Dear Readers, Not so much sex in this one, but there is sex. Have to set up/move the story along.
KemMyst
Thanks for reading.
******
Friday dawns cloudy. It was the third and final day of the unmated gathering.
Although there had been the potential for trouble around the initial meeting since the visiting wolves would be uncomfortable off their home ranges, Lyssa had been warned that this day would probably be the most boisterous, the most volatile.
But today marked a turning point. Earlier, they would have been on good behavior, both to attract a potential mate and so as not to disgrace their pack.
However, things got a bit more tense as time passed. Two, or more, males vying for a female's attention could lead to some nasty fights. And females after a male could be particularly vicious.
Those who hadn't paired up or didn't see a potential mate in any of the attendees were liable to get stinking drunk and stupid.
They would all need to take extra care today. An accidental bump or unknowing word could start a small scale riot, and groups would square off along pack lines.
The Wyeth wolves woke and headed down to breakfast.
Natalie took a tray to Cassie and Samuel. Males were not well tolerated in the vicinity of the new pup.
Erich has dragged Madeline down with him. Some of the others eye her speculatively, trying to gauge his interest in the small female beside him. Since Erich was to be Beta, she would be joining the pack if they mated.
Roland also brought a female with him to breakfast. She was blond, with long wavy hair, and green eyes. She had a lean body with large, full breasts. They were talking quietly. She could be another addition to the pack, as Roland was Alpha heir.
Martin had apparently not taken a female to his bed.
Celia had paired with a Gates male. Members of the pack had a hard time not looking. His coloring was highly unusual. His hair was white in the low lighting of the dining hall, but when he stepped through a beam of sunlight, it flared a golden red. His eyes were the deep blue green of the sea. [Mm, nice man candy, Celia.]
Celia growls, low in her throat. [You've already got yours, Anna.]
[Doesn't mean I can't admire.]
Lyssa checked on arrangements again with Simon, who was accepting another shipment of beef.
Emmett sent three of the adolescents, two younger females and a male, to May and Maggie, to help with the laundry. And he had Jamie and Justin run the perimeter of the range. Then he and Randall went to briefly check on the captive wolf, before Randall headed to the warehouse to meet with Mathias and Gabriela about the business. A shipment was coming in that he wished to oversee.
Things were pleasantly quiet that morning but everyone started to get tense as the time approached for the unmated to arrive for the final day.
It was counted as a success thus far for Lyssa and Wyeth since it appeared there were already a few couples coming out of it. Depending upon what had happened last night, it was possible there were already mated pairs.
By midafternoon wolves begin arriving again in the Wyeth compound.
Erich tucks Madeline under his arm and walks around the back garden with her, talking about the plants.
".. and a bunch of them have meanings attached to them."
"Like roses for love, right?"
"Right, but that's just the red ones. Other colors of roses mean different things." She brushes her hand over the branches of a bush with dark green glossy needles and is rewarded with a familiar resiny scent. She pulls off a small piece and rubs it between her fingers, crushing it and releasing more of the volatile oil.
Erich was taken aback by the potency of the smell.
"Rosemary is for remembrance." Erich looks confused. "The essential oils in the rosemary plant help memory. So, just smelling it helps you remember.."
She loses her train of thought as he turns her, takes her shoulders, and pulls her up to him, kissing her deeply. Her hands go around his neck.
After a couple of minutes, he releases her. She blinks her eyes, seemingly dazed, and he nibbles on her neck. "What were you saying?"
"Huh?"
***
Wolves eat, and troll, and drink.
Lyssa and Emmett watch as the alcohol consumption ramps up. Those that hadn't found mates, or had been spurned, were beginning to drink away their troubles. They took note of the more determined consumers and Emmett posted some of the males to keep watch over those four or five.
Four wolves had declined the invitation to this last day but there were still close to 40 wolves in attendance.
Roland and the Ross female had decided to part company and were looking elsewhere.
Joanna has elected to stay in her room until Nathan arrives.
Calvin looks for Stephanie and finds her outside, standing stiffly, completely focused on a couple of visiting males.
He walks up behind her and puts a hand on her shoulder. "My dear,.."
He barely gets the words out as she grabs his hand, whirls and twists, snarling at him.
She's wrenched his arm behind his back and has her forearm around his throat.
[Stephanie?] He was tense, ready to fight, the automatic reaction to a perceived threat.
She reacts quickly, releasing him and stepping back. "Alph.. Calvin, I apologize."
Calvin takes a couple of breaths, ratcheting down from battle readiness. "The fault is mine, my dear. I shouldn't have crept up behind you while you were working. I'll be in the dining hall and I'll leave you to it."
Stephanie watches as Calvin heads back into the house. As he disappears she shakes herself and returns to vigilance.
***
Emmett and Randall were watchful, both trying to keep track of the visiting wolves and keeping the sentries fresh by rotating their stations. Lyssa walks around, checking on things, watching the drinkers with some trepidation.
She sees Calvin sitting off to one side and walks over to sit beside him. "Is something wrong.. Calvin?"
"Unfortunately, my dear, several things. It's almost worse than when I led the pack."
"Would it help to talk about it?"
"I'm not sure where to even begin." He looks down and sighs. "You've got one of my.. one of our pack locked up. My son is having more difficulty as Alpha than I would have expected. And I've found someone I would like to spend time with and I'm quite sure I'm mucking it up."
The revelations give Lyssa pause. She had been hurt and then so busy she hadn't realized one of the wolves that had kidnapped she and Joanna had been taken alive and was being held by Wyeth. The admission of problems in the Ross pack was highly unusual. Wolves didn't talk about issues within their own packs. If it was a pack matter, they kept it to themselves. And he had been spending time with Stephanie. What he expected from such an unemotional female as Stephanie was beyond her.
"Trouble indeed. Can't you be Beta to your son, advise him?"
"He doesn't want my advice. Sampson has tried but Michael intends to change the way the pack runs. He has some murky plans he doesn't divulge."
"There must be someone he talks to. A friend? A woman?"
Calvin sighs. "One of our females warms his bed but holds no sway over him. His friends are gone. I haven't seen them in days." He looks at her more closely. "Lyssa, can you tell me what happened to the wolves that took you and Joanna?"
"They had me drugged. I don't remember much of anything."
"But you've heard. They told you what happened. The others are dead, aren't they?"
"One is. The other ran."
He considers asking how, but decides it doesn't matter.
They are quiet for a time. Calvin drains the beer he's been holding. "What can you tell me about Stephanie?"
Lyssa sighs. "Not much. She mostly keeps to herself. She doesn't talk much. And, even if she did, it probably wouldn't be to me." Calvin looks confused. "When I first came to the den, Stephanie was set to watch me, since I wasn't a wolf. Then.. something happened to me and she was at fault. So we aren't anything resembling close."
