CHAPTER 15

We walked in silence for a while before Rae started talking.

"So you want talk about what happened today?" Rae asked.

"What are you talking about?" I asked confused.

"Kiara, I may not have known you for long but I have never seen you lose your cool when someone you care about gets hurt. Even when your sister was ambushed by Brittany and her minions back in school, you didn't break down like you did today at the clinic. I can tell it's more than that. What you said at the clinic, about not wanting to put Nick in anymore pain, it had a double meaning to it, didn't it? The only other time I've heard you say something with a double meaning was the day you were going back home after your parents died. What is going on with you, Kiara? And don't say it's nothing because it definitely is something." We stopped walking. I looked up then back at Rae.

"Everything that has been happening to the pack the past years, since the first time you got attacked, it's my family's fault. Everything that's happening to your pack, started with my family."

"OK, stop. You're not making sense. What do you mean? What does your family have to do with anything?" Rae asked in confusion.

"The person behind all the attacks on your pack, the leader of the rogues is my father's twin brother, my uncle. He's doing this for revenge for not being given the throne. He's the one the killed my parents because of something that wasn't entirely in their hands."

"I'm sorry I'm not following. What does this have to do with this pack? You're speaking in riddles."

"When my mother was sixteen, it turned out she had two potential mates who just happened to be twin brothers so she had to choose and she chose my dad. My uncle, of course wasn't happy even though he got a mate of his own. So he vowed to get revenge on my parents, for being passed over for the throne for my father and for my mother rejecting him in favor of my father. He also vowed to get revenge on my mother's pack because in his mind, they just stood by and let her choose his brother over him."

"Ok first, your father's brother is insane and doesn't make sense. And second, what has this story got to do with my pack again?" I sighed in frustration when she asked this.

"Raelynn, come on. You're smarter than that. Think about it." It suddenly then dawned on her.

"Oh my god. Your mom was a Shadow Pack wolf. (I nodded.) So that means you and your sisters are also..."

"Yep." I pulled down my top to show her the Shadow pack symbol, a Celtic wolf, just above my breast, over my heart. Rae pulled her shirt down as well the same symbol in the same place as mine.

"Wait, why does yours have a crown over it?"

"Because I'm a royal wolf. The symbol for royal wolf is a wolf with a crown on its head so the two just combined into this." I let go of my top and straightened it into place and Rae did same. We started walking again.

"Ok back to the topic. Why are you blaming yourself? This isn't your fault."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't. Neither is it that of your parents or your sisters."

"Yeah, well, that makes one of us who believes that. Look, I can't talk about this now. Thanks for walking me here. I'm sure Alec is waiting for you so you can call Nicki to speak with her and see Jace. Say hi for me." We had reached the pack house. I then walked ahead and went straight to where Nick's room was. I knocked on the door before being told to come in. I entered and found him seated on a window seat by one of the windows in his room, reading. He turned and dropped the book when he heard my footsteps coming toward him. I sat facing him on the seat.

"Hey," He said.

"Hey." I said softly.

"Are you okay? A little birdie told me you drained your battery to the red helping Elissa help me." "And by little birdie, you mean Alec. Don't worry, I'm fine. It's nothing a few hours of sleep couldn't fix."

"Kiara, I think the whole point of being your mate is that you tell me everything going on with you. You may be fine physically but in other ways you're not in the slightest bit fine. Kiara, I know everything that you told Rae." I looked at him in confusion before I figured it out.

"You heard what I said by listening through mind link."

"I was about to ask what was taking so long in bringing you here when I heard what you were saying."

"Ok, can we please not talk about this?" I asked looking down.

"Kiara, how did you know Gia and Garrett were working for the rogues?"

"It was kind of easy. All pack wolves, no matter how arrogant, when they know who their superiors are, they can never speak in the manner Gia did to me towards their superiors. Only rogues do that, because they do not recognize any pack superior or kingdom superior as theirs. That was when I started having my suspicions. That's why I called them to speak to them in your office that day. I asked a few questions and they lied forgetting as a wolf I could hear heartbeat rising. That's when I asked my sisters to start monitoring their movements in and out of the pack. If I had interrogated them earlier about their actions instead of waiting, today's accident could have been avoided."

"Hey, hey stop. Stop blaming yourself. Neither you nor your family are at fault for what's happening to this pack. Your uncle is the one at fault. He's insane and doesn't know what he's saying."

"Yeah, well mad men rarely make sense. Unfortunately, this mad man is part of my family so nothing you say is going to erase the fact that all this that has been happening to this pack started with my family. So yes, it's my fault and it's my family's." I wiped away the tears which had fallen.

"Kiara, come on. Don't be like this."

"You know what, I just wanted to see if you were okay after being hit by a bomb filled with wolfsbane. I gotta go. Goodnight, Nick."

"Kiara..."

"Nick, just let it go. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Ok but can you please stay tonight? Please." He asked when I got up to go, grabbing my hand.

"Ok but I don't have any sleeping clothes over here."

"So you just wear some of mine."

"Or I can just ask Rissa or Ellie to teleport some to me from my room."

"Or you could do that. Yeah." We both laughed.

"Let me just call her." I walked out of the room to call Kara and asked her to ask either Ellie or Rissa to teleport to me a nightie, a night robe, a towel and other necessities I needed. I then went back into Nick's room and into his bathroom. 1 minute later, the items I asked for appeared on the bathroom counter. I took a shower and handled other necessities before joining Nick back in his room. I set my previous clothes on top of his chest drawer and shoes beside the drawer on the floor before joining him on his bed. He pulled me into his arms causing me to lay my head on his chest. I soon fell asleep to the rhythm of his heartbeat.

I woke up the next day at 3am before Nick and everyone else. I carefully got up and out of Nick's arms, making sure not to wake him up, then I went to the bathroom and changed back into yesterday's clothes. I then grabbed my phone as well as what I had worn for the night and my shoes. I then looked to see how I would leave the room without waking him up. I finally decided on going out the window since I knew the door would creak if I opened it. I carefully slipped out the window landing safely on the ground before heading towards the house. I went straight to my room and changed into workout clothes before heading to Rissa's room. I found her already awake and asked her to teleport me to the castle. A few seconds later I found myself standing in my room at the castle. I went straight to the bookshelf, pulling on a book, causing the bookshelf to open up like double doors to reveal a secret passage way. Only my sisters, my parents and Auriana knew about this passage way and the room it led to. I slipped inside making the bookshelf close itself before I went downstairs to the room which could serve as any room or any place I needed whenever I wished it, thanks to Auriana's magic. And right now, I needed a gym to work out my pent up frustration and anger so when I got there I found a gym waiting for me. I took out my phone and set it on a table in the room and took off my hoodie and tank top leaving me in only the sports bra and sweat pants then I began my workout.

Kara's P.O.V

I woke up to the ringing of my phone. I groped around the nightstand for it and answered the call when I got hold of it without looking to see who was calling'

Me: "Hello."

Nick: "Hey, sorry to wake you."

Me: "No, it's okay. I was bound to wake up any minute now. So what's up?"

Nick: "Have you seen your sister? Has she come back to the house?"

Me: "You do realize I just woke up, right? I thought she spent the night at your place."

Nick: "She did. I woke up to an empty spot beside me where she was supposed to sleeping. Her clothes from yesterday as well as her nightwear and shoes are gone. I checked the whole pack house she's not around."

Me: "I see. (I got from my bed and went to Kiara's room to find it empty and just the way it was last night. I checked her bathroom before going downstairs then outside to the garden but she was nowhere to found.) Uh...she's not here either. Have you tried her cell?"

Nick: "No, not yet. I wanted to be sure if she was or was not there before calling."

Me: "Ok, then let me call her and then I'll get back to you."

Nick: "Ok, thanks."

Me: "No problem. Oh and Nick, could you wake your pack members and tell them to get ready for training."

Nick: "Hang on. The training yard is in shambles and the gym is too small to host everyone."

Me: "That's not the only place we can train. We're training outside today. There's a clearing just up north of the pack house away from human passers-by and town. I was supposed to begin your training there weeks ago but something came up. So just have everyone meet us outside the pack house in 10 mins. I'll call my sister and find out where she disappeared to."

Nick: "Ok."

I hung up and went back up into my room to change into workout clothes, waking Korra, Ellie and Rissa on the way before I called my sister on my way back downstairs. She picked on the 3rd ring.

Me: "Where the hell are you?"

Kiara: "Why? What's happening?"

Me: "Nothing. Your wonderful mate woke me up 20 minutes earlier than I was supposed to be up looking for you because you left his side before he could wake up."

Kiara: "If that's all it is then you could have asked Rissa where I was."

Me: "Or you could tell me yourself now since I didn't know to ask Rissa and we're talking now."

Kiara: "I'm at the gym."

Me: "You know, darling sister, being specific would be really appreciated right now. Your mate is on edge not knowing where you are."

Kiara: "I'm at the castle, under my room."

Me: "Unbelievable. So you had Rissa teleport you back home before anyone else could wake up why? What happened to the gym at the pack house?"

Kiara: "Well, for one thing, I didn't want to wake anyone up hence the sneaking out in the first place and for another, I needed to be alone and somewhere quiet to release my pent up emotions."

Me: "You know, there's way of telling someone where you are so they don't freak out. It's called leaving a note or texting."

Kiara: "Kara, I'm really not in the mood for your sass this morning so please spare me. Tell Nick I'm sorry and I'll be back in the afternoon, by plane so he should pick me up. And Kara, when I come, I will want to speak to Garrett and his sisters. So have them brought to the house when I come."

Me: "Of course, 'Your Majesty'."

Kiara: "Kara... watch it. I'll see you when I come back."

She hung up on me before I could say anything. We had reached the pack house now. Every Shadow Pack wolf was waiting for the four of us.

"Today we're training outside today. There's a clearing just north up from here. That means we're gonna have to run there. Let's go." Korra said. We started the run to the clearing and on the way I spoke to Nick and told him where Kiara was. He nodded and thanked me. We said nothing else to each other for the rest of the run. 2 hours later, training ended and we headed back. I went to Nick's office and found him deep in paperwork and his door ajar. I knocked on the open door to announce my presence. He looked up as I entered.

"Hey." He said, sighing and sitting back in his chair.

"Tired?" I asked, sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"Yeah, I've been swamped all morning."

"Yeah, I can see that. So take a break. You seriously need it."

"Believe me, I would love to but I need to finish all this."

"Or you could disregard most of them. We both know that 80% of the paperwork on your desk is irrelevant."

"I couldn't agree more. But I still have to go through them at least."

"You sound just like my sister. Ok, fine but after you've taken a break. My sister will kill me if I let you overwork yourself."

"Not you. Just the person who is doing the overworking." I heard Kiara say from behind us as she entered the office.

"Hey, babe." Nick greeted.

"Hi." She answered.

"Let me guess, you got dragged into an annoying meeting by Auriana because she didn't want to handle it."

"Yep. Two actually. Guess what the 2nd meeting was about?" Kiara asked in an annoyed voice as she sat down in the chair next to me.

"By the tone of your voice, I'm guessing marriage proposals were involved."

"I'm sorry, marriage proposals?" Nick said, more like growled.

"Yep. Alphas come and propose a marriage between Kiara and their sons if their sons haven't taken the mantle already. Some are even bold enough to come and ask for her hand in marriage themselves. It's been happening since we turned 16."

"Yeah. And today, an arrogant one showed up himself and guess who it was? Casey Daniels." She disclosed.

"You're telling me Brittany Daniels' brother had the guts to come and ask for your hand in marriage? I guess he's not bright like his sister." I said with disgust.

"Yeah. Anyway, Nick, don't think I've forgotten about the fact that you're overworking yourself. You were supposed to pick me up from the airport. I had to call Alec to come get me." She said. I winced guiltily and laughed nervously.

"In my defense, I didn't know you were coming by plane and certainly did not know you were coming at this time. And also I've been swamped with paperwork all morning, though I would have made time if I knew when you were coming and that you were coming by plane." He said.

"Yeah, that's kinda my fault. I was supposed to tell you. Sorry, it kinda slipped my mind." Kiara turned to give me a glare.

"Well then I hope it didn't slipped your mind to do the other thing I asked you to do." She said.

"Nope. Anyways, the main reason why I came to see you was to ask if we could give everyone two days off training, tomorrow and the day after that. They've been working their asses off and Korra and I thought it's time for them to get some downtime." I suggested.

"That's not a bad idea. And with tomorrow's perfect weather, Rae can finally throw that beach party she's been yammering on about which means you, Korra, Ellie and Rissa are helping her." Kiara said. We both turned to Nick for his opinion.

"I say yes too. The pack's been a little on edge due to training and the rogues in our cells. They needed something to loosen them up." Nick said.

"Great. I'll go tell Rae and Korra." I said then I got up and went to find Rae and my little sister. I found them in the kitchen and told them we had the go ahead to throw the beach party.