Logan paced the library again, his mind at unease. This time the library had been cleaned and the books that had littered the floor had been returned to their rightful place. The whole place was looking as a library should look. 

However, the man who paced its length was feeling very restless again. Logan could not exactly pinpoint the reason for his restlessness, all he knew was that he needed answers, and fast too. He felt like he would go crazy if he didn't find the answers he was looking for.

It had been ten whole days since he had first entered the library and a when week since Casper had mind linked him to come and check out the trails. Trails that had long since gone cold and had been covered by the wolf prints of other wolves that had walked that perimeter. Trails that led nowhere.

Logan sighed and stopped pacing of a moment. He closed his eyes and remembered the feeling of utter hopelessness and grief that he had felt when he had seen those trails and followed it, the feeling of sadness that had enveloped him when he realised that the trails were a wild goose chase which led to nowhere. 

At that moment he had not wanted to be an alpha. He had wanted to revoke his leadership and be an ordinary wolf. He had wanted to crawl into the hollow of a tree and stay there for  eternity, or lie on the forest floor and wait for the ground to swallow him up. His heart and soul hand been full of disappointment. Disappointment at himself, at the Goddess, at his father and the hand he had been dealt since when he was a little boy.

If he hadn't been made alpha when he was little, if he had lived the normal life of a teenage wolf, if his mother hadn't died, perhaps

Ah, but then you wouldn't have met Aella, would you have? His wolf spoke up. Didn't you say she was the best thing that has ever happened to you? If you hadn't been alpha, you probably would not have been at the border at that time, and you would not have imprinted on her.

His mind flashed back to their make-up sex after they had fought and he smiled almost involuntarily. He had missed her so much; missed her body, missed the connection they used to have, the familiar link that their souls shared. That sex had been the best that he had had with her so far. Considering the other time they had had sex was on Louve's wedding night, but Logan thought that was their best sex so far anyway.

During sex was one of the few times that she wasn't stubborn and defiant as hell. Aella was usually pliant when they were having sex, responding to his touches like an attentive student to an experienced teacher. Who knew that such a ferocious woman would be so compliant in bed?

He felt a familiar prickle on the back of his neck and lifted his hand to touch the back of his neck. Whenever he could sense danger, his neck usually gave that prickle. He had been having that prickle more than usual these days, and he knew that the battle was very near, even nearer than what he had told his people on the night of Kylie's burial.

Were they ready, he thought. Had he trained his wolves well enough to withstand the travails that came with battle. The number of his pack had dwindled, he knew, but his warriors were one of the best in all the packs that were around. He knew that they would be able to hold their ground to an extent if a war broke out.

But for them to be able to hold their ground, they would have to be aware of everything that. could swing the war in their favour or against their favour. He needed to inform them of everything about the tattoos, so that they would be aware of what could be against them in battle.

And so he decided to call a meeting of the Council of Head Wolves so as to do just that. He opened a mind link, trying to reach Casper to set up a meeting. It took a while for Casper to respond to the mind link, but a free a couple of seconds, he did.

Good morning Alpha. Casper greeted in a sleepy voice. How was your night?

My night was fine, Casper." The alpha replied hastily, then continued. "Casper, I want you to organise a meeting with the Council of Head Wolves today. We need to sit and have a discussion about the recent updates in the pack.

Do you mean telling them about the tattoos and how they are connected to your mate and your mother? Casper asked.

Exactly, Logan replied.

There was a short uncomfortable pause on the other end of the mind link before Casper responded with a short Okay and closed the mind link.

Logan knew why Casper had felt uncomfortable about that. He knew that Louve was still adamant about not telling the Council anything because they could overthrow him as alpha, but personally he felt like it was only prudent to tell him.

After cutting the mind link, Logan decided to wait for a few minutes in order to let the notice of the meeting go round. To while away time, he stood up from the desk and went to the shelves of books, randomly selecting one. 

It turned out to be a little history book that he used to read when he was a little boy. He cleaned the back of the book that was coated with dust and walked back to the chair, where he sat on it and began reading.

The book began to bring back memories as only the best books could do. As he flipped through the pages, he began to remember how his mother had turned up her nose and looked displeased when he had asked her if he could read it, how she had forbidden him from reading the book and had placed it on a high shelf far away from his reach, how he had looked for several ways to bring the book from the high shelf, finally enlisting the help of his best friend Casper. 

He had urged Casper to stand on his shoulders and reach for the book. Casper had done that as he would have willingly done anything for Logan. But Logan had lost his balance and Casper had fallen from that height, resulting in a dislocated elbow and several other wounds.

Casper had been his closest friend. He would have done anything for him.

As he went through the book, he came across a chapter that talked about an ancient tribe of rogue wolves. He remembered that that particular chapter had been his most favourite in 5he entire book. He had read it so many times that the pages were filled with of fingerprints and the pages had been dog-eared.

He started reading the chapter and everything he had read from it began to come back to him. It talked about a tribe of wolves whose leader was ancient and powerful, whose main purpose was to claim territories and packs as his. He usually marked the members of his tribe with a tattoo on any body part they wished. And as Logan read that last sentence, something clicked in his subconscious.

A barbaric tribe of wolves. His mother's confusing hatred for the book. The tattoos

Aella.

What if these three were actually connected?

But like a bolt of lightning, Logan was shocked out of his thoughts by Casper's voice in his head.

Alpha, the Council is ready.