Come and gone (#3 of the Grey pack)

prelogue

Sami’s P.O.V.

Oh my God…

A joke…

That’s right, that’s the only thing that makes sense…

This is all a joke…

Some sick, twisted joke…

Those were the thoughts that went through my head as I was staring at my Alpha when I was standing inside his personal office. Alpha Carter had been my Alpha since I had been sixteen years old, which meant that, for the past twelve years, ever since I had moved over to the Moanne pack when my father had fallen in love with my stepmother here, he had been the one who I had to answer to. And right now, he was telling me that that was all about to change for me, very soon. At least, it would, if I would agree to what he had just asked me to do.

How is it even possible, that my Alpha had just asked me to do what I had dreamed about for countless hours, contemplated on actually doing more than once, and now that the chance had finally presented itself to me, I was standing here… my mind screaming ‘no’ at me, while my heart was already packing its bags?

This is your chance…

This is what you wanted…

Take it!

I was pulled out of my daydream, as the Alpha’s office door opened again and my brother, Adam, walked inside, frowning as his eyes locked with mine. Probably wondering what the hell his little sister was doing in the Alpha’s office.

“Sami?” He asked me, his eyes looking at Alpha Carter before they looked back at me. A million questions in his eyes.

“Adam. Please, take a seat.” Alpha Carter spoke, pointing at an empty chair standing at the other side of his desk next to where I was seated. Adam nodded and did as he was told, even though I could still feel his eyes on me. Probably wondering what the hell we had both done wrong to end up in the Alpha’s office out of all places. s**t… It was the same thought that had wandered through my mind, when I had been called upon by the Alpha himself, something that had never ever happened in my life, out of all my years of living in his pack and under his rule. We were nobodies, loners. We weren’t friends with the Alpha or any other highly ranked wolves. People rather walked around us in a big circle, rather than to actually communicate with us.

“Is everything OK?” Adam asked, once again looking at the Alpha and probably wondering what the hell his little sister was doing here and what she had done to end up here. Even with Adam being only a couple of months older than me – eleven to be exact- he was highly protective over me. Not that I minded. Ever since our mother had passed, we had grown close. It was what we both needed at the time of our mother’s death in order to survive. We had needed to stay together, growing up much faster than we had both wanted, just like any child that lost a parent much too soon.

“Everything is all right Adam, you have nothing to worry about.” Alpha Carter spoke as he shook his head and smiled in a friendly manner, taking the worry out of Adam’s eyes as he sighed out in relief and leaned back in his chair to listen to what the Alpha had to say to him.

“I have received a phone call from Alpha Archer, he is the new ruling Alpha inside the Grey pack.” Alpha Carter spoke, to which Adam frowned deeply.

“The Grey pack?” He asked out loud, to which Alpha Carter nodded again.

“Yes, your former pack. The one where you lived before coming here.” He answered the question that Adam did not ask.

“They are being threatened by a group of rogues. They had gotten some outside help and that help had given the Alpha the advice that it might be better to have a witch or a wizard inside his pack, in case of a magical attack. By the looks of it, some people still remembered your father, and they still remembered the two of you.” Alpha Carter spoke, to which I felt Adam’s eyes burning on me again. I already knew this information, because Alpha Carter had already told me this a couple of minutes ago. And I was feeling the surprise radiating off of my brother, he was having the same kind of surprise as I had had only a couple of minutes earlier.

forced not to use magic for our entire lives…

And now asking us to do it because they need it…

the irony of it…

“Since the Grey pack has always been one that we did good business with, I told the Alpha that I would have a chat with both of you.” Alpha Carter spoke, looking at my brother.

“Seeing if one of you might be interested into heading back over there for a little bit, and helping out some friends in need.” Our Alpha added, to which I looked at Adam, who was starring intensely at our Alpha.

“What about our father?” Adam asked, to which the Alpha laid his hand on his desk.

“Your father remains here. If Alpha Archer’s story is indeed correct, I might need a wizard myself in order to keep this pack safe. And since your father and stepmother have built their lives here, I figured they would not want to leave our pack anyway. Whereas you two are still young. You might even be able to find your mate inside the Grey pack.” Alpha Carter spoke, as I saw my brother nod his head as a response while chewing on the inside of his cheek.

A mate...

Funny...

“Does he know about this? Our father, I mean?” Adam asked the Alpha, to which I smiled softly. Of course he did not know about this happening. If he would, he would have talked us out of it, of that I was sure. to say that Alpha Trevor, the previous Alpha of the Grey pack, before this Alpha Archer had taken over, was a mean man, was even putting it lightly. He was the kind of Alpha that loved power and that same power had turned him into an asshole. He had forced my father never to use his magic or he would have casted him out because I believed the man simply feared my father to be stronger than him. My parents were only able to use their magic when someone was hurt or needed help by command of the Alpha himself. And once my mother had passed away and my father had found his second chance mate inside of another pack -since she was a wolf- , the Alpha of the Grey pack couldn’t have been happier to see us leave. I still remembered that dreadful day as if it was yesterday.

“No. Your father does not know about this meeting.” The Alpha answered my brother as he shook his head.

“You are 29 years old, Adam. Your sister is 28. You don’t need approval from your father anymore. You are an adult and you can make adult decisions about your own life and how to live it.” The Alpha stated, to which I nodded.

“Why have you asked the both of us to come here?” I asked the Alpha, to which he looked back at me.

“To give you both some time to consider. Talk about it, what you want to do and who wants to do it. But I would like to get an answer pretty soon. Alpha Archer seemed quite impatient.” The Alpha told me, to which I pressed my lips together, feeling how I started to become anxious with my own thoughts. I had been feeling this same way for quite some time now. The need to go away from this place, the need to run as fast and far away as I could. The need to start over. But going back even further back into the past, was that the kind of new start that I had been hoping for? But I swallowed, thinking about my life here. The zero friends I had, the job that I absolutely hated, the feelings of isolation. And I sighed, when I already knew the truth.

It couldn’t get any worse than the life I was living here…

And so, I looked my Alpha into his eyes as I straightened myself in my seat.

“Alpha, with your permission. I would like to go back to the Grey pack for this task.” I answered him, feeling my brother tense up sitting next to me, hearing how I made a decision without talking to him first.

“Alpha, if my sister goes, then I will go as well.” Adam spoke, making my head yank towards him.

“What? Why?” I asked him, to which he shrugged.

“We ride together, we die together. I will not let you go back there alone. Someone needs to look after you.” He answered me, taking me by surprise.

“Are you both sure about this? You don’t need any time to think things through?” Alpha Carter asked us both, to which I turned back to face him and I shook my head.

“No Alpha. I am sure.” I nodded, knowing that there would be no going back now.

"So am I." My brother added, to which I cleared my throat.

“OK. I will let Alpha Archer know about your arrival soon. I will give you both a couple of days to get your things together and to say goodbye to this pack. Know that there will always be a place for the both of you back here. If you want to come back once the threat has been gone, I will accept you again as official pack members.” Alpha Carter spoke, to which we both nodded in agreement.

“OK. Then the matter is settled.” The Alpha sighed, standing up from his chair as he led us outside of his office, and within five minutes of saying our official goodbye to the Alpha, and thanking him for the opportunity, Adam and I walked back to our house, both lost in our own thoughts about what the hell had just happened back here.

“Why did you accept, Sami?” Adam asked me, to which I turned to look at him. His black hair was falling over his forehead as brown eyes looked directly at me. Looking worried was an understatement. At times like these, he looked so much like our mother it scared me at times.

“I want a new start. I hate living here, I feel ever since mom… I have been lost. I just need to feel a place to call home again. Maybe starting over where I feel as if my life has ended, will help me with that.” I shrugged as I kicked against a rock lying on the ground in front of me. Adam chuckled, because he was feeling the exact same way as me and he bloody knew it. Growing up, the both of us always had had the idea of how bad it had been, growing up inside the Grey pack. Little did we know, that once our mother had died and we had moved to another pack, that that would be the wake-up call for the both of us, to let us know just how good we actually had had it inside the Grey pack in the first place. Not that the Moane pack was evil or anything like that. We just always had had the feeling as if we didn’t really belong here. We didn’t have any real friends or, let alone, found our mates here. We just didn’t fit in into this place at all. We didn't belong inside this pack. Call it the magic inside of us, but it definitely made people fearful of us, instead of liking us. Because magic was all that we had in us. We were no real werewolves like everybody else. Just a boy and a girl who by fate had had a wizard for a father and a witch for a mother. We both had magic in our blood, but no wolf in our minds. Never had and probably never would as well. We were just the odd ones out, unable to run with the other wolves during a full moon. Forced to be standing on the side. The loners. The freaks. The one who would never know the feeling of having a mate, only if our mate would find us and turn us. We could fall in love, but we would never feel 'the pull' towards our mate.

“Why did you accept?” I asked my brother with a smile, seeing how he rolled his eyes at me.

“Because we need to stick together, and I promised to look after you, if you want me to or not. My word is my word.” He smiled at me, to which I nodded. I knew my brother would never let anything bad happen to me, but the knife cut both ways in this case. He was missing out on his own life because of some silly promise he had once made me years ago. And I hated how it felt as if he was missing out on so much, simply because he felt the need to be my savior, when I wanted to be able to save myself.

“Well… I guess we can prepare ourselves for some serious arguments when we get home to father.” I sighed, looking at Adam who just grinned widely back at me.

“As long as we stick together, sis, there is nothing we cannot overcome.” My brother told me, and as I smiled back at him, I knew just how badly this was true.

“You’re right.” I sighed as I wrapped my arm around his waist.

“As long as we stick together.”