Page 12 of Welcome Home: When Shifters Unite!

Taking a seat at the head table in the town hall, I wait for the noise to abate. It seems every member of the town is turning out and taking seats, ready for this meeting to start.

The town council is sitting at one end of the head table while I, with Leo, Robbie and Stella as my officers of the pack, are sitting at the opposite end. We wait, and wait quietly as town folk keep walking into the hall, take a seat, then gossip about what they think is going on, while others wait quietly.

The door to the hall closes and Thorn stands in front of them so no one can enter or leave until the meeting is done.

Thomas Weaver, the eldest of the town council members, bangs his fist on the table, gaining everyone’s attention. “Attention everyone. We have much to discuss, and I don’t want this meeting to go on for hours. We, the town council members, have had a discussion about the Elder Council's guidelines and we agree we stand firm with the town. Nobody should be forced to mate with another.

“We are not a large town, and mostly a mixed bag of shifters and humans, but the one thing we have is a commitment to each other, that is why I think the members of the town should all be pack members and that will place everyone safely under the pack’s umbrella.”

The hall is deathly silent, and I look at Leo out of the corner of my eye, and he has covered his mouth with the palm of his hand, which I can tell is to stop him from laughing.

Thorn has not moved from the door, but he’s looking directly at me, and gives me a minimal nod. ‘Shit’, he agrees with them.

“I didn’t come to this town to form a pack. I came here to start a new life away from the pack I was living with. My parents were not the best, although they didn’t beat on me. Let’s get that clear. I found my mate but was told by the Elder Council to not mate, or bond, at that time because they wanted me to complete the Luna Camp training before that happened. To be the best Luna I could be for the pack.

“I completed Luna Camp. I worked hard and achieved everything asked of me. When I went home I was met with the sight of my mate in the process of a bonding ceremony. The Alpha was holding said ceremony. My parents were sitting smiling as they watched this all happening, totally compliant with it.

“I didn’t stop the ceremony in time and had to live through the pain of him marking another. I did, however, reject my mate, pack, and family. Only it turned out they were not my family after all. I was found and handed to the Alpha, who placed me with who I thought was my family. I was around a year old at the time. Turned out they were given financial help to bring me up, and that’s why they did it.

“I’m not telling you all this for any sympathy. I only want to clarify that I came here for a fresh start and I love the town, and you have all been welcoming, and it’s truly an honor for me to be here among you all.

“As for the pack, I thank you all for stepping up and showing the Elder Council that they cannot railroad anyone into doing their bidding. If anyone wants to join the pack, I will be happy to have you, but it’s not something that you should feel you need to do. I can fight the Elder Council, and if it becomes too much, I’ll move away, take the fight away from you all.”

“Well, I’ll be coming with you if you leave,” Robbie states as he stands and places his hands on his hips, giving me an almighty frown.

“You leave, the pack leaves,” Leo states clearly, and one by one my pack stands, showing solidarity to their Alpha, and I have to swallow hard as the lump in my throat is nearly choking me with the effort not to cry.

“I’ll join the pack,” “Yeah, I’ll join,” “Me too,” “Hey, I’m joining.”

One by one, the town joins the pack, until everyone except the town council are members. They give me a nod, and I don’t miss that they all have a smile on their faces showing they are more than happy at this outcome.

As my Beta, Leo takes charge of organizing everyone once I have brought them into the pack. My mind is buzzing and Blue has to close out the mind links before I pass out. It’s overwhelming when you are not used to so many people in your mind.

‘We are the Alpha of a pack, Adira. We will be a good Alpha. We can meet second chance mate if the Moon Goddess sees fit to give us one. But, we concentrate on pack for now.’

“Yeah, Blue, we’ll concentrate on pack. It’s going to take some organizing, isn’t it?”

‘Leo will help, as he’s a leader in his own right. He’s strong and can help stand behind, next to or in front of us if ever needed.’

“We don’t need anyone to stand in front of us Blue, if we are going to be Alpha, then we will stand in front and take whatever comes our way.”

The next three hours are spent speaking with all the new pack members, which is basically everyone in town. They are all excited and it flows through the pack link. There is one I feel a bad vibe about and I will watch her. Her being Maisie Blackthorn. She’s had her eye on Leo since I came to town, and she started causing gossip when we four moved into the farmhouse. Yeah, we’ll be watching her, and now as her Alpha, she has to be more than careful, or she’ll find herself more than just a rogue pack member, she’ll find herself the only rogue in a pack town.

Taking my seat once more at the main table, everyone gathers around, bringing a chair so they can sit and join in the conversation.

“Leo and Thorn.” I turn to look at them, and they give me their attention. “You will both organize territory patrols…” I hold my hand out to quieten down any protests. “We have had shifters coming into the town territory, and we’ve had to deal with them. Now it is a pack town, and we protect our borders. Leo and Thorn will organize patrols. Now, if you don’t want to join in the pack necessities, then you can leave the pack, but if we are attacked, you will be on your own. We as a pack protect each other, we do not protect those that do not want to be a part of this.”

The pack immediately understands that I am not messing around. They are part of the pack or they are not. I want that clear from the start because we don’t have time to mess around when I know that we have the threat of the lions and from the Elder Council.

The patrols are organized and the town council are happy that things are happening to secure the town, and they don’t seem to care that the town is now a pack. I know they suggested it but I wasn’t sure if they had a motive I knew nothing about, but it doesn’t look they like have anything but the welfare of the town in mind.

“I think we need to look at the basement at the farmhouse. Secure it as a safe place for children, nursing mothers and the like. If we are under attack, it would be a good place to secure and defend.” I look around and the young mothers like Greta give me a smile of thanks.

“Yeah, it’s a good idea. We can rip it out, clean it up and make it secure in case of an attack.” Thorn looks at the male shifters and they are throwing out ideas and comments.

“This week we’ll have a meeting with anyone of you that wants to help with the basement. We’ll get ideas from any of you and we can decide what we want to do with it. Remember that I am not going to be saying, do this, do that, I want your input, it isOURpack, and we all have a say.” I can see Maisie sneering, but before I can say anything, Greta surprises me.

“You got something to say, Maisie? Instead of sitting there sneering and being a bitch, do something useful for a change. If you don’t want to be part of the pack, say now because no one here gives a shit if you walk away.” Greta is challenging Maisie by looking directly into her eye, showing her wolf isn’t happy with her attitude and isn’t going to step down. Greta’s hard,unflinching gaze has Maisie squirming. I think I’d squirm, too, given that look.

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