Family and War

Ryker POV

I pulled up to my 2-story home tucked away in an immense forest. Unlike most packs the Night Shade pack's house was only used for events and I lived in a separate home.

My family was taken in by the former Alpha when I was 14 years old. Three years later the Night Shade pack was attacked by feral Rogues. We lost a few members including our Beta, our Alpha, and the Alpha's bloodline.

It left a whole pack of a thousand members with no leader. We had to either elect a new Alpha or take the Red Moon's offer to disband our ways and join them as servants to the royal pack. Since I was the oldest and of Alpha blood I was looked to as a leader, even though I was only seventeen.

I became the youngest Alpha and took my brother Christopher as my Beta. Chris was the only person I could trust from the pack and he was also one of the few people that knew all my secrets.

Together with our sister, Hope, we turned the lazy pack into warriors and mandated pack events. I wanted to keep the family community I loved, but needed them to be stronger against future attacks. After they saw the feral ways of the Rogues not many argued about the changes.

I took a few moments staring at my home. It was a modern farmhouse painted Navy with white shutters. There was a plush landscape in both front and back. It had five bedrooms but mostly just housed myself and Chris. My mother and younger siblings had their own home only minutes down the road.

All the lights were on, and I could hear music coming from the backyard. I was exhausted after the last few days at the Red Moon territory, but I couldn't help let a smile take over thinking of my family alive and safe in my home.

I climbed up the front steps of my white wrap around porch and headed out back. I saw my younger brothers teasing our little sister and decided to help her out. I crept up behind the boys and grabbed them both. The boys screamed as they were scooped up then thrown into the pool.

"Hi little Rose. Are those yucky boys giving you trouble?" I asked her, scrunching my face like they were gross. She jumped up and down laughing at our brothers as they wailed in the pool.

"Yes Rykie, they deserve a spanking." She teased. Our twin brothers shot her a pleading looking not wanting to feel my wrath. I loved all my siblings but no one upset my Rose.

Maddox and Alex climbed out of the pool with fear in their eyes. "We were just playing around, that's all. Come on Rose why don't we have a tea party." Maddox said. When I turned to Rose, I didn't miss Alex put his hands together praying for forgiveness.

"Fine, but only if Ms. pointy (her stuffed unicorn) and Mr. Snuggles (her stuffed bear) can join us."

"Of course, it wouldn't be a proper tea party without them little Rose." Maddox said picking her up to walk inside.

"You boys better be nice or I'll make sure there are tea parties every night before bed." I yelled, giving Rose a wink.

Maddox and Alex were rare twins with black hair and blue eyes like me and our father. They were of Alpha blood, but not as powerful as me, no one was. My two sisters Rose and Hope and my brother Chris all had dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes like our mom. We were unmistakable as siblings no matter the hair color or eyes though.

"Oh, Ryker, why do you torture those boys? You know Rose is no angel. This morning she saran wrapped the toilet again." A sweet voice came from the back door from my mother, Meredith.

"Psh, she is perfect." I replied with a kiss on her cheek and walked inside heading for the kitchen. I could smell her apple pie and was salivating just thinking about it.

"I had a feeling you would say that and that's why I didn't clean your bathroom." She chuckled at me.

"Argh, come on mom." I shook my head and grabbed the whole pie. I really wasn't looking forward to cleaning pee off the walls.

"That is not just for you boy. You better save some for your siblings." She scolded but handed me a fork.

"Yeah, that is a no. They are all on my shit list anyways. No pie!" I took a long slow bite, moaning at the burst of cinnamon and sugar exploding in my mouth. Apple pie was my favorite and my mother's was the best.

"Hey, what did I do? The other shit heads I get, but I deserve some pie." Chris went to dig his fork in for a bite, but I quickly swatted it away. We continued to have a sword fight with our forks until mom took the pie back to the counter.

"Mom!" We both shouted.

"I didn't raise savages. You will eat like civilized boys, not animals." She grabbed two plates and dished a large piece on both.

"Thank you." I said.

"Thanks mom, you're the best."

"Momma's boy." I hide under a cough.

"Jackass." Chris replied with a cough back to me.

Mom smiled at our playfulness and I loved seeing the happiness on her face. It felt like most of our life has been one hell after the other. There was rarely a time to just be kids, let alone a family. I could feel her heart swell watching us, but then the ping of heartache washed over her, as it always did.

The happier the moment, the greater the down fall into sadness she fell. She was thinking of our father and it was breaking her heart. I knew she missed him every second of the day despite how she tried to hide it.

"I mind linked the boys to get Rose to bed and not to interrupt. We should discuss our plans before we don't have a chance too. I think we can move up some of our missions now that we will be part of the council next week." I said, trying to distract my mom's sudden wave of sadness.

"Yes, of course." Mom said, taking our empty plates and bringing them to the sink. She took a moment to collect herself then sat down with us to start the meeting.

"I secured a job as a baker at the pack house. I have to be careful, but I was able to snoop into most of the house. I made a layout of what I have so far and will keep updating." She laid out a book with blueprints of the Red Moon's pack house.

She had most of the rooms labelled and paths etched out. I studied the map noticing one room in particular, the princess chambers. My mind instantly went to her.

Chris noticed the pause and cleared his throat. "You seemed very intrigued on this area. Care to elaborate?"

I shook my head, trying to remove the moments we shared at the river. I wanted to lay her down on her bed like I did on the sand.

What the fuck is wrong with me? I need to find time to go to the city tomorrow and get this temptress out of my head.

"Nothing intriguing, yet, just trying to memorize the layout. I have way more freedom than I thought in that house. It's weird how little they fear guests in their home.

I don't think the dungeons are by the house though. I'm joining them for dinner tomorrow to discuss the induction ceremony and then will stay a few nights to get a tour of the territory. I think we will have a layout of the whole property by then."

My mom nodded in agreement. "I suspect the dungeons are close by the hospital. I heard one of the maids talking about her sister having to rush over to a prisoner who was bleeding out. Her sister is a nurse and was at work at the time. She said despite only being a few minutes away if she didn't run, she would had been too late."

"Ok, I'll make sure I get a tour of the hospital and poke around. Once we confirm the dungeon, I want to move in on them. Hope has already been gone over two weeks. Goddess knows what they are doing to her." I said raking my hand through my hair.

When I received the invitation to join the high council, I sent scouts out to Red Moon. My 19-year-old sister was one of our best warriors. I only had a few left so I needed her there leading. I regretted it every day when she didn't return though.

They were supposed to stick to the shadows and return in 3 days, but only two of my warriors came back. A witch had to be at play to sense them, but I hadn't seen one near the pack yet.

If anyone found out who she is they would not only hunt for the rest of us, but they would torture her for information, then enslave her. She was almost as powerful as I was, and a witch or Alpha could take out thousands with her under their control.

We planned for years to get into the high council. We needed to infiltrate the trio pack and becoming part of the high council was the best way.

I never imagined being part of the high council would include full disclosure to all the packs though. I hadn't even been sworn in and I was already in the King's home and sat at a table with every bloodline of my enemy.

"Ok, just be careful. It doesn't seem right that they just allow you to roam so freely. It might be a test to see what you will do. If we are found out, everything will be for nothing." Chris said looking over the blueprints.

"I know. I don't want to fuck up everything, but I also want to just storm the pack and get Hope back. I can feel she is alive, but not much else." Again I raked my hand through my hair in frustration. I hated feeling so helpless.

"I know son, but we have to stay on track. She is my daughter, and I would never want to sacrifice my child, but we were allowed this second chance to prove we are worthy of our gifts. We need to restore faith to the moon goddess not only of our kind, but all werewolves. We have to trust in her and trust in ourselves."

"I'm trying to mom, but if something happens to her or any of my family again, I don't know if I could restrain my wolf to not seek revenge."

"I know Ryker. You both, my boys, have so much on your shoulders. I know you will succeed though, and I have to believe my daughter will be ok." She gave our hands a squeeze.

It was hard to be the goddess' assassins while also being part wolf and part human. There were too many conflicting emotions we had to constantly work out to keep ourselves balanced.

We all gave each other knowing glances that we were all hurting with Hope's absence. Then we pushed it down and got back to business.

"Ok, mom you keep infiltrating the staff for information. I'll get the rest of the property layout and Chris you get our Rogue pack ready. The princess' party is this Sunday, so we have to attack by Thursday, or we will have to wait until after the induction ceremony. Chris, make it clear no child is to be harmed. Casualties are to be kept to a minimum and only if necessary. We want to test their strength and hopefully find our sister. I don't want a massacre to raise any suspicions."

"I will. Nobody wants to kill, but we will do what needs to be done. I'll message you our progress throughout the day. I got you enough herbs for your mirage spell to last you at least a week. I put it on your bed. I'll try to make my way to Ester's later this week for more. The witch is getting greedy though. She doubled her price now that we are requesting so often."

Chris was also the leader of our secret packs. I was still the Alpha, but when I took on leadership of the Night Shade pack, Chris started leading our other two packs.

"I made copies of the pack house for you both. We can add and update as we go. I don't know if we can meet again until after Thursday, but you boys both know the transfer spells. If needed, we can send images and memories to each other."

Chris and I both nodded to our mom that we remembered our spells. Wolves couldn't normally perform magics, but my family was from an ancient line that was gifted from the goddess herself. We were the protectors and enforcers of werewolves. After we were nearly killed off, we decided it was best to be considered extinct while hiding in plain sight.

"Good, we are all agreed. We will make the final decision Wednesday morning to attack the next day. In the meantime, we prepare. Let's bring Hope home and come one step closer to taking our place among the wolves. Be safe." I gave my brother a squeeze on his shoulder then my mother a kiss on her head before retreating to bed.

Sleep couldn't come soon enough. I had 4 days to map out the property, find where my sister was being held, gain Alpa Blake's trust, and plan a secret attack, yet the future Queen seemed to occupy most of my thoughts tonight.