###>>>
Chapter 1


The screeching of my alarm clock is the first thing I wake up to, I hated that alarm clock. I really should get a radio alarm, anything is better than an alarm clock that makes me think of the fryers at work. 

Goddess, I hated working in fast food, but fast food is all I can get within a thirty-minute walking distance of home. I can usually get the commute down to fifteen minutes riding my bike. I don't have a car, like my older sister did. She has already wrecked two cars and is now on her third. My parents spoil her. I hate that they treat us so differently.

Unfortunately for me, I'm truly both my mother's and father's child. I even had it tested. I'd done it because I didn’t look like either of them at all. I was born with violet, almost indigo-colored eyes. I had black hair so dark a blue hue shines when light hits it. Then there was my skin, it was a copper olive tone.

I'm Alora. The wolves of my clan, for many generations now, have been born pale with blond hair and blue eyes. Both of my parents' clans have deliberately bred out any dark features. 

But there had to have been someone, from one side or the other, who had to have passed on the genetics for my coloring. The DNA test I'd done found that I'm related to one of the seven original werewolf bloodlines of our pack. 

I look like my ancestor, Luna Heartsong, coloring and all. The Moon Goddess was said to have blessed her bloodline with power and amazing voices. A Heartsong's song is from the heart, as the surname implies, and when singing, they can influence the emotions of those hearing it.

The fated mate of a Heartsong could form a deeper soul-binding connection when the mates sang together with power. A very powerful and magical bond was created that would bind the mates through reincarnation, according to the old legends.

At first, I had only talked about taking my DNA test with the Alpha. He'd thought it had been a good idea, so he was the one who authorized it. After the results, he showed me the painting he had of Alpha Luna Heartsong. That's how I found out I look almost exactly like her.

I asked my Alpha to keep the results quiet from my parents. The reason I asked him to do that at the time was because I was afraid of what my family would do to me if they knew I had this knowledge. I knew they wouldn’t want it to become public because after the first Alpha, Luna Heartsong's coloring, was wrong. That was idiocy in its prime if you asked me. I have used the test to my advantage though, as a tool needed for escape. 

Any coupling outside the Frost and Northmountain bloodlines had been "Strictly forbidden" for generations now. You don't dirty up the skin and hair color. You were to breed it out, or you're basically thrown out of these clans, being made a pack-less wolf. Or, you had to hope your chosen mate had a clan of their own that would willingly claim you.

I used to be scared of the day they would cast me out. Yet, as I've grown up, I've gotten less scared of leaving, being desperate for it after graduation. I had been kept from starting school until I was age six. Then, I was held back in my first year of school, at my parents' request.

They hadn’t wanted me to be in a grade so close to my sister's; they didn’t want our relationship to be too noticed. Not that it helped any, as she was held back herself two years. It's the reason why I still have to suffer in school. Sarah and, strangely, her three best friends, were still in school with me.

So, while I'm eighteen and still in high school, I could have tested out already, graduated, gone to college, and attended full-time without having to take high school classes. The school pushed to have my education accelerated, but my parents wouldn't allow me to advance this far. My parents told the Principal when first approached that it was because they were worried I wouldn't know how to function in college at such a young age, they didn't want me to be taken advantage of, or to have too much expected of me.

Really, it was that they didn’t want me to outshine my older sister, or have a means to escape them. This led to the Principal, the Superintendent, and almost all of my teachers realizing my parents were holding me back, and they would need to go around them to give me the education I not only wanted but deserved. 

This all meant that, while I could have graduated from high school by the 9th grade, my parents prevented that from happening. I was still attending college classes, but they were just taken as a high school student. They have been taking place at the local pack university. I was bussed there after my high school courses just to make it look like I still needed to attend high school. The university was glad to have such a bright young student who was on track to graduate from high school and receive a doctorate at the same time.

I'll basically be a double graduate, but I don't mind. I was grateful to get my education. My parents didn't know about any of the lengths the school and Alpha went to help me get my diplomas. They thought my transportation to the community college campus was for remedial classes, and my time at the lab was required by the high school to pass. My sister didn't care enough to notice any of this.  She was oblivious, which was a good thing. 

The doctorate programs I've been taking were supposed to take eight years each to complete. I've been able to complete all three programs in just four years while attending high school and working. I was doing my internship three days a week at a lab I don't need for credit anymore. I've got all the required hours for my license and degrees, but the lab was my reprieve. The fast food job was only twenty hours a week, just enough time to give me a small budget for shopping and to pay for my cell phone. If I made more money than that, I would draw my parents' and Sarah’s attention, and that was the very last thing I wanted right now. 

I'm five foot nine, I have a triple-D bust, and a long, lean, toned, tucked-in waist, wide shapely hips, and a large, but firm round bottom. My legs are long and toned, and my arms are also toned and muscular. My skin, still having the olive tone I was born with, was smooth, with no blemishes. No matter how many beatings I took from my family, my skin refused to scar, hiding them inside my heart and soul instead. 

My hair hangs down to my hips in gentle waves. I would braid it to keep it out of my face, usually binding the braid in a bun to keep it from getting into lab equipment, or the fryers at the fast food joint where  I work. Otherwise, I usually left it down to hide my face. My eyes are large and almond-shaped, they are tilted up at the outer corners. My violet, silver-rimmed eyes are framed by long, thick, black lashes. I have a slightly small nose, the tip tilted up a bit. My lips are full and slightly pouty, and naturally tinted red.

I was strong and toned because every werewolf of the Pack had to train. The Alpha had me train with the Pack's Elite Master Trainers to conceal from my family how much better I was at training than my sister was, fearing what they would do to me. I’ve been training in a different building from my sister and all the other wolves in my grade, up through this year.

Her group still trained in another building, set out for the seniors. This was because they were reserve fighters, the ones who would stay back with the pack and hide in the shelters. They were to protect those inside as they didn't have enough power to be a first line or second, or even third line of defense. I was now with the senior of the Alpha class level, and we trained in our own building. My father was a former Beta candidate, and my mom was the daughter of an Alpha and Beta. They both were under the delusion that their oldest was in beta-level training. Oh, the lies Sarah told them.

I was saving all my specialness for after graduation. My sister's friends and most of our high school classmates thought I was just a nerdy she-wolf and a fast food worker on skates who brought them food. The others believed the rumors that my sister and her friends spread. Only the adults who have helped me have let me know how special I am. Well, they say I'm special, but how can I be when my own blood hates me because I'm not pale? I don’t have almost white blond hair, my eyes are not a shade of blue. I don’t even have the small, slim, and sleek figure the rest of the women in my clan have. 

Next to them, I felt fat, too large, and too dark, although I  know objectively I’m not fat and that being dark isn’t a bad thing. I trained too hard to have even one ounce of fat. My training was one more tool I would use to escape from my family. It was a good thing that werewolves only need about four hours of sleep a night. I would have never gotten all of my education and work done otherwise. Besides, sleeping was only for those who felt safe in their home…
And I have never felt safe here.



###>>>
Chapter 2


Alora's POV

My sister, Sarah, loved to torment me and taunt me with the things she would do to me. She had no plans to let me leave and live peacefully. She had a boyfriend, the youngest son of our Pack's Beta. She's already told me that once she is mated to Matt, she'll find a way to have me exiled from the pack, and declared a rogue. This is so she can kill me, or have me killed. She said it was only right for her to remove the embarrassing dark stain that was me from their lives. 

Sarah doesn't know we are from a very respected bloodline, not that she'd want to claim it. I also found out where my coloring might possibly have come from. I'm the doppelganger for the first of our ancestors, Luna Heartsong. She had been an Alpha warrior; she was reputed as one of the strongest and fiercest wolves in our history. My family would want to deny any relation to her because of her skin, hair, and eye color. I still couldn't figure out the reasoning behind this, no other clans cared about coloring as they did.

Forcing myself to shake off these depressing thoughts, I started thinking about the day ahead. I had turned eighteen over the four-day break, making me somewhat excited for today. I might be able to meet my mate today. Xena is excited as well. Probably more so than I am.

Oh, I know I'm more excited, she remarks. 

"Why is that?" I inquire, teasingly.

Because our mate will love us, we'll have someone who appreciates us for who we really are, she says excitedly.

"That's our hope at least, it would be nice if our mate accepts us. Hiding away, with graduation just around the corner, has become exhausting. School ends officially in two weeks. University finals have been taken, the only tests left are the high school finals."

Tests, more tests, how long are they going to take? I’d rather be running, she grumbled.

"Just the first three days of this week, then the last week and a half will be full of nonsense. We’ll go running later tonight," I say soothingly.

When do we stop hiding everything you've accomplished from your family? she demanded.

"The moment the ink dries on my diplomas, I have my license in hand and a key to my own apartment. The Alpha has a suite of rooms at the pack house he's going to assign to me the moment I graduate, "I tell her. “Although…I may not even wait till then.”

The Alpha really respects you, you're like the daughter he's never had, she reminds me.

"Yeah, the Alpha only has two sons. His eldest is to be our next Alpha of the Pack. He's finishing up his final Alpha training, and should come back this summer," is my response.

I hope he's still nice to us when he comes back to start taking over his father's position, she says.

"I'd almost drowned the day we met. When he found me on the side of the river, covered in mud and blood, I was just a pup, he was a teen wolf. He helped his father rescue me and helped his mother nurse me back to health. He was always protective of me after that, and of you after you came to me. Then, once we were able to shift, his wolf watched over us whenever we ran with him. I'm sure he'll still be nice to us when he gets home." I assure her. 

I started to dwell on the memory of that day, the day I met him, the same day Sarah tried to drown me. It had been raining for a week, downpour after downpour before we finally got a sunny day. One of our neighbors had given me some used clothing, and there was this dress. 

It was a simple dress, white with blue flowers and it went down just past my knees. My sister tried to wear it but she was too big for it. I had saved it for that day. We had been attending the pack picnic, a celebration for the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

The trouble started because everyone was remarking on how pretty I looked in that dress. My hair was in two French braids on either side of my face. They were saying how beautiful my skin tone was next to the color of the dress, how it made my eyes pop so prettily.

As for my sister, she was in a pale pink dress that was just like all her other dresses, so while she got a "You look nice as always, darling", she became increasingly infuriated at all the compliments I had been getting. She went and told our parents I was making a public scene in front of the pack, drawing attention. My parents then walked over and stood nearby, but still at a distance, from the group of wolves complimenting me on how beautiful I was. 

They had been complementing everything my family and clan hated about me, which was everything. They had always told me I was ugly, and that I was a dark mistake because I was not pale, my hair was not blond, and my eyes were not blue. I was the blight on the family image, the shameful blot of imperfection in the clan, but those other wolves at the picnic had praised all of those features as beautiful. My parents were furious. 

They couldn't just storm up and yank me away, it would be too public a confrontation. It would have been bad for their image, the image of their clan. Instead, they sent my sister to get me. She grabbed my arm in a tight, painful hold and said, "Mommy and Daddy are looking for you,” in a bright, childish voice. So, the adults bid us goodbye and left me to the mercy of my parents. 

Mercy- if only they really had any. My mother slapped me as soon as she could get away with it. "You ungrateful wretch, how dare you disparage your sister, how dare you go out in public like this, you're an embarrassment to this family, you ugly child; a stain that I should have drowned at birth. Go home, NOW!" she shrieked that last word.

As I was walking home, embarrassed, my cheek red with the imprint of her hand and tears running down my face, my sister and her friends surrounded me. "That's what you get for trying to outshine me, you worthless wretch," Sarah hissed.

"They just liked the dress, I didn't do it on purpose.” I had hoped she would understand, and not punish me for it; how wrong I had been.

"That dress is an eyesore," Agatha said.

"Yeah, let's do something about that," said Lauren.

"Yeah, let's get rid of it," suggested Beatrice.

"You're right that would make it better...but, is it enough?" Sarah's tone had made my belly tighten, fear took hold.

Then, she looked at the swollen river behind me and the muddy embankment.

"I know what I'll do, how about a swim, little sister," she said, with an evil smirk on her face.

She reached out and grabbed me, then she started to drag me. I dug my feet into the ground to keep her from dragging me further. Her nails bit into my skin, drawing blood. 

It hurt, and I  cried out from the pain. The blood had made my arm slippery, and I was able to break her hold on me. I  turned and was running away from the river, but her friends jumped me before I could get far.

Lauren and Beatrice grabbed me by my feet and pulled me back to the river. Agatha and Sarah were trying to get my hands, but I was punching, slapping, and scratching them away. Sarah had blood running down her cheek now and was furious. "This better not scar you, little freak. I'm going to drown you, you bitch!" she shrieked.

They picked me up off the ground. Sarah slapped me so hard my ears rang. I was dizzy, my vision blurry with tears when they were finally able to throw me off the embankment, and into the raging river. I went under the river, tossing again and again as I fought to rise to the surface, only to gasp some air before being tossed back under by the current.  I started to work my way to shore.

The water slammed me into the rocks and river debris over and over. I finally caught onto a branch and hung on to keep the river from taking me again, gasping, trying to get my breath back, but I was battered and weak. 

Trembling, but determined, I used the branch to get me to the edge of a steep,  muddy embankment. Clinging to the branch, I started to claw my way up, mud and dirt falling away to cover me as I finally pulled myself up and out of the river. I had collapsed there at the edge of the river in the mud, and passed out.

I came to as someone touched my shoulder, turning me over. I smelled wolf.

"What happened to you,  little one?" a young voice asked.

"Son, what are you doing in the mud, get over here." an older voice demanded.

"Dad, there’s a little girl here, she's covered in blood and mud and she's soaked." said the young voice.

"WHAT? " I heard a shout and then the sound of running, feet stopping at my other side, and then he was kneeling in the mud. "Why would a pup be out here like this?" I heard him ask in a voice filled with horror.



###>>>
Chapter 3


Alora's POV cont'd

I was barely conscious as they continued to talk about me, sounding worried. 

"She's got marks on her face, look there’s a handprint," said the older voice.

"Dad, who would abuse a pup ?" asked the young voice.

"I don't know. Look at her arm, there’s a dark bruise in the shape of fingers, and see the nail marks, she's got another hand-shaped bruise on her other cheek." points out the older voice.

"Why, Dad? She's just a pup, they must have thrown her into the river." said the younger voice.

"I'm afraid you're right son, and she could have died, the river is swollen and dangerous, her legs...." the older voice trailed off.

"So many bruises..." the younger voice also trailed off.

"All these cuts, she must have been tossed over and over, the poor child, how did she get out of the river?" the older voice asked in wonder.

"Where did she come from, Dad?" the younger voice asked.

"There is a pack picnic today, remember? That’s where we were heading. Looks like she had on her best dress, despite what it looks like now. She must have come from there,” the older voice had said.

"Dad, that's five miles up river,” points out the younger voice.

"I know. Goddess, she should have died, any other pup would have. She’s incredibly lucky to have survived," said the older voice.

"She's got dark skin and black hair, think maybe she belongs to the Stonemakers or the Mountainmovers?" the younger voice contemplated. "They both have some people among them with tan skin, but most have brown, red, or blond hair," he added.

"There’s also us, the Moonstars, and then, the Blackfires and the Shadowtails, we all have black hair and tan skin among our clans as well, but I know she's not one of ours, and she doesn't smell like those clans," said the older voice. 

"The Frost and Northmountain Families, though, have been exclusively pale and blond for a few generations now, she can't be one of theirs,” remarked the younger voice.

"That clan has purposely been breeding dark coloring out. They only mate with others who have blond hair and blue-eyed features, son. Any family member born with tan skin or dark hair is made an outsider, or married off, removing them from the family. If their fated mate has dark coloring, they reject them,” said the older voice.

"That's stupid, why do that?" asked the younger voice.

"I don't know, son, but that clan’s practice is why I have always been at odds with them.  Allister Northmountain rejected his Goddess-given mate for that Ice Queen he married because his fated mate was dark-skinned. That  Ice Queen also rejected her fated mate  because he had dark hair, " the man said, then continued to say,

"The Heartsong Clan's ancestor was tan, with black hair and violet eyes. It's said that Allister and Bettina had a daughter who looked like the Heartsong’s Ancestor, the First Alpha. It was probably karma for rejecting their Goddess-given mates,” said the older voice, grumbling the last sentence.

"Do you think this girl is her, Dad?" asked the younger voice.

"The abuse this child has obviously suffered is unwarranted. We will find out if this was her family's doing,” said the older voice. I was finally able to open my eyes and look at them. The young man next to me gasped when he saw my eyes.

"Is your name Alora, little pup?" the older wolf asked. I nodded my head yes, my throat hurting too much for me to speak.

"She has bruises on her neck, too, dad,” said the young male. He had black hair, midnight blue eyes, and pale skin, and his shoulders were broad. You could tell he was going to be a giant of a werewolf when he was done growing, just as large as the older male next to me. The older male looked like the young one, only his eyes were green, and there was a streak of silver in his hair at his temple, which made him look even more handsome.

"Do you know who I am, child?" asked the older wolf.

How could I not? I had only seen him once, but I'd felt his power and status over me. "Alpha,” I'd croaked.

"Yes, child, and this is my son, Damien. We’ll get you to the pack house and treat you before taking you back to your family,” said the Alpha

"Dad, are we really going to let them have her back?" asked Damien.

"We have no choice, son, she needs to be with her family, and I can't just take the child away." I had passed out again while they were arguing.

The pounding on my bedroom door brought me back from that memory. Sadly, that was not the only awful memory I carried. It was not the only scar embedded into my soul by my family. There were many, many others. I knew who had been pounding on the door, even before I heard her voice. 

"Get up, you wretch!" she screams. She's always screaming at me. Half the time, I think she's forgotten my name because she always addresses me as "you wretch”. The '’she’ is my mother. You would think she would call me by name, but it was a waste of time to hope for something different. I've known that for a while now. 

Time to get dressed and go to school, I do my best not to give in to the urge to sing in the shower. Every time I sing, my family goes into a rage. They tell me to stop screeching like a dying cat, telling me my voice makes their ears bleed. It was one more thing they used to hurt me. 

I've become less and less tolerant of the oppressive and abusive way they treat me. I've been struggling to hold back, to maintain the image of a submissive and obedient she-wolf. There are only two more weeks left of school. That's what I have to remind myself and Xena.

"Just two more weeks, Xena, and we'll be free," I say to her.

What exams do we have today? Xena asks.

"You know what, I believe we have our training exams today, both in human and wolf combat." I feel her immense delight; we both like the exercise of training, of feeling how powerful we really are. 

Are you going to ask me to hold back, she asks. I feel her delight dim at the thought. I sigh.
"Yeah, we're going to have to, we are going up against the elites today, but we're going up against them in front of the rest of the seniors,” I tell her.

“That takes all the fun out of it,” she whines.  I feel her tail droop.

I sigh, "Yeah, yeah, it does.” My reply is filled with my own disappointment. 

Then I pause to think for a moment. There was no real reason for me to hold back on my exam. "Seeing as we’re not going up against the Ice Princess, and this is the last exam, there is no real reason to hold back anymore." I felt Xena's excitement pick back up, visualizing her tail wagging, her tongue hanging out of her mouth, and her ears perking up in interest. My wolf's antics make me laugh.

I decided that if the exam was going to be physical, I would need to dress for that, instead of the baggy track pants and hoodie I have been using to hide myself all these years. I go for the new clothes I've been buying with some of my earnings from the burger joint. 

I'm tired of hiding this way as well. I put on a dark purple, wireless sports push-up bra that supports while putting my girls where they're supposed to be. I put on a black Razorback midriff tank top decorated with purple skulls, and a pair of black capri leggings that have side pockets down my thighs for my phone. 

I French-braid my hair down to my neck, bind it with a dark purple hair tie, then split the rest of the length into three different braids, tying them up with thinner, dark purple hair ties. I put on a purple wrap-around skirt over my leggings and a shoulder-length black short-sleeved cardigan over the tank top. I decided to wear silver studs in my ears so my earrings won't get caught while fighting. 

I'm probably going to catch hell for my clothe, but l really don't care anymore. I feel my wolf’s impatience. We're tired of hiding. It used to be a way to protect ourselves when we were weak, when we knew they could take everything we wanted away from us, but now I have already finished my finals for university. 

I'll be given my doctorate and licensing as soon as I receive notice that I passed the exams and have graduated. There are still the official ceremonies to go to, that's just for show. The fact is, the Alpha, and both schools are making everything official immediately after the ceremony. They don't want to take a chance that my family or clan will find a way to prevent it all from happening.

I will get free of them no matter what.



###>>>
Chapter 4


Alora's POV

I was set to become the third leading research doctor in the pack’s lab. I would be the lead biochemist with my majors in biochemistry, microbiology, and hematology. I would be in charge of my own team of researchers, and luckily for me, it was a team that couldn’t wait for me to serve them in an official capacity; they respected my intelligence despite my age.

The best thing about being a Doctor is that it gives me respect and status that my parents won't be happy about because  I was not their Ice Princess. I'm their dark mark, a mistake, a dark blight forced upon them. I start to grin at the thought of their faces contorted in fury over how untouchable I will become after this. I'll no longer have to associate with them in any capacity. 

Another great thing is that they still don't know that I've changed my last name already. The moment I turned eighteen, I changed it. I had even changed my middle name. I was no longer named Alora Frost Northmountain. I was now Alora Luna Heartsong. I changed my name with the approval of our Alpha, as it was proven I was of the Heartsong bloodline, a soon-to-be Doctor Heartsong. 

My new name will be announced aloud at the graduation ceremony. It was what would be listed on my diploma as well. That’s one way they were going to find out. A public separation of myself and them. I was tired of the constant beatings, the emotional and verbal abuse added to the physical. Having had to hold back once I knew I could defend myself, that has become the hardest thing to do. I have been trying to restrain myself for two weeks, but I don't think I can anymore.

I don't eat breakfast with the rest of the family. They wouldn't like eating with me anyway. They made sure to use that time to bring me down to the point that I had no appetite. I ate breakfast at school, or I bought something at the little convenience store on the way to school. I love to get two of their Big Sur breakfast burritos with eggs, cheese, sausage, bacon, and spicy sauce, a bottle of orange juice, and a bottle of milk. It was an energizing breakfast for my werewolf. 

My phone pings. I know it's Darien, the Alpha's second son and my best friend. My sister hates him, and he hates her. She tried to date him once, but he's been firm in waiting for his mate. He's been eighteen for a few months, and he suspects he knows who she is. However, he is waiting till she turns eighteen too, so that her wolf recognizes him before he approaches her. I pick up my phone and read the text.

I'm out front with the breakfast of Wolves. Hurry up, it's a combat exercise today.

On my way out, be one sec.

The house has three floors, I'm on the third floor in a converted attic. The second floor has Sarah's bedroom and my parents' office. Sarah's room used to be two rooms till she decided she needed more space. The second floor has a wrap-around deck with a door leading outside to it. I sneak out the second-floor door, down the stairs, around the garage, out the gate, and down the driveway to the shiny dark blue Dodge Charger my friend drives. I open up the door and can smell the burritos he's picked up for us. I dive into the front seat just as the front door to my house opens. 

"YOU STUPID WRETCH, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE WEARING? GET BACK IN THIS HOUSE AND CHANGE IMMEDIATELY!!!" My mother screeches in fury. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the entire pack had heard her. I close the car door, and my friend floors it. I see my mother's furious expression in the rearview mirror as she runs down the driveway shrieking and shaking her fist, probably promising retribution for ignoring her.

My friend is also looking in the rearview mirror. "Man, is she pissed," he says with a chuckle.

"I know, wonder what she's going to do when I get home?" I ask with a resigned sigh.

"You know you could take her on easily, you’re a badass in training. I've seen you, and I've been training with you and the others in this year's Alpha Class. Hell, you're better than me and I'm an alpha‘s son." he says. 

"I know, I know. It’s just… I’m so close. I promised myself I wouldn’t have to hide anymore soon." I sigh.

"How soon is soon?" he demands. 

"I was trying to hold on till the last day of school, but..." I trail off.

"But what?" he asks after a minute of silence.

I sigh before continuing, "I find hiding it anymore too confining. I'm not going to hide everything anymore, but I'm also not going to reveal it all at once. Today’s  going to be my first day." 

"First day of what?" he asks.

"Of not hiding away any more," I stated grimly.

We ate our burritos on the way to school. We both wanted to get there as early as possible, as we were both hoping to meet our mates. I think I know who his mate is. Her name is Serenity, and she was only two inches shorter than I am. 

She’s a fit and curvy werewolf with hip length, wildly curly, deep red hair, vibrant emerald eyes rimmed in gold, and the cutest line of freckles across her nose, with milky pale skin. She was a strong but shy and sweet she-wolf. 

My sister didn't like her either because she would stand up for others. Fortunately, the threat of her older brothers managed to divert any major retaliation my sister and her cronies would have done to her. It’s been kept to petty things, like name-calling and verbal put-downs. 

Serenity's two brothers in school with us are twins. We’re in the same grade because they were born only six months before her, at the end of November, making them start school with her. 
Sarah's antics towards the she-wolf really make me wonder sometimes if she has ever really grown out of elementary school.

I've seen Darien stare at Serenity with a longing expression when he thought no one was looking. I knew that her birthday was the day after mine. I would be happy if she were his mate; they would make the cutest couple. As excited as I am to find my own mate, I'm also dreading it. What if it's someone I don't like, or what if he rejects me? I don't know how I’d feel. I've been rejected by my family all my life.

My sister and her friends have made it a hobby to isolate me. Anyone who wanted to be my friend was soon set upon by her and her henchwomen. They even tried to make sure Darien would abandon me. They'd make up terrible rumors. I avoided most guys because they all believed I was a slut who'd give out to anyone because that's what she told everyone. 

Girls stayed away from me because they believed I would take their boyfriends and sleep with them. I'm still a virgin, so yeah, not true, but will any of them listen, no. If they did, they kept their mouths shut. 

Not many of the students had the protection needed for them to be able to afford being my friend without some kind of backlash from my sister. She was vicious. One girl stood up for me. She wasn't a friend, just a nice girl. The next day, she came to school wearing a cap on her head. 

Her hair had been waist-length, shiny blond, with like seven different shades ranging from white blond to gold, until my sister and her cronies caught her walking home. They took her somewhere where there were no witnesses, and then they burned all her hair off. 

Worse, they had also dosed her with a long-acting wolfsbane tablet. It wasn’t till lunchtime that she had collapsed on the floor, coughing and throwing up blood. Her hair has since grown back out, and it's now shoulder-length. She won't even look in my direction now, too afraid of my sister.

I know how my sister has gotten away with it. The girl's parents were low-level wolves with no clan status, and my parents found a way to make them keep their mouths shut. She has many more victims who aren’t always related to me. If my sister didn't like what you were saying about her, she made you pay for it. 

One of the many reasons Darien knew not to listen to her is that he'd witnessed her talking to her friends about the rumors they had deliberately made up against me. Darien said he never liked her and said she has a slimy air about her that rubs his fur the wrong way.

We're early enough to get one of the closest parking spots to the school's front lawn. He reversed into the spot, and we got out. We leaned back against the trunk. 

"So,  are you going to tell me who  you think your mate is?" I ask him. 

He shifts a bit against the car. "The look in your eyes tells me that you already think you know who it is," he replies. 

"I have a theory, “ I hedged.

"Who?” he asks, in a suspicious tone.

"Serenity.” I finally say. 

He lets out a huge gust of air, running his hands through his hair. He looks up at the sky for a moment before facing me. I wait, knowing he's still thinking, debating on telling me. Finally, he says, "Yeah, yeah, I think it's her."



###>>>
Chapter 5


Alora's POV cont'd

"Was that so hard to tell me?" I tease, giving him a friendly jab with my elbow into his side. 

He shoves me on my shoulder, making me stumble, and laughs as  he says, "Brat." 

I looked at the half-smirk on his face at our antics, but I could still see some strain in his face. "What’s got you worried, my friend?"

"I'm worried she'll reject me," he says quietly.

I look at him a moment before asking, "Why would you think she'd reject you?" 

"What if she thinks I'm not good enough for her. I mean, what if she doesn't like me?" I can hear the genuine worry in his tone.

"Relax, Darien. You’re an amazing werewolf. You’re strong, smart, and loving, and she'll accept you." I pause for a moment, letting that sink in a bit before continuing. "You’ll make a loving mate, able to provide for your she-wolf and pups. You’ll make a great dad to any pups you have, and you're loyal."

"Thanks, I hope your mate is amazing. You deserve a good wolf to stand by your side and love you." he says.

"I hope he is, too," I say, but for some reason, I feel a kind of foreboding in meeting my mate, a bad feeling that  I was not going to like who the Goddess chose for me. I feel like I'm going to be in for some excruciating pain. I push my dark thoughts to the back of my mind as I see Serenity's decked-out purple Jeep with its lift kit and flood lights pull into the parking lot. She parks fifteen spaces down from us, and she and her brothers are talking.

Galen has black hair, and Kian has red hair that is a few shades lighter than his sister’s. They were both huge, broad, muscular wolves. Both were handsome in a rugged, rough way. You could visibly see the good in them. It was obvious they loved and adored their sister.

Serenity was talking to her brothers when a large gust of wind swept past us, carrying our scent to her. She stops talking abruptly and sniffs the air, then she turns around and stares at us. No, not us. At Darien, she had eyes only for Darien. 

The look on her face is first of shock, then of wonder, before transitioning into excitement. I look at him and he's standing there frozen, gazing at Serenity like she was the most gorgeous person he has ever seen. He was no longer paying attention to me.

What was he waiting for? I could see he wanted nothing more than to run to her. Then, I remembered what he had just said he feared. I look again at Serenity. No, she's not going to reject him, she's going to embrace him and love him like he deserves, and if he doesn't go to her now, he'll hurt her.

So, I decide to intervene so my best friend doesn’t fuck up his first time meeting his mate. I push him, telling him, "Run to her you fool, it's what she wants, go get your mate." in a laughing shout.

With just that one push, Darien is running towards her, and she towards him. They meet in the middle as she jumps into his arms. They're smiling at each other while he spins her around once before setting her down. Then they say in unison, "Mate". 

I'm so happy for them, I feel like I'm glowing. I can feel Xena inside me, happy for the two werewolves, as well.  Then, that glowing feeling fades as my own reality comes back. Somehow, I don't think my first meeting with my mate is going to be as beautiful as this.

I'm still smiling, though, because if anyone deserved happiness, it’s those two. Serenity was so sweet that light practically showed out of her, one reason my sister hated her, she glowed effortlessly. It was her soul; she was pure, just like him. 

I have a feeling he'll be able to bring her out of her shell, as outgoing and friendly as he is. I was hoping that, maybe, I might now be able to have a female friend who was protected fully from my sister.

Thinking about that, as I'm standing there, her two brothers walk up to either side of me. They stare at me for a bit before I look at the first one, then the other.

"Something I can help you with, boys?" I ask softly. I stepped away from them and turned my back to the couple so I could look at them. They look at each other, briefly,  confusion on their faces. "Ask whatever it is that's on your mind," I tell them gently. 

They seemed more confused by my calm.  I know what the rumors say, and I know the damage my sister has done to my reputation with those rumors, so it's not their fault. I've long stopped trying to dissuade people from the lies she's spewed. No one ever believed me. But this time...this time, I think it might be different, so I'll give them a chance.


Galen’s POV

Kian and I had been teasing our sister on the way to school, in her jeep, saying we would have to vet her mate before he could claim her. Of course, while we were teasing her, there was some truth to it. There was no way we would let some sleazeball take advantage of her and hurt our sister. 

Our sweet sister was trying to put her foot down, but we were aware that unless we crossed her bottom line, she would never do anything bad to us. I shivered a little thinking of the last time her bottom line was crossed. Sarah crossed it once, and that had been enough.

That stupid she-wolf had bumped into me while walking with her nose in her phone. She turned and started to yell at me, all kinds of nasty remarks about me and my family started spewing from her mouth. 

My sister, very quietly, with eyes full of rage, walked up to her.  As that she-bitch turned to spew more of her vileness at my sister, she calmly drew back her arm and then decked Sarah in the face. I heard a snap, Sarah's cheek caved in, her eye popped out of its socket, her brow was broken, and her nose was broken sideways.

We were not named Mountainmover for nothing. We were a peaceful and loving lot, our clan, but we were some of the strongest wolves. Usually, we took on jobs as enforcers for the Alpha. We also did the mining and rebuilding of the Mountains. 

We get to the school and there is only one car there, I recognize Darien's blue charger. He’s leaning on the trunk of the car next to Sarah's sister, a she-wolf named Alora. Rumor had it that they were a couple. 

I didn't know if it was true or not, along with all the other rumors claiming she was a slut, that she was loose, and would bang the first thing that asked.  I was doubting the rumors. 

First off,  I'm sure they were started by Sarah and her she-bitch posse since  I'd seen them all spewing one or another of those rumors to different people. Second, I had caught the she-wolf turning down more than one male, and a few times she'd had to get violent. That didn't speak of an easy, loose slut to me.

Serenity parks, Alora and Kian are still going at it. We get out of the Jeep and she says, " You guys can't interfere with my finding my mate."  I get back to the conversation, telling her 

"We just want to make sure the wolf is good to you." 

Kian adds, " Yeah, we don't want you to get  hurt."  

Serenity turns to us and opens her mouth to say something just as a gust of wind blows towards us, carrying Darien's and Alora's scent. My sister freezes, blinks, and tips her head up.  As she's turning around, she sniffs the air, and she freezes again as her eyes lock onto the wolf across the parking lot. 

The look on her face changes swiftly while she stares at Darien. I look at him, he's standing there frozen, too. The look on his face was a combination of fear, longing, and wonder.  I looked at Alora, she was looking at my sister, and there was a smile on her face. I wonder why. 

She then looks at Darien for a moment, her expression shifting to contemplative, then to a devilish smile that, for some reason, I was finding adorable. It lights up her face, and she's suddenly moving, shoving Darien towards my sister, saying, "Run to her you fool, it's what she wants, go get your mate." And he's suddenly running to my sister.

I look at my sister just in time to see the joy light up on her face, the she-wolf had been right. That’s exactly what my sister had wanted, and then she's off running to him, jumping into his arms at the last moment, and he spins her around once before setting her down. I look at Alora as both Darien and Serenity say, "Mate". 

The she-wolf is smiling, practically glowing with happiness for them, but gradually, I see it dim, but there is still a smile on her face. In her eyes, I see happiness for the couple, but also sadness and wariness. 

Like she knows something bad is about to happen to her, and she accepts it, while still being genuinely happy for the couple. The smile on her face, while slightly sad now, is still happy for the couple, despite her own internal pain.

I now had questions, and I knew Kian would too. I look at him real quick, and he looks at me. I motion over at Alora with the tip of my head, and he nods. We walk over to her silently. We go around and come up behind her while she watches the couple. She didn’t exactly freeze, but I could tell she sensed us. 

She looked up first at Kian, then at me, before looking straight ahead and, in a calm tone which I found confusing, said, "Anything I can do for you boys?" I didn't answer at first. My brother, like me, looks confused by her calm and wary demeanor. I turn to her.  She steps forward, then turns around to face us.

Her next question is in that same calm tone. "Ask what's on your mind."



###>>>
Chapter 6


Galen's POV cont'd

I look into her eyes, and I see a wariness and resignation in those violet eyes, like she already knew what we were going to ask her, and was resolved to answer, but didn't expect us to believe her. For some reason, that made me sad. She seemed so lonely, but if Darien had been her boyfriend, why had she been so happy to see him with another she-wolf? 

This wasn't adding up with the rumors about her. I have a feeling things were finally coming to light about this she-wolf today, at least for us. There was an air about her, one that I hadn't noticed before, like she was someone I should respect; if she were to give an order, it should be obeyed. Finally, I just asked, now hoping not to hurt this she-wolf.

"The rumors said that the two of you were dating. However, based on what we just saw, I'm really doubting that's true now. There are a lot of rumors about you, none of them good." I pause a moment, she's standing there with a patient look on her face. 

So I continue with my query. “But, I've personally witnessed She-Bitch Sarah and her posse spewing some of those rumors. I've also seen you turn down many a male,  one more harshly than others when he got handsy, so those two situations combined make me believe some, if not all, the rumors are bull shit." I finish and wait. 

There was a rumor I didn't want to ask about. If the others were lies, then the one about the abuse her family meted out to her was most likely true, but how did you ask a she-wolf if her family abused her? I couldn't bring myself to ask; I had a feeling I wasn't going to like the answer.

She looks at me for a few moments before speaking. "Almost all of the rumors are, as you say, bullshit. Darien is my best friend, we never dated, and we’ve never been intimate. As  for some of the other rumors, I'm still a virgin, and my sister has made sure that the only friend I have in school is Darien." She never once raised her voice. 

The entire thing had been said in a calm, patient voice. Then she goes on and says, "But maybe now that your sister has both of you and Darien for protection, I might finally be able to have another friend."

Alora's comment makes me still for a moment and look at Kian, we mind link each other. As siblings, we are able to mind like even when not phased to our wolf form.  All the wolves in the pack, with the exception of the Alpha, Luna, and Beta, had to transition to wolf in order to mind link, unless you were directly related to each other. 

I think it was a way for a mother to find her pups should they wander too far. My brother and I had done it a lot until our mother made us responsible for our baby sister because we were only a little over six months apart. Werewolves have shorter pregnancies than humans and heal almost immediately after giving birth. Few births were difficult, and rarely was there a death.

“Kian, she said protection, do you think she meant from her sister?” I asked. I could hear the tension in my voice.

“I'm aware of that, and it makes me think back a bit. He paused a moment before continuing. “Do you remember when Kelly had all her hair burned off and was poisoned with that wolfsbane tablet?”

“Yeah, I remember that, why?” Trepidation started to fill me, I had a feeling I wasn't going to like this.

“Well, I was there when she told Sarah to stop ragging on her sister. She had been doing it for half the class and wouldn't shut up. The next day, Kelly came to school after being mutilated like that.” His tone was solemn.

It was Sarah and her cronies, it had to be. I can’t help but feel sorry for both Alora and Kelly. If Sarah was willing to do that to someone and could get away with it, then no wonder Alora didn't have any friends besides Darien. If Sarah were to fuck with him, it would be the last thing she would do, him being a son of the Alpha.

“I think it's time this she-wolf had a few more friends,” I say to Kian.

“Yeah, I think it is, we can take care of ourselves against that she-bitch, and now she won't dare touch our sister, with her being the mate to an Alpha's son.” He said the last bit in a wry, slightly amused tone.

Darien would rip her to pieces if our sister didn't first. Amused at the thought of my sister tearing Sarah to pieces, I chuckle.

Alora's POV

I waited for them to finish their silent discussion. I didn't get a sense of malice or disbelief from them. They seemed to understand and believe me. I was hesitant to hope for something good to come out of this talk, but I was getting a sense that this was fate, that the Goddess brought these two wolves to me while bringing their sister to Darien.

I could feel the power they had, deep and strong as the Mountains they worked and lived on. Something told me I was going to be connected to them somehow. I just didn't know how I knew that. There was also still the sense of foreboding in my gut. I still couldn't get rid of it even with this deviation.

"We'd like to be friends, you shouldn’t have been so isolated because of your sister," Galen said, speaking first. 

"Your sister is evil incarnate, and it looks like we'll be hanging out together now anyway, with lover boy being our sister's mate," Kian adds. 

"Plus, we need someone who'll be an outsider with us while they make googly eyes at each other," said Galen, amused.

That last comment makes me giggle. "I don't know what's worse, that you're right or that a wolf as big as you said has googly eyes."

That made them laugh as we watched the couple; they were no longer standing in the parking lot but on the lawn, not that far from us. They were indeed making googly eyes at each other, the term making me giggle again. Then I heard a familiar engine sound and the blasting sound system. 

My sister and her friends pull up in my sister’s cherry red convertible, all singing badly and off-key to the song. It was some song about brushing their teeth with a bottle of Jack, which I found disgusting. But that just showed you how much of a party girl she was. 

As she and her cronies are getting out of the car, having parked not far from us, another vehicle races into the school's lot. This one is another off-road Jeep, its color is red, and it belonged to Matthew, or Matt to his friends. 

He is my sister's boyfriend, the second son of the Alpha's Beta, Beta Boris. Technically, Darien and Matt should have been best of friends. But Matt’s liking of Sarah and his treatment of me had made that impossible for Darien. He didn't approve, and for Matt, that was unacceptable. 

They had a big knock-down, drag-out fight that Darien won. They haven't been friendly with each other since it. They would outright avoid each other if they did meet; there were no words between them, just glares. 

"I don't like that guy," I hear Kian say. It's funny, but now that I've talked to both of them, I can recognize which one is talking without having to look at them, despite their voices being nearly the same. But I've always been good with sound and pitches, music was something I thrived on. 

I loved to be able to go to my favorite quiet place and soak up everything around me, while allowing my music to sink into my body and soul, to rejuvenate me when things got really bad. Then I would let Xena out, so she could run and feel one with the earth and life around us. The feeling I had in my stomach was threatening to bring my breakfast back up at the sight of him. 

My sister noticed Serenity's Jeep. Being incredibly stupid and unobservant of everything not pertaining to themselves, they stupidly start to make comments. "Ugh, it's that raggedy Ann wolf Jeep,” Agatha starts. "Who gets one in purple, it's so gaudy," Beatrice adds. 

Like she was one to talk, she actually wore a leopard print tube dress that threatened to leave her breasts hanging out, leopard print stilettos with gold heels, and a big chunky gold necklace, earrings, and bracelets. A wolf in leopard print, now that was tasteless.

"That little heifer is so ugly, I feel sorry for whoever her mate will be," Sarah said viciously. 

"I'll just have to step in and show her mate what a real she-wolf is then," Lauren said boastfully. They all let out screeching laughs. 

They were like a group of hyenas, instead of a group of She-wolves. Matt was out of his Jeep and joining the group. Galen and Kian were angry and growling. "Easy boys," I say. "It's not you two who need to defend her right now." 

They look at me with indignation, so I explain. "She has a mate now, remember?" I let that sink in for a second. "It's now his job to defend his mate's honor and put them in their place, and he will." I gesture in Darien's direction. "Look."  

The fury Darien felt was plain to see on his face as he held his mate in his arms. She was angry too, and had tears in her eyes. I know Darien. He's going to make them pay for the tears in her eyes. "I wouldn't touch a skank like you with a ten-foot pole, and if you weren’t a werewolf, you'd probably be littered with diseases. You disgust me." The anger and loathing in his tone were like a whip to the face for Lauren. He had the group's attention, their eyes widened when they saw Darien's arms around Serenity. 

Sarah's expression was particularly vile. "You have a pig for a mate, how fitting for someone who likes to hang out with the trash," She spits.



###>>>
Chapter 7


Alora's POV cont'd

Matt is trying to shush Sarah to get her to stop, but she never stops. She’s an evil bitch and won't be satisfied till she's made everyone feel squashed beneath her black and pink stilettos. The wind blows his scent my way as the confrontation goes on, and I smell it, the scent of my mate.

The conversation melts into the background as I stare at Matt, and my heart instantly breaks. It couldn't be. Why would the Moon Goddess be so cruel as to choose him for my mate? My sister's boyfriend, please don't let her find out. 

The wind blows back in the other direction, and Matt stops trying to get Sarah to calm down and sniffs the air. He turns in my direction and my heart stops beating for a moment. The look on his face when he sees who it is, is pure disgust and disbelief.

My heart is now shattering, and I can hear Xena whimper inside from the pain she is also feeling, because we both know we would be rejected. Our mate would never accept us. I must have made a sound because Kian and Galen were on either side of me, each touching an arm. 

"What's wrong?" It was Kian who asked first.

"You look like you are about to shatter," Galen said in a worried tone.

There was no point in hiding it, and I know my sister will spread just how pathetic I am. So I tell them, "Matt is my mate." My tone is low, despondent, and husky. The two wolves look up at Matt and the look on his face, they both look back at me with sorrowful eyes. 

"I'm so sorry," whispers Galen, 

"Yeah, you should have better than what's coming," said Kian. 

"It's okay," I tell them. "Somehow, I knew today was going to be a very bad day for me, I just didn't realize how bad." I feel the ringing in my ears as I start walking in Matt's direction.

 "Time to get this over with," I say.

We meet between our two groups. Darien is still putting down Sarah and her posy. Matt is tall, six one, he's also blond with blue eyes, lean with defined muscles, and a Beta's son. The perfect mate for someone in my family, but the look in his eyes said he did not find me appealing. 

Of course, he's been just as disparaging of my dark looks as my sister since they got together almost four years ago. They'd been on and off for those years, off when my sister wanted to fuck someone else for a while, on when she found out Matt was also fucking some other she-wolf or a human female. I knew what was coming, but it was still going to hurt.

"You!" Matt bit out. "No! You can't be my mate, I don't accept you," he said loudly enough that everyone had stopped and was looking on, most of the rest of the school was arriving. So, now we were in the middle of an audience. I felt so humiliated, being rejected in public like this. Wasn’t fate cruel enough to me?

"I, Matthew Frost Stonemaker, reject you, Alora Frost Northmountain." I feel pain, but the bond is still there. It takes a moment, but my name was changed legally, and I had made a new blood connection to the Alpha with my new name, so he would have to use that to break the bond. He's looking confused as to why it's not broken yet, so I tell him. 

"I changed my name, it's Alora Luna Heartsong now." My voice is low and husky with pain. 

"Whatever,” he bites out impatiently. " I, Matthew Frost Stonemaker, reject you,  Alora Luna Heartson, “he yells out viciously.

I felt like I had been struck by lightning inside my chest. The pain was electric and fiery; it spread from my chest through the rest of my body. I could feel Xena's howl of pain inside my head as she too felt this. But it's not done yet, I have to do my part because there was no way I was going to stay tied to someone who would reject what the Goddess gave them.

"I, Alora Luna Heartsong, reject you, Matthew Frost Stonemaker." Officially severing the bond, the pain doubles inside me as it spreads, then travels back to Matt with triple the force. He drops to the ground, letting out a short, pain-filled howl. 

Good! I think it’s what the bastard deserves for hurting Xena and me. I hope karma comes back to make him regret his decision, but I would not EVER accept him into our lives. I turned to walk away, fury starting to burn in my chest, which was helping me to relieve the pain. 

Darien and Serenity are standing next to each other, both have sad looks on their faces, the glow of first love muffled in the wave of someone else’s heartbreak. My friend looks at Matt with anger on his face, and Serenity's changes to one of determination, of what, I don't know yet. I look to see Kian and Galen looking sad for me as well, then there is fury as my sister steps up to me.

SLAP. The sound of it rings out across the yard. I feel my cheek sting and know it's instantly red with her handprint on my face. She looks furious and insane. "HOW DARE YOU TRY TO STEAL MY MALE!" she shrieks. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, YOU DISGUSTING WRETCH?"  SLAP. Now there is a handprint on my other cheek. 

"HOW DARE YOU HURT HIM YOU SLUT!" SLAP. "YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST ACCEPTED HIS REJECTION AND KEPT THE PAIN!" SLAP. "IT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR TRYING TO TAKE HIM FROM ME, OF YOU BLIGHT!" As she goes for another slap, a hand grabs her wrist and holds it in place.

I look up at Galen, who's holding her wrist, Kian is standing over Matthew, but he is still on the ground in pain and weak from it. Serenity was standing in front of Sarah's posse, growling fiercely with Darian hovering behind her, alternating between looks of fury at them and worry for and pride in his mate.

Galen throws Sarah away from us. She landed hard, with a yelp, on her ass in an undignified heap. "You're a right bitch you are, calling her a slut, when the real slut is you. He deserves the pain he's getting and then some. You say how dare she? No, how dare he? The goddess blessed him, and he rejected that blessing. You don't reject the goddess's gift without suffering,” he says in a growl.

I'm shocked. The only other person who's ever gone toe to toe with her for me before was Darien. They had said they wanted to be my friends, and standing up for me makes them my friends. 

Despite the pain and the slaps, I was still standing, and the redness and swelling from her hitting me would be gone in thirty minutes, tops. After all of the abuse they've dealt me, my body has compensated by having a highly accelerated healing rate. 

I have a small flashback to a time my father had me chained to a support beam in the basement and whipped me till my back was nothing but raw, bloody meat. I had somehow kept from screaming or shifting, refusing to give him the satisfaction. My defiance had only made him angrier. He had finally stopped only because he got worn out.

I guess I was lucky he'd been letting himself go in the last few years. He still looked good, he was a werewolf, and werewolves had exceptional genes, but he'd gone soft, a small blessing, I had thought, while he was leaving, even amidst all my agony at the time. They had kept me in the basement for a week, each taking turns whipping me, but my absence was too long for any werewolf not away from the pack on business. 

As I was still just a teen-wolf, I didn't have any pack business I would be away for. The Alpha called them, having noted it, saying I was required to show up the next Monday, or a Pack doctor would have to come and verify my sickness. 

They didn't have a choice; they had to let me heal and go back to school, or risk a serious infraction for the kind of abuse I was suffering. Their image was too important to them, so I was given the warning I always got. "Say nothing or you'll regret it, you wretch!" She always said it in the same scathing tone. 

The pain on my face no longer registers in the wake of that agonizing memory. "Thank you, Galen. Other than Darien, no one has stood up to her like this in a long time for me," I tell him, my voice still husky. 

"You've gone through enough today; you shouldn't have to put up with more," says Galen.

"You're right." I say quietly, then in almost a whisper, "I'm so tired of the abuse."

Kian is now with us, as are Darien and Serenity; they surround me. I look up at Darien. "I don't think I’m going to make that three-day mark, I'm fed up with being their punching bag and whipping girl." Anger entered my tone. 

"So the rumor about you being abused...it's true?" Kian asks, his voice filled with horror. Galen looked just as sad and horrified at that revelation.



###>>>
Chapter 8


Alora's POV

It was Darien who answered. "Yeah, they've been abusing her since she was a young pup. My brother and father found her half-drowned and covered in mud and blood at the river once when she was still little. Sarah was jealous of a dress she wore to a Pack picnic, and the praise she was getting wearing it, so she and her posse ganged up on her, beat her, then tossed her into the river."

Serenity gasped in horror, the twins looked angrily over at where Sarah, Matt, and her posse had been. They had already slunk off. I knew what was going to happen next. She was going to go home and cry to mommy and daddy about how I had mistreated her, and she was going to report the boys to the principal.

I looked at the building in time to see my training master nod and head in. I knew he had seen everything, and he would report it to the Principal, who would then talk to the Alpha. By reporting it to the Alpha, my parents wouldn't be able to do anything to Galen and Kian. They would thankfully be out of their reach.

"Oh my." At that comment, I look at Serenity, and she's looking at my face. It must be healing faster than I thought. "The marks are almost completely gone, it's like I can watch them fade." she blushes before looking down. “Sorry, I shouldn't stare. Your healing is amazing." She peeks back up to look at me after saying that. 

I smile a little. She is just so adorable. I look at Darien and see a completely smitten look on his face; this she-wolf is going to have him wrapped around her finger. I look back at her and say," It's all right, my healing has accelerated as I've gotten older. My theory is, it's my body's response to all the wounds they've dealt me."

I look back up at Darien, as tears gather in Serenity's eyes, I'm confused for a moment. He explains, "I'm used to your comments, and I'm more desensitized to your story. This is all fresh for her, give her a bit to catch her bearings."

I look at Galen and Kian, they're looking at each other with anger and pain in their eyes. It takes me a moment to realize they feel pain for me, for the things done to me. "I think it's time I put Sarah in her place. I'm not going to allow them to touch me anymore," I say. 

I feel the conviction fill me, putting steel into my spine, my head held high. "They'll never fuck with me again."

 
"So, how do we start this then?" Darien asks with a look of anticipation on his face.
"We've got the training exams today, they will take place in the bigger training arena, and the top fighters from each class will be going up against each other. They basically have this set up in a tournament because this will determine your first placement among the fighters in the pack," I remind him.

"I don't plan on holding back, she's going to see just how skilled I am, and I hope I'll get the opportunity to beat her ass soon," I say. Then Darien laughed darkly at my words while Serenity, Galen, and Kian looked at us, confused. 

"Just wait and watch, this is going to be amazing," Darien tells them.

We all head to the arena today, and all of the impending graduates will be there. Today she would learn, today they would all learn. First up were the lesser-skilled wolves; they would be put in the reserves. Then there would be the moderately skilled wolves; they would be scouts. They were usually faster than they were strong, and these wolves tended to be slim and sleek. 

Then there was the enforcer class, usually big wolves, they had a lot of strength. You then get to the Elite class fighters, betas, and those going to be the alpha's elite soldiers went into this class. Matthew was in this class. 

Darian had passed into the final class, the alpha fighter class. Very few wolves without alpha blood made it into this class. It just so happened to be the one I was in, and I was the top student. Darian was second.

The arena was styled after the Roman Coliseum, enormous, round, with a dirt floor and a covered roof. There was an extremely large LCD screen that displayed all the classes and the fighters in those classes, as well as their rank. If my sister looked for it, she would see my name, but she was probably looking for Alora Northmountain, not Heartsong.

The first rounds were to be fought in our human form, the second rounds were in our wolf form, and then the third round was a combination of the two. I excelled at all of them. What I forgot was that parents would be attending the battles, as well.  I couldn't help but think it was about time they saw the real me and learned to fear coming at me. 

I spotted the icy duo across the stadium, they were looking at the groupings of fighters, and we had to sit according to our fighting class. Darien sat next to me and was looking over and down at his mate. What surprised me, but shouldn't have, was that Galen, Kian, and Serenity were in the Elite fighter class, claiming the top three ranks, and Matthew was fifth in the ranking. 

Well, looks like I have some strong friends, and Darien is a strong mate. Luckily, mates were excluded from fighting each other,  because mates couldn't stand to really harm each other if there were any serious battles. So, I didn't have to worry about Darien and Serenity.  

The groups were lined up in rows in the bleachers according to the class, Alpha at the top with the lower-level wolves at the bottom. Ice Queen, Mommy dearest, and Ice King Daddy dearest did not seem happy to see their Ice Princess in the reserve fighter class. I bet they had been expecting to see her in the elite class. 

Their faces were scrunched in displeasure. Allister made a comment to Bettina, and they were then searching the ranks again, going up level by level. They were looking for me. They got to the Elites and saw Matthew, but still hadn't spotted me. They were not even bothering to look up at the final level, at the Alpha fighters, probably because they would be of the opinion that I couldn't possibly be with them.

I see Bettina pull out her cell phone, she types furiously for a moment, then looks at Allister. I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I look at the message YOU BETTER BE HERE YOU WRETCH!!! DO NOT EMBARRASS US OR YOUR SISTER!!! So typical. I show Darien the text, he snorts, "Typical," making me laugh because he read my mind.

I type back that  I am here, in my assigned seat. I send my reply, and I look up. Allister is going through the fighters again. I see Bettina read the text, and she snarls at her phone, causing Allister to look at her for a moment before he starts looking again.

THEN WHY ARE YOU NOT SITTING WITH THE RESERVE FIGHTERS? I SWEAR IF YOU EMBARRASS YOUR SISTER OR RUIN OUR GOOD NAME TODAY, YOU WILL REGRET IT WHEN YOU GET BACK TO THE HOUSE YOU DIRTY WRETCH! I snorted at her comment about their so-called "good name." While she was texting me, Allister had pulled out the booklet every parent was given on the way in with the fighters listed by class. 

They both start looking for my name. There were several Northmountains in the Enforcer class and a few in the Elite class, and I saw them looking at both classes, trying to find me. When they don't, I see their faces twist in anger, fury making them look almost demonic. She pulls out her phone and sends me another text. 

WHERE IS YOUR NAME?! I DON'T SEE IT ON THIS LIST! Well, looks like the gig is up, she puts her phone down, and then starts looking at the list again. I went to the Alpha and changed my name the day I turned eighteen, it's already registered on all my school paperwork, and blood sworn by the Alpha. 

I look up after I send the text. Their expressions were comical as they looked at the text, and then suddenly they were arguing with each other, so I sent another. Don't worry, I won't ruin your so-called "Good Name". I look back up and watch them read this text, and they both snarl.

I can tell it's taking everything for her not to start shrieking. She's typing furiously, then my phone vibrates again. WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE YOU, WRETCH!!! WHAT DID YOU CHANGE YOUR NAME TO!!! They're back to looking at the sheet. My new surname is Heartsong. I don't want to make it too easy to find me.

They start looking through the list, looking for Heartsong but they disregard the Alpha Class fighters. She texts me again. NICE TRY YOU LITTLE WRETCH, I DON'T SEE HEARTSONG ANYWHERE ON HERE. I look up at them a moment before texting them back. That’s because you have not looked hard enough. Let's see them put it together. 

Suddenly, the lights go dim, and the names on the board change to just those of the reserve fighters, their rankings, and who their opponents are going to be at the start of their tournament. My parents will just have to wait and see. The fights start, and my sister and her friends don't even make it to the third bracket of challengers. I decide to send a text. See, I'm not the one ruining your "Good Name"

WHEN YOU MAKE IT BACK HOME, I'LL TEACH YOU NOT TO TALK BACK TO ME YOU WRETCH, I'LL MAKE YOU BLEED AND BEG FOR MY MERCY!



###>>>
Chapter 9


Alora’s POV

I decided to ignore my mother's last message and focus on this exam. The middle class was up next; it was almost as big as the reserve class, but the fights went quickly. These wolves were built for scouting more than for fighting, but were good enough to be kept above the reserves. 

Then came the Elite class. When it came to the final bracket, Serenity had already placed third, having kicked Matthew's ass. That was a sweet match to watch. Galen and Kian were so evenly matched that they finally called a tie after thirty minutes of fighting.

As they were cleaning up the arena floor for our class, Darien leaned over. "You know, it's actually good that you didn't take Matt as your mate." 

I'm confused, so naturally I ask, "Why?" 

He looks over at Matt in the medical tent, Serenity had caved in his face during their fight. "Because he's weak as fuck." 

I laugh, it's the first time since being rejected that I felt that I was indeed fortunate. "I hope your mate doesn’t hate me for what I'm about to do to you," I tell him. 

"Just don't cave in my face, and I think she'll be good," he laughs. 

"Okay, pretty boy, I'll leave your face intact...mostly." I laugh at his feigned look of hurt as he dramatically clutches his chest. "You wound me, Dr. Heartsong, how will I attract my mate if my face is messed up?" Laughing, I tell him, " You'll just have to use your other...attributes." Now we're both laughing, and then the announcer comes over to the speaker. 

THE FINAL TOURNAMENT OF THE HUMAN FIGHTING PORTION OF THE TRAINING EXAM WILL BE THE ALPHA CLASS. He waits for the cheers to die down; everyone wants to see these battles.

The board lights up with the only seven people in the Alpha class, each of us from one of the seven main families, only I wasn't representing the Northmountains. That’d be my cousin. I had changed my name. The Heartsong surname ended two generations ago. I brought it back when I changed my name.

WE HAVE SEVEN FIGHTERS IN THIS YEAR’S ALPHA CLASS. I'LL READ THE NAME FROM LOWEST TO HIGHEST RANKING. I can feel eyes on me. I look over and it's Sarah, she's glaring with angry disbelief in my direction. GARRETT SHADOWTAIL, MASON NORTHMOUNTAIN, JAMISON BLACKFIRE, JAXON MOUNTAINMOVER, LEXUS STONEMAKER, DARIEN MOONSTAR, AND ALORA HEARTSONG

With each of our names read, a full-body picture was shown of us in our human form, and next to it was one of our wolves. Darien’s pose showed him leaning on a wall with his left elbow, hand, and fingers combing the longer top part of his hair back, showing the shaved sides, his face tilted up, his almond-shaped,amber-colored,cinnamon-rimmed eyes sparkling with mischief. 

His wolf picture showed a devilish grin, showing white teeth, his other hand on his hip. His wolf was large, a black wolf with gray frosted tips of his fur; he was posed sitting and had a large, toothy grin on his muzzle. 

My picture showed me in my favorite fighter's pose, my arms up, head down, my violet eyes glittering, a smirk on my mouth. I was wearing a purple sports bra and short black sports shorts, showing off my tan skin and fit muscular body, with all its dips and curves. I had to admit, I looked really good in that picture.

My wolf was in an attack pose, a snarl showing all her long, sharp teeth, her white fur glowing, black edging the tips of her ears, the black crescent moon and star marking on her hip, the tip of her tail dipped in black. My wolf looked beautiful and fierce. This was the picture Darien had tricked me into taking, saying, "What could it hurt?" 

For the first time, I felt pride in being on display, making me glad Darien had me take it. I looked strong, and despite what my parents and sister said, I knew I was beautiful, and my wolf was absolutely gorgeous. I could feel Xena preening on the inside, and felt her own pride at how her image showcased her as fierce on screen. 

Next to me, Darien said. "Maaaaan does she look pissed, bet your parents are too, yep...yep they are, too." I looked to where Sarah was sitting, and she and the rest of her posse had jealous fury written on their faces. I then looked up to where my parents are sitting, and they're glaring at my picture. If looks alone could set shit on fire, that billboard would be toast. 

The screen switched to display all of us from the first rank, me, to the lowest rank. I hoped my parents were watching their status among the Northmountains diminish and lower with each moment they realized they could have used me to be number one. But now that I changed my name, it was Sarah's lack of success that is going to bring them down.

"Pissed is going to be an understatement. These fights also determine the future placement in the Northmountains clan's structure. Because I changed my name, Mason's family will now be top-ranked among the Northmountains, my parents have just been knocked down to the bottom." He looks at me with shocked eyes. "Oh shit," he says, the smile he gives, as he figures it out, is wide. “Now you are getting why I changed my name before the exams," I say.

The first match was between Garrett and Mason, and Mason came out on top. The next match was Jamison and Jaxon, with Jaxon coming out on top. Then it was Lexus and Darien, with Darien coming out on top. Because I was the top student, I wasn’t in the first round. 

In the next round, Mason and Jaxon fought. Jaxon came out on top of that fight, meaning he was my first opponent. Then Darien and I would fight. I stand up, stretch, pop my neck, and start making my way down to the floor, to the Arena I would be battling in. 

I get my head into the battle, starting to think of facts, making a plan. Jaxon, like Darian and the Twins, was six feet five, and he also had large, solid muscles. He wasn't just strong, he was fast, too. But then, I was, too. I was the fastest.

I could use my speed to add three to five times the power behind my hits, depending on what move I used. I like to hit nerve points that deadens the reflexes, crippling an opponent for a moment, enough to land more blows for a win and not a kill. 

I had different skills that I'd use for a kill. Jaxon's picture was up next to mine; his human form stood, legs spread, arms crossed, and he was tan with fiery red hair. His wolf, a big red muscular brute, sat with a calm and steady look. 

The wolf was only two or three inches bigger than my Xena, she was the biggest she-wolf in the pack. The size of an Alpha is one more thing that marks me as a Heartsong. My blood starts to heat, and I feel the adrenaline start to fill my veins. I wasn't going to be holding back today. Xena's excitement at the impending battle was big. She was just as charged. We were finally going to be able to showcase our skills.

I've been training with the Alpha's Elite soldiers for years now. Then they brought in the senior class to the dojo arena I had been training for the last three years already. I had been careful not to showcase the extent of my training, but I was too competitive in a fight not to come out on top. I was basically used to help train my fellow seniors. 

Luckily, my parents haven't opened up a single piece of mail or read any notice from the school that had my name on it in the last four years. So they completely missed all my college accomplishments, my name change, and my training advancement and ranking. 

That and, per the Alpha’s direction as of last year, all my school mail went to him. Because he was Alpha, he actually had the authority to sign off on anything school related. I was in a pack high school and a pack university, making things a lot easier for me than they would have been if I had been in human-run schools.

I make it into the arena and look up at where my parents are sitting. Their fury was a living breathing thing, but I wasn't afraid anymore. I was an adult, and the Alpha was able to keep them from harming my education. If they kicked me out early, I'm pretty sure the Alpha will let me move into the pack house early.

So, I smirked at them, then I turned away to face my opponent, everything else falling away but what was here on this platform. I take my skirt and cardigan off. Standing in just my tank and capris, I move into a fighting position and wait for the signal to start. 

This was going to be fun, I thought, a grin on my face.

Unknown POV

Sitting in a luxury office chair behind an antique desk in a private study at an alpha university is an Alpha wolf, with nearly completed training, and looking forward to going back home to his Pack. In his hand is the most recent picture of a violet-eyed beauty. 

He still remembers the blood and mud-covered, half-drowned little pup he had found on the side of the river near the Pack House. He had helped his mother nurse the pup back to health before they returned her to her parents.

The hand not holding the picture tightened into an angry fist. He hated those people. No matter how hard they tried to intervene, she was still abused. He told his father he wanted her protected. It was part of his deal he made when going away to this prestigious Alpha training school. 

Only the best go here, and only the strongest Alphas and Betas graduate. His little brother had been her best friend for a very long time. He almost felt jealous of their deep connection, wishing he had a deep connection of his own with her. 

His brother would text him with updates, one such update several years back had him calling his father, demanding he find a way to free her from her parents. His brother had told him she hadn't been to school in a week, and he knew something was wrong.



###>>>
Chapter 10


Unknown POV cont'd

They had to be hurting her, he didn't know how, and his brother said she wouldn't talk about it. Only that it took three days before he stopped smelling fresh blood on her. It made him sick to his stomach to think about what they could have been doing to her. 

Now and then, my brother would text me to let me know they had hurt her again. It wasn't that she told him, she didn't, but he could tell when she had been hurt, and he could smell the blood. Her trainers were better able to tell me what kind of abuse she was suffering. My brother said her abilities in healing have accelerated. I thought this might be a blessing from a curse. I start to wonder if she's found her mate. 

She's eighteen now. For some reason, the thought of her with another wolf doesn't sit well with me. Maybe I have just become possessive of her over the years. I've felt the need to protect and care for this she-wolf since I first met her. Her sister makes her high school life hell. My brother has told me every false rumor that’s been cruelly spread about her. 

He told me about one girl who stood up for her against her sister once, and the result of doing so. Her sister has effectively isolated her. It made me grateful that my brother has been by her side, even if I was still a little jealous. My phone pings with a message. Looking at it, I see it's from Darien.

Something bad happened today to Alora. My heart stops for a moment in fear for the she-wolf who's been through entirely too much already.

“What happened?” I text.

“She found her mate today, but....” he replies back.

“But what?”I message.

It was Matthew, Sarah's boyfriend. He rejected her on the front lawn at the school, and she rejected him back instead of just accepting it. She sent the repercussions back to Matt, fucker collapsed on the lawn. Then that bitch, Sarah, started slapping her over and over, shrieking bullshit at her. One of my mate's brothers stepped in and threw Sarah off her after the fourth slap. He replies. 

“What the fuck!? How is she reacting to all this?” I ask.

“Well, bro, it's not good. She said she's finally reached her limit. That was her last straw; she said she wouldn't hold back anymore. I say, they fucking deserve her wrath,” was his reply.

“Congratulations on meeting your mate .” I am happy he’s met his mate.

“Thanks, Serenity is amazing. I wish you could have been Alora's mate, Matt didn't deserve her,” He replies

“Your senior class should be having their training finals today,” I text.

“Ya, you should see the picture they have of her and her wolf Xena,” he tells me.

He sent me the picture they made of Alora and her wolf, Xena. I opened it up, and instantly, I felt a punch to my gut, all the air left my chest. She's grown to be utterly magnificent. Tall, with well-defined muscles that had the perfect amount of bulk to match that amazing curvy body. 

Her look was fierce, her eyes glittering like purple diamonds. Her hair, long, deep black, shiny with a blue hue, was pulled back from her face in a high tail. Her outfit bared mouth-watering amounts of her gorgeous olive-toned skin.

She always smelled of hot caramel, apple, and cinnamon to me. I look at Xena and she's just as fierce and magnificent, her luminescent white fur glowing, the few black markings she had outlined her ears, her tail looked like the tip had been dipped in black ink.

Then there was the mark on her hip. It was a blessing from the Goddess. It was a crescent moon and a star. Her face was pulled into a snarl, displaying all those long, sharp, and shiny fangs. 

I've kept an eye on her and taken care of this she-wolf through progress reports my father passed on to me and updates my brother would send me. I don't know why I felt compelled to do this, my wolf Zane was also protective of her, ever since that day we found that poor abused pup at my favorite thinking spot. 

I shudder to think what could have happened had I not been there that day. I'm also grateful that her Goddess-blessed mark didn't show up till after the first shift, long after her parents stopped really seeing her. They would have used her to their own ends, never letting her go. They never let people near her enough to show the abuse she suffered. 

I had begun to watch the little she-wolf, telling my brother to be nice to her. At first, he didn't know why. Then, as he got to know her for himself. He formed a friendship with her, and they became best friends. I knew he was her confidant and her defender, as much as she would allow anyway. 

She was as independent as she was able to be in her current environment. I suspect she was trying to protect others around her from harm. I saw how brilliant she was one day. I decided that was how we were going to free her from her family. Education. But her family was holding her back. 

They had perfectly reasonable explanations as to why they didn't want her to advance in school as fast as she could. I knew the real reasons; they hadn't wanted her to show up as their perfect Ice Princess. So my father and I came up with a plan, she would advance in her high school, she would only attend training and all AP classes, of which she only had two. 

They were just English and history, then she would be bussed to the University to attend the rest of her classes. She accelerated her learning there. She was a genius, had a photographic memory, and was able to retain everything she read and learned. She already passed her finals and put in all of the required internship hours to get her doctorate. 

We had only stepped in to arrange for her internship at the lab where she has worked for the past three years. Because of her age, she would have been turned away from any human-owned lab, but we had our own labs, with advanced and continuing advancing technology. She had proven herself to the lab and secured a position as a lead doctor and head of her own research team as soon as everything was completed. 

She just needed to finish her exams. Her test results in each of her exams would be immediately reviewed, graded, and submitted after each one. Her diploma was issued and signed the moment her last results were submitted. I didn't want her to have to be with that family for a second longer than necessary.

There was something else we were able to do to help her gain her freedom from her family. She had looked so much like the First Alpha that when she came to the Alpha to ask to have her DNA tested and matched to her parents, he immediately had it done. 

He not only had it compared to her parents but against the Heartsongs as well, and found to our delight that she was indeed a descendent. The last Heartsong had married a Mountainmover, they had one son and one daughter.

The son looked like his father, pale with blond hair and his mother's blue eyes, the girl was dark-skinned with blond hair and violet eyes. The girl and her parents were killed in a landslide. The son married into the Frost line, and Bettina was his daughter. 

Both he and his mate were killed in a car accident when a semi-truck lost control, the weather had been bad and they were one of twenty cars in the pile-up, this happened before Bettina turned eight, she was then adopted into a strictly traditional Frost family, completely changing her from the woman she should have been.

Having discovered all this after the investigation, my father made a suggestion that she change her name when she turned 18. We came to find out she had already planned to do that. The name she chose was fitting, and because she was indeed a descendent, allowed. She was reborn as Alora Luna Heartsong and blood-sworn into the pack by the Alpha with that name. 

All her school reports and paperwork immediately changed to match. I decided that for extra protection, she should be moved into the pack house as soon as she graduated. So I had Father give her a suite of rooms next to mine. They were already prepared and waiting for her, just in case she had to move early, and it was looking like she might. 

I hear a knock on the bedroom door, it opens, and I know who it is before he comes through the study door. He has black hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. His name was Xander Frost Stonemaker, my chosen Beta, and that fuck-tard Matt's older brother. "What’s up, Damien?" he asks. 

"Your brother is a fucking idiot," I tell him.

A resigned look appears on his face, he asks "What did the fucker do now," growling a little.

"He rejected his mate in front of the school for Sarah." I wait. First, he looked shocked, then he had a look of indignation, before finally, anger.

"That IDIOT, what the hell was he thinking?" he looks at me. Do you know who he rejected? I nod, saying nothing for the moment. "Who?" 

I pick up my phone and show him the picture my brother just sent me of Alora and Xena. His jaw drops. "The fucking idiot gave up that sexy she-wolf for the slut of the century." his tone was one of disbelief.

"How? I mean, this one is supremely hot. What was he thinking? And, a goddess-blessed wolf, too." He looks at the picture a little longer, and a look of confusion appears. “Wait ... is that...that’s Alora!" he looks at me now, surprised by who she is.

I just nod again. "Oh, he's going to regret his decision. And I’m not going to feel sorry for him at all." He growled the last word.
He looks at me and then asks. "What's got you worried?" he asks. I looked back down at her picture, it was a moment before I looked back up at him and said.

"Your brother rejecting her and her sister attacking her for rejecting him back has been her last straw." I see fury in his face at what his brother and Sarah did to this she-wolf. “My brother told me that she's reached her limit." he looks confused. 

"What does that mean now?" he asks. 

"It means... she's no longer going to hold back," I say.

He looks at me before understanding the lights in his eyes. "Oh shit." and that about summed up my thoughts exactly.



###>>>
Chapter 11


**Jaxon's POV**

I look across the arena and the introverted wolf that hid in a hoodie and baggy track pants is gone. In her place is a fierce warrior. I was in the crowd when she was rejected. My cousins had stepped in. I couldn’t figure out why at first till I talked to them. What came out of that conversation was that this was a she-wolf who deserved better than what she had been handed. As I look at her now, I realize that what I had seen before was a she-wolf hiding who she truly was. This magnificent fighter before me was the real wolf.

She was going to kick my ass. But it would be my honor to battle her. She had a fierce aura that screamed Alpha. After this, I hope she will accept my pledge of friendship. The bell dings, and the battle begins. It was over quickly; she had been fierce, taking no quarter, proving she was the best fighter.  I felt joy at having been defeated by such a strong person, right before I blacked out.

**Sarah's POV**
My blood is boiling with fury. How dare she show me up? How was she in the Alpha class? How dare she try to steal Matt from me? That little bitch would pay. My parents were mad at me. They wanted to know why I wasn't in at least the elite fighter class. Uh hello, I didn't want to break my nails, and all the sweating and running, ugh, so not pretty. Also, I don’t like pain. I love to give it, though, and I would give it to her.
I'll have Daddy chain her to the post in the basement again. By the time I'm through with her, she'll never think to show me up again.  How dare she change her name without our permission? Didn't she know that she humiliated our parents publicly? They were also going to make her regret her decision. I hope they kicked her out after I'm done with her first, though.

I look for Matt in the stands, but he's not looking at me. Serenity had caved in his face. I knew from experience that hurt, but he healed faster than I did, so all that was left now was a lot of really ugly bruising. When it happened to me, I had been in pain and unable to show my face for three days. I try to get his attention, but he's still not looking at me. He's looking at the billboard with my sister's picture.
The slut was practically naked. The stupid bitch wasn't even covering up her horrible dark skin. And that wolf of hers, what was with those markings? She was grotesquely huge, too big for a she-wolf. God, she needs to lose weight.  Someone should tell her a snarl is horribly unattractive. But, Matt is looking at that picture with sadness and longing.

What? No, you’re mine! You already rejected her, and she rejected you back. I look back at the picture. That slut! She's still trying to take Matt from me.No, I won't allow it! That bitch should go to hell! This time I'll make sure she has scars. I'm going to carve her face with a silver knife. I'll put silver in the tails of the whip before I whip her till her back and front are nothing but raw meat!

My fury grows as I watch her descend into the arena. I look at Matt and sure enough his eyes are still on her, looking at her like he wants her. This only makes me seethe more. My fists are clenched so tight that my nails are drawing blood. She'll pay, oh, she. Will. Pay! I look at my parents who’re not bothering to watch the fight.
My mom and dad are arguing with each other. She even made my parents forget about me. Me! I'm their Princess! The only one who matters. Before long, the battle is over and she's declared the winner. What?! I look up at the board and there it is. The bitch!
**Matt's POV**
I fucked up. I rejected my mate. I look at the picture on the board and I no longer see anything ugly about her. All of Sarah's words fall away. My wolf is silent inside my head. He never liked Sarah, he never was going to accept her but I had ignored him in the wake of what I thought was good sex and all the things Sarah told me. But I should have been thinking with my head and listening to my wolf instead of following my dick. All the times my wolf told me not to listen to her, I should have listened. Now I've rejected my mate for someone who I now know was not worth it.
Once both parties reject the other, there is no way to repair the bond. I felt the pain when I threw away my Goddess-given mate. Then Sarah had attacked her, but I'd been, and am, too weak to protect her. I look at her picture. The board lists her as First Rank Alpha Class. She deserved better than me. My wolf spoke to me for the first time in a while." She should have someone stronger than us, she was right to reject us."Aries's sadness is my own. "No, she didn't reject you. It was me she rejected, “ I tell him, pain in my voice.
"This was my fault. If we get a second chance. I won’t make the same mistake." I feel Aries stir in me. "Will you listen to me now?” he asks softly. "I should have been listening to you all along. Hopefully, the goddess will give us a chance at redemption and  another mate I will swear to love and appreciate like I should have Alora." I watch Alora as she descends. She looks ready for battle.
I'm filled with sadness for what I've thrown away and longing for what could have been. I hope the next one the Goddess chooses for her truly deserves her. I look over at Sarah, the stupidest reason I had for rejecting this glorious she-wolf, and I see her glaring in poisonous fury at Alora. "I don't like the look on her face," I say to Aries.
"She's going to do something, something horrible to that girl." was Aire's response. I don't doubt that. My stomach turns at the thought of having to go near Sarah. "The only thing we can do is keep her attention on us and away from Alora," he growls, not liking the Idea. "I also think it's time I talk to Darien. He was right all those years ago." Sick to my stomach but resigned to my fate, I looked up at Darien. He would be up next to fight Alora.
I see Darien using his phone to record the battle. The bell rings, bringing my attention back to the two opponents. She moved fast, a blur of speed and grace going in low only to snap up high in a spinning whip-like kick that had the wolf flying back, his body spinning. He landed face down before rolling to the edge.
Alora landed from her kick with both feet and spread her arms up in fighter position. She waits for the other wolf to get back up. He runs in her direction and she's off again with all that speed going at him. Then, she jumps up high over him, and spinning, lands another whip-like kick on the back of his shoulders, sending that large male crashing down to the floor.
Alora lands next to the wolf and jumps back before resuming what I'm now tagging as her fighter stance. She waits. Her opponent doesn't move. She's declared the winner, she hadn't even broken a sweat, not even breathing hard. She moved from her fighter stance and was now standing proud, shoulders back, spine straight, head held high, her eyes still glittering like purple diamonds.
She's an Alpha she-wolf. Without having to be mated to an Alpha, she is an Alpha, and the full ramifications of what I gave away start to drown me. I never deserved her. Her next mate would have to be the Alpha of Alphas to deserve being blessed with her.
**Darien's POV**
After texting my brother, I decided to record Alora's battle so I could send it to him. I record her walk down into the Arena, and her climb to the platform. She removes her cardigan and skirt and takes a familiar fighter stance, one I've seen my brother and father take. There is a reason I'm one of the top two ranks in the Alpha class but watching Alora move and take down the other wolf reinforces why Alora was ranked first. I didn't start training with Alora till this year. I knew she was training in a separate dojo arena since the beginning of high school.
I knew my brother and father had done that to protect her from her sister, but  I realized as I was training with her, it was also to help her hide her abilities. The less her family had to despise her, the fewer reasons they had to abuse her, and the more chances she had to improve herself to get herself out of their reach. That's why my brother and father have helped her as they have.  I was thinking it would be better to move her into the pack house sooner rather than later.  Looking down at Sarah and the maniacal fury on her face makes me think tonight would be the night she needs to move.
I sent my brother the video of her fight. Then I sent him a message about what I'd observed,  my thoughts, and my gut instinct telling me we needed to move her into the pack house tonight. I got a text back that he had already thought the same thing and was waiting for our father to message him back. I knew my father was among the crowd.
There was no way he was going to miss this. He has watched all of our official fights,  Damien’s, mine, and Alora's. He thinks of Alora as the daughter he never had. Mom loves her and wants to be able to shower her with it, But Mom knows what her family would do to her if they knew how much the Luna and Alpha of our pack cared about her.
To me, she is more than my best friend, she is my sister but I am sure she means so much more to my big brother, and not as a sister. I hope the Goddess will bring those two together. If anyone would take care of and love Alora the way she deserved, it was Damien, and at age 23 with no mate yet, I was starting to wonder if that wasn't what the Goddess had planned in the first place.



###>>>
Chapter 12


**Alpha Andrew's POV**
I've been getting messages and reports all morning about what was happening. I was in the Principal's office when my Master Trainer of the Alpha Class came in. He reported the scene on the school's front lawn, so I stayed in the office for the eventual confrontation with Allister and Bettina Northmountain. We also got the camera footage pulled up and ready for when they came into the office. As expected, they had come in mad.
They started by asking how we could let Alora and two brutes bully their precious princess. We played the footage of what happened before we informed them that no punishment would be exacted against Alora or the boys who helped her, including my son and his new mate, Serenity. A she-wolf I happened to know was sweet as could be, she loved to be helpful, but she was so shy it was hard for her to talk to people. I knew my boy was head over heels in love with her.
My Beta and his mate came in after the Northmountain’s left. We replayed the footage for them. My Beta was furious that his son would be so stupid, his mother was horrified at his cruelty. I knew they wanted to confront their son, but there wasn't time. We had to get to the Arena for the training finals. I didn't want to miss my son's or Alora's fights. I had wanted to talk to them both before the matches, but this morning's events prevented that.
I make my way to my seat, my Beta and his mate to my left. My mate comes up on my right, sits down, then cuddles close, wraps an arm around mine, and leans her head on my shoulder. "So...I've heard it's been a very eventful morning for our son and Alora." She looks up at me, inquiringly. I lean down and kiss her forehead. I love this she-wolf with all my heart and my entire soul.
Even with age, she is still the most gorgeous woman I've ever known. Her hair was still a solid deep dark red, almost black, her eyes, a cerulean blue, tilted up at the edges were large. She had a petite face with a pointed chin, her nose was cute, tilted up a little, her lips, full and pouty, were a natural dark pink. She was lean and her breasts were perfect and full. Her bottom, even at fifty, was still firm and round with a beautiful bounce to it. Her legs were long, her thighs were just the right thickness, toned with muscle.
I loved the way her muscles moved under my hands as I touched and kissed my way all over her body. Even after all these years, my mate could make me burn and feel as randy as a teen wolf hooked up on hormones. Shifting in my seat as my pants become a little tight, I move a strand of her silky hair behind her ear. "Yes, my love, it has been an eventful morning for both of them." I look across the Arena at both Darien and Alora; they are sitting next to each other in their assigned seats. "Our son found his mate, a she-wolf, I believe you will approve of, and Alora, sadly, was rejected by hers." I hear her gasp.” "By who?” Her tone was one of outrage.
My Beta, Boris, and his mate, Lissanna, lean forward."It was our idiotic son Matthew,” states Boris. Gasping, "No, this can't be true, Lissanna?" My wife looks at my Beta’s mate. "I'm afraid so. How could  he do something so foolish, and for that she-wolf, Sarah?" Lissanna looks angrily in the direction of that she-wolf. "Alora would have been a blessing to our household." She looks up at Alora, her look sad. "My son will come to regret his decision, but there is no going back. He  will never regain the bond he broke with her."
My mate is looking at Lissanna, she looks sad as well. "I hope your son will get a chance to redeem himself and hopefully get a second chance, one  I hope he'll appreciate." Lissanna nods, then faces forward as the lights dim and the fight starts. We all laugh as Sarah has her rear handed to her, not even making it to the third round. Further into the fight, my eldest son, Damien, starts to message me.
“Heard about what happened this morning,” he said.
“ I was going to call you about it this afternoon; however, it seems your brother beat me to it,” I replied to him.
“He also told me she said she's not holding back anymore,” he sends back.
“That, I did not know.”
My mate shakes my arm. "Honey, look at our son's picture, isn't he just darling,” she coos, smiling.
My mate didn't believe in hiding her affection. It's why hiding how much she really cared about Alora was difficult for her, but she did it with grace. In return, she seemed to be extra loving to her family during those times. I think it was how she coped with all the horrible things done to the girl. Some, we can only guess based on the reports given. We could only tell because of the smell of blood, or the way she favored certain limbs, or carried herself a certain way. She didn't really speak too much about what it was they put her through.
My oldest is extraordinarily protective of her and has been since he found her during that pack picnic covered in mud, blood, cuts, and bruises. We rushed the poor child back to the pack house. My mate ran the pack clinic being a pack doctor. She was one of the top surgeons there. She had been at home that day and took over her care when we got there.
I had never seen my wife so furious. She raged for hours about the mistreatment of the girl and the condition she was found in. My wife said she was not to be moved for at least a week. It was all the reprieve we could give her but in that week, that gorgeous little pup found her way into our hearts. Darien thinks of her as a sister and his best friend.
My phone pings, it's another message from Damien. “Dad, I think we should plan to move Alora in early. I have a bad feeling about leaving her with those people any longer.“ I read my son's text, then I looked for the people he's talking about.
The looks of fury on both of their faces as they glared at the program list, it looked like they found Alora's name and rank. Before I can reply to Damien, my wife shakes my arm pointing at the Arena and the two fighters.
"That's Serenity, Darien’s mate,” she points out, and then points at the other opponent. "And that’s Matt."
"Well, indeed it is." I look at Boris. "How do you think this is going to go?"
He cringes. "I think this is going to go badly for my son; that little she-wolf looks really angry."
Looking down, I see that the girl is indeed angry. "I have a feeling she has taken a liking to Alora."
"I believe you are right, and Mountainmovers tend to be protective of those they like,” his tone grim. "But, if what you have told me is true, then Alora deserves protection. I've heard Sarah talk about her before. It was all bile and venom, one of the reasons my mate and I have never liked her. She is constantly putting down her fellow wolves and bragging about herself, “says Boris.
"She's extremely arrogant, just like her parents. That Alora had the misfortune of being born into that family had been breaking my family's hearts since we first met her," I tell Boris.
"How did you meet her?" he asks, with genuine interest in his tone.
"Remember that pup my son and I found half-drowned by the river during that pack picnic about 9, almost 10, years back now?" I ask him.
It was Lissanna who gasped in horror. "You don't mean...Alora is that poor little abused pup is she...?" I nod in confirmation, she looks up at Boris with anguish. " Oh, Boris...does he even not know or remember? That poor girl." She looks down, and when she looks up again, it's with the angry determination of a momma she-wolf whose pup is about to be disciplined. I've seen it on my mate's face when our boys would get out of line. "That boy will be taught a lesson when he gets home," she growls angrily.  "If that little she-wolf down there doesn't do it first," Boris says.
We all look down at the match. Matt already looks like he's been hit with a boulder as Serenity runs straight at him, he goes to grab her but she slides down feet first between his legs, once behind him she does a quick turn and jumps up Matt turns around, he looks up as she brings her fist down in a vicious punch that caves in the left side of his face.
Blood spraying, he spun around, down on the platform, and rolled a few times before coming to a stop on his back. It’s obvious he will not be getting back up soon. I look back to see Serenity had landed with her feet shoulder-width apart, arms down, hands in fists, glaring at Matt. She was declared the winner.



###>>>
Chapter 13


**Alpha Andrew's POV **
We all cringe in sympathetic pain. Boris clears his throat. "I believe, Andrew, that your son's mate has thoroughly taught my son a lesson." His mate looks up at him, her face has a multitude of expressions, like she couldn't decide what to think at this point, but she wasn't angry anymore. In fact, I  think she was feeling almost the same as her mate. I look at mine, her look is hesitant.
"I think...That I agree with Boris on this dear, what about you?" Looking at Boris and Lissanna, I nod in affirmation. "I will still be giving him a lecture, I want to make sure he knows fully how badly he has messed up," said Lissanna. "So he won't ever make this mistake again?" asked my mate. "Exactly so, Ember,” Lissanna agrees. We fall silent for a while watching the rest of the Elites battle.
It got interesting, the top two ranking wolves were twins, and Serenity's brothers. The boys were too evenly matched, and this resulted in a tie between them. When it came to battling her brothers for the top two ranks, Serenity forfeited, saying she was content with the third rank. Looking at her I believe if she truly wanted to, she could have probably won first rank.
But to do that, she would have to cause injury to her brothers, and I sensed that was something that little she-wolf couldn't stand the thought of. Looking at her brothers, I get the same sense about them. They wouldn't ever hurt their sister in that way. Training was one thing, and an actual battle was another.
Ember pulls my arm and is pointing at the screen. Now that the Elite Class human fights are over, it is time for the Alpha class. "Look at Alora's picture dear." I look up and I'm shocked. Alora is always in track pants and large hoodies, even in the middle of the worst heat of summer, she would stay covered, but in this picture, she's not.
She's in what looks like perfectly fine athletic shorts, they go to mid-thigh, and her top looks like any other sports top most of my female warriors wore to train in. I was just in shock at seeing her dressed like those other warrior she-wolves for the first time instead of covered up completely. But that wasn't the only thing that was different.
She was pictured standing in my favorite fighter's pose, one taught to me as a pup during my training, one I taught my boys, and the one I taught her. All of her long hair was pulled back out of her face in one high tail. Her eyes were glittering with her internal strength, an Alpha's glare. When had she developed that look? This was not the little girl pup I've known; this was an Alpha she-wolf.
I look at the picture of Xena. She's braced in a standing attack position, her long claws spread, her head low, her muzzle forward, her mouth drawn back in a fierce snarl showing all her long, shiny, white fangs. Xena's eyes, a glowing lavender, had the same Alpha's glare as her human had.
The combination of both sides by side was a powerful image. “Darien took those photos," Ember states. I look down at my mate. "How do you know?"
She laughs, "Mate darling, our son has been taking photography courses at the University as one of his electives. He came home all excited one day, telling me how he was getting to take the Alpha Class's Tournament Day photos for the finals,” she says brightly.
"Alora must have taken his. She might not be in the class, but Darien shows her everything he's learned. He told me that if she'd been in the class, she'd be the top student. He said her pictures are pure art." She pauses. "Of course, it helps that they're both very photogenic," she says, looking at both of their pictures.
I noticed how good the others were, then I started to wonder. "Did he do any of the other class’s photos?" I ask my mate.
"He did the Elite Class. The Mid Level Class and the Reserve Level Class photos were taken by another one of his classmates. They were both given permission to use them as their senior project  for their photography finals." I looked at the photos again as my wife handed me the Tournament Guide Booklet.
It has all the seniors and their tournament pictures. I flip through the program, looking at the ones my son had done. They were very good. "I would like to assume he aced his finals; these are amazing," I say to Ember.  Boris and Lissanna are looking at their own booklet, nodding and making noises of appreciation.
We look up when we hear our son Darien's name announced. he was up against Lexus Stonemaker, one of Boris's nephews. Both of our eldest boys are away at college. They are at the top Alpha University, only the strongest of Alphas and Betas even complete their training at this school. Few are able to complete all five years. Damien and Xander, however, were graduating First Rank.
They have stayed at the school most of this time, rarely coming home; only for the few holidays werewolves celebrated that would be considered major, the summer and winter solstice celebrations. There were the spring and fall holidays but winter and summer were the two they chose to visit home each year, and only for a night. So, my mate and I would go to the school to visit them.
The match between Darien and Lexus was over quickly. Darien never lost his smile the entire battle. I could tell he was having fun. I remembered the text from my son at that moment.  I look back at the Northmountain couple. They were still arguing. I text Damien, "I'll talk to your mother." He sends an acknowledgment, "Okay." I look up as they announce Alora's match.
I nudge my mate. "Do you have your camera?" She takes it out of her purse.
"You want me to record her fight?" she asks.
"Yeah, I want her to have a memento, and I think Damien would like to see it." She nods."You're right." She gets the camera set up and starts recording.
Alora descends to the Arena floor and up onto the platform, her stance and aura that of an Alpha, spine straight, shoulders back, head held high, eyes glittering like purple diamonds, an alpha’s glare in place. She was magnificent. "She's all grown up," Ember comments. I nod my acknowledgment. I now know what my son was trying to tell me. She had told him she wouldn't hold back anymore.
What I hadn't realized was how much she had been holding back. Who knew she was this much of an Alpha? She steps up to the platform and takes off a really short black cardigan and a wrap-around skirt, leaving her in a pair of black athletic capris and a short black tank with purple skulls on it. She takes the fighter's stance and waits for the signal.
She was fast, I didn't know she had progressed to this level, and she was strong. It only took her two hits, and then her opponent was down and out; she was the winner. The entire crowd was in shock at how abruptly the match had ended. Then the announcer declared her win. There were roars of victory that spread through the crowd, a tribute to the victor.
Something is niggling at me, and I look down at the Northmountains again. Their fury and glares at Alora were murderous. The worry my sons had expressed was now in me. "Ember my love," she looks at me, then turns to look at the couple, too. "How do you feel about moving Alora into the pack house early?" She's still looking at Allister and Bettina. "I think tonight would be as good as any time." My phone pings with a message.
"Dad, Darien thinks we need to move Alora in tonight. He said Sarah looks insane with anger." Then, immediately after, I get another message. "Dad, we need to move Alora tonight. I can't help but feel something bad is going to happen to her if we don't." This one is from Darien. I show them to Ember, and she looks into my eyes.
"Text them back to let them know that's the plan. It's no coincidence we were feeling the same." I do as my mate says. "We'll take her to their house ourselves after the exams are finished, you'll help her pack her things, and we'll get her moved tonight." I look at my Beta, he's looking down at his phone, and Lissanna is looking over to where his son is, with worry.
"What is it, Boris?" He looks at me. "My son sent a text telling me he's worried about what Sarah's got planned for Alora, he said she looks maniacal." He pauses to swallow. "He said he's going to try and keep her attention on him, and asked if there was something I could do to make sure she was safe from her parents."
I think for a moment. "Tell him the Alpha is already seeing to her safety and to not be alone with Sarah, I don't want anything happening to your son, either." He nods and starts texting Matthew back.



###>>>
Chapter 14


**Kian’s POV**
Watching my sister literally smash in Matt's face had been cathartic, he fucking deserved it after what he did this morning. Fighting Galen had dragged on, we were matched in skill. Finally, they called it a tie. I accepted second rank because I was the younger twin. Our sister could have fought us to get the first Rank. Hell, we would have given it to her, but she didn't; she accepted third rank. She told us it's because she's third-born and likes numerology.
She was going to take the lead of her own mountain excavation team, next to mine, before the mining becomes detrimental to the Mountain, marking the places that need to be left alone with an estimation of how long, and seeing to the cultivation of already mined spots.
My brother and I were going to be enforcers; we planned to work our way through the ranks till we reached the top. We're going to be entering the pack’s entry-level enforcer unit for training after this tournament if we can maintain our top ranking throughout all three fighting exams. I look over at our little sister, and she's staring at her mate. He's on the platform now. His moves are fast, fluid, and damaging. I wasn't sure about him at first.
Then, knowing what I know of Alora and that he had stayed her friend through it all, I started to come around. But watching him out there assures me that he will be able to adequately protect our sister, solidifying my approval. I look over at Galen as he meets my eyes, and he nods, letting me know he approves as well.
Darien finished his opponent quickly and made his way back to his seat. There was a moment of cleanup before the next match began. I look up at the board at Alora's pictures of her and her wolf, the name showed her wolf went by the name Xena. The look in their eyes and the way they posed spoke of power. She was a woman you could devote your life to serving.
It would be an honor to be assigned as this she-wolf's enforcer. She was going up against a close cousin, Jaxon Mountainmover. The moment she stepped up on the platform and readied herself for the fight, I could tell it was going to be quick, and it was. Two hits were all it took. I look at my brother, and he looks just as shocked and amazed as I am.
As the crowd starts roaring in appreciation, I hear my sister say, "Oh shit." She looks at us. "Darien is supposed to fight her next." Her voice has a hint of hysterical horror. "Don't worry, little sis. They've been best friends forever now, I'm sure he'll be fine." She doesn't look completely convinced. She looks up and a look of confusion appears.
Looking up, I see her mate looking worried and staring towards the reserve fighter class. I look in the direction he is and my stomach clenches. Sarah looks insane with fury, the kind of insanity that speaks of a rabid killer. "Shit." That came from Galen, my sentiments, exactly. "I'm worried for Alora, “my sister says. "I think we have good reason to worry about her," I tell them both.
I look back up to see Darien texting, the worried look still on his face. Then he puts his phone away and seems to get himself together, getting his mind back to what's on the floor. The next match was between Mason and Jamison. My sister shakes me. "Look at Matt, he's noticed too." I look over and sure enough, he's looking at Sarah. His fear is completely visible as he stares, and then he's texting too.
After he texts, he looks at Alora with worry on his face, then back at Sarah with what I can only see as resignation. He gets a text back, and after reading it, his look changes to one of relief. I can tell the text was not from Sarah; she hadn't stopped glaring homicidally at Alora.
I wonder what was texted to him. It obviously had to do with Alora. "Hey, after this match there's a thirty-minute break. I think Galen and I should find Alora and stick next to her. Serenity, you find Darien, and both of you should come  join us."
"Ok, I planned on finding Darien after this, anyway, but you know Mom and Dad are going to want to see us, all three of us." I look at Galen. "I'll text them where we'll be and we can have them wait with us and Alora until you catch up to us with Darien," he tells her. I nod in agreement. The match between Mason and Jamison was won by Jamison.
Next up were Jaxon and Lexus. Although Alora took out Jaxon with only two hits, he was an amazing fighter. Now that he was back up, he was able to beat Lexus, securing third rank in the Alpha Class's human form tournament. Now, it was finally time for Darien and Alora's fight.
I look up at Darien. Whatever he was reading on his phone took a lot of the worry out of his expression. That was a good thing; distraction while fighting was dangerous. I found that I was actually looking forward to watching their battle. I had a feeling it was going to be unforgettable and epic. There were to be two more matches before theirs happened, so we settled in to watch.
**Alora's POV**
I stretch, getting ready. Darien was no slouch as an opponent, but I was not the first rank because he let me. I was first ranked because I was that good. I wasn't going to hold back. I hadn't, while training with just Darien. He was good, really good, but I was still better, and we were going to give them a show. Just the thought of the battle to come adrenalized me.
We make our way down to the Arena side by side. I can feel his excitement as well. A battle aura was coming off of us in waves that were almost visible. I knew our eyes were glittering with Alpha glares. From the reactions of every wolf we passed, we were intimidating. Some even made submissive motions involuntarily.
We get to the Arena floor and make our way to the platform. I look over at Sarah, her face is almost frothy with her rage. That made me smirk at her, which only made her twist her face more. She was ugly with anger; it had twisted her into something demonic. I look away and over at my parents.
Their faces twisted with angry disdain and outrage. My smirk turned into a full-on smile. I could feel Xena's joy at their irritation. We would no longer bow to their dictates. After this battle, I'll ask the Alpha if I can move in early. I really couldn’t stand another night under their roof.
I face forward, the announcer having introduced us. We both take the same fighter's stance. Then comes the signal, and like a shot, we're off, moving at each other in blurs of speed. Kicks and punches were thrown without mercy; most were blocked, and the ones that landed were powerful and damaging. We go on like this for five, almost ten minutes.
Then he dropped his guard just a fraction, but it was enough to land a whip-like kick to his chest, sending him flying back. He quickly spins, landing on his feet, but I’m already there, landing three lightning-fast kicks across his chest. I jump back before he can grab me. Then I dodge back,  landing a spinning kick across his shoulders, knocking him forward and to his knees.
I jump on his back, wrapping my legs around his arms and pinning them to his body. Then, I wrap my arm around his neck, cutting off his air. He tries to stand but can't, then he flips us, my back on the platform, my hold was still firm. Finally, after trying to slam me into the ground, he taps out.
As soon as I let him go, he rolls over and gasps for breath, coughing, his face red. It takes him a minute. Then he sat down on the platform, and I sat up to watch him after he had rolled off me. We look at each other and laugh. I was declared the winner, and my rank was still secure.
We get up and dust off before getting down, and I put my cardigan and my skirt back on. I look at Darien as we make our way back to our seats. "What are you doing during the thirty-minute break?" I ask him. "My parents want to meet Serenity. They also want to see you, so you have to come with me," he tells me. "Really? Why do they want to see me?" I ask him.
"You'll know when we see them." His tone was teasing. The ass. "This means you'll be meeting her parents, too, you know." I smile as I see him pale at that fact. Then I laugh as he starts looking panicked. "Stop laughing at my expense,” he whines dramatically, making me laugh even harder.
The board is now displaying the new ranking for each fighter's class according to the wins and losses made in this portion of the tournament.  We were released for our break after being advised of what was next, how the fights would be conducted, and what to expect. "Come on, my parents have a spot for us already picked out."
He then stood and hollered at Serenity to get her attention. We waited, standing in front of our seats for Serenity to reach us. Her brothers followed. Darien wrapped an arm around his mate and took the lead, and we left as a group.



###>>>
Chapter 15


**Alora's POV **
We were walking to the area that Darien said his parents wanted to meet us when I got the text,” GO TO THE PRINCIPAL THIS INSTANT. YOU WILL HAVE YOUR NAME CHANGED BACK TO NORTHMOUNTAIN BEFORE YOU FIGHT IN THE NEXT EVENT!!!“ I laugh at the text. Darien looks down at me.
"What’s so funny?" I showed him the text. He snorts. "Why would you ever want to change your name back?" he asks. "Not that you could in the next few minutes anyway. Besides, your blood has been  sworn into the pack under that name now anyway, you would have to take another blood oath with the Alpha."
"And your dad, being the Alpha, is not a pushover; he won't do it unless I want to, and he more than knows how much I love my new name." He nods, "You're right." Another text comes in. “WE WILL SEE YOU IN THE OFFICE. IF YOU DON'T GET THERE IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES, YOU WILL REGRET IT WHEN YOU GET BACK TO THE HOUSE!!!“ I showed him the new text.
"At least we know where they're going to be for most of the break," he pauses. "At least till they get tired of waiting and come looking for you, “his tone dry. "I wish we knew where Sarah was going to be so we could avoid that she-bitch," Serenity comments. We look at her for a moment in shock before we laugh. "I like her Darien, I'm glad she's your mate."
He smiles proudly, preening a little. "I'm glad she's my mate, as well." Serenity giggles; her brothers are both smiling. I look at them."How do you two feel about them being together?" I ask.  "As long as he does and acts as a good mate, we have no problem," said Kian. "We just want her to be happy and loved,” was Galen’s reply.
We hear Darien’s name hollered. We see his mom and dad, our Alpha and Luna. Serenity grabs Darien’s arm and looks up at him, scared. "Do you think they'll like me?" her voice, small and worried. "Don't worry, they'll love you." He kisses her forehead. "You sure? He smiles lovingly at her. "I promise." She smiles, her eyes soft with emotion. "Ok."
We get to Alpha Andrew and Luna Ember. I'm surprised at first when the Alpha grabs me in a hug. "You did amazing today, I'm so proud of you, Alora,” he says. I hugged him back after a moment, so grateful for the affection. My thank you was for more than the words. He lets me go, and Luna Ember is there to offer me her own hug. She hugs me like I'm one of her children.
It felt so good to be hugged like this. It completely breaks down my defenses. She lets me go, still holding my upper arms as she looks at me. "You did so well today,” She praises. Smiling, she looks me up and down before putting a hand on my cheek. “You’ve grown up so much, you've become a wonderful she-wolf right before my eyes." I can't help thinking this was how my mother should have been treating me.
I sniff, my heart full of emotion at their kindness and affection. At the same time, I'm sad because I should have had this all along from my parents. "Thank you, I can't tell you how much it means to me.” She pets my head. "We'll be here for you, sweetie, and  we will support you." Sniffling, I look at Darien. "Have you met Serenity?" I ask them.
Darien brings Serenity forward, and Ember grabs her up. "Oh! Look at how darling you are. My goodness, look at all that beautiful red hair. My girl, I saw you put Matthew in his place during your match, and I must say it was a wonderful sight." This sends Serenity blushing, her mumbled, "thank you" barely audible.
The Alpha chuckles, and he takes one of Serenity's hands. "It's lovely to meet you Serenity. You let me know if my son ever treats you wrong, and I'll teach him a lesson in how to treat his  mate." Serenity is red from head to toe, but she's smiling.
Darien leans down to whisper loudly, "See, I told you they would love you," his smile mischievous and bright. His mother smacks him on the shoulder. "Behave, young man." This made everyone laugh. Galen and Kian are waving to a couple. When they join us, I see that it's their parents. As the parents make their way over, I look around for a moment.
Across the field, I see Matthew with his parents. I don't see Sarah anywhere. She must be in the office with mommy and daddy dearest. Kian nudges me to get my attention. I look up at him, and he's motioning to his parents. It's Galen who introduces me. "Mom, this is Alora. She’s best friends with Darien and our and Serenity’s new friend."
His mother, Camille, was once a Blackfire before mating with the Mountainmovers. When a she-wolf mates, she usually takes her mate's last name, and parts of her maiden name are made into her pup's middle name. So Galen, Kian, and Serenity's names were followed by Fire Mountainmover.
"We saw your fight against our nephew and Darien. I must say you were magnificent, my dear,” she says. Her mate, Alfred Stone Mountainmover, is a sweet-looking older wolf, his kind heart radiating from him, just like Serenity. Now, I knew where she got it. "You did very well, you are most definitely an Alpha she-wolf." This made me smile and blush.
"Thank you." These seemed to be the only words I’ve been able to say since arriving over here with everyone. My phone rings, I look down, and it's my parents. All the good I had been feeling, the glow of warmth, was gone in an instant. I felt saddened and cold at the loss; it was gone as quickly as it had come.
I looked up at Darien, who'd seen the caller's description, it was Luna who spoke. "Go ahead and answer it, my dear, we're right here with you." She wraps an arm around me in support. "Put it on speaker, Alora. We need to hear what it is they say," said Andrew. Ashe's the Alpha, I obey the order.
I see out of the corner of my eye Darien explain to Serenity's parents who is calling, they look confusedly at the apprehension on all our faces. They don't understand why this call from my parents would have even the Alpha and Luna apprehensive. It's only after I put them on the speaker that their look changes to understanding, then at each word, shrieking at me, turns to outrage and anger. Anger at how a parent could say what she said to me.
"WHERE ARE YOU, WRETCH!!! YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO HUMILIATE US AND CHANGE YOUR NAME! HOW DARE YOU ADVANCE TO THE ALPHA CLASS WITHOUT YOUR SISTER! YOU STUPID WRETCH! YOU WILL PAY FOR ALL OF IT! YOU WILL CHANGE YOUR NAME BACK BEFORE YOUR FINAL MATCH AND RESTORE OUR STATUS! IF YOU DON'T, YOU WILL REGRET IT! YOU CAN FORGET GRADUATING! YOU WILL BE CHAINED UP IN THE BASEMENT AND WHIPPED FOR OUR HUMILIATION, YOU WRETCH!DO YOU HEAR ME? ANSWER ME, YOU UNGRATEFUL WRETCH! I SHOULD HAVE DROWNED YOU AT BIRTH! YOU'VE BEEN NOTHING BUT AN UGLY BLIGHT ON THIS FAMILY’S REPUTATION SINCE I BIRTHED YOU! YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE EXISTED!"
The Alpha reached over and disconnected the call. I was just standing there, feeling cold and crushed. The happiness I felt a moment ago was like a distant memory. I don’t make a sound, I look up at the Alpha. I hadn't realized the wetness I was feeling on my face was tears until he grabbed me up into a hug.
"It's okay to cry, Alora, but don't worry, you're not ever going back to those people. We're moving you into the pack house tonight. We'll be going with you to pick up your things so they can't hurt you anymore." That was all it took to have me sobbing silently. My body shaking, Luna puts her hand on my head, pets my hair, and gently rubs my back. "Oh, darling girl...It's going to be okay."
I hear her whisper to Darien. "Go explain everything to Serenity and her parents while we take care of Alora." I hear him move away from us. "You've been abused by those people enough." Luna Ember's voice is soft but angry. "I won't stand for it any longer. We're taking you home with us, we'll be your family." I look up at her in surprise, afraid to hope.
I must have heard her wrong. "W..what..what?" My question stutters out. "You heard right, dearie, we're taking you home and we'll be your family from now on." She touches my face, wiping my tears, and she hands me a tissue from her purse so I can blow my nose. "Would you be ok with being part of our family?" she asks.
I didn't even need to think about it. "Yes." They had been kind to me since the day Damien found me on the river embankment all those years ago. The memory of how wonderful they'd been had never left me.



###>>>
Chapter 16


**Serenity's POV**
I watched her cry, the she-wolf who had shown such amazing power just a short time ago. The glowing happiness I had seen in her at getting praised by the Alpha was gone. It felt almost like the sun had suddenly disappeared, leaving nothing but darkness and despair in its wake. Darien had told us it was her parents calling when she had first stopped smiling and they had all stopped smiling.
Then she answered the phone, and that horrible shrieking began. The things that voice threw at her, those vile words. How could they? How could a parent say those things to a she-wolf like Alora? She was such an amazing she-wolf. I had never believed any of the rumors about her. I had always secretly wanted to be her friend. I had never approached her because I was too shy.
She had always been dressed in hoodies and baggy track pants. Hiding her true self away from everyone. Now I'm beginning to wonder if they were to hide not her true self, but something worse. I'd always admired how smart she was. She was brilliant. I don't know how many people knew she was going to be a doctor after finals. She had been taking college courses.
I knew because my mom was a computer technology professor at Pack University, and I was often there to visit with her. I had always disbelieved the rumors, thinking they were fake because Sarah and her cohorts were always the first ones to start them. But the conversation I had with my mother the day I spotted her on campus after school hours confirmed that all those rumors had to be complete bullshit.
"Hey Mom, why is that girl still here?" I’d asked her. "Huh? What girl, dear?" I pointed at her. My mother seeing who I was talking about had smiled. "Aw, now I know who you're talking about. Alora is special. She is in a doctoral program and is advancing faster than any student we've ever had. She takes two after-school courses every day of the week to accelerate her education. She's been interning at the pack lab three days a week for a year now. She's been taking summer classes here at the University since starting her junior year, and  has been approved to keep her internship at the lab through the summer as part of her accelerated learning program." I was amazed.
Then another thought hit me. "But, doesn’t she work at the burger place, too? I know I've seen her there, “I say.
Mom nods. "Yes, she does, she's part-time there."
All I could think at the time was that there was no way the rumors could be true, she didn't have time for them to be true. I was glad I never believed them. It had only made me want to befriend her more, and that day Sarah came at me, I decided to put her in her place, not just for me but for Alora, too. It felt great to punch Sarah.
She had been avoiding me ever since then. After the glow of the first meeting, my mate died down enough for me to stop being brainless, and I fully realized who my mate was, I was ecstatic. Darien is Alora's best friend. I would finally have a real reason to talk to her and become her friend. That made me happy.
When I did finally get an introduction, it was only to watch in horror as she was rejected. Her mate rejected her for that horrible she-wolf, and then her sister goes and attacks her, shrieking that Alora was stealing her male. But Alora didn't just accept being rejected; she rejected him back. When she did, he collapsed with the pain caused by the shredded mate bond.
Good, he should be in pain for rejecting such an amazing she-wolf for the psycho he chose over her. While everyone stood stunned for a moment, we all quickly shook it off. I turned around and stood in front of Sarah's posse and growled at the she-wolves to keep them from Alora. Darien hovered around me but didn't get in my way.
My brother, Galen, was in front of Matthew making sure he didn't get involved, although he was still on the ground, pale with pain. Kian grabbed Sarah's hand to keep her from slapping Alora any more than she already had. Sarah was then shrieking, falsely accusing her of trying to steal Matt from her, then spewing more bile. My brother fired back at her and put her in her place.
My brothers, Alora, Darien, and I all walked to the Coliseum Arena for our training exams. I got to watch Alora in a whole new way than ever before, her power as a fighter was amazing! Even when I was worried she would choke my mate to death, I was still in awe of how strong she was.
To hear those things from this amazing wolf's parent shrieking at her broke my heart; she deserved to be treated better. I watched as the Alpha hung up the phone for her, and her tears had been silently falling down her cheeks. The Alpha then pulled her into his arms and she silently sobbed, breaking my heart for her even further.
I looked up at Darien. I could tell from the look on his face that he was just as torn up as I was about what just happened to her. I reach out and grab Darien's hand, he turns to look at me, his eyes sad, I reach my other hand up and place it on his cheek, and he nuzzles into my hand, closing his eyes. His mom whispers something to him, he nods his head, his cheek still in my hand.
He pulls away after a moment, opening his eyes he looks down at me, his eyes still sad. "I need to explain things to your parents," he said, his voice soft. I  nod and we face my parents, still holding hands. My brothers were standing next to them.  From their expressions, they wanted to hurt someone, preferably the people who had made that strong Alpha she-wolf cry. She didn't deserve what had happened to her.
Darien clears his throat, takes in a deep breath, lets it out, and then begins to tell us about Alora. With each word said, more and more of the horrors Alora has gone through are revealed. To say I was upset is an understatement. By the end, my mother was leaning into my father, his arms wrapped around her to provide comfort and support. "Oh, that poor pup, how could they? All this...to their own pup." It takes my mom a moment to calm down.
"I'm glad she changed her name. Every she-wolf with that marking on her hip has been a Heartsong, it's only fitting," Mom says. I'm confused for a moment. "What do you mean, Mom?” I ask her. "Well, the Heartsong females are descendants of the Moon Goddess’s daughter, first Alpha, Luna Moon Heartsong." I had forgotten about that legend. Then, Mom continued.
At this point, everyone was listening, even Alora, her tears dried, her despair momentarily lifted in the wake of curiosity. "The crescent moon and star marked Luna Heartsong as the Goddess's daughter and all the acknowledged females descended from her bloodline have this mark,” she pauses. "But, it brings into question why Sarah and Alora's mother doesn't have the mark."
"What do you mean by acknowledged descendent?" Alora asked. "You've been acknowledged as a daughter of the Moon Goddess, and you are meant to bear her next generation of Heartsongs." Alora laughs. We’re confused as to why she was laughing. After she stops, she explains. "My parents are about to lose the high status they've been enjoying among their family most of their lives because they failed to produce a powerful she-wolf."
I'm the one who asks, "But you are a powerful she-wolf, so why would they lose status?" She looks at me. "Because I changed my name, I severed my ties to the family by doing that, so I am no longer their daughter, and the only one they have is Sarah." I connect the dots and start laughing. I have finally gotten it.
The daughter they treated like a princess, the one they chose to acknowledge and actually cared for, was placed at the bottom of the training structure. She was basically an omega. And, the powerful alpha she-wolf they had abused for all of her life to the point she changed her name so she could escape them, was the one that could have kept them at the status they've enjoyed. That means they would blame her for their misfortune. I believe the Alpha had already been aware of the danger to her. "Darien, we should go with your dad to help Alora pack and move. I'll go up to her room with her so it'll be faster."
"That's a good idea. Serenity, you'll go with me and Alora after the tournament ends." The alpha  looks at  his mate."Will you make sure her room is aired out and fresh?" She goes up to him and kisses him. "Of course, my dear." I look at Alora, and she's staring at me, stunned. "Thank you," she said. "I could use the help, and it would be nice to have another friend." I take her hand.
"I've been wanting to be your friend forever, but I've been too shy to say anything. I'm glad you're best friends with my mate because now I get to be your friend like I always wanted to." She smiles at me, happy once more.
"Hey, don't forget about us, we want to be her friends, too,” complained Galen teasingly.
Alora is laughing as she says, "I'd like to be your friend, too." The bell rings then. It's time to go back in for the next portion of the tournament exams.



###>>>
Chapter 17


**Sarah’s POV**
Mom and Dad had grabbed me and dragged me to the Principal’s office. This was not where I wanted to spend my break but my parents were determined to get that bitch to change her name back. I didn't want her to, the slut had tried to steal Matthew from me. Why would I want her to change her name back? I had said as much to my mother, she turned around and slapped me. Me! Her precious Princess!
"Why?" I asked. "Because of you and your sister, we're about to lose all the respect we have worked for in this family. Mason's family is about to be promoted because he is now listed as the strongest wolf of the Northmountain Clan,” she snarls.
This caused me to pale. "Why would that matter?" She slaps me again for my question. "Because you are now the lowest-ranked fighter of the Northmountains!" she shrieks. " And your sister, who is now First Rank of the Alpha class, the child who can support our status, has severed her ties to the Northmountains by changing her name."
I'm shocked. "Well, why didn't you tell me this earlier?!" She looks at me in fury. “ I did, every time I told you that you had to be better than your sister!" We stand around in the office. It's ten minutes before the Principal shows up. He doesn't exactly look surprised to see us there. "What can I do for you?" he asks my mom after he's seated behind his desk.
"I understand that my daughter has changed her last name to Heartsong. We're here to have it changed back." Her  tone was sharp. This is all that skank's fault, my mother never treats me like this. I'm her Princess! I'll make that bitch pay for this.
Maybe, I'll cut her face off and give it to Matthew as a gift since he kept staring at it instead of paying attention to me. He was mine! She can't have him! I'll make her bleed, I'll make her hurt for this. Maybe, I'll pay some human males to have fun with her before I cut her face off. I'll make her beg for death, only I’ll keep her alive to torment her further.
I'll keep her chained up and have my fun with her, if someone makes me angry I’ll just go to the basement and torture her. She'll suffer for breaking my spell over Matthew. I’ll have to ask the Witch how she did it and get another sachet. I'm snapped out of my internal planning when my name is said by the Principal. I tuned back in to what they were saying.
"As far as I know, Sarah is still registered as a Northmountain." he tells my mother. While pointing at me, she shrieks,” Not her!" She then threw her hand up in the air. "My other one, the brown-skinned one with purple eyes and black hair!" she snarls.
"Oh! You must mean Alora!" he said brightly with a smile, then he frowned at my mother. "I was under the impression that she was an orphan that the Alpha and Luna had taken in," he says to her.
"WHAT?!" Just when I thought I had yelled that question out loud, I realized it was in my mother's shrieking tone as she continued. "What would give you that idea?“she continues shrieking. I feel like my ears are going to bleed. Just one more thing that bitch needs to pay for. I'll have to bust her eardrums and let her feel my pain.
"The Alpha and Luna are the ones who have signed off on and filled out all of her school enrollment forms, as well as her permission for  accelerated education, and her entry into a special educational program." He pauses to take a breath, and continues while my head is trying to wrap itself around the information we're being given.
"The Alpha is also the one who had all her registration paperwork changed to reflect her new surname as soon as it was changed. She was 18, so legally  she is allowed to change her last name. Her blood work confirming her as a descendent of the Heartsongs has allowed her to have Heartsong as her chosen surname." He pauses again before dropping another bombshell. "Oh, and her being the only she-wolf with the Heartsong surname, and possessing a crescent sun and moon marking, has allowed the Alpha to have her named as the Alpha Female of the Heartsong Clan and the title officially put into the pack records."
He looks at each of us, taking in our expressions before directing his gaze back to my mother. "The only way her name can be changed back is if she consented, and was sworn by blood to the Alpha with the name change. As she is the one who filled out the request for the change in the first place, I don't think she will change it back." My mother is practically seething in rage at this. "Also, after the exams are finished, she will be receiving her doctorate from the university. She will be made a lead research Doctor, and assigned her own  team of researchers at the Pack’s Lab." Then, shocking us even further, he continues. "As a Clan Alpha Female and a doctor, this will make her more than just a Noble in the pack."
No! This couldn't be! How could this be?! All my plans were slipping through my fingers! There has to be some kind of mistake! No! I won't accept it! She will pay for my pain somehow! My mother asks if the Principal can get Alora here by using the loudspeaker. He tells her no. Since Alora is 18 and a registered alpha female of the pack, mom has no parental rights over her anymore.
Mom then grabs my arm, painfully, and drags me out of the office. I have to be able to make that bitch pay for this humiliation! Mom takes us into an empty classroom and calls Alora. I don't pay attention to what she’s shrieking at Alora when she does finally pick up. I don't care, I just want to take my anger out on someone.
Wait...she still has to come back to the house. I could find a place away from the house to hold her. There was Granddaddy's old place in the mountains. It's been abandoned since he and Grandmommy died. There were no neighbors close by and it wasn't that far from here. I didn't know why we didn't live there.
I knew there was a Trust set aside that paid to have the place taken care of, but that didn't explain why we didn't at least holiday there. I remember that there was a large basement the size of the house. There was an insulated wine cellar that would be soundproof, that's where I could stash her. As though summoning it forward with my thoughts, Mom suddenly starts talking about it.
"The House Allister, the one in the mountains!” she yelled. ""In Father's will, the house would go to the daughter with the Crescent Moon and Star mark. If no daughter of mine is gifted with this mark by the time the youngest is twenty,  then ownership will revert to me!" she yells.
"The will is registered in the pack records, and now so is she, with the mark! That means she owns the Heartsong Mansion and all the surrounding land, a thousand acres!" she  shrieking now.
"That land was the first seat of power for this pack .Everything on that land is historic and extremely valuable, by bringing that to the family I would have been able to make us the head of the entire Clan and we'd be the richest wolves in the Pack!" She’s practically frothing from the mouth now.
What’s happening, how can this be happening?! Does she get everything? Why? She's just a blight! The mistake! The ugly worthless wretch! How can this be happening?
"The only way we'll get the house now is if we force her to sign it over to us." Those words from Mom have me tuning back into  their conversation .
"How can  she sign it over if she doesn't know about it?" asked Father. "Maybe if we keep silent, she won't be able to take ownership of it," he suggested.
Mom scoffed at him "You don't think the Alpha is very aware of that will?" she spits at him. "It was from  when the First Alpha ruled our pack, centuries of Alphas owned that house, all Heartsongs," she informs us. "Then, the powers shifted here or there, and now the Alpha House is on Moorstar land,” giving us a history lesson. "Now, with that wretch owning that house, she's not only going to be a Nobel just  in  name only."" She laughs ruefully. "I bet he's waiting till she graduates before telling her about it," she said.
With this information, I realize keeping her for a long time before I kill her is no longer an option. We'll need her to turn up dead soon before we lose our status officially, so I'll only be able to keep her for a week. I'll start tonight, and I'll let her know just how close she was to escaping. I'll let that tear into her soul as I torture and torment her.
I won't have long, so I'll make the best of it. That thought gets me to calm down and smile inside again. I'll have my fun and get my revenge. Mom will never be able to be mad at me anymore, and Matthew will never lust after that slut ever again!



###>>>
Chapter 18


**Luna Ember's POV**
My heart aches for Alora. The poor darling has been through so much, and I'm sure there is a lot we don't know about. Especially with the way she broke down and cried earlier. That any woman would have talked to her pup in that manner was horrifying. The way Sarah turned out, and her treatment of Alora make me believe she was never fit to be a mother.
I wanted to rip the woman to pieces for the injustices she has done to Alora. I sigh. There is nothing I can do at the moment. I started thinking about Darien’s mate. I'm glad he's found her so soon. Damien is 23 and still has not met his mate. When he finally does, I hope I will like her just as much as Serenity.
I spot the Principal rushing over to where my mate and I are seated. "Johnathan, what has you in such a hurry?" I asked him. "I had to tell Alpha Andrew what I had overheard," he says to us a little breathily. "What is it?" she asks. He looks at us, "I just got done talking to Alora's parents not moments ago." he said. "I gave them the information you told me to, Alpha," he said while looking at Andrew. "But as I left, I happened to hear the wicked witch of the west talking about the Heartsong Mansion and Grounds." Andrew's face was now drawn with concern.
"They know that the will that Bettina’s father left now puts that Mansion in Alora's possession." I gasp. I  had completely forgotten about that man's will. "And, they were not happy about it," he tells us. "They were talking about how they're going to force Alora to sign over the house and grounds." I pale at his words, now understanding his fear; he has a reason for it.
"Oh, Andrew, they're going to do something terrible to her, I just know it." I look at my mate. "I was going to wait till graduation before I told her about the Mansion that is rightfully hers," said Andrew. "Now I'm thinking it's best to do that during the lunch break," his tone grim. "I'll mind link Silas now and have him bring the paperwork here, after Darien and Alora's final matches," he says. I nodded, letting him know I agreed.
He looks at Johnathan. "Will you be the secondary official when we do this?" Johnathan looked delighted to be asked. "Nothing would give me more pleasure. That girl deserves to have her heirloom handed to her; she's gone through too much not to have some good in her life now,” Andrew says. I can't help but agree with him. With all the bad the girl has been through, she deserves a lifetime of happiness.
I was thinking about her clan alpha status now. She's going to need a Beta and two Enforcers. Who would be able to be her Enforcers? Then, as I'm looking at the  two twin wolves, I address Johnathan, “What can you tell me about Kian and Galen Mountainmover?” I then look him in the eyes.
"They're top fighters, they've achieved high marks in all of their studies, they've been exemplary students," he says. "They plan to go into the pack's Enforcer Unit at entry level, even though they're not in the Alpha Class; they should have been, but that was a personal choice," he told me. "There wasn't enough room to allow all three of the Mountainmover siblings. Though, to be fair, all three of them should have been in the Alpha class. They want to be assigned to an alpha,” he finishes. I stay silent for a moment, taking all this in.
"What are you thinking, my darling mate?" asks my husband, as he takes my hand and places a kiss on the back of it. I smile as my heart warms at his gesture. "I'm thinking Galen and Kian would make good Enforcers for Alora, but who to make her Beta?" I ask him? Jonathan clears his throat. "If I may make a suggestion?" Smiling, I gesture for him to go on.
"I believe Jaxon Mountainmover would be a good fit, he's a sibling to the twins, a close cousin," he informs us. "He has worked  well with them on the mock missions we've sent them out on." I'm beaming now. "Perfect, what do you think Andrew?" I ask my mate.
"I think it's a wonderful idea, we'll wait till after the fights and we're settled at home for the evening and let Alora know then." He looks at Johnathan. "Please get messages to all three to meet me and Luna at the pack house tomorrow at ten in the morning." Johnathan nods. "I will get those prepped now and be back before the last match, he said, then left the stadium to do just that.
I look around to make sure those 'people' are still where they're supposed to be. To my surprise, they are. Also, to my surprise is how well Sarah is doing as a wolf. If she keeps it up, she'll make it to the top of the reserve class and be allowed to challenge one of the five top ranks in the mid-level Class to earn advancement.
To my surprise, that is exactly what she does; she manages to eke out a win that allows her to advance, and once more pass that. She managed to make it to number eight in the Elite class ranking before being defeated. A lot of the lower-level wolves were using this chance to make advancements in their rank. Kian, Galen, and Serenity kept the first three ranks in the Elite class, and Matthew advancing to the fourth rank.
During the last fight, Jaxon advanced to the third rank. He was able to keep this rank. Garret won against Mason this time, and when he fought Jamison, he was advanced from seventh rank to fifth rank. Lexus retained fourth rank, Jamison was reduced to sixth, with Mason now in Seventh.
Watching Alora fight Jaxon in wolf form had been a sight to see. Xena was as big as the Alpha males she was up against. She was the biggest Alpha she-wolf we had since the last female Heartsong Alpha. She did her lineage justice by changing her name. I did, however, find the red blood from the other wolf on her white muzzle startling. And the other wolf wasn't able to touch Xena. After her battle with Jaxon and his wolf, Bruno, Alora changed back and cleaned up. Getting ready for her fight with Darien.
I hear footsteps. Johnathan was back. "I got the messages sent to all three, as well as their parents just in case," he tells us. He sits to my left. I look over at Lissanna and Boris. "How was Matt?" Although he's done something so incredibly stupid, that boy was still like a nephew to me. Boris sighs and runs a hand through his hair, tussling his shaggy strands.
"He's devastated at what he's done." He pauses and looks over at Lissanna, and they have a silent conversation. "He said the rejection made something break. He said it was like he could think clearly, that he was no longer in what he called "The fog of Sarah", was the way he put it. It made me remember that one witch we had to banish several years back."
He looks at Andrew. "You remember, the one who was making spell sachets, they forced someone to stay with you and overlook everything that made you want to leave?" asked Boris. I gasp, and he nods at my reaction. "I asked him if Sarah had ever given him some kind of sachet filled with herbs." he pauses, then in a serious tone. "It was in his wallet, something he carries with him all the time." I felt horrified. "We need to find out how Sarah got hold of that Sachet," said Andrew. "I agree, I already set someone on it," Boris said. He looks at us, then says solemnly, "I don't think my son should go near Sarah again."
I looked up at Andrew, he looked at me, and he agreed as well. "You're right, it's just become too dangerous for your son, now,” said Andrew. "Tell him he's not to go near her for any reason." Andrew's tone is serious. "That, if she tries to trick him into going with her somewhere, he is to call and confirm the information and ask for help." Andrew finished with his order. Boris nods in acknowledgment, then picks up his phone to text his son. We look ahead. It was time for the match between Xena, Alora's wolf, and Axle, Darien’s wolf. They both made their way onto the platform and took their fighting stances.
They both radiated strength. Only a really strong wolf should be blessed as Alora's second chance mate. I pause at that thought. There are only a few wolves stronger than she is in this pack. One was my eldest son, and his Beta Xander, Boris, and Lissanna's eldest son, our top Enforcer training Master, and maybe a few of our top soldiers. Of the three top choices, the only two not mated were Damien and Xander.
I didn't want to, but I honestly hoped it would not be Xander, only because I knew my eldest held a deep affection for this she-wolf. Who knows, maybe Damien was meant for Alora. Maybe that’s why he hadn't found his mate yet. The signal to fight sounds, and then Xena and Axle are flying at each other. They dodge, go in, they take swipes and bites, and then Xena has Axle's throat in a suffocating bite; she holds Axle down till he surrenders. They declare Alora and Xena the winner.



###>>>
Chapter 19


**Jaxon's POV**
I'm just sitting in my seat, resting. I'm hurting from my battle with Alora. Her wolf, Xena, kicked my wolf Bruno's ass. Bruno whines in my head, and I chuckle. "What are you whining for?" I ask him. "I can't believe I lost to a female,” he whines. I chuckle. "We lost to the Alpha of all Alpha Females, Bruno. She's special, and I think I would be honored to serve as her Beta." He’s silent for a moment. "The Alpha of all Alpha females, Beta to that title would be an honor,” he finally says. I settled back, happy and at peace.
Bruno settles down, content now with the results of the battle. My phone pings with a notification. I look, and it's an urgent email through the student message board. I open the email, and it's from the Principal. I'm to meet the Alpha at the pack house tomorrow at ten to discuss a career opportunity. Suddenly, Bruno and I are excited and can't wait for tomorrow to be here.
**Matt's POV**
Today is the worst fucking day of my life. To start off with, rejecting my mate and being rejected in return, which broke the spell from a sachet of herbs Sarah had given me under the guise of it being made to ward off evil. Ha! Ward off evil, my furry ass. It allowed evil to manipulate me for the last six years! It explained why I'd been ignoring Aries, and it's what made me make the biggest mistake any wolf could ever make, rejecting my mate.
I wanted to howl in despair at the wrong done to us. Sarah is pure Evil. Without the spell, I would have been working all this time to be the wolf that truly deserved a female like Alora. There was nothing we could do now; we had lost our chance. Hell. Sarah had made sure I never had that chance. I swear to the Moon Goddess if she ever sees fit to bless me with another mate, I wouldn't allow anything, not a damn thing to get in my way of claiming her.
I may not deserve a second chance mate, but Aries did. None of this was his fault. It was all mine for not being strong enough to withstand a spell sachet. My father told me that the sachet carried a layering spell, which means that over time, the more I was exposed to it, the stronger the spell's effect was on me. It was the shattering of my mate bond, an even stronger magic, that broke the spell.
But, that was a small consolation. Compared to what it was, the small, seemingly harmless packet of herbs had cost me big. That she-wolf needed to be held accountable. My father said I can bring charges against her, and I think I will. Now that the fog was lifted, I realized there were a lot of things I’d seen that spoke of her evil.
She liked to hurt people. I've been remembering some of the things I heard her tell her friends. They all would laugh about who she hurt and how. Those three friends were just as evil as she was. Then I paused, or were they? Now that I think about it, those three come from good, loving families. Maybe, they had sachets themselves? The only way to find out was to ask them. Sarah was going to be with her parents immediately after we were released for the lunch break. Maybe I can catch the three girls on their way out.
So my father doesn't worry, I text him. I tell him my theory and my plan. It's a simple plan, really. Ask them if Sarah ever gave them a packet of herbs they were told to keep on them. That's all my dad had asked me. My dad texts me back. He tells me he'll wait nearby where I'm going to try and stop them, so he can keep an eye on me in case something happens.
I almost wished someone would kill me. I'd rejected my chance at a wonderful, love-filled life. But that wasn't fair to Aries. If I'm honest with myself, it's Aries whom I'm seeking justice for; he had been the one held hostage the most. Because while the spell worked on my human brain, it didn't affect my wolf's brain. I'm learning the full extent to which my wolf was tormented.
I can't help but think that if Lauren, Beatrice, and Agatha were under a sachet's control, just how must their wolves feel? Putting those thoughts aside, I look back down at the platform and watch the matches of the Alpha Class. I couldn't help but be in awe as I watched Xena battle. She was an amazing Alpha female. Her form was fierce and perfect for battle, her strength glowing from within.
It was not long before it was over. I get up and make my way to the exit to wait for the girls. Dad told me, to break the spell for them, I'd have to set fire to their sachets. If they were indeed being controlled by one. But I thought about the fact that we would need evidence to be able to get a conviction. I looked up at the big screen with this portion of the tournament's rankings, then it came to me. Photographic Evidence.
I pull out my phone and text my dad," Can you find a way to record me and the girls? I want evidence later about the sachets, if they have them." I get to the door and stand off to the side in a pocket of space created by the high wall of the arena surrounding the bleachers above the pit. There was a wide hallway leading to the double doors of the exit. Standing near one of the concrete floor-to-ceiling support beams that were placed at regular intervals around the Coliseum, I spotted the girls. Then I waved them down.
They came over to where I was standing. "Hey girls, I wanted to ask you something," I say. They looked at each other, their looks confused, and then Beatrice and Agatha nodded at Lauren, she looked at me and said, "Go ahead,” in a short crisp voice. "Has Sarah or anyone given you a sachet of herbs they told you to carry with you at all times?" They all look surprised at my question, then confused again.
It was Lauren who first started to dig in her purse, then the other two did. Lauren pulled out a large rhinestone covered, clip wallet, Beatrice a small shiny card carrier, and Agatha a large double zipper wallet in a standard black with gray diamond patchwork. All three girls pulled out sachets from this wallets. "Can I see those?" I ask.
Lauren looked at the other girls, shrugs her shoulders, turns, and hands me the sachet with a roll of her eyes and "Sure, I don't see why not," uttered in a dry tone. The other two hand me theirs. "Do you remember who gave these to you and when?" I ask them. Lauren and the girls looked at each other and then at me. "It was Sarah," said Lauren. "She gave them to us during her ninth birthday party," added Beatrice. "She said they were to make sure we always remain best friends." This is from Agatha.
"Did she say how she got them?" I asked. "Yeah, she got them from a witch," said Lauren. "Sarah calls the Witch, Aunty," said Beatrice. "The Witch was best friends with Bettina; they were always together before the Witch was banished,” said Agatha. "Sarah was really upset when that happened," said Lauren.
"We had a Pack picnic about three months before it happened, but after we received our satchets," said Beatrice. "That was the day Sarah had us help her throw Alora into the River," said Agatha. "I remember my parents being so furious at me for being involved," said Lauren. "My mother was horrified, told me I humiliated her and dad in front of the Alpha." Beatrice told us, "My grandmother was disappointed in me; she wouldn't talk to me for a month after that, " said Agatha.
"What are you going to do with the sachets?" asked Lauren. "The spell on these is harmful to all three of you, so what I'm going to do is burn them to get rid of the spell," I tell them. I get out my lighter, the one Dad gave me when I went on my first survival mission in a training class. The girls are muttering to themselves. I crouch down, set the sachets down on the ground, then set them on fire.
They burned different colors, blue, then green, then red, before the flames dimmed and the sachets were nothing but ash. They had gone up quickly, the herbs being dry, and the material of the sachets had been worn with age.
I looked back up at the girls; they were standing there, staring at the ashes of the sachets. Each had different expressions of shock and other emotions. It was Beatrice who fell to her knees with a scream of anguish; it was heart-wrenching. It took me only a moment to recognize that pain. And as cruel as I was beginning to realize Sarah was, I didn't doubt I wasn’t too far off my mark.
She screamed once more, before sobbing, tears rushing down her face. "She had me reject my mate!" She curls up into herself on the floor, her pain and despair a voluminous cloud around her. Lauren and Agatha fall to their knees, one on each side of Beatrice, tears on their faces. They both hug Beatrice, supporting her as her anguish cripples her. Sarah has done so much damage. She was a horrible she-wolf, evil incarnate. It's the only way to explain what she made her friends and me do.



###>>>
Chapter 20


**Principal Johnathan's POV**
Beta Boris, his mate Lissanna, Alpha Andrew, Luna Ember and I were all on the bottom seat of the bleachers next to the support beam we had all recently hidden behind. The Luna had discreetly recorded the whole interaction with Sarah's three friends and Matthew. As we listened to the conversation between the four,  we had all gradually started to drift out from behind the beam, and watched as Matthew burned the sachets. I was horrified that these poor girls had been under a spell for the past ten years, half of their life span.
It made me sick to my stomach. And then that scream, that horrible agonized scream, the pain that she-wolf was in could be felt by everyone who heard that scream. Then, the way she collapsed in on herself, sobbing like her world had ended. We didn't have to wait long for an explanation. And,oh, how I hated what that reason was. That Sarah was too cruel to be allowed to stay free.
"She made me reject my mate!" was her agonized keening cry. Sarah's crimes are now severe and accumulating. That's two children she's taken from their mates forever. My wolf, Lucas, was also in distress. “The pups, their pain,” is all he whines out.
I suppress my own tears at the pain caused to these children. As the Principal of this school, it is my job to protect my students. “We didn't protect them, the pups are hurt,” Lucas says. "I have failed in my duty, Alpha," I tell Andrew, my voice husky. "What do you mean Johnathan?" he asks. I look into his eyes, they're just as sad. "I wasn't able to protect my students, none of this ever should have happened."
He shakes his head. "No, Johnathan, you didn't fail in your duties, there is no way you could have known about any of this." He looks at the children. "But what I can do is to give justice to these children. I'll mind-link the parents now, and have them meet us at the pack house at seven tonight,” he says. Then, looking around at each of us, he states, "I'll need everyone here to be there as well." “I want justice for the pups, ”stated Lucas. “We will help them get it,” I tell him.
As we watched, the girl's parents arrived. Beatrice's father picks her up and cradles her to his chest. "She made me reject my mate," she keens, this time in a low voice. This caused her father to hold her tighter, her mother had tears streaming down her cheeks, her hand over her mouth as she hurried to keep up with her mate. Lauren and Agatha are explaining to their parents as well, both girls crying.
Agatha’s grandmother grabs her into a hug, and she sobs into her shoulder, her parents petting her back and hair. Lauren's parents are now holding her as she cries. The Beta and his mate went to their son, his mother hugging him, his father had his hand on his shoulder, he was watching the girls, his face grief-stricken. So much pain has been caused by such a small innocuous-looking sachet of herbs.
This is why witches are forbidden the practice of spells like these, and they can get you banned from your coven or executed by the Magic Council, which oversees all witches, wizards, wiccan, and warlocks. The Vampire's Council oversees the Vampires. Our territory was the seat of power for all the Northern Continental Werewolves, our Alpha was the Alpha of all the other Alphas. He was also on the Northern Continental Shifters Council. Werewolves are not the only breed of shifters out there.
The Alpha would remain on the Council until he either died or passed the position down to his son. For the mixed breed shifters, Goddess blessed mating between breeds was becoming more common. They belonged to whichever group their parents chose to be a part of. We had several mixed breed matings in our Pack. The bear-wolf mixes made the strongest of Enforcers, a respected position.
For hybrids, who were also becoming increasingly common, because more and more supernaturals were finding their fated mate in another species, it depended on what your crime could be labeled as. Once that was determined, you were sentenced by that council's laws regarding your transgression.
Then there were the Dragon Masters. They were a rare sight and the most powerful beings on this earth. There is little to no information about them, they were a mystery. It is said that when you meet one, you know it. You knew not to disrespect or anger this being, your every instinct would scream at you in warning. If that were the case, I’d rather not meet one.
I left the arena. We were no longer needed here anymore. The Alpha and Luna had left to meet up with their party for lunch. Our mate would join us to attend the lunch as well. I was to witness Alora being signed over to the Heartsong Mansion. Lucas and I were in need of the comfort and touch of our mate right now, after so much heartache, we needed her in our arms.
**Alora's POV**
The Alpha and Luna had me ride in the car with them, Darien, and Serenity on the drive to a popular Werewolf-owned steakhouse. They already said they were paying for my meal, as I was now theirs to take care of. That felt good, being claimed by them was amazing for me. My own parents hadn’t wanted me but the Alpha and Luna did, and they were taking me away from my parents. The elation and relief I felt at that was astronomical.
I was almost giddy with my feelings, but I tried to calm myself down. I didn't want to get too happy, and then be in despair when it disappeared. That was an awful feeling, I don't want to drown in my own despair like that anytime soon or ever again. “I don't ever want to feel that way again either,” Xena commented.
To my surprise, Elder Silas, the lawyer for the Werewolf Council, joined us. When we had all put in our order, Silas brought out a briefcase. "The deed, the ill, and the paperwork are in here,Alpha."
"Perfect, let's get this done before that woman can do any more damage,” he says. I wonder who he's talking about. He looks at me, his gaze serious. "There is a will that was left by your mother's father, he filed it with the Werewolf Council,” he tells me.
My face scrunches in confusion. Xena is listening, also confused. “Why is the Alpha mentioning grandfather’s will?“ asked Xena. “I don't know,” was my answer.
The Alpha continues, "In the will, he states that his Mansion and his wealth were to be placed into a Trust, and cared for until ownership could pass to the first granddaughter to have the crescent moon and star mark of the Heartsong lineage. In a contingency plan, it states that, if none of his granddaughters receive the mark by the youngest’s twenty-first birthday, all ownership and wealth will be redistributed to your mother.”
"It also has a stipulation for the granddaughter that has the crescent moon and star mark. To claim ownership you have to legally and by a blood oath, swear to the Alpha, with the change of your surname to Heartsong." I stare at him, Xena is staring through my eyes, and both of us are stunned. "What does this mean?" I ask him.
"This means that you will be the new owner of the Heartsong Mansion and accompanying thousand acres and all that is on them, and all your grandfather’s wealth. The Heartsong’s were and are,  I guess I should say now, being as you bear the last name, the wealthiest wolves of all the Northern Continental Packs." I'm absolutely stunned. I can't say anything at this point.
"I was going to wait until after your graduation to have the transfers done, but your mother has made it necessary for it to be today, he tells me. Silas pulls out the paperwork, they hand me a pen. Mechanically, I sign and initial where they tell me, using my new signature and initials. Everything is complete in the space of ten minutes.
Still stunned, I’m pulled from my daze when the Alpha starts talking again. "With this, you are now officially a Noble of the Northern Continental Wolves and our pack. You are the Alpha Female of the Heartsongs and now the matriarch of your own line. Your parents can't touch you anymore,” he tells me. “Does this mean we're free?“ Xena asks. “It does, we're free, we're finally free,” I tell her.
"We're free, we're finally free," I say out loud, hardly believing it and then I laugh. I look at Darien. "I'm free, I'm finally free." Then the world goes dark. I hear a scream from somewhere as I feel myself crash to the floor. Then nothing as I'm thrust into unconsciousness.
**Author's Note**  //I want to thank the readers who have stuck with me this far into this book. The journey with Alora is just beginning, she has, what I hope to you as readers is, an epic tale to tell.