The Blacklisted Rogue
Chapter 33

Sally POV

Alpha Jordan took the dagger and made a small incision on my palm. He then cut his own palm the same way.

"Sally Freeman." He said. "Do you swear your loyalty to this pack?"

"I do." I replied.

"Do you swear to fully submit to me and recognize me as your Alpha?"

"I do."

"And do you swear to care for the Blue Eclipse pack members? To be respectful to everyone no matter their rank, help the ones in need and treat all like your own family?"

"I do."

Alpha Jordan put our bloodied hands together and smiled encouragingly at me,

"Sally Freeman. I, Alpha Jordan Walker, hereby declare you a member of the Blue Eclipse pack."

Warmth spread in my chest, replacing the cold, empty feeling I had felt since I left Red Ridge. I smiled and tears of joy and relief ran down my cheeks when the mind-link opened up and several pack members welcomed me. I looked at Avery who was standing in the front row, clapping and hooting along with everyone else.

I turned my gaze to Elijah. He grinned at me and swept me up in a hug, lifting my feet off the floor.

We were finally home.

*

*

Elijah POV

I felt the giddiness emanating from Sally when the crowd started to move outside for the shift. She was really happy and it made me relieved that we could actually move on now. We had been through so much together and I just wanted her to feel contempt and safety and happiness.

This was the first time that it felt like we had reached that destination. With everything going on with the Midnight pack, it had been so hard for her to let go of her fear. After we marked each other I could feel her emotions through our mate bond. I saw that she tried to keep up the appearance, but I knew that underneath the happy girl she was, what happened back at the Midnight pack still haunted her.

When she was initiated, it felt like she could let go of it. She was home now. It was over. I promised myself that even if I had to give my life for it, she would never have to feel that way again.

We gathered outside for the pups' first shift. Most packs had public shiftings, but apparently they didn't do that in the same way here. Everyone could choose how they wanted to do their shift. If they wanted to do it alone or in the presence of their family, it was alright.

There were three girls that had turned 18 in the pack month since the last full moon. All of them wanted to shift with only their families present.

The girls and their families walked into the forest behind the training grounds and the rest of us waited patiently. Soon, we heard their cries when the shift started.

I felt Sally shiver.

"Are you cold?" I asked, putting an arm around her shoulders.

Sally shook her head.

"It's fine. This whole thing just reminds me of my first shift." She shrugged. "I wish that Red Ridge had given me the opportunity to do it in private. Everyone was watching me. I know my wolf appreciated the company of her pack around her, but I just felt so exposed."

I nodded.

"Midnight pack does the same thing." I agreed. "But I have preferred to shift like this too."

"We made the right choice coming here." Sally whispered.

I planted a kiss on her forehead.

"We sure did."

At last, the cries from the forest turned to howls.

It was our turn to shift. People around us scurried off to undress and came back in their wolf form.

It was hard to contain my wolf's excitement. He loved to run in the forests around the packhouse with Sally's wolf.

Sally started to take her dress off, but I stopped her.

She looked at me questioningly.

"Don't you want to shift?" She asked.

I smiled at her.

"Do you really want to show yourself without any clothes on in front of the whole pack?" I asked.

Sally shrugged.

"I guess. I mean, everyone else does, so why wouldn't we?"

I smirked at her and pulled her behind a tree.

"Mine." I whispered in her hair. "It's hard for me to have you undressed in front of other people."

Sally wrapped her arms around my neck and pecked me on the lips. When she pulled away, I noticed a small smirk on her face.

"Of course." She said. "We wouldn't want anyone else to have a look at what is only yours to see."

She pulled her dress off slowly and seductively.

I gulped and traced the outline of her breasts with my finger.

"You really like to tease me, do you?" I mumbled.

Sally laughed.

"Of course, I really like it when you're all flustered. It's really sexy."

She winked at me and pulled off the last of her clothes. I reached out my hand to touch her, but before I could, she turned around and started to walk away.

"You coming or what?" She said over her shoulder.

Hurrying to get out of my clothes, I shifted into my wolf at the same time Sally did.

Sally's wolf was light gray with her captivating green eyes shining brightly in the dim light. Since she was from a Beta family, her wolf was larger than mine. I didn't really mind it because she was so beautiful. Besides, when we ran together, I was still faster than her. I sensed some changes in my wolf. Even though it had only been a few weeks since we came here, I have never felt closer to him. Our shifts were quicker and we communicated better. I hoped that now that we were part of a pack again, we would become even stronger.

Our wolves ran side by side through the forest, getting in line with the other wolves.

We ran along the edge of the lake. The light of the full moon reflected on the water surface.

After the pack run, we put our clothes back on and were just about to get home when we received a mind-link from Alpha Jordan, calling us back to the training grounds.

Sally and I looked at each other, and I heard confused mumbles from the other pack members walking alongside us.

When we arrived, Alpha Jordan was back on the stage. His face had been happy the whole night, but now looked stern and serious.

"Do you think something happened with the Midnight pack?" Sally asked.

I felt my heart sink.

Is the war starting now?

Alpha Jordan held up his hands to silence the crowd.

"I'm sorry to call you back. I understand that you want to go home and rest." He said. "But we have a new development and I need all hands on deck immediately." Shocked gasps were heard from the crowd.

"Earlier tonight, an ally of ours reached out for help. The pack has been taken over and a large group of men, women and children, including the pack's Alpha, have been banished. They are now asking if we could welcome them as refugees. Apparently, there are about 150 of them out there in the cold now. I need volunteers that could gather vehicles so we can go pick them up. We also need food, shelter, clothes and medicine for when they arrive."

Doris, the head Omega, raised her voice.

"Alpha, I will take a team with me back to the pack house to prepare some food for them."

"Excellent." Alpha Jordan replied and Doris took off along with a group of other Omegas.

A man I didn't know spoke up next.

"Alpha. Our school has three buses for the pups living by the pack borders. We could use them to transfer them here. Are they far away from here?"

"According to their Alpha, they are about a two hour drive from here."

Several other people volunteered to use their cars to help and some offered their homes. I smiled at their hospitality to help people in need, even if they were strangers.

"What pack are they from?" Someone asked.

Alpha Jordan got a solemn look on his face.

"They are from the Red Ridge pack."