Epilogue
Rune and Stone had settled into their lovely home.
Sometimes, they would return to Rune or Stone's glen, watch the moon and stars, remember their humble beginnings, and then sleep in his or her den.
But tonight, they had a nice, soft bed and enjoyed mated bliss. "We still haven't won everyone over," Rune said, kissing Stone's cheek. “Though everyone, well, most everyone, loved the games.”
Stone caressed her arm. "I concur. I was glad you agreed to have them. That was our first test of real leadership. I’m glad we made Lolita our XO. As our executive officer, she did a great job setting up the games.”
“I agree.”
He sighed. “Fang continues to hold a grudge against us after he was eliminated from the games, but we had nothing to do with that."
"I know. He can’t let go of the fact that the fae seers caught him and took him hostage, and the Game Master sent him home. At least Vesper, Pari, and Maeve were kicked out of the pack because of their treachery. The games were meant to be games, not a killing field.”
"And Xena couldn’t stand the idea that we are in charge of the unified pack, so she left. I was glad for that." They didn’t need any troublemakers in the pack.
"I agree. Everyone else seems to be happy with our leadership," Rune said. “I worried that we couldn’t pull it off.”
“We are natural-born leaders,” Stone said, kissing her shoulder. “The goddesses were meant to save us, and through them we learned to thrive. We learned how to be independent yet rely on each other.”
“And we stubbornly wanted to win the challenges, even though we didn’t want to lead the packs.” She chuckled. “I think we had everyone fooled as much as we had fooled ourselves.”
Stone smiled. “I agree.”
The End