Connie

We all woke up a bit gloomy and crestfallen this morning. We packed up quietly, allowing Lucas to sleep for as long as he needed.

Finally, he wakes, and groans as he rolls to his knees and lifts himself to his feet. He looks around at each of us looking at him, then kneels and starts to pack up his swag. "So, do we just waltz into this pack today or is there some formality to getting in?" he grunts out as he forces his bedding into a bag. It's obvious that what he needs right now is for everyone to keep on task, he needs to know we are getting him closer to where he needs to be, to his blood ceremony, and his pack. Oli seems to notice this too, and answers his question without hesitation.

"It should be relatively simple to get in. We go to one of the territory's gates and talk to the warriors, answer all their questions honestly, then they will decide to either let us through or escalate our request to leadership. That means they will ask the Gamma if there are any concerns about letting us in. Some packs have strong feelings about our pack, so it is a possibility that the leadership will be notified of our entrance into the territory," Oli explains.

"Strong feeling? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Amelia asks.

"Hopefully good," Oli answers "Chances are they will offer us VIP accommodation because we are asking to enter as officials, and we will meet with the Alpha."

"So, what if it's not good though?" Amelia asks.

"In that case, we leave and go to the next pack," Oli says.

Lucas looks up at that, holds his head in his hand for a moment before shaking his head and finishing his task.

He looks so stressed, so drained. He looks like he is reaching the limits of what a mind and body can take. I sincerely feel sorry for him, I want to be able to help. Then suddenly a thought comes to me.

"I just realised something!" I announce, and everyone turns to look at me, "It doesn't need to be a pack elder who performs a blood ceremony. I have heard stories of people doing their ceremonies during war times, or while in remote places. Any adult werewolf can perform the ceremony. Lucas, if Golden Moon won't host us, one of us can do the ceremony for you, then we just have to release you when you find the pack you want," I know I have a broad smile on my face, I am not shy to admit that I am very proud of my apophony.

"I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but could you possibly do it now, so what happened last night doesn't happen again?" Amelia asks hopefully.

"Well, the ceremony is not just the synchronisation, it's the bonding as well. It bonds the werewolf to their pack. And as we can not accept men into The Valley of the Goddess, Lucas would have to find another pack as soon as possible, anyway, then he would have to unbond, which could be hard on him. It's only a 3 hour walk to Golden Moon, so I think we should try that first," I say solemnly, but everyone seems to agree.

"It's a good idea, Connie. Either way, Lucas will have his ceremony today. We promise!" Adi says, looking reassuringly at Amelia and Lucas.

"Thank you Adi, truly," Lucas groaned as he pulled his hiking bag up to his shoulders.

"Your body took a beating last night Lucas, I would be happy to carry your bag for you if you need," Oli offered. She took a step towards Lucas, offering to swap her small bag for his large one.

Lucas held his hand up to decline "You're kind to offer. And I don't consider myself to have a fragile masculine ego, but it is feeling a bit fragile at the moment, so I think I need to carry my own bag, thank you," he said.

"Very strong of you to admit that Lucas!" Amelia says with a giggle. And Lucas manages a small giggle as well.

We walked most of the distance in silence, until we arrived at the Golden Moon territory just before lunch time. We could sense the barrier of their territory.

"Lucas, Amelia!" Adi grabbed their attention and they looked at her "This is very important to learn, you should always know when you are on another pack's territory." Lucas and Amelia nodded and kept their attention, Adi continued "Do you sense it? Tell me what you notice."

"It has a different smell," Lucas says quizzically.

"Yes, all territories have a different smell, good observation," Adi says.

"My skin feels a bit cool, like goose bumps," Amelia says, looking at the hairs standing up on her forearm.

"Yes, your senses are on high alert, ready for fight or flight, because another pack's territory is the unknown," Adi says.

Lucas and Amelia smile proudly when Adi nods her head in approval.

"Good, moving on then," Adi says "Oli will do the talking, she knows all the etiquette around this sort of thing, so we should all listen closely and learn."

"Ok, just don't step over the territory line until we find an outpost, we don't enter until we are invited," Oli tells all of us.

It only takes a few minutes before a large werewolf in human form approaches us. He has dark hair with a crew cut. He has black canvas pants and a form fitting black t-shirt with sweat marks stretching down from the neckline to the top of his abdomen. He speaks with a clear, strong voice "State your purpose here."

"My name is Evolet, I come as an official ambassador from The Valley of the Goddess. I have with me, Constance, our navigator, and Adeline our warrior. We seek common ground with your Alpha. We also have two travellers with us, whom we met on the road and have taken under our protection, this is Lucas and Amelia," Oli announces confidently.

"One moment," The man says, he is mind linking someone.

He locks eyes with Oli once again "Let me get this straight, before I relay it to my Alpha, you wish to enter the Golden Moon Territory as official ambassadors from The Valley of the Goddess territory, is that correct?" he asks.

"That is correct," Oli answers.

He goes quiet again as he mind links with someone.

"Ok," he says as he locks eyes with Oli once again "Our Alpha is happy to receive you. My name is Jarrah, one of the border guards. I will lead the way, follow me." He says as he turns and sets off for us to follow. He half turns to talk to Oli again "I notice none of you have claim marks, are you unmated?" he asks.

Oli turns to look at each of us with pursed lips before answering, "You are correct in your observation, none of us are mated. Adi and I are of age, but the others are not," Oli answers somewhat begrudgingly.

"I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, but it is customary to have a receiving corridor when unmated wolves enter the pack. It gives the unmated pack members a chance to see if you are their mate," he explains. "It's better than having them lurk outside the pack house waiting to catch a glimpse of you," he shrugs.

"Ah, well, who would I be to deny that logic? Please guide us to the receiving corridor," Oli says with a smile, clearly more than happy to be sighted by all the unmated males. She turns to us and shrugs her shoulders with a little smirk on her lips.

Adi opens a mind link with Oli and me, "They are making it too easy for you Oli, I half expect them all to be standing on silver platters," we all giggle Softly.

"What's funny?" Amelia asks.

"Adi made a joke through the mind link," I tell them nonchalantly.

Lucas and Amelia look at each other, then back to me "Ummm, I think you might have left something out when you were explaining werewolfing to us." Lucas says. "You never said anything about, what is it called, mind linking?" he says.

The walking comes to a sudden halt as Jarrah stops abruptly. He turns around. "What did I just hear?" he says sharply "Who are these two?" he demands.

Oli answers without hesitation "Lucas and Amelia are dormant wolves; we encountered them on the road and took them under our protection. They have grown up in the human world and have no knowledge of werewolf customs, except for what information we have given them in the short time since yesterday morning. They are underage and in need of tuition and guidance, they pose no threat," she explains.

"I will let the beta know; it shouldn't be an issue. We get the occasional dormant wolf here, our pack is the closest to the human lands, so they usually stumble across our territory first," he says before turning to keep walking.

"If you don't mind me asking, how often do you get dormant wolves coming here?" Lucas asked.

"I'd say about once every couple of years one will stumble over the border, all confused and disoriented." Jarrah giggled, "Not so often that it's an issue though."

For the next half hour, we walked and explained the mind link to Lucas and Amelia, before our feet landed on a paved road. A black van was waiting for us. We travelled for a further half hour in the van until we came to a town. The roads in the town were old blue stone and the houses were a mixture of modern rendered houses and rock wall villas. As we got closer to the town centre, there were fewer modern houses, and the rock wall villas were overshadowed by a large defensive castle wall.

The van stopped just short of the castle wall entrance, and we all stepped out. In front of us was a small crowd of young male wolves, about 20 werewolves. They lined the street on either side, waiting to see the unmated she-wolves.

As we walked down the centre of the street, Oli happily looked at each werewolf, hoping for a connection that she did not find. As we neared the open portcullis and entered the dark gatehouse tunnel, I looked behind to see all the men walking away, disappointed and dejected.

Jarrah led us out into the sun on the other side. In front of us stood a large mediaeval castle. It had some modern upgrades and clearly has never been neglected. The courtyard was covered in light coloured aggregate concrete, with a large swimming fountain in the centre. And the luxurious cars parked out the front didn't go unnoticed.

A woman stood at the base of the stairs at the entrance to the castle, undoubtedly the Alpha. She stood proudly with several other officials standing behind her. She is a stunning middle-aged woman with fiery red hair down to her lower back, her hair hanging freely in the middle but kept in place with a braid on either side, starting at the front and falling down either side of her back. She wears brown faux leather trousers, with a matching blazer, unbuttoned with a brown faux leather top underneath. She is wearing boots that are made to resemble combat boots, but they are completely impractical as they have a medium sized thick heel.

Oli approaches in front of the rest of us "Hello Alpha. My name is Evolet, I am here on behalf of Alphette Davina of the Valley of the Goddess. Our Alphette sends her best wishes and hopes for your friendship," Oli says as she lowers her chin gracefully to show respect.

The Alpha eyes her and there is an uncomfortable silence, before the Alpha throws her hands in the air, "Friendship, fucken friendship? You bitches sit in your fucken valley while the fucken world burns, then you shit the bed one fucken day and decide to saunter on over here and ask me to be your fucken friend? Next you're gonna ask me to have a sleepover and braid your fucken hair too. Alliance! Alliances are what I need. Not fucken friendship. Warriors! Alliances and warriors! But you lot like to sit out on all the scary stuff don't ya?. If you're not with me, you're fucken against me. So you better be here to be with me!" She stomps her foot down and locks eyes with Oli, awaiting a reply.