Chapter 90

Olivia POV

I had no idea what to say. I needed to do so many things, but right now I needed this man to continue to be the kind, playful husband he was being. My whole body seemed to light up inside from his touch, and all I wanted was for him to keep smiling and be happy.

“Do you mean that?” I asked, feeling brazen as I smiled back.

“Of course,” he said. “What’s your next project? Changing the world? Freeing everyone from all their concerns?”

I laughed because his tone wasn’t mocking me. “Actually, I was thinking I would eliminate world debt. Do you think that would work?”

He laughed, a deep and almost carefree sound, and then he spun me around as though I weight nothing. “If I could, I would,” he said with another laugh.

Oddly, his joviality let me find a sensible position inside myself, and I replied earnestly, “What I most want right now is to make a safe space for wolves to come to me. I want them to report the problems they’re having without worrying that speaking them aloud will cause more trouble.”

He frowned at me, but it was in concern, not disagreement.

“You think wolves are being punished just for speaking up?”

“Absolutely,” I said. “I need to use the interest about the White Paw Initiative to continue the cause. It’s too easy to say, ‘Oh, hey, there’s a problem,’ and then not follow up on things. We need to use the wolves of the White Paw without exploiting them.”

He made an odd face. “And how will you do that, exactly?

I laughed a little, covering my dismay. “I have no idea.”

The next day, still feeling the strength of Elroy’s arms around me, I met with Fay and several of her trusted wolves, including Ines.

To my surprise, we spent most of the meeting, at least at first, discussing the need for the banquet I was planning.

She scoffed at first. “Canapés and Champagne? We’re talking about changing wolves’ social attitudes, not teaching people how to use serviettes.”

I nodded eagerly. “Yes, and the main boundary to change is that wolves want to keep the ranks of alpha, beta, and all that, as though they are all that matter.”

“They do matter,” Fay said flatly. “They matter in a thousand ways.”

I nodded slowly. She was right. The ranks of werewolf society did mean a great deal, and pretending otherwise wasn’t just foolish, it would make me look ignorant.

“Werewolves understand the world through their packs,” I said. “But the emphasis is too focused on status, especially in demoting omegas and promoting alphas. I want the emphasis shifted to the relationships among wolves and the way we must rely on each other not just compete for rank.

“Just look at you,” I said, turning to Ines. “You’ve endured so much with grace, yet most wolves think of omegas as weak.” I looked back to Fay. “And you’re a beta and one of the most impressive leaders I’ve ever heard of.”

I frowned at my cup of tea, and then Jordan spoke: “Let’s call it what it is: a caste system.”

The discomfort in the room thickened instantly. I looked around and saw almost everyone wanted to object that castes had been outlawed 300 years ago, when Moonshadow and Eclipse split from the original Stormhowl Pack.

The old Stormhowl Alpha had held on to his power until his dying breath and died without naming an heir. His two alpha sons held greatly different views, particularly over the old caste system. As they had equal strength in the pack, they divided it into Moonshadow and Eclipse and then promptly went to war with each other.

There had been no clear victor in the fight, though Moonshadow was able to gain enough status to do away with wolf castes, labeling them “disgusting and oppressive relics of a time long past.” Eclipse hadn’t really stopped resenting Moonshadow’s triumph since.

But Jordan was right. What Ines and the others had described was a caste system in all but name.

“People aren’t going to like our using that word,” I muttered.

“People aren’t going to like a lot of things,” Fay said.

“Yes, but there’s a knee-jerk reaction to the term ‘caste.’” I knew we were all thinking about the war fought over it by several packs, including Moonshadow and Eclipse. If we weren’t careful, we could easily set off armed conflict by claiming the case system had returned.

“I suggest we don’t actually say ‘caste,’” Jordan said.

Fay nodded. “We can continue to call it a class system and indicate it’s gotten almost as bad as a system that locks people into a life based solely on the way they were born.”

“Will just not saying the actual word be enough?” Maria, a beta from White Paw, asked.

“It’s a start,” I said then felt a little relief when everyone just nodded. I was getting more comfortable in my position of authority. “That’s why a grand banquet is how to want to kick this off. I want to show I’m keeping the pack traditions that don’t need fixing and that paying more attention to the needs of all wolves doesn’t mean going into a period of austerity.”

I smiled at Jordan. “Which is why I’m going to need you more than ever.” I looked around the room. “Jordan here made my dress for the Luna ceremony.”

The woman made appreciative noises while Jordan blushed slightly.

“I’ll make you something even better for the banquet,” she murmured with a pleased smile.

“Hopefully, the dress will distract people enough they’ll talk about how lovely the party is and not complain about the White Paw Initiative,” Ines said.

“Yes, and to that point,” I told her, “I think it’s more than time for us to make your position in the initiative clear.”

“Oh?” she asked.

I nodded. “I’d like you to be CEO of the nonprofit.”

Ines looked surprised. “Not you?”

“No, I’m going to have my hands full with being Luna, and I can’t have people thinking I’m shirking on my duties for the WPI.”

She thought a moment. “Can you serve as liaison?”

I smiled again. “Absolutely.”

“I can do that as well,” Fay said.

I looked over at her with a little frown. “As much as I’d love to urge Ines to slot you into the WPI infrastructure, you’re going to be busy for the next while settling your pack in Lunaris. I’d like you to ensure everyone, and I do mean everyone, from White Paw integrates successfully into the city with a job they choose for themselves and a life they want.”

“On that matter,” Fay said, “several of us do have distant relatives in Moonshadow, Eclipse, and Ravenscrest, though I’m not sure if they would appreciate being contacted.”

“I won’t allow coming from White Shadow to be a social stigma,” I said firmly. “You all survive every pack’s worst nightmare. Your people are going to be a great asset to Lunaris.”

“They’re not really ‘my’ people anymore,” Fay said softly. “They never really were.”

“Nonsense,” Maria said, flipping her long blond hair back over her shoulders. “You led us out of hell, as far as I’m concerned.”

Others in the room nodded.

“I’ll send out some feelers,” Fay said finally. “Some people may welcome their White Paw family; others definitely won’t.”

“White Paw’s sigil is a blood wood, right?” Jordan asked Fay.

“It was, yes.”

“We’ll be adding it to the Moonshadow sigils,” I said. “So, it’s only right it becomes the theme for our banquet.”

“Including your dress,” Jordan said with a little gleam in her eyes that let me know if nothing else good came out of the banquet, I was going to look fabulous.