Chapter 29 #2
“Max,” Katie says, running down the field between the lodge and the cabins where soldiers are lined up behind two long tables laden with food. “How did you sleep?”
I rub the last of the night-crust from my eyes. “Okay actually, what’s all this?”
“Breakfast—turns out the army is pretty self-sufficient, they brought all this and set it up. You hungry?”
A waft of salty bacon scent catches in my nostrils, my mouth watering instantly. “Starved.”
And it’s not just bacon on offer. Katie and I line up with the soldiers, all of them easily at least a couple of inches taller than me, and fill our plates with hash browns, eggs, sausages, mushrooms, and of course, piles upon piles of bacon.
I grab a crunchy roll at the end of the tables and Katie and I head over to sit on a free log to eat.
“It’s crazy, right?” Katie says, chewing slowly while I shovel food into my face. “Being back here.”
“Mmhmm,” I get out, not able to form words with how much delicious breakfast food is stuffed between my cheeks.
“It’s sort of inspirational,” Katie says.
“Oh yeah?” I ask between forkfuls.
“Yeah.” I watch her as her eyes scan the packed field. “All these wolves are willing to give up so much just to fight for all of us. The last time I was here all I could think about was finding a mate. Seems sort of self-involved now.”
She’s stopped eating and is staring thoughtfully at the table where gamma wolves are happily serving their comrades breakfast.
“You can’t think like that,” I say. “Our whole society is brought up to believe that finding a mate is the most important thing a person can do. Our whole culture is geared toward it. You can’t help being a product of that.”
“Mmm, maybe not.” She shrugs. “But you could.”
I have to laugh. “Yeah, until I found Jasper and then he became all I could think about. I wasn’t exactly looking around at what other people had going on.”
“Yes, you were.” She drops her fork on her plate and turns to look me in the eye. “Even when everything was going down with Jasper you were thinking about other people, and about how you could help people.”
“It took a second to get there,” I say. “And plus, the whole blood-wolf thing makes it difficult not to consider the thoughts of other people.”
“Maybe, but Max, maybe you were chosen to be the blood wolf because of how much you care.”
I swallow the last remnants of the food in my mouth and rest my fork on the side of my plate. “Maybe,” I say. “I guess I never really thought about it.”
“I think . . .” Katie says, turning back to look at the wolves in front of us and nodding like she’s confirmed something to herself. “I think I’d like to do more. I think I’d like to help too.”
With tears just brimming in her eyes she turns back to me, and I smile.
“Super cool.”
Done with our breakfasts, we decide to go for a walk while we digest. I’m not needed for anything, and Jasper will be occupied all day so we take a stroll down to the lake.
We stand on the pebbles and look out over the water.
On the other side is the canoe shed where I distinctly remember capsizing my and Jasper’s boat.
“Remember that time I dunked Jasper in the river all because of a tiny spider?”
“Oh I remember,” she says. “I was so pissed at you and seeing both of you all wet and grumpy was so satisfying.”
“Evil,” I joke, then take a breath. “Hey, can we make a promise?”
“Sure,” she says, eyeing me curiously. “What is it?”
“No matter what happens, whether I piss you off or you get busy with your double mates, or if tomorrow the world is torn apart, no matter where life takes us, we’ll always stay in touch and we’ll always be there for each other.”
She rolls her eyes but smiles. “Well, duh, I thought that was already the case.”
“Oh it is, I just want it in writing, because you’re never getting away from me.”
“Fine.” She does something so un-Katie-like and spits in her palm, then holds it out for me to shake. “Promise?”
I hock up some saliva then spit it into my hand, grabbing Katie’s and letting our wet palms smack together. “Promise.”
“Come here.” She pulls me into the best best-friend hug of all time. “We’re getting through this,” she says into my chest. “That’s the real promise.”
“Hey, you two,” I hear Omar say, and when I leave Katie’s warm arms, I find him coming down from the camp to join us.
“Omar, this is Katie,” I say, realizing I’m not sure if they’ve ever properly met.
“Pleasure,” he says and Katie waves back.
“I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Man, this place is just reeking of macho pack-wolf energy.”
“Omar is pretty tuned in to lunar energy,” I explain to Katie.
“Yeah, and it’s on another level here,” he says. “I get why you send all your randy teens here. It would be pretty hard to ignore your mate bond with this level of intensity.”
“We were just going for a walk,” I say. “You want to join? See some of the woods?”
“Sounds great,” Omar says. “If that’s cool.”
“Of course,” Katie says, happy to welcome Omar into our fold.
We walk for a while, exploring the grounds where we played capture the flag and found our mates, and even encountered our first rogue.
Somewhere near the ridge where I very nearly fell to my death, I wonder who that rogue was, and what in his life led him to become so angry and vicious.
I wonder how much of it was the fault of the pack system and, if I’d known better back then, if I could have done more to help, instead of running scared.
Katie and Omar hit it off and by the time we return to camp it feels like the three of us have been friends forever.
We emerge from the woods near the entrance to the Alpha’s Lodge, and for the first time in days I feel like the weight of everything that’s going on has lifted slightly. Somehow despite the encroaching danger, being out here in nature, chatting with friends has made me feel almost normal.
“Looks like someone’s arriving?” Katie says, and the three of us stop just outside the cover of the trees.
Across the field a trail of soldiers dressed all in black is snaking like a line of ants toward the lodge. At their head is Morven, in an unmissable white turtleneck, way too warm for the weather, at his side Mia marches, her red hair flowing in the wind, and a step behind are Mason and his father.
“It’s the Rocky Pack,” I say. “They’re here.”
And just like that the situation feels more tense and real than it has yet.
Seeing their serious, stoic expressions, the sheer volume of them, the muscles under their black army gear.
Their arrival should be a comfort, they’re here to fight on our side.
But instead it just drums home the gravity of our situation.
This place is about to erupt in violence and there’s no telling how much wolf blood is about to be spilled.
“We should probably go say hello,” I say, turning back to find Katie watching Omar and Omar staring at the Rocky Pack with an intense, panicked look on his face. Red splotches are rising up his neck like I’ve never seen before.
“Omar, everything all right?”
He doesn’t speak, doesn’t seem like he can. Instead, he keeps staring.
“What is it?”
He parts his lips and swallows.
“You know how I said it would be hard to ignore a mate bond out here,” he says.
I turn my eyes back to where Omar is looking, following his eyeline and finding . . . Mason! Just as I do, Mason glances over, spots us, lifts his hand to wave and then . . .
His eyes shoot open.