Page 17 of Game of Destiny

“My aunt and Medow 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, Medow and Matilda knocked on my door.

“Do you have a moment to sit down and go over tomorrow's ceremony?” Matilda 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,” Medow 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!” Medow exclaimed. Matilda smiled at the younger wolf.

“You will have to forgive her, she is young and full of excitement,” Matilda 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.

“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,” Matilda 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, 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 then her joining his old pack,” Medow said.

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

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

“No, no,” Medow said, waving her hand. I looked at Matilda.

“It’s a big occasion,” Matilda told me. Then they walked me through the plans.

If I had planned it, I may have scaled it down a bit.

But they did have a point that it was something worth celebrating.

“How open do you want to be about your past?” Matilda 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. Medow looked between me and Matilda.

“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!” Medow 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, Medow. 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.

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

“It’s okay, let him in,” I told her, and Matilda gave me a knowing look. Medow went to the door and she and Sam had a quiet conversation. They shared a kiss and when Medow 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,” Medow 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 Medow, 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 honoured,” I said truthfully.

“Not too much?”

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

“Of course it will be,” Matilda 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.

“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, but you haven’t shifted in a couple of weeks,” he told me.

“I would love to,” I told him.

“Can we come as well?” Medow asked.

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

“Matilda?” 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.

“Never doubted 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 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 damn 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,” Medow said and laughed.

“It was so much fun. But 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,” Medow said. We all ended the night with an impromptu feast in the kitchen.

Chapter 18

The next day felt like all I did was wait for the bloodening ceremony to begin.

It would take place after dinner, so I had the whole day to pass.

I spent most of it unpacking and then walking around the village and the surrounding area.

I was walking along the creek when I heard footsteps and scented Medow.

I stopped walking and waited for her to catch up.

“You are one hard cookie to find. I had to track you down with my sniffer,” she said as she saw me. I smiled.

“Sorry. Trying to get to know the area,” I explained.

“I get it. It’s a beautiful pack land, we were lucky to get it,” she said.

“Were you with the pack when it split from the Ocean Shore pack?” I asked her.

“No, that was before I met Sam. After they split from their old pack, the group temporarily got shelter with the Coyote Hill pack, my old pack. We assisted with additional tents and supplies. That’s how I met Sam,” she told me.

“And you chose to go to his pack even though they didn’t have a home?”

“Well, yes. In my old pack I was just an ordinary pack member. I liked it there and I had my family there. But Finlay and the pack needed Sam. He was their Gamma and there had already been so many changes for them that I knew they didn’t need to lose their Gamma as well.

So, it wasn’t a hard decision to make. And then Finlay found this land and I have never been happier. ”

“It is beautiful here,” I agreed. “So why did you look for me?”