The Fugitive Luna

Chapter 1: Liam

Two Years Later:

It has been two years since I was given The Silver Wind pack by Will and the council. The bastard won it as part of our territory fair and square when he killed the reigning alpha prior to him having an heir, a luna, or anything really, but instead of disbanding the pack, he accepted it and dubbed me the new alpha. How kind of him to do so. His doing this pushed me away from Milly and has forced me to stay on the outskirts of my family. I ask myself every day why he did it. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I just asked him. I know why he did it though: Milly and I are in love, but we will never be fated mates.

“Liam, man, you have to focus. If you don’t, we are both going to end up hurt,” my beta, Noah says.

I chose Noah when I got here. They had a lot of the pack already set up, so I just stepped into the role as Alpha. I stripped the old beta family of their titles and kicked them out of the pack to become rogues. It was taken well by the rest of the pack seeing as the old leadership were tyrants in their own rights. I chose the head warrior’s oldest son to be my new beta. I didn’t choose him right away. No, I waited a solid three months before I named him my beta. I watched him closely and saw how he treated others when no one was looking. He has a kind heart and a good soul, from what I could tell and Zues, my wolf, seemed to click with him. What really sealed the deal was how he treated the teenagers in the pack. When we first met, he had just turned eighteen and gotten his wolf. He stood out as a leader among the teenagers and I knew then that he was going to be someone to me someday. I just didn’t realize that position would be my beta.

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry about that.” I say as I refocus on him.

We are in the middle of a sparring match and he was right. If I didn’t pay attention, I would surely end up getting hurt in more than one way.

I recenter my body and take my fighting stance. I watch as he goes in for a roundhouse kick. That is his signature move. What he doesn’t realize is that I know his movements like my favorite book. All I’ve done since I took over this pack is train, fix the finances, and build the pack. I haven’t gotten to do anything outside of the bare basics of being an alpha. We haven’t been invited to any parties nor have we been invited to any pack gatherings. We should have a few coming up this year though since I know Milly is turning eighteen.

Ah, Milly. I miss her more than ever. She has been the one keeping me afloat these last two years. Long distance sucks, but it is better than nothing. I know that when she turns eighteen in the next eight months, she will be my Luna. She will come home with me and we will make this pack the best it ever could be. Even if we aren’t fated together by the Goddess, she is far better than being alone. We are friends if nothing else. We have done more than most friends for sure, but it doesn’t matter. I love her. It was so hard to resist her though. I tried really hard at first, but between us being together constantly and then her father passing away and Mia and Will forgetting we even exist, fate just pushed us together.

Noah flies into the air and I easily dodge his kick. I run in and give him a couple of jabs to his ribs before I back off and go back into defense. He grunts and runs in for a few jabs himself, but I take him off guard by dodging his attack. I leap over him and land and give the back of his knee a solid kick. He rolls and turns around before throwing up some dirt into my line of sight. I dodge it and land a final blow to his ribs before he falls back on the ground with a loud grunt.

“I give.” He says as he rolls into a sitting position. “You still aren’t paying attention. How were you able to block that?” He is groaning from the jabs and rubbing his sides. I might have hit him a bit too hard. Sometimes, I forget just how much stronger I am compared to him.

“I can read you like a book, bro. This is all we do. Day in and day out we train. This is how we pass the time. Can we not go out? Is there not a human town near by that has like a bar or something?” I stand up out of my stance, offer him a hand up, and walk over to our water bottles and throw him a towel. He catches it after wiping the dirt off his ass and wipes the sweat from his brow. Even in the early spring time, Alabama is far hotter and more humid than Alaska will ever be. Some days I miss being home, but other days I am so glad that I took over this pack. “Anyway, I just need a change of pace. Something to liven things up a bit, you know?”

“Oh, I know. We could always head to the beach for the day. Catch some sun, maybe even pick up a few girls. It would be fun.” He gives me a crooked grin and all I can do is shake my head.

“Dude, you know I have a girl back home. She is waiting for me and everything. I can’t go around sleeping with hoes anymore. I have to be a good man for her.” I set my jaw and look at him. His face has fallen into utter sadness. He never did like the fact I wouldn’t try and get laid with him.

I sigh and shake my head. “But, that doesn’t mean we still can’t go out. If nothing else, I can drink and you can pick up chicks from the bar. I’ll be like your wingman for the night. How does that sound?”

“That sounds great! When do we want to…”

“Alpha! Beta! Emergency!” One of our patrollers comes running to us. He is huffing and puffing and seems like there might be real danger. He is dripping sweat from the top of his head all the way to his ass cheeks. I guess the heat gets to everyone and not just me.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” I start to look up and around trying to find the danger.

“The border! We have been breached! It smells like a rogue!”

A rogue! Now that could be something exciting. I shift into Zeus and take off towards the border of the pack. I don’t even bother to strip first, I just shred my workout clothes and run. We have woods and beaches so I know that the most likely place is the woods.

Alpha, the rogue was smelled at the beach!

The beach? What the f**k man. That could have easily just been a f*****g tourist. I slow my run to a light jog. I’m still going to go check it out, but just remember it could have been a human doing stupid s**t. I am also not running to get there.

Yes, Alpha.

I move towards the south side of the territory and I catch a whiff of something. Like cocoa and coffee. It is faint but very fragrant. I wonder what that could be?

Zeus, do you smell that?

I do. I wonder what it could be?

Should we follow it?

Not right this second. We need to protect the pack first. We can’t neglect our duties just because we might smell something good to drink in the wind.

You’re right. Damn, I hate when you are right.

I pick my pace back up and hurry to the beach. When I get there, I shift at the edge of the tree line and throw on a pair of athletic shorts. Even though we are on our territory, it is still accessible to the general population via the beach.

“Alright, show me what you guys found.”

One of my senior warriors walks over to me with a scrap of fabric in his hands. “We found this during a routine patrol. Nothing more. It doesn’t have the distinct smell of a rogue, but it isn’t human either. We are thinking it could be an underage rogue. Someone who ran away from home or got lost from their family while on vacation.”

“I see.” I say. I had been making it a priority to take in underage rogues until they found a new home or until they got their wolf. Whichever came first was the one we went with. If they got their wolf before finding a home, we offered them to join our pack. Most of the twenty we had taken in agreed to join the pack and the others found a home with their mate.

“Let me see it.” I say, holding out my hand. I sniff the scrap of fabric and I smell the intoxicating scent. Zeus…

I know. This might be our mate.

How will we know?

We have to find her and lay eyes on her first.

If she is a rogue she will be hiding from all werewolves. How do you suppose we lure her out?

I’m not sure yet. Maybe see if we can find her around town first?

We can try.

I drop the fabric and look back at my warriors. “Which way was the rogue running when you found this?”

“We think they were heading to the town. It’s a piece of their athletic shorts, so they may have been running on the beach.”

“Okay, cast a wide range and see if you find any other weaknesses in the border. We will increase patrol rounds around the beach area until we know things are safe. If you happen to find the rogue, bring them to the pack house. Just keep me posted about what is going on.”

“Yes, Alpha.” They say. I turn around and head back to the pack house. I strip off the shorts and put them back in the log I found them in, shift, and take off.

I hope we find this rogue. I want to know why she smells so damn good.

We will find our mate. Just keep your head up.

She isn’t our mate. Milly is our mate. We decided on her two years ago.

She isn’t our mate. I have no urges with her or her scent. If she were truly our mate, no laws would keep me from knowing that when she gets her wolf I will have found my other half.

Ugh, Zeus, why can’t you just agree with me about Milly?

Because I know she isn’t our mate. I know she isn’t and you should have never promised her we would take her as a chosen mate. Do you know what that could do to her if we find our mate or what it could do to us if she finds hers? It could kill all of us!

I know… I know… I just want my mate so bad.

We will find her, Liam. I promise.