We could hear John come running towards us the moment we entered the Shallow Waters pack den area. He must have smelt us all the way from the large structure in the middle call the communal pack den and dropped what he was doing to come and greet us.
A few seconds later I saw my brown fluff ball of a brother come barreling around the communal pack den. It took me a moment to realize that John had come out the far exit and was taking the longest possible route to get to us.
As John got close Grace held her arms out wide so the pup could jump at the last second and land in her arms, well on her chest really. She caught him without any effort.
"How are you little one?" Grace asked John as we continued our way towards the communal den at the center. Unlike the individual kennels surrounding it, the communal pack den had been designed so a human could comfortably stand upright inside. Although Grace will still have trouble.
"What are those soft things on the ground?" John asked. "I have never slept on something so comfortable before. Oh and there is so much tasty food they just bring to us. I never want to leave."
Detsy, Grace and I had a good chuckle. At least John seemed happy with his new living arrangements, I just hope that the rest of the Shallow Waters pack reactions were as positive as his.
"Those soft things are called beds, they're a human invention that we all love to sleep on." Detsy explained to John. "I agree that they're really comfortable."
"I can't wait to go to sleep again tonight so I can experience sleeping on a bed again." John's excitement just went up and us as his words started to tumble over each other, trying to get out of his mouth all at once. "Maya came back last night as well. Luna Kate said that she was really sick when we were traveling, but she looked perfectly fine to me when she entered the communal pack den."
"I'm glad that Doctor Rory was happy enough with Maya's recovery to let her join her pack for their first night here." I commented as Detsy agreed with me and Grace played with the pup in her arms.
As we arrived at the communal pack den, John struggled in Grace's arms until she finally gave in and put him down. He entered one of the doors that were designed for wolves while the three of us had to keep walking around the structure to the only entrance for humans.
We were greeted by Luna Kate as we entered. "Eva, Grace and Detsy, when I first heard about another pack wanting to take care of us I was skeptical at best. However I must thank you Eva for coming all the way back to us and convincing everyone to come here. I do not know how we will repay the kindness your Alpha and pack have shown to us."
I knelt down in front of Luna Kate and wrapped my arms around her in a massive hug. "I grew up with everyone here. While I may not be a part of your pack anymore, you are my family. You don't need to say thank you because I will always come to help. As for Alpha Leyton, you'll have to thank him yourself but I'm willing to bet that his response will be similar to mine."
I'd never seen a wolf cry until this day. After months of stress, lack of food and worrying that the members of her pack were going to starve after giving birth. Luna Kate could look around and see everyone warm, sheltered, fed and happy.
As I was comforting Luna Kate while she finally let out her emotions that she'd kept bottled up for far to long, I saw Maya come to sit at the front of the wolves that were surrounding us.
She already looked far healthier than she did yesterday before Doctor Rory carted her off to the medical wing in a rush.
I let go of Luna Kate as the other members of her pack came to show her their support and the undying love they all had for her. I took the five steps over to where Maya was sitting down. Luna Kate was almost completely surrounded by her pack before I even managed arrived at where Maya was sitting.
"How are you feeling?" I asked my previous Gamma female as she sat there regarding me.
"Much better thank you." Maya replied after a few seconds before relaxing a bit. "Although considering how close to death I was according to that doctor, anything would be considered feeling better than that."
We both had a little laugh at her attempt to cover the very serious situation she was in with humor.
"I honestly thought I'd started to hallucinate when I saw you shift from a wolf to a human." Maya continued. "I know that we'd been told that you could, but it's completely different when you actually see it happen. I'm still struggling to believe that the human in front of me is the same wolf I watched grow up."
"I promise you that I am the same annoying wolf that use to have fun trying to attack your feet as you walked past." I said earning a chuckle from Maya. "I have changed a bit I'll admit, but change is not always a bad thing."
"It may be against a wolves very nature to admit this, but I am very glad that I'm still around to see how the werewolf pack is going to change us natural wolves. I just hope that it is for the better." Maya admitted to me.
Our conversation was cut off then as Grace started calling for everyone's attention, so she could explain to the wolves that there would be a festival held tonight in honor of the moon.
She patiently explained that six additional werewolf packs would arrive this afternoon but no one was allowed near the Shallow Waters pack den area for any reason unless they were part of the Roaring Hills pack and had a legitimate reason to be here. So all the wolves will be left alone if they choose to stay here.
She did add however that the festival is not off limits to anyone. But she advised if it got too late and the moms still wanted to enjoy the festival, that there was a child minding service in the pack house that they were welcome to use.
To my surprise quite a few of the she wolves looked interested in attending the festival, which was a huge difference from the timid wolves that had arrived here just yesterday. I was glad that they were getting comfortable though.
Once Grace had finished explaining what was happening that evening Detsy looped her arm around mine and pulled us out of the communal den. Stopping of course to grab Grace on her way.
"I'm sorry to cut your time with your old pack short Eva, but we need to get ready to welcome all the pack Alphas." Detsy told us while Grace and I both groaned.
Unbelievably, it took us an entire three hours to get ready. I'd never spent that long to get ready for anything in my entire life. This was one part of being a human woman that I decided I most definitely did not like.
Grace and Detsy just laughed at me when I voiced my concerns about the preparation time and said, "Welcome to being female."
While I was going to be greeting the Alpha's in wolf form, Grace and Detsy insisted that they get me ready so when I shifted back all I had to do was put on my dress and I was ready to go.
For the entire three hours I was trying to figure out why so many products were needed in the name of beauty. Four different chemicals went into my hair alone for goodness sake. Let's not even get started on how many different things went on my face. At least I managed to convince my mates to just run a brush through my hair and let it sit instead of the complicated braid that they both wore.
After we'd finally finished getting ready and I'd selected the same black dress with silver highlights that I wore when I met Tom and Cynthia to wear to the festival, I shifted into my silver wolf and the three of us went to join the King and Queen who were in the lounge room awaiting the first arrivals.
We arrived with only minutes to spare as right at 3 pm, a couple of fancy cars and a few buses pulled up the driveway.
About sixty werewolves and some of their human mates came out of the vehicles. They all headed to where the individual that must be there Alpha was standing.
The Alpha looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, he had black hair and brown eyes. By werewolf standards he was quite short as he only stood slightly above six foot tall.
He gave his pack a quick pep talk before heading over to greet us. They were to far away to clearly hear what he was saying, but I did manage to hear phrases like best behavior, have fun and don't embarrass the pack.
The Alpha and what I assumed to be the Beta came over to our little party once they had dismissed their pack and was greeted by King Tom with a bear hug.
"It's good to see you again Alpha Adam. It's been far too long since I last got to see you." King Tom greeted.
"It's good to see you to old man." Alpha Adam replied in a teasing tone. "I see the years haven't been kind to you yet again."
King Tom playfully poked Alpha Adam right between his ribs in response, causing both men to laugh at the exchange while I just sat there not believing my eyes.
"Dad acts like a giant kid whenever he can." Grace explained. "The only time all the Alphas take him seriously is when he gets gets that official or pissed off vibe. Other then that my dad and the Alphas almost have what could be called a boys club and get drunk together way too often."
I rolled my eyes at King Tom and Alpha Adam as I realized that most of the Alpha's were going to act like children. Luckily no one saw rolling my eyes me as everyone had started to greet Alpha Adam.
"Lucky last is the newest princess and mate to Detsy and Grace. It is my pleasure to introduce Princess Eva. Eva this is Alpha Adam of the Bloodhound pack. So named because the wolves of his pack have really sensitive noses, just like a bloodhound." Tom introduced us merrily.
I bowed my head slightly in a show of respect but not enough to show submission. "It is a pleasure to meet you Alpha Adam of the Bloodhound pack." I said in the manner that Grace and Detsy had made me practice while we were getting ready.
Although all formality was thrown out the window when Alpha Adam lent down, wrapped his arms around my middle and picked me up in a tight bear hug. Slightly moving me from side to side in excitement as he did it.
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well Princess Eva." Alpha Adam replied while still holding and shaking me. "I love your fur, I was a pup myself the last time that I saw silver fur."
He finally released me and I made sure all four of my feet were firmly on the ground before replying. "I'm glad you like it, although I did not realize that it was such a rare color."
"It is indeed a rare color. Silver fur is rarely found in either natural wolves or werewolves, you should be proud of your coat." Alpha Adam said while smiling.
He turned back to Tom and the two of them started chatting like teenagers that had found a dirty magazine. I even caught Cynthia rolling her eyes at the pair of them.
The rest of the introductions were more or less the same, except none of the other Alpha's attempted to pick me up which I was very grateful for. In the end six packs came to celebrate the Lunar festival with us, meaning that there were over 600 werewolves currently present. To say that there were people everywhere was an understatement.
It was nearly 6 pm by this point so Grace and Detsy told me to go back to the room, shift back and get ready for the festival.
As much as I knew my mates wanted me with them, I was grateful to them for letting me experience the festival instead of being stuck talking politics with a bunch of drunken officials. That was definitely one of the drawbacks of being Royalty.
I raced upstairs to our room and was incredibly thankful that my hair and makeup hair stayed in place while I was shifted. Grace told me that the makeup was still present on my face when I was in wolf form, it's just that it had moved while my body was being reconstructed and was now covered by my fur. When I shifted back my body returned to the same way it was while I had my makeup done and therefore it all reappeared on my face, exactly as we had left it. It was a neat trick to be sure.
I put my dress and silver sparkling flats on before I almost ran out of the room. My first mission of the night was to find Saffron and Derrick while hopefully surprising the life out of Beverly. It was going to be so much fun.
I went to the room that Saffron and Derrick shared to find it empty, so I figured that the trio was waiting for me at the ground floor. I decided to take the stairs down instead of the elevator so I could sneak up on them in the event that one of them was watching the elevator doors.
I found Saffron, Derrick and Beverly chatting in the lounge room. Saffron looked even paler than she did this morning. She and Derrick were side by side on a two seater couch while Beverly was sitting on the arm of a single seat couch talking to them.
Derrick and Saffron saw me enter the room so I put my finger to my lips in a silent request for them to pretend that they didn't notice me. Both of the mates were more than happy to play along as they realized my target was Beverly.
Beverly didn't notice the silent conversation that Saffron and Derrick had as she happily chatted away about what they were going to do tonight and when I was going to get there.
I walked silently until I was right behind Beverly and in one fluid motion, I put one of my hands on each of her shoulders with a tiny bit of force and said "Boo" right in her ear.
Beverly of course, screamed. It was also lucky that I had my hands on her shoulders or she would have jumped clean off the arm of the chair in fright. Although Saffron, Derrick and I were laughing too hard to really notice.
"Sorry," I apologized to Beverly. "It was simply too tempting to be able to resist." I was still laughing while I was trying to speak.
It took Beverly thirty seconds to calm herself down enough to speak. "Apology accepted, but would you mind telling me who you are? I don't think we've ever met before."
Saffron was about to reply before I cut her off, my grin never leaving my face. "I'm here to grant your wish Beverly." I said in a voice that was halfway between serious and spooky, ultimately making me sound stupid but funny. "A little birdy told me that you wanted to meet Princess Grace and Detsy, I am here to take you to them." Derrick was struggling to hold himself back from falling to the floor while laughing at my antics.
Beverly raised one eyebrow at me as she obviously thought I was insane and drew out the first word of her reply. "Right, sure you can do that." The disbelief was written all over her face. "Have you at least seen a silver wolf anywhere? She goes by the name Eva."
I couldn't take it anymore as my sides threatened to burst from the laughter I was holding back. So I leant forward and wrapped my arms around Beverly before saying. "It's good to see you Beverly, it's been way too long since the four of us hung out in the tree house."
Beverly suddenly jerked back and looked at me with wide eyes. "WHAT!" She yelled so loudly that everyone in the crowded lounge room could hear it over all the conversation.
Saffron and Derrick lost their battle to suppress their laughter at this point and Derrick fell to the floor, no longer able to sit upright while Saffron collapsed on the couch.
Beverly was still looking at me like I was trying to trick her again so I thought maybe it was time to stop teasing the poor girl.
"It's really me Beverly." I said seriously this time. "I know I've been through some changes and believe me when I say that I was just as shocked and had no idea it was coming until it actually happened. But as proof it's really me, remember back to when we first met and how you couldn't understand for the first ten minutes."
"You're actually a werewolf." Beverly managed to say even though she was stating the obvious.
"Not only was she born a werewolf and no one knew it until she shifted," Saffron said as she finally managed to get up because she got control back over her diaphragm. "She's also the new mate to Princess Detsy and Grace that everyone is talking about, which makes her a princess as well."
Beverly looked like she was about to faint so I decided to give her that last little push.
"I wasn't kidding when I said that I could introduce you to Detsy and Grace, you'll also probably meet the King and Queen while you're at it." I said as Beverly let her knees go weak and she collapsed into the single seat couch that has had previously been sitting on the arm off.
"Now that I look at you I can see the similarities between your wolf and human forms." Beverly said once she'd recovered enough.
I just smile at her before offering my hand to help her up.
"In all seriousness, would you like to meet my mates Beverly? I know they're dying to meet you and after that we have to scour the entire festival to see if we can find you your very own mate." I asked.
Beverly gave her own enthusiastic response as the four of us headed out of the lounge room and towards the massive outside area that had been built for this festival, like the teenagers we still were.