chapter 7

Evony~

I woke to the sound of muffled voices in the other room, I could clearly hear my Leiah and Darin speaking to Ethan. The room started to spin as I opened my eyes and I needed a moment to get a hold of myself.

Looking around I realized I was laying down on the sofa in the lounging area of the packhouse. How did I get here? The last thing I remember was being in the forest with Ethan and... Kade.

Sitting up I attempted to get to my feet, but my body felt drained of energy and my head was spinning.

"She just fainted it was probably the smoke," Ethan spoke quietly.

Leigh's panicked voice could probably be heard throughout the entire house. "You don't know that! None of us do! Anything could be wrong with her! You don't just faint for no reason! Why did the doctor leave? We have no one who can tell us what the problem is."

What are they talking about? Did I faint? was that the reason I was feeling this way?

Standing to my feet I carefully made my way to the door, using the wall for support.

Darin's voice spoke up grabbing my attention.

"Is she possibly sick?..." I paused at the door listening in.

"She's not sick! She just needs rest!" If I wasn't so dizzy I would say Ethan sounded like he was in denial.

"Ethan!" Leiah shouted. "None of us know that! She needs to see a doctor! What if she never wakes?!"

Opening the door all of them went silent, turning to look at me. Leiah seemed relieved to see me away and I gave her a small smile, it was the first time in two weeks that she's seen me out of bed.

Running over she pulled me into a big hug which I gladly returned. " thank the gods you're awake!"

Smiling I pulled away as she started going crazy looking over me with concern." how re you feeling? You look like shit...what happend to you? Are you ok?!"

I think my head started to spin more at the barrage of questions. Grabbing her hands in my own k looked at her.

"I'm fine... Just a little....woozy."

Darin came up gave me a quick hug before messing with my hair. "You have a real knack of worrying your friends don't you?"

After giving Darin a small smile I glanced over to ethan who seemed nervous.

"What's wrong?" Darin and Leiah looked at each other unsure. "The pack is really anxious since you found out about axton you haven't really made any appearances, even before he....well...after you fainted yesterday, everyone is worried you won't be able to lead."

"I see..." I finally understood why Ethan was acting the way he was yesterday, I had pushed all the pack's problems onto him without even knowing, not to mention they probably aren't happy with my coming of leadership.

A wave of nausea hit me and had me leaning into the table beside me.

"Evony! I knew she's not well, look at her! She needs to go to a hospital or a doctor!"

Letting the feeling pass I stood up straighter and took leiahs hand. Ethan was also worried, biting his cheek while watching me closely, now he seemed ready to throw me in the car and drive me there himself.

"I'm fine really im sure if I just eat some real food then it will go away... As for the pack, ethan I want you to set up a meeting... We should measure them that everything will be fine... We aren't going to wait around any longer, we need to find kade before he does something."

They all seemed reluctant to let the subject of my health go and Darin proceeded to pull some food from the fridge which I gladly accepted, I haven't eaten properly in two days should we really be surprised by my symptoms? Panic was the last thing we needed at the moment. I ate the food given to me. Thinking about how I was going to fix all this. The pack barely knew me I doubt they trust me.

"Evony are you sure your okay?" Leiah sat down beside me, the worry was evident on her face.

"I'm not sure, honestly I don't know if I'll ever be okay again... But I have to try." He wouldn't have wanted me to mourn his death, he would have wanted me to keep fighting, if I give up now then everything he worked so hard for would be for naught.

She nodded and gave me a hug. Darin cleared his throat and spoke up after a moment." so what do we do about the refugees?"

Both me and ethan looked at him confused. "Refugees? What refugees?"

"Well on our little raid of the rouge camp we kinda found some hostages, all women who were either rouges or girls kidnapped from their packs. I'm not so surprised by it because before I left kade said we would need women in order to have a pack...he was kidnapping girls so when he took over 'his' territory they would create his own pack out of the rouges and girls he took, I didn't think he was serious at first but then they started coming in one by one... He ordered all the camps to send the girls to a hidden location im not sure where it is but it seems that camp had just recently kidnapped them and didn't get the chance to send them out... I told Axton and Ethan about this before but now that we have proof of his plan, what are we supposed to do?"

I listened closely to his explanation and it made my stomach churn kade was sick in the head... Taking girls from their homes, their mates, so he could have some kind of fucked up version of his own pack, this also means he was responsible for the car crash me and Leiah got into. Those rouges we're after us, it didn't matter who we were they didn't know or care, it was just the fact we were female... He needed to be stopped before more people got hurt.

"We will do what we can, provide food and shelter for the girls whether they are rouges or from another pack... If we can have someone escort the girls home if possible... We should address these problems and hold a pack meeting, everyone needs to be aware of the problem at hand and I need to restore their faith in both me and ethan, they need to see that we can take care of them..."

Looking at both Darin and Leiah I stood up straight and faced them. "You've both been great friends to me and are some of the few people in my life who didn't judge me for who I was... If you will, id like to appoint both of you as gammas..."

Both of them looked surprised at first but stood straighter and nodded. I gave them a small smile.

"I need to talk to my father about our next course of action we are outnumbered and need his support if we are going to survive this... If worst comes to worst we will retreat to the blood moon pack territory...but that's our last resort... Everyone who is able should great ready for a fight... There's no telling when he'll attack."

Ethan sighed before walking over to us. "I called everyone to come to the packhouse... They're waiting outside..."

I nodded and took a deep breath to keep myself calm, there no telling how the pack would react, some of them hated me before and with axton gone, me claiming to be his mate could trigger some bad reactions. I looked at my friends around me and gave a small smile, as long as I had them then I could push through and continue forward, I knew they would protect me.

"Let's go..." We all made our way outside to the front of the packhouse where everyone was gathering, families, warriors, and even some children stood before me and my friends with mixed emotions.

The tension was enough to make me hold my breath as I looked over the crowd, anxiety was poking at my back as I could hear won numbers of whispers being passed through the crowd, in total there was about 80 of us give or take a few if you counted the children. Some had left the pack after axtons death, they all felt the alphas link break, he was gone, leaving me in charge. A few of Nathaniel wolves stood on the sidelines, either curious of the situation or just here as an extra safety measure in case things got out of hand. A hand on my shoulder had me looking back at the man I now knew as my father. He gave me an encouraging nod that seemed to fill me with determination, he reminded me I had nothing left to be ashamed of, I was a wolf just like everyone else, im not kades daughter, and I am The alphas mate.

Looking back at the crowd, all eyes were on me.

"I understand things have been rough lately... Your...our Alpha is gone, leaving us to fight on our own, some of you probably have heard rumors that he had a mate, some of you probably refuse to accept that as truth... Most of you know me as kades daughter, and im sure many of you hold resentment for me and him... But I am not that man's daughter! I am not of the same blood of he who drove this pack apart and let us suffer! My mother was apart of this pack long before he took over. She was very young when it happend...she was separated from her sister and chose to stay here, while the others ran away to keep the former alphas son alive..."

My eyes landed on leiahs mother who was on the verge of tears. Leiah and Darin moved over to her seeming confused about what was going on, but everything was starting to make sense to me...

"She met her mate while kade had rule over this land, they only knew each other for a few days until he had to leave. Kade found out about my mother and him, using her as a hostage he forced him to keep his distance and stay away... Having no choice my father was forced to wait for a chance to save her, not even knowing that she was pregnant...during that time she gave birth to me, and after two years he killed her."

A light mummer started in the crowd as everyone whispered to each other. Looking at Nathaniel as he stood beside me he nodded again giving me all the permission I needed to continue.

"I'm not kades daughter, for years he claimed me as his own, beating me, hurting me emotionally and physically...he kept me alive just so he could use me like he did my mother, as a hostage, to keep my father away. Alpha Nathaniel was my mother's mate, and I am his daughter! I am the heir to the blood mood pack, and now I am the luna to winter moon. Alpha Axton wanted to keep our bond a secret from everyone, even me just so I wouldn't become kades next target, he died just to keep me safe..."

Tears were starting to fall down my cheeks and I wiped them with the back of my hand.

"Kade hurt all of us, he ripped apart families, destroyed the love of mates, and even hurt me to the point I had no wolf. He's taken everything not only from us but from others as well, he's kidnapped girls from other packs and plans to create his own pack with them! This is no longer a personal feud, he's starting a war...you may not trust me but I assure you, I will not let everything axton has worked so hard for, go to waste... He gave us back our home, and our freedom, he's reunited families and given strength to the weak... Now it's our turn to make sure it stays this way, we can't let kade take everything from us once again... it's our turn to bite back and end this bloodshed!

The crowd started to get riled up and start cheering their agreement, speaking up saying they'll follow me as luna and fight. I smiled, silently thanking everyone.

Leiah and her mother came over and she gave me a giant hug, nearly sobbing as Nathaniel stood by. Leiah looked at me teary-eyed with Darin behind her.

Her mother pulled away looking at me. " I should have known....you look just like her... I can see my sister so clearly in you... " she looked back at Nathaniel who instantly kneeled to the ground shocking a lot of people...alphas don't kneel.

He spoke up, his voice full of sorrow, as he looked towards leiahs mother. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect her... She meant everything to me, and I let her..."

"Enough!" She cut him off and grabbed his hand making him stand. "You have nothing to apologize for... You've suffered enough, my sister wouldnt want to see you this way, she would want you to be happy again... You're an alpha, but your also a person with just as much emotion as anyone else...im sure if she saw us now she would be smiling." He nodded and I could see tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.

I could feel my own tears starting to form at this reunion. Leiah came barreling at me nearly knocking back as she hugged me. "We're cousins!" Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she pulled away and wiped them, smiling. I smiled and chuckled lightly wiping my own tears.

"It seems so!" I can't explain the overwhelming happiness I felt at this moment, and I couldn't thank my mate enough if it wasn't for him none of this would have been possible, all of us were together at long last...

We all had one big hug, tears, and smiles marring nearly everyone's face. Once we pulled away everyone was ecstatic about everything and the pack seemed more determined than ever.

Smiling I watched as everyone laughed and smiled, I finally had a real family.

Dots started to blurry my vision as I became dizzy and my body weak with fatigue. Holding my head they turned to look at me, their happiness turning to concern. No, I didn't want this... I didn't want everyone to look at me like this, I wanted them to smile, laugh, and to continue to be happy, but I knew that wasn't going to happen as I collapsed in front of everyone, even the pack.

A pair of arms caught me before I could hit the ground and I looked to see it was my father, horror marring his face. Everyone started panicking and I could hear them asking if I was okay, despite them knowing I clearly wasn't, they all looked at me with fear and worry, when all I wanted was for them to go back to their smiles. I could even hear the gasps and talking coming from the crowd as they watched.

"We need to take her to a doctor!" Leiah nearly cried out as my head started to slightly clear.

Happiness is always short-lived it seems.

"No..." Everyone looked at me confused as I tried to sit up with the help of Nathaniel. I knew what was wrong with me, this was common among mates. If one dies the other often gets mortally sick...

"But Evony!" Leah tried to argue with me but I only held up my hand weakly to stop her.

"I don't need a doctor to tell me im dying..."