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Hi guys, I wanted to make a post saying that all requests are going to be shut down for the foreseeable future. I have experienced a death in my immediate family, and cannot complete or finish any requests. If you were waiting for a request to be finished, I’m sorry, but it will be a long while before I do it, if I ever do it. I hope you all can understand.

Thank you all in advance 💜

Breaking and Entering (2) - Mikhail

Status: Ongoing Series

Chapter number: 2 of unknown

Word count for Chapter: 3,384

Word count for Story: 6,653

Genre: Werewolf

There are no chapter titles, but each chapter will have a name listed that indicates which POV the chapter is from. Mindlinks are in italics. Conversations with their inner wolf are in bold italics.

A little about the author: I am a mother of two beautiful children. One of which is special needs, and on 3/28, they lost 75% of their vision. I started a Patreon if you feel the heart to donate towards helping with the medical costs of appointments, medication, and modifications to the house, which insurance doesn't cover.

Warnings: (I am not good at this, but I will try. Let me know if I missed anything!!) NOT BETA READ!! This story will have a bit of angst, fluff, smut, f/m, and m/m. This chapter does mention sibling death and A/b/o dynamics.

BREAKING AND ENTERING MASTER LIST

LDYSMFRST MASTER LIST

Wake up, train with warriors, train with my father, then train with healers, watch the perimeter with the guards, take school lessons with tutors, and finally sleep again. Oh, and eating does happen somewhere within all of that. This routine has been my life since I was ten years old. 

The only things that changed were the subjects of my studies with the tutors and the intensity of my training. As I got older, the training with my father became more about attending meetings with him in his office. He said it was time to focus less on teaching me how to do the job and more on showing me how to do the job right. 

My father’s office is in the tallest building in Lunar Ridge. It is on the top floor, and even though the floor has three offices and a waiting room, every wall is glass. The building was made strategically with protection in mind. It has five levels, and all the outer walls are glass, allowing the guards to see the town without restriction.

My father wanted a 360-degree view without much obstruction. Unlike the lower levels with transparent walls, this floor was built with one-way glass, similar to those in interrogation rooms. 

He also had them put some film on the inner walls that could turn dark at the push of a button for very private meetings. He refused to compromise his ability to have privacy when needed, even with his desire to have a clear view of the pack grounds.

For my father, it’s all about control and safety. 

For me, it's a reminder of the weight that would soon be on my shoulders. 

To my close friends, I called my father's office “the looking glass” because it allowed me to watch all the other kids come and go over the last several years. 

That is when it hit me: I was not like everyone else my age, as most typically attend schools outside of their houses with teachers and classmates. 

The school I saw from my looking glass, Lunar Ridge High, was quiet in the last two months because of a summer break. According to my father, I never had this period of freedom from studies because I was “behind” in my lessons. Therefore, I didn't have the luxury to go on a break. 

I missed watching the students fill the walkways, clumping together, laughing, and rushing to their classrooms to learn the next thing—a world that I, Mikhail, had never experienced.

That's me, Mikhail Stanislavic Dushenko, the only living son of Alpha Stanislav and the next Alpha to rule over the Lunar Ridge Pack. 

When my older brother, Stefan, was killed by the nearby pack, my carefree life turned upside down. Let me give you a bit of background. 

If you couldn't tell by my name, my family comes from Russia. My great-grandfather led his pack to this small ghost of a town and turned it into the lively town you see today.

Why did he move the Lunar Ridge Pack here? That is a long story, but basically, my great-grandparents pissed off the Royal Council of Russia. My great-grandparents refused to promise my grandfather's life as a gift of peace to The Alliance between the werewolves and the vampires. That choice meant the pack was no longer under the protection of the Royal Council. 

This act of defiance started a free-for-all to claim the pack and the territory. Alpha Dmitry, my great-grandfather, offered to take whoever wanted to live free with him to America to stop the pack from being taken over or killed. Most of the pack fled with Alpha Dmitry, and those who didn't escape were never heard from again.

We don't know what happened to them. Anything really could have happened to those who stayed behind. They could have joined another pack, were forced to serve the Royal Council, or were murdered.

My older brother was next in line when a border patrol went wrong. 

My father, Alpha Stanislav, and his best friends, Beta Christopher, and Gamma Jonathan, had taken Stefan out for a run. They went along the borders to show him exactly how far our territory went for the hundredth time. Following the edges of the province, they passed by the falls, went through some mountain ranges, and back around the forest, ending at the packhouse near the main road of Lunar Ridge.

It should have been a typical run.

During their run, they smelled a trespasser and thought it would be easy for the four of them to scare off the invader. Splitting up, they searched for the trespasser, and my brother found the source of the scent. 

This was a fatal mistake that changed the lives of everyone. 

The lone trespasser stood on the edge of Lunar Ridge territory, surrounded by others covered in mud, masking their scent. With his haunches raised using every inch of height he could muster, Stefan let out a warning howl, telling them to turn around and return to the other side of the border, less than fifty feet away. 

The hidden gang of invaders lunged at Stefan. They clawed, bit, and dragged him to the edge of our territory, pinning him down and causing him to howl in pain and agony. 

When our father reached them, the group leader eyed him coldly as he bit down and ripped Stefan's head from his body, then ran away like cowards. Howling in heartbreak, our father collapsed, holding my brother as Christopher and Jonathan secured the border with the rest of the guards, who came at the sound of Stefan’s last howl.

We recently discovered why this happened during a summit meeting with some of the surrounding pack leaders. The Alpha of the Blood Stone Pack had decided to take over the nearby packs to make a super pack. The tragic day was when that pack decided to test our borders. Turns out we weren’t the only pack that had their border tested. 

While the other packs had several injuries, Stefan had been the only casualty… so far. 

This is why my life changed when I was thirteen. 

My job now is to take over as Alpha of the Lunar Ridge Pack. 

Alphas were trained at the first sign of their wolf. Typically, they meet their wolf around three to four years old but don't shift until about six, like other males who meet and shift closer together. They are expected to take over their pack at age 21; by then, we should have found our mate, our Luna, and are ready to share the responsibility with them. During training, the Alpha and Luna pick out their Beta and Gamma for their council and learn to work together. 

This was different for me. 

My father is now older than most reigning Alphas because Stefan would have taken over years ago. As soon as I found my mate when she turned 18 and, by the blessings of the Moon Goddess, had learned to shift, I would need to take over. Then, the six of us would have to jump in head first and learn as we go.

Unlike the Blood Stone Pack and a few other packs stuck in traditional ways, not everyone in our pack was a shifter. Some in our pack have been moonmatched to humans, and because of this interspecies relationship the Moon Goddess has created, not all of their offspring were pups. 

It took some time, but we have figured out that males will meet their wolves and shift around the age of six, and females will meet their wolves and shift at 18 if either gender has a wolf to meet. 

After connecting with their wolf, everyone starts training to make the shift smooth and painless.

It is also mandatory for all pack members, regardless of gender and with a wolf or not, to take an introductory warrior class so that no one is defenseless.

Meeting your wolf tends to scare most individuals. 

Imagine a typical day, then the feeling like every movement you make is being watched by someone you cannot see. You can feel their presence, but the “meet” does not happen until they think you are ready to be with them. Sometimes, it's immediate; for others, it can take up to a month or more, and then afterward, you are never alone. 

During basic training, you learn to keep control and not allow your wolf's instincts to take over. 

Shifting—now that was a whole other experience. The males had to do it on their own; it was one of the few traditions that we followed. When they survived the fever and did their first shift without help, the Alpha and the rest of the pack would recognize this as their first showing of strength and potential. 

The smoother and faster the change, the more likely you would be a warrior. If not, you were a healer. Males were only assigned a station at age sixteen once they were fully mature. 

Females, however, rarely survived a shift alone.

This wasn’t because of the mindset that females are the weaker gender of a species. No, it was because females went through so many more changes at this time. Not only did they get their wolf, but they also went through another version of gaining their womanhood as wolves.

To help save the lives of the females in our pack, we always held a massive celebration for their coming of age. This increased the possibility of finding their moonmate. If they found their moonmate, he would help her through their first few shifts by removing some pain and lowering their fevers but using the new connection with their mate. Completing the mating bond happened at another time to not overwhelm the female.

If the female did not find their mate during the celebration, they had a choice. They could stay and try to survive the shift on their own, or they could leave the pack and travel to nearby packs in hopes of finding their mate before the fever sets in during the first full moon after their 18th birthday. 

All females with wolves underwent advanced warrior training and learned to fight with their wolves to some extent. By the time their training was over, their wolf had reached full maturity. Then, they were assigned a station to serve the pack best. 

Their stations were simple: warrior, healer, or omega. 

An omega station was any job not classified in the other two stations, such as a baker or receptionist. It is only assignable to she-wolves that do not fit the other classifications or the human mates within the pack. 

A healer station would be a position such as a nurse or a surgeon. A warrior station meant they would do patrols and act as the pack police. 

Unlike other nearby traditional packs, we allow our females to become warriors as they make exceptional leaders and work well in stealth-required situations. 

Being the younger son of an Alpha, I was more or less forgotten by everyone except my mother, Luna Ekaterina. Since I was five years younger than Stefan, I was too young to be his beta. Since Stefan was the oldest, I would never be the Alpha. 

When my wolf first came to me, it was the night of my fourth birthday. His name is Borya. Since I was not essential to the pack because of Stefan, I was left to my own devices. I became best friends with my wolf and soon could easily switch between who was in charge of my physical body. 

I was only five and a half when the fever hit, and it was time for my first shift. 

My mother wanted to be there, but I wanted to do it alone like everyone else did it. I didn’t care that it was happening earlier than anyone else. It was excruciating but only lasted a few moments. When I explained it to my mother, she said it must have been because my wolf and I were so close already, and there wasn't much to shift between us.

She thought that during the shift, I was forced to only make a physical change, not a mental or emotional change, because of how close my wolf and I were.

My training always seemed to get in the way of my brother, but I did whatever I could to keep up and prove myself. It wasn't long before I could shift as quickly as the adult warriors, and I was the fastest wolf in the pack.

Still, I held no importance to the pack. 

Shortly after, my father forbade me from training with the warriors because I was “too young” and it was not right for me to “show off.” Stefan was upset with me for being so in tune with my wolf and outshining him in training.  

In hindsight, having me stop training was a waste of time. 

After Stefan's death, the pack and my father looked to me to take over. I was a teenage boy with only two years of training as a warrior and zero years as an Alpha. 

My father should have been able to step down as the Alpha when I was sixteen. However, according to pack law and, well, werewolf law, I could not even think about taking over until I found my moonmate when she turned eighteen. 

So far, my father has had me attend every coming-of-age celebration since Stefan would have taken over. I was eighteen as of last week, though no one seemed to care except my mom and my only two friends. 

Borya and I could feel our mate was near, but we had no clue who or where she was. I was hoping she would make herself known soon. 

With triple training over the past five years, meeting a she-wolf was difficult.

Today, my father called me into his office at 7 a.m. because he had something important to tell me. As I stood in his office, I looked down below and saw a few students had started milling about, meaning school was back in session. 

Finally, the time in my father's office wouldn't be so dull anymore. 

I was early to the meeting and was watching the students below when my father, Beta Christopher, and Gamma Jonathan arrived. They were typically found together as they were the current pack counsel. 

This time, however, they were also accompanied by Gamma Jonathan's son-in-law, Mitchell, and Aliaksandr. Mitchell had been coming around more often. This was due to his only daughter turning eighteen over the summer break and being moonmatched to Mitchell. Since the matching, the two had become close.

You could see the pride that Jonathan had for Mitchell. 

I had gotten to know Mitchell over the summer after the moonmating, and we had become friends. I had decided that Mitchell, well Mitch, would become my Gamma. It was perfect that he was moonmatched to my father's Gamma's daughter, and he was right behind me in scoring strategy and strength in warrior training. 

Aliaksandr, however, was one of the only werewolves who could enter and fill the room with power that could practically parallel my own. He is my age, but he met his wolf, Zakhar, when protecting his little sister when he was five. He and his sister were trying to hide from the Hunter, who had broken into their house and killed their human mother. Zakhar went berserk and forced the shift with Aliaksandr. 

When the Hunter came to get his sister, Zakhar chased him out of the house and down the block. Afterward, his Alpha thought it best to separate his sister and him. It was well known that berserkers could become feral if they stayed around the one they were protecting when they went berserk. To avoid him becoming feral, my father allowed him to move into the packhouse and start training, which was shortly after I started my training the first time around. 

When I started training the second time, he worked with me during our free time to help me catch up. He always pushed me to do my best. After we started training together again, it was easy to see Aliaksandr would be my Beta. Someone as strong as him could easily lead the pack while I traveled for pack business or take over in my stead should I become injured.

The three of us have a powerful connection that rivals the Lunar Ridge Pack's current counsel, which is fantastic. However, we are still teenagers, and we goof off and tease each other but train like there is no tomorrow. We are comfortable enough with each other not to use formalities. We each have nicknames that we use, but if anyone else does it, they are in trouble. 

"Hello, Father,” I slightly bend at the waist, moving my hair off my neck and showing it to him. When my father nodded, I continued, “Beta Chris, Gamma Jon, and my counsel, anyone else joining us this morning?" I ask teasingly, looking past them. 

"No, it's just us, Misha. We have something we want to talk to you about," my father replied. “Your training has gone smoothly. You have an aptitude for being an Alpha, which your mother saw from the beginning, and you have chosen wisely for your counsel."

I smiled at Aliaksandr and Mitch, "Thank you, Father. I am doing my best for the honor of our pack and my brother. I want them to feel protected and cared for by the Dushenkos as they have always been."

"We got this, Miky," chimed in my Beta with a broad smile while elbowing Mitch in the side and earning a glaring smirk from me. Aliaksandr is the only person alive who gets away with calling me Miky.

"There is more to being an Alpha than being a protector. You have to know your pack. Most of your training has been with the wolves in the era of your brother, Stefan. You have been pushed to be a replacement for Stefan, but you are not. You are your own Alpha, and you, blessed by the Moon Goddess, have found your counsel that is your age and yet still advanced enough to be in their positions.”

“However, you need to relate with the pack  of your ages. You must in order to know how to protect, guide, and command them," my father paused, looking down at the students below and taking a deep breath. His eyes clouded over as he glanced at his counsel, to which they nodded. I knew they were mind-linking to each other.  

I looked to Mitch and Aliaksandr for any hint.

Hey guys, what is going on? Is everything okay?

Yeah, Misha, just let Alpha Stanislav finish what he has to say. It will all make sense soon, so don't worry. We will be right there with you the whole way. Mitch told me with a severe and straight face. 

What the heck was happening? Why are we all here? And now I am worrying since I was told not to. 

"Son," my father called me out of my inner thoughts.

"Yes, Papa? What is happening? Is everything okay?"

"Starting today, you are a senior at Lunar Ridge High. Your classes start in ten minutes."

"What? Seriously? I am going to high school. What about my training? Why now?" I ask in rapid fire. My face contorted in confusion.

"Enough!" boomed my father’s Alpha voice.

"Yes, Alpha Stanislav,” I said, dropping to a knee, “It just comes as a surprise."

Gamma Jonathan sighed and stepped forward. "You see, Misha, you haven't had a chance to bond with the pack—at least not the pack at your age. Your training is done. You are the best warrior, healer, and student we have seen in a long time. You must find your mate, and you must know your pack."

"It's time, Misha. Aliaksandr or Mitchell will be in each of your classes. Mingle and get to know everyone. You have seen them," my father said as he turned to look at the students gathering below. 

“Now it's time to join them. Make them proud, make me proud, and, most importantly, make Stefan proud."

((edited 9/14/24))

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What is that?!? A new story??

Hello, my dearest readers!

Since I am laid up on pain meds from almost breaking my ankle, I thought I would share something with you, my dearest readers.

This is the first story I have ever written. Started it when I was sick with COVID-19 and bored out of my mind. I wrote it in an interesting way. There are no chapter titles, but each chapter will have a name listed that indicates which POV the chapter is from. The chapters are also shorter, so it should be a quicker read than American Mate at this point.

This story is 100% from somewhere inside my brain and is not a FanFic. I hope that is okay. The first 5 chapters will be free for anyone to read, but after that, it will follow the same release schedule as American Mate. Early releases for my Patreon members, "Ask a Character", drabbles, and polls will be limited to members only.

I hope you enjoy it!

Here is the link for Chapter 1!

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