Chapter 2

After taking my time admiring the serenity of being surrounded by nothing but my own thoughts, I decided, unfortunately, that it was probably in my best interest to go home before my family sends out a search party to come look for me.

Thinking this I strip from my clothes and imagine the beauty of my white wolf as I feel myself becoming one with her.

'You know you've been gone for hours while having your link shut off right?'

'OH God! Ren why didn't you tell me sooner?! I'm so dead!'

'Idiot, you shut our link off too until you changed, and we reconnected.'

'Oopsie..'

Man, I could basically feel her eye roll in my head.

If you haven't caught on, my wolf's name is Ren.

After running for a few miles, I could smell the pack house close, so I hid behind a tree and changed back into my clothes that Ren was holding between her teeth as we ran.

Walking toward the back door to the pack house, I almost saw my life flash before my eyes as I quickly dodged to the right to avoid the thing coming at me and watched as it crashed into a tree behind me.

"Oh dear lord, Landon, what are you doing?" I barely manage to mutter out casually before bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Rory! What the hell?! We thought something happened to you, why do you always shut off your link?!" My brother says angrily, but I can sense his relief, which makes me feel kind of bad.

"Land, I am sorry, but I do this a lot and you guys should know by now that I can take care of myself, hell, you're a badass alpha whose been to badass alpha camp and I took you down during training in less than 30 seconds. I just wanted to have time to think." I say with a small smile as I go in for the cute little sister hug that he always falls for no matter how old we get.

He sighs, "Rory, we love you and just don't want you to get hurt or taken advantage of, we have lots of enemies, but I get it, I know you need space. I just wish you would at least take a guardian with you. I'll forgive you once again, but good luck with mom and dad!" He says as he gives me a quick hug before running into the house.

'He wouldn't.." I think to Ren.

'He totally is. You should go quickly and stop standing like a dummy, mind linking me, when I can just read your thoughts. I tell you this all the time.' She retorts.

'Bully' I think as I run toward the house and tackle my brother to the floor.

"MOM, DAD, SHE'S BACK!" Landon screams and I can already hear the angry footsteps of my mom and the eerily calm ones of my dad.

"Fuck me." I say as I roll over and slap my hand to my face.

'Wait!' I think and then slap Landon in the face, "Asshole." I whisper.

"AURORA MILAN ASTER! IGNORING THE FACT THAT YOU CURSED NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE, WHERE IN THE HELL WERE YOU!" Mom screams as she stomps into the room with her arms crossed and my dad behind her trying to calm her by rubbing her lower back.

"Dang, she used your full name... looks like it's time for that uh meeting, bye!" My brother said as he looked at me in humor and ran away before I could grab him.

'Fuck, on my own for this.' I think and resist the urge to point out that she cursed too.

"Mom...I'm sorry for being gone so long, I promise next time I leave I won't shut off the family link, just the pack link." I say giving her my best sad eyes and hope she will let it go.

"AURORA...." My mom starts again but is cut off by my dad.

'Go dad!' I cheer mentally.

"Aurora, we are not happy that you keep neglecting your safety, and we will try to find some way to compromise since you insist on continuing this behavior."

"I'm sorry daddy, I won't be neglectful again! I love you guys!" I say giving my cutest smile as I run up and hug them.

My mom runs her fingers through my long, now tangled waves of hair, breathing in my scent as she hugs me tight.

My dad hugs the both of us and just as I'm feeling like I got away without any punishment...

My dad whispers, "We will discuss your punishment later, but for now we have a more pressing matter that needs attention, and you will have to attend the leadership meeting as well since you like to run away so frequently."

'Ughhhh!' I mentally groan. That's basically a punishment in itself, those meetings go on forever and are extremely boring. So many arguments over matters that could be solved easily with common sense.

I must be showing my excitement for this on my face, or lack thereof, since my mom now has an evil smirk that I know means I'm going to hate what's coming next.