Silver has been gone for three days now. After the lovely visit from his family—well he'd runaway like a child throwing a tantrum. He hadn't even given me or anyone else an explanation before he'd up and left. The house had been eerily quite since his disappearing act, apparently the visitors were having an adverse affect on the entire pack not just their reluctant leader. Personally, I wanted to forget that I had ever met or heard about this phantom royal family but considering I was bound by fate to one of them that seemed to be an impossible wish.

I rubbed my fingers to my aching temples I had enough things to worry about with my uncle's hired hunters out there somewhere waiting to get there hands on me to worry about Silver and his family issues.

"If you're not careful you'll burrow a hole right through your pretty little head." Valerie's voice interrupts my thoughts. I turn my head and peer over my shoulder to see her push off the wall she'd been leaning against. I watched her as she came closer to me, "Thought that's something you'd want..." I mumble.

"You're right—please continue. I just wanted front row seats to the show." She snaps back without any hesitance, which makes my lips pick up on the sides into a smirk. She takes a seat on across the table from me, her eyes roaming over me as if they were searching for something. I leaned forward pressing my elbows into the hard wood and holding my head in my hands, "Did you come in here to stare at me or did you actually have something you wanted to say?"

Valerie smirked and leaned back in her chair, "I thought you might like some company—"

"And you thought of all the people in this house you're the company that I would want?" I question with a raised brow but I found her blatant disregard and attitude much more amusing than I had a couple of days ago.

She shrugs her shoulders and turns her attention away from me to the window nearby. I followed her gaze and peered out the window but found there was nothing by trees stretching toward the twilight sky that was painting in bright pink and orange clouds. I closed my eyes when I felt the storm of thoughts swelling in my mind, a small sigh escaping my lips.

"I'm sure this must be a lot for you to take in."

I popped my eyes open and looked to Valerie, "Honestly after everything I've been through a couple of psycho family members is nothing I haven't dealt with before." She gave me full blown smile at that but something about it made the flesh on my arm rise with gooseflesh. She crossed her arms over her chest looking way too relaxed, "You have no idea what they are like—trust me when I say this, you should pray to the goddess that none of them mention a word of your existence."

"Enlighten me then. From where I am sitting some all powerful wolf leader is about as real as the boogie man that I used to believe lived under my bed." I waved my fingers around mockingly, though in the back of my mind a strange paranoia began to stir.

Valerie rolled her eyes, "He most definitely exists—"

"Then why keep his existence a secret from the rest of us? If he's supposed to be some king of wolves shouldn't he be--Oh I don't know--ruling over us all?" I try to poke a hole in her statement, find a reason to doubt that this could be more than some pack of werewolves with delusions of ganduor.

"I really shouldn't be the one telling you all of this but Silver just had to run off as usual—this is so not in my job description..." She mumbles to herself in frustration before leveling me with slitted eyes. I stared at her, waiting for her to start spewing out the secrets of this phantom pack. We stared at each other for a couple of moments neither of us blinking until finally she let out a growl of frustration, "Damn it! Fine!"

"There was a time when all the packs lived in harmony with each other. The king wolf worked with the council of alpha's to make sure that everything ran smoothly—and it did for a time. However as the centuries went on the bloodlines of the council and there packs began to disintegrate and the younger generations became driven for more power. That's when the rogues first came about—" Her mention of the rogues made me flinch and I pushed away the imagines that threaten to flood through my mind.

"These rogues cared little for the human and wolf life, they were a force to be reckoned with. I would say they are much different then the rogues we see today—much stronger. Thankfully there were still alphas of pureblood lines and the strength to drive them back. The damage of course had been done and the wrath of wolf king had been incited..."

"So what, he killed them all or something?" I questioned.

She shook her head and pursed her lips, "No, he banished all those who were not pureblood. He claimed the problem was that this mixing had made them more unstable and caused a sort of gradual sickness within the wolf itself. You see pure bloods never turn rogue—that only happens to those with mixed breeding..." She looks to me expectantly as if to say I was among those deemed unworthy and sick.

I frowned at her, "They might not be able to turn into rogues but that doesn't mean they can be just as awful from what glimpsed..."

"I won't disagree with you on that." She replies softly and I know that she must have been at the receiving end of this awfulness at some point. Shaking her head slightly she regains her composure, "Either way—they were banished and the king moved the remaining to a secret location to keep them from suffering the same fate. This is why you and none of the others knew about the Monarchs existence."

"Because we are just fodder for the fire in his eyes—" I can't help the imagines of my parents lying dead at the hands of the rogues. I can't stop the rage that begins to build in me as I think of all the suffering I had face at the hands of these beasts. Here this 'all powerful' wolf sat on his thrown while the rest of us were left to struggle and suffer. It wasn't right—we weren't sick, we weren't unworthy.

"Silver doesn't think that..." She whispers and I snap out of my building bloodlust.

"What?"

"I said Silver—he doesn't believe that you guys are unworthy. He thinks that we should build the full council of alphas again. He thinks that we can all live together in some kind of wolf utopia..." She says in a voice full of disbelief. I find myself warming at the though of my mate wanting something like that—even if it seems like an impossible dream.

"What are you smiling about?" She questions me with suspicion.

"I didn't realize I was smiling..."

She shakes her head and pinches the bridge of her nose, heaving an exasperated sigh. After a moment of silence she focuses on me again, "Do you at least understand now why it's important that they never find out about you?"

"Why because I'm not pure enough for them?" I sneer.

"Are you that thick headed?" Valerie scoffs, "I'll break it down for your simple mind to understand. Silver is the son of the monarch—the last born of his bloodline and the most beloved. His father would never let him mate anyone not of pureblood...in fact it's a shock to even myself how its possible that you two of you could be mates."

"Is that why you went all crazy on me that night in the kitchen?" I question her and watch as she scrunches up her face in annoyance, "Try to understand my suspicions considering this is the first time I've ever heard of anything like this happening."

"Yeah, join the club—apparently I'm one big mystery." I say sarcastically

"Yes well...his father would most definitely have you killed if he ever finds out about you..."

"Just like that, Huh? Dead?" My tone flat, "He'll have to get in line with all the others and at this point I'm wagering it's quite a long line." I lean back in my chair, rocking it slightly.

"With that kind of attitude it's a wonder why..." She says with a mocking smile. I narrow my eyes at her and let the legs of the chair fall back down solidly to the ground, "You probably don't want to poke the wolf right now, she's a bit on edge with all this talk of doom and gloom."

She chuckled and opened her mouth I'm sure to antagonize me further but she snapped it shut and braced herself against the table suddenly. She was gripping it so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. The sudden change in her demeanor had my full attention as I watch a small sweat break out across her forehead, "Val? Are you okay?" I rise up from my chair and make to take a step towards her.

Her eyes are almost pitch black as she looks to me, "Something is wrong..." Another wave of pain must rush through her because she collapses out of her chair with a loud groan of pain. I rush quickly to her side kneeling down beside her, "What's wrong? What's happening to you?" I ask frantically not sure what I should do or what the hell is happening.

Valerie's body is going into mini convulsions, her teeth clenched tightly together, "Not...Me..." She says through her teeth and I stare at her in confusion. Her body stills and she throws her head back with a scream as if she is in horrible pain. I heard the sound of footsteps racing towards us and I know it's the others.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Marshall barks from behind us.

"Get out of my way!" Libra shouts and is suddenly shoving me out of the way as she closes in on Valerie. She quickly starts check her, "What happened?" She questions me with a tense voice. I shake my head as I rise up to my full height, "I have no idea—we were talking and then she just..." I motioned a hand to her.

"Silver..." Valerie grits out.

I feel the speed of my heart slow in my chest, "What? What did you just say?"

"Not...me..." She stares up at the ceiling like she's in a daze, "Silver..."

I take a step back feeling like someone just punched me in the stomach. I had no idea what her fit had to do with Silver but there was clearly a lot of things I didn't understand. All I knew was that if Silver was in trouble that I needed to find him. I spun on my heels and my found Bunny's, "You!" I snapped.

She jumped at the harsh tone of my voice, "Yes?"

"Come with me, we are going to find Silver." I say with a firm tone. She only nods her head not needing to be told again. Marshall growls, "No way! She isn't going out there with everything that's happened in the past couple of days. It's too dangerous."

I turned my attention to Marshall, "She is going to help me find Silver. You are going to stay here and watch over the others until we get back. That's an order!" I use my alpha command on him and I see him try to fight it but his shoulders sag in defeat.

"Fine!" He snarls at me, "But she better come back in one piece or I won't be responsible for what happens to you."

"Let's go! I hope you weren't kidding about being the best tracker..." I mumble as I march toward the front door with determined steps. Somewhere out there my mate had gone and gotten himself into what appeared to be some serious trouble. What an idiot! If he's not dead when I find him, I'm going to kill him myself.

-------------------

Song: 'L.E.S. Artistes (Huglife trap remix)' - Santigold