Cal hated how his pack, hesitated to reach out to Tara. Though, at the end, one she-wolf deigned to speak to her. He escorted her back to her office because he needed to just have her by his side. Dean right now deeply disliked having a meeting, he couldn’t take her to. Dean only wanted to play with his mate. But this was pack business, and he must deal with it. Tara entered her office, hating every inch. She couldn’t help but feel like a failure, and this place was her punishment and prison. Sitting at her desk, she couldn’t get back into her studying of the documents and procedures she needed to know and understand just to do the job of the Luna. There was so much. She’d always been taught that it was all about the Alpha who led the pack. Now, here she sat and learned that was far from the case. Yes, the Alpha led the pack regarding the outside world. He deemed to keep the safety and security in all things for the pack. The Alpha judged over i
Cal sat in his club office trying to concentrate on pack and club business but couldn’t get his mind off the disaster of a lunch. Sure he got work done with pack members, but he’d made no headway in having the pack accept her as their Luna. He racked his brain, looking for something he missed. Should he just give an alpha order that they must accept her and work with her? She’d done so much work to do the job of his Luna. It couldn’t be easy if what she said about her lack of education was true. He had to admire her. After the first time she questioned it, she didn’t question it again. There was no complaining. There was no communication about it at all. Cal suspected he must get her to open up to him. The problem lay there. Trusting him enough to open up to him. It would take time. He felt a change or two already, but there was still a long way to go. Cal knew gifting her with things wouldn’t be the answer like past interests he’d had. She wasn’t interested in money
Tara was now dragged from her office by the she-wolves and now she received a lecture on exactly what it meant to be their Luna. Half of what they told her had nothing to do with what’s she’d read or studied. Tara felt confused and comforted at the same time. However, it didn’t take long before an alarm interrupted them. Instructions were popping up on phones. Cal sent her a message to not do anything stupid and to follow the directions. This wasn’t a drill. “Where’s the safe level? Who’s in charge there making sure everyone gets there? Pups? Elders? The Alpha didn’t give me the plans for this to study.” Tara wasn’t panicking, she was frustrated because she didn’t know her place in this plan. Who made sure everyone got to safety? She had a feeling it was her. “Don’t worry, everyone knows what to do. They know where to go and they’ll take it seriously. Come with us and we’ll show you how to get there. The elevator is only used to mo
“I count at between thirty and fifty. That’s too many for the holding room, Cal. What are we going to do? The sheer number may be able to put enough weight against the doors going in both directions, and then what? Have our people waiting for them?” “We’re going to have to do that. How’s Jaxon doing removing the clientele from the front of the building?” “I’ll have to check. He and the bouncers went out there a while ago and no one’s called in.” Guy poked at his tablet to switch video feeds to the front of the building. “It looks like the clientele are gone, but there’s more rogues at the front of the building. There appears to be fighting on the street.” “Then get a few teams out there to assist them. I’ll get the enforcers here briefed and ready. You get out Jaxon and the others’ assistance.” “On it right now.” Guy was tapping away at this tablet, sending out instructions to various groups for Cal. “Six groups are on the way to Jaxon and
“Officer, is there a problem with the help we’ve requested from you? This is all but over now.” “How dare you come in here and cause such chaos and destruction? Then expect us to sit back and do nothing while you monsters destroy everything and leave destruction in your wake.” “We’ve been here over fifteen years, officer, and this is the first time these monsters, as you put it overstepped their legal bonds and attacked us. We never invited them here to do this. In fact, I was in the process of dealing through our legal channels with the main instigator of this. This sir is because I chose a lone wolf for a mate and saved her from a rather questionable and abusive existence. That she-wolf is inside there terrified that she’ll be murdered by the wolf that orchestrated all this because she didn’t fulfil the terms of his blackmail.” “What are you talking about? You need to make sense.” “She was born into a rather questionable pack. Her brother
Cal made sure that none of the human officers didn’t do anything stupid. There’d already been a few groups who’d gone ‘hunting’ shifters in other cities. Now he was met by two other Toronto Alphas. “They seriously came at you like this? Is this over the she-wolf you took from Elmwood?” “This is the second known attempt he’s made to harm her, and I’d have to check my records on how many attacks he’s made on my businesses. He’s out of his mind if he thinks he can do this. Organizing the rogues will fail him when he can’t deliver whatever it is he promised them.” “Do you know what he’s promised yet?” “No, but by the end of tonight, I plan to find out. There must be a good seventy rogues here and I know he’s poor as a church mouse.” “Sorry, I haven’t looked into him beyond what you brought to the last meeting.” “He likes to take from everyone else and give nothing back. So I figure he’s offered the rogues something he doesn’t
It took hours for them to get the images of all the faces of the rogues. Sure enough, they had Elmwood’s lover within the group along with several of her friends. The leaders of the rogues all had known ties to Elmwood, but it was confusing to find out what brought so many rogues together. Before this gatherings of rogues, like this would surely end in infighting and murdering each other. Which forced them to break up a few incidents before they had them all contained. The thing with owning a club like this, was they had the stables? Once they filled the main stables, most were there waiting for the Ruling Council to decide what to do with each one. The second private stables were half full before they ran out of rogues for the cages. Cal couldn’t help but feel a little joy in putting the she-wolf who put the sandwich beside Tara’s cage into that very cage. He felt it was fitting in some way. With her friend in the cage right beside it. The two spitting at e
It was hours later, with tired and scared pups in a confined space, it was difficult for all the adult wolves. Tempers were flaring, and Tara was feeling it quite keenly. The she-wolves that hauled her down there basically lectured her for mostly when they weren’t trying to keep the pups amused. Tara couldn’t help but feel so out of place. What did she know about pups? Beyond keeping Eddie alive from one day to another and out of one scrape after another. She didn’t have a clue what to do with them. But she wouldn’t let these wolves see her cave or cry. No, she’d done far more difficult things like lie to the faces of her very human bosses, when she’d been injured on the job one day and returned to work free of injury a few days later. Something about being sliced with a box cutter shouldn’t have healed so quickly. Well, it did if you were a wolf shifter. Three days later, that neat palm sized gash was all but a scar that was fading fast. Now Tara stood at t
One Year Later —Tara sat out on the poach behind the packhouse with a laptop open to a spreadsheet. She and Emily were working out the next year’s budget and the projects they’d tackle.With Emily looking after the club while they were up here. It was interesting, to say the least.Tara gave birth on schedule. It was about the only thing that was on schedule these days, and Cal was sitting on a blanket on the grass with one-year-old Natalie Nichols. The apple of her daddy’s eye. She had him wrapped around her little finger and he’d have it no other way.Eddie and his Lycan girlfriend were now running the kitchens here for Rachel. They’d mated and, well… Tara expected to hear that they’d have pups soon enough.Jaxon, well, he was back in the city. Tara wasn’t sure what was happening with him. Cal wouldn’t speak of it. But Jaxon took a leave of absence from his position for a bit. Tara wasn’t receiving the full story. But as far as she could tell. Jaxon may have two mates. One wasn’t d
Five Months Later —Tara felt like the size of a house. She propped her ankles up on her desk and she had to eat her fries with no salt. It wasn’t the same, nothing tasted the same. The poking from inside was regular now and she couldn’t wait for the last six weeks to go by. She’d been six weeks pregnant when her symptoms started and since then, if it wasn’t one symptom, it was another. Tara would be more than happy for these little monsters to enter the world.Cal was everywhere and nowhere, it seemed. He told her to clear her calendar today because he wanted to show her their new territory. The thought of trudging out there was exhausting to her. But she’d do it because he was just so insistent. He promised they’d stay the night out there and come back the next day at a leisurely pace.“You ready to go?”“Yes, I just don’t understand why we have to do this now. When all I want to do is take a nap.”“You can nap in the vehicle on the way. Don’t worry, I’ve packed everything we need a
Tara could feel the ball of conflicting emotions rolling about in her head and her belly. She had a new life inside her. No matter what, she’d never be alone again. But how did she explain all of this to them when the time came?How should she explain this to Cal? He had to be expecting this. Look at the second floor. She didn’t like it necessarily. Their pups living completely separately from us with someone else looking after them. Why hadn’t they spoken about this before?Tara’s eyes closed as the elevator dinged and opened. She’d not thought that it was important before this because she wasn’t pregnant, and they didn’t have any pups. Now she thought of it.This morning, Cal was gone before she got out of bed. This was a day she didn’t train, because there were other things she needed to get done. Which, of course, didn’t get done? A few steps brought her to Cal’s office over the club.She knocked and entered when she received the okay to enter. Tara lucked out because Cal was alon
David Monroe struggle with the enforcer training. His heart wasn’t in it and his skills lay in other places, but everyone lumped him in with the other male Lycans because he was a Lycan. He’d exhausted almost every avenue trying to explain to them he’d rather be patching people up and treating pups with fevers. While he was moping during a break, his phone rang, and it surprised him to see that Emily’s name came up on his phone. “Hello, Emily. What’s wrong? Why are you calling?” He couldn’t think of a reason she could be calling him for, but any chance he got to speak with her was better than nothing. “I’ll tell you, but you have to be very careful with what you say. No one can know why you’re about to be ordered to the Luna’s office. What we need you to do, is slip out of the packhouse. If anyone asks, you’re running an errand for the Luna. That’s it nothing more. What you need to do is go to the closest pharmacy and pick up a pregnancy kit. Come back here
Again, Tara was up late the next morning. Cal was determined he wouldn’t let her feel like he neglected anything about her. From sympathizing with her, to how her emotions were toward absolutely everything, and he didn’t forget to include planning their future together.Well, he talked, and she mostly listened. What he said wasn’t bad. Tara didn’t have a problem with any of his ideas. She didn’t have much to add or at this time have an emotional connection to any of it.Now, though, Tara needed to get her day going, and she felt like something that had been dredged from a swampy pond. It took only minutes for Emily, her newest staff member, to realize there was something wrong with Tara.“If we had a cat, I’d say you look like the latest thing it dragged home. When will we see you going to a healer?” Emily eagerly asked Tara as she returned from her latest flight to the bathroom. Tara looked at her with an expression of exhaustion.“I’m fine and I’m not planning ongoing to see one.” S
“Stone dear, you know I love you. I’m your mate and partner in life. I have always advised you about everything honestly and in your best interest.” Elaine still quietly sat in the sitting room and calmly spoke to Stone. The others had slowly filtered out to go on with their day or to watch their guests leave. “Of course you are, and you have.” Stone looked out the window and watched the vehicles leave. Elaine could see he was distracted by what was going on and his own thoughts. “Then why are you being an ass and not listening to anything I say now?” She let her irritation slip into her voice and she dryly responded to him. Her annoyance was obvious. Stone’s instincts instantly alerted him to the fact that not all was good between himself and his mate. Over the years, that instinct helped him avoid many different disasters from exploding in his face when it came to their relationship. “I’m listening Ellie. I’ve always listened.” “Then explain to me if you listened to me, then why
No one said much of anything on the way home. The privacy divider between the front of the vehicle and the back raised then never went down. Cal pulled Tara to him and sat her in his lap. He didn’t do anything more but let her soak up his warmth and strength. He buried his head into her neck and hair. The smell of the wool sweater mixed with the natural spice of her scent. He instantly felt his aggressive feelings smooth out and gentle. It’d been difficult watching her get so wound up from it all. Tara sat there, and all but purred. As their vehicle made slow progress through traffic, it’s darkened windows gave them the privacy that Cal didn’t care, Tara turned and straddled his lap instead. She didn’t do anything more than that. But his body felt her skirt hike up and he groaned, knowing how naughty she was instinctively gravitating to for comfort. That wasn’t what their mating would ever be based on. He’d never satisfy his needs while she was seek
Kole wanted to get back to the gathering as quickly as possible. He didn’t want any misunderstandings between anyone, let alone the two packs. There was no way he’d explain to the pack that their beloved elder and ex-alpha alienated his first born grand pup with blind stubbornness, hateful questions, and fear. That wouldn’t be happening today or any day. Kole wouldn’t risk fighting with Cal. How would it look when the Council of Alphas met? His father always forgot about that. Though the council of alphas didn’t exist during his time in control of the pack. He’d been a forward thinker of his time and moved his pack to a territory that was being noticed by the local humans. It meant he could settle their businesses in, and those humans would see those businesses as founding members of the business community. “Let’s go back down now and please be nice to her. She’s so much like Heather and you wouldn’t talk to Heather that way. Just apologize and let mother do
“That’s my third pup there and his mate. Your uncle, Stephen, and his mate, Ariel. Their grown pups, Erin, and Eric. That about covers your living family here, dear. Everyone sit please. Stone has created enough excitement and drama for one day. She has a sweet soul. Stephen, treat her like you would your sister and don’t act like your father if you know what’s good for you. As for the doghouse, it’s an old guard shack that’s been turned into a bunkhouse for single wolves who, for one reason or another, don’t want to make the trip all the way back to their homes to sleep. It’s affectionately called the doghouse because often there’s trouble between the few mated wolves that stay there.” “Oh, good grief. That’s horrible.” “Oh, don’t think your grandfather hasn’t stayed there a time or two. Though these days he’s more likely to use a guest apartment.” Tara looked over the tissue at Elaine with a shocked expression. “You’re joking.” “No, I’m n