Chatter filled the dining room as we ate breakfast. Adam and Lyall were discussing the pack security measures when Alpha Clarke cleared his throat. We all turned to him. He stood up to address us all, power oozing from him in waves.
“The yearly meeting is upon us. This year it will be held in the Northern Province, and we will all attend…” he trailed off while I focused on playing with yet another apple. I never attended those meetings, no need for me to worry. “Even you, Laika,” he finished.
The knife I was holding clattered on the table. Every eye around the table looked my way as dread splashed through my veins. My eyes closed as I shivered. It wasn’t cold, but hell, I was freezing.
“What?” I choked out.
“We’re going together, as a family, this year, which means you too.” There was power behind the alpha’s voice. This was not a request, but a demand.
It had been eight years since I left the Northern Province since I left my home. Eight years since my entire world burned to ashes. And now he wanted me to go back there?
“But—” I started, only to stop when Carolyn and the alpha exchanged a look. Carolyn looked mad for some reason like she didn’t agree with what he was saying. At least she was on my side. I could use that to my advantage.
“It’s been eight years, Laika, and you haven’t left the Southern Province. This is an opportunity for you to see the outside world,” he said. His voice was soft and calming, but he didn’t know. Going back there would hurt more than anything.
“I know what it looks like,” I said. “I lived there. I know it too well.” That place held all the memories. The good and the bad, I just wanted to avoid the bad. Was that too much to ask for?
“I’m sure a lot has changed in eight years,” Olivia, Carolyn’s second oldest, said. She was the quietest of the lot. If she had an opinion about this, I was doomed.
“What’re you afraid of?” Lyall chimed in.
Ulrich and Carolyn had explained everything when I woke up here. They told me Alaric had sent me here because he didn’t want to see my face ever again. I never questioned those words until now. Back then, I had seen it as an easy way of avoiding the pain.
“Laika!” Ulrich called. The intensity of it brought me back to the present, away from those thoughts. I looked around the table, everyone was watching me closely, most of them wearing looks of confusion. My eyes landed on Carolyn. Another look passed between her and her mate. A look riddled with secrets.
“You’re coming with us, Laika,” Alpha Clarke said. His tone left no room for arguments. I was final. I let it go then. Too disoriented to think of anything that could save me from this cruel fate after what had happened all those years ago.
The alpha didn’t linger after that; he walked away. Seconds later, Carolyn followed him, and when I had had enough of everyone staring at me, I walked away, too. I intended to go to my room when a thought changed my plans. What I was doing was foolish, and if I got discovered, I would be in trouble.
I followed Carolyn’s scent. It led me to the alpha’s office. The door was slightly ajar, and I could hear angry, muffled voices coming through it.
“Have you lost your mind?” I heard Carolyn say when I crept closer to the door. “She’s here for a reason. He asked us to protect her, to keep her safe, and you want to take her back there?” In all the years I had known Carolyn, I’d never heard her talk to her mate that way. Anger and desperation painted her words. The rhythm of my heart tripled as I listened closer. I tried to rein it in, scared they were going to hear me.~
~
“He’s had his time to break it, and he’s no closer to doing that. All these years, he had one task, and he has failed repeatedly. Let’s face it, it’s fate. Let it strike with its cruel hand.”
What were they talking about? This couldn’t be about me, right? I knew it was about me. I just didn’t want to accept it.
“He won’t be happy about this. If she goes back there, she might die!”
“Laika is like a daughter to me. I’m doing what’s best for her.”
“Doing what’s best for her?” Carolyn laughed, though the sound lacked any hint of humour. “You know very well what will happen to her. We’ve lived long enough to witness what happens to that family, and you’re here telling me you consider her a daughter?”
“She deserves to know. I can see the pain in her eyes. The truth might set her free,” he said. There was some shuffling and before someone discovered me lurking outside the alpha’s office while he was having a conversation with his mate, I made a run for it. My heart pounded faster and faster, the rush of blood roaring in my ears. Goosebumps spread across my skin as fear spread inside of me. What were they talking about?
Were they talking about me and Alaric? And what did she mean when she said I might die? Die from what? The questions kept piling up inside my head until I made it outside.
Someone called my name in the distance, but I forged on, not knowing where I was going. My only thought was that I needed to get away from everyone. What I had heard there kept circling inside my mind again and again. It only left me confused and in need of answers. But if I were to confront them, they would know I had eavesdropped on their conversation. I could only hope they found my scent and called me to answer what I was doing there. In that way, I wouldn’t be the one to start the conversation.
Once I reached the edge of the forest, I stripped out of my clothes, hiding them away for later. In seconds, dark brown fur covered my entire body as my paws sunk into the soft ground. I started running, letting my wolf come to the surface as I shot through the woods. Running was one-way wolves could burn off some pent-up energy. Sex helped, but I didn’t want it. So I ran and ran, circling the perimeter twice.
I stopped near a river, watching the water gleam as the sun hit its surface. In the distance, mountains roamed, big and proud, adding to the scenery. I leaned my body against a tree trunk, feeling exhaustion burning through my muscles. I needed to return home. It wasn’t advised to be alone, and miles away from the pack house. Werewolves weren’t the only creatures roaming around. If I were attacked out here, no one would know.
Reluctantly, I made my way back to the pack house. No matter how much I tried to not think about what I heard, it kept slapping against the walls of my mind repeatedly. I knew they were talking about me. It’s just that a part of me wanted to deny it so much.
Now that I knew I couldn’t get the answers I wanted from them, I was determined to go to the Northern Province to get them myself. This involved my life. So why were they hiding something so important from me? What happened all those years ago? Why was the alpha and his pack so welcoming of me? I was nothing, but an omega. I contributed absolutely nothing to the pack.
I shook my furry head and started my journey back to the pack house. The alpha wanted me to go, so I was going. Nothing he was going to say now would stop me.
