Page 44 of Alpha's Secret Baby
Chapter 28 Dylan
It was strange to step foot in the open-plan office of the Starsmoon compound. It felt like forever since I’d been here. A fact, unfortunately, verified by the diabolical stack of documents on my desk. Eyeing the pile, I realized I was definitely in for some long nights and weekends.
Bert, who had returned to his desk after clapping me on the back, caught my one look and laughed. “Well, you did go away for an early honeymoon for weeks and weeks on end.”
My Gamma, Jason, who didn’t have quite the same rapport with me as Bert, moved the conversation on to said work “The silage orders are there to be signed off, then filed. All of the orders have now been sent out across the state.”
“I’ve got the latest lumber orders, too,” Bert said with an eye roll at a small stack on his desk. I eyed the slim stack. With the fall bringing lower temperatures, there should have been more than that.
“Is that all we’ve got?” I asked, scrunching my eyebrows.
“Yeah,” Jason answered, collapsing into a chair at the free desk. “With the Blood moon pack causing trouble, business isn’t what it was.”
My gaze flew to Bert. He held up his hands in a placating gesture. “There was nothing you could do about it from afar.” He sat up in his chair, looking more alert as he added, “But now that you’re back, you need to know that the Bloodmoon Pack has been deliberately causing unrest with the local human community. They’ve brought down sheep and cattle along our borders, giving rise to the rumors again about our… strangeness.”
Occasionally over the years, there was the odd youngster during a first shift who went rogue and injured livestock in the vicinity. And, of course, there were the usual challenges that the juveniles doled out to one another: who could sneak closest to a particular ranch or town in wolf form without getting spotted. This had naturally given rise to the rumors about “huge wolves” in the area, and our community here in Lord Hills, which kept largely to itself, had come under suspicion in the past.
“The Luna...” Jason corrected himself, “the old Luna has done what she can to temper relations, but the killing of livestock has gone on for weeks. It won’t be long before the community rallies and comes calling.”
The Luna’s work, making links with the local community, was an important part of our lifestyle. I was grateful that my mom continued her role as Luna over the last few weeks. But Jason was right; things couldn’t continue much longer as they were. The last thing we needed was the locals coming knocking with pitchforks.
I’d known as soon as I sent Lucy back to the Bloodmoon pack that they’d hold a grudge. Bloodmoon had been laying the groundwork for war. By framing us for these incidents of murdered livestock, they were taking away our trade and trust with the human community. They were clearly trying to get the human community, already prone to superstition, to fear us preternaturals.
And if the Bloodmoon Pack succeeded, the human community wouldn’t buy wood or animal feed from us, and our businesses would go under. I knew this was what Bloodmoon wanted. Once they’d gotten our businesses to fold, they’d then swoop in and fight us, taking our lands for their own.
Tension fired through me as I contemplated the fact that we were on the edge of war.
“War is inevitable,” I admitted. I sighed, knowing it was largely my fault that our pack would have to fight. “Ever since I humiliated Lucy by refusing to marry her, this was always going to happen.” I swept a hand tiredly down my face.
I reached for the landline on my desk and punched the number in for Bloodmoon. “Yes?” A gruff voice answered on the other end.
“This is Dylan, Alpha of the Starsmoon Pack. Tell your Alpha that he’s got the war he wanted. The Starsmoon Pack will fight you tomorrow night. Come to our lands at dusk.” With the deed done, I hung up.
My Beta, Gamma, and I soon lost ourselves in the mountains of paperwork. As the evening rolled in, joy tumbled through me.
“I think that’ll do for today, guys,” I said, easing out of my chair and knowing that as soon as I was out the door, I’d put my foot down on the peddle and floor it to Seattle.
I felt as if I hadn't seen Cherry for an age, despite it only being early morning that I’d last seen her. Shrugging on my jacket, I said, “See you tomorrow.”
Bert chuckled, and even Jason couldn't hide his knowing smile.
“You’re totally lovesick,” Bert ribbed, throwing an eye roll at Jason.
Jason chortled. “I heard a rumor that you bought a whole store for your mate in Central Seattle.” He looked at me with wonder as if to say that was something huge to do for my Luna. It had been an outlay of hundreds of thousands for the commercial space, but I had complete faith in my mate’s ability to make it a success. I’d bank everything I had on Cherry without a moment’s hesitation.
My eyes darkened with fierceness. “I’m totally in love,” I said proudly. “There's nothing more important in my entire life than being with Cherry and my daughter.”
I excused myself from their light-hearted ribbing and strode out into the cool fall evening, eager to get to my mate.
After a half-hour drive, I parked in Seattle and found Cherry alone at the store. Maisy had gone home for the day, needing to sort out her new apartment.
Cherry grasped my hand and dragged me excitedly over to the window. “It’s so central, Dylan. We’re just round the corner from the Chihuly–”
“Exhibition. I know,” I said, basking in the sight of her smile as if it were sunshine. “I remembered how you loved it. This way, you’ll be able to go every day if you want to.”
She kissed me, and I knew we were completely on display in the bare window front of the store. Our passionate kiss was framed for all of the curious city dwellers passing by, but I didn’t care. Only when I was breathless did my lips leave hers.
I thought of what we’d talked about, of how Cherry would live at her dad’s for the next few weeks, but a territorial urge shot through me. “You don’t have to live at your dad’s, you know. You and Fern could move straight into my house.”