The next morning 34 pregnant she wolves and 17 pups awoke with the sun, their stomachs feeling full for the first time in months.
Everyone groaned at the thought of the two day trip ahead of them that was required to reach the safety of the Roaring Hills pack. However a lot of the pups were excited at the prospect of this change, even if they had to get up early.
Thomas and Daniel were already up and about performing the last few tasks that needed to be done, so the pack could move out safely, as I woke to the first rays of sunlight hitting my face.
I looked down to see John snuggled into my side and sleeping peacefully. As I looked at him finally by my side again as I remembered how much I'd missed him these last few months I'd been away. He's nearly doubled in size since I last saw him.
Pulling my thoughts away from having to abandon John, I stretched out and yawned which disturbed the pup next to me.
John started to grumble and lightly growled at me to make me stay still. Of course it didn't work out for him.
"Sorry but you've got to get up little man." I said to my sleepy sibling as I started to groom the top of his head, which caused him to grumble some more before briefly getting up to move down to my feet so he could lie down and get comfortable again, out of the range of my tongue.
I saw Daniel in his human form, heading over to the fire that Thomas had rekindled from the night before with a bucket of water ready to boil and an evil idea came over me.
"Daniel, can you come over here with that water for a minute?" I asked Daniel through the mind link. He simply nodded at me before making his way over.
"Can you please accidentally splash a little water over my lazy brother who doesn't want to get up?" I asked through the link as Daniel raised one of his eyebrows at me while smirking.
He still didn't say anything as he slowly lifted the bucket of water over the unsuspecting pup at my feet before letting a little splash of water escape over the side and fall onto John.
John awoke instantly and jumped to his feet. All four paws were spread out and his body was in a defensive stance as he quickly searched for whatever had attacked him while he slept. All he found was Daniel and I laughing our asses off at him.
"What happened?" John asked with his eyes wide, he'd never woken up to water being thrown on him after all.
"Well you refused to get up so we thought we'd motivate you." I said trying to hold a straight face before turning my head to point out how everyone else had gotten up already. "After all, we couldn't leave you behind."
John glared at me before turning his back on the both of us to start grooming his wet fur in order to take the majority of the moisture out of it.
I got up and followed Daniel back to the fire pit. When the werewolves were introduced to the pack last night it had gone relatively well, even when Thomas and Daniel demonstrated shifting for the entire Shallow Waters pack.
However, when the werewolves started a fire all the she wolves and pups panicked at the same time. It took all of the seven werewolves present from both packs to calm them down. Even after explaining that it was a controlled fire the natural wolves were weary of the flames until they started to smell meat cooking. The flames were immediately forgiven after that.
All in all the integration of the natural wolves and the werewolves went without too much difficulty. Even though the natural wolves were still a bit weary.
I sat down at the fire pit and grabbed a piece of freshly cooked meat with my teeth from the pile nearby. I still hadn't shifted into my human form since I reconnected with my old pack. I didn't want them to feel uncomfortable around me and I didn't want Grace and Detsy to go on a rampage because the entire pack saw me naked.
Shortly after John came to get some breakfast before settling down near me to eat. He still had his back to me in an attempt to ignore me. I thought it was incredibly cute and started to wonder how John was going to survive Grace and Detsy.
Thomas, who was also in his human form, cleared his throat from beside the fire loud enough to let every wolf present know that he wanted their attention.
"We will be leaving in about 20 minutes, so if you have anything to do here at the last minute then now is the time." Thomas said in a firm but gentle voice. "As you know it'll be a two day walk back to the Roaring Hills pack house, I ask that we all stick together as I do not want to accidentally lose anyone along that way. Only Eva, Daniel and myself will be accompanying you for the journey. The other four werewolves will remain here to break their camp and ensure that your territory is scent protected so it's still here when you want to return." Thomas ended his short speech with a wave of his hand.
A couple of the she wolves and pups went back into the pack den quickly, but the majority just sat around the fire to watch as Daniel used the remaining water to quash the flames then shoveled dirt over the coals to rob them of oxygen. When he was finished there was no sign that a fire pit had ever been there and everyone was back and ready to move.
With one last look around what most had called their home for their entire lives, the remaining members of the Shallow Waters pack walked away from the pack den. Following the werewolves out of their territory and into the unknown, relying on the word of a former pack member and hoping that she was still as truthful and honorable as they remembered.
...
The journey was taking longer than expected. Even though the Shallow Waters pack had werewolves traveling with them to hunt and make sure everyone was fed, months of near starvation and their pregnancies had taken its toll on the poor wolves.
Instead of arriving at the pack house on the second day of travel, we were forced to stop that evening to rest. We were still a little way from the border of our territory and despite how much Thomas, Daniel and I would like to be safely across the border, we couldn't push the she wolves any further.
So we camped for the night and decided to leave at first light again like we had done for the last two days.
On a positive note my mind link with Grace and Detsy had come back into range on the same day that we left and I had been happily chatting away with them and explaining what happened at the Shallow Waters pack. It had taken all of my persuasion to not have my two mates come running out to greet us. Both Grace and Detsy had duties they couldn't ignore with the lunar festival a couple of days away, no matter how much I wanted to see them.
John had forgiven me for waking him up with cold water shortly after his feet started to hurt from all the walking and I offered him a perch on my back.
It looked weird to have a pup riding my back but John seemed to be comfortable and that's all that really mattered. I was both eager and nervous for my brother to meet my mates tomorrow.
"How much further do we have to go?" John whined at me as we settled down to sleep on the second night since we left the Shallow Rivers pack den. Luna Kate tried to look like she wasn't interested, but she was leaning in to hear my answer as well.
"We will cross the pack borders early tomorrow and make it to the pack house at midday." I told John truthfully.
"You mean we have another half a day of walking tomorrow?" John complained as I raised one of my eyebrows.
"I seem to remember you climbing on my back and letting me walk most of the way for you." I replied while looking at John in the eye. "So you're right, I'm sure one of the other pups would love a ride as there is another half a day of travel."
"That's not fair!" John responded with a look on his face of both anger and annoyance at the same time.
"I think it's completely fair." I said while turning my head to look at some of the more exhausted pups. "You've been carried most of the way already and they're at their limit. As your pack members you should be looking out for them instead of being greedy."
John's look of annoyance and anger faded from his face as he hung his head in shame. "You're right big sister, I'm sorry." He said.
"That's alright John." I told him. "Just remember that your pack is your family just like I am, if you treat them all the same way you treat me then you will be well loved by everyone."
John nodded at me before laying his head down. He was deep in thought about what I'd said to him as he stared at the stars. It only took about ten minutes before the young wolf's eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep.
I followed my brother shortly after into the land of dreams. Dreaming of John, Grace, Detsy and a nameless King and Queen who were out to get the rest of us.
I awoke with a start as the King finally caught me in my dream and was bringing his shadowy face to mine. The only feature that was visible on his face were the rows of sharp, pointy teeth.
I took a deep breath as I tried to calm myself down from the nightmare and looked at the sky to see the first signs of pink on the horizon to indicate that morning was fast approaching.
As I was extremely eager to get back to the pack house and my mates I decided that everyone had slept long enough and proceeded to get up and wake up the camp.
No one was happy to be woken up that early, but everyone had been warned that we would be leaving extremely early.
I carried the youngest pup of the pack who was having a lot of trouble with walking so much at the insistence of John. It was good to see he'd learnt his lesson and was looking out for his pack members.
The rest of the trip went smoothly with Thomas leading us over the Roaring Hills pack territory border early that morning.
We had to stop there for a little while so I could formally give the wolves of the Shallow Waters pack permission to enter the Roaring Hills pack territory as Alpha Leyton had instructed me to.
Once we entered our packs territory Thomas, Daniel and I started to get excited as everything around us became recognizable, while the Shallow Waters pack started to drag their feet as they became nervous.
"Don't worry." I tried to comfort Luna Kate when we were only 30 or so minutes away from the pack house. All the werewolves had been instructed to stay clear of the approaching pack so as not to scare them and that had put Luna Kate on edge, along with being in unfamiliar territory.
"We will meet up with Alpha Leyton in about 10 minutes. He'll formally welcome you then and you can ask him any questions you like. Just remember that you're not prisoners here." I tried my best to calm the poor wolf down but it wasn't having much of an effect.
It didn't help my attempts to calm Luna Kate down when not even a minute later a white shape zoomed through the pack and crashed into me.
I found myself pinned under a massive wolf as Grace lowered her head into my neck. The equivalent of a massive hug for a wolf.
"I've missed you so much." Grace said to me through the mind link as she refused to remove her head from where it was buried in my neck.
"I missed you too." I admitted as I felt a wet tongue lick my snout in the form of a wolf kiss.
I looked up and saw Detsy in all of her chocolate brown glory. "I missed you as well." I said as I moved my snout closer to her.
All the she wolves had backed away when Grace had come barreling through in her hurry to get to me and were standing a good distance away, trying to decide if my mates were a threat to them.
"Who are they?" John asked without fear as he came up to us and sat down, tilting his head to the side in a curious manner. These wolves were not hurting his sister after all, so how bad could they be?
I pushed Grace off of me so I could sit up. "Grace, Detsy this is my little brother John." I introduce. "John, these two are my mates, Grace and Detsy."
Grace had a look of 'aw, so cute.' on her face and was about to greet the little wolf when Detsy squealed. "He's SO CUTE!"
Poor John didn't stand a chance as Detsy covered the short distance from my side to where John was in under a second.
Detsy proceeded to pounce on John so she could position him between her front paws, before starting to groom him rather forcefully.
John sat there and looked at me like he'd just been violated without saying anything while Detsy groomed him.
Grace chuckled as she watched the show before speaking to John. "It's nice to meet you and welcome to the family little brother." I could tell Grace was holding back from laughing out loud for John's sake.
I turned away from Detsy and John as Detsy paused long enough to start talking to John as she groomed him. I could already tell that Detsy had accepted him as part of the family, although I know that John will have no idea what that actually means as Grace and Detsy are royalty.
I found Luna Kate at the front of where most of the she wolves had retreated to and politely asked her to come over. Luna Kate was obviously scared of Grace's size as well as how fast she was moving when she encountered us, but came over to us anyway.
"Luna Kate I would like to introduce you to Princess Grace. Grace here is the next in line to be the Alpha that oversees all the other werewolf Alpha's. They are accountable to her in much the same manner that a beta is to an Alpha." I introduced Grace beside me. "She's also my mate."
I didn't think that Luna Kate's eyes could get any wider as I continued. "The chocolate colored fluff ball over there that is grooming John is Princess Detsy. She's the next in line to be the Luna of all Luna's in the same way that Grace is going to be the Alpha of all Alpha's. She's also my mate."
"You weren't kidding when you said you had two mates." Was all Luna Kate managed to get out after about 30 seconds of being stunned.
Grace chuckled before greeting the Luna before her. "It is an honor to finally meet you Luna Kate. As one of the princesses of all werewolves it would be my pleasure to escort you and your pack for the remainder of your journey."
As Grace gave her little speech I could just imagine her giving a little bow at the end if she had been in her human form.
Luna Kate relaxed as she learnt that this huge and very powerful werewolf was simply here to escort them.
"Thank you Princess Grace, I humbly accept your offer." Luna Kate said as she lowered in head both in thanks and submission to the incredible presence that was Grace.
I heard John trying to free himself unsuccessfully from Detsy behind me and turn to face them.
"You know that you're going to have to let him go so that we can keep moving and not keep Alpha Leyton waiting for us." I said to Detsy.
"Nope, he's mine now." Detsy joked as she grabbed John by his scruff and flung him onto her back.
"Wow this is high up." John commented from his perch on Detsy's back as Grace, Detsy and I laughed at his antics.
Luna Kate convinced her pack that everything was ok and we once again started out to meet with Alpha Leyton and Luna May. Who according to Grace, were waiting for us over the next three hills.