The Warriors Mating Games

Chapter 14

The final day in the Arena was spent breaking up the camp and relaxing. The group decided to cook up a feast and celebrate leaving the Games. They used up the remainder of the supplies and Carson even managed to produce a couple of bottles of booze for everyone to enjoy. Everyone sat around the campfire long into the night talking and passing around the bottles.

The next morning the camp stirred and final preparations to leave were underway. Alric was organising the dismantling of the camp. Everyone wanted to leave the woods as early as possible. Daric in particular was keen to leave quickly and take his mate to a doctor. The longer she was without treatment the more anxious Daric had become, the other Warriors were finding it difficult keeping him calm. Ethan had to spend several hours persuading Daric to not leave the Arena before the official end of the Games. Daric had decided to smuggle Primrose out of the Arena and take her to the Doctor in his pack. It took Ethan many hours to convince Daric that this action was not worth the risk. It was the reminder of the threatened punishments that finally persuaded Daric to stay, he would not risk his mate.

While the camp was being cleaned up Alric managed to speak quietly to all of the Warriors. He had a plan and he intended to get to the bottom of everything that had happened in the last 5 years.

Finally everyone was ready to leave. Lavender and Primrose were carried by their mates from the beginning of the hike out of the woods both still suffering from their injuries. The wolfsbane was out of all of the women systems now and they had all recovered their strength very quickly. Now that they were receiving adequate food and could sleep comfortably and safely all of them were in better condition that they had first arrived.

It took several hours for the group to hike out of the woods. When they arrive to the same clearing where they had entered 1 month ago everyone was shocked by the crowd awaiting their return. Cheers greeted them as they emerged. All of the she-wolves were concerned by the amount of people in the clearing, for them, crowds meant danger. But the Warriors recognised friends and family on the bleachers which had been constructed on the periphery. No-one noticed the 2 Warriors slip away from the main group and blend in with the guards littered around the clearing.

Councillor Smith approached the group as they left the edge of the woods. His expression ranged from angry to disappointed, but he managed to plaster a fake smile before he arrived and boomed out "Welcome, welcome to all of the," he hesitated and then with a pained smile resumed, "Warriors and of course their new mates," he finished with a sneer of disgust. Mates gripped the hands of their partners tightly as though they were fearful that they would be forcibly separated and the unmated Warriors surrounded their brothers and sisters ready to defend if required.

"Well come this way we have a small reception in the Hall, your parents will be there." Of course everyone anticipated that this would only apply to the Warriors, after all so many of the she-wolves had been kicked out of their own homes by disappointed parents. But as they walked towards the Hall Fern spotted someone on the stands, someone that drew a gasp from her. Fern clutched Thane and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Scanning the crowd to see what had upset his mate he saw a tall older man with salt and pepper brown hair. Even from this distance Thane could recognise the similarities between Fern and this man, he was her father. This drew a scowl from Thane, he glared at the man that abandoned his mate.

The entire group entered the Hall which was scattered with chairs and tables as though a party was planned, there was even a table with food. This included fresh fruit something that had been lacking in the woods, once everyone was comfortable the mated Warriors made up plates of food for their mates, making sure to include plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. The unmated Warriors waited patiently while the women were served first.