“There may be evidence that Porter is Arric’s father. Until we can prove or disprove it, it would be sensible to have eyes on him at all times.” I wait for a response and when I don’t get one, I ask, “Flint? Are you there?”
“I’m here. I find what you’re saying extremely difficult to believe, however, I assume that we wouldn’t be having this conversation if you had any serious doubt?” Flint’s voice is quiet but has a hard edge in its tone.
“The information has literally just been given to me. Alpha Falan has traveled to Spirit Walker Pack personally to inform me. I cannot see him doing that if he didn’t believe his source. Can you?”
“I’ll call you as soon as I’m back at the council. In the meantime, I don’t need to tell you that this goes no further at this time.” The line goes dead and I hope that his motorcycle is up to the task ahead. I imagine Flint will be pushing it to its limits where he can.
Falan watches as I sit back in my chair and rub my face. “How does everything get to be so messed up? If, as you say, Porter Riverrun is Arric’s father, how did he get mixed up with this stupid ‘King’ idea? He must know that if Arric was successful, there would be no Shifter Council anymore. He would essentially make his own position redundant and ultimately be of no use to his son.”
“I can only say that after knowing my own father, very little surprises me anymore.” Falan gives me a lopsided grin.
Surprise him! Ask about mate!
“Perhaps I can surprise you then. My wolf, Hunter, can smell our mate on you.” I watch as Falan sits up abruptly.
“Truly? He can smell your mate? That’s absolutely wonderful. Congratulations, Lyle. I’m honored that your mate will be from my pack. What can you tell me? Anything?”
“I don’t think she traveled with you, as he says her scent is very faint. Or perhaps someone you met briefly on your journey.”
“I don’t have a female in my escort, but I do have female warriors. I spoke with several before I left, so that doesn’t help. Wait! I traveled with Beta Raina of the Blood Pearl Pack. Could she be the one?” Falan appears almost as excited as Hunter about my mate.
Although I am excited, it will probably hit me more when we meet. Not having Hunter’s sense of smell, I don’t feel the same depth of emotion that he does right now.
“I’ve been in company with both Gerry and Aurora before, so I don’t see that as being the answer.”
Falan looks a little crestfallen, but soon bounces back. “I’m calling at Blood Pearl Pack to meet with Gerry and Aurora on myway home. You should come that far at least and be sure. Don’t you think?”
We should go to Wolfsong Pack and bring our mate home!
‘We can’t just go off and leave the pack.’
Oh, please! You have been bored because everything is so well organized here. Now is the perfect time to go!
“I will consider traveling with you as far as the Blood Pearl Pack border. From that point, we’ll see where the search for my Luna leads us.”
Falan has a huge grin on his face. “Lyle, I could not have wished for anything as satisfying as this. To be honored by the Goddess to show you the way to your mate is simply amazing.”
Yes, yes, yes! We’re going to find our mate!
Taking the evening meal with Falan, I am introduced to his team. They all look the part of warriors and are extremely fit. Kynan, the leader of the escort, looks more than capable of protecting his Alpha.
As we take a walk through the grounds, we approach the forest edge and a thought springs to mind. “Kynan, how about a friendly challenge?”
“A challenge, Alpha Lyle? What sort of challenge?” Kynan looks worried.
“Perhaps challenge is the wrong word. More of a friendly competition let's say.”
“Against who and doing what?” Kynan seems keen but cautious, and Falan is definitely intrigued.
“Against any one of my warriors and to complete a task that we use in our training regime. I’ll have my Chief Warrior send me arandom warrior to take part.” Mind linking with Glen, I ask him to name the first warrior he sees to his right, and to accompany them to my position near the forest edge.
It takes only a couple of minutes to see him approach and I’m pleased with the female warrior that walks beside him.
“Alpha Falan, Kynan, this is my Chief Warrior Glen and one of our border guards, Sloane.” I can see Kynan appraising Sloane and he doesn’t look as confident as he first did. “During our training, we have adopted something from the Wolfsfoot Pack. When Luna Tati first began her training there, she was put through an extremely rigorous training program. Part of that training was to climb trees. Although done in human form, you are allowed to utilize some wolf's traits, such as using claws rather than mere fingers.” I see the frowns on both Falan’s and Kynan’s faces. “It may sound strange, but it requires speed, skill and stamina to do it well. The standard exercise is to climb and descend as quickly as possible, five times. I will let Glen show Kynan how it's best achieved and let him have some time to practice. It’s far from as simple as most think.”
Glen takes Kynan into the trees and for the next few minutes we hear tree branches cracking, loud thumps and a few loud curses.
Sloane takes the time to do some warm-up exercises, but I don’t allow her to climb any trees.
