Mat was laughing at me, “Just picture yourself in your human form, how you look, what it feels like and will your human form to return.”

  I nodded at him, and closed my eyes, picturing my human self. I felt my bones starting to snap and reform as my body went from Aramyth’s giant wolf to my tiny human self, *How do you even fit? You’re ginormous compared to me!* I teased her.

  *I’ll admit it’s a tight fit, bit uncomfortable.* she teased back.

  I rolled my eyes at her and looked at Mat, “Give me your shirt Mattie.”

  He didn’t hesitate, pulling his shirt off and handing it to me. I slipped it on and smiled at them all, “We should head back before anyone realizes we’re missing. Is everything set for tomorrow?”

  We all headed back towards the pack manor, keeping our eyes open as we went, “Yes Ma’am. We have everything ready to go and will meet you there when you’re ready.” Faith answered.

  It was about 0130 when we parted ways and I headed straight for my bed. It had been an exhausting, but exciting night. Now I needed some sleep before I had to get up and deal with final preparations for the banquet and my departure.

~Tristan~

  We ran for what seemed like hours, Ryder was antsy and on edge the entire time. He was bouncing around like every cell in his body was vibrating at a high frequency.

  *What’s gotten into you?* I asked.

  *I think our mate is near. I can feel her, but only in brief, fleeting bits. I can’t smell her either. It’s weird.*

  *Maybe she’s in one of the other visiting packs? Maybe some of them got here early too?*

  *Maybe, but it’s more likely she’s out here somewhere.*

  *It’s nearly midnight, if we go looking for her now, we might scare her. We can go searching in the morning.* Every fiber of my being wanted to go ripping through this area until we found her, but I knew stalking a woman in the middle of the night was not a good first impression.

  *I know. I know.* Ryder whined, *I can feel you want to go looking as badly as I do, but your logic is sound.* He let out a whimper and we pressed forward, running with our pack mates.

  My father gave me an odd look, like he could tell something was bothering me, *Everything ok son?* His voice came over the mind-link.

  *Yeah, Ryder thinks our mate is near, not near enough to pinpoint, but in the area. It’s taking a lot to not go on a mad dash to find her.*

  *I see.* He gave me a goofy wolf grin, *There’s always the morning son. We’ll try to find her trail and follow it, we’ll leave early if necessary, your mate is more important than some silly banquet at a questionable pack.*

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  *I appreciate that Father. I could use a distraction, let’s hit the lake!*

  We all beelined for the lake, Ryder and I not even hesitating as we jumped into the cold water. Almost as good as a cold shower right? Kami’s wolf Scarlett came flying in next, close enough to hit us with water from her splash. The others soon followed and we all horsed around for the next couple hours until we all felt we had exerted enough energy for the night.

  *Let’s get back, tomorrow is going to be a long day of socializing and playing polite.* My father’s voice once again echoed through a mind-link that included the group. Climbing out and shaking ourselves dry we headed back to the pack manor. As we entered the front door I caught the faintest hint of a smell that I never wanted to lose. She was here, somewhere, and tomorrow I would find her.

  Kami drug me up the stairs, giving me a funny look as I used every last bit of my will power to follow her up to the hall our rooms were in. We all parted ways and I showered before heading to bed, though sleep didn’t come much that night.

~Alyce/Faelyn~

  Once again the obnoxious beeping of my alarm clock broke into my subconscious, bringing me out of my sleep and into reality. After silencing it I got up and headed for the shower. I washed my hair and scrubbed up before stepping out and wrapping my hair in a towel. I dried off and dressed in a pair of black leggings with holes in the knees and a slightly too large navy t-shirt, which I tied a knot in at my hip so that it fit better. Once again I forewent shoes. I would have to wear them at the banquet and that was torture enough for one day. Quickly I braided my hair, wrapping it around my head like a crown and darted up the stairs.

  I planned to make breakfast for the pack manor this morning so I set to work. First thing I did was start some coffee in the restaurant sized coffee maker, it usually took a good 45 minutes to finish brewing. I fried up some sausage and set to making some homemade sausage gravy. When it was done, I turned it on low to keep it warm and peeled and sliced some potatoes, frying them up and putting them in the buffet warmer when they were ready. I popped some homemade frozen biscuits in the oven and worked on making a large batch of scrambled eggs with cheese while the biscuits cooked.

  I was putting everything in the warmer when I heard voices coming from the main hall. I glanced at the clock, 6:45am, no one should be up and moving for another 15 minutes at least. Crap, I wanted to be out of here before the assholes came down. I paused and took a deep breath, I could do this. I was safe until tomorrow and I would be gone before then. I couldn’t just run away, it would look really odd and we had guests so I was expected to act normal. I plastered a fake smile on my face and turned, ready to take on the day. I would be free in less than 24hrs.

~Victor~

  I had always been an early riser. I was up before my alarm went off at 6:00am. I showered and dressed in a pair of jeans and a gray t-shirt. I slipped on some sneakers and left my room. I was planning on heading to the pack manor to meet the others before we went to the pack house as a group for breakfast. We had been told that the omega that usually cooked here was busy with banquet preparations. I met Kami in the front hall of the pack manor, she was used to getting up early for training and apparently her internal clock didn’t have a vacation mode either.

  “Hey kiddo, headed for some breakfast?”

  “Don’t call me kiddo Uncle Victor. Unless you want to suffer an early death, in which case carry on.”

  I laughed at her, “Come on Miss Grump. Let’s get you some coffee before you decide to murder everyone…”

  We were heading toward the back door as the most amazing smell of food hit our noses. We followed it into the kitchen and were practically drooling by the time we reached the doorway.

  “What is that heavenly smell? Please tell me it’s coffee…” Kami murmured as she looked around for the source.

I looked around as well, my eyes falling on the same woman I had met yesterday, “Good morning. Alyce right? I didn’t realize there would be breakfast here this morning. I thought we would have to go to the pack house.”

  She smiled at us, but it didn’t reach her eyes, “Good morning Delta, ah, yes. I have just about finished my preparations for the banquet, everything left to be done has to be done later so I had time to make breakfast.” She looked over at Kami, “Good morning Miss. I do have coffee ready. If you give me just a moment I will get the mugs and coffee fixings set out and then you may help yourselves.” Alyce turned and started setting up three trays, one filled with mugs, one filled with various creamers and sweeteners and the last one she set regular glasses on.

  I looked over at Kami, speaking through the mind-link, *She’s the one I met yesterday. The Omega that is in no way an Omega.*

  *I see what you mean, nothing about her screams Omega. The way she carries herself, the aura she reigns in as soon as someone is around and she realizes it. No, everything about her screams ranked wolf, and highly ranked at that. We should rouse Father, he will likely want to meet her as well.* Kami replied.

  I nodded, *See if you can get him on the mind-link, I will try to keep her here. I suspect she tends to flee these types of situations judging from her behavior yesterday.*

  While Kami busied herself trying to wake her father up and get him moving, I turned my attention back to Alyce, “Miss Alyce is there anything I can go to help?”