Ariadne: Almost an Alpha | ✓

Chapter 43 - Another Chapter of Our Lives

Chapter 43 - Another Chapter of Our Lives

It feels odd in a good way to fall back into the rhythm of leading the pack in person after all this time.

After a few days back, I receive good news: Fritz won the tournament in Montana.

I take over leading the training sessions from Carter, who assumed the role while I was gone. Dylan and Carter have always led border patrol runs, but I go back to planning them and leading the occasional run. Nothing happens security-wise. We pick up on some putrid rogue scents every once in a while, but no attacks occur. The rogues seem to just be passing by. Then, there's the endless amount of backed up paperwork. Dylan, it seems, did not feel the need to keep everything organized. It takes me forever to find Nora's school paperwork to make sure they enrolled her without making anything look suspicious.

Most importantly, there haven't been any attempts at mental intrusion. In the past, whenever Cain tried something, chasing me and Dylan around, attacking our pack to prove a point, he'd always make sure I knew he was behind it. It was his way to keep us in fear. It was his way of saying, you two may have lived this time but only because I allowed it. When he wasn't trying to prove something, his random mental check ins were to make sure I was still in line and a way of tormenting me personally. Cain thrived on power.

The morning before the ritual, Mateus is expected to show up sometime after noon, so I wait, sitting in my office with Dylan to make final preparations for picking up the members of the national council at the airport tomorrow.

"Dylan," I start, and he stops what he's doing at the serious tone in my voice. None of us have brought up Mateus this entire week, so I say my next words carefully. "Cain hasn't tried anything all week. The ritual is tomorrow, and if it goes according to plan, the pack will be set."

I pause, and he looks at me, knowing exactly where this is going.

"I'm going to tell Mateus that I'm his mate after."

I pause again for a split second before deciding to just quickly blurt all of my reasoning now before Dylan has a chance to argue.

"With the new pack bond, the old mind link I have with Cain will no longer exist. With our addition into Mateus's region, the pack will have the extra protection of the warriors. Cain will probably get angry about not having any direct power over me anymore, but I don't think he'll risk sending anyone here because he already has everything he wants. And he knows you and I can't tell anyone about him. We'd be killed too for keeping his secrets all these years; he's made sure to remind me of that fact several times.

"Yes, Cain will probably see me announcing that I'm Mateus's mate as a risk, but I can't let Mateus go. If I want to continue seeing him, it's not fair to him to keep deceiving him. Being with me, if, after all of this lying I've done, he still even wants to, may put him in danger, but I've convinced myself Cain wouldn't risk sending anyone after the alpha of a warrior pack just to get to me. I also, of course, won't tell him about our past, and then if anything were to happen with us, he'd be free of any consequence.

"But mostly... I keep thinking about how he put a lot of faith and support into me this whole process. It's time I put some faith in him, in his ability to protect himself from danger and to make a combined effort to figure out what we'll do next."

I stop my rambling, Dylan sighs, and there's a long silence.

"I'm not asking you for permission, Dylan," I say, in the nicest tone I can manage, "but I would really like your support on this."

This time, he says something.

"I just don't know what to say," he begins, "other than don't let your feelings cloud your judgement, but I'm sure you've been thinking this through for a while. Neither of us ever thought about this happening, and had I been the one in your shoes, I don't think I would've been able to keep my distance as long as you have. You deserve to be happy, Ariadne. I'm your best friend; I can't not support you."

"Thank you, Dylan," I stand up and hug him tightly. "You've always been such a good friend to me, and I wouldn't even be alive had you not saved me. I love you so much, Dyl."

"Love you too, Ari."

I squeeze him tightly, thinking about the past 19 years I've spent with him, remembering the time when he was such a scrawny kid that hugging him then felt like hugging a twig.

"It feels like we're moving onto another chapter of our lives," I comment. "I can just hope it'll be a good one."

"Me too, Ari, me too."

The sentimental moment comes to an end, and I go back to talking about the pack and our future.

"If Mateus doesn't decide to never speak to my lying self again and he does want to be together, I'm still going to try to continue being this pack's leader," I tell Dylan, "but decisions on that part will have to wait for later when we're more serious."

"Yeah, this is where I'm going to put my foot down," Dylan says. He doesn't say it in an angry tone but a matter-of-fact one. "I'm not prepared to run a pack, Ari, you can't leave us."

I bite the inside of my cheek. "I don't want to. My home is wherever you guys are. I meant what I said about this pack being my family. I'm not going to abandon it. It's just going to be complicated trying to figure out something."

We fall into a silence, and out the window, I see a naked Carter and two clothed men step out of the woods. Some wolves are with them, all ones I recognize.

"Dylan, you cleaned the extra clothes this morning, right?" I ask him.

"Yeah, why?"

I head to the laundry room and quickly take all the clothes out of the dryer before throwing them into a basket and heading outside. Dylan follows. By now, the group is at the porch, so I set the basket down and wait patiently as they all shift and put on the clothes. A man and woman from my pack relax onto the porch chairs immediately, not worried in the slightest. Nathan and another warrior, Javon, I think his name was, remain standing, still on edge.

"What's this?" I ask Carter.

"They want to join the pack," Carter replies, motioning to the two men. One is older, maybe late fifties, and the other one is at least 20 years younger. They're an odd pair.

"And your names are?"

"Weston," the old man says in a southern accent. "And this is my son, Donovan."

The two don't look very much alike, but I don't mention it, not wanting to be rude. "Nice to meet you both. I'm Ariadne, the leader here."

Weston extends his hand, and I shake it. His grip is firm for his age.

"So what's you two's story?"

"We're from Texas originally. I've been a rogue for a couple of decades, roaming around, just enjoying life. Don's mom was a human I met along the way. We're wanderers, but packs are getting kind of antsy about us folk these days, even when we mind our own business. I figured it's about time I settled down somewhere."

Dylan and I sit on the porch, and we spend the next hour going over pack life here with Weston and Donovan. Nathan lingers, taking up a faked casual position in a porch chair next to Carter.

"Could you two show us the gym?" Weston asks.

"Sure," I say just as a car turns down the dirt driveway. I smile, recognizing the car as Mateus's. "Actually, I'll have someone from the pack show you guys around."

~~~~~~~~~~

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So it seems like everyone is turning over a new leaf...

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