Sam was 12 when he stood under the sky full of shooting stars. He could feel it. He was there, in the sky above him. His Wolf Spirit. It was hurtling through the Earth's energy streams as fast as those stars. Today was the day his spirit, whichever it was, would choose him. He would bond with his wolf spirit and earn his shift. He felt it closing in, and ran forward, standing on a rock and reaching high into the sky, as if begging it to come closer. The sky was so clear and endless, and he stood so precariously on his toes that he felt as if the world was slowly tipping upside-down. If he moved, he felt as if he would fall into the sky and be lost. But he knew his wolf would catch him. He could feel it!
He heard his pack howling in encouragement in the distance just as the air began to spark around him. Though there wasn't a cloud in the sky, one of the shooting stars seemed to become a bolt of lightning. His own energy began to spark and buzz in his feet before coursing up through his body and through his pointed fingers, meeting the falling star in the air. Fingers still outstretched, he screamed as his body grew white hot before exploding, his clothes tearing from his body. He landed on all fours. His mind felt like it was full, ready to explode. There was suddenly much less space in his head. A pair of golden eyes hovered in the back of his mind. He grinned, his wolf licking his maw in delight. "Hello." he whispered.
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Sam rolled lazily in bed, raising his drowsy, heavy arms to shield his sleep crusted eyes from the morning sun beaming through the blinds. Each morning carried the same empty ache in his belly ever since his wolf spirit reached its own "puberty", for lack of a better term. A whine cooed in the back of his mind, reaching for the empty space beside him. He had a generously sized bed, but it never felt so empty before.
Even though his 18th birthday came and went a few years ago, his wolf didn't start putting his nose into the air until a few weeks ago, finally looking for his other half. He couldn't join his father as true Alpha of their pack until he had a girl by his side and a bun in her belly. And his wolf was itching to find her. Problem was, she wasn't in this pack. This cycle, incidentally, none of the freshly matured men could find their other half here at home.
Tonight, however, that would be solved. Tonight was a blood moon, as was the Gathering. Wolves from all over the region would congregate and seek to find their mates. Those who had already paired off would attend to show off to other packs, declare numbers, and keep good faith that nobody was being held back. To keep a mate from the gathering was torment for the pair being kept apart.
Tensions were always high around a Gathering. It was to be hosted, this time, a few hours run from his own territory. Shortly after lunch, he and his pack would shift and start the journey North. The Gathering took place every 3 years under a red moon in which wolves from all over the continent would congregate, despite their own boundaries, treaties and personal strife in order to allow young wolves to find their mate. The hosting pack, typically whoever would see the red moon for the longest on the chosen night and have the most forgiving weather would, sometimes begrudgingly, open their lands to all traveling wolves, friend or foe.
Sam remembered clearly the last year the tension his father felt before he visited the desert, that the pack had been forced to host enemies who they fought with a week prior over territory. He attended to accompany a single female wolf to the gatherings and, unfortunately, returned without her. It was always a solemn day to lose a pack member. Lucy's family were heartbroken, but she wasn't too far away and they still saw her often.
The gathering was tense, but peaceful according to his father. The only thing that marred the evening was that one of the visiting pack members failed to find her mate. He had felt saddened as Jonah described her heartbreak and her silent disappearance before sunrise. She didn't even return to her pack, instead she roamed into other regions, continuously looking.
Sam had been confused by this. He knew the mate bond was a strong force in the universe, and old stories said it was what kept water bonded to the earth. But most wolves were content with waiting at least for one more cycle before setting off. He wasn't sure why shed been so impatient, or eager to abandon her family.
His father chuckled and simply said, "It affects us all differently. You will understand."
Sam sat up in bed and pulled on a pair of jeans from the night before and sniffed out a semi fresh tee-shirt. He already packed the clothes he would be taking with him on their travels, so he wasn't too concerned. With a stretch that had his shoulders popping loudly, he trudged into the kitchen.
"Breakfast!" came a high pitched voice from a petite girl bouncing around the kitchen. A clatter caught Sams attention and he easily caught the plate of pancakes and eggs before it slid right off the island counter where it had been tossed so unceremoniously by the annoyingly happy girl before him.
"Watch it!" he said flicking open the fridge and taking the pitcher of orange juice. "What are you doing up Elle? You're never up this early."
The girl named Elle grinned and sat down beside him with her own plate. "I wanted to see you off!" she said with a grin. "My only brother might not be coming back tonight and i will miss him dearly." she concluded with a fake pout.
"Sounds like you're hoping for it." he admonished her. "And you're wrong. I'm next in line here. It would take an incredibly powerful wolf as a mate to keep me in another territory. As a male and Alpha-blood, I don't think anyone i could possibly mate with outranks me, unless a female with no male siblings whose predecessors are dead..." he trailed off. It was of course possible: The whole point of the Gathering was to find a mate. This could often be done because all of the matured wolves gather in one place. If he failed to find her, he would just return every year until he did. He would bear with the empty feeling in his stomach rather than abandon his people. If he found his wolfs other half in a female whose territory neighbored his and she were an Alpha-blood and the only heir to her pack, they would likely just join the packs. It did not often happen. Even less likely, if he were to find his mate in an Alpha-blood and she was already Alpha of her pack with no siblings, and their territories were not close, he would likely be absorbed into her pack rather than the other way around. She would then outrank him, as would Elle when she came of age and took over for their pack.
It was all very confusing, but his ideal scenario was coming back home and being Alpha, and outranking his wife. He had no issue with a woman leading of course, but being a leader was in his bones, he was born for it, his gender aside.
"It would be nice to be Alpha, now that you mention it..." Elle said dreamily. Her eyes slid out of focus.
Sam flicked her forehead as he wiped up the last of the gooey warm egg yolk with his last bit of pancake. "Keep dreaming, Elle." he grumbled with his mouth full. He dropped the plate in the sink on the other side of the island and straightened up. "I'm going for a run and a bath in the river before we need to start getting ready." he said, sliding the back door open and stepping out into the morning mist. He undressed in the morning sun and leapt off the porch, shifting into his beast of a wolf as he did.
Sam stood, his wolf letting out a rumble. His legs were long and lean, the long hair of his tail swishing the ground. He flexed his paws in the grass under him, listening to the tear of grass roots. A ripple of excitement ran under his skin and he took off, feeling the wind whip the sleep from his eyes. He was taller and stronger than most others in his pack, a sign of an Alpha-blood usually, aside from the low antlers that adorned his slender wolf's head like a crown, arching over the back of his neck. He felt branches rake his fur as he bound into the forest.
[WHAAAAAHOOOOOO!] He screamed into his mind, and he felt the disdain from other wolves in his pack who were already out for their run at his boisterous mood.
[Shut the fuck up Sam!] grumbled one particularly unhappy voice. [Not all of us are morning people. Some of us like to enjoy the silence of dawn.]
[What, not excited to fill a girl tonight, Eggbert?]
[If I asked you not to call me that for the 48th time, and yes I've been counting, will you finally listen?]
[Aw, no fun. Also, not likely.] Sam dashed through the undergrowth, throwing his horned head to rip vines from a tree. He felt his best friends irritation, and the amusement of a few of the other pack members as they listened in. But they didn't say anything. They knew of the excitement leading up to finding their mates.
His best friends real name was Excalibur. Yeah, like the legendary sword. But he often called him random other names if he was up to annoy him, or Cal if he was serious.
Cal was getting closer, and almost set to cross his path. Sam put more force into his run, leaping over fallen trees and storming through underbrush. He exploded into a clearing just minutes from the river, and cut Cal off mid leap, passing inches in front of his snout. At the last second, he flicked his tail into Cals face and he clenched his eyes shut against the fur, causing him to stumble on his landing and lose momentum.
But Cal didn't give up. By the time they reached the river, they were again neck in neck. Each wolf leapt into the air and shifted human mid jump, with Sam tucking into a cannon ball as he dropped over the short cliff and into the water below.
Sam surfaced, shaking his hair out of his face and water from his eyes. He took a look around to where Cal surfaced a few feet away before submerging again, scrubbing his face in the clear cool water of the stream. He took a gulp from his cupped hands, swished it in his mouth and spat it back into the river before letting his body fall back. Taking a deep breath to fill his lungs and increase his buoyancy, he let the water lift him from the rocky bottom and began to drift in the lazy current.
"What if she's not even there this year? Id rather not run all the way there and waste my time."
Sam could hear his friends musing and didn't respond immediately. "It puts all packs on equal footing to attend the mates ritual. That way everyone knows what packs lose or gain members. I hear that you can feel if your Mate is close though. So you'll know pretty quickly so you won't get your hopes up."
Cal was silent for a moment. "What if I'm forced to leave? You aren't likely to be outranked but I might. What will we do?"
