Changing Lines

3. Announcement

River’s week had been her usual calm and predictable life; aside from the fact that her father now made her do a turn when she came down for breakfast, to be sure she was properly dressed. She also noticed that she’d never seen that ‘team wolf’ shirt after she’d put it in the laundry. She had no doubt her father or one of her brothers had something to do with it.

Judging by her mom’s sparkling eyes when she mentioned it and her father’s studious dismissal that it was probably still lost in one of the machines, she was sure it was her dad. She didn’t understand him. She dressed much more modest than any of the she-wolves around her and he acted like she’d broken some kind of dress code with her t-shirt that had paws on her boobs.

That morning when she went to school, one of the she-wolves that had tried to befriend her to get to Aaron, who completely refused to date in their pack had handed her a large rainbow colored lollypop as a jab at her. River had had her fair share of teasing and knew how to put them off.

So she got really excited, started bouncing up and down and called loudly in the corridors for all to hear. “Edan! Old Aunty Bev gave me a really big lollipop. Look!” Her reaction caused everyone nearby to laugh, embarrassing Bev for her stupid joke.

River knew she wasn’t popular like the others, but she certainly wasn’t about to be bullied either and she knew that if she made a big scene and played along with their joke they’d get embarrassed more than she would. Did they really think she would cower? She might not be a werewolf, but she grew up with Rip taking over occasionally when her father lost control. She was the granddaughter of an alpha and Hunter Jenkins, there was very little she feared.

Grandpa Henry had continued with her escape training, sighting that she would get better with practice, which meant, she’d fall on her face at least once at every training session. She would spend a half hour under the sprite tree near the pack house, just to be sure she showed no bruises, as per her Mom’s orders.

However, Friday after lunch, their school suddenly went into lockdown without any explanation and they were forced to stay in their classes, sitting on the floor with the jocks that were actually trained warriors that were still finishing school, sitting near the doors and windows for protection.

She wasn’t a wolf, but even she could taste the fear from the human kids, not that she wasn’t scared, but with Edan with her and surrounded by warriors she knew she was pretty safe. They heard distant cries for help, but no one reacted, except the pack link that went insane, the elders telling the students to stay inside since a wendigo had slipped through the defenses and was prowling the woods near the school. It was a little terrifying; the voice calling for help was so real, despite them being informed that it was one of the wendigo’s hunting methods.

If she had not known it, she would probably have gone to help the poor stranger. The thought that it preyed on kind people that wanted to help was horrible. Imagine the chaos it would do if it got close to town and into the school. It would have a field day, since legend said they were gluttons, taking down as many as they could and storing them alive to eat later. It was a horrible way to go.

Finally, after a half hour, the intercom crackled on and announced that they had done well with the practice run for emergencies. Of course, they couldn’t announce to the humans that the wendigo had been caught and was no longer a threat, even if a lot of the kids in school were children of Hunters.

Needless to say, she was surrounded by warriors all the way home again, thankfully, all extracurricular activities had been called off, so it wasn’t as smelly, but it was still hot between all the werewolves with their higher body heat. But River knew better than to complain, she’d grown up like this and she was just grateful she wasn’t rolled up in bubble wrap before she was allowed outside.

They were all worried with the wendigo that had somehow got through their defenses in the middle of the day. To her it meant that they definitely needed the help of the Blood Lake Pack. They did get their name from the legend that their forefathers had turned the lake into blood from the battle between them and the wendigo that had tried to kill the pack. It was some of the legends they were told as teenagers around a campfire, now it seemed the scary stories were coming for them.

Of course, she was not alone in the middle of the warrior barrier, all the she-wolves that were not warriors themselves and the younger pack members found themselves in the middle of the furnace that was the warriors. They were all subdued and River decided they would not enter their weekend that way. She mindlinked the kitchen and asked in her sweetest voice if they could have ice cream and frozen drinks ready when they got there and Mrs. Gilbert agreed with amusement, obviously guessing at her reasoning.

“Mrs. Gilbert says there is only one tub of mint chocolate ice cream left; I call dibs!” She called out when they got closer to the pack house, causing some of the wolves around her to chuckle and others to call out their chosen flavor.

“Hey, you’re sharing with me, right?” Edan asked with puppy dog eyes when they got close to the pack house.

“Nope, all mine!” She called out, squeezing between the two warriors in front in an attempt to gain ground, but she tripped over Mason Gilbert’s foot and sprawled on the ground with her usual grace.

Everyone started laughing and she squealed in surprise when Edan picked her up and threw her over his shoulder like a bag of rice. “Guess I get to charge courier fees…” He stated with a chuckle, causing everyone around them to laugh and rush into the kitchen with them.

Aaron laughed out loud when he saw her over Edan’s shoulder, complaining about being treated like a sack of rice. She had intended to raise their morale with snacks, wolves were always happy when they ate; she did not plan to end up on the ground again.

“Guess I win this race…” Edan teased when he sat down at the kitchen counter and put her down in the stool next to him with a grin.

“I can’t help it if Mason’s feet are so big…” She pouted when Edan pulled the tub of choc mint ice cream towards him.

“Which meant it should be easier to see so you don’t trip over someone else’s feet.” Aaron teased as he pulled a frozen coffee closer to him. River stuck her tongue out at him and then cooed with delight when Edan pushed the bowl of ice cream in front of her.

“And they say the way to a wolf’s heart is through their stomach…” Aaron teased when she moaned with delight at the taste of her favorite dessert.

Her mom and dad came into the kitchen to get their own treats, turned out it was not just for the kids coming from school; she noticed quite a few adults also enjoying the treat. “Why are you covered in dust?” Her Dad asked with confusion.

“She tripped over Mason’s feet when she tried to win a race to have ownership of the last tub of her favorite ice cream, sir.” Edan grinned with amusement.

“You fell over Mason’s feet?” Her dad asked with amusement.

“He has big feet…” She retorted, causing Mason to bark out a laugh at her defense where he was drinking a milkshake next to his grandmother who still lead the kitchen.

Her father shook his head with amusement as he pulled her mother onto his lap when he sat down. “We have a pack meeting in an hour.” He stated and she stopped for a moment, looking at her father’s serious expression.

What was going on? She had a feeling her Dad wasn’t entirely happy with what the meeting was about, but she also knew that he wouldn’t tell her anything before the others. Aaron’s expression proved he already knew, but that was because he and Camden worked closely with their Dad and Aunt Mia to be ready when they took over the pack.

Soon, they all trailed outside to the stage that was set up permanently for announcements, mating ceremonies and other gatherings. She was right there in the crowd with everyone else, her father and mother were the only ones on the stage for this announcement.

“Good evening everyone. I’m sure you’ve all heard about what happened at the school today. We have managed to eradicate the threat and the kids will be able to return to school safely by Monday. We are working on finding the breech and the trackers inform me that they are close to knowing where it slipped through.”

There was a collective sigh of relief that went through the whole pack, they had all been a little tense after what had happened at school and it seemed the parents had been just as worried. Thankfully, they didn’t need to worry about it. Her father would not allow his pack to be in danger.

“However, the safety precautions are still in place. The pups cannot run around without adult supervision; no one should walk around alone without anyone knowing where you are. I understand this lack of freedom is frustrating, but it is for the safety of everyone.”

There was a murmur of reluctant agreement in the pack. They were complaining? They should have a day in her life…

“This leads me to the next bit of news. We have been in negotiations with Blood Lake and they agreed to help train our warriors and patrollers on wendigo methods and signs in exchange for a few things. One of those is that their children be allowed to join our school from Monday.”

A murmur of worry came into the crowd surrounding her. Obviously, everyone was worried about the situation, since Blood Lake had not agreed to an alliance in decades. There were speculations that they didn’t have any allies.

“I know this is new territory, but this is the start of an alliance that we need. We have no experience with wendigo and it would be in everyone’s best interest if we work with them. They have the experience and the know-how. The alliance is important for everyone’s well-being. They have agreed and are willing to work with us peacefully, if we agree to help with their kids’ schooling, enter into trade with them and agree to assist with their slow entrance into modern technology since they’ve been pretty much cut off from the rest of the world.”

The murmurs continued for a moment.

“They have also entered into an agreement with the Hunters that they would abide by the laws we do to enter the town and school. All the laws we agreed to were agreed to by them. We know that this is daunting, since we know so little about them, but I ask that you try to be accommodating. This is an alliance we all need. They have also agreed not to shift within school or town territory and we agreed that we will open our borders to them as they have opened theirs to us.” Her father finished his speech with a clear command to adhere to the agreement.

River was surprised that her father had agreed to the terms, she was sure he’d entered a lot of safety clauses into it and Grandpa Henry would not have allowed them near the school if he did not like what they were offering.

“The eldest children will start school on Monday; just five of them and two warriors will be joining our ranks to help train us. In return, they asked if we would be willing to give them two warriors to assist with taking on their duties while their warriors are training ours. Would anyone like to volunteer?”

There was a moment of silence before she was surprised to see two wolves step forward. She didn’t really know their names since they preferred to stay on the periphery of the pack and only showed up for meetings and social events when invited. She had not expected them to volunteer.

“Brady; Thaddeus, thank you for volunteering; let me know when you’ll be ready to leave.”

They nodded quietly and with that, the meeting was dismissed and they all headed inside to eat dinner. Brady and Thaddeus joined them and according to their conversation with her father and brother were a few years older than Aaron and had also not yet found their mates. They’d decided to take on the adventure since they’d given up hope on finding their mates after so many years.

Absently, she wondered if she would have a mate. She was pretty much human, and though her Grandpa Henry had a mate, they were both a second chance for the other. Would she have to date like humans or would she be lucky enough to have a mate? She was worried that she would be forced to leave the pack when she finished school.

She might want to go study or see a bit of the world, but she wasn’t sure if she would be allowed to stay here if she ever fell in love and married a human. She supposed she would have to live in town if she wanted to come back here with a human. The only humans allowed in the packs were mates of wolves and the Hunters that had permission.

But since she was basically human and if she got involved with a human, did that mean that she would have to live outside the pack? She had been noticing that she’d been getting more attention from the males at school, but she guessed it was expected, since she was the only single girl left. There seemed to be a shortage of girls her age in school.