Adi

Adi

Lucas ~ This psycho is completely unhinged. She reminds me of Tif.

Adi ~ I think I agree with you Lucas.

I don't know who Tif is, but I wasn't meant to hear that thought, so I won't ask for the details.

Alfa Blair stood over all of us as we were seated at the large table. She was ranting and throwing her arms in the air as she spat out every word with unbridled conviction. She was absolutely convinced that the only avenue for this supposed conflict was to slaughter another pack on their own territory. If she convinces herself that we are spies from the offending pack, she won't hesitate to kill us. We might stand a chance if Connie is able to convince her that we are who we say we are.

"I assure you, we are from the Valley of the Goddess. We have not even ventured to the lands west of the Valley before, so we have not met any of these alphas or their packs. We have no allies or foes, or relations of any kind, in these lands," Oli reassures her.

"Well then, tell this to your Alpha, if those bastards take my pack, they will come for the Valley next, none of us will be safe if we let them grow their numbers. Tell her to make an alliance with me before it is too late. We need to wipe them out before they get to us first. You tell her, if she's not with me, she's against me," She says pointing her finger at Oli as she spits out every word.

"I will pass on your message exactly as you have worded it. You have my word," Oli says with a small nod of her head.

"Good. You can fuck off then. Leave that girl," she says, pointing a long painted fingernail at Amelia. "A peace offering, for my army. My son will see you out," and with that she turned on her heels and stormed back out the way she came.

Lucas ~ Not Amelia, I am not leaving her. She can't stay here. How will I get her out?

Lucas was tense, and picking at the corner of the arm chair, all his thoughts were focused on protecting Amelia and concocting ways to get her out of this territory.

Oli ~ Don't worry just yet Lucas, we still have Anton. I think Connie might be able to work some magic on him.

Amelia was sitting quietly, looking at me with pleading eyes. I wished I could mind link her and tell her we are doing everything we can to look out for her. I looked at her and gave a subtly, reassuring nod, hoping she understood. She seemed to relax a little bit.

"Thank you so much Anton, for your hospitality and this lovely meal. It appears we may have reached the extent of our welcome and we don't wish to overstay." I said, indicating for him to arrange our leave.

"She is very forward. But I was an honoured to meet some of the famed Valley werewolves, I wish it could have been a longer visit. Perhaps in better times you might consider returning?" Anton said.

"We would like to hear more about your pack's origins. I enjoyed the story of your pack sigil. It seems you have colourful origins and many stories to tell" Connie said.

Lucas ~ I like being right

Adi ~ This boy has some good instincts, Connie. See if you can use this connection you've got with Anton, to get him to let us walk out of here with Amelia

Connie ~ I am not going to deny it, there is a definite connection between me and Anton. But I don't feel so bad about being able to hear Lucas's thoughts now.

"Amelia is quite young and unaccustomed to werewolf culture. We would like to take her with us. Is there any way we can negotiate for her to leave here with us, Anton ?" Connie asked.

"Sure, you just have to ask," He said with a smile as he locked eyes with Connie, he appeared eager to accommodate her request. "Don't worry about my mother, she won't notice one way or the other, there are thousands of wolves in the training dorms, she won't notice just one. I will see you all to the border myself," he said.

Lucas ~ It couldn't be that easy, is he fucking with us?

Adi ~ I am not sure, just go with it and see what happens. Stay together and don't let Amelia out of your sight. Stay alert!

We all stood up and Anton led us down a large corridor to a small lobby, where we exited out a maintenance door. The door opened out onto a paved road that appeared to circle the outside wall of the castle. There was about three hundred metres of maintained grass land before a dense tree line stretched as far as the eye could see.

A dark green Hummer limousine was waiting on the road, a driver holding the door open for us all to get in. We piled in and sat on the green leather seats.

"Where do you want to go?" Anton asked.

"We have no itinerary, just to the next closest pack," Connie answered.

"That would be the Gibbous Moon pack. We will drop you just before their border. My relationship with them is fine, but I see you want to make independent relations with other packs, so I won't take you the whole way," Anton says.

"That's very kind of you, Anton. Thank you." Oli says.

It was a 45 minute car ride along a wide bitumen road, through the dense forest, which seemed never ending. Anton was eager to answer any question that Connie had. With his knees and feet pointed towards Connie, he addressed his answers openly towards all of us, but only smiled when his gaze was on Connie.

She asked him about the war his mother spoke of, he shared that there had, indeed, been unusual trespassers and some threats made. A small group had attacked an outpost, briefly. It seemed that the attackers were trying to gauge an idea of his pack's fighting skill. He shared most things openly, but he would not share the perpetrator's names, which was not surprising, no werewolf would betray their Alpha's direct order. The way Anton described the threat did not give any justification to the reaction that Alpha Blair was showing. Which further convinced us that Alpha Blair was either completely unhinged or a warmonger.

We started to become accustomed to Lucas' inner monologue. We now knew all his favourite songs, which became like background music for most of the trip.

The car came to a slow stop in the middle of the road and the driver opened the door for us to get out. We all piled out of the air conditioned car, into the humid heat of the late afternoon.

"If you follow that trail," Anton said, pointing to a narrow bush track through the trees, "You will reach the Gibbous Moon territory in about fifteen minutes."

"Thank you for help today, Anton, It won't be forgotten," Connie said.

Suddenly, Anton took both of Connie's hands in his own hands, "Connie, I feel a connection to you that I cannot ignore. When you turn eighteen, will you come back to visit me? I will wonder if you are my mate until the time that I see you again, when we are both of age." Anton says with hopeful eyes.

Connie is frozen and speechless. And for the first time in half an hour, Lucas' thoughts are silent. They have no privacy as we all shamelessly watch on, in anticipation.

Anton's expression drops as Connie continues to hesitate, he releases her hands and steps back from her, realising that he may not be welcome in her personal space.

"I am sorry if I have made you uncomfortable, Connie. You are under no obligation to give me an answer. Just know that you are welcome to come back any time, and you will always be safe here." He says. he starts to turn to walk away when Connie steps forwards and takes his hand. He turns back to her with a shy, hopeful smile.

"I am not sure that I want a mate, Anton. But, I can see that you would be a very satisfactory partner. I will meet with you when we are both of age. I will send a message to you to meet me at the border of the Valley. If you are my mate, I may choose to accept you. But if I have decided that I do not want a mate bond, I will do the decent thing and reject you, so that you can move on." Connie says.

"I will come to the Valley border as soon as you send for me." Anton says with a smile.

Then, to all of our awe, Connie pulls Anton's arm behind her and steps in to kiss him softly on the mouth, and before he could react, she pulled back and stepped away from him, holding his hand until both of their arms were stretching to maintain contact. Then she dropped her arm to her side and walked over to join the rest of us.

Lucas ~ Called it!

Connie ~ Just stop.