Chapter 2

Dakota POV:

I cannot sleep. I toss and turn. All I can think about is my father and why he would suddenly decide that he no longer wants Alpha Odin to be our Alpha after all this time. WHY? I have cried until I cannot cry anymore. My mother is silent in her worry.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

Someone is here. Please let my father be alive. I sit on the side of the bed and listen. I hear my mother rush to the front door. Silence. Nothing but silence. I cannot take it anymore. I go to my bedroom door and open it as quietly as possible. I peek out to see my mother talking to another wolf, Beta Markus. Our eyes meet.

"Come here, Dakota," Beta Markus commands me. I step out of my room and join my mother at the door. Beta Markus touches my shoulder to console me.

"What happened?" my mother asks as if she doesn’t know. Beta Markus is here to deliver the news, and we both know it must terrible news. If my father had won the challenge, a wolf would not be at our door.

"Jacob challenged Alpha Odin tonight and died during the challenge. He is dead to us and no longer exists. The two of you are free to stay so long as you stay in line and do not cause any trouble. Alpha Odin holds no resentment toward either of you. Jacob will never be mentioned again," Beta Markus says.

My mother drops to her knees and begins to cry.

"What about his body? His funeral?" I ask.

"There will be none of that. Your father challenged our Alpha. Now he is dead to us. I am sorry, Dakota," Beta Markus says.

Beta Markus looks at me in a way that lets me know he is sorry. He looks pained, but he is also doing his job. I’m sure that after tonight, whatever problem there is with Alpha Odin, he probably thinks no one will stop him now. My father was a warrior, and if Alpha Odin defeated him, no one would dare challenge him for the pack leadership now. There is no other wolf as strong as my father.

As Beta Markus shifts and begins to run back toward the packhouse, I notice other wolves with him, which is very curious. Why bring extra wolves to deliver a death notice? What did Alpha Odin think would happen, and why would Beta Markus need backup? I will ask Koda about it when I see him.

My mother is distraught. I help her to her feet and put my arms around her as I walk her to her bedroom. "I don’t want to go in there. I can smell your father. How could he do this to us?" she cries out.

"Come with me," I say to her. I take her to my bedroom and put her in my bed. I cover her up and kiss her on the forehead. She rolls over on her side and screams.

"This cannot be happening! We will be mocked and shunned by the pack!" my mother screams. She is not distraught over what happened to my father; she is worried about how other wolves will see us. I don’t care what other wolves think. I only want to know why and how this happened.

I turn out the light and go into the living room. I grab a blanket off my father's chair and curl up on the couch. I am not sure how to deal with this. I touch the moonstone necklace my father gave me and let out a howl to try to relieve some of the pain growing in my body. Daddy, how could you? Why did you do this?

I wake up with the sun beaming onto my face through the front window.

"You are going to be late for school, Dakota," my mother shouts at me. She is in the kitchen cooking breakfast. I get up and fold my blanket before placing it back on my father's chair.

"I thought I would stay home today and help you around the house. I did not sleep much anyway," I say.

My mother slams the pan down on the stove. She is angrier than that time when I was seven years old and wrote on her antique dresser. "You will get dressed, and you will go to school. Were you deaf last night? Beta Markus said we have to stay in line and not cause trouble. So, you get ready and go to school. Make sure you don’t mention your father to anyone, or else, Dakota, I will shun you from this pack myself."

I step away from her. She is angry, but not with me. I am the only one here to catch her hatred. "Yes, Mother, I’m sorry," I say as I go to my room to get dressed.

I pull some clothes out of the dresser. When I turn around, my mother is standing there looking at me. "I’m sorry. I should not have talked to you that way, but I’m hurt, and I’m not sure how to handle all of this. Everyone will treat you differently today, so be prepared. Especially Koda. He may not love you anymore after this fiasco," my mother says.

I shake my head. "There is no way. Koda loves me. We are to be married soon. He would never turn his back on me," I say joyfully. The pain on my mother's face as she turns to leave is dreadful.

"I hope you’re right, Dakota," my mother says. She closes the door. I bundle up my clothes and sit down on the side of the bed. What if she’s right?

I pull myself together, and after a few deep breaths, I put on my clothes and get ready for school. I sit on the side of my bed thinking for several moments. My mother comes into my room. "Dakota, you have to go," she says.

I get up, grabbing my backpack as I leave my bedroom. I throw it over my shoulder and walk out of the house. "You will be fine. You are a strong wolf," my mother says, but her voice says something different. In her voice, I hear fear. If she is so worried about me, then why is she sending me to school?

I slowly walk to school. Usually, Koda would meet me about halfway, but he is not waiting for me when I reach the halfway point. My mother was right; Koda is angry with me. I will talk to him when I get to school. I will explain to him that my mother and I did not know about the challenge until the last minute and that I love him and that…how will I tell him without mentioning my father?

I walk the rest of the way to school thinking about how to fix things with Koda and my friends. If Koda hates me, then they will all hate me. There has to be a way to keep my life as normal as possible. No, there isn’t. All anyone will think of me now is that I’m a traitor to the pack. My father is a traitor, not me. But I don’t even believe that. My father was not a traitor. That is one thing I know: if he challenged Alpha Odin, he had a reason.

I get to school, and no one is outside talking or socializing. I’m not late yet. Usually, everyone is outside talking, but not today. I take a deep breath and go up the steps into the school. I open the big metal door, and there’s dead silence. No one is talking, nothing. Everyone in the hall is standing at their lockers just looking at me like I have chickenpox or some contagious disease.

I walk to my locker, and everyone turns their back to me. They won’t even look at me. I want to cry, but I refuse to give them my tears. They are supposed to be my friends, my classmates, and they are treating me this way on the day after my father was killed. It should not matter how he died. What matters is I’m hurting, and I need my friends.

I get to my locker. All the wolves that are by my locker scatter when I get close to them. No one wants to talk to me or be near me. I open my locker to get my books for the first period when someone hits the locker beside me with a loud bang. I look over to see Koda.

"Koda," I say joyfully. I put my arms around him, but he pushes me away. The same silent crowd erupts into laughter.

"Stay away from me, traitor. Our wedding is off. I reject you as my mate," Koda yells in front of everyone.

I crumble to the floor as all the wolves who are supposed to be my friends walk around me, laughing at me and my pain. The bell rings, and everyone makes their way to class. I finish getting my books and try to pull myself together.

"Dakota," I hear a voice calling to me. I turn to see the student counselor, Mrs. Berry, with a new student.

"Can you show him to class? Akela is in all of your classes, so if you could help me out by showing him around, that would be great," Mrs. Berry says.

I wipe the tears from my face and put on a smile. "I would be happy to help you out, Mrs. Berry," I say. At least she is still speaking to me. She probably doesn’t know about what happened last night yet.