Page 173 of A Mysterious Slave for the Lycan Prince

“Maybe we can hire a witch for Blood Snow,” Dad muses. “It would make it easier to travel between the packs.”

“Yeah, the first thing I’ll do is work on the accessibility of this place.” I chuckle. “A portal would come in handy, though.”

“And you, darling?” Mom asks Aurelia. “Are you happy too?”

“Mom, Silverlake is my dream,” she states honestly.

Mom and Dad look at each other in relief. Dad stands up now, hugging Aurelia and me. “I’m so proud of both of you. You’ll both be what your respective packs need.”

I’m so caught up in everything that I completely missed how Max went completely still. Now his expression freezes in shock.Alpha!He blurts out in horror.Finn, do you know how much work this is going to be?

I can’t fucking believe it.Scared to miss your beauty sleep?

YES!Max shouts.

Only the presence of my parents and sister stops me from face-palming. They all can see my annoyance, though. “Max?” Freya giggles.

“If he gives you trouble, tell him I’ll let out Regis, so he can discuss it with him,” Dad points out dryly.

Max goes still, his eyes widening in horror.No way… no… I’m not discussing this with Dad! I’m super excited about this… yeah… wahoo… alpha! A dream come true.

I grin widely. “He is on board,” I say in amusement. “Albeit only with somewhat lackluster enthusiasm.”

Well, at least I have my fish mate to lick whenever I want,he adds, suddenly sounding much more motivated.Sereia just linked me and said the way I’m taking over responsibility is hot.

“That’s fair enough for now.” Dad smirks. “Now come.” He puts an arm around Mom’s shoulder. “Let’s gather the pack and announce it to them. They should know right away that their pack has a new alpha and, for the first time in a long time, a luna.” He looks at Freya now. “Your presence will be very important to this pack, Freya. I’m honestly relieved that it’s also your wish to stay here.”

He is right; a former slave becoming luna. The symbolism and meaning behind it is really going to mean a lot for the formerly suppressed pack members. Freya is one of them and rose from the lowest rank to the highest.

I’m a little nervous about the announcement, not because I doubt my decision, but because this pack was so traumatized that I wonder how they’ll react to me. Freya is equally nervous next to me. I can feel it through the bond. I’m sure they’ll love her, though. They know her, and she has so many friends here.

It takes only twenty minutes for everyone to gather in front of the pack house. They were probably all waiting for my father to decide and tell them about their future.

Dad, as usual, doesn’t waste time and gets down to it.

“Members of Blood Snow, I know you’ve all anxiously waited for this, and I don’t want you to have to wait for this decision any longer.” He pauses, waving towards me to step forward. “You all know my son, Finn Alcott. He visited this pack a few weeks ago and then led the attack against Colton. I’m happy to announce that he will be the new alpha of this pack.”

I can hear the surprised murmur of the pack members and see tentative hope in their eyes. I step forward without overthinking it. “I’m honored to become the alpha of this pack. I know we’ll face many trials in the future, and we have a lot to work on, but I reassure you I’ll give my all to make this pack a safe place and home for all of you.” I reach out my hand towards Freya, smiling when she takes it. “Together with my mate and your luna, we’ll lead this pack toward better times. To emphasize that this will be a fresh start for all of us, I will rename the pack from Blood Snow to Ocean Snow.”

There are excited whispers between the pack members. I let my eyes glide over them. Arman’s trusted warriors will stay here. Fortunately, I’ll have them to help me with the training. Many of the elite warriors were imprisoned after all.

I’m ready to handle the guys who got dragged into bullying someone due to peer pressure. I’m ready to have people redeem themselves for their mistakes, but I’m not prepared to have any rapists here or anyone who tortured the weak.

“I’m not going to lie. Many things will change here. This pack is used to relying on exploiting the weak, and I won’t have that. Everyone here is of equal worth, regardless of rank or gender.”

A woman with wild locks raises her hand, and I make a mental note to keep her in mind as an asset moving forward for being the first one that dares to speak.

“Yes?” I encourage her.

“So, we she-wolves can continue to enter the pack house?”

“Of course.” I nod, frowning. I need to choose my ranked members soon. This pack needs all the help possible. Silverlake and all our allies don’t have a delta rank because it’s not needed, but I’m seriously considering it for this pack. “A lot of things will change. We’ll get together again tomorrow to talk about the details.”

“What about patrols?” another woman stutters. “Almost everyone who protected us is gone.”

I look at her thoughtfully. “You think they protected you?”

She stares at me, eyes wide. “No, actually, they didn’t.”

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