Rebel

chapter twenty seven

***NOT EDITED***

***Craig's Point of View***

Dinner was extremely awkward and felt like it dragged on for hours. I was pretty sure every wolf that walked by me sniffed me. I know they are just trying to familiarize themselves with my scent, but it's still not easy to get used to. The worst part is I couldn't stop watching Christine interacting with her mate. I know about werewolves so I know that she can't help the way she feels about him, but it doesn't take the pain away. My grandfather was best friends with a werewolf and had learned all about pack life and made sure to pass the knowledge down to my father and then me. Even with my knowledge of werewolves and mates she was my first love and even now after she has been gone and has clearly moved on, I still love her. We are now on our back to my village and I am slightly worried about how my people will take the arrival of the wolves. Our people know of werewolves and some have even seen one or two. They were welcoming to William once he proved himself are ally.

The blur of landscape I can see is starting to look familiar. I was forced onto the back of one of the warriors who didn't have a mate. Unlike popular belief only male wolves can shift, but their female children have the werewolf strength and speed in human form. They also have heightened senses they just can't shift. Once they find their mate and complete the mating process their wolf that is inside of them awakens. When this happens all their strength and heightened senses double in strength. Their wolf gives them the ability to contact their mate through the bond and mind link. The age for a male to find his mate is on his sixteenth birthday. On that day when he awakens the first thing he will think about is her name. He will then smell the scent of his mate no matter how far away it is and will be able to track them down. The first time a female sees her newly turned sixteen year old she will instantly know that he is her mate. The age difference can range from the same age to two years in age. Their law however does not allow them to mate until the female is sixteen.

I am stuck riding on an unmated fifteen year old boy named, Brandon, since almost all the other warriors are mated. This is the top group of warriors Kale has in his pack. I learned his pack is called Midnight Moon. I was surprised to find that Brandon, being as young as he was, was in the top group. Usually the top group consists of males who are around twenty one or twenty two. Brandon is the youngest warrior I have ever heard of. When I ask Kale about it before we left he just said that Brandon's parents were killed by rouges when he was ten and Kale took him under his wing. Ever since the day Brandon had trained till he collapsed every day and earned his spot in the top warrior group. I was brought out of my thoughts by Brandon slowing down to a trot and I recognized that we were maybe a mile away from my village.

To my left I see Kale, in wolf form, with Christine on top of him heading towards us. "Kale wants to know if you would like to explain before we all go to the camp." She says speaking for Kale since I can't while he is in wolf form. "Let's stop about a quarter of a mile from the village and you, Kale and I go in. He should be in human form at first. Once the people understand and have somewhat agreed he can mind link his warriors to come." I explain, having already thought this plan out beforehand. She nods in agreement and soon we are stopping among the trees. Christine unties that large duffle that was tied to Kales wolf form. She tugged it off until it hit the ground. She then took the back pack she had on her shoulders off and retrieved a change of clothes for Kale. He opened his mouth and she placed them where he could bite down on them. She gently stroked in-between his ears and I heard him rumble in pleasure of the touch from his mate. It was short lived as I coughed and gestured for him to go change. Christine rolled her eyes Kale growled lowly at me before walking away.

Judging by the time of the day I know most of the people will be out in the field practicing and Caroline will be in the planning tent with Landon and William. I am confident they have already come up with a full proof plan. I'm grateful Caroline has Landon to b by her side through all this. I just pray that she hasn't heard about the foretelling yet. She would make hasty decisions without all the facts. I should have told her before I left, but I didn't have enough time. I didn't want to see what was right in front of my face. She has to know what the foretelling really means.