Chapter Six

Duncan's POV

The interaction with Vex pushed Dante to the surface, and he was trying to wrest control from Duncan. Duncan clenched his jaws and focused his energy inward. A growl rattled out of his chest, startling Tia, who was sitting next to him. She turned to see his iris switch back and forth between green and gray. Recognizing he was fighting his wolf, she reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it.

With her touch, enough to tip the balance, Duncan regained his composure. He would do whatever it took to ensure Vex did not come near her again. However, anger seethed within him. Vex was a coward and an opportunist. He had no redeeming qualities, and Duncan marveled he had survived this long. A year from now, either he or Vex would become Alpha of their pack, but Duncan knew it would not be both. The Olympic Forest was not big enough for the two of them.

Are you alright?

He glanced down at Tia. Look at you mind linking like the rest of us.

She smiled and bumped her shoulder against his.

I may not fully understand why you all want to help me, but I feel you and I are connected differently from the rest.

We are connected differently somehow. I am just not sure what that means yet. Until we figure it out, let's keep it between us.

She nodded and looked out the window.

Dante whined loudly, straining to get closer to her, and Duncan realized his wolf sensed it too. Did his wolf know more about the situation than he did?

Burke's POV

The story of Tatiana had the whole town on edge. Tia's father, Will, died of a stroke at the hospital, and she was missing. The last person to see her was the EMT who brought her father in. Her clothing was found in the woods near her house, but a search party found nothing. Burke overheard his dad talking about it last night. His father, the sheriff, thinks she may have been taken by a Werewolf. A young girl like her, alone in the woods, would be easy prey.

Burke could not imagine why she would be in the woods. Usually, she was easy to find. Typically Tatiana was either working at the cafe or studying. However, he couldn't imagine how she felt seeing her only family member being wheeled away on a stretcher. Despite all of that, going into the woods alone did not seem like something she would do willingly. Burke hoped it was all a misunderstanding, and she would be found safe.

A week passed, and Tia's return was becoming increasingly unlikely. Burke, however, was not ready to accept it yet. He helped out at the police station after school to be close if there was any news. Until he knew something definitive, Burke was not going to give up hope.

Tatiana's POV

Tatiana lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying. Her father died alone, and that is something she would never forgive or forget. He had done everything for her, and she was not there when he needed her most. Tia hoped he was not scared when he died. The overwhelming guilt knotted her stomach at the mere thought of it. He hadn't been a man of many words, but when he talked about her, his face glowed with pride. He often told her that she was the one thing he did right in his life.

At this moment, Tia felt like a big mistake. Not a human, and not entirely a wolf. However, she knew she would have to return home soon. Her father's funeral had to be organized. She needed to go back and finish school. It was what her dad wanted. Tia was worried about child protective services. They would not let her remain at home, on her own, at 16 years old. Since there was nowhere else for her to go, she would be uprooted and placed in a human foster family. If she had been born and raised in a pack. Life could have been so different. Her dad had done his best to raise her, but he did not understand her wolf side. How could he? Despite that, he was her family, and she loved him. She couldn't imagine loving anyone more. She had done her best to piece together knowledge of her wolf history from literature, but it was classified as horror fiction in human libraries. So she could not be confident of the accuracy. Her interactions with the Kalaloch pack made that abundantly clear.

Whether she felt up to it or not, Tia knew it was time to go. She was not a child anymore, and she needed to do this one last thing for her father. Tatiana would at least have until the funeral to come up with a better plan. She flipped back the covers but still could not get herself to sit up. Getting out of this bed and facing what lay ahead was going to take one small step at a time.

POV Carina

After discussing it with the pack leadership, Carina and her family decided to take the young girl in and offer Tatiana a place in their pack. However, for her safety, they needed to change her story. They were going to claim she was Corina's niece. Luca was setting up the paper trail. Some packs treated Rogues as hunting trophies. So it would be safer for Tia if nobody knew she was raised by humans. It would also be necessary for police to release her into their custody.

Tatiana hadn't left her room since she learned of her father's death. Luca had taken pity on the poor thing and removed her pain to allow her to sleep the first night. Today she stayed in bed. The only sign she was awake was the occasional soft whimper or quiet sobs. The Luna brought up food, but none of it was touched.

Carina's placed her hand on the girl's door. Her maternal instincts pushed her to go into Tia's room and comfort her, but Luca advised her to keep her distance and let the girl work through it independently. So she waited. Carina saw a lot of herself in this young girl. Her beginning was not vastly different, and she wanted to relieve this girl's struggle. It was part of what being a Luna was about, to ease other's pain and suffering.