Page 23 of Pack Kasen: Part 1

I should have let it ring out. Now I havethisto deal with.

Finan gives me another loaded look as I drop the phone on the bed and spend the seconds it takes me to dress to think about what I want to say.

I pick up the phone and walk out of the room, my feet still bare, which I don’t mind, and my hair still damp, which I needto do something about. But my stomach is growling at me. Need to eat first.

“Surely there’s another Alpha you can pass her onto,” I say, testing out the diplomacy Finan is always trying to convince me to try.

Finan winces.

“Passmy sister?” Tagge’s voice rises with each word. “Did you make it sound like she was a whore?”

Guess I’m not cut out for diplomacy.

“Not a whore,” I deny. “But you do seem eager to, well, pass her on.”

My stomach growls at me.

Food. That’s what I need. Maybe diplomacy only works on a full belly.

After Wes and Cruz brought the feral back to Burning Wood from the city at the crack of dawn, I’ve been distracted. I missed breakfast and nearly lunch.

The moment I walk into the dining room, everyone stops eating and turns to face me. It’s the usual response when I’ve missed the start of a meal. Some Alphas won’t let their pack eat a meal unless they’ve eaten first.

If I’m in the house, I eat first.Always. As the leader, it’s my right. I relax the rules a little when I’m out. I wouldn’t want my pack to starve because I skipped out on a meal by going for a run instead.

Tagge is still filling my ear with complaints as I approach the long serving table we have permanently set up on one side of the room. It’s laden with bowls of salads, platters of steak and chicken, and jugs of water and juice so everyone can help themselves.

When I’ve had enough of Tagge’s growling, I hang up and toss the phone to Finan so I can serve myself.

“He will demand a meeting,” Finan warns me.

“Then you can have her.” I scoop a generous serving of pasta salad to go along with my rare looking T-bone steak. Exactly the way I like it.

“I don’t want her.”

“Well, neither do I.” When Finan opens his mouth, I point at the serving tables. “Eat.”

I’m digging into my meal as I make my way to my usual seat, and once I’ve started, everyone resumes eating.

By the time Finan is approaching my table with two filled dishes, I’ve cleared mine of everything but the bones from my steak.

He passes me a plate filled with a second serving of everything I just decimated in two minutes, and I take it with a grateful nod.

I wait for him to clear half his plate and I’m nearly done with my second serving before I slow my eating. “What’s happening with the feral?”

The feral has been in the cage all morning. It’s nearly two now, which means it has had plenty of time to consider all the ways it might die and tell me everything I could ever want to know.

“We need to talk about Tagge,” he says.

“It’s dealt with.”

A frown line forms between Finan’s eyebrows. “Hanging up like that is going to cause problems.”

“I don’t want his diseased sister, Fin.”

Someone snorts a laugh.

“I don’t believe she’s diseased,” he says mildly.

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