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***Collin's POV***

The last few weeks have been a learning experience. The stress from secrets that were buried too far down to reach, it weighed heavily upon my spirit.

Stress had become my constant companion.

I had so much going on with accepting my title as Alpha of The Red Moon Pack. Being a leader was a stressful position. This didn't come as a surprise. Just a little inconvenient in my current state of mind.

Ivana had officially become Luna at my Alpha ceremony. She seemed to slide into the role with grace. She was born to be a leader. I guess, in reality, I was as well.

I'm not complaining. I will forever be thankful for this opportunity. I just have to figure out a semblance of structure under the current conditions.

Too many times over the last weeks I have began questioning the life I had lived. Alpha Grey exposing his skeletons had left my mind in a tailspin. Too many variables had stuck into my mind. The unanswered questions urged me to seek answers. I started delving into the story I thought was my beginning.

As with any secret, the truths we are awakened to, are not always concrete. Every secret begets more secrets. Every answer leads to more questions. This is how I have found myself being rocked from my quick sand foundation.

The more I revealed, the less I wanted to have unveiled. Yet, curiosity intruded my thoughts, demanding to be sated. I became obsessed with uncovering everything once and for all.

With the help of Ivana and my Father, I have revealed disturbing realities:

No bodies were every recovered pertaining to my mother and father. This isn't actually uncommon. Often in our world, evidence was destroyed. Word of mouth held more weight than it should.

Landon had staged it all. His desire to keep his image clean of stains provoked him to take drastic measures.

Instead of being orphaned, I was abandoned. This particular secret wasn't offensive. I had a perfect family, therefore I refused to be affected by the loss.

Landon had taken L to an undisclosed location. He sustained his title as Alpha by rebuilding himself a pack. He dropped his given name in lieu of an alias. He now goes by Alpha Jacob Livingston.

I can only speculate on his reasonings for abandoning me. However, if I had to guess, it was because he doubted my paternity. Unfortunately, I was actually his.

Honestly, I held no contempt for any of the characters in my personal drama. They had made choices. They probably never imagined the consequences.

In a way they are all victims. Victims of deceit, fear and cowardice.

In the end, too many lives were affected by their decisions.

I lie awake, more often than not, wondering how so many things could have been different had any one of them taken a different approach.

I realize how frivolous these thoughts are. I can't stop myself from thinking thru the what if's.

What if they kept me? Although, I have a feeling I would not have liked the outcome.

What if I belonged to Grey? This idea was neither appealing nor unappealing. The outcome would not be disheartening.

So many troubles could have been spared if not for the book of lies that had been written into my story.

<<<<<<<<

At this point, my feelings have bloomed from a tiny bud of disgust, to pure rage and angst. The details of my enlightenment were not encouraging. They were disturbing at best.

The information we came across brought on a series of ludicrous verities:

The pack that my father reigns over has fed into his depravity. A perfect environment for an imperfect soul. His followers did more harm than good with their loyalty.

Thru careful observations, lurking in the shadows, I have witnessed who Landon truly is.

Abandoning me is actually the only kind act my biological father has ever committed.

His pack runs like a tyranny. His pack members are soldiers for his insanity. They live off the grid in tents. The few women who are in his pack are treated as slaves. The children are simply trained to do Alpha Jacob's dirty deeds.

The whole situation has gotten so out of hand. If I ever had an inclination of a family reunion, that ideal has been burned to ash and scattered amongst the forest.

Instead, I have stepped into my new role as Alpha with an atmosphere of impending doom. I continuously meet with Alpha Demetri until the early hours of morning. The results of these meetings have initiated a search and rescue mission.

With the help of the Crescent Moon Pack, we will infiltrate Alpha Jacob's pack, The Blood Moon Pack. The only option is an act of war. But, this is necessary in order to arrive at any type of desired results.

The decision to involve Demetri's pack is not one I came to lightly. However, with my place as Alpha being so new, I felt it crucial to gain a level of experience beyond my own. Therefore, I had to rally the forces that were available to me.

I feel weary involving my allies. I am sickened at the thought of my sister's in battle. Lindsay being a part of it all was not settling well either. But, neither Demetri nor I, can allow Jacob to continue his autarchy.

***Demetri's POV***

Unveiling the truth of Collin's childhood has brought peril. Suddenly, we find ourselves on the hems of battle. We will now seek out an enemy and strive to dismantle Alpha Jacob's pack.

No doubt that Jacob is evil. No way he will go down without a fight. The vile ways of his pack are not kosher within our world. He will be defensive in his mannerisms. Yet, His pack has to be disbanded.

Therefore, we are training immensely and working tirelessly to perfect our plan of attack. We have managed to unite with Collin's pack during these training exercises. The results are promising.

My pack is one of many strengths and few weaknesses. We are all skilled in both human and beast form. For all these reasons I am confident in our abilities. I'm not worried that we will fail, as I cannot see any unforeseen complications that could result without a victory.

My Elite members are among the strongest of our Warriors, this includes our mates. As women, Landon's pack will automatically seek them out in fighting. This could be either a positive or negative on the field. So I can't help but ponder the realization that we may not walk away unscathed.

I reluctantly accepted the truth that we need Alivia, Alisa and Lindsay in order to secure a win. The ladies are highly trained and deadly amongst their peers. Their inclusion is necessary. And, as with any female mate, we were not willing to exclude them when they wished to help our packs.

This epiphany, although pertinent, did not settle well with any of us. Our mates and children would be forced into violence. The results would benefit a greater good. This truth is our only motivation.

In a few days time we will stealthily penetrate the tight borders of the rogues known as The Blood Moon Pack. You read that correctly. A pack of fucking rogues. The entire ideal is absolutely an oxymoron.

Most rogues are not capable of truly obtaining a pack mentality. They are nomads, wondering in pairs of two, maybe a set of three at most. However, Landon has defied odds and created a pack to which he leads.

The idea would not be nearly as offensive had the leader himself not had so many screws loose. The results of the pairing, as expected, are wicked. Landon has attempted to set our species back centuries in his oppressive values.

Over the course of our surveillance we witnessed too many atrocities to explain. The most vile being the treatment of women and children. We have yet to witness L among the pack members. But, we are hopeful she is being kept somewhere within the compounds.

That theory has yet to be confirmed. Therefore, we are winging it on a prayer. Our hopes are to save the innocent and annihilate the guilty. Hopefully, we secure L and free her from her current imprisonments.

We have surmised a plan in order to minimize the damage on both sides. If all goes well, we walk away with new members for The Red Moon Pack. Although, how many is yet to be known.

Each pack's parents, the former Alphas and Lunas, will stay back with the members who will not be participating in the mission. For my pack especially, those numbers will be substantial. I prefer quality over quantity. With that being said, we are only taking enough warriors to complete the job successfully.

The Red Moon Pack will be using a similar strategy. But, because their pack size is significantly smaller, any casualties would make a deeper physical impact. Of course, we have planned for any surprises we may encounter. Our hopes are to walk away in tact and undefeated.

Unfortunately, when dealing with rogues, it is impossible to anticipate every scenario. Rogues are emotionless wolves who function on instinct. Because they are mostly unstable, their instincts fall between vicious and deadly.

Now that we have planned to the best of our capabilities, we are simply waiting in the shadows to execute our attack. An element of surprise is always a treasured notion when facing any enemy. The fact that we are attacking a group of viciously unstable beasts, who seek to destroy others for personal gain, makes our element more crucial.

As an Alpha, the threat of war is always at the cuspids. We seek peace and strive to maintain it among all wolf packs. But, when one pack threatens to unravel a tapestry of order, we must be willing to take up our arms and lead our pack to battle.

So, with the conviction of knowledge and the spirit of truth, we will enter the battlefield. Our only purpose to free our world of an evil that has lurked for far to long.