Page 78 of The Chosen Fae

"And how much they helped me." Stone couldn't believe they were his brothers.

"We were proud of them for that. And this is Sally, Helen, and Rusty. They've all been eager to see you too. Vesper, Maeve, and Pari are with three other different families," his father continued. "You might have heard that they have been excommunicated from the pack. They were never supposed to have tried to kill anyone at the games. What they did was dishonorable."

"So where are they now?" Stone asked, hoping he and Rune wouldn't have to deal with them further.

"They are not anywhere near the packs. Which, since you and Rune are taking them over, they'll be one pack united. We're all glad for that. Other wolf packs might take them in, but I'm sure they've heard about their behavior and won't want to have anything to do with them," Stone's father said.

"So they'll be lone wolves unless they try to make up their own pack," Stone said.

"Exactly."

Now that was an unexpected turn of events.

"We're glad to be part of the packs," Stone said.

"We're glad you're here to help us work together." His father smiled at Rune. "And you have the perfect young lady to help make that happen."

Even though Stone had never met his parents or other siblings before, he felt the connection right away.

"Who chose who to compete in the challenges?" Stone asked, curious.

"We were told you were forced to participate in the challenges. If you had the choice, you wouldn't have done it. But the goddesses knew what they were doing. In the case of the other participants, various families had to provide one or two fae to participate if they were the right age. The Game Master considered the eligible ones, then chose. So it wasn't completely the participants' choice," his mother said.

This made Stone wonder why Lolita would have been chosen since she was smaller than everyone else. They would have to ask her when they could.

"Where will we live?" Stone asked.

"Where the territories meet. There's a home there that is yours and Rune's. The celebration will take place in an hour. Would you like to see the house?"

"Yes!"

Then his family led the way through the woods. Though they could have traveled in the fae way, it appeared they wanted to take them on a walk to see everything there was to see along the way. Maybe they would find their way back to his family when they wanted to return there.

Everyone in the pack stayed back, except Stone's parents and siblings. Stone took hold of Rune's hand on the walk. Both his mother and father smiled at them.

His parents walked close together too, and he could see how warmly they looked at each other and how loving their relationship was.

"I can't believe you get to live in that home," Rusty said. "Everyone wants to live there."

"Everyone takes care of it too," Elon said. "We rake the leaves and⁠—"

"I hope you play in the piles," Rune said.

Elon's cheeks turned red.

Rune and Stone laughed. "Hey, we did that all the time when we were in our glens. We would pile them high, shift into our wolves, and jump into them. Every fall without fail," Stone said.

Everyone smiled. Because Stone and Rune were so serious in much of the gameplay, just like most everyone was, he could understand why they wouldn’t think he and Rune were playful when they had the chance. Even though Stone and Rune were the new pack leaders, they were all about playing too. They had no plans to give up having fun.

Rusty confessed, "Yeah, we did it all the time. A lot of the other wolves in the pack did too. We had fun, and then we put all of those leaves into a compost bin so it made compost for the garden."

"And we provide a cleaning service," Melita said.

"Any repairs that need to be made will be," Timber said. "Everyone takes care of the pack leaders."

Stone couldn't believe it. After spending so many years on their own, looking out for themselves and each other, now they would have others look after them?

The home was perfect for a family of their own. He loved the privacy too. They couldn't see any other homes from where they lived. It was great because if they had pack issues, it would be nice to retreat to the privacy of their home after resolving them.