Page 55 of Resurgence of the Pack

He blushed a little and mumbled something indecipherable, which may or may not have been ‘you’re welcome’.

I sipped my nectar from the gods and waited patiently for him to fry my bacon to crispy perfection. ‘Sauce?’ he asked.

‘Yes, please. Tommy K for me, brown sauce for Manners.’

He made up four rolls: two with ketchup and two with brown sauce. ‘Cheers, Xander,’ I said as I piled the food on one plate. I paused before carting my baps out of the kitchen. ‘Everything okay with you and the Devon pack?’

He hesitated for just a second but I pounced on it. ‘Tell me.’

He grimaced. ‘Some of the others want to go home, and they want their alpha to go with them. I’m pushing back on it, I promise. I know you need us here to strengthen the mansion.’

I bit my lip. ‘Would it help if we called more of the Devon pack to us instead?’

‘It would,’ he agreed, brightening. ‘We just want to be together. But where would we house them all?’

Perhaps the seat of power could do some more heavy lifting. ‘Leave it with me.’

I dutifully trotted back tomy office with the bacon butties. I handed Greg his two – sacrilegiously coated in brown sauce – and sat down to eat mine whilst I stewed over the best way forward.

‘What’s up Peaches?’ Greg asked. ‘I can hear you thinking from way over here.’

‘Xander said the Devon Pack is feeling – homesick, I guess. Half of them are still in Devon and it’s a long way away. I’m thinking of calling the others here.’

Greg frowned. ‘If we call more of their fighting wolves, it’ll leave their home vulnerable.’

‘I know. I was thinking of callingeveryone.’

‘Pups included?’

‘Yes,’ I confirmed.

‘That’s a lot of disruption,’ Greg said slowly. ‘They’ll have jobs that the adults will miss, school the pups will miss.’

‘I know.’ I grimaced. ‘But it just feels right for some reason.’

Itisright,Esme said approvingly.Pack should be together.

Yes,I agreed, but I was unhappy about it.What do we do about the Dorset pack, the East Riding pack and the Essex Pack? We’ve killed all their alphas but we haven’t done anything about assimilatingtheir packs.

One thing at a time,Esme said firmly.We will turn our gaze on them once we have the orb. We can only do so much.

You’re right. They’ll have to wait.I wasn’t happy about that, either, but I’d send them each a letter promising a visit soon. That would give them time to prepare and also forestall matters.

You’re right to call the Devon pack to us. Strengthen the mansion.

I looked up at Greg. ‘Have you got a snow-day style phone-tree plan in place for the Devon pack?’

He grinned. ‘Peaches, this is modern times. I can text every member at the click of a button.’

‘Well, click that button. Let’s get them up here, pronto.’

I pulled out some of the heavy cream paper that Lord Samuel had favoured and took my time to pen a letter to each of the betas of my new packs. I put the missives into fancy envelopes and wrote the packs’ addresses carefully; yes, email would be quicker but it lacked the gravitas. There was no email equivalent of 150gsm paper.

Once I was done, I checked the time. ‘We’d better move. You and I have a date with Maxwell.’ I grabbed Terrance and settled him on my head. Having access to some fire power seemed like a good idea when I was sneaking through time like a ninja in the night.

Good evening, my Queen,Terrance greeted me sombrely.

Terrance, how are you?

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