Chapter 6
Athena pov
The ceremony was beautiful short but beautiful. If I had my way it would have been cut my palm say the words be done no fancy party. But the pack needed something to celebrate.
Tomorrow I will get the keys to my grandfather’s office. My mother was the last one in there so who knows what I’ll find. All I know about my mother is magic drove her mad. The older wolves say she was never quite right but no one could put their finger on it. My father had saved some of her ashes to add to the blood wine used in the ceremony. Shivering in disgust. Yes, I drank a teenie bit of mother along with the blood of my father.
I have a month to decide who will be my beta gamma and delta. My grandfather chose a beta who then was killed and he never appointed another beta. There has only my father running the pack. You would think it would be an easy task choosing my leadership team but I want to make sure there is nothing in their family line that doesn’t line up with how a pack should be.
I have studied pack structure since I can remember. I have also kept an eye on how some companies run and grow. There is a snack we all enjoy called cinnybonnies. After tons of research, I discovered it’s a family-owned business. The original owner is from a small town to the northwest of here. Her family still lives there. Once I’m alpha I can leave the pack lands and try and meet with them. I have so many questions about how they started. Not that I plan to go into the cinnybonnies business. Just an overview of their business plan and the start cost.
For two years I have pushed to find our skills. Even if it’s just baking that’s something. I want to compile all our skills and see what business plan or adventure could best suit us. I had hoped to pick the black rose pack on their cattle ranch but ya they still refuse to meet with me.
Finally, the party is over and I can get out of this dress and death stilts. It’s gonna take a pressure washer to get the hair spray and makeup off. My mother knows how to make the pretty stay.
Drawing a bath to soak away the day I grab the journal. I don’t know who Easter is yet but I like her. Flipping through a few pages I start reading.
Dear Diary,
I know I said I would write in you every day but it’s been crazy lately. There’s a monster on the loose. This has caused a few problems. First, we had settled in a good spot. I explored some caves finding it was big enough to house us for a while. This was a huge find as the cold season was coming………….
Wow, I couldn’t image living outside in the cold. I already have issues when the weather drops just a little here. What kind of monster was on the loose? Oh, that could be a good search parameter. Looking around for a bookmark. Well, anything I can stick on this page to mark it. Grabbing the lash on my left eye and pulling the false lash off. This will work. Guess you were right mom a good lash can save you. Don’t think this was what she meant but it works.
Reading more Easter and her family made a home in the cave. Her father announcing this was the place. The cave was perfect there were a few openings high up that let light in that reflected off the mineral deposits in the ceiling. Rainwater drained into a small stream that runs through the cave. There were many offshoots enough that everyone could claim a spot and be alone. Her mother set up a kitchen area near one of the pools. The more we build the more it felt like home. A real home something I had only dreamt about was now real. The opening to the cave was a small crack in the face of the mountain face. Or well that’s was it looked like to look at it. But up close there was a path wide enough for my father to walk through, just barely but he can. It’s then twisted back making the entrance dark and invisible.
Making to the main cavern there is a fire pit with seating around it. Mom said this is the common room where we meet, eat and just spend time together. Off to the left are the bathing chamber and kitchen area. One of the pools on that side is tapped into a hot spring. The first time I got my turn in the bathing chamber. Sinking into the warm water was heaven. I had never felt something so, so oh I don’t even have the words to describe the level of bliss I felt.
Mother has set a bath schedule so we all get time in the pool. The rest of the time we just wash up with clothes water and soap. The bathing chamber is where we wash the clothes as well. So there are always clothes hanging on thick vines covering the walls. Since it’s my chore to wash clothes I have them all in sections. Huge is, obviously my father. The smallest belonging to Sarabeth. The rest of the clothing is all about the same size with us all being about the same size right now.
My father had been a smart man he dressed Sarabeth and me in trousers and tunics like him hiding our feminine bodies. No one messed with my father his son’s they would rather die than touch my father’s mate. Why were we disguised? Well, easy females are a weakness. They are weak and some rogues use females for their own needs killing them most of the time. Or they sell females off. So a male walking with three she-wolves looks like easy picking. But a male walking with his son’s and his mate that’s three males guarding a she-wolf. Who do you think sounds more dangerous?
It wasn’t long after settling in that we started hearing fighting sounds father ordered us to stay in the cave.
