Ordinary

Ancient

Now Roger was calling me. Charlie could no longer run interference. Serenity and Adam were here with me and Blak was back at school. And he just kept calling.

The weekend was over. It was Monday morning and I should've returned home yesterday. But i hadn't even called to check in with him.

As a matter of fact, the last time I had spoken with him was on that Friday morning when I'd been leaving, locking up the house.

I sat with that realization a moment.

It seemed like that life was so foreign. This surreal reality I'd found myself wrapped up within seemed to be my new normal. Drifting from disaster to disaster. Roger didn't belong here. And I no longer felt like I belonged there.

I couldn't leave me kids here to sort this out.

Although. I did appear to be the only one struggling with all these new realities.

With a resolved sigh. I picked up my phone.

It rang once, before I could envision him snatching his up and snarling into the receiver. "Finally! Where the hell are you? Is everything alright?"

"Good morning Roger." I purred into the receiver, hoping it might reset his tone, or at least lessen my irritation. It failed on both counts.

"Keep your good morning. What the hell is going on there? Why can't i reach you or any of my children?" he huffed aggressively.

"We're just having such a grand time here...we kind of unplugged for a while." I lied to him.

He humphed into the receiver. "So you will be back today?" he asked expectantly. More of a directive than a question.

I paused a long minute. Why would he even want me to come back. Was this tone and these words meant to entice me to return, to remind me what I was missing... there by his side? The pause must've been too long because he continued his verbal assault.

"DeAnne. What is going on? When will you be back?" The irritation in his voice a physical presence, even through the miles, hours of distance and the electronic device connecting our voices.

"I'm going to stay on here a bit. I will call you later," I say, disconnecting the call before I can say anything too damaging. I really should've spoken with Serenity to find out how much exactly I could tell her father. It would be hard to explain, since he didn't bother to come alone.

SERENITY

My mother knocked on my chamber door, just after sunrise. Draven had been gone for at least an hour, doing his morning trainings with the pack warriors.

"Mom. Come in," I said, having caught her scent. I was just pulling on some leggings and tieing my long multicolored hair in a high pony.

"Grand Rising Reeknee" she drifted to me with a full smile on her face. Looking rested and calmer than I've seen her since she arrived.

"Grand Rising Mommy" I teased her, floating into her open arms. She squeezed me tightly, anchoring her hand at the base of my skull. A hug you can only accept from a few people on the planet, one being the woman who gave birth to you.

"Any word from Charlie?" she asked before letting me go. I looked into her eyes and shook my head.

Their mating had been complicated from the beginning, with Charlie struggling to accept the bond. Leaving Kalix alone in it for too long. It would take a while to untangle. "Mom...it'll probably be a few more days. But Kalix will take good care of her. He'd die for her Mom." I frowned, hoping she could understand that these bonds we hold are so much more than the fragile vows that humans make and pretend to honor.

She just sighs and nods in resignation. Stepping over the desk in the corner of our bedroom, looking at the photos I have there. One of Draven starring into the camera directly at me, his eyes so intense I can almost feel them crawl over me. One of our family, all the smiles huge but too practiced, artificial. Then one of my siblings, much more relaxed, natural. Real. Her fingers trace over that one.

I see tears standing in her eyes. "It's almost like I don't know any of you," she said so quietly I had to strain to hear it even with my wolf ears.

"Mom. You know that's not true," I say, stopping all my activity to stare at her. Wondering if this was all too much.

She huffs, "Your right. All children grow up and get their own lives," she pauses to look directly at me. "But even you have to admit... this is a bit excessive. You guys really overdid it." she laughs without mirth.

"Yeah. If we'd only known sooner, so much of this would've been easier. For everyone." I agree quickly, pulling on my sneakers. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," she says accepting my outstretched hand. Off to do blood and dna testing to see why she doesn't have a pack. Where our lineage is from. And why her wolf is bound.

CLINT

"CrestRidge!?" Clint almost yells at the paper in his hands. "How is this possible? CrestRidge has been gone for almost 100 years. I was there when they executed the last of the royal house of CrestRidge. I was a boy, but those images are hard to forget" he runs his hands through his salt and pepper hair as if that might clear the cobwebs from his brain.

Royal blood from an extinct pack. That certainly explained a lot. And raised as many questions as it answered.

"Dad," Draven said from behind his desk, "Tell us what you know of CrestRidge. I know the history, but tell me what you remember from being there."

Clint draws a heavy breath. Looking around the room at each face present. How long had it taken to bury these memories, and they just wanted him to unearth them and walk through some of the darkest he can ever remember. Serenity, Draven, DeAnne, Adam and a couple of other high-ranking wolves look back at him expectantly.

He draws a long sigh. Then sinks heavily into one of the chairs. "CrestRidge was destroyed at the dawn of the great awakening... when wolves began to resent those who ruled them. It was a time of great wickedness. The strongest wolves held power over all that they surveyed, challenging, killing, ruling with cruelty and brutality. CrestRidge was the seat of the werewolf world. The last royals, said to be descended from the goddess herself. It explains why your wolf is white Serenity. In all my life, I've never seen another since those times," he said reverently, looking at his son's wife as if she was sacred.

Then his eyes turned to DeAnne. "You are the mother of the last wolves of CrestRidge. You are the last daughter of that house. Ancient. What do you know of your family?"

DeAnne shrugs. "I was raised by my grandmother. I never knew my mother or my father...and when I would ask, she would tell me that maybe someday they would find me. That always confused me. As if they were out there somewhere looking for me." DeAnne confessed to the room, walking through her own fond memories of her old white-haired grandmother.

Draven sighed, full of new questions. "Well, we know CrestRidge was in Africa, Morrocco to be specific. Said to be descended from the Moores of Kemet. Maybe we should start there."

Serenities eyes lit up, bouncing excitedly in her seat. "Road Trip!" she screeched, looking over to Adam who smirked.

DeAnne opened and closed her mouth several times... Clint reached over with his index finger and closed it softly. Finding her voice she squeaked, "You can't be serious."

Draven turned his attention away from Serenity, "We will wait for Kalix and Charlotte to return, then we will go to Morrocco to find the threads of your history. You are my family now. And I need to know how to protect what's mine." he ends on a growl, his eyes full of Serenity.