Page 41 of Kidnapped By the Alpha

“Your patience won’t be in vain, I swear it,” I promised. “In fact, I have an idea to bring to the alpha of the Pinedale wolves.”

“What kind of idea?” April whispered to me.

I reached my hand out to grasp hers reassuringly, sensing the tension in her voice.

“The luna and I will head down now to speak with him,” I continued, speaking to the group.

The meeting ended without a definite answer, but I could see that the mood had lightened. The simple act of voicing their concerns and being heard had done wonders for the pack and their morale. Now, we just needed to find solutions.

As the pack dispersed, I pulled April toward the car, intending to do what I could as soon as possible to help them.

“What exactly are you planning?” April repeated her question as we climbed into my car.

“Now that we know what the pack is feeling, I think I know how to help—without hurting our alliance with Nile,” I added. “They need something to do, something that exercises their minds and bodies. They used to get that from attacking other packs, but do you remember what the kids have been playing lately?”

April thought for a minute, her eyes lighting up when she realized what I meant. “Capture the flag,” she said.

“And it keeps them active, helps them focus on teamwork, and gives them something to do,” I said. “I think we can combine that game with something the pack would be more accustomed to by setting up some friendly skirmishes between our packs. They’ll all get to blow off steam and work on their skills at the same time.”

“It could work, but we need to be careful,” April warned. “The Dark Moon Pack can be a little over-the-top sometimes. If they can rein in their violent tendencies and not kill anyone, you might be on to something.”

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, she wasn’t wrong about that. Everyone would need to be on board with building friendships with the Pinedale Pack if they were going to refrain from causing injury to the more docile pack.

When we got to Pinedale, we went straight to Alpha Nile’s house. A few of his warriors were sitting outside on the front porch, and they nodded at us as we approached. Nile opened the door to greet us before we set foot on the stairs leading to his door.

“I’m getting used to you two stopping by,” he said. “Is this a good visit or a bad one?”

“Good, we hope,” I told him.

“Actually, Nile,” April said, “we had an idea we wanted to run by you.”

“I’m all ears,” the alpha replied, showing us into his living room.

“We held a pack meeting today and found that many of our wolves are feeling a bit, well, bored,” I explained. “They’re used to more action than they’ve seen lately in this peaceful area. We wanted to give them an activity that would energize them and keep their more irrational tendencies at bay.”

“What did you have in mind?” Nile asked.

April and I explained the plan we had discussed on the ride there, and Nile seemed receptive to our ideas.

“It isn’t a bad idea,” he acknowledged. “But I think we need to have some safety measures in place for the protection of my wolves and your pack. I have to be honest: if one of your wolves were to make a mistake, the Pinedale Pack would demand retribution.”

“We completely understand,” April replied. “We thought it might be beneficial to make building relationships a priority. If our pack has ties with yours, they will be less likely to wish them any harm.”

“Hmm, that’s a good plan. I’ll tell you what—the town is having a festival tonight. Why don’t you have your pack come mingle with mine? We’ll see how everyone gets along. I’ll expect you to keep your eye on everyone,” Nile added.

“We will,” I promised.

“As long as nothing serious occurs, I don’t see any reason why we can’t have a few wolves participate in a skirmish tonight,” he said.

“Did you have a location in mind?” I asked.

I hadn’t gotten that far in my planning yet, and I wasn’t sure if there was a place where we could continue hiding our wolf packs from the humans in the area.

“This entire neighborhood houses my pack,” Nile explained. “If we meet up in the woods just east of here, there won’t be anyone around who doesn’t know our secret.”

“Do you need any help in preparations?” April asked.

Nile waved off her offer. “Leave it to me.”

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