The Reckoning

Wolf and Seek

I offer my opponent a hand but he slaps it away. Groaning, he limps his way to the benches near the sign-up station.

Breaking the silence amongst the crowd, Ardol bellows across the field. “Alright number 32, you may relax while we finish the first round. Your time will be noted.”

Feeling sort of bad for him, I sit next to him on the bench.

“I'm sorry, I'm a bit brutal.” I chirp.

“No, it's okay, I get it. You want a good pack. One that suits you. I was just hoping I would do better. I've been training for months doing the ring. As you can tell, I'm still terrible at it.” I smiled politely at him. Finally, someone other than my brother understands my determination.

We talked for almost an hour before all the fights were over. Mason is his name and he’s polite, but he also sounds just as stubborn as me. He was born and raised in the Ironhide pack. However, he didn’t quite meet the expectations they had for him.

Ironhides are known for their metal-like skin that is nearly impossible to penetrate. They go through a substantial amount of hardcore training, painful. If you ask me, they sounded more like meat heads than any other pack. They’re focused more on brute strength; they lack the knowledge that many of the other packs have and rely solely on their strength. Although they were impulsive, they weren't as impulsive as the Primal pack.

Judging by the hour I spent with him, he’s a well-rounded guy that could be placed just about in any one of the packs. Bane and Mystic Keepers sound like they would best suit his academic achievements. Bane is all about alchemy, supplying packs with top of the line elixirs, even creating unique ones to release. The Mystic Keepers study all things with a magical nature.

“We are moving on to the second round everyone. So please line up so you all hear the rules quickly.” Rowan booms.

“Everyone of you will line up along the tree line. After doing so, you will shift. There is an article of clothing in the forest somewhere. Your objective is to find the item and sniff out your prey. You not only have to find your prey, you need to catch him before he catches you. This requires stealth, speed, and agility. If the prey catches you before you catch the prey, you must howl out and mind link your old alpha when you are out. When you all have shifted, the bell will ring and you may begin.” He looks right at me and adds, “In an orderly fashion make your way to the tree line, strip, and shift.”

We all stay in the line we formed in front of the judges and branch off along the tree line. The smell of earlier, lingers near the tree line making me frozen in place.

‘He’s here, Reyna, I can smell him.’

‘We need to keep calm and finish the task.’ I shift promptly and pace, waiting for the bell.

‘Let me have control Rey.’

‘Are you going to be stealthy? Or are you just going to go try to find our mate?’

‘I want this just as badly as you do, Rey. Please trust me.’

I let her out and the bell rang immediately after. She waits on the sidelines for the others to take off and swiftly moves after them. A shirt dangling from a tree catches our attention as we creep closer to it. Staying out of plain sight, we watch as the others circle around it and give it a big sniff. We are last to the shirt and we inhale deeply. The smell makes our legs feel weak and our body hum.

‘Rey. The prey is our mate.’

‘Just hunt the prey, we will worry about this later.’

We take off and are now miles away from the others. When we settle on a location, my wolf makes a figure 8 with her scent. Rubbing most of it into the center of the 8.

‘Let’s let him try to find us.’ I snicker. My wolf is just as sinister as I am.

We hide just at the top of the figure 8 in between two large rocks. A bush covers both of the entrances, but with our site we can still see the middle where we put the majority of our scent.

‘Now for the fun part.’

‘What's the fun part?’

‘Watch our fur’ she purrs.

I watch as our once multicolored fur turns into the color of the ground beneath me, making us camouflage. I have read about this in one of my history books. It's only been recorded in history a handful of times.

'Why haven't you told me about this?' I asked,+ bewildered.

'I can't show you all our abilities all at once. We rarely ever get the opportunity to shift.'

Howelling goes off in every direction, letting us know that one by one they have been unsuccessful. The smell of our mate hits us and steadily grows stronger with each passing second. The closer he gets, the more defined it gets, it smells as though I'm in the middle of a rain storm.

He enters from behind us and follows the figure 8 until he stops in the center. Staying there for a few moments gives me the perfect chance to tackle him. His tan fur moved with the wind. The wind is in our favor. We slowly crawl on all 4’s and slowly creep out. With a huge leap, we knock into him and tackle him to the ground.

His eyes widen and he lets out a howl. Climbing off of him, we sprint back to the tree edge. I get dressed and head back in line in front of the Alpha’s once more. Everyone stared like they had seen a ghost. Ardol laughs out loud, then quickly shuts his mouth noticing my presence.

“Alright, everyone is dismissed. You all have plenty of time to freshen up and be ready to go by 8p.m. Dinner will be served at 8:15 sharp. Don't be late.” After Rowan finishes speaking, I jog back to the large pack house.

When I arrive in the foyer, the smell of fresh tulips is prominent. That and mixed with the smell of lemon disinfectant. I grab a bouquet of tulips and head up the stairs. When I arrive at my wing of the house, my senses perk. He’s been here. I would know that scent anywhere.

Staying cautious, I maneuver around the doors and make my way to my room. I push my door open and peek in the room. A sigh of relief leaves me as I see the room empty. Not wanting to waste any time, I set the bouquet down on the dresser and grab the fresh towel from my closet.

I close my bedroom door and a tall muscular man pops out from behind the door. His shaggy brown hair slightly covered his eyes. Blue eyes pierced through me and looked deep within my soul. Something about his eyes were familiar, yet I’ve never seen this man a day in my life. “What the hell are you doing in my room?” My voice came out a bit choked up noticing his chiseled abs on full display.

A deep low growl leaves his mouth, a sound that would send most wolves to their knees. My whole body sings to the sound of his growl and I find myself closing my eyes in a trance with the hum rolling through my body. My body felt as though it was a homing beckon for all the electricity in the air. The electricity danced through my body in the most delightful of ways.

Breaking myself from the trance, I ran across the room, keeping distance between us.

Breathing heavily, I tried to steady myself on my window seal. “What are you doing in my room?” I repeated, this time with power. Without a word, he opens the door and leaves. A breath I didn’t know I was holding escapes my lips. Something in me was almost saddened by his leaving so abruptly.

Shaking my head, I try my best to find my grasp on reality. I have an important dinner to attend and I’m not going to let a man I don’t know as god-like as he looks ruin my life. Judging by his looks alone, he's undoubtedly been with tons of women.

With all that my wolf and I have prepared for our whole life. Our destiny didn’t lie with a man, it lied with finding a pack that best suited us. A pack that would make our dreams of being a strong independent woman who could take on anything that tried to destroy her. Our destiny was fighting alongside a pack that we care about and love.

After the long hot shower, I applied a simple amount of makeup and got the emerald green dress on. The dress was off the shoulders, showing more cleavage than I had first expected. Its short in the front ending right above the knee, hugging my curvy body like a glove. It has a train that comes out at my hips, wrapped around the back, and ends at the ground. Matching its darker color with some black heels. I let my natural curls shine and added some mouse to them to keep the curls defined.

Looking at myself, I feel pleased with the outcome. Checking the time, I see I have time to go stroll around the property. There’s one place I want to see before tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the day that all of the alpha’s will make their selection of which wolves would be best suited for their pack. I just want an opportunity to see it in person before the alpha's decisions have been made.

Making my way to the gardens, they are well lit with the string lights that hang on the canopies. The structure of the garden walls and lights were always so beautiful to me in the pictures.

Catching a glimpse of Mason, I sped up.“Mason, is that you?”

As I came around the corner, I saw Mason with Angelica. Mason had one hand on her face and the other had a handful of the fabric of her dress hiking it up so her hot pink thong showed. Clearing my throat, they parted off each other. Angelica smiles a wicked grin at me and walks away slowly shaking her ass with each step.

Mason wipes the corners of his lips and watches her walk away in awe. He turns to me and smiles sheepishly.

“Sorry for interrupting, I just wanted to be able to see the gardens before we are sorted into different packs.” I smiled lightly and walked past him.

“Hey wait up.” I slow my pace until he catches up to me. “She’s from the Bane pack. She said she would get me in if I kissed her like I would my mate when I meet her. It was a weird request. I just really want to get into Bane and after today I'm not sure they’ll even want me based solely on the fact you beat me in the ring with the fastest time of the day.” He places his hands into his suit pants pockets, watching my face carefully.

“You don’t have to explain yourself. I get it, she's hot.” I chimed in. On the inside I was boiling with rage. What is wrong with this damn girl? Why is she targeting me?

Gripping my elbow, he stops me in my place. A vibration crawls its way up my arm.“You're lying, your heart is racing.”

Pulling my arm away, his eyes widen in confusion. “What the hell was that?” I blurt.

‘He’s been drugged by a Bane pack member. Only they know how to make a strong enough elixir to simulate the mate calling.’ My wolf sounds concerned. ‘Smell him.’

‘I'm not going to smell him.’

‘Just do it.’

Leaning toward him, I inhaled deeply. He smelled the same way he smelt when I beat him earlier. Without missing a beat, my body rocks with laughter.

“What's so funny?” He says, looking more confused than before.

“You’ve been given an elixir. My guess is from the girl you just had your hands all over. I guess the fact she couldn’t even get this elixir correct is why she’s in the reckoning.”

“What is wrong with that demon of a woman?” His words reminded me of my own thoughts about her.

“I actually was wondering the same thing.” I retorted with a giggle.