The founder members are usually the center of the pack, the ones that take most decisions and whose authority was to not be defied if you wished to be at peace, same to say that angering them could turn your life into a living hell. 

In normal instances, the parents. In our case, though, it was a group formed by: Leo, Drake, Paul, Jason, Raph and myself when we started. All of us equals in terms of power with the exception of Leo who tended to have the final word on the disputes. 

When Jason died, Tim took his place. The twins took mine after I was repudiated the first time, almost fifteen years ago. 

We all moved silently to the back garden. The house was Ian’s on paper but the construction was designed to be pack’s territory, similar to what the abandoned temple had been in our childhood, and so it was big enough to house all of us at the same time. It was also expected to hold our more… abrasive traditions far away from curious eyes. 

The back garden was more a forest than anything. 

Thankfully the rain had stopped two hours ago, leaving a clear starry sky to witness the meeting. 

My clothes had dried against my skin, keeping the cold grip in my bones. The autumn winds didn’t help as it bit down on my skin with an unforgiving harshness and I held little doubt that all of us would experience colds in a few days, if not by tomorrow morning. 

My mind immediately wandered to how Tim and I were gonna keep the pet-store open with both of us down. And how much pain I could shoulder from a sick and grieving Tim before things went ugly.

The odds were not nice, I admitted with a grimace, especially when the people I trusted around the shop were all about to scream my ears off. 

Once we were far enough from the house that our scream match would not disturb the ones inside, we stopped. The twins' expressions were tired, their usual mischief nowhere to be seen and I felt for them, being the younger members among our group but often shouldering the hardest parts of ruling a pack as big as ours. 

“What’s going on?” Christopher, the twin with blue hair, demanded. 

“Touma.” Raphael said simply, offering no more explanation. It was an order. 

I glared at him a few seconds before looking down, choosing the easy answer of submission was more of a habit than anything by now. And you know what they say about bad habits, don’t you? They’re hard to break. 

“You don’t know the story because we haven’t shared it.” I start, looking back at the twins. “But seeing their wounds alone is easy to connect the dots.” 

It was hard not to, when all of us had seen so many deaths. Shot-injuries were familiar even if we were more used to stabbing ones. Crushed heads were also familiar, even if seeing what remained of someone who fell from big heights wasn’t. 

“Leo shot Peter.” Luke, the twin with pink hair, whispered. His eyes betrayed the weak demeanor of his voice, they were cold. Hard. 

Drake made a wounded sound. 

“He did. And then he jumped from a building.” Paul continued. “We figured that Peter was alive by that moment and tried to stop his fall. They were holding hands when we found them.” 

“How was Peter even able to find him?” Christopher asked again, he was always the more outspoken of the twins. He was shaking his head in disbelief. “Leo was one of the biggest players in the underground. He didn’t want to be found, it should have been impossible for Peter to even get close.” 

“I found some leads.” I admit making a face.

It had been hard to get. Strays was no more than a whisper on the lanes of memory, its legacy only living because Leo was still considered to be unstoppable; a natural disaster in human form. 

Many had tried to get some of the Captains for themselves the moment the gang was disbanded. None had succeeded. The pack held even as the gang withered around them and in time people knew better than to ask. 

Tim had protected me from the harassment after I was out of jail, making his claim obvious for the rest of the world to see. Shield and chain at the same time. 

Getting my contacts to acknowledge me was tricky, getting them to work even more so. Only the Jin siblings had answered and the info was rumors and gossip of low connections to Leo’s empire of drugs and debauchery. 

“When Peter asked, I agreed to share them with him.” How could I not when I was desperate for someone to share my anxiousness at Leo’s absence? “We went through a lot of them in a few days… he told me to stop two days ago. That he wanted to focus on Daisy with the wedding so close.” 

I had been stupid to believe he would stop. 

But I had been too heartbroken to think deeply about the determined glint in his blue eyes; too busy cursing him for taking this last chance for my hands. Too tired to do more than nod and return home with unshed tears. 

“That’s what I don’t get.” Drake snarled. “Why? Why would you do that?” 

“Because I couldn’t go alone and neither of you even entertained the idea.” I bit back, bitter poison dripping from my words. “Because he was the only one that still cared.”

“You—!” Drake took a threatening step forward, Paul’s and Rhap’s hands flying to his arms as a warning. 

“We care.” Tim spoke to me for the first time in hours, his turquoise flashing with hurt. 

“You don’t.” My smile is as sharp as my words. “And Peter knew this too. That’s why he came to me.” 

There’s growls and sharp intakes of air; my own sentiments could be brushed away, but Peter’s were a different thing. He was too honest. Too good. He pushed when needed but respected boundaries way more than many in our group, he noticed none of the presents was willing to help and he turned to the only who was left: Me.

Even when our last interaction was on the Red Fall. 

Even when I had broken the pack. 

“You lied to him. Did you really thought he would not see through it?” I dare, pointing my chin up and meeting Tim’s eyes squarely. 

The lie itself was bad: ‘Leo is overseas managing a restaurant.’ Who in their right mind would associate Leo with doing something as boring as that? Leo lived to fight. He would die of boredom if he tried to run a restaurant.

“Or that he would be fine with your not-answers?” I barrel without leaving a space for them to speak. My voice shakes with anger as I look at the others. “With how you’re not even open to say his name? How about not having any pictures on the house? Or that the number you gave him was always occupied? Of course not. Because he, unlike you, still loves Leo and thinks of him as pack.” 

“You don’t know what you’re speaking about.” Raphael never raises his voice.

The fact that he did now stops everyone in their tracks. My eyes snapped at him, narrowing at the pain painted in his expression. 

“Leo left.” He continued. “He made sure we understood he didn’t want us nearby. That he didn’t consider us pack anymore.” 

My brows furrowed at the weird statement. I tilted my head sideways, giving away my genuine confusion. “And?” 

“What do you mean ‘And’?” Paul demanded with a surprised laugh. “Is that not enough for you? Should we not respect his wishes?” 

“Not when it is evident he lied.” I continued, still feeling ill footed. There was something I was missing. “I mean, the pack is -was- under his protection. His people obviously had strong orders to not engage with us.” 

Sure, it didn’t stop outsiders from poking their nose into our business but we could take care of the nuisance ourselves. And yes, said protection was well hidden, but the fact that everything related to ‘ToRev’ was denied to anyone who had ties to the pack made it quite evident to my eyes.

The surprise in everyone’s face told me that this wasn’t as obvious as I believed. 

“You didn’t know?” I press into the silence. 

“No.” Tim answers, looking like he’s about to faint. 

Paul and Raphael exchange looks, their expressions turning unreadable as a firm wall slapped into place. Christopher had hidden his face in his twin’s chest, his scent turning sour in his distress. 

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Luke demanded. 

I looked at him with incredulity. “I did.” 

“What.” Drake says, his expression one of shock. “To whom?” 

“To everyone here?” I was tempted to pull out my hair out. Gods, these people were insufferable. “I asked individually too once you brushed me off the first time. You all told me to ‘Leave it alone.’ and resisted anything I had to say on the matter, shutting down the moment I spoke of Leo.” 

Tim had even thrown a teapot at me for Gods' sake! And Drake had firmly shoved me out of his shop. The others too, if not as violently, had cut the subject firmly enough that I knew I had to back off or face the possibility of being purged. 

Now? I was just too tired to care about stepping on the shards of glass. 

“We didn’t…”

“Listen. Yes.” I snort bitterly. “As you didn’t listen to Peter either.” 

“Neither of you were there.” Drake’s temperament has always been fast to spike, devastating like a wave. The storm turned the placid ocean beneath into something deadly. “You don’t understand anything! And you have the balls to judge us?” 

He had me by the neck before I could blink. 

Alarm (and fear) ran through me as my feet left the ground, hands flying to grip his arm, an instinctual move that would make Jason ashamed of me. It was faulty. If you wanted someone to let you go, the eyes or neck were what you should aim for. Not whatever this was. 

Tim’s guttural growl was the only warning Drake had. 

The cries of “What out!”, “Don’t!” and “Let him go!” all arrived too late. 

Tim’s foot connected with Drake’s ribs. The momentum threw Drake off his feet and he fell with a startled yell, his finger slacked off and I rolled with the movement. Landing on fours, crouching down as Tim’s angry-protection-mine-back off filled the air. 

It took me five seconds of staring dumbly at Tim’s back to understand I was causing the strong reaction and clamped down my emotions. Forcing my scent to return to its usual icy calm, hoping this would allow Tim to calm down. 

“Don’t touch him.” Tim said, his tone clipped. “This is your last warning. Next time, I’ll rip out your throat.”

Nick’s appearance at Drake’s side should not have been a surprise, he was very like a guardian dog after all. Never far behind from his partner, especially when the situation at hand could end in violence. His icy blue eyes were narrowed and his posture defensive, teeth bared in a silent snarl, but he was also keeping Drake on the floor. Making sure he was not in any position to evoke another aggression. 

Smart; a feral omega would decimate a beta, would also run over an Alfa if he had reasons to. On top of that Tim was already a good fighter without the enhanced strength and sharper senses,  we really needed to deescalate this as fast as possible. 

I placed a hand around Tim’s ankle, both as a warning as a reassurance. 

Drake’s dark skin had paled a few shades, making him look ashen and sick. His gaze was clear for the first time since we found the bodies. 

“Take him back to the house.” Raphael ordered, breaking the tense silence that followed Tim’s declaration.

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