I don't swear, so now, neither does Ben, bear with me.

Chapter 1

Ben sat back lounging on his alpha's fainting chair, staring at the young woman who sat across from him sitting absolutely rigid, making an effort not to look at him. She was very young. He guessed sixteen or seventeen. She had straight, dark brown hair that fell to the middle of her back. The little amount of sun that came through the curtains showed off the natural highlights in her hair. She was under-weight skinny and Western Washington pale. Her features were delicate with pink lips and intense gray eyes with a remarkable, thick navy-blue ring on the outer ridge of her iris. Ben couldn't actually see her eyes at the moment but he had seen them. They were both intense, and very cold. He'd put her height around five-six, five-seven. Ben pursed his lips about to speak to the timid girl when Adam came in.

"Lilly." The girl's head snapped towards the entrance of the living room. Adam beckoned with his a jerk of his head and she stood as commanded and followed the alpha. Ben's mouth shifted to the side, annoyed at his alpha's remarkable timing. He stood and followed the girl out to the kitchen where most of the pack was gathered. Ben came right up behind Lilly; the smell of her fear was evident if her shaking wasn't enough. Ben was immediately affected by her terror and his wolf came forward, needing to defend the weak. Adam turned right then to look back at Lilly when he noticed Ben's glowing gold eyes.

Ben forced himself to swallow and closed his, breathing heavily through his. Which ended up being incredibly stupid for her fear filled his lungs completely. He focused on her scent. It was sweet. Flowery. He forgot her fear and enjoyed her personal scent. He opened his eyes to see several others with their wolves ascending.

Adam raised an eyebrow in question. Ben nodded his OK. Understanding it was he who made her nervous, came around her and was stopped as the girl's hand shot out with a whimper and snagged his sleeve. Ben's wolf didn't like that fact how scared she was. He struggled to rid the wolf from his eyes as he turned back around and stepped back behind her. Gently he laid a hand on her shoulder, "You're okay." he murmured for her ears only, "no one here is going to hurt you."

"Alright Lilly, are you sure you're okay with our pack?" Adam asked meeting the girl's eyes his alpha magic at work, trying to soothe the terrified girl.

The girl gave a weak smile, "No, not really. But this is the one I like the best; besides Jesse has made it a lot easier for me to ease back in with a crowd." Adam gave her smile at the compliment.

"She is like that, isn't she?" Lilly nodded again. "Come, Omega."

The pack filled outside to the cars out front and made their way to the alpha's choice of hunting ground.

Adam struggled to control his anger as he drove. The girl was terrified of near every man she came across. Especially were's. She would hardly talk, if she did it was to him, Ben or Warren. She became victim of a werewolf attack several weeks ago. But a violent attack hadn't been enough for the crazed wolf, he had raped her as well. The Emerald Pack went nuts when they found the lone-female werewolf in their territory. After a teeth pulling interview they got her story and a huge hunt went out. They even called in the heavy artillery from Montana. The pack never did find the culprit and the thought pissed him off. His wolf rose in his eyes. He took a deep breath and realized his anger was distressing the girl beside him whether she realized it or not. But being an omega she was sensitive to the feelings of others.

He glanced over at the girl. She was staring out the black tinted window, watching the orange sky become gray. She shook slightly at the thought of the setting sun.

Adam turned on the heater and grabbed a black fleece North Face jacket from the seat behind and dropped it on the girls lap. Adam was being selfish letting his thoughts stray to destroying the vile creature who hurt her. He should be focusing on making her comfortable and safe and did so. He called upon his magic and settled it gently over the SUV. The girl glanced at him and gave another shaky smile.

"Thank you." She whispered. Adam looked over at Lilly.

"You're welcome." There was silence for several long minutes as Adam drove on the freeway. "Is there anyone who makes you uncomfortable in the pack?"

"I don't know anyone well enough, I think. It's hard to get a read on people when I can hardly look at their faces."

"We'll work on it. Do you feel safe at my home? Are you adjusting comfortably?"

"As comfortable as I am anywhere else, I guess."

"You guess? You aren't sure?" he looked over at her. She fiddled with her fingers. Not at all liking the interrogation. Adam recognized the symptoms from when his Mercy had been attacked. She wanted to withdraw from the company of others and men made her timid.

"It's hard." She replied.

"I won't let anyone hurt you; you know this, don't you?"

A peace fell over her as he said so. She thought about it and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I do."

"Good, I'll protect you Lilly. I promise. As will the pack. I'm glad you've taken to Ben."

Lilly gave a shaky smile, "he's been very kind." she gazed up at her soon-to-be alpha, and became wary of the odd smile that played across his lips.

"You're good for him. He's been a grouch lately." he only received a worried look. "With time, you'll get to know him well. Don't let his bad attitudes fool you, got it?"

"ok." she nodded. She knew what he was doing. He was treating her like pack. He was pushing the victim out of her. Giving her an assignment. She knew one when she heard one and befriending Ben was it.

Ten minutes passed when Adam finally stopped in a green grassy field. He waited until a car pulled up beside him before he hopped out, "Come on kiddo." She clumsily unbuckled her seatbelt and waited to let herself out as she waited for Adam's second to move out of the way. She couldn't remember his name it was Darren, or something like that. His gaze met hers and he stepped out of the way opening the door for her as he did so. She slid out of the SUV and gave a nod of gratitude to the intimidating man as he closed the door, "Thank you."

He nodded, "Come, pup."

Lilly would have been insulted if he hadn't said it with such endearment, the intimidation that he personified eased as he followed the other wolves to the middle of the field, she right behind him. Lilly noticed two figures running towards Adam, one rather large, the other rather small. She could tell the big one was a wolf, but the second was too small to be a werewolf. Adam opened his arms and the small wolf jumped into his arms. Lilly went to Adam's elbow and realized it was a coyote, making Lilly smile. "Hiya Mercy." Mercy turned and looked at her and her jaw slack, tongue lolling out in a canine grin and licked her nose in greeting. She turned her attention to the wolf and saw that it was Samuel. Samuel had treated her injuries when the Emerald pack found her. He had to re-break three ribs, her right forearm and two fingers on the same arm. Sam nearly lost it as she cried and tried to get away from the pain, it went against his nature to cause pain to a weak wolf, but she had been pinned by several wolves so he could help her. He went out of his way for as she recovered, trying to apologize for his treatment. Lilly ended up scolding him for being so ridiculous. She would have been far worse off if he hadn't helped her. But as Charles and the Emerald Pack hunted the perpetrator, she stayed with Sam and got to know him as a good friend.

She knelt on the cold grass and Sam come up to her and nosed her face. "Your nose is cold." She circled her arms around his large neck and nuzzled his warm fur. She sat there several minutes holding Sam as others trickled in. "Hey, Sam?"

He looked down at her, giving her his attention, "Can't I be a lone wolf, too?" He shook his head slowly, knowing that she knew he wasn't part of any pack. She scowled at him, thinking it would be much easier to be by herself than have to worry about the other werewolves. Ben chose that time to sit down next to her.

"Sorry girly, but girls aren't allowed to go lone wolf, especially Omegas."

"Why not?" She hated how nifty his accent was, it made him sound smart.

"Against Pack Laws, there are too few females to let them be by themselves."

"So, it's not we're allowed to do anything in the pack anyways but look pretty." She found out from Mercy that females were not part of the pack hierarchy, they only got rank from there mates. Females were below even the submissive males. A female could be far more dominate than her male counterpart, but it didn't matter, his rank was her rank. It had been one of the reasons that Mercy tried to stay away from werewolves, she didn't want to submit. Not that it mattered because she was Alpha.

"You are an omega, Sweetie, you're outside the hierarchy altogether." Said Honey, sitting behind her, there was the pack's epitome of female looking pretty, "Rank isn't something you have to worry about."

"I still don't understand what it means to be an omega." Lilly replied.

Adam still holding Mercy came over, after conversing on the phone, "An Omega is an Alpha without the violent tendencies. But you are not submissive."

"I'm an Alpha but not really?"

The crowd around her nodded their heads, "You know, the same but different." She rolled her eyes at Warren's comment. She looked over at him standing on Adam's left, his hands on his hips, a black cowboy hat sat on his head, a red bandana around his neck that he used as his "collar" when he went out running as a wolf.

"Thanks Warren." She replied sarcastically.

"Don't you have a need to protect people?" Peter, Honey's husband and mate asked. He came up behind Honey and had her get up so she could sit on his lap rather the wet grass.

"I don't know." she wasn't sure how to respond, she hadn't been a werewolf long and she'd been more worried about protect herself.

"Even before you went wolf." Peter added.

"Yeah, I guess. But I've gotten aggressive before."

"Well yeah, Omega's still get pissed off, but it takes a lot before you get angry and aggressive. Alpha's use violence to settle things." Ben said, "You use logic."

"Thanks Ben." Ben looked at Adam and smiled and met his eyes before looking away. Lilly laughed with the wolves that were in on the conversation.

"You're welcome."

"Come Lilly, it's time you join the family, maybe we can ask Samuel to talk to his brother in sending his mate down to talk to you. She is an Omega, she'll show you the ropes, but for now, we'll proceed with your ceremony. Everyone is here." With that, Adam let his mate down gently and walked towards the woods.

Lilly stood in front of Adam, the whole pack behind her. He fed her his flesh and she felt as she become one with the pack. She could feel every one of them, their feelings and thoughts. She gasped and felt like she was home, understanding what it meant to be a pack member. They were all one with another, and she no longer felt scared, they were there for her, just as she would be there for them. She felt her wolf stirring. Fear came to her again, she had changed once before, and she didn't care to do it again. It had much too long with too much pain.

"You need to remove your clothes or it will be more painful, Lilly."

She didn't like the thought of removing her clothes in front of a bunch of strangers, she was a modest girl, and being nude wasn't exactly modest. She started to shake, he was a man, and she wouldn't remove her clothes in front of him. Adam's eyes went gold.

"Remove you clothes, Lilly." She felt the command hit her and she felt its compulsion strong but felt it spill away.

In an instant Mercy was in front of her face in her human form, "You're safe Lilly. Remove your clothes, it will be less painful." She felt Adam's power drown her again, she was aware of the females closing in on her trying to soothe her, but terror had taken her. Mercy made her kneel than she fell to hands as a panic attack came over her. Warmth seeped through out her body and she was no longer scared, and she obeyed Mercy. Quickly she was undressed and shivering, "Change, Lilly." The need to comply hit her again and her wolf stirred; eager to get out. She choked on a cry as her body started to shift. In her mind she could feel the tingle of other wolves in the middle of their Change.

The pack had already Changed and she was only half way done. Only Adam, Mercy and Warren had yet to Change. To watch the Change was sickening and horrifying. She felt her skin rip apart, her bones shift, the muscles changing its direction. Her ears went to the top of her head, her tail bone grew, and her nails thickened and became claws, her face narrowed and become elongated. Her skin came back and was quickly covered completely in black fur.

Mercy gazed at the newly Changed wolf with appreciation. She was beautiful. Her fur was silky black, her ruff brindled with gold. Her small brows were gold and she had two gold socks. Her front left paw was dipped in gold only to her wrist. Her back right leg was gold all the way up just beneath her upper thigh.
Her legs were splayed like a new born colt trying to learn how to work four legs rather than two. She tried to slowly lower herself down and ended up falling the rest of the way. A heavy sigh escaped as the tingling effect from the Change left her. Warren walked up to her and laid a hand gently on the nape of her neck.
"you're a lot pretty than the other pack gave you credit for. Look I got you something, well, my mate helped a bit, you don't seem like a collar girl so I gotchya this." from his pocket be removed a folded bright white bandana. "Kyle had your name stitched into it." He unfolded it to reveal her name stitched in cursive with shiny gold thread. At the tip of a corner was a lilly stitched in the same gold thread. Warren having much practice had it folded in half and around her neck. He turned it so it lay on her chest. She pushed herself up into a sitting position to get a better look at it but her nose was in the way. Warren stood and started to remove his clothes to begin his Change. Behind him Adam was already nearly done. She got up and walked to Mercy on wobbly legs who sat beside him waiting.
"You're thinking too much, Lilly. Let your wolf take charge, she knows what to do." Adam had finished and immediately he howled. His eerie, beautiful song was accompanied by his pack. Warren's loud howl sounded beside her. She watched Mercy change and continued to look around. Over thirty wolves were in Adam's pack and all of them were here. Excitement burned in her chest and he tail wagged a mile a minute. A nose nudged her thigh she turned to see Ben. He nudged her again and sang his own song. Message received she joined in on the chorus. Lilly relinquished completely and her wolf took control.
Adam turned and ran for the woods every wolf hot on his tail. Ben and Warren fell in beside on either side both pulled slightly a head of her, they wanted to race, she came in even with them and let herself put all effort into moving her legs. She almost felt bad for Ben and Warren, if she didn't like winning so much. Ben managed to stay up beside her longer than Warren. Warren being a powerhouse of muscle wasn't built for running, Ben was fast, but he couldn't hold a flame next to her, she had been a runner her whole life. She was a track star and all those years was now paying off. Soon it was a race between her and Mercy. The woods quickly shrouded them and she came to a stop not exactly sure what came next.