Chapter 59

Grace

Amira was a goddess of miracles and pettiness. Not only had she gotten a stamp with my petty signature made, but she had set up a workflow between the transfer system and the pack’s messaging system to tell everyone who was transferring that they had a week to get out or they would be escorted forcibly, and two weeks after that to get their addresses and things changed. She even had farewell postcards and information packets in the transfer packets to be delivered to the individuals leaving. How she managed to get them all printed, stamped with my signature, signed, and delivered before the end of the week, I had no idea, but I loved the enthusiasm.

“I think we should renegotiate your pay.” Her eyes widened. “I don’t think I pay you nearly enough to be that petty.”

She grinned. “That’s just the mark of a happy employee. I updated the pre-natal ones with their medical records.”

“That’s nice.”

She grinned. “Not when they’re going to have to pay those crazy fees in other packs.”

I blinked. “For pre-natal care?”

She nodded. “And they’re not eligible for welfare until they’ve been there for a year and held a job.”

She picked her nails. “Some people should really do their research before making hasty decisions. That woman is going to live hard for the next year, if not the next five.”

She looked up at me. “I hope you don’t plan on letting these people come back.”

I smiled. “I didn’t.”

She beamed. “Good.”

She went back to opening more mail, and I shook my head. “I’m glad you’re enjoying your job.”

“The number of people who cited I hate lycans as a reason to leave a perfectly good pack is enough to make my blood boil.” She paused. “Though that may be because my boyfriend is a furnace. I don’t even need a blanket when he’s in a snuggly mood.”

She wrinkled her nose. “He’s always in a snuggly mood. He’s huge, and this is the first time I haven’t been afraid that he’ll break my bed just sitting on it.”

I laughed. “Are you enjoying the arrangements?”

She nodded. “I was fine in my apartment, but the new place is… Well, if this is how he’s been living in the Clan territories, I could see why he didn’t want to move!”

I blinked, realizing that had to be Charles’ doing. I scooped up a pile of mail.

“Don’t get lost in all the petty.”

“Of course not!” She said. “That’s just fun. About the transfers in. What sort of timeline do you want for those?”

“I’ll need to review them, but ideally, giving them a little more time to make the move would be okay. Two weeks, I guess? That should be enough to get them in the welfare system so they’re not coming with absolutely nothing.”

She pulled out a pad of paper. “I grew up here, but what’s the welfare system for incoming transfers?”

“Job placement, housing arrangements, we get them in with clinics if they need it. Oh, there’s a health check…” I rattled off the rest of the procedures, and she looked at me like I was insane.

“What?”

“I can’t understand why anyone would want to leave.” She shook her head. “I really dodged a bullet, I guess.” Her lips twitched. “Sort of. I get in contact with those departments and get the balls rolling.”

I nodded. “Thanks, Amira.”

I headed to my office and found Charles on his laptop, typing away.

“You’ve hired a petty little office angel of chaos.”

I laughed. “It would seem so.”

I sat across from him, biting my lip and searching for the words I wanted to say, but then the door opened, and Eason came in, looking like he still wasn’t sleeping, but his eyes were alert. Charles looked up. “You need sleep.”

“Yes, Yes, Eason needs sleep,” he said, shuffling over. “Let’s get on with it.”

He plopped down beside me. “Community building: volunteering projects, casual meet and greets hosted at local hotspots…”

I stared at Eason as he continued to rattle off ideas. It seemed like he was just overflowing with ideas, but there was something in his tone that was worrying. It was distant like he was going into a trance or something. The hair on the back of my neck lifted. Then, Charles growled at him.

Eason sat up and shut his mouth. His eyes were wide as he stared at Charles.

“You are going to take the rest of the day off after this. George is going to drive you to the Pack House. You will eat and sleep. No work for the rest of the week.”

Eason blinked again, then dropped his gaze and swallowed.

I looked between the two of them. “What was that?”

“Eason hasn’t been sleeping,” Charles said. “And he was sending himself into a spiral. He’s reacting to the state of the pack… Specifically, you.”

I blinked and looked at Eason. “You…”

Eason flushed. “I’m fine.”

“You need someone to look after you,” Charles said, texting. “George is going to do that. Let me know what you think of him, hm? He’s single.”

Eason huffed. “Were any of my ideas good enough?”

“I’m pretty sure they were all good, but you need sleep.”

“I suggest that you take some time from the lab and be seen at some of these events as a volunteer,” Charles said, frowning at his phone. “You’ll need to start building up your rapport with the people who are still here and the ones coming in. You don’t need to broadcast it loudly. Word of mouth will do enough to slowly start to turn the narrative while we’re still buying back the stock.”

“Right.”

As we talked further, I noticed that Charles had gone rather quiet. He was still looking at his phone, and while I could tell he was paying attention, he wasn’t giving us all of his attention like usual. I glanced at Charles, my concern growing with every passing moment.

"Charles, is everything all right?"

He lifted his head and offered a tight-lipped smile. "I'm fine, Grace. Just some things on my mind and things to manage."

“Lycan King problems?” Eason asked, leaning on the armchair and blinking slowly like he was about to go to sleep.

Charles hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Yes, there have been developments," he admitted cryptically. "But nothing that should concern you, Grace."

I exchanged a glance with Eason, feeling a mixture of frustration and understanding. Charles had his reasons for keeping certain things from us, but it was still frustrating not to know what was going on in his world.

Eason decided to change the topic, steering our conversation back to our plan for the pack. We continued to discuss our ideas, with Charles chiming in occasionally, but his distraction remained palpable.

Deep down, I couldn't help but worry about what was occupying Charles' thoughts. He might have said that it was just Lycan King issues, but something told me that wasn’t all. Was it about Devin? Amy? His mate?

I tried not to think about it, but it was almost impossible to think about anything else.

Over the next few days, I dove headfirst into the task of reconnecting with the members of the Mooncrest Pack. It wasn't easy, but it was necessary. I worked a few hours at various clinics and helped with volunteer activities. I got pulled into some deep conversations with pack members, and I realized that many of the issues we faced weren't as new as I had thought. In fact, they were deep-rooted problems that had existed even during my father's time as alpha.

Maybe my father had cleaned up a bit in his time, but there was still much more to do.

It seemed like every time I met with a new pack member and listened to their concerns, I was seeing our pack in a whole new light. It wasn’t just prejudice towards lycans, but between transfers and born pack members, between socio-economic classes, and anything else two people could disagree on. Some had felt neglected or unheard for years, while others had faced prejudice and discrimination that had left scars. It was eye-opening to see how much pain and resentment had built up within our pack.

Every time I came back, it felt like I had expanded my running list of community needs, but I was grateful. Many of them simply wanted to be heard, to have their concerns acknowledged, and to feel like I wasn’t so unreachable. Others longed for more transparency in pack decisions and a say in the direction of our future.

I couldn’t say how many times I apologized for getting lost in my grief, for being blind to it all, for being weak, but I cherished every look of understanding and kind words.

He was a great man. We all miss him still.

He’d be proud of you pulling yourself up and setting back to work.

It brought tears to my eyes and peace to my heart.

It felt like I was finally making some real progress, not just for me but for my pack, too.