she wanted to keep it.
The Council granted her request to keep the Pack name, and the day we leave Silver Shadow Pack, we will have enough money to start over again. We don't have a solid plan, but we will see where we end up and what we need to start over again.
We are walking back to the Pack-house in silence, something we do just in case we run into someone. No one is surprised to see me walking about at night; I have done it ever since we settled in Silver Shadow Pack, and it was something I had done on purpose.
It gave me the freedom to go where I needed to go to shift into Echo, but Lakota is not allowed out at night, and if anyone thinks I am alone, they will not realize that Lakota is hiding in a tree.
"Hello, Gamma." I hear our future Alpha say, and I look up at him as if I was deep in thought.
"Sorry, I was..." I start to say, but he tells me I don't have to explain myself.
"Dad told me you do this every night, and he thinks it has something to do with your past. I won't keep you, Gamma." He says, and he sounds even worse than his Father. I shake my head as I stare after him; he walks towards the Pack-house, and I realize this might become tricky for Lakota.
"I am on our floor, Dad." She says through our mind-link, and I smile as I walk after our future Alpha.
In two hours, he will turn eighteen, and he will be able to find his Mate; his Father seems to think he will be mated to our Beta's Daughter. It would make sense why they have been together for almost a year now, and a part of me hopes it is true.
I don't care who his Mate is as long as it isn't Lakota. It would make things very complicated for her and her Lycan if he is, because he has made it known he will reject his Mate if she turns out to be Wolfless or a Lycan.
Chapter 3 Rejection
Lakota
"Damn it, Lotus. Stop acting like an idiot." I mumble out loud as she wakes me up again, and I am really starting to get pissed off with that annoying Lycan of mine. Lotus has been like this ever since midnight, and the first time she woke me, I thought it was to sing Happy Birthday to me as she has done every year since she showed up.
All she says is that I need to get out of bed and follow her directions, but I am not having it. In a few hours, I have to be at the front of the Pack-house to shift as it is my eighteenth birthday, but I won't be shifting because I don't want anyone to know I have a Lycan.
I hear sounds coming from outside, and I already know where the sounds are coming from; it is coming from the Beta floor. More specifically from Jane's room as it is above mine, and I know exactly what the sounds are from: her having sex with her Mate, our future Alpha.
Jace is a pompous ass just like his Father, and I can't wait for the day my Father and I walk out of this Pack. Jace and Jane turned eighteen almost two months ago, and it turned out they are fated Mates. Lotus, for some reason, has been agitated ever since that day, and most of the time she retreats to the back of my head when they are around.
I am wide awake, and I know I won't be able to get back to sleep. I get out of bed to close my window when I smell an amazing scent. "Mate, Mate." Lotus yells in my head, and I walk closer to the window to find out where the smell is coming from; my head snaps up as I realize it is coming from Jane's room.
I quickly duck back into my room as I hear someone on the balcony above me, and I have a pretty good idea who that person is.
"Dad, wake up." I yell through our mind-link, and within seconds he stands in front of me outside my room. I tell him through the mind-link what I found out, and Echo nearly takes control.
There is a knock on the door of our floor, and Dad decides to stay out of sight while I open the door, only to be faced with Jace. He looks at me in disgust as his Father steps behind him, and even though I know he is our Mate, Lotus and I don't want him as our Mate.
He must have known ever since he turned eighteen that I was his Mate, and still he told everyone that Jane was his Mate; she even played along with him. I thought she was my friend, but I guess she only acted as my friend because of Dad's rank, and now I understand why Lotus acted so strange.
"Why did the Goddess pair me with a Wolfless Mate?" He asks with disgust on his face, and I just stare at him with a blank expression on my face.
"I, Jace, future Alpha of Silver Shadow Pack, reject you, Lakota, as my Mate and Luna." He says, and I double over from the pain in my chest; I look up at him as I am on my knees.
"I, Lakota, accept your rejection." I say through gritted teeth, and I smirk at him as he crashes to the floor in pain.
Two Warriors grab Jace to get him to the Alpha floor, and after our Alpha looks down at me, he follows his Son.
Moments later, Dad picks me up to bring me to my room, and after a few minutes, I feel the pain lessen.
Being an Alpha and a Lycan, it doesn't take me long to recover. About an hour later, there is another knock on the door, and I hear the door open after a few seconds.
Dad is on border patrol, and I link him to let him know that someone is on our floor.
"Lakota, it is Doc. Where are you?" He calls out, but I can tell that he is not alone, and I tell Lotus to help me act weak. I whisper that I am in my room, and a few moments later, Doc shows up in the doorway with our Alpha and Jace right behind him.
Doc checks me out as Jace keeps his eyes on me, and he is starting to give me the creeps. Once Doc is finished, he walks towards our Alpha. "Being Wolfless, it will take her at least a week to recover from the rejection, Alpha." He says, and I see a smirk appear on Jace's face. Doc leaves our floor when our Alpha tells him they will look after me.
Jace follows his Father and Doc towards the door, and I sigh in relief when they leave me alone. I strain my hearing as I hear the door close, and I know that only Doc left.
"Jace, if you want a strong heir for the Pack, you will have to keep Lakota here. You need to mate with her to make sure our Pack gets a strong heir; Jane will just have to deal with it like my Mate did."
"Dad, I will talk to Jane about this and order her to accept my Pup as her own. Just like you did eighteen years ago, Lakota will give birth to my heir." Jace responds, and Lotus nearly roars out loud when his Father says, "You will mate with her once she has recovered from the rejection. In the meantime, we will leave for Alpha George in the morning."
"Dad, you might want to come back. I am having trouble controlling Lotus." I say through our mind-link, and about ten minutes later, Dad walks onto our floor.
Doc is with him, and I know Dad made sure he ran into him on his way back; Doc would have told him about my condition.
Chapter 4 Departure
Lakota
"Alpha, I will look after my Daughter. Patrols are taken care of for today, and I will make sure it stays taken care of while I look after Lakota; I don't think it will do her much good being around Jace right now." Dad says, and I can hear Doc ask him what he is talking about.
"Doc, Jace is the one that rejected her." Dad says before our Alpha can command him not to say a word, not that it would have worked on Dad.
Doc gets the Alpha command to never talk about what he just heard, just before they leave the Gamma floor, and then it is just me and Dad.
Every male and female knows that only your fated Mate can give you strong heirs, especially if you are a High-ranking Wolf or Lycan, and that doesn't change if you have rejected him or her. I am just as outraged about it as Lotus is, and I already know that we will be leaving in the next few days.
"Dad, how long will the Alpha be gone?" I ask him, and when he tells me five days, I smile at him. I tell him what I overheard, and he is as surprised as I am that Jace isn't our Luna's Son, but then again, he doesn't look like his siblings. At least now a few things are making more sense than they did, and I know I won't be staying here.
I won't be turned into a breeding machine for Jace, and a part of me hopes that Jane will be unable to give him a male Pup; a few female Pups would be a suitable punishment for both of them. Dad gets the two backpacks from the back of my walk-in closet, and we both start packing one with our belongings.
We take out the map Dad printed out a few months ago; marks on it pointing out the Packs, and there are three different colors. Red for the Packs we need to avoid, orange for the Packs that could be trouble, and green for the Packs Dad knows we can trust if we need some help along the way.
We map a route we want to take; there is a territory that every Pack avoids as it belonged to a Pack that slowly died out, and it had everything to do with chosen Mates. Just like this Pack, their Alphas all took chosen Mates, but they hadn't realized that with it their Pack became weaker and weaker, and in the end, it meant the demise of their Pack.
Dad hopes we can find the territory and live there in peace, just the two of us. I have had enough of the world; first my Uncle sent Rogues to annihilate my parent's Pack, and now I got rejected for being Wolfless. If our Alpha had trained his Pack-members better, he would have known that Dad and I are Lycans.
I hate the world I am forced to live in; I never asked for any of this, and if I never see another Wolf or Lycan again, I will die a happy female. Why is it so difficult to let someone live their life the way they want to? Why do the Higher ranking Wolves and Lycans have the need to look down on those with a lower rank?
I know I will never get the answers to so many of the questions I have, and that is why Dad and I decided to vanish into thin air. Along the way, we will clear out the account Council-member Armas set up for us, and we will be able to live out our lives the way we want to, not the way everyone else thinks we should.
Dad is out of bed at the break of dawn to make sure border patrol has their orders, and he will make sure he is there to see our Alpha family off. Once they are gone, he will inform those he trusts of Jace rejecting me and make sure they know why I am locked in my room by the Alpha.
One of the Warriors that got ordered to guard the Gamma floor had linked Dad to inform him, and when Dad asked him why he had to guard the Gamma floor, the Warrior had told Dad that our Alpha feared I might take my own life. Turns out our Alpha told him that I had been rejected when I was off Pack territory, but he had not believed our Alpha.
I never leave Pack territory without informing Dad and at least two of the Warriors he trusts, and each and every one of them knows this. Dad links me to tell me that Lance will be joining me on our floor soon, and a few moments later, there is a knock on the door right before it opens.
Lance walks into our living room with a blank expression on his face, and I know that something happened to him. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out, and I know that he was rejected by Jane.
"Dad, do you trust Lance enough to take him with us? I think he was Jane's fated Mate." I say through our mind-link.
Keir
I was there the day Jane rejected Lance for Jace; she had turned eighteen two days before him, and she went out of her way to run into him that day. Jace was with her as Lance had realized his Mate had been lying to the entire Pack, and he had accepted her rejection without hesitation.
Jace had picked Jane up and left Lance on the ground in pain, but they didn't know that I was there to take care of him. I think that is also the reason why Lance didn't believe our Alpha and linked me to warn me that Lakota was under guard.
The Warriors I trust with my life are aware of what happened with Lakota and Jace; each of them growled when I informed them, and each of them promised they would help us to get off Pack territory tomorrow night. One of them even volunteered to give the Alpha a false report every evening and morning in regards to Lakota.
I won't leave the Pack defenseless as the Warriors are trained better than the Alpha ever wanted, but that is something he will not be aware of for a long time, and maybe he will never find out how well trained his Warriors are.
After giving them further instructions, I head back to the Pack-house to see off the Alpha and Beta families as they go to visit Alpha George.
Chapter 5 Files
Keir
"Keir, we will be back in five days. Make sure the borders stay protected, and I want a report every evening and every morning, is that understood?" Our Alpha says, and I tell him who will be reporting to him as I will be looking after my Daughter, that she is my first priority.
"I have given the Warriors strict instructions, and they know what to do if something happens; no one will get into the territory without them knowing, Alpha." I answer him, and even though he wasn't pleased when I told him I would be staying with Lakota, he doesn't say anything to me.
Jace has his arm wrapped around Jane's shoulder as he leads her towards one of the cars, and she looks at me with a smirk on her face as if to say, "Look what I did."
I truly hope they will never have offspring and that this Pack will slowly die down as more and more Pack-members leave.
I watch the cars pull away from the Pack-house, and I keep watching them until they are out of sight before I head up to the Gamma floor.
I ask one of the Omegas if she can bring up breakfast for three, because I know that neither Lakota nor Lance had any breakfast yet, and neither did I.
Through the mind-link, she tells me she will be bringing our meals up every time and that she will clear them out as well, until the day the Alpha returns from his trip. "That way he will think your head start isn't that big, if he decides to come after you." She says.
I walk onto our floor to find our door ajar, and I hear Lakota and Lance talking in the living room. "Breakfast will be here shortly; I'll be right back." I say as I walk towards my room to take a shower and change into some clean clothes. By the time I walk into the living room, breakfast has arrived, and I sit down in an armchair with a plate.
"Lance, tomorrow night Lakota and I will be leaving the territory. We already know where we want to go, and we have the means to do what we want to do. Lakota and I want to vanish into thin air and keep as far from other Wolves and Lycans as we can, just living our lives out in peace.
Lakota figured out on her own what happened to you, and she wants you to accompany us, if you want to." I say to him before I dig into the food, and I let him think about what I just told him, to think about whether he wants to join us or not.
None of us say a word as we enjoy our breakfast, but I can tell that Lance is talking with his Wolf in the meantime, and I am curious as to what both of them think about what I just told them. I see him smile from time to time, and I think I already know his answer, but I will wait for him to tell me himself.
"Gamma, Bolt and I would like to come with you and Lakota. There is nothing left here for us, and we don't want to be faced with Jane on a daily basis." Lance says after we have all finished our breakfast.
"Then I suggest you pack a backpack with the things you want to take with you. And leave the title at the door, will you?" I reply.
I see Lakota slumping down on the couch before I hear a knock on the door, and from the way she is acting, I think that Doc is on the other side; through the mind-link I explain to Lance what she is doing.
I open the door for Doc and invite him in to check on Lakota, but I know he will find the same weak, Wolfless female as he did yesterday.
"Gamma, it will take her a few more days to regain her strength, but I am positive she will recover completely from the rejection. Too bad some idiotic Lycan didn't appreciate your Daughter." He says, and I see Lance looking at him with a confused look on his face.
"Sorry, Lance. I thought the Alpha explained to you that Lakota got rejected by a Lycan she ran into when she left the territory the other day, and with her being Wolfless, it will take a lot longer for her to recover. I am just glad Jace found her when he did and brought her back to the Gamma floor.
I am not sure what would have happened to her if Jace hadn't, but thank the Goddess we don't have to think about that." Doc says as he walks towards the door, and I can see that Bolt is near the surface, ready to take control.
"Bolt, he is under Alpha order. He knows the truth, but he can't tell anyone." I tell him through the mind-link.
It takes Lance a few moments to get full control back, but once he has it back, he asks why the Alpha would do that.
"Because he doesn't want anyone to question Jace's heir; he doesn't want anyone to find out he did to his fated Mate what Jace wants to do to me, and that is to force me to bear the next heir to this Pack.
While he and Jane are acting as the loving parents of my Pup, while they act as if they belong together." Lakota says.
I ask her how she knows this. She tells us what she overheard exactly, and it is a good thing Jace and the Alpha are not here right now; Lance and I would have ripped them apart.
I leave Lance with Lakota to get our files from the Pack's Archive, and the same Omega from earlier tells me she will warn me if anyone is coming. It doesn't take me long to find Lance's file, but for some reason, I can't find my file or that of Lakota, and I wonder where he could have hid those.
Chapter 6 Alliance
Keir
I know he has a safe in his office and in his bedroom, and I hope for my sake it is in the safe in his office.
For some reason, the Omega knows not to speak with me out loud as she asks through the mind-link if I found what I had been looking for, and I tell her I need to go to the Alpha's office to see if it is in his safe.
"He also has a safe in his office on the Alpha floor, but he hardly uses that one as no one ever goes in there. He might have left it out in the open if he keeps it in that office." She says.
I decide to check his private office first. We both walk up to the Alpha floor, using the stairwell for the Omegas.
She stays on the lookout again as I enter the Alpha floor; I nearly lose control of Echo when I see pictures of Lakota spread out across a table and both our files are lying open with sticky notes all over them.
Looks like our Alpha might not have been so dumb after all; some notes are on my behavior and some are on Lakota's behavior.
He even suspected us to sneak out of the Pack-house at night, but he had never been able to prove anything as he always found Lakota on our floor if he checked up on her.
He thought I might have been a Beta Wolf, but that I accepted the Gamma position to hide from someone.
I don't want him to be able to find any other clues, so I grab everything from the table, and I even check his laptop to see if he made a digital back-up. I smile when I see that every picture was deleted from the laptop at some point, and remembering a trick I learned years ago, I reset the laptop to factory settings.
I do the same to Jace's laptop when I see that the pictures are in a file on his laptop, and I smile as I imagine the look on their faces when they realize everything is gone. I leave the Alpha floor the same way we got up there, and on the Gamma floor, our ways part; through the mind-link I thank her for her help.
I show Lakota and Lance everything I found, and I tell Lance the truth about my past, about who Lakota and I truly are.
"I always suspected there was more to the two of you than that you showed anyone; I hadn't expected to find myself in the company of Lycans, though." He says as he looks through the pictures once again.
The next day is spent preparing for our departure; we will be leaving after midnight to avoid as many Pack-members as possible.
Lakota
I have checked my backpack for the umpteenth time since I woke up; I keep feeling as if I am missing something, and for the life of me, I can't figure out what it is.
Lotus is fast asleep in the back of my head as she kept watch all night; not that she doesn't trust Dad or Lance, she just wanted to be prepared in case something would happen.
"Lala, what is wrong?" Dad asks, and Lance is in stitches as he hears Dad call me by the nickname Mom gave me, and that is when it hits me; I know what I forgot to put into my backpack.
I kiss Dad on the top of his head as I walk past him, and I yell thank you over my shoulder as I run back to my room.
I slide under my bed to push up a floorboard in the middle of the floor, and I grab the metal box I hid there years ago; it contains the things I treasure most in life. One is a picture of me with Mom and Dad; the other is a necklace that has been passed down for generations in my Mom's family.
It is a blood-red crystal in the middle of a golden moon, the sign of Crystal Blood Pack, and I decide to wear it instead of leaving it in the box. I place the picture inside one of my notebooks, and I walk back into the living room to hear Dad and Lance discuss our options after we leave the territory.
Lance knows where we want to go, and he is tracing every possible route with his finger; he quickly disregards two routes as they lead past too many hostile Packs. Leaving us with three other routes we can follow, each with their own set of challenges, and as we discuss the Packs we will have to pass, Lance tosses another route out of the window.
"This one will lead us past Hollow Moon Pack, and they have an alliance with this Pack; he will have no problem with selling us out. It will be best to avoid them if that is possible." Lance explains, and I smile as I see Dad nod at his words; looks like it was a good idea to ask Lance to join us.
Two routes remain after that, and Lance asks Dad which route has the most friends along the way.
"Why do you ask, Lance?" Dad asks him, and Lance tells us that we might be able to reestablish those friendships, giving us an advantage in the future.
"If they know where you want to settle down, they might be able to help with rebuilding the territory or warn us if someone drops by asking questions about us." Lance states, and I see a surprised look on Dad's face; I don't think either one of us had thought about that.
We just thought about getting out of here, but we never thought about the future and any help we might need from someone.
I look at the map in front of us, and both routes hold an equal amount of friends, but I don't know if any of them ever had an alliance with Crystal Blood Pack.
Chapter 7 Blood Samples
Lakota
"Dad, which of these Packs had an alliance with Crystal Blood Pack?" I ask as I keep looking at both routes, and Dad is quiet, a bit too long for my taste, so I look up at him. I see a bright smile on his face, and I think he has realized why I asked him this question.
"You are a smart young lady, my Daughter. We will take this route." He says as he points at the route we will be taking.
"This is your Uncle's Pack, and I know he will side with us." Dad points at a green mark as he speaks, and Lotus gets excited about the prospect of visiting with family.
"These two Packs will probably uphold the alliance we once had if we knock on their doors." Dad says as he points at two other green marks, but I notice two other green marks he didn't point at, and I ask him about it.
"Those Packs will be a guessing game; I don't know if they will uphold our old alliance, and I'd rather not find out until we are safe." He answers.
Dad explains that when he was still an Alpha, he had made those alliances for the sake of his Pack, but that he never really trusted any of the Alphas, and neither had Mom.
"Like Alpha Geofry, they believed they needed to keep their Pack pure, and that meant that if you found a same-sex Mate or a Lycan Mate, you had one of two choices." He says.
I know which two choices he is talking about; either you reject your fated Mate or you leave the Pack. Most would leave their Pack, hoping to find a Pack that was more than willing to accept them, and some even ended up in the service of the King and the Council.
Dad tells us that he took in his fair share of the couples that left their Pack for their fated Mate, and how Mom would always do everything she could to help them settle in fast. My Uncle is the same type of male my Father is, and I can't wait to meet him and my Aunt.
Lotus has been awfully quiet from time to time ever since we overheard Jace and Alpha Geofry; when she is ready, she will tell me what she has been thinking about or what she has figured out, and till that time, I will help Dad and Lance get ready for our adventure.
I quickly lay down on the couch as I smell Doc outside our door, and Lance covers me with a blanket as he knocks on the door. Dad gets up to let him in and to let Doc do his job; we all know he doesn't like the situation any more than we do.
Doc sees me laying on the couch while Lance is standing in front of the window with his arms crossed over his chest, not paying much attention to me or Doc, and Doc links me to ask if he needs to get rid of Lance for us.
"What do you mean, Doc? He is just making sure I have everything I need, Alpha's orders." I answer him.
"He is here to make sure you stay on the Gamma floor, and he will be in the way of your escape plans." Doc answers, and I look at him in terror.
"Doc, have you lost your mind? Why would you think such a thing? This is our home; this is our Pack, and I don't know where you got the stupid idea from that I would want to escape." I say with a small voice.
Doc pales as Dad and Lance growl at him, and I am glad that Lotus chooses to help me play weak in front of Doc, instead of growling at him. Lance leaves the room to stand guard outside our door, because he knows Doc won't say a word to us with him around, and through the mind-link I thank him for clearing the room.
Doc starts telling us about Alpha Geofry and his fated Mate; that she took her own life after Jace was taken away from her, and she was forced to watch another female raise her Son. That the same goes for the Beta's fated Mate, and that his Gamma was about to do the same thing when he was killed.
"What happened to the former Gamma's Mate?" I ask, and I sigh in relief when I find out she found her second chance Mate, but that he wasn't a part of this Pack.
"I doubt she ever knew what would have happened if the Gamma had survived, but I am glad she never had to find out." Doc answers.
"I have been wondering if it was only the Alpha or his entire leadership." Lotus comments, and I know that this is what had her preoccupied every time.
"Doc, is there any evidence?" I ask him, and I really hope there is evidence to give to the Council and bring this Pack to its knees.
Doc shakes his head as he explains that the Alpha always took every file with him and every staff-member was Alpha commanded to never speak of it to anyone.
"Ask him if there are blood samples from those females, and if he says yes, then ask him if he has samples from our future Alpha and Beta." Lotus says to me.
Before I ask Doc, I link Dad to get his opinion about this; Dad decides to ask him those questions as I am supposed to be too weak, and we don't want Doc to know too much.
If Alpha Geofry thinks he is involved, he won't have much to spill, and it might save his life in the process.
Doc tells us he will be back after dinner with everything we might need to prove our story to the Council, and Dad fills in Lance on everything Doc told us.
Chapter 8 Farewell
Lakota
I take the map off the table to study it again, and I let my finger trace the route we are going to take, taking in every Pack name that we will pass along the way.
I place a few marks of spots where we can rest for the night, and I constantly pick two spots about an hour apart, just in case we are traveling slower or faster than we expect. Our first stop tomorrow will be a small town that is known to have lone Wolves living there; not something you see very often.
They all left their Pack for one reason or the other, but didn't want to find another Pack to live in, and they live there peacefully. Even a Council-member lives there, and that is where we will get some of the money we have, just to make sure we have some on us if we need it.
The rest we need will be ordered through the Council, and Armas will take care of the payments, just like he has done ever since we settled down here.
Dad has put every cent he could save into that account, and together with the money from selling our Pack's territory, we will have enough to do as we please.
Lance has all his savings in cash, just like I do; not that the two of us have much, but it will hold us over for the time being, and after dinner, we take turns in getting some sleep before we leave.
Keir
Doc showed up just after Lakota went to bed, and I could use her condition as an excuse. Everything he had was in a small bag, and he told me he hoped I knew what to do with it.
"Don't worry; if Alpha Geofry doesn't know these items were in the Hospital, then he won't miss them." I tell him reassuringly.
Doc still doesn't realize that Lance is on our side, because Lance decided to stand guard outside the door, and Doc tells me to let him know if we need help to get out of the Pack-house.
I tell him we will be fine, and I guide him out of the door; I keep watching until I hear the front door open and close.
"What is on your mind, Keir?" Lance asks as I sit down on the couch, and I know he can tell by the look on my face that something is bugging me.
Lakota rushing into the living room keeps me from answering Lance, and before I can ask her what is going on, she gestures for me to keep quiet.
"We need to check the bag; it might be bugged." She says, and Lance and I look at one another before I pick up the bag and start to take everything out of it.
It takes me about ten minutes before I have sorted through the entire bag and finally find the bug sewn into the inside pocket of the bag.
"Nothing, Lance. I think it is just the worrying about Lakota and how she is going to feel with seeing Jace and Jane every single day." I say, and through the mind-link I ask Lakota how she figured it out.
"He said every staff-member had gotten an Alpha command to never speak of it again. If that is true, then how was he able to tell us?" She answers.
"Keir, don't worry about Lakota. She is a strong female, and the Goddess will give her a second chance Mate; I am sure of it." Lance replies as he winks at Lakota, who sticks out her tongue at him.
I think about it for a while, but I don't have another explanation than that Alpha Geofry recanted the command on Doc.
He needed someone to talk to about it, someone that would be able to answer any question he might have along the way, and if everyone that knows is under an Alpha command to never speak of it again, then that would be impossible.
I place everything back into the bag, just before I pull the bug out of the bag.
"How are we going to make sure he doesn't suspect anything?" Lance asks, and I already have an idea on where to hide this bag, making Doc think we are still on Pack grounds.
"Okay, we better make sure no one finds this in our room. I will put this in a safe spot near the border, and I will be right back, Lakota." I say after I have taken everything out of the bag and placed the bug back inside.
I walk past the Hospital towards the border, and I let Echo keep an eye out for Doc; the male doesn't disappoint as he follows me to a hollowed out tree. I get down on my haunches and grab the handle of the bag in my right hand; I reach up inside the tree to hook it around a nail that is in there.
After I lower my hand, I stick my head inside the tree to see if it is in place; I know that Doc has been watching my every move, and Echo chuckles as we wonder about the look on his face when he realizes we have slipped through the cracks.
At two in the morning, Lance tells us that every light in the Pack has been turned down and that it is time for us to start moving.
We take the stairwell for the Omegas to make our way down, and we leave through the side door of the Pack-house, keeping us hidden from anyone that might be watching us.
My Daughter is out of sight, and even I have to strain my hearing at times to find out where she exactly is; she said it would be better if no one saw her.
Just in case we would walk into someone that would inform the Alpha, at least this way no one would know for sure when we left the territory, and that would be to our benefit.
One of my most loyal Warriors is waiting at the border, and next to him is the Omega that has been helping me; at least now I understand why she was so helpful.
"Gamma Keir, I wish you and Lakota all the luck in the world." She says as she hands me a bag with refreshments, and she looks surprised as I hand it to Lance.
I thank both of them for having our backs, and I say to them that maybe one day our paths may cross again.
Chapter 9 Pack Bond
Keir
Lakota gets out of a tree on the other side of the border, and Lance just shakes his head as he walks over to her; both of them waving goodbye to the two Wolves standing next to me.
By the time the sun comes up, we are near the small town called Castaway; there are a few Wolves and Lycans walking around, but they don't pay us any attention, and it doesn't take us long to find the house that belongs to Council-member Armas.
"Keir, it is good to see you again. I assume this is your Daughter, Lakota." He says as he smiles at her, and Lakota steps forward to shake his hand.
"Hello, Council-member Armas. It is a pleasure to meet you; I just wish it had been under better circumstances. This is Lance, and he is coming with us; his fated Mate rejected him so she could become my fated Mate's chosen Mate." She says.
Armas asks us to follow him inside for some breakfast, and we all gratefully accept his invitation; we could all use some rest before we get going again.
During breakfast, I tell him everything that happened, and I can see he has trouble controlling his Lycan; not so surprising as what I just told him is against the Law.
"We are not sure if what Doc gave us is genuine, but I guess you can find out if it is. We also assume that the future Beta and the future Gamma have the same thing planned for their fated Mate, but I assume they will guard those females themselves after my disappearing act." Lakota states, and we all know she is probably right.
"The Council will investigate this, and we will keep an eye on them from now on; if they try to do this to another female again, we will take action. If this proves that Jace is not the Luna's Son, we might have another surprise for them, and that goes for the future Beta as well." Armas says.
We left our phones behind in Lakota's room, and I am grateful to have a new phone; it means a little more freedom from here on out.
Lance stares at his new phone, and I tell him it is my way of saying thank you. Lakota asks Armas to put his number in her phone just in case she ever needs it, and not only does he put his number in her phone, but also in mine and Lance's phone.
Once we have everything I asked Armas to get us, we say our goodbyes, and I feel a little bit better now, knowing that the Council will keep an eye on Alpha Geofry.
We walk straight through the small town, because we know that none of them will tell anyone they saw us if they ever get asked that question.
Just before the town disappears from sight, Lakota turns around to take one last look at it.
"It is nice to know there is at least one place one can go to if they don't fit in." She mumbles before turning her back on the small town again.
We walk for a few hours before we sit down to have some lunch, and I smile as I see a few pictures inside the bag.
A picture of Lakota sparring with Lance, a picture of Lakota and Lance as they are instructing some Pups, a picture of me sparring with Lakota, and a few more like those.
I pass them around while we eat, and I see a smile on Lakota's face as she looks at a picture of the two of us watching some Pups train.
"Once we settle down, I want to hang these on the walls; our leadership might suck, but our lives sure as hell didn't." Lakota says as she shows Lance a picture of the three of us, and he tells her it will be a reminder for us that you hold the key to your own future.
After packing everything up, we start walking again; we are in no hurry whatsoever, and we take our time to enjoy the scenery as we hypothesize about our future.
The one thing we all agree on is that we want to live in peace, and whether or not that is with a second chance Mate doesn't matter.
It will still be three days before Alpha Geofry comes back to Silver Shadow Pack, so that is the minimum amount of time we have to put between us and them. We already made the decision that we would run in our Lycan and Wolf form in the evening and get some sleep at night, while we walk during the day.
After all, they expect Lakota to be weak and unable to run or shift for that matter, but they will be in for a surprise if our paths ever cross again. We don't run at full speed because of Lance, but there is no need for it either, and Echo enjoys being able to run with his Pup.
"Keir, it is nearing midnight. I think we should find a place to crash for the night." Lance says through our mind-link, and it makes me realize we need to talk about losing that connection when we sever the Pack-bond.
Chapter 10 Can't Wait
Jace
Dad called me to his office, but he didn't want to tell me what it was about, and I try to figure out if I did something to upset him. The last time he sounded like this was to inform me I had to pick a Gamma; Dad doesn't believe a female can be a Gamma, and I agree with him wholeheartedly.
Lakota may be our Gamma's Daughter, but she will never become my Gamma, and I think it would distract visiting Alphas too much if she was in the same room. She is a gorgeous female at 5'9" in height, with black hair, turquoise eyes, and an hourglass figure. She is toned and tanned from all the training she does, but she will never be this Pack's Gamma.
I knock on the office door and I wait until I hear my Father say through the mind-link to come in. I open the door to find only my Father inside, and that surprises me to say the least; normally his Beta or my Mother is present. This time it is just the two of us, and I start to wonder if I screwed up something major.
"Jace, when you turn eighteen, it will be one more day before the Days of the Full Moon starts, and you will be able to find your Mate.
However, if that Mate is less than a Beta's Daughter, you will reject her and find yourself a chosen Mate. A Beta's Daughter or an Alpha's Daughter will be what you will choose.
If your fated Mate is from another Pack, you will take her home before you reject her."
I interrupt him to ask him why I would need to take my fated Mate home before I could reject her.
"You need a strong heir for our Pack, and your fated Mate will guarantee that even if you have rejected her.
I did the same with your Mother, and after you were born, I Alpha commanded her to hand you over, to never come near you again or to mention that she was your Mother. Our Luna is not your biological Mother, but I Alpha commanded her to raise you as her own Pup and to put your needs before those of any Pups we would ever have." He says.
I let the information sink in, and suddenly the difference between Carl and Jane makes sense; our Beta did the same thing to his Mates as my Father had done. I tell him I have to Alpha command my leadership to do the same, and the nod of his head proves my guess about Carl.
"Dad, I won't disappoint you. I will take Jane as my chosen Mate; she knows the Pack and the Pack knows her. Most already know that we have been sleeping with one another for a few months now, so telling them we are fated Mates won't be that difficult." I state, and I see a smile form on his face.
I find my Mate the night after I turn eighteen, and to say I am surprised is putting it mildly; I am paired with a Wolfless Gamma. Jane is with me when I find out that Lakota is my fated Mate, and the look I see in Jane's eyes doesn't promise anything good.
"Jane, don't worry. Let's tell everyone we are fated Mates and that we will mark one another on the night we take over as Alpha and Luna. When Lakota turns eighteen, I will reject her, and you will do the same thing if you find your fated Mate before I mark you." I say to her before I cup her face to kiss her.
It is the last day of the Days of the Full Moon, and Jane has convinced me to walk around the Pack with her in search of Lance.
Lance is one of our best Warriors, and he happens to be Jane's fated Mate; she wants me to be there when she collapses from the pain.
I hold her hand as we see Lance sniffing the air as he walks in our direction, and the look on his face tells me he knows exactly what is going to happen.
"I, Jane of Silver Shadow Pack, reject you, Lance, as my Mate." The moment she speaks the words, he crashes to the ground, and he accepts her rejection without hesitating.
Jane is in excruciating pain after Lance accepts her rejection, and I scoop her up in my arms to bring her back to the Beta floor; both our Fathers are waiting there with Doc when we arrive. Doc sedates her to make it easier on her, and I cuddle her in my arms as the males leave her room.
I already know who my fated Mate is, and on the morning of her eighteenth birthday, I make sure Jane's window is open, making sure that Lakota will hear us.
She will get out of her bed to close her window, and that is when she will smell that I am her fated Mate.
Doc gives me a mild sedative because as an Alpha I will recover faster than anyone else, and when we head down to the Gamma floor, I just feel a stabbing pain to my heart, but with Lakota being Wolfless, it will take her at least a week to recover from the rejection.
I watch her as Doc checks her out, and I smirk when he confirms she will still be weak by the time we get back from Alpha George.
I can't wait to mate with her and put the Pack's next heir into her. I mean, no one would mind to fuck a gorgeous female, and I will not pass up the chance to fuck her as often as I can.
We are barely off Pack territory to visit Alpha George when Dad gets a call from Doc to inform him that Lance was in the living room on the Gamma floor.
Dad tells him to deal with it and to keep him posted; we all know she will be too weak to go anywhere.
If they run right now, she will collapse before she reaches the stairs, so in my opinion, all Doc has to do is check up on her regularly, and when we get home, I will make sure she never wants to leave again.
My Alpha command is not as strong as that of my Father, but according to him, it will do.