The Great Wolf: A Legacy of Kilkenny Novel Book Three (The Legacy of Kilkenny Saga) (7 page)

One minute the stands are full of chatter and cheering, the
next, the place goes silent.  Everyone is watching Oakley, it’s as though they
expect him to self destruct.  He shakes his hands at his side, releasing his
nervous energy. 

The whistle blows and within 90 seconds, Oakley has
successfully shifted.  The other wolf doesn’t complete his shift for another
five minutes.  Oakley is now the #1 contender; the second closest shift is 4
minutes 17 seconds.  There’s one more guy shifting and he’s fast, just not fast
enough.

The judges add up their scores to decide who’s won.  They
judge on style, grace and speed.  Within two minutes they announce overhead
that Oakley has won the gold, I didn’t pay attention to the other two names. 
We just solidified that we’re here to win.

I watch the men head to the make-shift dressing room and put
on their packs’ suit.  Dolly and the other women head over to their field. 
There aren’t any bleachers for their field hence the giant movie screen for us
to see everything up close.  There’s only six women competing. 

Over the next twenty minutes we watch the women get smoked
by Dolly.  She shifts in 75 seconds, beating Oakley’s record breaking time. 
Two gold medals for the Phelan Pack before 8:00 a.m. and we’re proving to be
the pack to beat. 

The men vs. women event is optional for the winners of the same
sex competition.  Dolly and Oakley didn’t sign up, so they join us in the
stands.

****************

Lunch is almost over.  Brianna wasn’t allowed to sit with me,
her brother is pissed about Oakley winning and convinced her father to renege
on his promise.  Like a modern day Romeo and Juliet, our forbidden relationship
is driving us crazy.  Minus the fact my pack doesn’t care who I spend my time
with, they do worry more about my heart getting broken.

Dad comes over and takes the chair next to Mom.  He hands
out the schedule for tomorrow.

Tuesday -

5:00 a.m. - Everyone weigh in

6:00 a.m. - Breakfast

6:30 a.m. - Agility

11:00 a.m.   Award Ceremony for Agility

12:00 p.m.   Lunch

  2:00 p.m.  Pack tag team Hunting

  5:00 p.m.  PeeWee hunting

  7:00 p.m.  Hunting Award Ceremony

“I guess the Seeker event is Wednesday,” I say to Bryon. 
He’s busy shoving a brownie in his mouth.

“You’re so nasty,” Shaynie exclaims and bops Bryon on the
shoulder.

“You love me,” he replies with a mouthful of brownie.  “Have
you made up your mind who’s competing?  If I were you, I’d go in and take me
with you.  We make a pretty badass team.”

“We would,” I simply state.  “We’d also die because we’d be
laughing so hard.”

“He’s not taking you silly rabbit, he’s taking me,” Shaynie
says and spins around.

“Hey guys, I need to go talk to Dolly about Kane.  Have you
heard anything about him?” 

They shake their head no.

I walk into the lobby and see Brianna sitting in the chair
she was in the morning after I met her.  She’s typing on her cell phone,
probably texting.   From behind me before I see her, I smell her perfume,
Violet is here.

Pru and Oakley stay in the lobby with me as everyone else
heads to their rooms.

“I’m going to ask Quinney about Kane, he’s on his way in
from the van,” Pru says as she pulls on Oakley’s hand to follow her.

Brianna looks up at me shyly.  “I’m sorry about lunch today,
me brothers were being jack asses.  I brought some junk food and a movie if
you’d like to hang out.  Violet is my chaperone, and my alibi.”

“Alibi huh?  They don’t know where you are?”  My wolf nods
in approval.  She took a risk to be with me.

“What movie….you
know
it’s all about the movie,” I
try to sound serious, but it’s hard to do when you’re grinning from ear to ear.

Violet bounces over and gives me a once over.  “Nice
uniform, so American.”

“He is American you doof-wad,” Brianna corrects.  “I brought
the Bourne movies.”

“I love those movies, I guess I’ll let you stay,” I give her
a wink.  She blushes and it sends my wolf into a frenzy.  He’s partial to her
shyness.

****************

Even though I know there’s a van full of supernaturals
outside protecting the hotel, and half my pack is discreetly hidden along the
perimeter, in this moment, it’s just us.

“It’s a good night to sneak out, I’m happy you came over,” I
say with a grin.

“You’re worth it, or so my wolf tells me,” Brianna admitted.

My wolf’s ears perk up. Ruh-ro

“My wolf is happy your wolf is so bold.”  I watch her face
for any humor, but she’s as into the moment as I am.

“Abel, I don’t know if they’ll let me see you for
breakfast.  In case they don’t, I brought something for you.” Brianna holds out
her hand and she has what looks like a coin.  She hands it to me and I look at
the Celtic symbols on the front and something in Gaelic is written on the back.

Cha reub lain thu,

Cha mhuill muir
thu,

Cha teum, mnaoi
thu,

Cha treann duin
thu

“What does it say?” I ask.

“
No spear shall rive thee, No sea shall drown thee, No
woman shall wile thee, No man shall wound thee.
 It’s a protective
talisman.  Per the rules, we’re allowed to wear a talisman as protection.  Many
of the Catholics will wear a crucifix and the others will wear something from
their belief system.  You can either wear it in your shoe or taped over your
heart, per the rules of course.  Our family has an avid belief of the
protection this coin provides.  I’ll have one on me too.”

“Of course.”  I stand there, lost in her eyes, allowing the
silence of the night to envelope us.  It isn’t an awkward silence, it’s filled
with electricity.  We’re lost for a moment, no one around, no games to be
played, no thousands of miles between us, just two people daring to break the
rules.  “Bri, this is the kindest gift I’ve ever received.  Thank you,” not
waiting for her to say anything…I pull her to me.  The space between us is gone;
my arms wrap around her and my lips find her mouth.  The kiss starts gently,
but the moments are awakening something inside of me that can’t be stopped. 
Like standing on the edge of a cliff only to peer over the edge and a gentle
push sends you over the side.  Falling, grasping for anything to stop the
descent, until you realize how free you feel and the warmth of another person’s
arms are your salvation.

Something drastically changes between us, we escape the
moment of casual dating because we opened the door to the unknown.  There’s no
turning back, my wolf has said his peace to me.  We both agree that she is the
one.  Her lips are sweet and soft, her hunger as we kiss is obvious.  We pull
away, my heart is frantically beating against my chest, hers is too.

“I guess you like it, huh?” She smiles up at me, her arms
are still on my shoulders and her fingers are gently running through my hair.

“Oh, the kiss was damn good.”

“Not the kiss…the coin.”

I knew what she was saying, she’s easy to tease.  “Oh, the
coin, I like it too.”

We laugh at the sound of coughing coming from behind us. 
Pru and Oakley are here to remind us we have a curfew.

“We were just saying good-bye,” I say to them.

“Is that what they call it these days?  We call it making
out,” Pru says through her fake laugh.

I lean down to kiss the tip of Bri’s nose.  “Good-night,
tell Violet I said thank you.”

“Will do, I hope to see you in the morning.”

Violet appears from the shadows, “You’re welcome.  Good luck
tomorrow.”

****************

“How do you think you’ll do today?” Pru asks me with a mouth
full of toast.

“He’ll do just fine, don’t stress him out,” Oakley says. 
For the last minute he’s been fiddling with the lid to his Greek yogurt. 
Shaynie reaches over and opens it for him.

Across the room, I see Brianna.  She gives me a half smile
and cautiously shrugs her shoulders.  Sitting down at the table with the rest
of her pack, she immediately averts her gaze.  Marc and Denny are watching her
like a hawk, which I’m sure is why she didn’t come over to sit with me.  These
two guys are going to be the death of me.  Oak and I will have a talk with them
later.  I don’t want to cause any rift between her family, so I let it go for
now.

“Her brothers are stressing me out,
not
the
competition.  I’m going outside to stretch…I’ll see you in a while.”  I turn to
walk away and Parker appears out of nowhere.  “Let me guess, you’re going to go
stretch with me.”

“Yeah, and Storm is going to help me,” Parker replies. 
Storm is his rowdy mini-me, or mini-Parker.  He turned five last month, which
in his head makes him twenty-five.   His mom, Sapphire, is Native American and
her wolf is incredibly intuitive.  She hunts and protects like she’s been a
wolf her whole life.  She was bitten by a disgruntled rogue werewolf and left
to die. 

“Hey Storm, are you ready to kick some werewolf butt?”  I rustle
his hair and he turns to me with his serious face.

“My mama will get you if she hears about you saying a bad
word in front of me,” Storm announces.

“Bad word?”  I ask.  He’s standing there, not afraid of
standing up to a grown wolf.

“You said
butt
and my mama told me that’s a bad
word.  Go ask her.  I bet she washes your mouth out with soap.  I had soap
once…it was disgusting.  The bottle said it was vanilla, it lied.  I didn’t
taste any vanilla, just disgustingness.”   He sticks his tongue out as if he
were reliving the event.

“Come on Storm, we have protecting to do.  Remember what Dad
told you?  When we’re protecting people we love, we have to be quiet so we can
hear and smell if a bad wolf is around.  We love Abel, so we need to protect
him.”  Parker’s so gentle with Storm, it makes me happy to see them together.

Storm runs his hand through his jet-black hair.  “Do you
think the Big-Bad-Wolf is going to steal Abel?”

“We don’t have to worry about the Big-Bad-Wolf, but we do
have to worry about Abel winning the gold medal.”

The three of us head to the West Field where the other
competitors are warming up.  The obstacle course was set up sometime overnight. 
There are fifteen hurdles and six tunnel-looking things on the field.  Storm
points up into the trees along the edge of the field.  Cameras are mounted and
pointing towards the field to keep track of everyone’s progress.

“You know we don’t have complete visibility right now,
right?  They won’t activate the visuals until the starting shot is fired.  That
means there are secret obstacles you should be ready to tackle.”  Parker taps
his chin with his finger and makes a humming noise.    “One year, a snake pit
appeared out of nowhere.  One of the Russian wolves fell to his death.  The
fall was bad, the snake bites were worse.”

Storm jumps up and begins to tear off his clothes.

“Stormy, put your clothes back on.  Abel’s the only one
who’ll be a wolf this morning,” Pru says as she reaches us.

I sit on the frozen ground to stretch my legs and back.  The
competition will begin soon and the frigid air will be welcomed.   I’d do
anything for a cup of coffee about now. 

“Abel, you’re going to win this without any problems. 
Tonight when everything calms down, you and I need to hunt together.  Quinney
has secured us a place for privacy.  We have to pick who’ll be going in with
you and announce the contestants when we get back.  Quinney had a vision about someone
from our pack going into the Seeker game and not coming out alive.  If you
insist on going in, I should go with you,”
Dolly thinks to me
. 

She’s been melancholy since arriving in Ireland.  This is
the first Olympics since The General was murdered.  I know she misses him.  She’s
never complained or mourned him publicly.  Every so often, she’ll go for a run
and I’ll hear her howling in the distance…a sad howl echoes across the farm. 

“Dolly, you know we can’t go in together.  I’ll make sure
that whoever goes in with me will come out alive.  I’m considering Shaynie or
even Bryon.  Parker would be perfect but I don’t want his kids to grow up
without him, in the off chance he died.  Before you say anything, I’m not being
negative, actually the opposite.”

 The announcer’s voice booms overhead for the packs to meet
on the field. 

”We’ll talk later.”  We both say at the same time.

****************

“Are you nervous?” Pru asks.

“No, I’m ready to get it over with, though.” I give Pru and
Oakley a reassuring nod and step into the starting gate.  My wolf is pacing, he’s
edgy with anticipation, so am I.  The outdoor air has a hint of the freshly
baked bread we had at breakfast.  It reminds me of home and all the baking
Dolly does when she’s nervous.

After a speech about staying within our lane until we reach
the clearing, the countdown clock begins.  I shut the pack out of my head and
ready myself to run.  We have ten flags to collect; the first to make it over
the finish line with ten flags will win the gold. 

Ting - Ting - Ting
the gun goes off and I remember to
take a breath and run. 

Just as expected, a forest of forty foot pine trees rise out
of the ground.  The noise as they shoot up is deafening, drowning out the sound
of my own heart.  The ground is groaning as it splits open.  Running a short
distance, I stop to scan the tops of the trees for a bright red flag.  My wolf
takes over and spots a flag hidden within a treetop directly ahead of me. 
Tunnel vision kicks in and instinct takes me running to a shorter tree to my
right. 

My calloused hands are red from bits of bark digging in as I
climb the tree.  I balance along a branch, ready to jump over to the tree with
the flag.  Someone else has spotted it and they’re close enough for me to hear their
heavy breathing.  It doesn’t take long before there are four of us vying for
the same flag.