BODIE POV

We all fit ourselves into 10 SUV's. The children packed on top of one another and the baggage taking up any and all extra room. It was the extra confirmation I didn't know I needed, these people wanted out of here and I could give that to them. I drove the whole way second guessing my decision. Caine explained to me that once all the members pledge allegiance to me and to the pack, I would be able to better understand everyones feelings on any given topic. This time, he knew they were on board.

I'm not sure how to feel about people pledging to me though. That adds a type of stress I never wanted and that I'm not sure I'm ready for.

As the lead car, I drove directly to the strip and found one jet waiting there. A man in a captain uniform walked around to the front of the plane, clutching his clipboard. A smell came off of him, like decaying earth. It wasn't unbearable, but it made me uncomfortable.

'Rogue.' Caine was up and alert from his relaxed position.

'What does that mean?'

'A wolf with no pack, I think that man there is one. Some can be dangerous.' I took in his words and decided to find out for myself.

I stepped out of the car and held my hand behind me to indicate that everyone else should stay in their positions. Howard and Quest exited the SUV on the end and walked toward me. I rolled my eyes annoyed. These two aren't following instructions already.

"We're not leaving you on your own, Alpha." Quest muttered as he stopped beside me. I sighed and turned to continue toward the Captain.

"Hey, you guys are my travelers returning home?" He looked up from his last note on the clipboard and offered a kind smile. It faltered a bit when he saw the two walking behind me. When I stopped in front of him, he turned his eyes downward and tilted his head. Caine dropped his nervousness.

'He submitted quickly. I think we should be safe. For the journey, at least.'

'Is that what that movement is?'

'Yes.' I would ask him more about that later.

"Parker told me that we should meet you here. We just need to load everything up and we can go. Shouldn't take long at all." The captain looked up, but refused to meet my eyes.

"Yes, Alpha." Now I'm confused, and I wouldn't be taking my people anywhere with him until I find out what his angle is.

"You have no pack." I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him, he nodded. "Why?" I raised a brow. I was genuinely curious.

"I was born a rogue. A pack Alpha killed my mother when I was young. I don't really have a lot of trust." He wasn't lying and I didn't blame him for his decision.

"Took a lot of trust for you to tell me that."

"I will admit that there is something a bit off about you. I don't know you, but I have seen you before and I have been close enough to tell that you didn't have a wolf before… but you do now." He started to take a step back, like he was afraid of how I would react.

"And that alone makes you trust me? Now I'm suspicious." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"No, no! I only meant that, well in the cases where people get their wolves late, it usually means they were blessed by the Moon Goddess in some way." He stood staring at me.

"Cap, all you've done is given me information on myself. You're a rogue wolf who's going to be flying this plane full of my pack members. How can I trust that you aren't doing something nefarious?" He let out a sigh and his panic went back to his calm smile. He nodded a little in agreement with me.

"I understand, Alpha. I can swear my allegiance to you, if you'll allow me to join your pack."

"Why would you want to do that? You just said you don't trust packs. I've been trying to figure out from the beginning why you trusted me with such a personal story."

"I don't trust Alphas, but being apart of a pack is in my nature and I have always yearned for one. I meet many wolves in this work and they'll just pass by me. I expect it, moving to the city makes it less likely to be attacked for being Rogue. You are the first to ever stop and ask why." I looked at him for a moment longer. Most wolves traveling are probably trying to keep up appearances in human territory. That doesn't mean they could never stop and offer a helping hand.

"Is this your jet?"

"Yes, Alpha."

"Alright. But you have to swear to me now, to give me peace of mind."

He nodded. "I understand, sir." He dug into his pocket and pulled out a utility knife, he made a small cut on his palm and held the butt out to me. 'Cut your hand, you'll heal fine after.' I followed Caine's instructions and cut my palm too. The captain took my hand eagerly and with a smile said, "I, Kai Pearson, pledge allegiance to…-"

"Caine Bodeen."

"Alpha Caine Bodeen of…-" He looked expectantly at me. 'The pack name. We are going somewhere new, we should have a new pack name.' I looked behind me at Quest and Howard, they both had expectant looks as well. I guess this is all on me.

"Oi Lykoi. And just call me Bodie, the wolf is Caine." I decided to call us 'The Wolves' in Greek. It seemed the most fitting, plus we could always deicide on a new one later. Kai seemed to love it, he grinned and nodded with enthusiasm. Quest laid a firm hand on my shoulder, shook a little, then stepped back again.

"Alpha Bodie of Oi Lykoi." I felt something open up in my mind and I could sense his wolf with 100% clarity. He was happy to finally have an Alpha and maybe have the possibility to make new friends.

'Thank you, Alpha.' I looked at the captain confused. He just stares, no help. Thankfully, Caine is there to save the day, again.

'It's the mind-link. Every pack has one, so you'll be able to communicate with anyone from a certain distance. It helps keep everyone safe. It also means that you can yell at people to do stuff for you from across town and you would know for sure if the message got through.' He chuckled at his non-joke but I felt better.

'Hello, Kai. Let's get on this plane and get home. Shall we?' Kai nodded to me and turned to finish his check. I turned to the guys and the rest of the vans. I waved for everyone to come out and all the doors flew open at once.

"You guys could have warned me about the mind-link thing." I said before Howard and Quest could walk away. Howard chuckled.

"Sorry, Alpha. It shouldn't be hard to remember, I catch myself trying to mind link you. But we aren't a full pack yet." I realize that Howard and maybe many more of the pack are feeling the same way Kai did, just wanting to be settled with friends and family, together.

"We will make it official soon. I just want to give you guys time to change your minds."

"We're not going to change our minds, Alpha. The Moon Goddess sent you to us and you have done more for us than most of us have had in a really long time." Elliot, the boy that used to have the long cut on his arm. It was fully healed. 'Is that possible after just a few hours?'

'Yes, we are wolves.' He could be so chatty sometimes, succinct the next.

"I can meet in the middle. As we get on the jet, the people who want to swear do and the people who don't… we just get on the plane and go. I want you to take your time. Being your Alpha means you trust me and I don't want to compromise that like your last Alpha." I said it quietly, knowing everyone would hear me clearly.

Howard walked away to grab some of the luggage from the cars and I stood at the top of the stairs in the plane like an air hostess waiting for my pack to pledge to me or not. Laurel walked up with her small suitcase and a fat backpack strapped to her. She held out her hand for the knife and I handed it to her.

"I, Laurel Hagan, pledge allegiance to Alpha Bodie of Oi Lykoi." I was surprised she was the first, but she probably thought that things couldn't get much worse than they already have for her. I wanted to comfort her and tell her that nothing bad would ever happen again. But I can't guarantee that and I don't lie.

I felt the mind-link stretch like elastic to include her. 'I swear I will do everything I possibly can to make sure that you are happy, safe and protected.' She looked at me with surprise, but smiled at me. I let her pass by me onto the jet and looked up to find Kai starting at me.

'Focus on the person you want to speak to, otherwise you address the entire pack, Alpha.' I smiled and nodded in acknowledgment. He kept looking curiously at me. The next person came forward with all of the children standing behind her.

"The children cannot swear right now. They are underage and they haven't shifted yet." She said so quietly, I had to lean in to hear her.

"That's perfectly fine. They can just go on and pick their seats." They all passed single file into the jet. The woman stopped in front of me staring directly in my eyes then looked away and tilted her head like Kai had done. I didn't want anyone submitting to me and she noticed my discomfort.

"You're pushing your aura out a little. That makes anyone of lower rank submit."

"I'm sorry!"

"No! It's natural and there are different degrees in which you can do it. I would guess that you're maybe nervous to be out in the open responsible for so many people?"

"I've never been so easy to read."

"My being a psychologist helps." She held her hand out to me, her palm already bleeding. I grasped it, "I, Sienna Arula, pledge allegiance to Alpha Bodie of Oi Lykoi." She pulled her hand away gracefully. The connection to her formed just like the others, but neither of us said a thing.

We continued like that until every last person was on the plane. Only one person opted not to officially join the pack. Eston Rotondo, he didn't offer any reasons why, just breezed passed me onto the jet. I didn't question him, but now I knew the discomfort that came with having a virtual outsider in your midst. We took off quickly after everyone was settled into their seats.

I took the opportunity to say more about myself while we were in the air. Maybe they would feel more comfortable with me. I stood near the captains open door and everyone's eyes looked at me.

"Hey." I stopped when I realized I had no idea what to say. Or if they even cared to know. "I have this idea that you'll feel better about all of this if I tell you more about myself."

"I definitely need to know more about that scar." Quest piped up from the seat closest to me. I wanted to roll my eyes, but that's exactly what I'm standing up here for.

"I was a soldier in the U.S. Special Forces. As an intelligence sergeant, I've seen a lot of things. Working as a weapons sergeant, I've fought more than the necessary amount of wars… I got the scar when I was tasked with gathering intelligence from a trafficking ring. My cover was blown in a big way. But that was over 6 years ago." I focused on a spot directly over everyones heads, all of a sudden nervous with all of the eye contact.

"I have to admit that I wasn't completely clueless about the existence of werewolves. I just assumed I was going a little kookie, then Caine showed up to put those fears to rest." I was curious about the reaction to that so I looked at Quest and his face held a look of shock and a hint of suspicion.

"I had a partner when I served. His name was - IS Wesley Pobane. We worked together for about 9 years and I never had a clue… We were on mission in Washington, following a lead on some missing children we were looking for. When we walked into the room, there weren't children, but many adults with many weapons. Wes sniffed the air once and shifted. He was huge; I only got one good look at him before his ass sent me flying into the next wall. I was unconscious and when I came to, I was in the medical ward. They gave me a severance package and a medical discharge. I never saw Wes again."

"Maybe the hunters got to him…" Howard looked at me sympathetically. "They didn't tell you what happened while you were unconscious?"

"No, they said he was reassigned and since I wasn't serving anymore, I wasn't at liberty to know his whereabouts. I didn't even understand why we were the only two there. We usually take the whole team for things like that."

"Maybe what they told you is true. Although, they way they did it is a little weird. The US government does get weird though." Quest said. He and Howard didn't seem to have a problem engaging with me. I did have the attention of everyone else, even if they didn't offer a response.

"Maybe…"

"What about before you were a soldier?" Stephan's small voice came from the middle. Still clutching his stuffed animal, with his head rested against the seat and his eyes droopy.

"Before then, I was just an orphan kid. Getting into trouble and repeating the same mistakes again." I offered softly.

"Then you found your pack." His words drifted off as his eyes shut and didn't open again. I just stared at him for a while. Envisioning him and the other children playing and getting into trouble. The fun trouble, not the sort that almost lands you in jail. I wanted to give that to them. I needed to give that to them.

'That's the Alpha's purpose. To lead and protect the pack, I haven't felt this feeling in a long time. Korbin really did lose his drive. I'm glad I get the chance to experience it again, we'll do this right. I know we will.'

Caine's reassurance was all I needed to give a short nod and sit back down in my seat. Being an Alpha probably wouldn't be much different from being a sergeant. If that's the case, the Moon Goddess had just given me everything I needed. Why?