Golden Secret

Chapter 3 - The Dark Fire pack

*not edited*

"Do you know anything about the Dark Fire pack?" I asked Nick.

I was sitting on his bed with my legs curled up beneath me after forcing my way in. Even though we weren't part of a pack, Nick would still inherit Dads position as head of our family when the time came. So he had to have some knowledge about other packs in the area.

I had questioned both Meg and Aaron in the car as we drive home but neither would budge, they kept changing the topic or ignoring me. Dad would probably be the same and so would Mum, and Luke wouldn't know anything about it anyway. So that just left Nick. At least he was good for something.

He had just taken a shower before I had arrived, only wearing a pair of jeans with a towel over his head, he dried his hair. When I mentioned the packs name he froze and looked up at me.

"Where'd you hear that name?" He asked turning around and rubbing his hair.

"We ran into Alec from the Darkmoon pack."

"The Alpha's kid?" He asked looking back at me.

"Yeah, he had this guy with him who said 'so it's true you have a strong ancestry' then he mentioned how we came from this Dark Fire pack." I watched my brother's face go cold and then there was anger.

"They researched us." He growled slumping back in his chair that was in the corner of the room.

"Yeah, Aaron said that too." I unfolded my feet and placed them on the floor pushing forward so I was sitting on the edge, "why are you so bothered by it?"

"Cause it means that those moon guys have been looking into our family background." Nick continued leaning forward to look at me.

"And..."

"What if they found out that 17 years ago mum and dad had a kid and then we suddenly left the Dark Fire pack and then they found out that we have a strange addition to the family."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Nick dragged the word out, "Oh and then they might realise that a certain someone was in fact a blood relation of the Oakley's, then fingers would point at." Nick trailed off and then pointed a finger at me, I gulped and then looked down at my hands.

"But they didn't realise." I muttered.

"You have to see that we'd all be in serious trouble if anyone finds out about you." He caught my attention and I looked back up, "not only is there a blonde wolf in our family but we've lied and hid her for almost 17 years. Some packs wouldn't be happy, especially the Dark Fire pack."

"Why the Dark Fire pack?" I asked rocking backwards on my feet, but I froze when I saw my big brothers face.

His eyes had lowered to the floor and a sad emotion had filled them. He took a big sigh and then looked back at me, "cause we were once part of their pack. The Dark Fire."

"We were... actually part of a pack?" I asked confused. It was the first time I had heard of it, since mum and dad never talked much about the past. I knew that our grandparents had been a part of a pack but I never thought that mum and dad had.

"Yeah we were. It was amazing." Nick smiled and I could tell he was off in his own little world down memory lane, "you can feel the electricity running through the minds of everyone there. You're like one being, even as a kid I felt these connections with everyone. Seriously Sash, it's nothing compared to our family's bond. And god, when you run it's... it's... words can't describe a pack run."

I smiled at my brother's description, "you seem to really miss it."

Coming back to reality, my brother looked at me grinning and then his eyes flashed around the room. They locked onto the desk on the other end of his bedroom where his laptop and a lamp was placed on top of, along with other stupid things my brother couldn't be bothered to throw away.

In three big, fast strides he was across the room and tugging at the top drawer to open, while the towel fell from his head to the floor. He pulled out a plain black book and started to flick through the pages, until he stopped. Reaching between the pages he pulled out a photo, putting the book on the desk he turned and walked back towards me.

Holding out the picture he nodded for me to take it. The photo was taken at what appeared to be some kind of family party. Mum and Dad looked younger in the photo and my eyes quickly found their smiling faces. There were 8 people in the photo including mum and dad, there was a man standing next to my father who I had never seen before.

The man looked a little older than my dad, so I thought he was about 30ish, his arm was flung over a women's shoulder and he was grinning madly. Everyone had dark hair in the photo so I immediately knew they were all werewolves. But there was something about the man that got me.

His midnight black hair brushed against the tops of his ears and his fringe rested just above a pair of transfixing grey eyes. The women beside him also had this strange stare at the camera that I couldn't put my finger on.

In front of the four adults were four children, each choosing their own silly pose to perform. Three of them I recognised as the younger versions of my elder siblings. Megan and Aaron were side by side, grinning and throwing peace signs. Nick was there too smiling proudly in front of his father, but by his side there was a strange young girl, about Aaron's age, who I hadn't seen before.

Her brown hair was in a French plait which travelled down the side of her face, draped over her shoulder. She was sweet, standing next to Nick, I could tell that the other two adults in the photo were her parents. The similar characteristic's made it easy for me to see.

In the background, I saw a lot of different types of dark haired people, of all ages and sizes. Some skinny, some muscular, they didn't pay too much attention to the photo being taken, but I could tell that they were setting up for some kind of BBQ or bonfire. Looking back at Nick, I saw I had lost his attention as he stared at the photo.

"Who are they?" I asked pulling him out of his trip down memory lane.

"Can't you guess?"

I shook my head.

"They're the Dark Fire pack."

I raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to continue but when he didn't I asked, "and why didn't you guys ever tell me about this? I thought dad hated packs."

"We weren't always on our own Sash." He said annoyed standing and turning around so his back was to me, "we were with them! We were a part of that pack!"

His voice rose and I knew I had lost him again, "I was born into the Dark Fire pack, so was Dad, Mum, Megan, Aaron. They were our family and by god it was amazing! We would run together every Friday night, when the others got back from school and work.

"When Megs and I were younger and we couldn't turn yet, we would sit on the adult's backs and run with them. It was the most amazing thing! The bond that ran through all of us, connecting us, it was, it was, god it was something else.

"Dad was the beta, you know, he doesn't talk about it anymore but I know he misses it. That guy in the photo is the alpha, Alpha Jason, or Uncle Jay, that was what he told us to call him. That's the Luna next to him, Lily, kindest Luna I've ever met. And that's..."

His tone softened and he turned to face me again looking down at the photo and pointing at the picture, "that's Ashley, their kid. She was- is gonna be a good Luna when she's older. She doesn't have any siblings, there was an attack and Lily got hurt so she couldn't conceive anymore."

I watched my brothers face as he stared at the young girl and I couldn't help but smile, "you liked her."

"Wha- Ashley, no she was my best friend. The Alpha's kid, we just used to play together cause our Dads were friends." His eyes didn't leave the photo and he was smiling at the memory. "This photo was taken a month before we left."

"Why did we leave?" I asked looking at the photo. From the corner of my eye I saw Nick flinch.

In the photo mum was smiling happily, her arm linking with dad's arm as if to balance herself, her other hand was carefully holding a very round stomach. And my guess was that she was about 8 months into her third pregnancy.

Her third pregnancy with me. The little blonde bump in the road.

And the only thing I could say was, "oh".