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Silos bangs on my bedroom door again, calling, "Come on, Laura," he pauses a moment and I roll my eyes when he states, "it's been nearly a year of this!"
"So, kind of you to remind me of the marked day of my father's passing," I rise from my bed, slipping on tight jeans, socks, my boots, and pulling over a long-sleeved shirt.
"You keep shirking your responsibilities as Luna, picking and choosing what you care about," Silos continues berating me through the closed door, mimicking him while moving my hands to emphasize his points. He snaps, "Don't you care about your pack?!"
It's not my pack.
It never was.
"You're the beta, so why don't you do your job and step up in line-"
"You're Alpha Carter's daughter, Luna so-"
"So what? If my mate is an alpha, I'd be LEAVING and joining HIS pack," I'm frustrated with the way Silos continues to do this to me. Day in and day out...
I'm an alpha's daughter...
...but not my father's.
I slip on my dagger holster belt, the blades held tight to the outside of my thighs. Gathering my mess of flaming red hair, I tie it back and out of my face, crossing the space to the bedroom door. Grasping the handle in my hand, I abruptly pull open the door inward, staring up into Silos' eyes.
"Laura...you were never like this..." Silos' eyes soften as they hold pity.
"Death changes people," my words are cold...
...or more so; the skeletons that are dragged out of the closet when one's on their deathbed.
My origin...
...a secret that was taken to the grave twice now, once by my birth mother and once by my father. Only two others in this world know the truth, that being Mama-Laurel and the other...
Silos is silent while I lift my chin and ask, "How many rogues?"
"Two, but they're at different ends of the territory," Silos bites back anything else he wants to say to me, regarding the way I'd changed since the winter after my seventeenth birthday. I'd slowly grown cold, uncaring and not wanting to believe anything that came from anyone's mouth.
"I'm on it," I reply, Silos stepping to the side and allowing for me to move out into the hall.
It was my father's role to lead the pack, leading against the many attacks...that's all I've ever known my entire life, not a single moment of peace. Driven from our territory...by them...by him...it was only after the death of Alpha Rakkon that his son marked his place in our world, Alpha Keir Wood leading the Nightshade Prowlers Pack. I've never been to their territory, but ours was handed back to us shortly after this transition, a respect for the young alpha at the time he'd shown his strength.
Packs no longer advance on us, but that doesn't stop the lone rogue here and there from trespassing.
My responsibilities, my obligations...what belonged once to my father, are now my role.
As I round the corner to the main level of the pack house, I catch sight of Quinn out of the corner of my eye. She giggles at a joke told by one of the many unmated males, her stature pleasing to many, her nature soft and gentle...
...what I used to be.
The second she hears me call for her, "Quinn," she turns her attention right onto me. I nod at the door and a bright smile spreads across her face. The blade she'd been using to pick at something under her nails, she's quick to stand to her full height and sheath the blade at her side.
Just as I walk outside the front door, I nearly run head-on into...
"Mama-Laurel," I take a step back, my aunt looking from Quinn and then to me.
"Luna Laura...it's not your place to track and assassinate any longer," her voice holds sadness and concern, worry that she'll lose me now that my father has passed away.
It's the only thing I'm good at...
....I'm not good at leading. I'm no role model to be looked up to.
Shaking my head, I force a smile and say, "This will keep everyone safe...well before they reach into the heart of our territory."
"Why not just send the warriors? Or another tracker to go with Quinn?" Mama-Laurel asks while motioning to said warriors training off to the right side of the lodge. She reaches out to me, her hand touching my shoulder and pleads, "You are a leader, no-"
Shrugging her off, it hurts my heart, because she knew this whole time and never said a word about the truth. Its resentment that I don't wish to carry, but I can't help it. Looking her straight in the eyes, I tell her, "I don't even know who I am anymore."
"Nothing has changed!" Mama-Laurel pleads as I step around her, walking down the wooden steps while Quinn follows close behind. She calls again, drawing unwanted attention from other pack members, "It's about who raised you, not where you could have been."
Mama-Laurel is right about one thing, I very well could send anyone I please...but the rogues will be dead before they even know I'm there. I'm by no means the strongest female, but I am the quickest and my agility surpassing even the males.
"Sooooo..." Quinn's voice drawls out, her hands folded behind her head as she glances to me, "...you gonna tell me about it?"
"Nope," my response is short, because even though many want me to walk the path that's been laid out for me, if others how don't approve knew, then I might very well be banished from the pack. I can almost guarantee that wouldn't happen...
...but we prepare for the worst.
"Whatcha wanna do about the rogues?" Quinn asks while we come to a halt at the south side of the clearing to the lodge, her gaze lifting to the treetops.
I glance back to the lodge and inform her, "Take the north side and wrap around the east," I nod at the trees standing before us, "I'll work my way south and up around to the west. We'll make a full circuit and meet back at the lodge."
Quinn winks at me and replies, "Alrighty!" She turns on her heels and takes off across the opposite direction, starting on her way while I face my destination.
Moving through the forest, I can feel others from the pack spread through different areas, some not close enough to the danger that could present itself very soon. I trace through the south side, my eyes scanning the area as I narrow down the search radius. Staying downwind always, moving low and quick, I take off toward the west section.
Steering far from clearings, I see a flash of white out of the corner of my eye. Pressing off the ground and landing quietly on a tree branch, I hold steady to the trunk of the tree. My eyes home in on the small white wolf that wanders through the underbrush, poking its muzzle around as a quiet whimper comes from the back of its throat. Furrowing my brows, I watch the hybrid looking around, sampling the air, but I don't allow the wind to carry my scent anywhere near the wolf.
It's so small...
...an omega?
Have you eliminated the threat?
Silos' voice threads through my mind and it's what allows me to focus on taking out the rogue before it becomes a problem.
My hand touches the handle of the dagger at my right thigh, drawing it from its sheath. I hold it with the blade facing away from me, gripping the branch above me with my free hand. Exhaling slowly, I close my eyelids for but a moment, clarity filling me before I snap them open. Pushing off the branch and landing on the grass, I lean into my impact, taking off the second I hit the ground toward the hybrid.
A few seconds later, I rush up beside the wolf, my right arm outstretched before I draw the blade across the wolf's neck. A sharp, painful cry leaves its muzzle, staggering a step forward before convulses forward. I'm kneeling from the height I'd needed to be for a clean kill, watching as blood stains its flawless fur. Sadness lingers in its eyes when it collapses onto its side, the life gone not a second later.
My grip on the handle becomes slack, dropping the blade as I cover my mouth with my hand. Shaking my head, tears fall down my cheeks, the wolf having shifted back with its death.
Laura...I...
Quinn's voice holds the same regret and remorse I feel, unable to justify this.
A child.
I just killed a child.
She's not more than ten if that; her eyes wide open, staring at me with nothing behind them.
Meet back at the lodge.
I lift my hand away from my mouth, reaching out toward the dead girl's body. My fingertips graze over her eyelids, drawing them back as I look at my hand. It shakes slightly, forcing myself to avert my gaze from the scene. As I sheath the dagger, I lift my chin, begging for forgiveness, "Please..."
It breaks my heart as I rise to my feet, looking away as I wipe away the stray tears left on my cheeks. After taking a few deep breaths, I turn away and run hard back to the lodge. I wanted to get away as far as possible, anger mixing into the sadness I harbor, as I only have one question...
It's when I arrive back at the lodge, that I see Quinn's eyes hold sorrow. The warriors are done with their training, some relaxing in the evening while others are about to head off for the night. Quinn leans against a post on the porch, her eyes flickering away from mine.
What was it?
I ask her, seeing fresh tears gather.
A young, pregnant hybrid.
I feel that fire lite within me, Silos walking through the front door with others at his sides. My eyes flash with anger, my wolf dangerously close to the surface as I snarl, "Did you know?!"
"They're rogues...hybrids...threats to ou-"
A furious growl radiates from the back of my throat while I climb the steps, drawing my arm back to punch Silos in the face. His nose breaks, the gasps from other pack members raising silent questions. Warriors draw closer, the two who'd been near Silos catch him before he falls backward from the impact.
"They were not a threat!" I snap right at him, my fists shaking beside my thighs as my stance is wide and challenging.
Silos pulls his hand away from his face, blood staining it as I see his nose has clearly been broken. He appears to have a different moral compass than I do, because he draws on his own wolf, his golden irises staring back into mine. He snarls, "You know what happened to Alpha Rakkon! The hybrids are not our own and don't follow our structure as it must be the vampire side to them...wanting to kill and destroy everything with reason! Without question! Who knows how strong the rogue hybrids could be or the threat they pose against our pack!?"
My nostrils flare as I'm loud enough for everyone to hear, "You had us slaughter a young, pregnant she-wolf and a child! What threat is there?!"
"You don't allow something to become a threat when you can cut it down before it becomes dangerous," Silos matches me, taking a step forward.
Shaking my head, I manage to get out, "H-" before he backhands me across the face. Quinn visibly jumps and moves toward me, others conflicted. I feel my lip is split, bringing my hand to my mouth before pulling it away and seeing blood. Another growl emanates from deep within me, looking straight back at Silos before moving toward him.
Silos grabs onto my upper arms, the two of us grappling one another before he attempts to toss me down the steps. It works, but he's taken with me, the two of us rolling over one another for control. As I'm amid stabilizing myself, I reach for one of my daggers, managing to get a vantage point and top Silos. The blade of my dagger presses hard against his throat, my eyes narrowed with such anger. He doesn't fight against me, lifting his hands away as we hold each other's gaze.
"You are wrong," I seethe at him throw my teeth.
I'm taken aback a second later when I feel large, strong hands grasp my upper arms. They drag me off Silos, the blade faltering from my grasp as I glance back and forth to see warriors had come close to us, two of them restraining me.
Silos lifts himself from the ground, rubbing his neck as I ask, "What do you think you're doing?!"
"I'm doing as you said, Luna, I'm the beta and stepping up in line," he pauses a moment as I try to wrestle away from the warriors, glaring hard at him. Silos brushes himself off and narrows his eyes, stating, "It appears, you're unfit to make critical decisions," he nods at the warriors and orders, "lock her in a holding cell for the night."
I'm Laura Carter...
...and my birth mother started a pack war.
I'm the biological daughter of Brennon Church, Alpha of the Primordial Snare Pack.
Red Like Roses🌹
~Kay
⊰♥⊱To Be Continued⊰♥⊱
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