Twelve.

Peter and the siblings looked at her, dumbfounded. Only Graham acted very calm, going into the kitchen to grab drinks for everyone. Peter was the first to react after a minute of heavy silence.

"Wait, what?"

"It's as I said. My mother was... mentally unstable. She was often depressed or anxious. She had been ill for many months before it happened. My father wasn't the most caring of people, he never loved me like my mother. One day, he came home drunk. My parents were arguing, and I could hear my name being mentioned from my bedroom. Then I remember my father bursting into my room, holding a knife, he was slashing and running at me, that's how I got this scar. I remember not being able to see out of my eye, due to the blood but I could see my mother rush to me, then she was gone again. She'd called for an ambulance for me. She sat with me until she heard the sirens down the road, and that's when she suddenly disappeared. But I heard it. I heard her stabbing him, his awful yells of pain. It was after, when I woke in the hospital that the police officer had told me that my parents and brother were tragically killed in accident. She'd left the stove on and it had caught a lite, sending our home up in flames. As I remember it, my brother, Oliver, wasn't even home before I went to hospital, he was being watched by my parents goof friend, but the police report stated that he was also killed in the fire."

"The police report did mention that Mary Redwood was under serious medication for her mental health, and also that your brother was too found in the house."

She just nodded, she really did not want to reminisce any further, so she was not giving any more details. It was the darkest memory of her seven year old self, and she didn't want to linger on it anymore than necessary. It seemed like Graham already dug up all that there was. Peter seemed as though he was about to ask something, but he is kept from it by a click of the tongue from his brother.

She took a cup of tea Graham had prepared for and and drank from it, letting everyone stay silent for a while. Ruby and Blue were looking at her, but she didn't want to seem pitiful. Peter, however, was frowning with an odd expression.

"What's with your last name, then? You told us you were Swan. Isn't that off you don't even remember being called Redwood at all? What about your brother? Did you guys never use either names at all?"

"I never had to. Sense victor picked us up, I... I spent all my life there in the basement of the main house. I never had to do any official documents; I just assumed everything was already in order, or that Victor or Will had took care of it for me. Before Graham brought it up, I never imagined there was absolutely nothing about me!"

"What about school, then?"

Emma shuck her head.

"I never went to school, my mother home schooled me until, well you know, and the Red Moon pack just gave me tasks, one after another, and no one ever brought it up. I knew how to read and write, that was enough. I just studied whatever books were in the basement with me."

They all looked at her, clearly shocked. She remembered spending hours reading old books no one wanted over and over again, like Hamlet, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Lord Of The Flies. Treasures of literature with beautiful covers, yet no one ever looked at them. No one cared for the dusty, massive bookshelves since screens and video games were available upstairs. There were also full collections of encyclopaedias and dictionaries, and she would just read them all to complete her vocabulary. She would even pick up history books when she was bored or couldn't get to sleep.

"...lucky you." Mumbled Peter, but Graham have him a tap behind the head. Emma couldn't help but chuckle over his grumpy teenager face. She wondered if Peter skipped school often. It felt like his brothers were keeping a close watch on him, and she couldn't help but feel a hint of jealousy. But Graham soon turned to her.

"I can't believe they didn't even bother to send you to school... It is intriguing, however, how the Red Moon clan also never cared about your legal existence at all. I wonder if they know anything about your origin."

"I doubt it... Victor found me in the streets. I guess he was only too happy to find a usefully little orphan."

"But he never treated your ex like you?"

She brushed her hair with her fingers, absentmindedly, trying to remember her first days with the Red Moon clan. Neal had been found only a few weeks before her, and she'd assumed he'd told Victor about her also living out on the streets, with no family or clan to belong to.

"A bit at first... but Neal just imposed all his chores onto me and seeing I never complained, Victor didn't really care. Neal blended more easily into the clan, I guess. Victor scolded him once, and Neal tried to run away. He couldn't get past the warriors, but after that, Victor officially admitted us into the clan so we wouldn't escape anymore. Neal was ecstatic to have joined the clan, and I... I was compliant, so that was it."

Peter growled, visibly pissed.

"I can't believe you submitted to such a weak alpha... you should have let me kill him the other day, Gray!

But his brother shuck his head.

"Don't be so reckless, Peter. After all, Emma need to get back at him for all she endured. Let her give him what he deserves herself."

"You better kick his ass tomorrow!" Said Peter. She definitely was not as enthusiastic as he was. They were all eager to see her get her revenge, but that was not Emma's state of mind at the moment. Sure, she had past grievances over Victor, but she didn't have that thing for revenge. She just wanted to settle things once and for all, and sever her ties to the Red Moon clan.

Her main objective was to get ahold of Neal. She really did hope they could catch him tomorrow, as planned. The brothers didn't really tell her what kind of preparations they had made, but she guessed it was mostly having people ready to chase after Neal once he showed up. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced he would. She just hoped she was t wrong.

"Emma, are you still okay with beginning next Monday?"

She looked at Graham. That's right. She'd told him she would like to accept his job offer. She may not be confident, but she did need a job, and she had to give it a try.

"Ah, yes! Do I need to do anything specific?"

"No, not really. Peter will come and pick you up and bring you to the restaurant. For the first day, it's okay if you'd like to stay with Sophia, the manager, and watch how everyone works."

"Alright, then."

After discussing some more, Peter and Graham actually decided to stay over for dinner. Since her future boss was there, she did her best cooking, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Peter insisted on giving her pieces of advice about the fight, making her curious about how experimental he could be. For a high schooler, he did seem prone to fights. Apparently, he was also taking boxing classes weekly, and was happy to discuss it with Emma. Obviously, Peter was the most hot headed out of the three, while Graham always seemed hugely calm and rational. He stayed quiet for most of the dinner, but she did notice he spent a lot of time texting on his phone. The second brothers face never showed what he was really thinking. However, Emma wouldn't forget how he was definitely the scariest one back when facing Victor.

How could she be worried when she knew those two would have her back tomorrow? As she went to bed, she looked blankly at her phones screen, wondering if she should call Killian or not. Graham had mentioned that he was busy, and... well, he knew what was waiting for her.

She woke up early. The only person who was up before her was Peter, who was having breakfast alone in the kitchen. She saluted him when entering.

"Did you have a good sleep?"

"How could I? Ruby snores like a pig!" He growled, "I have no idea how you can get any sleep with her in the same room!"

Emma couldn't help but chuckle as she grabbed herself a cup of tea.

"I'm use to sleeping with a lot of noise. The basement I was living in was directly under the recreation room, and there was always someone in there watching tv or making noise until late at night. I had to get use to it. And Ruby's snoring isn't that bad."

He looked at her like she was some alien, but she ignored him and took a sip of her tea. They both stayed silent for a while. Peter was on his phone playing a game, and Emma just watched the sunrise behind the glass wall.

"Gray is on his way." Peter said out of the blue.

"He didn't sleep here?"

They had explained to her last night that the apartment downstairs was actually one of Graham's. He didn't sleep there often unless he had to work until late in one of the restaurants, so Peter would use it every now and then. He shuck his head at her question.

"No, he slept with one of his women."

So, Graham was a player... It's true what they say, never judge a book by its cover.

"I thought he had a mate already?"

She didn't really intend to say it out loud, but Peter did hear her. He just shrugged.

"He had one. An older woman. But she was already married, and he was a nobody back then. It was before brother took over the clan. Graham didn't really have anything, and that woman was with a rich guy, with the dream house and everything. She said he wasn't worth the trouble, and rejected him."

What? How heartless! Emma bit her lip, feeling bad for Graham. How did he endure such a rejection? She couldn't imagine how she would have felt if Killian had rejected her... She suddenly felt fluff against her legs, and realised Ruby was up. She casually walked past Emma, and put her head into the fridge.

"Don't tell him I told you, okay? He doesn't like people talking about it. And he's over it now; it's been years."

She nodded, taking another sip from her cup. Being a player now doesn't necessarily mean he forgot what happened. She felt awful for Graham all of a sudden. Now she understood better why he was the type to hide his emotions. What a heartless woman! She was fuming just thinking about it.

After everyone woke up and had breakfast without a rush, she headed back to her room to get dressed for the day. Knowing what the day was going to bring, she chose a comfy and sporty outfit. She was going to shape shift and get dirty, so there was no need for any makeup or accessories. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail, and picked out a tank top and some loose jogging trousers. She chose a dark sweater, and Blue had gave her a pair of trainers that were easy to slip on and off.

Emma wanted to go upstairs and train some more, but Blue kept her from it, telling her she should save her energy for later on. But she didn't want to do anything either. It was Peter who ended up keeping her company through most the day. He'd brought his school backpack, and for some reason, they ended up studying together through most of the afternoon. Solving problems and writing lessons had the benefit of keeping her too busy to thing about the fight. Around four o'clock, they paused their maths exercises and started getting ready to go.

Graham met them downstairs in the garage, wearing his usual smile. He had went for a more casual look compared to what he usually wore; so Emma suspected he was prepared to shape shift at any moment if he needed to. Peter, however, didn't even bother changing and was already in his wolf form, like Ruby. Like the last time, they separated into two cars.

Emma began to feel the nerves as they drove to the grounds. Blue causally talked to her, clearly trying to distract Emma from the worry inside of her. They discussed the music on the radio, what weather to expect within the coming days, and clothing. None of the three were really interesting for Emma, and she just tried to think about the fight. She wondered a few times why Graham had chosen the East Point Grounds, a large plaza in the middle of the industrial area, covered in graffiti and on open grounds. It was a place where bikers and delinquents would gather at night to get drunk and cause chaos freely. However, it wasn't usually crowded, unlike tonight. When Emma exited the care she was stunned. There were easily over 300 people in the large space.

She suddenly realised why Graham had specifically selected the spot; it wasn't part of any turf. Hence the reason not only the Red Moon clan and the Black Moon clan were there, but also many other werewolves bouncing ready to watch their match. Duels for an alpha position were usually a private matter inside the packs, but it was obviously the Black brothers wanted to make it public. Once again, she felt like Graham had a lot more in mind than he let on.

Peoples eyes stuck to her as she walked from the car, many of them Emma did not know or recognise. With both Ruby and Peter both in their wolf forms on either side of her, though, she didn't feel as intimidated as she thought she would have. She couldn't help but look out to the crowd. People from other clans had came to watch the fight. She recognised some of them wore their marks from the Blue Moon clan, the Gold Moon clan and the Rising Moon clan. To Emma's surprise, even a few members from the Snow Moon clan were there, too. She thought they had a terrible history with the Black Moon clan, but they were visibly showing their white moon markings... How odd, she thought.

Of course, almost all of the Red Moon clan was there, too, and nearly all of them were glaring at her. She supposed it's what she should expect, considering the situation. Most of the clan was supportive of Victor, he was a carefree leader, letting his pack do whatever they wanted most of the time, as long as they didn't cause any trouble. He only focused on his hunters and warriors.

She finally found him among the crowd. He was stood talking to his wife and a younger man, who must have been his replacement of Will as beta. He looked tired, dark circles under his eyes and his beard was a mess. When his eyes found hers, he frowned and ignored her. She wondered if he was having any regrets.

Graham's arrival caused a lot of people to react. Emma saw a lot of them suddenly staring, moving to not be in his way as they walked to the centre of the plaza. The only ones who did not move were the members from the Black Moon clan, and others who wore a almost silver moon marking, most probably members from Graham's Eclipse Moon clan.

She saw him smiling. Was he excited about the fight? Or because of the large crowd? Emma didn't understand why they'd made sure so many people would come to watch her duel. She noticed Ruby was moving her head nonstop, and realised she must be scanning the area, searching for Neal. She was still clueless to how many people from the crowd were there just to help catch him. She started to look around, too, but Graham walked up to the centre of the plaza.

"Good evening, Red Moon clan. I see you didn't dare to run away from this."

"I'm not going to run away and leave my turf in the hands of a little brat." Growled Victor.

"We will see that with the outcome of this fight, won't we? So, do you recognise that if Emma wins, you will let her entirely decide the fate of your pack?"

Victor looked at her. He must have been wondering if she really did have a chance of defeating him. Honestly, she wasn't feeling too confident. She didn't trust her so called 'alpha blood' as Blue and Graham did. She didn't have much experience shapeshifting, and she'd barely started learning how to fight. To most people, her being in the duel was going to seem like a suicide.

However, inside, her wolf was already growling. The battle had already began, though nobody else would see it. Emma and Victor just stared at each other, judging their strengths, testing their wolves. She knew what his wolf looked like. She knew he must have been growling just as much as her own, but it was way to late to back down.

"I will, only on the condition that you let us have a fair fight. No interference of your people to help her. She must fight me alone."

Graham put on a shocked explanation, looking far to dramatic to be true.

"Oh, you think we would cheat?"

He stepped closer to Victor, and she could tell the alpha was fighting his instincts to not step back. They may both be alphas, but the difference was clearly showing. Anyone around them could tell who had the upper hand. Graham whispered to answer him, though somehow everyone could clearly hear his words.

"If we wanted to cheat, we would not have organised this fight here and now. If we wanted an easy win, I would have taken my warriors to slaughter your pathetic lot of dogs the day Emma let us to you. You wouldn't have a chance to answer back, and you wouldn't be standing on your two feet."

Victor was obviously shaking with fear. The ice cold look in Graham's eyes was terrifying, even for him.

"So now, you are going to be a good boy and let our precious princess beat you all she wants to settle for everything you have done to her. And I can predict you're going to think this is heaven compared to what my brother and I have in store for you once she is done..."