Rachel's POV

Karen and I are in the car holding hands and sitting in a comfortable silence. I go into her mind and I see that she's thinking about trying to stop a war.

"Karen, you're going to talk business here aren't you?"

She nodded and pulled up into the driveway.

"I have to do this." She said.

We got out the car and walked in the house hand in hand. I saw Karen tense up and we heard squealing.

"Karen!"

We looked at who it was and it was Roxanne.

"Roxy." Karen said smiling.

They hugged and Taylor was behind her.

"Taylor." She said hugging him.

Roxanne crushed me in a hug and she said, "I missed you guys so much." She let me go and Taylor hugged me too.

"How have you guys been?" Taylor asked.

"Fine. We have a pack now." Karen replied.

"We heard. Taylor is beta now and we have a child." Roxanne said.

"Really?" "Yeah. She's five now."

"What's her name?" I asked.

"Fiona." Taylor replied smiling.

"Karen!" We saw a blonde mop of hair and Karen smiled. "Hi Colton." They hugged briefly and he hugged me.

"Hi Rachel." I hugged him back and said, "Hi Colt."

"I want you guys to meet someone." He said. "Okay." We replied at the same time.

He walked away and came back with a short, Hispanic girl with sand colored skin.

"Honey, this is Karen and Rachel. They're mates. Karen, Rachel meet Talia, my mate."

"Hi." She said holding onto Colton.

"Hello." Karen said smiling.

"I've never met a gay couple before. I didn't know they existed." She said shyly.

"It's not like gay people are mystical creatures Talia. Well, we are special. I guess we're mystical in a way." Karen replied giggling.

"Is kissing a girl different from kissing a guy? I've only ever kissed one guy and that's this guy."

"It is. With guys, they like to mark what's theirs and with girls, they do the same thing but it's gentler. But when it's rough, it's rough." I replied winking.

Karen pinched me and I looked over at her and she narrowed her eyes. I rolled my eyes and Talia asked, "Karen, what was it like dating Colton?"

"Oh wow, uh it was fun. We had some good times together. He was always my friend first then boyfriend second." She replied shrugging.

"I just wanted to know because he told me that you and him were really close and I got a little jealous and upset because I thought he wanted you still."

"Oh no, we've been over and done with for years. He broke up with me first but it wasn't really a break up because I lost all feelings for him when I met Rachel." She said smiling at the end.

"Wow, thanks for playing me." He said sarcastically.

"No problem." She patted him on the shoulder and Talia giggled.

"Is that my little sister?"

I cringed and saw Michael walking to me.

"Get the hell away from me." I said sternly.

"Why?"

"You don't think what I remember you calling me and what you told me?"

"Well, you were being a bitch and I got mad."

"Just like your parents didn't do anything to save me."

"Our parents, Rachel." He replied quietly.

"I don't care. None of you were there for me."

"I tried to be there for you, Rachel. You kept pushing me away."

"Karen." We turned and saw Austin standing there.

"Austin."

"Rachel."

"Austin."

"Please, follow me to the study." He said.

Karen followed him and on the way, she grabbed two drinks and handed one to me.

"I feel like I'm gonna need this." She whispered.

I giggled and we walked into the study.

Both of our parents were there along with Alpha Cory and his mate.

"Karen, Rachel!" Cory boomed.

We both smiled and hugged him.

"Hi Cory." We said.

"How are my second favorite girls doing?"

"We're doing awesome, thank you for asking."

"Karen." Karen's dad said.

She gave him a stern look and held out her hand. "Alpha Alex, Luna Lisa."

"Karen, you don't have to do that, we're your parents." Her mom said.

"My parents died the moment they kicked me out of my pack. If you don't mind, I have business to talk."

"Karen, I'm not even Alpha anymore, Austin is."

"Good for him, considering he didn't even want to be Alpha in the first place."

"Things change." Austin said.

"Yeah, and so do people. You're not the same brother I knew."

"That was before you took what was mine."

"Austin, I'm trying really hard not to rip your head off. So I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you to tell you that Blue Moon pack wants to start a war with you guys, Cory's pack, and Rachel's old pack. We have five rogues that used to be a part of Blue Moon in our hands right now."

"Send them to me. I'll get what I want." Austin said.

"No, on my land, I found them, they're mine. We found them on accident."

"How?" Cory asked.

"I wanted a child. So, we went looking for one." I explained.

"That's what you get for being gay."

"Austin, that's enough! I will not stand here and listen to you talk to these women that way! Do it again and our treaty is over with!" Cory yelled.

"Thank you." I whispered.

Karen walked to Austin and said, "I kicked your ass once, I can and I will do it again."

"Then our packs are enemies." He replied.

"We were enemies the moment I made this pack." She sneered.

Austin barred his canines and Karen did the same.

"Stop it right now! Both of you!" Her mom yelled. "I'm tired of this. Austin, you need to get over Rachel. She never was and never will be your mate. Tanya is gone. But she wasn't your mate either and you know it. Austin, you need to lead this pack differently. Get over that Karen is mates with Rachel. Stop being rude to your sister. Please."

Austin looked at Karen and then, Zaire walked in. "Everyone, I found my mate! After years of searching, I finally found her."

"Who is it big brother?" Lisa asked.

On Zaire's arm was a smiling Ariel. "Rachel!"

Ariel walked over and gave me a hug. "You look like you haven't changed a bit." She gushed out.

"Thank you." I replied smiling.

"Doesn't your mom look pretty? I made the dress myself."

I looked over at my mom and she was wearing a two piece dress. It was black and she had on black high heels.

"Yeah."

"I finally found my mate. You know, my mom was getting worried. I was with men and women all the time. If you and Karen are mates then maybe another girl was my mate. But I knew my mate was here. The smell was there but it was always faint. Until today. Ooh, I'm so excited. Finding my mate and seeing you again." She gave me a hug and I laughed and hugged her back.

"How was the tour of her pack?" Alpha Alex asked.

"It was an amazing pack with good food and devoted wolves. They're loyal for being former rogues."

"We just gave them a chance to do what they want to do." I replied.

"Why don't we go to their pack and discuss business tomorrow?" Cory asked.

"Sounds good. Around noon?" Karen asked.

"Yeah." Austin replied.

Karen looked at me and kissed my hands. "Do you want to stay or go?"

I sighed and said, "I have a lot of shit to fix."

She kissed my forehead and walked out of the room. I turned and saw my parents sitting down and drinking.

"Hello."

My mom looked up and her eyes started watering.

"Rachel? Please don't say rude things anymore and let's talk like civilized adults."

Michael walked in and I wiped the tears coming out of my eyes. "You didn't do anything to stop him. You didn't protect me."

"What could we have done? You and Karen were acting wild."

"No, we weren't, especially Karen. She was upset that her own family could hate her for being my mate."

"Rachel, try to understand where they're coming from." Michael said.

"You were there that night. You saw everything that happened between Karen and Austin. You know it was wrong of Austin to do that but you didn't stop it. You let them hurt your little sister."

"Rachel, we're sorry. We don't know what you're going through and what you feel like."

"You're damn right you don't. And you never will."

I walked to where the party was at and saw Karen laughing and with Roxanne and Talia. I walked over to them and Karen gave me a kiss.

"These two lovely ladies are gonna visit us sometime next week for a girl's weekend."

"And Ariel?"

"Don't know, don't care."

I rolled my eyes and got some wine.

"It's getting late, we should head back, we do have prisoners." I said.

Karen pouted and said, "I miss my friends. I wanna stay longer."

She turned back to Roxanne and then laughed. I poured another glass of wine and Ariel walked to me.

"Why the long face? It's a party, you need to have fun."

"Got in a fight with the fam. I want to go home but Karen wants to stay." I replied finishing my wine. "I need real alcohol. Where's the vodka?"

"Rachel, you don't need alcohol. You need a friend. That's why I'm here, to help you feel better."

"Thank you." I said.

🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

Seven glass fulls of whiskey and vodka later plus some wine, Ariel and I were a little buzzed. It was like one in the morning and the kids were all sleeping and the adults were out. Ariel and I were dancing together.

We were giggling a lot and she was putting a show on for Zaire. She was dancing sexily and Zaire walked over to her and told me he was kidnapping her. I pouted and she winked at me.

I turned around and got another glass of vodka. I saw Karen and she was mad. She walked to me and said, "What the fuck was that all about?"

I started giggling and drank my vodka. "What are you talking about baby?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." I looked at her confused and she grabbed my arm and said, "Come on, we're leaving."

When we got outside I yanked my arm out of her grip.

"Now you want to leave? I wanted to leave hours ago! You can't get mad at me for having fun, which is exactly what you were doing!"

"I don't want to hear it." She said.

"You never want to hear it! Screw you and your double standards!"

I shifted in my wolf and started running.