Natalia’s P. O. V
Being an Alpha was harder than I thought.
Of course, I hadn’t been deluded enough to assume it’d be a cakewalk, but I definitely hadn’t anticipated how heavy the weight of having the wellbeing of nine new werewolves resting on my shoulders would be.
The bite the Queen had given me the ability to bond Werewolves to me by biting them. It seemed that pups born into the pack didn’t require a bite to be included in the bond, but for new members, it was necessary.
We’d held a ceremony in front of the main building of our territory. Timothy had been the first to receive my bite, followed by Hailey, then I’d pretended to bite Kaesha. Despite the fact that she’d insisted that she could just use her magic to heal herself like a Werewolf, I hadn’t wanted to bite her. Partly because she still needed time to figure out how to join the bond using magic, but mostly due to the fact that I didn’t want to needlessly hurt her just for show.
The rest had followed, swearing their allegiance to me on La Luna and stating their expectation of care in return.
As a new pack, we were given six months from the date of our creation before we were required to pay dues to the Royals in the form of taxes on the income we generated.
That brought another issue of figuring out how a pack of our size could produce anything of worth.
Timothy and I were by the training grounds on our walk to survey how our members were settling in, when we deliberated on the matter.
“We could offer up some of the houses for rent.” He’d suggested.
Our little town had the capacity to house about two thousand people, give or take a few hundred. I’d been certain that our members wouldn’t be up to two hundred within the next year, so as long as the members remained on the side of town near the village, I doubted it would pose much of a problem.
“That’s a good idea, but till we get enough people renting houses, what are we gonna do in the meantime?”
“I sectioned off a piece of land that could be used for a farm. Some of the members could work it and help provide food that way. Any extra can be sold too.”
I’d nodded. There was a small grocery store not far out of town, which was where we’d been getting food for our members for the time being, but opening up a market of some sort would reduce the amount of money we were losing.
Timothy had also suggested asking our current and future members if they had any talents with crafts like woodworking or blacksmithing that could be used to create items to sell. Timothy himself focused a lot of his efforts on crafting intricate pieces of art that could be sold online, while I reached out to the Claw Moon pack to ask for their help with farming practices.
The Alpha of the Claw Moon pack had called to congratulate me when he’d heard the news of an anonymous Alpha registering a pack, and we’d discussed our plans further. Publicly allying with a pack as large as the theirs could risk scaring the Lightwoods off and deter them from targeting us, so Alpha and I had agreed to keep our allegiance under the radar till they were in my grasp. He was still more than happy to send a few members of his to help us get started with our farming and animal rearing.
Now, three weeks from our official creation, the Claw Moon members were out with our own members, Hailey and Kaesha were out there getting their hands dirty, and I was waiting for Timothy in my office.
I hadn’t given him many specifications on how I’d wanted it to look, and so I had been pleasantly surprised by how much I loved it when he’d shown it to me for the first time. It was a pretty wide room, with bookshelves already beginning to be populated with official documents for our pack and a few textbooks. My desk was placed before the floor to ceiling window, offering me a view of the nearby buildings like the training grounds and common house, thick drapes on either side waiting if I needed them. The desk itself was made from a beautiful red wood that I’d found out had been crafted by Timothy himself, polished to glossy perfection, with the stamp he’d given me upgraded to one that proudly stated my title and pack. It had three drawers, one of them with a lock and a false bottom. He’d gotten me a swivel chair made from a luxurious looking leather and two seats across from the desk.
All that was great on its own, but he’d also had an escape route built into the space under my desk and a small, secret saferoom installed in the space between mine and the Beta’s office where I filed the originals of the dirt Kirstin had given me on the Lightwoods.
Footsteps treaded up to my door, Timothy’s scent announcing him to me before he finished walking.
“Come in.” I called before he could knock.
He walked in, clicking the door closed behind him, “You called, oh great Alpha.” He drawled, sinking into one of the seats across from me.
I lowered my papers and gave him a sidelong glance, to which he responded with a cheeky grin, “I wanted to talk to you about something.”
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“What’s up?”
“I’d like to officially name you as my Beta.”
His brows shot up, “I thought the idea was for me to pose as the Alpha in public.”
“Yes, but you’ve been giving your all from day one and you’re basically already performing the role. It wouldn’t be right to leave you title-less.”
He remained silent for some seconds, then asked, “What about Sunshine? She’s Alpha-born so making her the Beta would be a better move.”
I had pondered over choosing Hailey. As the daughter of an Alpha, it wouldn’t be surprising if she turned out to possess some leadership qualities. And he was right, having an Alpha born wolf serving as Beta would definitely improve our standing.
I shook my head, “I considered it, but she didn’t grow up as a Werewolf, and she’s got other commitments with school. She’s been incredibly helpful, but you’re the one that has been and will be on ground when school starts again.”
His waning skepticism was painted all over his face, regarding me with a look that asked if I was sure this was the best decision.
I sighed, “I know what I’m doing. Just take the position, you’re more than suitable for it and your wolf is big enough to count too.”
A slow smile crept into his expression, “How can I refuse the will of our great leader? I guess I’d better get to work, Alpha.”
I returned his smile, “Right. That’ll be all, Beta.”
We gathered for his official title announcement during one of our breaks the next day. Since he’d already been working closely with our members, it was well received, and even Hailey was cordial about it. After congratulations and respects were paid, I addressed the other topic at hand.
“Is there anyone here that would like to attend the Summer Mate Ball?”
Our current efforts were directed at establishing ourselves. The first and most vital tasks were learning how to raise our own food and establish some income sources, after which plans for the Claw Moon Pack to send trainers had been put in place. But finding one’s mate was a right, and none of my members should be deprived of.
Seconds passed, then more, and nobody indicated any interest in attending the ball.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
Daniel and Daniella shared a look, while Eyepatch, Ryan, stepped forward, “Many of us lost our mates before arriving at the Sanctuary. Besides, how can we go when there’s so much work to be done?”
I nodded, gratitude at their determination growing in me. I hadn’t told them much more on my plans yet, but some already showed signs of being determined to stand by me, “In that case, the meeting is adjourned.”
We returned to work. Since I’d finished a lot of the paperwork yesterday, I was able to join them in the field, learning alongside them and entertaining a significantly more energetic Carla, who had insisted on accompanying her parents since they’d been part of the group sent to help us out.
That was how the days passed, then weeks.
We cared for some crops out in the open, and most others in the greenhouse. It took a lot more work than simply poking holes in the ground and dropping seeds in them. We also needed to learn how to care for the cows, chickens and goats. The goats were the hardest to deal with, stubborn as they were. Most of the animals seemed to be able to sense that we were werewolves and as a result were somewhat subdued, but not the goats. Their stubbornness didn’t let up till Hailey, in her mounting frustration, slashed at one of them in an anger fueled half shift.
Apparently, the feedback from our members was positive. Everyone that had indicated their interest in joining after a month turned up, plus three more that had wanted to join by the end of the year. Their arrival brought our total numbers to twenty-two. They settled in easier, helped by our other members, then got to work after a few days.
Things seemed to be progressing well. I was getting to know the personalities and some of the strengths of our members, we were well on our way to self-sufficiency, and save for a few tiffs, most of us seemed to get along well enough. The only issue was that with the arrival of Penelope, the girl I’d seen Timothy talking to at the Sanctuary, Hailey’s mood shifted.
She pulled a Houdini every time the two of them were together. Her communication with Timothy became almost nonexistent as she constantly had either me, Kaesha or some other member send him messages, somehow always seeming too busy to talk to him herself. And when she did speak to him, it was awfully brief and overly civil. I’d heard them resolve the argument they’d had months ago the night in the tents, but something about seeing him with Penelope seemed to be driving her to avoid him all over again. From what I could gather, she’d been in his old pack when it had been targeted by the Lightwoods, and Kaesha had whispered to me that they’d apparently dated at one point. It’d make sense for Hailey to be uncomfortable around them if she still had feelings for Timothy, but she was still with Kaelin.
‘The mate bond is stronger than you give it credit for, Nat. Most werewolves can’t just discard it the way you seem to be able to. Especially not in cases where they haven’t rejected each other yet.’ Candy said.
I glanced at Hailey seated across from me. I was working in my office today and she’d come in some minutes ago, wanting to see how I handled paperwork. One glance outside told me that that organic curiosity might not have been the only reason she’d taken an interest in something as tedious as paperwork.
Candy was seemed to be right. Outside the Lightwood Pack, the mate bond seemed to be something that was cherished. Perhaps part of my aversion to mates in general stemmed from living in a place where it was so callously discarded.
I held in a sigh, ‘If she still feels things for Timothy, then I just feel bad for Kaelin.’
Plus, I didn’t fully understand why they still couldn’t be together. If her feeling were still there, and Timothy had already expressed his desire to be with her, them choosing to remain with other people on puzzled me.
‘Tim rejected her for almost a year so I get why she wouldn’t want to jump into being with him right away. Who’s to say that he won’t just let his fears take over again? And she seems to really care for Kaelin, so why not just stay with him?’
‘True. And he treats her well.’ I agreed, thinking back to all the hours-long calls I’d been on with her where she pretty much sang his praises after going on dates.
I glanced at her again. She was engrossed in the work I’d given her, her blonde brows slightly furrowed as her green eyes skimmed over the page.
I just hoped she was able to work through her conflicting feelings soon enough so she could be happy. She deserved that much.