8

Warning: Tjis story will contain violence and a usive themes. Read with caution and at your own discretion.

The next morning saw Ada alone in her bed in the hospital. Vincent had stayed for hours, just sitting with Ada, the two of them not talking. Ada could feel the pull toward him grow, and feel the bond between them getting closer. He looked at her with an emotion in his eyes that she didn't recognize and while it u settled a part of her, the rest of her wanted to know what it was.

Emily had come in the very early hours to give Ada food and something to drink, but the nest time the door was opened, three large men she had not seen stepped in. She slid off the bed without being told and held her arms out, wrists held facing up.

They seemed suspitious and surprised, but her wrists were tightly bound. Admittedly the ropes were too tight and her fingers began to tingle almost right away, but she said nothing.

She was lead out of the room, able to see the hospital for the first time. She kept her eyes forward, memorizing what she could of the layout as they brought her to the front doors and outside.

It was a bright midsummer day, her eyes stinging with the brightness of the light. She had spent three weeks in that single room and while it felt great to have the warm sun on her skin and smell the fresh air, she knew that it was short lived.

A large black vehical was waiting for them and she was quickly ushered inside. Seated in the middle in the back seat, she stared straight ahead and watched the scenery as they went by. The hospital, she could tell, was outside the town where the pack lived. Members worked in the hospital, like Emily, to care for those in the pack that got hurt. It was smart but risky, as humans also visited that hospital and there was the added risk of the wrong chart falling into the wrong hands.

The ride took only about ten minutes, the car pulling up to a large set of iron gates. They opened when the car got close and they drove down a long winding driveway. On both sides were vast flower and food gardens, orchards full of fruits trees and Ada knew she could smell animals. The complex must have been huge to be able to have this much on it. She knew even before getting out and smelling the air that this was the home of the Alpha and his family.

The car stopped before the large building. White mortar helped grey stones in place as the outer walls of the building. Tall multupained glass windoes broke up the practice placement of the stones and a dark tiled roof topped the whole four story structure off. Ada had no idea how anyone could live in such a big house. There had to be so much wasted space.

She was lead along a path that lead around the house and further across the property. It was clear that this was the pack land, and everyone lived here behind the large walls and tall gate. They passed houses and a school on their way to a very official looking building. She knew it was a courthouse before they got close and she saw the plaque on the wall. She had no idea they were going to be this official with this.

She was walked through a metal detector and lead down a short hall, through a large set of double doors, and into a courtroom type of area. Instead of a tall platform for a judge to sit on with a whiteness chair beside it, there was just a long table on a slightly raised platform and four chairs. In those chairs were seated the leaders of the pack. The Aplha and his Luna sat on stage left, while the Beta and his mate sat on stage right.

They watched as Ada was lead down the walkway between the benches used for seating and she was brought to the table that awaited her. There had to be most of the pack in the room, it almost all of them were standing. Though there were two sides to sit on, none sat in the benches that were situated behind where she would sit. None of them wanted to be near her.

Whispers broke out after she passed and the rope was removed from her wrists. They were red and raw, but handcuffs were snapped into place right away and the cuffs were attached to a thick metal ring bolted onto the top of a heavy metal table which was bolted to the floor. It looked and smelled new.

Though she could hear all of the voices and smell all of those there, she had never felt more alone. Over one hundred other wolves had crammed themselves into this room, and none of them were on her side.

She fought the urge to hang her head, and instead she kept it held high. Her dark eyes gazed at the leaders of the pack with no emotion. She kept her emotions in check and her heart and breathing carefully controlled.

Before anyone could speak, the door that lead u to the room opened again. Whispers once more broke out and Ada heard someone slip into one the benches closest to her. After a moment she could smell Emily. She had come, and she was showing her support, despite what the rest of her pack might think of her. The edges of Ada's lips twitched, but she suppressed the smile that wanted to form.

"Before we begin. There is a matter we want to sort out." It was the Alpha, his voice loud and booming in the crowd room.

"Emily has told us that the name you gave her was Adalaid, but that you gave no last or middle name. Why?" He asked. Ada was not sure why it was impprtant, but she answered the same way she had this whole time. With the truth.

"Because I don't remember them. They are never used once you make your first kill." Her reply sent a wave of hard to understand whispers through the crowd which hushed as soon as the Alpha looked their way. All four at the table seemed satisfied with her answer.

"Enily has told us what you told her about your past and how you came to be here. But we wish to hear it from the source. Tell us your story." The Alpha demanded.

"And leave no detail out." The Beta, a tall and oddly lanky man with buzzed hair and one eye scarred closed, added. The Alpha tensed, but made no move to correct his Beta.

"Alright, but any children should be taken from the room. You will not want them to hear this." Was the only warning Ada gave before she started into her tale. Like the night before with Vincent, she started from the beginning. She told them about her family and her small modest pack. She told them how they were nomads, foraging for fruits and roots while hunting the caribou and reindeer that they lived along side. She detailed the day she was taken. How she had seen her Mother and brother dead and How her father was fighting too many wolves and the rest of the pack would never make it in time.

She went into more detail about the hours she faced in the first camp. She explained what they did to the new kids they brought in, and gave a very detailed explanation of her first fight, the one with the human girl.

Next came her two years in the training caves and her first wolf kill. She detailed that fight as well, and after she began to explain the tortures that would be inflicted on them when they got out of line. The silver knives or the wolves who had gone feral being their main source of pain. She explained the starvation, the bare handed beatings and threats of rape if they ever got out of line.

The longer she talked, the more people left the room, and the more tense the Alpha and Luna seemed to get. Oddly, the Beta was perfectly calm, even if his mate beside him had left; not able to bear the story being told.

When finally Ada ended the story with her black out after being hunted by Kyle, the entire room was silent. No one whispered, no one spoke. It seemed as if the entire room had been stunned into silence. When it dragged on too long, the Alpha finally broke it.

"Do you have any proof that what you have just told us is true?" His voice shook with his contained rage. Ada was not sure if the rage was directed at her, or the events she had just explained.

"Just the scars on my skin and the wounds on my heart." She replied, which seemed to confuse the Alpha. He went to go speak again but his mate, who had darker skin, black hair and amber eyes; Ada knew where Vincent got his looks from, put a hand in his gently.

The Luna leveled a steely gaze onto Ada. It was such an intense look that Ada was sure the Lyna was going to snap or come over that table at her.

"What do you mean wounds on your heart?" She asked. Ada wondered if they had been listening at all.

"I watched my mother die. I saw my brother dead. I knew my father was going to die and I was taken from my pack. My home. How could their not be wounds in my heart?" She asked. A mix of emotions flashed across the face of the Luna, but she kept composed.

"What was the name of your pack?" She asked, seeming satisfied with herself. Ada wondered if the woman assumed her to say she didn't remember, and it would give them an excuse to reject her story. She did remember though. She would never forget.

"The Tundra Moon Pack." She replied easily. Whispers broke out across the room again and the three remaining leaders tensed. They knew the pack name. They were uncomfortable.

"Impossible." The Alpha growled, flattwbung his calms on the table before him and raising to his feet.

"Everyine in the Tyndra Moon pack was killed on the day or the rogue raid." He growled. His words hit Ada hard, all of her breath expelling from her all at once. Everyone?

"No." She replied, the eyes of the Alpha narrowing. Her carefully controlled mask of indifference cracked.

"Yes!" The Alpha snapped back.

"Everone in that pack was killed! The rogues killed everyone and their bodies were not found until spring! My cousin was the Luna of that pack! I will not have you using it to make your ruthlessness and unwillingness to take responsibility for your actions legitamate!" He roared. His words fell on deaf ears.

Ada could hear almost nothing except her own heart. The whole pack? Everyone was gone? They had not been a large pack but they had more than a dozen people. Everyone was killed that day?

Ada felt tears falling down her face and her legs gave out under her. Before she could drop to her knees, she felt an arm around her.

All at once the sounds and smells came back and she snapped her head to the side to look at Vincent. There was a mix or rage and sadness in his eyes as he looked at her, and he turned his eyes from her's quickly.

"I have proof." He said firmly as he looked at his parents and the Beta of his pack.

"Vincent. We told you to stay out of this." The Apha sighed, frustrated with his son.

"My judgment is not compromised. If anything my head is more clear than before." He held up a book.The Alpha narrowed his eyes darkly at his son and sat back down heavily.

"That book is not supposed to leave the library." He snapped, but Vincent placed it down and flipped the book open.

"But this proves her story. In here is a picture of the Tundra Moon Pack. Along with the names of each. On here is one Adalaid Agapova. Daughter to the Beta of the pack Joseph Agapov." He turned the book around and Ada's eyes fell onto the picture in the book.

There they were. It was her whole pack. Seeing them again caused a heavy grief to drop into her chest and a loud sob she could not control left her lips.

"Mamma.... Daddy..." She could not touch the picture like she wanted, as she was still attached to the top of the table. All of her strength left her though and she dropped to her knees with another loud sob. The entire room had gone silent, her arms bent awkwardly as she sobbed.

After just a moment Vincent was helping her back to her feet. Emily had come forward and grabbed the book, walking it to the Alpha and the Luna.

"I don't know about you. But to me she looks just like Clarissa." She placed the book down on the table gently and slid it toward them.