Chapter 158 –
Cara's POV
Wendy was a gorgeous young she-wolf. She looked just like her mother and was already a very strong fighter. I would not expect anything less from Brenna's daughter. She had her mother's blonde hair, but she had her father's green eyes. She was confident in her abilities, and she is undeniably strong as a child of two Alpha's. This course run was not going to be easy on any of them.
Duncan was Luna and Kevin's son. He was standing next to his cousin Wendy. He was also eight years old and was their second and last child. Luna would have loved having more children, but Kevin still had issues from his childhood. He wanted to be able to focus on his children's needs and knew from firsthand experience that he wanted a smaller family. He trained his oldest child, Skye, and Duncan to be the next Alpha. He felt that their family was perfect with one of each. Luna seemed to be content with stopping at just two children. Alpha Trevor and Bethany's children from Blood Tracker were the last two children on the line. Patrick was the oldest at nine, and his younger brother, Brian, was eight. They were taking this race seriously and were ready to go the moment the gun sounded. These children were not as spirited as the ten to thirteen-year-old group, who were still teasing each other and tossing out challenges.
"Wendy is focused," I said to my sister, Brenna, sitting ten feet away on her blanket.
"She is, and of course, Jaxon is right there with her," Brenna replied with a smile.
Brenna didn't even pretend to sound frustrated; it was well-known that Jaxon loved all three of his children. Ever since Wendy was born, Jaxon was always protecting her in the background. If he weren't there, then her brothers or mother were always there to protect her. Wendy loved both her parents, but she didn't get to see her father as much as she got to see her mother. That was only natural as he was busy being the Alpha. So whenever he came home, she hugged him before the brothers could reach him.
It wasn't that they loved him any less than Wendy did. They were trying to be calmer when approaching him. Plus, Wendy loved getting to hug her dad first, after a while it was an unspoken rule that she got to greet him first. Brenna was the last in line to greet him with a kiss and a hug, but they were a beautiful family. It makes me happy to see just how loved and taken care of my sisters were. I have thanked the Goddess at least a thousand times in the last ten years for what she has done for all of us. We would be miserable if we hadn't been able to escape from the Kamaria pack.
This reminds me that I heard that Paxton and Rex are no longer under house arrest now. But we weren't worried about them anymore. My mother had gone there at the two-year mark to see if they were just laying low to plot against us. They weren't. Paxton had gone to the Grey Stone pack with special permission from the Werewolf Council. He found his mate, a girl named Danielle. Her brother, Donny, had come back with her. He had been the acting Beta for the pack for the last eight years.
Paxton and Danielle now had three children, and from the looks of things, they were very happy together. Paxton had long forgotten about me, and that was a good thing. He had been a concern in the back of my mind until my mother took me there to see for myself. Paxton had changed up the prison he built for us, taking the bars off the windows and making it into a very nice home for his family. I doubted him, but he made significant changes for the pack. It is doing better than ever, right after he got rid of Lisa.
Rex is content. He had let go of wanting Brenna before we left the pack the day we were rescued. His mate, Phillipa, was a nice she-wolf, and she quickly got Rex straightened out. They had two children, and even Rex's father, Devin, was doing better after Emily was taken to jail. I had been worried that she would come back to cause problems for us, but nine years ago, when their trial was about to start, there was an incident. I had been pregnant with Vadim then, and Alexei refused to let me go there to watch the trial. He made the right choice. A group of rogues was at the Council that day, and Lisa smarted off to the group leader. The argument turned into a brawl before anyone could do anything to stop them. Lisa was more mouthy than able to protect herself. Her mother, Emily, was the same way. They both died that day outside the courtroom all because Lisa still thought she was a Luna. I hate to say it, but I am glad my Mom and I no longer have to worry about them. I knew that the first thing they would do was come here and cause trouble.
I didn't wish for something bad to befall them, but Lisa had always been very vocal and mean to others. She forgot that she could not get away with what she used to do. She learned a hard lesson that day. I am sure both her mother and Lisa herself were surprised that they were physically attacked. The rogues had been arrested for killing some lone wolves and had been taken in to be sentenced. Lisa started a fight in the hallway with them, and they already knew they were going to die. What was killing two more going to do to them? It was not her most brilliant move. I am sure she would have taken even more offense that no one came to claim their bodies. Both she and her mother were burned in the same grave as the very rogues who killed them. It was a fitting end to them as they had wronged many others. They only cared for themselves and what they could get out. It was such a coincidence that they had both embezzled from the same pack without knowing that the other had also done so until the day they got arrested. The pack was glad Paxton turned it all around, and the Kamaria pack was much better.
The starting gun sounded, and I flinched in surprise. I looked up and watched as all the children took off. Natalia was in the lead, and she seemed serious about keeping it. These kids weren't playing as they climbed over the rock wall, and the vampires in the group kept their lead as they ran between the obstacles. The wolves were catching up as they used their strength to catch up on the physical obstacles. Alek and Damir were currently leading the group at the moment. As soon as they cleared the rope climb, Natalia and Vadim made a gap between them and the rest of the group.
The group was neck and neck, with Natalia and Vadim pushing forward as they approached the water obstacle. They were moving so fast they didn't even attempt to use the ropes above them. They just depended on their speed and accuracy to run across. There were two of the wooden beams that crossed the water. They were the first ones there and the first across. They were right there together as they climbed the posts to go up and ring the bell. There were three of those posts at the end. Wendy had been right behind Natalia and was on the third post as they all used the slight divots cut out to make climbing the post more manageable for the younger kids.
Vadim rang his bell about a second before Natalia rang hers. Wendy was about ten seconds behind them. All because they made it to the last obstacle first. The others had to wait until the person on the wooden beam was at least three-fourths of the way across before they could start to cross themselves. I knew my son was fast. He practiced all the time when he had down time. He worked out at home in our gym and on the obstacle course.
It was clear that Natalia did the same. She was very proud of her second place finish, as she should be. She did an impressive job. They all had done an excellent job, with Vadim setting a new course record for his age group. Wendy was a little disappointed, but her father was right there with her, telling her what a good job she did on the course. He was a proud father, and her grandparents also told her what a great job she did. Her frown soon disappeared after Raven reminded her there was no shame in losing to a vampire.
We all knew that they were faster than a wolf, to begin with, but Wendy didn't have her wolf yet. She did a great job and did her best. That was all she could do, and she should be proud. The other kids quickly climbed up to ring the bells after the first three climbed down. The time was messed up for the children who got there after the first three. They all had to wait for the ones who got there first to come back down. The order they went up after the first three was based on when they reached the last obstacle. The last child had no sooner dropped to the ground when the next round lined up.
The ten to thirteen-year-olds were ready to compete, with only seven racing this time. Two of the children in this race belonged to Anton and Cheryl. The oldest was Boris, at thirteen, and Risa, who was eleven. Our daughter Mila and my ten-year-old twin brothers Bradley and Blake were in the group. Brenna and Jaxon's oldest child, Asher, was also racing and he was ten as well. The last competitor was my niece Skye, who stood at the end of the line but seemed the most excited to race.
This race would be more difficult, as my brothers loved to try to one-up the other. Asher would be the pack's next Alpha, so there was some pressure on him to be the best. Boris was strong and was occasionally forgotten a lot of the time. He was a quiet child with a brilliant mind. He was creative and was already coming up with products for three of the companies that his father and Alexei owned. He never caused trouble and was designing in his room a lot, so he sometimes fell through the cracks. He was loved but not constantly receiving the attention that his siblings received.
His older siblings, the twins, get the bulk of the attention. Once Cheryl realized it, she was heartbroken. She remembered how things were when she and Kevin ran away from the Black Moon pack. She had vowed never to allow one of her children to feel less loved than another. I could hear her cheering for Boris, and his lips lifted in a smile at hearing her encouraging him. Anton was down the line with him. He was going to run it, just like Alexei. Boris was stronger than he looked, despite spending a lot of his free time creating products to go to research and development to make his ideas to come to life. Boris was the first off the line as soon as the gun sounded.