Chapter 6

Storm

Two days after my birthday, it was the dreaded Thursday, and we were getting ready to go to the Celtic Moon Pack. To say I was nervous is downplaying things a lot. I was as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof. I was seriously terrified! I was so scared that even in my wolf form, I hadn't been able to sleep a wink last night.

Leah came into mine and Lilly's room dragging a small suitcase behind her for me to put my things into. She had decided it was going to be easier for me to use one of her small suitcases since my four suitcases were all large ones. I packed what I was going to need to get me through the next four days, clothes, shoes, toiletries, hairbrush and hair bands, deodorant, phone charger, purse.

Leah and the girls had assured me we were going to be staying at the family home and that we would not be attending any functions while we were there, so we only needed to pack for comfort. After I had packed everything I was going to need, I dressed into a pair of yoga pants, a long sleeve tee shirt and a hoodie, then I pulled on a pair of my Nike runners.

Walking out into the lounge room I saw that the girls were all dressed for comfort, the same way as I was.

Alpha Doyle

I had spent the morning going over a lot of pressing pack business with my Beta, Sean. We had been sorting out a variety of matters that had needed dealing with. We were making progress and finally getting on top of everything. Sean had been my best friend since I was just a lad. We had been through a lot together in our time. Today we were trying to get as much done as we could before my daughters came home for a weekend visit. I was looking forward to spending time with my girls, and I knew that Sean and Siobhan were eager to see them too. Though, there was the problem of the damn rogue they had gone and befriended.

The morning Leah had called me to tell me they were having to live with a rogue, it had horrified me. Rogues were not able to be trusted in the least. They were filthy, thieving liars. But each call from Leah after that first call showed me that my daughters not only trusted the rogue in question, but they had also gone and befriended the damn thing.

What I was going to have to do next was going to be a problem for me as a father, but it needed to be done as an Alpha. I was going to have to break my daughters' hearts. Sean and I had looked at this situation from every angle and we had realized there was only one solution to the problem. The rogue had to die.

Storm

Once we had gotten ourselves packed for the trip back to the girls' pack, we grabbed a quick lunch, and I had barely been able to bring myself to eat any of it. My stomach was in knots and I felt sick. After we had eaten our lunch, we had tidied up our apartment before leaving for the long weekend.

A short time later, saw us once again in Julie's car, but this time we were heading to Carraroe. It was raining heavily, and I was sitting in the back with Lilly. Leah was driving since she had volunteered to drive, and Julie was riding shotgun. On the way to Carraroe, we listened to music, and I found out the girls were die-hard Ed Sheeran fans.

On the drive, the girls had also taken the time to fill me in on their pack and what to expect when we arrived at their father's place. "Alpha Doyle aka our father is forty-two years old and his Beta Sean is forty-seven, but despite the age gap between them, the two of them have been best friends their whole lives. They are like brothers, that's how close they are. And us girls even call Sean, Uncle Sean," Julie said, as she turned around and looked at me from her seat in the front passenger seat.

"Our father has not hooked up with any chicks since our mom died, her death and the death of our baby brother did a number on our dad. It has not been easy on him. As you know, Alphas need sons to take over the pack. After our mother's death, our dad put everything he had into the pack and us girls, but I know the loss of our mother and brother gutted him," Leah whispered, keeping her eyes focused on the road ahead.

"Beta Sean is tough; he is not the easiest person to get to know or get along with, but he respects our dad heaps, and he thinks the world of him. He comes across as gruff and cranky, but that is just him, you will get used to him, just don't let him put it over you. Sean has been kind of like an uncle to us girls our entire lives, he and his wife and their kids are practically family to us. His tough-guy act doesn't work on us girls though, cos we know he is just a big softie," Julie said smiling at me.

From where I was sitting in the back with Lilly, my head was reeling, and I could sense the anxiety building up within me. I understood that they were telling me this to put me at ease, but what they didn't realize was that what they were doing was in fact the opposite. Their information was just putting me more on edge with this overload of information.

When we arrived at the Celtic Moon pack house, I was taken by surprise by how big the place was. I was even more surprised when we just drove right on by. We followed a dirt track and ten minutes later we pulled up in front of the Alpha residence. When we pulled up, the girls got out of the car, not even trying to hide their excitement at being home. I was so filled with dread at being here, that I didn't want to get out of the car. To be honest, I would have liked nothing more than to stay in the car away from everyone, including psychotic Alphas and Betas. But my wolf made a point of reminding me at that moment that even though we were now rogue by choice, we too had Alpha blood running through our veins and Alphas don't let anyone get the better of them.

My wolf had so much to learn though, because I was terrified of this Alpha, and I hadn't even set eyes on the man yet. When the girls got out of the car, I was extremely tempted to lock all the doors. I didn't want to get out, because to do so meant to sign my own death warrant. I wanted to run. I wanted to just bail out and run and get the hell off this packs' territory. I wanted to go back to the campus and pack my bags and flee the country!

Leah came around to my side of the car, and opening the car door, she stood there and waited for me to get out of the car. "It's okay, hop out of the car, there is nothing for you to worry about, Lena," Leah said.

"What if this goes wrong? You know what Alphas do to rogues. Just because your father loves you and could never bring himself to harm you, that doesn't mean he wouldn't hesitate to kill me!" I told her, my voice barely more than a whisper.

"He won't hurt you," she whispered back.

"Okay, riddle me this then Sherlock. When your father rang you the other day, did he issue an Alpha order for you to bring me here? Or did he happen to merely mention you bringing the rogue who was sharing a dorm room with you home to meet the family?" I snapped; my voice filled with sarcasm.

Leah rolled her eyes at me. "Look, what if you and I make a compromise? Okay? We will see how things go tonight, and if you don't feel comfortable staying here, then you and I will leave in the morning. So, what do you say? Do we have a deal?" she asked.

"So, let me get this straight, you dragged me out here with you today, simply because your daddy suggested you bring me here with you, when we were over an hour away from here, and safe, I might add. And you did that, not because your father ordered you to do it, but because he suggested it. Now you expect me to believe that you could leave just because I was feeling uncomfortable in your fathers' home, and that you could do it if your father gave you an order to stay put. Oh, and let's not forget that if you defied his order, and we tried to make a run for it, we couldn't get out of here without him sending his pack warriors after us to bring us back. You are not bloody Houdini, Leah! You can't just snap your fingers and get us out of here! We are not magicians! I don't know what you have got going through your head right now, but I am honestly not liking my chances of survival right now!" I told her, my tone dripping in sarcasm and fear.

"Believe me when I say that I'd do anything I had to do, to try to save your life Lena. Believe that if you believe nothing else. Now get out of the damn car!" she replied getting frustrated with the entire situation.

We locked our eyes on each other, holding eye contact in a stare down. Realizing I was going to get nowhere with her stubborn ass, I got out of the car slowly and stood beside her in the pouring rain. The Celtic Moon Alpha house was huge, this pack was big and wealthy to boot, translation in werewolf speak, powerful. Once again, I wanted to run. As if sensing that I wanted to get the hell out of there, Leah grabbed my arm to keep me beside her.

Leah

Seeing Lena's fear had me feeling guilty. She was like this because I had done this to her. I was the one who had made the decision to ring my father before I had ever met her. I was the one who had told him all about her. And now, I was the one who had carried out my father's instructions, no questions asked, and forced her to come here with us. This was my fault! She didn't deserve this!

I will admit that I was surprised when she had snapped at me. But her reluctance to get out of the car combined with her fear of being here, along with her snarky demeanor spoke volumes. She was barely holding herself together.

When I eventually got her out of the car, she was shaking, and she looked as though she was seconds away from falling apart. Seeing the fear, she was trying so hard to fight, caused my heart to ache. Who had made her so afraid that she had this bad a reaction at the mere thought of meeting an Alpha? And better question, what had been done to her to make her so afraid?

"Lena, it's going to be alright. I promise you everything is going to be alright," I whispered as I tried to reassure her.

She looked over at me for the briefest of moments with tears in her eyes and shook her head. I don't know if she was telling me that she didn't believe me or if she was trying to tell me I didn't understand the consequences of my actions in bringing her here. Maybe it was a bit of both. She stood there beside me in silence as I gripped her arm to stop her from doing a runner while I waited for my father to come outside and greet us.

Storm

A man walked out of the house and he was huge, he was so big that the phrase, 'built like a tank,' sprang to my mind as I watched him approach us. The look he gave me, was the same unflattering look that rogues received around the globe every day. Unfortunately for me though, this was the first time I had been on the receiving end of such a look. Not even the hatred thrown my way by the members of my former pack could match the intensity of the dislike in the look I had just gotten from him. As he was making his way towards us, my wolf was feeling him out, telling me he wasn't an Alpha. I was guessing this was the Beta that the girls had warned me about in the car. He fit the description they had given me. While I was sizing up the Beta, another man walked outside, and Lilly ran up to him squealing out in happiness as she threw her arms around him in a bear hug. This was clearly the notorious Alpha Doyle. He was what my mother would have referred to as a silver fox. He was clearly in great shape for a man of his age.

To be honest, he was hot! The only thing that showed his age was his hair, which had the flecks of grey through it, but he was rocking this whole silver fox thing just like George Clooney! When Lilly let him go, he hugged Julie and made his way over to where Leah was standing with me, still clutching my arm.

I lowered my head as he approached us, not wanting to have his attention drawn to me. But as he was hugging Leah, I looked up to sneak a peek at him and ended up catching his eye. I was totally floored when my wolf suddenly screamed out 'Mate!'

Alpha Doyle

Sean and I heard the car pull up and we began to make our way outside. Just as I had gotten to the bottom of the stairs, one of our housekeepers had stopped me, needing to discuss an issue regarding two of the cleaning staff. This annoying issue had me sending Sean outside ahead of me to greet the girls alone.

Once I had dealt with the housekeeper's issue, I once again began to make my way outside. I glanced around, seeing my daughters and their stray. As I began walking towards them, Lilly, the ever impatient one, ran towards me throwing herself into my arms in excitement. Laughing, I hugged her before setting her back down and walking towards Julie. Julie smiled at me as she gave me a hug before stepping aside so I could make my way over to Leah. As I approached her, I saw that Leah had a good grip on the arm of the rogue who was standing beside her. The rogue had her head lowered, and her eyes locked on the ground in front of her. When I got closer to them. I reached out and hugged Leah. But as I was hugging Leah, something unexpected happened. The rogue looked up at me, her eyes locking on mine and I heard my wolf suddenly cry out, 'Mate!'

I saw the look of shock and fear that crossed the girl's face as she ripped her arm free of Leah's grip and turned and bolted. She was sprinting across the yard when she leapt into the air and phased mid-flight, launching into a magnificent grey wolf. From her wolf's size alone, I could see she was born of Alpha blood. My daughters were screaming out for her to stop and to come back but consumed by the fear that had taken over her, the girl was now running for her life. I saw Sean go after her and looking at my daughters I quickly shifted and went after the pair of them, hoping I could catch up to them before the two of them killed each other.

Storm

Surprised and thrown into a full-blown panic, I did the only thing that made sense to me at that point. I ripped my arm free of Leah's grip and I turned and ran for my life as if my ass were on fire. Shifting into my wolf whilst on the run, I bolted as fast as my four paws could go! As I was racing away from the house, wanting to get as far away from here as I could get. I could hear the three girls yelling out to me to stop and to come back, but I was freaking the fuck out!

My mate was twenty-four years older than me! I was a rogue, and he was a rogue killer! He had children who were older than me. Oh my god the girls were going to hate me! The wonderful friendships I had established with each of them were going to be over once the girls realized that I was fated to be their stepmother. Fate had a screwed-up sense of humor, that is for sure! I felt a stabbing pain in my heart as the realization of what my current plight was darted through my mind. I had only just begun to build a life for myself here in Ireland, and now it was going to be taken away from me. I was on Celtic Moon Pack territory, running for my life, not knowing where I was going. But it wasn't long before I found myself approaching a lake. As I got closer to the lake, I slowed my pace and tried to calm my racing heart and sort through my frantic thoughts.

Beta Sean

The moment the rogue shifted into her wolf form; I was after her. We couldn't have a rogue running rampant on pack territory. Anything could happen! People could die! Connor was right, the sooner we got rid of this minor problem, the better it would be for all of us. As I chased after her, I had to admit, this rogue was fast! The longer I chased her, however, the more that numerous things nagged on me.

There was something not right with this rogue. She wasn't anything like other rogues that I had encountered in the past. She was different. Everything about her, was different. Hell, even her wolf was different. Despite my own thoughts on this matter, she was still a rogue, and I had to get rid of her for the good of the pack! She was fast approaching "Loughainwillin," and I saw her begin to slow her speed. Using her hesitation and unfamiliarity of our territory in my favor, I sped up.

Storm

I had just about come to a stop when I heard the pounding of paws on the earth behind me. I turned and looked behind me and saw a large dark grey wolf-headed my way. It didn't take me long to realize he wasn't going to slow down. He was going to slam into me. I was a large sized wolf thanks to my Alpha blood, but if he crashed into me at this speed, it was still going hurt a lot. He was crazy!

I knew this had to be the Beta wolf. I decided that going on the defensive was the only thing that was going to help me now. As the dark grey wolf launched at me, I jumped out of his way, then turning on a dime, I lunged at him, sinking my teeth into his shoulder. He turned and latched onto my side, getting a good grip on my right flank. Even though I was a rogue by choice and friends with the Alphas' daughters. I was still a rogue, and rogues were always treated horribly by packs.

As the fight between us progressed, my wolf fought me for control, and for once I happily gave it to her, allowing her to take over. Seeing as we were now fighting for our lives against one incredibly pissed off Beta. The Beta and I were in the middle of a full-blown dog fight, and each of us was equally determined to win this fight. We were so caught up in our vicious battle that we didn't even hear other wolves approaching us.

I was unaware we had acquired an audience until a large black and grey wolf lunged at the Beta, effectively pinning him to the ground, and snarling in his face. This was obviously the Alpha, and it was obvious that he was not happy. The Alphas actions effectively brought the fight between the Beta and I to an end. I was standing there watching the two wolves and not knowing what to do next. Do I run? Do I stay?

Before I could decide to flee once more. Leah walked up to me in her human form with a few items of clothing in her hands, holding them out to me. I shoved my head into her shoulder, letting her know I wanted privacy to change back into my human form. Understanding what I wanted Leah motioned for me to follow her and we made our way behind a tree, which was a short distance away from where we had been standing just moments before.

Once we were behind the tree. Leah turned her back and waited while I changed back into my human form and put on the clothing she had handed me which consisted of a pair of black sweat-pants which fit me and a green zip-up hoodie which was a little big for my petite frame. After I had gotten dressed, Leah turned back to me giving me a once over. I stood there in the rain and I could feel my warm blood slowly running down my side from where the Beta had bitten my flank during our fight. My hands and my bare feet were freezing cold, and I was once again feeling as if I was going to have a panic attack. It looked as though these days I was living in a constant state of panic. As if sensing my distress Leah wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hug which was supposed to reassure me. But as well-meaning as her gesture was, it wasn't working.

Alpha Doyle

I was fast approaching "Loughainwillin" and I hoped that I wasn't too late to help my second chance mate. It relieved me to no end when I saw she was still alive, but the relief turned to anger when I saw her and Sean in the middle of a dog fight. They both had patches of blood on their fur.

It surprised me that the girl could fight. She was doing well to hold her own against Sean. He was a remarkable fighter with a fierce reputation.

But my surprise soon turned to anger at the thought of anyone hurting my mate, and I quickly rushed into the middle of the fight. Catching Sean by surprise, I knocked him off his feet, pinning him to the ground. "Stop!" I shouted at him through the mind link.

"What are you doing? We agreed she was going to have to die!" he shouted back through the mind link, struggling against me, trying to get free.

"She's my mate!" I shouted back.

Sean stopped struggling and looked at me, "She's your what?" he asked, dumbfounded by what I had just said.

"She's my second chance mate," I replied calmly, stepping away from him. Sean looked at me for a moment as though I had just told him that Leprechauns were performing the river dance on the roof of our house. "I know, I know, it is a shock to me too. Head back to the house. We will talk about it when I get back," I said, trying to reassure him that I hadn't lost my mind.

Sean quickly got to his feet and looked at me for a moment more before he made his way back to the Alphas residence. Walking into the trees, I quickly shifted and got dressed before making my way back out into the clearing where Lilly and Julie were waiting for Leah and my mate to join us.

Storm

"You can come out love, no one's going to hurt you," I heard an unfamiliar Irish voice call out. During my time here in Ireland I had obviously heard many Irish voices, but this one sent cold shivers along my spine and put butterflies in my stomach.

"Bullshit, I don't believe that! Does he honestly think that I'd ever believe that?" I muttered. Looking at Leah, I said, "He can't seriously expect me to believe that, can he? Does he think I am stupid? His Beta just tried to freaking kill me. For no reason, I might add," I hissed at her, trying to hide my fear, but worried I wasn't doing a good job of it.

I heard a low sexy chuckle coming from the other side of the tree, but I chose to ignore it. Leah said nothing at my outburst, clearly at a loss for words in this instance. I just stood there where I was, frozen, as the rain continued to fall, soaking me to the skin. I was so scared of the Alpha, and my thoughts were so consumed by my fear, that I didn't even realize I was shivering from the cold, and my teeth were chattering. Trying to calm me down and get me warmed up, Leah ran her hands briskly over my upper arms, trying to generate heat.

"Leah, bring her out!" I heard the same voice call out. Suddenly, shaken out of my moment of stupor by his words, I pulled back as Leah tried to lead me out. "No! no, no, no, no, no," I whispered, pulling back, and fighting against Leah's grip on me as she tried to walk us out from behind the tree. I managed to bring us to a stop and Leah looked at me for a moment. I could tell she felt torn between wanting to help me and wanting to obey her father.

"It's okay, he will not hurt you, you're his mate. He would never do anything to hurt you. Please, come out there with me. Just meet him, please," she whispered.

"I'm his mate. You mean that whole mate thing was real? I had hoped that I had just had a moment of temporary madness and had imagined that insane moment of discovery back there," I muttered, my voice laced with sarcasm.

While my thoughts distracted me once more, Leah dragged me out from behind the tree. When we walked out, I saw that everyone had left except for the Alpha, and Julie and Lilly. As Leah led me over to the small group, Lilly ran over to me and hugged me in a bear hug.

"Lena, are you okay?" Julie asked, looking me over from where she stood beside her father. I nodded to her, then looked over at the Alpha.

Leah put her arm around my shoulders and said, "Lena, we are going to head back to the house and give you and my dad a chance to talk and get to know each other away from prying eyes and ears, okay?"

With that the girls walked away and feeling panicked I quickly grabbed Leah's hand. Leah looked at me and said, "You'll be fine. I promise." Releasing my hand, she turned and caught up with the girls, leaving me there alone in the pouring rain with the Alpha.

When the girls had walked off a respectful distance Alpha Doyle suddenly spoke, "Lena, did you run because of the age difference? Is that what scared you?" he asked.

"No," I whispered, trying to catch my breath and to stave off the panic attack I had been fighting since we had arrived at the Celtic Moon Pack.

"So, why did you run?" he asked, taking a step forward. In a knee jerk reaction, I took a step back, wrapping my arms around myself as I fought to stave off my anxiety and the freezing chill which was consuming me.

Alpha Doyle

After my daughters had left Lena and I alone to give us time to get to know each other. I stood there in front of her, watching her as she fought to hold herself together. She was terrified of me and growing more anxious by the second. And as if that wasn't heart breaking enough for me to see, she was still shivering from the frigid weather and the rain.

As I looked at her, I could see a patch of blood marking her shirt, the growing size of the mark making me aware the wound was still bleeding. I took a cautious step towards her, and she stepped back away from me. Seeing her step back immediately, as if she hadn't even thought of doing it. I frowned. It was almost as though such an action was so ingrained in her, that it was as normal to her as breathing. That thought alone angered me.

I wanted to know what had happened to her before she came here, because I realized that something had happened to her. I would bet my life on it. Someone had instilled the fear in her I was witnessing today. I know rogues are afraid of Alphas and packs, but this level of fear wasn't normal. Why would a rogue who had Alpha blood be so afraid? Why was an Alphas offspring a rogue to begin with? It didn't add up. Watching her now, I had questions, and lots of them. Who was she? Where did she come from? Why would the offspring of an Alpha abandon her pack? Looking at her standing there as she struggled with the internal battle she was fighting, I felt guilty and ashamed. Lena had obviously been through a lot already for someone so young, and I had had my daughters bring her here, because I was intending to end her life, only to find that fate had other plans for the two of us. If she knew what I had planned to do, she would end up hating me for sure, and I honestly wouldn't blame her. I continued to stand where I was. I didn't want to rush her or do anything to make her more uncomfortable than she already was, so I decided I'd stand here for as long as it took for her to get it together.

Storm

Seeing me step back away from him, Alpha Doyle looked as though he was hurt by my reaction. Seeing the hurt look on his face left me feeling lousy. I didn't want to hurt him, that hadn't been my intention. Great, now I was panicking, freezing, and feeling guilty. Nice combo! Boy, I was becoming certifiable!

"What Lake is that?" I asked, pointing at the body of water. I could tell my question had caught him by surprise.

"Loughainwillin," he replied, throwing a quick glance at the body of water. I just nodded at his answer as I looked at the body of water.

"So, why did you run?" he asked again, looking at me and awaiting an answer.

"Because I know what Alphas do to rogues," I stated as I avoided looking at him.

"You just assumed we were the same as other packs?" he asked.

"Are you going to try to tell me you never once considered killing me when you found out that a rogue was on your territory and living with your children?" I asked, letting him see that I knew he had.

"Lena, you can't go through life making assumptions," he replied.

"And you never answered my question Alpha! I am not trying to be disrespectful to you Alpha Doyle, but your Beta just attacked me for no reason, and you and I both know that given half a chance he would have had no problem killing me. And if fate hadn't made me your second chance mate, I wouldn't even be alive arguing this point with you right now, so please don't treat me like an idiot," I stated.

"You're right, on both counts. And I am sorry. Sean shouldn't have done what he did," he said looking at me.

I didn't answer him. I just went back to looking out at the body of water before me. There was something relaxing about the lake. It was almost hypnotizing, as strange as it sounds. Looking at it, I could feel my heart rate starting to slow as I stood there looking at the tranquil water.

"Is that the only reason you ran?" he asked, making me startle.

"No, that's not the only reason," I whispered, looking at him.

"Then why?" he asked.

I just shook my head as I stepped further away from him, needing the safety the distance provided. "Lena, you might not believe it at the moment, but you can trust me," he said.

"I ran because as soon as I realized you were my mate; I knew this was not going to end well. My life is a mess! It is complicated and dangerous, and I freaked out, and I didn't know what else I was supposed to do. So, it made sense to get out of there. It was just easier for me to run," I replied.

"If you were to explain things to me, maybe I could help you," he replied.

"I don't think I can do that, I'm sorry. I know that fate has made you my mate and I wish I could trust you. I do. But I can't do that. You need to understand, I don't know you, and no offence but with what I know of Alphas, well, I know that Alphas aren't good. My experience has always shown me that Alphas are dangerous, and they are bad news. If this is too much for you and you want to reject me, then I will understand. I am more trouble than I am worth for you. And you should honestly just go ahead and cut your losses and be done with it. It would be easier for everybody if you did," I whispered, feeling my heartbreak and tears form in my eyes at just saying those words out loud.

"I will not reject you, love. I have spent the last ten years thinking that I would be spending the rest of my life alone after losing my mate in childbirth. But then to find you, my second chance mate. You are a gift from the heavens. Now, I know you think that your life is complicated love, but compared to you, I am an old man. A teenager's idea of a problem is not a problem when you get to my age. So, in saying that, I don't actually see this situation as problematic. As for Alphas not being good, I can only assume you have known a few rotten ones. Now, I don't know who they were or what they did to you, but I can assure you, not all Alphas are like that," he said, sounding so confident that I was almost envious of him.

"So, you weren't planning to kill me?" I asked, eyeing him in doubt. He said nothing in response to my question, he just stood there watching me. "It's okay, you need not answer that question. I knew you were. I just wanted to see if you could at least be honest with me. Alphas kill rogues, I know, I get it," I told him.

Without saying a word, he walked towards me, watching me carefully as he slowly made his way towards me. I watched him warily, wanting to run for my life but determined to stand my ground. The look in his eyes told me he was aware of my internal battle. He walked up to me and took me into his arms, holding me against him. I stood there frozen in his arms, my body shaking from cold and fear. After a while I rested my head on his chest, seeking the warmth of his embrace and finding an odd sense of comfort in the sound of his heartbeat. After a moment of debating with myself on whether I should reciprocate. I wrapped my arms around him holding him. A foreign feeling of safety and security wrapping itself around me.

"Tell me what's wrong," he whispered, resting his chin on the top of my head. "I can't. I can't be honest with you. I can't tell you who I am. Because if I do, I will put not just myself, but you and your family in danger," I whispered.

"Why do you think that?" he asked.

"Because I ran away from my home to get away from someone who will do whatever he has to, to kill me. The moment he finds me, I am dead," I replied.

"Lena, I will keep everything you tell me in the strictest of confidence. But I need you to be honest with me. I need to protect you. I need to protect my family and my pack. But I can't protect any of you if I don't know what the threat is that I am protecting you from. At least if I know who you are and who you are running from, I will know who I am protecting you from and I will see the threat coming," he said as he ran his hands up and down my back in a soothing gesture. "Would you like to sit on those rocks over there?" he asked me after a while.

I looked in the direction he was pointing and nodded. Keeping one arm wrapped around my shoulders, he led me over to a large rock formation which was situated closer to the shore of the lake and lifted me up, sitting me on top of one huge rock. Sitting there on the rock, I was roughly at eye level with him. He placed his hands on my shoulders and began gently massaging my shoulders. The mate bond was taking effect making the contact between us more comfortable. It had me feeling as though I had known him forever. I had to keep reminding myself that I didn't know him, and that the fact that he was an Alpha made him unpredictable.

"Start at the beginning. After seeing your wolf, I know one thing that is an absolute certainty. I know you have Alpha blood running through your veins," he stated. Deciding to take a chance and trust him, I took a shaky breath as I began, "I hope that if I trust you and tell you everything it won't come back to bite me. But whether I trust you or not, one way or another I will more than likely end up dead anyway, so what the hell? I might as well trust you, huh?" I stated as I sat there looking him in the eye.

"I promise you; it won't come back to bite you. You can trust me, now start at the beginning," he said again.

"I was born into the Hunter's Moon pack. My parents were Alpha Ryland and Luna Crystal Danger."

"The Hunter's Moon pack based in Texas?" he asked. I nodded in answer to his question.

"When I was nine years old, rogues murdered my mother. And… my father Ryland was murdered eighteen months ago… by me," I whispered, looking at him.

"You killed your father?" he asked me, looking surprised by what I had just said. I just nodded at him, tears filling my eyes.

"Why would you kill your own father?" he asked obviously trying to understand.

"After my mother died, my dad changed. He became violent. Not to my brothers or anyone else in the pack, only to me and to rogues as well, obviously. He killed rogues in the most brutal of ways. He was sadistic as he tortured them for days before he put them out of their misery. He was a sick twisted evil man, but he had never been that way before my mother died. When it came to me, he used to beat me and torture me, doing everything he could to hurt me every chance he got. Then one night eighteen months ago, he was beating me for his own sick amusement, which was nothing unusual. I mean if I am being honest, it wasn't the first-time things had gotten out of hand the way they did that night. But my wolf had decided it was going to be the last time he ever hurt us. My wolf, she is strong, and she can be stubborn when she sets her mind to something. Long story short, my wolf snapped. She just snapped and took over and she killed him. But I guess her and I, we are a package deal, and we are the same, aren't we? So, yeah, I killed him. After I had killed him, my brother Mason came in and saw my father dead on the floor. He realized immediately what had happened, and he appointed himself Alpha of the Hunter's Moon pack. After he became Alpha, Mason spent ages convincing the pack to turn on me. Mason is a coward in every way you could imagine. He told the pack I had killed my father and convinced them I had done it for no reason. He claimed that I was just doing it out of pure spite to weaken the pack. He did all that to get them on side with him. He somehow convinced the pack that I was also responsible for the death of my mother, which everyone knew I wasn't. But because they feared being on his bad side, they bought into his lies. By the time he was done with trashing my reputation, I only had a few allies left within the pack. One of them was my twin brother Logan, he was the one who brought me out here. He snuck me out of the States. We left in the early hours of the morning to fly out here. He flew me here and dropped me off at university on his way to Europe to join his mate's pack."

"Why are you so scared of your brother? If you could kill your father, then you could kill your brother too. I knew Alpha Ryland by reputation, and he had a hell of a reputation for being a damn good fighter. So why does your brother scare you so much?" he asked, taking me by surprise.

"First of all, me killing my dad, that was just sheer dumb luck on my part. I had an opportunity, and I got lucky. But Mason scares me because he is a coward, he won't come at me alone. If he finds me, he will send others after me, and he will have them take out anyone close to me, that's just the way he is. One on one, I could take him, but he will never come at me one on one. He will hide behind others or he will pay professionals to do his dirty work for him. If Mason finds me and comes after me, I won't see it coming, that much I can promise you. In this world there are two types of people who kill in a covert manner, cowards, and professionals. And I am sure you could agree that both are dangerous. And unfortunately for me, Mason has access to both of those types of people. He has a pack full of cowards and the funds to hire professionals," I told him by way of explanation.

"The people he sends after me will be strangers to me. They will be people I wouldn't look at twice on the street. They will get at me so easily and I won't even see them coming. Anyone around me, including your daughters, could end up dead." I looked at him and felt I needed him to understand how serious this mess that I was caught up in was. "Please don't tell anybody about what we have just discussed. I don't want him to find me. I don't want anyone to die because of me. Keep this quiet, please, you have too," I insisted, watching his face trying to get a read on what he was going to do.

"Okay, we will keep this between us. But first I must ask, what is your actual name? I need your actual name so I can accept you," he explained.

"Storm, Storm Danger," I whispered. "But you have to keep calling me Lena," I told him.

He nodded and said, "I Connor Doyle, accept you Storm Danger, as my mate and Luna."

"I Storm Danger, accept you, Connor Doyle, as my mate and Alpha," I whispered. I had barely finished whispering those words to begin the start of the bonding process when his lips claimed mine. For a first kiss, it was definitely something to 'write home about,' as my mother used to say. His lips on mine felt incredible. His tongue ran along my bottom lip, probing, and seeking entrance. I denied him entrance as a way of teasing him. His arms tightened as he drew me in closer sliding his hands from my shoulders, and slowly running them down my back. He bit my bottom lip lightly causing me to gasp, and as I gasped, his tongue made its way into my mouth asserting his dominance which I fought him on.

As our tongues dueled for dominance, my arms slowly made their way up around his neck. I pulled him in closer to me, wanting to be as close as I could get to him. After a while, I broke the kiss and pulled away, sitting back on the rock, and looking out over the lake once more as I tried to catch my breath.

I stayed that way for a while, sitting in the pouring rain, and when I looked up and made eye contact with him, I noticed his eyes were a brilliant shade of blue. "How old are you?" he asked.

"I turned eighteen two days ago," I replied.

"Well happy birthday for two days ago, love," he whispered leaning in and kissing me on the forehead.

"Thank you," I whispered.

Alpha Doyle

Eighteen. She was eighteen. She was younger than my daughters and she had already lived through more than my daughters could ever imagine. Standing there before her, I realized, she had an internal strength that she wasn't able to see for herself yet, a strength she had acquired after everything that she had been through.

She had to possess an inner strength to have survived the horrors and atrocities she had borne witness to at her fathers and brothers' hands, and the hands of her pack members for so long. She had survived their abuse, their torture and torment, and their contempt. The fact that she was standing here before me now, whole, was a miracle within itself. Few people could survive what she had endured. Many would have ended up broken, whether that be physically, mentally, emotionally or a combination of all three, they would have been broken in some form. But somehow, she had made it. Sure, she had a few issues from it. She had anxiety and trust issues for sure, but she wasn't broken.

As I looked at her my earlier thoughts came back to haunt me. I had planned to take this life merely because she bore the title of rogue. Once more the guilt ate at me. After everything she had been through, I had condemned her and sentenced her to death because of a title. I had to make it up to her. I had to ensure that from here on out, her life was going to be better than it had ever been. I also swore that I was going to be better too! She deserved it!

Storm

I don't know how much time had passed. We had talked for a while, discussing so many things, but we were now making our way back to the house. Walking back through the rain, I felt like a drowned rat. I am sure I looked like one too. I was so cold, and I was shaking so hard, my entire body had the pins and needles feeling happening, and my hands and feet had gone numb.

As we got closer to the house, I could see the three girls sitting on the front steps out of the rain. It was obvious they were waiting for us to return. The moment they saw us, the three of them got up and ran over to us. The girls were asking questions and hugging us both.

With no warning, Julie suddenly started laughing, and it wasn't long before she was laughing so hard that she was doubled over clutching her stomach as she laughed with tears running down her face mixing with the rain. Connor and the girls and I looked at her waiting for her to let us in on what was so funny.

"What is so funny?" I asked her, wanting to know what it was that had her laughing like a total lunatic.

"You girls know what this means, don't you?" Julie asked, looking at Leah and Lilly.

"What?" they asked in unison, appearing to be just as confused as I was.

"We get to call Lena mom now," she said, looking at me and laughing once more like an evil villain.

Lilly and Leah looked at me for a moment and before either of them could say a word, I said, "If any of you ever…." At my implied threat, the three of them started laughing again like crazy people, "You evil jerks," I muttered shaking my head at them.

I heard Alpha Doyle laugh as well, and I turned my evil glare on him, but instead of shutting him up, it only made him laugh harder. Still laughing at me, he said, "That won't work love, as I told you, I'm an old man compared to you and I raised those three. I know how to disregard evil glares from young women."

Shaking my head at them, I started walking over to the car to grab my luggage when Leah yelled out to me, "Hey, Lena, we took the luggage inside earlier."

Turning back to her, I said, "Thank you for that," before slowly making my way over to the stairs to get out of the rain.