Page 20 of Alpha's Fate

I turned to see Cora and some of the rest of them talking amongst one another and I honestly didn’t know what to do. Everything came into perspective as I looked around at the people smiling, laughing, talking happily amongst themselves. Some hugged, reunited with friends or family and some wept with joy. Everyone was getting used to having physical form again and after a while of helping everyone up and to their feet should they choose to shift back from wolves. Some didn’t.

“This is so weird,” Cora said softly. “It’s so strange to feel so happy yet so absolutely heartbroken. We did the right thing, right?” She asked, looking up at me.

“Look at them. I think we did,” I smiled. “We’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, we will. I’m just sad, that’s all. I think it’s going to be a while before I can move on, really, but isn’t it worth it to see these people happy and whole?” I asked, and she nodded, smiling softly.

“Sometimes the right thing to do is the painful thing to do,” she said softly. “I think that’s what we’re looking at right now. We should see who else needs help and make a plan for how toget these people the proper care they need. There’s nothing here for them.”

“Looks like we’ll be taking on another building project. We’ll have to map the rest of the Packs’ territories so we can find a good place to build so they have shelter,” I was thinking about it. “And clothes and food. They can hunt for now but eventually they’ll need a way to feed themselves. They have fresh water, and we can leave a lighter for them to make a fire. I don’t think it’s a good idea to put them up in our territory.”

“That would be a good thing to do, but I agree. We don’t know these people and honestly there may be a reason they were cursed. You never know,” she whispered to me. “I think it’s smart to just set them up with basic shelters like tents for now and make the decision where to build them later. Once we get them set up, we can get them jobs so they can sustain themselves. Some of these people are ancient so they’ll have to get used to literally everything.”

“I didn’t even think of that, honestly,” I murmured back. “Going from the sixteen hundreds to now? A house with actual floors is going to blow them away. Can you imagine trying to navigate a smart phone? I can’t even imagine. This is going to be hell for them.”

“Maybe we,” she paused, looking around. “We could have someone restore this location for them. Some more basic homes and things they’d recognize so the transition isn’t so harsh. It’s a bit of a task, but I think it can be done. We have stonemasons we’ve used in the past who could easily do a job like this and with the right tools they can do the rest. Give them something to do and a sense of purpose. The issue is how we’d get them out here.”

“If we can’t do that, we can relocate them to a place that people can actually access to build a little village. And honestly? If we advertise right, it could be its own attraction. They could make money off of their daily tasks,” I shrugged. “Lots of people areinterested in pilgrim villages and such, so if we build an inn we might be able to draw people in.”

“That’s a great idea, actually. We have plenty for advertising. We can’t fund them forever, but we can get them started and draw people in,” she contemplated, tilting her head. I could see the wheels turning in her head as she tilted it slightly to look up at me. I smiled. “The logistics of this are going to be crazy. I’m excited,” she grinned. “Let’s hold off on planning more until we can sit down and see what they want, though. It’s going to be a nightmare trying to figure out when these people came from at all, I think, and we’ll need feasible ways to employ all of them, preferably outside of our estate. Let’s sit down with their Alpha and start planning.”

“I’ll go get her,” I offered, and moved off to gather her up as Cora headed to the makeshift table to prepare. I knew she would want to protect the remains of the artifact and the box, so I gave her a few minutes to set up before I returned with the Alpha and two others, a man and a woman. Once we were seated Cora looked up at them with a smile.

“What are your names?” she asked, folding her hands on the table.

“Jennifer Paxton,” the Alpha answered. “This is Damian, and my partner is Darla. Twins. And we know your names and positions.”

“Right. Well as we’ve said, we’re here to help and we realize that you’re in quite a predicament. We want to help, but we want to know how to do so. How best we can serve your Pack. The world has changed drastically since the oldest of your clan may not be able to acclimate, and we’re not sure when everyone is from. Different people will need different things, different ways of making money, and different accommodations. We can set you up, get you started, and find places for you to work but we can’t support you forever.”

“We wouldn’t ask you to,” Jennifer answered instantly. “In fact, after all you’ve done for us, we wouldn’t ask anything at all, except we do now have new needs. We can hunt, we have water, we can build shelters, but we can’t create clothes from nothing. And it’ll be difficult to make fire.” Cora slid a lighter over to her, nodding once.

“We thought that might be the case. For now, you can have our extra lighters, and then in a few days we can transport clothes to you. We did think of something for the ancients, and maybe for anyone else who wants to help- pilgrim villages are a popular tourist attraction and once we can look at our map, we can find a nice place to set one up. In this way they could earn their own money and we can draw in the tourists,” she shrugged. “That way they don’t have to adjust to modern life too quickly.”

“And you would set that up for us?” she asked, her eyes widening. “Why? What would you gain from it?”

“Nothing,” I answered honestly. “But it’s not what we can get from you, it’s what we can do to better your situation so that you have a chance out in the world. We have the resources to do it and so we will, if it’s what you want. What your people want, I mean. I know it’s not just you who you answer to.”

“It’s the Pack,” Jennifer agreed. “We will discuss it, but your generosity is overwhelming. We can’t possibly pay you back.”

“We don’t ask for payment, what we ask for is peace. Your allegiance would help solidify Schuylkill and that’s our goal in its entirety. We’re looking for unity and serenity. We don’t want anyone to fall behind or end up in a place they can’t get out of,” Weston reassured her. “That’s all we want, I promise. We don’t ask anything of you besides that. Everything we set out in our original contract is still our goal and we want you to be able to trust that. We genuinely just want the best for every shifter in the county. It’s important for us personally.”

“You must be incredibly kind and compassionate for that. It’s not often you find someone in your position who doesn’t see the little people as more than a commodity,” Damian said, leaning forward on the table. “It’s incredible. This is beyond what we could ever have dreamed of, honestly. I think we’re ready to sign the contract,” he said, looking at Jennifer for approval. She nodded and took up the pen, unrolling the paper we’d brought, and putting the pen to paper.

Chapter twenty-one

Cora

Iwasn’t prepared for an attack when Jennifer set the pen down to sign, but almost silently a set of jaws snapped around her neck and she was rag dolled to the ground, her head striking stone with a sickening thud. I gasped and moved back while Damian instantly shifted, going for the other wolf as Darla dropped to her knees by Jennifer. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused, but she was breathing which was a good thing.

In less than a moment Damian was down on the ground, held in the jaws of the wolf. I recognized him. I’d been on the sharp end of those teeth before in a magic grove with my mate. Weston stood, standing with his feet apart in anticipation of an attack. From the look on his face, I felt like he probably recognized him too. Preston Banks, once my father’s Beta, was holding down his opponent while Jennifer gasped for air on the ground in front of them.

Once the Alpha and Beta were under control he shifted and grasped the back of Damian’s neck, holding him by the scruff. He said nothing, simply standing there at his full, impressive height and everyone stood still, glancing between others just to see their reaction. It was clear that he was making a claim as the new Alpha of the Unseen Pack and that drove an icy spear of fear through my chest. If I was afraid of anything it was Preston with a Pack behind him. I knew that he would be out for blood, ready to take us on no matter what the cost or consequences.

He had been ready to sacrifice me to the forest to gain power. He’d dragged me along while injured, fighting to elevate his place in the Pack by ridding the compound of me, just choosing violence in order to make me suffer before I died. I remembered every moment of the situation. Every scoff and laugh at his expense, every challenge to his authority, and every moment of vile hatred he spewed at me and the deadly look in his eyes as he gripped my arm to drag me out to the grove. The grove that was gone. There was nothing in the forest to protect us.

Preston Banks was a nasty, disgusting sadist who I wasn’t afraid of then. It was just the two of us then, and I’d had the desperate hope that Weston would come to my aid. I didn’t have that now. If the Pack followed him then we would be screwed. Us versus all of them was an impossible situation, a deeply unfair advantage that we couldn’t overcome. This was a deadly encounter - Preston was impressive on his own, and ashe stood there, slowly others began to join him. Some had blank stares, others steely cold, and others yet fear. I understood then that we had to run. Our only chance was to retreat back to the compound- right now they had no chance against our combined Pack. They had nothing.

The thing was that Preston was smart and capable, knowledgeable about money and power. He would find a way to fund the Pack and provide for all their needs. He could gather strength by making alliances with other Packs in the area who were still bitter about the way my father ran the Onyxfang Pack. We even had defectors in our own Pack. Yes, they were mostly elders, but they too would know how to make the Unseen Pack stronger. The sooner we got back and forged alliances the sooner we could find ourselves in an advantageous situation.

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