Moon Bound

(8) Always Gonna Be Tomorrow|Regan's POV|

No man liked to be reminded of that which he had lost and clearly, I wasn't the exception. An Apex. My father had been it and ten years ago, I had believed that one day I'd be too.

He made me believe that.

Watching him rule over the packs, over his own pack with his iron fist and will of steel wasn't easy. His every action had too many consequences – consequences that were still hard to accept.

I ran away. I took along half of what was left of the Apex pack and ran. My actions had their own consequences too. When I ran away I killed my every chance to become the Apex. As sure as I killed my father.

Not even a week later, the news of his fall had reached us. A leader gutted like an animal. A wolf of the highest rank that there was – dead.

Letting a heavy breath out, I stepped out of the office. Hayden was nowhere to be seen. He was probably in the pack's meeting chamber so that meant I had to make my way there before he could feed his poisonous ideas to the pack.

Did he know what I did? Did he know I found my luna? - Most likely not, but he sure as hell suspected something was up and suspicion in his case was enough to make him act.

Halting before the entrance, I ran my hands through my hair. I hoped I didn't look too flustered after my meeting with Michael Nightingale.

There was hardly any breathing space in the meeting chamber. Most of the high ranked wolves were present – even a few juveniles who had no place showing to a pack meeting.

And they were all here because of my strange behavior toward her. They'd never admit it aloud but that girl who seemingly had no importance had stirred them up. She had such a substantial impact on my wolves that it simply couldn't be ignored. And ignore it they would not.

Noticing me stand on the doorstep, Hayden made his way in front of the crowd and called for their attention. He then stepped aside and let me climb onto the small stage.

There wasn't one when I first took possession of the house and respectfully the pack. But soon after, my men had remodeled the room to suit my needs by adding this stage and bringing in the wooden pews.

Everything in here was still legally under her name, however, wolves did not abide by human laws so even if she was the legal owner, it was I who ruled over this place, this city, everything and everyone inside. Nearly four hundred wolves who abode by my word like it was law. There were other packs who were as big as mine but none was quite as strong.

We had yet to regain our previous glory and power but we were certainly on the right path.

Giving me a slight nod, Hayden retreated to his place in the front row, leaving me alone in front of the pack. My unsettling announcement was going to have consequences, whether good or bad, only time would show.

With their eyes on me that tracked my every movement in anticipation, I struggled for a blank expression, trying to mimic the vampire I just sent off on his merry, or rather bloody way.

"ShadowFang," I began.

Our name had existed for centuries. It was the same name others would address us by back when my father was an alpha of this pack, the same name we thought we'd need to forsake when we left and the same name that, despite us fleeing our old home, remained intact.

A reminder. A call for glory we had to restore but could never achieve what it had once been.

"You know I've been waiting to find my mate for a long time. I have finally found her," I announced with a voice that sounded nothing like my own. Loud and clear, filled with excitement I couldn't yet share with them, it quivered in the end by the thought that they might not accept their luna.