Gemma
After the dance she had excused herself to go to the bathroom. She needed some time away from all the strange wolves. She was trying not to show how nervous she was among so many strange wolves, especially with their attention on her.
But she had been kidnapped three times, turned against her will, used as a science project and threatened by a greedy alpha. Of course she’d known he was greedy, since she had come across a few of his sins when she had researched Elder Daniels before she was turned.
All that had happened to her was bound to take some kind of toll on her. She was on guard all the time, and despite her thinking of hiding in the one cubicle to catch her breath quickly, she soon found that with everyone wanting to talk to her it was not a quick trip.
Emily and Jessica had fallen into step with her; she guessed it was their way to support her, but it defied her moment to catch her breath. When they finall
DaleHe was more than happy to crawl into Gemma’s bed with her at the end of the night; they both needed the reassurance and rest they could only get from sleeping in each other’s arms. He had started coming to her bed every night; it seemed to help her guilt with going to his bed to get some rest and he wanted her to not feel guilty about their connection.He'd noticed that she would crawl into his arms in her sleep, which proved to him that she was slowly starting to trust him a little more. He was ready to move into a room with her, but she didn’t seem ready and he was sure once they’d marked she would allow it anyway.They had been under a magnifying glass from all attending wolves, despite Gemma making a good first impression, they were all curious about the human turned wolf, turned alpha. They were making history and having so much attention on them was tiring. And then his father who had disowned him
GemmaShe couldn’t help the rush of excitement as she spotted Dale without a shirt on the field. He wasn’t the only one without a shirt, it seemed most of the alphas preferred to stay in only shorts, but he was the only one that held her attention.It was ridiculous how much Daisy was drooling in her mind; she’d have to find a mind mop and make her clean up the mess. She was torn from her thoughts as Tamara sat down with her and elbowed her with amusement clear on her face when she winked at her.Gemma felt her face flush with embarrassment, before she took a handful of the trail mix and shoved it in her mouth. Jessica handed her another bottle of water and she mumbled a thanks through the mouthful.She’d noticed that some of her pack members had set up stalls and some teenagers were walking through the assembled crowd, offering snacks or drinks for sale and she smiled. At least the pack was making a decent
DaleHe had seen her expression of excitement as they came running into the arena, he still had some speed to give, but the sparkle in her wide eyes and the sheer tension in her stance was so adorable to see. She was cheering for him, even if she wasn’t doing it out loud.He pushed himself and easily passed Alpha Daniels; it certainly already proved why he had tried to avoid the competition altogether. The man’s lavish lifestyle had made him less of a challenge. Of course, as an alpha it would take some serious decadence to show in his physique, but once he had to match other alphas, it would count against him, like it had the other alphas they had left behind.Perhaps they should do this tournament annually to bring the pride back into being an alpha. He was pleasantly surprised to find Attorney Thompson was indeed a true alpha, since he had had to push himself to pass him. It showed that Attorney Thompson was still a t
GemmaShe wasn’t sure what to make of the new version of Dale Cleaver that she was seeing now, so she was extra shy as he led her down the stairs to join the bonfire.She stopped off to check in with Moira; the woman seemed unflustered by the amount of people that needed to be fed. She seemed to be on top of things and in her element; she understood why when they stepped outside.There were four males cooking burgers, steaks and hotdogs over the fire and four females building the burgers and hotdogs or cutting up the steaks and placing them in individual cheesy waffles cones and adding them to the already huge pile of food waiting for their guests buffet style.A dancefloor had been erected a little bit away from the patio and bonfires with seats surrounding them. Fairy lights lit the dancefloor and a DJ was already playing some background music.The entire scene was welcoming and she could already see the pack members collecting around the bonfires while the different packs started
DaleHe was not the only one surprised when his Gemma released her alpha aura for the first time. No one had expected her to have managed it so soon and even less the immense power of it. He was both intimidated and aroused at the sheer power in her aura.On instinct alone he had massaged the back of her neck in an attempt to help her retract her intense alpha aura. But then she all but melted at his touch and her aura retracted almost instantly. At least he knew how to help her relax in future.As they followed her up the stairs to the office, he linked Jessica to bring refreshments and join them since he had a feeling this would be something else she would be adding to her list of things to do. Once inside, Charlie handed her two files and she sat down on the couch, ignoring everyone’s existence while she scanned through the information in the files.Dale indicated for everyone to sit and then found his seat next to h
GemmaShe was rather excited for today’s challenge. They had agreed to intersperse the active tests with the intelligence tests. That way there would be enough movement to keep the wolves happy, but they still got to test the human parts.They had marked off the arena, so every age group could compete at the same time. They males and females were combined for this challenge, according to their ages and titles. And each challenge was unique to their titles and age groups.The toddlers had a puzzle to build as two separate teams. And the challenges got trickier with every step it took in age. The kids’ activities were up first, since their challenges were shorter and easier.They actually had a glib wolf announcing the challenges and giving running commentary to keep it from being boring to the spectators. The male had even gone farther by adding little riddles and jokes in between and the crowds assembl
Dale Once again, he had been schooled about his mate’s intelligence; that puzzle set was pretty challenging and Grant gave him a meaningful look when he came back to sit with his Gem. He didn’t need to be reminded of his stupid decision that had almost cost him so much. He knew he’d fucked up and he was working so hard to fix it. He was just grateful that the mate bond was making things a little easier for him, since he doubted she would have given him the time of day if not for it drawing her to him. But he spent his time with her while the other wolves did their run. They would be in the middle somewhere, since the alphas all wanted to see the Messengers run. They had quite a few good runners in the army, but he was always measuring his warriors against others. It would not do for them to be less than the best. And though their runners might not be the fastest, they were definitely the best trained in evasion and battles, so they would have the best chance at carrying the me
Gemma She was already a little annoyed when Dale’s father made such a big thing about her not being in the competitions. It wasn’t really fair if she set out the competitions and then competed, was it? But then she was sure he was just being contrary and would have been the first to protest if she’d competed as well. It worsened when he tried to insinuate that she was not up to par with other alphas when she hadn’t even had her wolf for a full month. It was ridiculous how full of crap these self-righteous wolves were. But she shifted into Daisy after putting him in his place about his assumptions, considering that Daisy was looking forward to a run when they hadn’t had much time to shift with the tournament arrangements. So she let Daisy approach the starting line. At least the female wolves were not such pompous pricks as the males were. Daisy’s excitement was infectious as soon as they started the race. They stayed with most of the group heading out, knowing that the last