"You should talk to her." I huffed. Here I was in a park with Claire, swinging, while she lectured me on the importance of communication. "It'll help heal those wounds."

"Claire I'm not some kid. I know I need to talk to her." Claire stopped swinging to stare at me with this incredulous look on her face.

"Then why-"

"Because I also know that we're not ready. Neither mom nor I am ready for that conversation." I broke the gaze. "We'd rather just pretend nothing's wrong and take cheap shots at each other until one of us cracks."

"But it's you and your mom. Neither of you will ever crack." I only shrug at her observation.

"Guess we'll never be ready for that conversation." She started to swing again. We watched some of the neighbors bring their kids to the park though no one ventured too close to the swing set. Figures. Don't want to risk your kid getting eaten by the child of the tribe harpy. "How's wedding planning coming?" I didn't really care. I had too much on my mind. Claire knew me well enough to know that.

"It's fine. You're still my maid of honor number one right?"

"Of course." I kicked at the wood chip and mulch mix at my feet wondering whose idea it was to cushion a kid's park in splinters.

"Have you heard from Leo or your dad?" I pulled myself from my wonderings at her question.

"They're both still MIA. Dad hasn't been heard in the pack mind for weeks. It's almost like he's…" I stopped myself. I knew Claire wouldn't like to hear my true thoughts. No one had ever been this quiet in our pack. We shared a pack mind 24-7. Which to any outsider would sound horrible but we adjusted quickly. It was easy to learn how to drown out others thoughts and to block one's own. It just took practice. Even so we still felt each other's presence. Dad couldn't be heard or felt.

The only logical answer was that he was dead.

"Leo is probably moping somewhere." Claire nodded though she looked suspicious. Sometimes I hated that I ever opened up to her. As my best friend it became incredibly easy for her to read me. I didn't like it when people could read me. It made me feel open and vulnerable. "Did you know?" It came out a little angrier than I intended but she should get the picture.

"Know what?"

"About my parents." She quickly looked away. Her hesitation said more than anything that was about to come out of her mouth.

"I was only like 6 when it happened. I don't remember much. I do remember when Uncle Sam would show up a lot. He'd always be angry about something. Quil usually kept me on lockdown. I never saw your parents much. I do remember the first bonfire your dad and aunt showed up-"

"You're evading the question." I interrupted her walk down memory lane. "Did you know that Tre raped Leah?"

"…yes."

"How long?" She bit her lip and I knew I wouldn't like this answer.

"I finally confronted Quil about it like three years ago, though I'd had my suspicions for about five or six years." My natural reaction was to clench my jaw preventing a series of anger filled words to sputter from my mouth.

"And you didn't tell me-"

"-Because you were too young." She stood up from the swing. "Emileah, believe it or not you're still only 16. Who knows how you would have responded, learning this as a child."

"Do I look like Sahara or Leo? I've had the mind of an adult for years and you know it. You-" I had to turn around and calm myself. No need to scare off the kids in the park. "You're my friend, you should have told me."

"It wasn't my place. And frankly there was no way I was going to go against Leah." That stopped me. The way she said that made me realize this wasn't just a normal Leah request.

"She put an alpha command on the pack to not tell us." Claire's head dropped. "She wasn't planning on telling me ever was she?"

"I'm sure she was going to tell you at some point just not this young."

"Don't give me that."

"Well, you're so smart you tell me when would be the right time to have that kind of conversation with your daughter." I didn't answer, a little stunned that she had just blown up at me. "Listen," her voice was calmer. "The point is that you know now so you need to sit-"

"Only because of Collin." That gave Claire pause. "The guy's a smart angry drunk."

"He found a way around the command." She murmured more to herself.

"What was the command?"

"Quil said it was that they weren't supposed to say Tre raped Leah. How did Collin-"

"He used the word forced. It wasn't too hard to figure out." Claire didn't respond at first. I watched through the slightly cloudy sky as the sun began to set.

"Well it seems Collin was the only one who had been trying to tell you about-"

"Don't start. I know you're just trying to force that imprint crap on me. That's your happy ever after."

"And what's yours?" Life isn't a freaking fairy tale. Just because some of these cats seem like they came straight out of one. This is life. Not everyone is promised a happy ending. Some people have a horrid life then they die in a worse way. Or they live alone and die alone. Some people don't get a chance at life at all.

Then there are some who'll just live forever. And they'll have to fight forever.

"I don't get one." And with that I turned intending on walking away before the night rain came.

"Emileah wait." I did though I didn't turn back around. "I thought you should know that Jake and Ness are coming down and that I heard Tenia talking about meeting with your mom some time this week."

"Wha-" I stopped. That meant they were going to be meeting about the fetuses. And mom didn't tell me.

That's fine. Guess I'll just be crashing a party now won't I? "Thanks for the heads up." Claire nodded though I could tell she felt a little guilty.

Dear Journal,

My dreams are going to be focused on how to destroy that meeting of the "alphas".

Tonight's gonna be a good night.

Emileah