Sapphire’s Second Chance

The party

Sapphire followed her father into the room, it was a loud and noisy party. Both packs intermingling, with some representatives from other packs in the Western Kingdom and from the Western King himself due to the importance of the two packs. She remembered from last time that there would be plenty of new soulmate bonds found tonight by other werewolves as the beer and the wine flowed freely. It wasn’t often that werewolves had the chance to mingle with so many from other packs. Sapphire had never found found her soulmate in her last life, all she had was her chosen mate Darin, which was worse than having no mate at all, she thought to herself. She still felt sick, it felt as if this party was celebrating the end of everything good and happy in her life. All she had to look forward to was a lifetime of sadness. “Not this time Saff” said Starlight in her mind “this time we’ll do it differently. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, we’ve work to do tonight. Concentrate. You can’t change the future if we don’t try.”

“You ok Little Wolf?” asked her Dad sending her hesitation, “Yes Dad, just make the change to the pack rules for me soon please?”

“For you, anything” he said scanning the room to work out who he needed to speak to. She grabbed his arm, “Dad could you introduce me to the Western King’s Beta do you think?” just stopping herself from adding ‘I didn’t meet him last time’.

The last time she was at this party she had stayed glued to Darin’s side, playing the party of the happy chosen mate. She had no eyes for anyone else but him. This time round she thought the only reason to keep an eye on Darin was to make sure he was no where near her.

Her Dad smiled “Of course I can Little Wolf, but this is a party, don’t forget to have fun.” “I won’t Dad, thank you.” Drawing her arm through his, he lead her through the crowd towards the quieter end of the great hall, where various of the more important werewolves were sitting quietly discussing matters between themselves. As they approached, most broke off their conversations to look at Sapphire and her father, they were a striking couple.

“Beta Thorensen” said her father addressing an imposing red haired man with golden eyes who had been sitting observing the others. “May I take this opportunity to introduce you to Sapphire, my only child now also Luna of the North Sea pack?”

“Certainly, it is a pleasure to meet you Luna” Beta Thorensen said, studying her carefully, he didn’t expect the new Luna to seek him out, he thought she would be too busy spending time with her new mate. Sapphire smiled one of her warm, open smiles, she had the gift of making people feel seen and liked. “It’s my pleasure to meet you too Beta Thorensen, we’re very honored that you came to spend this day with us, we know how busy you are. Call me Sapphire, please. I’m not used to my new title. May we join you briefly?”

“Certainly” came the guided reply “To what do I owe this pleasure?” Thorensen studied her closely, there was something unusual about this Luna and he couldn’t pin it down. Certainly she was beautiful and she seemed kind but there was something else that made him wary and he didn’t understand why, she didn’t appear to be a threat. Why did his wolf feel nervous? As the King’s Beta he was one of the strongest wolves in the Kingdom and he was also one of the most perceptive. As the King’s right hand man he also went where the King needed in order to keep an eye on what was happening in the Kingdom. This union between the North Sea and Blue Star packs had concerned the King, if these two packs came fully together they could challenge the stability of the Kingdom. As long as they were loyal to the King there would be no problem but if not, measures would need to be taken. Thorensen was there to form a view for the King, was this union a threat?

“There are challenging times ahead” began Sapphire picking her words slowly and carefully. She had to get this right. “This union between the North Sea and Blue Star packs will hopefully add to the peace and stability of the Western Kingdom, but rogue attacks seem to be getting more frequent. We need to be strong and united to meet future challenges.”

Thorensen was surprised but he tried not to show it. This was the discussion he often had with his King but not one he expected from a pack Luna. He tried to laugh it off “Sapphire, surely today of all days you don’t need to worry about this, you have a new mate to enjoy and a future hopefully filled with pups to think of and a new pack to care for.”

She smiled resolutely “But today of all days is the day I have the privilege of meeting you and whilst it’s important to enjoy the present it’s also necessary to think of the future. I won’t trouble you too much, but I was just wondering whether an elite fighting academy might be useful to bring the Westerm Kingdom together, we could send you our best fighters to train with the Royal Pack.”

Sapphire knew of course that in her other life this training academy had been created a year or so after she was mated to Darin. It didn’t come to much because they had sent the weakest fighters from both packs, Darin didn’t want to make the Royal Pack any stronger nor did he wish to show his strength to the King. It would have undermined his plan to take over the Western Kingdom, something he failed to do even though he plunged it onto a dark and horrible war. She was taking a chance that the training academy was something under discussion long before it had started in her other life and that maybe she could accelerate the start.

Her father beside her looked a little surprised but then nodded. He was always receptive to her ideas. “It’s a good idea Sapphire” he agreed, “I would happily send some of our best fighters for say 6 months or so to train with others in the Western Kingdom. It is important that we all stay strong.”

Beta Thorensen nodded slowly “Yes Sapphire that is something we have been discussing but it is early days yet. There would be much to arrange.”

“Would there?” she countered, “surely it is just a case of getting agreement and finding accommodation, which is surely not a problem at the palace?”

“What does your new mate think?” He asked, wondering if this was her idea or their joint idea.

Sapphire blushed guilty, of course she had not mentioned this to Darin, but clearly she needed to do so. The problem was he was unlikely to agree with her plan.

“I haven’t yet spoken to him, but I will do, what better way to celebrate the union of our two packs than the creation of an elite training academy to support the Kingdom?”

The thought of getting Darin to agree made her feel more nauseous than ever. It was so unlikely he would do so, but tonight was her best chance, she knew everything would get much worse between her and Darin from now on in.

She smiled, “I must look for him, if you will excuse me, it is a pleasure to meet you Beta Thorensen and I hope I will be able to talk further with you later this evening.”

“Of course Sapphire, it would be my pleasure.”

She smiled, hugged her father and walked away briskly her heart in turmoil, Thorensen was right, she needed Darin to support this for her plan to go ahead, but could she make him do so? One thing was for sure, it was tonight or never.