my heart's racing, trying to catch up to you,

the light that you let off is gold.

i can't shake this feeling it fills the room,

these chills didn't come from the cold.

they came from you.

Stuffing my mouth with the last bite of my waffle, I stood up from the box I had been sitting on. I grabbed a glass of milk and gulped it down, letting out a large burp as I finished.

"Must you do that every time?" shouted Uncle Eddie. "You are royalty!"

I turned and flashed him a big grin, showing off a very unattractive milk mustache.

"Oh goddess," Edison wailed. "I have failed your parents greatly!"

"On the contrary, I think you've done an amazing job," I laughed, patting his shoulder. "Now come on, we have to leave if we want to get there on time."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "He is not worthy of our presence."

I sighed. "I completely agree with you, but this must be really important. He even had someone come to our house."

Uncle Eddie pondered this for a while. After a moment he let out a large breath of air.

"Fine! But I will not be on time," he huffed out, crossing his arms over his chest.

Chuckling, I put my sweatshirt on, being extra careful as it went over my back. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

"We leave right after this though," he added. "I don't want to spend any more time here than necessary."

"Right away," I agreed, excited to finally get out of this place.

Though I was initially hesitant about the idea of moving, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it could be a good thing. Of course I always wanted to get away from Alpha James, but I had been worried that leaving would mean I wouldn't be able to get any more information about the attack all those years ago. However, moving around could just be the perfect opportunity for me to branch my search out.

Exiting the house, I walked in the direction of the meeting grounds that hadn't been used for an actual meeting in several years. Alpha James did mention last night that he was going to make me "regret" my actions. But would he really call a pack gathering over it? Something deep down told me it was really unlikely he would.

Maybe the Reds had finally exploited our pack as well? They had taken resources, money and people from other packs, rendering them poor and defenseless. For some unknown reason, the Lunar pack hadn't been one of their targets. Yet.

We all knew it was coming at some point. But Alpha James had never bothered preparing for the possibility that we could be left to suffer and starve. It would make sense that we had finally been hit.

Arriving at the grounds, I saw people scattered all over the field, majority of them bunched together in front of the platform where the Alpha would speak soon. Over a thousand members were already here, and more were making their way over. No children were present, confirming my suspicions that this wasn't a light matter.

Tugging my ear, I made my way to stand at the back, behind everyone else. Soft whispers floated around as people speculated about the impromptu assembly.

Finally, a hush fell across the crowd as everyone went silent. Alpha James walked up the stairs on the side of the platform, coming to a stop in the middle.

"Welcome, everyone, and thank you for coming here on such short notice," he began. "I know it's been a while since we came together like this, but an unusual situation came up this morning."

This morning. So it definitely had nothing to do with what had happened between Alpha James and I last night. However, that didn't do much to ease my tension.

The Alpha scanned over us, his eyes widening slightly as they fell on me. He definitely hadn't expected me to be so well-healed by now. I smiled sarcastically and waved my fingers, earning a satisfying scowl from him.

I normally wouldn't have been this ballsy, but hopefully Uncle Eddie and I would be long gone before Alpha James could penalize me for my blatant disrespect.

He cleared his throat before continuing. "There was a trespassing situation at one of the packs nearby ..."

Oh goddess. I tuned him out as the events of last night flashed through my mind.

"... got away and they are searching for this criminal. Welcome, Alpha Eastwood of the Shadow pack! May I present to you the Lunar pack," Alpha James finished in a strained voice.

The deadliest silence washed over the pack as the name registered in their minds. The name of the ruthless Alpha no one had seen in years.

Oh my goddess, oh my goddess, oh my goddess.

This couldn't be happening. He was here?

I was toast!

My wolf was on high alert, expanding our senses to take in our surroundings. I, on the other hand, was busy trying to hide behind the old granny in front of me. While it wasn't confirmed that Alpha Rowan Eastwood was my mate, I had a very big suspicion that he was.

As I crouched behind the lady's skirt, the same intoxicating scent from last night invaded my senses. Every part of my body nudged me in the direction of the smell, but I did my best to stay where I was.

Peering over the grandma's shoulder, I watched as a man climbed up the steps. He was adorned in professional black trousers and a black dress shirt that hugged the well defined muscles of his upper body. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, exposing his gorgeous forearms.

Who knew forearms could be so attractive?

His movements were steady and calculated, performed with predatory certainty. My heart was already beating wildly out of my chest and when he turned to face us, it almost stopped completely.

Oh. My. Goddess.

He was most definitely not an ugly troll.

His hair was black as night, riddled with slight waves like those of a quiet sea. A jaw sharper than a steel knife framed his face, accompanied with a nose just as defined. His rosy lips looked temptingly soft, despite being pressed into a hard line. And then came his eyes. They were just as I had remembered; swirling pools of honey and caramel that held me captive in a hypnotic state.

My mouth ran dry as a chill went down my spine. 

He was extremely handsome.

Immediately, everyone bowed their head out of respect for the Alpha in front of us. Or maybe it was out of fear of being killed.

"Please separate yourselves into two groups," Alpha James' voice brought me back to reality. "Females under the age of 50 on the left, and everyone else on the right."

Crap! I needed to hide ASAP. Last night was a clear indication that my mate wanted nothing to do with me, so then why was he here? Sure, I had trespassed onto his territory, but was that really worth all this trouble? I didn't understand his motives at all and the last thing I wanted to do was have him find me. 

The crowd began moving as people disentangled themselves to form the two groups. Panicking, I scrambled to stay behind the old lady as she moved to the right side of the field.

Don't worry, I thought to myself. Just stick with the oldies and no one will find you. Just a few more ste -

"Oi!" yelled the lady, noticing me creeping along with her. "What you think you're doing?"

"Uh," I racked my brain for an excuse to be in her group. "I know I look young, but I'm actually seventy years old. It's quite the Benjamin Button fiasco really, so if you'll allow me -" I tried pushing past her.

"Benjamin who?" the woman asked in a thick accent, looking at me as if I had grown an extra tail. "No matter," she shook her head. "The criminal was young girl and you are young girl. You must go other side."

"But -" I started to protest.

"No buts," she glared. "Go."

I thought old people were supposed to be sweet.

Grumbling, I stomped back to where I had come from and stood behind the mass of girls clumped together. They were whispering excitedly, talking about Alpha Rowan and how attractive he was, angering my wolf who was begging to get out and show them who he belonged to.

"Silence!" shouted Alpha James. "Alpha Eastwood will .." he trailed off as he realized my mate had already stepped off stage and was making his way over to us.

He walked slowly, assessing every girl in his way as he eyed them up and down. There was nothing lustful in his scrutiny, even as Valerie and her friends tried their best to show themselves off - it was purely analytical.

I was curious as to why he needed to look at them in the first place. I could clearly smell him from where I was, so surely he could've smelt me as well, right?

As he got closer to where I was, I shrunk back, my eyes shifting to stare at my feet.  Maybe if I made myself small enough, he wouldn't notice me. Time seemed to stand still as I felt his scent grow stronger and stronger. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of his footsteps as he stalked around the field.

I stayed that way until two polished dress shoes came into my field of vision, stopping in front of me.

Everything in my body was screaming at me to lift my head, but I kept my gaze trained on the shoes.

The word that followed the long silence was enough to send hundreds of chills and tingles coursing through me. 

"Her."

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A/N

Hi !!! Here is the latest chapter! I know it wasn't that dramatic and I apologize for that. I was planning on combining the events of this chapter and the next one (together in one chapter), but as I started writing, it all got to be over 3000 words so I broke it up.

But the good news is that I'm almost done the next chapter, so it should be up in a few short days!

Let me know what you thought about this though!! We're so close to seeing Freya and Rowan meet!

Vote and comment please if you enjoyed it

Until next time xo