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Finally, Mother steps off Cole and he rages out of the room, not sparing a single glance at us. Mother steps towards us serenely, her wolf’s head comes up to my shoulder and as she rubs against me lovingly, she also nuzzles Chase’s chin. With her blessing given, she leaves the room without another word, walking outside with every ounce of her regal power.
Chase and I shift together and follow on her heels as she pushes through the broiling crowd and escorts us to the line of the trees.
At the last moment before we disappear into the shadows of the forest I look back and see Moira, our pack Tracker, glaring from an upstairs window at us. A chill runs down my spine and I resist the urge to cower. Moira is a pack elder, raised with my mother, and her heart is set on keeping with historical traditions, sometimes to a fault. A shadow weighs on my soul as we leave my family home. I know Moira won’t let this go down easily.
She’s going to make this a battle no matter who approves.
Chapter15
Chase
The power I feel after claiming my woman in front of her entire pack fills me with a confidence I’ve never known. Beside me, under the cover of the great pine trees, Ruby walks with her head held high. The moon shines through the trees, dappling her fur in the most ethereal way. I should be paying attention to where I’m going, what we have to do tonight with my pack, but my mind is fully centered on her and the child she’s carrying.
I step in front of her, making her halt, and walk around her body, sniffing. She doesn’t look any different, or smell any different, but the way she walks now tells me all I need to know. She protects her middle, even as she watches me curiously and sits, she pulls her paws tight to her stomach without even noticing. Sitting beside her, I nuzzle between her front and back legs and rub against her belly lovingly.
There are no words needed at this moment, our hearts swell as one as reality settles in. We’re fated, our child is coming, and nothing has felt more right. Ruby lays down next to me, rubbing her body against mine on the cold ground. I lick her muzzle affectionately as she rubs her snout against my chin. This is heaven, this is how it was always meant to be.
The howls of my pack echo off the mountains in the distance and we share a sad look. Both of us want to share this moment and be alone tonight, but we’re summoned to a pack gathering.
“What will it be like?”she asks tentatively, rising and walking forward before I do. Her nose is raised to the full moon, her blue eyes shining as she howls back to our pack and tells them we’re coming.
“You’ve never been to a pack gathering?”
I’m genuinely shocked, even our pups are included in pack gatherings to discuss the future paths we may take or handle disputes within the pack.
“That’s not how we do things in Silver Dawn. My brother speaks to his second and then they inform my mother of their decision and it’s done. No one has any say but him.”
I sniff and sneeze in annoyance, shaking my fur out as I catch up to her.“In Dark Moon, Ryder leads with his people, not for them. Everyone has a voice and a choice in every decision made. We are a family, not a—”
“Dictatorship?”Ruby finishes for me and I can tell she’s slightly annoyed.
“I was going to say hierarchy.”I nip at her tail playfully and she jumps away from me and narrows her eyes.
“All packs are different, I know it will just take some getting used to. Cole has never led us astray, neither had Father. With so many opinions in the mix, don’t you have less than ideal outcomes?”
“At times, yes, and those outcomes are some of the hardest to deal with. However, no one in our pack feels inferior, like they don’t matter. Even the children’s squabbles are settled at our enclaves.”I grin. “Since that’s started our children have very few squabbles.”
My tongue lolls out of my mouth as I mentally chuckle. I remember the first time two little females got in a fight over a doll; they were so embarrassed having to explain it to Ryder that they decided they could share the toy rather than have the whole pack know they couldn’t.
“That would be entertaining. When I had a spat with a girl my dad would just forbid her to ever come into my presence again. I never had friends for long.”
“That’s sad, I’m sorry. In this case, those two girls are now young adults and still the best of friends. It’s like the altercation and the result made them stronger friends.”
“I truly look forward to understanding this new pack mentality…''
Ruby pauses as we crest the final hill and the little town stretches out before us. I feel her heart swell with love at the sight, and it warms my soul. Already she sees my little shabby town of broken down buildings and trailer parks as home.
The howls echo through the night again, and far in the distance we can see the orange glow of a massive bonfire. It’s below the cliff, the same cliff that forged the fates of our kind for centuries. Ruby and I begin running at an excited pace, and the closer we get the louder our pack is. The sound of drums reverberates in our chest, someone somewhere is singing.
Wolves join us from the shadows as we get closer, nipping affectionately at our coats. A young wolf, not paying attention, runs too close to Ruby and crashes into her side. She rolls to the ground with a yelp and I stop in my tracks, snarling. The pup, maybe sixteen, immediately cowers and crawls up to Ruby and nuzzles under her paw for protection. I storm forward, the moon high over my head, with my jaws open and ready to snap.
“Chase, stop!”Ruby cries out, rolling over the pup and protecting him with her own body.“He didn’t mean to, he had no way of knowing!”
I try hard to relax my face, release the wrinkles in my muzzle, let the pup go, but all I can think is he could have hurt my child. I’m blind with worry and rage, and it isn’t until Ryder walks up behind me and growls quietly that I’m able to break away. He walks up to me, dwarfing my wolf with his, and sniffs the air. With one look, he tells the pup to run to his mother, and then he nudges Ruby to her paws, supporting her with his own body.
“Wonderful news to start the night with, Brother, but you must curb your instincts. No one here will harm her, a child is to be celebrated.”
The news flies from his mind to the mind of every other wolf in the pack. Yips and barks of joy sound everywhere, and the females pour out of the trees and surround Ruby with joy and celebration.
