Chapter 1

The sounds of the pups playing in the backyard woke her up and she glanced around her room. Over the past five years, it had gradually changed. Morphed from the young innocent girl that she had been at sixteen.  The Teen heartthrob posters had been taken down, and her once bright yellow room had become dark. Black curtains and furnishings. Things were different now. After what she had witnessed, how could they not be?

In one night, her happy innocent world had become one of danger, intrigue, and horror.

She groaned and crawled out of bed, heading for the shower. After brushing her teeth and letting the water heat up, she removed her clothing and climbed in. She knew it was going to be another grueling day. Her father always made sure of that.

She made sure the shower was quick and soon she turned the water off.

She was dripping wet she reached for the fluffy towel that hung on the wall next to the shower. Her long red hair hung down her back. Quickly she gathered it up in the towel and wrapped it around her head. Then she grabbed a second towel.

She stepped out onto the thick black rug and dried herself off. Her arms and legs were muscular now. She had grown into a woman. Feisty and strong and tough as nails. Whatever innocence she'd had at sixteen was gone as were her carefree days.

She was now part of her father's 'operation', though her love and respect for him had altered somewhat. She no longer was 'daddy's little girl' and she was also not one to be coddled or cared for as she had been. She didn't like to be touched and she rarely spoke to anyone outside of her small circle. Unless it was the warriors that she was giving orders to.

She towel-dried her hair getting most of the moisture out before she tossed both towels into the laundry baskets for the Omega's to wash. She rarely bothered with picking up after herself anymore as she had little time and there were perfectly good omegas to take care of that for her.

After blow-drying her hair, she pulled it up into a messy bun and then headed into her room to get dressed. Opting for blue jeans, army boots, and a black t-shirt. Topping it off with the leather jacket that AJ had given her. The tattoo now hidden on her shoulder was that of the pack she resided in. The tattoo was the profile of a wolf holding a human skull in its mouth and the Letters CNL.

That was the name of the pack. During the five years since that fateful night, she had learned the meaning and learned to keep up the facade that her parents and brother had. She was cool and polite to the pack members, but something inside her had changed.

Snapped.

CNL was short for Cosa Nostra Lupus. Meaning her family was the biggest supernatural mafia group in the history of the world. It wasn't just in their area. Her father had outposts throughout the world and was stationed as regular everyday humans as well.

Not that they couldn't be taken down. She knew that was coming in the future, but she wasn't sure when. It was a matter of time and she knew from the meeting her father had with his men, that they were preparing for it. The king was starting to narrow it down to where the headquarters were.

In short, the family would be pulling up stakes and moving. Not like they hadn't done it before. Though, Cora had been too young to remember the last time that it happened. She finished slipping the knives into her boots and in other places on her body to hide them from anyone in the pack. Most of them were oblivious to what their Alpha did for a living. The ones that knew were part of the inside of the operation and the consequences were severe for anyone that let their secrets known.

Death was the major consequence for anyone that dared let their secrets slip out.

There was a knock on the door and she opened it. AJ stood there with his hands behind his back as he waited to escort her down to the dining hall for breakfast. At twenty-six, he had finally grown into his position and he took his role as her protector and her brother very seriously.

He was the one that would take over the pack one day.

She was the one that would be the protector and stand by his side when he made the decisions and carry them out. She was the one that killed those that would hurt their family. Jesse would be the kind and gentle Luna. Cora was the one that would put her life on the line to save her pack if needed.

As they enter the room she spotted her mother and father seated over at the alpha's table talking quietly amongst themselves, keeping their discussions to the weather and pack issues.

When they looked up, she spotted a brief look of sadness in their eyes as she and her brother approached. Her parents had not intended for her to end up like this. She was supposed to remain their little princess. But since she had found out their secret, she had two choices.

She chose to live with the choice she had chosen and the consequences that had come with that choice. Darkness lived in her now. She felt no fear and caused others torturous pain.

"Mother. Father."

Her words were brief and cold as she sat down at the table. Her eyes were cold and calculating, momentarily before she went back to her usual guarded facade. 'Emotion' was no longer part of her world and the less that others knew about her the better. Emotions made you weak and she was not weak. Not anymore.

She watched as an omega placed a plate of food in front of her and began to eat her food quietly. The bacon and eggs were filling and after some toast, juice, and coffee, she quickly stood and headed out to the back door of the house.

She had training next. Her day was routine from start to finish. She knew where she should be at all times and went through the motions.

Not that she needed more training. She could take down all of the pack warriors with one hand behind her back. Even her brother who was the second alpha now. With the pack being so large, there was more than enough work for her whole family to handle. She was second Luna. Not that she needed to be mated to do the job.

In her pack, Second Luna and Second Alpha were just a title. It was a glorified way to say that they were assistants to her parents who were the leaders of the pack. Though, there were times when her parents had to leave on personal business and she and AJ were left in charge. They knew what to do in any situation and could almost lead the pack just as well as their parents.

She stepped into the training house and went through to the back. Only the operations people for her father's business were allowed in here. The ones that knew about the Wolf Mafia. Though the pack just thought it was a higher-level training area. For those more advanced than the regular members.

All members of the Cosa Nostra Lupus pack trained in self-defense and offense. In fact, some of the toughest fighters were the pups. They were swift and knew moves that could get them out of any situation. They were not strong by any means, but by the time they were able to shift, they were in charge of their wolves. Not many packs could say that about their twelve to fourteen-year-old juvenile pups. Boys were trained with boys and girls with girls until they turned fourteen. Then the top-ranking ones with the most promise were trained together.

She removed her leather jacket and went into the locker room to change into her training clothes. She knew she would be showering again as soon as she was done. Today she would be sparring with her father. Not something that she looked forward to, but she had been able to outdo the other wolves and she had not been allowed to spar with any humans in the business. So she was stuck with him.

Stepping out of the locker room she spotted her parents warming up on the mat. Apparently, AJ was sparring with their mother. Not uncommon as both she and AJ had sparred with their parents many times.

Her trainer came over and did a preliminary spar with her to check her form. Unlike most of the girls in the pack, she fought like a guy. Though she was not built like a guy. You could see the muscles rippling in her arms and legs, yet she was still very feminine indeed. The look in the eyes of the unmated males and even some of the mated ones told her of this fact.

She ignored the stares, knowing full well that her shorts and white tank top left her legs and arms bare and little to the imagination of her parent's colleagues. Of course, her father and brother were not happy about this and there were low growls coming from both of them, causing the lustful eyes to look the other way.

Not that it bothered her anymore. It was the same thing every morning.

She went through the sparring practice steps with her trainer and smiled when she easily took him down in one motion. The trainer just shook his head and sighed.

"I don't know why I even bother. You can take me down with the first strike."

The triumphant smile that appeared on her face was dark and sometimes scared the others in the room. It was a far cry different than her smiles when she was younger, before her sixteenth birthday. 

After the warm-ups, and her trainer was satisfied with her form, they were ready.

She stretched one last time before she shook all her limbs out like a boxer. She was warmed up and ready to go.

"Alpha Anthony. Second Luna Coraline, to the mat please." The trainer bowed his head in complete submission to the Alpha family as they took the mat.

Her father readied himself, shaking his limbs out and popping his neck as they both began moving slowly in a circle facing each other when the alarm sounded.

She dodged her father's first swing and punched him in the kidney as she moved past him and then turned to face him once more, knowing that was a tender spot on his body.

"Fuck!" Her father growled.

She moved back into her stance as he came at her and she dodged once more, but not before he clocked her in the mouth, causing a chain reaction with her popping him in the nose and hearing it crack. If he hadn't moved, she would have been able to use the heal of her hand instead and send him unceremoniously down to his knees.

Again they circled each other and soon the referee yelled, "SHIFT!"

In less than half a second they had both leaped into the air, teeth, and claws emerged and their wolves followed. Canis was larger than her wolf and he came out in all of his glory. A black wolf through and through. Her father's wolf had eyes that were black. Uncommon for a werewolf. Usually, their eyes matched their counterparts and in this instance even though Jeffrey had dark brown eyes that were almost black, his wolf had no pupils. A sign of something more dark and sinister.

In the end, she had slipped under him with her own black wolf and flipped him over before he could blink and had her jaws wrapped around his throat. She could taste the blood as she bit down slightly, breaking his skin.

They all knew the drill and it had taken her less than a minute to head to the locker room and change into her regular clothes before she headed out of the training hall to her station.

The attack alarm sounded and her eyes darted around the pack.

The members of the pack were running to get to the stations that they had been assigned to if there was an attack. It was almost a chaotic mess. Everyone was yelling and the younger pups were crying as they knew something was wrong.

In moments Jeffrey was by her side.

"CORA! GO TO THE HOUSE WITH THE FEMALES AND PUPS NOW! DON'T COME OUT UNTIL I COME TO GET YOU PERSONALLY!"

The look of shock on her face was evident as she stared at her father, not only had he just surprised her and prevented her from fighting, he had used his Alpha tone on her. He meant business. He had only used his Alpha command on her once before when she was sixteen.

"But..."

She wanted to get him to change his mind. She opened her mouth to speak again and he cut her off.

"NOW!!!" He boomed, causing her to tremble and look at her mother.

Her mother's face was cold and calculating as she nodded to her daughter.

"Go!"

She lowered her head and headed to the house. Once inside, she headed to the basement where the females and pups were. The guard closed the heavy metal door behind her and she turned around to gaze into the shocked eyes of her pack.

"Luna Cora? Why aren't you fighting?"