The Hunt is On

Ember jumped up from her bed as I started laughing and smiling into the phone.
"Tori, you're kidding! Are you really?"
She was crying on the other end and I guessed she was smiling as well. This was probably driving Ember insane. "Yeah Sole, I am. A boy and a girl."
"What is going on?" Ember asked me. "Solstice, what's happening?"
I took the phone away from my mouth and looked at Ember.

"She's having twins!"
Ember screamed and jumped into the air, dropping the dress she had in her hands.
I put the phone back to my mouth. "What did Colt say?" I asked her. She laughed. "He didn't say anything for the first half an hour. He just cried with me."
I 'awwed' at that. Colt was never a person I could picture crying.
"We'll have to tell Gage tomorrow morning." I said to Tori, who agreed. "He misses you too, you know."
"Yeah, I know. I miss all of you guys, Florida is boring without crazy people yelling and getting into fights."
I smiled. "Hey, that was only once." Tori laughed and sniffed.
"Alright, I'm exhausted and I'm sure you guys at too." She told me. "I'll text you in the morning, okay?" I nodded. "Okay. Take care of yourself."
"I will. Bye, I love you."
"Love you too."

I turned off my phone and dropped it on to my bed and sat next to Ember. She was still smiling and holding her hands to her mouth.
Finally she looked up at me.
"That girl."

~~~<<<~~~>>>~~~<<<~~~>>>~~~

My eyes opened early in the morning, the day the Arena would be opening and the Hunt starting.
Ember wasn't even awake yet, so I rolled out of my bed and grabbed some my clothes that I would be wearing into the Arena.
I walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on until the water was almost scalding.

I took my time washing my body and my hair, I wasn't eager to get this day started. Twenty minutes later, I shut the water off and climbed out.
Quickly drying myself off, I changed into my clothes. I pulled on a pair of dark grey pants and a dark red tank top. Over my tank top, I wore a lightweight white and grey sweater. I pulled my brown and blond hair into a side fishtail to keep it together.

I stepped out of the bathroom and pulled on my pair of black combat boots that laced up to almost knee-level. When I was finished, I turned and saw Ember sitting up in bed. She smiled at me and put her head in her hands. I walked over and sat next to her.
"What's wrong?" I asked. Her head shot up.
"What's wrong? Are you really going to ask that?"
I rolled my eyes at her. "I meant 'what's wrong that we haven't already gone over twelve thousand times?'" Ember sighed and put her head down again.

She stayed there for a while until her stomach growled. "I'm hungry." She told me, as if I already didn't know. "Let's go find Gage and get something to eat."
So we did, we walked to the main building where the other werewolves were already gathering. I could tell that some were eager to get on with the day so The Hunt could start. And I could also see the ones that didn't want to be here at all.
I knew which ones I looked like.

We saw Aileen and Caia first, they were laughing with Val about something. Valadamar seemed nice enough, despite being Beta to the strongest and most powerful pack in the country. I had never spoken to Alpha Titan, so I couldn't say about him.
Aileen saw us and waved us over hurriedly. She hugged us and so did Caia.

"Good morning!" Caia said. "Are you ready for this afternoon?" Ember groaned dramatically, making us laugh. "No, I'm not ready for this afternoon Caia, thanks for reminding me."
Val shrugged. "It can't be that bad." He observed. "What's the worst thing that could happen?"
Aileen made a face. "Well, actually a lot of bad things could happen....." She trailed off. Val looked at her. "I was trying to make her feel better, don't ruin it."

Ember raised an eyebrow. "Okay, well, have any of you seen Gage? We haven't seen him anywhere."
Aileen looked up instantly. "Oh yeah, I saw a few minutes ago by some other girl." She looked disgusted when she said that, I wasn't surprised. I sighed, annoyed. "It was probably just Kylie." I reassured her. "She's had this huge crush on him since I can remember, it's sickening actually."
Aileen nodded, looking over Caia and Val to find Gage. "She definitely was very forward." Ember laughed dryly. "Try living with her."