Finding Destiny

Balls and Mates

Stepping through the swirling darkness, I welcomed the bottomless depth and cold calmness it had to offer. Poor Reese never got the hang of traveling by portal. River, Reese’s older brother, had hired our coven to place a couple permanent portals between their new pack house on the border of Eli’s pack lands and Hunter’s pack lands.

Eli was alpha of Blood Moon pack and Hunter was alpha of Crescent Moon pack - the two packs just so happened to share a border with each other, which worked out for the trio in the end. They built one big pack house on the border and their packs lived on whichever side they belonged. The two packs were still separate, but they did everything together and their pack members treated one another like family. No other pack messed with Crescent Moon and Blood Moon - their pack members were just as fierce as their alphas and luna.

Stepping out of my magnificent portal, I found myself almost falling back into it. “Uncle Kai!! Come play!” Little Holden strangled one of my legs. His twin, Elias, wrapped himself around my other leg and began pulling me forward, presumably towards their play room.

“Hey, kiddos! Look how big you’ve gotten! You’re going to be able to kick your dads’ butts any day now!” I joked as I peered up at my friends. Reese stood between her two mates with a wide grin on her face. Eli was the first to give me a huge hug - he was definitely the warmer personality of her two mates.

“Good to see you, man!” Eli said as he clapped me on the back.

“Finally! It only took us three months of continually asking you to come visit,” Reese teased as she pulled me into a side hug and Hunter grabbed my hand in a friendly shake.

“You know where your room is - get settled and join us for lunch when you’re ready,” Hunter said. All business, as usual. The only time he let his guard down around me was after a few drinks. I wouldn’t say he wasn’t friendly ever - that was just Hunter’s personality - very somber and serious. While Eli pushed Reese to experience new things, Hunter grounded her. They were the perfect combination for my little Luna I had come to see as a sister.

“Sorry it’s been a while - things have been busy back at Waverly. Let me throw my things in my room and I’ll meet you in the dining room,” I said as I gave Reese another side hug.

Yes, I had my own room in their pack house. For one, their pack house was absolutely ginormous. Since they had done away with two separate pack houses, they made this one twice as big. It had to be big enough to house their betas, their beta’s mates, gammas (which Hunter had and Eli chose not to), families when they visited, and any other visitors. The pack house also had the main dining hall downstairs which was big enough for both packs. Against my pleas, they had gifted me my own room when the house was completed. When I said they were my friends, I meant it. We really had become like family. Their twins had called me ‘Uncle Kai’ since they started talking and they trusted me with every delicate situation that came up within their packs. Kali had even become close with Reese and her beta females, Elaine and Aly. Kali had more freedom to visit than I did - she didn’t have as much on her shoulders. She had made it appoint to visit at least once a month.

With my own room came the freedom to decorate it as I wanted. Stepping into my dark, moody room, I instantly felt at home. The walls were a dark plum and all throughout the room I had chosen accents of silver - not real silver though, since this was a house full of werewolves. That would’ve been entirely rude of me. I had a four post bed made from oak in the far corner of my room, which was situated next to a set of glass doors that lead onto a balcony overlooking the beautiful forest. On the other side of the room, there was a cozy sitting area surrounding an earthy, stone fireplace. From there, on either side of the fireplace was the walk-in closet and the master bath. The master bath was designed by Eli and Hunter, since they had done such a magnificent job on the master bath they surprised Reese with. While not as big as theirs, it still had the glass walls and the submerged soaker tub. Perfect for a relaxing end to the day.

The truly amazing thing about this pack house was it was built by pack members. There were multiple construction company owners in each pack and rather than choosing just one to complete this huge project, they had them come together to build the perfect dream pack house. Reese, Eli and Hunter truly had a special way of bringing both packs together and it was a beautiful thing to see nowadays in a world as ugly as ours.

I tossed my luggage on the bed and made my way to the dining room, which was just as beautiful as the rest of the pack house. Everyone was already seated, well, everyone besides the twins who were running around the table wrapped up in a serious game of tag. Elias and Holden were big for their age - in another month they would be two years old, but they looked like they were really pushing four or five. And they were smart. Hell, they were extremely smart for their age. I’d never seen how the alpha gene worked in pups, but after seeing these two sprout up so quick, I was constantly in a state of awe.

As soon as I walked in and the twins saw me, their target changed and they both came crashing into me, giggling as I tumbled over. Did I mention they were strong, too? And hallelujah for them not being identical because I’m terrible with telling twins apart. At least with these two little squirts, Elias looked exactly like Eli and Holden looked exactly like Hunter.

“Alright, you two! Off of Uncle Kai! It’s time to eat!” Reese said from across the room, though her voice was laced with a little humor. Of course she thought it was funny her pups had tackled me. Hunter looked on at the scene as a proud father that their boys were so strong. Eli watched with a cheeky grin, obviously finding it amusing too.

“What’s for lunch?” I asked, rubbing my hands together after I pulled myself up off the floor. I was starved and everyone knew werewolves were the best cooks. They always had something hearty and home cooked and always, always bursting with flavor.

“Slow cooked chicken with some herbed veggies over mashed potatoes!” Reese said in a dreamy tone. I laughed at that - food was the way to her heart. Even I knew that. Hunter and Eli snorted at her, both trying to hide their chuckles. “What? You two love it just as much as I do!” She said as she eyed both of her mates.

“Sounds delicious, Ree. So how’s it been going? Everything been quiet for you guys? No threats?” I ask just as the food was brought it and placed in the middle of the table. I grabbed a seat and a plate then dug in to the delicious meal. This is what I loved about visiting - everything was so relaxed here, whereas everything was so traditional back at my coven. Here, meals were self serve and enjoyable. Back at home, everything was formal - from the silverware, to the meals, to the seating arrangements. I almost always took dinner in my own room at home just so I didn’t feel so damn stuffy. Kali would join me of course, her thoughts echoing mine.

“Everything has been great! The twins are starting preschool early, which isn’t a surprise. Alpha pups are always way advanced,” she responded as she eyed both of her boys lovingly. They were two busy scarfing down their meal to notice.

“No threats at all. River and Dax have kept our warriors trained up and between Eli and me, we’ve kept healthy relations with our bordering packs,” Hunter said as he started piling food on his plate.

“So what’s new with you? Find any special witch lady yet?” Eli asked as he wiggled his eyebrows up and down. Reese smirked and rolled her eyes.

“You don’t have to answer that. Though, I will say we’ve got some very eligible she-wolves in our packs. Very classy. And they’ve definitely shown an interest in you whenever you visit,” she added, wiggling her eyebrows up and down just as Eli had.

“You’re just as bad as he is!” I said, laughing at their prying, “but, no. I’m holding out for my true mate. She’s bound to show up sooner or later, right? I just have to be patient.”

“Well, as much as I want you to find someone, I respect your choice on waiting for your mate. Oh! I know! We could hold a ball!” Reese suggested and her eyes literally lit up, like I swear I saw sparkles at the mention of a damn ball.

“Ree, let him breathe. He just got here. You have the next three days to bombard him with balls and mates talk,” Hunter said. Reese eyed me and then Eli, all of us trying to hold in our laughter. Hunter looked up and let out a hmph as he rolled his eyes, “alright, get it out.”

“Balls and mates talk? Honey, you walked right into that one,” Reese giggled out as we all let out our own laughs. Hunter rolled his eyes again, but a small smirk spread across his lips.

A ball wasn’t a bad idea..why hadn’t I thought of that? Hell, how hadn’t Kali come up with that already? We could invite the surrounding packs and covens, of course only if we were on good terms with them. The fall harvest season was coming up anyway..hm maybe make it a masquerade in honor of All Hallow’s Eve? The covens would love it and the wolves would jump at any chance to dress up and party.

“I think you’re on to something with a ball. Let’s talk after lunch,” I said as I looked up at Reese and winked. She let out a high pitch squeal and she clapped her hands together. Man..what did I just get myself into?