Heart shattered, resolve broken, Tala burst out of the clan meeting hall and ran off, the tears made her choose not to go too fast, she was crying so much she could barely keep her eyes dry."Tala!" Mike yelled at her "Return to me at once!"She turned around a corner, ignoring his words."Tala!""You chose to reject me remember! What else is there for us to talk about!?" She screamed back at him, Mike was following but didn't dare come closer after she gave him the foulest of glares."This was a choice I made to uphold my status as Alpha! You know a weak Alpha makes a weak pack!""Oh the shame!""You will not dare talk to me like that!" He said and grabbed her shoulder violently swinging her back to him, she almost fell but held her composure "I am still your Alpha!""My clan alpha! Nothing more! So go back to that board room and conduct your Alpha job! I am moving on Mike!""You lose all your brawls among females!""I have supplied

Relaxation, or stress relief, many gets it in many ways, but Tala found it in the work she does with wood.She slowly placed the carving knife down sideways, then allowed it to glide over the now smooth whitened and barkless stump, at each end she had the tips sharpened, one to stick into the ground, the other to point up into the air, in Vietnam they called them Pungi, a cluster of these sharpened poles in a hole, and if one steps in there it's serious injury for sure, sometimes death.Tala placed the knife down and blew away the wood shavings but the pain in her mouth made her wince, her fangs not completely healed yet.There was a knock on the door and she stood up from her work bench, brushed more shavings off her lap and removed her apron.Tala opened the door to find Mike standing there, she folded her arms."I hear you started a brawl with Sabrina?"Tala turned and headed to her work bench again, leaving the door open naturally so Mike can enter.

Tala had two bags over her shoulders containing the many wooden spikes she has made, in her one hand the shovel, in the other a torch, some areas under the trees of the forest are so dark not even her night vision can reveal it."You're late!" She said as Helen joined."Yes, I met with the Omega scouts to find out where the invading wolves were spotted"Tala realised that's valid "Good work then""Let's head out, we check the south of the compound, the scouts are looking for the invaders north""Understood" The two set off down the slopes, not too fast, not too slow, they were only two and had loads of ground to cover, but couldn't move too fast, otherwise they might trip one of their own traps, or miss something.Tala stopped and scanned, this part has a flat section before the slopes rise again "Wait quick"Helen stopped "You see something?""No, cover me, I'm setting a new trap"Helen took high ground as Tala started digging

Rest was never needed, Ray admitted he could go to his dark hole to close his eyes, but it was not sleep, maybe just rest. He picked up the ring of Sol and placed it on his finger, the other ring he had was the ring of Luna, one to be given to a werewolf so the moon goddess has no power over it, why on earth would Victor give him that one?He pocketed the Luna ring and left his room, the sun was high now, so naturally all the curtains were closed, but Ray halted at a small line of sun that made it's way through at a window.He slowly approached it, he has touched the sun before and it was the most horrible feeling ever, not just burning the skin but boiling him from the inside out.Lucky his mother saved him, but that made him learn his lesson, stay out of the sun.He looked at the ring of Sol, it was supposed to allow a vampire to tread in sunlight, Ray never believed in such superstitions.The tiny light got doused by a servant who came by closed the curta

Mike came into the Alpha's meeting and the room died down, his eyes scanned the faces as he passed to the front, and he couldn't see Tala anywhere, it shouldn't be hard to find her as she should know, front and center, this meeting was for her after all."Where is she?" He asked, they all knew who he spoke of and looked round."We are ten alphas, and twenty omegas in this clan! One of you should have seen her enter!?"No one answered, left and right of him sat Nathan and Sabrina, they also shrugged "That pup! Someone go get her! She probably overslept again!"The far back alpha stood up and ran out, they waited patiently for him to return but he came back quicker than he left "She's gone!""What!?""Her house is empty!""You made sure she's not probably taking a bath or something!?""No Alpha, she's nowhere!"Mike balled his fists angrily "Call the Omegas!"A few alphas left and not long after that the meeting hall was full, the enti