I woke up later that morning, feeling myself be in a bad mood. I had tossed and turned almost all the night, thinking of what I had gotten myself into. I groaned and rubbed my forehead, as a bad headache appeared. "Can't do anything with it, now," I muttered getting up.

I placed on a clean pair of black jeans and a purple shirt. What can I say? I was feeling a little bit colorful even though I had my black boots on.

I walked downstairs and into the kitchen hearing people yelling at each other. I back a groan, wondering what was happening now.

"She is not outside, Malcom," a female, Cal, yelled. "She was in her bed the last time I checked."

"But it is 9:30am. Why would she still be in bed?" Mal yelled back.

I walked into the kitchen and both of them turned to face me. "Why don't you ask her yourself and not fight over it?" I asked, glancing at both of them before I went to get myself a cup of coffee.

"I'm sorry, Alpha," Cal said, moving away from Mal. "We're just worried about you..." She had a napkin clutched in her hand as if it was something to keep my anger back away from her.

I sighed and opened the medicine cabinet, wanting something to get rid of my headache. I took out a bottle of painkillers, took two out of the, and swallowed them both without any water or the cup of coffee. "How come?" I asked, putting up the bottle before turning to look at them.

"Well... first of all, you're usually up before dawn, and you just swallowed painkillers. You don't normally take them." Cal replied.

I shrugged my shoulder. "I was up really late. I couldn't sleep that well, and I had a bad headache that I couldn't ignore."

"What time did you get to bed?"

I frowned thinking about it. "12:30 am. I didn't get to sleep until..." I paused and cocked my head, trying to figure out when I did get to sleep. "The last time I remember looking at the clock was at 4am."

"So, are you saying that you've been tossing and turning all night, and you didn't get that much sleep?"

"Sums it up." I glanced at the napkin in her hand, confused about it. "And, why do you have a napkin in your hand and eating nothing?" I grabbed my cup of coffee and blew the steam before I took a sip of the steaming hot cup.

Cal looked at the napkin in her hand. "Ummm, my dad left it for you," she said, handing it to me. "There's nothing written on it, so I don't know why."

I took the napkin that she had handed to me, nodding my head in thanks. "It's because you're not supposed to know what's written on it." I narrowed my eyes in warning, when she had opened her mouth to ask why.

Cal closed her mouth, quickly and looked down. "Of course, Alpha," she said. "So, would it be from Head Alpha or Elder Alpha?"

I bit back a sigh while she called my father the Head Alpha. However, he was still to be my Alpha until Bane and I started our own pack together. "It'd be from my Dad," I replied. "Since it was your father that brought it to me."

I placed the napkin over the top of the cup knowing that he had used lemon juice, so that it could only be read if it was over steam. I looked at the message and sighed when I saw that it said: I need to talk to you. There are things that needs to be discussed about what you have planned. Come by when you wake up. I love you, Dad

Of course he needed to talk to me about what I had planned, even though I was supposed to be doing this by myself. I held back an annoyed eye roll, so that I wouldn't show anything to Mal or Cal.

I took the napkin off of the cup and chugged the rest of the steaming coffee from it. I poured myself another cup of coffee into a thermos and started to leave.

"Alpha?" Cal asked just as I was walking to the door.

I had stuffed the napkin in my pocket, thinking of reusing it. I paused and looked at Cal. "Yes?"

Cal looked down at her feet before she looked at me. Her green eyes held such intensity that it took my breath away. "You know that you don't have to do whatever is going on, alone," she said, her voice firm. "You've earned our trust and our respect. Yo-you're our Alpha."

I looked down at the thermos that I was holding, so she wouldn't see the truth that always seemed to fill my eyes. "I have to," I said, my voice hard. "No questions or buts."

"Bu-"

"Callie," I snapped. I bit back a growl of annoyance, while I looked up at her. "No buts." With that, I turned around and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind me.

Regret filled my body, but I couldn't tell them. I couldn't let them know what I was wanting to do. This... what I was going to do might kill me, before the whole pack was made. I didn't want anyone to get hurt.

I had no idea what I had gotten myself into, but I trusted my father and his training that he led me through to be an Alpha. Besides, I had the wits to face off the Lead Warrior. Right?

Relax Ember, I thought to myself, you can do this. You are strong and you can outwit this group. I hope...