Darryl was pacing the kitchen and had only taken approximately four bites of food. He was spewing absolute nonsense to vent his anxiety and concern for what was about to transpire. The trial was today and this would be the first time Alpha was directly exposed to Lydia. The interest in Lydia had grown since multiple Elders had heard of her in a prophecy and as a result there were a few visitors from other packs here as well to watch.

Sara threatened to send him from the home when he started cursing the entire idea and claiming nothing would work out and everyone of them would be killed for their lies.

Lydia made a relieved huff when she saw her parents were calling.

“Today’s the big day! How do you feel?” Robin’s voice came over with a slight echo, signifying the call was on speaker and bother her parents were listening.

“I am honestly trying not to. Darryl is freaking out enough for the two of us and I can’t muster excitement.” Her anxious chuckle was an indication of her honesty.

“Just treat it like a sports meet. Forget about any eyes on you and follow Terrance’s direction like you would your coach. We know how hard you’ve worked. We are proud of how well you have handled this regardless.” Alton offered his advice in a loving but direct way and Lydia expressed her appreciation. She had gone home a few times to decompress and hash over her choices with her parents.

“Thanks Dad,” her voice had softened at fatherly advice, her nerves soon followed suit.

“I know you’ve told us as much as you can about the risk with this, and we want you to know that we are nearby in case it gets dangerous, and ready to celebrate if it goes well.”

“We appreciate that Mom,” Lydia took a deep breath. “I wish you could be here.” Her voice was small as she admitted her weakness.

“We do as well, but we will support you and Willow. This is what you are choosing for yourself and we do understand.”

Alton was cut off by his wife, “You can change your mind too!”

“Honey please, don’t make her thing that we want her to change her mind.”

“You say that, and she will think we will think less of her if she does!” Lydia chuckled at her mother’s admonishing tone.

“Mom, Dad, stop!” she laughed. Darryl nestled in under her arm, his anxiety forgotten as he watched her phone conversation. “Seriously, I know I can both make my own mind and change it too. You’ve been telling me this for as long as I can remember!”

After a few more exchanges the phone call ended. Darryl admitted his jealousy with Terrance nodding along.

~

“Ahh, we finally meet. I have a message for the wind, but first the cave must be opened and the home shared. She awaits you. Your hopes have been heard.” A crackling voice that matched the elderly woman’s stooped pose was spoken low as Lydia walked by. Lydia craned her neck as she walked to see. Regardless of her desire to stop and greet who was speaking to her to get her own read on the elderly lady, Lydia could not stop and had to follow Terrance into the small throng.

Standing in the center of the small field, wearing naught but a large blanket that was wrapped around her like that first night, Lydia was beginning to think that every single word that came out of Darryl’s panicking mouth at breakfast was absolute truth. There was no way in all creation they could pull this off.

Willow bristled while they waited, unknown eyes evaluating her. The poor elderly woman was taking a long time to reach her designated place, and the pair wondered if she could even see from way up there.

Dominic’s pull was itchy and nagging. He was maintaining a white knuckled grip on the tree he was standing by, refusing to look her way. A small keen left her lips and Lydia snapped it off, looking pointedly at a passing cloud for a moment. Knowing what was coming, the demonstration of both submission and strength simultaneously was sickening to her.

Everyone stilled when Elder Gouyen began chanting and moving her arms about. She beckoned to the young man who had been following her close and spoke in his ear. He then boomed her words to the crowd. “The Goddess is pleased. This one is blessed by more than just the wolf. Spiritdancers cannot survive without the wind and the caves it blows through. This is where the original mother will temporarily reside.” There was a confused murmur quickly growing into excited conversation and spreading like wildfire through the watching group.

To stifle the panic and try not to hear, Lydia replayed the words from the old lady in her head, thinking Darryl was also right about this, these must be more than senile thoughts muttered aloud. Though she did not fully understand them, constantly referring to things the elder could not know lead Lydia to believe that they had to be coming from something specific. At least they had to be if she was going to escape this horrid culture, and her fate-

Lydia found herself looking at said fate, and this time physically turned her entire body away in denial. “No Willow,” she said firmly as she did so.

After an eternity, and a monologue of introduction she could not pay much attention to, the trial began. Terrance first listened to her mind, or rather, he pretended to but gave her a pep-talk instead.

“Remember you guys NO EYE CONTACT WITH ALPHA! I will call out to you if his suspicion is roused, and you need to run.”

“I know, I know,” she thought back at him gently. Their foreheads separated and he opened a channel with everyone, the cacophony of voices was loud briefly but muted swiftly, like walking into the cafeteria before adjusting to the volume.

‘State your names, rank and intentions.’ Terrance demanded in her head for all to hear, and the roar quieted to near silence as everyone listened.

‘We are Lydia and Willow, we are here with no rank, and wish to join your pack for camaraderie and to learn the culture I was denied.’

‘How did you come here?’

Willow answered this, Lydia closed off her thoughts, ‘I lived in a cave, was denied my own kind and forced to study as a human in the hopes of killing Willow.’ They formulated a story based on as much truth as they could salvage so that the tones in her story would ring absolutely true, Willow visualized the dark recesses of her cave with such clarity that Terrance could project the image forward to most of the group. A hush befell the crowd as the murmuring and descriptions spread.

‘How did you escape?’ The new, authoritative voice cut through her mind and Willow looked to Terrance for confirmation, his eyes were wide with shock, and she got the message without him having to send her anything else, ‘This was their Alpha? Father? Bastard.’ But Willow had shifted further forward as they practiced, hiding those thoughts from everyone else.

‘We built up our strength, silently and carefully, and in the last moments before we thought we would be separated and alone forever, we ran. We ran until we bled, we ran until there were no traces of those we were running from. We had luck in the humans tailing us and scaring off the others, and we had luck that Terrance felt us and lent us aid.’ The fear, pain and exhaustion shed from her memories and many more listeners could feel her sincerity. This caused the clamor to rise again.

‘Fine then. Show us this strength you compiled as proof that you will better the pack and have genes worth breeding.’

Terrance wisely cut the connection before the flare of anger could reach anyone.

The crowd assumed that the trembling was her preparing for the change.

Darryl had slipped off, being usually unwanted anyways, and Terrance assisted in connecting them mentally.

‘Ready?’ he asked her, ‘I’m ready if you need me, but-’

‘Let, me try,’

The shift began and built, and she was right at the precipice but the itching and the voices as the haze around her grew, the blanket fell from her shoulders as she started to contort, but there was a ledge keeping Willow from the edge.

‘NOW!’  Lapu’s little yip of a voice rang in her ears, and she slipped to the side while Willow emerged.

The gasp as she shifted was as she had been warned. Nobody would expect the slow change she always made, nor for her to look so purely like a wolf with her unknown and tainted background. Only the strongest of spirits looked more wolf and less dog. The shocked silence that followed was a relief.

Until that bastard started towards her himself. ‘Hold! Hold! HOLD!’ Terrance was shouting in her mind.

Lapu was whimpering and crying in the link, Lydia focused solely on her brothers and let Willow submit. Willow lowered down to her haunches, jaw grazing the ground, one cheek twisting up to expose her neck, a dramatic yawn cracking her elongated jaw. Eyes sliding away and off his body.

Lydia was starting to cry in frustration and pressed herself as close to Lapu’s source as she could, the physical distance was grand as he was still across the field and behind a few trees, but their link was strong and the two of them clung together as they would to a life raft. She could not reach Darryl specifically when Lapu was out, but that did not matter. She had her safety line.

Willow’s painful whimper was more from Lydia’s distance than from the submission, but just as she did so, while simultaneously turning her body to expose her stomach, a snarl ripped from the crowd.

Everyone searched for the source, and Dominic had both hands clasped over his mouth. His nostrils were flaring so dramatically that no one could doubt the reaction had come from him. Nor could they mistake the cause.

“Looks like you’re of good breeding stock after all,” The Bastard said before he raised a hand to the crowd, yelling, “Cedar Glade Pack has grown today! For the future of Dancers everywhere!”

The howling that started was distorted by the twisting of her gut. ‘Is this outcome really for the best?’

She sat cowering in the center of the field as many bodies began to strip and shift, ready to welcome the packmate, licks on her muzzle, noses touching every inch of her. Willow was trembling as Lydia came back. Willow was further fortified when Lapu laid down on her tail.

Dominic was standing just out of reach, body stiff and lips curled to draw in her pheromones. Willow was so distracted by the swarm of new bodies and smells she could ignore him. Terrance had stepped away, her eyes followed him as he pleaded with his Alpha, “She’s too young to breed, too new, she’s still not accustomed to our culture and expectations,”

But the Alpha Bastard snorted and turned to his son. “I’ll give you one year.” He finally said, a smile curling his lips as he jutted his chin at the fuming figure watching the new packmate. “If Dominic can last that long,”

“You won’t stand him down?”

“I won’t, we are short on breeders, and you have yet to welp.” Terrance slid his eyes downwards and nodded slowly.

“I understand Alpha.”