Meadow’s p.o.v. I went back to the buffet three more times, I just needed to taste everything and now I am leaning back in my seat with a cup of coffee in my hand. Taking a sip from my coffee I listen to the conversation around me, most of them are about a test they have to do in a few days and some are talking about an attack on Elder Morton. I don’t pay more attention to the conversations than that, I am just wrapped up in my own little bubble. I do notice that most of the people around me have left the dining room, but I am in no hurry to go anywhere and as long as there is coffee I am staying right here. “Meadow?” I hear Elder Chelsea asks and I look up at her to see another Elder with her. I saw him walk into the dining room, when I had gotten my second serving and I was told that his name is Elder Josiah.“Nice to know there are also Lycans here, Elder Josiah.” I say as I get out of my seat and I hold my hand out for him to take. “Chelsea already said you had no trouble identifying what kind of Shifter she was, but she doubts you have had any training.” Elder Josiah says, as he shakes my hand. I had asked Elder Chelsea if I could have my first conversation with just her present and I was relieved when she granted me my request. “Why don’t you tell me why you want to join the Renegades?” Elder Chelsea says, before she leans back in her seat. I know I can’t sit down to tell her, so I start pacing the floor. “The answer to that question is what you would call, my life. I don’t have a lot of memories about my Mother, but they are both good and bad memories. Every memory reminds me of the love she had for me, I am always sitting in her lap, listening to whatever it is she says. I can’t hear the words, but I see her lips moving. My last memory of my Mother is from the day she left me, it is also the only memory in which I can hear her speak. She told me that I should remember that she loved me, no matter what happened. The bad part of those memories involve my Brother, River. In almost every memory my Mother has her hand stretched out towards him, but all he does is look at me with anger and hatred in his eyes.” I can feel the tears running down my cheeks, it is the first time that I have cried as I remember those moments. “It took me a while to realize that the only real memory I have of my Father, is from the morning after my Mother left. I am lying in my bed, he opens my bedroom door, a look of hatred on his face and then he slammed the door shut. I don’t know how much time passed between that memory and the next, but I doubt it was long. An unfamiliar woman walked into my room, her eyes red from crying. She was the one constant in my life for the next few years, she would wake me in the morning and feed me before sending me to school. I must have been about nine, when I heard a classmate talking about her Nanny and how they would spent their days. I came home from school and asked Francis if she was my Nanny, she told me I could refer to her as my Nanny. When I asked her why she never read me a story or help me with my homework, my world was shattered.” I take a moment to look out the window, before I start pacing again. “Francis was ordered by Alpha Hank to raise me, he refused to take into consideration that she lost her Mate and Pup only six months prior. She told me that she just hated the situation she was in, that I reminded her every day of the things her Pup would never experience and the things she would never experience with her Pup. Two months before I turned fourteen, Francis met her second chance Mate and moved out of the Pack without saying goodbye to me. Luckily, Hayden knew that Francis had left and he made sure I could move in with him and Brooklyn. It was my home until I left a few days ago.” I say.“Can you tell me about Hayden and Brooklyn?” Elder Chelsea asks. “I met Brooklyn and her friends when I was twelve, I was at a clearing near school. Twice a week I would sneak down to the training grounds to look at other Pack-members train and twice a week I would head to the clearing to practice everything I saw and what I had learned in school. One day, Brooklyn and her friends showed up and I wanted to make a run for it. The fact that Brooklyn offered to train me is what stopped me from running, they later brought their Brothers with them. It took me months to finally trust their Brothers and they are the only ones that know about my upbringing.” It still hurts to think about my upbringing and I stop talking for a moment. Elder Chelsea doesn’t say a word and I just stare out of the window, not sure if I should continue with my story or not. It doesn’t get any better and I am not sure if I am in the mood to explain the one thing that should have been sacred. However, I don’t get the chance to say another word. Rebel is forced to shift, as a searing pain shoots through my neck and the next moment she howls in pain. I am curled up in the back of her mind, consumed by my own pain. I don’t remember what happened after that, all I know is that I wake up in the infirmary. Three worried looking Elders at the foot of my bed and I want to crawl into a dark corner, when I hear Elder Chelsea ask, “Who is your fated Mate?”