Game of Destiny

Chapter 17-1

Cadence came flying out of nowhere and jumped up on me to give me a hug. The sheer force of the pup had me stumbling back before I found my balance.

“Cadence!” Finlay barked. “You can’t just tackle people.”

“I’m sorry, Alpha, I was just happy to see her,” Cadence said. He looked at me with his big, sad puppy eyes.

“It’s okay. I missed you too,” I told him and gave him a hug before setting him on the ground. “What have you been doing while I was away?” I asked, and then I listened to him telling me about everything he had been doing. Finlay also listened patiently. “Wow, that was a lot of things,” I said when Cadence had listed everything.

“Are you going to stay this time?” the pup asked.

“I am. I just need to get all my things into my room,” I told him.

“I can help,” he offered. Finlay smiled and reached into the car and pulled out a small bag.

“Here you go. Be careful with it,” he told Cadence. He grabbed a stack of boxes of his own, and I took one. Meadow and Sam took a couple more, and Martin came walking and joined in as well. Before I knew it, all pack members in the area had grabbed a box, and with the limited amount of boxes, everyone had to make one trip, and then I was moved in.

“Thank you, everyone,” I said as they left the boxes in neat stacks in the corner of my room.

“I’ll see you later, Amie,” Cadence called out and waved as he left.

“He likes you,” Finlay pointed out.

“He’s a sweetheart,” I said.

“My aunt and Meadow will stop by in a while. I asked them to give you at least an hour to settle in. But they are excited, so don’t expect much more time than that,” Finlay told me.

“I’m looking forward to it. And thank you for all the help.”

“Don’t mention it. Let me know if you need something. I’ll see you at dinner.” When Finlay left, I was alone and took a moment to look out the windows. I loved the view of the brook. I took a deep breath. I’m home. I found the boxes labelled ‘clothes’ and started unpacking. Finlay was right. Almost an hour on the dot after he left, Meadow and Marta knocked on my door.

“Do you have a moment to sit down and go over tomorrow’s ceremony?” Marta asked.

“It sounds like fun. Why don’t you come in? It’s a little bit of a mess at the moment. But we can sit at the table by the windows,” I suggested.

“We were hoping you would offer, so we brought snacks,” Meadow said and showed me a basket. As I let them inside, she unpacked it on the table. There were cookies, fudge, cupcakes, fresh fruit, and sodas.

“Tomorrow is the big day!” Meadow exclaimed. Marta smiled at the younger wolf.

“You have to forgive her; she is young and full of excitement,” Marta said.

“How could I not be? Do you know how long it’s been since we had a bloodening?” I laughed.

“I take it that not many seek out the pack to become members?” I asked. Both women shrugged.

Chapter 17-1 (1/2)

“We haven’t ranked, which puts us at the bottom. Not many know about us, and those who do know the risk of joining a low ranking pack,” Marta told me. I nodded. As a low ranking pack, there was a real threat from other packs and rogues. Finlay and the pack had bought their land when they needed new pack land because that was who Finlay, and therefore the pack, was. But there were other ways to get pack land. If you were a new pack or a pack in need of more land, you could get it by attacking another one. You could, theoretically, attack any pack. But you would be insane to try and do so with one of the top-ranked packs. Not only had they proven to be stronger than all other packs, but they also had more allies than anyone else. So, your best bet was to go after the lower ranked packs.

“I get that,” I said.

“Last to join was Gordon, but he didn’t need a bloodening as he mated Alica. He chose to join us rather than her joining his old pack,” Meadow said.

“But it’s always a joyful thing to have a bloodening. It will do the pack good to celebrate,” Marta added.

“You haven’t planned anything big, have you?” I asked, feeling a bit worried.

Chapter 17-1 (2/2)

Chapter 17-2

“No, no,” Meadow said, waving her hand. I looked at Marta.

“It’s a big occasion,” Marta told me. Then they walked me through the plans. If I had planned it, I may have scaled it down a bit. But I didn’t mind their way either; they did have a point that it was something worth celebrating. “How open do you want to be about your past?” Marta asked. I understood the underlying question: Did I want people to know about my rejection?

“I want to be open,” I told her. I may not be latent, but I wanted my new pack to know me, know how I came to be one of them. Meadow looked between me and Marta.

“I feel like I’m missing something,” she said.

“The reason I left my old pack was because my mate rejected me because my wolf hadn’t come to me,” I told her. The dull ache was hardly noticeable as I spoke the words.

“No!” Meadow gasped, and she put her hand over her heart as if to protect it. Tears welled in her eyes. “How could they do something like that?” she whispered. I smiled at her genuine reaction. She had such a kind heart.

“It’s okay, Meadow, I think it was for the best; that’s how I ended up here,” I told her. Before she could say something, there was a hard knock on my door.

“Meadow?!” Sam called. I smiled. He must have felt her distress and came running.

“It’s okay, let him in,” I told her, and Marta gave me a knowing look. Meadow went to the door, and she and Sam had a quiet conversation. They shared a kiss, and when Meadow came back, she looked happier and wiped her eyes to get rid of the tears.

“He must have been an idiot. It’s lucky you got rid of him. I don’t want you to end up with an idiot. We will find someone that deserves you,” Meadow told me with a fierce look in her eyes. I smiled at her.

“Thank you,” I said and gave her a long hug. She just nodded.

We ended up talking all the way to dinner. We walked down to the dining room together. Finlay, Sam, and Martin were already there. Sam hurried over to Meadow; I could see he was still worried. It felt nice seeing their bond. I sat down at the table next to Finlay.

“Are you okay? Sam said you wanted to be open about what happened to you?” he whispered to me. I smiled at him and nodded.

“It feels better that way,” I answered in the same low voice. He nodded.

“And did you have a chance to go through tomorrow?” He then asked in his normal voice.

“We did. They have done an amazing job. I feel honored,” I said truthfully.

“Not too much?”

“No. I think it will be perfect,” I said.

“Of course, it will be,” Marta huffed.

“And then we can sit down and talk. I have something I want to ask you,” Martin said.

“I will do my best to answer any questions,” I promised. Dinner was relaxed. Several members of the pack came by to welcome me and to say they were looking forward to the bloodening. I found myself enjoying being social, something I hadn’t enjoyed in years.

“Do you want to go for a run?” Finlay asked as dinner was over.

Chapter 17-2 (1/2)

“You mean as a wolf?” I asked, feeling my excitement build. He chuckled.

“Yes, it’s not common for us to go running in human form. I know we will have a pack run tomorrow after the bloodening. I haven’t shifted in a couple of weeks,” he told me.

“I would love to,” I told him.

“Can we come as well?” Meadow asked.

“Of course,” Finlay said. Martin and Sam wanted to join as well.

“Marta?” I asked. She shook her head.

“My time for running wild in the forest is behind me. I will stay here and keep an eye on things.” Finlay led the group into the woods. We stopped in an area with trees that had branches closer to the ground that let us place our clothes on them. Everyone started shifting, and I took a breath. I had never changed into my wolf on command before. But when I shifted to my human form, Finlay had told me to focus on being human. I did the opposite now and felt the shift to wolf. It was fast and painless. Finlay was still in his human form, and I knew he had been waiting to see if I needed help. I yipped at him. He chuckled.

Chapter 17-2 (2/2)

“Never doubt you, Red,” he told me and shifted into his wolf. It was annoying to not be able to communicate with the others in my wolf form, but after tomorrow we would be able to mindlink. I took the opportunity to enjoy the still new feeling of running as a wolf. The moon was almost not visible at all, a stark contrast to last time. But the ground was soft and pleasant to run on. The forest was full of interesting scents, and the air was warm. Finlay guided us on a long run through the forest, along the river, and then back into the forest. Several times I scented game, and my instinct was to track it, hunt it, kill it. But each time, Finlay guided me away from the track. Apparently, I wasn’t ready to hunt yet. We finally ended up back where we had begun. I shifted back and got dressed.

“You’re a natural,” Martin told me.

“Thank you.”

“And damned are you fast! I can usually keep up with the boys, but when you gave it all over that open glade, you left me in the dust,” Meadow said and laughed.

“That was so much fun. But that wasn’t my all. That was just stretching out,” I told her. It made her laugh even more.

“I’m hungry,” Sam declared as we headed back to the pack house.

“I’m sure we have leftovers and ice cream,” Meadow said. We all ended the night with an impromptu feast in the kitchen.