New Life
I woke up long before anyone else who lived in the pack house. Not that many people lived there. Most had their own homes. I stayed in bed for a moment as I tried to force back the strange dream I'd had. It was more of a memory than a dream, and it wasn't bad. It was of my childhood and I didn't much like dreaming about my old life. It'd been about seven and a half years since I'd left my birth pack.
The only reminder I had of that life was the picture I had taken before I left. It was one of the few decorations in my room at the pack house. The only other picture was a family portrait of Jason, Lily, and me.
It was still dark outside the window. Sunrise wasn't for another hour or so. I turned on my bedside lamp and got out of bed. I grabbed a pair of yoga pants and a singlet before entering the bathroom I shared with my little sister, Trina Greenfield.
The cold water chased away the remnants of my dream. I dried off and got dressed. I slipped the familiar silver necklace back over my head. It had been a gift given to me years ago. The pendant hung at the start of my breasts and was the head of a wolf howling wrapped in the outline of a crescent moon that was filled with tiny stars.
A gypsy woman had given it to me soon after I'd become Beta after I'd helped her pack out with a Rogue problem. It'd been a strange gift. Even stranger because of what it could do. When we shift into our wolf-forms we shred our clothing in the process. The pendant preserved my clothes so that when I shifted between forms they weren't lost.
I could never figure out how it accomplished this task or why the woman had given away such a useful trinket but I was grateful for it. The woman had told me it was an artifact, a gift to an Alpha centuries ago from the moon goddess.
Jason often teased me that it was magic that could also heal the dying. I regarded that notion in the same way I regarded the moon goddess. It simply did not exists. Whatever mystery force the pendant had, gods and magic had no part in it.
I made my way downstairs to the kitchen. I pulled out a frying pan along with eggs and a package of bacon. I heard the rustle of the few other occupants as they woke halfway through cooking the bacon. I smiled to myself. The aroma of food never failed to get them out of bed.
"Morning," Justin said as he sat down at the kitchen bar. Justin was the black man who'd been part of the group that found me when I first came here. I'd been wrong in thinking he was fighter. He was actually the next Theta. The position was passed down to him a couple years after my arrival.
I set a plate of food down in front of him. "Who else is up?"
"I heard your brother and older sister getting up, and I passed your boy toy as I was getting out of the shower," Justin answered.
I rolled my eyes at his nickname for Tristan, the other wolf who was at the diner that day. He actually was a fighter. "Tristan is not my boy toy."
"Sure he isn't," Justin said with a tone that made it clear he thought otherwise. He was forever childish in that sense. He was forever trying to label my relationship with the combat trainer and often switch from names like boy toy to boyfriend to friend with benefits. Not that there were benefits, at least not the ones Justin's dirty mind thought of. Which Justin knew but he'd turned it into a running joke over the years.
I finished cooking and made plates for everyone. "Do you know if Trina was up yet?"
He shook his head and spoke around a mouthful of scrambled eggs, "She was still in her nest when I walked past her room."
I sighed. "If one bite of food is missing when I get back I will skin you like the mongrel you are."
Justin put a hand to his chest. "I'm hurt."
"Yeah well the truth hurts," I replied turning off the stove and putting the frying pan in the sink. Justin had a knack for stealing food off plates when anyone turned a blind eye. The kleptomaniac. I went back upstairs and looked into Trina's room. She was a tangled mess of limbs and sheets. She really did have a nest of pillows and blankets on top of her bed. I occasionally came in just to see if she'd laid eggs in the bundled mess.
She was rarely amused when she caught me doing this. "Tree," I said loudly, "it's time to get up." I got a groan in reply. "Trina! Rise and shine!"
"Go away!" she grumbled.
Trina Greenfield was far from a morning person. She treasured her sleep more than life itself. "I made food," I bribed. "With turkey bacon just for you!" It was regular bacon but she didn't need to know that.
I saw a large glob of hair peak up from under a pillow. "There's turkey bacon?"
"Only if you get up now before Justin eats everything," I said casually. She was quick to really wake up after that and she tried to bolt out of bed but she was still tangled in the sheets and ending up falling to the floor.
I looked down at her shaking my head. "How is it that you can fight someone twice you size while doing your hair but you get taking down by a blanket?"
She stuck her tongue out at me. "Bully."
I grinned and held my hand out to her. Once she was free of her attackers she dumped the blankets back on the bed in a big heap. I suppressed a sigh and reminded myself that she was only nineteen. A little over a year older than I was when I first found her and brought her to the pack. "Don't forget that you have classes today."
Trina grumbled. She went to high school every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It was a deal we'd worked out with the school after her sophomore year so she could be a weapons trainer while still being in school. Unfortunately it meant that she had to attend an extra year of high school. She wasn't very thrilled about it but it was her last year before she could become a full time trainer.
"I know how you feel about the school Tree," I replied to her grumbles. I had hated the school when Jason had made me attend but education was important. "But you're going so shower and get dress. I'm driving you as soon as you eat."
She gave me the evil-eye before I left and went up to the top floor. Jason and Lily's room was the only occupied room on the small third floor of the house. It was a status symbol. The Alpha was the top dog, or wolf, in the pack so his room was on the top floor. It's just how it was. I kind of felt bad for my brother and his mate because they had more stairs to climb every day.
I rapped lightly on their door knowing that Jason was probably ready and Lily was slowing him down. Much like Trina, Lily was not a morning person.
The door opened to reveal a dark haired man with kind eyes. My Alpha and more importantly my brother. "I hear there's food," Jason said grinning.
I nodded. "I thought I would make sure you guys were up before someone," namely Justin, "tried to steal all of it."
He nodded. "I'd be down but you know Lily."
He stepped aside and I walked in. The small Latino woman was still in sleep clothes and she glared at her mate's implications. "Not everyone is like you, Jason. Some of us actually like our beauty rest."
"And you certainly need it," I chirped at her and he dark eyes narrowed.
"If you weren't family I would slap you."
My eyebrows rose, "You can reach that high?"
Her scowled deepened causing me to smile. She turned to her closet muttering, "Black haired devil," at me.
I had taken to dying my blonde hair black soon after I became Jason's Beta. It was another change, just like I had shortened my name. I actually took Jason's last name, Greyson, after his mother had adopted me and his parents became my legal guardians until I turned eighteen.
"Love you too," I said to Lily's back. I turned to Jason. "After I drop Tree off at school we'll go over the schedule for today, but you have a video conference call with the Alpha of the Blue Waters pack at seven while I'm gone."
"You told me yesterday," Jason said slightly tense. "I promise not to let the entire pack fall apart while you're gone Kate."
I pursed my lips critically. "I'm only going to be gone an hour but I'll have my phone."
Jason rolled his eyes. "It's nice to see the faith you have in me, little sister."
I raised one eyebrow. "That is Beta little sister to you, and last time I left for an hour the house looked like a tornado had hit your office when I came back."
"Hey, that-"
"I already told you I don't want to know," I cut Jason off before he could tried to explain how his office had gotten that way. I had a feeling Lily had been involved and I maintained a strict rule that their private activities remained forever private. "Trina's car should be fixed by Sunday and so she'll have her own ride for Monday."
Wednesday afternoon some idiot had hit the rear end of Trina's car at a stoplight. Trina had been fine but her red Nissan had not been so lucky. The mechanics had said it would take a couple of day to repair so Tree had needed a ride.
"Go eat Kate," Jason said, "We'll be down hopefully before you leave."
Lily held up her middle finger at his jab. I chuckled as I heading back down. Tristan was in the kitchen when I returned and had a fork aimed at Justin. "Hey Kate," Tristan greeted jabbing at Justin's outstretched hand. "I came down and found this one about to raid everyone's plate."
I made sure to hit Justin upside the head as I passed him. Tristan handed me a plate and fork before going back to guarding the remaining plates. His and Justin's were already in the sink. "Thanks," I said kissing him on the cheek before taking a sit next to Justin. The rest of the occupants came downstairs while I was eating. Most of the wolves living in the pack house were mate-less college students who roomed at the pack house to save money where they could. Of course there were also the higher ranks members who stayed here because it was easier than getting their own place and having to go back and forth every day.
Mated wolves usually had their own places much like everyone else tried to for privacy. Living in the pack house meant that you had everyone else in your business. Jason and Lily had their own place that they stayed at on weekends or when they wanted a night away from the pack. It'd been a wedding gift from Jason parents with he and Lily got married a couple months after she turned eighteen.
"What are you thinking so deeply about?" Tristan asked pulling me from my thoughts.
I set my fork down. "Just that I have to go visit Mr. and Mrs. Greyson after I pick Tree up from school."
Jason, who'd since come down with Lily soon after Trina had come down for food, paled. "Crap. I was supposed to stop by this weekend but..." But he'd made other plans as he usually did. "Kate, would you mind-"
"Covering for you? Again?" I asked raising one eyebrow. "Yeah, that is so not happening."
He clasped his hands together. "Please Kate? Come on, for your big brother?"
"Nope," I replied popping the p. "I'd much rather hang you out to dry. Call it revenge for last time when you bailed on family diner and I got to listen to your mom go on a major guilt trip saying that her only son doesn't love her and he never calls."
Everyone cringed. We'd all seen one of those trips. Sarah Greyson had a knack for dramatics and she could make you feel like you've broken her heart by doing something as simple as forgetting to wash the dishes. The worst part is that even that you couldn't help but feel like the scummiest person in the world every single time.
If there is such a thing as magic Mrs. Greyson wields it.
I glanced at the time on the stove. It was a little after 6:30 am. "Time to go Trina."
She huffed and I had a flash of my childhood best friend, not for the first time since I'd met the girl. At first it'd felt like Trina was a copy of Alexandra brought to remind me that I'd left my old family. But now I couldn't believe I thought that. Trina's curls were a darker, browner red than Alexandra's, and her eyes were more hazel than green. Trina was taller and not as slim figured.
It was more than just their looks. Trina and Alexandra couldn't be more different. Trina carried herself in way that threatened to pick up any object and use it to maim you if you looked at her the wrong way. She wasn't the peppy, cheerleader type Alexandra had been but more the kid who sat alone at lunch because she didn't like the other students.
Still, just for a moment it was Alex in front of me, not Trina. I guess the dream from last night still lingered in the front of my mind.
"Let's go," Trina said shattering the illusion my subconscious had shown me.
I nodded my head and grabbed my keys. "Go grab your bag," I said slightly absentminded.
"Hey, are you okay?" Tristan whispered in my ear so softly that no one else heard.
I turned and looked up at him. "Yeah," I answered just as softly fiddling with my necklace. "Just a dream I had."
"Bad or good?"
I pressed my lips into a line for a moment. "A bit of both." Dreams of my childhood were always bitter-sweet.
Tristan didn't question me further and I was grateful. He knew me well enough to know when I wouldn't say anything more. "Kate!" Trina called.
"I'm coming," I replied. "I'll be back in about an hour guys." I met Trina at the door and we walked out to the private parking lot off to the side of the house. It wasn't very large, it could maybe fit ten cars total but it was rare to have more than that in the lot.
My black truck stood in all its familiar glory at the end of the lot. The truck and one picture were the only things that I kept of my childhood. I couldn't imagine letting go of the truck. Not after all the months my father and I had spent out in the garage building the black beauty. Not after all the years of the truck being my safe place. I didn't believe in God but those who did went to a church. In a way the truck was my church.
Of course I'd modified the car in recent years. I'd replaced the glass with bullet-resistant glass and added bullet-proof body armor. A girl can never be too safe.
"It's cold," Trina whined as she climbed in.
I looked out at the trees. They'd shed most of their leaves already. "Yeah, it's almost winter."
I pushed on the heat first thing after starting the car. It took a few minutes to really warm up the cab. Trina's school was in Linton, a primarily wolf town about thirty minutes away from the pack house. Neither of us spoke during the drive. Trina was still half asleep and I felt no need to fill the void in our conversation.
I dropped her off in front of the school and made sure to yell, "Have a nice day sweetie!" extra loud. She glared at me and I laughed.
I was back at the house in a little over an hour after a quick stop to check on a wolf that had joined the pack a few months ago to attend a college in the area. He was some sort of computer major.
I entered Jason's office without knocking and he just about jumped out of his skin. "Are you okay?" I asked surprised at his reaction.
"Yeah, fine," he answered but he still seem a little tense.
"Did the conference call go well?" I asked thinking that it must be the reason he was tense.
"It went well," Jason said but he wouldn't meet me in the eyes.
My brows furrowed. "You would tell me if something is wrong, right Jace?"
He gave me a tight smile. "Of course."
I studied him for a long moment. He seemed like something played on his mind but I couldn't imagine anything that Jason would feel he had to hide from me. I nodded. "Okay." Maybe it was my imagination but I think he let out a breath I didn't know he was holding. "Well we have work to do." I called Justin in from his connecting office.
I watched Jason as we went over the schedule for the day. He never did really relax. Something must have happened while I was gone. Maybe Lily might know.
"Kate?"
I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at Justin. When did he come into my office? "Sorry, what did you say?"
"Nothing yet, you were just zoned out when I came in," he said. "What's on your mind?"
"Jason," I answered. "Did he seem a little...? I don't know, did he seem a little off to you?"
Justin paused and glanced at the closed that connected my office to my Alpha's. "If I'm being honest, yeah. He did seem kind on edge about something."
I nodded. "Any idea why?"
Justin shrugged. "Not a clue. I just came to tell you that you should get going. Trina gets out of school soon."
I looked at the time and cussed. "Crap you're right." I looked around my desk. "Okay, Justin listen closely. In exactly twenty-two minutes I will be getting a call from a trainer at the Lone Wolf pack. I need you to patch the call through to the phone in my truck. Do you think you can do that?"
He rolled his eyes. "Yes Kate, I think I can manage that one simply task."
I bite my lower lip. "Maybe I should get Fiona to do it."
"Just go," he said pushing me towards the door. "And quit insulting me."
"Exactly twenty-one minutes!" I said grabbing my keys and running out to the truck.