Chapter 7

• *** Silas POV ***
• “We need to get a handle on this situation.”
• “I think we need to act now. Start putting our assets together. See what is available and the limit what we are willing to hand over.”
• Elder Calum looked at me for the first time in this whole meeting. “What do you think, Alpha?”
• I sighed and leaned my head in my hand. “I think it’s too soon. Our current flow of humans in the town isn’t enough to warrant such drastic measures yet. I understand Alpha Alex and Alpha Reid have been implementing this within the past year but they are closer to more central hubs of traffic. While we are close to Jackson City, it’s just too small of a town. Everyone who works in the town can live in it. There is no reason to spread further out. So I think we are getting ahead of ourselves as long as the town is as small as it is.”
• The group of Elders broke out into another discussion and I sighed. It had its serious benefits to having humans allowed on the territory but I wasn’t quite ready for that. There was a boom in revenue but there was the flip side of us wolves not able to just strip down and shift whenever we wanted. Plus, while we hadn’t seen Hunters in years, that didn’t mean they didn’t exist. Extensive background checks would need to be done. Which we would need to hire someone with the expertise to do that. It was too much right now. For a gain we didn’t need right now.
• “We were thinking of sending you to River Sun Pack next.”
• My head popped up. “For what?”
• “To find a mate, Alpha! You were given till the end of the year. You aren’t just going to find your Luna here.”
• I rolled my eyes. “I’m not going. I just send a month away from the pack. I’ve got a monstrous stack of paperwork and more headaches than I had when I left.”
• “You need a Luna, Alpha. This is non-negotiable. You’re…”
• “I’m old. I get it. There are some wolves who don’t find they’re fated.”
• Elder Edith scoffed. “Yeah. None of them are Alphas. Plus with your affliction…”
• My hands balled up. “My affliction? My inability to mark even a chosen mate isn’t an affliction. It’s not some disease. I don’t know why it is but it’s for a reason. Let it go.” Getting up, I headed out the door.
• “Alpha, we aren’t finished.”
• “Oh yes we are. I’ll contact you when we need to meet next.”
• Slamming the door behind me, I headed out of the building the elders used to meet. They disliked coming over to the pack house. I think they enjoyed taking me out of my element. That and if Nate joined they’d get mocked the entire time.
• Nate?
• He hummed through the mind link.
• You up for some sparing?
• His chuckling came across clearly. The meeting go that bad?
• Yes or no?
• Yeah yeah. Let me finish up this shit Sam gave me and I’ll meet you out back.
• Getting in my truck, I drove back through the major part of town. It’s was a Saturday afternoon so my pack were mulling about the town and I smiled. It was much more chill these past few years. It was a little hectic when I took over for my father. More because people didn’t quite understand what had happened and why their Alpha was getting banished to the far corner of the territory. But once I was able to show some competency as Alpha, things fell into place.
• Now, it was easy. It was easy leading, making decisions, watching out for everyone. Sure, sometimes there were hard decisions but decisiveness wasn’t my weakness. It just was a matter of knowing what needed to be done.
• It wasn’t always like that. Aelia was the one who used to force us into decisions. Nate and I would shirk responsibilities all the time. She was the one who kept us in line. Kept us accountable. I think for my first few years as Alpha, I used to ask what would Aelia do in this situation. Sometimes it made it easier. Sometimes it didn’t. But I started to fell better about the decisions I was making for my pack. Then I stopped thinking about her at all. Stopped reminiscing and wishing she was here with me.
• Probably because she would have taken over as Alpha before you.
• A small smile came to my lips. You’re probably right, Eros. Her and Bellum would have just stepped in and taken over.
• Bellum was a piece of work though. How Aelia kept that wolf under control always was amazing.
• Sighing, I pulled into the pack house. Shutting off the truck, I held onto the steering wheel.
• Why does she keep coming up? Years I’ve been able to stop thinking of her.
• Maybe because you’re afraid. Eros stated plainly.
• I’m not afraid.
• Eros scoffed. Please. You can try to fool everyone, even yourself but not me. You’re afraid you don’t have mate. That you never asked Aelia about your connection and that you might not have one. Which is why you can’t mark anyone or connect with anyone.
• I growled. That means you’re alone too, you fleabag.
• He chuckled. I said it was your fear, not mine. I know we have a mate. Somewhere. It’s just not the right time. Either we aren’t ready or they aren’t. Either way, I’m willing to wait.
• Tell that to the Elders.
• Getting out of the truck, I slammed the door shut. Walking straight threw the house, Sam tried to cut me off.
• “Did you bring any notes from…”
• “No.”
• “What did they talk about…”
• “Nothing.”
• “But then…”
• I turned to Sam. “Next time, you can lead the meeting. Or better yet, go in my place. That way you know when they want to send me away for another month to another pack, you’ll be the first to know.”
• His eyes widened. “You just got back!”
• I shrugged and headed out the back door. Nate was stretching further out. He was dressed in his usual workout shorts and muscle shirt. I threw off my shirt and kicked off my shoes.
• “Must have been real bad.” Nate rolled his shoulders as I walked up to him.
• I didn’t even wait. I threw a couple punches before blocking his onslaught of kicks and punches. He was the one who trained our warriors to begin with. Nate’s strength, speed and just all around focus made him deadly. More often than not he would even beat me. I knew a few generations ago there was some Alpha in his family but I think the fight came from a combination of things.
• One was losing Aelia. Our scrawny asses didn’t stand a chance against the rogues but he believed if we hadn’t skipped so many sessions, if we were better, had done more, we could at least have run and saved her. The second thing was the abuse my father put him through. I’m not sure if he blamed Nate for my sister getting taken but the amount that he went through, that we went through, at the hands of my father pushed him to be stronger. Stronger than anyone so even if it became a fight, he could end it. Nate’s fist connected with my jaw and I stumbled back a couple steps.
• “Where are you, Silas? Cause it sure as hell ain’t here.”
• “Sorry. Minds been wandering since I got back to the territory.”
• He straightened out of his attack stance. “To what?”
• “Honestly? Aelia mostly. I don’t know why.”
• Sure you do. Eros chuckled but I ignored him.
• Nate seemed to chew on his words. Aelia was a touchy subject. One that we usually ended up fighting about. So it was understanding his hesitation.
• “What about? Just memories?”
• I nodded. “What she would have done, could do, if she was here.” Chuckling to my self, I shook my head. “She’d probably stepped into Alpha once my father was banished.”
• He hummed. “I’m not so sure. She wasn’t ‘a lead from the front’ kind of person. It was a shove from behind. Finding peoples strengths and using it to her advantage. We might have still ended up at Alpha and Beta but everyone in the world would know who wore the pants in the pack.”
• My smile spread as I exhaled through my nose. “You’re probably right.”
• Nate came up and grabbed my chin, moving my face to the side. Inspecting his handiwork I’m sure.
• “Do you regret not asking her about your mate?”
• I sighed heavily. “Yes and no.”
• Nate stepped back, eyeing me, waiting for me to continue.
• “I mean, I’m thirty-one. I’m a fucking old ass Alpha who hasn’t found is mate. If I’d asked her, letting her lead me in some direction, maybe it wouldn’t feel like such a hole in me.”
• Nate smirked and shook his head. “I mean, you were what…ten? I was forced to know. I wouldn’t want to know that young. You also really aren’t that old.”
• “Part of me thinks I did have one but I lost them. My punishment for not protecting her. That even if she did tell me, they don’t exist any more. I’m alone now because of what happened.”
• His eyes darken. “Silas…”
• “I know. I know. I just…between not actually being able to mark anyone, which frankly is unheard of, and not finding anyone. What am I supposed to think?”
• Nate didn’t say anything for a few moments before rolling his eyes. “Well, if you’d like, I’ll marry your ass and we can happily live alone together. I’ll even share my snacks with you.”
• We both broke out in laughter. “I already feel like I’m married to you, asshole. You and Sam. For fucks sake.”
• “Hey, you invited the Gamma who is ten years younger. Should I be jealous? I mean, you trying to replace me for the younger version?”
• Shaking my head, I swung at him, and he jumped back, putting his hands up. “Is this spousal abuse?”
• I growled. “Oh, you want spousal abuse?”
• Striding up to him, I threw a few more punches that he blocked but I swept his legs out. As he fell back, I planted my hand on his chest and pushed him harder into the grass. He coughed as his back collided hard.
• “How’s that? Better?”
• Nate shook his head. “Not my kink, Silas. You should know me better than that.”
• Laughing, I reached out my hand and pulled him up. “I don’t know if I should admit that I know that or not.”
• He shoved me a bit and I shook my head, still laughing. Nate, as much as he pissed me the fuck off sometimes, was still my brother. We’d been through hell together. I never doubted he would be there for me even if we had a fight minutes before. We were all that was left. As he started to head inside, I put my hand on his shoulder.
• “Look I…”
• He smirked. “If you’re declaring your undying love to me…”
• “Nate! Fuck! I’m being serious!”
• Crossing his arms over his chest, his eyebrow rose, waiting.
• “Look, I’m sorry. I’ve been an ass.”
• “You’re always an ass.”
• I sighed. “More than usual. Especially when it comes to Aelia. I’m sorry, alright. I’m just…I’m glad you’re still here. I know you could go off and not look back. I just…”
• “Silas.”
• “I appreciate you sticking with me all these years without her. Especially with you still searching…”
• Nate slammed his palms against the sides of my face. “Stop Silas. Aelia was my mate, sure, but it was a weird kind of big brother protection feeling for me too. She wasn’t my only family though. You are my family. More than she was ever my mate. Of course you’re stuck with me.” He shook his head. When he took his hands away, my skin stung. “When we both go feral, we will just be two feral fucking wolves for the rest of our lives.”
• We walked into the kitchen with Meredith helming the stove. She turned, wooden spoon pointing at the two of us.
• “No one is going feral in this house, you hear me?”
• I chuckled. “You’d be better off with just Sam anyways.”
• She grimaced. “I mean, I like the boy…”
• “I’m glad she stopped calling us boys.” Nate smiled as he headed up the stairs. “Gonna shower. I’ll be back down in a bit for dinner.”
• “Sure you will, Beta. Try not to be too late.” Meredith called out to him. She looked at me with an eyebrow raised. “Put a shirt on Alpha, there isn’t anyone to impress here. Not when you’ve been gone without training for a month.”
• My jaw dropped opened and I could hear snickering up stairs before a door shut. “You wound me, Mer.”
• “If I can wound you, you better start getting up early for training too.”
• I put my hand over my heart. “It hurts. So much.”
• Meredith cackle was legendary and it only brought a smile to me face. “Get ready for dinner Alpha.”
• “Yes Mer.”