“It’s a car, not a spaceship. I think I will figure it out,” I said confidently as I adjusted the seat.
“Fine. Just ask if you need to know something.”
“You are right next to me. It will be fine,” I assured him as I drove off. The biggest difference from my car was that the truck was an automatic shift. It took a little while to adjust to not having to change manually.
Slowly but surely, we made our way towards the destination. The small caravan of cars had a surprisingly easy time sticking together and only twice did we need to wait for someone to catch up.
“It will be nice to sleep in a bed tonight,” Finlay remarked as we got close to the area the games were held in. The council owned a large piece of land in the middle of the Canadian wild. There were no humans for miles and it made it the ideal place to hold the games as well as any joint pack meetings.
“Yes, I’m looking forward to stretching out on a bed,” I agreed. Sleeping in the car was not a comfortable experience when you really couldn’t adjust the seat too much due to all the luggage we had in the back.
“Want company on that bed?” Finlay asked and wiggled his eyebrows. I laughed and punched him in his shoulder.
“In your dreams,” I said.
“Quite often,” he admitted.
“Perv.” We both laughed. On the council grounds there were cabins packs could rent for the month of the games. If you didn’t want to rent one, or couldn’t afford to do so, there were areas for camping. The top five packs got bigger cabins, free of charge. Those cabins had, in addition to the bedrooms, kitchen and living area all cabins had, a gym and a conference room. For all other packs there were joint gyms that could be booked if you wanted private access and also joint conference rooms. We had booked a cabin years ago. It was just a more comfortable option that would give us advantages. We had made sure to budget for the rent. We had also booked private gym times well in advance. The last couple of hours had been spent driving on a small gravel road in the middle of a deep forest. Seemingly out of nowhere there was a checkpoint. One of the warriors manning it stepped forward to check who we were.
“Welcome Alpha Finlay. You have cabin twenty-five. If you scan this QR code it gives you access to a map of the area and the schedule. The opening of the games is in two days’ time,” the warrior said. Finlay took out his phone and scanned the code the warrior held up.
“Thank you,” he said. The gate was raised and we drove through. Finlay handed me his phone, and I guided him to our cabin. The cabins were spread out over a large area in a forested part of the land. It gave the feeling of privacy, as you couldn’t directly see another cabin. The cabin we had been given was nice. It was a large log cabin with ten bedrooms divided on the top two floors, a kitchen and a living room on the bottom floor. It had already been decided the participants in the games would each get a bedroom on the third floor and the supporting staff would pair up two to each room on the second floor. We decided to spend the rest of the day unpacking and get set up. We went to bed early, as we all felt the need for a good night’s sleep before facing the other packs the next day.Amie
I woke up the next morning and took a moment to prepare myself mentally for the day. For each day we spent here the chance of me running into someone from my old pack increased. I got up and got dressed in a pair of jeans and a tank top, me, Finlay, and Sam would be doing a lot of walking around. It made sense to dress comfortably in the summer heat. As I was about to exit my room there was a soft knock on the door. I opened it and saw Finlay standing outside.
“Morning, Red,” he said and took half a step toward me.
“Morning, Finn,” I said with a smile.
“Ready for today?” he asked.
“As ready as I’m going to get. How about you?” He took my hand and placed a kiss on my palm.
“I’m ready,” he said. We went downstairs together and all of us sat down to have breakfast. We went through what the goal for everyone was for the day and then we set off.
“I’m heading over to the gym to make sure our bookings are secured,” Sam told me and Finlay.
“Good. Me and Amie will go over to the council building and make sure they have registered us and look if any of our allies have arrived,” Finlay said. As we walked toward the official building, I tried to take in as much of the surroundings as I could. We would be here for a month, the sooner I got used to the place, the better. Most of the land was covered in forest. It was the old type of forest with tall trees and minimal undergrowth. It gave the place a feeling of being a large building with a roof and tall pillars. It was perfect for what we needed it to be. The area with the cabins had younger trees that acted as privacy fences between the cabins and the same was true for the campgrounds. The gyms, public kitchen and bathrooms were all located between the living areas and the council building. I was just going to tell Finlay that the way the grounds were organised would make it easy to navigate when I caught the scent of someone familiar. I stopped and looked around.
“Amie?” Finlay asked. For once, I ignored him as I turned towards where the scent came from. About twenty feet away, I saw my brother. He was looking at me like he couldn’t believe his eyes. I smiled at him, hoping he would be happy to see me. Elder covered the distance between us in seconds and drew me into a tight embrace.
“Armeria,” he said and tightened the embrace.
“Hi, Elder,” I said and returned the hug. I felt Finlay standing just behind me. Close enough to intervene if there was an issue, but not so close as to intrude on the moment. After a moment, Elder took a step back and held me at arm’s length so he could look at me. He had got older, he didn’t look as carefree as he used to. But then he was a Beta now. I understood the weight of the title.
“Amie, where on earth have you been?” he asked with a boyish smile. I had to laugh. My worries he would be mad at me all melted away.
“A little here and there, but mostly at the Blue Mountain pack,” I said, looking over my shoulder at Finlay. Elder followed my gaze and frowned. I knew what he was going to say. “I asked him not to tell you. I wasn’t ready,” I explained. Elder looked back at me and nodded. His smile returned.
“It is good to see you. You are all grown up. You look good, little sister.”
“Thank you. So do you. The Beta title suits you,” I told him.
“I have a lot of things to tell you, and a lot of questions about your life as well,” he said. That is when I noticed the mark on his neck and I grinned.
“I see you have found someone who can stand to be mated to you,” I teased him. It was natural to fall back into how I had always talked to him. He gave me a brilliant smile.
“I have. I found my true mate a couple of years back, Becky. She is perfect. Both mom and dad adore her. And, you are an aunt. We had a son almost a year ago. Armino is back home with mom and dad, but Becky is here. I can’t wait for you to meet her,” he excitedly told me. I smiled at him, he sounded happy and I loved it.
“Congratulations, big brother. I’m so happy for you. I can’t wait to meet your mate. I have some good stories about you she needs to hear,” I told him. He laughed and tried to ruffle my hair. After years of avoiding the same move from Finlay, I easily dodged his hand. He continued to laugh and pulled me into another hug.
“I really have missed you, little sister. Dad and I wanted to find you, but mom forbade us. She said you would let us know when you were ready,” he said in a serious voice. I sent a silent thank you to my mother.
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