Chapter 8

• I heard the door slam shut and I looked up at the time. It was 2 a.m. Rubbing the stubble that had grown in over the past few days, I stretched in my chair and headed out of the office. With my eyebrow raised and my arms crossed, I looked at Nate trying unsuccessfully to sneak back into his room.
• “A little late, don’t you think?”
• He jumped and nearly knocked over a vase full of flowers Meredith had set there a day before.
• “Fuck. Don’t scare me like that.” There was the barest hint of a slur in his words. Meaning he was very drunk.
• “You didn’t drive home did you?”
• Nate groaned. “No Dad. I didn’t. Were you waiting up for me or something?”
• “Would it matter?”
• “You work too much.” He pulled off his bomber jacket, and tucked a hand into his jeans pocket. “Go to sleep, Silas. I’ll tell Mer not to wake you up for breakfast.”
• Shaking my head, I watched him disappear down the left hall of the second floor. It was his wing, his office and room were down that way. Sam took the first floor left side with his office across from his room. Mine was the only separate of the group. I had the second floor right side for my room but the office was down stairs. Next to the meeting rooms on the right side.
• The pack house wasn’t huge. Not like what we had cooked up when we kids. Eighteen bedrooms, equal amount of bathrooms, offices, theater room, giant kitchen. I think the plan was to build it on the land Nate had inherited from his parents. Him and Aelia even would plan down to the plumbing, where the garden was located, and what colors schemes were in what rooms in the giant mansion. For a while I used to make fun of Aelia and Nate for that but when they told me I was included in their new dream home, I would held as well. That was when we were kids though.
• Opening up my bedroom, it was dark. Not just outside but the dark greens and blues I had chosen made the room much darker. The colors were supposed to be homey. But I spent less time in here than I did in my office.
• After taking a shower and shaving, I laid on top of the bed with my eyes closed. So much needed to be done. The worst part was that my biggest issue was the damn bar I was about 99% sure that Nate just came from. Alpha Alex had already reached out asking if I needed his best mercenaries to take care of it. It didn’t seem right though. I wanted to handle this on my own. They needed to get taken care of and it would be by my hands. Not hiring someone else to do the job.
• Let it go, Silas. Eros said it quietly, almost sleepily.
• I’m not going to let it go. They need to go. They are rogues, Eros. Fucking rogues.
• He sighed. Stubborn ass.
• Rich coming from you, Eros.
• Go to sleep. Maybe when you wake up and take your head out of your ass, you’ll finally open your eyes to our mate.
• I sighed and rolled over choosing not to acknowledge his sass as I fell asleep.
• -
• There was a knock on my door and I rolled over, trying to ignore it.
• “Silas, do you plan on sleeping past one? Because we have the new pups shifting party tonight…”
• I groaned and flopped back over on my back, rubbing my face. Nate opened the door and poked his head in.
• “I’ll take it from the groan you’re up.”
• “I could have been naked. Or jerking off. When the hell did you think you could just invite yourself in?”
• Nate scoffed. “One, I know you better than that. Two, I’ve seen you naked so many times I think it’s more weird seeing you in those suits.”
• My eyebrow rose. “Know me better?”
• Nate laughed. “Yeah. You can’t stand the mess so you only jerk off in the shower.”
• Grabbing the pillow next to me, I beamed him in the face with it. He grunted and took a couple steps back.
• “The fuck!”
• “Let me get up in peace. I’ll be down in a second, for goddess sake.”
• Nate was laughing as he closed the door behind him and headed down the hall. Getting up, I stretched and opened up the window curtains. Already, Sam was outside, clipboard in hand, pointing to all the different areas of the back yard. There were tables, chairs, a place for a DJ already set up.
• You forgot, didn’t you? Eros sounded smug in the back of my head.
• I…yeah…yeah, I completely forgot.
• He was laughing as I got dressed in jeans and a shirt. Heading down the stairs, it was a whirlwind of activity with Meredith at the helm. She was coordinating different things as they moved through the house. Every six full moons we did a Shifting Party. All the new wolves that had shifted from the last party were to lead a run around the entirety of the territory. After that, we would end back up at the pack house where there would be food, drinks, music and everyone got thoroughly wasted.
• It was a tradition I had started when I first became Alpha and one that the entire pack enjoyed. It made the new pups feel like they were leading the older generation into a new age, being the ones in front of the run, rather than the Alpha. It built a sense of community and family, one I wanted within my pack. Especially after all my father did to try to tear that a part. The young kids liked it too because we were a separate territory than the town, with separate laws, and technically our drinking age sixteen. Basically, the earliest any wolves shifted. Some got their wolves earlier, like Aelia, Nate and I but we couldn’t full shift until then. At least Nate and I, considering Aelia didn’t live that long.
• “Alpha! You’re in the way!” Meredith snapped at me as I moved closer to the wall to allow her to mow through the house.
• “I’m just going to grab a quick bite…”
• She came back, opened up the fridge and placed a plate in front of me. It was a cold pasta salad with a half of a sandwich. Smiling, I took it and disappeared into my office so I was out of the way. There wasn’t much I needed to do until the event actually started. Nate and Sam handled the specifics of setting up with Meredith. Sam’s attention to detail always made him excellent when dealing with pre-planning but Nate was surprisingly thorough as well. In bigger projects of rebuilding, usually it was Nate that worked with the architects, builders, and decorators. He made sure everything was as it should be before the place opened.
• My desk was still covered in paperwork and so as I ate, I tried cleaning up the easier documents while organizing the others for later. By the time I finished my food and organizing my desk, most of the louder part of the setup was done.
• “Alpha!”
• Eros chuckled. Apparently not.
• Sam had yelled into the house from outside. It was surprisingly loud considering I could hear it with the door shut. I didn’t know why he didn’t just mind link but when Sam panicked, sometimes his common sense went out the window. Heading out of the office, Sam was running into the kitchen from outside. Nate even had heard it and came down the stairs.
• He took a second to catch his breath. “Alpha, we have a problem.”
• “Did someone forget the invites?” I chuckled but he shook his head.
• “Worse.”
• Nate leaned against the kitchen island. “What’s worse than forgetting the invites?”
• “Heartland Brewery just called. They were on their way but their van broke down. They are having it towed back to their location but they don’t have another one to send. We have no alcohol.”
• Nate threw up his hands. “You’re right, that is worse. Shit.”
• “Did you link Saul?” I asked.
• Saul ran the bar in town. It wasn’t great and it’s probably why the rogues bar was doing so well. Saul’s catered to the older generation of wolves and didn’t really change much in the last forty years he had been running it. Let alone in the time his father ran it before him. He would at least have something for us though.
• Sam nodded and pulled up his clipboard, flipping through pages. “Saul said he had 4 cases of Bud Light, 6 cases of Heineken, and 2 cases of Miller.”
• Next to me, Nate gagged. “I can get that at the grocery store. That shits terrible.”
• “It’s all he’s got. We could have a couple of guys make a trip to the grocery in town…but…”
• “They wouldn’t sell us enough to cover the entire pack. I know.” I rubbed my eyes, trying to think.
• We lapsed into silence, trying to figure out something. Going to the store would have to be the last resort. It wouldn’t get us enough for the night but at the very least it wouldn’t be a dry run. That would be terrible. Heartland Brewery had a contact set up with us and they would be hearing from me tomorrow with some choice words. Now though, we needed a remedy and quick.
• “I have an idea.”
• Sam and I looked at Nate.
• “Give me a second to make a call.”
• Nate took out his phone and was scrolling through his contacts, walking away from us for a couple minutes. He was pacing outside on the grass. After a minute or so, he hung up and dialed again, waiting before talking.
• “What do you think his plan is?”
• I shrugged at Sam, still confused why he was being so secretive. He was nodding and he smiled but once he looked over at us, the smile disappeared. Nate walked over finally, phone still at his ear.
• “Yeah, give me a second.” Nate spoke to the person on the phone. He pulled it away a bit. “So, I can get us what we need.”
• “Why do I feel like there is a ‘but’ coming?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
• He sighed and brought the phone back to his ear. “Hey, I’m putting you on speaker.”
• Pulling the phone away, Nate placed his phone down on the kitchen island. Sam and I came forward a little closer.
• “So how much do you have that we can get from you?”
• “I mean, you can take our entire inventory if you want. I’ve got crates of whatever you need. You caught us at a good time. So whatever you need, I can provide.”
• My growl reverberated through the entire house. The female rogue, Solaris or whatever her name was, was on the other end of the line. Nate glared at me and Sam had nearly jumped out of his skin.
• “We are not getting alcohol from them. End of story.”
• “Silas, we don’t have a choice! Otherwise it’s going to be the shortest and saddest run we have had to date. Desperate times call for desperate measures!”
• My eyes bore into his phone, trying to set it on fire. “They aren’t coming on my damn territory, Nate.”
• “I don’t want to be on your fucking territory, Alpha. You guys can come pick up whatever you need or want from the bar. I wouldn’t touch a toe over that line.”
• I snorted. “Because I would kill you for it?”
• “Please. You think too highly of yourself, Alpha. I would be afraid to get any of your stench on me. I might have to cut that toe off.”
• I saw Sam and Nate holding back their laughter but I was seeing red. This fucking rogue thought not only that she was better than me but that she fucking was better than my whole damn territory. Looking at Nate, I gestured to the phone.
• “That’s what you want? You want to just throw our entire beliefs away for some beer?”
• Nate rolled his eyes. “It’s just alcohol. Solaris has a lot of it and we need it and she is actually willing to sell it to us.”
• “Yeah, probably for double the price.”
• She snorted on the other end. “I’m a business owner. Despite what you may think of me, I handle my business above water. I will charge you a bulk fee but you’ll be paying what we pay from the breweries. Especially since you are just wiping us out from the sound of it.”
• “See. Look, Silas, you don’t have to like it. You don’t have to come to help load the shit. But we need her and her booze. We’ve literally got nothing else.” Nate looked at me, pleading.
• I sighed and looked at Sam. “Is there really no other option?”
• Sam looked down at his clipboard. “Between what Saul has and what we could get at the store…no…there really isn’t. Not in the time we need it by.”
• “Fuck!” I threw up my hands. “We’ll do it. But I’m coming. I don’t want them to pull some shit. We will take my truck, your Jeep, and I will have Dean and Ken bring their trucks. We will meet at The Wayward Tap. I’ll pay, I just need a receipt.”
• “Whatever your little heart desires, Alpha. We will be waiting.”
• Nate picked up his phone. “Thanks Solaris, you’re a lifesaver.”
• She chuckled. “Yeah yeah. I’ll see you in a few.”
• The line went dead and Nate beamed up at me. I shook my head.
• “Don’t look at me like that.”
• He stepped closer, smiling wider.
• “Nate, don’t you dare…”
• “I’m so proud of you, Silas.” Nate threw his arms around me, hugging me and kissing my cheek. “Today was a big step in the right direction for…”
• I growled and pushed him off of me. “Shut the fuck up. Let’s go. I want to get this over with.”