In the calm deep waters of the mind,
the wolf waits.
Unknown author.
The evening reception was also a beautiful well organised affair. Everything was planned with military precision, Annie and Ben’s family were seated at an enormous table as family of the bride and groom next to the table that was reserved for the Alpha’s, Beta’s, and their respective families. All the other guests were seated with their clansmen/women at huge round tables that were scattered around the marquee. The food was local fare and delicious, a choice of beef, boar or locally caught salmon. Dessert was a delicate dark and white chocolate mousse with gold powder sprinkled over the top. Bottles of wine were constantly replaced as soon they became empty by more omegas who seemed to float around effortlessly carrying more plates than Annie had ever seen one person carry. Patric stood up to make his speech and although clearly nervous, he carried himself wonderfully, controlling his emotions to give an impassioned speech about how he would miss her, but he could see how happy his little girl was and he could see how well she would be looked after by her new husband and his pack. He finished by thanking the Reiver Pack for their hospitality on behalf of all Annie’s family, for welcoming them onto their territory and for making them feel very much at home. Annie hugged Amelie who was smiling and crying at the same time.
The first dance was announced and as tradition dictated, the bride and groom started the dancing and were joined by Amelie and Patric, Ben’s parents, Alpha Henri and Luna Betina, Alpha Armstrong, his Luna and then finally, everyone else. Jacques danced with Claire and then he dragged Annie onto the floor despite her protestations. Sabine was laughing at Annie’s reluctance, she had never been one for dancing and her shoes were not helping with her balance. Then she danced with Patric for a song as Amelie went to sit back down. Annie knew she had done that so she could dance with Patric, it wouldn’t do to dance with a mated wolf that was not from her family, werewolves are known for their incredible jealousy over their mates and as Alpha Henri had said, they were not here to start a war. Patric went to dance with Aimeè, so Annie made her way back the table and leaning over Amelie’s shoulder she made a suggestion.
“Would you like a sneaky whiskey?” she whispered in her sister’s ear. Amelie grinned her affirmative reply so Annie set off to find their omega. He was found by the drinks table so Annie asked him for the whiskey.
“I’m sure there’s a nice bottle of single malt around the back,” he grinned, “I’ll be right back.” He disappeared behind the bar in a flash.
Annie’s shoes were starting to hurt her feet, checking no one could see her she slipped them off and revelled in the feeling of the soft plush flooring under her feet. The omega came back with two glasses of amber liquid in crystal glasses and handed them to her with a smile. Annie had to tuck one shoe under each arm to carry them then she thanked the omega and started to make her way back to the table at the other end of the vast marquee. Just as she was walking past the entrance, a breeze blew through the opening and a scent hit her like a wave, crashing over and engulfing her, it was like nothing she had ever smelt and it stopped her in her tracks. Cedar and sandalwood….the scent was musky and incredibly male. Sabine’s reaction nearly knocked her off balance as she jumped to back of Annie’s mind and lay there cowering.
Regaining control of herself and keeping her face impassive, Annie slowly scanned the people around her to see who the scent belonged to. She locked eyes with a handsome man who stood in the entrance of the marquee buttoning up his jacket. He was tall, muscular, with dark hair, slightly greying at the sides. It was cut noticeably short on the sides, longer on top and swept back off his forehead. His suit was pristine, black pinstripe with a white shirt open at the neck, no tie. The suit looked bespoke, and it crossed Annie’s mind that he filled it nicely.
"Mate." whispered Sabine, Annie could feel her shaking and Sabine’s fear became Annie’s fear.
“What? He can’t be, please Goddess, not again.” prayed Annie, her breath stuck in her throat. She was paralysed, unable to move, she couldn’t have run if she had wanted to.
He stared at Annie as Annie stared back for about ten seconds, then his face crumpled into horror, then disgust and then finally panic. He stared for a second longer then turned and left the tent at speed. Annie felt something inside herself snap as she just stood there, staring at the space where the man had been feeling crushed, her heart shattering. She slowly looked around wondering if anyone else had seen what just happened. No one seemed to have noticed so she slowly continued her walk, numb with shock. Putting Amelie’s glass down in front of her with shaky hands, Annie walked to her seat and sat down, not sure how long she could hold her composure. Dropping her shoes on the floor she took some deep breaths to calm herself. Sabine remained at the back of her mind, Annie called to her but she was unreachable for the moment.
“Annie, what’s wrong?” demanded Amelie.
“Nothing, I’m fine, I’m just hot, I got a bit dizzy that’s all.”
Amelie looked at her with concern. “Do you want to get some air?” asked Amelie getting up.
“No, no…I’m fine.” replied Annie faking a smile, motioning her sister to sit.
The last place Annie wanted to go was in the same direction the man went so she spent the next hour trying to breathe slowly to calm herself. She kept trying to reach her wolf without success, Sabine was broken and Annie was not sure she could recover this time. Why did this keep happening to her? It wasn’t fair, she’d done nothing wrong, why would the Goddess do this to her again?
Annie spent the rest of the reception pretending to smile while she felt like she was slowly dying inside. The turmoil in her head and heart was like a storm, threatening to overwhelm her, dragging her into the maelstrom before dashing her to pieces on the ground. Annie knew she needed to keep her head above the water, not allowing the crushing grief to pull her under until she drowned. She had done this before, she could do it again.
“We’ve been through worse, and we came through it,” she said to her wolf. “We will survive, we will survive.” she repeated like a mantra, trying to hold back the tears and keep her breathing steady.
Jacques came over and asked her to dance, not taking no for answer he once again pulled her onto the dance floor. As soon as they started to dance, Jacques knew something was wrong. Annie started to hyperventilate, the tears she had been holding back were pricking her eyes threatening to overflow, she couldn’t tread water any longer and she felt like she was going under.
“What’s happened Annie?” he asked gently.
She couldn’t hold back any longer.
“It’s happened again Jac, I need to go home.” she whispered.
Jacques looked at her in shock, he knew that look, he had seen it before. How could this keep happening to his lovely sister, she deserved none of this. He had a quick word with Claire and Amelie, collected Annie’s shoes and whisked her out of the marquee. He was angry, really angry Annie could tell. She shot glances in all directions as they exited the marquee in case the man was still out there. Thankfully, she couldn’t spot or smell him anywhere as she scurried back across the lawn to the pack house. When they reached her room Annie’s composure failed her, like a dam breaking the tears came in a colossal flood. Jacques looked like he wanted to kill somebody, his eyes were black, his wolf pushing him to violence.
“Did he reject you, do you know who he is?” spat Jacques, fighting to control his wolf.
Annie, unable to speak or breathe properly just shook her head, through the sobs she managed to tell him what happened.
“I need to leave Jac, I need to go home.” Annie sobbed.
Jacques started to look up train times on his phone.
“There’s nothing until tomorrow morning,” he sighed after a few minutes. I will drive you to the station myself first thing, ok?”
Annie nodded, starting to regain control of her emotions as Jacques pulled her into a hug.
“If he hasn’t rejected you the pull will only grow stronger, do you think you can handle that again?” said Jacques as an after- thought. It was one thing getting her away from this idiot, but another thing to make it worse for her.
“It will be easier to deal with if I know for sure I won’t see him again.” Annie nodded.
“Ok, will you be ok if I go back to Claire and the girls, there are a lot of unmated wolves sniffing around my daughters tonight. I can stay if you want?” he said hesitatingly.
“No go, I’ll be fine, thank you for everything Jac.” Annie forced a smile unsure if she was doing the right thing, running away, again.