4

Whoa. Ok, Elemental and werewolf. That was a lot to process.

We continued on like that for hours. Asking questions, answering questions both spoken and unspoken.  A Part of me felt betrayed, there was so much I didn’t know about my parents, so much they had kept from me. But there was another part of me that felt like everything finally made sense.

I woke up to the sun streaming in and the my father humming along. I yawned and stretched before glancing at the clock. My dad had noticed I liked the timer going so he left it as it was. It now said +9hr45min so I knew we had to be close.

“15 minutes out, Raine.” My dad said, answering my unspoken question.

I nodded and scooted over so I could rest my head on his shoulder. I had always felt oddly connected to my dad. My mom used to wave it off and tell me everyone felt that way about their fathers when they were close to them. But now it makes so much sense. He feels like we are the same, because we are.

He kissed my forehead and I dozed off on his shoulder again until we finally came to a stop.

“Baby, we are hear, but I want to tell you a few things first.”

I sat up, fixed my hair and looked around. It was a breathtaking area. The trees were taller than any I had ever seen, the sun was peaking through them and as I rolled down the window I could faintly hear a river nearby and birds chirping loudly.

“Ok, what do I need to know?”

“We have to cross into pack lands, and I’m going to have to explain who we are. There is a good chance they will take us to the alpha and we will have to work it out with him to see your grandparents. I don’t know what will happen, but I want to be absolutely clear, no sarcasm. Wolves are organized by strength and the alpha and his top warriors will take no shit from us. We are to be respectful, clear?” He asked with a no B.S. tone of voice.

“Yes, I understand. I promise.”

“Good, here we go.”

We drove another mile down a dirt road before a couple of men popped out of the woods in front of us. I smelled that they were wolves so I put on my sweetest face and remembered what my dad had said.

“Who are you? What is your business here?” the one on my dad’s side asked him as the other came up to my window.

“We are here to see Mark and Olivia Molina.”

Molina? Who was that?

“How do you know them?”

“This is my daughter, their granddaughter.” He said, gesturing toward me. Both the wolves eyed me for a moment and upon determining that I was a wolf looked back at my dad.

“You will need to speak to the alpha about entering the lands to see them.”

“That is fine, I understand.”

The wolves moved in front of us and told us to park over to the side. Looks like we will be walking from here.

We were walking for a couple miles when we suddenly came out of the thick woods and I felt my breath catch in my throat. The small path opened up into a regular road. From what I could see we had come up in the back of the pack. There were small houses around us with gardens and children’s play grounds. Paths that led in each direction and then up the main road in the distance I could see the most gorgeous five story home. It was modern, it was sheek and it was enormous. We kept walking and I realized the giant house was our destination.

We made our way up the walk and the warriors opened the door for us to enter. Everyone seemed to be weary of my father and myself and the glances did not go unnoticed. We followed the warriors until we came to a big door at the end of the hall and they nodded for us to knock and wait. My father knocked and we heard a deep voice that gave me shivers from the other side invite us in.

We stepped in and on the other side of the oak desk in the middle of the roof was an enormous man. He was 6’4, built like a tank and he radiated power. I was intimidated by his presense and his aura was making my wolf want to submit.

“Welcome to the Haven Moon pack, would you care to explain what you’re doing here, dropping the name of one of our elders to get in?” the large man, who I assumed by now was the alpha asked us. His voice was stern and laced with suspicion.

“My name is Anthony Jones. This is my daughter, Lorraine Molina. She is their granddaughter, Nora’s daughter,” my father started. He didn’t know fear but he was immensely respectful and I was taking mental notes.

I looked to the Alpha and bowed my head slightly.

He looked me over and then back to my dad before landing back on me.

“You look just like your mother,” he said, this time his voice held a little softness.

“You know her?” I asked with the little bit of bravery I had to speak casually.

He nodded, He couldn’t be more than 22 though so I wondered what their relationship was.

“She was around when I was a toddler, she volunteered in the children’s daycare here in the pack, she was one of the kindest women I’d ever known,” he told me with sincerity in his voice.

“Thank you for saying that,” I told him.

He nodded again and looked to my father.

“Where is Nora?”

“In the small town we have been living for the past 18 years. Being detached from this pack has worn her down. Her wolf is becoming feral and it reached the point that she attacked Lorraine.” My dad says to the alpha without so much as a twitch of fear. For a human he was awfully comfortable here.

The alpha released a deep sigh.

“Being rogue can do that. I’ve seen it happen many times.”

“Rogue?” I asked looking between them.

“It is when a wolf leaves a pack or doesn’t have a pack. They are on their own. Wolves have a strong desire to be apart of a pack, they crave being apart of something bigger, protecting and living together. When a wolf is on their own and rogue they tend to slowly lose their sanity in one way or another. Some rogues become hostile, some are immediately hostile, and few rare ones live happily alone. You, are a rogue.” The alpha says, explaining to me what my future was in only a few sentences. I felt my eyes widen. It was becoming clear why my dad and I had left. And why we had come here. I needed a pack.

“What is your intentions? To join the pack?” he continued.

“Our only real intention was to see Olivia and Mark. They haven’t met Lorraine, they haven’t seen Nora since she left. But they do know that Lorraine exists. I have kept in contact with them. Very brief, they didn’t know where we were. But I updated them periodically on her growth and sent photos. They deserved to know of their granddaughter,” my dad said.

“That was brave to do behind your mate’s back,” the alpha said with a raised eyebrow.

“Nora is not my mate. Or, I should say, I am not hers. We have been in the same small town raising our daughter, but we have not been together since Lorraine was a baby,” My dad said, clarifiying.

The alpha gave an “ah-ha” nod and then turned to me.

“You are blood of this pack. Even if Nora is not here this is your rightful home. You would have to undergo the trials to enter, same as everyone, but I know your grandparents would be happy to have you here. And your father is welcome to stay for awhile, then he could live in the town nearby.” The alpha tells me.

Wow. A new home. A pack. It seemed too easy and I Was so thankful for that. I didn’t know what was to come but I could hear my wolf howling with delight at the thought of having a pack. Apparently it had been weighing on her already that we didn’t have one even though I had only had her since I was 17.

“I can’t thank you enough for your generosity! That sounds… wonderful.” I thanked the alpha and turned to see my dad smiling ear to ear. He held out a hand to the alpha who shook it.

The alpha’s eyes glazed over for a second and then he told us he had called his Gamma and Delta, 3^rd and 4^th in commands to take us to my grandparents house.

We waited about 45 seconds and then the door burst open. A handsome guy in his early 20’s with bright blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes introduced himself first as the delta. I couldn’t hear what he was saying thought because my eyes were caught on the guy standing behind him. He looked so much the same as the other guy that it occurred to me they had to be brothers. Except this guy’s hair was longer, he looked a little older and his eyes were piercing green as they bore into mine and we both said, “Mate.”