Fated Mate

The Hike

‘Something comfortable for hiking’ translates to the tried and true combo of a pair of overalls with a T-Shirt underneath. Today I choose a green one so I can match with the rest of the environment. I really am surprised by how lush the whole place is. I lace up my brown leather Doc Martens and cuff the bottom of my overalls. I hear a soft knock on the door to Josie’s room.

“Come in!” I say.

“Hey I just wanted to check on you?” she says and sits down on her bed. Her whole bedroom looks like an indoor garden with all the greenery in it. There are vines all over the wall and they are accompanied by little fairy lights. The posters are for artists like Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, and Phoebe Bridgers. There also a bunch of framed bugs that are mounted on the wall butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, shiny beetles, and a piece of honeycomb that is dried and framed with bees pinned all over it. She has a Winnie the Pooh snow globe that has honey instead of snow in it. I feel like this is what a fairy’s room would look like.

“I’m fine why?” I ask sitting in the green plush bean bag that is on the ground.

“Just breakfast was a little tense is all” she rubs her arm nervously.

“Yeah I guess your right is that normal?”

“Here lately yes, Lee hates Liam, Sean is so socially awkward I think might actually be painful for him. Me and Maeve fight more and more with her shifting hormones coming in to play. We are just a little bit of a nightmare right now.” She takes a deep breath after explaining.

“Liam is Maeve’s boyfriend, He is a scrawny little punk with a mustache that Lee and I think he drew on with eyeliner.” A small laugh escapes her.

“So you don’t like him either?” I ask.

“I don’t think he is the best for my sister he looks like a little JROTC cadet and reaks of AXE, but, he loves her I think. He turned 18 last month and they have been eagerly waiting for her shift”

“Why is Lee so upfront about it?”

“It’s his Alpha brain, He has to be in charge you know, he’s playing sweet to you which he is sweet but, he is also sometimes a jerk but, then he buys us flowers every valentines day”

“So he is a sour patch kid?” She laughs hard at that.

“Yeah I guess he is, I just I don’t want you to think that we are like this all the time this is kind of a recent development. I am sure in the future that things will mellow out more.” I nod and smile to show that I get it.

“Great, glad we could talk, Lee is downstairs pacing so I would hurry before he makes a rut in the floor” She says before leaving and shutting the door behind her.

A while later Lee and I are making our way down a oath with no flowers at all but plenty of clovers.

“Gotta keep our namesake everywhere in case people forget.” He says smiling at me. He has been holding my hand for a while now as we have made our way from his house on to the trail.

“We should put pictures of Derek on the sides of our roads” I joke. He laughs and swings our hands forward as he does.

“You can pitch that when you get home”

“Whenever that is I leave from here to Twistriver” at the mention of Xander’s pack I feel Lee tense and grip my hand harder. “sorry” I say quickly.

“It’s fine I should be the one apologizing you’re not mine yet. No matter what Rourke says”

“Does Rourke talk to you a lot?”

“Yeah pretty much non stop, guy has a lot of opinions for a dog” He smiles “what about you? CiCi a talker?” I shrug.

“Not really” I say. “She actually has spoken to me the most since she has met Rourke.”

“Well do you shift often?” He asks.

“No I never really have a reason to” I am not about to out myself as a furry artist to my possible future husband.

“So you are really out of touch with your wolf?”

“Yeah I didn’t think it was that weird. I mean we live in a pretty modern society” I explain.

“Yeah, but, like it is still a part of you” He drags his hand through his hair as he thinks. “Like arranged marriages”

“Okay explain” I say giggling at this sudden topic change.

“Right, so that is like not the best thing ever” I nod and he continues. “But, it is a part of some people’s culture, and some people really like it.”

“So shifting, is like arranged marriages?’ I ask.

“In a way yes, modernity doesn’t really like either”

“I can agree with that one. There’s a bunch of colleges that have no shifting policies on campus”

“Or worse they do allow it. In a dog park” He shudders.

“I didn’t know you were so passionate about this kind of stuff”

“Well I would just hate for you to stifle your wolf just because a bunch of Humans are a little uncomfortable with it”

“But, on that note I would hate to make them uncomfortable, just so that I could change into a giant wolf”

“Okay I have another analogy” He says excitedly.

“Shoot”

“Okay so people who are followers of Islam” I c**k my eyebrow. “Stay with me, sometimes when they participate in certain parts of their religion people are uncomfortable, should they stop?”

“Do you equate shifting to a spiritual experience?”

“I think it is even more than that” He says “It is such a unique experience that we get to be so in tune with nature why should we stop it just because not every one is ready to see a giant wolf?”

“Well I will say exposure is pretty much the only way to get used to something” He smiles as we keep talking and walking until the trees get thicker and thicker. It is hard to imagine how any of them survive at all with how close they are next to each other. The roots winding around and through each other like this. It gets to point where we have to climb over the trees to get through on the path that is seemingly burned in his mind. Eventually we come to a place that is the size of a car where no trees are growing he puts his arm out to stop me from moving forward any. He points down and I see a small circle of white button cap mushrooms.

“This is a Fae Circle” He stands proudly with his hands on his hips.

“What does it do?” I ask curious.

“Well it can summon the fae but, doing that is risky business which is why we are standing so far away”

“Are Fae still around?”

“They are in their own world, ours is not for them anymore”

“Why not?”

“Well really you name it. Technology can hurt the Fae and everything in our world is run by some tiny computer. They thrive when nature is at it’s best and that is never the case anymore.”

“So would this circle take us to their world?”

“For a price” he smiles “Everything they do comes with a price.”

“Have you ever neem to their world?”

“Once when I was younger and they were more prominent. That was a long time ago”

“What was it like?”

“I don’t even know how I could describe it” I frown at this. “Sorry that I dissapointed you but, it really is something that you would need to see in person.”

“Is that an option for someone like me?” I ask.

“For the future Luna of the Clover pack it’s no big deal”

“Ah, something to entice me to pick you”

“That and the Fae declared they would only interact with our pack highest ranking individuals”

“I see”

I take in the sights and sounds of the forest. I see the light shimmering through the treetops. How the wind moves through the grass and makes it look like water. The clovers mixed in with the grass. The soft rustling of it all is like a white noise machine. I think I could fall asleep right here. Lee must be tuned to my needs because right as I think that he looks over at me.

“Thinking of taking a nap?” I laugh.

“Can you actually read my mind?”

“I just get a gut feeling about what you need it’s like I can anticipate your needs.” Just then my stomach grumbles. We break out into laughter.

“Well, that one should be easy” I say giggling.

“Let’s go back for lunch and see if I can’t make up with Maeve.” He says and offers his hand to me and leads me back towards the familiarity of the pack housing area. As we approach Sean runs up to us.

“Alpha Rourke” He says bowing to us both.

“Beta Sean, what is it?” Lee asks concerned.

“I wanted to warn you that Murphy’s have returned from their trip.” Lee grits his teeth at this. Sean turns to me to explain.

“That means Liam is home.”