"Hey!" I protested as flecks of cool water hit my shin. I sat up to glare at whoever splashed me.

"Come in!" My little sister begged, her arms folded on the concrete to keep her head and shoulders out of the water. Her hair — normally blonde and wavy — was plastered to her scalp, appearing dark brown when soaking wet. She kicked her foot out behind her and water sprayed up again, sprinkling across the concrete to my chair.

"I'm good." I told her, lowering back down to rest on my elbows. She rolled her eyes and muttered something before pushing away from the wall and swimming away. She made an extra effort to kick more water at me as she did so.

May was nine, so getting in the pool with her was a sentence to playing some sort of dolphin or mermaid or other sea-creature game. Which I would normally be okay with, but it wasn't just any regular day at the pool. Today was our brother's fifteenth birthday, and that meant it was a pack celebration. In Utah, August was hot, even up north out of the valley and into the mountains. So, naturally it was a pool party and a barbecue. . . with the entire pack.

I wasn't big on social gatherings. Interacting with big groups of people just wasn't something I enjoyed. But he's my brother, so I knew there was no way I would be getting out of this one. Though, usually I was dragged to pack parties anyway, no matter the occasion. Being one of the Alpha's daughters really doesn't give me much of a choice. Besides, Mom was convinced that if she brought me to social events, sooner or later I would make a friend. She couldn't seem to wrap her mind around the fact that it just wasn't going to happen.

I had grown up around all the other girls my age in the pack. But I never clicked with any of them. All those years of being in the same classes at school, attending pack events, and even just seeing them around the Packhouse was never enough. They had their little cliques and I was always on the outside. By the time I reached my teenage years, I gave up and stopped trying. Mom was still adamant I mingled, but I supposed being the Alpha's oldest child essentially made me untouchable. At least, that's what I told myself to feel better about being left out.

Now, sitting on the side of the pool, I could see the other she-wolves close to my age. The ones that weren't already mated and/or with a pup were all laying out on the opposite side of the pool together, sunbathing and gossiping in their skimpy little bikinis. I don't need them anyway. I reminded myself.

Usually, I had my siblings to hang out with. Now that my brother had gotten older, he's more cool to be around, and obviously I adored my little sister. But at things like this, they had their own friends. Especially today. I spotted August — all three of us are named after our birth month — wrestling with his friends towards the center of the pool. It looked like they were taking turns trying to dunk each other under. In the shallow end, May and her friends were attempting an underwater handstand contest.

With a sigh, I laid myself back down on the chair, flipping and arm over my forehead to shield my eyes from the sun. Beyond the pool, and all the people mingling around the yard eating and talking and laughing, I could see the tall pine forest that stretched for miles around the skirts of Vernal. The trees climbed up the mountains that seemed to box us in from every direction. While the peaks were absolutely gorgeous — even in the middle of summer the tips were still capped with snow — sometimes I couldn't help but wonder what was beyond them. What places in the country, or even world, were like without them.

Recently, my thoughts had tended to drift towards that a lot, ever since I graduated High School last year. My entire life I had been told what was expected of me. Unless my mate ended up being an alpha, I was next in line to take over the Glowing Moon Pack. But I hadn't met my mate yet. Being deep in the mountains, we didn't get a lot of other packs over to visit, and we didn't go other places very often either. So sometimes, I really felt stuck.

"April." My mother's groaning voice next to me brought my eyes away from the the peaks and my thoughts reeled back in. I tilted my head and let my arm drop, squinting against the rays of the sun to try and see her face.

"What are you doing over here by yourself?" The question sounded innocent, like she just wanted to check on me. But I knew she was wondering why I hadn't gotten up to get one of the delicious burgers one of our omegas had been grilling, or why I hadn't gotten in the water despite the heat of the air, or why I wasn't trying to talk with any of our pack members.

I groaned right back at her. "Mom, I'm fine. I'm enjoying the tan this sun is going to give me. And I'm not hungry yet." I tilted my head away from her, back to how I was laying before, with a deep breath, I let the warmth of the sun beat down on me.

She sighed, "more like the burn."

I rolled my eyes underneath my forearm. "I don't burn, I freckle."

Her hand patted my leg as she got up, and I resisted the urge to kick it away. "Just don't forget sunscreen, you don't want to burn."

Another reason why I often thought about leaving. Mom often forgot I wasn't a little kid anymore. I was nineteen years old, she should be focusing on May and August! But as long as I was still here, living in this Packhouse, I would still be her child to take care of. Well, I supposed not forever; probably just until I found my mate. But that didn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

When she walked away, I was able to relax again. I tried to tune everything out and just enjoy the heat of the day, but it was so noisy. Splashing from the pool, burgers sizzling on the grill as they got flipped over, shouts of victory as my packmates won some yard toss game, and squeals from the pups running around the lawn as they played tag. All those should be wonderful sounds, sounds of the pack getting together and enjoying themselves. But I was so ready to be alone for the night.

Rolling over, I checked my phone. 3:28 pm: definitely not acceptable to leave yet. Ugh fine. I pushed myself to a sitting position and climbed off the lounger, slipping on my sandals as I went.

I skirted around the edge of the pool, walking along the concrete next to the clumps of lounging chairs. Clicking open the gate, I swung it open and followed the stepping stones to the patio where the grill was in full swing, and very popular. Plopping a round bun on a paper plate, I took a place at the back of the line.

As we moved along, I noticed no one tried to speak with me. They talked to each other, but never directly making conversation with the Alpha's Daughter. Maybe a nod as they passed to acknowledge my presence, but that was it. It took a lot of effort to keep the frown off of my face.

When it was my turn to receive a burger patty, I had to wait for a few extra minutes while the next round finished cooking. The cook — a slightly heavier set omega with sparkling eyes and a constant smile — nodded at me.

"How are you today, Miss April?"

Instantly a smile lifted the corners of my lips. "I'm good, thanks." My response was polite, but not too in depth. I didn't ask how he was, even though my mother wasn't in ear shot as far as I knew.

I despised the rules against the omegas. It wasn't their fault they were born into a low-ranking family. Well, sometimes they're placed there by an act worthy of punishment, but most of those situations ended with the newly turned omega ditching and becoming a rogue.

Out here — as far as I'd heard — in the West, the pack's used their omegas like the Information Volumes read. It's textbook pack hierarchy. But I'd also heard packs in the East, in the Appalachian Mountains and surrounding areas, the omega situations were much more lenient. Less structure, less order, less discriminating against the lower ranks. Another reason I thought about starting somewhere new.

The omegas had only ever been nice to me. Maybe it's because they had to, being at the bottom, but I tried not to think about that. Besides, if that were the case, wouldn't everyone be required to be nice to me? The omegas were extra, they talked to me, at least attempted to make conversation. I appreciated that.

He leaned forward, looking as if he were going to flip the meat on the grill. Instead, he whispered: "I could sneak you inside if you wanted, get you out of the scene."

"Thanks, Jonathon," I told him, his name clicking to my mind at the last second, "but I probably should keep the brave face on and stick it out, yeah?"

He chuckled a deep hearty bubble of a laugh. "I getch'a, I getch'a."

Finally, he scooped a patty on the spatula and slid it between the bread. I thanked him and headed off to the condiments table, slapping pretty much everything on. I added a handful of chips to the side before carrying my plate to the yard. Not feeling like going back to the pool, I plopped myself down on a secluded blanket and started munching, watching the scene around me.

A gaggle of pups, probably around five or six years old, ran around the stretch of grass near me. They were screaming and giggling as one chased all the others around. Their mothers watched on with tired smiles on their faces. I bet they wished they could just lay back and tan, but their maternal she-wolf instinct to watch and protect their young was too overpowering for that.

On the other side of me were two other she-wolves, sitting similar to the first group. Their smiles were bright with excitement as their toddlers waddled around, exploring the grass and giggling like maniacs when they fell to their rumps. One of the she-wolves had been in my class at school when we were freshmen and sophomores. Then she met her mate and already, they had a pup. Just like that.

It was beyond wild to me that if I had met my mate right away at sixteen, I could be just like them. Hanging out with my husband, watching our pup try to navigate the yard on unstable, chubby little legs. Instead, I was here alone, watching them watch the children.

I liked to play a game of blaming genetics. I didn't even shift until I was seventeen, something that was rare — practically unheard of — especially for a pup of alpha bloodlines. What was even crazier, was that I wasn't even the right species! A late shifter, and not a wolf. What odds.

We were not even sure if it was a genetic thing. There wasn't a way to tell until at least next year, when August was due to shift. I'd tried researching about myself, about anyone else that could be like me. But the Information Volumes and the Alpha Databases only hold so much. If it had never been heard of before, it wouldn't show up in either.

Another reason why I wanted a change in scenery: going East meant being closer to the Royals. Maybe I could find answers about who I am, about what I am.

Sighing, I brushed the crumbs off my fingers and placed my phone on my empty plate, to prevent it from blowing away. Then I laid down on the quilt and let my eyes close as I stayed deep in thought. The peacefulness of the mountain breeze calming me as it seemed to swirl from every direction.

When I blinked open my eyes, the noise was gone, only a few distant shouts could be heard. I shot into a sitting position, seeing my phone next to me on the blanket and the plate gone. At first, I was nervous it did in fact blow away, but then I noticed the scurrying activity of omegas picking up trash and blankets and towels as they swept across the yard. The sun had sunk below the mountain peaks, making the air a lot cooler and sky three times darker. An outline of orange can be seen over the western hills but it was the only emission of light.

I scrambled to my feet and picked up the blanket I had been lying on. I folded it neatly just as a petite omega appeared at my side. She held out her hands silently, telling me to give the blanket to her.

"It's okay, I can take it in." I told her gently. Ignoring my words, she took the quilt from me anyway and I rolled my eyes. "Okay fine, then at least let me help in other ways." I scanned the yards, "I could put away that game for you."

"April," the girl said quietly, "that's not your job."

I shrugged. "I don't care. I have nothing better to do anyway."

She sighed, but Finlae knew me well enough not to protest further. She stalked off with the blanket and let me start packing the plastic poles and string-tied golf balls into the protective black case. The second it was zipped up, Finlae was there to grab it from me. I opened my mouth to protest but the look she gave me made me drop it. With a low growl under my breath, I passed her the case and she darted off with it.

When I started searching for something else to help with, Finlae returned and caught my eye. She shook her head with the tiniest of smiles. "April." She advised, "Why don't you go for a run, release some energy and stay outside until dark. I can tell you don't want to go in."

She was right. I didn't. But I also didn't mind helping the omegas either. She stared in my eyes, a bold move for most omegas, but I never let the "rules" prevent her from looking me in the eyes. Finally submitting — ironically — I turned away and jogged off to the treeline.

The border of pine and spruce trees made for well-developed cover. On this side, you could barely see in, and on the inside, you could barely see the Packhouse. With a deep breath full of peace, I stepped into the trees and shifted.