Prologue: Running Away

Gerald

I stood hesitantly outside of Annie’s room with the Grimm Forest Sleuth’s private college’s acceptance letter clenched tightly in my hand. I wanted her to be the first one to know that I was leaving, but if she looked at me with those beautiful, sad, pine green eyes of hers, I would cave like a little omega to an Alpha, which was something that I couldn’t afford to do. I smelled her approaching the door, and I spun quickly on my heels to walk away from her door. As I turned the corner, I heard the door open.

“Gerry?” She called out excitedly.

I took off, running down the stairs to my fathers’ office. I knocked quickly on the door, praying to the Goddess above that they would answer immediately. I could both hear and smell Annie coming down the stairs. Since she went into her first heat, I have been going crazy over her. That was the biggest reason I needed to go to college away from her. It was the safest thing to do. I no longer trusted my obsession with Annie to not lead to disaster as far as our family was concerned.

“Come on,” I mumbled. “Hurry up.”

“COME IN, GERALD!” My brother called out just as Annie came rushing around the corner.

I hurried inside the office, shutting the door on Annie before smiling at Osprey and our fathers, who were all pouring over paperwork at the desk. I wish that I was taking over the sleuth. Maybe then I would be so busy with Alpha training that I wouldn’t think about our youngest sister so much. I lowered my head in submission as I walked up to Osprey’s desk.

“What is it?” He snapped. “We’re busy.”

“I was just coming to inform you that I will be leaving in the morning,” I said sadly.

“Leaving? Where are you going?” My father asked as he stood up.

“Timothy, calm down,” Falcon said as he placed a hand on my father’s shoulder before pinning me with an intense gaze. “If we don’t approve of your leaving the sleuth, you cannot make leave. It will violate sleuth rules, and the punishment is death.”

I lowered my head even more, knowing that even if they denied me, I was still leaving. I knew what I was capable of. My father was born to be an Alpha, even before he was granted a bear. I took a deep breath before laying my acceptance letter in front of my brother. I waited for them all to see what it was before speaking.

“I came to seek permission to attend Grimm Forest College,” I told them.

“Denied!” My father growled. “You are not leaving to go to college that far away when we have a perfectly good college here!”

“Timothy-” Jamie started to say, but was immediately cut off by my father slamming his hand down on the desk.

“NO! Absolutely not! What will Tasha say? She is not going to want him to leave the sleuth either. I do not want to send my son away, especially not somewhere where he could possibly be hurt!”

“Dad-”

“SILENCE!” He roared. “I said no, and that is final!”

“DAD!” I yelled as panic set in. “I WANT TO DECIDE HOW I LIVE MY LIFE! I’M GROWN NOW! DOESN’T WHAT I WANT MATTER?! I CAN’T STAY HERE FOREVER!”

“YOU CAN AND YOU FUCKING WILL!” My father bellowed.

“IF I DO, I DIE ANYWAY! SO WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE IN DYING OUT THERE VERSUS DYING HERE!”

“YOU WON’T FUCKING DIE HERE! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!” My father hollered.

The door behind me opened, and both my mother’s and Scarlett’s scents filled the room. My mother put her hand on my shoulder briefly, immediately calming me before going over to my father to take his hand while Scarlett stood beside me, making Osprey bare his teeth at me, which I answered by pulling my lips back in a silent snarl.

“Both of you need to calm down. We can discuss this like rational adults,” my mother said sternly.

“Tell that to Dad,” I mumbled as I glared at him.

“Now, let’s start over. What is going on? Scarlett and I could hear the two of you yelling from a mile away,” she told us.

“Well, I got accepted into Grimm Forest College, and I want to go, but Dad is refusing to let me leave the sleuth,” I informed her.

“Tasha, it’s too risky for him to go to college so far away from us. That college has students from every single sleuth in America. He has Alpha blood, which puts a large target on his back. All of the other Alphas will challenge him to make a point. All young Alphas want to do is make a name for themselves. I won’t risk our son because he thinks he’s invincible,” my father snapped.

“Maybe I want to make a name for myself,” I growled.

My father threw his hands up in the air before pointing at me. “SEE?! THERE’S NO TALKING TO HIM! HE’S BEEN DEFIANT FOR MONTHS AND WON’T TELL ANYBODY WHY! HOW MUCH LONGER ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DEAL WITH THIS?! ARE WE JUST SUPPOSED TO GIVE IN TO WHAT HE WANTS AND PRETEND LIKE THAT’S GOING TO FIX EVERYTHING?! WELL, LET ME TELL YOU NOW THAT IT WON’T!”

My mother leaned against his side, while Falcon leaned against his other side. He took a few angry breaths before wrapping his arms around my mother, still glaring at me. My mother turned to look at me, and I lowered my head submissively again. I thought coming to my father as if I would respect his decision, either way it went, would make him grant me permission to leave, but I never thought it would backfire on me so badly. I hated fighting with my father. He was my best friend, well, sort of. He was third on my closest relationship list, right behind Annie and my mother. Nobody meant more to me than Annie did, and that was exactly why I had to leave.

“Gerald, I think now is the time to tell us what’s been going on with you. We want to support you, but we don’t know how best to do that without knowing what’s really going on with you,” my mother said softly.

I hesitated before opening all of their links. I could still smell Annie close by, and if she was close, she would be able to hear us if we spoke out loud.

‘There is a girl in the sleuth that I am crazy about. It’s not just crazy; it’s obsession,’ I admitted.

My mother’s eyes widened excitedly before she clapped her hands. ‘Maybe she’s your mate, Gerald. That is so exciting!”

I shook my head sadly as I put my hands in my pockets. ‘I know that she’s not my mate, Mom.’

‘But what if she-’

I sighed. ‘She’s not. I know that for a fact.’

‘But… how do you know? She might be,’ my mother argued.

‘Because I don’t recognize her as my mate.’ I held up my hand to stop her from responding. ‘And before you ask, I would know. She’s been through her first heat already.’

‘What do you mean by obsession?’ Osprey finally asked, shifting forward in his chair to study my face closer.

I glanced at Scarlett apologetically before answering him. ‘I’m past the point you were at with Scarlett. I want to rip the throat out of every male that even looks at her. I want her to be mine so fucking bad that it hurts to even look at her.’ I met my father’s eyes. ‘If I stay here, I will end up killing people, and that punishment is also death. At least out there,’ I said, waving my hands toward the windows, ‘I have a chance to find my mate and forget about how bad I want her in a way that will never happen.’

Osprey leaned back in his chair, still watching me as he tapped his fingers on the desk in front of him. Nobody said anything, leading me to believe that they were having a discussion that I wasn’t privy to.

“Aye,” Osprey said, earning a glare from my father.

I gave him a small nod as my father pulled away from Falcon and my mother with his fists balled.

“Nay! We can’t help you if you leave. Please, just stay. Let us help you,” he pleaded.

“I can’t, Dad. Please, just try to understand why I can’t,” I begged.

“Nay,” Jamie said.

“Nay,” Sebastian repeated.

“Nay,” Tony sighed.

My heart sank. One more nay, and I would be stuck violating orders. I turned toward Falcon, begging him with my eyes to vote aye.

“Aye,” Raul said. “I fucked up with Osprey and Scarlett, and it almost destroyed them. We cannot interfere with our children and what they think is best. We’ve all proved that we don’t know jackshit about what’s right for them.” He glared around at all of them. “We all fucked up. Let’s not do it again.”

“Aye,” Lee groaned.

All eyes turned to Falcon, who was watching me intently with his arms crossed over his chest.

“You will come home every holiday and link with us twice a day!” He ordered, to which I vigorously nodded my agreement. “Aye.”

I let out a relieved breath, knowing that a tied vote went to the Alpha Sow to be broken, and my mother would say yes. Scarlett would, too.

“Aye.”

I closed my eyes as I waited for Scarlett’s vote. She placed her hand on my arm.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” She asked.

“It is,” I replied.

“Aye.”

The door was flung open behind me, and I tensed as I turned around to look at Annie, who had tears streaming down her face.

“How could you, Gerry?” She sniffled. “Do you really want to leave me that bad?”

“Annie, listen to me. This is something that I really need to do for myself. I will come back. I promise.”

She calmly walked up to me, raised her hand, and slapped me across the face.

“AND WHAT ABOUT ME?!” She screamed. “WHAT ABOUT FARLEY?”

“I’ll be-”

“I HATE YOU!” She yelled before running out of the room, sobbing hysterically as she slipped through my fingers.

“Annie,” I whispered sadly. “I’m so sorry.”