AZALEA

Lily was only able to put off the kids until around dinner time. They were insistent on seeing their father, especially Delilah. I could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t sure how to tell them because she was struggling with it herself. The only thing that distracted them momentarily was Missy and Maddox joining us. The kids were excited to see them and Leo insisted on sitting on Missy’s lap while they ate.

Although she tried to hide it, I could see the fresh mark on her neck. Liam saw it too, and I could see the conflict on his face. He was happy his daughter found a good mate, but he wasn’t happy about her having s*x. I just patted his leg and smiled, knowing our little girl wasn’t so little anymore.

I knew Lily needed help, so I offered to go with her. She agreed, even though her eyes were misty as she thought about telling them. After dinner, Liam took our children to play video games while Azly napped. Missy and Maddox joined them after stopping to tell me they wanted to move out of the packhouse and into Missy’s house soon. I told them we could talk tomorrow and they should stay here tonight.

When I caught up to her, Lily was trying to tell Delilah and Lucas where their father was at. “So, you know how Daddy is big and strong and one of the best fighters in the whole pack?” she explained. Lucas nodded enthusiastically while Delilah just stared at her.

“Well, sometimes, Daddy can still get hurt,” she said.

“No, he can’t!” Delilah said. “Only Uncle Liam can hurt Daddy!”

“I know, sweetie,” Lily struggled. “But every once in a while, Daddy and Uncle Liam meet someone that might be a little stronger.”

“Is Daddy hurt?” Lucas asked her.

“Yes, Daddy got hurt. Doctor Ron has been working very hard to make Daddy better, though,” she answered.

“No!” Delilah said, starting to cry. “You’re lying!” Lily looked so hurt at her daughter’s distrust.

“Hey, hey, hey,” I said, getting both kids’ attention. “Now your Daddy is an amazing fighter, one of the best, really. But sometimes, people don’t play by the rules. Someone pulled a mean trick on your Daddy, and he got hurt because of it.”

Lily nodded her head. “Yes, just like Aunt Lea says. Someone tricked him.”

“Right now, he is just sleeping while his body gets better,” I said. “But soon, he will wake up, and you will have your same old Daddy back.”

“When will he wake up?” Lucas asked.

“We don’t just yet, bud,” I said, rubbing his arm comfortingly. “But I am sure it will be soon.”

“I want to see him,” Delilah sniffled.

“Okay,” Lily said. “We can go see him.” She looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded.

“Do you want to grab a car, and Azeron and I can wait with the kids?” I asked. Lily nodded and stood to leave us. “He is resting at Doctor Ron’s clinic so Doctor Ron can make sure he is all fixed up,” I told them. Lucas just nodded while Delilah held back tears.

“We are going over to the clinic so the kids can see Damien,” I linked Liam.

“Be careful,” he said back.

“Alright, let’s go wait for Mom to bring the car up,” I said. They both nodded, and the four of us headed outside to wait.

When we got to the clinic, the kids followed Lily closely while we headed back to Damien’s room. When we got outside of it, she stopped them. “Daddy is sleeping right now, so we can hug him, but we need to be gentle, okay?” she said. Both kids nodded.

She opened the door, and they rushed to Damien’s side. I stopped next to Lily, grabbing her hand. “We’ll wake him up. They won’t lose their dad.”

“Oh Goddess, I hope so,” she said in a shaky voice. We watched as the kids went to either side of Damien’s bed. Lucas stopped and just observed his father. Delilah was still for a minute before she threw herself over him and started to sob.

“It’s not fair,” she cried as Lily came to her side. “I would have stopped the bad people. Why would they hurt my Daddy?” Lily rubbed a hand up and down her back.

“I know, sweetie,” she whispered. Azeron and I stood outside the door, letting them all have their moment.

–

Over the next few days, RSVPs started arriving for Liam’s Summit. At first, he was insistent that he could handle the arrangements for everything on his own, but when more than 20 packs had agreed to come in only a short time, he was quickly overwhelmed.

He finally relented and let me help him. Unfortunately, Lily was still with Damien for much of her time. Felix and Lacey took an entire 48 hours to join the world once more, but no one could blame them. When they did, Felix seemed more relaxed than when he arrived, and Lacey was vibrant and full of life once more. They started watching the kids during the day except for Azly, who mainly stayed by my side.

Maddox spent most of his time training or helping Austin with pack matters, while Missy spent her time helping me with the arrangements for the Summit. Maddox was quickly absorbing all aspects of the responsibilities that came with managing a pack. I was happy to have Missy’s help in Lily’s absence but still missed my best friend. She had been quiet thus far about the matter of moving out of the packhouse with her mate, but I knew the conversation would need to happen soon.

Langston went back to his pack and had Emma help work up some accommodations for all the visitors. We were hopeful that between the two neighboring packs, we could find places for everyone attending.

Once Missy and I began to tackle the lodging and food arrangements, Liam was able to focus on the security around the pack and how he was going to present the situation. He planned to quadruple our border patrol, putting enough bodies on the border so that there was one to about every 40 yd section. This was no small feat with the size our pack lands and required the additional support of Langston’s pack to make sure it was adequately managed. He also set up access points so that the wolves traveling into the pack could only enter from specific points; their identities would be verified before we permitted them entry. Each pack was required to respond to their invitation with names and photos of those traveling with them, as well as a password they would use to enter.

Within a few days, Missy and I had almost enough lodging prepared for the RSVPs that we had received. We would make use of as many rooms in the packhouse as possible. Lily and the kids were temporarily coming to our floor. Missy and Maddox were staying at Missy’s house for the couple of days that this would last with the agreement to speak about it becoming a permanent move after the Summit.

I worked with Lemon to clear up as many rooms at the Inn as possible, and she was even able to reschedule some reservations by offering some discounts for reservation transfers. The construction on the group home was complete, so half of those rooms were being designated for guests as well.

Langston and Emma could make room in their own packhouse to accommodate some of the guests, but it was still falling short of our needs. Then, Missy surprised me with a useable solution.

“So, school has been postponed for a couple of weeks, right? Why not use the classrooms?” she said as we were looking over the growing list of summit attendants.

“That might actually work,” I said excitedly. “We can have all the desks and chairs moved down to the basements or maybe the gymnasium temporarily.”

“Yea and you can fit a couple of beds in each one, plus there are locker rooms for people to shower in,” she said.

“That’s my smart girl,” I said proudly. As we finally had a plan for housing everyone joining us, we moved on to the more significant task of feeding all of these people. Miss Marci had begun researching different cuisine norms from across the continent. We sat down and put together menus that could offer variety to guests and provide alternative options for dietary restrictions we might encounter. Abigail agreed to help with all the cooking. Missy also convinced Sol and her other friends to help.

While all the pieces were coming together, this Summit had turned into no small undertaking. By the end of the week following the sending of the invitations, we had RSVPs from 68 different packs. Our messengers had finally exhausted their searches by then, so we still expected a few more to come in.

Liam was a tornado of stress. As the different packs accepted his invitation, he tried to learn as much as he could about them. Jacob and Gentry were helping him to find out anything and everything about all our potential allies. One evening, I brought Azly and a plate of food up to him in his office when he missed dinner. He had folders covering every inch of his office, and he was going between them all. He was trying to identify those he potentially thought would be the best suited to help lead this combined force of werewolves he was trying to build.

I had to pull the folders from his hands and replace them with his daughter to get him to agree to retire for the night. With Liam’s agreement, I got Azeron to collect the files back up nicely while I took Liam and Azly to our room for the night.

“This has to work,” he muttered as he played with Azly on the bed. He laid her down in between his legs and tickled her feet, making her giggle and kick.

“It will,” I said, rubbing his back. “You’re an amazing Alpha, and no one else could pull this off like you.”

“Only because I have help,” he said.

“Why wouldn’t your pack step up to help you?” I said. He was quiet for a minute more, his superficial smile directed only at his daughter.

“I don’t want to think about what will happen if Warwick decides to attack before we are ready,” he said.

“We’ll be ready, My Alpha.”

MISSY

Maddox was coming out of the shower when I finally dragged myself into the bedroom. All of this Summit preparation was just exhausting. I couldn’t imagine how Lea could so flawlessly flick from one problem to another, solving everything in her path. I could never do what she does. Thank Goddess, I am not mated to an Alpha.

I slumped on the bed as Maddox exited the bathroom, shorts on his h*p and a towel over his hair. He came right to the bed and leaned over me, trapping me in between his arms.

“Hi,” he said with a mischievous smile.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

“Uhhh…” I g*****d.

“You look tired, darling,” he said, his face softening. I just nodded my head. “I know what might help.”

He climbed on the bed and flipped me over, settling himself on top of my back. His deft fingers started attacking my shoulders, and I melted into the mattress.

“Mmmm,” I hummed.

Maddox laughed. “Feel good?” When I didn’t answer, enjoying it too much to bother, his hands stopped.

“No, come back!” I said quickly. He chuckled again and went back to his rubbing.

“So, did you talk to your mom today?” he asked.

I sighed. “She said she wanted to talk to Liam but thinks if we promise to focus on school once it’s over, we can attend the summit.”

“What do you think Alpha will say?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. I can’t really tell where his head is at lately,” I lamented. “If Damien would wake up, everything would probably be different.”

“I think we all want him to wake up,” Maddox said.

“Lea still goes every day,” I told him. “She sits by his bed and tries to wake him up even amidst all the preparations.”

“Do you think she can do it?”

“Goddess, I hope so.”