Chapter 18

"This is really serious." Jasper runs his hand through his black hair blowing out a ragged breathe. I woke up in a bed with my arm covered in a cast yet again, and Jasper was sitting next to me nervously waiting for me to wake up. He questioned me profusely until I told him everything from start to finish.

"I know. I'm sorry I didn't know where else to go." I shrug suddenly feeling bad for putting all this onto him when he's still so young. I know he's a rogue so the council most likely has no record of him to track.

"It's not your fault." He gives me a half smile but his hazel eyes look worried. "You do know what this means if you're right?" He asks.

"It means there's going to be a war." I whisper admitting that if I'm right about the council people are going to want revenge and justice which also mean lives lost. Jasper only shakes his head with a grave expression.

"No it mean there is going to be a revolution." My stomach drops and even though I haven't eaten anything I feel like throwing up. I never wanted any of this. I never wanted to be a leader of something like this. Revolution is a word that holds a lot of responsibility and leadership that I don't think I'm capable of, but I'm not going to have much of a choice if it means protecting those I love and care about.

"What am I supposed to do?" I cry burying my face into my hands letting my long hair fall to create a shield hiding my face. I don't want anyone to see me breakdown.

"First we need a plan." He stands up and begins to pace in front of me, and I lay back on the bed staring at the ceiling. Why did I think him and I only being eighteen and like fifteen or whatever would be able to figure out how to take down a centuries old system without losing too many lives. "You said the council won't let you talk to your family?" He stops looking at me for confirmation.

"Yeah, but I have a untraceable phone at home to communicate with them if I need to, but I'm too scared that the council will somehow find out." I shrug feeling backed into a corner with this whole shit show. "I know they will help no matter what but they have their own packs to look after." He nods his hazel eyes zoning back out.

"What if you had a messanger?" I'm confused by his suggestion. Does he mean like a bird?

"What do you mean?" I tilt my head as he sits back down in the chair next to the bed.

"Someone who will run back and forth between all packs creating a silent information line." It's a good idea but I don't know who would want to risk getting caught by the council.

"That's a great idea but no one will want to risk that when the council can track them." They have records of every wolf in every pack so they could simple "check up" on them if they suspect something, which could go south very fast. We need a plan that is safe for everyone involved.

"The council can't track everyone." By the look on Jasper's face I can already tell where he is headed with this.

"Hell no! You are not putting yourself at risk for this, and besides you are too young." I shake my head frowning at him so he knows I'm not budging.

"I'm not "too young" to run a pack so I'm pretty sure I can manage this simple task." He rolls his eyes as my mouth drops. I mean I've pieced together that he park of a rogue group based on the other boys that were with him, but I never anticipated it was large enough to be a pack. Let along that he's running it.

"How big?" I lean over to look out the window near the bed but it's too dark to see anything. He chuckles running his fingers through his dark locks.

"Couple hundred." He shrugs as it's not that big of a deal. "All 'rogues' in the sense that the council doesn't know about most of them. Me and a few of my loyal warriors can be the messengers. We know the woods and how to blend into the background. I promise we won't mess this up." He pleads with hopeful eyes. I don't want to be putting him and his warriors at risk especially since he's still a child and I assume so are some of his friends.

"I don't know. It's a lot to ask from you and what if something happens I would never forgive myself." I explain trying to get my point across to him.

"We'll come up with a strategy so there won't be any slip ups, and you can even approve it before we start." I bite my lip weighing the options in my head. He must see I'm still not sold on the idea because he continues. "If it'll make you feel better you can call it off at anytime." He makes a pretty good bargain. It's worth a shot and say it doesn't work I'll call it off.

"Deal." He jumps up excited. He's very mature for his age. Most boys his age only care about training and who's wolf is bigger, but he has compassion for others that's rare in even most adults.

"I hate to say but I need to get back." I stand up slowly picking up my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder. "Quentin might have woken up." I hope he did and at the same time I don't because if he did wake up he's going to be extremely worried and stressed because of me.

"I'll help you get home." Jasper opens the door holding it for me.

"Absolutely not. I can get home just fine." He raises a eyebrow with a smirk.

"And do what shift?" He snorts. I go to poke his chest and my eyes land on my new cast effectively shutting me up. "That's what I thought." He walks ahead of me to the front door. Grumbling I follow him out the door and towards the forest.

"It's going to take just as long with or without you." I add hoping to get him to stay home.

"No it won't." He assures irritating me further.

"What am I going to do climb on your back?" I snap but he just looks over his shoulder with mischief in his eyes. "No!" I stop dead in my tracks.

"Oh come on wouldn't you rather get there by morning instead of two days?" He argues using my weakness of wanting to get home to Quentin as fast as I can.

"Fine." I cross my arms against my chest defeated. He smiles taking his shirt off, so I turn around until I hear the familiar sound of bones cracking. His wolf is larger than I thought it would be. The black fur glows in the moonlight and his hazel eyes contrast beautifully against his fur. He trots over to me licking the side of my face. "Gross you jackass." I shove him with my good arm but he doesn't budge. He crouches down enough so I can climb onto his back. "Be careful." I scold as he takes off into the woods.

* * *

"Can I ask you something?" Jasper and I are really close to the Silver Dawn border so he let me climb down and shifted so we could walk the rest of the way together.

"Anything?" My curiosity has been eating at me the entire way here. He said he was running his pack which means he's technically the Alpha, but how did he get that position. He hasn't mentioned his parents nor have I seen any, so how did he get out in charge?

"Where are your parents?" He doesn't flinch or look upset which is a good sign. Someone had to raise him, and who ever it was did a hell of job considering his position at his age.

"I don't know." He admits turning to look me in the eye. My stomach twist with guilt for bringing it up but Jasper and his life is one big intriguing mystery. "I don't think I've ever met my dad, and I only have very vague memories of my mom. She was here and there when I was younger but ended up leaving. The pack is convinced she'll return since she was in charge at first but I'm not so sure." He doesn't seem bothered by talking about it, but I doubt it's easy.

"I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better I lost my mom at a young age too, so I can kind of relate." He walks closer to me nudging my shoulder with his giving me a small smile.

"Don't be sorry we worked with the hand the Moon Goddess dealt us, and I have to say we're doing a pretty good job." I can't help but chuckle along with him.

"True." I stop walking now that we are so close to the border because I don't want any warriors that could be running the perimeter to see Jasper. He needs to stay a secret to most if we want our plan to work. "Call me when you get home so I know you are safe." I remind him so he knows to call the untraceable phone.

"I will." He promises. "Don't worry we're going to get through this." He assures pulling me into a tight hug. I appreciate him say "we" when in reality this situation is on me, although I don't know if I can believe that we are going to get through this. It's not some petty fight that will be resolved with a long conversation but a mixture of lies, betrayal, and miss use of power that can only end with battles.

"Bye." I whisper as I pull away. He sends me one last smile before turning and jogging into the trees no doubt shifting. Sighing I turn taking my time to walk to the border attempting to figure out a lie that they'll believe so no one gets suspicious. Only a handful of people can know about this otherwise it's pointless.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Carl storms over to me a minute after I crossed the border, someone must have mind linked him. His anger throws me off gaurd since I have never seen him yell before. He's always been the calm and collected one to defuse a situation before it got out of hand.

"I-I went to.." I stutter backing up a few steps scared at the way his eyes darken.

"Do you know what you did? The pack freaked out thinking you ran away forever especially since that's kind of what you're know to do." His words feel like a punch in the gut, and I can't blame any of them since it's the truth. I always run when things get tough but his time was different. "Quentin started declining and Oliver didn't know what to do, but thankfully Parker was able to stablize him again. Oliver was stuck with the harsh reality that he might have to tell the pack they not only lost their Alpha but also their Luna." He's heaving by the time he's finished. My lip wobbles and the warm tears stream down my face. I feel awful but my attention is now solely on Quentin.

"I need to see him." I cry out dropping my bag and running towards the hospital. Nobody says anything as I burst through the front doors running down the halls to the familiar room.

"Where were you?" I ignore a equally as angry Oliver my gaze cast on Quentin. He looks the same as when I left which isn't good. It's all my fault he isn't improving. I stumble over to the bed clutching his hand in mine laying a delicate kiss to his forehead.

"I'm sorry. I'm here now." I whisper brushing his hair out of his face. My heart aches when there is no response. I don't know why I was hoping he would squeeze my hand or wake up just because I'm back.

"You have a lot of explaining to do." Oliver whispers with venom lacing his words, and honesty I can't blame him. I know how it must have looked when I disappeared without an explanation.

"I'm sorry but I did what I had to do." I turn looking at Oliver who stands at the end of Quentin's bed with his arms crossed. Carl walks into the room shutting the door behind us dropping my bag on the floor next to me. "I had a plan and I know you both would have stopped me."

"Damn right we would have! You could have been killed Tessa." The anger in Carl's eyes is slowly diminishing as worry and hurt takes over. "Your dads are worried sick they sent people out to look for you." Shit. I didn't anticipate them calling my family. I was only gone for two days.

"I need to call them." I lean down to grab my bag but realize that the phone isn't in there. I left it here so that no one could stop me. Carl digs into his pocket pulling out the phone and throwing it to me. I catch it dialing their number hoping they won't be as anger as everyone else.

"Did you find her?" Fletcher sounds exhausted and so scared. Guilt keeps eating away with me as I come face to face with the consequences to my actions.

"I'm sorry dad." I sniffle as I hear him let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank the Goddess. Baby are you okay? What happened?" I can hear someone running on the other end which is most likely Ryder.

"I needed to get us help." My eyes connect with Carl's confused ones. He's probably wondering why our "help" is no where to be found.

"Sweetheart we can help you." Ryder reminds me. "You aren't alone. You have us, Della and Aidan, and even Elijah." I shake my head even though they can't see me.

"I can't put you guys at risk, and I don't trust Ivan." I admit and the room falls silent. Quentin must have dug something up he wasn't meant to, and I have a sick feeling that's the reasons he's laying in a hospital bed.

"Those are very dangerous words." Fletcher whispers as everyone soaks up what I'm getting at. I'm admitting that I don't stand with someone on the council which is exactly why they unrecognized our pack in the first place. The problem is I have a legitimate reason and it's going to take a lot of proof for people to hear me out.

"I know they are, and that's why I'm not going to stop until I get to the bottom of this. Lives were lost and the council is doing nothing doesn't anyone find that suspicious." I press hoping to open their eyes.

"It wouldn't be the first time." Ryder mumbles anger lacing his tone. "She's right something fishy has been going on for a long time. We all know that we just won't admit it." I lean back into my chair knowing at least one person gets where I'm coming from. Although him saying it's not the first time causes my skin to crawl. How many lives have been taken because of neglect from the council?

"You aren't suggesting what I think you are, right?" Oliver stands up with a exasperated expression.

"I am. I don't know about you but I'm not watching anyone else die in vain just because no one has the balls to address the fact people are in power that shouldn't be." Carl's gaze is locked onto the wall his eyebrows furrowed as he gets lost in his thoughts.

"We aren't going to tell you what to do, but we will stand behind you no matter what you choose." I genuinely smile for the first time in days, hearing the wisdom from my dads always helps steer me in the right direction.

"Thank you. I'm glad you said that because I don't want you to help at all." Before they can protest I explain. "The council will be watching you both knowing you will help me, so you need to conduct business as usual. Jasper and some of his guys will be messengers between you, me, and Black Moon. The less people that know the better so I only ask that you don't tell Brandon or Asher." The same goes for here the only people to know about this are Carl, Oliver, and Quentin when he wakes up. At Black Moon I only want Aidan, Della, and Emeric to know.

"Who is Jasper?" My cheeks heat up as I remember I really never told them about Jasper back then afraid they would set out to find him or worse report him.

"Remember I said I ran into a boy on my birthday when I was lost? Well that was Jasper. He has a hidden pack in the woods and I thought that he might be able to help. Since the council doesn't know about them he agreed to help facilitate a safe communication line." Oliver looks shocked and moves to sit back on the couch by the window. Carl on the other hand looks pretty impressed.

"Well it looks like you got this all figured out." Fletcher sounds proud, but I hate to ruin his proud dad moment.

"Not even close." I laugh humorlessly at the fact I'm just getting started on this dangerous task that could very well blow back up in my face. So much about the future is uncertain at this very moment, but I don't have a choice but to pick myself back up and push forward. Quentin, the pack, and my family needs me to be strong even when I don't think I have any more fight in me, but staring down at Quentin stuck in this hospital room is enough motivation for me to end this corrupt reign once and for all.

***********

Song: Live Like Legends

Sorry for the latish update I've been editing Rogue to Luna over the past few days fixing some spelling and grammar mistakes. Let me tell you this story is just getting started, and I still have one more book planned for this series. When I started this book I had a basic outline of what was going to happen but now it's getting deeper into the plot the details are starting to fall into place, and I am excited for you all to see what's in store. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did don't forget to vote and comment! Please continue to stay safe and at home. Until next time.

~Stella Gordon