Everyone down below us was clapping and cheering, but Beta Andrew and Alpha Alex stared at me with furrowed brows. Andrew grabbed me and pulled me out of the line of sight of the Pack members below and Alpha Alex followed closely behind.

"Did that really just happen?" Andrew whispered to me, holding his hands out to Alpha Alex. Alex placed the totem into his hand, brushing my arm in the process. I subtly moved to the left, away from him, and made sure to keep my back to him at all times.

"I just... I did what you told me" I replied.

"Maybe it didn't work because you don't shift and you don't have a wolf?" Andrew hypothesized.

"No, it worked. I saw the drop move from where it should have landed to right in the middle. Besides it worked for Searing all those years ago" Alex offered in a gruff tone.

"Then...you're not any of those?" Beta Andrew looked me in the eye with concern.

"I...I don't..." I had no idea what to tell him. Beta Andrew looked away from me over my shoulder, then back at me.

"I have no idea what that means but the Alpha and I will discuss it and let you know. Why don't you go find Sophie and Jason. Go spend time with them. Maybe even snuggle up with Nate?" Andrew said with a wink. He was always making comments like that, about how Nate and I were lovebirds, but this comment seemed forced. Almost said with malicious intent. But, ironically, he had a devilish smile on his face and a supportive hand on my shoulder.

"Umm, alright" I murmured and headed down the way I came up.

"Oh! And tell everyone you landed on Father Wolf. That's what most of your friends are" he said with a smile. I nodded and waved, turning back around to continue my trek, but not before I saw Alpha Alex stalk up to Andrew and get in close to his face to say something. Probably about the totem and how bad of an idea it was to take me in and how complicated I was. Jerk.

As I came around the boulder, I found the group waiting for me. Nate had, at some point, shown up, and when I saw his face, a pang of guilt struck my stomach. I recalled what Andrew had said about his childhood and I just wanted to hold him. He had huge smile on his face, as did everyone else.

"Yay! You're in the club now!" Sophie said with an excited clap.

"This isn't Spanish Club Sophie" Jason said with a chuckle.

"I know that! But now she can hear mind links!" she said, poking him in the arm.

"How's it feel, to belong?" William asked

"Uhh, great, I think" I said.

"Hey...does your head not hurt from all the new thoughts flying around in there?" Brett asked

"There are no thoughts..." I said in confusion. Everyone looked at me in worry.

"Maybe...maybe that's because you always have your walls up in your mind to control your powers. Can you maybe relax them...a little?" Nate offered. I nodded and tried to think about how I envisioned my brain. A box with secured walls housing all the violent powers within my skull. I tried to imagine a filter on a wall in that box, that only let the pack link through, but not the uncontrollable flow of powers.I started getting little whispers, then full words, then outright messages.

"Can you hear me now?" that was William, definitely.

"And now we can talk all night about boys and movies and nail polish and clothes. And we can go for runs and go shopping and I can let you know just by thinking about it and..." Sophie rambled on and on.

"Sophie is going to destroy you with this new ability" Jason thought, I could hear the chuckle in his thought.

"Hi" of course Sienna would be calm.

I blinked a few times and slowly let myself come back to reality. Now, instead of the thoughts being blocked, I could just push them to the side and ignore them for silence.

"That's pretty amazing, except, Sophie, you have to slow down your thoughts" everyone laughed with me while Sophie fake pouted. I noticed that Nate and Brett hadn't sent anything to me, but I wasn't going to push.

"So what wolf did you land on?" Brett asked.

"Oh, uhh, the Father Wolf" I lied, not so smoothly.

"I told you! Pay up!" William said, jumping on Jason. Jason pulled five bucks out of his wallet and handed it to William.

"Really? You bet on me?" I asked incredulously.

"They're dumb boys, don't worry about it" Sophie said and every started walking back toward the Pack house. I fell back so I could walk with Nate.

"Hey" I looked up at him with a smile.

"Hey. That was pretty great that Alpha Alex let you do a public induction"

"What do you mean?" I thought all inductions were done publicly.

"Alpha Phillip barely tolerated my existence. He took me in as a baby apparently because his mate... Alex's mom... said he had to. And he kept me around after she died because it was one of her dying wishes. He allowed me to be inducted because Jason's dad, Adrian Crewwe, insisted that it's what Alana...Alpha Plillip's mate...would have wanted. So Alpha Phillip reluctantly let me do the ceremony in his office" Nate explained.

"The Luna sounded like a great a leader. As did Jason's father" I said sadly.

"She was the greatest Luna this pack had ever seen apparently. She died when Alex was four. Her death changed the Alpha. He took it really hard, the only reason he stayed on a straight path for as long as he did was because of Jason's dad. He kept him grounded, like Jason keeps Alex. A little more human than they would prefer to be. But no amount of help could protect Alex from the wrath and training of his father. And when Jason's father died, Alpha Phillip spiraled out of control. Life was almost impossible for Alex in that year and everyone speculates that Alpha Phillip was going out and picking fights with large groups of rogues hoping that one group would kill him. And he got what he wanted" Nate put his hands into his pockets "I always felt bad for Alex. He had an awful childhood".

I nodded, actually feeling bad for Alex, but I could not help but bring it up. "And you? What about your childhood?".

"Uhh, it was alright" He said running his hand through his hair.

"Really?" I asked, stopping and putting my hand on his forearm.

He looked down at me and then sighed. "Andrew told you didn't he?". I nodded and then slowly leaned into his body, wrapping my arms around him in a warm embrace.

"Hey, I was alright. Alana looked after me and when she died, Beta Sara, Jason's mom, kept an eye on me. It could have been much worse" he said quietly. I stepped out of his arms and nodded. We walked back to the Pack House together. As we approached, I saw my grandparents standing on the back porch with some adults I had never seen before.

"Hi Gonga, Papan" I said hugging them both.

"Oh dear, we're so happy for you!" my grandma cooed.

"Yes we sure are" my grandpa agreed. I smiled and then looked at the other adults curiously. A beautiful woman with sad blue eyes and beautiful tan skin extended her hand first.

"Hi, I'm Sara Crewwe. It's nice to meet you in person, Jason and Sophie talk about you all the time" she said with a smile, but even that was sad.

"Nice to meet you" I shook her hand gently.

"This is Mr. and Mrs. Rayes" Mrs. Crewwe continued, indicating a handsome man with dirty blond hair and a bubbly looking blond with a dazzling smile.

"Hi"

"Hello" they said in unison and each one shook my hand.

"And this" Mrs. Crewwe said with finality, "is Mr. and Mrs. Tyson". I smiled and shook the two brunettes hands. Mr. Tyson had a mischievous face like his sons and Mrs. Tyson seemed like the type of woman who laughed often.

"Well, Terri, do you have any plans for tonight?" my grandma asked.

"I think Sophie, Sienna, and I are watching movies, celebrate Sienna's birthday at midnight, and then I will come home".

"Alright, have fun" my grandpa said quickly before my grandma would protest. He pushed me into the house quickly. Nate was right behind me but Mrs. Crewwe grabbed his arm gently and said something quietly into his ear. Nate nodded with a sad smile and Mrs. Crewwe gave him a quick hug, then he jogged up the last steps to the house to catch up with me.

We walked into the house and I could hear Sophie talking Sienna's ear off upstairs. I walked with Nate to the front door, where I could see the twins and Jason out front waiting.

"I'm sorry that it's girl's night" I told him.

"It's alright! This is what Sienna needs tonight. We're going to have guys night...And Terri? Stop worrying about my childhood" Nate said, opening the front door, "there are others who had far worse and need more love than me" he said with a smile. I smiled at him sadly, confused as to what he meant. In the instant I was pondering, Nate leaned in quickly and pecked me on the cheek with a gentle kiss.

And then he was gone, out the door in a flash. I stood in the foyer, shocked. I brought my hand to my cheek in awe with a smile on my face. I turned around and stopped dead, my smile cracking.

Standing in the doorway of the kitchen was Alpha Alex, watching me. We stared at each other for a few seconds and then I broke his gaze and sprinted up the stairs to Sophie's room.

Hey guys! Thanks for reading and voting! On the side is Ex Luna Alana Brutus, Alex's mom.