A huge thank you to all of those who voted and commented on my last chapter of RwW. Please continue to send me your feedback, both positive and negative. They are both a great help. As usual, a big thank you to my editors MarieFlower and mordbrand for cleaning up my chapter. It's a bit shorter this time but I hope it is still worth it! Enjoy.
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Flint sat in the passenger seat of one of the SUVs, still waiting for everyone to finish getting ready to leave the abandoned airstrip and head back to the Den. He had his door open and his legs hanging out the side so he could face his father, who was leaning against the vehicle next to him. Next to Flint stood his brother, Cole, dressed and mirroring their father's stance against their own vehicle. He could see his mother out of the corner of his eye talking with Misty, the twins, and Augustine about what was going to happen when they got back to the Den. When they did finally manage to get back it would mark an end to the insanity that had been the past 10 hours.
"You are having quite a night, Orion," Lily Pine Glen chuckled. Orion grunted and shook his head, still leaning up against the side of an SUV. "First your daughter finds her Destined, a human one at that, and then he escapes, only to end up leading you to a Sistema. I had heard of things such as this as a child, but I had grown to believe them to be legends. Luna must truly hold favor for the next generation of your pack."
"A Sistema, Madam Alpha? What is that?" Cole asked. Always the curious one.
She smiled at him, the gentle creases of her face becoming more pronounced. "It is said that when a human is born to become a wolf's mate, they are given a sort of, gift, I guess you could say, in order to help them survive so they can find their other half. It is believed this gift can draw Destines together, creating a cluster of them in one group. It is called a Sistema."
Flint had heard the term before. He had spent many hours alone in his parent's library and study, reading their books and journals containing common Were and their own specific pack's history. He knew that finding a human Destined wasn't uncommon, but it was infrequent enough that it was still a big deal when it happened. There had been a few documented cases of two Destines being found at the same time, but those were almost always sibling pairs. Very rarely were the two unrelated and just coincidently together at one time. But three Destines together in one group that had just happened upon each other? There had been one Sistema many, many years ago according to the records, but it was not well documented and many believed it had been sisters or cousins and not singular Destines that had found each other. There hadn't been one in so long many didn't believe in them any more.
Ash Pine Glen came walking around the back of the SUV, having been sorting out his own pack over the phone. They were antsy back in the city, worried and wondering about what was going on with their Alpha. "Alright Orion. I need to be getting back to my own people. May we speak with your runaway now?"
Orion sighed and straightened. "I apologize for the delay Alpha Ash. I understand there is much to do now that the treaties have been signed. I hope the incidents tonight have not put ours in jeopardy before the ink has even dried."
The old wolf raised his hand in a dismissive manner, but smiled slightly. "None of this could have been foreseen or was done with malicious intent, Orion. There is no reason to worry about our borders. I simply wish to speak with the boy, as is required by the new treaty. If we do not lead by example and hold to their guidelines strictly, all the work we have done will fall apart before it has time to take hold."
Orion's body slightly relaxed in relief, which only Flint noticed. The worry of whether or not Pine Glen would reignite the fighting had been weighing heavily on his parents. To hear the neighboring Alpha was not going to go to war over this was a relief to him. "Then let us go, so that we may both return to our Dens."
They both turned to leave, Lily shadowing close behind. Flint considered following but even the thought of moving exhausted him. So he sat right in the car and closed his eyes, his brother's soothing growl lulling him to sleep quickly.
*
Two cars away, Dominic sat with an arm around Samantha inside one of the large expensive cars. They smelt new, or at least not often used. It tickled his nose, making him want to sneeze. His new bandages itched slightly and the sling they had put him in was annoying, but he was warm and he could see Ben, Garrett, and Jarod in the car next to him safe and unharmed, so he was relaxed.
Outside in the light of the new dawn, he could see Sol's back turned to him. In front of her, along with some others he hadn't remembered the names of, was Misty. She really was beautiful, all soft and slightly curved with an infrastructure of steel, if her grip was any indication. The shirt she put on after her dress had been destroyed was big on her, the collar drooping down to show a peek of clavicle and shoulder but otherwise hid her figure under the excess fabric. Ever since confronting him about his sexual orientation, her confident stature had drooped a bit, like she got a C- on a test she thought she had done well on. That analogy, for some reason, seemed to fit her far better than he intended it to.
Dominic was so focused on Misty that he startled when someone knocked on the window opposite him. He looked over to see Orion through the tinted glass. The big man gestured for him to come out, so Dominic eased his arm from around Samantha's sleeping form and pulled the latch of the door. When he slipped out, she stirred, but stayed asleep. Penny lay next to her on the seat surrounded by a blanket to keep her in place. They would be fine for a moment.
Orion had moved to the back of the car where a man and woman Dominic did not recognize already stood. The man was older looking, his black hair pushed back with white starting above his sideburns and moving up to his temple before sprinkling in throughout, a slightly droopy mouth, and round nose. He was also tall, maybe 6'7", and his eyes were a bright hazel. Dominic assumed all werewolves shared that trait. Good to know.
The woman with him was lovely in her blue off-the-shoulder dress. It was covered in rhinestones, making her 5'11" frame sparkle whenever every she moved. Her white hair was done up in large curls that framed her soft face and stopped just below her chin. She was the type of woman Dominic could see giving you a nice welcoming smile with a lovely personality while running her mob family with an iron fist.
Orion lifted his hand towards the strangers. "Dominic, I would like to introduce you to Alpha Ash Pine Glen, and his mate, Madam Alpha Lily Pine Glen. They are the Alphas of the territory the Mayfield Estate now resides on, and therefore are its owners."
Dominic nodded, understanding now why he was being introduced. "Sorry about the gate, and the car, and your guy I tranquilized, and your party. Didn't mean to crash it."
The man, Ash, smirked a bit. "Well, considering it wasn't my party, I have no issue with that. The men and van were not mine either, so you will have to speak with Alpha Orion about those incidences. I only wish to speak with you about the gate. You did quite a number on it."
"If you are expecting me to pay for it, I can't. We have about 80 dollars to our names, which I highly doubt will cover the cost. I could work for you until my debt is paid if you would let me." Dominic rubbed at the new bandages, feeling slightly embarrassed. He began calculating in his head how long it would take to work off what was probably a very expensive gate, factoring in the five to six weeks Garret had said it would take to heal.
