Page 53 of August
Ginny hid her chuckle behind a cough.
“That’s everyone that tried to get to me in the paddock,” Ginny said.
August pointed out the two males who had been in the cafeteria, which had caused him to shove Ginny out into the melee.
“Let’s get them loaded into the cargo vans and on their way,” Cliff said. “Do you want to come?”
Ginny, August, and Cliff walked out of the theater. She breathed in the fresh air, letting the sunshine sink into her skin as she tilted her face to the glowing orb.
“It’s up to you, sweetheart,” August offered.
She lowered her head slowly and first smiled at her mate and then looked at her brother. “Alpha.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s just weird. You used to short-sheet my bed and put rocks in my shoes. Now you’re the boss and you nearly died trying to save me.”
“Yeah, well, the bad stuff was when I was younger.”
“I think you put rocks in my shoes a few months ago.”
“Uhm, you’re remembering wrong,” he said, rocking back on his heels and grinning. “But yeah, I’m alpha. The elders are waiting for me with the law books. I’m going to rewrite them and could use your help.” He paused. “You could stay, you know, you and August. Join with the pack as a mated couple. I could use a strong number-two.”
“I’m happy here,” Ginny said. “Plus, there’s a bunch of carousel horses that need a good coat of varnish and a carousel to be put back together.”
Cliff nodded.
“I’d like to come with you, though. I don’t have anything of Mom and Dad’s, or even my own clothes and things because I had to book out so fast.”
“You bet,” Cliff said. “I’m going to help them load up the vans.”
Her brother disappeared and she turned to August and gave him a hug, leaning against him and resting her head on his chest. “Thanks for being willing to come with me.”
“Of course, sweetheart. Where you go, I go.” He kissed the top of her head. “You sure you don’t want to stay there and join the pack with me?”
“Hell no. I love the park and the gorillas and other shifters. The pack hasn’t been home to me since our parents were killed. Even with Cliff as alpha, there are too many ghosts there, too many bad memories. I’m happy here, with you.”
He nodded. “I’m happy here with you too.”
“If you two are done groping each other, we can get on the way,” Nathan called, shaking a set of keys at them.
“I’ll never be done,” August whispered.
Ginny hugged him a little tighter. “I’ll never be done, either.”
August had never really been part of an alpha meeting before, and while he wasn’t technically part of Cliff’s meeting with the pack elders, he still felt honored to be in the room. Ginny sat next to him with a copy of the pack laws open on her lap, her head down as she followed along.
The pack didn’t actually have a lot of rules, so the law book itself was also chock-full of the history and family lineage of the alphas, which had been Ginny’s family for generations.
Four elders sat at the kitchen table in what had been their grandfather Josiah’s home and would now be Cliff’s as the new alpha. It was in the center of the territory, surrounded by other small homes in a densely wooded area.
Cliff drummed his fingers on the worn table, then cleared his throat. “At some point in the past, Josiah decided that reaching age seventy and stepping down was no longer in his best interest. One of the main laws our people have that apply to the alpha in particular is that laws cannot be changed under any circumstances once the alpha has taken over. In order to change the retirement law, Josiah would have had to change it upon assuming the mantle of leadership. That he didn’t shows that his mind and heart were turned to the pack and not himself. Whether our grandmother’s passing was the catalyst to change his mindset or something inside him broke for another reason, what we do know is that several years ago, Josiah abducted our aunt and used her as bait to bring her mate and his eldest son to him, where he slaughtered them and made it appear as if they were killed by natural animals during a hunt. We know that he did the same thing to our parents as well. While I don’t know exactly why he chose not to end mine and Ginny’s lives right then, I can only assume that he was attempting to keep his behavior under wraps to the pack to avoid alarming them, or that he didn’t see either of us as a threat until recently.”
Cliff stopped speaking for a moment and August could see the grief that still lay heavy on the male, the same way he knew it haunted Ginny too.
He continued, “In keeping with our current laws, I am taking the place of my grandfather as alpha, and I am changing two laws. Firstly, the law of mandatory retirement is stricken from the record. There will be no maximum age at which an alpha should step down. From this point forward, the alpha will continue to lead until such time as he becomes unable to attend to his duties and is removed from the position either by himself or by a majority vote of the elders. Now, I want to address the law related to succession.”
August leaned over and looked at the page as Cliff discussed succession with the elders. “The reason my grandfather killed his family is because he was not interested in retiring from his position. He came after Ginny to get to me, but he was going to kill Ginny as well because any of her offspring would have been considered heirs and would be a threat to him. I’m changing the heirs’ law. From this point forward, the mantel of alpha passes from father to son or daughter only, not among every single heir within a family line. This means that if I have a child, he or she will become alpha when I step down. But if I don’t have a child to replace me, then when I retire as alpha, the elders will choose a new family line and the alpha position will continue through them.”