Lyra POV

She was filled with a very familiar emotion: anger.

She was furious.

She was aware of her dislike, but to be concerned for the kids in her immediate vicinity? She was the deputy Alpha, not a rebel.

Her grey wolf was sprinting down the border, its strong paws hammering the earth as it darted in and out of trees. As soon as she left the orphanage, her human half was overwhelmed by her wolf.

It was alright with her. Lyra knew she was a better fighter than most men, and her wolf wasn't foolish. She wasn't afraid of anything; perhaps her mom would have discovered Lyra had torn another piece of clothing.

Her wolf stops abruptly, and she presses her nose to the woodland floor to begin sniffing.

Lyra says, "What the fuck are you doing?" and receives a snarl in response. Beautiful. Her wolf is unwilling to deal with her either.

Someone else is here, quietly creeping forward with wolf snarls.

Her wolf pads discreetly and gently, following the smell with eagerness. She keeps her sluggish pace, narrowing her eyes at something far away.

Lyra assumes her wolf's utility is to help her identify the smell from the woodland, even though she cannot.

There's movement in the distance. Distance, see something, maybe a tail, even remain low. It's considerably too big to be a squirrel, so that eliminates rabbits and squirrels.

Now that she's completely ignored, her wolf is determined to chase and attack this thing, regardless of whether it threatens her. She has the power to stop it before it hurts someone else, and she isn't going to allow that to happen.

She assumes that her wolf has a somewhat more skewed moral compass than she does.

However, her wolf rarely takes complete control. Usually, Lyra has some control over what they do, if not total control.

To Lyra's dismay, she decides to spring when her wolf is only a few metres away from the other wolf.

Her wolf, Sonya, jumps on the other wolf's back and begins viciously biting and clawing.

What Lyra expected, and Sonya did not know, is that this wolf is vast and immediately tries to buck Sonya.

As Sonya buckles down and wraps her rear legs around the other wolf's stomach, Lyra rolls her eyes, seeing this from the sidelines.

The other wolf falls backward into a tree as it freezes, its white coat rustling in the light wind.

Lyra is left sitting against a tree, nude, puzzled, and in some agony, while Sonya, predictably, takes the brunt of the blow and abruptly moves.

The second wolf shifts back and lets out a breath that sounds like a snort.

Lyra hurriedly hides as she realises her situation, crawling behind a tree and regretting the day she was born.

She is not in the least bit humble or bashful. She doesn't know who the heck is on the other side of that tree, and if she can prevent it, she doesn't intend to find out.

She attempts to change, but her wolf takes the pain personally because it is not reacting.

Lyra also swears at her, allowing her rage to seep into their relationship.

On the other side of the tree, someone clears their throat and laughs.

"Miss, when do you intend to come out? A deep-voiced male chuckles, "You did assault me first," to which Lyra scowls and clenches her jaw before answering.

She asks them to come out," as she looks prepared at the trees to see whether any clothes bags were there Whenre. When she sees one, she looks around the tree to determine the man's whereabouts. He appears to be doing the same, except facing the other direction.

Lyra chews her lip as she prepares to sprint and leap for the bag, understanding that it would be a little more difficult without her wolf to help her.

Lyra shoots herself at the bag, counting backward from three, snatches it from the branches it's resting on, and lands next to an extremely tall, extremely nude man.

She says, "Fuck sake," gazing at the man with no trace of fear in her eyes.

With a joyful smile on his face, he looks up and down at her and says, "Fuck sake indeed."

Her dentist would kill her if she broke the teeth he took so long to replace during her previous fight, so she clenches her jaw once more while trying not to grind her teeth.

Lyra starts to move swiftly to get some space from the man, holding the bag between her hands as she does so.

She looks back as he clears his throat, only to see him scratching his neck and looking flushed.

"Is the view even better from behind?" She hears him muttering something.

Considering the complete letter,the bag on a t-shirt as she goes, giving her stride a little more bounce.

She also has to wear the shorts because, regrettably, this appears to be one of the packs for the younger teens. She sincerely hoped she didn't intentionally flash that guy; it was an accident.

She raises an eyebrow, still attempting to figure out who this person is, when she hears footsteps behind her. She is confident that she has never seen him before due to his extreme hotness and the fact that she would undoubtedly recall his face.

She feels an arm being thrown around her shoulders, so she elbows him and walks away from him even quicker.

"So, cupcake, could you please show me the location of the Alpha house?" He smiles, and she bites her lip to keep from rolling her eyes as she slides her feet into the water shoes in the bag. She had asked the border patrol to retrieve her boots from a previous round; she had only recently broken them in, and even Sonya was courteous enough to allow her to take them off before changing.

"Yeah, I guess that's on my way," she groans as she pounds the nearly empty bag into his chest and quickens her step once again. Why are you here, then? Using her five-minute rapid stroll as an opportunity to learn more, she asks.

She would have known that this man did not belong to her pack if she could still detect a pack scent from him.

"The Alpha and I are meeting. Or, more precisely, the old Alpha, "He says casually, and Lyra furrows her brow in an attempt to connect the dots between York and herself.

Although she arranged every meeting, she did not place this one.

"What is your name?" Memorising his face, she asks. His nakedness dawns on her abruptly, and she groans, "Put some damn clothes on."

He grins, not attempting to be condescending, which shocks her. "Well, love, I'm Andreas, and I'd like to pose a question, too. Do I affect you? Is that why you'd like me to put on some clothes?"

Leaping away from him, she gives him a somewhat disgusted look.

She looks at him sharply out of the corner of her eye as he climbs into the last pair of shorts, "Trust me, I wouldn't sleep with you if you were the last man on earth."

Unfortunately for him, they're adolescent girls' shorts. It's not designed to accommodate a tall, bulky man.

"Who mentioned taking a nap?" He winks, but Lyra can't even look him in the eyes without giggling because of the shorts.

The last few minutes of the walk are spent in solitude, interrupted only by Lyra's periodic fits of laughter, which he has to adjust the shorts to control constantly.

He complains, "You could trade shorts with me; I have to see the Alpha of this pack," she smiles broadly in response.

"I believe he'll truly adore you like this," she said, appearing shocked to see her father and brother as she skidded up the driveway.

York is so startled that he fails to see Andreas standing behind her.

"How are you feeling right now?" Quietly, York asks, checking to be sure his sister is still alive and at least physically well.

Richard is watching Andreas from behind Lyra's. She speaks to him with her eyes, and he shuts saying, staring at her with suspicion.

"Alpha Lancaster," he tries to say, appearing utterly bewildered.

Richard pulls his daughter to his side and says, "Honey," greeting her.

"Lancaster Alpha?" Andreas asks sarcastically, "Honey?" as Lyra snorts.

"Oh. Now that they've met, York chuckles and retreats inside the house to converse with his mother, leaving Richard in charge of the Alpha and the daughter.