Page 5 of Silas

Turning towards the room, I see everyone has dropped to one knee with their heads bowed. Their support and loyalty have been so profound, so steadfast, that I’m left speechless; it’s a gift I can’t fully process.

Warrick holds his hand out to me in a gesture to bring me forward. “Thank you everyone. Your love, support, and loyalty means the world to me. I am not perfect, I will probably makemany mistakes as I figure out this leadership role. I appreciate everything you guys have done and will do from now on. This is all I have for tonight. If there’s nothing pressing, let’s end this meeting.”

Everyone clears out to head to their own cabins. I grab my coat and shuffle myself into it as Warrick pats me on the back. “When are you going to move into the Alpha Cabin? You know it’s yours by right and you don’t have to stay in your cabin anymore?”

Shrugging, I look at him. “I know, but it doesn’t feel right without Luna. It’s meant to be a family home, not a bachelor pad. It doesn’t feel right moving in without her and creating a home. I would rather wait for my Luna and allow her to create the home she wants instead of having to move around me.”

“That’s fair man. I just didn’t want you to think that any of the pack members would hold that against you.”

“I appreciate it. Welp, I am going to head home. I don’t get a lot of time to myself these days, so I like to take advantage of the moments when I have them.”

He nods his head at me. “See you later, man.”

Watching the fire pop in my electric fireplace, sipping my whiskey, I can’t quite wrap my head around all the things that I need to do. Even with my to do list for the month. I am feeling so overwhelmed by the amount of tasks that need to be done. Especially this debt to the Ghost River Pack. I haven’t quitefigured out how we are going to fix that one. I hope Caelon will come up with a solution.

I know that running a pack would not be easy, but God dammit, nobody ever mentioned that it would be this overwhelming amount of stress and pressure. What if I fuck up and make it worse? What if I cannot come up with the money for the Ghost River Pack?

I can rest assured that I will always treat the females in our pack with respect and kindness, and I will work hard to ensure our financial stability. I guess there is that.

Knock, knock. Someone is knocking on my front door. My eyebrows pull together in confusion because I wasn’t expecting anyone. Especially at this hour. Sniffing the air, I relax when I realize it’s Warrick.

Opening my door, I find Warrick standing in my doorway with a solemn look on his face. “What’s the matter?”

“There is a wolf here from the Ghost River Pack asking to speak with the new alpha. He wouldn’t tell us what it was about or what the message was. He said he would only tell the Alpha. I am sorry, man. I didn’t want to interrupt your peace, but here we are.” He says as he shifts from foot to foot with a nervous energy about him.

“Is everything okay? It’s not like you to be nervous or fidgety.”

He rubs the back of his neck, pulling in a lungful of air. “Yeah, everything is alright. I just don’t like the vibe I am getting from him. If I could have forced him to tell me why he was here, I probably wouldn’t be this nervous.”

Grabbing my jacket off the hook, I toe on my boots. “Let’s go see what he has to say. I know we won’t like it, but it’s the only way to get him off pack property.”

I wrap my jacket around myself as we step onto my front porch. Thankfully, everything is within walking distance. So we take off walking back to the pack house.

Shortly later, we are walking back into the pack house and into my office. I find a slender man with a buzz cut sitting in front of my desk. He is busy flipping a zippo lighter open and close when we enter. He turns to acknowledge me and I see he has a three claw mark across his face and one of his eyes is dead. Jesus, what do they do to their wolves in this pack?

He stands from his seat, bowing his head and extending his hand out to me. Grasping his hand, I shake it. “My name is Nate, from Ghost River Pack. I am here on behalf of my Alpha. We gave you a week to settle into your role and look over the state of your affairs. As I am sure you are well aware by now, your pack is in debt to mine. We would like to extend the same offer we did for the past Alpha, if you so wish to proceed with that route. Otherwise, we expect our debt will be settled by the next full moon.”

“The next full moon????” Warrick erupts.

“Yes, the very one. See, the way we look at it is, if you fail to pay the debt, then we will kill off your males and acquire fresh females for our males. So either way, we win in this situation. The choice is yours.”

Seething Warrick lunges for the man, snatching him by his collar. “You dare threaten to kill our pack mates and kidnap our females. This is your version of peaceful negotiations?”

Grabbing Warrick by the shoulder, I tap his hand, gripping the man's collar. He drops the hand and the man. Nate brushes the front of his shirt and fixes his collar back. “Yes, I view this as peaceful negotiations. We have extended a few options for your Alpha to consider and gave him the better part of the month to decide which way he will go. How this plays out is completely up to him at this point.”

Clearing my throat, I bring their attention back to me. “I could not determine exactly what Orion was doing for your pack or why he even had this debt to you. Before I can decide, I need to know all the pieces. You say that you can extend the same offer to me that was given to him, but I don’t know what the offer even was.”

Nate chuckles, shaking his head from side to side. “Figures the dumbass would have kept everything in the dark. I can tell you he had a bit of a gambling issue. Seems he liked to gamble the odds on professional sports games. He was shit at it which lead him to blowing through the money your pack contributed each month. In order to pay for the needs of the pack, well…that lead him to us. My alpha doesn’t just hand out money, so of course we had to find a job for dear ol’ Orion.” He looks at his nails and moves his hand from side to side.

“Obviously, we aren’t aware of gambling issues he had. Least to say that is not his worst attribute. What was his job?” I prod him to continue.

“Drug running. He would get a text once a week at a disclosed location. He would show up to find a car with the drugs in the trunk. His job was to drive them over the border. He would unload and then return the car to the disclosed location. That simple. I am shocked you never noticed him gone for days at a time.”

Warrick and I exchange a look. We didn’t notice him gone, but then again, we considered it a good day if we didn’t cross his path altogether.

“I appreciate your time and the options your Alpha has so graciously presented us. I will have an answer for you by the full moon. Now, if there is nothing left to present us, you are no longer welcome on Rocky Mountain Pack lands. Do well to send a notice next time before showing up on my lands.”

“Yes, sir. We shall see you soon, Alpha.” He bows and turns to exit the room. “Also, Beta, do well to learn to control your temper. You won’t always be met with someone willing to allow you to put hands on them.”

---