7

What’s your name suga

Fusilis

Andricia

Kira is now beside me, with Lorissa on the other side. They both look at me. I don’t take my eyes off the guys as they speak to me.

"What do we do, Alpha?" Kira is concerned.

"How are they still standing?" Lorissa asks, grabbing my hand.

"Leave us." Without another word, every member of my pack goes into the pack house.

My eyes dart to their warriors on the outside of the plague land, as we call it. My beast is urging me to go to the warriors. So I obey, walking casually over to the nine men who are built to kill. I hear the other four following behind me—not too close, but not that far either. When I get to the men, I stop looking at each one of them. Then to the ground, where the tenth warrior stood. I drop to my knee and hold my hand over his remains, inhaling deeply.

"Did he have a family?" I ask, not looking up from the ground where he now rests.

"His mate is 7 months pregnant." One of the four behind me says it in a soft but deep voice.

I stand and turn to them, my facial expression is cold.

"I will have the remains collected and sent to the family." The guys seem baffled by my statement, their eyes going wide.

"That will be nearly impossible; there are so many here." The one with long curly hair says

"My pack is gifted; it will be taken care of," I say before turning back to the warriors; they seem uneasy under my gaze as they all fidget.

"How did you even kill him, if you don’t mind me asking?" One of the guys asks, and I don’t bother checking to see which one.

"I didn’t," I respond flatly.

I walk up to one warrior who won’t make eye contact with me at all. Four loud growls rumble behind me, sounding like one massive growl. I stop immediately and whip my head around to the four behind me, trying to figure out what the hell their problem is. They are staring at the warrior and not making eye contact with me at all for some reason. I turn back to the warrior and take one more step, so I am right in front of him, a little over a foot away. I reach out and lift his chin, and still, he doesn’t make eye contact at all. My beast's anger skyrockets, and a deep, sinister rumble forms in my chest. I was growling at the guy, but I don’t know why he didn’t do anything wrong. His eyes snapped to mine as they filled with fear. I quickly removed my hand and looked away after seeing my reflection in his eyes. I was scared; my eyes were pits of fiery, endless flames. I turn and begin walking back to the pack house, past the four behind me.

"I will pay all expenses for that family until my last breath. Mail me any bills or money requests. See yourselves off my territory." I continue walking back toward the packhouse, but I don’t hear any of them moving behind me to leave.

"Come with us." I immediately stop in my tracks as one of the quadruplets, I’m assuming, blurts that out.

I don’t turn to face them, but my beast is jumping for joy. Just the excitement I was looking for, but am I ready? What about my pack? I can’t leave it. I’ve always wanted to adventure and see what’s outside of my pack.

"Please."

---

I stand inside my packhouse facing Kira and Lorissa; they seem uncomfortable for some reason. The guys are standing outside the door at the bottom of the steps, waiting for me. I don’t understand why they are so clingy to me. I need to stop focusing on them. My pack is more important.

"I will be gone for a little while to explore outside our territory."

"You're going with them!" Lorissa shouts excitedly.

"You don’t even know them!" Kira seems angry and shouts at me.

I hear shuffling up the steps; the guys are coming closer; they don’t need to come in here. I hear them make it to the top step and act fast and irrationally. My beast snaps at them, and I allow her to snarl. A fierce snarl escapes me, and they both jump back, frightened. The shuffling stops.

"I am going, and you will watch the territory!" I turn from them and open the door, stopping one last time but not looking back.

"Call me if needed." With that, I slam the door behind me and am greeted with four worried expressions. I am about to open my mouth but am cut off by a link.

"Be careful, Andricia; we all need you more than you know." Kira links me by sounding genuinely concerned, making me feel guilty for being so rude.

"Always text me if anything goes wrong." I linked back to her, and my eyes fogged over from it.

When they clear, the four men still stare at me, all with shy smiles on their faces. I take a deep breath, and the air sucked through my nose is different. It’s my ashy territory smell that is normally there, but it’s mixed with something else. I can’t quite put my finger on what exactly it is.

"Ready to go?" The one with messy spiked hair asks with a glint of excitement in his eyes.

I nod briefly, then we head toward the warriors. Once we meet them, we keep walking, and they follow suit. The sun is now high in the sky; it is around eleven in the morning. We are walking very slowly, which is annoying.

"Where exactly are we going?" I raise an eyebrow at them, looking to one side and then the other, as two are on each side of me.

"It’s a straight shot." The man with curly hair to his mid-neck answers.

Hmm, what do I call you lot?"

"I’m Cyrus, the oldest." The one with spiked, messy hair speaks.

Duron is the second oldest." The one with neatly messy hair speaks with his eyes, never leaving mine.

Kendrick, at least I’m not the youngest."

He has curly hair that falls to the middle of his neck; it suits him for sure.

Samson, but you can call me whatever you would like. I’m the youngest, strongest, and fastest." He says it with a sly smirk, and I quirk my eyebrow at him in question. All the other guys laugh.

"Fastest huh?" I take off running, going straight, and weaving through the trees in my territory. I run at full speed without my beast's help. I hear heavy footsteps behind me. My beast is ready to take over to beat him, so I allow her. The speed at which I run is crazy, and his footsteps begin to fade. Before I know it, she stops and jumps straight up to the top of a tree. She holds herself up, hanging on tightly, waiting for her victim to run under her. It takes a while. She lays on a branch waiting, not saying a word to me yet. Then she hears four sets of heavy footsteps running. She rolls over off the branch, falling to her back. My stomach leaps to my throat from the falling sensation and my fear of hitting the ground. I close my eyes, waiting for impact, but instead, I feel two arms, one hooking under my legs and the other under my back, pulling me close.

I snap my eyes open, locking them with Samson, who has his huge pearly whites showing. I hear his heart beating out of control, and, come to think of it, mine is also. Then I finally register the small tingles forming on my bare skin where his arm is. He sets me down and lets me go, the tingles dissipating with him.

Well, if you're the fastest, we’re in trouble." I say it caused all the other guys to laugh.

I snapped my head in the direction I was running and continued walking. All of the guys followed close behind me. I’ve kind of just gotten used to it instead of finding it annoying. When I get to the familiar area, I stop dead in my tracks. The guys are doing the same, snapping their heads at me.

"What’s wrong?" Sam asks in a concerned voice.

"This is the end of my territory. I’ve never gone farther than this." I say this while looking at the ground.

I take a deep breath, then step over, instantly feeling the connection with my pack weaken. The farther I go, the less likely I will be to have the ability to link them. I turn to the guys who haven’t started walking yet and just have worried looks on their faces.

Well, are we going or what?"

They all step over my border, and we continue walking for a little over twenty more minutes. I finally start to see a clearing coming into view. I get excited peeking around the trees, trying to see if I can get a sneak peek before I am out in the open. The guys all have smiles on their faces, and Sami laughs at me.

"Are we in your territory?"

"Not yet," Cyrus says in a monotone.

We break through the tree line, and the sun kisses my skin. My eyes instantly adjusted to the bright light and scanned the massive civilization in front of me. I see another set of woods in the distance across from us. I go to take one more step farther from my home and stop immediately.

"Welcome to Golden Summit, our home."