Page 29 of Into the Grasslands

I wondered if our moon-blessed mating would ever be something Nika felt deserved a celebration. As things stood, it felt more like a business agreement than a potential relationship.

Chapter 16

An Unenthusiastic Welcome

NIKA

The womenof Mirage Island were escorted to our rooms and given a little time to get cleaned up before we were meant to join the Grasslands Pack for a brunch where we would all be introduced. My nerves were on edge, so I knew at least some of the other women probably felt the same way. In Janella’s case, it was far worse.

“Are you afraid they’ll kick you out?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m afraid I will find my mate out there and he won’t want me.”

“Did the pack lands look familiar?”

Jan shook her head again. “My mate dream is strange. It’s like we were in a large gathering with lots of food, and since we have to attend a brunch, I worry this will be it.”

“You never talk about your mate dream. Why not?”

“I don’t think my mate likes me. In my dream, he doesn’t appear happy when we meet. In other parts of the dream he is standing with another woman in a tiny house. I see him there, so I guess I’m there too. Something has always felt strange about the dreams. I have never heard of anyone else, other than you, having another person in the dream.”

“Maybe you have two mates as well?”

“One is a woman, Nika.”

“Okay, that could happen, I guess.”

Janella rolled her eyes at me. “I am not attracted to women that way, so I don’t think so. It felt more like she didn’t belong there but was intruding on my dream.” Janella shivered as she described it and as much as I wanted to help her figure things out, we would probably never know until her dream came to fruition.

“I don’t even remember seeing Thorin at all in my dream. I know I did at one point, but I was so focused on Aiden that I guess I blocked it out. Plus, the image of Aiden certainly wasn’t one of him sitting on a throne surrounded by his harem. Our meeting after the dream was nothing like the dream itself.”

Janella blew out a relieved breath. “Now, I wish someone had told me it’s not always like that.” I hugged my friend and then escorted her to the door of our two-room suite. It was very thoughtful of Thorin to hook us up with this place. There was a small kitchenette and living room combo, a shared bathroom, and then we each had our own private bedroom. It reminded me of some of the nicer, two-person suites that were available in the university dorms. It wasn’t a luxury I enjoyed while there because they were all taken when I received my room assignment. It was lovely that my soon-to-be mate thought about the fact that Janella had only ever experienced life on the island. Everything was new to her, as evidenced by the need for me to explain to her how everything in the bathroom worked, including the toilet.

“Come on, we better go meet up with the others and get this out of the way.”

“Aren’t you nervous?”

“I’ll never tell.” I smiled at Janella as the words left my mouth and she hip checked me as we made our way out the door.

Once we met up with the other women, we all made our way down the stairs and to the main hall of the giant pack house. It felt almost like a hotel with the wide-open space, but it was more homey and less commercial in aesthetic. I loved it. When we got there, Thorin was there to greet us along with his Beta.

“This is Warren, my beta. He will be headed to Mirage Island with the others in two weeks’ time.” When I cocked my head to the side as I listened, he seemed to realize I had a question for him. “Nika?”

“Why two weeks and not right away?”

“I have ordered the men who will go on the second excursion to take building supplies with them. They will make sure that the women of the island, and any sent in the future, have proper dwellings to utilize.”

“That’s dumb.” Janella probably didn’t mean to say it so loudly, and the red tips of her ears made me certain that my assessment was correct. “Sorry, it’s just, the rogues - and sometimes the other packs who are angry with a woman - will burn our things down. You saw our dock. That was done in a rogue attack. We had huts before, but the rogues destroyed them. One other time, Tessa’s pack tore down the place we used to store what little supplies we had because he was angry that Tessa wouldn’t give in and agree to an arranged mating with the Alpha’s son.”

Thorin and his Beta both seemed very disturbed by that announcement, but it was something they needed to know. Finally, the Alpha nodded his head. “We will still build a few dwellings. They might do better placed on the opposite side of the island from where the docks are.” He turned to his Beta then. “Some of the women have hiding spots that aren’t big enough for a male shifter to get into. It might be wise to find a way to secure them and create dwellings within the earth rather than above ground.”

I nodded in agreement before Thorin held his arm out. I walked over to him and stood by his side as he moved to escort us into the dining hall. “The pack awaits their guests. We should go and introduce all of you ladies and then we can discuss plans for Mirage Island later. Something needs to be done there until we can speak to the council about shutting it down for good.”

Without even thinking about it, I settled against Thorin’s side and soaked up the heat his body put off. It made me feel comforted and at home. “Gotta say, love you right there by my side,” Thorin leaned down to whisper the words to me, and I managed to grin back up at him just before he pushed the two large doors open. The instant they opened, the cacophony of noise from the other side ceased. Everyone’s eyes turned our way and Thorin and his Beta escorted all of us to the front of the room where everyone could see all of us lined up.

It was not a very comfortable feeling, despite the security I had felt moments ago while leaned up against the pack’s Alpha. The pack did not seem as welcoming as I thought they would be. Judging by the way the men who had come to the island had behaved, I assumed the rest of the pack would feel the same about the women their pack rescued, and perhaps about the fact that their Alpha would have a mate.

“Since we already have your attention, I have a couple announcements to make. The first is that our recent trip to Mirage Island proved to be very educational. As a result of that trip, we brought nine female shifters back with us. Eight of them chose to follow their leader, Nika, to our pack. Some of those eight have already made potential connections with some of your pack mates. They have been given time to get to know their potential mates before any claims are made official. I want you to welcome all of the females from the Mirage Island Pack who came to join us.”

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