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Chapter Three
Diana
The first night, we found a camping spot near a natural hot spring. We didn’t need to dig into the supply of energy bars and dehydrated food since our wolves had plenty of opportunities to snack on prey fattened by a long, warm summer. Instead, we just shifted and splashed into the spring to soak for a while. The water steamed into the cool mountain air around us as we enjoyed the companionship. The four of us hadn’t had an opportunity to be together like this, just us, uninterrupted for long enough to have a real chat. I’d missed them, missed the days when we were still in school and could gather in the afternoons or evenings for long giggling sessions. How much had their moving forward affected my decision to marry Crain?
Bunny, Sandra, and Wendy were mated, with children, so the conversation of course tended toward what they were dealing with in those aspects of their lives. They had so many funny stories.
“Oh, my gosh, you guys,” Bunny said, idly kicking her legs in the hot water. “Did I tell you what Dori did last week? She’s just starting to talk in full sentences and she called her daddy Papa Poopoo. I thought he would fall over, and he looked at me like I should stop her, but I just couldn’t.”
Sandra laughed so hard, I worried about her. “That’s the cutest thing ever!” Really? The cutest? “Barbs got away from me at the store and…”
One story after another about their children and their husbands until I was ready to sink beneath the surface of the water. Their little ones were cute. I adored them. And their mates were the best, even if they had minor flaws that drove their wives “out of their heads.”
And their mates were pretty nearly perfect. What would it be like to mate and raise a family with someone who I didn’t adore the way my friends did their mates?
As they continued to tell their stories, I felt more and more left out. And confused about the whole thing as well. I wanted to have my own tales to tell. I wanted to cuddle my own babies…but was I settling?
And was Crain who I thought he was? I’d known him forever, but the first time I made a decision on my own since we agreed to mate, he’d behaved in a way I’d never seen before. I began to think I was giving up too much to join the mated females club.
“Diana, we’re getting out before we get any prunier. Are you coming?” Wendy splashed a little water at me as she passed. “If we’re going to get as far as we need to tomorrow, we need to rest.”
“Yes, you’re right.” I offered her a little smile. “I guess I was tired; I spaced out there.”
“Bridal nerves?” She stepped out and reached out a hand. “Let me help you. We ran a long way today.”
I accepted her grip and rose. “But it was nice, wasn’t it? Are you all having fun?”
“I am,” she said, followed by the others agreeing. “It was a great idea, this trip.”
“Thank Analise,” I replied, following them to where we’d left our harnesses and packs. “She thought this would be a good idea.”
Wendy put her hand on my arm, and we stopped. “Well, I do thank her. With two kids under five, this is the first time I’ve been able to hear myself think in years. But I thank you, too. For including me.”
I hugged her. “I love all of you so much.”
“Diana, are you sure you want to mate Crain? I’ve seen the two of you together, and there’s no…shoot, you don’t need my advice. I’m sorry.”
“No, I do. I thought it was such a no-brainer. We always got along so well, but then when I told him we were going on this trip, he was kind of awful about it. Tried to stop me from going.”
“Crain? He adores you. Watches you like a puppy dog wherever you go. But you never seemed interested in him, so we were all surprised that you agreed to mate him.”
“Is it all right if we don’t talk about it right now?” I yawned so wide my jaw cracked. “I promise we can before we go back home, but I’m tired, and I just want to curl up with all of you and sleep.”
“Puppy pile it is.” She squeezed my arm and let go. “It’s been a long time since we’ve slept like that.”
When we were growing up, sleepovers always ended with a shift and a puppy pile. Most of our peers outgrew that kind of co-sleeping, but we’d kept doing it right up until one by one my friends found their fated mates. I’d been alone a long time. But was that any reason to settle for a mating less than the one the Fates might give me?
I had no reason to believe I even had a fated mate, but I was starting to think that being with less would lead to an unhappy life both for me and for Crain. Especially if he cared for me more than I did for him.
***
We got an early start in the morning, thanks to Wendy extricating herself from our wolfy, furry pile and bumping us with her nose until we all joined her in slipping into our harnesses and bounding down the trail. We never even shifted because we didn’t need to. Unlike mates, we weren’t able to communicate mind to mind per se, but we’d known one another so long, we did just fine. Descending the mountains on the west side was easier and faster than the climb from the pass to the higher altitudes on the eastern slopes. We stopped to splash in streams and chased down food, although not as much as we’d found the day before, and shifted a couple of times to laugh and talk and take a break. It was as if having most of the mountain range between us and our real lives made it possible to put it all aside a little. At least the stress of it. The others had phones with them and checked them from time to time, just to be sure their children were all right, but I hadn’t even brought mine.
By accident or maybe design.
Bliss.
No matter what happened going forward, I’d cherish the memories of this trip.
