13. Cade

Cade



Mark and I sat down at the table. Kaya pushed the food towards us. Both of us began to dig in. I wondered what the meat was. It tasted different. "What is this?” I mind linked Kaya. “Seal." What? I was eating a seal. It didn't taste bad, but the texture was a little rubbery. Mark didn't seem to care; he just stuffed his face like he always did. I was sure he was a bottomless pit.

After we finished, Helen asked, "So, splitting wood with your hands?” Mark responded. "Hey, they wanted to see how strong we are." Helen just rolled her eyes. I looked at Kaya, and she seemed to be engaged in some sort of discussion with someone over mind link. I connected to her. "What is going on." "Nieva wants to know how long you all are staying?"

"Does it matter?" I had not recalled a time limit to our stay there. "Well, no, and yes. The men are going out fishing tomorrow, so if you are staying, you have been asked to join." "Well, we planned on staying for a week." Mark and I wanted to take a small break from running our pack and wanted to make a new alliance. "Okay, I will tell Nieva." After a moment, she began to mind link again. "Um, just so you know, you and Mark will be gone for three days." "What?"

"Yeah, um, the hunt is a whale hunt. It's probably the last of the season, so it could be more than 3 days. But it should be at most five days." I was a bit in shock. I had never even gone fishing, and here I was expected to help kill a fucking whale. I should have told her we were leaving tomorrow. I wondered just how this was going to work. I mean, we just mated. I didn't want to leave her again.

I looked at Mark. "Cade, what?" I knew my face was giving off that something was up. "I told Kaya to tell Nieva we were staying for a week." "Yeah, so? We agreed on that." "Well, we are expected to go with the men on the whale hunt." "What?" "Yeah." "Neither of us has ever even been fishing." Mark said. "Yeah, I know, but how hard could it be." "I don't know about this, Cade?" I looked at Kaya; she seemed to be in her own world.

"Kaya." I mind linked. "Yes." "Do we have to go on the whale hunt?" "Um, If you don't want to, I can tell Nieva, but it is what all the Cresent moon men do, so if you stay, you will be surrounded by women and children. Not to mention, we have stuff we do while the men are away."

I looked back at Mark and explained what Kaya had told me. "Well, what the hell. Guess we are going on a Whale hunt." Kaya smiled as she read Mark's lips. Helen then spoke. "You are doing what?" Mark and I explained the plan. "Well, what do we do while you two are gone hunting in the ocean?" "I am sure Kaya will fill you in on that."

When we finished eating, Kaya asked what we wanted to do. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to have some alone time with her. I wanted to feel her body against mine. But I could see that it was not on the table because we were with Mark and Helen. "What would you normally do?" "Honestly, I would be out hunting. I am the best tracker, and I usually do a lot of the hunting. " "We could do that, or did you have something else in mind." I asked.” Well my normal day is I would have leave in the morning because sometimes the herd is farther out. But seeing it is well past noon, the best thing to do is to set up our tent for the night. "

We followed her to the empty tent from the day before. She looked at Helen and Mark and held her hands up. Signally for them to stay. But then she grabbed my hand and pulled me inside. I watched as built up the bedding. Making a nest of sorts. I stared at her as she moved the blankets back and forth.

"Um, what are you doing?" I mind-linked her. "Making my den." "What?" "My den.” I had no idea what she was talking about. I would ask her about it later. Her face moved slightly, and I could tell someone was mind-linking her. Kaya mind linked me. "Nieva would like to meet with you, Cade." "Um, okay, what will you, Mark, and Helen do?" " Do some sewing or woodwork. Or sharpen some tools."

Kaya told me where to find her, and I left the three of them. I left the encampment where a few logs were set up. There, Nieva was sitting, waiting for me. I approached the silver-haired woman. "Nieva" "Oh yes hi Cade I wanted to talk to you. Leader to leader, we know little about southern packs besides keeping good relations with the Nightshade pack. I would like to know more about the southern packs. We are, after all, giving you Kaya. We have never had any female leave our pack, so it is something we don't take lightly."

I didn’t hesitate to tell her what she wanted to know. "From what Kaya has told me, you are a matriarchy. We are not. Also, you choose who will follow you. In southern packs, including my own, the leadership is passed down by a family line. We use modern technology, unlike your pack. I guess those are the biggest differences." "Do you make all the decisions, or do you have others who help you make them?" "My Beta Mark and my Gamas advise, but ultimately, I make the decisions." "Interesting, and how old were you when you were put in charge. " "Well, I was 14." "Oh, my, that is young. What happened, if I may ask." "My pack was almost wiped out by another pack. My parents died in the fight, leaving me in charge. I worked hard and brought the pack back from nothing."

"That is impressive." "Now I want to know what kind of responsibility Kaya will have?" "Well, she is to be Luna. I know it is different from your position, but she will help lead the pack. Be a mother of sorts to the pack. Lunas are typically the heart of the pack, at least where I come from." Nieva examined me and then said "Kaya is a smart girl. Though she isn't alpha-blooded, I do believe she can lead. I think she could do well in a leadership position. But I have to wonder, will she be allowed to continue to keep our traditions." "What do you mean?"

"Well, for example, if you are blessed with a girl, would she be allowed to carry her family's tattoo? Will she be encouraged to go on her first solo hunt? Would your children learn our native tongue? I want to know if your children will keep some ancestral traditions alive.” ”I don't see why not if that is important to Kaya." "Will you encourage her to keep traditions?" "I can, but I won't push her to do anything she doesn't want to." "I will settle for that. I hope we can become allies, seeing as you are mated to Kaya." "I would like that."

"Good. Maybe we will send some wolves down to visit your pack." "They would be welcome anytime." "Well, alright then. You should know that you and your pack members are the first southerners to venture this far north." "Yeah, why is it that you never come down south? If it wasn't for Quill, we would never have met."

"Well, we never really saw a reason. I mean, it isn't like we fight with the southern packs. They also never come up here. They couldn't survive from what I have gathered from Quills information" "So why was Quill visiting the nightshade pack?" "Well, nightshade is the largest pack on the continent, so we try to make sure we visit once a year." "They are not the largest." I said. "What do you mean?" She said with surprise. I spoke on "They may have been the largest at one time, but they are not currently." "Oh." "Did you not know." "No, I had no idea. We have been visiting that pack every year for nearly 100 years. We are the largest of the northern packs, so we show that even though we are not really involved, we are still friends to the south. "

I was shocked at her not knowing they were no longer the largest. They had not held that title for a long time. The largest pack was Annalise's father's Black Night Pack. I was also surprised to discover Crescent Moon Pack was the largest in the north. It was not that large at all. "You seem surprised." "I am. This pack is not very large; you said you all were the largest in the north. Also, you all are out of the loop. It is just strange you all are separated and in your own world up here. Not that it is bad. You all are self-sufficient. It just is something foreign to me."

"Well, this is just how we live. But, enough about this. Why don't you go find Kaya." "Alright," I say as I got up. I nodded in appreciation of our talk, Nieva reciprocated the gesture. Then I left to find my little mate.

Kaya

We spent the remainder of the evening just relaxing. We had caribou again for dinner. Afterwards, we all sat around the fire. "Quill, hand me the pipe."He passed me the pipe that was already packed with Sheese. I took a few puffs. I looked at Cade and offered him the pipe. He took it and began to also puff on it. He then passed it on. He looked at me so I could see his lips.

"That is fantastic." I knew he would like it. It was relaxing. We stayed by the fire a bit longer when we retired for the night. I walked back with him to the tent we had set up earlier. When we got in, I turned to face him and began to kiss him.

We started to remove our clothes.