"Honor. Control. Loyalty," Shiro walked around the training room, looking at the ones who came with him. "These are the three words in which we live by. The three words that define us and make us stronger, both physically as well as mentally."

He really did speak like a leader. Jett was happy to see him up and moving finally. It had been a few days since Hiroko had come over, and he was already showing a lot of progress. As soon as he could walk around, he had started to try and make himself stronger. Jett still didn't like the idea of him trying to train at the moment, but he couldn't exactly stop him. Shiro was already getting more stubborn with every second that he was getting stronger. Bailey had already had a hayday with him. It was kind of funny just how easily he could outsmart her with wordplay, even though the woman looked annoyed beyond belief.

The rest of the pack absolutely loved him. Jett made it to where they only came up to him in small groups, so that they didn't overwhelm him. He had gotten plenty of hugs and the likes from most of them. It was cute seeing just how much he liked hugs. Most mothers were absolutely crazy over him.

It was obvious that Shiro actually liked talking and meeting people. Jett didn't know that until now. He even talked to the chefs of the house, asking what they really liked to make and wanting to try new things. Him and Geo had a laugh with all of them.

And now they were in his training room, about to practice their fighting technique. While Shiro still had wrappings around his torso and some scars that had yet to heal.

"You're going to take it easy at least, right?" he mind linked with him. It was so nice to be able to mind link with him. And since he wasn't in their pack, or any pack for that matter, it made it easier to communicate with him when he wasn't in the same room as him. He was finally able to catch up on paperwork because of that. If Shiro needed anything, all he had to do was call him through that.

"It's going to be build up training," he told him. "I'm going to start off slow and gradually raise the bar until I've gotten to the point where I could get hurt. Then I'll stop and start over again when I'm ready."

"Is that common for your pack?"

"It's what we do for wounded warriors," Shiro told him. "We help them recover by doing this kind of exercise. It helps them improve without straining themselves too much."

He really was smart for someone as young as him. Jett was surprised to find out just how intelligent he was through the days he spent alone with him. He already missed those days. It was fun hearing that laughter finally and all the talking that they would do.

"He really is way too much like Munni," his father stood next to him. Jett told Shiro that he could use their training room just as long as they could watch them. It was mainly so that Shiro didn't push himself too far, but also because they were all curious as to how the Reverence warriors trained to fight. It was such a different style than theirs.

"I think he's his own person," Jett told him.

"He is," his father smiled. "But there's just so much about him that screams his grandfather. It's strange. He looks absolutely nothing Sakdah. Nor does he act anything like him."

Jett wanted to growl at hearing that name again. He hated that man with a burning passion. If it weren't for Shiro talking him down, he would have personally run over to the man and slaughtered him himself. He was sick and tired of him, especially after all that he learned about him so far.

"Hey Jett?" Alex walked into the room. He was busy dealing with the other packs and the investigation that was underway. "Someone wants to talk to you."

"Who?" he asked. Usually, they hadn't been talking to him about the matters of the investigation. That was left to the person that they left in charge of it. There was Detective Jim from the Dynamic Pack, and Luke from the Noble Pack. Them along with Alex worked together to try and gather more evidence on the Reverence Pack and anything else they could figure out.

"Jim," Alex said. "They found something interesting."

"Alright," he sighed. "Do me a favor and watch over these guys while I do it."

"Easy enough," Alex smirked. Of course, he would want to watch his mate as he danced along with Shiro doing one of their routines. Both of them fought well together, as if they were one body part, even though they no longer had the mind link to help guide them. Shiro didn't even have to say much for Geo to know what he wanted or when to hold back. They had a strong warrior bond.

Jett walked out of the training room and through the halls to his office. He hoped that this was quick at least. He already didn't like the fact that he had to keep Shiro being here a secret. He hated secrets. But he would do anything for that man who had captured his heart so easily. Even if it meant holding back for just a little longer.

"Detective," Jett answered the phone.

"Alpha Jett," Jim spoke with urgency. "I need your help with something."

"What is it?"

"I need to speak to the runaways that you have at your pack house," he told him. "It's urgent."

Oh, this wasn't going to be good. He could hear the tension through the phone. It wasn't like this detective to be this demanding with his requests, which only put Jett on alert.

"Why?" he sat down in his chair. "What happened?"

"Shiro was found dead," Detective Jim said.

"What?" If he hadn't just seen Shiro in his training room, he would have been having a heart attack right now. "How do you know?"

"There was a mangled body found deep in the forest by the Reverence Pack," Jim told him. "Luckily we got there before they could hide anything. Their Gamma, Shin, has been trying to keep me away from anything involving their pack for the past two weeks now. We were able to take pictures and blood samples and send them to Alpha Nir's labs. After putting it on top priority, he found that it was indeed Shiro. And the rest that he found in there was quite shocking."

"What else did he find?" Jett asked. He was confused. If Shiro was right there in the training room, then what had they actually found? He wished he could tell them that he was right at his place instead. He hated hearing about all of this.

"Traces of silver, some flowers from the surrounding forest," he started. "And, most importantly, that poison that Dr. Bailey found in the patient that came from that pack."

"What were the flowers?" he asked. How were they able to replicate everything so well? Even down to the poison that had been in his system. This seemed like a nightmare that he had just woke up from.

"Marigold, roses, and sage," he told him. "When I asked the Reverence warriors who were there at the scene, they told me that they had no clue why there would be flowers there."

"It's a healing concoction," Jett said. "That's what the one's here told me about. They learned it from Healing Witches that had come across their territory a couple years ago."

"I had a feeling they were lying," Jim said. "We can't wait on this investigation anymore, Alpha Jett. We need to get those witnesses that you have to confess so that we can finish off this investigation and take Sakdah down."

"I'll get them for you, Jim," he told him. "But we need to wait a little longer."

"His own son is dead, Alpha Jett," Jim sounded pained as he said it over the phone. "And I'm not sure how long it's going to be before he goes after his daughter. I'm afraid we don't have time to spare."

"We do," he said. "You need to trust me on that. I'll get you the witness reports and recordings by tomorrow. After that, tell Roger that we need to schedule a conference call. None of us should leave our territories for the meantime."

"I'll relay the message," he said. "That might give me some time to organize the evidence that we found so far. Has Luke updated you on what he found?"

"I'm afraid not," he said. "Don't worry about it for now, though. We'll get each other up to date when we all get on that conference call. For now, just keep doing your best."

"Alright, Alpha Jett," the detective sighed over the phone. "I hope you're right about having more time."

"I am," he assured him. After saying his farewell, he hung up the phone and booked it back to the training room.

He needed answers now. How did they do that? What did they do? Nir's labs were made with the best equipment of the era. They were never wrong. So how did they prove that the body they found was Shiro's when Shiro was right there with him? None of it made sense, and his head was spinning just from trying to figure all of it out.

He walked in to find Shiro going full force at Geo. Both of them were quickly hitting and blocking blows, moving in a pattern that they seemed to memorize. Sweat was dripping off from Shiro as his heavy breathing ravaged through his entire being. It worried him. He could feel through their bond that he wasn't exactly brought to his limit, but he didn't want him pushing himself too hard. Alex and his father were there still, watching it in awe as they danced to their own rhythm of discipline.

Jett couldn't have this though. He didn't have the time to bask in the beauty that was his mate. He needed to get answers. Answers he had been trying to get for what seemed like forever at that point. And the list was only growing as the days went by. If Shiro was okay enough to fight, then he was okay enough to answer his questions.

He grabbed some towels from the small room connected to the training room and walked over to them.

"Enough!" he yelled. He figured it was better than using the mind link, as that was what had startled Shiro when they were fighting in the community center. Sure enough, they both stopped at the same time, looking at him in surprise. Shiro more so that Geo. He could feel all the emotions that he had been working through in that fight. It seemed like he used it as some sort of therapy or something.

But he caught onto Jett's emotions just as easily as he did. Those dark eyes hardened as he caught his breathing. He took the towel that Jett was handing them both and started to wipe off the sweat.

"What happened?"

"You tell me?" Jett looked at him. The next thing he tossed to him was a water bottle. "I need to get some things figured out. We're running out of time."

Shiro drank the water quickly, enjoying every second of it. Jett almost lost his train of thought as he watched him guzzle it. He still wished he could just have him in his arms and wrap him up in the bed with him. Even when he was soaked in sweat, he still looked as handsome as ever.

"Alright," he sat down on one of the benches. "What happened while I was training?"

"The detective from the Dynamic pack called," Jett told him. Everyone was coming over to them at that point. All were curious about this. "He called me to tell me that you were dead."

"What?" Alex asked. "How did he find that he was dead?!"

"That's what I want to know," he looked at Jin and Miki who were looking nonchalant about all of this. "And I'm guessing by the look on your faces, this was planned?"

"Detective Jim has been looking into our pack since Elder Munni passed away," Jin said. "We've been trying to keep him confused for a very long time."

"He sent the evidence to Nir's labs," Jett said. "They showed proof that it was Shiro's body."

"Proof of my DNA being there, perhaps," Shiro interrupted. "Not entirely of my body."

"Mind explaining?" he raised an eyebrow at him.

"When Hiroko was here," Shiro started. "Do you remember how I gave her strands of my hair?"

"Yes."

"She used that to fake my death," he explained. "That and she already had a vial or two of my blood in case an instance like this arose. It's all planned out so that Sakdah stops trying to look for me."

"But Shiro," Jett said. "They even got samples of the flowers that you used to heal yourself, along with silver, and even the poison that was found in your system when we first found you!"

Shiro just smiled at him, his eyes shining as he heard that.

"Then she had relayed my message perfectly," he said.

"What do you mean?" Jett's headache was starting to grow at this point.

"The Silver Serpent has struck, coiling around the heart with green fangs," Shiro said. "It was a riddle that gave her all the information she needed to know about faking my death: Silver was on my body, coiling around the heart which was the flowers in which I healed myself with. The green fangs were for the poison in which he tried to use to kill me."

"That's what you meant by I'll see?!" Jett said. "Shiro, do you know how scared I got hearing Jim say all of those things?!"

"It needed to happen," Shiro nodded. "Sakdah has to believe I'm dead, or else he will continue to search for me."

"So why do the rest need to believe you're dead?" he continued his questions. "You have two other packs who are ready to go to war right now because of your supposed death, Shiro."

"They have to believe me dead for the same reason," Shiro told him. "If they act as if nothings wrong, then it will raise Sakdah's suspicions."

"Fooling the many to fool the one," Alex said.

"Exactly," Shiro smiled at him. "It buys me time in which I need to heal and grow stronger. Then I will challenge him for my title all in one day, and he will have no time to harm anyone before I get my revenge."

It seemed like a good idea. It was going to be a bitch and a half trying to cool off the other packs enough to get them to stay back long enough for Shiro to be okay. But there were still so many questions that he had.

"I don't get it," Alex shook his head. "Why all the secrets and planning and hiding? Why do you guys have to do all of this?"

"Because if a war breaks out," Shiro sighed, his face falling into a somber one. "Then Sakdah will fight dirty. He will risk the very lives of everyone in his pack in order to try and win. And, if the pack falls to the hands of the others, he will find a way in which to escape and he will flee."

"An Alpha never flees," his dad came up to him. "Why would Sakdah? That is his pack, his family. The Moon Goddess should be punishing him this very moment for not letting his members mark each other like they should. Why isn't he showing symptoms of that?"

"It's more complicated than the curse," Shiro looked down. "It's more complicated than anything else that I have told you, or the questions that you have just right now. But Sakdah will flee if a war breaks out. He has many escape routes that he's planned out if it comes down to it. He will kill off as many members of that pack as he can and run."

"Tell me about the death count," Jett said. "How many people has he killed during his reign?"

"During his reign?" Shiro looked at him. "Ah, you mean the Black Skies Ceremony."

Miki shuttered at the name, leaning into Jin. Even the name seemed to hold such a power over the members who had ran, which made Jett more suspicious of it.

"The Black Skies Ceremony?" Alex asked this time. "Is that what pushed your coronation back two weeks?"

"Yes," he told him. "The Black Skies Ceremony happens only during the night of a new moon, in which the Spirit of the Moon no longer is able to see what goes on and rests."

"This is when he kills people?" Alex questioned again. Jett saw Blake and Manny coming in, probably feeling the tension that was building up from all of this. Bree was probably just a minute away. His council always knew when they were needed. They had worked together for six years and had built their own bonds with each other to be able to sense such a thing.

Shiro looked down, focusing on something on the ground. Jett could feel the pain that his mate was feeling as Alex said that. There was remorse, and sorrow, but also a sense of determination. Jett wondered what he was thinking just at that moment.

"The first Ceremony," he started back up slowly. Bree walked in quietly as he spoke. "Of the Black Skies happened a week after my grandfather died. It consisted of fifty-two people. Most of them were elders and warriors who disagreed with Sakdah and the new rules he put in place. They had started a rebellion, and died because of it."

The room went cold right when he said that. Everyone was shocked and alert from the second that those words came out of his mouth. That explained why the pack wouldn't rebel against their Alpha. They were too afraid of this ceremony. Sakdah had control over them through fear alone.

"He had even the children watch," Shiro said, his voice quiet, yet clear. The pain was almost tangible. "No matter what age, he had them watch as these people that they knew and considered their family died by the hands of a leader that was supposed to protect them." That pain turned to rage as he looked up to look at Jett in the eyes. "I was thirteen at the time. I knew each and every one of those faces that got the life taken out of them. He took fifty-two people that I considered family. After that, I promised to never let something like that happen again."

"What do you mean?" Jett asked. He could feel the anger, like an open wound that just had peroxide poured onto it. It hurt all over his body as he took in what Shiro was feeling.

"We couldn't rebel out in the open," Shiro told him, his face hard. "So, we found a new way to rebel. We found our allies within the pack and started finding a way to save the ones that he was planning on killing."

"Other than the fifty-two," he started, more confused now than ever. "You're telling me that the others are still alive?"

"You know my fathers Inn, Alpha Jett?" Miki asked him. He turned to her and nodded. "That's where the survivors are. All the ones of the Reverence pack that you see living in the city aren't in the Reverence pack. They're rogues, hidden in broad daylight."

"Wait," Blake stopped her. "You mean all the ones that we fought with against those hunters were mainly rogues from your pack?"

"Kenji told us to retreat," Geo said. "The Reverence warriors had to obey him. But the others that helped take down and clean up the hunters in the city were all from the Mercy Waters Pack."

Jett furrowed his eyebrows. How could a rogue pack be created right under all of their noses. He looked at Shiro to see that he had heard his question before he could even ask it.

"Charms to keep scent," Shiro told him. "Different identities. Sometimes, if the other packs knew them too well, they even go as far as changing their hair color and style of clothing."

"What about all the DNA samples?" Alex asked. "Nir found almost four hundred people that had been seen as missing or dead from combat and illnesses."

"I'm assuming he also found animal blood as well?"

"Yes," Alex frowned.