October 4-5

We drove another four hours and pulled into a campground a little after 10:00 at night. The first thing we did was dump the RV tank. We went to our campsite. Lily, Maureen, and I hooked up the water and electricity. Once it was hooked up, we topped off the water storage tank. While we were busy doing that, Tanya cooked a cheeseburger, fries, and baked beans. We ate, cleaned up, and headed to bed.

Crystal linked to Ziena, Sheila, and Betsy. "Once our human halves are asleep, I want us to talk and make better plans."

About half an hour later, Ziena noticed the girls were all asleep. "Crystal, what did you want to talk to us about?"

Crystal said, "I want you to keep your other halves sleeping until I wake them up. What I want us to do is take turns on guard watch. I will take the first four hours. I will wake Betsy and Shiela up. You two will wake up your human side. You will then disconnect the electricity and water. Then, hit the road. You each will take three-hour driving shifts. When stopped, you will top off the gas. Grab a bite of food there for you guys. Swap out who's driving and drive for the next three hours. You will stop again. Wake Ziena and myself. We all will grab a bite together. Then Betsy and Shiela will go to sleep. Ziena and I will be the drivers."

Betsy said, "Let us change that to every four hours you stop. Our human side does better with at least eight hours of sleep."

"Ok, we can do that."

"Why have two awake at a time?" Asked Shiela.

Ziena replied, "This way, the driver concentrates on driving, and the passenger stays alert in wolf mode to surroundings."

Crystal says, "It will take about 30 minutes to gas up and grab food. Our wolves are to keep our humans asleep for eight and a half hours."

Sheila said, "Do you realize they are awake more than eight hours most days? I am not sure this schedule will work out. You know I slept most of the last driving time. I will take the first wolf shift. I will wake up Tanya at the four-hour mark. I will also wake up Betsy. This way, you get at least nine hours of sleep."

Betsy replies, "I say let's do that. Now, let me go to sleep so I can be awake enough to take off. Have coffee ready for me." She rolls off and promptly falls asleep."

Crystal laughs. "Will never understand how she falls asleep like that."

Sheila lay in bed with her senses on high alert while her human and all others slept. At the four-hour mark, she woke up Tanya. "Hey Tanya, wake up."

Tanya yawns and stretches. "What's up, Shiela? Is everything okay?"

"We got first driving duty. We need to disconnect everything. Then hit the road heading toward the Symposium Pack."

"What about the others?"

"They will sleep. In four hours, we will wake Maureen. Then, we will find a place to gas up and grab food."

"Why wake up Maureen? We can gas up, grab food, and wake her up to drive."

"When we get to the gas station, staying in groups of two is safer. That is when we are most vulnerable to attacks. What about here? Should we not be in groups of two while outside?"

"I have been on duty. The only wolves in the area are the owner of this campsite, plus his family. They have patrolled here four times since you all went to sleep."

"Ok, then let us break camp quietly."

We climbed out of bed and quietly made the bed. I grabbed my small bag and headed outside to the campground shower. I did not want to risk waking the others. I heard the patrol approaching. They slowed down, and I turned toward them. I saw two handsome, identical brothers who looked like a younger version of their dad. "Good morning," I said.

"Good morning," one of the brothers said. "Do you need assistance?"

"No, but thank you for asking. I'm just going to clean up before taking off."

"Normally, RV campers use their restroom. Are yours broken? If so, we can fix it."

"Nothing like that. I did not want to wake them up. Let them sleep while I take the first driving shift to our next adventure."

"We know you are hiding. Our sponsor, Obsidian Pack, asked us to watch for you. Dad asked us to patrol the area while you are here."

I looked around nervously. The other brother spoke up, "You are safe. Oh, by the way, I am Elliot, and this is my brother, Elijah. If anyone comes looking for you, Dad already told us to say that you went west on the interstate and got off on Highway five heading south. We stopped following you once you drove out of our area."

I looked relieved. "Well, I need to go shower before breaking camp." I waved at them, and they waved back as I walked to the camp shower.

When I was done with the shower and dressed in clean clothes, I returned to the RV. I saw Elliot and Elijah standing outside the RV door. "We went ahead and broke down your camp quietly," said Elijah.

Elliot added, "Mom brought out breakfast for your group. She said it was sixteen breakfast burritos. Plus a dozen hashbrowns. She said it was a small world, and she recognized one of the girls in your group. She said her brother took in our aunt after our uncle passed away in a rogue attack. That place kept her from becoming a bad kind of rogue. She said then, when you're ready to eat, microwave it to warm it up." He hands me a bag. I take it.

"Thank you. That man is my sister's brother-in-law. We hope to get there on our return trip. We do make sure we are not followed."

"Will the pale girl with you be staying there? We know how that place got started. I am sorry for her being rejected." Elijah then handed me another bag. When you get there, please find my aunt. She has a chosen mate now and is expecting her first pup. Can you give this to her? Her name is Elizabeth Moore, but she is known as Lizzy. Tell her Hannah sends her love.

"I can do that." Elijah opens the door, and I carry the bags inside. I turn to thank them, but they have already shut the door. I put the food in the refrigerator and placed the gift where we stored our other items. I get into the driver's seat and turn the RV on. I go to the website and put in directions. I take off down the road.

When I reached the three-and-a-half-hour mark, I noticed we were running low on fuel. "Betsy, it's  time to get up."

Betsy said, "I am awake. Why are we moving?" She looked at her phone to see the time. "You were to wake me around 2:00 a.m. It is 5:35 a.m."

"I decided to let you sleep then since I was still wide awake. The campground owner's two sons helped with the camp breakdown. They even gave us something for breakfast from their mom."

"Why did they do that?"

"Justin helped Mrs Sherman's, the campground owner's wife's sister. She recognizes you from a photo she saw at his house. She recognized the symptoms of Jule from when she visited her sister. They stated if anyone comes this way, they will direct them another way."

I pulled into a gas station, turned off the RV, and climbed up to gas.

I put the nozzle into the RV. Maureen asked as she walked to stand next to me, "Did they say who her sister is?"

"Her name is Elizabeth Moore."

"I don't remember Justin mentioning that name." She stood there a few minutes as I continued fueling. "I wondered, could they mean Lizzy Smythe?"

"Elijah and Elliot did mention their aunt's nickname was Lizzy. Her aunt recently found a second chance mate and is pregnant with her first pup."

"Must be the same person. But I can call him later to verify. It has been about a year since I last saw him. I will also let him know what our plans are."

"You did not tell your parents?"

"Nope. They think I am with you and Lily at the cabin. If commanded, they won't get into trouble with the alpha for lying. I know they will call me as soon as Alpha Jon confronts them. I will say I wanted to find Justin. Lily and you joined me to search. We are going to various packs that accept rogues looking for him."

"Knowing our alpha, he will be right beside them and try to command you to tell him if Jules is with us. He might even get ally packs to look for us."

"Commands over the phone do not work since we cannot feel his aura. But if we get stopped, we have the false floor in the bunk room. That is why there is a step up. We grab her bedding and throw it in there. She lays down on it. We will close the floor door. I will offer to Skype them. I will show them the camper as we drive down the road. They will see no Jules."

Just then, the gas pump clicked off. I put the nozzle in the pump, and Maureen added the cap back on. We then walked into the convenience store and got some coffee and snacks. We paid and headed back to the RV. Maureen took over driving.

When we were about four hours down the road, we stopped and filled up again. We went in and got four extra-large coffees. I started heating the food, and Maureen drove to the rest stop fifteen minutes up the road. I linked Crystal and Ziena: " Wake up and get up. Our meal should be ready in about fifteen minutes."

Lily and Jules yawned, "we are awake. What time is it?"

With the two gas stops, it is almost 11:00am."

"Two stops?"

"Since we topped off for gas before getting to the campground, we only needed two stops. Our wolves decided to get us on the road at about 2am. I drive about three and a half hours. I stopped at about 5:45am for gas. I went inside, used the bathroom, and got coffee and snacks. Hit the road with Maureen driving. We stopped a few miles back for gas again. Now we are going to the rest stop. It will be there where we will eat breakfast. Plus get fresh air and move around some before hitting the road. When that happens, I will head to bed."

"Will you also go to bed, Maureen?"

"No, I will go to bed when you switch drivers. She did not wake me until 5:30 this morning. I am not tired yet."

Christal replied, "Before we went to bed, we discussed this."

Sheila replied, "I decided my idea was better as I laid there on guard duty. I even created a schedule while Maureen was driving. I am sending it to all your phones." She clicked her phone, and all the phones went down.

Just then, the RV stopped. Lily and I walked from the bunkroom dressed for the day. They were looking at the schedule.

"Is the missing hour our Pitt stops?" asked Lily.

Tonya replied, "Yes. I figured we would grab bites to eat there. According to the Wolf website, we should have a truck stop in that area. I even made an account and added the pit stops. We will automatically be directed to the closest one on our route every four hours."

"You made an account? They can track us that way," scolded Lily.

"Not if it is under someone else's name. I used the name Anthony Giles."

"Wasn't that your imaginary friend?"

"Well, Tony was my imaginary friend as a child, but the name Giles I got off a road sign we passed."

I asked, "What is that food I smell? I am hungry."

Tonya replied, "This is a breakfast burrito and hash brown. We also got orange juice and four extra large coffees. Let us take it outside to the picnic area. Jules, go spray yourself real quick before we head outside." While I went to spray myself in the bathroom and my bed,  I grabbed my bedding to place in my hiding spot just in case; the others carried breakfast outside.

When I got outside, I took a deep breath. I then walked over to my friends, who were at a picnic table. We all were eating when a deep voice asked, "Why are you three out here with a rogue?"

We all turned around. He was six feet and eight inches tall, with wavy brown hair. Maureen looked at him, "I think you meant to say why are you four friends here!!!"

He growled, "You are in nomad land but approaching pack territories. My job is to make sure rogues are not here to cause trouble. I have to ensure my mate is safe from unsavory rogues."

Maureen growled at him, "You question your mate and her ability to know friends from foes?"

"Are you aware your 'FRIEND,'" he said with air quotes, "is hiding her scent with a spray to hide scent?"

"Of course I am. I helped spray her down when she was passed out. Did you not notice her pale face, erratic heartbeat, clammy hands, and discomfort around you? These are all classic signs of a wolf who has been rejected. Did you also not notice my dear friend is scared and nervous around you? She knows her fucking ex wanted to make her a forced second mate?"

"That is illegal."

"No, it's not illegal to have second mates, but a practice dropped over a hundred years ago. However, what is illegal is making it a forced Union or forcing true mates to become their mistress. However, when your pack leaders have several rejected mates, they create laws that state FU to council laws. Plus, hide such force mating from the pack, killing the rejected mates who disagree, or making them mistress sex slaves if true mates go against them. She did not want such a life. We hid her while taking her away. Yes we are hiding. I refuse to have a mate who seems to condone such behavior. I..."

Lily, Tanya and I ran up to Maureen. Lily and Tanya clamped their hands over her mouth. I look her in the eye. In a whispery voice I state, "Maureen, do not even think about rejecting him" I give her a sad smile. "I know what it's like to lose a mate. He is talking down about rogues in general. The bond is clicking in and he automatically wants to keep you safe. We ourselves have had rogue problems at Stinger Pack. Mitchell did not even care to put me first. He is willing to put you first. I, myself can feel his bond connecting with you. I am happy for you. Don't reject him because of what happened to me, Baylee, Jeremy, and Serena. Give him a chance."

She turned toward him and stuck out her hand, "hello, I am Julianna. Everyone calls me Jules." We shake hands.

"These three ladies have been my life long friends." I point to each lady and say their name, "these are my best friends. Lily and Tanya, but I know you're more interested in your mate. She is Maureen." He shakes Lily and Tanya's hand. He takes Maureen's hand and kisses it. He stands there just staring at her.

Tanya spoke up, "I will go grab another plate and cup. We can offer you orange juice, but we don't have extra coffee. We can however split our extra large coffee with you. Sit down. We have plenty of breakfast." She turned and headed back to the RV. When she got back she handed him a plate and poured some orange juice and decided up the coffee." Us girls all sat down and started eating.

He looked at Maureen, "Is it ok if I sat down by you?"

She gave him a smile, "only on one condition."

His expression looked sad, "I am sorry for offending you and your friend. Please forgive me."

She laughed, "thank you for apologizing, but what I wanted to know is your name and what pack are you from?"

He looked startled, "wow, I am a dimwit. My name is Franklin Grimloch. I am a Lycan from the Grimloch Tribe. Just so you know I do have two pups under my care," he stated as he sat down. He filled his plate.

Maureen looked hurt and sad, "you're a father?"

"No, I am their older brother. Our parents died fifteen years ago when I was fourteen and there were not even one. I took over raising them. I do not think they would have survived under my uncle's care. My uncle sent me here to patrol this area. He took over as alpha since I wasn't of age. He keeps sending me out on these missions to get me away from my tribe since I am coming of age. He refuses to train me to be alpha and has stated his son will be alpha when he comes of age.. The packs here were having rogue problems in this nomad territory. My mission was train the packs and to get the rogues under control. This way this area was safe for travelers."

Lily asked, "coming of age?"

Tanya asked, "your uncle is the alpha?"

I stated, "I am sorry for your loss."

Maureen asked, "how old are your siblings? Why didn't they stay with your uncle?"

He looked tenderly at Maureen, "I bring my siblings here with me to keep safe from my uncle. My first mission I came back a few days early. I discovered they had been abused and neglected. That is when I went to the council and was declared their legal guardian at age sixteen. My uncle does not want to hand the tribe over to me, so he keeps sending me on missions. Plus refusing to train me to be the Lycan Alpha if Grimloch.. Last time I went on a mission he had that alpha whom I was helping hide them and hurt them. That alpha was killed and his beta was given the pack.

I exclaimed, "You're an alpha?"

He replied, "yes, well technically I am an alpha-to-because we cannot become alphas until we are thirty and pass the training my uncle is suppose to be training for. Next week my siblings, Finn and Faye, are sixteen. They have not shifted yet. You see, Lycan cannot shift to their Lycan form until twenty-five. They shift to wolf form between sixteen to eighteen. I am twenty-nine, but cannot get my full Alpha power until thirty."

Tanya replied, "Lycan don't shift on their birthday like wolves?

"We shift into our Lycan form on our twenty-fifth, but not our wolf form on their birthday. However, if their dormant Lycan come out before then can be put down. They usually will become feral because several do not have the mental strength to control their lycan."

Maureen spoke up, "I want to continue to Symposium Pack with Jules. Will you still be here when we return?"

"No, because I plan to come with you. That is if you allow me."

Jules replied, "yes, you are allowed. Let us finish eating. Then rearrange the trailer to get places for you and your siblings to sleep." I look at my friends. We will take everything down from the bed above the driver's seat. We each get five complete outfits. We put them in the RV closets. The rest of our items get placed inside the SUV that we are pulling behind us. The bed above that we stored our extra items will be for Frank. We will let Maureen decide if she sleeps there with her mate or she stays in her bunk. Finn will either sleep with his brother or the foldout couch. Faye will either get Maureen's bed or fold out."

Maureen spoke up, "I will sleep with my mate and let Faye have my bed." She then looked at him, "but there will be no hanky panky until I say I am ready. My first time will not be in a motorhome with a bunch of people can hear us."

"I agree."

Just then two voices say, "we agree. We don't want to hear it either." We all look at them. The boy says, "why did you call us out here? You know the teacher is furious that we got up and left class."

"Is she your mate?" asked the girl.

The boy continued talking, "Uncle will rip into us when we get back in a couple days." He stopped talking and looked at his sister, "who's whose mate?"

"First Uncle will not do anything to you. He will be furious when the alphas start to call him about us leaving their territory early. Second Faye and Finn my mate, Maureen. Plus her friends: Jules, Tanya and Lily."

Finn sniffs the air and looks at Jules. "Why does she smell different from the other three? She has a pleasant smell, but I don't recognize it." He gets smacked on the head by Faye. "Why did you smack me? Frank always says we can ask him anything."

"You asked a rude question out loud."

Frank growls and looks at them, "Enough. We will answer all the questions once on the road. Go back to our house. Pack everything up. Place five outfits of each of ours inside my backpack.Do not tell anyone. You are to sneak out with all our stuff and bring it back here. Be back here within one hour with our stuff."

Finn looks over at Maureen, "you sure you want him as your mate? He can be very bossy." He winks at her, "when I am of age you could become my cougar."

Frank takes a step toward him, Finn takes a step back. He turns and runs while laughing.

Faye sighs, "are you sure the hospital did not switch him at birth?" She sees five burritos and two hash browns left. "Can I take those for Finn and I to eat while we pack?"

Maureen grabs the containers and puts them in a bag, "here eat those. I am sure you will still be hungry when you get back. We have stuff to make sandwiches."

Frank looks at her, "place your school tablet and books into my bag too. You will still have to do school work as we travel with them.

She gives him an impish grin, "Ok daddy." then runs the way her twin ran. She called over her shoulder, "love you and see you soon."

He laughs and calls out, "Finn, take care of your sister."

A voice replies back in the distance, "don't you mean Faye takes care of your brother? She beat me last week with that flip role she did. One day she will beat you too."

"Who do you think taught her that move? Now scat. I am sure they have a schedule and they will be running behind with us joining them.."

Tanya replied, "yes we do. When you get back we will have to quickly get on the road. We had been scheduled to leave in twelve minutes. Now scat." she turns back toward us, "go to the bathroom here at the rest stop, so we won't have to empty the tanks. I will unwrap the tarp on the passenger side of SVU. This way we have room for sleeping in the RV. I have seven outfits hanging in the closet. My bags on the bed are already to be brought out." She headed toward the trailer and started untying the tarp.

Lily and I headed inside. Lily continued talking, "you have eight outfits in your closet and your other bags are still inside your SUV." She said to me, "I have four outfits in the closet. You all have two or three outfits I think in the hamper. I have four from when I spilled a drink on me. We won't bother unpacking anything." She glanced back and saw Frank kissing Maureen, "Let us just carry the extra overflow bags out to the SUV. You check how many clothes Maureen has. I will just move our toiletries bags to be stored in the bunkroom somewhere."

We got busy moving everything. It was fifty-two minutes when Finn and Faye returned. Finn had a backpack on back and one across chest. Plus holding two backpacks in his hands. Faye had one backpack on back. Plus she also had two suitcases. They carried the items to the SUV. They placed all but Frank's backpack into the SVU.

Faye said, "will be right back." He turned and ran back into the wooded area.

Frank came walking up to Faye with a flushed looking Maureen in his arms, "where is Finn going?"

"He is going back for the equipment bags. We've been playing leap frog to get everything here. He will be back in about ten minutes."

"I had arranged for one of the alpha here to ship it back, but I did not tell you that. Uncle knows about you missing school. The battleax teachers informed him. Go put away our clothes. You guys take off. I will put our gear inside the trunk of my car when he gets back."

Jules said, "no, we will wait. The equipment might come in handy with us going to the Symposium Pack." she points to Frank, "even if I don't take the class he can. Maureen take the Luna class." she looks at Lily and Tanya, "if I do take the class, Lily can take beta training. She looks at Tanya, "you might be a trained warrior, but you hate that job. I won't make you gamma. However, you will become some sort of top person."

Frank looked at me as he was putting all his stuff in back of SUV. "Your an alpha?"

"Actually, I was supposed to be the gamma's mate. My mother was the daughter of an alpha to a nearby pack. Dad and her started dating in middle school. Tanya's parents did the same. They all have birthdays within the same week. They discovered on their birthday that they had each other's mate. But they rejected the bond we recently found out. They mated their high school mate with council blessing."

"Your pack seems complicated." He starts strapping the tarp over the SVU. "Why are you tarping the vehicle?

Lily responded, "I know the SVU was a different color than they are looking for, but did not want them to know where she was just in case they would see the vehicle. We decided let us hide it in plain sight."

Faye came walking out of the RV, "I put all our stuff in the empty closet. That was nice of you to place all your stuff in the other one. I also saw the empty drawer and that is where the school work is. I heard you mention keeping the equipment with us. The two equipment bags can go below the floor in the bunk room and still have room to hide Jules if you need too."

She turned to look toward the woods and took to steps toward it. Frank said, "get into the RV. He got company following him."

Faye whispers to us. "Take off and about 100 miles up the road is a truck stop at exit 21. Top off the tank and wait for us there."

We climbed in and drove off. Faye went to stand beside Frank's car.

Thank you for reading ONE YEAR. I would love to hear your input. This chapter is 4730 words.

I just finished running the editing programming on this chapter a day early. I decided to go ahead and publish it Thursday instead of Friday. I hope you enjoy it.