Chapter 3

Welcome back everyone. I hope you have enjoyed the last two chapters, and I also hope that you enjoy this chapter as well.

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1Blossom

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Chapter 3

~Josiph~

It was about ten o'clock at night, and I was still in the office filling out paper work for the territory taxes when my father came in. I knew he was coming in well before he actually entered because I could hear the tapping of his shoes against the hard wood floor in the hallway as he made his way over.

"They found them," was his only answer. I perked up instantly with just the thought of finding my potential mate.

"Where?" I asked.

"It took some time but they are located on the east side of the territory about a mile from the end of our territory lines."

I nodded before speaking, "Call for a meeting immediately. We need to discuss what we should do about these-" I stopped, thinking about what to call them. I couldn't exactly refer to them as welcomed guests even if there's a possibility that my mate was in the party, "intruders," I finally settled with after a long thought.

"You've got it son," he stated, referring to me as his son instead of his superior alpha.

"I will be down in five minutes," I told him getting back to my paperwork.

"Okay," he answered before turning away. I could hear his footsteps as he headed across the wood covered floor, leaving the room soon after. I could hear the shutting of the door, as he closed it softly behind him. Soon, his voice rang in my ear. He was telling the other wolves in the house to notify everyone they see to be in the meeting room as fast as possible, and that he expects everyone to be there. Alphas orders.

Just as I had said to my father moments before, I was down at the meeting room in only five minutes. Everyone was there sitting in hard wooden chairs waiting for their alpha to show up. Man they had to be uncomfortable in those chairs. Looking up to the front of the room my beta was standing next to my father and my mother. They all looked really comfortable up on the stage, then again my parents had been doing this for years even before my birth, and when I was a small child.

"Hello everyone," I said loudly, getting the attention of every werewolf in the room to turn around and stare at me. My parents even looked at me as I walked to the front of the room, their eyes never wandering away. "Thank you all for coming. Now as you all probably had heard, there are three werewolves that have been spotted on our territory," I said, and everyone in the room began to talking amongst themselves. I guess not all of them knew about the intruders on our territory then.

For a minute, I let everyone talk about what I had just mentioned, but I still had to bring them all to an understanding of what we were supposed to do to get ready for these intruders. "Excuse me!" I yelled with authority and everyone got quiet, and stared back up at me with wide eyes. "Now as I was saying, a few members in our pack had noticed them, and beginning right after this meeting I, and a few of our men will go out and look for these intruders. Everyone who is not called to come with me will stay inside with their families."

"I will only need four other members, and if anyone wants to volunteer you may do so now." When I finished, five members of the pack raised their hands. My father and beta was among them. "I think you should stay here dad and Derek. In case anything happens to me, then at least I know you two are safe. You guys can step in and take care of the pack without me," I told them both in a whisper.

"I'd rather not let anything happen to you son," my dad said softly, laying his hand on my shoulder.

"We'll just have to see. They could be dangerous, or they could be just lost. It's still better to be safe than sorry though, and that's exactly why I want you both to stay here."

They said nothing after that, and I turned back to everyone else in the room who was still volunteering. "Thank you all for volunteering. Please, could you all meet me outside the room after our meeting? We will be leaving shortly after the meeting to find these three wolves, and discuss the plan of action."

They agreed with a nod and the rest of the meeting went on, as I talked about what to expect in the next few days, and a few other important discussions about the pack. Twenty minutes later the meeting finally ended. There was one announcement of a couple who would be having their first baby, and a name ceremony was in order just after the birth of their child. The parents got to choose the name of their child, but the ceremony was mainly there for everyone to welcome the newest member to the pack. There was also to be a meeting for welcoming another member to the pack. One member had mated with another member who was not from our pack and after a long time of being separated from his own pack he had come back to ask for his new mate to be welcomed into the family. That would happen on the same day of the naming ceremony, and both families were excited about the event.

When everyone was out of the meeting room, my beta, father, mother and I made our way out of the room where the three other members of the pack were waiting for me-two of them with their mates. The first member name was Conner. Conner had short blond hair and blue eyes, and he was in his late twenties with a five year old little girl, and a wife. They were planning on having a second child, but his wife was having trouble conceiving a child without losing the child. They were still holding strong though, and hoping for the best.

The second member was Tyler. In his late thirties, Tyler was still looking for his mate. He had short black hair and was about six foot tall. He was also a really buff man so I was glad that he had offered to come along. We could use his strength.

The final person was a young man who went by the name of Henry. He had been with the pack for about three years now since his old pack had been taken over and many of his fellow werewolves were killed. He and his mate were one of the few members who had escaped with their lives. Now they were expecting a child and were living happily five houses down from the alpha's house. From what I'd remembered, Henry's twenty-two, and his mate is now twenty.

"You three ready?" I asked turning toward them.

"Ready sir," Tyler answered while both Henry and Conner were kissing their mates. From the way they were kissing, it looked like they were saying goodbye and planning not to come back.

"You are in charge until I come back, Derek," I then said turning away from the three men to look at my Beta for his confirmation that he would do as I say.

"Alright sir."

I nodded. That was all I needed. "Let's go," I said heading for the door hearing their pounding footsteps behind me as we headed into the woods.

On the outskirts of the woods just behind the Alpha's house, the four of us changed into our wolves. My wolf was a dark brownish color with a pink nose and a long muzzle. I was the biggest of the four of us, which in Alpha terms was a good thing. Next to me on my left was Tyler's wolf. He was a full black wolf who had red highlights that seemed to glow in daylight or night. To his left stood Conner who was the smallest of the four of us, but he was also the only one in our pack who had a blonde wolf in with the bright blue eyes; he was set for life. Finally there was Henry who was on my right. He wasn't much smaller than I was but we understood one another. Henry's wolf was an orange, reddish color with a strip of white down his chest and muzzle. The tip of his tale was also white which he always had to watch out for during hunting season. Then again, we all had to be careful during hunting season or any time in the year of that matter.

When we were all ready we took off at a dead pace turning left and right dodging trees and overhung branches hearing the almost silent crunch of leaves beneath our paws.

They were not where they'd been last seen so we had to follow their scent until we reached the edge of a small clearing. There, they were sitting in a group talking as if nothing was wrong next to a fire ready to settle in for the night.

Next to me, I could hear Conner finally catching up, and to my right was Tyler. Henry though was still a bit behind as if he was trying to save up energy in case anything were to happen. I looked at the two wolves next to me and could tell that both were ready to fight. I could also tell that Henry was ready even when he was not near me.

We watched them for a while just waiting for the perfect time to strike. Henry had stood next to us, reaching us in perfect timing. We could see that one of the men seemed to be acting a bit differently than the others. He seemed to be talking to his friends, but then all of a sudden started looking around the woods, until his eyes were directly on us. It was like he knew we were there beyond the forest trees and hidden behind the sounds of the birds and foxes, and every other animal that was out at this time of night.

Quickly I looked away, and not because of fear or anything like that. It was just that if he had noticed us we had to get ready and fast. Looking to the other wolves around me, I nodded, and just with that nod they all knew to get into formation and to get ready to charge, claws bared.

Henry and Tyler soon moved to the left a couple of steps away from where we had originally been. Both wolves took small steps trying to make as little noise as possible as their feet hit the cool ground. Conner and I took up the right side of where we had last been. Again we were taking small steps making sure that we hit nothing on our way to our new locations. We didn't want our intruders to know.

~Lucas~

I could hear them and smell them, but I couldn't see them. I knew they were there though just watching us-waiting. It was like they were trying to torture us in some way, but then again it was also like they didn't know what to do.

"They're here," I whispered to my sister, sitting next to me. Her name was Kiana and she had brown hair and bright blue eyes. Next to her was our friend Steve who had followed us when we had left our old pack. He was like a brother to us and protected Kiana with his life which you could see clearly on his face. It was bruised pretty badly from all the fighting he had to do. I wished I had such bravery as he did when it came to protecting her.

"How do you know?" she asked before Steve could.

"I can smell them."

"I can't smell anything," Steve said and Kiana agreed with him as they both sniffed at the air.

"Can you hear them?" I asked them. In answer, they shook their heads telling me no. "How can I tell that they are here, but neither of you can?" I asked looking around us and to the surrounding forest. Plenty of trees covered us from the above sky, as I heard the whispers of the cold wind. It was almost nightfall, but the birds were still chirping away to the left of us. I was pretty sure that they were robin's, and not too from them, I could hear a fox howling trying to find its home or a loved one. And just right beyond the forest line, was where I could hear the paw steps and huffs of another wolf watching. I even swore I could see eyes blinking back at me, and looking away quickly, in shock that I had noticed they were there. But, before I could even say anything they were gone.

"We need to get ready," I said still looking around us and not at my sister and friend. "They might attack if we're not careful."

"What do you expect us to do?" Kiana asked, as she stood up, gathering most of our stuff into bags.

"If we need to, fight for our lives," I answered with a humorless laugh.

"Fight?" Kiana said with fear in her voice. My sister wasn't much of a fighter, which was why we were in this position in the first place, but I wasn't going to blame her for it. Someone had to do something though, because she didn't deserve anything she had been through in our old pack. None of us did.

"Yeah, fight," I repeated myself moving to give my sister a hug. She was way smaller than I was and her head laid on my chest as I continued on speaking, "I will make sure nothing happens to you even if I couldn't before. This time I will."

"Guys," Steve said a few steps behind us.

"What is it?" I asked looking up only to notice that he wasn't looking at us, but in the direction of where I had last seen those eyes. I followed his gaze just in time to see four wolves step out of the black forest, and the first one was the dark brownish colored wolf whose eyes seemed to pull me in. "Go stand next to Steve," I voiced, looking down to my sister. She nodded and stepped out of my hug and walked to Steve who wrapped his arms protectively around her like a father would do to his daughter.

When she was safe next to him I turned to face the four wolves who had stopped about ten paces from the edge of the clearing. No one seemed to want to be the first to make a move so instead we stood for about ten minutes straight, staring at each other until I finally spoke, "You know it would be a lot easier to talk if you weren't in wolf form."

For an answer the dark brown wolf growled and with that growl the other three wolves whimpered. Behind me I could hear both Steve and Kiana whimper, though I knew it was against their will. I just stood in place, not affected by this wolf's growl.

"Guess I found out who the alpha is," I said with a small smile.

"What do you want?" a voice said from somewhere, surprising me. I wasn't sure where the voice was coming from though.

"I want my mate," I answered.

"Your mate?" Again the voice sounded, but this time I knew where it was coming from. It seemed like he was trying to test something out, but I didn't know what.

"Yeah my mate," I said again and for added benefit I added, "you know the one you spend the rest of your life with?" I know it probably wasn't really smart being a smartass to an alpha, but there was something about him. Something intriguing.

Again he growled but with his growl he spoke, "Watch what you say before you regret it."

"Can't regret it any more than I already do. As you can see my sister, friend, and I are alone in the hopes of finding our mates so we can get into a pack, and have a real home."

The alpha grunted at that before he started circling his tail, in the process of changing back into his human form right in front of our eyes. Once he was completely in human form standing on two legs he turned to the other wolves around him. "You can turn," he told them before finally looking at us again. "What happened in your old pack?"

Before I could even answer him my younger sister stepped up next to us and spoke in her soft childlike voice even though she was already twenty-three years old. "Our old alpha tried to force me into a mate binding with him."

"Force you?" he started before continuing, "He's not your mate is he?"

"No, he's not my mate, but he was trying to force me to be with him through a mate binding," Kiana answered truthfully. "Of course that didn't work, or rather happen because I'm here now. Right now, we're all on our own trying to find my mate, while we also try to find my brother's mate, and our friend's mate. We know it's probably wrong to bring another pack into our problems, but my old alpha is a really bad man and I just couldn't stay there any longer. My brother followed with our friend, Steve."

He thought for a minute before nodding. "And you think your mate is in my pack?"

"My mate." Kiana laughed a small delicate laugh. "No, my mate is not in your pack. I haven't felt my mate near here exactly. Actually we think Lucas's mate is in your pack."

"Lucas is who exactly," he asked. I could tell he was a little bit hurt from what my sister had said, but I wasn't exactly sure why. Why does it matter to him if my sister's mate isn't in his pack?

"That would be me."

Quickly he looked at me. "And you think your mate is here in my pack?" he asked.

For a second there, I wasn't able to answer him when our eyes met. It was like falling into a black hole. One in which you couldn't escape from. His eyes were such a deep dark blue, it was so captivating. I could hear nothing around us except for the small chirps of birds and the annoying voice in my head that kept calling my name, and I was pretty sure that whoever this young alpha was he could feel the exact same thing.

"Mine," my wolf screamed trying to force me closer to this man. It was like I had no control over my own body, because before I could even stop myself, my legs were moving on their own taking another step towards him. But when I felt a hand land on my shoulder, pulling me back a few steps, everything changed in an instant pulling me back to reality.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Kiana screamed at me, but then her eyes went wide when she saw my mine. I knew my eyes were a bright white color. It was an indication in our family that we had just found our other half. "Yours?" she whispered, gasping in surprise. I chose not to answer her.

"You think your mate-" he started off, shaking his head quickly to get rid of the trance we'd both been in just moments before. But then he stopped when he had noticed the change in my eyes. "Why are your eyes a bright white?" he decided to ask, tilting his head, dazed. His eyes were also glowing as if he was approving it, but I knew for a fact it was his actual wolf who had approved, and right now it was his wolf appearing in front of me.

"Think?" I said with a laughter, looking at him quickly before regretting it soon after. That only made my wolf want to get closer to its mate stronger. I held my wolf in check as best as I could, glancing at my sister, before I finished answering him. "I know my mate is here."