Falling For the Alpha's Daughter

Chapter 2

Anastasia's P.O.V.

I ran around the pack house, hustling everyone out, making sure that necessities, documents and some valuables were the only things taken. The Nightwalker pack had finally worn down our pack's defences, too many fighters were injured and we were outnumbered and thus the Ashworth pack was evacuating.

"Come on people!" I heard a powerful voice boom throughout the night, "Let's go!" Undoubtedly that was my brother Damien, my father's Beta and the oldest out of all of the Ashworth children. I dashed up to the attic, making sure no child had gone up there in fright. I looked around mournfully as remnants of my childhood laid strewn about. Here was my home, the place I grew up in and now we were leaving it heading into unknown territory.

"Ana," I looked up and saw Axel, another brother of mine in the attic doorway. His grief was mirrored in mine. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I followed him. We double checked all the rooms in the pack house and met up again in the living room. Sadness choked me as my eyes rest on the photograph of my mother.

I was the splitting image of Asilin Ashworth from the tan skin to my angular face, black wavy hair and brown eyes. She died protecting my twin brothers in a rouge attack when I was four years old. I don't have many memories of her unlike my brothers but watching her picture and seeing her smiling face hurt all the same. I jumped as Axel smashed the glass on Mom's picture. My look of horror changed to relief as he took the picture out, folded it and placed it in his pocket. I smiled at him as he joined me.

"Time to go," he said simply. 

I sighed as I cast one last look at my childhood home before following Axel out the door. I gave Damien a passing side hug as I followed the flow of people into the woods in order to make our great escape. I broke out into a sprint as I ran ahead to the centre of the woods as my father and my other brothers had set up camp.

I should probably introduce you to my family. There is my dad Simon Ashworth, Alpha of the Ashworth pack, with his deceased mate Asilin. Damien is the oldest of the kids followed by Nyal, Axel, Jared, Asher and Ari, Rowan and me.

I reached the clearing and immediately entered the central tent. Everyone except Nyal, Asher and Ari were there. I sat down at Dad's left side, the place where the Luna usually sat. I wasn't the official second-in-line Luna for my pack, that spot was reserved for Damien's mate when he found her but I took on the responsibilities of a Luna once I shifted even though our pack was small, there were a lot of issues that could only be settled by a woman's intuition.

Dad looked at me as he rolled his shoulder back. I could tell the bite he got yesterday while fighting the alpha of the Nightwalker pack bothered him. Even though his wolf sped up his healing, the Nightwalker wolves were definitely different than us and our injuries took longer to heal. We sat there in silence as the pack filtered into the clearing, Jared, Rowan and I organised the tent and went over maps and battle plans for our trek to Blackwell lands. The rest came trudging in, our tent was pretty big but with nine of us in it, it was cramped. Dad cleared his throat, commanding everyone's attention.

"Alpha Blackwell has given us permission to move temporarily to their lands," he said calmly. It was a touchy subject for us, the most feared warriors in the land had lost. "Nyal, Damien, Rowan and I will take point tomorrow as we move. We're the least injured and can handle ourselves. Jared, Asher, Ari and Anastasia, you all will hang back and protect the pack as they walk. Anastasia, you'll walk as human."

I stood up in rage, "No! I'm no use if I'm in human form. What's the most I can do? Talk to Kenna and Hayley?"

"Watch your tone," Dad ordered, "it's too risky for you to shift. It took you three weeks to submit to shifting back last time, we can't risk her wrath at a time like this."

"I've kept her at bay," I argued, "I haven't worn the cuff in months. I can keep her under control. You need me; most of our fighters are injured, look around you. We won't be able to hold up if rouges attack us." My wolf had an uncharacteristic taste for blood and violence. Axel's running joke was that my wolf had my true personality.

"Ana's right, we're already moving at a bad time, her wolf alone can provide the backup we need," Nyal stated. This was met with disapproving growls all around. "Hey, I don't like the idea either but desperate times call for desperate measures." He held his hands up in mock surrender.

Dad sighed and rubbed his temples, "Alright, you can shift." I heard my wolf howl for joy in my head. "But you have to stay near the kids and one of us or Cael or Xaden needs to be near you." Cael and Xaden are my best guy friends. "Maybe she won't have violent tendencies then."

"When do we move?" I asked as I tried to ignore the howls of joy in my head.

"At the crack of dawn. Nyal, Damien, Rowan and I will walk ahead to Blackwell territory. The rest will stay with the pack as they camp for the night," Dad said as he started copying the map.

"We'll use mind link as communication," Damien offered, "but only if necessary. Despite the Blackwells being good friends, we don't know who or what is in their pack." Dad nodded, signalling the end of the meeting. We scattered as much as we could in the tent, each finding his own crook to sleep in.

My wolf was excited; she hasn't been on a run in months. I would let her out more often but her tendencies for violence and to take over my mind while in wolf form stopped me. She was running laps around in my head. I sighed and lay down, hoping to catch some sleep.