Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything related, and I'm making no money in the production of this story.

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Deep within the Rocky Mountains, there lies a valley. Within this valley is a vast forest, and endless plains, and a lake with a roaring waterfall up against one end. The forest and plains are separated by a river, that flows from the lake at the top of the valley, all the way down to the other end. This place is home to a variety of wildlife, from the rabbits that hide in the long grass, to the deer that leap between the trees. However, perhaps most importantly, this hallowed ground is also home to a group of indigenous people. These people have inhabited these lands for as long as anyone could remember, and possibly even longer than that. They reside in the caves dotting the edges of the valley, within the dens that pothole the plains, hell some have even built house in the old, large trees of the forest. Within all of these homes, in all manner of places, live a species of beings known as the A-Ni to the rest of the world, but they simply refer to themselves, as The Pack. There are many packs that live dotted across the continent, and not all of them packs but are rather flocks and herds and even prides, not that the people of the valley care very much for those communities, but this pack in particular is set apart from the rest. Not only do they live in the sacred home place of the A-Ni, but they are The Pack because of their leader, their Alpha, who is Alpha to All packs on the continent, the High Alpha Fenrir, twentieth of the name, who rules over all A-Ni of his kind, and protects them in turn.

The Alpha lives in a house, that looks laughably modern compared to its surroundings, not that anyone would be foolish enough to laugh at him (except maybe the Hyena's, who are too dumb to not laugh at everything) His home is a simple one-story ranch house that's sits seemingly innocuous in a clearing with the river on its right side and the forest on its left. In fact, the home of the strongest Alpha sits exactly in the middle of the entire valley, to be equally accessible to all of the valleys inhabitants. The ranch house is the same rich color as the juniper trees of the forest, with a wrap-around porch home to a couple of rocking chairs near the front door put in a circle. The dirt area, or "front lawn" of the house has a couple picnic tables and benches set up near the forest side, while the river side has only a large, flat, and somewhat roundish open area that has some questionable stains that may or may not be blood. The house itself has a chimney that weirdly stick from the center of the house instead of on the side like most "normal" homes, but this can easily be explained by the fact that this humongous fireplace is in fact the center piece to the space inside and by extension the entire home. The home itself faces the bottom of the valley, the same direction of the flow of the river, with the lake and waterfall to its back, and a couple (or more) miles away.

Our story begins inside this home, in the early hours of the morning, as the sun is just beginning to rise, on the third of June of the year 1994. It was a fairly normal Friday morning as our new main character begins to wake, the rays of the rising sun splashing across her eyes as they slowly opened to adjust to the harsh morning light.

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Grace's POV

I groaned as I carefully opened my eyes, silently cursing the fact that the windows of my home have now curtains, and in fact are only squares cut out of the wall with shutters that can only be closed when the weather gets to bad to leave them open.

On the upside, amazing fresh air on a constant basis, downside however is that the sun is trying to kill me today. I thought to myself as I attempted to sit up, only to be held down by some unknown weight settled on my chest and legs.

Don't be such a baby, and it's your own fault for taking that challenge last night. I can feel my wolf proudly smirking, silently acknowledging the fact that she had played just as big a part as I did when it came to our current predicament. Apparently, when being challenged to a drinking contest, it's not a good idea to say yes when you've never drank before.

Well, at least we won. I grinned myself as I thought about Kell's stupid looking face when I kicked his ass at shots. I began to adjust to being awake as my hangover faded, and I was finally able to carefully look around at the inside of my home to see the damage from the previous nights festivities.

Of course we won! No way in hell we were gonna lose to a damn Delta, we needed to show our strength to everyone, and we did. My wolf was proud as she stated this, not that she's wrong of course. Even if it was just fun at a party, everyone is constantly watching, waiting to see if I could live up to my legacy or if I would just be a failure. The pressure of being an Alpha alone is fairly high, but being a female Alpha? There hasn't been one born to the main family in centuries!

Calm child, we will prevail. My wolf was attempting to sound wise and old, which kinda failed because she's the same age as me, the exact same age, but the ridiculousness of what she said was enough to snap me out of my panicked thoughts, which had been reoccurring more often as we got closer to our fifteenth birthday.

I snorted. Really? You sound nothing like nana Thora, but I'll give you points for entertainment value. As I mocked my wolf in my mind, I finally looked down to see what was holding me down and instantly melted on the inside. Awww check it out, they're so adorable!

They are, aren't they? Fine pups, they'll grow big and strong in the pack. My wolf agreed with my previous thought, in her own wolf-like way, as I gazed down on the pile of toddlers that were using me as a mattress. Their mothers were already in the kitchen, starting on breakfast while their mates cleaned my home of the mess we created the previous evening. The oldest mother, Gwen, would occasionally glance my way to check the pups, and smiled when she noticed I was awake.

I returned the gesture as I carefully extracted each child from the pile, to then lay them back down on my furs so I could escape. There were 5 pups in total, ranging from the youngest at three, to the oldest at nine. There were four boys and one girl. As I finished getting up from the dog pile, pun intended, I shifted the youngest into my arms, the only girl, Angel, and secretly my favorite pup of the pack. I stood there just holding the sleeping toddler, cuddling her to be honest, and just stared down at the boys, memorizing the contours of their face as they slumber, already moving to huddle closer in their sleep. I studied their hair their face, and a specially their smell, scenting them in my mind to relax my wolf, and myself as well.

All good things must come to an end, eventually, huh? I sighed as I continued to hold Angel, rocking softly to keep her asleep.

It's sad but true, I will miss this feeling as well, but we must move forward, for the Pack. My wolf, who I internally named Fluffy when she irritated me, and Rose the rest of time, was solemn as she gently reminded me of the sad but undeniable truth. We were getting older, and were now, at a month away from our fifteenth birthday, considered to old for "puppy piles". As the heir, I have to act appropriately at all times within the Pack, especially now that I'm on the cusp of adulthood.

I shook myself from my thoughts, and turned to look at Gwen once again. She was just smiling sadly at me, she seemed to understand that I needed a moment to collect myself, and for that i was grateful. Well that's what I can expect from nana Thora's daughter. Rose just huffed in agreement while I carefully made my way across the room, Angel still in my arms, to deliver her to her mom. As I moved around the room, I could still see the effects of last nights party. From the knocked over tables against the west wall, to the piles of various furs swept around the east side of the den, were others still slept. The den was a large central room, with the front door on the south side, a row of tables and chairs on the west, an open space for furs on the east, and the large kitchen area on the north. In the center of the room was a large, almost furnace like, fireplace that was always burning, and was currently being fed by two young deltas who couldn't join the feast last night, due to feeding the fire all night long.

The den was the central meeting/resting place of the packs children and accompanying mothers. They only other pack members who reside in here are the mates of the mothers, as they are assigned to guard the Den from any attacks, and young Deltas who do menial tasks and manual labor for the moms.

The party last night was celebrating the fact that it would be my last night officially living in the Den, and would instead be moving to my own patch of land for the rest of the summer as I become an adult. While everyone goes through this, and permanently settles in their new homes, I knew that it would only be temporary for me.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. I chuckled humorlessly as I finished crossing the room, pausing only to nod to the two Deltas in fireplace duty, which they returned albeit tiredly. I began to traverse the kitchen area, and tried to ignore the delicious smells of the food being made. That food was no longer for me.

They will always be our people, but we must find our own people too. Remember, we have a meeting with Alpha this morning, so we need to leave soon. Rose reminded me of this as I finally reached Gwen to hand her Angel, who was thankfully still sleeping.

"Are you ready?" Gwen questions need quietly, while she shifts Angel to the sack on her back, so she can continue preparing food as we talk.

"As ready as I can be, I guess. I'm leaving to go straight to Alpha from here, so we'll see." I replied softly, the natural strength of my voice can make others uncomfortable if I'm not careful, and I would hate to do that to my childhood friends.

"Of course, of course. Thank you for bringing me Angel, I just can't cross a room like you can and i'd hate to wake her." Gwen smiles, knowing that I would've carried her around all day if I could, she's just that precious. I nodded in response, nothing more needed to be said, and we both knew it. I said a quiet goodbye as I silently left the Den, to go down to the basement, which is were the Alpha lives and conducts how personal business.

At the bottom of the stairs, there was a door leading to his office, one to his living quarters, and finally one to the library. Considering the seriousness of our upcoming discussion, Rose suggested that Alpha is probably waiting in his office. I can tell she's right, just from the feeling from Beyond that door.

Breath girl, we can do this. Be firm, but not challenging. Stand tall, but don't posture. We will do this. For the Pack. I took a deep breath, to calm my nerves, and I could just see Rose doing the same.

For the Pack! She snarled in defiance, as I reached out to open the door before me. As I pushed through to the office I could see him sitting behind it, waiting and watching. As I closed the door behind me and turned to approach him, I spoke two words to begin the conversation that would change my life.

"Hello, Father."

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