Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45658 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45658 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
“Come here, Lil.” He reached out, wrapped his arm around her, and drew her close. “It’s going to be fine. They’re just a couple of wolves, not the boogeymen.”
Her posture remained stiff and tense, but when he ran his palm over her head, she relaxed and melted against him. The sexual attraction they’d shared as youths had long since disappeared, but their joined history had grown deeper and stronger. When he had been forced to step in as pack Alpha at age sixteen, Morgan had invited eighteen-year-old Lillian to serve as one of his Betas. His father’s inner circle worked with her and, as she did with all things, she learned quickly. Now she was head Beta of Golden Valley.
“Thank you, Lil.”
Raising her head, she looked at him questioningly. “I just gave you awful advice. Why are you thanking me?”
“Because I couldn’t do this day in and day out without you.”
She snorted. “Of course you could. You’re the strongest Alpha I’ve ever met. I always told you that. Even before…” She stopped talking and lowered her gaze.
They rarely talked about before. Before his family was killed. Before their pack lost their Alpha, their presumptive Alpha, and their innate sense of security. Before he’d had to change his plans and goals. He missed before.
If his sister had been alive, she would have been nineteen. Would she be in school or would she have stayed on pack lands and mated young, like their own parents? If his mother were still here, she would have fussed over his scrapes and bruises from yet another challenge. As it was, Morgan would bathe himself, bandage whatever was necessary, and move on with no acknowledgement of his pain; alone. If his father were here, he would have sat Morgan down and taught him how to get through to Iredell so they could work together instead of fighting. Unfortunately, nobody else could help him lead, so he had to figure out how to be pack Alpha on his own, relying on memories and instincts. And if his brother were still alive, well, Jerold would be Alpha, and Morgan would be in the background, helping and then going to a quiet home with a mate and children of his own, like it was supposed to be. This wasn’t the life he had planned, but it was the hand he’d been dealt, and he had no choice but to roll with it. He pulled in deep breaths and tried to push off the sorrow.
“Thank you for your confidence in me.” He squeezed Lillian’s hip and then stepped back.
“Always.” Her voice once again all business, she tugged on her sleeves, straightening her shirt. “So, what’s the plan, Alpha?”
“The plan,” he said, thinking of the answer at the same time he uttered the words, “is that we move forward with this visit and treat the Purple Sky Alpha and his Omega the same way we’ve treated other visitors. We give them a tour of our pack lands, host a dinner with a few elders and business leaders, and see what we can do to be neighborly and form an alliance.”
“Do you think that’ll work? We barely have time to explain the situation to anyone. How are we going to calm our pack down enough to eat a meal with a male Omega?”
As much as Morgan wished he could say his pack members would never be scared of one Omega wolf, especially with him there to protect them, he knew that wasn’t true. The pack representatives they traditionally invited to dinners with visitors were established and successful, which meant they likely had grown up in Golden Valley and lived through the fire. His own father hadn’t been able to protect himself, his mate, or his kids from a male Omega, so why would anyone think Morgan could do better?
“I’m not sure anyone could experience what we experienced without being worried,” he admitted to Lillian. “But that doesn’t make our worries rational. Can you think of a few people we can trust to stay calm for one dinner and not tell the rest of the pack about what’s going on?”
“Maybe,” Lillian said uncertainly.
“Timothy Tillers had a lot of issues. Isn’t that what people said about him when he was in our pack?” Morgan arched his eyebrows. “Maybe he did what he did because of that and not because he was a male Omega.”
“I think I remember people saying things like that.” She bit her lower lip. “But didn’t Jerold claim male Omegas could…” She frowned. “I don’t remember exactly but it was something, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was something. It was my brother making excuses to keep fucking someone my father told him to stop fucking.”
Eyes wide in surprise, Lillian reared back. “Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk like that about Jerold.”