A pack of their own
156
JAMES: I was going over all the things in my head that I had thought about last night at the dance, and there really was nothing that was in our control at the moment, the Alpha council, is my biggest wish, and concern at the moment, I think that Janica would do great at the training, alongside me, then we could and would make a better team for the Pack. I just worry about this war, I want to be here to help defend the pack if it comes down to it, but I won’t be able to do that if I’m at training. I don’t like that thought
at all.
DRAKE: I get to Lilly’s in time to see Kes, it looks like she is halfway through her run. I just marvel at how well she works her way through it. I stand and watch the others as they take their turns running it. I wish I would have been here sooner, earlier in her training, I have missed so much with her. I am proud that she is our best archer, again I had no clue about the fact that she even did archery. After Mackie went through her run, I call out to Kes. “Kes, we have guests that are ready to leave, we need to see them off.” I tell her. “Yes father.” Goddess I was hoping we were past that. But I guess I still have to prove myself still.
KESKA: It was nice, with Jessie gone, and the ball over, the summer settled into a quiet routine, the Packs left between breakfast, and shortly after lunch, except Adrian he stayed a few extra days, to make sure Papa Sutter was ok to travel. I did visit him a few times, sat with him, read to him, I even apologized to him, because I felt bad that it was because of me that Amanda died. He scolded me for that. “It was Amanda’s fault that Amanda is dead.” He said to me. “Not yours.” “Yes papa.” Coros and Corla did run together, but they stayed close to the hunting cabin when they did. The princes‘ returned home as well taking their mates with them, again except for Trever and Dutch, the stayed with Mackie and me. The Friday after the ball Father got slammed with both Lissa and Liam’s requests of starting an archery class, both in school and as an after–school activity, and letting the girls train more, or longer if they chose to do so. They were persistent, and father relented. The obstacle course got delivered and the guys got it set up for the fighters to start using right away, it was fun to watch them struggling with it at first. Mackie and I worked at the restaurant 3 days a week, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Our Thursday and Fridays were 8 hours and Saturdays were 5. Dutch and Trever were there to drive with us, Mackie and I took turns doing the actual driving, but they were with us. The first week of August came, and we celebrated Mackie’s 16 birthday. “What do you want to do for your birthday?” I asked her. “I doubt that mom and dad will do anything, I think I would like to spend it at the lake, just us, you, me, Dutch, Trever, and Liam. Just have a casual day, keep it low key, because the rest of this month is going to be crazy with Wyatt’s 18th birthday and first shift, in the middle, and then both Demi and the twins‘ birthday’s at the end, I just want it to be as low key as possible, we will be crazy busy for the rest of them, I don’t want that for mine.” “Ok, what do you want for your birthday?” I asked her. “I could use a new laptop, and I will pass the one I have on to you.” “You know I can’t work that thing.” “It will be the perfect one for you to practice on, to get better with.” “Ok, what else?” “I have an idea for a microchip that I want to try, so I need to go to a tech shop, somewhere, to get the raw material for it.” “I have no clue about that, you might just have to go online to find that stuff.” “Maybe, or I can just go into a robotics‘, drone store and buy the different things that I can cannibalize to get what need.” “Ok, if you say so.” She chuckles at me. “Mackie?” “Yeah?” “I want to go talk to someone at the bank, I think we could be putting our money to work for us.” I tell her. “Ok, sure.” We only had one paycheck behind us, but we still had everything from when we were doing Pack errands. “We need to make sure though that we can have access to the money, we never know what might come up.” She says to me. “I know, I wasn’t thinking all of it, maybe just $5,000 of it, and we can put it into like a CD or something? I don’t quite understand all of that stuff either, but that is why I have you, you are my math guru.” I tell her. Again, she laughs. We grab the guys and head out to the nearest mall, which is a 45–minute drive one way and is in the human town, to do some shopping for her birthday, as it is Monday.
LIAM: I know Mackie’s birthday is on Monday, I am making her a hair tie with my leather working and beads. I have been watching the adults, and none of them seem to realize that her birthday is coming either, like Kes, they ignore her. There are just sometimes I want to shout at them. But I don’t. I am trying to take a page from Kes’s book. In the end they will realize their mistake, and by then it will be too late. I just hope that James does better. It’s kind of funny in a way, everybody is focused on Wyatt’s birthday in two weeks, and some are even talking about Lissa, Demi, and my birthdays, ours‘ and Demi’s are just days apart, so they usually have had one big party for the three of us. Well, this year I am going to ensure that people know that am making Mackie’s birthday present. Along with her hair tie and beads for that, I am also doing some burning on her quiver, I am doing a profile of Dutch’s Lycan on it, I snaped a picture of him, that I am using, for the burning. I hope she likes it.
