***POV:Trent***
I walk towards our pack house, both nervous and excited at the same time. I am nervous about how my father will react, but I am so ready to be done hiding. I do love her, at least I am pretty sure this is love. I don’t want to be without her, and I certainly don’t want her to be with anyone else, if that’s not love, what is it then? I approach the pack house, taking a few deep breaths, preparing myself for what will inevitably be a long confrontation. I open the door and walk in, and I am immediately overwhelmed by the multitude of people in the main living space, all gathered around the long meeting table. My alpha father is seated at the head of the table naturally, with all the seats around him occupied by his closest advisors. Beyond that, our fiercest and strongest wolves are gathered around, standing room only.
“Trent, nice of you to finally show up, we have been waiting on you all morning.” He says sardonically.
Damnit, of course he is going to make a big show out of me being late to the meeting. He looks at me pointedly and motions for me to take the only empty seat at the table on the opposite end, the heir’s seat.
“As you all know I have called you here today so we can start taking action towards finding human survivors and bringing them in. Ultimately, we know most humans can survive the transformation from human to wolf. Thankfully with our pack being assigned to Refugees and Rescue we will be the first ones out there, rescuing them, and bringing them into the fold. With that said, if said humans decided to turn at some point, we may have the upper hand of having them choose to join our ranks. The last thing we want is for another pack or worse yet, another species to absorb them. Anyone else want more vampires around here because I sure don’t. Trent, where are you with collecting signatures from the other Alphas and their heirs?” He looks over at me expectantly, but almost like he is expecting me to disappoint him.
I straighten up and clear my throat. “Well everyone, I am happy to report that I have concluded speaking with all the leaders and their heirs, collecting more than enough signatures to garner the majority needed. We only had a handful of holdouts, mostly from the more isolated packs and 2 covens.”
“Well then as Alpha of this pack, and as the Collective delegate in charge of refugees, I think there is no time to waste. At first light tomorrow, we head out and start searching in grid patterns for survivors. Of course, we want to screen them for diseases and mental state. This you will find to be most necessary with the living conditions that they have been exposed to. We will also need to be sure that they will be capable of accepting the truth about us, and all of The Hidden.”
Murmurs go around the room as the words that my father has spoken get mulled over. Our people start talking amongst themselves about what this means and about plans for the search.
My father looks over at me. “Trent, you will be leading the search party, I expect you to be ready to go. We already have a small group of our finest trackers and warriors ready to go with you. If you would like to add a body or two to your party, that is your choice.”
I stare at him in shock, this is all going so fast. “Father, you want me to be ready to go in less than 24 hours? I have some things that I need to take care of.”
“Son, I think we all know what things you are referring to, and that is something we can discuss later.” He just completely shut me down.
I can’t believe what I am hearing. He is forcing me to do this on his timeline, and I don’t believe for one second that it’s for the good of anyone or anything other than his agenda. He is not thinking about the pack or the survivors, and definitely not thinking about the colony. He just wants me out of here, and now.
He continues, looking over to his beta, Beta Ignatius. “How are the preparations coming to receive the refugees?”
Beta Ignatius perks up at his chance to be of some importance in front of the pack, he has always been an ambitious man. “My daughter Heather has of course been on top of that. She has been preparing the refugee barracks to receive them. She has all the necessary supplies stocked, especially medical supplies. We have been sending out small parties to gather extra clothes, medicine and whatever other mundane needs the humans have.”
Of course, it had to be Heather in charge of all that, who else could it possibly be I groan inwardly. I have a feeling I know where this going.
“Trent you will stay in touch with Heather via SAT phone since you will be too far for the mind-link to work. As you round up refugees, make sure you let her know so she can properly prepare. You will have enough men with you so that you will be able to send refugees back with a couple of escorts at a time. This will maximize your time out there so that we may search a wider area without having to venture back and forth. We may be able to get a warlock or witch to help us out with a portal or two, but I wouldn’t count on it. They are not exactly our biggest supporters in this venture of gathering humans and bringing them here.”
The meeting drags on for most of the day and well into the afternoon. I still haven’t had the opportunity to pull my father aside and speak to him about Amara.
Cyrus walks over to me, having come in towards the end of the meeting. “Hey man, I’ve been hearing that Alpha John has you leaving tomorrow, that true?”
I look at him dejectedly “Yeah, I am pretty sure this plan of his has more to do with putting me on the path that he thinks is right for me, and not about anything else”
“Yeah dude, that’s pretty obvious to me too. Are you putting together your own team, or did he take care of that for you too?”
“What do you think man? Of course the great Alpha John took care of that already. Got 10 of his ‘best’ guys coming with me. I mean they are good dudes, but if I am going out there with them I would have loved to have had a say in it. I can add a guy or two if I want..” I give him a look knowing well what he will do.
“Man you know of course I will go with you, who else is going to watch your sorry ass out there? You couldn’t keep me away from this vacation.” He laughs.
“We head out first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Have you told Amara yet?” Cyrus says giving me pained look.
“No, I have been stuck here all day. Sucks I can’t even mind-link her until I mark her. Don’t even know how I will face her with this. I haven’t even had a chance to talk to my dad about her yet either. I have to, I promised her I would. She’s not going to believe that I want this to work if I come back to her saying I didn’t speak to him yet.”
Just as I finish my sentence, my father walks over to us.
“Is it safe to assume that your shadow over here will be joining your party?” He nods towards Cyrus.
Cyrus perks up, after all this is the alpha speaking “Yes sir, of course I am going with him, someone has to watch his back and besides I can’t let him have all the fun.”
“Glad to hear it. Well gentlemen, you are needed in the supply depot. The rest of the team are already there waiting for you to go over the equipment and supplies.”
“Father, I really do need to speak with you”
“It can wait. Go make the preparations, they are waiting for you now.”
I look at Cyrus who is giving me a ‘don’t push your luck’ look.
I nod at my father and head out with Cyrus towards the supply depot.
The guys are sitting on supply crates, stuffing supplies into their packs. I look over everything, mostly weapons and tech, not taking much food since we can live off the land by hunting in our wolf form. I double check the satellite phone and extra batteries, tracking devices, tranquilizer guns, everything is in order.
By the time that we are done preparing, it’s almost 10 o’clock at night.
I mind-link my father “Dad, where are you, I would like to come speak with you.”
“I am at home. You are welcome to come now but I warn you, I don’t have a lot of time to waste on this foolishness.”
I hold back my thoughts. “Alright, see you in 5.”
I look at Cyrus. “Wish me luck brother, heading to the mighty Alpha John for the talk. I must get all of this settled before leaving in a few hours. This is all happening so fast.”
Cyrus thinks it over, “Almost as if it were by design.”
I nod and take off heading to my father’s house. I go in and immediately find him in his study, he is always in there working. I sit down across from him and wait.
He looks up at me and starts off in a slow tone. “I know why you are here. In fact, at this point I am sure the whole pack knows.”
“Well then dad, since you know everything, tell me.”
“Son, I don’t mind you playing the field, sowing your wild oats or whatever else you want to call it. When it comes to settling down, that is a different story. I will not have any heir of mine choose to settle down with the enemy as his Luna. I won’t stand for it.”
“Dad, what enemy? We are not enemies anymore; those old ways are gone. This new reality we live in doesn’t have room for all that. Besides, Amara isn’t a Luna dad, you know she is an Alpha too.”
“Son, I know many here would like to believe that we are living in peace and harmony, especially you younger ones, but that is just not the way it is. You should know better. These old grudges will never go away, there is too much history there to anchor them. You MUST settle down with a true ally, but preferably your Luna would come from your own pack. Whatever happened with Heather? She was perfectly suitable”
“I don’t want suitable, I want love, and I love Amara.”
“No son, I don’t even want to hear her name. You know what we have gone through with that pack, or have you forgotten? I will not have you trivialize it.”
“It just doesn’t matter anymore. This is ridiculous. You are talking as if there was going to be some sort of coup.”
His head snaps up at this. He studies my face.
“Wait, dad, is that what’s happening? Is that what you are planning? Why are we going out to make sure to be the first contact with surviving humans?”
“Trent calm down, I am not saying that. It might be a thought. Goddess knows that we have done relatively well and have been able to survive and thrive for the last 5 years. That doesn’t mean that this will last forever. If and when the time comes to fight, I don’t want to be outnumbered.”
Unbelievable, the man always had a hidden agenda. I should have known.
“But if Amara and I were to get married and become Alphas together, that would unite her pack and ours.”
“That would never happen, her father would not allow it. He would know better than to try to assimilate our wolves with theirs, it’s just not possible.”
“Dad, frankly, I am not asking for your permission. I was trying to do the right thing and be up front with you. I have been with Amara for a long time now, and I am done with hiding it.”
“You certainly weren’t hiding it as well as you thought. I have known for some time. I knew this talk was coming after your little display at the club last night. You caused quite a stir throughout the pack.”
He pauses. He gets up from his desk and walks around to the front of it and sits on the edge of his desk right in front of me.
“Son, I need you to hear me loud and clear as both your father and your Alpha. I am telling you here and now, you will not marry that girl.”
“Dad-“
“YOU.WILL.NOT.MARRY.THAT.GIRL.”
“Dad, yes I will if that’s what I choose.”
“You do that and you say goodbye to everything and everyone you have ever known. I will disown you and cast you out, it’s as simple as that”
“You can’t be serious”
“I am more serious than I have ever been. You are forcing my hand. This is the last thing I want to do. We have been training you your entire life so that you can grow into the greatest Alpha we have ever had. I will not let you throw away your life and our pack. There are plenty of suitable choices that you can build a happy enough life with. That is all I have to say on this matter.”
I am stunned. What am I going to do? What do I tell Amara? I must talk to her.
“I don’t know what to say, but I have wasted enough time today dad. I have to go. Maybe when I come back from this mission, we can have a more rational conversation about this.”
“I am done talking about this son, I will not waiver. I wish you the best of luck on the mission, stay in touch and stay safe. I trust that the time away will be good for you and that you will come to see reason.”
I shake my head. “Alright then, I’ll see you in a couple of weeks dad, but I will not be changing my mind.”
I get up and walk out of his study, his house, and possibly his life.
Amara’s house is a few platforms away on the border between our packs. I make my way over there and knock on her door, only to find she isn’t home. Where could she be right now? I don’t have time for this, I don’t have time to go look for her. I have too much to do before I leave in a few hours, and still need to get some sort of sleep.
I head to the docks; towards the two boats we are taking. With the checklists in hand, I make short work of checking everything over, making sure we are ready to go. Once I have that done, I decide to take a quick nap below deck, and will go to Amara at dawn before we leave.
***POV:Trent***I hear some loud vibrations around me and I wake up pissed. What is all this racket? I just wanted to get a couple of hours of sleep. I look around and remember I fell asleep on the boat, and then I realize we are moving. What the fuck? I get up and scramble up to the deck and look around. The whole team is here, Cyrus included, and we are out in the middle of the water, no land in sight.“What the hell is going? Where are we?” I ask looking around.“Hey Sleeping Beauty, you are finally up. We are about 1 hour from our target, we made good time today.” Cyrus says to me with a smile.“What are you talking about man? An hour from target? I was supposed to go talk to Amara, I closed my eyes for a few and now we are almost there?” Panic courses through me.Cyrus looks perplexed. “Wait, so you didn’t go see Amara? I figured when I saw you on the boat that you had handled your business and just came back to crash, so you’d be ready to go.”This is terrible. I can’t mind-link
***POV:Trent***I look out towards our docking point, scouting for any potential threats. Our colony is anchored on what used to be the West coast of Florida, not sure what to call it now. We plan on landing in Key West, a smaller city, and then work our way up towards Miami. As we get closer to the docks, they are mostly empty of boats. Some humans had headed for the seas, figuring they had a better chance of making it out there. Between missile attacks from enemy countries, EMP attacks (electromagnetic pulse), and the releasing of a few choice killer biological agents around the globe, the humans had wrecked so much, killed off most of their kind, and launched themselves back into the dark ages. We fortunately had been prepared and between distancing our colonies from major metropolitan areas, and with the help of magic, we stayed safe and were able to hang on to most technological advances and comforts.We arrive and secure our boat. The other boat with us follows shortly. Getting
***POV:Amara***It’s been over a week since Trent and his search team left on their mission to find survivors. They sent back 7 survivors almost immediately. The survivors have done extremely well, working, assimilating, settling into their new homes. They are even well liked. I am glad that it has been an easy transition, gives me hope for the future of our colony. My future on the other hand is looking bleak.Violet has been a great comfort to me in this time. She has helped me keep together the broken pieces of my heart, trying to give me some hope. I am supposed to work in the refugee center with mom today. I don’t feel like doing anything, let alone leave my house and go be around people. I groan loudly to no one since I am all alone and proceed to get ready.I walk into the refugee center and spot my mom across the building. She beams at me and strides towards me, enveloping me in a big hug. I haven’t seen her since the day Trent left, trying to keep all my misery to myself. She
***POV:Trent***Time seemed to be going so slowly. I am itching to get home. The first mission was a success, and it seemed to set the tone for this being a quick and painless excursion. The days after sending home the first survivors proved us wrong, hitting us with obstacle after obstacle. We have come across humans that have practically turned feral, humans that there was no way could be integrated into any kind of functioning society. We started leaving flyers with names of survivors we had rescued at city halls in the towns we went through. We left notes saying to leave word there and we would be checking back just in case any family came searching for our survivors, or if other survivors had been missed in our searches.At those points along our travels where it seemed like we would never find any redeemable survivors, we focused on retrieving anything useful to send back. I especially took care of Tony, the owner of the Moonlight Club, and sent him back cases and cases of alcoh
***POV: Amara***I slept on the boat last night to make sure I was ready to go as soon as they were on the move. I can’t believe I am doing this, but I am going out of my mind, and at least doing something gives me some reprieve from my insanity. I am eating an orange, waiting on the boat, when my mother mind-links me.“What are you up to darling? Feeling any better?” She asks hopefully.“Yeah mami, you were right, I needed some rest and to clear my head.” I am being short but hope she doesn’t notice. I just don’t want to give myself away, but I am entirely too anxious for normal chit chat with my mother.“Good honey. Have you given any more thought to telling your father?”“Not yet, but I will, I promise.” I lie, I feel so guilty, but I must keep it together long enough to get out of here.Suddenly, the tracker starts beeping.“Mami, I got to go, Violet is waiting for me.” I lie again and cut off the mind-link.I wait for the boat to head out far enough. I start my boat up and slowl
***POV:Trent***I wake up, naked and on the forest floor. What the hell happened? My entire body is sore. I then realize that nothing is sorer than my dick. In that moment it all comes back to me. What the hell have I done? I look around and see Heather sleeping naked next to me. This crazy chick came out into the woods after me and then went into heat. Between our former connection and the inevitable pull of a female wolf in heat to an unmated wolf, I was powerless. Yet, I still feel like shit, so much guilt. I can't even remember how many times I came inside her last night. With her having been in heat, the probability of her ending up pregnant is high. What am I going to do if that happens?I turn to her and poke her shoulder to wake her up. “Heather, wake up.” I grumble.She stirs and sleepily opens her eyes grinning at me. “Good morning lover,” she says happily.“Cut the shit Heather, you know damn well I couldn’t control myself last night, not against you being in heat.”“Say wh
***POV: Cole***From the moment I spotted her, I had the urge to take her in my arms and protect her at all costs. Now this girl, this stranger, looks like she is about to die in my boat in the middle of the river. I have to get her home where my parents can help her. The fact that my parents are doctors has come in handy in this aftermath of a world more times than I can count.I get the boat going again and hit the max speed. I keep peeking back at her and I think I see her chest moving like she is breathing. She’s beautiful, even with her beaten and covered in blood I can see it. I pull up to our dock and rush her in the house, screaming for my parents to come help. I take her into the guest bedroom that my parents turned into a makeshift exam room for when any of the neighbors are in need of medical care. Mom rushes in first, taking in the almost dead girl in my arms.“Heavens Cole, what happened to her?” She says as she moves towards me wasting no time.“The Parker brothers had h
***POV:Amara***I hear faint music, beautiful music. I feel weightless. Am I dead? I creep towards consciousness, the music bringing me forward. What a beautiful melody. There is a voice singing along to the music, deep and husky. It’s like it is calling to me. I open my eyes and I look around. I have no idea where I am, but everything hurts. I become aware of the IV attached to me. I sit up a little and look down at myself. My foot injuries from the trap have been cleaned and stitched. I see a few other stitches on my right arm, lots of bruising. My hands immediately trail down to my stomach. The baby, what about the baby? It all comes rushing back to me at once. Trent and Heather, the horrible men, and a vague memory of the man who saved me, and something about his smell. Tears start falling, I am overcome with the emotions of all that has happened. I dry my face as best I can. I need to get up, I feel stiff and want to see more of where it is that I am. I am wearing a light, loose
***POV: Imogen***After a lengthy brainstorming session, we split up and Violet took me to see the kids. I wanted to check in on them, but wanted to give them a chance to get reacquainted with their parents after being apart for so long. It was good to see them and they are definitely settling in.So now we are getting ready to go out as a group for the night. The big buzz is the ball that will be happening in a few days. Apparently they have already had a few off colony guests portal in, and it’s apparently a big deal.
***POV: Trent***That didn’t go the way that I wanted it too, but lately nothing has. Amara saying I don’t love her, that I’m not capable of loving her… how dare she? She doesn’t know what my feelings are, what I am thinking. At least she has the capacity to understand. Heather is not even capable.Being around Heather makes me feel like I am actually losing brain cells. She is not an Alpha, she is just not capable of understanding me. And now I am stuck with her, thanks to my pup growing inside her.
***POV: Cole**The next day we are all assembled at Tobias’ packhouse bright and early. Of course, ‘we’ are missing Amara, but Tobias, Imogen, Violet, and Cyrus are all here. Tobias gathered us to share all of the things he has uncovered about Imogen and I.We sit around the large table in his dining area, and one of the wolves from his pack is busy putting out a nice breakfast spread around us.“Tobias, I appreciate the hospitality but I am dying here man, when can we just find out what is going on?” I ask, trying to not be rude, but most likely failing at this point.He looks at me knowingly. “I get that you are anxious for more information, but we are still waiting on one more person to join us before we get started.”My heart skips a beat, Amara must be coming. While I hate where we are with things, I would never turn away an opportunity to see her.
POV: TrentAmara opens the door and I barge in past her. The look on her face tells me I am completely unwelcome, but I don’t care. This woman is mine whether she wants to accept it or not. I stride in to the living room and sit down on the bigger couch. She is still standing by the open door, looking at me, assessing me, obviously trying to figure out what to do next. She closes the door and pauses there for a minute, finally turning and walking over to where I am. She sits down on the loveseat across from me.
***POV: Amara***Back at my packhouse and I can’t stop thinking about Cole. I am in a loop of replaying what just happened. I don’t know how I am supposed to do this, walk away from this feeling, abandon this gift of my fated mate. I leave my room in search of, well anyone really. I don’t see Violet, of course Imogen is now at Tobias’, my mother isn’t anywhere either. My last stop is my father’s study, and sure enough he is there. I watch him for a moment before knocking on the partially open door. He is poring over a large volume. From here it looks like our wolf directory for the other colonies, he’s probably working on finding me a match.I lightly tap on the door and go in as he looks up and smiles at me. “Where is everyone?”“Not sure, but I know your mother went out to do some “errands” on the other side of the colony, whatever that means.” He said distractedly, going back to his research.“What are you up to Papi?”“Well, I’ve spoken with some of the Council members, and it loo
***POV: Tobias***All day I have felt this incredible pull to get back to Imogen. I walk into my packhouse and I am hit with some ridiculously good smell coming from the kitchen. Imogen is perched at the stove stirring what looks like pasta sauce. She is surrounded by a handful of pack wolves, who all appear to be thoroughly enjoying her company. It throws me off a little, but not in a bad way.She says something and everyone in the room erupts into raucous laughter. I watch her, throw her head back and laugh unashamedly and it does something to me. After they settle, I am finally noticed by one of my wolves, Peter.“Hey boss.” He says, smiling at me a very relaxed and at home smile. “We were just hanging with Imogen here, she offered to make us dinner so we wouldn’t be hungry enough to eat her.” They all laugh and he wiggles his eyebrows at his own joke. They obviously don’t know she is my fated mate and their future Luna or he would have never dared make a joke like that. Imogen loo
***POV: Tobias***Luna Claudia rakes her eyes over me, as if she is trying to read my mind. I get it, it is odd for me to have requested we meet alone. We are sitting outside of her packhouse, within the walls of their private garden. In a spot like this it’s easy to forget all of the strife brewing within our colony, and even more so the strife that the rest of the world is buried in. It’s beautiful and full of blooming tropical plant life.We sit across each other, with a small table between us. She looks at me, her piercing gaze starting to turn impatient.“I’m sorry to be taking up your time Luna, I know it was a strange request.”She nods and softens her face a bit. She has always been kind to me, motherly even. “So tell me Tobias, what brings you here under these odd circumstances?”I launch into my retelling of all the things that Alpha Thomas told me. She listens quietly and thoughtfully. When I am done, I notice she is wringing her hands in her lap.“So Imogen is your mate, a
***POV: Imogen***It feels like this day has taken forever to come to an end. I really enjoyed hanging out with Amara and Violet, and getting to see all of the colony, but I am exhausted. I think it’s just an overload of new information and feelings for me to process, and it’s just taken it out of me.Violet walks me back to Tobias’ packhouse. While I am excited at the thought of seeing him, and reveling in the anticipation of getting to know him better, the fact that we are going back there and not back to Amara’s makes me sad for Cole.“Violet, you think there is any way that Amara will come to her senses about Cole?”Violet stops and turns to me. “That is such a complicated topic Imogen. I know where you are coming from, they are perfect for each other, quite literally. It’s just a lot of complication.” She sighs, looks away for a moment and then turns back to me again. “How many female Alphas have you seen?”“I guess so far I have only met Amara.” I shrug.“And that is all you wil
***POV: Tobias***My visit with Alpha Thomas was the right move. He has listened to me carefully as he always does, and put some pieces together for me that I would have never put together otherwise.“Tobias, there is a prophecy that is older than we know about two human siblings that are destined to save the werewolf race. It really isn’t talked about much, especially since the collapse, because what wolf wants to admit that their future depends on humans?”“Not talked about much? I haven’t even heard this and I am an Alpha.”“I know son, but losing your parents so early on really robbed you of years of knowledge and training that you should have gone through before becoming an Alpha. Don’t get me wrong, you have done a great job without it, but still would have been nice for you to benefit from that as others have.”I nod, momentarily losing myself in thoughts of my parents. Snapping out of it, the questions come flooding in. “So who knows about this prophecy? Where did it come from