10. Harvest Moon Pack
2522 Words
Grant
Otto and I left Midnight Forest early this morning and started our five-hour trip to Harvest Moon to see my uncle Jack, aunt Stella and my cousins. Fallon was young and her birthday was coming up soon. Her future Beta, Quinn, was only a year younger than me. Aria, Fallon’s younger sister, is four years younger than her, making Aria the same age as Carter and she is sweet as can be.
When we got to the gates of Harvest Moon, we were waved through and I smiled wide when I saw the packhouse. On the porch, uncle Jack and aunt Stella were sitting there waiting for us.
“How many more of the packs that we have to go to are you related to the Alpha’s?” Otto asked almost in irritation.
“Just one after this. Trinity Forest’s Alpha is my cousin and that’s the pack my mom was born in.”
He nodded his head then asked, “How was it coming from a big family?”
“Crazy.”
“Then I should be grateful to be the only one,” he said dryly.
“Well, since you don’t like chaos, yes, you should be grateful.”
“True enough,” he said with a nod.
I parked beside my uncle Jack’s truck and we got out. We grabbed our bags then stepped up to the porch. Seeing my aunt and uncle again was a happy moment. I loved all of my family members, but uncle Jack always seemed to be my favorite out of everyone, just behind mom.
I wrapped aunt Stella in a hug first, then moved to hug uncle Jack. I introduced them to Otto and then we went inside.
“Your rooms are on the second floor. You can go drop your things there, then meet us at my office,” uncle Jack said.
“Alright.”
I showed Otto to the second floor of the packhouse and we dropped our bags on the floor. We went back down to the first floor of the packhouse and I showed Otto down the hall to the offices. We passed by Orson’s office first. I waved at him while he ate an apple and worked at his computer. I’m glad to see that some things never change.
We stepped into Jack’s office and saw him sitting with Stella on the couch. We both sat on the chairs in front of his desk, then started to talk.
“How is it going so far?” Jack asked.
“Good. No complaints,” I told him.
“Good. Where do you still need to go?” Stella asked.
“Golden Meadows, Trinity Forest and Dark Hollers. After that we leave for Scotland,” I told them.
They both nodded their heads and Jack asked, “What do you want to do while you are here?”
“Visit, train and see if there’s anything I haven’t learned from you yet,” I told him.
He chuckled warmly before saying, “You know I need to put a spy in with your pack. That’s no secret to anyone in this family or any of the other Alpha’s.”
“I know. I just want to pick that person like uncle Sean did.”
He nodded his head and said, “Get with Orson on that. You can either pick that person this week while you are with us and take them with you, or you can do it when you get back from your adventures.”
“I’ll see if I can find anyone that I like now. It might be good to have one along with us.”
He nodded his head and I looked over at Otto. He nodded his head in agreement so we would be working with Orson while we were here which was great. I enjoyed him a lot and his son Quinn. In all honesty, everyone needed to be jealous of Fallon because of the cool ass Beta she got.
We talked with my aunt and uncle for a while before I decided I would show Otto around town and the territory. This would be a good opportunity to act like I was looking for my mate, but I had a feeling that Otto already guessed I wasn’t interested in that yet. He never called me out on it though.
I showed him the town and the best parts of the territory. We both enjoyed the small adventure and then ran into the trio I was waiting to see. Fallon, Aria and Quinn were leaving the bakery with cupcakes in their hands. Fallon and Aira gasped with wide eyes when they saw me, then ran up to give me a big hug. I hugged them tightly before shaking Quinn’s hand. Once our greetings were over, I introduced everyone to Otto.
I took notice of how quiet Otto was when he met new people. He observed them and I think silently judged them before he started to speak and show his personality. It was great figuring him out.
“How is summer going?” I asked everyone.
“Good. Dad's finally teaching me how to use weapons in training,” Fallon told me.
“So that means he finally trusts you enough not to try and kill someone out of your angry rage,” I joked with her.
She snorted at me while Aria and Quinn stood behind her with big worried eyes. I had to smile at their reaction. Fallon was a crazy and very angry young she-wolf. When she learns how to control that, she will be a very brutal Alpha to go against.
Our group talked while Otto listened and then he asked Fallon, “wait a second, you mean you’re the future Alpha of Harvest Moon?”
“Yep. The first ever female to head a pack.”
“Life will be interesting when you meet your mate,” he told her.
“I know. That mate will have to learn that this is my pack.”
Otto’s eyes went wide and he told me in a low voice, “I think she will end up with a fight on her hands because an Alpha will try to change the fact that she will be the head. If she has anything but an Alpha, she will constantly stick his d**k in the dirt.”
I snorted and lightly chuckled before saying, “she knows and she’s preparing for it.”
He nodded his head and our group walked back to the packhouse to end the day. We all met up with Jack, Stella, Orson and Pearl in the dining room for dinner. I explained a little more to Otto about the people in charge while we ate fish tacos for dinner. I told him about Pearl and Orson, then explained Quinn to him. He was amazed that a Beta wolf would be blessed with a witch’s power also. He was impressed and Quinn just smiled, knowing that he was one in a million. He and Fallon both were. I couldn’t wait to see what life had in store for them.
~
The next morning, Otto and I met Fallon, Quinn and Aria in the dining hall for breakfast. Everyone else had gotten up early and eaten, then left. Aunt Stella was at the hospital working while Jack and Orson were on the training field waiting for us. Otto and I scarfed down our breakfast, then got up from our seats to get out to the training field. The others hurried after us so they could train and watch us.
We reached the training field and found Jack training with Orson while Pearl watched as she sat under a tree. We all stood close by and waited for their session to end. When it did end, Jack and I showed Fallon some moves while Otto and Orson worked with Quinn and Aria. Once the under-age wolves had been trained, they sat beside Pearl in the grass to watch us.
“So Alpha’s against one another and Beta’s against one another?” Jack asked.
“No. All three of you against me,” I told him seriously.
You could hear the girls ask ‘what’, under their breath as they sat behind me. Jack and Orson both looked at me like I was crazy, but Otto got into position to attack me. Jack and Orson looked at one another before looking at me again and got ready to attack.
All three of them came at me in different attacks at the same time. I stepped toward Jack and took his fist into my hand and pulled him out of the way and past me. Otto and Orson attacked and I ducked away from them and maneuvered to counter their attacks. It was a good dance and they came at me hard.
When we were done, Jack was in a squatting position breathing hard while looking at the ground. Orson and Otto were both lying on the grass trying to catch their breath. I was breathing hard and I was sweating profusely. I helped everyone to stand up and talked with them for a moment. It was the same thing that I had gotten from everyone. I just explained that I had no clue why I was this strong, but I was going to flaunt the hell out of it. Uncle Jack laughed at me and patted me on the back.
Suddenly, Pearl stepped up to me and took my left hand to look at it. She studied it, then took my right hand and studied it. She looked at both but said nothing to me. I could tell she was reading my palms and comparing the lines on both.
“Sweetheart, what is it?” Orson asked.
She looked at him then opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. It’s like she was stunned into silence, but that wasn’t like her. Orson walked over to her and pulled her hands away from mine. I stood there wondering what was going on.
“What is it?” Orson repeated while they looked into each other's gaze.
“I’ve never seen palms that are the same. Completely identical. I always wait until people are of age to read their palms, so I've never looked at them before today.” She paused then looked at me and continued, “there is no walking away from your destiny. It’s set in stone so much so that you won’t be able to alter it in the slightest. This journey will start to answer your questions, but the true answers will have to come from the one that altered your prophecy.”
I looked at her in confusion. Mom had gotten our prophecies from Piper when she was pregnant with each of us. Was it mom that knew the truth about me or was it Piper?
I shared a look with everyone before turning and storming off to the packhouse. I went straight to my room and grabbed my phone. I pulled up mom’s number and called her immediately. She picked up on the second ring.
“Hey Grant! What’s going on?” she asked in a sweet tone.
“Who altered my prophecy?” I asked her bluntly.
There was silence at the other end of the line. I think I might have shocked her with my question.
“Pearl said that someone altered my prophecy after she read my palms,” I told her.
“I’m not sure. I know that I got one prophecy when I was a month pregnant with you. Then, right before you were born, it changed from as strong as Eric to stronger than Eric. I’m not sure what happened and why.” “Can you ask Piper? I feel like it has something to do with all my questions about myself and my strength.” “Yes. I can ask her again and then get back to you.” “Thank you, mom.” “You’re welcome, baby boy.”
She hung up and I took the time to clean up from training. Once I was done, I saw that she had sent me a text.
“Piper told me that she’s not sure what had changed the prophecy. It came to her in her dreams before she came to me in mine. I’m sorry we can’t give you more of an answer than that.” “It’s ok mom. I think I’m closer to what I'm looking for,” I sent her.
“Alright. Let me know what you find and if you need help.” “I will.”
I left my room and went down to meet with everyone. I let them know what was going on and put it behind me to focus on my next task here at Harvest Moon. Finding a spy to place in my pack to report back to Harvest Moon when there were issues.
~
Otto and I spent the week watching and training with the spies that Harvest Moon had. We talked with Orson more than anyone here and I found that he and Otto had a lot in common, including talking about and eating food. I was happy to see that I had a quiet version of Orson on my hands with Otto.
The day before we were getting ready to leave the pack, Otto and I decided on a spy we both thought excelled and needed to go with us. His name was Krew and he was happy to join our pack that still had no name or had officially been established. I was just assembling my band of merry werewolves to travel around the world and possibly wreck havoc in some places.
As the last day came to a close, I texted Madison like I always did at this time. I told her about the spy I was taking with me and she asked if he was Double OO7. I laughed at her and told her no. I knew better than to think she didn’t know her dad was one of the spies Orson and Jack talked with. Mom and dad knew it and so did us pups but we never talked about it.
I then told her in detail what I was out here looking for and what information I had gotten so far.
“So there’s no changing your destiny and someone altered your prophecy while your mom was pregnant with you?” she asked.
“Yep.” “That’s insane. How are you supposed to find someone that altered what was going to happen to you before you were even born?” “I’m not sure. I think I might have to talk to more witches to get the answer I’m looking for.” “That's probably a good idea. Just be careful, witches can be crafty. Pun totally intended.”
I laughed at her and texted her, “I’ll be careful.”
I just wondered what answers I would find and if I really wanted them at this point.
- Writer
