October 2-4

Lily and I  took turns driving into the night. It was about 4:00 am, and we turned into a campground. I sat up and yawned when the SUV stopped. I looked around, "where are we at?"

"Tanya and Maureen are in the RV we bought from your funds.  Let's go inside. Try to be quiet, so we don't wake them." She fiddles with the keys in her hands and unlocks the door. I follow her inside.

"You bought an RV with my money."

"It was the only way we could figure out how to get away, but we did place it under your grandfather's name so they could not trace you."

I was surprised and when we stopped inside I look around and see the tiny galley kitchen, chairs, and folding table. She turns and walks toward the back. She whispers, "This is the bathroom."She points to the right. She trips and falls. "DAMMIT, I forgot about the step."

I see Tanya and Maureen looking over the top bunk beds. Maureen laughs, "Tanya, you owe me $5 bucks. I told you she would forget the steps and fall on them."

Tanya grumbles, "add it to my tally."

Maureen smiles at us, "Good morning. Claim a bunk. Got an alarm set to go off at 8." She then rolls over to go back to sleep.

Lily still grumbles, "I will share with Tanya. She at least believed in me." She walks to the bunk below Tanya, sits on the bed, and opens her purse. She pulls a bottle out. "Here, take one of these. This will help your wolf recover from the effects that made your wolf sleep. It will knock you out, but when you awake, so should Ziena."

"Ok. Lucky I trust you despite your behavior earlier. I will take one pill." I grabbed the one pill from Lily and swallowed it.  I lay down and fell asleep.

When I woke up I noticed the RV was moving. I sit up and I hear Siena say, "about time you woke up."

I excitedly say, "Siena you're awake. I missed you."

"Next time I see our ex-mate I am going to knock him into the afterlife for putting me to sleep. Now where the hell are we going?"

"I think we are searching for Tanya, Maureen and Lilys' siblings. Apparently the pack took their mates from them."

"I thought Baylee's mate was with her mate in  another pack?"

"Nope, a lie told to us by our alpha. Seems these lies have been going on for a couple of decades. But the pack is going to learn a hard lesson. Just not sure how." My stomach rumbled. "Let me go to the bathroom and get into some clean clothes. I see someone left an outfit on the bed."

I get up and pull the covers up and make the bed. Then go to the restroom and take a quick shower. I get dressed in jeans and a blue t-shirt. I walk out of the bathroom. I see Maureen driving the RV, Tanya looking at a magazine and Lily typing on a tablet. "If you're all here, where is my jeep?"

"Lily looks away from her computer. We have a trailer attached to the RV. We moved some of your clothes inside the RV. Your jeeps on the trailer and we threw a tarp over it. Now we are heading to where our siblings are hiding."

"In the microwave above the stove is your breakfast. Just heat it up." I heated it up and sat down to eat it. When I was done eating I went to the sink. "Just leave it in the sink. When we stop for the night we will wash it when we re-hook the camper to the water and electric hook up at the next stop."

"Did I use all the water for my quick shower?"

"You used about half the water in the reserve so its ok."

"Ok now that I have Ziena back and will admit she is ready to kill our mate, I want to know why she feels that way? I thought she would be heartbroken, but instead is angry."

"Your wolf has always been strong, but your mate and our alpha never recognized it. I am not sure you even recognize it. I have seen you fight alpha-to-be at those conferences we went too over last year. Alpha Jonas from the Symposium Pack thought you should go to his alpha training camp"

"When did he say that?"

"I was going to tell you, but real life events got in the way. The drive back from the conference you were talking about all the new procedures you were going to implement. I figured when we met up on Monday I would tell you about his offer. Then you discovered your mate's unacceptable behavior."

"You're right. So tell me now."

"I was standing at the hotel lobby waiting for you to bring the car around so we could head home.  Alpha Jonas  stopped by me while he was waiting for his car.  He confirmed who I was. He asked about your parents and grandparents. I told him your mom was Alpha Jordan from Raven Pack's daughter and your grandparents were alpha second son from Essex Pack. Your family transferred to our pack after the head warrior passed away to become our head warrior and trainer for our pack. He said it was interesting and said if she ever wanted to go through our training she  and myself were invited. Then he left after his car arrived."

"No, this is the first time I heard about it. Then on our trip home we were talking about implementing new training and Mitchell. You were talking about some party."

Lily grabs her bag and starts digging through it. She pulls out a card, "here it is." She hands it to me.

I read it out loud, "SYMPOSIUM PACK; Alpha Jonas Thompson Camp Leader School West Coast; 419-208-1498: [email protected]
[email protected]
(The information on this card was made up just for this story and just a coincidence it resembles something in real life.)

I don't remember meeting him at the conference."

"He was one of the handsome guys I pointed out to you. He was there with his mate."

I roll my eyes, "you pointed out several handsome guys, but only one had a mate with him."

"Well you now know who I am talking about."

"Yes, I do. We have however  gotten off topic. I want to know where we are heading. Why are we in a camper?"

Maureen replies, "our siblings live in Hidden Valley and they don't have extra rooms. We are bringing a room with us?"

"I did not even know you had siblings."

"Justin is old enough he could be my father. Remember I was a late in life surprise pup. He was kicked from the pack when his mate rejected him for the new head warrior. Justin worked at the warehouse and his mate wanted a protector and not a delta who supplied items to stores. He went to the alpha about it. The alpha declared him a rogue. He said the head warrior wanted his mate, and he was getting her. So the head warrior got her. But that head warrior and her were killed by rogues on their honeymoon. So nothing ever came of that union."

"The head warrior we have now is not the one who stole your brother's mate?"

"No, Head warrior Alexander has stayed true to his true mate. It is just too mad his son, Amos is such a jackass. My mom was there when Warrior Erika came to our pack and saw them when they declared each other. Was the only time she said he stopped training for that day and we had no training for the next week."

"I remember parents telling me the no training because he had met his mate. I just wanted to make sure a man I deeply respected did not do something like others I respected did."

"He did not. Now back to  Justin. My brother had already reluctantly accepted her rejection before he left according to my parents. The alpha when he declared him a rogue gave him 24 hours to pack up and say his goodbyes.  He traveled a while and he used his connections through his old warehouse job from the pack to get declared a lone wolf from one of the other pack's alphas."

"Will he be able to get me declared a lone wolf?

"I don't know. He set up Hidden Valley and made it a successful distribution center. He started taking in all rejected mates from our packs and other packs. Many of his pack contacts started using him. If living in Hidden Valley they are officially declared lone wolves by the alpha who declared him one. You will have to decide if you want to live there to become a lone wolf."

"Does our alpha know about Hidden Valley?"

"No, my parents never told him. They had to keep it a secret that they knew. They have used burner phones to talk to Justin.  He kept in touch with us over the years. Mom and Dad secretly sent rejected mates to him. They knew the four spots our alpha took them to be declared rogues. When the alpha made unplanned trips to escort them from pack territory they notified Justin. He would send contacts to those areas to search for them."

Lily adds, "Our alpha covered up their disappearances  by announcing they found their mates in other packs when in reality he escorted them from the pack. Then declared them official rogues so when pack members felt the break they thought it was because they joined another pack. He has been very conniving like that. Justin found his second chance mate when my sister, Serena arrived."

Tanya added, "Serena at first tried to ignore the bond. She said it was almost a year before she accepted him. She helps him run a distribution warehouse there."

"Is he the alpha of Hidden Valley?"

Tanya replies, "no, they are all either rogue wolves or lone wolves who live there. If you go there to stay you will be the highest ranking wolf."

"Do they know we are coming?"

"Yes, but we are not heading straight to them. We have to make sure no one is trailing us in case the alpha figures out we aren't at the cabin," Maureen replied.

"Where are we going then?"

Maureen replied, "no set place. We are heading away from Hidden Valley right now."

Lily excitedly replies, "I have just decided we are heading to Camp Leader School West."

All three of us at the same time shout, "WHAT?"

October 4

Lily replied, "Think about it. The only ones who know about this offer are the four of us and Alpha Thompson. We can just check it out. I don't think Alpha Jon would ever look for us there. We could be there in about three days if we all took turns driving without stopping. If we stop along the way to fill up on water and empty out the waste, then sleep at night, we could plan for it to be a week."

I reply, "I am not sure I want to report to an alpha. He might send me back to our pack."

Lily replies, "He did not come across like our alpha. Plus, Alpha Jon should soon deal with being investigated by the council. I think Alpha Thompson follows council laws. It would give us a legitimate reason to be on the road. We would not need to drive around all pack lands. To get this far, we have had to go around two packs—the third packed permission to go through while you were sleeping. We stopped outside their territory. Thankfully, the patrol linked the top three. It was a Beta Roger Snyder who showed up."

"Beta Snyder from Obsidian Pack?"

"Yes, he remembered us from our training this past summer. He could smell I was hanging with a rogue. I told him you were the rogue, and we had you sedated after you felt your mate cheat on you. You ran from the pack, and we followed since you, our dear friend. Then Alpha Cane Riker stepped out from behind a tree. He agreed he would not tell anyone about seeing us. He gave us a scent-be-gone concentrate that we could mix. We sprayed all over your vehicle and belongings. Then, once it dried, we climbed and rubbed all over it so it would have our scents and none of yours. We also sprayed inside this motorhome, ensuring your scent wasn't anywhere. We were careful not to get any of it on us. He also sprayed us to ensure you have a pack sent."

"Why did he do that?"

"I asked him that, too. His reply was you had earned the beta's respect and trust, which is very hard to do with anyone from our pack. Plus, he stated he considered Alpha Jon a jackass and did not like him. He is only an ally because he is in the same region. He said he could not do more than that since he was still an ally. He had the beta escort us on the main road through the pack. He was not even going to ask where we were taking you."

"Why did you not just go around his pack like the other two?"

"His pack had expanded, and our map did not show it had crossed the road. We saw one of the magical signs that stated if you are a wolf, stop at the rest area for permission to cross the pack on the interstate. Since I remembered Beta Snyder, we decided to do that instead of backtracking 75 miles to a road to go around."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Beta Snyder gave us access to a new website for wolves only. It is a map that the council made. It is a map of all the packs and even other supernatural territory. He showed us how to go through territories or avoid them. We chose to avoid them since we were unsure where we were going. If we enter a destination in pack territory to stop, it will tell us that. It will give us choices of nearby places to go instead."

"That website sounds like what we need. I just am not sure about going to the Symposium Pack."

Maureen said, "How can we explain her bringing us and her now being a rogue? She no longer has our pack smell."

Lily replied, "We tell him the same story we told the Obsidian Pack. We will drive there and choose a campsite outside his territory. If you decide to contact him, we can do it. If you decide not to, we can meander around to another place. Slowly work our way to Justin."

"I won't have to go meet him if I do not feel ready?"

"We cannot force you to go see him. But we can use his school to get through any pack wolves we run into. We just show the card."

"Okay, let's head directly there, but I don't promise I'll meet him."

Thank you for reading ONE YEAR. Would love to hear your input. This chapter is 2567 words.