Chapter 3

Octavia’s POV

After a few hugs and tears Uhtred, Nicklaus and I jump in my Camaro to head for the South Island, my mother reminding me that they will see me next weekend for my birthday.

I told Uhtred I would drive to Wellington since he stayed up late with Nicklaus all night, we would swap over tomorrow morning in Blenheim, and he will drive to the Southern alps pack which is based in a place called Castle Hill.

After a couple hours of driving, I decide to wake Uhtred up and see if he is still mad at me for disappearing last night. We need fuel anyway so I can use that as an excuse if he gets angry again.

“Hey, you awake. Can we talk?” I ask nudging his arm.

He grunts, rubs his eyes, and sits up in his seat. “What’s up?” he asks looking around outside.

We are almost in Levin, so I tell him we need fuel and look in his direction to gauge his reaction. He looks to be in a good mood… sort of.

I pull into the petrol station and ask if he wants to have brunch here before we head for the wellington ferry terminal. Nicklaus is awake now and I need to feed him anyway. “Sure, I think there is a park up ahead we can let little Nicky out for a stretch too.”

 Uhtred fuels up the car while I go to a nearby grocery store. I get a pre-cooked roast chicken with buns and salad for lunch, but got a little carried away with snacks, I couldn’t help myself the bakery just brought out a fresh batch of chocolate twists and I was practically drooling, so I got six, plus some donuts for Uhtred.

We drive down to the park and let Nicklaus out for a stretch, he has recently started crawling and pulling himself up on his knees, so as soon as I put him down, he instantly crawls over to Uhtred and climbs all over him. Laughing, Uhtred picks him up and sits him on his lap, while I prepare our lunch.

After eating we play with Nicklaus for a while in the park, he loves the swings, giggling and squealing away. I check the time and realize we need to get back on the road, so we load up and head for wellington.

I have never been on the ferry before, so I am a little excited when we board, finding seats at the front of the ship we settle in and wait for the captain to take us out to sea.

Uhtred turns to pick up Nicklaus and says, “let’s have a look around, I heard there’s a kid’s area on board.” I look up at him with pastry flakes and melted chocolate on my face, I may have had a snack or two.

“Sure, I kind of want to go outside on the top deck and take some pictures, plus I need a vape.” My dad always hated when I vaped, but as usual I did it anyway.

We find the kids area and Nicklaus starts squirming in Uhtred’s arms wanting to go play, so he puts him down and watches him play. I follow the signs pointing to the ‘smoking’ area on the rear deck.

As soon as I open the door, I’m mesmerized by the view it’s even better from this side of the ship, I immediately get my phone out to take some photos and send Uhtred a quick text to bring Nicklaus out for photos too.

I suck on my vape pen while I wait for the boys, looking over the side of the ship, when the door opens, I look up to see the same amazed expression on Uhtred’s face that I had.

We take photos then head inside for the cafeteria to warm up a bottle for Nicklaus.

 “Uhtred why didn’t you tell me the reason behind this arranged Mating?” I ask my brother.

With a sigh he looks me and replies, “I am sorry sis, but dad made me swear not to tell you until we got there, mum beat me to it though and I Imagine she will be in the dog box with dad for it… I know you think your being punished but you have to understand what’s at stake here, with the blood moon pack approaching we need the alliance of Southern Alps pack, if our Packs become one, we will be unstoppable. The Southern Alps pack has the largest territory in the country, they have enough land to accommodate our entire Pack and then some. After your mating ceremony when you and Troy become Alpha and Luna, the Crescent moon pack will move to the South Island, which is why they are hosting a grand ball for your birthday to announce the news to both Packs.”

I stare at him trying to see if he is lying because as much as that all made sense it is God damn crazy, moving our entire pack to the South Island… what the fuck is dad thinking?

I guess it means I would be close to my family again so it wouldn’t be all bad.

“And what do you think about all of this? Me being mated to the Alpha and becoming your Luna, this would mean you won’t become Alpha of the Crescent moon pack anymore” I ask my brother.

“Honestly sis I think it’s a brilliant idea, I couldn’t be happier for you. Although I am still sad for Klaus, I think this will be good for you… to move on and have a Mate even if he isn’t your fated Mate, once you mark each other and complete the Mating process you will still have that bond as if you were fated, isn’t that what you have always wanted? To share a bond with someone and have that blinding love that consumes you?”

I think about it for a minute, I guess he is right, I have always wanted those things I just always thought I had that with Klaus and that I wouldn’t find my true Mate… the question is will the goddess bless this Mating even after what I did?

I guess time will tell.

“I suppose your right, as always, but that doesn’t mean I’m ok with this whole arrangement, I mean I don’t even know what the guy looks like, I feel like I’m being set up on one of those reality tv shows ‘married at first sight’ or whatever it’s called. Its degrading.” I say scrunching up my nose.

He’s about to reply when the captain announces to start making our way to our vehicles.

Patting me on the back he gets up and carries a now sleeping Nicklaus in his arms, in the direction of the stairway, I follow closely behind.

After following the rest of the cars off the ferry I follow my GPS taking us to Blenheim, where we will stay the night before making the rest of the journey to our new home.

The next morning I’m grateful that Uhtred is driving because I didn’t sleep much, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I’m going to do when I meet Troy, wondering what he will look like, I hope he is not an asshole like most Alphas are, although most Alphas are well built from the training they have to do so he should at least be good looking… I hope.

I wake up when the car pulls to a stop on the side of the road. Wondering what is going on I sit up and look around, there’s a beach on one side and hills on the other. “Where are we?” I ask Uhtred a little confused. “I thought we could do with a stretch, and I saw some seals on the beach.”

“Really?” I say excited.

I get out of the car grabbing my phone, he wasn’t wrong there’s tons of seals scattered along the beach, some are even lounging on the rocks next to the road. They are obviously comfortable with humans because when we walk up to take pictures, they just look at us and don’t bother moving.

Uhtred puts Nicklaus on the sand, and we watch as a baby seal (pup) comes over to check him out. Being shifters, a lot of animals/creatures don’t pose a threat to us, so we weren’t too worried when they started playing together. I tried to use my ‘Wood’ element powers to make sure the pup doesn’t attack Nicklaus.

“That has to be the cutest thing I have ever seen” Uhtred takes out his phone to video them playing.

We notice other cars pulling up to take photos of us and we decide it’s time to go before we get in to trouble.

  Now that we are all wide awake, I plug in my phone to play some music, clicking on Spotify I play the first song in my playlist. ‘Freak by Doja cat’ plays and I crank up the volume, I love this song, so I sing along loudly while Nicklaus kicks his legs in the back seat to the beat, Uhtred shakes his head “This is a terrible song.”

"I think its catchy." I say with a wink.

A few more hours of driving and singing along to music, I start getting hungry, looking around for snacks I huff when I can’t find anything “Can we stop for food I’m hungry” I ask, and I hear Nicklaus whine in the back seat. That kid is always hungry.

“Sounds little Nicky wants food too” Uhtred replies. I have a quick look on my phone for good food places nearby.

We are almost in a small town called Darfield I see they have a bakery but as we get closer, I notice a line of people coming out the door, so I look up the next best place… Sheffield pies. “There’s a pie shop about ten minutes away we can go there instead.” I say and we keep driving.

Arriving at the pie shop I notice there isn’t much else around, a petrol station and a bar “What do people do around here? There’s no malls or anything just pubs, food shops and schools” I ask Uhtred as we enter the pie shop.

“I think the next township has a couple ski shops, but it’s mostly farms around here and a ski lodge a little further past castle hill.” He explains.

Looking around the shop I see its all women working with a couple tables of women drinking coffee chatting.

I turn back to Uhtred. , “So basically, farmer men drink at the pubs while the wives work and tend their children while meeting together to contemplate their husband’s death?”

A woman behind me with bright pink hair cracks up laughing “Yep that’s pretty much how it goes, a real old school life around here.” She says with a smile.

I sniff the air; she is a shifter and so are all the women in here. Crap they would have heard me too.

I smile back “Sorry I didn’t mean to be rude; we are not from around here; this lifestyle is a little strange to me. Where I come from the women train with the men and are treated as equals.”

She suddenly looks shocked but quickly turns in to a big grin, “Oh my goddess, you must be Octavia… I'm Faith, my Friend Harper said you would be arriving today, oh I am so excited you are even more beautiful than she said.” She says with a bow.

“HARPER!” I say with excitement turning to Uhtred, he just smiles at me paying for our food. “Harper is in this pack?” I ask Faith. “Yes, Luna she is Beta Jaxson’s Mate, she has told me all about you. I don’t want to be too forward, but would you join me and my daughter for dinner one night? You can bring your son to, he can play with my daughter Aurora.”

I smile at her, she is very bubbly I like her already. “Of course, I would love to, I will have to ask my scary bodyguard over here of course, he never goes anywhere without Nicklaus” pointing behind me to Uhtred.

Faith blushes when he smiles at her. “This Is my older brother Uhtred.” I say as he walks up to shake her hand, “Nice to meet you Faith, we would love to meet your family. Though we have a lot of work that needs attending, I will do my best to make some time for dinner.”

I get the sense my big bro is quite smitten with Faith; Uhtred hasn’t found his mate either, he wants a family more than anything.

We exchange contact details, and she sends me a quick text with her address which turns out is just down the road.

Getting back in the car I feel a little less scared about this new life, knowing I have a new friend and of course having my best friend in this world will be living in the packhouse, I can’t wait to see Harper; the last time I saw her was at Nicklaus’s birth, she found her Mate while travelling the south island with her family around the time Klaus died and stayed to live with him. I was happy for her but with everything I was going through I didn’t ask her about her Mate and she didn’t want to upset me by talking about it, so I know nothing about him or what pack he was from, I feel like such a terrible friend she came all the way back to our pack in Ohakune to be with me for the birth of my son and I never once asked her how her new life was going.

That’s it I have decided from here on I will be a better friend to Harper and sister to Uhtred, I owe them that much.

Looking through the bags of pastries I find a pie ‘venison & herb’ I take a bite and oh my gods it has to be the best venison pie I have ever tasted, the meat just melts in your mouth, I moan loudly as I savour the delicious taste “I will definitely be coming back for more of these pies” I say.

Uhtred is having a Butter chicken pie he smiles a mouth full of food and nods in approval. 

The next town is not far away, as we drive I notice a giant donut statue with a small playground, knowing my big bro loves donuts I point it out and if possible, his face lights up like a Christmas tree.

He immediately pulls over and gets out of the car running across the road before I can even get out. Laughing I yell out to him “Uhtred, I don’t think you can eat it, it’s a statue.” He waves a hand over his shoulder dismissing my words.

Grabbing Nicklaus, I walk towards my big child of a brother that is now hugging the giant statue, handing Nicklaus over I take pictures of them under it.

After playing for a while Nicklaus starts to get tired so Uhtred decides it’s time to head to Castle hill, “I will drive the rest of the way, while you get Nicklaus to sleep in the back.”

“Ok sounds good put some music on he sleeps better with music.” Uhtred replies carrying him to the car.

I put on ‘Lil Nicky’s rock playlist’ and hit the road, sure enough he falls asleep pretty quick. I ask Uhtred “how much further?” as we drive through the hills and Uhtred puts the pack coordinates into the GPS system.

I see the entrance to the pack hidden behind the lodge with a gate signed ‘Private Property’ and a man sitting in a booth, I pull up and state our names, he makes a call and opens the gate for us.

Driving through the forest slowly I take in my surroundings as does Uhtred then all of a sudden, the song ‘Highway to hell by ACDC’ plays and I can’t help but laugh, it’s to ironic. Uhtred gives me a worried look as I continue to laugh pulling up to the packhouse. “This is it bro we are officially in Hell my own personal Hell.”

With a deep breath I turn off my car and open my door.