Golden Bonds

Challenges and Cartwheels

           

I'd no time to admire her then. I didn't know it at the time but our Omega had exploded around us filling the stadium with our essence. Nearly a third of Garrett's pack died the night of my first full moon, mostly submissives but a few of rank.

That was when Aaron became third. I was sure he'd done it like a coward, snuck up behind the Gamma and broke his neck. Garrett and Bradley both surged forward to claim my wolf. Colliding into one another they turned against each other sending an unstable pack into bloodlust.

Moonstruck is what Alek called it when I told him why I wouldn't attend any full moon events. He couldn't convince me to come before. I wouldn't risk it and I still wasn't sure but here I was.

Watching Bash greet pack members as they arrived brought me back from my brooding. There were a lot of wolves who didn't live on pack grounds or had cabins further into the mountains. I stayed sitting in the porch swing of Laurel's cabin far enough away not to be noticed.

The excitement had the pack bond buzzing. My wolf anxious to meet all of them had me grinning. I was looking forward to it as well but in the back of my mind I couldn't help worrying she would send them all into a rage. How many would die? Would Sebastian blame me? If we proved to be a risk to the pack he would kill us.

Garrett's pack was unstable. Sebastian knows what he's doing. We can trust him. His pack is safe. They're not going to go crazy.

Repeating the mantra I pushed back on my heels and let the swing glide forward watching Bash jog to a soccer ball that had been kicked off field. The children who'd been playing on the quad stepped back waiting to see which way their Alpha was going to send it. Not choosing side's Bash sent the ball bouncing to the center.

Gem nearly sent lusty appreciation at him through the mate bond. I clamped down hard on it before she could. Bash looked in our direction, his head tilted to the side wolfishly. He'd known we were here. I'd seen him looking this way a few times. The disturbance in the bond he felt but I'd caught it before he knew what it was.

I smelled him before I saw him. Sending welcoming through the pack bonds to Zeek as he warned me he was coming around the cabin. Zeek stepped into the peripheral of my vision. He didn't sit on the swing careful of my space but he leaned against the pillar of stacked stones.

There was nothing romantic between Zeek and me. I would forever be grateful to him for finding me, for linking Bash and bringing the Wasatch pack. He'd saved me. There would always be a kinship between us nothing more. The pack made us all protective of each other but Zeek's deeper drive to guard was that of a sibling. I reminded him of his twin sister. He would have helped me regardless of how I looked but he begged them not to kill me because of it.

I saw flashes of them playing as children while we watch the impromptu game. Just pieces Zeek was thinking about; hide and seek, make believe. They'd been close.

There was a resemblance between her and me. She had the same splash of freckles over the bridge of her nose. Her hair was a bit redder than mine, my hair leaned towards blond but she wasn't quite a ginger. The temper of one we both had in spades.

I didn't resent Zeek seeking me out to feel closer to her. It was an unfamiliar comfort. I didn't have brothers and sisters. The pack family was something I'd never expected to have and I liked it. Zeek stepped into the role of an older brother and I was grateful for it.

"Smells like lunch is almost ready. I love the full moon barbeque. Bash pulls out all the stops. Old Charlie is even coming. He only makes it down once or twice a year. You'll like him. He knew Christopher Columbus. Never sailed with him though, Old Chuck didn't come to the America's for a few hundred years after Columbus died.