Chapter 1

My heart was already beating frantically against my chest as I took long strides towards my grandmother's room.

And my whole body still glistened with sweat, because I was chopping logs of wood when Andrew came to me saying that my grandma needed to see me urgently.

What is wrong with her?

Is she having another seizure ?

Nana is the only family I have left..

These were the only thoughts that ran through my head a moment before I burst into her room.

I swear if anything happens to her...

But then i paused in my line of thoughts immediately i saw grandma on her seat, knitting with a wide grin, oblivious of my presence

I had to take a moment to calm my racing nerves and close the door behind me before approaching her carefully.

"Nana?" I called, and she raised up her head to stare at me

"Oh, my dear boy," she said, her smile stretching wider, before placing the basket on her shoulder.

"What's wrong Nana?"I asked, kneeling before her and sighed when she batted her lashes innocently.

"Why? Everything is fine, my boy. Why would you think everything is wrong?".

"Because Nana Andrew came to me saying that you needed to see me urgently. Huge emphasis on the urgent. I assumed something serious happened "

Nana tossed her head back and gave a hearty laugh 

"Andrew Andrew, God bless his soul, but that child does not know how to deliver messages," she said, standing up from her wooden chair and I stood up too to help her stand, but she waved my hands away.

"Get your hands off me boy, I can walk on my own," she scolded, but I ignored her completely and guided her to the bed.

"Are you feeling fine, Nana? Did anything happen?" I requested again, not believing her. Nana would never request for my presence if she had nothing important to discuss 

"So I need a reason now, before I get to see my grandson?".

"Nana ....."

"You don't even care about me anymore, neither do you come to see me. I missed you," she said, her brows creasing and I raised his own brows.

"Nana, I was here yesterday. I slept here and left this morning." 

"Oh, shush you ..... You are always too smart for your own good. I remember when you were younger, how much you always wanted to be by my side. Now that you are older, it seems like you are growing farther away. Work and this...."

"Nana...."

"No, let me finish. Don't Nana me!" She scolded with a frown, and I had to bite my lip to prevent the smile that was trying hard to spread on my face. Nana was always dramatic and somehow i already knew where this conversation was going to end 

"I mean, I'm not saying you should not work..." she continued

"Of course you can. But there's no one here to take care of me anymore "

"That's not true Nana. I'm always here and so is Andrew. " 

I almost laughed, as she shot me a look, but I returned it with a long expression of his own.

"Huh. That Andrew boy is always running around chasing young girls in the Bayou. I swear that young child will put himself in big trouble one day." She sighed again before she continued.

"Dear Cain...you aren't getting much younger. At your age, your father... God bless his soul.. already had you. And here you are, single and undoubtedly still a Virgin "

"Nana, we already talked about this before, " I interrupted, choosing to ignore the virginity remark.

"Dad got married because he was lucky enough to find his mate on time. I haven't found my mate, remember?"

"Tch. Love can be built. You can get married to any lady and build a home with her. Forget about the mating bull crap." She said with a hand wave.

"That's not gonna happen Nana." I said, and stooped to kiss her cheek. "I'm not getting married to any lady who isn't my mate "

And that's that.

I knew one day, I would get to feel that strong joy and want father told me about. That connection. One day, my wolf would roar out in joy because we have found our better half. Until that happens, all I can do is wait and pray.

"Whatever suits you, my darling. But pray that it happens fast. You are getting older." Nana replied with a yawn on the last word.

"You should catch some rest, Nana. Don't worry about me," I said, pushing her back gently to the bed.

"I'll always worry about you, my darling boy." She replied with a smile and I smiled back.

Just then, a hard knock came at the door, and I groaned

"Must be Andrew," Nana whispered, already drifting off to sleep

Andrew does not knock that loud. Hell, he doesn't knock at all.

I went and opened the door and was surprised to see a soldier standing there.

"How can I help you James?" I asked, stepping out and carefully closing the door.

'Well, I searched for you at your post, but you weren't there. Someone said they saw you coming here. The council is demanding your presence." 

"The council?.. why?" The council never asked for my presence before. And from the look on James's face, it had to be something very serious.

"Follow me and you will find out, Beta. This is really urgent," He said and turned to leave, gesturing to me to follow him, which I did. 

This better be good. 

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

When I went into the Council's office, they were all gathered around a table discussing something I'm in hushed tones but they stopped immediately when they noticed my presence.

I stood by the door, not knowing exactly what to say.i I knew every one of them. The brave men who built the Silver Pack from scratch, who protected us all for years and have been doing so till now, even with old age.

"Cain!... Hello my boy, how are you doing?" Joseph called cheerfully, with a smile. Joseph was my father's friend, and I grew up under his special watch and care.

"I'm fine Joseph. James said you wanted to see me?" I asked and the old man smiled.

"It's all straight to business where this one is concerned, I tell you. Well, come sit down, Cain. Sit, we have something very important to discuss," Joseph chattered, and I went to sit on a chair beside him. 

"How is Jane doing?" Another woman asked with a warm smile. Aurora, the baddest bitch in the council. Aurora was said to be one of the strongest warriors their pack had, with a very feral, strong, and hot-tempered wolf.

"Nana is doing just fine, Aurora. In fact, I was just with her when James called me"

"Oh, that's great then. I will drop in one day and see her. It's been long"

The other four members of the council didn't say a word as they watched me with blank faces. 

What's happening?

"So like I said, we have very important issues to discuss with you Cain," Joseph said again and i nodded

"And this concerns the safety of the pack. For the past few days, we have been living in peace and harmony, with no threats of violence or war. We have built a beautiful community from scratch, and we are still building. " 

"Anyway...." Aurora interrupted. "It has been hard doing this and maintaining order without the presence of the Alpha.. and no leader to guide us. That's why we formed the council. But we are old, and we can only do so much."

"Is there anything you would love me to help with, then?" I asked, already growing uneasy from the rising tension in the room.

"Yes, yes, we will get to that. Let's just cut to the chase. The peace and harmony we have maintained in this pack for long won't last long, Beta. We are on the brink of losing it," Kai said, speaking up for the first time. He leaned into the table with folded palms and peered into my eyes.

"The pack is in danger," he whispered.

"Danger? How's that so...? What happened? Few people know about our existence"

"Yeah, we thought so. But last week we received a note," Aurora said and took in a harsh breath before she continued.

"Which said..and I quote 'you did well in hiding, but we are coming for you all to finish what we started' And it wasn't the last. Since that first time, we have received six more notes, each daily and worse than before"

"That's bad," I whispered with a frown, not sure of what else to say. The Hunters are back??... It's been 19 long years since their attack that wiped out more than half of the pack. We have been very careful in hiding and been discreet.

"Yes, it is." Joseph agreed

"Well, what do we do now?" 

"We need a plan to fight back. Over the past nineteen years, we have rebuilt, new wolves have awoken, we get stronger and bigger in number every day, and that's a plus for us. We have to defend everything we fought so hard to build, and we need to avenge our fallen heroes. The time of running is over," Aurora said fiercely, and I nodded.

"But are we strong enough to do that?" I asked, and Joseph grimaced.

"I believe we are. But there's a tiny problem," he sighed again.

" No matter how strong we are, we are still limited without a leader. And unfortunately, no matter how hard we tried, no single alpha has been born into the pack since the death of our Alpha and his family," Kai said, and the lady beside him made the sign of the cross.

"May the soul of our Benevolent leader keep resting in peace," she whispered.

"That's true. Even I cannot get as strong and fast as I want to... because there's no Alpha connecting the clan," I said 

"So, what do we do now? And how do I help?

"Well, Esther looked into her mirror for some solutions, and we came up with something very shocking," Aurora said

" What's that?"

"Come on out Esther." Joseph called.

  I turned to see another door in the room open, and the old witch came in giving me a wide smile . 

Esther has also been a huge help to the pack. She joined the pack ten years ago and has served as a healer, and everything else.

"Hello Beta," she greeted with a bow.

"Hey Esther. How's everything going?"

"I'm fine"

"Esther, please share what you discovered with Cain," Aurora instructed, and Esther nodded.

I still do not get why they were sharing any of this information with me at the moment, but I kept my mouth shut. Because I knew that eventually, they would get to that.

"Of course Aurora. Well, last night I looked for solutions, maybe a way to increase the Pack's strength without the presence of a leader, I had to look into my mirror too to ask why, we haven't had a single Alpha since the death of the old one"

She paused and bit her lip

"Apparently, as Kai made me understand, another Alpha cannot be born from another family if there's still an existing one from the dead one's bloodline," she said, and I blinked in confusion.

"I don't understand"

"It means, Cain, that there can't be two Alpha families in a pack. As long as one exists from a bloodline, another can't be born from another family." Joseph replied.

"I know that Joseph. I don't understand what that has to do with anything, though. The Alpha's family were wiped out in the attack nineteen years ago "

"That's what we thought. But we only saw the bodies of Luna and the Alpha, with their two children. Our Luna had a baby two days before the attack. We did not find her body," Kai said, and I could feel a chill down his spine.

"What are you insinuating?"

"Well, after coming up with the theory and talking about it with the council, I did a little uncloaking and location spell," Esther said then paused.

"And what exactly did you uncloak?"

"The Alpha's daughter. She's alive".