The Mating Games

Chapter 6 (NEW)

Your pack comes first. Your pack comes first. Your pack comes first.

That was the only thing I could think about as I walked away from my surely affronted mate. I couldn't afford to hold naive fantasies in place of the actuality. The actuality that was needing to save my pack. As a young girl, I dreamt of the day I would find my mate and live out the dreams every wanna-be princess had. But then my pack started dying, and I knew that I would have to sacrifice my own happiness for the lives of my family.

But my saving grace had been here all along. And he wasn't just any saving grace. He was Alpha Cole of NightShade. He was the Alpha among Alphas. Just admitting that bruised my ego a bit, but my wolf was ready to dance with someone she deemed a worthy opponent.

"Alpha Turner?" Derek was the one to interrupt her musing. "Do you think we're in a safe spot?" We had ventured maybe a mile from the manor and stood between lush forest. While our presence was surely still detected, our voices would not be.

"Yes. What is it you needed to show me?" My home had been attacked. The anger that I had initially felt was beginning to morph into guilt. I knew very well how the tides would have been turned if I remained in my territory instead of flitting off to fulfill some last-minute plan I had.

Derek looked to Levi, and I could sense the apprehension rolling off of him. Reaching into his backpack, he pulls out a laptop. It wasn't the standard equipment the military received. No, it was chunky and looked ancient, like the blackbox of an aircraft. Whatever lived inside of it would live on forever.

He pulls up security footage from our borders and zooms into a selected still-frame before handing it back over to me. Less than a second was needed before I realized what, who, exactly I was looking at.
"Roamers."

Like their namesake suggests, Roamers were criminal wolves who travelled from continent to continent looking for weak links, lands they believed they could easily ravage and claim as their own. The fact they believed they could claim mine was telling. We had reached the desperate stretch. Our fate would be finalized in a few short months if I did not find a way to save us.

You have found someone who will help, my wolf was adamant on Alpha Cole's role. To her, he had already saved us. But I knew better. He was an Alpha, the best one at that. To believe he would leave his own pack to help another, even if it was his mate's, was lunacy.

"You said there was crucial information discovered? This is alarming, but it's expected as of right now." They shared another hesitant glance.

"Look at what's around his neck."

I zoomed into the photo some more, trying to make out what the pixelated image was trying to tell me. He wore a chain of some sort, the symbol a small moon surrounded by tree branches. It looked so familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint where. What significance could this small necklace hold?

I ran through runes and ancient lore and the little history I knew about the Roamers before settling on something else. Pack symbols. My eyes flew to Derek's. "Flos Luna?" A solemn nod confirmed what she had put together.

"You think they put them up to this?" It would make sense. They were neighboring packs and one of the few who knew just how dire their situation was. But they had always lent a helping hand. Their lands were smaller but more fertile than hours, so crops to feed us in the winter were never lacking.

"We've also had problems with Flos Luna." A deep voice appeared from behind.

My head snapped back, eyes focusing on the pitch black forest surrounding me. He was hard to miss with my vision, but I couldn't detect his aura. It was almost as if it had just disappeared.