Alpha Rising: Her Revenge

5: Arrival

Kendria

"They weren't expecting us," Naomi reported, jogging around the copse of trees we were waiting behind.

"What do you mean, they weren't expecting us?" I demanded, pacing impatiently. We had everything all set. We'd sent our paperwork ahead, chosen our delegation, and packed our suitcases with everything we needed for the week. I checked everything over multiple times. How is this happening?

Our SUVs sat parked by the side of the road, about a half mile away from the northern border of Harvest Moon. We drove the entire day before and stopped at a motel ten miles back to rest. We sent Naomi ahead to declare our imminent arrival, but already things weren't going to plan.

"They claim they never received our paperwork and legitimization request," Naomi said with a frown. "We did send it, didn't we?"

"Yes, we mailed it two weeks ago. I dropped it off at the local post office myself!" I shrieked, trying not to panic. "What does this mean? Did we come all this way for nothing?"

"No no, I think it will be okay," Naomi said hurriedly, trying to reassure me. "They don't have a guest house for us, but they have plenty of guest rooms in the packhouse."

"And the paperwork? The fate of our future pack?" I asked, irritated beyond belief.

"Patrol said they passed along the information to the ranked member of Harvest Moon in charge," Naomi replied. "They'll let us know what's going to happen with that in an hour or so."

"I can't believe it. Of course," I growled with frustration. "Of course this would happen. Of course Harvest Moon would screw us over again, rat bastards!"

"Hey, take it easy," Tamara cut in. "Gatherings are always a huge undertaking. It's bound to take them a little bit of strategizing to fit in an extra pack at the last minute. The way I see it, we lucked out."

I tilted my head. "Lucky? How so?"

"They could have turned us away altogether. Since we're not a legitimate pack, it was within their right to prevent us from crossing their borders," Tamara explained her reasoning.

I sighed. She made a good point. They could have turned us away as rogues and we would have lost our chance to become a real pack, perhaps permanently. It was good of them to think it over and consider our request instead of dismissing us outright.

"Okay, you're right," I said, stretching my arms over my head. "Let's get back in the SUV and get settled then. I don't want them to change their minds before we've even entered their lands. If we get there early, maybe I can meet with whoever's in charge and reassure them that we come in peace."

Shasta, Harlie, Tamara, Naomi and I piled back into the SUV and drove the rest of the way to Harvest Moon's border, the second car behind us full of six warriors. The patrol waved us through and we followed the road for another ten minutes, winding through orchards and fields. I found myself mesmerized, looking at trees full of luscious ripe apples and endless stalks of grain waving merrily in the wind. It was a completely different kind of beauty than what we had up on Mount Haven.

I vaguely remembered coming here as a child. I had a few little friends to run around and play with, while Kade was thick as thieves with the alpha's son. Rowan, his name was. I figured I'd see him at some point during the proceedings, but I knew from Naomi's scouting that he wasn't alpha yet, which was a little odd. If I remembered correctly, he was almost as old as Kade was, which would make him about twenty-two or twenty-three. Most packs passed the title along to their heir by the time they were twenty, with others doing it as soon as eighteen.

I snapped out of my reverie as the fields gave way to the lawns around the packhouse. It was a four-story mansion that had some farmhouse characteristics, but was still very extravagant. A couple of she-wolves were waiting on the porch to take us to our rooms and help with the bags, but otherwise nobody else was there to greet us. I suppose that since I wasn't an official alpha yet, we weren't worth any ranked members meeting us in person.

We had just crossed the threshold when I smelled it. It was faint, but the smell of a forest after the rain and rich spruce started teasing my nose. Daria, who had been restless all morning, was instantly on alert. Mate! She said excitedly.

Oh Goddess. He's here somewhere.

Unwilling to reveal the discovery, I kept my face smooth as I followed the she-wolf up the stairs. As we climbed, the smell got stronger. Daria was dancing around in my mind. I think mate lives here, she informed me.

He could be a guest, I replied as we exited the stairwell onto the third floor.

I doubt it. The scent was growing stronger on the stairs but it's hardly noticeable here, Daria replied smugly. I inhaled carefully and had to agree. That could only mean one thing. He was a ranked member of Harvest Moon. The fourth floor was where the ranked members' living and working spaces were.

I felt torn right down the middle, elated and devastated all at once. On the one hand, I was thrilled to have found my mate. On the other hand, it was exactly as I had feared, and my mate was a ranked member of another pack.

Maybe I was jumping to conclusions, though. After all, ranked members were fully capable of having multiple children. Perhaps my mate wasn't supposed to take over a ranked role in Harvest Moon and would be free to come back to Mount Haven with me. Also, I wasn't the first born, which hopefully lessened my chances of my mate being a first born himself.

Slightly reassured, I finally reached my assigned room near the end of the hall. The room was simple, but bright and fresh, almost a reflection of the outside. Dark hardwood floors were softened with a large creamy area rug. The pale blue walls were interrupted by two large windows framed by gauzy white curtains. The king-size bed had a buttery yellow comforter and crisp white sheets. A small closet and en-suite bathroom completed the space.

I knew just by looking at this room that it was far from their grandest offering, but I didn't care. It was a sweet, uncomplicated room that didn't make me feel out of place. I put my clothes into the oak dresser drawers and sat on the bedspread to catch my breath. I couldn't smell that mouthwatering spruce forest scent anymore, which meant I could think more clearly.

Or maybe not. We should go find mate, Daria said insistently.

We can't go wandering all over the place, we were barely invited onto their pack lands, I argued. Still, I could feel her—and if I was honest with myself, also my own—barely contained excitement at the thought of finally uniting with our mate. We'd been of age to find our mate for over a year now, which in the grand scheme of things wasn't that long. I couldn't help but think that if I had grown up like I was supposed to with my family in the Blue Hills pack, I would have met my mate right after turning eighteen. My parents would have made sure their children found their mates.

Pushing the thought of my mate from my mind, I tried to focus on the matter at hand. Somehow, our plans had already gone awry, and it was up to me to get things back on track. I was stuck playing the waiting game, though. Sitting around while persons unknown decided our fate was making me anxious. To distract myself, I went over to the dresser to pull another copy of our pack paperwork out of the messenger bag I had set there. I sat back on the bed and began to thumb through it, double checking that everything was in order.

It ended up being quite difficult to get everything together, mainly because it was hard to track down the requirements. New packs were created so rarely, the process wasn't widely documented. It ended up being a combined effort of my mom's knowledge and Naomi's research efforts at other pack libraries that got us the information we needed to proceed. Even now, with a thorough report of our numbers, business, and land, I was worried we were missing something.

Before I could get too far down the rabbit hole, a knock sounded at the door. "Come in," I called out. Finally, I would get some answers.

The door opened and a petite woman with caramel hair walked through the door. "Good afternoon, I'm to understand you're here to—"

She stopped dead in her tracks when she focused on my face. Her face went white as a sheet. I looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. She looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place her. "Hello?" I ventured carefully.

Her mouth opened and closed a few times. I was getting really weirded out when she finally spoke. "Is your last name Warner?" The woman whispered, reaching toward me, then lowering her hand to her side when she realized what she was doing.

It was my turn to turn pale. "How do you know that?" I whispered back.

She gasped, then rushed over to take both my hands. "Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness! I can't believe it! You must be...Kendria, right? Kendria? Kendria Warner?" She squeezed my hands tightly.

"I am," I said, trying and failing to extricate my hands from her grasp. No point in lying when my purpose here was to declare myself a new pack leader. "I'm sorry, I don't seem to recall who you are."

Her hands flew to her mouth, effectively releasing mine. I clasped my fingers together and tucked them on my lap to prevent further contact, feeling a little apprehensive. "I'm so sorry, dear, forgive me. I'm Dianne, Luna of Harvest Moon. You probably don't remember me. But with your hair and eyes, I'd know you anywhere! Why, your whole family had that raven black hair and beautiful green eyes! I don't think I've seen you since you were seven or eight. But dear—forgive me—how did you survive the m******e? We thought your whole family had died."

I pressed my lips together and closed my eyes for a beat. I knew there was a chance that people would bring up my history while we were here, but I wasn't expecting it within the first twenty minutes of our arrival. "My mother and I escaped, along with a handful of other women and children," I informed her tightly, hoping that would be the end of it.

Luna Dianne seemed to sense my tone, because she thankfully dropped the subject. "Well, I'm so glad to see you here, all grown up. What I came to say is that I'm here on behalf of Alpha Rhys and my son to welcome you and inform you what they and the Elders have decided."

"I'm glad to hear something has been worked out. I can't understand how our original paperwork went missing,"

The Luna flapped her hand. "It's been incredibly busy around here, and I do apologize for the mixup. Fortunately, the Elders have decided to hear your case today, before the banquet. You'll stay in the packhouse for the duration of the week's events as well."

I looked at her in confusion. "Hear my case?"

"Paperwork or no, you have to present your case for creating a new pack to the Elders in person, dear," Dianne explained.

"Ah. I see. I was not aware of that," I said, pursing my lips. I had always disliked public speaking growing up, and getting older did not improve my opinion of it.

Once again, Luna Dianne seemed to sense what I was feeling. "The Elders are really very understanding, dear. With all the hard work you've done," she patted the papers, then continued. "I'm sure you'll do quite well for yourself and your people."

She stood and looked me over again. "I can't wait to hear more what you've been up to these last several years, Kendria." She walked back over to the door. "If you want to dress for the banquet now, I'll take you to the main event building where the Elders are meeting. The banquet follows right after in the same building, so there's no point having to come back to change in between."

"Oh—okay," I stuttered, suddenly panicking.

As if on cue, my door opened again and Harlie flew in, armed with a curling iron. "Kendria! We need to make you fit to be seen in society!" she shouted, skidding to a halt when she saw Luna Dianne. "Oh. I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there, Ms....Mrs..."

"Luna Dianne, dear," the older woman said pleasantly with a twinkle in her eye. I was really starting to like her, she was so gentle and understanding.

Harlie's mouth dropped into a perfect O shape. "Ah. Sorry, Luna. I'll just come back—"

"Not at all, dear, we were just discussing Kendria dressing for the banquet. I'm sure you'll be of great help to her," Dianne said. "I'll wait for you on the first floor, Kendria, and we'll go over together." I could only nod, but she took it graciously and gave me a warm smile before shutting the door behind her, leaving me alone with Harlie.

She blinked at me. "Well, I wasn't expecting that," she said, walking to the bathroom and putting her curling iron and makeup back down on the counter.

"Neither was I," I admitted, flopping back on the bed.

"Hey! Don't make your hair worse than it already is!" Harlie shrieked, yanking me up by the arm.

"Ow," I said crossly as she yanked me into the bathroom and sat me in a little chair by the vanity.

"Hurry up, slowpoke, we don't have much time if the Luna is waiting for you," Harlie said as she plugged in the curling iron and began lining up all kinds of makeup on the counter.

"She remembered me," I said, still a little stunned.

Harlie paused, but only for a second. "Really?" she asked as she ran a comb through my hair and started separating strands to curl.

"Yeah," I said faintly, feeling the heat from the curling iron dangerously close to my cheek. "Just do me a favor and don't burn me, would you?"

"Pshh, I have great control. Hush," Harlie said, getting in the zone. She finished my hair and makeup quickly, then helped me get dressed. "There," she said, with one final bobby pin.

I looked in the mirror. "Wow, thanks Harlie. I don't know what I'd do without you," I thanked her profusely. I felt ready to face the Elders now.

"Don't stop and gape at yourself, go! You don't want to keep the Luna or the Elders waiting any longer than you already have!" She gave me a push toward the door.

"Okay, okay," I said, trying not to trip over the ankle boots I was now wearing. Harlie followed me out and down the hall a few doors to where her own guest room was. She opened it and turned to face me in the door frame.

"Just remember, the fate of our entire pack is in your hands. Don't blow it," she said cheerfully.

With that, she closed her door in my face. Just what I needed to hear. No pressure.