Climbing mountains was hard on the best of days for Caia, but being two months pregnant and mountain climbing was near impossible, thankfully they reached the top.
Nixon and Caia, stared over Moldoveanu peak, in the distance, farther than a human eye could see, but not a Canis Lupus one, was the Gathering mansion, a supposed refuge.
A little more optimism please? Nixon thought to her squeezing her hand.
Sorry, but you know as well as I do that we need it.
But we can still have hope.
They approached the front entrance and knocked twice. The doors opened silently as if by magic, they found themselves in a ballroom, packed with people, who all turned and stared at the two strangers.
A tall man, with dark hair and blue eyes stood and began to approach them.
That's Vasile, alpha of the Romanian pack. Nixon sent my way.
Nixon stood in front of me in a protective stance, his 6"3 form to tall for my 5"2 to see over even his shoulder.
We bared our necks in respect, not submission, but more on that later.
"I'm am Vasile, alpha of the Romanian pack, and might I ask, who are you?" He said in fluent if not accented English.
"I am Nixon, and this is my mate Caia, I am the son of Anghus, former alpha of the Irish pack."
"What do you mean former? Has he fallen?"
"Yes, we were attacked in the night a month ago, my parents, our beta, and our top four were killed."
A gasp flowed through the room.
"The rogue alpha could not find us, we stayed hidden, and at dawn we ran, with just the clothes on our backs, hunting the entire way, we payed a fae to get us as far as Germany, and have been traveling on foot ever since."
"How did you know to come here?"
"I came to the last gathering, and knew when this one was going to be."
That was not entirely true, he did come to the last gathering, but we came because the Great Luna told us that was what we needed to do.
Yeah, they'll totally believe that. Nixon snorted in my mind.
"We came for another reason, my mate is pregnant, and we know there is a gypsy healer in your and Serbian pack, and would please like to see one of them."
A girl with dark brown hair and chocolate eyes stood.
"I will check on her." The apparent Gypsy healer said moving towards them, a male, probably her mate, followed close behind.
I stepped from behind Nixon, and smiled at the healer.
"Hi, I'm Sally," He southern drawl surprised me.
"I'm Caia."
"I'll take you to my room, and I'll check on you, okay?"
I began to follow her, with Nixon hot on my heels.
"Nix, I think you need to stay here." I said and he began to protest.
Please, get to know the Romanian and Serbian pack.
"Do you mind if two of my friends come along? They don't bite."
"No I don't," I said and she motioned to two girls, one blonde and one ginger.
We began to head up to the rooms.