Chapter Prologue
“Alpha, she’s at it again” I am being pulled in to the office of the alpha, he sighs and says “Kitten, surely you are old enough now to know how dangerous this is, why do you insist on going out there?” I look at the alpha, he knows why, it’s the anniversary of my parent’s death. I go out every year to the place where they were murdered by the Rouge wolves. I was five years old and the Alpha’s oldest son, Greyson, Grey for short, found me covered in blood walking alone out of the woods, he was only ten years old at the time, but he carried me over two hundred yards to the infirmary. I don’t remember much except that my parents were wolves and I saw them die in front of me, I do not know why I was left alive or why I wasn’t taken, but here I am 10 years later being hauled in by Grey and the boarder patrol officer, Sam. Grey stayed quiet, he gets angry at me a lot, I don’t mean to be a nuisance, but seriously I don’t think I can follow all the rules, my name is Autumn, but they call me ‘Kitten’ because when I was little I could be found hiding in tight spaces and up in trees.
“I don’t know what to do with you, I keep giving you the same punishments over and over, you are going to be the death of me” he takes a deep breath and I can tell he goes into his mind - link and I see Grey is also in mind - link as well, this makes me angry because I know they are talking about me, at least say it in front of me, dang! “Yes, son, I agree.” My confirmation, I liked Grey, I know he would be alpha one day, he will be twenty-one soon and will take over the pack, he hasn’t found his mate yet, but I imagine she will be someone who would be beautiful to match his gorgeous looks, I was still just a kid and I was nothing to look at seriously. He was at least 6′3” and muscled and toned, he had sun kissed skin and brown hair and dark blue eyes, me? I am plain jane, brown hair, skinny, hazel eyes, and freckles. Plain and unlikely to find my mate, and if I ever do find him, I am sure he will reject me. “Autumn, we are going to send you to our allies over in Washington, we can’t keep you safe here, not with Grey about to take over and the Rouge situation getting worse. You keep tempting fate” I sat silently and cried. After a few sobs I finally whisper “I don’t want to leave, surely Beta John will object to my leaving” he sighs and says “I know you want to stay with us and I know why you want to remain, but you are going and that’s final. Too many times you have put yourself in danger, once you finish school, you can return.” I nod my head and I know I really have no choice in the situation, it’s my own fault really. I can’t be mad at anyone but myself.
Beta John cried over my leaving, but our allies in Washington had more kids my age, our pack didn’t have a lot of pups my age, they were all older or way younger, I had a few friends who were a few years older, but other than that I was a loner. The Washington pack had a good youth group and I would be better supervised, with the changing of alphas in my own pack would put a target on us for rogues to come and challenge Greyson or other packs alphas to come challenge him to take over our territory and grow their own pack. Our pack took a hit every now and then because our territory was coveted, situated in the mountains we had a river running through as well as a huge waterfall, we were located in Oregon. I loved living in this beautiful land, at least I get to go to Washington and they aren’t sending me to my mom’s family back in Texas. That was discussed, but the Beta begged to let me stay. He and my dad were best friends.
The 3 hour drive to Washington was quiet, I was so upset at being torn away from the only place I knew as home, from the only thing that I had of my parents, this wasn’t fair, how can the alpha deny me to take flowers to the spot I last saw them? I knew Greyson was following me, I could smell him, even though I didn’t have my wolf yet, I knew his scent. “Well, here we are, my new home” a group of girls watched me walk in, once alone they approached me “So why did you leave your last pack?” The blonde asked me then before I could say anything in return her friend said “probably because she has fleas” sending the group of girls into a fit of giggles, oh yeah, I am going to love it here.