Page 7 of Into the Grasslands

“That’s good because I have a different job for her.”

It only took about ten minutes for the female warrior to find me in my room. “Alpha?” Tania questioned me immediately. She stood nearly six feet tall with her shoulders thrown back and head held high. She was one of our strongest warriors and it showed in her bearing.

“You are to go to Mirage Island and keep our future Luna safe,” I ordered her. She nodded but didn’t bother to wipe the unhappy look off her face. “Is there something you need to say to me?”

“No. You are Alpha and will make the decisions you think are best.” Tania turned to leave, then must have realized I hadn’t dismissed her yet. “Sorry, Alpha.”

“You are to make sure no harm comes to Nika. Stay close.” The warrior scoffed. “Is there a problem with my order?”

“Permission to speak freely, Alpha?”

“Speak.”

“I know the future Luna. Nika will see me and immediately know I was sent there by you.”

“Nika will be grateful to have a pack mate with her.”

The woman shook her head. “No, Alpha, she won’t. She’ll immediately think I’m a member of your harem who you sent to do your bidding. I’ll be lucky if she even throws me a scrap of the supplies you’ll send.”

“Nika isn’t like that,” I countered. “She will welcome and care for you, just as you will do your duty and see that no harm comes to her on that island. I don’t want her to be comfortable there, but I don’t want her harmed physically either.”

“I have a duty to you as my Alpha, but I also have a duty to Nika as future Luna,” Tania protested. “This is not how you treat a Luna.”

“The Alpha decides how the Luna is treated, not a warrior.”

“I will go, do my duty to keepmyLunasafe, but I will not return to this pack when it is done.”

“You forsake your pack, female?” I asked as I rose from my chair in surprise. Females never left a pack willingly unless they were being severely mistreated, and even then they were lucky if they were able to get away.

“I do,” she agreed.

“So be it,” I muttered and then waved my hand to dismiss her. Doubt crept inside my mind as I watched Tania walk out of my room the same way she had entered it, with her head held high and shoulders back.

I lost my uncle and our fiercest female warrior in a matter of minutes simply because I sent Nika away. The look on my future Luna’s face swam back into view from my memories. I’d been too angry to see the staunch determination, the stubborn set ofher jaw, and the hurt in her eyes. Was Uncle Drayton right? Would Nika refuse to come back to her pack – to me?”

“I thought you could use some company.” Kyla called from my door. I nodded and allowed her permission to enter though she’d never been given permission to do so before. My rooms were off limits to the women of my harem because one day my Luna would have to share this space with me, and I knew she would never forgive having to share a bed that I had carelessly shared with another.

“Forget about her and anyone who would stand up for her over you,” Kyla murmured in my ear as she rubbed her fingers through my hair and massaged my scalp.

“They are supposed to care for and defend their Luna,” I argued. Kyla’s silky blonde hair tickled the side of my neck and the exposed part of my upper arm. It smelled faintly of roses, and wasn’t my favorite scent, so I took a step away from her and watched as her arm dropped. My subtle rejection did not go unnoticed.

“She isn’t their Luna until you say she is,” Kyla snapped at me. “The more people you allow to argue for her, the more people who are willing to argue against you. Dismissing Drayton from our pack was a good thing, but I don’t think you should send Tania after Nika. Tania is powerful and you will need her on your side.”

Apparently, Kyla missed the part where Tania was no longer a member of our pack once her duties to defend our future Luna were done.

“She has already informed me that she will no longer be a pack member when her guard duty for Nika is over.”

“What?” Kyla shouted as she stepped back. Her blue eyes narrowed on me as if I could make the words I spoke untrue. “She can’t do that!”

“She can and she did. We do not keep members in the pack who don’t want to be here.”

“But… But… Tania is needed here. You don’t understand, if she goes, she might just take a good portion of our beta enforcers with her. Your Alpha command will keep her from leaving, you just have to issue it.”

“I’ve done a lot of things my father wouldn’t be proud of since he handed me the pack, but I will not force anyone to stay who doesn’t want to.”

“Then you will lose the whole pack,” my mistress warned.

I scoffed at that. “You are the one who said I needed to keep a harem for at least a year.”

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