ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ Mika ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

"Alpha Mika!" the strong voice calling to me made me stop in my tracks as I walked in the door of the pack house.

I was only taking a small stroll for some fresh air, Raven had been sleeping in so I figured it'd be okay to let him. It wasn't long before I decided to come back though, and this was the first person that welcomed me in.

Yulin's sister had came up to me with a grin that could power a lighthouse, the joy clear in her grey eyes but the reason unknown to me who could only stare in confusion.

"...it's just Mika, Irina" I said and Irina's smile dropped a bit.

"I'm sorry, I just got so excited, I forgot you don't really like being called that" she said as a nervous chuckle slipped her lips.

"What are you so happy about?" I asked and that was all the girl needed to pick her smile back up.

"I've been going out further and further each day with some of the troops to see how the situation is going and by next month, I think we'll finally be able to lift the ban on runs!!" She cheered and while I was glad to hear the good news, I knew I'd have to put a small damper on Irina's excitement.

"That sounds good but we can't be too eager. We want to be 100% on this you know?" I said.

"I know, I promise I'm not going over my own head. Even so, it's been so long since we've begun this struggle and I just don't even know where to begin when it comes to thanking you for all your help" Irina said.

"The sentiment itself is more than enough" I said as I crossed my arms.

"How about you and Raven join everyone for dinner? A lot of the members have wanted to meet you guys but it's kind of hard given your..." Irina's lips clamped shut when realizing what she was about to say but I paid it no mind as I gave her a small smile.

"I don't see why not" I said and Irina smiled again before clapping her hands together.

"Great! I promise it will be lots of fun!! Just to warn you though, the guys are some heavy drinkers and might pressure you to do some crazy stuff but you can totally ignore them" she said before running off, likely going to tell the others that her plan was a success.

"I...see" I muttered as I watched the dark haired girl run off.

Later that night, as promised, Raven and I joined the pack for dinner.

Loud voices and boisterous cheering was ringing throughout the whole place and Raven's eyes had a sparkle in it that I haven't seen since we got here.

"Wow...these are my kind of people!!! Let's eat til we drop!" Raven cheered as he joined in and he was only egged on by everyone else who welcomed his enthusiasm with their own.

I could only give a defeated laugh as any hopes of keeping Raven in check was thrown out of the window. Raven's a free spirit and mingling was more than likely the cure to the stump he's been in.

Being isolated was never something he handled well after all and I was glad to see that the pack accepted him as if he'd been one of their own for quite some time.

Yulin's scent creeping up on me alerted me to his presence and said man stood next to me, his eyes watching the scene in front of us.

"Your brother sure is something" Yulin said, a smile gracing his features and I nodded in agreement.

"It's fine. He's finally having fun" I said.

"Are you?" Yulin quizzed and I didn't hesitate to answer.

"I am"

The night carried on joyfully, there was so much food being piled on to my plate and I found every last item to be just as delicious as the last. To think that everyone put their all into the meals they prepared likely only helped to make everything taste better.

Raven was also overjoyed that he got to stuff his face and enjoy alcohol to his heart's content, the happy vibe that was going on stayed consistent as the sun finally parted it's way from the blue sky.

As conversation continued, Raven suddenly stood up.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom" he announced.

Nodding at his departure, Raven went off on his own. I knew he'd be fine, the boy could hold more liquor than the ocean could its own water so it's unlikely he was even tipsy despite all the alcohol he just consumed.

However, it wasn't until about twenty minutes had gone by that made me begin to wonder just what Raven was up to.

'Uh, Mika?'

Raven's voice popping into my head made me jump and Yulin gave me a concerned look.

'Raven, where are you?' I asked through our link.

There was a small silence in the link, Raven probably thinking before speaking which is not a normal occurrence, so that means something is up.

'Doing something you wouldn't exactly approve of...'

Despite him mind linking me, for some reason his voice remained at a whisper which only confused me even more.

'Raven. Where are you?' I asked again.

'Remember that scent from the other night? I think I found...uh, it?' Raven's voice held notes of uncertainty in it and at that, I stood up.

'Don't do anything crazy, I'll be right there' I said

'I wouldn't do anything that you wouldn't'

'You're just making me look bad when you say that'

'Am I?'

'Yes'

"Is everything alright?" Yulin asked, his voice low and close as he didn't want to disrupt the others as they remained oblivious to us.

"Raven's found himself into something again" I said with a sigh.

"I'll come with" Yulin said.

Seeing no need to object, I merely nodded before leading off to find my brother.

'I'm in my room' Raven said so I changed my direction as according to his words, making it there in no time and when I opened the door, Raven was sitting at the chair near the desk with what seemed to be a word book upside down in his hands.

'Don't move too suddenly, they're watching from behind the trees. I've just been pretending to read this' Raven said and I narrowed my eyes at my brother.

'Well they must be a pretty bad spy if you reading the book upside down hasn't ticked them off already' I said as I snatched the book from him and turned it around.

Yulin seemed lost since we were talking in our mind link so I clued him in by winking and tapping my shoulder that was facing the window.

Subtly, Yulin just smiled before proceeding to sit on the bed next to Raven which had the window's view directly on him.

'It's more than likely he can hear us so let's be discreet' Raven said, grabbing something from off the desk and dropping the other book on the floor.

"Let's play madlibs!" Raven said as he held up the children's word game.

Lyra and Raven often played together, the childlike duo laughing at all of their silly sentences.

Yulin's face resembled my own as we both looked to each other before shrugging, Raven ignoring us as he flipped through the pages.

"Okay, I need a noun" Raven said.

"Stranger" I said blandly.

"Okay next is a verb so I'll just go, 'stinks'" Raven said.

'Are you trying to give us away?' I chided.

'This is for Yulin's sake!!' Raven exclaimed.

'I'm sure he's well aware that they're a rogue already, it's a pretty hard scent to miss' I said.

For some reason, Yulin began to laugh which only made Raven and I look to him confused.

"And what's next?" Yulin asked, an amused tone heavy in his voice.

"Uh...a verb" Raven said, suddenly creeped out by Yulin's laughter.

"How about you give another verb?" Yulin encouraged.

"Kill" Raven said immediately and I interjected.

"Adjective, Horrible. Noun, Idea" I said and Raven frowned.

"Mika, that's not how you play" he said in a nagging tone to which I just groaned.

"It's okay, Irina is dealing with it. You can put your word game away now" Yulin said.

So that's why he suddenly began to entertain Raven's foolishness...

"Oh thank goodness, I was running out of ideas" Raven said as he tossed the book on the desk.

As I looked out the window, my eyes widened when seeing Irina holding the man up and shaking him vigorously. What in the world?

"Oh wow, she's really ripping him a new one" Raven said as he opened the window.

"Good job!!" He screamed out and Irina stopped to give a smile and a thumbs up.

"Irina's going to take him to the cells so I'll handle it from here" Yulin said but I stopped him before he could leave.

"Actually, we want to come" I said and Raven nodded beside me.

Yulin looked between the both of us before nodding in turn.

"Alright" he said.

'This is the same scent as the other night but how do we know that this is the same rogue?' Raven's question made me shake my head.

'We don't. We can only hope that talking to him will give us some clues' I said.

'If it doesn't...we're gonna have to beat it out of em' Raven said, a serious expression taking over his features.

Cue my internal sighs.

Upon entering the room, both Raven and I stopped in our tracks when finally getting a clear view of who exactly this mysterious person was.

"P-Please, I don't mean any harm, just let me speak with them!!" the familiar face belonged to one of our old pack members, his blonde hair disheveled and the bags under his cerulean blue eyes seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on them with how heavy they looked.

"Alfie...? When did you...?" I muttered but Raven had suddenly spoke up over me.

"What the hell are you doing here you piece of shit" Raven growled out, his words holding nothing but pure hatred for our former pack member.

"I-I know that what happened was...w-wrong but you guys have to listen to me!" Alfie exclaimed, his eyes frantic as he looked between the two of us.

I felt a bit conscious of the fact that this conversation was about to happen with Yulin and Irina present but for some reason, I didn't want to ask either of them to leave.

"Listen to you...? I'd rather kill you instead" Raven said and I dragged him to the side when seeing how petrified Alfie became at my brother's words.

"Raven" I said, my voice steady as I tried to remain calm.

Even in a situation like this where all one could feel is anger, I tried to stop that emotion from clouding my judgement so easily.

"Mika...you're not seriously thinking about hearing the complete dogshit he's about to utter, are you?" Raven asked, an incredulous look on his face as our eyes met.

"I know that what happened was...less than a warm farewell but I still want to know how everyone is. They can't be that much better off with Clara in charge" I reasoned but it only seemed to anger Raven further.

'They labeled you a murderer and that pathetic waste of time they called a trial was rigged from the get. You saw how fast they turned on us, why should we care now that they're facing tough times?' Raven's tone rang clear throughout my mind and through our mind link, I was receiving every ounce of emotion that he was feeling.

Anger, hatred, resentment, annoyance, but the strongest one of all was sadness.

'Clara manipulated the entire situation before we could even realize it, they were only going based on the belief that what I did was for power' I said and Raven shook his head vehemently.

'It doesn't matter! Evidence, is what counts in a trial and they had nothing but the words of a two faced bitch and her mentally deranged sidekick. It was a coup from the beginning, she never had any intentions on losing against Father, she was going to cheat just like she did when it was Olivia's time. You stepping in to save her was something she surely never planned for but it all ended up working in her favor'

As we communicated silently, I could feel the stares of everyone in the room, they were likely trying to figure out what we were talking about but it should be no surprise that it's an argument with the way Raven's entire body was screaming disagreement.

'To them, you murdered father in cold blood and for that you were immediately guilty. To not even give you the chance to state your side of the story is something I'll never forgive them for' Raven finished, his arms crossing in a resolute manner as he finished his argument.

Sighing softly, I tried to think of a way to make Raven see my side of this, even if he didn't agree I at least wanted him to understand why I was willing to hear what Alfie had to say.

'Even if that is the case...we grew up with them, Raven. They're not just people that I can so easily leave for dead, no matter what kind of circumstances we may have left each other with' I said and those words seem to leave Raven with a defeated feeling as he huffed and leaned against the wall, hands clutching his crossed arms.

'I hate that you can still be so benevolent towards even the gum on someone's shoe...just don't expect me to talk to that piece of shit' he said before leaving the mind link, silence quickly filling the void as he did so.

Despite Raven clearly having no intentions of engaging in conversation, he made sure that his presence wouldn't be forgotten with the way he glared daggers into Alfie's head.

"How did you know where to find us?" I asked after leaving Raven's side and approaching Alfie.

"I had picked up your scent one day while I was scavenging for food and saw you guys crossing into this territory, you have no idea how happy I was to see that you two were still alive and well!" Alfie said.

Raven's scoff from the side echoed in the dim room, Alfie looking to Raven with a frightened look in response but my brother offered him no type of comfort as he continued to glare.

"Also, you should know that your sister...uh, she's--"

"A bitch? A monster? Maniacal? Psychotic?" Raven intervened and Alfie didn't seem to know if he should nod or not.

"F-For lack of more...kinder words, yes. But I'm well aware that this is not brand new information, it's only gotten worse with no restrictions holding her back" Alfie continued.

His eyes suddenly locked with mine and I remembered them to always be so bright, but those once brilliant cerulean eyes were now dull as they reflected in my own.

Alfie was a cheerful kid, everyone would want to play with him and he was great at helping others out. To become this haggard, I could only imagine the things that Clara's rule has done to him.

"Mika, I understand how we all treated you when everything happened but if you could find it in your heart to be forgiving of everyone and show mercy, it would save them a great deal of pain. We're in real trouble here, the pack may not be able to last another year with Clara as Alpha" Alfie's pleading tone struck a chord in me that I could only recognize as one thing.

Resentment.

"Please...have mercy! Brother didn't do this for the reasons you think he did! He was trying to protect you Clara!!"

Raven's face as he looked around the room was heartbreaking to me, our entire pack looking at us with disdain and disgust, and yet I could say nothing as I moved to just stare at my blood stained hands.

"When did I ever ask for his protection? It just sounds like you want us to have mercy on a murderer. How is that fair to our dear father whose body is now beginning to rot just like his wife and daughter's because of that killer?"

I could see that Raven was steadily becoming more and more pissed off, his aura now thickly shrouding the room, some of the guards flinching and baring their necks because of it. Even Irina seemed bothered by it and but she seemed at a loss for what to do.

Before I could step in, to my surprise, Yulin had gripped Raven's arm, the man's stronger aura easily surpressing Raven's and Raven looked at him with a shocked expression when finally coming back to reality.

"Raven, do yourself a favor and try to breathe. Look at what you're doing" Yulin said in a tone that was firm yet soft.

When finally seeing how the other guards in the room were affected, Raven let out a small sigh and shook his arm out of Yulin's grip.

"...I get it" he grumbled.

Deciding that I couldn't cause Raven anymore anguish, I knelt down and looked to Alfie.

"When we left, any connection we had to the pack dissipated at the same time. We're not your alpha's anymore, Clara is. I simply don't hold the authority to do anything for you as my status is that of an ordinary pack member" I said.

"You still have the blood of an alpha in you, that alone is enough!" Alfie exclaimed, seemingly desperate now that he was beginning to lose my interest.

"Why did you come here?" I asked.

That question seemed to stop Alfie in his tracks as his brows furrowed.

"What?" He asked.

"You're no longer a pack member, why is it that you still care to ask this of me?" I said.

"...my mate, she's still there, trapped with that psycho! She separated us all because my mate tried to stand up to her for everything she's been doing...since then, I've been trying to search for any way to get her out of there or even better yet, find a way to help the pack" Alfie explained.

Nodding at his explanation, I stood back up and looked to Irina whose face was like an open book. She was trying to hold back whatever kind of pity and sadness she was feeling for us but I just pretended like I didn't see it.

Pity was the last thing I wanted to see from anyone right about now.

"Let him go, I'm sure if he managed to find his way all the way here, then he can get to a safe place on his own" I said as I turned my back to Alfie.

"Why...? Why won't you help us?!?! Isn't this a chance to get what you wanted?! If you get rid of her, you can become our Alpha!!" Alfie shouted, his words stopping me immediately in my tracks.

"That...was not what I wanted" I said as I turned to give him one last look.

The look on Alfie's face screamed at me in an attempt to get me to retract my words and agree to help him but I just couldn't bring myself to continue this any further.

"I simply wished for my siblings to not have to suffer anymore" I said, walking out after finishing my sentence as I didn't really feel like having things demanded of me any longer.

"Good riddance" Raven said as he also walked on ahead of me.

"What you heard today...it's confusing right?" I said to Yulin.

Despite him not next to me, I knew that he was following close behind. It was something I noticed he did a lot, but it was in more of a protectively watching over me kind of way.

He kept his distance but always made me aware of his presence, his scent being a comfort even in times like this where I'm at a loss on how to handle my emotions.

"I'm sure you can explain everything in due time. For now, you should get some rest" Yulin said, his steady voice sounding like a soothing song as he reached out to touch me but for some reason, he hesitated.

"I'll stay back to handle the escort. Please rest well" Yulin said.

Sighing, I nodded before turning and following after Raven who was waiting for me at the end of the hall.

As he stayed behind, Yulin merely watched as his mate walked off with a solemn look on his face.