It took Tara the better part of the day to get things going in a way that she felt like she was an absolute failure. Rachel got on board when it became clear to her that the Den Mother position was expanding and the club was far too much to handle, along with her pack responsibilities. The idea that there’d be Lycan added to the mix, along with Tara’s need for help, Rachel couldn’t be in all the places at once. In the end, Tara gave her instructions to review her responsibilities, and divide up what Rachel could accept someone else doing from what she felt she needed to maintain herself. When she had that done and Rachel was on her way to do her job, she found all sorts of little things to do that helped make the list look a little more manageable. Cal came in search of her a few hours later with a grave look on his face. “You spoke to the ambassador about Lycan joining the pack?” “I told her I wasn’t averse to it, but you had final say as to yeah o
Healer Daniels finally arrived, and they summoned Eddie to Tara’s office. “First time I’ve been here. Hey, you have your own space. Oh, and you’ve got less jewellery.” Eddie pointed a finger at his neck when he referred to Tara’s missing collar. “Uh… Yeah, happened when I was no longer in danger of being harmed if I left the club. But that’s not why we asked you to meet us here. Come sit down and we’ll explain what’s come up.” Tara, pointed to one of the visitor chairs. Healer Daniels stood over to the side with his bag open on a table, fiddling with things. He added nothing to this part of the conversation. “Okay… You have me worried. I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. So, is this bad news? We don’t have more problems with the old pack, do we? I’m not wanted on any charges, or have they declared me a rogue?” “No, nothing like that. Well, maybe a little in reference to the old pack. But it won’t kill us. We don’t need to worry about th
Eddie was his usual cringing self when came to getting the swab done. Cal rolled his eyes several times while they watched the process. All he could wonder was how badly Eddie would respond to receiving an injury or the process of seeking care for that injury. Tara, though meek, was far better taking the bumps and bruises of training and she’d out stripped Eddie with her fighting skills weeks after they started training. There was no way in his mind that these two were related. Nothing lined up. Healer Daniels could finally get the test from Eddie, and Tara didn’t take nearly as long. But Tara was the one Cal worried about the most. Eddie was a survivor, even if he depended on Tara like she was a crutch for him. Tara, on the other hand, was flip flopping, being okay and looking forward to a possible family who wanted and appreciated her. Then she’d feel guilty at the thought of Eddie being alone in life. Tara worried he’d feel like everyone abandone
Cal now sat in the main room of the club. It was still too early for guests to show up, so he was listening to various pack members’ issues. Basically, he was holding an impromptu court session. Tara was sitting beside him, and as usual, she wasn’t saying anything. In fact, she sat beside him, shifting uncomfortably. He needed to find a way to make her feel comfortable and accepted. Cal just wasn’t sure how he would do that just yet. “You will need to find a common ground with the Kline family, Joseph. We are all pack and I can’t have there be fighting within my pack. Didn’t we have enough fighting just days ago? Please have a good long look at the situation from all sides of the situation. If you can’t do that, then I will have to rule on the situation and you might not like the ruling I give.” “Yes Alpha. I hear you.” Cal explained the situation to Joseph who stood before him. Victor Kline had written a request for the same thing just hours before
The next morning Tara sat in her office trying to prepare for the morning going head. She had all the inventories done. Along with several requests fulfilled, and she was feeling rather good about it all. There were even a few applications for the positions she disclosed the night before waiting for her in a box on her office door. She was looking for two people right now. One to assist Rachel with pack duties and one to assist her until she could meet the Lycan. “Okay, I need you to deliver this these to the pack who made the requests. They can take it from there. Thanks. If they have questions, they can ask me tomorrow at breakfast in the pack dining room. Got all that, Jaxon?” Tara handed Jaxon a rather large stack of responses for him to hand back to the interested parties. “I believe so. You’ve been busy by the looks of this.” Jaxon flipped through the stack of white and manila envelopes, checking out the names on each one. “Y
Cal set up for a private session with Tara. He’d heard a lot about how she’d gained skills quickly and skillfully. He’d seen a little of it. Today he’d see how far she’d really come along. He’d checked his messages again on his phone. Cal was so happy now that he’d wired this place for internet and phone service no matter what happened, because it meant he didn’t have to be wired to a wall to have access to his messages or texts. It was all at his fingertips.Cal hadn’t told Tara that he expected the results from the DNA tests today. He’d wanted to know the results in case he needed to deal with any disappointment. He also didn’t want Cole to come after him for mating with his niece without permission. He knew logically Cole wouldn’t. But one never knew what his council of elders would insist on.There was still an hour before she’d get here. He needed to look in on the other rooms and the training of other pack members while he had the time. If he didn’t do it, then
“Come on, this isn’t happening right now. You and I need to talk about this.” Cal pulled Tara from the training room. He could test her later.Right now he needed to know what happened because he had a feeling this was something that made Tara who she was today.This was something she should have disclosed on the forms she’d filled in when she first stepped foot in his club. It was something any decent dominate would keep in mind when working with any submissive. Gad, this was something as her mate he should have known all along.Tara was hesitant to go with him, as seen by how she tried to pull her wrist out of his grasp when he tried to guide her from the training room. “Tara, we need to talk about this now. It’s not something that will wait. No, that’s not right exactly. I can’t let it sit between us until we’ve had a chance to process it’s implications.”“Implications? There’s no implications, unless you’re going to report me to the ruling council, reject me, an
“Are right, so you understand my take on what happened? Anything Elmwood said, did, or thought has no bearing on what I think, feel, or decide. You were a pup, and you were alone when you were attacked. Tara, you did the only thing you could do, and that was let your instincts out to defend yourself. I would expect nothing less than that.” What Cal couldn’t explain was how a pup could instinctively perform a partial shift.A partial shift was something alphas trained to do for years or decades. Most never achieved the ability to just pop their claws. Fangs were one thing, but claws were completely different. It was nothing like the Lycan form. They sprouted fur and their skeletal structure completely changed to something in between a human’s and a wolf’s. They sprouted fur, and there was no way they could wear shoes.Cal had seen Tara’s wolf, and her wolf was nothing like the Lycans’ dire wolves. She looked like a pup compared to them.If Cal had to describe his response to T