The Game Of Quadruplet Mates
Chapter 45

When I try to think about my childhood, I come up blank. The memories I have are all about the farm land but nothing before that. It was strange now that I realize it. Because I do not know why it's blank and I never really questioned it, but now with my 'mother' saying that she was never my mother in the first place and that I was some prisoner, I cannot really fathom it.

Because I have no memory of a time before the woods.

There was nothing but darkness.

But maybe that's all there was.

Darkness.

Maybe she did have me locked somewhere with no memory of anything but just the dark and nothing else.

"Don't lie." Ajax laughed cruelly at my mother- at this woman, tightening his grip on her neck. "Don't try to spin us with a story about my mate."

The woman, though pale and gasping for breath, merely smiled as if she knew something that we all don't know and this fills me with even more dread.

It was Jeremy that spoke up. "She never lies. She doesn't have a reason to."

When Jeremy turned, he was looking at me in awe, like I was some special thing he cannot believe, but I still couldn't wrap my head around this. Surely, this isn't true. Surely, this is all just another one of their games.

But the look on Jeremy's face said otherwise.

That all she was saying was true and I am a daughter of some old city pack Alpha... it didn't make any sense. Wasn't I just some poor girl left in the woods? How can I be anyone but that? When that's all I've ever been? That's all I've ever known? "You're the rightful Alpha of the city pack." He whispers to me. "All of this is yours. You're the true Alpha."

I felt like I might throw up or pass out. Maybe both.

But as I saw Ajax's squeezing harder on her neck, I replace myself approaching him, touching his arm gently. "They have Larissa. Please."

Ajax didn't immediately stop, not when the woman who had all caused us pain was already here, in front of us, within his fingertips, but I know how well they keep their threats and I wasn't about to risk Larissa.

"Please, Ajax." I begged, staring up at him. "They have my friend. Are we going to let them take another life from us?"

He lets go but he doesn't do it kindly, throwing her down the ground roughly.

The woman smiles tauntingly. "This is why it's so easy to win against all of you. With your weaknesses exposed, you're nothing. You all allow yourself to be nothing."

We all watched her go, walking away with her army as she hackled. The sound was like a punch to my chest and when she disappeared into the shadows, I found myself losing control of my knees and I fell to the ground. "June," Ajax had his arms on me before I could blink. "June, come to the tent-"

"Who am I?" I whispered with a shaky breath. "I don't... I don't know what's happening. I don't know who I am. I'm so lost."

He takes me by the chin. "You're my June. That will never change."

I try to shrug him off- absolutely disgusted with myself, but I'm too weak and he's too strong, keeping me in his arms like I was the most precious thing. "But I'm from the city pack. Did you hear? Your mate is one of them." The amber of his eyes never wavers. "That doesn't make you like them."

"I don't know what to think." My vision blurs with tears but I blink them away. "I just want them gone. All of them."

Ajax pulls me up and wraps me in a tight embrace. "And they will be. Every single one of them. I'll make sure of it."

But I was them.

Wasn't I?

A city pack.

All this time.

"June,"

It was Jeremy, inching closer to us. He glanced at Ajax apprehensively and when Ajax nodded, he approached.

"I do not know much about the old Alpha, but I know he was a good man and his mate was even better." He explains to me. "Do not ever think that my family is the definition of the city pack. The city pack used to be respectable, fair and true. A bustling place of life where everyone was welcome. They stole that from your father, taking everything he worked hard on and creating this monstrosity of a pack."

"I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, Jeremy." I started, but Jeremy didn't let me finish.

He shakes his head. "No. I'm not trying to make you feel better. I'm telling you the truth. The old Alpha was fit to be a King. His fur was gold and his deeds were of a kind heart."

But I only had one father in my heart and he raised me all on his own, even if I wasn't really his. He took me from the woods and tried his best to make life easier for me, even when it made his life harder.

And as I looked around and saw him to the side, a small man amongst strong warriors, I couldn't help but detach myself from Ajax and Jeremy to run to him. He immediately opens his arms for me, catching me in them and pulling me close.

This time, when tears prickled my eyes, I let them fall.

He wasn't the strongest man in the world but he did make me feel safe... loved.

My father didn't speak for awhile, keeping me in his arms as I let out my frustration, my confusion and how I felt like the world had tipped over.

I don't know how long I cried, how long I shook, but when I finally stopped, he brushed my hair back and wiped away my tears.

"Don't think about what that monster said. It doesn't matter." He tells me softly, lovingly, proudly. "You know who you are. You're the Luna of the nameless pack, the mate to the greatest Alpha there ever was and my daughter. Isn't that enough? Isn't that all you need to know?"

My father always knew the right words to say because the tears stopped as he said this, my resolve strengthened.

He nods encouragingly upon seeing this. "Don't let whatever she said put you down. Everything else can be handled after, when your friend is safe and when these monsters are permanently put to sleep."

After he wiped the last of my tears, I turned and faced Ajax and Jeremy, who were both waiting for me where I had left them. "What's the plan? How are we going to end this?"

When I was younger and I dared to think about my future, what it would be like for me, I did not once think it would be this; circled around a map of the city pack, surrounded by the most powerful people in the werewolf world with my mate right in the middle of it. I thought I would live the rest of my days as an unmated girl on the farm lands, working until the day I die, working for the pack because I was another unsuccessful, unmated girl that burdened the Alpha. Never this. Never watching the strong Beta Jeremy scribbled notes on the map, remembering his time in the city pack and pointing out routes and other things. Never thinking that one day I would be watching the strongest Alpha in the world, my mate, Ajax and his Delta moving around pieces on the map, discussing plans of attack.

I watched it all with wide eyes because this can't possibly be my life.

But it was also incredible.

Who else could say they were here when the destruction of the city pack was being discussed?

"They've closed all sewer lines." Jeremy informs the group. "Bad sanitation and hygiene but perfect to keep everything secure. I can't think of any other way through the borders without being detected."

"There is one other way."

The voice that spoke was unfamiliar to the group, but as he limped forward, I couldn't help but smile. "Konstantin! You're okay!"

Konstantin winced, giving me his best smile, but it didn't quite reach his face, the pain he felt clear and loud. "There's a spot on the borders that is unreachable to everyone, mind link wise, because it sits above a silver mine. If we are to pass by there, the Alpha won't know about it until we're upon him."

"How can we trust this man?" One of Ajax's men grumbles under his breath. "He could be leading us into a trap. If there is a silver mine under that border, then we will be weakened. A perfect chance to have us ambushed and killed."

"You have no reason to trust me." Konstantin nodded understandingly. "But I also know the city pack better than Jeremy and my information is more up to date. I've been... tortured and raped in that pack until June saved me. I watched as they killed my parents and watched more as my parents were hanged to rot in a room that they kept me in. You have every right to doubt me, but I am here having every right to make them suffer like they have made me suffer. If you let me, I have valuable information on all of them, so please let me, because I want them gone just as much as everyone here does."

Everyone turns to Ajax, who has kept his eyes on the map the entire time. I know Ajax hates Konstantin and the last thing he wanted was to entertain such an unstable man, but he nods. "Tell me more about the silver mines."

And so the planning began once more with Konstantin adding notes to what Jeremy wrote and it was odd to see them together. They spoke and worked, analyzing the area together. Jeremy would ask Konstantin something and Konstantin would answer like there wasn't any history... or maybe there was and that's what made it easier for them.

Because as much as they were enemies, they were also the only two people that fully understood the wrath of this brother and sister pair.

"He will not try to escape. He has nowhere to go." Konstantin informs us. "The Alpha will barricade himself in his home and will use June's friend to scare us away. Those are not empty threats. He's desperate and will do anything he can to keep us away." "The garbage chutes are probably closed now?" Jeremy guessed, hand to his chin.

Konstantin shudders at the mention of the place we burned ourselves in. "Yes. He would have them all closed by now. Sealed and locked."

"The vents?" Jeremy offered with a frown.

Konstantin shook his head. "Too small. Not even June can fit through."

"Then we simply have to move fast." Ajax cuts in. "There's not much he can do in a few seconds."

"Where would Cora and my mother be?" Jeremy asked, touching the map with his hands, slowly going through every street and every building. Konstantin stared down at the map. "Your mother will be down in the streets, leading the defensive. Cora will try to bunker herself on the rooftop."

"Alpha," Jeremy's blue eyes lock with Ajax's amber ones. "We have to split up. Smaller groups will be easier to move than big ones."

Ajax is quiet, his face deep in calculation. "We'll need a distraction. A timely one."

I listen to the plan, listen as he divides the groups. Jeremy and Konstantin in one. Ajax in another. His Delta leading the frontal attack that would provide the distraction and as he listed names, I realized that he didn't include me.

The group surrounding the map disperses, leaving only Ajax and I on the table. "You can't possibly think I'm going to wait here while everyone goes off to the city pack."

"You are injured, still healing from your escape." Ajax says without meeting my eyes. "You are untrained and will-"

My eyes widened. "What? I'll what?"

"You will only cause me more worry." He finishes without remorse.

I'm breathing hard, unable to believe that every single person in the pack and even the ones that aren't in the pack have something to do except for me. Their Luna. "You're just proving to everyone that I'm your weakness."

"You are my weakness, June." Ajax says loudly, shamelessly. "And they've made it perfectly clear that they use weaknesses. Do you want to go back there and be used against me?"

My lips parted. "No but,"

"Because that's what will happen." He presses, his jaw tight. "They will take you and I will be left with nothing again. You're the one person I cannot lose and they will use that."

I gestured around us, to everyone moving and contributing. "I can't just do nothing. Please, Ajax. Let me come with you-"

"You're not going near that Alpha." He snapped impatiently. "Never."

"Then with Konstantin or Jeremy," I suggested, knowing their plans were different.

Ajax merely shook his head. "Those two will only see you as a distraction. One is injured and the other still coping with the loss of your connection."

"Ajax, please. This is my fight too." I see the tightness of his face and I know I'm losing. "They know you'll leave me here. They know I'll be in this camp."

He nods like he already knows this. "That's why you're going back to our lands. To the mountains. You're going in a plane and fly away from here."

"Because leaving me with guards isn't how we got separated in the first place?" It wasn't meant to hurt him, but my words seemed to cut him deep as he flinched back. "I'll be safer close to you. Why don't we compromise? Please. Leave me with your Delta Shannon. She is leading the frontal attack, right? I can stay with her and you can have my father be with me too. I'll be safe and I'll be near wolves that can call you if there's any danger near."

Dark amber eyes regarded me. "You really won't let this go, will you?"

I stood my ground. "No."

He lets out a defeated breath. "You will stay with Shannon and you will stay away from the fighting as much as you can. Be in your wolf form the entire time and keep yourself safe or I swear I will burn the entire world down if something happens to you. Do you understand?"

One look and I knew he was serious.

If something happened to me, he would surely kill everyone. Enemy and friends alike. It wouldn't matter.

"I understand." I swore to him, giving him my silent oath. "Nothing will happen to me."

"Shannon," He calls without looking.

His Delta stands before him, strong and fierce. "Alpha,"

"You will be in charge of my mate's safety. She will stay with you and fight along side you." His jaw clenched. "Not a hair out of place."

Shannon nods, bowing low. "Nothing will harm the Luna. You have my word."

It takes less than an hour for Jeremy's group and Ajax's group to gather. No one spoke of their true plans just in case we had more traitors, but as I watched them go... I felt my heart sink. We weren't just going against predictable enemies. We were against the worst of the worst. Right as Ajax disappears from sight, he turns, walking back to me to place a kiss on my lips. Long and passionate, the kiss spoke of his worry, about his need to have me safe when he returned.

"Stay safe. Please." He begged, his eyes swimming with emotion. "Run if there's trouble. Swear to me, you'll run. Swear to me that you will be okay."

I can only nod because my chest is tight with nerves.

And then he was gone.

The rest of us waited in the camp, thousands and thousands of us just standing and staring in anticipation. I tried not to pace beside my father, who kept his eyes on the sky, waiting for the signal. Ajax's strongest warriors surround me and my father, staring up at the sky as well... waiting.

Time went on slowly.

And then it came.

At first I worried I wouldn't be able to see it, but it was impossible to miss as everything was suddenly up in flames, burning brightly and lighting up the night sky. It was flames so high it consumed the woodlands and everything surrounding it. Explosions were happening everywhere, shaking the ground and rocking my balance and everything went up in smoke.

The screams came from everywhere and suddenly, I couldn't breathe, my heart in my throat as I saw buildings in the distance start to crumble, breaking in two and falling to pieces. Waves upon waves of destruction came and I could only watch. "That's our signal!" Shannon bellows at the top of her lungs. "It's time to act now! Do this for the family you've lost! Do this for the homes that were taken from us!"

Werewolves in every direction shift into their menacing wolves and my body follows, shifting into my own wolf as I promised Ajax I would. Without even a second to breathe, without getting the chance to swallow the lump in my throat, we were all running to the borders where guards and patrols were charred and screaming, my feet feeling the ground continue to shake as more explosions went off, the heat from the flames making me wince.

The patrols that managed to stay alive from the explosions didn't stay that way for much longer as the wolves that raced towards them swiped and bit and clawed and tore through what remained, leaving them in ribbons. Blood soaked the ground and the smell of destruction was everywhere. The world was shaking and it felt like the sky would fall on top of us.

I felt the terror and adrenaline course through my veins, filling my senses until it was all I could feel. I do my best to catch up, striking anything alive near me. So many bodies lay unmoving before me, drowning in their own blood.

We cross the borders not long after that, out of the cover of the trees and within the concrete streets of the city pack. Everything was so big, so daunting. And it was all burning to the ground. Shattered glass was falling from the sky, bloody bodies thrown out of buildings and shops.

Shannon was howling into the sky as she saw the first wave of city pack defenders up ahead. There were a lot of them and I realized with horror that they had made a shield for themselves... women and children and prisoners all lined up in front, tied to the ground. Behind the wall of bodies was my mother, her eyes already on me.

"Hello, little Luna." Her voice made me shiver.

She makes sure I'm looking as she takes the neck of the nearest shield in her hand and snaps its neck in two. Blood soaked her clothes but she didn't care, only continued to smile as she held another in her arms.

My knees buckle at the sight of the dead bodies she left. So many innocent faces staring back at me. It was haunting and my stomach couldn't take it. She was taunting me. She was killing her own to trigger me.

Get her. I ordered through gritted teeth and Shannon didn't waste a second, charging forward.

The rush of wolves that moved at my order lunged for her and in her human form, she easily dodged everyone, even lifting up a few of her shields to take the hit for her.

There was so much blood.

There was so much death.

And when my shaking legs finally moved, I felt anger from deep inside me surface. For the child that I once was, for the child she left in the woods to rot as she watched that child panic and look for her... for the child that had grown up and was ready to fight back. I was going to kill her.

For Jeremy, who she abused.

For me, who she happily left.

For my family that she took from me.