Chapter 44

Silver’s POV

I had gone through half the stack of papers, and it was nearing nightfall. My mind was spinning from all the complaints this pack had and I wasn’t even sure where to begin with it all. They complained about the lack of education in the pack’s school system and how the children weren’t being taught the right things. They complained about the meal planning and the lack of choices each day. Women want to start training as warriors, finding it unfair that only men get to be gammas, and I had to agree with them on that. Why aren’t more women training to be gammas? They could fight just as much as any man.

They also wanted their children to start training at young ages for when they were older and decide to join the Gamma warriors. They also want more sports options for both women and children.

The local park has been trashed by rogues and has been deemed unsafe to visit; not enough housing, forcing women and children to live in the packhouse. Women want to open boutiques and salons but not enough space or funding. A couple of packmates wish to get married and would like the Luna to prepare the ceremony.

Those were only a few things that I had read while going through each paper. At some point, I took out a notebook and a planner and jotted down some notes about how I could fix certain things and improve stuff around the pack. I started to make a daily schedule for myself, wanting to talk to each packmate one-on-one and get to know them and their complaints personally before I take real action.

I logged into the computer for the first time, and I was surprised that the passwords were already saved on the files so I could tap into the pack budget and find out exactly how much I could spend on these projects.

I called the couples that wanted marriage and found out when they expect to get married, and I made a plan to meet with them at some point next week so we can start seriously planning the weddings.

I created some flyers inquiring about some new teachers at the local school and created a park cleanup volunteer signup list. I scheduled a time to get the volunteers together and I planned to help them clean the park as well.

I created a whole new meal menu, and I sent them to Mariah’s email letting her know that I will start creating new menus for her to work with each week.

At some point during the night, I fell asleep at my desk. I barely made a dent in the tasks that I needed to do, but I made a bit of progress and was able to speak with some of the packmates over the phone and get some scheduling done.

My eyes could hardly stay open, and I wasn’t even sure what time it was.

I was awoken only for a moment when I felt a strong pair of arms wrap around my body and then the warmth and scent of Elliot enveloped my nostrils. I sighed contently as I rested my head on his chest, allowing his warmth to wrap around me and soothe me back to sleep.

I don’t even know how we got home or how he managed to get me there without waking me. I woke up early the next morning, still feeling groggy as if I hadn’t gotten enough sleep. Elliot was getting dressed and his shirt was off. He wore a pair of sweatpants only and my mouth nearly watered at the sight of him.

How was it possible for someone to look that good?

He must have felt me staring at him because he turned, and his eyes found mine. A smirk played on his lips.

“Good morning,” he said in a deep and almost sultry tone.

I swallowed.

“Good morning,” I repeated. “Did you sleep well?”

“I did,” he answered. “Did you?”

I nodded my head once, my eyes wandering over his abs and gazing down at his happy trail that disappeared in the waistline of his sweatpants. I could almost see the outline of his cock and my heart skipped a beat in my chest.

He cleared his throat and my eyes shot back to his face, mortified that he caught me checking him out. This time, he was grinning, and his brows pinched together.

“Are you alright? You seem a bit flustered.”

I knew my face was probably beet red; I could feel the heat in my cheeks.

“I guess I’m still a little tired,” I admitted, which wasn’t a complete lie.

He nodded thoughtfully like he understood.

“I was honestly surprised you were still at the packhouse last night. I was about to leave when Beta Leo mentioned you hadn’t come out of the office since he brought you there. I thought there was no way you’d still be there, but I went to check anyway. Imagine my surprise when I see you sleeping at your desk.”

My cheeks flushed even more.

“I guess I lost track of time,” I admitted.

“You think?” He asked, his sarcasm wasn’t missed, but there was also a twinkle of humor in his eyes, so I didn’t think much of it. “I managed to see some of the work you’ve started and your scheduling. You’ve gotten a lot done. I’m quite impressed.”

“I’ve barely scratched the surface,” I told him, chewing my bottom lip a bit nervously.

“You’ve done more than I’ve done for them. I’ve been putting most of those things off because they weren’t my priority at the moment. Thank you for helping me out.”

It was at that moment I realized his wounds were gone.

“You’ve been healed,” I said simply.

He glanced down at his body before nodding.

“My wolf worked all night to heal my wounds,” he explained. “I’m an Alpha; we don’t stay injured for long.”

I nodded, thoughtfully.

“I see,” I said, keeping my bottom lip between my teeth. “Where are you off to this morning?” I found myself asking.

“I am training with the warriors and Alphas this morning,” he answered. “We are preparing ourselves for any future rogue battles so injuries like yesterday don’t happen again.”

“Will Shirley be there?”

I wanted to slap myself for asking; I sounded like a jealous teenager, and I hated how pathetic it was. I immediately wanted to take back that question, but his brows pinched together and the look of confusion crossed his handsome features.

“Uh, yes,” he answered. “She is an Alpha as well.”

“Right,” I said, staring down at my hands. “I just figured because she’s female—”

“She’s an Alpha female,” he said, cutting off my words. His tone hardened and he sounded almost sharper than he had moments ago. “Does it bother you that she will be there?”

I shook my head, trying to save myself from further humiliation.

“No, of course not. It’s just that you don’t have any female warriors and I wasn’t sure if there was a reason behind that,” I blurted.

He raised his brows.

“Females are weaker and are meant to be protected by the males,” he told me as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Now it was my turn to raise my brows.

“There are some females who are quite strong and more than capable of defending themselves in a battle. There are quite a few in this pack who wish to fight. Some mothers wish for their children to start learning at young ages as well. Are you really going to deny your pack that?” I asked him, folding my arms across my chest.

He looked genuinely surprised by this.

“There are females who wish to train with the gammas?” He asked. “Why would they want that when we could protect them?”

“What happens if they are caught alone? A rogue attack could happen anywhere at any time. Nobody is safe and that’s been proven in the past—”

“We are doubling our patrol,” he told me, cutting off my words once again.

“And if that doesn’t work?” I asked him. “What then? What if the rogues invade and there are too many of them to stop?”

“That won’t happen—”

“We don’t know that,” I said firmly, cutting him off this time. “Wouldn’t you rather we all be prepared?”

He was quiet for a moment while he processed those words.

“You are right,” he finally relented. “I was being stupid thinking we could keep all the females protected. It would be better if they could at least defend themselves as well.”

“Don’t deny them a chance of fighting, Elliot. They love this pack just as much as you do and they want to help keep it safe,” I told him. “We are in desperate need of more warriors to protect this pack. Mothers are afraid to bring their children to the local park because of the attacks. We could use more guards in that area to keep the women and children at the park safe. I’m hosting a get-together of volunteers to clean the park and make it a nice place to hang out, it would be nice if I could borrow some gammas to accompany us.”

He nodded.

“Of course, whatever you need,” he said without hesitation.

“Thanks,” I said.

He left the room without another word, leaving me staring at the closed door and feeling a tightness in my chest I couldn’t quite explain.