Page 3 of Kingdom of Wolves: Blackshadow

“I can do that, Alpha Connell.”

Slapping his shoulder, I grin. Rolling up my sleeves, I stride over to the old shed and open the door, which sadly falls off its hinges but I catch it before it hits my head.

Caleb rushes over to me and grabs the door. “Did it hit you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Get Bladrick, Noah, William and the new guy Brian here. They need to build up a covering of sweat.” I give him a toothy grin.

Chuckling before I see his eyes glaze whilst contacting the others I step into the shed and pick up a spade. Throwing it over my shoulder, once I step outside, I look at Silas and lift a questioning eyebrow.

“Come on, Alpha, let's make a start,” Silas growls, and grabs himself a spade. I follow him to the top of the garden where the fencing is leaning at a terrible angle and we dig.

Silas, Caleb, Bladrick, Noah, William and Brian dig, rip out, and remove overgrown sods of grass and rubble that’s been thrown into the garden over the years. We are all hot, sweaty and dirty when Evangeline brings out a large jug of juice and a pile of sandwiches.

None of us pay her any mind, apart from a thank you, as we all take what we want. She was an inner circle member at one time, but no longer. Caleb snickers as Evangeline gives Noah a suggestive glance. Noah, however, scrunches his nose before turning around and finding somewhere to sit on the ground that hasn’t yet been dug over. As she is stomping back to the kitchen, we all are tempted to laugh, but I give them a headshake of no, and it settles us all down.

Hearing my phone ringing from where I’d left my jacket, I walk over and take it out of the jacket pocket. Seeing its Flint, I quickly take the call. “Hello Council Member Flint.”

“Hello, Alpha Connell. I’ve checked my calendar and can make it over to you next week, probably Wednesday, if that is good with you?”

“Yes, that is good. I will have a room ready for you. I want to speak to you regarding pack issues and an idea that I will need your advice on.” I’m watching everyone digging once more and grin at the clumsy way Bladrick is holding that spade. He’s going to have a lot of blisters this evening.

“Alright, then I’ll see you Wednesday. It will be mid-morning before I get to you.”

“Thank you, Council Member Flint.”

“Just call me Flint, none of this council member nonsense. It’s a damn mouthful, after all.”

"Again, thank you Flint. I will see you Wednesday.” Hanging up, I feel excited about his visit and hope that the challenge will be legitimate. I also want to discuss an idea I have running around the back of my mind that I’ll need the shifter council’s permission to execute.

Seeing William fall on his ass has me smirking. “Come on, William, no slacking. Get off your ass and get digging.”

Hearing William cursing under his breath, I chuckle and grab the spade once more, digging with even more gusto after speaking with Flint. Things are looking good, and I hope much brighter for the pack’s future.

Six hours later, we are all fairly exhausted from the digging. But the entire garden area is cleaned, dug over where needed, and the fence has been mended. Thankfully, it was only in need of the posts being repositioned.

Silas is looking like he’s three feet taller than this morning with the pride he is emitting. We can all feel his emotions flowing. Knight takes me by surprise when he speaks to me. Good job and the garden will produce well for the pack. Silas’ wolf, Charcoal, is proud of what they are doing. I spoke to him about Silas, and he said Silas was ready to let go and had been praying to the Goddess Selene to take him home. Now Charcoal says he feels purpose and will be okay.

‘I will watch him closely, Knight. I do not want to lose pack members because they feel they have no purpose. We need Silas to have the value he had originally as the gardener, and still has, as an important member of the pack. Nothing is more important than feeding or guarding the pack.’ I feel Knight settle back in my mind, and I watch everyone slowly packing away the equipment.

“Silas, write a list of what you need to get the garden started again. We need to be able to supply the pack with fresh vegetables. It’s not only cost effective but far healthier for us. It will hit Wolfsfoot somewhat, losing some of our custom, but we need to be more self-sufficient.”

“Yes, Alpha. I will do it this evening and bring it to the office in the morning.” Silas walks away toward his cottage, which is only a short way from the pack house. It was always the gardener's cottage and thinking about it, I’m surprised my father didn’t throw him out of it when he was no longer gardening.

“Come on, you lot, let’s get washed up and then eat. Once we’ve eaten, I want you all in the office. Brian, I want you in the office as well.”

Brian looks shocked, but gives me a dip of his head. “Yes, Alpha I’ll be there.”

Washed up, clean clothes and feeling good about the hard work we’ve done today, I walk down to the dining room and take my seat at the head table. Noah and William walk into the room, give me a nod before picking up a jug of juice and bringing it to the table.

“All that digging has given me a raging thirst,” Noah states as he pours himself a tall glass of the juice.

“My wolf was snickering in my mind, and I blocked him out in the end,” William grins. “He’s an ornery critter.”

William’s wolf Cobalt is ornery, I have to agree, but he is a large wolf who is angry he hasn’t found his mate yet. Most of the pack is without a mate, and it’s something we need to rectify. Maybe another mating ball would be in order, even reach out to packs outside of our surrounding area.

Thinking about it, we had no matches within our pack at the last mating ball, so reaching out to other areas has to be more productive. Something else I need to speak to Flint about next week.

Later in my office, I sit behind the desk and look from one of the inner circle to another. Brian is standing near the door, looking like he’d rather be anywhere but here.

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