Chapter 2

WREN

“Raven.” I breathe. I’m consumed with grief and guilt.

My beautiful baby sister, I lost ten years ago in the storm, was standing right in front of me.

Her blue eyes just as gorgeous as my mother’s. Her hair jet black like my father’s. Now I see it. She’s still as beautiful as I remember even though she was only ten when I lost her in a crowd of fleeing people.

“Raven….” My breath hitches as I’m overcome by the visions of that day.

I start to break down, but I don’t take my eyes off her.

“Wren!” She runs to me. She throws her arms around my neck, crying. “I missed you so much.”

I can barely touch her. I think this a dream. A mirage. A trick of my mind because I’ve been alone for so long.

I raise my shaky arms. Not knowing if I could even trust that what they felt was real.

When my hands connect with her back, I lose it. “Oh my God….” I cry out. “Raven...” I hug her so tight as I sob hard.

I push her back. Swallowing my shock. “How? How is this possible?” I pull her into me again. The hot sting of tears hit my cheeks.

“I knew you wouldn’t leave me. You couldn’t. I found you. I finally found you.” She’s babbling as she cries. Her arms grabbing at me like she can’t hug me hard enough.

Pushing her back again, I run my hands down her hair. “Look at you. My God. I can’t believe it. My baby sister.” I practically choke her with my arms.

She pulls out of my grasp. Wiping her face. “Wren, there’s more. So much more.” She smiled. “You should come with me. Everyone will be so relieved to see you.”

“Mom? Dad?” I question as my eyes scan her face.

She presses her lips together. She looks down as she shakes her head no.

The heartbreak I had for my parents flooded back. I try not to breakdown again. I have so many questions.

I look at her shoulder. It’s already healing up. “We should get that looked at. I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was you.”

Raven sniffs back her tears. “It’s OK. I’ve had worse. You have a cool wolf.”

“So do you.” I give a choked giggle. “You want to go to the pack house.”

“Won’t the Alpha be mad to see me?” Raven looked worried.

“Honestly, I don’t know. That’s why I’ll introduce you to the Luna first. She can keep the Alpha in check.” I say as I stand.

I grab Ravens hands. The memory of holding her tiny hand entered my mind. I throw an arm around her shoulder. “Let’s go.”

I escort Raven into the pack house. She looks around in amazement. “Wow. You live here?” She stares up at the high ceilings.

“I work here. For now. After this job is done, who knows. Come on. My rooms down here.” I lead her down a hallway where the security team lives.

I walk into my small, meager room with a twin bed, small dresser and no closet.

“This is your room?” She walks in slowly. She turns and sits on my bed. She feels it and gives it a little bounce. She giggles at the feeling.

I grab a wet towel and a dry one. I sit down behind her and clean her wound. “It’s not much, but it’s better than most of the rooms I slept in.” I wipe some more blood off. “I’m sure yours is better than this.”

She shakes her head. “No way. This is huge!” her hands fly out indicating the size.

“This is huge to you?” I arch a brow.

She nods, feeling my blanket. “Yeah. My rooms tiny compared to this. It’s not even permanent.”

I glanced at her. “Surely you have a home. You told me.”

She shrugs. “We’ve moved around a lot. It’s only been the last couple of years where we’ve never had to run."

“Run? Run from what, Raven?” I stitch my brows together. What was she talking about?

“Stuff.” She struggles. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Oh...um…Ok…but you’re not in any trouble.” I study her expression.

She sucks in her lip and shakes her head.

I decide I won’t probe her further. I don’t need her feeling uncomfortable. We just reunited and I probably shouldn’t get all parental on her. She practically a stranger right now.

“So, the Alpha...” I finished cleaning her up. “Who is it?” I’m genuinely curious as to who could possibly be able to fill my father’s boots. He was such a strong, caring man. He loved everyone in the pack like his own family. Would never mistreat anyone. He was always there to give the shirt off his back if he needed to. I was always so proud to call him dad.

“You’ll see when we get to Helena. I don’t want to say too much outside of the pack.” She seems to have a major issue with divulging too much information. I wonder what it means. What happened to my pack that they have to live in secrecy?

“Why don’t you stay with me?” I offer. “It sounds like you could use a more stable home.” I turn Raven to me. “I can introduce you to some people I know that can set you up in….”

She shakes her head fast. “No. I can’t. I shouldn’t even be here now. I couldn’t help, but sneak away after seeing you two months ago.”

“Raven. You’re my sister. There’s nothing so scary that you can’t build a life with me here.” I rub her arm.

“No. Wren. My pack needs me. Needs us. I owe my life to the Alpha. I can’t abandon him.” Her face tells me this is a dead conversation.

I smile. Stroking my hand down her hair. “Sure.” I stand and go to my dresser. I pull out some clothes. “These might me a bit big, but you’re covered.” I chuckle.

“Yeah. I guess I’ll need clothes if I’m meeting a Luna.” She smiles. “Is she nice?”

I plop back down on the bed. “She’s amazing. You’ll love her.” I grab her hand. “Let’s go.”

I lead her out of the security rooms hall and toward the common room. I hope Sam is still awake at this hour.

As it turned out, both Bastian and Sam were awake. Sitting with Nigel.

I wring my hands as I enter the room with Raven hiding behind me.

Sam smiles in my direction. “Wren. I thought you’d be sleeping by now.”

My mouth ticks up. “I was going to be, but then I found something that changes everything.” I step aside.

Raven gives a little wave. “Hi.” She squeaks.

The look on the Alpha and Lunas faces said everything. I shoved Raven behind me as Bastian rose. “That’s the girl that was with Chase! You dare bring her into my house!” Bastian growls.

Sam’s eyes were wide as she stepped in front of her mate. “Wren. What are you doing with her?”

I have an arm back around Raven and holding a hand up. “Alpha, Luna. It’s not what you think. She’s not a Dragon.”

“She was with the Dragons!” Bastian yells.

“I know she was, but it’s because of a treaty her pack signed.” I try to calm the situation.

“She’s a Nomad.” Bastian informs.

“She’s, my sister.” I supply.

They both look at me like I’m an alien or something.

Sam steps closer. “She’s from Helena?”

I smile. “Yeah. Remember that wolf from the other night?”

The Luna nods.

I slowly bring Raven to the front. “Alpha and Luna Cole, this is Raven Miller. My lost baby sister.”

Bastian scowls. “You’re sister? Everyone was killed in Helena. How can you trust she’s not lying? She works with Dragons.”

Sam turned to him and tilted her head. “Bastian, look. They’re practically twins.”

Raven steps forward. “I’m not lying. I’m sorry I scared you yesterday and that night. I didn’t know what the plan was. I was just brought along as a fighter. I swear.”

“Alpha. For ten years I thought my sister was dead. It was hard for me to believe at first too.” I smile.

Sam clasps her hands in front of her chest. “Wren, this is wonderful! You’re not alone anymore! Are there more?”

Raven glances between us all. Her eyes settle on the Alphas untrusted face. “Um. No. It’s just me. The packs a make shift one.”

“Well, don’t give up. If you’re alive, there might be more.” Sam smiles at her mate.

He looks at Sam and glances at Raven. “Are we actually trusting her?”

“Bastian. I trust her. She’s, my family." I try to reassure him.

“I guess you’d like my permission to move her in now?” He stuffs his hands in his pockets.

“Actually, I’m informing you that I’ll be leaving for a bit. I’m going to escort Raven back to her pack and make sure she’s safe.” I read the room for reaction.

“What about training?” Sam steps forward.

“I’ll only be gone a few days. You won’t even miss me.” I squeeze Sam’s arm.

Bastian stands tall and squints. “You better come back. My Luna needs her bodyguard.”

“Bastian, stop. Let Wren deal with this. This is exciting for her. Give her the time she needs. You have more than enough security.” Sam gently scolds him yet again. I love this, Luna.

Bastian smiles. “Ok. Take your time, but I want updates. Finding a lost pack doesn’t happen every day.” He walks over and hugs me. “Congratulations, Wren. You deserve to find your family.”

I was shocked that he hugged me. I think Sam is rubbing off him. “Thanks, Bastian.”

I pull back. “We’ll leave in the morning. Raven you can stay with me.”

“Sleepover?” She grins.

“Sleepover.” I confirm with a smile. I lead her out and we giggle like a couple of young sisters down the hallway.

****

We got started early in the morning. Raven said it’s going to take a day to drive there.

I loaded my Jeep with clothes and other things we might need for the trip.

I hop in behind the steering wheel. “Ready?”

Raven clicks her seat belt. “Ready.” She preens.

I pull out of the pack house driveway and head for the highway. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” I’m almost giddy with excitement.

“You’re going to love it, Wren. It’s beautiful there. We’re so free and it’s really a great pack.” Raven gets comfortable in the seat.

“Where are we going again?” I ask. Keeping my eye on the road.

“Just keep going north. I want this to be a surprise.” She turns her head and smiles at me.

“Ok. Well, you want to tell me how you survived the storm?” I turn my head to her.

“After I lost you, I found a bunch of kids from school. We ran to the ravine behind the school. You remember?” She starts.

“I do.” I nod.

“I don’t remember how many nights we were there. After everything was over, we walked into town. Wren, it was horrible. Everything and everyone were gone. After trying to search the rubble for anything we may need, we ran into the Alpha. He helped us survive. We picked up a few other adults in the forests.” She stared out the window.

I stared out onto the highway blacktop. Pain in my chest welled up. “I went back after hiding in the forest. I searched all over for you or anyone for that matter. After finding nothing but death, I sat on a bench and cried. I don’t know how long I was there. I felt horrible. I promised mom I’d keep you safe. I carried that guilt around up until yesterday. Really, I still feel guilty. I’m so sorry, Raven.”

She turned her head to me. “Wren, I meant what I said. I forgive you. I knew the moment you saw me; you’d blame yourself. You couldn’t fight the crowd. I understand that. I’m just so glad I’m able to tell you today.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

“I’ll still feel guilty that you had to be on your own for this long.” I squeezed her hand back.

“So where have you been this whole time?” She asks.

I let go of her hand. “When I was on the bench a soldier came up to me. He asked me my name and he told me to come with him. I answered questions for weeks at the security unit. I begged them to let me go home. They eventually told me I had no home. That everyone I knew and loved was dead.”

Raven was silent.

I continued. “They offered me a room. Then as the as the years passed, they offered me a job. I’ve been living and working for the Alliance ever since.”

“You were raised by the Alliance?” She asks quietly.

I nod. “Yep. But there wasn’t a day where I didn’t wish for me to find you or anyone from Helena. They offered me to join the Falcon Ridge pack, but I’d have to give up my Alpha title. I wasn’t about to do that.”

“So, you lived without a pack?” She looked shocked.

“I had friends, but it wasn’t the same.” I twist my palms on the steering wheel.

“You have a pack now, Wren. From this day forward, you’ll be with us. We’ll be so happy you’ve returned.” She beamed.

I hope so. From the sounds of it, the people who made Helena wonderful, survived the brutal storm.

I can’t wait to meet them.