SYDNEYI sat at the kitchen island with a bowl of mixed fruit and plain yogurt in front of me. The rest of the pack were busy with morning training — Quade and Victor included — while the older women prepared breakfast. Sparring was out of the question for me which I missed. I tried to cram in a sparring session whenever I could when Victor was around. Now, I barely sparred and stuck to light exercises.Heather opted to skip training today entirely, joining me for breakfast instead. She wouldn't leave my side once she found out about the baby and both Quade and I let her gush and ultimately smother me the entire time. I could see the spark of appreciation lighting up Zen's nearly black eyes every time he saw Quade and I humor her.It had been a few weeks since my first check-up and I had a few more after that. I was officially sporting a baby bump now, one I skillfully hid under Quade's shirts. He never minde

SYDNEYFor the first time since I had taken over being Alpha of the Green Forest pack, I didn't know what to do. I had not a clue of where I should turn or who I should go to. My father would have been able to answer all my questions but it was pride keeping me from asking him about Victor. Pride and the fact I wanted to hear about whatever was going on from the source itself.Victor did deserve his privacy. Every member of my pack had their right to their privacy. But not every member had secrets the way Victor had. If he truly did have the strength of an Alpha then he should have brought it to my attention. As the Alpha, it was his duty to inform me and my right to know how the hell it was even possible for him to possess something like that. How could I trust him if he was going to keep important things like this from me? He gave me a good reason to trust him all those years and now he was giving me a good reason to doubt

SYDNEY"I haven't accepted the title yet," Victor clarified through the link, "I don't think I want to.""You've got no choice. You're clearly an Alpha that's meant to lead them. Maybe you can help them, make them better," I suggested, edging my way toward him. Placing my hand on his extremely sculptured bicep, I said, "Maybe this will be good for you."This time it was him pulling away, hands balling at his side's until they turned a pale white, "I don't want to be an Alpha," his voice came through the link in a snarl and his eyes began flashing black. He was having trouble controlling his anger which continuously set his wolf off. "Well, you don't exactly have a choice right now so let me help you the only way I know how," I challenged, standing my ground. He couldn't refuse his title just because he wanted to. That wasn't how it worked and I wouldn't allow it. "There is a way you can help me," his voice dropped to a whisper which made no

SYDNEYWe had never found the body that the blood belonged to and all of the workers that were working that day checked out clean after we did thorough background searches on them. Majority of the workers were werewolves and belonged to the pack but a handful was human. The perplexed look on their faces haunted me. It was difficult explaining to them what the writing meant. I simply stuck to it being a prank pulled by a group of deranged teenagers. That was far from the truth though, and every day that past felt like the danger that lurked around every corner only grew.I feared bringing my pup into our world, more so now that everyone seemed against us. I'd give my life up for my pup and I knew Quade or Victor, or anyone of my pack members would do the same but I didn't want that to happen. I didn't want it to get to reach that point. My pup needed a safe environment to grow up in, one where I could watch him or her grow and flourish. Maybe

QUADE"That's good, but keep your hands up at all times to protect yourself. If they attack you can always use your arms to protect yourself and spread your feet more so you have some center of balance at least," I instructed the pup sparring with me. He was newly shifted and — because he lacked the decent control — no one wanted to risk sparring with him.I knew if Sydney wasn't about to pop she would have happily trained the pup. She prided herself on her combat skills, completely certain that she could kick my arse if she really wanted to. She probably had the skill too, I definitely didn't put it past her considering her history with arsehole Alphas that unestimated her."I'm tired, can we take a breather?" The pup grumbled, wiping beads of sweat off his forehead. It still surprised me, even after three months in this pack, that everyone respected me as their own. The pup was actually quite fucking thrill