"He is the grandson of the same Alpha that hunted down every single healer..."

These words are stuck o repeat in my head. How cruel and vicious fate can be? How is it possible, that the father of my child is related to the same man that is at fault of so many deaths? And another thing - what did I ever do to deserve this? I never thought of myself as a selfish person, but this thing right here makes me feel as if the whole world is against me, throwing and throwing shit I can't cope with my way. Just the mere fact that I started swearing says it all. 6 months ago I was blushing like crazy at the very thought of saying the "Sh" word and the "F" word, now? I've got more important problems than minding my language. Like having a stalker or being raped by the grandson of a beast that killed every single available healer in the world. And what if his son and grandson share the same sentiment? I bet they do, apple doesn't fall far from the tree. In other words - I'm screwed. Shit.

"He is the grandson of the same Alpha that hunted down every single healer..."

Same words again. It's like a never ending merry go round. If he finds out who I am - he is going to kill me. Oh, more than that - he might hurt the only people that treated me like family, the people I consider my only family right now, all hundreds of them. I can't take that weight on my shoulders, the guilt is going to rip me apart. I have to go. I have to leave. And that was the exact thought I decided to voice out.

"I need to leave. It's for the best."

And at that same minute the kitchen exploded with outraged voices shouting that I have gone mad, declining my idea on the spot. They shouted so loud, that my head started to hurt, but I didn't care.

"Guys!" I tried shouting over the quarrel. "You don't understand! It's dangerous to have me here!" But no one seemed to listen. They just continued screaming at each other now, suggesting what to do, but none of the ideas seemed appealing to me.

Finally Jonathan got fed up with all this mess and ordered with a strong voice: "Enough!"

Instantly the kitchen became dead silent. Everyone except for Nathan lowered their gazes to the ground, Jonathan's strength so visible now, flowing over us in intense waves.

"Emily," he turned my way. "You are not going anywhere. When we accepted you to the family, we knew the possible consequences."

"But only you know that I'm a healer, what about the rest of the pack? They have no idea what they signed up for." was my reasoning. A valid point, no?

"No, they didn't. But they don't need to. They have their Alpha to think about all the serious things, and they put their trust in Nathan. Now I need you to do the same thing, since, technically, Nathan is your Alpha as well." His voice was calm and soothing now. Oh, how easy would be to just trust them and not think for myself. But I couldn't do it. Something has to be done about all this situation.

"I realize that, yea, but I don't want any harm to come anyone's way because of who I am..." Now my eyes were full of tears, I was close to loosing it.

"Sweetheart..." it was doc Evan's turn to try soothing me. "You are our family now, and we stand by our own." The Nathan chimed in: "And also, we don't know if he is the one who is stalking you or if he knows about you being a healer. Let's not think ahead of ourselves, first we need to gather some more information and figure out, what's going on, ok?"

"I guess..." was all I could muster.

Andrew decided, that it was the right time to reveal more information to everyone, and by the look on his face it wasn't good.

"There is more. The Mayor is an Alpha, this we know for sure, but the weird thing is that he has no pack... Although if you consider a bunch of humans a pack, that he does, but no wolfs except for his son."

"That's odd..." said Lena. "Doesn't an Alpha need for wolfs to surround him? I mean it's in our instincts to be in a pack, and for an Alpha to lead?"

"Correct." doc Evans approved. "But something tells me he's no ordinary wolf, right?..."

"Exactly." Andrew continued. "Apparently after the death of Mayor's father, he did become an Alpha of the pack, but the people were so tired of his fathers regime, that they found another Alpha to challenge him and then shunned him from the lands."

"Wow, that's harsh..." Simon stepped in. "What did they do, persuaded another Alpha to keep him alive for the sake of humiliation, or what?"

"Something like that. He was bound to serve as an example for all those who chose to rule upon their people in dictatorship. So he went rogue and soon disappeared from the radar of the council. Everyone suspected he went crazy and died, but apparently he found a rogue she-wolf and mated with her, they had a child, moved to your, Emily, hometown. But rogues are bound to go insane, so that's what happened to his wife, she felt too constricted being surrounded by only humans, so she killed herself."

"Oh my, poor soul..." That was Hannah. Trust her to care even for a rogue. Although, who am I to complain, if it weren't for her, I would have left this town straight after dinner.

Hanna took a deep breath and turned to the stove. "I think we all need some herbal tea right now, something tells me this is not all..."

"Unfortunately so, the story goes on..." Sighed Andrew. "So after she killed herself, Mayor became even more angry with the world and started building his own pack, this time of humans. Of course, nobody knew about him being a werewolf, but he definitely had a powerful vibe around him, so becoming a Mayor and gaining influence on a neutral land became easy."

"Sorry," I interrupted, "What's a 'neutral land'?" It was Hannah who answered me, simultaneously handing me a cup of hot chamomile tea. What an angel.

"Sweety, it's a land that doesn't belong to any pack and no one can claim it, because the elders decided long ago, that there should be wolf free territory, thus restricting packs to their own land and making Alpha's duties easier. Neutral land is used to travel, to organize meetings between pack leaders, to study. Also it makes human life's easier, because can you imagine living surrounded by all those powerful souls? Humans would be subdued and extremely uncomfortable, which may cause imbalance in everyone's life."

"Oh, I kind'a get it, I think..."

"Ok, so here comes the disturbing part..." said a grim Andrew. Jonathan and Nathan furrowed their brows, the twins only sighed, Lena squirmed in her seat, Hannah and Shirley sat on both sides of me, silently giving me their support.

"I have no idea how the council wasn't informed about that, but Mayor started gathering rogues around him. I have looked through the towns newspaper archives, and found out, that the woods surrounding it are considered dangerous. People gone missing, animal attacks and all that shit. I think, it were the rogues, but I have no way to prove it. But what I can prove is the high concentration of rogues specifically around that town."

"But it's unusual for rogues to stick together, they are all crazy..." Lena said thoughtfully.

"Yes, but rogues are different. Apparently he managed to gather those, who considered their banishment unjust and are eager to have a pack again. But they hid well, I have no idea for how long, Henry discovered them by accident and by pure luck stayed undetected."

"Who's Henry?" It was me again, yes, I felt stupid and slow, but I truly have no idea who the're talking about and get confused.

"Our tracker. So, he remained undetected by pure luck, but managed also to stick around for a while. He found out, that the Mayor is planning to address the council and ask for permission to form his own pack from those rogue wolfs, claiming it would be an act of mercy. But I think, he is planning something bigger and Mercy has nothing to do with his plans..."

"We need to speak to the council. Have you notified them yet?" asked doc Evans. His crossed arms were strained, there was no hint of my fluffy grumpy old man left, he was the most serious I've ever seen, and that moment I realized, that my problems were the least of what's been brewing...

"No, not yet, I haven't even had a chance to tell Nathan about it."

"Good. We need to think this through very carefully."

"Agree. Alpha, what do you want to do?"

For a moment there Nathan looked really tired, but his strength never faltered. He appeared deep in thought for a couple of minutes, and then shared his conclusions.

"First of all, I think we need to come clean to the pack, tell them about Emily. Even if the Mayor and his son aren't the ones after her, she still may be caught up in the middle, and better if her powers were a surprise to our enemies than allies."

"We can't do it now." Shirley spoke for the first time, I think?... "We need to wait until the child is born. The pack will want proof, the council will want it, and until she gave birth, her powers will stay dormant."

I was only able to follow the conversation as a bystander now, because this was so much deeper then I could have ever imagined. I was a vet, tactical planning was not my strongest point.

"Damn..." sighed Nathan. "I don't like the idea of waiting for so long, but I guess if we can maintain the surveillance on those rogues, we could..."

"Yes, I agree, we should wait." said Jonathan. "But that doesn't mean doing nothing."

"What do you suggest?" asked Nathan,

"We summon Nick, that's for sure. We put a warrior to Emily at all times, that's also a given."

"Ok, that is manageable."

"We continue surveying the rogues."

"Of course."

"And we work on what and when and how to inform the council."

"That's going to be the hardest part..." Nathan sighed again.

"I know. But Shirley is right, we can't go to the council with assumptions only, we need proof."

Andrew spoke up: "I say until Nick arrives we do nothing. He's the lead warrior, he is good in tactics, he spent the last 6 months with the council, he knows them better then we do."

"True again." Nathan agreed. "Then we summon Nick. Andrew - tell Henry to stick around for a while longer and we need to figure out who to attach to Emily."

"We can do that" said Lena pointing to herself and the twins. "I am a warrior already, and I will not make Emily feel uncomfortable, so are the twins."

"Not me though." Seamus said with a small blush on his cheeks. "I'm not a warrior, I would rather prefer digging into books and figuring out the Mayors motives."

"Don't fret, bro, I've got the muscles, you've got the brains!" Exclaimed Simon with a huge grin on his face. Doc Evans only face-palmed himself, muttering under his breath something like: "Does he not realize what he just said?..."