— Darren —

“How is the transition going?” I asked Michael.

“Not as smooth as I’d hoped,” he admitted.

I was in my office, video chatting with my eldest brother.

My mother has pushed for my father to retire, but being the ball of anxiety that he is, he’s been having difficulty letting go.

Some of the administrative aspects of the position in Stonewillow pack had been transferred to my brother, but he was far from being a full-fledged Alpha, and the family company was still in my father’s name.

“You’ll get there,” I told him.

“You’re kinda more there than I am,” he told me.

“I’m not an Alpha.”

“You’re Alpha enough,” he said. “Anyways, how’s business on your end?”

“Some days are easier, others are hectic.”

“How was yesterday?” It was seven in the morning here, so obviously he couldn’t ask about my day yet.

“Hella hectic,” I admitted. “It started with a business ventures in France, then a couple of calls with packs that are not receiving the help the Brotherhood offered and looking for an ear to complain to, and finally my sister-in-law jumped on her mated when he popped up here, who is the Alpha of Boisclair.”

“Boisclair, like the rich pack in France?”

“The one and only,” I said.

“People keep pulling insane numbers out of their asses about their wealth.” He snorted. “How much of this is true?”

“More than you’d expect. They’re old money, like really old money. They don’t have as many businesses as a lot of packs, but the interest alone on their investment portfolio is enough to make some small nations jealous. I think they have a jewel collection to rival European royal families.”

Michael grunted in acknowledgement.

“I think their wealth got seriously out there when one of their Alpha married into actual royalty. The daughter of one of the Louis Kings of France. Can’t remember which one.”

“I’ve been told there as never been royalty with werewolves,” said Michael.

“There hasn’t been. They married a human princess. I think they married into the Hapsburg too. They saw mingling with the right humans as a better investment than staying amongst wolves, and it actually paid off. Most wolves just sneered at this, but look at them now. They are the main financier of the Brotherhood so they get plenty of favors from them, and I doubt they’ve had an Alpha doing serious work in the last ten generations,” I said. “Three generations back, their Alpha was playing in operas in his free time, which was at least once a week.”

“Damn, and now you’ll be related to one?”

“Possibly, twice in-law’d, but yeah. He’s a kid though. Only eighteen. He relies a lot on the Hellhounds for help, and security. News circulates a lot better now than it did centuries ago, and they’ve attracted a lot of negative attention. The Brotherhood has offered a lot of support because they are their main investors, but the Brotherhood has not adapted well to the increase in population in the last centuries. Their effectives are spread thinner and thinner every year, and they’re seeing enemies everywhere.”

“That would explain why it took me three weeks to get a reply.”

“Is it that bad?” I asked.

“Well, I suppose they don’t make packs like Boisclair or Blakemore wait as much as others, but Kyle Jones of Greenvalley had to wait nearly two months after them while they were having some serious rogue issues. By the time they returned his calls, things had escalated far too much.”

“Greenvalley is not that far, is the rogue situation home getting worse?” I asked worried.

“Yes. There’s a new Alpha gathering rogues. He tried to get approved as a pack, but the Brotherhood refused, and he had no true territory to begin with, so he decided to go after other packs in the area.” Michael rubbed at his face in exhaustion. “People are getting nervous. Especially small packs. Everyone is scrambling for alliances, but there are rumours that they’re using spies and infiltrating everywhere now. We don’t know what their strategy is, but we found a few deads, all in packhouses. No signs of breaking and entering, so they were probably in from the get go. A lot of computers and hard drives, and black books have disappeared too. It’s turning into the cold war. Everyone suspects everyone. People plays close to the chest, but at the same time, if we keep isolating ourselves, we won’t get the help we need to face them, and the Brotherhood is less and less reliable.”

“What about the alliances?”

“They look nice on paper, but no one is ready to share anything, and they keep shifting around, because there is always suspicion, which tarnishes any other in alliance with them, and so on.” He sighed. “I’ve had constant headaches for two weeks straight.”

“Damn, that’s not good,” I said. “We’re pretty busy here, so I can’t promise anything, but I can talk to Kaden. Maybe there’s something that can be done.”

Michael straightened. “That could change everything,” he admitted.

“Maybe, maybe not. The Brotherhood is not our biggest fan at the moment, and we just got out of a war with an ambitious upstarts, getting into another would not help our situation. Plus, with all that, The Hellhound just found his mate, and now another of his sister did too. I don’t know how much time is left in the days to deal with anything more.”

He nodded. “But he has a pretty big team, right?”

“Yeah, and generally things roll normally regardless, and it might get into a more natural pace soon. But there’s been some change of personnel.” I pointed at myself. “Plus that mate. It’s not easy to build a relationship while working over seventy hours a week. And she’s a stray, she hasn’t been raised in packs, she has to learn from scratch everything about packs and their power structure, and the responsibilities she will inherit. It might take her a little while until she can take responsibilities of her own and lessen the load.”

Michael winced.

“I think she’ll do fine. She looks like she’s been born for this, she just needs to learn the theory, the rest will come in time.”

Michael shook his head. “Everything slides off you like it’s nothing.”

I shrugged.

“Well, little brother, I’m glad you found your place,” he told me sincerely. “How’s it going with Eva?”

“Good, we found our pace, we like our house, we work a lot, but we like our jobs, and we make sure not to over do it either, we spend time together when we can.”

“Any baby soon?”

“God you sound like my mother-in-law.”

He laughed. “Mom made me promise to ask you,” he confessed.

“Figures,” I said. “And no. We both want kids, but we want to take our time, we want to settle our career first.”

He nodded. “Marriage?” he asked.

“Mom?” I asked.

He grinned. “Obviously.”

“Well, you can tell her, not in the next few months.”

“Does that mean it could come later?”

“Maybe. We talked about it. But man, her family is not known for restraints. If we announce a wedding now, it’s probably gonna turn into a national event, somehow. I’m not sure if I’m ready for that.”

He laughed at my loss of composure.

“What about your love-life?” I asked, shutting him up instantly.

He shrugged. “At this rate, I’m probably going to die a bachelor.”

“You can date you know,” I told him.

He sneered humourlessly. “I know that, but if I date anyone right now, I’m setting expectations. Becoming Alpha complicates things now.”

“You can still date without marrying the woman.”

“I know that, but it changes the dynamics within the pack,” he said exasperated.

“Then date outside of the pack.” He didn’t seem to like the fact that I had an answer to every one of his rebuttals.

He shook his head. “I have a meeting in twenty.”

I looked at my watch. “Well, I should get things rolling too.”

We closed the conversation pretty rapidly after that.

I would like for my brother to be happy, but I’m not really the type to play matchmaker. Plus, he could have a mate about to pop up at any moment too. But the rogue situation down there, really bothered me. I wanted to do something, but it wasn’t my home anymore, and it was far. I’m not sure what resources I could have at my disposal to help them, and what reach it could have.

I needed to talk to Kaden, but I was afraid to hit a wall.

I guess you can gain nothing if you don’t risk anything.

— Kaden —

The day couldn’t end soon enough.

I’d sent a text to Elaeya not to wait for me for Dinner. The sun was already down. The days shorter and shorter as the month progressed.

The whole situation with Jean-Philippe had rendered him pretty much useless.

Granted I’ve had three days with Elaeya before life caught on to me, so I decided to give him some slack. I had difficulty imagining Jasmine as a Luna. But then again, Eva had not been the most reliable person I’ve known for most of her life, but she was a good Gamma, she worked hard, and I could count on her. But Jasmine was much younger. I don’t know if she’d sort her life quick enough for something like this.

It’s not like she could just normally date for a few years before making a move. Jean-Philippe was not from the same country as us. Even more so, his pack spoke a different language altogether.

The learning curve could be steep.

Mom had decided to take care of that situation for the moment, which was the best, given the situation.

And now Darren came to me with problems abroad. It’s not anything I hadn’t heard of, but it was more worrisome than expected.

In any other situations, I would have made a call to the Brotherhood to accelerate things, maybe they’d told me to make a move with their blessing, but given the situation, it was not a great or reliable option now. I could have made a call to Boisclair for their support, but their Alpha had difficulty un-gluing his lips from my sister’s right now, and I doubted he’d be much help.

I made a few other calls, allies and such, but it was a tricky situation, and most were not ready to take risks.

If I made a move now, I could bring more heat from the Brotherhood, And I could end up doing campaign away from home for a while. With Elaeya here, I wasn’t sure how well it’ll go. I had wanted to spend at least a few months here first, maybe even tone down my involvement abroad. Give it a rest for a while. Let the dust settle.

But Stonewillow was nearly family—by alliances—but still. It could be a good thing to back them up.

I wasn’t very fond of the father. But the few times I talked with Michael, I’ve gotten a good vibe from him.

It could be a good idea to forge alliances with them as he transitioned to power. Plus, we don’t have that many allies in that region, it wouldn’t hurt to gain some.

I’d buried my face in my hands, thinking furiously.

I’d had my nerves on edge all evening, and I didn’t know why. Maybe it was the whole Boisclair thing, I don’t know.

I sighed.

My phone rang.

Maybe I should just go home, eat something and go to bed early.

I looked at the screen, it was Mrs. Raynolds. I don’t remember having her ever call me.

I picked it up instantly.

“Yes,” I said.

“Alpha, it’s Miss Elaeya. Something is wrong.” My heartbeats spiked. “I heard commotion in the drawing room and I found her unconscious on the floor. Mr. Sam was here and he took her to the hospital in Blakeden.”

“I’m on my way,” I told her. I was already running through the empty corridor, and I rushed to the garage.

I called Sam’s phone, but there was no answer.