Mellisa's POV

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The annoying sound floods my ears as I gain consciousness.

Where am I?

The last thing I remember is that the rogues seem to have caught up with me.

I slowly pry my eyes open, gradually adjusting to the brightness. I have tubes attached to my chest and arms. It seems I'm at a clinic or something.

I slowly sat up in order to get a better view of where I was.

"Selena, are you okay?" I called out.

"Yes! I was so worried. But I'm glad you're okay." She answers at the back of my mind.

"Well, we have a lot to catch up on. Like why have you just appe...."

The sound of the door knob twisting open, distracts me from our conversation. A tall black haired woman sashays in, her heels clicking on the ground.

She gives me a beautiful smile and stands beside me.

I pull back slightly weary of the bulky female just by me.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Freda. How are you doing this morning?"

"Ermmm, I'm fine. Just a bit of pain. Where am I?" I asked in apprehension.

"You're at the Octavuis pack infirmary, you were brought in unconscious."

"How long have I been out for?"

"About one month. You scared us a bit."

A pull in a sharp gasp, "What? That was long."

She then checks my vitals and backs up writing something on her pad.

"Everything seems really good. You'll be out of here before you know it."

Her eyes then went unfocused for a while it would seem she is mindlinking someone.

"I just told the Alpha and Luna that you're awake. But, you need a lot of rest, I'll leave you to it."

She spins and walks towards the door, then takes a pause. "If you need anyone just press on the red button by your bed." With this she twists the door knob and walks out.

I take a deep breath and put my head against my pillow. The Octavuis pack are known for their ruthlessness towards rogues, why then are they being kind to me?

"Not all things are as they seem, Mellisa," Selena mutters in my head.

"What do you mean?"

"Sometimes we judge books by their covers. You of all people should know how wrong that turns out most of the time."

I nod in acknowledgement. "I was about to ask why you never showed up until now."

She sighs and says, "This is why."

"What do you mean?"

"Your body couldn't take it if I had appeared, you might have died. That's why you were unconscious for so long."

"Oh, now I understand. I know young wolves at the pack were exhausted after their first shift but I was shocked at the length of time I was out."

"You are special, Mellisa. It's sad that the members of our pack and even our mate didn't realize that fact."

A sharp pain shoots through my chest at the thought. So much has happened, what I need to do now is to get past it. I don't know how though.

"You are not alone anymore, Mel. Can I call you that?"

It feels so good to have someone by me. I don't really care what she calls me.

"I don't mind. In fact, no one has called me that since Mom died."

"You are much more than you can ever imagine. Don't let anyone make you feel any different."

"Thank you, Selena. I'm so happy you came into my life."

"You know there's one more reason why I made my presence known."

"What would that be?"

"You know you don't have to speak out loud right? I can hear your thoughts even. And to answer your question, it's a surprise."

"Come on, I don't like surprises. Tell me." I say with anticipation.

My eyes droop slightly, my body suddenly feels so heavy.

"Sleep well, Mel. We'll talk later, when you're well rested."

***

Low voices fill my ears as my eyes slip open. The voices sound clear now that I'm awake.

"Hello, there. How are you feeling?" A sweet feminine voice resounds beside me.

I turn my face to the right side of my bed. A beautiful curly brown haired with hazel eyes had a soft smile on her face. She seems to be in her 40's.

I shoot upright, pressing my back against the wall away from her.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Mona the Luna of this pack." She gestures towards a large middle-aged man built like a tree.

"That is my mate, Dave the Alpha of the Octavuis pack." He gives me a simple nod. His aura is so strong, I've hardly felt anything like this before.

"How are you feeling, my dear. You gave us quite the scare." She says soothingly.

"I...I'm fine, thank you." I stutter.

"I'm glad to hear that. You're safe, Fred here was the first to see you at the border and brought you to safety." She nods towards a man by the door.

He throws me a goofy smile. "Lucky for you, my handsome self was at the borders. You gave those rogues a run for their money."

I chuckle softly at his playful demeanour, it seems this isn't so bad.

"Well, what's your name?"

"I'm Mellisa. Mellisa Wright." I answered after a short while.

"Where are you from, Mellisa? A young shewolf as yourself shouldn't be on unclaimed territory especially at that time of the day."

Fear grips me. I don't know whether to tell the truth or not. If I tell them I'm banished they'd definitely think I'm some trouble maker.

"Mellisa, did you hear me?" She asks, staring at me intently.

"Yes. Ermmmmm, my mate rejected me and errrrmmmm yeah that's it."

"Are you sure that's all?"

"Selena, what do I do?" I ask my wolf.

"Tell them the truth, if they don't want us we can likewise leave." She answers with conviction.

"I was also banished." I say, closing my eyes, waiting to see their reaction.

"What crime did you commit?" Alpha Dave gently nudges his mate away from me. I would have also done that.

"I was accused of betraying the pack. But I didn't do it, I promise. It was all a mistake. My mate wouldn't believe me so he rejected me and banished me."

"What pack are you from?" Alpha Dave asks.

"The Red Crescent."

"That's not too far from here, your mate should be the Alpha then since he had the right to banish you." He then turns towards Fred. "Do the needful."

"On it, Alpha." Fred then walks out of the room shutting the door behind him.

I nod briefly at his assertion. The Luna is staring at me with an expression I can't discern.

"How did you run into the rogues, last night?" The Alpha continues. This is more like an interrogation.

But I don't blame them at all, this is kind compared to how the Red Crescent treats rogues.

"I ran into three rogues not long after being chased off my pack lands. I was able to escape but it seems they called back up. Thank you for saving my life."

"It's okay. In fact I feel we'll get along quite well." Luna Mona reaches out and holds my hands in hers.

For the first time since I got here, I broke down and my loud sobs filled the room. Everything was so overwhelming and this is the first time someone showed me care in a long time.

The Luna pulls me in and holds me to her chest. "Let it out, sweetie. You'll be alright."

My sobs die down to little whimpers. Her hands gradually move up and down.

A knock on the door makes me pull away from her.

"Come in, Freda."

The door knob twists and she walks in. Her steps inch closer to my bed. She stands right by me.

"Good evening Alpha," She bows slightly in respect. "Luna," she bows again towards the Luna.

"Well the test results are out and it would seem you're right, Luna." Dr. Freda says giving the Alpha couple a look.

"Can I go ahead and tell her?"

"Go ahead, Freda."

She then drops the bomb on me.

"Mellisa, you're pregnant."

Four years later

Mellisa's POV

So much has changed since after the rejection.

A knock resounds outside my door, pulling me from my reverie. I can make out the sweet voice of my son and my good friend, Fred.

"Why, we can't gwo in?" My baby, Gift questions, Fred with a cute voice. His little grammatical mistakes make him so adorable.

A sweet smile lingers on my lips at his cuteness. My feet hit the wooden floor lightly as I walked towards them to open the door.

"Because Mom might be busy in her office." Fred answers him, just as the door swings open.

My son's face lit up and his arms opened wide. "Momy!!! I've missed you sooooo much."

I chuckle lightly, picking him up from Fred's arms. I wrap my arms around him. "I've missed you much more my sweet love."

"How was your day with your Uncle Daddy?" I ask, my son insists on calling Fred "Uncle Daddy."

"It was beautiful, Ma. I play shoccer with him and ate lots and lots of ice-cream, too."

I give Fred a look, he stares everywhere but at me. He clears his throat at my son.

Gift's eyes widen in realization. "Ooops, Mom I didn't have any ice-cream, just a little."

"Fred, we'll talk about this later." Then I give my son a stern look, "No lying to Mama, and it's soccer baby not shoccer."

His eyes sparkled with mischief. "Yes, Mom. Never again." He is my little 'carbon copy', looks just like me in every way. Even if he didn't I wouldn't love him any less.

"You little devil, your Uncle Daddy has made you so full of mischief." I say tickling him silly.

"Fred, can you call Aiden over? I need to discuss with him what was discussed in the Alpha's Council today."

"You can't mindlink him?"

"Nope it would seem that he is blocking me out. Since he found his mate two weeks ago. He's been a fool for love."

We laugh out loud. "Who would have thought," he said and walked towards the door.

"Please take him with you, I have so much work left on my desk." I say passing my son over to him.

"Sure thing, Alpha." Fred carried my son and walked out.

I settle on my desk and begin to work on my stack of papers.

"Can I come in, Alpha?" My Beta, Aiden asks me using the mindlink.

I drop my pen on my desk and lean back against my chair.

"Ofcourse, lover boy."

My door knob twists open and he steps in. His chocolate eyes meet mine with a soft smile playing on his lips.

"Alpha, you wouldn't let me hear the last of this, would you?"

"Not at all, 'Mr. I can never do this for love', is all over his mate."

He shakes his head at me. "You wanted updates before we have a meeting with the Council of Elders in our pack and neighbouring Alpha, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. You're no fun at all. Go ahead and give me the updates."

"Well as you know our world is in complete chaos, the rogues are more powerful than ever."

"Yes I know that, go ahead."

"Well the Council of Alphas saw a need for us all to coorporate so as to reduce the severity of the aftermath of the attacks."

"What exactly did they propose, Aiden?" I ask, getting impatient.

"They would like us larger packs to help those attacked."

"And? How would we do that? We are already giving materials and lending some of our warriors to packs that were attacked."

He sighs and says, "I know but it would seem like we have more packs in our world, Meldova, that are attacked than those that are still standing strong."

I heave a sigh and bite my bottom lip in deep thought. This little habit is one of the few things I've found hard to beat.

"So what are they saying?"

"They wrote down names of packs and made us pick them randomly. So whichever you pick, must be helped by you."

"I just hope this will soon be over. We need to think of something fast to overrun the rogues. Because if we continue at this rate we may never be able to salvage the situation."

"Wouldn't you like to know the pack I picked, Alpha?"

I kiss my teeth. "That's not important for now. What we need is to think of strategic ways of preventing the rogues from penetrating."

"Truly, last night they got too close."

"Yes, they did. Truly, I'm so scared, old friend. I don't know if I'm worthy of this position, but my father passed it to me."

Aiden stares at me thoughtfully. He was always a good listener in our clique of friends.

"Never let those thoughts get in your head. You've done a lot, so much. You have been able to successfully keep the rogues out no matter how they try penetrating."

"I just...."

A knock pulls us from our conversation.

"Come in." I answer.

My father, the former Alpha Dave is the first to step in with several Elders of the pack in tow.

An attack happened yesterday, one of our warriors was severely injured. The rogues had somehow pulled him away from his team and attacked.

"Take your seats, Elders." My voice booms round the room.

They all take their seats in my spacious office space. My father gives me a sweet smile and an encouraging nod. It means so much to me.

"Gentlemen and ladies, I called for an emergency meeting so we can discuss two things."

"First the attack yesterday and the fact that we have another pack to tend to." I finish staring round the room.

"Does anyone have anything to say?"

Elder Monica clears her throat and says, "We need to add warriors by the borders and also we need to change the formation of our warriors."

"You're right. It would seem that the rogues had it all figured out."

I then lean forward slightly. "Which makes me wonder how they got to find out." I barely spare a glance.

"Are you implying something, Alpha?" The ever annoying Elder Thomas says in his strangled voice.

"Ofcourse not Elder, I wouldn't dare."

"I feel like we should also be unpredictable and have a backup plan. They will be back and we all know it. In fact much more reinforced." My Father, Dave intercepts knowing about how I and Elder Thomas never got along.

"We'll be ready."

Aiden then clears his throat and says. "We should place all wolves from age twelve to at least learn basic defense, so even our young can protect themselves."

"Also training will be more rigorous. We need it to survive. We would also build walls around our territory for extra precaution" I say to back his opinion up.

"Now let's tackle the issue of helping the pack." I then turn towards Aiden. "How large is this pack and what is the number of those strong enough to fight and work?"

He takes out a piece of paper from his jeans, his eyes skim through it then he places it down.

"Well the thing is we have a pack of a hundred and fifty. About a hundred can still work and fight."

My head tilts in confusion. "They are much more than I thought. Why couldn't they ward off the attack."

"From what I heard the rogues were so much and outnumbered them, it seems like they were hell bent on destroying the pack house and other structures."

"I see. What about the Alpha?"

"The rogues thought they had killed him but he was just severely injured. He is fine now though scarred."

"That's rather sad. Well hope he is still coming over today so we can make final arrangements. Our pack house has more than enough space."

Aiden's eyes glaze over for some moments. He was definitely mindlinking someone.

He then gives me a long stare. "Fred just informed me that the Alpha is on pack grounds. Should I give them the order to bring him in?"

"Yes, that will be just perfect since the Elders are even here."

His eyes glazed over for a bit then he refocused on me.

"You're staring at me, should I be worried?" I ask Aiden through the mindlink.

"No, Alpha. Just keep your mind open okay?"

"O..okay." I stress, why is my Beta suddenly acting strange?

"Elders, we will just wait for a minute so our guest will join us in no time."

A faint familiar scent reaches my nostrils, I shake my head so it'll fade off. It kept getting close and strong though.

A faint knock distracts me for a moment. "Alpha can we come on?" Fred asks from out the door.

"Come in."

Fred walks in and I freeze completely, eyes bulge out in shock at the sight of who is behind him.

Adam's POV

"Mate, Mate is here." My wolf growls in my head in anticipation.

My eyes skim round the office we stepped into in search of her.

I trip slightly in disbelief at the sight in front of me. My mate, more beautiful than ever, is right in front of me.

Her eyes turned cold once they met mine. "Welcome, Alpha Adam," the former Alpha Dave calls out.

I heard he passed the title down to his foster daughter, it would seem she took right after her, Dad. The rogues have been unable to pass their borders.

"Thank you, Sir. This means so much to my pack and I."

He gestures towards an empty seat. "Take a seat, we have a lot to talk about."

My back feels stiff. I peer around and it seems as if certain persons were staring at me with hostility.

I take the seat and focus on my mate.

"Adam, I'd like you to meet my princess and Alpha, Mellisa Wright Woods."

I take in a sharp breath in utter shock. How?

"W...wow, eeeeermmmm. T..that's great."

I turn my gaze towards my mate, the one I rejected.

"Get mate," my wolf all but screams in the back of my mind.

I shut my eyes, my wolf is pushing forward. He's been silent and distant for the past four years. Since after I rejected her, Daruis, my wolf has been distant from me.

I am trying to force him to go to the back of my mind.

"Alpha Adam, are you okay?" The former Alpha voices his concern though with an unfamiliar feeling lingering beneath.

"Yes Sir, I'm fine." I answer with gritted teeth.

"Perfect. Let's begin then."

"Well, let's move on." My mate then stands up and walks off to a large round wooden table, where there's a map of our world, Meldova, spread out.

"Please join me." Her voice resounds round the room, authority seeping from every word.

Several loud footsteps fill the room, bulky figures crowd the large space. We all walk in a file surrounding her.

"What are the red crosses all over the map?" A middle-aged woman asks in curiosity.

"Well since we are all here. The spaces on the map marked red have been overrun by the rogues." She continues, raw power resonates off her.

What happened to her? She is so different from the sweet and timid Mellisa I knew. Deep down a small part of me wants to believe that she was innocent of the allegations of infidelity but the issue is that all the evidence pointed at her being guilty.

"That's a huge land mass, almost as large as ours." An older man noted.

Now that I actually take a good look at it, the rogues are gaining too much ground. Shame covers me as my own pack grounds have the red mark.

"We need to contact the Council of Alphas. Something needs to be done to push the rogues back or else it won't be good in a few months." Aiden, my mate's Beta states thoughtfully.

It would seem that my mate just noticed this, since her eyes widened at the realization.

My eyes couldn't get off her, she looks almost ethereal. How didn't I see this earlier when we were together? It would seem like I was covered with so much anger that it blinded me.

"Yes, it would be important." She answers him then turns to me. "Most importantly, Alpha Adam, we would like to give our old pack house to your pack."

She then skims through the map and points at a dot that is a part of her lands.

"This is the old pack house at the northern bank. It is serene and so far the safest part of the pack lands."

She then proceeds to say.

"We have around a hundred and eighty rooms. It's built like a fortress and very spacious, you can move in a week."

"Thank you very much, Mellisa. This means so much to my pack and I." I say in appreciation, this is too good to be true.

Her cold gaze meets my warm eyes.

"It's Alpha Mellisa to you. Do well to remember." The spite in her voice makes me stumble on my words.

"I made the decision so that your pack can have a level of autonomy at least as long as we have them here, and a safe space for kids to grow."

That was the mate I knew. Always caring and going the extra mile for others. Even when I pushed her off it never took her kindness away.

"Thank you Alpha Mellisa. This means a lot to us. We can never repay you."

She then gives me a short nod and walks to her table.

"Well, the meeting is adjourned for two weeks. Gentlemen have a great day."

She then takes her seat. I took the chance and sat facing her.

Everyone stood to leave, I remained seated. We need to talk, I don't know what about but we do.

Former Alpha Dave, gave me a once over and walked towards. "Alpha Adam you should be on your way, the meeting is up." He seethes dropping every form of courtesy.

My wolf riles at the threat, who dares come between my mate and I.

"I would like to have a talk with the Alpha, Sir," I said.

"How dare you......"

"Dad, it's fine. I'll be alright, I'm a big girl remember." Mellisa's sweet voice says to lessen the tension.

A full blown smile plays on my lips. I've been an empty shell without her, even with the betrayal.

He hesitates a little then says with completely black eyes. "She's my baby, Adam. I may have let you in my pack in one piece for courtesy sake. But you won't be so lucky again." He then stalks out.

I can sense him right outside the door. In fact there are around six people outside the office door.

She shifts her eyes from his retreating back to me. "What do you want, Alpha Adam?" Her face contorted in a sneer.

"What happened to you, Mellisa? First, you're an Alpha, the last time I checked you didn't even have a wolf."

Her expression turned icy. "I can see you have nothing reasonable to talk about, Alpha."

"You should leave now, and close the door behind you."

A growl passes through my lips at her arrogance. I'm a freaking Alpha and would not condone disrespect.

She raises a brow at me, "Look, Adam you rejected me, so let's leave things the way they are. If someone deserves to be mad it should be me."

Burning fury raged through me. "You betrayed me and our bond, pretending to be a naive little girl. All so you could weave into my heart and rip it right out. Banishment was out of the kindness of my heart."

She didn't utter a word, just picked herself up and walked out of the office.

I stood up and moved with large strides so I could meet up with her.

"Is your guilt eating you up enough?" I voice after her.

I was so lost in my anger that I didn't notice a small figure approaching my mate.

"Mom, I was waiting for you." A little voice echoes in the hallway.

A sharp gasp escapes my lips.