When I'd gotten back downstairs and left April and Kalama to go shower, I grabbed a granola bar from the cabinet and sat down at the counter on a bar stool.

"Where'd she go?" I jumped and turned to see Alpha Anderson entering the kitchen.

"April?"

He nodded. "I left to go call June to bring the kids home and when I got back, everyone that had been in the backyard disappeared."

I chuckled. "They all went upstairs to shower." Ivy and Star had taken Meadow and Willow to their room so they could get cleaned up. "Is June on her way back then?"

June had taken her kids — April's siblings — to the Crescent Moon Pack to stay for a few days. They were searching the woods over there and letting May play with Amethyst to get their minds off of April. August had his sixteenth birthday right before they left and was ecstatic he could help scour the woods for his missing sister.

The Alpha nodded. "She screamed in my ear when I told her what happened." I laughed. Of course she did.

"Well April will be back down here soon so I'll come find you when she is."

He nodded and left the room. When he was gone, I pulled out my phone and clicked on my Beta's name. He picked up instantly.

"What the hell, Man?" He shouted before I was even able to say anything. "You can't just hang up on me after that and then not pick up for four days!"

I flinched. Whoops. I had been so focused on Kalama, I'd missed all of his calls since the day she'd stumbled out of the bush. "Sorry, Andrew. A lot has been going on."

"That's bull." I couldn't help but laugh and he soon joined in, letting the tension dissolve. "Are you going to tell me or do I need to drive over there and demand it from you?"

I sighed, "alright, when I hung up it was because a little girl had stumbled out of the bushes. She was weak and thin and dressed in similar rags that Ivy had when I found her." The line was silent as he went serious.

"I brought her back and she was placed in the hospital wing. Andrew, she was one of the girls held in the rogue mansion. She's around six or seven, and she won't give us a lot of information. She said she remembers her parents dying in the attack that left her in the hands of the rogues but that's it."

"Oh wow." Andrew breathed. "That's crazy! Why doesn't she remember?"

"Remember Ivy's theory about the rogues brainwashing them and taking their memories?"

"Uh huh."

"Well it's proving more and more to be true. April had been called Fern at the mansion, and all the girl's names have something to do with nature or an element of nature."

"Ivy, Star, Kalama. . ." He rattled off to himself in a whisper.

"Kalama means flaming torch, which would give us the fire element." I reminded him.

"Woah." He said.

"Yeah." I agreed. "And on top of that, she doesn't want to go home and she won't let us really touch her or help her. The doctor was able to get an IV in but she won't eat and she wouldn't let anyone help her get cleaned and changed. Apparently she was really close to April and will wait for her to come back before anything."

Andrew was silent for a few minutes. "You're attached to her aren't you?"

I scoffed. "What? No I'm not!" It was silent and I gave in. "Okay fine maybe a little! She seems super sweet, and —"

"When April gets home, you think you'll want to take her in." He finished smugly and I coughed a laugh.

"That's the thing, Andrew. She's home."

It went quiet before he shrieked like a girl. "Freckles is back?! You found her?! Well you couldn't started with that!"

I laughed, "sorry, I thought I should start with the kid."

"I hate you."

"I'm you're Alpha, you physically can't hate me."

"Shut up."

I laughed and he asked me when I was coming home. "Well, I might give April some time to see her family and get healthy again before we come back. She literally got home like an hour ago, and she hasn't even seen her mom or her siblings yet."

"Okay. Well just let me know — hopefully sooner this time!" He added pointedly and I chuckled a sorry. "Isabelle's calling me now, so I'll talk to you later."

We said goodbye and he hung up. I assumed Isabelle was his mate. I had barely pocketed my phone when something caught my attention.

"Xavier?" A small voice called and my ears perked up.

I hopped off the barstool and met Kalama in the doorway of the kitchen. "Hey kid, you're finally in real clothes!"

She glanced down and nodded, fingering her pajama shirt. "They're comfy." She whispered and I grinned.

"Where's April?"

"Showering." She answered and pushed past me into the kitchen. I was stunned for a second at her boldness. This must've been what Ivy was talking about. "She told me you'd get me something to eat."

I chuckled. "That I can do. What would you like?" I followed her and opened the pantry.

She widened her eyes as she took in the options in front of her. "I can pick any of this?"

I nodded and she giggled with happiness. She looked around for a moment before her eyes lit up as they landed on a fruity cereal.

"This!" She exclaimed. "What is it?"

I laughed and grabbed the box for her. "They're called Fruit Loops. They're not exactly substantial or what you need to get your strength back," I told her, "but I'll let you have them because I told you you could have anything." I poured her a bowl and added milk before handing her a spoon. She dug in and squealed.

"These are amazing!" I laughed and sat down next to her.

"Well you can't have them all the time, but once in a while is fine."

She grinned. "So I can stay with you forever?"

I nearly choked on my spit. "Did April not talk to you?"

Her face fell, "no. . ."

I gulped, knowing I wasn't going to be the best at this. "I would love for you to stay, Kallie, and I know April would too. But what about where you were born? What if they're still looking for you?"

She looked down and slowly took another bite of cereal. "My parents are gone. That's the only thing I remember about that day. It haunts me, Xavier." Her breath was shaky and I reached out to squeeze her bony shoulder. "I don't remember anything about my life before the rogues, except that I watched my parents be killed in front of me. I don't want to go back, I would only see that more."

I sighed, my heart hurting for the kid. "I'm sorry that happened, kid. We can talk with April, and maybe we can work something out."

Before Kallie could say anything, I heard the front door swing open and May's voice echo down the hall. They soon appeared around the corner and I noticed August and June were with her.

May ran over and gave me a hug. "Where is she?" She demanded and I chuckled, knowing her mom had told her that April was home.

"She's upstairs—" she instantly let go of me to go upstairs, but I grabbed her arm. "Wait! You can't go see her yet."

She looked at me confused. "Why?"

I smiled softly. "She's getting cleaned up and when she's ready she'll come see you."

She nodded sadly, and then her eyes landed on Kalama. "Who's that?"

"Yeah, and why is she in our kitchen eating Fruit Loops?" August added, eyeing the kid.

"I'm Kalama." The kid announced, grinning widely, but her eyes betrayed her shyness. She scooted off the bar stool and gave June a hug.

"Well I see you're feeling better!" The Luna exclaimed, scooping her up.

She nodded brightly. "April came home and helped me shower and then Xavier gave me food!"

June let Kallie get back to her cereal and headed to the fridge to grab May a snack.

April's father came in and we started to talk quietly while the kids ate until we heard footsteps on the stairs. Everyone stilled, the anticipation of seeing April getting to everyone.

When April entered the kitchen with Ivy, Meadow and Willow, a few things happened at once.

May spotted her sister and screamed so loud I thought the windows in the kitchen would shatter from her happiness. She dashed across the room and flung herself into April's arms. My mate automatically picked her up and spun her around, hugging her tightly.

I glanced at her parents and saw both had tears in their eyes as they watched their daughters reunite.

When May was done screaming, we picked up August's awed whisper. "Mate." Everyone froze and we realized he was staring at Ivy. April beamed and sent Ivy to him with an encouraging shove.

August wrapped an arm around her and I saw April had a tear leaking from her eye. "He's so grown up," she whispered and I chuckled before going over and kissing her tear away.

"Well that was unexpected." Alpha Anderson said and everyone laughed.

When the excitement of the newly found mates pair was gone, April's parents turned back to focus on her return.

"April, I can't believe you're back!" June exclaimed, wrapping her daughter in a tight embrace. "I've missed you so much!"

"I know! It took a long time to even find our territory, but I'm here now! I'm safe." April smiled, tears freely flowing down her face again as she squeezed her mom. After a few moments, she let go and scooped up Kallie, who squealed with delight.

June sobered up and motioned to the kid. "Now, we need to talk about what's going on with Kalama."