Chapter Two

Ellie

The morning came too early for my liking. I’ve never been a fan of the sunrise, and I let out a small groan as I gathered my clothes and headed for the shower. Olivia was going to owe me big for this.

After a quick rinse, I made my way to the kitchen and snagged an apple from the bowl. There wasn’t time for anything more substantial. I’d always choose an extra ten minutes of sleep over a full breakfast.

Just as I was about to take a bite, I froze.

“Hold it right there, young lady. What do you think you’re doing?”

I spun around to find my dad standing there, hands on his hips, glaring at me in full Alpha mode.

I glanced at him, then at the apple in my hand.

“Breakfast?” I suggested.

He shook his head as he approached me.

“No daughter of mine is having an apple for breakfast, no matter how rushed she is.”

He took the apple from my hand and returned it to the bowl.

“Sit,” he ordered, pointing to a stool.

“Dad!” I protested.

He raised his eyebrows at me.

It wasn’t an Alpha command—those never worked on me anyway—but I sat down. Dad in full-on father mode was far more intimidating.

We’d moved into the cottage shortly after Alpha Clayton discovered that Emma was his mate. Clayton’s apartment wasn’t built to accommodate a crowd.

It had been fine when it was just me crashing there, but then Dad moved in, followed by Emma. It didn’t seem fair to force two newly mated wolves to share their home with a teenager and her Alpha father.

I watched him as he started to make pancakes. Chocolate chip pancakes. They were the first pancakes I’d ever had, and they remained my favorite.

“Why are you up so early anyway?” he asked. “You despise early mornings.”

I sighed.

“Murdoch said if I trained early, I could spend the rest of the day with Olivia.”

Dad turned to look at me and rolled his eyes.

“So Murdoch gets to train his star pupil and pawn off his whiny mate on someone else?”

He wasn’t wrong. The only time I could remember Olivia not complaining was when she discovered Murdoch was her mate.

She’d been so anxious about not finding her mate.

When she learned it was Murdoch, she was ecstatic.

Of course, I kept reminding her that if it hadn’t been for me, he’d still be on the other side of the border, and she might never have found him.

That was all well and good, until now. Because now she was carrying his pups. That’s right, pups! She was expecting twins.

Now Olivia, being Olivia, complained at every opportunity. Not that she wasn’t thrilled about becoming a mother. She just despised all the side effects of pregnancy and made sure everyone knew it.

I chuckled.

“Olivia is my best friend, I don’t really mind.”

Dad placed the pancakes on a plate and set them in front of me, drizzling syrup on top.

“You might not mind, but I do,” he grumbled, “especially when you’re sneaking out of the house without a proper breakfast,” he scolded.

I took a bite of pancake and let out a small moan.

“I hope my mate can make pancakes as good as these.”

He rolled his eyes.

“No one...” he started, “will make pancakes as good as your daddy,” he smirked.

I nodded in agreement as I devoured the pancakes. I smiled to myself. I’d stopped calling him daddy a while ago, but he still referred to himself that way.

Dad stood watching me eat, a mug of coffee in his hand. He’d lectured me about skipping breakfast, but he was a bit of a hypocrite, considering he usually only had coffee for his own breakfast.

I frowned as I swallowed the last bite.

“What?” I asked.

He smiled.

“You’ve just grown up so much, pickle. I’m very proud of you, you know?”

I rolled my eyes.

“I’m almost eighteen, Dad, and you still call me pickle?”

Dad just chuckled.

“You’ll always be my pickle. Even when you're mated and have children of your own,” he said, handing me a glass of orange juice.

I took a sip before asking a question that had been on my mind for a while.

“Do you think I’ll have one? A mate?” I asked.

I watched him as he walked around the breakfast bar until he was standing next to me.

He rested his hand on my shoulder.

“Of course you will, Ellie. And whoever it is will be lucky to have you,” he added.

I put the glass down on the counter and looked up at him.

“But what if it’s someone from across the border? What if it’s...” I took a deep breath, “Elijah? You know he hates me? What if we go to war and I have to kill him, and he’s my mate!” I blurted.

Dad gripped my shoulders and turned me to face him.

“He won’t hate you when he knows the truth. Your grandfather...My father, fed him a bunch of lies. Besides, he may not even be your mate.”

I sighed heavily.

“Do you think there’ll even be a war? It’s been almost three years since you, Murdoch, and Emma arrived.”

Dad shrugged.

“I don’t know, Ellie. The thing with council-controlled packs is that they all have to agree. It would likely take them a while to come up with a plan and approve it. We just have to be ready, if they do. Ready to defeat them, either in our territory or in the humans' territory.”

I nodded. The council had done some terrible things. Not just in my lifetime, but in my grandparents' lifetime. Now they were planning more things that would make you shudder.

Well, they made me shudder. Especially as what they had planned would put my brother in danger. At least now I knew he would be safe. That the human race would be safe.

At least they would be if we were victorious.

I hopped off the stool and kissed Dad on the cheek.

“Catch you later!” I hollered, making a beeline for the exit.

I didn’t need to glance back to know he was rolling his eyes and shaking his head. He still had a habit of treating me like a kid, even though I was just a few weeks shy of turning eighteen.

If I hadn’t reconnected with Jackson, I wouldn’t even know when my birthday was. But Jackson did. He was clueless about my lineage, though. At least until we found each other again.

I found myself wondering if Jackson would ever find a mate. He might not have a wolf inside him, but he was still of werewolf descent. But without a wolf, he wouldn’t be able to sense his mate, and the attraction wouldn’t be as intense.

I knew it wasn’t the best time to be pondering about mates, what with a war on the horizon. But I couldn’t help it.

I thought about my dad’s mate. He never mentioned her, but he didn’t seem particularly heartbroken that she wasn’t around either. My thoughts drifted to Elijah. I wondered how he looked now. Would I even recognize him? Would he recognize me?

Lost in my thoughts, I ambled towards the training field.

Murdoch’s voice snapped me out of my reverie.

“You’re late!” he grumbled.

I rolled my eyes.

“Blame my dad. He wouldn’t let me leave without breakfast. Besides, I’m doing you a favor.”

Murdoch just stared at me, shaking his head.

“If you’d get your ass out of bed in the morning, you’d have time for breakfast and still be punctual,” he retorted.

“And if you weren’t avoiding your hormonal mate...”

“Enough!” Murdoch barked. “You’re not too old to be reprimanded for tardiness.”

I rolled my eyes again.

He wanted me to train early so he could spend time with his mate. She was emotional and hormonal lately. He couldn’t stand seeing her like that. Suddenly, I was the bad guy.

“Go ahead,” I shot back, “how exactly are you going to punish me? Extra shifts on border patrol? Oh wait, I’m not allowed on border patrol, in case I get hurt!” I snapped.

Seth sauntered over, having overheard our spat.

“She’s got a sharp tongue, doesn’t she?” He chuckled, glancing at Murdoch.

Murdoch just shook his head.

“You have no idea, especially in the mornings.”

Seth hummed in agreement, then smirked.

“Guess we shouldn’t start the war until after lunch.”

I let out a heavy sigh. Two against one was hardly fair.

“Are you two done? Are we training or what?” I huffed, “Not that it does me any good,” I muttered under my breath.

“What was that?” Murdoch asked.

I crossed my arms over my chest.

“It’s pointless, isn’t it? You’re never going to let me fight anything real. Even when the war comes, I’ll probably be locked away somewhere. Can’t risk the little Alpha princess getting hurt,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

Murdoch ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, while Seth raised an eyebrow.

“She’s got a point,” Seth admitted, “Not that I’d want to cross a couple of protective Alphas, but...”

I fixed my gaze on Murdoch. He was the head trainer. He’d always promised me, even when I was a kid, that he’d train me to be a warrior.

That was before he found out I was a direct descendant of the Alpha king. My real grandfather, who was still sulking up in the mountains, was the first one to teach me to fight.

Did he intend for me to stay behind if a war broke out? If that’s what they were thinking, they were in for a surprise.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Murdoch proposed, “If you can take down Beta Seth, you can go on patrol in the morning. If not, you’ll be back here at dawn, training with me.”

I smirked.

“Deal,” I agreed quickly, before he could change his mind.