This was tiring. There was more food to cook.

“Take that to the table as well,” Hannah hands me two bowls of fruit. Huge bowls.

I take them off her, and walk out of the kitchen door. It leads straight to the dining room. It's twice the size of our dining room in the old pack but it's so much better.

I place the bowls on the table and turn around to see Aiden walking in.

Aiden. The boy I had a slight crush on and he didn't want to take me with him when he was trying to run away. I didn't see him until now. Except when he was fighting a pack member.

“Sky..” He says, a little surprised to find me here.

“Hey,” I wave awkwardly.

What am I supposed to say? Thanks for not taking me with you.

“Listen, I'm sorry? I don't know what else to say other than sorry.” He apologies sheepishly.

I shrug it off. Why bother thinking about it?

“It's alright,” I reply back and he grins.

“Friends again?” he places a hand out for me to shake. I laugh a little and shake his hand.

He grabs my hand, and pulls me closer to him, a smirk on his lips.

“How you doing babe?” He winks at me.

“I'm so over you,” I laugh, pushing him away.

“Get your fucking hands off her,” I hear a voice growl behind me. I turn around to see Cole standing there, holding the door handle tightly, his knuckles white.

Aiden let's go of me quickly, and mutters Yes Alpha.

“Come here,” Cole looks at me. An order.

When we reached the pack house, Cole had let go of my hand and walked ahead and left me all alone. He didn't say anything to me other than the fact that Liam knew I was with him. That was it. He ran away then.

Don't go. Kira says to me and I wish I didn't go. I really wish I didn't go, but Aiden is there. I'm the obedient girl.

I walk towards him and he holds my hand tightly.

He leans down, his eyes brown. Still Cole.  

“You're mine,” he whispers to me so softly that I don't think Aiden even heard it.

The sparks fly again when he tightens his hold on my hand.

“Skylar!” I hear Henry’s voice and I look behind Cole to see him running towards me with a woman behind him.

I let go of Cole’s hand who looks disappointed, and run around him towards Henry.

“Hello you,” I hug him tightly as he wraps his arms around my neck.

I love kids.

“I missed you. Are you okay?” he asks and I smile, as he lets me go.

“I'm okay. Now tell me all about you,” I say, sitting down on the floor and he sits opposite me. We ignore everyone else around us.

“It's so nice! And oh my god Skylar, I saw birds!” He gasps loudly, “They were flying in the sky so high. I wish I could touch them. And Skylar!  I'm going to go to school too! I love this Pack. I'm not in the basement anymore,” He claps his hands at me excitedly and then frowns all of a sudden.  

“But I miss mummy,” He whispers and my heart breaks for him.

“Everyone say I got a new mummy, but I don't want a new mummy. I only want one mummy,” He sighs loudly, “Oh and I went to this new house too.  I have my own room!” He claps his hands to me again, “And it's so big! Wait. Where do you sleep Skylar? Not in the basement right?” He tries to whisper quietly but he's not successful as I hear a quiet growl behind me.

“No. I have this big room too,” I smile at him.

“Tell me more. Did you go see the lake? When are you going to feed the ducks?” I ask.

“I have so much to tell you!” He exclaims and moves closer to me.

I ignore everyone else or the fact that we're sat in a corridor and I listen to what Henry has to say. I know how hard he has had life at such a young age, so I'm happy to see him happy.

***

“I really don't want to go,” I say, falling back on the bed.

“You're getting accepted into the pack. Of course you have to come,” Hannah says, laughing a little as she throws a dress on the bed for me.

“I'm surprised you didn't buy a lot of stuff. Wear that now,” She points to the red dress she threw on the bed. Then she throws a gold belt on the bed too and a pair of brown heels.

“I'll just wear my jeans and shirt,” I point to my outfit and she shakes her head.

“Its a formal party,” she grins at me and then walks out of the room, leaving me alone.

Do I want to stay? Yes. No.

What will I do if I leave? I haven't thought about it yet. My only plan was to leave this pack and become a rogue. How will I survive alone?

A pack can protect you, Kira says.

You won't be able to shift, I reply back and she smiles. Well if a tiger could smile.

Alex is here, she replies and then shuts down the communication between us. She's blocked me out.

I laugh a little, and get up to get ready. We were told that there's going to be a party for all of us to be accepted into this pack. Will Cole accept me as the Luna?

I ignore the thoughts and quickly get ready. I'm too lazy to have a shower so I spray myself with a little extra perfume. I tie my hair in a high ponytail to get it all out of my face. Looking at myself in the mirror, I sigh. I need a jumper to hide the few marks that show on my arm.

Property of Alpha Jack can barely be seen but I know if you look closely, it's there.

I walk into Hannah’s closet who's more of my size and take a black leather jacket. I swap the heels for black flats instead.

Done.

I walk out of the room, and head straight to the backyard where the party is. I walk through the door to see everyone having fun. My old pack mingling with the other pack.

It's funny how easily they're able to move on from their old pack. Maybe they didn't like it as well.

I stand in the corner, leaning against the wall closest to my old pack. We're supposed to stand together so we get called out one by one.

I look around noticing everyone moving closer to the bundle of people I'm standing next too. I smell his scent before I see him step through the doors. He walks with an air of confidence around him and straight towards the stage in the corner of the room.

He stands on it, and turns to everyone. The backyard falls silent with one look. Cole looks around, his eyes scanning the crowd before he finds me. He looks at me for exactly five seconds extra before looking back to the center of the crowd.

“Good afternoon everyone,” Cole starts off, getting Good afternoon Alpha in return. “I don't want to hold you up for too long so I'll get straight to it. Today is the day we're going to accept Crystal Pack members into our Pack. At the end of the day, it's their choice. Get accepted, or die,” Cole says, looking at all of us slowly, while his Pack laughs. That wasn't a joke to us.

“Now, not to waste time, I want the Crystal Pack to form a line, and one by one step on the stage,” He says and everyone moves to stand in line. I stand in the back.

I can feel some of the pack members being nervous to be accepted or not. When you're accepted into the pack, the Alpha can read your thoughts at that moment. If he thinks you're a threat, he'll kill you.

I stand at the back, and let Kira out a little bit. No one will know it, they'll feel it only if they're concentrating on finding a rare weretiger between themselves.

I can feel Kira letting out an aura slowly, around my old pack to calm them all down. It's what she can do. With a simple touch, people can calm down, feeling as if they're safe. No one panics.

I watch as Mason walks on the stage first. I watch as Cole accepts him into the pack with cutting his palm a little and Mason's as well. Mason promises to look after this pack with his life.

One by one everyone goes forward, and I push Kira back when it's close to my turn.

“Skylar,” Cole’s voice  pulls me out of my thoughts. I look up to see him staring at me, a mischievous smirk on his face.

I walk forward and stand on the stage, the mate bond between us humming loudly.  

“Skylar..-” he starts off not knowing my surname.

“Chance,” I say and he nods to himself.

“Skylar Chance. Do you promise to protect this pack with everything you have? Do you promise to help pack members when they need it? Do you promise to not betray this pack?” Cole asks, placing his hand out for me.

I place my hand in his, the sparks flying around us and he smiles slightly. A small barely there smile.

He cuts my palm, and Kira doesn't heal it. Its her instinct to heal me as soon as I get hurt.

“I promise,” I reply and I mean it. I promise to protect this pack with everything I have. If I can't shift, I can still help with protecting it.

He places his already cut palm on mine, and I close my eyes feeling the sparks increase.

I concentrate on not opening any mindlinks or letting Cole into my mind. He's my Alpha but I still do not trust him to know all of my secrets.

When I feel him remove his hand, I open my eyes to see him facing the front of the stage.  

“Let's give our new pack members a warm welcome,” He says loudly, and everyone cheers.

He walks off the stage not looking back, as I stay on the stage.

Rogues. Kira alerts me in my mind.

I run down the stage as an alarm starts blaring loudly.

I see Cole turn around, and walk quickly towards the stage again.

“I need all the children safely escorted to the Safe House along with all the elderly. Anyone who can not fight, head to the safe house to protect the kids,” Cole orders everyone and they nod.

Quickly, the kids are escorted out with pregnant women behind them. Cole talks to the pack warriors since I see Mason there, and tells them to get into lines of 10.

The pack form lines of ten, some of them running east and west, surrounding the pack house.

“Come on!” Hannah grabs my hand and pulls me behind her.

I see Cole look at me and he winks.

Stay safe he mouths to me and turns back to the front, throwing orders out.

Hannah pulls me towards the safe house, inside the pack house. Taking lefts and rights, we come to a tunnel where Hannah pulls me down inside.  She walks to a gold door, and pushes me inside, locking it behind her.

“Everyone okay?” she turns back to the people in the pack and asks them.

They all nod and she sits down next to one of crying kids.

I look around, noticing men and women sat around talking to people. Worried.

In the Crystal Pack, when we had to practice to go in the safe house, it was full of women and children only.  Here it's different. The elderly, perfectly fine looking men, women, anyone who can't fight come to safe house.

“Everything is going to be okay,” Hannah tries to calm a little baby down but she doesn't want to be quiet.

I walk forward and bend down to sit on the floor next to the little girl. She seems like she's two years old.

“Let me try,” I place my hands to Hannah and take the little girl from her lap. She sits in my lap and she quietens down.

I'm the baby whisperer.

We stay silent, waiting for some sort of sign to come out of the safe room.

I give the little girl to Hannah, and walk towards the door as I feel someone behind it.

Protect this pack with your life.

I move my hands forward, waiting for the door to open when Liam opens the door.

“It's safe,” he says, a little confusion swirling around in his eyes.

Why is he confused?

Everyone cheers in the safe house and I follow Liam out. We walk out of the pack house, the pack behind us.

“What's wrong?” I ask him not being able to stay silent in this.

I feel like something terrible has happened, worse than getting attacked by rogues.

Liam ignores my question as I see Cole standing there, with a few people around him. More people gather around them as I walk closer.  

I push myself through a little, until I'm standing opposite of Cole.  My eyes wander around his body to see if there's any injuries. None.

I look back at him and he looks down at the floor.

I follow his gaze. I try to hold in gasp that wants to be let out at the mess.

A little boy dead on the ground, his clothes ripped apart. A piece of paper blows in the wind. It's attached to his stomach. It's stapled to his stomach.

Cole bends down and runs a hand over the little boy's eyes gently.  He reads the paper.

“You can't always run from me. I found you.”

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●
Question- What's one crazy thing you want to do in your life?

[Skylar's tiger- Kira]