Bound

Chapter 5

Nyah tilted her head towards the night sky. They couldn't have wished for a more perfect setting. Stars winked approval from their inky depths while the brilliant light of the full moon threw a silver spotlight on the forest of Blackwater Ridge.

She welcomed change into her body. Heat coursed, followed by a sharp flash of pain as muscle and bone transformed her from one being to another. Seconds later, she dropped to all fours, shaking out her black fur, its dense winter layer already thinning with the approach of spring.

Warming ground met her paws as she padded deeper into the forest. Ferns brushed her fur, releasing the scents of those who had used this path many times before. She inhaled the familiar essences as her pack moved through the trees, some still naked on their human feet, others already in their animal form.

When she emerged into the moon-lit clearing, Alan stood on the jagged chunk of rock occupying the centre of the mossy ground. His considerable wolf, its ash-blonde fur glistening under the moon's attention, silently watched as his pack gathered. He waited while a loose semi-circle formed at the foot of his perch, stance steeled with determination as they crept into place.

With the pack fully present, Alan's wolf drew itself taller. Bellies to the ground, straining eyes rose to the striking view; their alpha silhouetted against the moon, fur stirring in the breeze.

A low snarl uncoiled.

In response, the pack cowered deeper, accepting his supremacy and command. A vicious bark cut the night, a whip crack eliciting quiet whimpers.

With eyes averted, Nyah waited. Aching for the connection, she squirmed against the earth, anticipating the return of the unity her father's passing had severed.

Alan threw back his head to bay a piercing, soulful howl. The pack responded in like, arching to their full height as each voice soared for the moon, clutching joyously to the return of tribe.

Alpha Stenson's domination rushed Nyah's being. She howled subservience, the surge of re-establishing mind-link rocking her on her paws.

'Do you vow to serve me?' Alan's voice rang in each mind.

'Yes!' Nyah and her pack responded. 'We serve you, Alpha Stenson!'

***

Four Weeks Later

"What do you think?" Tanya performed a slow, careful turn to show off her dress. "Do I look enormous?"

"You look beautiful, not enormous," Nyah assured. "The dress is perfect."

"I want tonight to be perfect." Tanya took a final stern look at her reflection before returning to the dressing table. "I'm as excited as I am nervous. Are you?"

Perched on the end of Tanya's bed, Nyah sympathised with a smile. "Not as nervous, but definitely excited. The last time we had a Pack Welcoming night, I had just turned nine. The Carverbacks and Greycoats were only half their current size back then. Alan said there's almost two hundred between them now."

"It's good to connect with them again. I know their territories are hundreds of miles away, but they're still our neighbours."

"And we all need neighbours, right?"

"Right. Especially if your mate happens to be amongst them."

Nyah groaned at Tanya's wiggling eyebrows and flopped onto her back. 'Let's find a mate for Nyah' was Tanya's pet project and no matter how big or small the event, Tanya always clung to the hope it would provide the magic moment.

"You'll be twenty-one in a few months; it's high time you found your mate," Tanya declared in her all too familiar lecturing tone.

"Mm hmm."