RIVER'S STORY

21 FEBRUARY, SUNDAY, CONTINUED

"Dad, I need to know." River pressed. River was surprisingly determined.

"Yeah, River's Dad. He needs to know." I backed River instinctively.

Alpha Gunter's cool gaze turned to me.

I got up and backed off, "Or I could just leave the both of you to sort this out. Make yourselves at home. I'm going back to bed too."

Or they could've gone back to their own suite and sorted it out, but I was too caught up in the moment to think anything of it.

"If you don't mind, Princess, please stay." Alpha Gunter said then. He gestured me back to my seat, and then he sat down in the arm chair across from me, "Solo is right, I must be getting daft. River come sit down. I will tell you what I know."

"I really don't have to hear this." I hesitated before I sat down. It was really none of my business, and yes, at the back of my mind, I did worry about my catalyst powers magically completing the warlock quest overnight and hastening my death - just a little.

"I would appreciate you stay, Princess." Alpha Gunter insisted calmly, "My son is clumsy and prone to making mistakes, but if there is one thing he is never wrong about, is in whom he places his trust. Since he trusts you, I will too."

Ah, no. Don't trust me. I don't even trust myself most of the time. But I sat down anyway. I guess I did want to be here for River.

River looked gratefully at me for staying. I don't know why. We weren't even from the same pack.

"River, your mother and I..." Alpha Gunter clasped his hands together and studied his long fingers, "Your mother and I were..." He paused for the right words to make his son understand, "We were just friends."

River's mother was a lovely human who had a beautiful smile. She was also mated to a warrior in the Green Packlands. He had found his mate much later in his life and was already in his thirties.

She wanted a flower shop, but her mate bought a home and started a maple tree farm right at the edge of the pack town. But for her sake, he had agreed to work towards an early retirement from full time warrior duties. Her flower shop dream can wait. She could see her mate was determined to build for them a comfortable life together. And the maple syrup he made was good.

One day, while her mate was out on patrol, she decided to help collect the maple syrup. He would be tired after the long shift. It wasn't terribly hard. She had accompanied her mate so many times, she already knew the route well.

It was a beautiful autumn day, and Mandy emptied each little metal cup into her pail. When she got to the trees deeper inside, she saw a man - a human! On warlock lands! He looked as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

She was so surprised she grabbed her pail and ran straight home.

Perhaps he was from one of the human villages hidden in the warlock lands. No one had ever seen them before. Was he trapped there? Did he have food?

The more she thought about it, the more she worried for the stranger. The next morning, when her mate went out for duties, she took some food and went back to where she last saw the man. She left the food near the edge of the warlock lands and returned home.

After that, she would bring food out regularly for the man. Because she noticed that the racoons sometimes got to it first, she used an old picnic basket with a sturdy latch to store the food. Sometimes the man would leave a small gift in the basket - usually small bouquets of wild flowers.

Which was both delightful and puzzling since it was wintertime.

The snow was bad that year, and Mandy's mate was working almost around the clock. Mandy did not tell her mate about the man. She felt sure her mate would forbid her from helping him. 0

One winter day, Mandy decided to pack extra food and leave it for the man. She was worried because a storm was brewing and the weather station said it should last the whole week.

She wasn't sure if the man could read, but she left a note to let him know she would return with more supplies in a week's time.

The next week, she returned with blankets. She packed two, and some thermos. She also brought more food. Perhaps the man had a family? Her mate and herself were starting a family of their own. They might even have a pup before the next fall! She would name him or her Autumn, because that was her favourite time of the year. The only bad thing about autumn was the winter that followed.

She only wished this dreaded winter would be over! Her mate was always so busy in the winter. There were houses snowed in again this year and rescue operations were relentless.

She hoped the humans living in the warlock lands would be alright. The wolves were tough against the cold. Humans like her? Not so much.

To her surprise, the man was waiting for her. She froze on the spot. What should she do?

He spoke first, "You really came."

Her note was in his hand.

"I am very happy to see you." He told her.

It turned out that the man didn't have a family. He was all alone. But the warlock lands was quite lovely. There was no winter in the warlock lands.

Mandy hadn't believed him until he brought her to see for herself. There was a tree in an open patch of sunlight and flowers everywhere.

It was always spring in the warlock lands. Mandy commented that she personally like the fall, "That was when I met my true love." She told the man.

"Me too." The man smiled.

After that she went back home. Her mate came home and she told him all about her new friend. She thought she might be able to introduce them.

Her mate was livid, "I told you never to go into the woods alone, Mandy!"

Her mate was never very good at controlling his anger. In seconds the dinner table was broken and the food she had prepared poured all over the floor.

She cried. He growled... And then they made up. He was sorry and she promised never to go to the woods again.

Anyway, it didn't look like the man actually needed her help afterall. He had been dressed well, and she had noticed when they spoke that he wore jewelry - bright colorful stones.

Spring came around and Mandy decided to grow red tulips in her backyard. Suddenly the man called out to her from the woods, she looked up surprised. All along, she had assumed that he could not step out of the warlock lands.

He called out to her, "Amanda!"

And she felt suddenly alarmed because she had never given him her name.

"Wait," River interrupted, "My mum's name was Amanda?"

Gunter nodded an iota, "I only knew when I signed our mating certificate. It was not a name she used aloud."

"Come with me, Amanda." He said.

She shook her head, taking a step back, "My mate said I should not go into the woods on my own."

"Forget him. Come with me, I have missed you." The man said.

Now Mandy was filled with alarm, "Sorry! No! But I have to go!"

She ran back into the house and locked all the doors.

Her mate came home early that day. He had felt her fear and it had chilled him to bone. He left his patrol early and ran back in his wolf form. No words could describe his relief when Mandy opened the door for him.

Mandy felt so very glad to see him, but she decided not to tell him about the man. He had never left his patrol early before. She felt bad enough as it was.

"Something spooked me while I was in the backyard. I was planting tulips. I haven't gone near the woods at all!" She told him.

He laughed then, "I know. I trust you."

And then her mate gave her the "good news". His gamma was going to promote him! He would be a Delta warrior by summer.

"But what about our flower shop or the maple farm?" Mandy cried out in dismay.

"Mandy, we'll have lots of time to do that when we're old." Her mate promised, "I've dreamed of this since I was a boy! My promotion comes with a raise. Please be happy for me. For us."

"Yes. Alright." Mandy decided. Her dream flower shop can wait. She will support her mate. A delta position was a big deal. It would definitely pay the bills and even the kids college funds.

But that night, rogues attacked their home, leaving her mate lying on the ground unmoving. She cried out to him, but they took her away into the woods.

And then they brought her to the man. He comforted her. He had sent his wolves to rescue her from her mate. He was quite angry at her mate for keeping them apart, "I had been lonely without you. I never knew I would need someone so much!"

But she knew her mate was not dead. She felt it in her mating bond. When she tried to escape, the man named Fount would re-capture her. He showed her with great pride all his magic. And now, since autumn is her favourite season, the warlock lands is forever autumn.

He brought her to the tree in the clearing where the flowers once grew. He set up a picnic and carved their initials in the tree.

"No, it's not like that! I like all the other seasons too!" Mandy said.

"Then I shall make it all the seasons at once, perhaps in different parts of my land?" Fount offered.

"No! I want to go back. I want to return to my mate." Mandy said.

Fount placed his necklace around her neck, the blue stone glowing softy, "You are my mate now. If you return to him, I will kill him."

And Mandy believed he could. She dared not bring the warlock to her mate.

Fount was not a cruel man, but Mandy found his powers terrifying and Fount seemed unable to process what he called "mortal triffles". He was like a self centred god, and as long as he had what he wanted when he wanted, he was easy enough to get along with.

Things got more complicated when Mandy realised she was with child. Now fearful that her child would be killed should he be her mate's pup, she hid her pregnancy for as long as she could from Fount.

This was not difficult at first as Fount was always immersed in his library for most part of the day. But eventually, even he noticed she had gained some weight.

She had to leave. Oh how she wished she could return to her mate! Their mating bond was already broken. Fount had made sure of that... But her feelings had not changed.

She missed her mate. She wanted to go back, but to keep them all safe from Fount, she decided to run away in another direction. She would run back to her human town in the Blue Packlands, far away from Fount. She had very bad memories of that place. Her stepmother had been cruel to her, but her brother should be a grown man now. Her brother had always loved her.

So she ran. She found her family's home. Her brother welcomed her warmly. He was now lord of the small family stead. Her father had passed on, and her stepmother now spent most of her days in the town house.

But after a month, the rogues suddenly began targeting her brother's home. At one of the raids, she thought she recognized one of the rogues - she couldn't be sure, but what if Fount had found her?

Unable to bear the thought of bringing any further harm to her brother and his young wife and son, she ran away again.

By now, it was winter again, and Mandy was heavy with child. That was when Gunter found her, by the frozen river. He was riding his horse. She was trying to get water out of the ice.

He brought her back to his ice tower and she told him her tale. They decided to let her stay with him until the baby was born.

Alpha Gunter had lost his mate a long time ago, and since then, his heart and castle had frozen over. He would ride his horse or read in his tower. He could not smile without his Miranda.

When he met Mandy, he was simply doing a good deed. He let her stay in his tower. He was quite sure not even a warlock could find the young mother here.

However, the rest of his pack had assumed Mandy was to be their Luna. When their Alpha rode home with a pregnant human and helped her down from his horse, they all thought he had been keeping a human mate secretly.

They welcomed Mandy warmly. Mandy wasn't one to sit idly. She was all the smile and warmth the pack had needed to get them through the icy winter.

By the time River was born, the pack had taken to refering to Mandy as their Luna. Mandy tried to correct them, but Gunter told her it was alright.

There was a problem. River was not a wolf pup.

Which meant that River was the warlock's son.

Mandy was horrified. Now she could never return to her mate, not with River. But she would not abandon her son either. She loved him, loved him way too much.

So Gunter proposed to Mandy. She would be his Luna. He would take care of them both. It would be a mutually beneficial arrangement, since Mandy needed a safe place to bring River up, and Gunter's pack needed a Luna.

So they got mated, but only in name. The truth was they were just good friends. Mandy always still loved her Lycan mate and Gunter's heart was too cold to love another.

But one day, when River was just learning to walk, he tottered over to Gunter who was passing by and grabbed his leg, "Da da!"

And at that moment, Gunter looked down and the child, and till now he couldn't explain it, but something in his heart melted, just a little, and he felt, just a little...

Mandy quickly came over and apologized. Gunter shrugged it off and picked up the boy. It's alright. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. The boy needed a father. And Gunter... what did Gunter need?

The boy kicked him in the nose and he heard a noise, a laughter come out of himself.

"I need an heir anyway." Gunter decided.

Since then, Gunter had done everything he could to be a good father. And as the days passed, he remembered what it was to smile and laugh and love again.

And then Fount appeared. He wanted to take Mandy away. Mandy would not leave with him. Fount was furious. It happened that Alpha Solomon was visiting. The two alphas fought the warlock tooth and nail before Fount finally retreated.

Fount never returned again, but Mandy was hit by Fount's magic during the fight, and her health declined quickly after that. She passed away just before River's sixth birthday.

"And that is your story River and all the reasons why you must never go to the Green Packlands or meet Fount." Gunter concluded.