Emery was downstairs with Kaleb getting caught up on Twilight Moon pack affairs.

So far she had learned that the Vampire's numbers continued to increase. Although they still made no move against their territory or the wolves on patrol, no one was fooled. Wolves know better than to pick a fight with the blood suckers unprovoked and even vampires were weary of her kind as well.

But other than that, the rest of the information consisted of food shortages, a well on the territory going bad due to a deer carcass polluting the water, and a small forest fire that wiped out half of their garden that supplied the pack with it's vegetables for the winter.

Emery stared at the reports, rereading the notes and shaking her head. "How are we running this low on food?"

She stood in the center of the kitchen speaking with Ms. Lena who oversaw the kitchen staff and supplies and the head chef who prepares the menu. They barely had enough supplies to cover the next two weeks and for whatever reason the next delivery was delayed by another two weeks. Feeding over two-hundred wolves at any given time is a struggle but without the proper supplies, it's impossible.

"We placed the orders, Ms. Emery, but they've been getting delayed," Ms. Lena said.

"Delayed, why? How?" Emery asked, handing the elderly woman her clipboard with their shockingly low food stock.

"Some of the trucks simply don't make it. A few times they've arrived spoiled. The meat stinking, vegetables rotten, and canned goods damaged," Andrea, the head chef said in his thick New Yorker accent.

Emery frowned, cataloging the food they already had stocked and how quickly those numbers would dwindle with each passing day. It wasn't enough.

"And the well?" Emery looked to the Beta.

"We cleared the carcass from the well, but the water is still tainted and diseased. It's no longer usable." Kaleb handed her his own reports on the matter which she scanned over quickly.

Emery appreciated the thorough notes and nodded her head handing them back. "Well, this is precisely why we have back up wells taped into. Get one of them ready for use. Enlist as many wolves as you need, this is our top priority," she instructed Kaleb who gave her a formal nod of recognition. "As for the food shortage, contact outside suppliers. I don't care if we have to use other packs as points of contact. And I want a team of wolves escorting the truck. Dress them as civilians, but they stay with the truck at all times. I don't know if someone is screwing with us or if it's a string of bad luck but we can't take the chance when it comes to the safety and security of our pack."

"Yes, ma'am," the three of them said in unison.

Emery turned her head to Kaleb discreetly, lowering her voice, "Does my father know about this?"

"The well he was made aware of earlier today. The food, no."

Emery chewed that over, gnawing on the inside of her cheek. There was enough going on with her parents and the baby that she didn't feel the need to involve them. What with the baby coming and vampires threatening both packs, they had enough occupying their minds.

She could handle this.

"This conversation does not leave this room without my say so," Emery commanded them. Her eyes felt like pins and needles were piercing her cornea, stinging and uncomfortable. Without even needing to look in a mirror she knew she would find her eyes glowing a brilliant gold due to the fact that the three wolves before her were bearing their necks in submission.

It had been happening more frequently since her eighteenth birthday. The command wasn't as powerful as her mother's, but it did the trick whether she meant it to happen or not. Usually it left her feeling unclean, like worms wriggling beneath her skin.

Without another word, Emery turned on her heel and left the kitchen with Kaleb just behind her.

The adrenaline from the use of her powers was coursing through her veins as her heart pounded in her chest. She stopped just as the swinging door closed behind her, catching her breath as she studied the shiplap on the ceiling. Not even deep breathing could calm the lure of her power, whispering in her ear. Some ancient and mistifying voice called to her, enticing her to succumb to the unknown and plunge head first into the vast well.

And it terrified her.

Emery shoved that deep, endless well down, stoppering it before it overwhelmed her. Lately her power had been pulsating, growing with each day, begging to be let out. She really needed to shift before something bad happened.

Yes, we do.

Emery inhaled again, deeply through her nose as her wolf, Hailey nudged her mind, calming the storm within.

"I'm sorry, Kaleb. I didn't mean for that to happen," Emery apologized. She didn't need to turn around to know her Uncle was standing behind her, waiting patiently as she overcame her panic attack.

"No apologies necessary. You are the daughter of my Alpha, descendant of the Goddess. It is the natural path."

Emery turned to gauge his reaction but the older wolf merely stood straight, his face perfectly composed and impassive, as though she didn't just command him without being the true authority over their pack. As though any of this was normal.

"Still, I'm sorry."

"Why apologize for something you cannot control?"

"Is it that obvious?" Emery groaned.

"No, but given the fear I see in your eyes, I know it bothers you."

"It's just so much is changing so quickly. I don't know how my mom does it."

"Why don't you try asking her?"

"She's already got so much going on. I don't want to be another burden."

Kaleb let out a deep sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I once knew a wolf who was so filled with pride and stubbornness that it nearly cost her her life."

"Mom?"

"You're mom took off into the woods after an argument with your dad and was caught unawares by a Rogue. If it weren't for your father, you may never have existed."

"He saved her?"

Kaleb merely nodded his head. "My point is that keeping secrets and not talking about our fears and troubles, can cost other's greatly. Your mother would be devastated if something happened to you simply because you believed yourself to be a burden. If it weren't for her pregnancy she'd probably pummel you to the ground."

"If dad didn't hold her back, she'd probably still try," Emery grumbled.

"All I'm saying is don't bear your burdens alone. Not when there is someone else in this very house who went through exactly what you are now. Talk to her. You'll feel better little wolf," Kaleb said, mussing her hair.

Emery swatted his hand away playfully before gnawing on her lip once again. "Speaking of my parents, where are they?"

It had been nearly six hours since they arrived and they still hadn't come up for air.

Kaleb's eyes went distant. No doubt mind-linking another pack member in the house. "They are still locked in their room."

Emery gagged, causing Kaleb to smirk. "They're going to end up giving me a lot more siblings aren't they?"

"That's very possible," Kaleb laughed.

"Mates," Emery rolled her eyes. She'd never understand the desire or the hunger that would cloud her parents eyes when near one another. The way they gravitated towards one another in a room, completely attuned to the other's movements, their breathing.

"Maybe one day you'll understand."

Emery merely shook her head as they continued their walk through the house, going over the comings and goings of the pack. It had been nearly a month since she'd last been on Twilight Moon territory.

They passed by a group of wolves her age, communing in the main sitting room. Oddly enough she had made friends here. Genuine relationships. They didn't care that she was the Alpha's daughter or that she outranked all of them. They trained together, snuck out together, they even showed her how to play some game on the TV. She still didn't understand the concept of playing war for fun. She had seen enough fighting. War was not a game.

The girls waved, beckoning her over. Emery smiled waving back but didn't join her friends. Pack business came first. One of the boys, Connor, only a few months older than her, a solid built wolf still growing into his adult body smirked in her direction. A slight flurry of butterflies buzzed in her lower stomach.

Emery bit her lip to keep from smiling. She was closest with Connor out of their group and over the last few months they had grown closer than friends. He was fun to be around but lately more fun to kiss and fool around with. She felt wild and free when around him. Free of titles and responsibilities, obligations and looming fate. With Connor, she could just be Emery, but things were never that simple it seemed.

The past six months, she had preferred to stay at her mother's side from the moment she could scent it on her. Given that her father had no clue, she felt it her duty to protect her Alpha, her mother, and the sibling she carried. Emery would never have forgiven herself if something had happened and she wasn't there to defend them. With the vampire sightings becoming more and more frequent, their cold scent lingering closer and closer to the border, she refused to leave her mother's side, which left socializing and romance on the back burner.

They were halfway down a hall that led them to the laundry room, Kaleb mentioned something about a busted dryer, when his expression suddenly went blank. Emery stopped in her tracks as the Beta communicated with another wolf, awaiting his report.

"There's a vampire at our Northern border and he's asking for you," Kaleb reported, looking down at her curiously.

"Me?" Emery nearly squeaked out before she could compose herself.

"Yes, he said your name specifically," Kaleb said calmly. "How would you like to proceed? Should I get the Alpha's?"

"No!" Emery said quickly. "No. I'll handle this. Let them have a few more hours before disrupting their peace. I want a guard placed outside their room and around the house until I return."

"You should have a squad escort you," Kaleb advised, the lines in his forehead deepening by the second.

"That's not necessary. If he's alone, then I should be too. As long as there've been no attacks, then we have no reason to assume we're at war." Even as the words left her mouth they tasted dry and false.

The two races may not be actively fighting, but something was definitely brewing.

"Yes, ma'am. Though if you get yourself killed, I'm telling."

Emery almost laughed aloud, except for the tense situation that left the notion stuck in her throat. "I'll be fine, Kaleb. Promise."

Kaleb only nodded his head, worry clouding his face. "He's waiting along the northern border, near an old outpost. Do you know where I mean?"

Emery vaguely remembered a small single shack erected about a mile north along their border. It was run down and dilapidated, but she knew its location.

Emery nodded before leaving him and the house behind.

The now familiar forest surrounded her, enveloping her in its familiar pine tree and maple scent, pungent and heavy. It comforted her as she headed towards an unknown situation and a deadly enemy.

The trees whispered as a faint breeze whistled through its leaves. If she listened close enough she could almost hear voices conversing, leaving goosebumps raised along her flesh, hair standing straight. Unable to make out the words, the tone was answer enough. It was a warning, but about what, she had no clue.

Emery spotted the old splintered wood of the outpost, weathered and broken beyond repair but still standing by sheer will alone. The hair along her arms rose as the air became colder with each step. A rush of adrenaline pulsed through her veins. A soft flutter of emotion flooded her chest, most of which she didn't understand, but reminded her oddly of excitement and anticipation.

A faint scent grew stronger as she drew closer. Something floral and crisp, familiar and strange all at once as it tried to stir a memory she couldn't place.

Emery slowed her steps. Hailey stirred restlessly within, causing her skin to itch with the need to shift. She pushed her wolf down, burying the primal urge to allow her rabid side to take over.

Every one of her instincts screamed at her to tuck tail and run as the scent of vampire surrounded her. But the dominant Alpha blood that fueled her body, her power, her destiny, kept her firm, digging her heels into the earth.

This was her home, her pack, and she wouldn't let anyone take that away.

Someone's behind the shed.

Emery's silver eyes honed in on the splintered wood that separated her and death. She might not allow Hailey to take over, but her instincts had never failed them. She gave a wide berth to the shed, circling back around the shack and through the forest. Her steps were soundless as she walked light footed through the wet earth. Last night's rain did wonders absorbing her movements and concealing her location.

As she approached the shed from the North, Emery could see a tall man leaning against the moss eaten timber. She was curious as to how his weight wasn't enough to knock the structure down. His head was tilted down, examining his cuticles, leaving his face obscured by hair darker than a moonless sky. His tall, lean body was tailored in a custom black suit. Given his long, lean legs, there was no way he could find that kind of length at Bloomingdales.

Emery crept even closer, sticking to the shadows and the cover of the dense brush. Her mother had trained her well. Teaching her to walk quieter than a cat and to blend in with her surroundings. They were survival skills that had saved her more than once, but now she stood in the shadow of a large elm watching the dead man with fatal curiosity.

A soft breeze tickled the back of her neck, sweeping her hair around her shoulders, causing her to stiffen. She watched through narrowed eyes as the vampire's head snapped up so quick it was a wonder his neck hadn't snapped. His body was frozen still as he scanned his surroundings.

Emery was certain if he so desired his teeth would already be buried so deep in her neck he would reach the sweet nectar of her brain stem. But instead, his thin lips pulled up into a slight smirk as he straightened off the rotting wood, pulling down on the tails of his coat, brushing a piece of lint from his forearm that surely never existed.

"It's been an age since someone successfully snuck up on me and survived. Ms. Storm."

That voice. The accent. She recognized it.