CHAPTER 3- Five years ago

It took nearly a week, and the snarling insistence of my wolf, before I left the ruins of my life. I was starving and ragged, still in the clothes I'd crawled through the flames with and barefoot. The house had burned to ashes, nothing left to salvage. I did know that mom kept a change of clothes in the old run down Ford Fiesta she refused to get rid of, but I couldn't bear to disturb them, or take the car.

I hijacked dad's old ford instead. He always kept a set of keys in the garden shed in case someone managed to lock themselves out of the house or lock their keys in the vehicle.

The shed itself suffered from the same destruction the house had, everything smashed and thrown around. I wasn't sure what the murderer's had been looking for but I hope to hell they hadn't found it.

I sniffed the air. I don't know why I hadn't thought to check the garden shed. I'd been going over the night I found my parents over and over in my mind, trying to piece together information that, at the time had been at the bottom of the list of things that required my attention.

I remembered catching scents that had been unfamiliar, or at least mostly unfamiliar. For certain the attackers were not someone I'd met before, but I felt like there was more to it than that. With the house burned down I could hardly re-scent them with a more focused mind.

But they had been in the garden shed, and now I knew what my nagging memory was trying to tell me. There were four of them, three male and one female. Each from a different pack, two of which I'd never scented before, and one that seemed oddly familiar, but I couldn't place. The fourth, however, I knew with certainty.

Someone from the Silver Moon pack had been involved in the murder of my parents.

As I'd wallowed in my despair, grieving my parents, my life and everything I'd ever known, my grief had slowly grown into something more. A rage that I had never known filled me until I was burning with it, and the culmination of scents in the wood shed was like adding fuel to my fire. My anger so furious I could feel the presence of my wolf right below my skin, ready to burst free and exact revenge.

Yes, we will kill those who wronged us. My wolf agreed.* We will see them suffer as we have*.

I didn't stop to think about her need for violence, or the fact that she'd formed two full sentences for the first time. I didn't think about anything aside from rummaging through the wreckage until I found the keys and then I was gone.

I didn't quite remember the drive to the main lodge, my thoughts spinning in an ever increasing spiral of anger and hurt. The Silver Moon pack. I'd see them all dead for this.

My plan was simple. Call on my Alpha to avenge my parents. Die in the attack.

I swerved around a corner, a little to quickly, nearly loosing control of the truck, but I didn't slow down. An oncoming vehicle whizzed by and then immediately put on the breaks.

I supposed I was some sight to be seen, clothes in tatters, covered in ash, driving like the devil himself was behind me.

It took twenty minutes to span the Cedar Pack's territory which sat along the eastern most boarder of the Kennebec valley. The pack lodge was wedged between two tree covered hills well off the highway along a gravel road that really wanted to be a dirt trail. I pulled up in front, noting the mix of trucks and cars parked similarly, my heart pounding in my ears. I'd forgotten it was pack council.

It was still no excuse.

For five days no one from the pack had checked on my parents. Not a single member had wondered why they hadn't shown up at work, or answered any calls. My anger was no small thing, and it must have showed when I flew up the steps of the wrap around porch that skirted the lodge, because Peter stepped out from behind one of the thick wooden supports and blocked my path to the door.

"What's going on?" he demanded, taking in my appearance.

"I need to see the Alpha!" I demanded, fists balled at my sides. Peter frowned.

"There's protocol..." he began.

"My parents have been murdered. They burnt down our house. I scented the Silver Moon pack and I am entitled to revenge. Let. Me. Through."

Surprise flashed across his face, and then sympathy, which did little to mollify me.

"They were just murdered?" He demanded.

"Five days ago," I tried to push past him, but he wasn't having it.

"What have you been doing for five days? What is going on."

"I need to see the Alpha!" I screamed at him, causing him to step back and blink at me.

"Raven, I need to know what's happening. Does anyone else know?"

I shook my head.

"The police? Human authorities?" He demanded, his voice sharp.

That was the first thing that was drilled into our heads as pups. Pack business is pack business. If we want to survive then we kept humans from finding out about us, and that meant no authorities. Ever."

"No. I buried them myself. The house is gone. Now let me in."

Peter sighed, a big heavy sigh and studied me, his golden eyes full of pity.

"You can't just go bursting into a council meeting, they'll eat you alive."

"Did you not hear me?!" I raged at him. "They're dead! Someone killed them, horribly. I can't just stand around..."

"You want the Alpha's cooperation?" Peter growled back. "Then you must show the proper respect. I will let him know of your tragedy, but if you burst in there guns blazing he will not take kindly to your request."

It wasn't a request though, it was a demand. One I was entitled to as a member of this pack. I opened my mouth to tell him so, but he beat me to it, his tone placating.

"You are grieving. You've been through hell. But a few more minutes isn't going to bring Ava and Jacob back." He stepped to the side and pointed to the hallway on the right. "Come in, get something to eat. Mary will make sure you get cleaned up. Then you can stand before the council and tell them what happened. You'll feel better and they'll take you more seriously."

I didn't agree with him. I hated waiting. I hated that he hadn't jumped into action, and the council probably wouldn't either. They should be as full of rage as I was and desperate for vengeance, just as they would had it been a higher pack member. I hated it all. But it wasn't like I had any choice.

I swallowed at the lump in my throat, unable to speak. In the end I simply nodded. Accepting the delay, but I tamped down my wolf who was threatening to spill out and tear Peter's throat out.

Don't worry, I assured her. We aren't nearly done yet.