Chapter 11: Dani's Return (written on April 4th, 2020)

Disappointed, Dani went to a place she hadn't been to in a long time: her birthplace. She had left her home a few days after Alpha School started. She hated Alpha School. She hated the Western Pack. She felt judged at every second.

But if she couldn't get to Rocky, she thought she could get the next best thing.

"Well, if it isn't Ms. Runaway," her old instructor, Priscilla had said. "Never thought I'd see you here again. You should be ashamed of yourself! Deserting your pack! Pathetic! At least the others came back. You didn't."

Dani wasn't in the mood to talk to her. She only wanted to know where her best friend lived. "She recently moved to the den grounds over here," Priscilla answered.

Dani looked around the area and saw a den that was newly built. She went inside to see her old best friend lying on the ground without any pelts.

"Dani? Is that you?" she said.

"Yes, Jenny. It is." They went and hugged each other. "How are you feelin'?"

"I'm okay!"

"Are you sure? You don't look that okay."

"I'm fine, Dani. Just dealing with some family issues... Wow, you've grown up!"

"Ha! You two..."

"I see you still got your umm... oddity."

"Yes. No need to massage it. Heh, heh."

"Yeah. Heh, heh. Gosh, it's been so long. What... what has happened since the last time we met? I remember you left with Rocky and Briana. You guys were starting a new pack or something."

"Yeah," said Dani. "It didn't go well. Everyone was fighting over what to do. It turns out that Briana wasn't a very good leader, and our pack began to fall apart pretty quickly."

"I can't believe Rocky didn't tell me any of this," Jenny replied. Dani shook her head in contempt.

"He's an asshole. Did you know he never told me you guys were siblings until we broke up?"

"You guys were dating?"

"Yeah. I don't know why I tolerated him for so long. Maybe I pitied him. But almost every day he wanted to have sex with me." Jenny was taken aback.

"Rocky? We're talking about the same wolf, right?"

"Yes, Rocky. I should mention that when I say 'sex with me,' I mean the closest a male could have sex with me. We couldn't do much with... my parts."

"Huh... He never came across as the I-want-to-have-sex-with-you-everyday type of wolf. I mean he has his douchey moments, but for the most part, he's sweet and brotherly. Like this is the first time I've heard him ever wanting to have sex at all."

"Man, you really don't know him."

"How did you guys break up?" Jenny asked.

"Well, the final straw was when I was trying to lift everyone's spirits. See, there was so much infighting in our pack that I brought everyone together, and I gave this big speech about how we needed to overcome our differences and work with each other. Since there were no Omegas, Briana had appointed me as the spiritual leader, and it was my job to keep everything working smoothly. However, after that speech, Rocky... denounced me in front of everyone."

"What?"

"A few hours before the speech, I decided that we should take a break. He was being such an asshole that I just needed to take a breather, but I guess he didn't like that, so after my speech, he went up to the crowd and just tried to make me seem worthless. He said something along the lines of, "Don't listen to Dani! Look at her! She's a freak! How can we trust anyone like her to know anything?!' Even for Rocky, it was so lowbrow. He said it in front of all of those wolves too. And they believed him! And any power I had as a spiritual leader disappeared in the blink of an eye. I don't think he realized what I was trying to do with my speech, and what he did only sealed the fate of our pack, that it was doomed. After that everybody gave up and went back home to the Western Pack. I couldn't go back. I was too pissed. He lied about a lot of things, including his past, but the fact that he lied about caring for me... I've been living on my own in the Northern territory ever since."

"Wow... just wow."

"I know. How was Rocky when he returned home?"

"Um, well, our mom was really angry that he missed so many days of school. She takes Alpha School really seriously, so she was raging. Our dad was kind of indifferent."

"You said you were dealing with some family issues. You wanna talk about it?" Jenny's frown deepened.

"Oh, yeah... that... So... it turns out that our dad... isn't really our dad."

"Oh..."

"Over a week ago, Rocky and I overheard a conversation between Mom and him. It turns out that our mom got raped a long time ago, and we're the result of that... They kept the truth from us, and we were made to believe that Dad was our true father, but he wasn't."

"That's such a surreal thing to go through," said Dani. "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. I moved far away from that den. I'm not talking to either of them. I'm so glad I officially became an Omega yesterday because that means I never have to meet them again."

"Wait, is that the reason Rocky was leaving the Valley? Because of the truth that was revealed?"

"Leaving the Valley? What are you talking about?" Jenny tilted her head.

"You don't know? Well... Rocky left the Valley. He came across me a week ago wanting to find someone who knew a way out of the Valley. I brought him to Shadow Forest. There's a wolf there named Shadow. I just talked to him not that long ago 'cause I wanted to say goodbye to Rocky before he left, but Shadow said he most likely was already gone." Jenny collapsed to the floor.

"Rocky's gone... I can't believe it... Who would leave the Valley though?"

"Like I said, you don't really know him."

"The pain must've been that great. I just wish he would've told me where he was going. He's my brother! And he just ditched everything!"

"I think he cares about you," Dani assured. "He would return."

"That's the thing," Jenny replied. "Those who leave the Valley don't. Many weeks ago, two wolves decided to travel that far for whatever reason. Veteran scouts had found their bodies. No doubt that they were slaughtered by Rogues. No one comes back alive. It's suicide."

"The Western Pack is so stupid. We act so tough and smart, but individually, we're constantly making dumb choices. I presume that they were some of the dumb wolves from our class."

"No. They were older, around the same age as my parents. Winston had made this whole ceremony for them that all of the Betas and Omegas-in-training had to attend. I think their names were like Jason and Rebecca." Dani then gasped.

"Wait... what? Fucking repeat those names!"

"Jason and Rebecca?" she repeated.

"Jenny! Those are my parents!"