Chapter One - Dakota

My name is Dakota Lorenzo, and I was born into the Mountain Top Pack, but I am not a member of it; to them, I had an unknown bloodline, as I did not know who my father was, and that made me a rogue. They had wanted me expelled, to be left to die across their border; a helpless newborn was an easy target for any predator, but the Alpha did not have it in him to abandon a tiny, premature baby to the fates. He chose to let me live because my mother was the Pack Healer, and she made it clear that if he forced her to choose between his Pack and her newborn daughter, then she would walk away. A Pack cannot function properly without its Healer. The Mountain Top Pack needed my mother more than she needed them, so he backed down and allowed me to stay under the Pack's protection as long as my mother did not let caring for me interfere with her duties to the Pack as its Healer. I was an unwanted complication in her life, and she was warned to keep me away from the Pack, which was easy for her to do as we lived far away from the main Pack by the border.

The Pack's Patrollers were supposed to keep an eye on us as we lived so close to the border; we were a target for any rogues or humans sniffing around the Pack. They were ordered to check on us every time they passed through the small valley we lived in, and at first, they did as the Alpha instructed, but when a nearby farm lost its male provider, the widow and her four adult daughters quickly took advantage of the situation. They enticed the Patrollers into their farmhouse and gave them the kind of 'workout' that kept them coming back for more.

The Patrol Leader was Reuben, one of the two Beta's sons. In his Patrol were the Alpha's twin sons, Damon and Drake; they were a few years younger than him, and he was training them for the future roles as Leaders of the pack. They all acted like they could do anything they wanted, and truth be told, they could; they were Pack Royalty, and that meant everyone had to bow their heads and be subservient to them. Of course, they took advantage of their high status. As soon as they became mature adult Werewolves,  they had perfect muscled bodies and stunning good looks that had the human females falling at their feet. They tried it on with my Mama, she was a pretty brunette, and they believed, because she did not have a mate, she was fair game for their interest. She put them in their place very quickly, and because she was the Healer, they had no choice but to back off; they hated her for rejecting them and turned their displeasure on me. Whenever they did pass our small cottage, they took sadistic pleasure in hurting me, a sly kick, a cuff to the ear, but their worst trick was locking me in the small shed we used to store wood in the winter. It was dark, full of creepy crawlies, and only big enough to stuff a tiny child into it. I lost count of the times I cried and screamed for my Mama while they stood around laughing at my fear, only moving when she hurried from wherever she had been to belatedly rescue me. There was nothing she could do to stop them. If she told the Alpha, they would only make things worse for her, and by that, I mean the worst for me. They told her simply how easily a small, adventurous child like me could get lost forever in the woods surrounding our home; it was a direct threat, so all she could do was warn me to hide whenever they came around. 

I tried, I really did, but I was an innocent two/three year old, bright and intelligent and fascinated by the world around me. Mama had taught me to fend for myself as soon as I could walk because she knew she would not always be around to look after me; her duties as a Healer took her away from me for hours and sometimes even days. I needed to learn to survive alone as quickly as possible, so she could not be accused of letting caring for me interfere with her role as the Pack Healer. By the time I was two, I pretty much fended for myself, young in human terms, but I was clever, much more advanced than any human child that age. Unfortunately, my innate curiosity made me forget that the Patrollers would hurt me if they caught me, and I wandered right into their path far too often.  Mama tried to be patient, tried to instil in me a fear of them, but even she began to stop comforting me and tell me off when she had to rescue me yet again. 

So, how did I come to be living with the Alpha and Luna eighteen years later?

It was simple. I was four years old and happily playing in my 'secret' place, hiding from the Patrollers who, unbeknownst to me, had already passed us by to enjoy the delights of the widow and her daughters. They had not checked the area around our small valley, so intent on their own selfish pleasures, they had not even scented the Rogues waiting patiently for the chance to strike. 

By the time the dust settled over their huge mistake, my Mama was brutally raped by the Rogues and left to die, and by the time Reuben and his Patrol realised what they had done, they knew they would be in serious trouble. So they shifted the blame to me, a frightened, confused four-year-old who could not understand why the very people who should have protected and comforted her betrayed her so horribly.