'No attachments.'
Third person POV
The weekend had arrived, and the children were ready to explore the adventurous nights to come. This event only happened once each year, It was a lichen's tradition, one of which the pack took honor in. It symbolized unity and awareness. The alphas, along with the child-less men, made them selves available for those who didn't have the support of a father. Each of them took at least two child to give the full experience. Clyde saw to it that each person was appointed to a cabin. Usually, they would camp outdoors but now that rogues were everywhere, it was safer for the kids to sleep indoors. There wasn't much to do for It was almost dusk, being that, everyone resigned to their cabins.
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Amber sat on the top bunk, silently watching the other girls interact with each other. They were some girls from her class, some of which, had been bullying her for the past few months. Amber wished that she had gotten paired with another group, it was her very wish to avoid them. She didn't dear mention it to Aurelia or Campbell, she thought that they already had enough on their plate.
Amber's eyes widened when all four girls turned their attention on her, then started giggling. The looks on their faces told her that they had something planned, something big.
'Everyone should be at the bonfire in ten minutes.' Clyde mind linked everyone. Amber let out a breathe of relief and scurried out before anything bad could happen. She started wondering how girls her age could be so cruel, she never knew school was going to be so terrible. Tommy was her only friend at the moment, he stood up for Amber on her first day at school and since then they were inseparable. Amber wanted to make friends, but she let go of that fantasy when she remembered her mother's words. 'No unwanted attachments, No attachments, No expectations, then No disappointment.'
Amber went about it her own way. As little as she was, she knew that not everyone was meant to be apart of your life and not everyone will stay. Amber knew that some people would have a positive effect in her life, those being Aurelia, Campbell, Caleb, aunt Mikayla, Clyde and uncle Miles. They cared and protected her. She remembered when her mother didn't think about befriending others, now she had a whole pack who liked her. Amber also valued Blade's and Tommy's friendship, it was what made her happy.
Amber heard a familiar voice in a distance and started running towards it. He saw her approaching fast and held out his hands to hold her. "Hey Amber, ready for the bonfire?" Campbell asked with a wide smile.
She nodded in response and rested her head on his shoulder. She felt safe with
Campbell, she was comfortable with having him around. She realized that her mother felt the same way about him, she noticed the way he cared for them bout.
"Is Amber hunting with us?" Miles asked. The men were in charge of providing food for dinner while the children helped to prepare it, because Amber had her first shift at such a young age, Miles had no choice but to wonder.
"She's a child." Caleb answered in a 'seriously dude' tone. Amber glanced at them, Campbell started walking towards the gathering with her in his arms.
"Campbell, can I hunt with you?" She asked him with pleading eyes.
Campbell wanted to punch Miles for his stupid question, no female had ever joined the hunt, a child at that. But how could he resist Amber's pleading brown eyes and pouting lips, he found it impossible to say no to the adorable little girl in his arms. "I'm certain that you can." He answered with a smile.
"Wait, what?" Caleb stare stupidly. "Campbell this isn't a playhouse, Amber can't hunt with men."
Campbell nodded, "That's true," he agreed. "But I didn't say that she was gonna hunt you."
Caleb gawked. "You lunatic, you can't hunt in human form."
"He can do whatever he wants." Amber pointed out.
"Yeah Caleb, back off." Miles added.
"Whatever, let's go eat."
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Amber was the first to get up, she thought it would be best to not get in anyone's way and she was ready to start the day's events. The night before had been her first bonfire, Amber was thrilled to be apart of it. One of the elders told amazing stories about the pack's history and past authorities, then Campbell accompanied her to the room.
Amber used fae magic to place her fiery hair in a bun, Aurelia warned her not to use it in public and she promised not to. Not only did she want to obey her mother, she didn't want everyone to find out what she is, they mocked her for having her first shift; she thought of what they would do if they found out about her magic. Amber bounced out the bathroom in hiker shorts and white short sleeved blouse. She saw that the girls were awake and immediately ran out, only stopping when she saw Campbell.
He turned around then smiled at her brightly. "Well you're up early." He said taking Amber in his arms.
She smiled. "I wanted to play with you."
"We can play after breakfast." He replied walking towards the campus cafeteria.
"It's not like the food at school is it?" Amber shivered in disgust as the image of the school's mac and cheese played in her mind, it was a cheesy disaster.
Campbell chuckled at the look on her face. "Nope, chef will be preparing our meals."
"Good, I don't want my tummy to hurt while I'm here."
They went in, chose what they wanted to eat then found a table near the end of the room. The room was filled with hungry teenagers, impatient kids and happy men; their blabbering filled the air along with the delightful smell of hot food. Clyde, Miles and Caleb joined them seconds after with trays of food. They laughed together and included Amber in the conversation.
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It was Sunday, the last day of camp. Amber went canoeing, swimming and hiking, she played hide and seek with Caleb and the others and at night, they released sky lanterns into the star lit sky. She found entertainment within everything she did, the only problem was that she was picked on by Tina and her friends when the others weren't looking.
After a game of tag, Campbell had to leave Amber because it was his time to survey their surroundings. He left Amber among her roommates until he returned. The children were in one of the art room painting.
Tommy was with his group playing soccer.
The activities were carried out by age groups. The teens had the more challenging games, age nine to twelve was less intense and Amber's age group had the less competition but twice as fun. Amber thought that she would be with Tommy or Campbell but that wasn't the case.
Amber did the last Stoke of paint on her sunflowers and nodded at her work. The paint was slightly dripping down the canva, to anyone else it would seem like a complete mess but Amber saw it to be satisfying. It wasn't prefect, she knew that, however she liked the way the colors mixed together, the brown and the yellow and the green with the white.
Amber was about to take her paint stained apron off when a the girls poured a bucket of black paint on her head. Amber gasped, the gooey tint stocked to her red strands and her clothes. Amber looked back at the girls as they started laughing.
"Tina you're right, her hair looks better black." Tina's friend, Lori snickered.
Tina continued giggling. "Told you." She said walking away with her friends.
Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks as she ran out the room. It wasn't supposed to be like that, Amber wanted to have fun and experience the freedom she never had. She didn't want to be picked on by girls who thought they were better than others.
Clyde was playing soccer with some of the smaller boys when he saw Amber running towards the woods. He stopped playing while the others carried on with the game. From the distance, he heard her sobbing and harshly breathing and saw that she was covered in paint. He witnessed Amber forced shift and ran off, that's when he knew it was serious. Forced shifting occurred due to strong uncontrollable emotions, it's when your wolves takes control.
The first thing he did was mind linked his brother.