Chapter 29: Memories

**Alice’s Point of view**


Mom and Dad are outside sunbathing. It's hot, it's summer. I want ice cream. A chocolate ice cream.
I run into the packhouse and run into the Gamma, Melanie's dad.
"Ah, Alice! Aren't you outside with Sam and Melanie?" He says as he crouches down in front of me.
"Yes I am but I want ice cream!"
"An ice cream? Fine, I'll give you an ice cream if you tell me how old you are." He says, smiling at me.
"That's easy! I'm five years old!" I tell him and point to five fingers. 
He laughs and gives me ice cream.
The scene changes and I find myself with Derek, practicing. We are 10 years old and we can only use sticks so we don't hurt ourselves. We are too small and we lack strength according to our trainer but that will come with time. For the moment we are learning mostly the techniques of defense and attack. 
We look for each other, we attack each other and we feint. He makes me fall, I make him fall, we laugh and we start again. 
After a few minutes, we take a break to drink and eat a little. 
"It's movie night tonight. Are you still coming?" I ask him between two bites.
He nods. "Of course! I wouldn't miss it for the world! I'll bring the popcorn. Please tell me Melanie hasn't tried to make a cake again."
I pull a face. "Sorry. It's an apple pie. It smelled really weird earlier when she baked it. Sam wants us to tell her she's a bad cook, but I'm too afraid to hurt her feelings."
He huffs. "We've been having our movie nights forever, and yet I'm still not used to these culinary failures." 
I laugh and feel good. It's a beautiful day in the middle of the forest, I can hear the water of a stream flowing and the birds singing. I look at Derek with his messy black hair and laughing brown eyes. 
I feel good here. At peace.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
"Wake up." I open my eyes and a very serious Derek grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me lightly. "Wake up." He repeats. 
I frown. I don't understand. I'm not sleeping.
But before I can answer him, I find myself in the forest, walking toward the border of the pack territory far away from the city. I hear a noise and don't recognize the smell of one of my people. I may only be 12 years old but I have a very keen sense of smell and having Alpha blood allows me to recognize my pack members.
I sniff the air and the wind brings me two smells that I recognize immediately. Rogues.
I stay undercover and approach discreetly. I feel that I am getting closer and I take out the daggers that I received for my birthday. As I don't have my wolf yet, I must be able to defend myself.
When I am only a few meters away, I hear the sounds of a fight. I hide behind a bush and observe the scene.
A few meters from the border, three rogues are fighting with a man wearing rags. The three wolves show their fangs and try to bite his arms, legs and neck. He has no weapons and doesn't seem to want to shift, which is strange. 
I then notice that in addition to fighting the rogues, he is blocking them from passing. I frown. Is he trying to stop them from entering my territory? That's weird.
One of the wolves manages to bite his arm and he screams in pain. I hear a sob from behind him. I bend down and see a little girl of about 8 years old rolled up in a ball and crying.  
I sniff the air again. No doubt about it. They are all rogues. 
We never get involved in their stories and quarrels. They are wild animals that should not be approached but should be killed on sight so I keep watching.
The man will die. I know it and so does he. I see the despair in his eyes, but also resignation. He turns his head slightly toward the little girl. "I'm sorry Gwenny." He says sadly. 
The little girl cries louder and I can't watch without doing anything any longer.
The wolves have their backs to me and I have no trouble sneaking up behind them without being spotted. I stab a dagger into the back of the one on the right who howls in pain. He turns to identify the intruder but I stab him in the jugular. He collapses and doesn't have time to bleed to death before I slit the throat of the one on my left. The last one tries to jump on me, not suspecting that I am not an ordinary little girl. 
I have been fighting against adult wolves for years and it's without difficulty that I dodge and jump on his back, sinking my silver daggers on each side of his neck. He falls to the ground, dead.
The man joined the little girl and holds her against him with a protective look.
"We don't want any trouble. They were chasing us and we got cornered here. We didn't get into your pack territory."
"I know."
He frowns. "How do you know?"
"I would have felt it."
He laughs softly. "That's not possible, little one. Only the Alpha senses when someone enters their territory."
"So does the future Alpha."
He opens his eyes wide. "You're Alice? Alpha John's daughter from Blue Moon pack?"
"Do we know each other?" I say, tilting my head to the side.  
"No, but everyone has heard of you. The daughter of an Alpha, that's not something that goes unnoticed in our world."
I laugh. "That's true. And who are you?"
"My name is Joey and this is my daughter Gwendoline." He says, pointing to her with his chin.
I furrow my brow. His daughter? He has black hair and eyes while the little girl has golden eyes and red hair. Her freckles make her look adorable and as she looks at me blankly, I feel the need to help her.
"You don't look anything like each other." I say simply.
He laughs. "I've adopted her. I was banished from my pack because I was accused of treason." He seems embarrassed and hesitates to continue. I encourage him with a shake of my head.
"My ex Alpha asked my fated mate to be his Luna. She agreed but didn't tell me. He found us together and almost killed me on the spot. Luckily, the Beta was a friend of mine and negotiated my punishment. I've been a rogue ever since, no pack wanted me because my ex Alpha said I was a rapist and a murderer. Oh, and a thief too." He shakes his head. "I had resigned myself to staying alone when I found Gwen. She was five years old and her pack had just been slaughtered. She had fallen into the river and almost drowned. Luckily I got there in time and we've been together ever since." He says, looking at her affectionately.
I’m surprise. I've always been told that rogues were bloodthirsty beasts but seeing the two of them, I'm forced to see that this is not the case.
Joey raises his head and looks at me seriously. "Alice, you're not supposed to be here. You should wake up before it's too late."