Turns out that Ree was actually nineteen years old, though her friends were younger than her. She asked if she could come back for me to teach her more. I offered her a position to work in the house if she promised to take the culinary classes that the restaurant owner was offering. Out of all the girls, she’d been the easiest to teach. Between the two of us teaching her, she should come around in no time.
I’d made other connections sending some more of the boys to help the elderly in the pack. The girls that were supposed to be working with me in the house were being sent out to help in the community. They could handle picking up groceries for senior wolves.
By the end of the night, I’d eliminated quite a few of the community issues and repair list. Maddox walked toward me shaking his head in amazement. Where had he been?
“Those ideas were brilliant. I’d never have thought of them. I don’t know how Seuss will respond, but it should cut down on a lot of labor intense items so that I can focus on the more important pack business.”
“I’ll need keys to close off the master suite. I don’t want anybody in there for now while Seuss is vulnerable.”
“Already a step ahead of you.” Maddox handed me a set of keys, and I slipped them into my pocket. “I went upstairs to close off the master suite and to check on Seuss. He’ll probably need his dose of you soon.”
“I’m beat!” I yawned to drill home my point.
“Then you should go nap. The girls are going to clean up the mess from the meeting.”
I didn’t object to that at all. “I’ll check on Seuss, too.”
I checked on Seuss to find his body temperature still warmer than it had been lately, but cooler than when I left him. I knew that if I laid with him I’d probably not get up. I kissed the side of his face and laid my head on his shoulder briefly.
“The meeting was so good today. I think you’d have been very proud of Maddox. He handled things very well.”
It was too easy to settle into him. It’s why I’d remained standing. I sighed and headed back into my room and climbed into bed fully clothed. Today was very productive, but the stress of Augusto’s words hung heavily on my shoulders. I couldn’t let somebody challenge the throne. Seuss had worked too hard to maintain it. I planned to do my part and make sure that he was well enough to defend it. First things first though. I needed to sleep so that I could withstand his need to feed from me. I closed my eyes and let everything else fade to black.