Kingdom of Wolves: Blackshadow - Page 55

Running with Briar at my side, I’m fully aware of the pack behind us. I can hear yipping and soft growling, and the feeling of contentment from the pack running through my veins.

Everyone is happy, Briar says. I push her with my shoulder, which has her giving me a soft growl.

Yes, the pack is happy, and we will make sure they stay happy.

Chase me! Briar races away before I can reply, and you can guess we chase her. We run through the forest, jump fallen tree trunks, dodge trees, and jump over the small stream that appears in front of us.

Turn back, Briar. I state that as a command because seeing the stream has me realizing we’ve come further from the packhouse than I intended, and nearer to the border of the territory.

Back at the packhouse, we shift back into our human form, and watch all the wolves arrive and shift, too. Turning, I look at Beta Caleb. “Keep count that everyone has returned. I want no one going missing.”

“Two are missing,” Caleb states, and I can see he’s frowning in concern.

Shifting once more. Ahwoooo… I howl, demanding they reply and return.

Hearing ‘Ahwoo…’ returned, and then two males come crashing through to the lawn has me looking at Caleb and I shift again.

“Reprimand them mildly. Maybe give them to Silas for a few days,” I grin. “They need to learn when I say they run together they stay alert and not wander away. I can see they are late teenagers, so they are old enough to know better.”

Caleb nods, “Will do, Alpha Connell.”

Turning to Hope, who is smiling at Swift, I place my arm around her shoulders and pull her against my side. Looking up at me, Hope whispers, “Swift is giving Noah lessons on defensive techniques. I’m not sure he’s doing too well.”

Looking closely, I can see Noah has a slight limp and is favoring one side. I look at Swift and she winks at me before wrapping her arm around Noah’s waist as they walk away.

Monday morning came around way too fast, and I take my seat in the office, in the warrior training building. Gabriel and Thomas made good use of this building when they were my warrior council, and I intend for that to continue.

“Okay, I want to discuss something with you all. I want to have a safe room built in the basement of the packhouse. As you all know, the basement hasn’t been used in years, and, at the moment, I’ve no idea what is even down there, but we have members finding their mate, and that means pups in the future. We need to have somewhere, in case of a conflict, we can hide the females that are pregnant, nursing, or young mothers. We also need to hide the pups, as they will be the future of the pack.”

Chief Oscar, Delta Gamzin, Declan, Rune, Armon, Weldon, Hallec, Iona and Sterling are all discussing what I’ve said and how it could be viable. I lean back in my chair and listen to all the comments, questions, and concerns.

This is how it should be I’m thinking to myself. The pack should want to protect each other, and the warriors of the pack more than any other.

In the end it’s decided that the safe room is more important than the cabins, because everyone has a room to sleep in, and the packhouse is providing all food and essential services such as bathrooms, laundry and room cleaning.

“Okay, I’ll speak to Gaul, who is taking on the responsibility of organizing all the work that we need to get done.” I want to stay involved but not make anyone feel that I’m looking over their shoulder.

“Who do we have as builders?” Declan asks.

“Some of the new pack members have stepped up, and with ones we have from the older pack members we have Gaul as I’ve said, then Berrit, Graham, Lonnie, Ronnet, Stein, Yarrow, Ruston and Mortas.” I reel off the names, and I’m impressed with my own memory.

“That’s good. I didn’t realize we had so many, but work should get done far faster than I’d expected,” Chief Oscar states.

“Once we have everything built, we’ll have a good crew of workers to maintain the property, and we could put them out to help other packs, for a price, of course,” I add, with a grin. “I would only expect a small percent from what that would earn, so they’d all get a nice payout if they worked for other packs.”

“That would only work if they haven’t found their mates, because no male would want to leave his mate while he went working at another pack,” Hallec says, and his mate, Iona, gives him a warm smile.

“Now, I want you to let me have your ideas of what the safe room should be like, and an escape tunnel, in case the packhouse ever came down on top of it.”

The room goes deathly silent before everyone bursts into frantic discussion. I slink out of the office, leaving them to it, while I go back to my office.

Taking the journal out of the safe, I settle behind my desk, pick up a pen, and open the journal.

Entry, Alpha Connell Torrance.

Today is Monday and just last evening we had our first pack run. It was a tremendous success and the feel of the pack strengthened in my veins.

We will hold the pack runs on a monthly basis and I hope it will bring the pack together. The new members have fit in easily, and no one has had an issue with them. They have smoothly taken roles in the pack, and I’m more than happy with my decision to give them the opportunity to become pack members.