"How are your parents?" Oliver asks as he takes a seat across from me at the dining room table. Placing his cloth napkin in his lap, Oliver picks up his fork and begins cutting into his apple Bostock, looking across to me as I sip on the coffee in my hands. "I knew your father growing up, nice guy...sad he had to leave Crimson Lock for Evercrest Ridge."

"He is well, but being Gamma is a stressful position," I respond, wondering why he thinks my father would have to leave Crimson Lock. My father left to be with my mother - his mate. Looking outside the window, I gaze across the yard covered in snow and evergreen trees forming a wall around the back of Oliver's property.

Watching me take a sip of my coffee, Oliver leans back in his chair, as if to briefly inspect me. "You look so much like your mother." I've never heard that before. My parents have told me I look more like my dad's mother who passed away when I was just seven. I doubt Oliver has ever met my mother, but I know he is just trying to be a kind host. "A splitting image of her."

Shaking my head, I cock my head to the side. "I've never heard that before," I comment, "Did you know my mother before my dad moved packs?"

"I knew your mother..." Oliver trails off, eyes still focused on me as something just feels off. "Anyway, as for plans for the day. I will be going forward to my Steward to inform him of your visit to Crimson Lock and the news you bring." Oliver goes back to his breakfast, commenting on how his chef did a fine job with breakfast this morning. My eyes trail back to the trees outside, looking to the woods as I wonder if Crimson Lock pack members are lurking back there in the cold shadows of winter, wondering who I am and why I have come here. "Steward Cade has been in mourning for some though, he may not be ready to hear from you for a little."

I'm confused. Oliver's letter informed me that I would be able to speak to the Steward almost the moment I would arrive, but when I arrived last night, it seemed like I may have to wait a day...but now I may have to wait longer it seems. Why? Why would Oliver invite me here if the Steward would not be ready to speak with me yet? "I thought I was only here to speak with the Steward?" I question, raising an eyebrow as Oliver looks back up to me.

"Why not also take some time to learn about the pack your father came from?"

He's right, I've never taken time to even come to Crimson Lock. My grandparents on dad's side would always visit us in Evercrest Ridge territory and my family never took the trip up to Crimson Lock. Father always spoke highly of this pack, the territory, and the pack members, but yet I was never brought to his childhood home to experience any of it. "Does Crimson Lock know someone from Evercrest Ridge is here?" I ask, knowing Oliver's response will let me know if I will really be able to have free range here or not.

"They will. They already know someone new is in town, but they do not know who or from where."

Getting to his feet, Oliver invites me to follow him, reaching out his hand for me to take. Placing my hand in his, he begins leading me back towards the staircase, my wolf uneasy as we follow Oliver up the staircase. As he opens the door to a room filled with books and an antique leather couch before the window, Oliver motions for me to take a seat on the couch. Following along, I place myself on the couch and cross my legs, looking around to all of the bookshelves present. There are pack history books from every Alpha in Crimson Lock history. The last two on the shelf with the other collections are from Nixon Maxwell and Lily Maxwell, a marble bookend holding them up. Though Lily Maxwell had the shortest run as Alpha due to the short timeframe between her position being given and her death.

"If I can be completely transparent with you, Evelyn, I called you here because of current pack issues." Oliver takes a seat beside me, opening up an older book with a red leather cover. "Crimson Lock grows tired of having someone beside an Alpha governing them... Steward Cade has only put the pack through more stress since his daughter died."

"I did not come here to settle some inner-pack conflicts," I speak up, getting to my feet as I cannot believe what Oliver has called me here for. "I am not a member of Crimson Lock, I cannot just settle pack feuds."

Dad said war is on the way. So many people have told me this for the past few months, warning me to stay close to home, warning me to know who my pack has treaties with, and to either learn how to fight or learn how to take shots quickly in case I need to take poison rather than let myself be burned alive or taken advantage of before killed by an attacker. I did not come to Crimson Lock to try and help this pack with inner conflicts.

"Steward Cade is a man of traditional ways, someone who did not die away with the old kingdom. He has created a rift between members of Crimson Lock. Some of us now wish to strip him of his title and present the pack with a new Alpha."

Oliver pleads with me to stay and listen to him, taking hold of my hand gently as he asks me to sit down once more. "The world has changed, Evelyn, you were born into this world just as that change was brewing. Please understand that people of your youth hold the future of this broken kingdom in their hands...yet you are a dying flame, for many werewolves have gone to human cities and left behind pack lives. So many of the youth in this broken kingdom do not live here any longer and I fear that this kingdom will die out."

Placing the book in my lap, Oliver asks me to look over old pack rules, detailing the role of a Steward and the efforts members must take to strip a Steward of their title. "Steward Cade was appointed by Lily Maxwell when she thought he was someone who looked forward to the way the world would change, but after the war, Steward Cade was fearful of the new world and has starved this pack of so much potential."

"Crimson Lock is still the most powerful pack."

"Ah, but you have heard of the force in the east," Oliver mentions, "the pack of both wolf and elf. They appeared out of nowhere and claimed territory in the ruins of the ancient Gadel Empire Ruins ."

I know what Oliver is referring to, for it was an ancient Empire which crumbled apart from within centuries ago when the Western Kingdom was born. I've never seen the ruins - only drawings - but the ruins were said to be cloaked an ancient magic to hide the appearance of the land from human eyes. The Gadel Empire Ruins are part of a small island chain up north, the islands cloaked in magic as humans have sailed past the islands for eons without knowledge of its existence. River's pack now houses itself in those ruins which were probably built into another typical pack land. It would make sense that River's pack would have made itself home in those islands cloaked in magic, for then no one would expect them. It would have been as if a pack and pack lands were build overnight, but that land has been there and unclaimed for centuries.

"Is Crimson Lock fearful of a war with Eternal Shadows?" I ask Oliver, looking closer to the rules of the Steward's position.

"We are afraid of our pack dying off like a flame, to have burned so strong for so many years and then disappear without a trace."

Taking in a deep breath, I look up from the book and to Oliver's eyes, shaking my eyes as I want to return home. "I cannot help you. Honestly, Oliver, I cannot. I am from Evercrest Ridge, I only saw an elf kill Steward Cade's daughter...I do not see how that could do much for your pack, much less how the people of your pack want to hear from a different pack's member about how I saw elves kill their fellow pack members. Telling people I saw elves will only make people more afraid of a war with Eternal Shadows."

"Please, Eve, hear me out." Eve? I've barely been given that nickname. "Many people want Steward Cade gone and you informing him of elves having done the deed will only make him grow mad and wish war on Eternal Shadows."

"You wish to make a father mourning his daughter be reminded of his daughter's death once again just to get a response out of him to make pack members want to remove him?!" I'm astonished. "I want no part in some scheme." Getting to my feet, I head for the door, having heard enough of what Oliver wishes for me to do here. I will not be held responsible for some sick act against a man who is mourning his child. Pulling out my phone, I begin to head down the staircase, typing in the number to my phone as I want to go home, I do not want to be responsible for what Oliver is asking me of.

"Steward Cade seeks closure, Evelyn." Looking up the stairs, I see Oliver standing at the top. "He asks constantly if anyone has news of who killed his child. Would you deprive him of this closure?"

My throat runs dry, finding myself on a thin line, knowing that telling the Steward what I saw could offer him closure, but also give Oliver and those who wish to see Steward Cade lose his title just what they seek. "I am not anyone of importance. I am barely an adult. I cannot be responsible for a pack's fate which is not my own."

"This is your pack, Evelyn, your father was raised in Crimson Lock. You are one of us, just removed to Evercrest Ridge. You are someone of importance."

Oliver walks down the stairs to where I stand, my thumb hovering over the call button. "So many others have done things far greater than this when they were barely even your age."

"They were foolish if they were my age," I snap, locking my phone as I slide it into my pocket. I've never said that before about the people Oliver is referring to. "Lily Maxwell was barely a adult when she became an Alpha or when she married a man far older than her who had a dark past she never knew of. Queen Sybil married the same type of man when she was barely an adult as well...They were all foolish and I do not intend on being some foolish damsel who dies for some man who never told me the full truth."

Oliver's jaw clenches as I spit out Lily's name, telling me these people who led his pack and who they fought against were too young to understand what they were doing. "You were not in those rooms where decisions were made."

"And you were?! You were the same age as Lily Maxwell and no doubt you had any idea that what she would do would tear this kingdom apart."

"Do not speak ill of the dead, Evelyn, it does not suit you. You were not in those rooms and I was. Lily Maxwell knew what she was doing, that she was fighting against a force no one had the guts to do. She knew the risks and believed what she was doing would make a better world for her daughter."

"And where is her daughter?" I question, "her daughter never lived either. Rumors have circled for years that Lily Maxwell let a witch take her child, took her daughter into the palace she ended up burning down, or some from Zion's command kill her. Some fine future she gave her child."

Grabbing my arm, Oliver pulls me close, looking down at me with darkening eyes as I spot his canines growing out of his gums. "Do not speak so ill of the past Alphas of this pack. Lily was one of the most beloved Alphas in this pack's history."

"Do not speak to me like I am a child," I snap, pulling my arm from Elder Oliver's grasp.

"But you are, you just confessed yourself that you are too young to make these decisions." Silence surrounds us as I find myself lost for words. "What do you wish to do Evelyn? To call your father to pick you up or to stay here and see just how important you could be to this pack making progress in a new era?"

Looking to the front door, I bite the inside of my cheek, wondering what to do. If I leave, I go back to a pack that is still stressed about war and just made a treaty with Eternal Shadows. If I stay here, I may have access to Oliver's library and perhaps read up upon Eternal Shadows and also deliver the truth of what I saw to people who are more willing to listen than my own Alpha.

"I do not want to be here for too long. Please get me an audience with Steward Cade sooner rather than later."

The day soon turns to night as the silver moon illuminates the snow upon the ground. I had not anticipated my stay here to be so filled with annoyance and trouble just to be able to hold an audience with the Steward. Turning my head away from the moon and towards the forest ahead of me, I step outside the house, my shoes sinking softly into the snow as I make my way closer to the forest. Snow falls around me, the cold air nipping at my skin as I wrap my jacket tighter around my body. It feels natural to be walking out into the snow, my wolf itching to be set free and dig her paws into the cold blanket which covers the ground. Grabbing the sleeves of my jacket, I begin to pull it off, goosebumps spreading across my body as I head towards the forest before me, welcoming me as the darkness the trees create only expands my interest.

The quite forest makes me feel at home, my eyes scanning the forest floor as I begin to walk further from the house. The blanket of snow is thin and spotty under the cover of the thick trees, my feet kicking off my shoes upon a patch of leaves, and as I begin to peel my shirt off and get ready to shift into my wolf, the snapping of a twig catches my attention.

My head snaps to the left, wolf on alert as the hairs on the back of my neck stick up. Looking deep into the forest, I can see a dark shadow moving in the background, watching me from afar as I begin to wonder if I should shift into my wolf or head back for the house. I make my decision, reaching down for my shoes as I keep my eyes glued to the dark shadow which remains still. Just as I get one shoe on, the shadow moves quickly, causing me to take flight and run, one of my feet landing into the cold snow as I run back for the house.

I can hear the panting of the wolf as it tries to catch up to me, my legs moving fast as my feet hit against the ground, Oliver's house suddenly seeming so far away. My lungs begin to burn as I look behind me, the dark brown wolf charging out of the forest and coming for me just as I reach the porch. Swinging the front door open, I call for Oliver, terrified a rogue is on his property.

The elder comes running down the stairs, looking out the window to see the wolf charging forward, only to cease its charge the moment it spots Oliver. It's not a rogue.

Telling me to stay put, Oliver heads outside with a blanket in his hand from the couch, walking towards the dark brown wolf who begins to shift into human form. As Oliver hands the man a blanket to wrap around his nude body, I watch the man who was hunting me down begin to argue with my host. Curiosity gets the best of me as I walk onto the porch, picking up their conversation as I can tell the man who was charging me is rather mad at Oliver for hosting a guest who was not announced to the Steward.

"She is a personal guest of me."

"A personal guest who is on pack territory and reeks of another pack. My duty as a warrior is to figure out if she is a threat," the warrior claims, voice stern as I look closer to the male in his mid to late twenties, dark green eyes falling on me for a brief second. "Regardless of your position, Elder Oliver, not informing the pack of a guest does not go by well."

"She is here for business."

"You said personal and now you say business?" The warrior is suspicious of Oliver, pushing past his Elder as he begins to walk towards me, the blanket wrapped loosely around his body as I take a small step back into the house. "Tell me, Evercrest member, how do you know Oliver?"

Looking over the shoulder of the warrior to Oliver, my throat runs dry as I soon stand a few feet away from the warrior whose shadow swallows me whole in the moonlight, those dark green eyes piercing into mine. "He is an old friend of my father. My father is Terrance Matlock, an old pack member."

The warrior cocks his head to the side, raising an eyebrow as he looks at me closer, eyes seeming to capture every detail of my face. "So why are you visiting your father's old friend without your father?"

"She was present the night the Steward's daughter was killed," Oliver calls out, walking up to the porch. "She saw who killed the Steward's daughter. I hope she can talk to Cade."

"You know how fragile this pack is already, Oliver," the warrior warns. "Do not try and start a pack war when we already have war on the way."

"Save your words of warning, Cedric, we both know the reality of our Steward's mental state," Oliver snaps, standing beside me as he helps place some distance between me and Cedric. "We need an Alpha again to run this pack."

"And who did you have in mind?" Cedric asks. "The daughter of Lily Maxwell?" Cedric laughs at his own words, knowing it to be a ridiculous idea because the past Alpha's daughter has been said to be dead since she was born. "If you want an Alpha to take charge again, have an Alpha the pack agrees on."

Oliver looks over to me quickly and then back to Cedric. "You should be in favor of an Alpha running Crimson Lock, Cedric, for you should be the Gamma. You would be accepting a powerful title."

"Farewell, Elder Oliver, I have more important matters to attend to."

The warrior shifts back into his dark brown wolf, running back off into the forest as Oliver apologizes for that exchange, leading me back inside as he throws himself onto the couch. "I have gotten Steward Cade to agree to see me tomorrow morning. He does not know you will be there or what it is about."

Nodding, I take a seat across from the Elder, wondering just how fragile the mental state of this Steward is if so many people have warned me about him and his actions. Looking back outside and to the forest, I catch the eyes of the warrior, still keeping an eye on me from afar. "What do you expect me to do?" Oliver is confused by my question. "Steward Cade has no idea I am to be there and he will be taken back when I begin to explain to him what I saw. I can only expect the Steward to be enraged." 

There is no response, the elder looking up at the ceiling as he takes in a deep breath. "Steward Cade will react the way he will want his pack members to see him." 

I take that response to mean even Elder Oliver is expecting a harsh response from his Steward. I head back towards my room, pulling out my phone as I decide I've worried enough today about Crimson Lock and what I will be telling the Steward. 

<><>

Pictures line the walls of the pack house, paintings and photos framed in ostentatious frames which hang on the dark blue walls. The dark oak floors lead up to the Steward's office, Elder Oliver having told me this morning that the Steward and the last Alpha's Beta and Gamma will be in attendance here. The heels of my boots click against the floor, my eyes shifting from picture to picture as the farther down I progress, the more current the portraits become. Elder Oliver leads me further down the hallway towards the set of double doors, a Christmas wreath hanging on the left door. 

A doorway leads into a living room, my eyes catching those present as they stop their conversations and look at the stranger in their pack house. This pack house is unlike anything I've ever seen before. Typically the pack house consists of a meeting room, a larger dinning room, kitchen, and a few offices...but the pack house of Crimson Lock resembles that of a mansion converted into a pack house. I have seen three living rooms - even a piano room - and I can only assume the second floor contains bedrooms converted into offices. I knew Crimson Lock was a large pack, but I had no idea their pack house would be like this. 

"It was designed by Alpha Nixon Maxwell as a present for his wife," Oliver comments, his voice soft as he comes across the last portrait on the wall. "This house was to be their family house...sadly it did not stay that way when there was no more family left." 

"It's beautiful." 

"It was indeed." Oliver looks at the portrait, as if recalling memories, the man and women in the picture wearing navy colors. The woman has long brown hair which has a soft curl, her eyes a shade of hazel, and her features soft and warm. The man beside her is taller, his frame almost swallowing her, dark hair pushed back,  and dark yet colorful midnight blue eyes. "The last two Alphas of Crimson Lock. They were a dark and twisted fairytale." 

Something seems familiar about the two of them. Sure, I've seen pictures of them before due to history - for both of these Alphas changed the werewolf world - but in a portrait where they are together and seem somewhat normal...something seems familiar about them. 

"Elder Oliver, nice to see you," a man calls out from the door ahead of us. Stepping outside the room, the man walks over to us, his eyes falling on me as he suddenly stops. "Who is this?" It's not a question with a kind tone to it, but his voice is stern. 

"Beta William, you remember Terrance Matlock? This is his daughter." 

The Beta does not take his eyes off me, his skin paling as I try and wonder what could be causing my reaction. Did my father do something so horrific that his child would receive this kind of greeting? 

"Steward Cade is waiting for you, Oliver." 

Leading us towards the room, I take in a shaky breath, worried what will happen when I greet the Steward. As I pass into the room, I meet a pair of familiar deep green eyes of the warrior who charged after me last night. There are around seven people already in this room, one desk placed before a tapestry of Crimson Lock, the man sitting at the desk looking over to me. His expression shifts instantly from curious to enraged. 

"Steward Cade, I have brought a member of Evercrest Ridge to speak with you about the attack on our pack and your daughter." 

The Steward rises to his feet, his jaw clenched as those eyes begin to turn black. The other men in the room begin to shift in their seats, worried what is about to happen as I feel Oliver place his hand on my shoulder, pushing me softly behind him. "Steward Cade, please here Evelyn out." 

"Evelyn?! Do you think I am foolish and blind Oliver," Steward Cade yells. 

"Steward Cade-"

"Get her out of here, Oliver, get her off of pack territory before I banish you." 

Commotion begins in the room as the Beta and Gamma of the Steward try and calm him down while they look to me, as if they cannot believe their eyes. Cedirc gets to his feet, walking over to me as he begins to try and escort me from the room, only for Oliver to growl and warn him off. 

"Please, Steward Cade, hear me out," I begin, only for the Steward to throw the monitor from his desk and scream for his men to get me out of here. "I saw them, I saw them kill your daughter," I try and explain as Cedric grabs my shoulders and separates me from Oliver. Looking at the warrior, my eyes begin to darken as I shove him away from me. Another man comes forward, grabbing Oliver's collar as he tries to drag Oliver from the room. My heart beats faster than ever, every ounce of my body worried for my safety. "I saw the elves kill her. I saw them." 

"Lies!" Steward Cade growls, coming over from the desk as he almost charges at me. "I will not trust a word that comes from your mouth. Just like your father." 

I lose it, my wolf begging me to release my anger at the disrespect I have experienced in the past few minutes, and I release a growl...a growl I have never been able to create the magnitude of before as the walls shake and Cedric released me from his hold and the men in the room begin to step away from me. "You have no right to insult my father like that. My father was loyal to this pack-"

"You are a wolf with a silver tongue. Do not think for one second that I do not see the conspiracy at place here...the situation you bastards have tried to create." 

"She speaks truth of your daughter's death," Oliver snaps, pushing the Beta and Gamma off of him. "She speaks truth and you push her away." 

"I know why you have brought her here," the Steward growls, eyes locked on me. "I am not a blind fool to see who she is. We all see it - those of us who were old enough to remember." I am completely confused by what he means, why I have been insulted in every statement the Steward has made. "She will not be the next Alpha. That title died with her father before her mother tainted the title." 

"Excuse me?!" I ask, raising my voice as I shake my head. "But I came here to tell you I saw elves kill your daughter and pack members-"

"Really? Elder Oliver did not bring you here to try and convince pack members like my Beta and Gamma that the rightful Alpha of this pack is alive and here to claim her title." 

Shaking my head, I try and wrap my head around the situation, wondering what he could possibly mean. Does he think I am the daughter of Lily Maxwell? 

"Get her out of my sight," the Steward snaps, throwing his hands up as he orders his Beta and Gamma to discard of me. Yet his men remain still, unwilling to lay a hand on me. "Are you deaf? Get her off of my pack territory." 

I stand frozen in place, the sounds around me becoming muffled as a ringing erupts in my ear. The men in the room refuse to move me as the Steward yells at them as I am unable to make out his words. I watch as if a dream as the Beta and Gamma grab the Steward from his desk, removing him forcefully from the chair as they call out my name. 

The faint sound of my name pulls me back to reality as I watch the Beta and Gamma throwing the Steward out of the room and onto his back as pack members begin to gather in the hallway at the sound of the commotion. 

"Do you wish to banish him? Make him a rogue?" the Beta asks, looking kindly into my eyes as all the men in the room look to me, waiting for my reply. Looking back to the hallway, I see shocked faces of pack members and begin to feel nauseous. 

"I-I need to leave." 

I run from the room, running past the Steward who shouts at me and calls me vulgar terms. Running from the pack house, I do not bother to shut the doors of the house, my fingers shaking as I call the familiar number on my phone. "Evelyn?" 

"Dad, I need you to pick me up. Please, right now. Just come here and get me," I plead, feeling like I am about to vomit. I send him the directions and I look back at the pack house as Oliver runs out after me, asking if I am okay. "I need to get out of here. I need to leave." 

Shaking his head, Oliver tries to convince me I should stay. "Leala, please stay and we can explain." 

"Evelyn. My name is Evelyn," I snap, my head spinning as I begin to hyperventilate. 

"Leala Maxwell is your-"

"Shut up," I scream, my legs turning to jelly as I stumble over my own two feet and fall into the snow. "Leave me alone. This whole pack just leave me alone," I cry out, my head spinning even more as it becomes to heavy. My eyes begin to blur as my vision gives out, my head falling into the cold snow as people call out for help. The last thing I can pick up hearing is the name I have never been called being used to refer to me as. In my weakness, I can barely form a sentence as I feel my body being carried by someone. "Evelyn. My name is Evelyn."