Has it really been over a decade since I last was seen? It's difficult for me to believe that so much time has passed! …Hard to believe how much I've grown up since starting my little adventure into The Pack Imperative.

For any of you who stuck with me, I thank you with all of my heart. But, it has come time that I am removing this fanfiction which so many of you had – perhaps still do – love(d). I do this because, on October 17th, 2019, The Pack Imperative is officially a rewritten, original book. It has matured along with me and I have the sincere hope that you all will enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. It is a Supernatural, Reverse Harem Duet with some of the same scenes you all came to know and love along with a whole new frame for a heroine that has had a hard lot in life with the seven men who love her.

You can look for the author on Facebook (Guin Archer … (at symbol)guinarcherauthor) and updates on the upcoming release there. The novel, now called 'Heritage: Locke's Legacy' is PENDING approval on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. As soon as it is available, Guin Archer's page will state so.

So, with a nervous flurry of raging butterflies in my stomach and trembling fingers, I post the first chapter of the new book and state to you with a heavy heart that, on October 17th, The Pack Imperative will officially be removed from all webpages.

Much love and caring to you all. Bless. And I hope you enjoy.

Chapter One

"This isn't a social call, is it?" Adeline inquired softly as she hopped out of her truck to look towards where Lucian stood to the side of the rental property she shared with her sister.

She'd been as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs as the day at OVA dragged on. The jitters had started when she received notice from Ms Kinsley, the Curator at the Offices of Vampyr Affairs, that she wasn't to report to the Ulysses Estate for Caretaker duties. Instead, she'd been relegated menial labor and errand runs for items that needed to be shipped out to other Estates across the continental US. Afterwards, she'd been waylaid by paperwork that needed final check-off before submission to the financial department of OVA.

Adeline Rimbauer had been a Caretaker – just as her maternal grandmother had been – for close to fifteen years. OVA hired young and off-the-books when certain pedigrees were brought up. Not that OVA was known amongst the Normal crowd. The Vampyr community was very hush-hush. Only the elite, the Normals in the upper echelons, were aware of the race of blood-drinking beings that had called Earth home for thousands of years. Well, the elite and the bevvy of contracted Normals – who traditionally came from a long familial line of humans – that served all of the Vampyrs' needs of whatever Estate they were assigned to.

Caretakers were glorified servants to the Vampyrs.

At fourteen years old, Adeline had been a babysitter for the children of the altered-human mates at the Arnett Estate. Vampyrs were capable of mating humans without fully changing them, but that could only be done with Bloodmates. A Vampyr's venom had the ability to either kill, maim, change, or alter a human depending upon who it was used upon and with what intention. Altered humans were granted the same lifespan as their Vampyr mates – their soulmates – and received certain physical advancements over Normals, but they were basically still human at their cores. A Vampyr's Bloodmate was also the only being in existence that could bear their offspring.

After she'd matured and hit the 'legal' age of sixteen, Addie had taken on more official roles of a Caretaker. Sometimes she cooked. Sometimes she cleaned. When she finally had a car she was the errand-girl of whatever Vampyr or Bloodmate happened to be Master or Mistress at the Estate she served.

The Ulysses Estate, the coven she'd been Caretaker for for the past five years, sported a lawyer and an architect in its wings. She'd taken on clerical duties for them both, though she still headed the household staff. The staff was Normal and unaware of their vampiric employers, but there had never been any 'slips' in her five years with the Ulysses.

But she'd also never once – not even a single day – been deliberately relieved of her Caretaker duties in that time. It was why she was so nervous. So unsteady.

"Please follow me, Adeline." Lucian's grave, smoke-rasped voice drew her out of her introspection.

Addie watched him walk down the lightly worn path that wound into the pine forest surrounding her property. His lithe, tall frame was silent as the grave. His suit, as always, was neatly tailored and pressed to within an inch of its life. His red wingtips looked very out of place in their natural surroundings. He'd pulled his shoulder-length black hair back into a low tie. His Chopard watch caught a glimmer of light that trickled through both the heavily overcast skies and the dense canopy of towering pines and douglas firs.

Following after him silently, she marveled as she always did at the male Vampyr.

At twenty-nine years old, Adeline was no stranger to carnal desires and satiating said desires. She was no untried virgin. OVA outright banned Caretaker-Vampyr physical relations within the same Estate and emotional attachments in all cases – going so far as to penalize both parties with astronomical fines that would cause Oprah to blink twice – but they couldn't put a stop to looking and admiring. As a general rule, Vampyrs were physically perfect. Smooth, unblemished skin. Striking amber-hued eyes. Teeth whiter than freshly fallen snow. Their bodies were honed and taut. Best of all, they were unable to carry or pass on Normal diseases or impregnate a woman that wasn't their Bloodmate.

During Gatherings, times which Caretakers were more often than not required to attend with their employers, Adeline had indulged in a few extracurricular activities with Vampyrs of other Estates or the occasional male Caretaker. It was all in good fun and she never pressed a suit where it wasn't welcome. In point of fact, she'd met Richard at a Gathering when she was only nineteen and still taking occasional courses at the Los Angeles Community College. Richard had been another Caretaker for a different Estate and her long-term boyfriend of three years.

Their break-up was what had led to her move to Oregon and pushed her into the employment of the Ulysses Estate.

The Ulysses were a medium-sized coven of nine. The larger covens could boast upwards of thirty Vampyrs and their Bloodmates, but Vampyrs tended towards smaller groups. They were independent, solitary beings and didn't like many others in their spaces and domain. The only reason they came together at all were because the Bloodmates didn't thrive in hermitic environments.

Lucian led her farther into the woods and she tossed a quick peek over her shoulder. She knew the way well enough after five years of living on the property, but she didn't like to be out of sight of the house. Her sister was entirely Normal and didn't know about Addie's work as a Caretaker or the existence of Vampyrs. Jude was a nurse at the local hospital in Kensington and worked horrendously long hours even though their rental was covered by her Caretaker job. Jude was a workaholic, but for the right reasons. She liked helping people. She liked being there for the scared and the sick that needed a friendly face and consoling shoulder.

Adeline tried her best to keep Jude, who was three years her junior, well-stocked at home. Caretakers were paid very well for their services. There was always a level of risk working with Vampyrs. After all, they subsisted off of human blood. Accidents could and often did happen. Both of their schooling had been paid off thanks to OVA, their property was included in her Caretaker duties as a fringe-benefit, and the medical insurance was nothing to sneeze at.

Everything that Addie earned she deposited into three accounts; one was for the household and herself, one for Jude whenever and if-ever she decided she wanted to strike out on her own, and the last went to their father where he lived in an assisted-living community in Florida. He'd suffered a series of strokes after Jude graduated nursing school and neither of them could stomach putting him in a more hospitalized setting.

She came to a standstill when Lucian stopped beside her favorite thinking-tree. The sitka spruce stretched high into the sky and sported a large trunk with the perfect niche that she could park her derrière into when she needed to mull things over. She wondered idly if he knew that it was her tree.

He turned towards her, his thin lips tight. Something was bothering him greatly. She had guessed as much by the surprise visit to her home just as she'd gotten back from OVA – a thing that had never happened before – but she'd come to know this coven over the years very well. Lucian only ever looked like he was in the after-effects of sucking on a lemon when something was simmering in his very soul.

"We're leaving," he deadpanned.

Adeline blinked. Slowly.

"When you say 'we'," she queried softly, the words threatening to choke themselves in her constricting airway, "you don't mean me, too, do you?"

She knew the answer to that before he responded. Hell, she knew it before she'd even asked the question. Still, she needed to hear it from his lips. She needed him to verify and solidify the dread that was seeping into her consciousness.

"No, Adeline, I do not." She restrained the desire to smack his arrogant face as the cool, nearly emotionless denial dribble from his lips. He was singlehandedly initiating in the sordid end of her career, taking away her livelihood, and he had the nerve to be composed about it. Meanwhile, she was fighting back hysteria. Struggling to maintain some shred of calm she did not feel. "I mean my family and myself."

It was several long moments before Addie could force the words out around the tight ball jamming up her throat. The nerves she'd suffered all day had manifested into a fist of dread and misery that was roughly gagging her from the inside out.

"Lucian…please. You were the one that pushed me to resign from OVA. I signed all of the paperwork. I'm contractually bound to never reenter OVA or an Estate in a bid to seek employment ever again once my year is up." Air whooshed out of her lungs in a horrified wheeze. "You were supposed to help me get in contact with Simmons Publishing!"

It was in a Caretaker's contract that they were not to receive any funds, gifts, favors, or various other 'extras' from their employers or other Estates. Addie would have been content to continue writing and illustrating her children's books in her spare time as a hobby, but in the past year it had been Lucian that had pestered her, had whispered in her ear, about how he had connections with various publishing houses that would love her work. He'd pushed and pushed, badgered her weekly about it until she'd finally given in. She wanted to see her books on shelves in stores. She wanted to go to the library and hear one of the librarians reading a story of hers to the children during story-time. Lucian made it sound so real and achievable with his help.

But she'd need to quit being a Caretaker. And once a Caretaker resigned from service, they were forever banned from employment again. Persons in long-past times had returned to OVA only to hold grudges when they weren't shown preferential treatment. Bloodmates were hurt and Vampyrs went on the warpath for it.

"I've found my Bloodmate." His jaw firmed. Addie felt her knees quake with her upset. "She is another Vampyr and resides in another state. She is of royal blood and we are to join her Estate. She already has an able Caretaker. She is…she is not best-pleased that I have acquired a female human associate in you."

And there it was.

Adeline felt her blood chill in her veins while a hot inferno of rage roiled in her guts. Vampyrs were notoriously possessive of their Bloodmates. It wasn't uncommon for Caretakers to be shuffled around from one Estate to another until the coven's members were satisfied that their positions with their mates weren't in jeopardy. Lucian had gone to Illinois for a work conference not a week prior and had in all likelihood found his Bloodmate there. Lesser Estates always assimilated into greater Estates in the case of two Vampyrs finding Bloodmates in each other.

"I did not mean for this to happen, Adeline. I am sorry for your troubles ahead." He did sound remotely apologetic, but Addie was no fool. She may have been a Caretaker, but she was still just a human. A Normal. Lucian was over five-hundred years old. She was nothing more than a passing amusement for one such as him.

She stomped past the Vampyr, her shoulder knocking his bicep, and turned to look up into her tree. The moss at its base crept unerringly upward, unbothered by the various knots in the bark or nearby shrubbery. A long time ago, someone had nocked an arrow into the wood. The black and tan feathers were sheltered by a needle-covered branch. A warbler chirped innocently where it sat perched on that imbedded arrow.

"I cannot aide you as I would have wished, sweet human, but I will ensure that your severance will be above standard rate. It is the best that I am able to do at this juncture. I owe you at least that much." She felt him come up close behind her.

"You owe me a hell of a lot more than that," she spat with vitriol. Of course she knew, though, that he was right. His hands were tied. If it was discovered that she'd been working with Lucian behind the scenes while she was still under contract, her pay would be forfeit, she'd be blacklisted from more than just OVA, and she'd likely have jail time to look forward to. Her charges would be something phony – like racketeering – but the 'punishment' for her betrayal to the near-sacred laws set out by both the Vampyr Council as well as the Normal government that oversaw OVA would be severe.

Raking a hand through her reddish-brown hair, Adeline clenched her teeth to keep from losing her temper more than she already had. She had a lot of planning to do. She only had a handful of months left to work for OVA. She needed to buckle down and find another job for once she was no longer secure with the company she'd proudly called hers for over a decade. She'd need to dip into her savings and start looking for another place to live since their rental belonged to OVA. They also lived in an area that didn't have much in the way of employment opportunities.

She dreaded the thought of uprooting not only herself, but also most likely Jude to move them closer to a city. Perhaps even to another state.

"I would ask one favor of you if it is within my rights to do so."

"It isn't," she snapped quickly, her shaky calm evaporating in the face of his gall. He had not a single right with her any longer. He had given up anything and everything he had held with her as not only a friend, but as another person, the moment he had told her they were leaving.

Yet she couldn't deny him. More than half of her life devoted to being a Caretaker had molded her into the perfect servant. The perfect pet.

"Ask your favor, Lucian. Ask and go," she whispered, knowing well that he would still be able to hear her with his enhanced senses.

"Don't do anything reckless. Don't hurt yourself to spite me."

The laugh that escaped her then was bitter and stagnant. Of course. She didn't quite know what she'd expected. Did she really think that he might try and talk to his Bloodmate; discuss Addie's current plight and appeal to the Vampyr's hopefully-generous nature? Could she be so disillusioned to think that he might slip some of her works to any of the publishing houses he worked with on the sly? No, no she didn't dare hope for either of these things, yet she wanted so much more from him.

"Adeline, do you understand me? Your sister needs you. Take care of yourself for her if for no one else."

"You've spoken your piece, Lucian," she retorted quickly. She wanted nothing more than to curse and spit at him, but she was better than that. Her daddy had raised her and her sister right.

"Please, Addie. Promise me. In return, I will make my own promise to you." He came closer yet. She could feel his cool breath barely fanning against the loose strands of hair to the back of her neck. "I will make sure that nothing befalls you because of my shortsightedness. I won't allow my actions and deeds to hinder you in the pursuit of a long and fruitful future."

Another laugh; this one softer, but no less tumultuous. Addie shook her head slowly and solemnly.

"For being as old as you are," she husked sadly, "you truly are naïve in the lives of mortals."

Minutes of heavy silence stretched between them. Addie felt his hand hovering as though to pet her scalp as he'd been so fond of doing in the years of her employment within his Estate, but then the impending touch was gone. She felt colder with the familiar touch being denied her, though she knew it to be for the best.

"We will not bother you again," he stated finally.

"They're gone already?" This made her choke up a little. She'd grown close to and been so fond of the altered-human Bloodmates of the Ulysses Estate. Even the other Vampyrs of Lucian's coven were fair employers. Kind. Losing them was almost a physical blow to her heart.

"Yes. The property was cleared this morning and everyone is en-route to my Bloodmate's Estate. I remained behind to say goodbye."

"You should have just left," she scolded him. Addie lifted her right hand to fist her windbreaker over the region concealing her heart.

"I am sorry, Addie," he whispered morosely. "If I could undo what I have done, I would. You must believe this if you believe nothing else."

"Goodbye, Lucian."

The wind picked up more from the gentle billow it had been before. The fresh scent of pine and maple carried to her nose. Tears overflowed from her stormy grey eyes as the import of everything finally began to settle on her shoulders and mind. She was struggling not to let the dark cowl of depression that she'd fought against her entire life take her over.

How many times was she going to fail in life before something – anything – went right?!

"Goodbye, Adeline."

Those two words struck her in the back like a knife. Unimaginable pain ripped through her insides as that bitter farewell registered completely. She whipped around to face the Vampyr for one final time.

He was gone.

With what seemed like the force of a thousand tornadoes, Addie fell to her knees while clutching her head between her fists. The wind whipped at her hair with disregard. An animalistic scream ripped from her chest as she released her devastation into the eerily silent forest surrounding her.

XxXxX

It was hours later when Adeline was able to stumble her way back down the beaten path to her home.

Temporary home, she reminded herself flatly. Once my contract is fulfilled, we have to move.

The sweet cadence of Jude's distressed voice reached her from the kitchen to where she stood dripping in the foyer. While she'd been languishing outside, the rainstorm that had threatened all day had finally unleashed itself on the land. Addie was soaking wet. Cold down to the bone.

"Her boss called, Marcus. Her clients are gone and no one can get ahold of Addie!" Jude's sneakers beat against the tile floors of their well-used kitchen. She was pacing. "Her truck's in the driveway, but I didn't see her keys. What if something happened, Marc? You know how she can get. Maybe she went out for a walk…but she isn't normally gone for so long. Can you get some of your friends together? I'll need help searching the…"

"Hang up the phone, sis," Adeline interrupted softly, her voice raw from the crying and screaming she'd done on the trail.

Judith whipped around, her eyes frantic. She dropped her prepaid phone in a flash, not bothering to set it softly onto the nearby counter, and charged towards Addie at full speed. Jude's arms encompassed her in a tight embrace.

"Addie! I was so worried," she gushed, her body trembling in what Addie assumed to be relief.

"I'm sorry, Jude." She kissed her sister's cheek lightly. She could hear Marcus' deep voice yelling over the still receiving line. "I think you should tell Marcus that I'm home and to pull back the cavalry. I'll be in the living room."

She pulled herself from her sister's arms before the bigger woman could say anything. While being younger, Jude was two inches taller than Addie, had their mother's blonde hair, and was as svelte as a prima ballerina. Addie was the perfectly average, perfectly boring sister.

She walked gingerly into the living room, kicking off her shoes as she went. Her sopping coat she shrugged off and tossed onto the back of a nearby dining room chair. Their living room had a connected dining room that was just big enough to fit a round, four-seater table. The beige sofa called to her, its mismatched grey and maroon pillows beckoning her to lay her head down.

"She's home, Marc," she heard her sister say in a muted tone. She might not have been able to hear it under normal circumstances, but her senses were queued up thanks to the tension radiating through every pore of her body. Addie felt frazzled and drained all at the same time. "I'll call you back. I have to talk to her. I'm sorry."

Sorry. Everyone was sorry lately.

Adeline sat stiffly on the worn sofa cushions, determined not to curl up into herself. She was already an unholy mess from her crying jag outside. She imagined that she must look a fright with her soaked skin and hair, splatters of mud on her jeans and cheeks, and a couple fragments of twigs in her hair. The wind had pelted woodland debris right into her face on her short walk home. Darkness had fallen while she'd been outside and the cold had seeped down to her bones.

Jude tromped into the room, a determined look stamped onto her face. Addie was certain that she was about to get reamed for scaring her sister half to death, but then something that looked a lot like pity flickered through Jude's eyes once she'd gotten a good look at her. In the moment that it took her to crouch down before her, Addie realized that her sister had taken in her broken appearance and deemed that she was suffering enough to forgo the lecture.

"Addie?" Jude whispered, her hands coming to rest on her stiffly set knees.

"What have I done?" Her query was broken. Devastated. Tortured. "I messed everything up, sis. I ruined everything again."

The silence was something that Addie was intimately familiar with. Except when she was interacting with the other Caretakers at the semi-local OVA building or when she was chatting with the Bloodmates of the Ulysses Estate, she lived in a quiet world. The Vampyrs tended towards silence and many of the professionals at OVA mimicked the day-walking, blood-sucking beings. It was normal for her, but it wasn't comfortable. Addie hated the silence. It was the one thing she despised in being a Caretaker. It was all just too quiet for too long.

"It hurts," she continued, desperate to hear anyone's voice even if it was her own. "I worked so hard. I did everything that I was supposed to. But I screwed up. Again. I screwed it all up!"

On that tearful wail, Addie fell forward into her sister's arms. She whimpered pathetically into her neck and began sobbing. Jude's arms rose up around her and pulled her even closer. Her warm breath skirted passed Addie's ear as she shushed her.

"Shh. It'll be okay, Addie-girl." Her hands rubbed circles into her back to try and soothe her. "It's okay, honey. It hurts now, but we'll make it better. You're okay. I'm okay. We'll both be okay. Shh. Calm down."

Jude slowly eased away from her, mumbling about going to get a few things. Addie paid little mind to her sister as she fought to bring her sniffles under control. She knew she'd find another job somewhere, but she held out no hopes that it would pay as well. The chances of them having to move out of a town they both loved – which was near the Pacific coastline – was incredibly high. If Jude moved with her, she'd lose the job she adored at the hospital.

Adeline was forever the burdening sister. Nothing she ever did was right. She was the reason everything bad ever seemed to happen to them. An ominous, dark cloud seemed to follow her wherever she went. No matter how good she tried to be. Addie knew she was the reason their mother died when Jude was only six months old. She'd fallen for Richard and allowed their savings to be siphoned to almost nothing by his greedy, filthy hands before she'd finally broken it off with him. Now? Now she'd really gone and screwed the pooch by spitting on one of the cardinal rules of being a Caretaker, trusting the Vampyr, and leaving a job that had taken care of them so well for the bulk of their lives.

Her stomach cramped as she wondered just how she was going to be able to afford to keep paying for their father's care. There was enough saved up that he was ensured for at least eight months, but not indefinite care.

A heartbroken, wretched sound crawled up her throat.

Jude reentered the room with a pair of her warmest flannel pajamas, wooly socks, a steaming cup of tea, and a little pill. Against her tired protests, Addie found herself undressed and bussed into her flannels. Her sister pushed her to lay down on the sofa once she'd taken several deep sips of the tea and swallowed the sleeping pill. From there, Jude tenderly covered her with the stitched afghan that they kept draped over the back of the sofa.

"You're too good to me, honey," Addie lamented tearfully.

"Sweets, you never do anything for yourself." Jude pecked a kiss to her temple. When she pulled back, she was frowning a bit and eyeing the skin of her forehead. "Indulge me and let me be here for you when you obviously need someone to cry on. I mean, I can't be the only one that has a fuss around here, can I? I'm surprised your shoulder isn't permanently damp from all of my tears when I vent!"

"I love you, Jude." She smiled softly at her little sister.

"Love you more, Addie. Now, get some sleep. We'll talk in the morning."

Jude took the cup and walked back into the kitchen. Addie didn't bother turning on the television, knowing full-well that very soon she would be dead to the world. She hated taking sleeping pills, but they usually knocked her out cold within fifteen minutes.

"Hey, Marcus?" Her ears perked at hearing her sister's voice. She'd apparently gotten back on the phone with Marcus Cambridge. The man was one of the dispatchers in White Peak, the fat-cat town by the sea cliffs further west from Kensington. White Peak was about as gated as it got. Jude and Marcus had become good friends thanks to their frequent correspondence between the hospital in Kensington and the police forces of both White Peak and Kensington. "Yeah, yeah, she's fine. Well, as fine as she can be. Thanks for worrying about her for me. She's all I have left, y'know?"

There was a pregnant pause. Addie felt her head spinning and knew that the pill was kicking in. She wouldn't be awake much longer to hear this side of Jude's conversation.

"I'm thinking we need a vacation. Maybe we need to make a trip out to see Dad? We haven't actually been out to Saint Augustine in almost a year and Skype just isn't the same. Dad always has a way of cheering Addie up." Jude sighed. "I'm so worried about her! She's leaving her housekeeping job at the end of the year, her current clients just up and disappeared, and I don't know what else we can find for her around here. This is all just so stressful and I don't want that on her. She's always so strong…"

Adeline felt her heart twinge at the praise Jude just lavished on her in that one statement. She wasn't strong, but it made her feel absurdly proud that her sister thought she was.

"Yeah, Marc. Sure sure. I'll call you tomorrow, okay. Thanks for being there. You're such a good friend."

Addie peered out from under heavy lids to look at her sister as she came back into the living room. Jude fumbled with the remote on the sidetable beside the plush armchair next to the sofa and turned the television on. 'Remember the Titans' was already queued up. Still wearing her mint-green scrubs with sea turtles printed on them, Jude fell into the chair with a gusty sigh. When their eyes met seconds later, Jude winced.

"I'm sorry, Addie. I thought you'd be asleep by now."

"Not yet," she slurred. She stretched out her arm, delighting when Jude locked their hands together between their respective seats. "Visiting Dad's a good idea. When we get back, I'll figure everything out. I promise."

"Get some sleep, sweets," Jude crooned. "We'll go out for breakfast at Susie's in the morning so you don't have to cook. How's that sound?"

"It sounds fantastic. G'night, Jude."

"Goodnight, sister. Sweet dreams."

Adeline allowed her eyelids to drift closed and this time they refused to come open again. The heaviness of medicated sleep slammed into her with the power of a freight train. Within moments she was asleep, the pain finally numbed.

If only for the moment.