Unrelenting Destiny

1. The Night of the Claiming

Luciana Faith Moore

The night was chilled, an eerie wind whistling through the trees of the surrounding forest. Luciana stood at the door of the Sunset Waters Pack's cabin. There were a few families who had come. Sunset Waters was one of the larger packs still existing in their world and usually escaped The Claiming untouched. But recent years had dwindled their numbers and Luci along with three males and one other she-wolf would be participating that year.
Eve was itching to shift and run, her anticipation and disapproval for the event making her flighty. But Luci gripped the doorway, fighting the urge that she so desperately shared.

"Nervous?" A deeper voice murmured behind her. She jumped slightly, turning her gaze to Jeffrey, one of the males from her pack who was also participating. Jeffrey was participating for the second time, his prey slipping into her own territory just moments before he could reach her the year before. Such a failure was an unspoken demerit to Jeffrey's character and many in their pack held it against him. But he looked ready as he stood before Luci, wearing a pair of swimming trunks and a shirt he would undoubtedly leave behind before arriving at the ceremony. He had been training heavily since the last Claiming and she felt equally wary of and hopeful for his enhanced abilities. She did believe everyone deserved a mate after all.

She only nodded, glancing back out to the night sky. The moon was climbing. They would begin once it reaches its highest place in the sky so they would need to go to the ceremony space soon. Jeffrey put a hand on her shoulder, close to her neck and on the borderline of inappropriate, "Just look at the silver lining, you'll be mated by the end of it." His words didn't sit right with her and she shook his hand off, moving away and back into the cabin to get ready. She could feel his eyes on her as she retreated, a hot prickling of unease raising the hair on the back of her neck.

Have to watch out for that one. He is not our mate. He will not be our mate.

Eve snarled the thought, again beginning to pace in Luci's mind. She could feel a tingle in her fingertips, begging to turn and run back home.

Her parents had departed soon after their conversation the night prior. The Claiming was for the unmated, with no external influences allowed beyond the Claiming's officiators. Exhaling a shaky breath as she locked herself in her room, Luciana let her fine straw hair loose from its bun. It touched the small of her back as she brushed the pin-straight locks, eyeing her reflection as if to give herself a silent pep talk. She wished her mother was there. Tugging on a light blue spaghetti-strapped dress, no undergarments as the material would likely be torn and forgotten in the forest after she shifted anyways, she shivered in the cold room. Her pert nipples poked through the thin fabric of her clothing in a way that was practically asking to be gawked at. Turning back to her bag, she shuffled through for something, anything to cover up just a little. To the side was a carefully rolled black strip of cloth she didn't remember packing. A bit of twine tied a note to it: just in case - mom

Luci sighed in relief, unfurling the wide black scarf and draping it across her shoulders. It covered her upper torso, the thick fabric, and unassuming color hiding her body beneath. Nibbling again at her bottom lip, she stared at her reflection. A knock at the door made her jump again, the voice of one of her packmates breaking through, "Let's go."

Jasper Orion Deveraux
Hazel orbs scanned the clearing as Beta Jasper of the Astral Twilight Pack arrived to The Claiming. He was one of the officiators of the ceremony, standing with folded arms as the moon threatened to reach its peak. His wolf, Ryzen, was unusually active, pacing and grumbling as Jasper fought to ignore him. The Beta remembered when he had participated in The Claiming three years prior, finding a mate amongst the she-wolves. His mate, Orianna, had put up a hell of a fight both that night and the first several months of their mating. But over the years they had come to love each other despite their origins. Jasper had come in place of his Alpha, Ivan Everett, whose Luna had had their third pup just two nights prior. As Astral Twilight land bordered the ceremonial clearing and they had no participants from their own pack that year, it was their duty to host.

Ryzen was fighting to speak to Jasper, grumbling about destiny and waiting, and the sacrilegious practice that was The Claiming. But he swatted the creature away, the wolf retreating to a corner of his mind, burying his muzzle in his paws as he glared at his counterpart. The Beta inhaled sharply, the clearing significantly more populated than he had ever seen. The scents of many different wolves and packs intermingling along with the gleeful yips of destined mates finding each other and suspect grumbles of those who didn't. Jasper inhaled this cacophony of chaos, standing tall at the head of the clearing. For a split second, Ryzen lurched forward, practically knocking Jasper's consciousness aside, Mate!

But Jasper stood fast, his eyes flickering from hazel to black for that brief moment as he pushed Ryze back. And just as quickly, the wolf stepped back, confused. Mate?

Orianna is not here. Calm yourself, you horny bastard. Jasper thought bitterly, slightly embarrassed as he began to address the befuddled crowd. They stared up at him expectantly and nervously as the moon reached its highest point in the sky and began to crest. With a final nod of completion and allowance, the clearing erupted with commotion as the women shifted and fled, allowing themselves their fifteen-minute headstart before the men rabidly followed.

Luciana Faith Moore
She was in trouble. Her feet dragged behind the others in her pack, heavy lead at her heels, begging her to turn back. Her wolf was urging her forward, anticipating their destined mate in the clearing. But Luci was not so sure. In fact, she had completely rejected the idea that the night would end in anything but the forced mark on her neck. Jeffrey glanced over his shoulder, shooting her a look that iced her soul. She stood just at the edge of the clearing, watching as one of the males from her pack took off and embraced a she-wolf in destiny's lock. But the other four remained still, shoulders dropping slightly as their dwindling hope vanished. Luci's jaw trembled, taking one step into the lush dirt. She didn't realize she was holding her breath until she exhaled and inhaled, the many unfamiliar bodies almost knocking the wind out of her lungs.

Eve shot to her paws, soaring through her mind's eye to reach the forefront. But before she could, Luci had turned and fled. Overwhelmed by the daunting ceremony and full of adrenaline for rejecting it, the girl fled in the direction from which they had come. Her noisy footsteps giving way to the soft pad thuds of her wolf as Eve took over. The wolf was discouraged by Luci's actions but felt no choice but to flee as she so desired. They ran for miles, enhanced hearing just barely picking up the sound of the other she-wolves beginning their own rush home.
We're not going to make it. Luci thought desperately, her paws feeling heavy as they barely cleared a pack's border. Weaving through the unfamiliar trees, she heard the thumps of an approaching wolf. She had been found despite her advanced headstart. Another burst of adrenaline propelled her forward, a streak of gray fur in the night.

Her enhanced hearing picked up a howl of victory of a male just a few miles away, the fleeting whimpers of some poor she-wolf drowned out by the male's celebration. She saw a break in the trees, a clearing in whatever pack's land she was passing through. She would need to avoid it. Swerving to the side, her heart beat wildly in her chest as the pursuing male's pawsteps began to fade. Did I lose him? Just as the optimistic thought crossed her mind, a figure barreled into her side, throwing her against the trunk of a tree. Eve whimpered, shaking the fog from her head and struggling to get to her paws. But the opposing figure loomed over her, growling as it lunged at her neck with open jaws.