Chapter 320

Bonus Chapter

(This scene takes place the night before, during the Pack run,I apologize for the trouble)

{for Demelios}

Hayden internally sighs in relief when his body responds to him and he feels his body form shifting. the flashes of light going off in the forest a softer reflection of the moon's glow.

He looks up when he feels the familiar weight of his paws on the ground, to see Virgil looking down expectantly at him, his white fur almost glowing in the moonlight.

Virgil reaches down to nudge him with his nose and he mock snaps at him, knowing that he was going to topple from the gentle force of it, falling over in front of the Pack - although it wouldn't be his fault - wasn't high on his list at the moment.

Virgil moves back, a playful twinkle in his light gold eyes, shaking his head like he wanted to come in for another playful nudge, Hayden bats him away with a paw.

'Aren't you supposed to be doing some leading 'Alpha'? Did you hear the mental finger quotes'.

He sasses his mate, waving his tail slowly.

Virgil snorts, stomping a paw to alert the others that he was about to make a move.

'Think you can keep up?'

He drawls to his mate who is leaning forward on his front paws, butt up in the air and shaking, a habit he notices Hayden does when he is getting ready to get down to business - it was so adorable it almost hurt.

'I should be asking you that.'

Hayden taunts, stretching out cutely.

Virgil's response is a powerful howl, the kind that makes Hayden's fur stand on end and want to roll over to show submission.

The rest of the Pack instinctively drop their heads down slightly and just as abruptly as it starts it stops, Virgil taking off.

The next half hour is just filled with running and howling, happy feet bounding through the wide expanse of forest.

Contrary to Virgil's taunt, he sets a comfortable pace so that even the pups can keep up, the adults letting them run in front, some, their steps are still a little unsteady but there's always an older werewolf around to nudge them softly back to their feet.

The Warriors didn't run with the Pack exactly, they were spread out at the edges, sharp eyes on the lookout for potential dangers, there was rarely any, it was more a tradition now, the act of having Werewolves on the lookout on Pack runs ingrained into their psyches so there would always be lookout even when there were no dangers, like a ceremony.

When Virgil stops, the rest all do and Hayden sees that they're at a clearing of sorts, nothing but soft grass underfoot, he had never been to this part of the forest, which is no surprise.

Virgil lifts his face up to the moon and lets out a howl, just as powerful and loud as the one that had started off the run, the entire Pack gives responding howls, all snouts pointed at the moon.

This part feels just as important to Hayden as the run had been, when that rounds off too, the Pack seems to disperse, Virgil catches him off guard and nudges him in the side, Hayden yelping when he loses his balance and goes over, falling to his side on the soft, damp grass.

The rest of the Pack was paying them little attention, they had broken up into groups, only families with little pups seemed to remain at the clearing, the rest wandering away.

Hayden doesn't care about this though, bouncing to his feet in a rage and going after Virgil who easily evades him, although the Alpha is easily twice his size, the doesn't deter Hayden though and soon he's chasing his mate across the expanse, Dream's laughter floating into his head,

Virgil stops without warning and turns around, Hayden hadn't expected this so he yelps in surprise as he goes skidding into Virgil's side, falling to the ground again and trying to roll away when Virgil tries to lick him.

The rest of the Pack watches with happiness, they don't think they've ever seen their Alpha move around so much, usually after the running and the howling he would just disappear on them, going on a solo run so far and fast that no one could even keep up but they approved of this.

Shana and Mae make their way over, a proud Ruby walking in front of them, this gives Hayden a chance to escape from Virgil, coming over to say hello to his friends.

Shana steps forward and walks slowly around Hayden, sharp silver eyes appraising him. Until she's jumping on him and they're rolling on the ground together.

Dream walks over as well, Mae gently bumping him with her nose to greet him and Ruby danced around him, tail wagging rapidly as she chanted his name happily.

'Honey! Honey! Ma! Ma! Look, it's Honey!'

Dream just laughs at her excitement, she must have missed him, there was no one to sneak her cupcakes anymore, he really should go down to visit the bakery soon.

Virgil steps forward after a while of watching Shana and Hayden play without any inhibitions, gently closing his teeth around one of his mate's paws, he drags Hayden back with him, his disgruntlement clear on his face.

Shana just shakes her head at this, walking forward to join her girlfriend and Dream, Ruby hurrying over to the Luna to ask for her beloved Yanis, she hadn't been able to come down to the bookstore because her moms had been insistent on her getting a long nap so she could stay up for the run at night.

She does this with gusto, bowing her head to the Alpha before dragging Hayden elsewhere, Shana rolls over to the ground in laughter at the lost expression on Virgil's face, he had just gotten his mate back and from the way, the rest of the pups of the Pack hurry over to Hayden he wasn't getting him back in a while.

'How long do you think it will be before he snaps?' 

Dream asks, watching Virgil glare covertly at the children with amusement.

'A couple minutes tops.'

Mae says in a dry voice, settling on the grass as she kept a discrete eye on her daughter, she couldn't have the active pup wandering off into the night.