Author's Note:Just a quick note before the chapter. Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadian readers! Thank you for the reviews from Lonely Rider and babesrus2! I will keep writing as much as I can and I hope I will keep up with my fresh approach to these characters!

Disclaimer: I do not own Patricia Briggs' characters or themes. I am not making any money from this story! I only own Kira and Thurin along with the Beacon Peak Pack!

Chapter Four

Kira stared out of the window of Samuel's car. She was sitting in the back behind Samuel who was driving with Arianna sitting tensely in the passenger seat. Kira's wolf paced beneath her skin, hating being stuck in the back seat with no control of the car, but since Samuel was more dominant than her and Thurin took her jeep back to Beacon Peak, she was stuck. It only took about nine hours until Kennewick came into view. Kira looked at it with contempt. The buildings might not have done anything wrong, but to Kira, they represented her own personal hell. Her banishment from her pack. She couldn't shake that she had done something wrong, but Bran assured her that it was not something that she did to her pack, but rather he was doing this to avoid a potential disaster if her control slipped. Clearly, something that she had done had given Bran the idea that she was losing control.

"I was told to bring you first to Adam and Mercy's when we arrived. Warren will be there to bring you to his and Kyle's house after dinner." Samuel said gently, breaking the silence since they first got in the vehicle that morning.

"Okay." Kira responded quietly, not even bothering to stop looking out the window as Samuel drove the residential streets to Adam and Mercy's house. It would not do her any good if she argued, not that she had not already tried that with Bran. It got to the point where he forbad her from leaving the house without him, Samuel or Charles with her, which never happened until this morning.

Silence swarmed the vehicle once again until Samuel pulled up to Adam's house around mid afternoon. Samuel turned off the vehicle before turning his seat towards Kira.

"Try to find what Da believes you have lost. Use this time to become the Alpha we know you to be. I know that you are the first woman to become an Alpha and the youngest so we are going into uncharted waters from here on, but the other two women who are Alphas in Canada have not been having the issues you are having. We are not sure if them being significantly older has anything to do with it, but Da doesn't want you to break the hope that women can be Alphas too without losing themselves to their wolves. Just, give this a chance." Samuel said.

Kira looked at him straight in the eye for a second before looking away. "I can try, but you know how much I love change and losing control over anything." She said bitterly.

"Just, try." He said.

Kira did not respond. She just grabbed her bag that was beside her and left the vehicle. She walked slowly up to the door before closing her eyes for a second while knocking on the door. It swung open to show Jesse, Adam's daughter. She had grown since the last Kira had seen her and had matured into a woman of twenty years, though her rebellious nature showed through the pink highlights in her hair.

"Hey Jesse." Kira said quietly with a smile. "How long did it take before your dad stopped grumbling about the pink?"

"What makes you think he has stopped?" Jesse said with a grin. She opened the door wider to let Kira in. "Come on in, Kira. Dad is in the garage with Mercy and Warren."

Kira walked in before putting her bag down by the door against the wall. Slipping her shoes off, she followed her nose and ears to the door to the garage. It was closed, but Kira just slipped through before closing it behind her. Warren was standing by the opposite wall watching Adam and Mercy circling each other before coming together, trying to hit each other in various kicks and punches. Kira watched them as well, observing that even though Mercy was not a werewolf, she held her own with Adam who had the experience of army training with years of experience over her. It was only about five minutes later when Adam had Mercy pinned underneath him that Warren cleared his throat. Adam looked up at Warren before looking the other way to see Kira. Mercy used this distraction to kick Adam off of her and to end up on top of him. Kira smiled at her tenacity.

Adam just stood up, bringing Mercy along with him before turning to Kira. Mercy went to grab two bottles of water that sat by Warren before walking back to join her mate in the middle of the mat.

Kira knew that Adam was more dominant than her, but just barely more, which made it difficult for her wolf to show respect to Adam without losing her pride as an Alpha. She simply nodded from her seat on the step by the door, a compromise between her wolf and human sides.

"Kira." Adam started in greeting.

"Adam," Kira responded, getting up from her seat, "Mercy."

"I would like to welcome you to the Columbia Basin Pack. Kira, I welcome as one Alpha greets another, but also as one friend greets another. You are welcomed into the pack as a member who is outside of the pack structure, who is expected to be here with the rest of the pack, but is not allowed to challenge or be challenged for pack status. This way, you are honoured as an Alpha of another pack, but also welcomed to run with us and to find the comfort of pack with us so long as you fight with us to protect our home. What say you to these terms?" Adam said formally, his words reeking of pack power.

Kira looked right into his eyes. "I agree to these terms. I will use my power as a dominant wolf to protect those who you have sworn to protect, to run with you, and to not challenge your wolves so long as they do not challenge me. I also swear to not antagonize your wolves so long as they do not antagonize me first. What say you?" Kira put her hand out to Adam, letting her Alpha power mix with his in the air.

He grabbed her forearm just below the elbow. She reciprocated the motion to Adam, grabbing his forearm firmly. "Agreed."

And just like that, she knew she was stuck there with wolf magic holding her to her words to Bran and to Adam to go through the motions of not an Alpha, but dominant female wolf, to discover herself, and to find out what is causing her to lose control.

"Well, now that the formalities are over," Mercy started, "how have you been, Kira?"

"I could be better since He Who Rules Over Us All has decided that I was not good enough as I was." Kira said with a slight smile. "How have you been?"

"Good, we've been good, though we are starting to get a bit jumpy with the past six months being so quiet." Mercy said with a chuckle. "Adam is rather still annoyed with Jesse dying her hair, but I just keep reminding him that it is just hair."

"Can we not talk about me as if I am not here?"Adam said, "Besides, it is supper time." He walked inside, leaving the rest of them to follow.

Warren stopped her before entering. "Glad to see you again, Kira." He said, giving her a one arm hug. They had met a few times at the Alpha meetings when Adam could not attend. Adam kept Darryl around the pack while Warren attended to werewolf politics and Adam dealt with his government contacts.

Kira grinned at him. She liked Warren. He was a good friend who did not hold it against her for being an Alpha and female, unlike a lot of the other Alphas at the meetings. He respected her for her ideas and her willingness to protect others who trusted her to protect them, just like she respected him for never giving into social pressures of antagonizing her and the other two women who attended the meetings as Alphas. The other two women did not show up to every meeting, choosing to send their seconds in their place, but Kira chose to face the music each and every time.

"You as well, I cannot wait to meet your Kyle after all this time." She said, returning his hug.

They entered the house, closing the garage from the rest of the house behind them. Warren directed her to the kitchen where Mercy was taking out a casserole from the oven and Jesse taking a salad from the fridge. Clearly, they were not expecting anyone else besides the five of them. Adam was setting up the table with utensils. Kira approved. She was a big fan of leading through example, not simply sitting and telling people to do things for them. Warren walked to the cupboard for glasses before grabbing the pitcher of water by the sink. Soon enough, the table was set and everyone was sitting around, eating happily.

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SOPROL