Michael's p.o.v
The next day
James explains to me what the poison has done to me and how it effect me. It turns out my emotion were everywhere. I can easily get angry and my wolf take control of me. His father has brought him some of his books so we can search for answers. "Let me see here and.....here we go. It says that depending how much dose you had, it will depend if you can control yourself. So if you expose to a small dose, then you can control yourself. If you were expose to a bigger one, then you will have trouble controlling yourself."
I stare at myself at my mirror. I don't let out my wolf at all because there was a time that I did and she caused a lot of destruction. Her name is Ace and her fur is full black. She loves to play around, but if you ever mess with her or you hurt someone close to her, you wouldn't live to tell the tale of how violent she is. Michelle was always able to control her wolf. Her name was Snow and her fur was full white. She was kind and lovable but she could sometimes get upset when someone messed with her, so I was always there to defend her.
Ace and Snow were always connected and they shared a bond that I can't describe. I stare at my hands and back to the mirror. There has to be a way that I can control my anger. James continues to look through his books while I decided to take a small bath. After my bath, I change into some black pants and a black shirt. I put on my combat boots and I fix my hair. James helps me wrap my scorch mark in case if it starts to bleed. We head downstairs and I see my mother in the living room drinking tea. "Hello mother."
She looks at, rushes to my side and hugs me. "Sweetie, I was so worried. You were poisoned and you were bleeding and you said that you-." I rest my hands on her shoulders. "I am ok mother. It passed and that is all it matters. Me and James are going to go for a walk. I need to stretch."
She nods and we leave before she changes her mind. We walk through the forest until we arrive to a spot that me and Brian would always meet. Before we left, I send Brian a message to meet me up here so we can talk about what happened.
I see Brian playing on his phone and his sister beside him. Her name his Chloe and she is somewhat similar to Brian. She loves to play around and she makes everyone laugh. When it comes to serious issues, she is the smart one and confident then us. "Michael! You are okay!" She hugs me and I smile. She reminds me of Michelle a lot. "Yup I am. Nothing is keeping me down. Anyways, I hope Brian informed you about what happened." She nods and looks at James.
"Who is this? What happen to David?" I sighs and we all sit down. "David was needed back to protect his people so they send James since he is the heir to his father, they want to keep him out of harm's way."
She nods and a smirk appears on her face. I know that look and I know this will not end well. "If he wants to be your protecter, he must pass my test to prove himself. Both of y'all stand up and stand by each other."
I stand up and James looks suspiciously at Chloe. We stand by each other and facing her. "Here is my test. Let's see your reflexes." She pulls out her dagger and throws it at me. I close my eyes waiting for the impact but I don't feel it. I open my eyes and James is in front of me.
He turns around and the dagger was in his left shoulder. I look at Chloe and she shrugs. "Looks like he passed the test." James pulls the dagger out and he lifts his shirts to see the cut healing. I let out a breath of relief and I look at Chloe. "Please, you have to stop doing that." She smiles and takes her dagger back. "Just making sure." I signal the others to follow me and we walk deeper into the woods until we reach a metal door. I put in a code and the doors open.
James is stunned as walk through a hallway until we reach the base. We call it The Spot. This is was an operation base back in the days and years ago, me and Michelle found it when we moved here in town. "James, welcome to The Spot. This is a base for all betas of the packs where they can come and rest and play around. We also have training rooms and a medical bay in case." We walk around until we see of picture of me and Michelle when we found this base.
"Me and Michelle are the founders of this place. We thought about the other betas and we meet here for the first time. Since then, we always meet here to discuss issue within our packs." I lead them to the conference room and the pictures of the heirs were on the wall including Jessica.
James notice it and look at me confused. "Me and Jessica don't get along but she is an beta so she must be included. Today we are having a meeting about her and she will be present." He nods and looks around.
I look at Chloe. "Send a message to the others and tell them that we are having a meeting including Jessica. Let them know about the situation." she nods and heads out. "Brian, can you get the trial room ready for Jessica trial?" He nods and leaves quickly. James stays silent for a bit before he looks at me. "Michael, why wasn't I invited to the base? You said this was for all betas?" I sigh and I sit down on my chair. "When we first made the rules, we were going to invited every beta so we can have peace within us. When we found out about your pack, the other were not convinced enough. They though you were an outsider since we never seen you unless is through a picture of you. Your father would come to the reunions or meetings but you never did. Me, Michelle, and Brian wanted to include you in, but it was 3 against 4 so we had to drop it." He nods and Chloe enters the room.
"They are all coming. They will be here in an hour." I nod and I get up. "Well I am going to go clean up. Chloe can you show James to his room? Make sure he wears the appropriate uniform and he is freshly cleaned." She nods and leads James out of the room. I head to my room and I look at two glass cabinets. There is two uniforms standing by each other and two swords on their side. The one on the left is mine and it is made of black leather both coat and pants. It is also with a long black shirt and black combat boots.
On the back it has a holder for my sword that is made out of titanium and the handle is black. On the right is Michelle's uniform. It is similar to mine, only it is white and she had a sword and a dagger. I push the glass and my side opens. I examine it before I grab it.
Few minutes later, I head out to see James fresh cleaned and in uniform. "Ok James, here is some ground rules. Number one: don't try to argue with the betas. They can easy leave you embarrassed in front of everyone. Number two: watch out with who you speak with. They all have different minds on the subject. And the last one, number three: don't try to defend me against the others. I can deal with them easily." He nods and I hear the door open. The other betas come in and they head to the conference room. There are seven betas in total.
Brandon of the Eclipse pack, Jane of the Gold Heart pack, Kevin of the Silver Heart pack, Brian of the Mystic Shadow pack, Jessica of the Blood Moon pack and me, Michael of the Shadow pack. Chloe would be included when she turns 16, but she is always around us so she know what goes down. They all enter and they take their seats while James looks nervously at me.
"It will be alright James. Wait out here until I call you. I need to explain the situation." He nods and I enter to the room. We all sit down and I look at everyone. "I hope everyone got the message of why we are here so Jane, you will lead the meeting today." She gets up and I sit down.
"We are here today because Jessica stabbed Michael and then poisoned her. Michael, explain to use what happen with Jessica." I give them all the details of the dinner and the combat match. I also told them that three witness knew about this. Jessica stayed quiet in her chair and never comment. "Ok Michael, you can call your witness." I nod and I stand up. "Before I do, I want to also welcome a new member to the group. James Jackson, beta of the Protecter pack." I signal James to enter and the whole room stares at James. Brandon is the first one to speak out as he stands up.
"This is against the rule. He isn't allowed since he is never around us. What makes you think he can join now after all these years?" Brandon stand there with his arms crossed. "He is my protecter now. David had to return and they send James to protect me and since he is an beta, he deserves to be within the group."
The others nod and Brandon sits back down. "James was there when Jessica poisoned me and if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be standing here. I want Jessica to be expelled from this base for 7 years so she can reflect on what she did."
Jessica gets up and tries to reach me, but Kevin and Brandon hold her back. "You can't do that! I have the right to be here and you can't take that away!" I take deep breath to control myself and I look at here straight at her eyes. "Be glad that I ain't take you out of the group. I am just suspending you from here."
They let her go and she straightens herself. "I wonder what Michelle would have said. She would try to stop you from making this mistake since you always do." I feel like I am loosing control of myself and I can feel Ace wanting to come out and give a piece of her mind to Jessica. "Looks like you are jealous Jessica since I can beat you in a fight and you can loose easily." She smirks and smiles at me. "The only reason you beat me was because you got stronger when you killed your sister." In a flash of an eye, James and Brian tried to pull me away from Jessica as my hands were around her neck.
My eyes were bright green and James quickly holds me tight. He pulls me away from Jessica and take me out of the room. I am breathing hard and James tries to calm me down. "Michael, just breath. You knew she was going to-." I growl at him and he stays quiet.
I lean on the wall and I slide to the ground. "If I wasn't poisoned, I wouldn't have this anger issue. I would have been able to face Jessica, but now I can't without tearing her apart." James goes back to the room and then comes out. "They are having a one hour break, so they can think about everything that happened." I nod and I get up and I head to my room. James goes to follow me, but I stop him." I want to be by myself." He nods and I leave him in the hallway.
James p.o.v
The other come out and Brandon, Jane, and Kevin come up to me. "Hello, it's nice to meet you. I am sorry on what I said about having you in the group. It just we agree to not add you and it was a rule." Brandon sticks his hand out and I shake it. "I understand Brandon. You don't have to apologise. I know I don't belong here since I am never out that much to see y'all. So tell me, what do think about this issue?" They look at Jane and she rolls her eyes. "From what I see, Jessica is going to get expelled for 7 years for endangering another beta."
I nod and Chloe comes up to me. "Where is Michael?" I point to her room and Chloe goes inside. The hour goes by and we all go back inside to hear the final decision. "From the proof that we got and the testimony, Jessica, you are expelled from the group for 7 years so you can reflect on what you did." She rolls her eyes and gets up and leaves. Everyone else leaves the rooms and head to theirs to change clothes. "So now what happens?" Michael gets up and smiles. "We now eat together as a family." We head to a dinning room and I see everyone has changed into their clothes. They all sit down and the servants start to bring out the dinner. We chat among ourselves and we enjoyed it.
Soon it was getting late and everyone started to head out. Me and Brandon became good friends and we stayed to help clean up the table. Once we finished, he leaves for the night and Michael and I stays silence until she breaks it.
"I want to show you something before we leave." I follow her through a hallway until we get to some doors and she opens them to a balcony. I look up to the sky and see the stars bright and the moon shining down to the forest. "This is a place I came when I felt alone or saddness. When Michelle passed away, I was here more often then at home because I felt relaxed here. I felt I was close to her from here." She continues to admire the stars when I decide to tell her the truth.
"I wasn't always the best protecters that everyone thinks. I was order to protect someone with my life and that person was killed while I was there. My mother was killed and I was right there. I didn't do anything to prevent it or I didn't put myself first. I was in a bad place for 6 months and my pack wanted to exiled me away because I didn't protect their Luna. My father convince the pack that I was going to prove everyone that I could protect someone so I start to go back to training." I look at the sky and smile. "I always wondered if my mother is watching for me because she was my best friend that I trusted. Before I knew it, I was given the order that I was going to protect a beta from The Shadow pack."
Michael p.o.v
Now I realize why he was send to protect me. He was trying to prove himself again to his pack. "I know what you mean. I was there when my sister was killed and some say that it wasn't my fault, but I know it is because I told her to trust me. I told her that we can do anything, but she was killed when I said that we could do it. After that, I blamed myself for that and the fact she believed in me. One of the men got away while the other was captured and sentence to death for the kill of an beta."
James grabs my hand and faces me. "I promise Michael that I will be there with you and I can trust you and you can trust me. I am with you to the end." He hugs me and I hug him too. We spent a few more hours looking at the sky until we decide to head back home. We finally arrive back at home where my mother was waiting for me in the living room. "Michael you have finally arrived. Why do you keep coming so late? You are in no condition to do something unless it is to be around the house. Understood young lady?"
"Yes mother I understand. Although that is not why you want to tell to me?" She gets up and we walk to the kitchen where she had tea ready. "There is a celebration for the birthday of the beta Brandon Braddock. He is going to be 17 and we were invited."
"Ok so are we going?" She smiles as she puts her hands together. "Of course we are. It would be rude not to. Tomorrow you and James are going shopping to buy an outfit for the celebration. The color he choosed was black and sky blue. I nod as I think where to get them. "Ok so tomorrow, we will head to the tribes shop and look for an outfit. I hope there is some of that color though." She frowns and looks worried. "I have already went to look but there wasn't. They said that they will be some out of the pack's borders. You will have to find it in a humans shop."
I can feel James tense a little. We and the humans were never in a good agreement. We fought a lot and it ended 3 years ago. Since then we never passed the borders. "Mother that is too dangerous. We agreed not to pass the borders and you want me to pass them. What about father?"
"He has agreed and he will go with you. I hope you understand that this is a serious place to go. You must not let the humans know who you are." I nod and she smiles. "Now it is time for you guys to head to bed. Tomorrow is a big day for y'all." We head upstairs to my room and James cleans my scorch mark and puts new cleans bandages." Is that all Michael?" I nod and he kisses my forehead and leaves quickly. I stay their sitting on my bed before I lay down and I turn off the light.
Morning
"Michael, time to wake up. We need to pack to leave early." I open my eyes and I see it is still dark outside. I check my clock and it is 5:35 am. James was beside my bed, changed already and has layed my clothes on a chair and my suitcase beside it." Your father wants you ready in 40 minutes and that you have pack clothes for a two day trip."
I get up quickly and I change into the black joggers and a long black sleeve shirt. I quickly pack some clothes and one extra outfit in case. I pack my other stuff that I need and I put on my sneakers. I head downstairs stairs and my father and James were there waiting for me. "Good morning sweetheart, are you ready to go?" I nod and my mother comes to me and hugs me." Be careful Michael and take care of your father for me. Make sure you hide your true self from the humans, ok?" I nod and I hug her tight. "I love you Mother. I will see you in two days."
I pull away and I put on my jacket and we head to my father's truck. We put our suitcase in the back and we get inside and buckle up and we take off. We spend 4 hours on the road until we pass the borders and we head into a large town. It hads so many shops and humans around walking. My father finds a hotel and we check in to get one room. We head up to the room and it's very nice and large. It has three twin beds and one big bathroom and a small kitchen, living room and and a balcony.
"Ok, you guys stay here to unpack and take a nap. I will head out to see what stores we can go to in the afternoon." We nod and he leaves. We get settled on our beds and we made sure we set an alarm so we can wake up. We lay there for a while until James phone starts to ring. "It's my father. I will be right back." He puts on his shoes and grabs his jacket before he leaves. I hope everything it ok.
James p.o.v
I quickly head outside of the hotel and I stand outside of there where no one can hear me.
Me: Hey father, what is going on? It everything alright?
Father: No it's not James. Where are you? My scouts said that you are not at Michael's place?
Me: No I am not. We are at a humans town looking for an outfit for beta Brandon birthday celebration. We are going to be here for two day and then we will come back. Why do you sound worried?
Father: James, my scouts came back with news and it is not good. He came back James, he came back. He is in town where you guys are.
I stay silent at the news. My mind raced as my mind centered in one name, Livingston. Joseph Livingston and his son Jay Livingston are another pack that was exiled from the tribes. They did something against the law and they were send to live in the humans world. They came ever so then came to show their new technology for us but they never came back to claim their land.
Me: Father are you sure that he is here? Did the scouts see them clear?
Father: Yes they did son and they said that their are meeting someone. Be careful around you and take care of Michael. The only thing the scouts said was that they overhear them talking about a project called Project M.
Me: Project M? Are you sure they didn't hear anything else?
Father: I am sure James, that is what they heard.
Me: Ok, I will keep a look out and make sure they are not here. I will talk to you later father, bye.
Father: Bye.
I hang up and I look around me. I know for a fact that they are here, but where exactly. I head back to the room and Michael is sound asleep. Her father hasn't return back and I start to question myself.
Was he meeting Michael's father?
Caleb p.o.v
I walk through the crowd of hand as I head to a dark ally. Ever since Michelle died, Joseph has been able to start a new project called Project M. He has been working on it for 5 years and he called saying it is ready.
I walk down the alley and I go through some black door and I see him talking to some tech guys. "Hey Caleb, I am glad that you came. We will finish this later guys." The tech guys bow to him and I as they leave quickly. "I don't have that much time Joseph. I am here for some shopping for a suit of Michael. I hope you have good news."
He nods and we walk through the hallway into a large room with a robot on a table. "Yes, we finally finished Project M and it is ready to go. We only need now is memories of M and she should be ready to go. it is able to transfer into her wolf as you wished and it has a weapon value." He shows me the blueprints of M and how she works. "The skin is able to resist anything that is know to resist. It can still get cut and bleed but it will heal like it does. It can shift and communicate telepathically. I only need for you to give me permission to access memories from you and Michael."
I nod as I rub my face. "I would but Michael doesn't like y'all at all. She has changed a lot since that day. If she found out about this, I don't know what she would do. I can't just bring her in here like if it was normal."
"That will be no problem at all." I look to the door and Jay is standing there. He walks up and I see his scar that Michael left him. He and Michael have a long history since they were mates and he did something terrible to her which he was left with a scar that crosses his left eye. "Nice scar Jay, looks like Michael left you a mark pretty well." He smirks as Joseph clears his throat. "Ok now that is settled, we need to be with Michael so we can get memories." I smiled and I sit down on the table. "Good luck with that. She has a new protecter with her 27/7, His name his James."
Jay smirks and grabs his coat. "Looks like I am meeting James first."