It's been 10 years since I have been back home. Ten years since I have seen my family, my best friend, and my pack. Video chat isn't the same but it is all I have been able to manage all these years. Going home in the beginning was impossible. After a few years I just enjoyed my life and the company of my friends. I knew I would go back home eventually. I just needed to build the courage to face those I left behind.
My best friend growing up, Asher, has been begging me the last 5 months to come home. He found his mate 2 years ago and they are having their first pup. I have only met Celeste over video chat but I already feel like we have been friends all our lives. She was from a neighboring pack and met Ash when she visited with a friend.
I remember when Asher called me, he was so excited. I could barely understand him, it all came out so rushed. I was so happy things were working out for him though. Despite my past heartache I could never begrudge him his happiness with his fated mate. We all deserved that chance, it just didn't always work out.
He is now the pack Alpha. His dad retired 3 years ago. Ash insisted he needed time to get used to being the next Alpha so he refused the role at 21. He wasn't groomed all his life to be the next in line. He wasn't supposed to be Alpha, his brother Jeremy was next in line, but 10 years ago everything changed in what felt like the blink of an eye.
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10 Years Ago
Growing up in the Dark Hollows Pack was great. My father was the Beta and my oldest brother Jacob was the future Beta. My middle brother Brock and I didn't have to worry about growing up with the responsibilities Jacob did, we were much more carefree. Of course being the Beta's kids we lived in the pack house and grew up with the Alpha's sons.
Jeremy and Jacob were best friends. They were born 2 months apart and our moms became like sisters while they were pregnant with them. Since our fathers had been best friends since they were 5 it made sense for mom and Luna Claire to get close. Brock was two years younger than Jacob and I was right behind him a year later. Asher came along right between me and Brock.
It was almost like mom and Luna Claire planned their pregnancies this way just to be sure all of us kids were close. It worked out because the 5 of us were always together when we were little. I was the only girl so I had 4 protectors. One time Marcus, the Delta's nephew, told me girls were stupid and shoved me into the lake.
Jeremy and Brock saw him and before Marcus could get a head start my four protectors tackled him and beat him up. I never saw the four of them so mad. Our parents scolded the boys for fighting but once we were all at the pack house they were praised for protecting me. We were the Alpha and Beta's kids, we had to behave in a particular way in front of the pack. The pack had to see they didn't raise wild pups.
Jeremy and Asher were both over protective of me until I was 11 and then Jeremy started pushing me away and didn't want me hanging around him and Jacob anymore. Jacob never fought him over it. I don't know if he knew what was going on but if he did he never said anything to me. He just made sure we spent time together.
I was hurt but I didn't like to think about it. I would just cry and wonder what I did to make him hate me. I still had Asher and Sebastian. Bash was a fellow pack member that I made friends with in second grade and forced him to hang out with us. It worked out because he and Ash got along great. Brock spent more of his time with Jacob and Jeremy. He wanted to be part of their group. Hanging out with your little sister just wasn't the cool thing to do.
Asher, Bash and I were always together. We always got into minor trouble, but nothing that angered the Alpha. Usually it was from being too wild in the pack house and accidentally breaking an insignificant decoration. The boys thought I was a great target for their wrestling moves. My dad once caught Asher holding me in the air ready to body slam me on the couch cushions we drug onto the floor. I had never seen anyone turn such a dark shade of red.
When Bash and I were 15 his family moved to a different pack. His mother wanted to move back to her mom's pack. He didn't really know his grandmother. She and his mom were never close. He wasn't sure what really brought on the move but he had to go too.
Here I was heartbroken. I had a crush on Bash for a few years but I never told him. I was scared he would make fun of me. I felt like he just saw me as one of the boys. Fear kept me silent. I had already been hated by one person I cared about, I couldn't bear to be hated by another. I just could not take that chance.
After Bash and his family left I ran to the little lake in the forest. It was in the middle of a clearing on pack land and no one really went there. My brothers and I always ended up there when we were sad or hiding from everyone else. When we were little we always took cookies and ran to the lake to eat them without being caught. Mom didn't like us sneaking sweets before dinner, hiding at the lake kept it a secret. It was our safe place.
