A New Wolf Life (Completed)

Ch 53 - Juice

Copyright VedaPettigrew

Two weeks had flown by too fast and it was my last night with the Loyal Starfish. We decided to sneak off to spend time together, just the six of us. Dominic had taken Marcus and Fiona to visit Amos, Marcus felt the need to challenge his former alpha in person and Fiona wanted to be by his side. Considering she was pregnant, it had taken quite the argument to persuade him.

Eventually he had agreed because Dominic had offered multiple warriors to accompany them, as well as adding his personal protection over her. Marcus also understood she felt the same compulsion he did, to look Amos in the eye and speak to him about the crimes he committed. The wellbeing of the pack was the most important thing to them both and they were angry at the way Amos had run things. They'd trusted him and had been let down.

I credited Marcus and Fiona for their passion and prayed they would get the closure they sought. I myself was still working on wanting to forgive Amos but anger bubbled in my stomach whenever I thought about what he'd done. I kept praying for Ori to help me - I wanted to be free of the hold he had over me. The fact that he was getting punished for his crimes didn't make everything alright, but it did help me - knowing that he would be in prison for a long, long time, knowing that justice was being served. I hoped that if and when he got out, he would be a different person.

I thought of Elgatha, still in her self-imposed exile and knew it was time to try and bring her out of it. I'd got Hestia on board, hoping that they would be able to bond over their terrible alpha mates. We planned to visit her next week; selfishly, I wanted to wait until my friends had left. Apart from work, all I had done was spend time with them. They came to the women's meetings and went with us on our different visits around the packlands. We instituted the changes to the pack meals at the other packhouse, and visited the children regularly. It had been a busy, wonderful time.

But now it was over and we had one last night before they headed home. It was amazing that they'd managed such a long visit, but with plenty of Starfish at Stone Mountain, Marcus and Fiona had a team of people they completely trusted. Dominic had also ensured they had an office at the packhouse, where they were able to work and keep in touch.

Hammer went to the prison with Dominic, Marcus and Fiona, sending a wink in our direction. He knew we wanted some time alone together. Pav waved away Kat's concerns about abandoning him with assurances that he would be fine, he was happy for us to disappear because he would be packing anyway, and with that, we headed to the private part of the forest where only Dominic and I were allowed to enter.

We found the biggest clearing and built a bonfire, pulling logs to sit on and making a circle around it.

"I don't want you guys to leave tomorrow," I said dolefully.

"No," agreed Joan, looking miserable.

"I'd forgotten how wonderful it was to be together," Bee sighed. "I missed you guys so much but life got really crazy with Marcus taking the Alpha-ship and everything changing so much, I just sort of got used to it. Now it's heart-wrenching again."

I scooted closer to her, laying my head on her shoulder in agreement.

"It's certainly not the best feeling in the world." Lacy frowned, looking into the fire. It was dancing merrily, contrary to our mood.

"Lots of families have to live apart, through matings and transfers." Kat tried to reason with herself as much as us. "It's normal."

"It still sad," Sophie muttered.

Kat waited a beat, "Yeah," she said softly.

"But at least we have that weekend in the diary," I offered. "And really, it's only three weeks away."