Chapter 7: RSVP

Ellie Swift Wolf Pack had a lot of territory, even though their numbers were not as large as some of the other nearby packs. When it came to finding space to set up for the tournament, Michael had plenty of large open fields at his disposal for both the throwing challenge and the fighting contest. He was excited about making the run go through plenty of the wooded areas, though, and had told Ellie he might even make it a requirement to cross the creek. The invitations had only gone out a few days before, and Ellie couldn’t bear to ask if anyone had RSVPed yet, so she spent her time working on other things. However, her father was so excited about the entire event, she wandered out to where he was getting things ready for the first event, the throwing contest, at least once every afternoon. A light breeze stirred her blonde hair, tickling her neck as she walked along, through the village at first, where everyone greeted her with a bowed head and a smile. “Good afternoon, Luna,” an older woman named Ruth said as she passed. “Good afternoon,” Ellie said with a smile, greeting her granddaughter, Tessa, as well. In the distance, she could see her father directing some of the younger pack members as they placed freshly made bleachers in what he deemed the viewing location. Michael had put their best carpenters on the job of making plenty of seating, as well as everything else he could think of that would be necessary for the contests to go well, be easily viewed, and be fair. He’d already made sure that the logs the contestants would be tossing were all the same size and shape, thanks to the skilled craftsmen of the pack. “That’s good, that’s good!” Michael shouted as Cane, Hans, Seth, and some other young men carried a huge set of bleachers over, stepping to their left as Michael waved them over. “A little more. A little more. Perfect! Put it right there!” The men dropped the structure, four rows of bleachers, complete with backs, and let out exhausted sighs. Michael stood for a moment, stroking his chin. “Now, that doesn’t quite look right,” he mumbled as Ellie came to stand next to him. “It looks great, Dad. Don’t make them move it again,” she insisted. “They might pass out.” “HI, honey!” It was as if he hadn’t seen her coming. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a big squeeze. “What do you think?” “I think it looks great,” Ellie said, admiring everything that he’d done. Not only was the field clear of any and all debris, it was freshly mowed, and there were lines measured out and drawn to show how far each toss was. Plenty of bleachers lined the sides, though it was obvious Michael was in the process of moving some of them, and the large wooden logs that would be tossed were sitting on a stand, organized and neat. “You’ve really outdone yourself!” “Thank you!” he said, kissing her cheek before he let her go. The boys were headed over, still breathing hard and wiping their brows. Ellie would have to do something nice for all of the packmates that were volunteering their time to help out. Michael was so eager to tell her about everything that he’d done, he went from one feature to another, often pointing out the same things she’d seen the day before, or even the things he’d just said to her. Ellie just listened, though, and told him what a good job he was doing. When he was finished going over all of the features with her, he said, “Oh, and there’s one more thing I forgot to tell you!” “What’s that?” Ellie asked, bracing herself for something she wasn’t going to like. A big grin appeared on her father’s face. “Something tells me your dad’s up to something--again,” Hans said with a wink as he leaned against her shoulder, nearly knocking them both over. “He does have that look about him,” Seth agreed. “No, no it’s nothing like that,” Michael protested. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small, white envelope, handing it to Ellie. “What’s this?” she asked, afraid to take it. “Oh, no!” Cane said, shaking his head. “It better not be an invitation to rearrange all of the bleachers! We are not doing that again.” Ellie laughed and swatted at him playfully. “He wouldn’t be giving that to me.” “Open it!” Michael insisted. Ellie sucked in a lung full of air and opened the envelope, taking out a small piece of thick, white paper. It was an RSVP, her first one, and it was marked confirmed. So… they would have at least one contestant after all. The weight of what this meant settled in on her shoulders, and she hardly even took a moment to read the name. She would be getting married soon--no matter what. Someone had said he’d come, and that meant this was actually going to happen. “Who’s it from?” Seth asked for all three of the boys. Ellie’s eyes went to the name printed on the line at the top of the paper. She sucked in a deep breath and read it out loud. “Alpha Blade Strand of Crying Wolf Pack.” Ellie lifted her eyes and looked at her father. Of all of the men to RSVP first, it had to be the one with the worst reputation. He was clearly too excited about the tournament to realize what this meant, though. Rather than disappoint him, Ellie put a smile on her face and said, “Congratulations, Dad. The show will go on.” “The show must go on,” he said, winking at her before he pulled her into a bear hug. Ellie tried to be as enthusiastic as he was, but at the moment, she was too stunned to even fake it. The idea that she might end up marrying Blade Strand sat in her stomach like a boulder. For the first time since this entire tournament idea had been mentioned to her, she was suddenly praying for RSVPs--lots of them.