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The Great Plains Pack was the largest in the kingdom. Lykos would have been the Alpha King, but that job was taken. The ruler of Lycans had each Lycan connected to them through pack bonds. An Alpha grew in power from the number of wolves connected to him in their pack. With the large territory they commanded, Lykos had fifty wolves under him. The average regular Alpha was around thirty. There wasn't another Alpha around that could challenge her father outright for their territory. It made sense to Remy that they were trying to negotiate the pack's territory lines instead of just challenging her father. That would end badly.
While her parents were filling her in, Remy pondered that the Dark Dimension was already here, but no one knew. It coincided with the opening of when the other packs started their negotiations. It may have made the dragons go berserk, but some took longer than others for the effects to show fully. In Lycan's, their fuses were pretty short. If the Dark Dimension didn't have a strong influence here yet, this could be a way to show who may already have the dimension inside them. The packs have been living in harmony for a long time until now.
When Tala started to wave in front of Remy's face, she realized her mind had drifted off, and she was no longer paying attention to what her parents were saying. Remy contemplated telling her parents her thoughts, but that became a moot point when her mother asked her a question.
"That sounds like a good idea, right?"
Remy nodded, knowing that if she told her parents that she wasn't paying attention, it would lead to an argument. They hated it when her mind wandered during a conversation.
That isn't what Alphas do! You are to take over someday. You need to pay attention to discussions like this to know how to respond.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."
"Wonderful! I'll start putting the word out! I'm so excited to throw you a welcome home party!"
Remy opened her mouth to tell her mother she did not want a welcome home party but quickly closed it. She would have admitted to not paying attention to what they discussed with her if she had realized that was what was said. That was the opposite of what she wanted to do.
Instead, Remy gave her mother a little smile. "Can't wait."
Kill me now.
Chapter two
Remy
Remy's heart was a wild drum, its beats echoing through the cavern of her chest. Her palms, slick with the sheen of anxiety, refused to stay still, fluttering like caged birds against the fabric of her skirt. The sounds of the music and various voices floated up to her room, making Remy feel the need to jump out the window and take off into the land surrounding the house. While on the island, the parties called to her like the moon did. They were fun and energetic, making her forget that she had been dropped off without remembering why. This party was different. There wouldn't be various species of supernaturals dancing the night away and living their best lives. The people here were for her–to welcome her back–and something else she didn't want to consider.
The possibility of running into the mate that rejected her.
Returning home reminded Remy of why she didn't mind living on the island with minimal chance of returning. The weight of the expectations to become an Alpha, or even the Luna to an Alpha, felt like the entire kingdom was pressing down on her shoulders. That wasn't the life Remy wanted. The Luna of a pack usually meant having to keep the rest of the pack in line while the Alpha got to dispute the territory lines, make deals with other Alphas, talk business, and basically run their kingdom. An Alpha had more power than a Luna, and Remy was unfit for it, but if she were only a Luna, the pack bonds would force her to listen to the Alpha.
Which is some bullshit. I don't listen to my own Alpha, who is my father. My Lycan refuses to. How will I ever be happy when I am expected to follow someone else? It would have been different if Kodi had still been alive.
Before the island and even coming of age to find her mate, Remy could live the life she wanted because her big brother, Kodi, was there to make it better. Kodi was the heir to the Great Plains Pack, the grocery business, and her father's golden boy. Remy didn't need to worry about finding a mate or anything else because she was not going to inherit a damn thing as long as her brother was alive. She was trained like the rest of the pack, so she knew how to handle herself, but that was it. The expectation for her was to keep her body agile because she was a dominant female, and other Lycans would challenge her position once her brother took over. Kodi told everyone who would listen that Remy would be his second, but few males would like to listen to her.
But a stupid pack dispute took that away from me.
The sound of fabric splitting dragged Remy's thoughts from those terrible memories. Five streaks from her claws were ripped into her comforter. Remy frowned at the markings and made a mental note to ask her mom where more were stored. Things weren't the same in the pack house anymore. Some things were moved around, including her room. Instead of being inside the main house, Remy was moved to the secondary house behind her childhood log cabin home. This was used to house the remaining pack members who were not the top wolves. They needed Remy's room to move in a Lycan with difficulty controlling his Lycan form. Tala explained that the last they heard before she was sent to the island was that her mate planned to have the ceremony and everything with her. She went to his pack, where she was rejected, and their Alpha took her to the island. Lykos pulled the letter from some files to show her that she had sent it to them. It didn't mention who she was mated to or what pack she was in. She would just send them a notice of when the ceremony would be. Then followed the letter that she was rejected and taken to the island.
That's not how she would have handled things, so Remy felt a pit in her stomach with the story's details. No one knew who her mate was, and no pack offered the information they needed to find out. They agreed to keep things casual around the party, not to let anyone know they were unaware of who her mate was and why he may have rejected her. If there was a traitor amongst them, even within the neighboring packs where Remy had been traveling, they needed to keep that close to their chest until the moment was right.
A knock at her door caused Remy to growl. It wasn't like her to not be aware of her surroundings, and she despised not being at the top of her game. Tala called her name from the other side of the door, so Remy got off her bed, walked over to it, and unlocked it.
Tala stood on the other side with her hands on her hips. Ever since Remy grew taller than her mother, it was hard to take her seriously when she was angry. Remy pressed her lips together to hide her smile and scrunched her face to look annoyed.
"Don't give me that look. That party downstairs is for you. Why are you hiding up here?"
An annoyed rumble in her chest gave away how she felt before Remy could create a different reaction. If it weren’t for her not paying attention, she wouldn't have agreed to this party to begin with. "I changed my mind. I don't want a party."
Tala growled at her. "Too bad. Let's go. Since you've been gone for so long, you must be reacquainted with the pack. There have been some transfers to our pack, and some have been transferred out for mating purposes. Everyone needs to know who you are now that you are back. This is the best way for us all to do that. The whole pack is here! Some were visiting elsewhere and traveled all the way here just to see you."
Remy lifted her lip in response. Tala growled again and began to tap her foot. Remy knew what that foot tap meant. It was time to go down there whether she liked it or not. While throwing her hands up, Remy let out a frustrated sigh, "FINE! Just know that I don't want to do this, so if I bite someone's head off, it's your fault instead of mine."
With her mother behind her, Remy could feel Tala’s tender hands pressed against Remy’s back to show Tala meant business. Remy did her best not to stomp her feet as she descended several flights of stairs until she reached the main floor. After several zig-zags through multiple hallways, she reached the rec room. The only ones who seemed to be missing were several of the Omegas, who were most likely watching the children not of age. Remy forgot just how big the inside of the house was and shook her head at seeing at least forty wolves from the Great Plains Pack inside. The party was in full swing, with a speaker blasting music through the room just below the level of being intolerable for Lycan hearing. Quickly, Remy took in that the room was too full just to be her pack and glanced at her mother. Tala tried to hide her face, knowing that her daughter was glaring at her, and pointed toward someone approaching them. Thankfully, it was just her father.
"Good of you to finally join us. Now go on. Have some fun!" His voice joyfully boomed with both happiness and authority.
The fun will be mandatory.
