Temperatures in Saskatchewan get pretty cold, especially in the winter months. I was in our family room, reading the latest copy of National Geographic which had arrived in the mail the previous day. The weather outside was cold, ice cold. It wasn't snowing at the moment but it had snowed for the majority of the weekend, now it was Tuesday, I don't think I had stepped outside for five days. I wasn't complaining about it; I would rather be inside our warm house when it was minus thirty degrees outside. However, I wanted it be warm up just a little so my skin wouldn't freeze when I stepped outside for more then ten minutes at a time.
I had been sick for two days. It wasn't anything serious, just a cold. Warm camomile tea with honey was my grandmother's trick. Grandma Daisy had all kinds of remedies for all kinds of things. Most of which involved food, drink, kind words and good company. That woman could fix anything. The honey helped sooth my throat, the home remedy also helped to calm my nerves.
My National Geographic magazine was not holding my attention like it usually did. I stared at the cover, it read March edition. The month of March, which meant there was only one more month until the big exhibition. I had been dreading it for the past two years, but since Christmas time I had begun to have trouble sleeping and concentrating. It was almost time for the exhibition that every unmated werewolf between the ages of seventeen to twenty-five in our treaty territory knew was coming. It was the Mating Exhibition.
I know what you are thinking, and yes there are werewolves in Canada. It's not a silly story like your friend's imaginary girlfriend who lives in Canada. You know, the one he met at "summer camp" last year. We are real, we are numerous and we hide in plain sight up here.
There are four territories, the West Coast, Central Prairie, Eastern Coalition and Maritime Fellowship. I happen to live in the Central Prairie Territory, which makes up half of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut, and half of the Northwest Territories. It is the largest land mass werewolf territory in Canada, but not the largest population by far. That belongs to the Eastern Coalition. We do, however have the most ground to cover, which can be problematic with rogue packs but our pack leaders do the best they can to work together within the territories.
I was born here in Saskatchewan to my mother and father, Dorothy and James Gillies. My father is the Delta of our pack, the Red Rose Pack which is active in the Prince Albert National Park area. We are not a huge pack, only about three hundred members, but for a Saskatchewan pack that is a fair size. We are the third largest in the province after the Riverbed Pack in Saskatoon and the True Dawn Pack in Regina. I have been all over the province with my family, and I can safely say no other pack territory is as beautiful as ours here in Red Rose. The humans created a provincial park here in 1927, long after our pack was already in the area for generations. We are conservationists, hunters, trappers, geologists, anthropologists, and botanists. We live off the land, work the land, respect it and the life it gives us. In return, the land here has turned our pack into a healthy group of wolves. We are blessed. The river runs through our territory, the trees are high and thick. The game is plentiful and delicious. I have everything I could ever need here. I love it and I want to stay. However, I know that isn't possible. I know my time at Red Rose is coming to and end, and there is very little I can do to stop it.
My sister Marie knocked on the door and opened it, sliding her hand to the inside of the handle on the other side and peeking her head in. She smiles at me, her green eyes and strawberry hair mirror mine. She lifts her chin to gesture that I need to follow her and she points her thumb out the door behind herself. I nod knowingly, tossing the magazine down with a sigh. I want to read it but National Geographic will have to wait for another day. I rise off the sofa, fold the blanket that I had been wearing like a poncho and set it back on the sofa. I gaze outside one final time, it has started to snow again. I follow Marie out the door, down the hall and into our family's living room where everyone in our home is gathered, waiting for us.
My father, James and my mother, Dorothy are both sitting in his and her club chairs. My younger brother Byron was sitting on the floor and my older brother, Michael was sitting on the sofa. He gestured for Marie and I to take a seat with him. We sat on either side. I could hear the hiss of the flames in the fire place, my mother must have just put a new log on. My entire family was in this room, we all sat in silence for several minutes. I suppose we all were waiting for everything to sink in before we spoke about it aloud. I turned to look at Marie, she was smiling at our mother. Mother and Marie were very similar; I was the odd female out in my family.
Finally, my father shifted his weight, cleared his throat and pulled an envelope out from beside his thigh which I hadn't noticed was there. I recognized the red stamp on the large manila envelope. It was from the exhibition. My father opened it and read the letter aloud:
"Greetings Delta Gillies of the Red Rose Pack,
It is our honor to request that your unmated daughters, Marie and Charlotte Gillies attend the 110th Mating Exhibition of the Central Prairie Territory to be held in Brandon, Manitoba this year. Registration will be at 9am on April 4th, followed by three days of activities, concluding on April 8th at 10am. Please find the complete itinerary included in this invitation. Please find a copy of this letter has also been sent on to your alpha. Failure to comply with this invitation will have consequences for your family and your pack. Thank you, and may the Moon Goddess be with you."
My father tossed the letter to me and stood up. He linked his hands behind his back and stepped up to the fireplace. My mother smiled knowingly, raised behind him and rubbed his shoulder blades. She whispered to him, "I know it is hard my love, but they must go. We all must do our duties."
"I don't understand why both my girls aren't mated within Red Rose. One maybe, but not both. It's hard enough to let go of them to anther house, but another pack all together. Another province maybe. It's so far from home, how can I protect them?" my father asked her, loud enough so we could hear the pain in his voice. My father adored his children, each of us is very loved and cherished. I know he has been praying for us to find our mates here, within our pack so we can stay here and he can protect us. As a Delta, he is the Beta's second. He is strong and protective. He wants the best for my sister and I, I know that.
"I am so excited to go!" Marie finally giggles, I peer around Michael to see her face. She is beaming. Marie is over the moon that it is finally time to go to the exhibition. My mother goes to her and cups her face. She kisses Marie's cheeks and her forehead, "I know my sweet angel, you will find a handsome mate. He will sweep you off your feet and you will be so in love."
I roll my eyes. My arms cross instinctively and so do my legs. Michael chuckles at me, "You know Charlotte, with that posture I am sure they will just return you after the exhibition. Maybe that's your way out." I sneer at him, but then I nod. Perhaps he has an idea there. Michael puts his hand on my arm and smiles.
"Charlotte, Marie... this is the tradition. I know it isn't ideal but it is the way our packs have been circulating and keeping bloodlines strong for centuries. I met your mother at the Mating Exhibition when I was twenty-one and she was twenty. I could not have imagined a more beautiful mate, a more perfect mother or a happier marriage. I sincerely wish the same for both of you." My father said, returning to his comfortable chair. He let out a sigh before he continued, "I do wish you both had found your mates here in Red Rose. It would have made everything easier. I am going to have a terrible time letting my girls go to new packs."
"What happens if I don't want to go?" I ask loudly. Everyone looks at me, my mother gasps and pulls Marie close to her. Byron shifts his body to turn around to watch as father's eyes go black.
"Well, I have seen it happen a handful of times where an unmated young adult is held back and refuses to go to the exhibition. It usually ends with the execution of the individual, the ejection from the pack of the rest of their immediate family and all land and capital titles are revoked by the pack from the family line." Father said calmly. He wasn't angry, I could read his face. He didn't want us to go any more then I wanted to go. If I wanted to stay he would go to the alpha, request that I stay. It would be refused of course. If I ran away or refused to go, I would be hunted and executed. Or I would spend my life on the run as a rogue, dying young anyway. My family would be turned out and I would ruin six lives in the process. It is selfish of me, but in reality it is an archaic system of mating practices which only makes it seem as though I am being selfish.
"Charlotte, I understand how you are feeling," my mother began, kneeling in front of me. "I know you see this as some sort of prehistoric tradition. You are right, it is. But this is our tradition, it is not meant to hurt you. It is bigger then you, bigger then one family and one pack. These traditions are meant to protect all of us and to ensure the continuation of our species. This isn't going to be the end for you, it is a new beginning."
I throw my hands in the air, the invitation falls slowly to the ground. I am in tears now, hot messy tears that are coming down my face faster then I can wipe them away. "That is easy for you to say mom, you wanted to be mated. You wanted to find someone to be your everything. You wanted to have children and tow the pack line. I don't want someone to complete me, I am complete on my own."
"Of course you are sweetheart," my father told me. "There is nothing that says that if your mate is not at the exhibition you can't come back home. If he isn't there, then you return to us. You can stay here forever then. No one will bother you."
I stared at him, I hadn't even considered that. Perhaps there wouldn't be a mate for me at the exhibition. I certainly wasn't looking for one. I left the room and went back to the study. The snow was falling much harder now, almost a flurry. I listened to the wind outside whistle through the trees around our house. If I went to the exhibition and there was no mate there, I could just come back home unmated for the rest of my life. It sounded so simple, maybe it would be possible.