Forgotten Wolf

26 The Office

Chris POV

I couldn't have been less interested in work today. My mind is still in bed with my mate. It took every ounce of willpower to get up and leave her this morning. Waking up with her wrapped around me felt perfect, with her head on my chest, arm wrapped around me with her bare legs intertwining mine.

Fuck, I need to stop thinking about this before this guy thinks I'm happy to see him.

A representative from the Crimson Dawn pack is petitioning for a meeting on behalf of their Alpha for treaty talks. I reluctantly agree to hear them out in a couple weeks before dismissing him.

Success has a price, and this is a prime example. Everyone either wants what you have or wants your protection, offering nothing in return.

Still Waters pack was started by my great, great, great, great grandfather when the pack he was in splintered due to change in direction. He had bought a large tract of land here, and when things became unstable, he left and moved his young family here. Several other like-minded members followed him, hoping for a better future.

It's a daunting task to take a chunk of land and a group of frightened people and turn them into a pack. Most new packs fail within the first few years, either unable to sustain themselves or picked off by larger packs or rogues. It wasn't easy in the early years, but with sacrifice and determination, they managed to take root.

Over the years, their hard work paid off. The pack grew in both members and resources, and he was able to buy up the surrounding land. With the birth of a son, his heir, our bloodline was cemented into the books. This promise of a future spawned additional growth.

My father brought a new level of prosperity to our pack, building on all the frameworks laid by his forefathers. His expansion included upgrading the undersized pack house and eventually building the larger one we currently reside in.

Our pack worked hard and was rewarded for their efforts. We have a state-of-the-art pack hospital, all the amenities anyone could want in a movie theater, game rooms, pools, anything. He expected a lot from his people, but in turn, he showered them—they wanted for nothing.

Prosperity brings more people, good or bad. It encourages people to transfer in from other less prosperous packs—even rogues may petition. As the Alpha, it's my job to sort through these people and only take in the ones that will benefit the pack. Sometimes the answer is clear; other times it's a gamble.

Jace's parents were transfers from distant packs. By chance, they met here and turned out to be mates. Sara was also taken in, her and her mother were rogues. Her mother refused to join, but on her deathbed she begged my father to take in Sara.

Taking in a rogue child is a small gamble; we knew there was some history that kept her mother on the run, but with her passing, the threat died too. Aside from her attitude, she turned into an ideal pack member.

Sara was fierce and determined. In training, she had to be bumped up in several classes, as she would beat the snot out of her classmates. I'd put her fighting ability up against any. In combat situations she's on point always, a calculated captain, but she has always struggled to follow orders. Even when given a direct Alpha order, she can exploit any loophole or grey area.

There is nothing she wouldn't do for this pack. Socially, well, she's not afraid to tell you what she thinks, regardless of if you asked or not.

She finally seems to be coming around with Jess. Ever since Challenge, she has been considerably less hostile. I can only hope she has finally accepted Jess as my mate, and her Luna.