“The reason I left my old pack was because my mate rejected me because my wolf hadn’t come to me,” I told her. The dull ache was hardly noticeable as I spoke the words.
“No!” Medow gasped and she put her hand over her heart as if to protect it. Tears welled in her eyes. “How could they do something like that?” she whispered. I smiled at her genuine reaction. She had such a kind heart.
“It’s okay, Medow. I think it was for the best, that’s how I ended up here,” I told her. Before she could say something, there was a hard knock on my door.
“Medow?!” Sam called. I smiled. He must have felt her distress and came running.
“It’s okay, let him in,” I told her, and Matilda gave me a knowing look. Medow went to the door and she and Sam had a quiet conversation. They shared a kiss and when Medow came back, she looked happier and wiped her eyes to get rid of the tears.
“He must have been an idiot. It’s lucky you got rid of him. I don’t want you to end up with an idiot. We will find someone that deserves you,” Medow told me with a fierce look in her eyes. I smiled at her.
“Thank you,” I said and gave her a long hug. She just nodded.
We ended up talking all the way to dinner. We walked down to the dining room together. Finlay, Sam and Martin were already there. Sam hurried over to Medow, I could see he was still worried. It felt nice seeing their bond. I sat down at the table next to Finlay.
“Are you okay? Sam said you wanted to be open about what happened to you?” he whispered to me. I smiled at him and nodded.
“It feels better that way,” I answered in the same low voice. He nodded.
“And did you have a chance to go through tomorrow?” He then asked in his normal voice.
“We did. They have done an amazing job. I feel honoured,” I said truthfully.
“Not too much?”
“No. I think it will be perfect,” I said.
“Of course it will be,” Matilda huffed.
“And then we can sit down and talk. I have something I want to ask you,” Martin said.
“I will do my best to answer any questions,” I promised. Dinner was relaxed. Several members of the pack came byto welcome me and to say they were looking forward to the bloodening. I found myself enjoying being social, something I hadn’t enjoyed in years.
“Do you want to go for a run?” Finlay asked as dinner was over.
“You mean as a wolf?” I asked, feeling my excitement build. He chuckled.
“Yes, it’s not common for us to go running in human form. I know we will have a pack run tomorrow after the bloodening, but you haven’t shifted in a couple of weeks,” he told me.
“I would love to,” I told him.
“Can we come as well?” Medow asked.
“Of course,” Finlay said. Martin and Sam wanted to join as well.
“Matilda?” I asked. She shook her head.
“My time for running wild in the forest is behind me. I will stay here and keep an eye on things.” Finlay led the group into the woods. We stopped in an area with trees that had branches closer to the ground that let us place our clothes on them. Everyone started shifting and I took a breath. I had never changed into my wolf on command before. But when I shifted to my human form, Finlay had told me to focus on being human. I did the opposite now, and felt the shift to wolf. It was fast and painless. Finlay was still in his human form and I knew he had been waiting to see if I needed help. I yipped at him. He chuckled.
“Never doubted you, Red,” he told me and shifted into his wolf. It was annoying to not be able to communicate with the others in my wolf form. But after tomorrow we would be able to mindlink. I took the opportunity to enjoy the still new feeling of running as a wolf. The moon was almost not visible at all, a stark contrast to last time. But the ground was soft and pleasant to run on. The forest was full of interesting scents and the airwas warm. Finlay guided us on a long run through forest, along the river and then back into the forest. Several times I scented game and my instinct was to track it, hunt it, kill it. But each time, Finlay guided me away from the track. Apparently, I wasn’t ready to hunt yet. We finally ended up back where we had begun. I shifted back and got dressed.
“You’re a natural,” Martin told me.
“Thank you.”
“And damn are you fast! I can usually keep up with the boys, but when you gave it all over that open glade, you left me in the dust,” Medow said and laughed.
“It was so much fun. But that was just stretching out,” I told her. It made her laugh even more.
