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 I walk freely along the path, into the heart of the pack, with my guards following strictly behind me. With each step, I wait for something to be set off, some triggering effect in my mind to suddenly release all memories of this place from when I was a child. With each step, I am pulled further away from Alpha Kenn's house, but I continue with no plan of stopping. Am I supposed to feel lost here? Though I did not venture off much, a part of me is still hoping for a familiar building or area. It is when I come up to a set of homes, that my fingers begin to tremble, shaking slightly with anticipation. Finally, something familiar, the air smells of something I have tasted before, something pliable so I can bend it to mean what I want.

I continue along and study each house as we pass by, gazing up the structures from foundation to roof. My eyes act as a metal detector, waiting for an alarming beeping noise to yell that I have found something valuable, something memorable. My feet mold footprints in the slightly muddy dirt beneath them, as it rained last night, and I heard every bit of it. I hardly got an hour of sleep. The childish fear of a nightmare was keeping me up, and I could not selfishly call my mate, as he must have things to do in the working while I do not. Alpha Kenn gave me the day to wander about while he does whatever it is he has to do before we start where we finished off with our conversation last night. Naturally, I agreed and dressed for the colder weather before heading outside. This particular temperature makes me think about snow, and if it will happen. I have seen, felt, and played in snow before, and I enjoyed it, especially as a child. Something about the white, smooth blanket draped across the forest makes me feel lost, yet in a good way.

Coming up to another set of buildings, I scan them again, waiting for the beep. With an absurd amount of time to waste, I do not become disappointed when nothing triggers the sensation inside of me, the familiar one. The guards continue to trail behind me and my curiosity flares at the sight of people, pack members. Instead of shying away, I pick up speed. I am not planning on talking to them, or waving, or smiling, but whatever happens, happens. Since I will most likely never see these people again, I take the opportunity to practice my public skills, how I will act among others who are not Sebastian, Henry, my Grandmother, Fiona, Marina, or Alpha Kenn. It is a made-up skill in my head, but it gives me something to do while I wait.

I walk by, they look at me, I look back at them, I pass, and that is all.

"Luna, is there something in specific you would like to do?" Will, one of the guards whose name I learned this morning, asks and I shake my head.

Then I see it, my familiar, triggering building and the beeping rings in my head like an alarm clock. It is more than I ever could have hoped to remember. My childhood home.

Without a single thought, abandoning Sebastian's rule, I hurry towards the house like it is set on fire and people need rescuing. The white color now looks to be off-white, and there are small chips in the paint, but it is overall a bundle of memories. The guards ask what I am doing when I rush up the steps and walk along the tiny porch, running my hand along the railing, expecting a splinter but getting none. "This was my house," I tell them.

Turning to the door, I suddenly knock while holding my breath. No one answers. I knock again, turning blue. Again, no answer. With an urge, I turn the handle, and the door slips open, revealing little of its holdings.

"Luna, I do not know if you should go in there."

As if the rules do not apply to me, I peek my head in and steal a quick glance. It is empty. No one lives here. Before I know it, the walls pull me in, and I disappear from view as the house swallows me up. Ignoring the Guard's rapid footsteps, I steadily look around, examining the room. This was the living room, and off to the right is the kitchen, so that is where my feet take me next. My fingers feel the flat, sleek countertops and are coated with a thin layer of dust when I tug them away. This place seems to be untouched, maybe since I left. The guards watch me as I venture about, but I tell them to stay downstairs when I finally reach the steps. They obey, and I begin to climb.

Not bothering to look into each room, my feet come to a halt in front of the attic entrance. Mindlessly, I tug down the attic ladder and gaze up at the dusty space. Finally taking a much needed deep breath, I reach out and grip onto the ladder, fully committed to achieving the closure I deserve.

With each step, my heart seems to pound harder, almost pushing me onward. My eyes peer into the open space, seeing a streak of light cast on the floor from my all too familiar window. It feels like a dream as I push myself up to stand inside, almost not knowing what to do or how to carry myself. Dust particles invade the air, leaving no room for anything else. The attic is empty besides the painful sight of my old, stripped bed frame set in the corner.

"You no longer belong here," she tells me.

I saunter to the window and press my hands against it as I look out, in the same stance I was in as a young child. Below is empty except for the group of people down the path. The sun seems duller through this window, through this smudged and dusty glass. "I know," I murmur, still taking in the sight of it all.

"Are you not happy with what I have given you? Are you not fulfilled by your mate?"

Refusing to look back at her, I keep my eyes looking effortlessly out the window. "I am fulfilled. I am falling in love with him."

"Then why are you back here?" She asks.

"Because here reminds me of them. They lived here. We lived here together. This is all that's left of them that I can feel, that I can touch. There is an emptiness inside of me, where they used to be, and I thought that maybe being here would make that hole feel filled, at least for a little while. But I was wrong. It only makes the emptiness grow." I peer back at her. "I miss them, my parents. I miss what it feels like to have them, and I know that every day, I forget a bit of that feeling."

"People will come and go, and you will not always get to choose who those people are. All you can do is move on and continue to live life while you can."

"What if he leaves me? The Alpha, he is taking everyone from me—what if he takes him too?"

"We lose the ones we lo—"

My eyes observe her. "I cannot lose him. I will not lose him."

I join the guards back downstairs, and I flee the house without muttering a word. This time when we pass the people, I smile, and surprisingly they smile back.

Later at night, after I had eaten a dinner which was kindly cooked for me by Alpha Kenn's housekeeper, I find myself walking back to Alpha Kenn's office. This time I am told to wait for him inside, alone, instead of him already being there. I do not mind though, as his housekeeper said that he should be back in a few minutes.

Hesitantly, I gently enter and patiently wait in the exact spot I was in before. My eyes roam about the room when they are suddenly snatched by a familiar book with a green cover. The shelves are packed tightly, and I sneak over to get a closer look. Taking some sort of risk, I work the book out of its slot and read the cover. Lycanthrope Mythology. How pleasant. This will surely make time go by quicker. Hopefully, Alpha Kenn does not mind.

I take the book back to my seat, and I flip to where I left off in Sebastian's copy, specifically a page talking about silver and silver stones. Oddly, there seems to be a marker tucked in between the pages, and I open it at the particular crevice. My eyes deceive me at the memorable title written at the top of the page. Daughters of the Moon Goddess. My muscles twitch as my tongue runs dry.

Suddenly the door opens. "Evangeline, are yo—"

"What is this?" I question Alpha Kenn, somewhat accusingly.

"What is what?" He asks while sitting down across from me.

"The marker—on this page?"

"I do not even know the book you are holding," he says, so I flash him the cover. "Lycanthrope Mythology, how interesting. I did not know we had such books in here. There are so many that I tend to leave them alone."

"So you didn't leave this marker here?"

"No, those books have been here for generations. Anyone could have done that really. Now did you want to get on with my Uncle, or talk about mythology?"

I sigh and set the book off to the side, forcing myself to let go of it for now. "Your Uncle, please. How he acted before he disappeared would be great."

"How he acted, well very odd. It was almost like half of him was here, and the other was off somewhere else, worrying about goddess knows what. For as long as I can remember he has been mentally absent. My mother and I moved away for a while, she could not stand the sight of my Uncle, and she did not want him around me. My mother passed, and I came back only a year before his disappearance."

"Why did you come back?"

He exhales. "I had lost my family, and I knew this pack was the only place where I could find a relative or anyone that knew who I was. When I got here, everything was going haywire. Rogues were getting past borders, and no one knew where the Alpha was. Someone asked who I was, and when I told them I was taken to the Beta, he shared with me his plan to take down the Alpha, as he even knew that my Uncle was no good. The Beta said that I would take over, and since I had nowhere else to go, I agreed to help him. For months we tried to take him down without my Uncle suspecting anything, but as time went on, we saw him less and less. The Beta was practically running the pack while teaching me how to be an Alpha. It was all one big mess. Whenever my Uncle came home, he would take over and set us back, ruining everything we had done in his absence."

"And no one knew where he was running off to?"

"No one," he assures me. "One day he simply never came back, and eventually the pack decided to move on, needing a new leader. I took the position, and that was the last of it. Without him, this pack has flourished."

I sit back in my seat and taking in the new information. "I believe your Uncle is trying to kill me, possibly my mother, and I think he has killed my Grandmother. I believe he was following my mother, planning something during all that time he was not here."

"Will you tell me why?"

Hesitantly, I nod and grab the book from the table beside me. Turning to the marker, I hand it to him with the pages displayed, and after looking over it, Alpha Kenn gives me a questioning expression. "Not everything in the book is accurate. I trust you, I believe you are not like your Uncle at all, so I am going to be honest. I communicate with the Moon Goddess like the women of that myth."

Alpha Kenn closes the book. "Really—you're serious?"

"I know it sounds ridiculous, but that's what my grandmother told your grandfather before he tried to kill her. Somehow your Uncle must have found out about it, and I believe he wants to end this genetic line so no others like myself, or my grandmother can be born. He wants to kill us off."

"Your mother does not have the..."

"Ability. No. It skips around. Your Uncle must not know that though."

"Why would he want to kill you and your mother if your grandmother was the one who killed his father? Simply because he thinks you all share the ability?" He asks.

"Well, your grandfather believed that we have an absurd amount of power, like the book states, but we don't. He wanted to kill my grandmother because he feared that she would use these powers to take the pack from him."

"Alright, so you are trying to kill my Uncle before he kills you and your mother?"

"Killing is very—well I was hoping I could try to—"

Alpha Kenn interrupts my failing answer. "If you are right about all of this, then I am not sure convincing him to think otherwise is possible. Clearly, he has dedicated most of his life to you and your family, and this has obviously grown into an obsession. How do you plan on stopping him anyway?"

"This is kinda as far as my idea went, learning more about him. You don't know much about me, but I'm not used to all this 'killing talk' like it's normal. Death used to mean something."

Alpha Kenn sighs and sits forward. "I can help you, and once he is caught, I will handle it."

"Really?" I ask, grateful and dazed at the same time. "Why?"

"He killed my father, destroyed my mother, nearly wrecked this pack. I can't say that I will not enjoy handling the situation."

It should feel wrong to plans someone's death. Though I am not doing the dirty part, I am still a part of it all, yet guilt is not seeping into my head, my heart, making me feel as if I am being consumed from the inside. Here, right now with Alpha Kenn, I do not feel guilty for what we are about to device. Should I?

"He is after you lately, yes?"

I nod. "But I don't think he is alone."

"Where is your mother?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen her in a long time. All I know is that she, too, was paranoid, thinking that your Uncle was watching her and all," I explain, not focusing entirely on the subject of my mother.

"Maybe we can lure him in. Set you out on unclaimed land and—"

"No," I cut in. "He isn't just taking any chance to kill me. I have been out in the open, he has had opportunities, but he doesn't take them. I can't figure out why. Could he be waiting for something?"

Alpha Kenn's hands fall underneath his chin. "Possibly, though I am not sure how we are supposed to figure out what exactly he is waiting for," he pauses then comes back fueled and energized by some idea. "Now could be his chance, he could have been waiting for a distance between you and your mate. It is a possibility and could be worth a test."

"How do we test it?"

"As I said before, we place you out in the unclaimed land alone and wait to see if he bites."

"And if he does? What will happen to me?"

"Don't worry," he assures me. "I'll have men surrounding you."

"Won't he smell them?"

"No, because we will mask their scents. It is an old trick. It does not last too long so we will have to move quickly."

I take a breath, using the moment to refresh myself and pull my head back to earth. "What about Sebastian, my mate? I have to ask him, make sure this is something he will agree with."

"Evangeline, Sebastian will never agree to let you do anything close to this."

"But—"

"You are mates. He will not knowingly place you in a dangerous situation. If you are truly committed to ending my Uncle and his obsession, then you will also have to commit to lying. It is for the best, is it not?"

"What if something goes wrong? What if he never forgives me? You don't understand. He's always trying to protect me, always trying to make sure that I am as safe as possible. He wasn't going to let me come here alone, but he finally agreed because I have two guards following me around wherever I go. My safety is everything to him."

"Listen, I may not understand what it is like to have a mate, but you are living in fear. I can see it in your eyes when you talk about him, Sebastian. You said my Uncle might have killed your Grandmother. You fear that he will take your mate next, don't you?" I stay quiet. "You cannot wait for the day when he finally comes and ends you. You have to fight back now, and with help, and I am willing to give that to you."

Biting my tongue, I nod. "It has to happen tomorrow. He is expecting me home the next day."

Alpha Kenn leans back. "I'll see what I can do. For now, get some sleep, try not worry about a thing. If you talk to Sebastian, act like everything is normal, like tomorrow is just like any other day, alright?"

"Okay."