Chapter 149 Chapter 149: The Silver Games

Chapter 149 Chapter 149: The Silver Games
One year later

Senna’s POV

“Are you coming in for breakfast?” I was bent over the carrots in the garden, weeding them. I wiped the sweat from my brow. It was already hot, even though it was still early in the morning.

I turned to see Kalev smiling down at me. Shielding my face from the sun, I smiled back up at him.

“Depends,” I teased. “What did you make.”

He held out his hand to me and pulled me up from the ground.

“Waffles,” he said, pulling me in for a kiss. His lips tasted like coffee.

“Then yes, I’ll be right in.”

I pulled off my gardening gloves and stood for a moment to admire my garden. Our house in the Seabreeze pack was modest, but it was perfect for us. The scent of the ocean swept over me, salty and thick. I looked out over the ocean. The waves lapped gently on the shore.

We’d found the Seabreeze pack two months after we left our home. They had welcomed us in. They were a traditional pack, with a lovely Luna and a soft-spoken, kind Alpha. The pack was small, with only about 150 people. It bordered the ocean and the mountains, set away in a remote area.

The pack was self-sufficient. The pack members took turns hunting to provide meat for the pack. Everyone had a small garden and we all shared whatever we grew. Dinners were held in the pack house, and everyone gathered together and ate together.

Kalev and I felt like we’d stumbled into heaven. They didn’t care that we didn’t have wolves. They’d heard about our old home and the uprising. Just as they’d heard about the Slave Games. They were horrified by it all. They couldn’t conceive of any wolf ever harming another wolf.

They were gentle and peaceful.

They were perfect.

I went into the kitchen. Kalev was wearing his apron, the one I’d stitched for him last Christmas. It was covered in lovely yellow flowers. He’d become quite the cook, I had to admit. He often cooked meals for the entire pack. It had become a passion of his. Just as gardening had become a passion of mine.

I loved working with the earth. I liked to believe that Verity would have approved of our simple life. We were connected to nature and often took long walks through along the beach of through the forest.

Kalev had set the table, and the heaping plate of waffles sat in the center, complete with fresh whipped cream and strawberries.

We were just settling into breakfast when someone knocked on our door.

“Come in,” I called from the table. The door was open. No one locked their doors in the Seabreeze pack. There was no need to.

Miranda, our next door neighbor, appeared in the kitchen. Her red hair hung loose around her shoulders. She had three children, all of them under the age of seven, and a mate who was so kind, he wouldn’t hurt a butterfly. We’d all become fast friends.

“You’re not going to believe this,” she said, sliding into a chair. Miranda loved gossip, not that there was much of it in this pack. Her eyes sparkled.

“I just heard from a friend of a friend who just came back from the Southern shore…” She paused for dramatic effect. “That the area you came from?”

“The Seven Villages,” I prompted. That’s what the combined sectors were now called. They’d renamed the entire area, claiming that all the villages lived under one umbrella. Apparently, they had a head of the umbrella too. A special area where they lawmakers lived.

I could only imagine what that special area looked like. Probably a lot like the capital…

“Yes. Well, they’ve been fighting over resources,” she said. “And…they’ve decided that the best way to handle that is to nominate someone from each village…”

“Stop right there,” I held up my hand. “I know what you’re going to say and I don’t want to hear it.”

Nominations? Fighting over resources.

She ignored my protest. This gossip was just too juicy not to spill.

“They’re calling it the Silver Games,” she finished.

“Because calling it something nice makes it better.” I shook my head. Kalev and I exchanged a look. I had no idea what the Silver Games were. I had no idea how they were being run. But I had the sinking suspicion that they were going to be an awful lot like a particular game we were all very used to.

I inhaled a sharp breath.

“Petra was right,” I said, reaching for a waffle. “We cut off the monster’s head. But another monster just grew right back anyway.”

I wasn’t rattled. Not really. Sadly, I expected this. We’d worked so hard to free the sectors. But now they were reverting right back to where they’d been.

It didn’t matter. Not to us. We were here, far away from it all in the Seabreeze pack. We kept in touch with Korrigan and Isolde, Junie, Mira and Thistle. But we had no intentions of ever returning to the Seven Villages.

Especially not now.

“Here,” I said, smiling at Miranda and pushing a plate towards her. “Since you’re here, you might as well eat.” I winked at her. She grabbed the plate and piled some waffles onto her plate. “I could use your help with my garden, later today, if you have time.”

“I always have time for you,” she said.

I covered my waffles in strawberries.

“The Silver Games,” I said, turning the words over in my mouth. “Well, I guess if nothing else, it has a nice ring to it.”

That was the only thought I gave it. But the time the afternoon sun was high in the sky, I’d forgotten all about it. The Seven Villages were a life time away. That’s what it felt like. I wasn’t a part of that anymore.

My life was here. Beside the ocean. With Kalev and the gentle people of the Seabreeze pack.

And so was my happiness.