Hammers in the Shadows

Part One: Shadows and Ice - Chapter Four

"Dad are we gonna be coming back?" Shawn interrupted my train of thought as we drove along the highway and I shook my head.

"We don't have to Shawn, now we're going home, and this time we will need to stay." I told him, "Your mom and I need to take our responsibilities back and start leading the Pride while Grandpa Olaf and Grandma Shanna retire and join our Pride Elders." I glanced back at him and saw that he looked a bit sad at what I'd said. "You're going to miss your friends back at Wild Valley, aren't you?" I asked.

"Yeah, I mean I know that when we first got there I didn't like it, but after I got Sampson, and after we started visiting Nam Cho I actually began to enjoy myself, and I made some friends. Paul is a good friend dad and I'm gonna miss him." He said while leaning down to give his Wolf-Dog a cuddle.

"Shawn remember that you can still talk to him from home, you can call him whenever you'd like."

"Thanks dad, but it isn't really the same." He said before Kat leaned over and gave him a hug,

"I know little brother, I made some friends there too," She said, "I'm gonna miss my friends, but it will be nice to be back home among cats again. It's hard being so far from the Pride, I can't hear or feel my friends the way our parents can."

Shawn looked at his sister, "How can you say that Kat, you're a wolf and you didn't find it relaxing being among wolves for the past two years?"

She shook her head, "Not really Shawn, I've always liked being around cats, I don't know why, but I always have. Besides, you were comfortable back there at the Pack weren't you? Once the pups stopped bullying you and you got Sampson you started to fit almost better than I was capable of."

As the conversation between the siblings carried on I shifted my gaze in the mirror further back to where Sergey was sitting with his mate. "How are you holding out back there? Sorry if it's a little cramped... trying to get four wolf-dogs and six Weres into a vehicle isn't easy."

She looked up at me and nodded, "It is okay sir, I remember the flight out here, that was worse because most of us didn't like the feeling of our paws not being on the ground."

Sergey hugged her gently and smiled at me, "Dad it's good to be going home now, we've spent two years at Wild Valley and I am looking forwards to sharing our home with my wonderful Minali." He said.

"Mark, I guess that we're going to pass through Forest Edge and meet with Alpha Oscar and our friends there before we go home eh?" Anna asked me pulling out her e-reader to settle down for some comfortable reading.­

"Yes, I am afraid that you are correct on that count love, I need to do what I can to foster the links that I have with Oscar and Forest Edge. Besides, passing through there might be good for Kat, after all that is where she came from eleven years ago." I told her before returning my attention to the road ahead of me.

Four and a half hours later I pulled in front of Forest Edge Packhouse, the guard at the gate had seen me and instantly he knew, from the necklace that I had integrated into my collar, that I was a Pack Friend of Forest Edge and waved me through without a pause.

As I was getting out of the vehicle my old friend Jack came down the steps of the Pack House and gave me a hug, "So good to see you Mark," He said and pulled back to look at me, "You're looking good Mark,"

"Nice to see you too Jack," I replied, hugging my friend. "How's your mate doing?" I asked him with a smile. He'd found his mate eight years ago, when we were making our way back to Forest Edge in the summer after I'd dealt with Mikel.

"She's doing amazing Mark, you should see the pup!" He said happily, "She's so adorable," He almost shouted before everyone else climbed out of the vehicle.