📎A/N. Hello dear friends, had some lovely news this weekend, Buried as been selected as Book of the Week by CBY Book Club - http://cbybookclub.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/book-of-week-wattpad_11.html

Thanks for all your wonderful support to date. There has been some 'glitches' lately with Wattpad and trying to post new chapters is a little more difficult. In addition, comments are getting lost and there have been a number of occasions where I am attempting to respond to comments which then error. This means that it is taking a little longer to reply to you all. So - if I don't reply immediately, don't panic I am not ignoring you all.... it's just that WP is causing a few problems which are slowing me down.

Take care and don't forget to vote - even you silent stalker types ;-)

❤ ℳ

P.S. For those of you who have not yet read my other story Masked, you may wish to add it to your library :-)

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The disgruntled neighbours had called police three times already that evening, and still no one had turned up to close the party down.

The noise coming from the university freshman's party was out of control. However, none of the neighbours were game enough to physically go over and ask them to turn the music down. They had heard too many horror stories to take the risk.

Louise was sitting on her new boyfriends lap, enjoying his attention when one of her friends raced towards her, panic clearly on her face.

"Shit Lou, Brian's just turned up."

A very drunk freshman shrugged her shoulders. "Who cares?" she hiccuped, "We aren't together anymore and he just needs to get over it."

Turning back to face her new boyfriend she smiled. "Besides, what can he do, I'm with the Captain of the Football Team now." Louise turned back to Taylor, and pulled him in close for a very public kiss.

When she came up for air, she turned and saw an enraged looking ex-boyfriend a short distance away. Hands clenched into fists and eyes narrowed.

Before the stunned, drunk and high onlookers knew what was happening, Brian broke into a run towards Taylor. His fist making contact with the larger boys stomach as they both toppled off the deck and onto the front lawn.

A chant from the crowed erupted as they began singing out; 'fight, fight, fight' at the top of their lungs.

Brian quickly regained his balance and threw himself on Taylor who was in a fetal position from the intense punch inflicted a moment beforehand.

The aggressor threw a quick succession of punches to his victims head, face and chest.

A shrill scream pierced the air, cutting through the chanting as blood poured from the downed party-goers nose and now very split lip.

"He's going to kill him! Get him off."

It took three burly football players in the end to dislodge a much smaller Brian from the almost unconscious Taylor.

As she dropped to her knees to inspect the damage, Louise turned back to her former boyfriend and screamed at him, hate inflected in each syllable. "How could you do this? I told you we are over."

A hush seemed to overtake the crowd as they noticed the barely contained rage that exploded with force across Brian's face.

As he made his way out, the crowd seemed to part naturally as if not wanting to be anywhere within striking distance. Questioning looks were thrown around as they were trying to reconcile this aggressive Brian to the normally docile one they were used to.

Once he was out of sight they quickly turned their attention to their downed classmate.

A call had been placed to 911 for a paramedic when a low menacing growl cut through the air. Cries rang out as a giant creature stalked out of the darkness. It's sharp fangs bared as it slowly made its way towards the centre of the crowd.

A few party-goers had the sense to quietly back out of harms way and make a run to safety. Others, simply stood and watched the unfolding drama.

By the time the Paramedics and Police turned up, it was already too late.

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Kaitlyn's head was spinning. She had long realised that she was not going to remember a single name. Too many people had come to introduce themselves and welcome her. Many had let her know how much they had missed her father.

At one point in the evening her emotions had almost gotten the better of her. The well wishers had regaled her with a number of stories from her fathers youth. Key moments from his teenage years were brought to vivid life as they each took their own trip down memory lane. These were details of her fathers life she had long thought lost to the annuals of time. With each story, Kaitlyn became more overwhelmed. A raft of emotions were bombarding her as she gravitated between melancholy and anger.

These were stories she should have heard directly from her father. Not well meaning strangers. She needed a moment to gather her thoughts and calm down, before she dwelled too much on the bitterness, and it raged out of control. Surreptitiously edging away from the festivities, Kaitlyn found a quite place to hide and watch the proceedings without being disturbed.

Forcing herself to ignore the intense hatred for Elijah that was always bubbling below the surface, she focused on her current surroundings. The impromptu gathering had ensured the majority of the pack were present. Kaitlyn estimated a little over one hundred people had turned up. She knew from Joshua, the Tudor Falls pack were one of the smallest in the country.

Scanning the crowd, her gaze rested upon Murphy. Despite the obvious standoffish pose and negative aura that radiated off him, a number of people were brave enough to rupture the barrier that he had erected, and started up conversations with him. She had even noticed that at a couple of moments during these interactions, he looked as though he was actually enjoying the discussion.

The one person whom Murphy had yet to speak to, was the one person he had deliberately been avoiding.

Kaitlyn had to hide a smile as his father, whom she know knew to be Liam O'Neill, had been doing the exact same thing. The fact that they both knew which direction to avoid, very clearly showed they knew exactly where the other was at all times. Seeking out Joshua, she discovered a friendly banter underway between her grandfather and a few others he was talking with. One of the men suddenly broke away and shouted out, "Iománaíocht!"

An excited buzz seemed to descend on those gathered, as almost as one, they started to make their way around the far side of the Town Hall. Everyone except Kaitlyn seemed to understand what had just happened. She stood her ground, not sure whether to follow their lead or to remain where she was.

Molly, seeing Kaitlyn's dilemma came to her rescue. "I suppose you would not have seen a game of hurling before?" Molly said as she took her by the arm and lead her towards a large clearing behind the Town Hall

Kaitlyn furrowed her brow "What, people throwing up?" she exclaimed in horror.

Molly began laughing, "No, its a game."

As they walked towards the empty space in the early dusk, someone had turned on the floodlights to reveal the clearing was a sports field. At each end of the field were 'H' shaped goals with a net covering the area under the cross post.

Excited squeals and laughter could be heard as a group of youth carried a number of large canvas bags and dumped them onto the pitch.

"Hurling has been played in Ireland for the past two thousand years," Molly explained, "the humans play with fifteen players per team. We play seven a side."

Kaitlyn watched as a number of men gathered near the canvas bags.

"What are they doing?"

Molly looked in the direction Kaitlyn had indicated. "Lets see, firstly they will argue over who will be referee, then there will be some argument from some of those young'uns saying they are old enough to play, then there will be a disagreement on who won the coin toss."

Kaitlyn noticed that a few of the boys who looked in their late teens had separated from the main group and headed back to the sidelines looking exceedingly dejected.

"Why can't they play?" she asked.

"Our rules state that a Were must be fully grown to play this type of challenge. It is a little dangerous for their not-yet mature bodies."

One of the men still remaining with the players turned and seemed to be searching for something or someone in the crowd. Finding who he was looking for he beckoned his target towards them as he called out, "Hey Murphy, how about you join us."

Kaitlyn noticed that Murphy had been watching the proceedings silently from the sidelines, attempting to blend in with the shadows.

His only reaction to this, was a slight shake of his head.

A couple of spectators turned towards the focus of everyone's attention. "Have ye lost your touch?" they jeered good naturedly, "must be all that big city living."

She could see Murphy's hackles raise at the jibe. Instead of ignoring it as she expected, he began to walk towards the group of players who began to separate into teams.

"He could never back down from a challenge," Molly said smiling as she shook her head, "you're in for a treat now."

After a bit of discussion, those that were playing reached into the canvas bags and pulled out what looked like a strange looking hockey stick. Kaitlyn needed to take a second look as the bottom part of the stick was flat and stunted looking.

"That's the camán," Molly explained, seeing her confusion.

The older woman then went on to outline the rules of the game that was about to commence. "The objective is to get the sliothar - that's the ball, into the opponents goalpost. If the sliothar goes over the post, a point is scored, if it goes under the post and into the net three points are scored."

The two sides walked onto the field and took up their starting positions. Their stance aggressive and, to Kaitlyn, it looked as though battle-lines has been drawn. Each side was hurling abuse and taunts at the other team.

Molly pointed out the different teams. "The Gaillimh have the Alpha on their team, and so Tiobraid Árann are always at a disadvantage. With my Murphy playing, this always made it a fair game."

A shout went up and the game began. Before she knew what was happening men, sticks, arms and a tiny little ball seemed to be everywhere. It looked like utter chaos and Kaitlyn was struggling to keep up with the play. Both the ball and players were moving too fast for her to understand who had done what to whom. To her, it looked like a war was being raged, and the field was the battle ground.

This was not a game, it was outright war.

Kaitlyn couldn't help but be impressed by some of the skill she could make out. Even to her untrained eye, it as obvious that Alpha Nathan and Murphy were the superior players, with both of them obtaining and holding onto the sliothar longer than the others, as well as being the main scorers for their respective teams.

As the game progressed she worked out that players were not allowed to hold the ball for more than three paces. After this, they would balance it on their camán or use it to bounce the ball while running at top speed down the field; before finally flipping it high into the air, and hitting it with their camán over or under the cross bar.

Those gathered at the sidelines were extremely vocal in their support of their chosen team. With friendly banter at the oppositions spectators whenever the ball was taken back by their team.

At first, the goals seemed to be scored every few seconds; with teams moving from one end of the field too quickly for her to keep up with. However, after the teams had settled down, the ball seemed to get back in to opposition hands before it had made its way up the length of the field. Kaitlyn was becoming dizzier with each passing moment, and she was sure she had whiplash from her attempts to keep up with the path of the ball.

Grown men were playing an extremely violent but skillful game in their jeans and t-shirts. With the amount of pushing, shoving and trauma of being hit by the camán or sliothar not one player was going to come out of this able to wear their clothes again.

Jeans were ripped, shirts shredded. Many players had blood dripping from parts of their body where it had gotten in the way of a lethal stick. Players who had been hit by the sliothar were sporting large bruises where it had made contact with their body. Kaitlyn was baffled on how no broken bones or serious injury had not yet occurred.

What was most puzzling to Kaitlyn, was that they all looked as though they were having the time of their lives.

Due to the size of field and the distance they were to the players - she couldn't be sure - but if she were a betting person, she could have sworn that Murphy looked like he was enjoying himself. An actual smile had broken through his gruff veneer.

Even to her untrained eye, it was obvious that the two teams were evenly matched, with Alpha Nathan and Murphy being the strongest players on each of the teams.

Kaitlyn spotted Liam O'Neill a short distance away watching the game intently.

"Does Liam play?" she asked Molly.

Molly shook her head. "Not for years, he says it's a young man's game."

The older woman cocked her head slightly as she took in her mate's stance. "But I can tell you he's mighty happy about tonight's game."

Kaitlyn looked over at Liam. He was standing on the sidelines, arms folded over his chest with a stoic look upon his face.

Turning back to Molly she raised an eyebrow, "Really, that's his happy look?"

"I call it his caveman language," laughed Molly, "I supposed you don't know him well enough to see it. But our Murphy has made him mighty proud this evening - although he would never admit it."

Molly turned back to watch the game. "This silly rift between them just breaks my heart. They are both too stubborn and pigheaded for their own good."

"Well if the father is anything like the son," remarked Kaitlyn, "it's not likely to be resolved anytime soon."

Molly sighed wistfully. "Unfortunately they are both too caught up in the past to see their way to the future."

"What do you mean?"

Molly took a deep breath and looked at Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn could see the other woman was debating on whether to elaborate or not. "You probably don't know this," she began once her decision was made, "but until a little over a hundred years ago, Liam was the Alpha of our Pack in Ireland."

Kaitlyn's shocked expression relayed her ignorance to this news.

"Our pack didn't come across with the first wave. We held out until the early 1900's. By then, we were down to eight families."

Molly looked over towards her mate. "Liam comes from a long line of Alpha's. He fully expected that Murphy would be the next Alpha after him and continue the line."

The older woman then turned back to Kaitlyn who was listening intently. "You need to understand that being raised to be an Alpha instills a huge sense of responsibility. They are conditioned to protect their pack. The pack's needs come before their own."

"When the decision was made to migrate, we not only left behind everything we knew - but Liam had to make the most difficult decision of his life. He knew we couldn't survive and grow on our own. So, he gave up his Alpha status and we merged with the Tudor Springs pack which was already well established in the new world.

"It took a long time for Liam to come to terms with the fact that the O'Neill Alpha line would die with him, and that he had denied Murphy his birthright."

"I'm guessing that Liam still expected Murphy to live up to this 'Alpha Code'?" remarked Kaitlyn.

Molly nodded as an anguished look overcame her. "You're extremely perceptive. Murphy's decision to leave to avenge Junes death was a blow to Liam. He saw it as a betrayal."

"Because Murphy had not put the pack first - and instead, chose to put his own needs first?" finished Kaitlyn, now having put the pieces together.

"After he caught Elijah, Liam pushed Murphy to come home and let the Alliance deal with him. Murphy leaving again was another blow. This time, they both felt betrayed."

"Do either of them realise what it is doing to you?" Kaitlyn asked quietly, realising the devastation that the two men had brought upon a woman that they both loved.

Molly wiped away the tears that had emerged as Kaitlyn spoke. "There are a number of universal truths, that both Humans and Werewolves have in common," she began, "and that is we always hurt the ones we love."

Kaitlyn, not sure how to reply to this, chose instead, to place a reassuring arm around the other woman shoulders.

A huge cheer erupted from the spectators, and broke into their conversation. The game was over and the players were heading off the field to be mobbed by friends and family.

Murphy quickly disengaged himself from the throng and headed in their direction. Torn clothes, bruised, and dishevelled but with a distinct glint in his eye.

"Who won?" questioned Kaitlyn as he drew near.

This question seemed to startle him. "Weren't you watching?"

Molly saved her from replying. "I'm sorry honey, it was my fault. I was trying to explain some of the rules and we missed the last few goals."

A low sound came from the back of his throat as he regarded the two women in mild disgust.

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes at this, "I guess that means your team won."

Molly chuckled as she turned back to the younger woman, "I see you understand caveman as well."

Kaitlyn's reply was halted as she noticed Liam break away from his conversation with another Elder, and traverse the short distance to them.

Coming to stand next to his mate, he snaked a possessive arm around Molly's waist.

Kaitlyn shifted uncomfortably on the spot under the mans penetrating gaze.

Clearing her throat she stretched out her arm in an attempt to shake hands with the formidable character.

"Mr O'Neill, I didn't mean to be disrespectful earlier. But I was brought up to not let others take the blame for something I had done."

Kaitlyn, out of the corner of her eye noticed Molly elbow her mate and stare pointedly at him. She guessed they were having a telepathic conversation, as his face became more tense by the second.

The moments seemed to stretch out for eternity before any sort of movement came from Murphy's father.

His huge hand engulfed hers as he swung his gaze to focus on Kaitlyn. "Apology accepted. It's nice to see that someone lives by the standard in which they were raised."

The moment the last words were out of his mouth, Molly jabbed him with her elbow again. This time much harder. The older woman's face taking on a furious look as she stared her Mate down.

Kaitlyn quickly turned to Murphy, who had remained silent throughout the entire exchange, in order to gauge his reaction to his father's pointed gibe.

She was deflated to see that his earlier almost happy state had reverted back to its standard icy exterior. She could see he was at tipping point. Kaitlyn was about to suggest they go and track down Joshua and call it a night, when his fathers voice cut into the awkwardness.

"Um... that was a good game son, it's been a while since the Tiobraid Árann has won."

The Elder O'Neil slapped a hand on Murphy's back, a small smile threatening to emerge. "Now if you'll excuse me, I will only get bragging rights for this game for a limited time so I'd better get to it."

"What was that all about?" asked Murphy as he watched his father turn and make his way towards the Main Street.

Molly pattered her sons arm. "I simply told him if he didn't tell you what he had been feeling at the end of the game, it would be a long time until he got any."

"Any what?"

"Has it really been that long?" asked Molly cheekily.

The look on his face was priceless as Molly's meaning sunk in. "Mother," groaned Murphy, just before he turned and stormed off to join the others who had now returned to Main Street.

Leaving two hysterical woman, almost crying with laughter at his disgusted reaction, behind.

When they finally made their way back to join the others, Kaitlyn spied her grandfather staring off into the distance a concerned expression on his face.

"What's the matter?"

"The Alpha just got a call, something has happened."

"What?"

"I don't know, but it must be big. There is an emergency Alliance meeting happening in ten minutes."

Before she could ask any questions her phone rang. Pulling it out of her back pocket, she glanced at the caller display before answering it.

"Doug, what can I do for you?"

"Kaitlyn, we have a problem."

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📎A/N.... interesting little town, isn't it.... and very interesting conversation between Molly and Kaitlyn ;-)

... so what did you think of the game?.... for those of you who don't know - Hurling is a real sport. :-)

... wonder what the emergency Alliance meeting is about... and what problem has happened back in Boston??

Don't forget to vote :-)

Next chapter should be posted Wednesday/Thursday.

Till then, stay safe.

M.