Chapter 1
Pic of Elsie on the side----->
Eleven Years Ago
(Alpha Chris P.O.V)
“Daddy guess what?” I grabbed her under her arms and brought her into a big hug. I looked at my cute little daughter with her brown hair and face that mirrored my beautiful wife, who was standing next to the door trying to catch up. I smiled at her while she was trying to catch her breath. Then I couldn’t help but laugh at her appearance.
“What ya laughing about, daddy?” I turned my attention back to the little girl in my arms and poked her nose then kissed her head.
“Oh nothing Elsie, what did you want Daddy to guess?” Her face scrunched up like she does when she is thinking.
“I met this boy today and we played while Mom and his Mom talked. I really had fun. I really like him Daddy” I knew the day was coming when she would have interests in boys but I didn’t know it would be so soon. I was speechless then I felt something hit the back of my head and I looked up to see my wife laughing at me.
“Yeah Elsie and I met up with Lynette and her son Owen. He’s such a cutie pie and seemed so overprotective of Elsie,” my wife said as she ran her fingers through my hair making me relax.
I looked at Elsie and said, “Owen is the son of one of my best friends. I bet he is a good guy just like his dad.” She just looked at me and smiled.
This brought me back to the things I am supposed to do. I put Elsie down and told her to go play with the other kids while Mommy and I talked. After she skipped away, I turned to my wife.
“Emerson says that there is a rogue pack close to our area. Now I know that we could probably get this handled, he said it didn’t seem that many”
“Well, Chris I know you and Beta Emerson thinks this is nothing but we also have Elsie here. You know and I know that this is a small pack and it’s dangerous for someone to know about Elsie. Remember that’s why we went through the trouble to get Elsie’s necklace from the witch. I talked a little with Lynette and she thinks that we should make a treaty with them. They are our friends and we can trust them.” She sat there on my desk with her hands on both sides of my face. I couldn’t look at her eyes she was right.
“I’ll call him right now,” I said picking up the phone, “Oh and Melanie.” She turned back to look at me.
“Where’s my kiss?”
She laughed as she came and placed her lips to mine and left. I returned to the phone and dialed the number.
“Alexander Brooks speaking”
“Hey Alex, it’s me Chris”
“Chris it’s been some time. I heard that Lynette and Owen saw Melanie and Elsie. Elsie sure made a number on him.” His laugh was contagious and I couldn’t help but laugh too.
“Same here, but I wanted to speak to you about something else”
His voice suddenly became serious. “What”
“There seems to be some rouges around my pack’s area and Melanie and I are wondering about the safety of our pack but most of all about Elsie” He and Lynette are the only ones that know about Elsie. We trusted them wholeheartedly knowing they were never going to use her power for bad. It was everyone else I worried about.
“Is Elsie in danger? How many are there?”
“Emerson said that there wasn’t much, but I just wanted to have some extra protection and even though I hate to admit to that, I want Elsie safety more.”
“I get you, so let’s have a meeting tomorrow and go over and get a treaty going before anything happens”
“Thank you Alex. This really means a lot and if you need anything don’t hesitate to call me.”
“I will now go and spend some quality time with your wife and Elsie”
“Okay see you tomorrow then Alex and say hi to Lynette for me” I hung up and then left the room as my beta Emerson came running up to me looking beat up.
“Alpha the rogues have attacked and it is more than we expected”
I ran down the stairs and the attack was already on. I wasted no time and quickly shifted to my wolf. Two wolves lunged at me trying to get to my neck but I was too strong and pushed them off and quickly swipe my leg to kick them to floor. I got over one and bit his neck until I couldn’t feel him moving anymore. The other quickly jumped on top of me but then when he bit my side Emerson came and took him off of me. I clutched my side but kept moving through until I got to Elsie’s room and had to stop. Elsie was crying and Melanie was coming to get her. I walked toward them when I sensed that they were not the only ones in the room.
“Melanie watch out” I stepped forward to get her but she turned and the knife went into her heart without hesitation. I felt the pain through my mate’s wound in me. I looked up to Elsie’s face she was shocked. I got up and pinned the killer with my hands. I turned the person over and I looked at the face of one of my own members of the pack.
“Jessica Hill” I growled and bit her neck and left her for dead. I ran over to Elsie looking at her mom crying but couldn’t say a word. I howled in pain seeing the scene in front of me. Nothing hurt more than this. I grabbed Elsie and wiped her eyes. One look at Melanie I saw that she was trying to say something.
“Chris..you..need…to…get…her…to…the”
“Don’t leave us Melanie, I need you and Elsie needs you. You’ll be ok. Fight it Melanie” She wasn’t responding but she suddenly looked up and gave her last words to us.
“I…Love…You” She looked like she couldn’t hold it anymore. Elsie was uncontrollable. Everything from the fighting downstairs and the screams turned quiet while I closed her eyes before taking Elsie out of the room running to our secret escape route to the city.
On the way to the basement Emerson came to me, “Alpha hurry and leave with Elsie there are more coming quickly towards us.” I looked to see everyone in the midst of a fight and turned to go down the basement.
I made my way to the tunnel in the basement. I heard people coming down the stairs behind me. I looked at Elsie one more time and gave her a hug.
“I love you and I will always love you”
“Daddy, you’re not going with me” It really broke my heart to see her this way, but I know that this was best. I had to keep the rogues from the escape route. No one was going to take my daughter too.
“You’ll have to be strong for me Elsie,” I say while bringing my hands to her face, “Wherever you go don’t take off the necklace and don’t tell anyone know your real name.” She nods her little head and looks down. I brought her head to look at me one more time and kissed her forehead.
“I’ll…miss…you” I couldn’t stay strong anymore and I broke down and held her close.
“I’ll miss you so much baby girl” I put her on the ground and pushed her towards the escape route. She started to run going farther and farther into the tunnel. I turned back to the people getting closer. I felt completely empty, but I was going to fight until every one of the rogues died.
(Random street walker’s P.O.V)
I saw this little girl walking to an alleyway and just sunk down to the ground and brought her hands to her face and cried. Where were her parents? She only looked to be about six years old. My heart felt for her and I couldn’t stay waiting for the bus to come. I walked up to her hoping not to scare her.
“Hey are you lost or something?” She looked up at me and I saw the greyest eyes I have ever seen and so much pain through them. It hurt just looking at her eyes that I had to turn away.
“No, I am not lost” It definitely looked as if she was lost though, so I tried a different approach.
“My name is April. May I sit by you?” She didn’t say anything just nodded. I sat down and didn’t talk for a while and just let her sit for a moment.
“Mind if I ask you where your parents are? I can help you find them.” She shook her head.
“My parents are gone” She suddenly turned and cried on my arm. She was such a young child. I mean I deal with these sorts of cases all the time, but none of the other kids made me feel so much pain while they cried. I tried to comfort the best I could, but she was still shaking. I grabbed her hand.
“Where are we going?” She asked me.
“I’m going to take you to my house. Is that okay?” She stopped and took back her hand. Then she looked at me with a confused expression.
“I’ll let you stay with me tonight and we will deal with the rest tomorrow ok?” This time she looked at me with an intent glare then it changed to a sad expression and she finally gave in and nodded.
When we got to my apartment, I got her a change of clothes from my niece’s clothes and grabbed a blanket and a pillow. Without a word she got into it and looked up at the ceiling. After getting into my own bed I only had one question in my mind.
What happened to you?