"How was your day?" Dad asked. I was laying on me bed staring at my ceiling my phone on speaker next to me. "It was fine, I made some new friends," I told him. "In the pack?" Dad asked. "Kinda, I mean they now me and stuff so..." I trailed off. "I actually remembered something though it was a time in the woods with Ember," I told him. "You were always in the woods and dragging Ember into trouble," dad said fondly. "Do you miss it here?" I asked suddenly. I knew he missed mom and our life but it always seemed to painful to talk about for him so I never asked. "I do, I miss my family and friends, the connection to the pack," he said. "Skye wanted to know if you thought you might ever come back?" I told him. "I will, I'm going to be around for a long time and it wouldn't be possible for me to stay away," he said. "I'm just not ready yet my wolf still mourns our mate and being there is hard. Here I have better control," he told me.
Not every wolf finds their true mate but my dad had and when she died it was like a part of his soul was ripped away. The connection between a mated pair was strong but the connection between true mates was unbreakable and deep. It was nearly impossible to find your true mate and some said not every wolf had one. In the end most didn't bother looking and settled down with someone they cared for instead of looking for someone who they would never meet. "How's Phoenix?" I asked him. He had just gotten to the new apartment and was talking to me as he unpacked. "Ok it was a long drive though," he said. "I imagine, how long was it 14 hours?" I guessed. "Close enough I think," he said. "So how's the apartments?" I asked. "Their-" he stopped talking and I heard the door to his apartment open. "Carver, stop unpacking let's go have some fun," Mitch said. "Yo Mitch how's it going?" I called into the phone. "It's fine, you being good?" He asked. I could hear the smile in his voice. "Yeah, I let you guys go, make sure he has some fun ok?" I told Mitch. "Yes, Ma'am," Mitch replied and the line went dead.
I stood up from my bed and glanced around my room. The stuff from my bag was just laying in a pile on my desk, my bag was tossed in a corner stuffed with homework I didn't feel like doing and the rest of my room was empty. I decided I didn't want to stay in here so I went across the hall and knocked on Skye's door. There was no answer, I twisted the handle and pushed the door open. The room was a mirror image of mine but posters and pictures filled the walls, the lights were off and the room empty.
When I had gotten back from school I was able to deranged myself from the group and leave so I could call my dad but I didn't know where the others went. I also hadn't put any of their numbers in my phone yet so I couldn't text them, and I suddenly wanted to be around them again. "Damn," I muttered and pulled the door close. I might as well start looking. I left the barracks and started over towards the rec room hoping that Skye or someone might be in there.
The rec room was packed with wolves all relaxing after school, I spotted Skye and Ryan on the couch watching some horrible reality show on the only tv. "Hey," I said as I plopped down next to Skye. "Did you miss me already?" Ryan asked. He leaned towards me batting his eyelashes playfully. "Get out of here," Skye said shoving his head out of her personal space. "Why are you watching this," I asked. One the tv their was a girl who was about to let herself be covered in spiders. "Cause it's mind-numbingly stupid," Skye said and shot a look at Ryan. "What I think it's fun," he said defensively. "Exactly," Skye said. They turned back to the show and watched in silence. I glanced around the room, everyone was busy playing a game or doing homework or just hanging out. In the far back corner I spotted the girl from the cafeteria yesterday, the one with the burning silver eyes. She was talking to a blonde who seemed tense, but the silver eyed girl seemed relaxed and was smiling. She was breath taking now instead of just beautiful since she wasn't scowling at me. I realized I was staring and turned back to the tv, the girl on the show was now covered in spiders and was freaking out. Ryan was laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world. I was soon lost in the show as well Skye was right it was mind numbing but almost in a good way.
A commercial was on so I noticed when the door to the rec room opened and I looked up hoping it was Ember and Carver but it wasn't. It was a red headed girl in heels and a mini skirt, behind her was a blonde who also wore a skirt. I found it odd that a wolf would were a skirt and heels we lived in the middle of the woods and it couldn't have been comfortable or easy to walk let alone run. The girl looked around the room before she sauntered over towards us. "Why are you always watching the stupidest shit?" The girl asked standing at the end of the sofa next to Ryan. Ryan jumped at the sound of the girls voice. "It's relaxing, Aspen," Ryan said. Aspen I guess her name was, just laughed. "Move it, Omega," she told Ryan. Ryan stood and handed her the remote before moving to the chair. The girl next to Aspen who was silent sent a look towards Skye, who stood and moved as well. They sat down in the recently vacated spots and Aspen started flipping through the channels. "Kylie, long time no see," Aspen said looking at me. She had settled on some comedy before turning to talk to me. "I suppose," I told her tightly. I was pissed and I looked at Skye and Ryan who seemed perfectly fine despite being rudely ordered around. 'It's normal' I thought trying to calm myself down. They were both Omega wolves and there was always some pack members who had a higher rank and flaunted it.
"I'm Aspen Gray, and this is Iris Price," she said nodding to the girl next to her. "Nice to meet you," I said politely. "I was shocked when I heard Raiza's announcement yesterday, everyone thought you just were blowing us all off for years, you know," Aspen informed me. "After the first couple of weeks when people finally started to realize you weren't going to bother even calling it was so heart breaking, Ember especially was upset," Aspen continued. Every time she opened her mouth I just got more and more pissed. I felt bad enough about hurting everyone as it was she didn't need to rub it in my face. "I'm just curious did you even bother asking about the friends you forgot about?" Aspen asked me.
That was the last straw I surged to my feet and stalked over to her. My hands wrapped around the collar of her shirt and I yanked her up off the couch. "Forget them? I didn't forget?" I spat out at her. "They were stolen from me, every time I tried to remember I would get a splitting headache, but to answer your question no I didn't ask I didn't want to know. It was to painful. As it was it took me three years after the accident to even remember a piece of my past and the first thing I remembered was my mother and for one second I was happy I finally remembered someone only to realize that, that someone was dead," Aspen was looking at me coldly than yanked herself out of my grip, I let her shirt slid through my fingers and lowered my hands but I didn't move.
"Kye," Skye said gently and pulled at my shoulders trying to get me to move, but I didn't even shift as she tugged. I stood still standing in front of Aspen looking her dead in the eye. "Are you trying to challenge me?" Aspen asked. I didn't move, didn't speak I just stood their staring at her angrily.
"Enough," came a voice of to the side of the room. There was power in that voice more power in it then Aspen had in her whole body. I shivered lightly as I felt the power wash over me in the room and through the pack bond. Whoever it was wasn't just telling me to stop they were ordering me. Reluctantly I backed away from Aspen and turned to the person who had ordered me down. The one who had ordered me to stop was the blonde who had been talking to the girl with the silver eyes. Said girl was also standing next to her watching curiously. The blonde stepped forward and looked at Aspen. "Aspen, you had no reason to antagonize Kylie, you were looking to start trouble," she said" Aspen looked outraged but didn't meet the girls eyes as she started to protest. "I was-" she started. "I know," the blonde said cutting her off, "your still upset at her for hurting your sister, but even so you only now half the story and are being unfair towards her," she said. Aspen nodded and looked away. The blonde turned her glare to me and I meet her gaze briefly before looking down. "You should apologize to Aspen," she said. I bristled. "For what?" I asked pissed again. I looked up and meet her gaze again before looking down. "Your wolf hasn't awakened yet and that means your place in the pack is the same as your father's and he's a III level Gamma, Aspen is a level II Gamma. You can just go around challenging higher level wolves and breaking pack law," she said.
Gamma' were the largest type of wolves in a pack and fell into three different categories: Gamma I, Gamma II, and Gamma III. Gamma I's were the most dominate close in power to a beta where as a Gamma III wolf was barely more dominate than an Omega.
She was right technically Aspen was higher up in the pack hierarchy and I had just been incredibly rude. I would be lucky if apologizing was all I had to do to make up for it. I sighed and turned towards Aspen. "I apologize for challenging you, Aspen. It was wrong of me and I am sorry," I told her. She nodded and sat back down. The blonde didn't let me sit down but instead ushered me from the room. Skye and Ryan followed us and when we got outside I noticed the silvered eyed girl had come to.
"Your lucky," the blonde said, "if it was anyone else I would have let Aspen rip you to pieces," the blonde said. "Why didn't you?" I asked. "Because I wouldn't want my idiot little cousin in the hospital again," she answered. I stepped back, cousin, me. "Me?" I asked just to be clear. "Yes," she said patiently. "Oh, um how many cousins do I have?" I asked. I should have asked dad earlier but I didn't realize there were more than Skye. "Well there's me, Skye and Savannah. And on your mom's side there's Glynn." she told me. "So four cousins," she stated.
I would've asked something else but Skye smacked me upside the head before I got the chance. I really needed to catch up with the rest of my family though when I got the chance. "Oww?" I said turning to her. "You deserve it!" She stated. "You can't just go around causing fights," she told me. "I know, okay?" I said. "She just pissed me off is all," Skye looked like she was about to hit me again. "Enough Skye," said the blonde. "Let's keep moving or we'll be late," the blonde said and started walking towards the forest. Skye sighed and followed after as did Ryan and the silver eyed girl. I watched them walk off for a second before deciding. 'Screw it' I might as well go. I took off in a jog to catch up. I slowed down when I finally reached the blonde. "So, um..." I started. She sighed and looked at me."what is it?" She asked.
"Who exactly are you," I asked. She stopped and looked down at me and barked out a laugh. I blushed embarrassed thinking she was laughing at me. "I'm sorry, and here I thought I was doing so well. I'm Sadie West, Skye's older sister by a year," she told me than started walking again. "Why didn't you tell me you had a sister?" I asked Skye. Skye shrugged and Sadie answered. "We all know you don't remember but it's hard for us to know what you do and don't already know," she said. "Like earlier I knew you didn't know who I was but I just didn't realize you didn't know my name, it just slipped my mind,"we walked in silence for a while and I thought about everything that had happened over the last couple of minutes.
"Your not an omega!" I stated as I thought back to the encounter in the rec room. "I'm not," she replied. She kept walking not saying anything else. I didn't think I would get much more out of her so my attention shifted towards the girl with the silver eyes. She was walking ahead of us a bit and didn't seem to be paying any attention to us. She hadn't said a word the entire time and the only time she had even acknowledged my presence was when she glared at me those few times.
Sadie caught me starting at her and smiled. She leaned forward and taped the girl on her shoulder. She spun around stopping and faced us. Once again we were stopped standing in the middle of the forest. When she turned around I felt more than saw Ryan and Skye shrink backwards, out of glaring range. "What now?" She snapped at Sadie. Her voice sounded so smooth but power seemed to roll off each word. From what I could tell through the pack bond she wasn't putting the power in on purpose it just leaked out.
"Be nice and introduce yourself," Sadie said nodding towards me. Her glare swung from Sadie to me. When her silver eyes landed on me I felt like I was going to melt and quickly looked away from her gaze before I actually did. "Andrea," she snapped at me, "I've been friends with Sadie since we were kids a lot like you and Ember," she explained quickly before turning around again and walking off. We followed. "That's not everything!" Sadie called out from behind her. "You can tell her than," she said without glancing back.
"The drama queen is also Raiza's niece," Sadie said, "and the pack's next Alpha," Sadie smiled when she saw Andrea's muscles tense as she mentioned her place in the pack's hierarchy. "No one knew that Andrea had the power of an Alpha until her wolf awakened last fall, everyone was quiet surprised when her wolf almost bit Raiza's head off," Sadie joked. "Why were they surprised? I can feel her power with every word she speaks," I said. Andrea turned her head and glared at us which lead to her almost walking into a tree. Sadie snorted. "Andrea's a softie but her wolf on the other hand is so serious it was almost more of a drag when she awakened instead of fun," Sadie replied. "Softie?" I heard Ryan mutter. Sadie turned to glance at him raising an eyebrow. "What was that?" She asked. "Nothing, just thinking about...diner!" Ryan said a little to loudly.
Right then we stepped out of the trees into a small clearing with a cabin in the center. "Where are we?" I asked. Neither Sadie nor anyone else answered and before I could ask again the door opened and out stepped another women with the same blonde hair and blue green eyes as the rest of us. 'Oh, Shit' I thought as I looked at my Aunt Laura.