Gray Valley

f o u r t y - s e v e n

THE PACK MEMBERS STOOD AROUND IN SILENCE. The silence was almost unreal, as the only sound was the wind rustling the leaves on the trees.

"Hey, Weslyn," a familiar voice called. West emerged from the crowd with Anna behind him. "Bryan said it was urgent."

"Where are the others?"

"Bryan's getting Martyn," Anna told me. "Mary is still missing and I don't know about William..."

"Mary won't be coming," I stated flatly. The Gray Wolves from the Luna Pack looked around in confusion and at once, the murmurs began. " And don't worry about him."

I trusted Liam. I told him repeatedly that it wasn't about us. I knew we weren't on good terms, but I believed that he would turn up.

"What's going on?" West asked. "Are we in danger or something?" I took a deep breath before responding.

"We are." My voice was grim, as silence fell among the pack members. "It's about the agreement  you made with Lucian Bronze."

"What about it?"

"His made that agreement with you, so he could build an army of Brown Wolves," Blayze explained. "An army against Weslyn."

Everyone around me, seemed to stare at Blayze and I in a mixture of confusion and shock.

"Why would he do that?" I heard the voice of a familiar pack member.

"Why else?" I demanded. "Our pack is the most powerful Gray Wolf pack in the world. He wishes to take control over our pack; to have more power. The only way to do that, is to kill me, your Alpha."

"There's no way that could happen," West answered. "For a long time,even most of the our pack were convinced that you were dead. Lucian couldn't have known about you."

"What if I told you that Lucian already knew?" I glanced at the pack. "That someone from the Luna Pack told him."

"Alpha Weslyn," a voice addressed me from the front. "We respect you and your family. We would never betray you."

"I know," a ghost of a smile appeared on my face. "I know that none of you would betray me... And beside none of you even knew I was alive. I'm talking about someone who already knew and was ready to betray the Grayson family."

"But who would..." My brother's voice trailed off.

"I'll give you one guess, West." I knew it was Liam before I saw him. "Who hates Weslyn and has every motive to kill her?"

He emerged from behind the trees and into view, closely followed by Bryan and Martyn.

"By Luna," Anna whispered, her eyes widening with realisation. "You don't mean..."

"Mary," West finished in a pained voice.

"And Michael," Blayze added gently.

Martyn. His sister and father's betrayal would surely hurt him the most. I glanced at him, expecting the worst, but to my surprise, I saw him looking the most determined of us all.

"Great, Blayze is here, too," Liam growled, snapping my attention back to him. "I thought this was about our pack."

"It is," I replied. "But he's one of us, now." I paused, as I could sense his anger about to surface. "Like I told you, this isn't about us, so please calm down."

It took a minute, but I soon saw him visibly relax.

"What are we going to do, Alpha Weslyn?" one of the Gray Wolves asked from the back.

"All your families have had many generations of loyalty towards the Grayson family," I told them. "Many of you were even alive during the leadership of my father, Alpha Wesley. And whenever he needed to fight, you fought alongside him, just to show you respect for him."

I didn't know how to continue. There was so much I wanted to say, yet there wasn't enough words for me to express it. I wanted to ask them to fight for me... But was I even worthy enough? Did I really deserve to be their Alpha? I felt my attention drift towards Blayze.

"You were born for it," he had told me.

There was something strange about his words. They were like words of assurance... And part of me felt as though he had said it, knowing that I would need the confidence, later on.

"I know that in terms of physical strength, I am severely lacking... But that's not going to stop me from fighting for my pack." I took a deep breath to compose myself. "I want you all to fight by my side - just as you did for my father; and every other Grayson Alpha."

"If that's what you want, Alpha. There's no way we can say no."