Page 32 of Wulf's Pack
His brows lift in surprise, and he puffs up his chest a little bit as if proud to be given the responsibility. “Of course, Alpha. Whatever you need.”
I wince. Not sure if it’s from the title, or his willingness to follow my commands. I hate to give him any, but there’s another responsibility we can’t ignore. “Come with me to the banktomorrow, and we’ll get you on the new pack account as well. Then afterward we can have a meeting and talk security.”
As I expect, Preston startles with surprise. I sigh. “I don’t know if you’ve realized this, but you are my second-in-command.”
He gulps, but quickly pulls his shoulders back. “I know. I’m no alpha, but I’ll do the best I can. I’m sorry we aren’t the strongest pack.”
I wave off the apology. “Physical strength and dominance aren’t everything. We’ll just have to be smarter and more vigilant about our safety. Normally I’d say if we keep our noses out of trouble, we’ll be fine, but we do have an omega to protect.”
Skylar’s shoulders hunch in on themselves. “I’m sorry.”
I take her hand and wait for her to meet my eyes. “Never apologize for what you are. You’re a gift to any pack, but especially to me.”
She blushes and forces a nod.
“We’ll all help,” Matthew says. “However we can.”
I look around at my small pack and see nothing but determined faces. It’s not surprising, considering they’ve spent the last two years on their own. They’ve been looking out for themselves with no alpha to protect them. They probably have some good insights as to how we can defend ourselves without much power. That they’re so willing to throw that determination and loyalty toward me is the only thing a bit startling.
“Great. Then we’ll come up with some kind of system and start doing pack workouts and training sessions together. I can teach you a lot. You don’t have to be the strongest to win a fight if you can be the smartest.”
All of them nod vigorously, except for Skylar. She’s blinking up at me with this strange mix of hope and desolation. “Even me?” she asks.
“Especially you,” I promise her. “Omegas can’t be the aggressor, but I’d be willing to bet you can defend yourself or even fight to protect others. The more self-defense you know, the longer you’ll be able to buy time until one of us can help you. Ask Nora about that. Before she broke her glamour and learned of her underworld powers, she was no stronger than a human female. There were several times she was able to fend off attackers long enough for help to come.”
Hope bleeds from her so strongly I can smell it. She swallows thickly, and her eyes gloss over. “I would really like that.”
From the nods all around the table, this is something they all really want. It makes me wonder if their old pack didn’t train everyone. I know some packs spend all their efforts on the alphas in the pack, but I’ve always considered that a weakness and a disservice to the lower ranked pack members. Even the weakest wolf can have the heart of an alpha.
My chest pangs with something as I look at the people around my table. My pack. It feels something like pride. My wolf is satisfied with this new arrangement and is happy that I’m starting to accept it.
“Okay, everyone write down your schedules, and we’ll figure out a time to have pack training.” I eye Preston and then say, “If you don’t mind, we’ll get you on two-a-days. Once with the pack and once one-on-one with me. I’m sure neither you nor your wolf are very healthy after spending so long disconnected from one another. It’s an easy fix, though, with a proper diet and exercise. If you put in the work, I can have you feeling 100 percent again in no time. We can also use that second session for some beta training.”
Preston swallows hard. I don’t know if he’s choked up because I offered to help or if he’s simply grateful that he’s finally human again and can get his life back. I imagine that’s gotto be overwhelming. “Thank you,” he says once he’s got control of his emotions. “I would really appreciate that.”
His mate smiles at him with tears in her eyes, and his parents lean into one another, smiling happily. Skylar is not the only one here that needs time to heal, I realize. This whole pack has been hurt. I hope I can be the alpha they all need.
I push my doubts to the back of my mind and turn to my mate. “That just leaves you.”
She blinks at me, startled and completely confused. “Me?”
I don’t know whether to smile at her cluelessness or frown. “Yes, you. You’re free now. You can do whatever you want. You don’t need a job if you don’t want one. As luna, you can simply focus on taking care of the pack. But getting a job might help you feel a little more independent. You need to heal, and that means taking control of your life.”
Skylar blinks her wide blue eyes rapidly as if she’s pushing back tears. “But I’ve never had a job. I don’t have any skills or education. I don’t even have a high school diploma. Victor wouldn’t let me go to school. He treated me as a servant most of the time. I cooked and cleaned for the pack, but that’s it.”
The shame in her voice breaks my heart. She’s so strong and courageous, but she has no self-esteem. I need to change that. “None of that is your fault. Not getting an education because you were held captive like a slave doesn’t mean you aren’t intelligent. Maybe that’s where we start. We can enroll you in an online high school and work on getting you that diploma.”
Skylar’s eyes gloss over, and her jaw starts to quiver. She can’t seem to speak so she nods once. I hate to see her cry, even if it’s happy tears. I pull her into a side hug and kiss her temple. “We’ll get you taken care of. I promise.”
Chapter
Ten
After we clean up dinner, we head to the club and have a meeting with the clan. Former clan. Now that I have my own pack, I’m on my own. It’s a little disheartening that I’ve cut myself out of my own clan, and Nora doesn’t take the news well. But as an alpha, I can’t have my focus and loyalty split between the two; my pack has to come first. It wasn’t what I planned, but it’s done now. I have a responsibility to make sure it’s done right. Nora and I both feel a little better about it when I insist I’m still part of the family, and Terrance promises they’ll always be our pack’s allies.
After the meeting, everyone scatters to go do their own thing. The Kellers go back to their house to start packing. If they give up their lease at the end of the month, they’ll need to have everything out of the house in two weeks. They invite Skylar to go with them, but she decides to stay with me.
I had Oliver bring a laptop and help her get set up for an online school. She can’t start until we can get her some kind of ID. Parker and Nora said they would help me with that. She knows her name and date of birth, but she has no idea what her social security number is and has no birth certificate or driver license. Right now, she’s taking a placement test. I told her shecould stay up in Terrance’s suite where it’s quiet, but she didn’t want to be alone, so she’s sitting at the end of the bar since it’s not very busy. I don’t complain about having her within eyesight.
