The playful mood stayed with us into the next day. Sam suggested we all go for a run in the woods, and since none of us, except Amie, had shifted since we got here, we all agreed. As I shifted to my blond wolf, I felt the joy he felt at being free to run. The fifteen of us stretched our legs in the woods, and after an hour of exploring, we found a large meadow with grass and wildflowers. A brook ran across it and it made me think of our pack land. Amie started a game of tag with Sam and soon most of the others had joined in. My aunt came to sit next to me as we watched the other wolves zoom across the meadow.

‘They are having fun,’ she remarked. ‘Yes. It will do them good,’ I agreed.

After a while, they seemed to have had enough of playing and went in search of a good place to rest, or went off to hunt a rabbit or two. Amie came walking over to us and sat down next to me. Her tongue was hanging out and her eyes glowed with happiness. ‘You should have joined us,’ she told me. ‘I had more fun watching,’ I said. ‘Coward, afraid that I would beat you,’ she corrected me. My wolf snorted. ‘In your dreams.’

I could swear she was laughing at me. My aunt rolled her eyes and walked away. Amie found a comfortable spot in the grass and lay down. I lay next to her and we both looked out over the brook. ‘Take a nap,’ Amie told me in our private link. ‘I don’t do that,’ I said. ‘Nap? Because I have seen you do it.’ ‘Nap on unknown land,’ I clarified.

She rolled her eyes at me. ‘I will stay awake and keep an eye on things,’ she promised. ‘Why don’t you take a nap and I will keep watch?’ ‘Because you always keep watch. You make sure the rest of us can play while you keep us safe. But you need to relax as well. We don’t know what is coming in the next few days. So take this opportunity to relax,’ she insisted. ‘I can relax when we get home.’ ‘And you say I am stubborn. Just take a nap, or I will ask Sam to knock you out,’ she said.

I was mostly objecting because I liked our banter. I could see she was serious, so I put my head down on my paws and focused on the sound of the wind in the grass, the warm summer sun, and Amie’s scent. I was drifting off before I knew it.

Amie woke me up by gently buffing me with her nose. ‘Time to wake up. I need to get back and help Matilda with dinner,’ she told me.

I was trying to shake the sleep from my brain. ‘You mean help her with lunch,’ I corrected her. I heard a giggle through the mindlink and noticed the sun was in the wrong place in the sky. ‘No, I mean dinner,’ Amie insisted.

I sat up and looked around. We were alone. ‘Where are the others? How long did I sleep?’ I asked, trying to get a grip on the situation. ‘Calm down,’ she said and rubbed her head against me. The sensation calmed me and I enjoyed it for a moment, rubbing my head against her as well. ‘I told the others to go ahead and go back about an hour ago. You were sleeping and looking so cute I didn’t want to disturb you,’ she told me. ‘I’m not cute. I’m a fearsome wolf. And you should have woken me up.’ ‘You are cute, at least when you sleep, and by how soundly you slept, I would say you needed it. Come on, I really need to get back and help Matilda,’ she told me and nudged me.

I got up and we set off toward the cabin. Her wolf was almost as tall as mine, and our steps synced. I made sure to keep close to her. Our fur skimmed each other and I enjoyed it. We found the spot where our clothes were and shifted back. I took her hand as we walked the last bit. As Amie joined Matilda and Rania in the kitchen, I found Sam and Jake, and we called Medow and Shelly to check up on what was happening back home. We had been at the game for two weeks and it felt like its own little world. It was easy to lose focus on the real world. Everything was calm at home. The pack had calmed down after the news of a possible forced joining with our old pack. Things seemed to be calming down all over. I had a good pack and a good inner circle to keep us on the right track. Dinner was relaxed and jokes were flying across the table. After, we all gathered in front of the TV and watched what had become everyone’s favorite game show.

There was a knock on the door and Ramses went to see who it was. ‘Alpha, it’s your mother,’ he mindlinked me.

I frowned and got up. Amie looked at me but I shook my head. My mother stood just inside the door and Ramses stood at a distance, giving her space, but not wanting to leave her by herself. “Thank you,” I told him, and he walked away with a nod. “Please, why don’t we sit down in the kitchen? I’ll make you some tea,” I told my mother. “Thank you,” she said. She sat at the table while I made her tea and took out some cookies. I joined her at the table and watched as she sipped her tea. “Where is Amie?” she asked. The question took me by surprise. “She’s watching TV with the others,” I said.

My mother hummed. “I like her,” she said, adding to my surprise. “She said the same about you,” I told her. “I heard…rumors about her situation,” she said after some hesitation.

I frowned. “I don’t think it is something we should talk about.” She nodded. “Is that why you came here?” I asked. I was confused by her showing up and the topic of our conversation didn’t make it easier to understand. “No. It was just an observation on my part.” She took a deep breath. “I just want you to be happy, as I want Ryan to be happy.”

I nodded. “Does he know you are here?” I asked. “Oh, no. No, he thinks I’m taking a walk.” I did my best to not take offense that my own mother needed to sneak out to see me. “Do you think Amie would mind joining us?”

I looked at my mother for a moment. I hated that I suspected some kind of foul play from her, but I decided my mother wouldn’t have a chance to hurt Amie as long as I was here. ‘My mother has stopped by. She wants to know if you would join us. You don’t have to,’ I mindlinked Amie.

It took a couple of seconds and then she walked into the kitchen with a smile. “Tamara, how nice to see you again,” Amie said. “Amie, the pleasure is all mine,” my mother said and stood up. I watched as the two of them hugged and I had a feeling of being in a parallel universe. Amie sat down next to me. “I asked Finlay to ask you to join because I think you have a calming effect on him,” my mother said as she sat down. “I think that is one of the biggest compliments I have got,” Amie told her. “What topic did you have in mind and why would it get Finn riled up?” She had used her nickname for me. She never used it around others usually. I liked it. “The dinner we had the other day was eye-opening to me. It showed me we can get along, despite being in different packs. Before the dinner, I believed the only way to heal our family was to unite the packs. I was wrong,” my mother said. By this point I had stopped being surprised by how surprised I became every time she spoke. “I have tried to talk to Ryan, tried to tell him he should withdraw his request to the council. I can see now it is only causing the divide between you two to grow. He is refusing. I couldn’t understand why, I thought he did it because he wanted the same thing I did,” she confessed. “But that wasn’t the reason?” Amie asked.

My mother shook her head. “No. After nagging him, he told me the real reason. You know your brother’s thoughts on the ideal wolf and the ideal pack. He thinks physical strength is the only important virtue. When you left the pack and when a large part of our members followed you, he didn’t think twice about it. In his mind, it made the pack stronger.” “Let me guess. He found out even the not so physically strong members of a pack are important?” Amie asked.

My mother gave a weak smile. “You can put it like that,” she agreed. “Apparently warriors aren’t inclined to cook and clean. They don’t want to sit and go through the last month’s invoices and expenses. Neither do they enjoy buying food and necessary supplies.” “What you tell us is Ryan told his warriors they could focus on being strong and fight and then let most of the supporting pack go. Now the warriors are sulking because they thought being strong meant they didn’t need to do things they don’t think are fun?” I asked. “Yes. I knew about the issue, but I didn’t think it was as bad. I thought we were recruiting new members to balance things up, but Ryan told me today that no one is interested in joining,” my mother said. She was rubbing her hands and I knew it meant she was seriously worried. “The reputation has spread. No non-warrior wolf would volunteer to join a pack they know won’t respect them,” Amie pointed out.

My mother nodded. “So why are you telling this to us?” I asked. “I think you need to know how desperate your brother is. His warriors are on the verge of rebellion because either they, or their mates, have to do all the tasks they don’t want to do. Or, those tasks won’t be done. And he can’t find anyone else to do them either. He needs your pack. He needs the regular pack members back to build a stable pack.”

I had to take a deep breath and Amie put her hand on my arm. My mother had been right in asking her to join us. I could barely contain my temper with her trying to calm me. “My pack is not a quick fix for his poor leadership. My pack is not a slave work force for him to use to keep his warriors happy,” I hissed. “I know. But your brother is desperate and at a point where he will try to fix the issue any way he can,” my mother told me. “Thank you for telling us. It will be easier to handle when we know why. We have both had the feeling there was more to this than we knew,” Amie said. She still had her hand on my arm, her thumb gently rubbing circles. I focused on her touch.

My mother left shortly after. Amie must have mindlinked Sam and my Aunt because both of them walked into the kitchen. She got up, poured two glasses of milk and put one down in front of me. I took a deep breath and started to tell my aunt and Sam what my mother had told us.