Page 38 of Marked By the Alphas

I giggled. “Thank you. You all look dashing too,” I complimented them, and a playful chorus of appreciation went up in the air from all three Alphas.

Rhys let go of me so Kai and Rowan could take over and I took the hands that they offered, following them as they led me out of the house.

“Where are we headed?” I asked when we walked past the cars and just headed straight for the gate.

“We want to give you a tour of the pack first, and then we have a little surprise planned for later,” Rowan responded, and my smile widened.

“I love surprises.”

“Well, we hope you like this one,” Kai said, winking at me when I raised my eyes to meet his, and I blushed.

As we walked, I marveled once more at the beautiful scenery of the pack lands. Lush forests gave way to rolling meadows. The streets were clean and everything looked properly taken care of and preserved. Every place that we visited also seemed to be bustling with life. Every corner we rounded was filled with cars, people, and activities. For the first time, it hit me how massive the pack actually was, and I realized that I had only experienced the pack as a passerby. Rowan, Rhys, and Kai took turns explaining most of the significant buildings to me.

We passed by several people, and it hit me how close Kai, Rhys, and Rowan were with their pack. Silas ruled with an iron fist, and absolutely no one dared to look him in the eye, no matter what their rank was. For all of my life that was the way I thought every leader ruled their pack, but it was different here. We would sometimes pause to exchange greetings with other pack members, and although respect was evident in the exchange, but it was also obvious that the people did not fear their leaders.

I was introduced to several people as we walked, and although many had a look of shock cross their faces, especially since they introduced me as their mate, their initial surprise quickly melted into warm smiles and friendly greetings, making me feel a welcome.

“And this right here is the training school, and it has a huge training field at the back of it. This is where I spend most of my time, either training with the warriors or training new recruits,”Rowan explained as we passed by a bustling training ground, the air filled with the sounds of sparring and growls.

“What a rare sight this is. Lyra, can you believe it? Kai, Rowan, and Rhys walking around on a workday. This must be a special occasion!” A burly-looking guy came walking in our direction as we passed by the training ground. He was almost twice the size of Kai, which was saying something, because the Alpha’s size never failed to baffle me.

He had a smaller woman walking with him and they both approached us with very friendly smiles that were enough to put me at ease.

“Elara, meet Ekon and Lyra. They are two of our trusted warriors and the biggest pains in my butt,” Rowan introduced, rolling his eyes as he spoke, but Ekon and Lyra took no offense as they began laughing at his words.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Elara. Rowan keeps talking about you, and we’ve been begging him to bring you around for a while now. He usually just ignores us,” Lyra said, stepping forward to offer a handshake which I accepted. Ekon offered one too, and although his hand completely swallowed mine, his touch was very gentle.

“We hope Rowan will bring you around more. In case you need to kick some butt, I’m your guy.” He wiggled his brows as he spoke, and it made me laugh.

“Uh, I’m very sure she wouldn’t need your services,” Rowan said, putting emphasis on the last word as we began moving again, and I waved goodbye to Ekon and Lyra, promising to let them know if I needed their services.

“You already have all three of us to kick butt for you. I don’t think you need any more butt-kicking assistance,” Kai commented playfully as we walked away, and I laughed at the little hint of jealousy in his tone.

“Well, you never know. Plus, it’s good to have an extra pair of hands in a fight,” I responded. Before any of them could comment again, a group of children came rushing toward us and the sound of their laughter echoed through the street. They were being led by some women, but their play seemed to be forgotten the moment they saw Kai, Rhys, and Rowan.

Shouts of “Alpha Kai”, “Rhys”, and “Rowan” went up in the air and to my surprise, each of the Alphas began lifting the children in the air in turns, joining in their excited chatter. It was enthralling and almost unbelievable to see them in this light and it made me feel so warm and safe inside seeing the gentle way in which they handled the pups.

“Hi,” a little girl of no more than four said to me, breaking me away from the engaging sight of the Alphas. I looked down to see that there was a flower in her hand. It was identical to the one she had in her hair.

“You’re very pretty,” she complimented me, and it sounded like the most genuine thing I ever heard.

“Thank you very much. You’re very pretty, too. I love your hair,” I told her and she blushed at my words before offering me the single flower she had in her hand.

“This is for your hair,” she said and I bent lower so she could put the flower into my braid.

“Thank you, pretty girl. I don’t have anything to give you right now. Next time I will,” I promised, and she smiled widely.

“Okay, pups, we need to move on now. You can disturb the Alphas another time,” the women who had been walking with them urged, and they all waved us goodbye before leaving.

I looked up to see that each of the Alphas now had a flower tucked into their hair and the sight made me laugh.

“Well, don’t you look like the prettiest princesses?” I teased, and the look of fake hurt that spread over their faces made me laugh even harder.

“Well, as you can see, this is the pack’s school. It’s Rhys' favorite place to hide out when he doesn’t want to work,” Kai explained, and Rhys pushed his shoulder playfully.

“That’s not even true. The pups love my company, and it would be mean to deny them of it. I mean, look at them. They are so cute. How could I ever say no to hanging out with them?” he asked, and Kai rolled his eyes at the same time that Rowan shook his head with a laugh.

“Well, this brings us to our next destination.”

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