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POV: Leila "Lee! Leila! Where are you?" I heard my brother Ryder call. I looked up from the book I was reading to see him coming out of the house. From my perch in the tree, I could see the pack house as well as the surrounding houses for pack members that want more privacy. "Lee!” Ryder called again. I knew if I didn't answer he'd get worried, so I called back," I'm up here Ryder." At the sound of my voice, he spun around so fast I was afraid he'd get whiplash. He looked up into the tree I was sitting on, shook his head, and began walking towards me. I climbed down to meet him because I knew he would tell me to come down anyway. Once I got down, Ryder was already waiting for me. "I should've known you were in a tree," he said, smiling down at me. Down because he is 6'1, and I have the miraculous height of 5'2. If I was 2 inches shorter, I'd be considered a runt. I smiled back at him and wrapped my arm around his waist and asked, "What's up?" He draped his arm over my shoulders while saying, "Damon wants to talk to all of us together." I didn't bother asking what Damon wanted to talk about; I knew that he wouldn't give anything up. Besides, I already knew what my brothers wanted to talk about, but that didn't stop me from saying, "If Damon wanted to talk to all of us together, then why didn't you come and get me an hour ago.” I couldn't help but smirk at my big brother as I watched him get this guilty look on his face and not meet my eyes, even though I knew he could feel me staring at the side of his face. "That was nothing, Lee, Damon just wanted to talk to us alone first and well we..." Ryder finally glanced at me and I couldn't help but burst out laughing at how guilty he looked. “Calm down, big brother. I'm just teasing." I said in between laughs. I love teasing my brothers. “How did you even know that Damon called us?” Ryder asked, doing his best to look irritated, but the smile pulling at his lips and the light in his gray eyes betrayed him. “I was in a tree. I saw you all going inside. You guys never leave training or patrol unless Damon calls you. Plus, I had training with Axel an hour ago, and he postponed it for about two hours." I said, knowing I was right. There was another reason I knew, but I wasn't about to tell him that. Axel and Fox had patrol while Hunter and Ryder had training. Axel was supposed to train me after his patrol, but, he mind linked me an hour ago to postpone and Axel is a stickler for training. My training is overseen by my brothers, although the ones that mostly train me are Axel and Ryder. Damon is the Alpha, Axel is the Beta, and Fox is the Gamma. Most people would think it's Hunter since he was born third, but Fox has got all the attributes of a good gamma. Hunter always says that he doesn't mind because gammas have a lot more work to do than a head tracker, which is what he is. Ryder is the Delta aka head warrior, so he is strong and ensures I'm the same way. I've been training since I was 11 years old. It may sound young, but most werewolves train when they get their wolf at 13, but since I'm an alpha, I shifted early at age 11, and my brothers were the same way. Training early gave me an advantage and now, at 17, I'm one of the best warriors in the entire pack. I can even go toe to toe with Ryder, Axel, and Damon. I only realized that I had zoned out on Ryder when we reached the pack house and began walking inside. I looked up at Ryder and saw him with an amused smile on his face and a curious look in his eyes. "Sorry," I said sheepishly. I really didn't mean to ignore him. Ryder laughed and said, "No need to look so guilty sis, everybody zones out once in a while. I'm just wondering what was so much more interesting than me." He said the last part with such disbelief, as if he found the idea of anything more interesting than him ridiculous. I smiled broadly at him and said, “Nothing really. I was just thinking about everything in general." He put the hand that wasn't on my shoulders over his heart, as if he was offended, and said, "So some random thing is more interesting than me. I'm honestly hurt, baby sis." I would be concerned that I had actually hurt his feelings if I couldn't feel his amusement. I smirked a little bit as I said, "Well, as your little sister, I feel it's my duty to tell you there are a lot more interesting things than you." Ryder glared at me as he replied, "Is that so? Well, just remember who is in charge of your training." "You wouldn't!" I said, panicking. I could feel him considering it. Anytime I would get in trouble, which wasn't often, my punishment would be to stay an extra two hours in training or to run over a dozen laps or get up at sunrise to run patrol, usually with Axel, who was brutal when it came to training. "I'm sorry! I was just kidding. You are the most interesting person there is." I said quickly in hopes that he wouldn't make me do anything extra. My brothers may be protective, but they are still petty older brothers. Ryder smirked as he said,"Calm down little sis. I'm just teasing." His words were the same as mine from earlier and when I looked up I glared at him. "Haha, you're hilarious." I mocked. My glare turned into a smile as we reached Damon's office. Ryder reached up to knock on Damon’s door, and we waited to go in until we heard Damon’s voice saying to come in. Ryder opened the door and let me go in before him. I saw Damon standing behind his desk. Axel was standing in front of his desk. Fox was sitting on one of the chairs and Hunter was standing behind the other chair in front of Damon’s desk. That told me everything I needed to know about how my brothers felt about what was happening. Fox didn't see any problem with it, Hunter didn't see any problem, but he's not as okay with it as Fox is, Damon and Axel do not want whatever is going on to happen, and Ryder was on the fence. I smiled at all of them and walked around my brothers and Damon's desk, setting down the book I had with me on his desk to give him a hug. “Hi, big brother.” I said as I stepped back. I looked over and saw that my brothers had formed a kinda half circle around the desk. Damon smiled down at me and said, "Hey Leila. We have to tell you something." Okay, so straight to the point then, he must really want to get this over with. I moved around the desk again to stand next to Fox, who stood at the end of the semicircle. He smiled down at me because, again, I'm 5'2, and he's 6'1 like Ryder. Damon, Axel, and Hunter are 6'2. I looked up into Fox’s green eyes and saw him giving me a look that told me not to worry. I looked back at Damon just as he began to speak. “Members of the Royal Blood Moon pack are coming here next week. When I spoke to the King, he wouldn’t say what he was coming for, just made some comment about a new treaty.” Damon said. I kept my face carefully blank as I waited for him to continue. I noticed all of my brothers were looking at me, waiting. I realized for me to reply. “Okay. So what does that have to do with me? And why are you telling me this in such an official way? I mean, usually you tell me this kind of stuff at dinner.” I said, masking my voice in confusion. I hated not telling my brothers everything, but they would flip if they knew. It's best for everyone if they find out naturally. “Well, as you know, we've been hoping to improve our relationship with Blood Moon, but we had planned on going to their land, not the other way around.” Axel said, drawing my attention to him. "Okay, so? I mean, what difference does it make? We knew rising through the ranks in the past few years would get the royals' attention." I replied, playing dumb. “Goddess, guys, it's not that serious. Just say it already jeez. You would think you're about to say that they're cannibals coming to eat us," Fox said, rolling his eyes. The others glared at him while I smiled at him. "The Alpha King himself is coming." Damon said, worry clear in his voice. “Ooohhhh" I said, drawing it out to make it seem like I just understood all their weirdness. I genuinely chuckled at them. My brothers are very protective of me and the Alpha Kings' past is concerning, to say the least. Five years ago, there were a series of rogue attacks on several packs, including Blood Moon. At some point, the rogues had allied themselves with dark witches. No one knew why or how, considering how feral and unpredictable rogue wolves are. Some believed the rogues had been straightened out by a leader, while others believed the dark witches controlled their minds to make themselves an army. Both were possible but it didn't matter. In that year, there were more packs decimated and lives lost than in any other war. I lost my mother in one of those attacks. The Alpha King at the time, King Alistair, dispatched warriors to save as many packs as he could, but it wasn't enough. Nearing the end of the war, King Alistair called on the Queen of the Witches to stop the dark witches, but she did not come, despite the standing alliance between them. After that revelation, the rogues and dark witches attacked the royal pack. Until then, the attacks had only been on lesser packs, never the royal pack, so most of their warriors were away defending the others. The rogues and dark witches murdered the Alpha King and his Luna Queen, Grace. The entire pack would have been wiped out if it wasn't for Clarissa Verity, High Priestess of the Witches. She defied the Queen's order to help the Royal Pack. Clarissa and her thirteen striped the dark witches of their abilities and decimated most of the rogues. It took a long time for life to get back to normal for the supernatural community after the war and the relationship between the werewolves and witches has never been the same. Even though the High Priestess helped, the new Alpha King held a grudge against the witch Queen. I couldn't blame him considering he lost both parents in an attack that could have been prevented by the Witch Queen. “ What's so funny?" Hunter asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. I smiled and said, "You guys are, with all your overprotectiveness. You guys worry too much. I know the Alpha King has difficulty around witches, but that doesn't mean he hates all of them." “We know but we at least want to make sure that you haven't seen anything," Damon said a bit hesitantly. "Ah," I said, feigning understanding. "No, I haven't received any visions of the Alpha King." I said, struggling to keep eye contact with Damon. Damon only nodded, and I had to stop myself from sighing in relief when I didn't feel any suspicion coming from my brothers. My brothers visibly relaxed, but I could see the tension among them. I hated how afraid they are for me, so I said, "If it'll make you feel better, I won't practice any magic while the King is here." My brothers looked at me in surprise before Axel said, "They will be here for two weeks, Lee, can you stop for that long?" I pretended to contemplate it for a moment before saying, "If it means you will all stop worrying and not do something stupid, then yes. It won't be that hard, I don't use my magic that much." My brothers seemed to be contemplating my words until Damon smiled at me and said sincerely, "If you are willing to do that, then it's settled. The Alpha King will come to the Crescent Moon Pack. Thank you, Leila." “I didn't really do anything but your welcome. I'll come by after training to help plan for their arrival." I said before grabbing my book and continuing, "That is, if my trainer ever decides to actually train today." I smirked at Axel as I made my escape, ducking behind Fox and running for the door, knowing perfectly well Axel would make me pay for that comment. Laughter and a playful growl from Axel followed me out of the door. I knew Axel would call me for training in a few minutes, so I ran upstairs to my room and changed into some exorcise clothes. As I did, my thoughts kept wandering back to the vision I had yesterday morning. 'You are my mate, and I will never let you go.' I shook my head to get the sound of his voice out of my mind and hurried downstairs. I couldn't stop the large smile that spread across my face as I realized that I would be starting the rest of my life in seven short days.