ONE

CAMILLE'S POV

I wondered what the property of an Elite pack would be doing in our driveway. Its presence there unnerved me enough that I picked out my device and sent a call to my mom.

She picked up almost immediately. ‘Hello, Camille. Where are you?” The worry in her tone was the first thing I picked.

“I am outside the house,” I replied. “But there is a limousine in her driveway. I think it is the property of the Lily of the Valley pack. Is that not the pack Dad was affiliated with before he broke his allegiance to his Alpha?”

Mom did not answer. All I could hear amidst the static was her laboured breathing. After a brief moment of silence, she finally spoke. “Camille, I think it would be better if you just came inside. There is something you must know.”

Then she ended the call. I let out a humorous laugh because of how serious she sounded.

Quick on my feet, I pushed open the front door which was to my surprise open. My steps were slow and cautious the second my sensitive ears caught that the heartbeats in the house were more than six. We had visitors? I continued onward with my heart slowly increasing with intensity.

The foyer greeted me with its familiar scent, a mixture of lavender and aged wood.

Yet, as I entered the living room, the atmosphere shifted, disrupted by the presence of strangers in impeccably tailored suits.

They looked like Sentinels. Why in the world would Sentinels from the largest pack in North Brookport be in our house?

My gaze met my parents. They were seated and holding this plastic smile on their faces. I knew discomfort when I saw it and I could tell the only reason they were masking how they were feeling was because I was in the room. Which confused me even more. Were we in danger?

Standing beside them were two individuals, both adorned in sleek suits that seemed out of place in our cosy home. They exuded an aura of authority that hinted at a world beyond the mundane.

"Sweetheart, we need to talk," my mother began, her eyes betraying a mix of concern and sorrow.

I glanced between my parents and the suited duo, a knot forming in my stomach. There were more in the house. They were probably hiding but I could hear their heartbeats. "Talk about what?" I asked, taking a step back and steeling my hands to my phone just in case I would have to use the damn thing as a weapon.

My father gestured toward the suited strangers. "These are envoys from the Lily of the Valley pack."

“Dad, I know,” I answered. “What I do not understand is why they are here and what they want with us?”

“Mr. Gallagher is not your father.” One of the envoys spoke.

“What?!” The laugh that left my lips was dry. Hollow even. I looked at my mom and then my Dad. Why did they look guilty? Why were their faces down? “Dad, what are they saying?”

“We are saying-” The envoy tried to say only to be cut off by my father.

“We will tell her!”

“Tell me what?” I demanded. “What is happening?”

“The envoys are here to take you. I know this must sound preposterous for you to hear but we are not your biological parents.”

That sentence alone from my father brought my whole world crashing down.

I stood there frozen, my mind unable to process the words that had just left my father's mouth. "What do you mean?"I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

My mother reached out to me, her hand trembling as she placed it on my shoulder. "Camille, we love you so much," she said, her eyes brimming with tears. "But we're not your real parents."

Tears welled up in my eyes as I struggled to comprehend what was happening. The envoys from the Lily of the Valley pack stood stoically by their side, their presence only adding to the surrealness of the situation.

"Who are my real parents?"I asked numbly.

"The Alpha and Luna of the Lily of the Valley pack," my father–I guess I couldn't call him that now replied, his voice thick with emotion. "We found you abandoned in the woods when you were just a baby. We took you in and raised you as our own."

The weight of his words hit me like a ton of bricks. Everything I thought I knew about myself and my life had been shattered in an instant.

"What happens now?"I asked, feeling lost and alone.

"The envoys will take you back to the Lily of the Valley pack," my mother explained softly. "It is time we let you go."

"I do not want to go," I retorted. "I am an adult and I am capable of making my own decisions. Like you said, I was abandoned. An alpha and a Luna of a prominent pack do not just lose their daughter."

"If you do not come with us," One of the envoys chipped in. "Your parents would be branded as kidnappers and traitors. You weren't just abandoned, Miss Camille, you were taken. You were switched. I am not sure how your parents can defend themselves in front of a council. Especially when your father used to be a Sentinel of the pack."

"I do not care," I retorted only to be slapped across the face by my "father".

"How dare you?" He spat.

The sting from the slap on my face matched the sharpness in his tone. I rubbed my cheek, defiance flickering in my eyes.

"How dare you?" he spat again, his anger palpable. "We have done nothing but live simple lives. We didn't commit a crime raising you. We just did one good deed. So you will return the favour, pack your things and get into that car. You owe us that much."

The words hung in the air, heavy and final. The reality of being uprooted from the life I knew and thrust into a pack that, until now, had been nothing more than a distant origin, overwhelmed me. I felt a profound sense of loss, not just for the parents I thought were mine but for the identity I had built around them.

"Is that what you want?" I managed to choke out.

"Yes!" It was grating to hear. But it was spoken.

"Okay, I will leave."

Then the rage that seemed to be plastered on my "father's" face dwindled. I saw him reach out as if to offer comfort, but I pulled away.

The space between us now felt like an unbridgeable chasm. The family bonds that once seemed so solid had disintegrated in the span of a conversation.

The envoys, stoic figures in the background, stepped forward. Their presence was a reminder that this wasn't just a family matter; it was a matter of pack dynamics, of a broader world that held claims over my existence.

"I will go ahead and pack my things," I declared, my voice steadier than I felt.

As I ascended the stairs to my room, old memories danced around me like ghosts.

The familiar surroundings that once provided comfort now felt alien. The bed, the books, the pictures on the wall—all carried the weight of a life built on lies.

Packing became an act of detachment. Each item I placed in my suitcase was a step away from a past that crumbled like beach sand.

My "mother" hovered in the doorway, her eyes red with unshed tears. I couldn't meet her gaze. I was angry at her too.

Once the last item found its place in my suitcase, I took a final look at the room that held so much history and so many deceptions.

Rage filled me again. So I zipped up the suitcase, sealing away the remnants of a life that was never truly mine.

Downstairs, my "father" waited. His face bore the scars of a strained attempt at composure.

I descended the stairs, suitcase in hand, and faced the remnants of what I once called a family. A family that scattered like a house of cards in the face of the truth.

"If I walk out of that door," I told them. "if I step out of that door and you don't tell me to stop. I will not come back. I will not look for you."

The silence stretched for a hot minute. But it didn't take long for my "mother" to break. She attempted to run to me with tears in her eyes. But "father" held her back.

With clenched jaws, he turned to me and said, "You should go, Camille. Your Carriage awaits."

The envoys gestured for me to follow and I obeyed.

As I walked away from the only home I had ever known, I couldn't shake the feeling that, in that moment, that my life had been irrevocably altered.