Ariadne: Almost an Alpha | ✓

Chapter 47 - Our Boundary

Chapter 47 - Our Boundary 

Dylan reaches me before Mateus does. He wraps one arm around me from the side, faking a hug but really carrying most of my weight for me.

He smiles and whispers through his teeth, "What is it?"

"It's bad," I tell him out of the corner of my mouth, "but we can't talk now. I have to finish this. Later."

He speaks at a normal volume now, but still keeps his arm around me for support. "That looks like it's enough, Ari, why don't we bandage that arm now?"

He leads me over to one of the training benches, and I sit immediately.

"I'll do it," I hear, and through blurred vision, I see Mateus head towards us, a bag in his hand.

Dylan doesn't fight him and instead uses it as an opportunity to pretend to casually rest his arm on the bench behind my back. Unable to support even the weight of my upper half completely right now, I lean back against Dylan's arm.

Mateus kneels down in front of me, carefully taking my arm, cleaning the wound, and bandaging it with a strong waterproof outer layer.

"You don't have to disperse the soil immediately if you're feeling too weak," Mateus says, a worried look in his eyes. "Just mix it up now before the blood dries and do that part tomorrow."

I avoid eye contact with him. He can read me too well. "I feel fine, and besides, that would look bad to the council. I need to do it right now before it gets dark."

Dylan sighs next to me but doesn't say anything. He knows we need to get this done now before something happens.

"Eat, please, at least," he begs, opening up the bag and handing me an orange, a banana, a sandwich bag of mixed nuts, and a water bottle.

"Geez," I hear Dylan mutter as the food is piled onto my lap.

"Alpha Jackson," one of the council members calls.

"Eat it," he implores.

"I will," I tell him, and he give me one last once over, checking to make sure I don't look like I'm going to pass out, before going over to see what the council needs.

I reach for the banana, and Dylan takes note of my unsteady hands. "I'll peel the orange for you."

He starts on the orange peel, and I slowly eat the banana. It doesn't sit well in my stomach, but I do start to feel a little better. My vision starts to clear as my body works to produce more blood.

"Not the right time for this, I know," Dylan says, and he looks over at where Mateus is standing. "But I can tell he cares about you a lot. I can't believe I didn't notice it before."

In the distance, I see Mateus stop talking briefly with Dylan's words.

"Definitely not now, Dylan." I whisper to him extremely quietly. "He's listening."

Dylan doesn't say anything else, only handing me the peeled orange after I finish the banana.

I sit for thirty minutes and eat while the pack celebrates around me. Then, I grab the shovel and start mixing the blood into the dirt. I'm standing on my own now, but Dylan hovers near me just in case.

Mateus shoots me worried looks throughout his conversation.

By the end, I'm drenched in sweat. I put the lids onto the buckets.

The council didn't tell me any rules about transporting the dirt after the ceremony, just that I had to do the dispersing, so I ask for Dylan's help in loading them into the truck bed. The pack notices.

"Can we come?" a few ask.

"Of course."

They shift and follow the truck to the edge of our territory. Originally, I was going to sprinkle the dirt by hand along our territory line, but I don't have that kind of energy or time right now. I secure the buckets to the back of an ATV with rope, tilting one over on its side and poking a hole in the very bottom of the lid with a knife from Dylan's car. Dirt pours onto the ground in a small stream. As long as I'm the one driving, then I'll be the one spreading it.

"Tell me whenever the buckets run out," I say to Dylan and hop on the vehicle and start a slow path on our boundary.

He shifts, and him and the pack follow me. Many run around me in circles, too excited to contain their energy to a walking pace.

The process is much faster than it would have been had I walked, and the energy from the earth feels as if it's healing me in a way, almost as if the territory is embracing us as we travel.

I hear Dylan's bark behind me and stop to change the bucket for a new one. He comes over to make sure I'm doing okay, and I scratch his head in reassurance.

We continue like that until we've circled the entire boundary of our new territory. There's only a little bit of dirt left in the third bucket when we finish, so I just pour all the extra at the end. Dylan shifts back, putting on his clothes behind the truck.

~~~~~~~~~~

I know this is a short chapter. I deliberated taking it out completely or adding it as a bonus chapter at the end or something, but I wanted it to be in the right place. So instead expect a surprise update sometime this week! :)

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