Page 60 of Holiday Surprise

I laughed. “He’s right. Come on in.”

“I remember the first weeks, months even, of being newly mated.” She grinned from ear to ear. “I don’t want to disturb you.”

“Seriously?” I asked with a laugh. “Little different situation here. Fire, homeless, house hunting.”

She set down the bags of food she brought on the counter and turned with a frown. “What do you mean house hunting?”

I gave her a confused look. Then turned away to peer into the living room.

“Luke, didn’t you say you talked to Thomas this morning?”

“Yes, I did,” he confirmed still scrolling through plots of land on his laptop.

I shrugged. “I figured he already told you.”

“He’s been in meetings all day. I haven’t had time to really talk to him. Heck, I’ve barely seen the guy. I only knew about your mishap because I ran into James, who was still laughing about it. What’s going on, Syd?”

I sighed. “The trailer park isn’t going to get fixed. We can’t stay at Peyton’s forever, just a few days is already too much.” As I filled her in on everything happening and our plan to move the Pack, we made our way into the living room. I sat down next to Luke. I needed his touch to tell her without breaking down. I had to be strong, even if it required pulling from his strength instead of my own.

“Like hell you’re moving the Pack,” Lily said, astounded by the idea.

“Sorry to say but we really don’t have another option. I’ve thought through everything and I’ve crunched all the numbers. You have no idea how crowded it is at Oliver and Peyton’s. Tempers are already starting to flare. It doesn’t help that they are scared right now. Neither of us are happy about it, but we have to do what’s best for the Pack, Lily,” Luke explained.

“Look around you, Luke. There’s an entire neighborhood right here. Sydney’s literally the only one living out here now. Move the Pack here,” she said.

“This is Collier land. It’s not that simple.”

“So, buy it off us,” she said.

“No Alpha in his right mind would sell off prime land like this.”

“This isn’t just me being selfish because you’re trying to take away my best friend. The ranch and the dairy are both thriving because of your wolves. If you guys leave, there’s an enormous hole to refill. We made the expansion plans knowing we had fifteen extra hands to make it work. Hell, Ruby would be happy to take on more even. Those plans are already in place.”

“I’m sorry, but I have to think about what’s best for my wolves, not yours,” Luke told her honestly.

“Can you really say that uprooting them, taking them away from their home, lucrative jobs, everything, that it would really be in their best interest?”

Luke cringed and I could see the uncertainty in his eyes. “It’s the only way,” he stubbornly said. “I’ve already called a Pack meeting for tonight to break the news to them. Thomas has agreed to accept allegiance for any wolf that doesn’t want to leave.”

I shook my head. “They won’t. You’re an amazing Alpha. They’ll follow you. I know they will.”

He looked down at his watch. “I guess we’ll find out in about two hours.”

Luke

Chapter 24

I was a little worried that Sydney was going to get her hopes up after listening to some of Lily’s ideas, maybe even try to talk me out of making a Pack announcement, but she didn’t. She stood by my side in front of our people, our family, and held my hand in support as I explained our situation.

There were some tears and a few people voiced their concerns, but we got through it and I think they all knew I was only trying to do what was best for all of them.

Cruz raised his hand and I gave him the floor. “My only concern is work. We don’t just need a place to live, but solid work opportunities. And we need to let Thomas know and have an exit plan. There are fifteen of us working over there now and they’re going to be hurting without us. They’ve been good to us and I don’t just want to blindside them with this.”

That was the second time in one day I’d been reminded of how integrated we were with the Collier Pack ranch.

“Noted. Sydney and I will narrow down the possibilities for locations and I’d like for you to look over them for employment opportunities to help us determine what location would be best for us long term.”

“I’d be happy to. Thank you, Alpha,” Cruz said before taking his seat.

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