Chapter 2

Laura was restless, she couldn’t sit still so was Christine, her wolf. She didn’t know what was wrong and kept asking her wolf what was going on but she was not saying anything. Anita walked in, coming from training, and saw her mother pacing in front of the kitchen counter. “Mom” she called out to her but Laura did not hear her. “Mom!” Laura jumped and turned around with her hand on her chest. “Damn it, Anita! Don’t sneak up on people like that.”

Anita looked at her mother and saw that she looked troubled. “Mom, what’s wrong?” Laura sighed shaking her head. “I don’t know Nita; I just feel restless all of a sudden and Christine is the same too but won’t tell me what the problem is.” Anita went closer to her and held her shoulders making her stop pacing. “Mom, whatever it is am sure it will be okay.” She tried to assure her but Laura was not having it.

“Call your uncle and find out where they are.” Anita took her phone and dialed her uncle’s number but the phone was off. “It’s not going through; I think they are still busy in the meeting.” She told her but Laura shook her head, she had this unsettling feeling at the pit of her stomach, it was uncomfortable and it wasn’t going away. “Try your father, one of them is bound to have their phone on.”  She told Anita.

For some unknown reason, she was feeling lonely and empty. It hurt feeling that way, she felt like crying but didn’t know the reason for feeling that way, and right now she wanted to hear her mate’s voice to put her at ease. “It’s also not going through; don’t worry they will call when they come out of the meeting.” Anita tried to assure her mother but she also felt like something was wrong somewhere. “Call alpha Simon and ask,” Laura told her daughter; she could not place a finger on what exactly was going on but the feeling of loneliness kept growing and it scared her.

Anita dialed the number and it was connected. “Alpha Simon speaking.” Answered the alpha on the other side. “Hello alpha, it's Anita alpha Xavier’s daughter.” She has met the alpha on countless occasions when her father would take her with him when he goes to meetings. “Hello, little one, how may I help you today?” Asked the alpha. “I wanted to talk to my father but his phone is off, have they left yet?” alpha Simon was taken back by this.

“Your father didn’t come for the meeting little one, I was about to call him and find out why.” Anita was now restless her father went to the meeting; she saw his car going out in the morning. “But he left with beta Larry going for the meeting this morning and now their phones are off.” She told him but moved away from her mother not wanting her to hear this, but she followed close.

“I will put my best trackers on it little one, don’t worry we will find your father.” He cut the call and Anita turned to look at her mother but before she could explain they heard a car stopping outside and they both rushed out of the packhouse hoping that it was Xavier and Larry arriving.

Laura’s heart was beating like a drum in her chest, it boomed so loud that the sound of it was all she could hear. They looked at the car her mate and his brother left in until it stopped and the engine was cut off then the driver’s door opened. Larry got out of the car, his clothes were torn and he had dry blood on his chin and on his torn vest. Anita who was going towards him stopped in her tracks when she saw this. “Uncle Larry, where is dad?” she was not sure she wanted to know, looking at her uncle’s state she knew that something might have happened.

Her knees were already weak, Larry shook his head and Laura fell on her knees. “Uncle?” Anita called out to him, more like questioning him. “His gone peanut.” He told her but Anita shook her head no, Laura on the other side was just sitting there looking lost. “Gone where uncle, where is my father?” tears were already running down her delicate cheeks, staining her beautiful face. Larry mind linked the Gamma of the pack Tyson.

‘Tyson, come out quickly.’ Tyson who was still at the training grounds jogged to the front of the packhouse, he saw Larry standing there and hurried over. “Please take Luna inside and come help me here with something.” Tyson saw that it was tense there, so he did not ask questions and did as told. “Come, Luna, let’s go in,” he told Laura but she was just sitting there looking into space.

Tyson saw that she was not herself at all, he picked her up and got into the packhouse with her, and laid her on the couch. Then asked one of the pack members to look after her then went back outside to Larry. “What is going on Larry?” asked Tyson but Larry did not answer he just pointed to the car with his head, Tyson went to the car and saw Xavier’s body lying there on the backseat with only his face covered with Larry’s torn shirt.

He was shocked, he looked at Larry then back at the car but Larry shook his head not wanting him to say anything in front of Anita. “Uncle, please tell me what happened to my dad, where is my father uncle please tell me.” She was now crying on Larry’s chest while he brushed her back hushing her. “Am so, sorry my peanut, please forgive your uncle, I could not protect him and am sorry for that.” Larry apologized to his niece.

Anita knew then that she will never see her father again, her shoulders shook as she cried silently on her uncle’s chest, she was broken and didn’t know what she will do without her dad. “How did it happen?” she asked him while crying with hiccups. “Rogues.” Just one word, one word, and her heart turned black. She swore in her heart that she will kill every rogue she comes across until the last one.

Anita was one of the pack’s best she-wolf warriors, she started training when she was nine years old, her father told her that she needed to train so that she can be able to take care of herself. He told her that there will come a time when she will only have herself to depend on and when that time comes, she must be able to defend herself.

Back then she argued with him telling him that she was the alpha’s daughter and has her whole pack to fight for her. But her father told her that life was unpredictable, he said that her being the alpha’s daughter was the very reason why she has to train harder than anyone else.

He told her that she has to be an example to other she-wolves her age and the only way they will behave is by seeing her, the alpha’s daughter leading them by example and showing them the way. Since then Anita took her training seriously and even grew to like it. She even trained when she was hanging out with her friends, she is the kind that couldn't sit still for too long.

She silently thanked her father for that lesson because now she swore to use it to kill those stinking rogues. Tyson organized for his alpha’s body to be taken care of and also organized a pack meeting. Larry took Anita to her room then asked one of the Omega’s to bring her water and sleeping pills. He gave her that then tuck her in, he left her room when he was sure that she was asleep.

He passed by Laura’s room and opened the door. He found her sleeping on the bed looking beautiful, with her long black air covering the pillow and some on her face. ‘Soon we will be together my darling, grieve and forget him so that we can start a new chapter together.’ Larry thought to himself then closed the door going downstairs to the hall to address the pack members.

When he got in, the hall was full of pack members and there were whispers going around people asking each other what the meeting was about.

He got up the stage and the whispers died down. “I don’t know where to start, but today something bad happened, our alpha and I were going to an alpha’s meeting. But we didn’t reach our destination as we were attacked by rogues on the way, there were so many of them, we were outnumbered but we did our best to fight them off. Unfortunately, they killed my brother, our alpha is no more, I am ashamed to say that when I saw them kill him, I ran.” He lowered his head for a moment.

He then lifted his head and looked at the shocked expressions of pack members then he cleared his throat and continued. “They were going to kill me too had I not ran and disguised my scent with flowers and dirt as you can see. They looked for me but could not find me, I stayed in my hiding spot for a while and when I knew that they left I went back. I took my brother’s body and came back. Everything happened so fast that we didn’t even see where those rogues came from. Again, I apologize to you all for not being able to protect your alpha and most importantly I apologize to our Luna and my niece for what happened. I am his beta and brother. I was supposed to protect him but I could not.” He paused hanging his head low looking defeated, he cleared his throat once more. “We will be laying our alpha to rest tomorrow, that is all.”

He got down from the stage with a gloomy expression, the pack members felt sorry for him, his brother was killed right in front of him and he couldn’t do anything. That must have traumatized him. So, they thought, they were sad for losing such a humble soul and what was worse was that they couldn’t even avenge him. The mood of every pack member was somber as they left the packhouse.