Chapter 1
Ezra packed his bag. He'd had enough. "Where do you think you are going?" Theresa asked from his doorway watching him shove the articles into the threadbare army bag. She had a such a sweet voice He scowled at her. Then drew the string on the end closed and stood to his full height.
He was huge compared to her father and the rest of the males in the pack. Sixteen so not finished growing yet and already a head taller than her father. His large hands threw the strap of the bag over his wide shoulder. It suddenly occurred to her that if he really wanted to he could stand up to her father. In fact he could have seven years ago.
One of his pale blue eyes was swollen shut from a blow delivered by her father when Ezra had slammed the door to the work truck. The damn thing was rusted to the point where it had be slammed or it would not shut correctly. Isaiah had lost his temper and struck Ezra for the last time.
"Far away from this family. I have had enough of your shit. Find another orphan to push around." He pushed past her. Squeezing by so he did not touch her. She backed away from the doorway to allow him passage and he stomped down the hall.
"How do you expect to get anywhere without a vehicle or a license?" Theresa taunted from the doorway. They were the same age. Sixteen. She had a license and a car. He did not.
"What the fuck do you care?" He shot back and ran down the stairs of the three story house. His room was in the attic. It was clean but hot during the summer and freezing during the winter. The threadbare blanket did little to keep him warm. Enough was enough. Yes they had fed him, barely, clothed him, barely, given him shelter, barely. But they did not care for him at all. He had hoped as Theresa grew up she would come to see him as a brother at the very least but she only took the sides of her parents.
Theresa stood there for a minute. He really was over it. He really was leaving. He had threatened to do so two years ago but had chickened out when she had thrown that same question at him. This time he meant it. Well good riddance. He was useless and a mooch anyway. Her mother was constantly complaining about how much he ate and how fast he grew to keep up with his clothes. Two more years and they would have their first shift. The idea both frightened her and added excitement. She would also be able to meet her mate.
Ezra reached the bottom of the stairs. Isaiah was in his favorite chair with a beer. Good thing he was leaving now before the old male got too far into his drinking. Ezra was his target when he got drunk. Ezra hesitated. But if he left would Theresa be his target next? No. Theresa was Isaiah's pride. Drunk and angry or not Isaiah would not lay a finger on her except in doting. Spoiled selfish bitch that she was. He had really hoped. But now that hope was gone. There was no love in this family for him. Had never been.
Isaiah had found him as a two year old toddler in the woods by himself. No telling where he had come from or who his parents had been. Isaiah had taken the toddler before his Alpha Raphael. Raphael had ordered the toddler home with Isaiah since Isaiah was the one who had found him. Isaiah did not have a choice. Though he was loath to bring home a nameless child to his home. He did as he was told and raised the child. Alongside his own daughter. Keeping the two as separate as possible. She was the daughter of a Beta.
Isaiah did not even look up when the front door closed behind Ezra's departure. The useless pup will be back. Once he realized there was nowhere for him to go. Isaiah looked up when his daughter followed in Ezra's wake. "Hello my beautiful girl." Isaiah said to Theresa. She was too. Long blonde hair thick and wavy. Big brown eyes like her mother. His smile and her mother's small nose. High cheekbones and a slender, oval face. She was becoming a beautiful young female.
"Should you let him go like that?" Theresa asked concern in her voice.
"Why shouldn't I?" Isaiah asked skeptically. Was there something between the two? He had done his best to keep the orphan and his daughter from becoming close so that there would be a chance for her to find her mate.
"It will be dark soon. He could get hurt." Theresa replied concern still edging her voice. Why was she so concerned for the orphan boy. He meant nothing to her. "Never mind I am going to help Mother." She kissed her father on the cheek and joined her mother in the kitchen.
Ezra kept walking up the drive and down the road. Listening intently to the sounds of the house. Light conversation but that was all. No screaming, crying, or breaking of furniture. He was right. Isaiah loved his wife and daughter and would only have the one beer. Keeping his temper and his drinking in check. It was Ezra that he hated. Ezra that was the problem. He sighed. He had not asked to be found. Had not asked to be taken in.
As Ezra reached the road and turned left to get as far from the pack as possible a truck's headlights passed him and then slammed on its brakes. The reverse lights came on and the truck reversed next to Ezra as he walked. The driver window rolled down to reveal Alpha Raphael. "You going somewhere, son?" Raphael asked curiously. The male's brown hair was pulled back at the nap of his with a black ponytail holder. His hair falling down his back. Matching brown eyes were both curious and concerned.
"As far from that house as my feet will take me tonight, Alpha." Ezra replied looking up at the leader of the pack he was supposed to be loyal to. "I have had enough." He added when Raphael's brows dropped at the sight of the black eye.
Raphael sighed and braked. "Get in. I will take you as far as the next town. How drunk is he?"
"He was not drunk when he did this. Theresa and Eleine will be fine." Ezra responded dispassionately. "He does not drink heavy if it is just them." He walked around the back of he truck, depositing his bag in the back. With any luck, Alpha will see this as a betrayal and just put him out of his misery.
"I have tried to talk to him," Raphael informed Ezra as he drove to the next town thirty miles up the road. He glanced at Ezra and then back at the road. "I have tried to make him see."
"See what?" Ezra asked looking down at his big hands. Rough from labor in the sawmill Isaiah owned. Free labor. That was Ezra was to Isaiah. Well not anymore.
"Who you really are." Raphael said with a smile. "Who you really are, son. He can't see it past his own pride. But I can. Keep going to the east. Then kick south. Trust me. You will find what you are looking for." Raphael grinned then. Ezra raised a brow in question but did not comment. Raphael could be weird when he wanted too. In his prime but wiser than most. The male had a thing for saying odd shit at odd times.
Ezra sat back to relax a little for the thirty mile trip. Then realized he had no money. Hopefully Alpha did not expect him to pay for the gas. Ezra shifted his weight a little closer to the door. Thinking better of relaxing. Alpha had never been anything but kind to Ezra but that could change at any second.
"What's on your mind, son?" Raphael asked sensing the young male's change in attitude.
"I have not money, sir," Ezra replied tiredly. A penniless orphan. How fucking quaint. At least it was mandatory that he have attended school. He thought about high school. He would get his GED later. He had no friends to speak of. Being bigger than the other male pups he had been left out of the bullying brigade's path. But that had also intimidated the males not on the brigade. Come to think of it Ezra was larger than even Raphael and Isaiah.
Raphael nodded. "I expected as much. I have fifty in cash. That should at least give you supper and a bargaining chip for a ride out. You will have to work the rest of the way."
Ezra shrugged a massive shoulder at this. He was not immune to work. He was however not sure what he would do if he got a paycheck of his own. Isaiah pocketed everything. The bitterness toward his adoptive father coiled like a snake around Ezra's heart. "The mill may not do as well now that I am not there." Ezra said after a time with a bitter smile.
Raphael nodded and sighed. "I know. I am not pleased that you are leaving but I will not fight you on it since I would probably lose." Raphael chuckled. "You are breaking a lot of hearts. My daughter's included. She is hoping you are her mate."
"And this would please you?" Ezra asked surprised. He had never considered this. A mate. All his life he had been told he was good for nothing. That he was useless and too big for anything but hard labor. Unfit for a mate and children. That he would be alone. Alone was good though. He enjoyed alone.
"If I said yes would you have me turn around?" Raphael asked.
"No," Ezra replied. "I would not go back there even for that." He crossed his massive arms over his chest.
"Two more years. That would be all you would have to wait. Finish high school. Get your first shift and then find your mate." Raphael replied. "Isn't that what any male wolf wants?"
"Any male who knows his roots and has a family who has loved and given a fuck as to what he does or wants, yes." Ezra replied bitterness and pain in his voice. "Not me. I just want to go somewhere where I am not the little orphan kid anymore. Where no one asks me questions or beats me or takes my fucking paycheck."
Raphael felt for Ezra. He should have known better than to give him to Isaiah. But there was no one else with a room who could have. Not even himself. He had only three rooms to his home and they were taken up by his twin daughters and his mate. "I am sorry, Ezra. I know that does not mean anything in the face of things, but I am." Raphael replied. "Isaiah should not have treated you like that."
Again Ezra shrugged. "I would have taken it from Isaiah if Eleine and Theresa had not added to it. His physical abuse was nothing in the face of verbal rejection from a mother and sister." Ezra sighed thinking of the look of shock on Theresa's face when he had snapped back at her. Like he was not supposed to defend himself. Just take her shit and move on. He was so tired of trying to protect her. Of trying to be a brother to her. When all she gave back was hell and scorn. Same with Eleine. He used to love doing things for her. But the bitterness and hateful rhetoric from her wore him down. All he wanted was one word of kindness. One word of love. But hate and resentment was all that family was capable of.
The countryside of Wyoming from just outside Sheridan to a small off the map town just above Buffalo was beautiful. He loved the rolling hills and green forests. the Big Horn Mountains to his left were something he would miss. He had spent a good portion of his puppyhood hiding from Isaiah in those mountains.
Raphael pulled his truck up to a small diner in a small town that had only one stop light from what Ezra could see and put the truck in park. "This is Jasper. It is small but I am sure someone will be heading to Sheridan at some point. Mind your manners and try not to get into a fight." Raphael handed him the money from his wallet along with a card. "Call or write me to let me know how you are doing." Raphael ordered in his Alpha voice. Deep and commanding. "I know that it does not mean shit in the face of things but I do care."
Ezra nodded and took the card and the money. Got out of the cab of the truck and closed the door with just enough force for it to latch then grabbed his bag from the bed and went into the restaurant. Starving.
"Did Ezra wander off to the mountains again?" Eleine asked when she called for him for dinner. She hoped she made enough for that male. He ate like a damn rhinoceros.
"No. He left. Packed his things and left." Theresa replied. She had been watching the front door all through the meal preparation thinking he would be back anytime. That he would come back with his tail between his legs take a hit from her father for leaving and trudge up the stairs. But he had not come back. She was getting concerned. It was dark out now. He never stayed out past dark.
A knock on the door had Isaiah out of his seat in front of the TV and at the door in three strides. Thinking perhaps the same thing. "Alpha," Isaiah said with a nod of respect. "What can we do for you?"
"Ezra is not coming back. I dropped him off east of here." Raphael replied not bothering with preliminaries. "I expected better of you Isaiah." Alpha shook his head and turned from the doorway. "That pup needed love and not a one of you thought to give him an ounce of it." Raphael walked away before Isaiah could say a word. Not wanting any excuses from anyone. Especially not from Theresa. She should have loved and protected Ezra instead of backing up her parents. He was so disappointed.
