Page 71 of Blood Pearl
“They are already talking daily. They have been for a while. I just didn’t see the ‘you and Gerry’ bit coming. I should have, really. Even Aztec had been in contact more than usual.” I hear someone calling to Taria.
“Sorry, Momma, I have to dash. Lots to learn, lots to do. Bye.”
Before I get to answer, the phone is dead, and Taria is gone. I’m happy for her and for Gerry.
Speaking of Gerry, there’s a knock on the door and he sticks his head in. “Hey. What you up to? Fancy coming for a walk? Got some news for you.”
“You sound full of yourself, Pops.”
“I am. Wait till you hear…Oh. You have. I should have guessed.” Walking in and closing the door behind him, he wraps his arms around me. “So. What do you think?”
“Pops makes you sound old, but if you’re okay with it.”
“Not just the name, I mean the whole father, daughter thing. Does anything about it bother you?”
“You know what I think? You deserve each other. Taria’s happy. You’re happy. What’s for me not to be happy about?”
“There’s a birthday party in the dining area. Let’s crash it and get some party food.”
“You can’t just crash a birthday party to grab food. What will people think?” I shake my head at his never-ending quest for sustenance.
“They’ll think ‘Hey, that new Alpha is at my birthday party. How cool is that?’ Come on, let’s go.”
Making our way to the party, we see there’s a lot of guests there already. As we enter Gerry asks whose birthday it is, as there are ‘Happy Eighteenth Birthday’ banners around the room.
Wallace walks in with several of his friends and stops dead in his tracks. Watching him sniff the air, Gerry nudges me.
Two voices shout at the same time and their cries have everyone cheering.
“MATE!”
Wallace looks at the crowd and Nurse Chloe pushes people out of the way as she runs at him, leaping into his arms from several feet away, almost bowling him over. Catching her, Wallace slams his lips on hers and pulls her to him.
Gerry leans into me and whispers, “I think we’ll need a new trainer and a replacement nurse for the next few days.”
The party goers watch as Wallace and Chloe leave them to it and disappear.
“More food for the Alpha, then,” Gerry laughs.
The evening of the pack run, and there has been an air of excitement all day. Everywhere I look, I see smiling faces. Not that the pack has been miserable under my reign, as it were, but there is certainly some excitement buzzing around now.
The evening meal has been organized for after the run. Gerry insisted that we have a picnic on the grounds of the packhouse so that the pack doesn’t just disperse and lose the moment.
He’s very insightful when it comes to these things. He must be more of a people person than I am, though I’m not unapproachable, by any means.
Hearing Gerry call the pack together in a mind link, I walk over to where he intends to start the run.
“Welcome everyone! I’m sure you’ve all been on a pack run previously,“ a cheer rolls through the crowd. “Just to make things perfectly clear. We run as a pack and that means we run to the slowest member’s pace. When we run near the border, we stay alert for trouble. A group of warriors will remain here to guard the packhouse. At the halfway point, which has been arranged to pass near the packhouse, warriors with the pack will break off and exchange with those on guard. We intend to include everyone as much as possible.
“It’s called a pack run for a reason and that’s what we intend it to be. When we get back, we eat as a pack. Cook Ivy has gone to great lengths to prepare another of her magnificent feasts as a picnic for all.
“Now, if we’re all ready…”
There’s an enormous cheer from the pack.
“Shift!” Gerry and I shift as one and howl as loud as we can.
The pack howls, and it makes my hair stand on end. It’s an exhilarating feeling.