Chapter 61

Lucian

I called the former Rogue, Sandra, into my office. I had left her in charge while Kieran and I were traveling with Zara. At first glance it seemed like she had done a respectable job of handling the pack in our absence, but I wanted details.

Sandra reported promptly, and bowed at the door.

“Come in,” I said, “and relax. This isn’t an interrogation.”

“It’s not, Alpha? Aren’t you going to question me about events while you were gone?”

“Yes,” I said, “but I’m already pleased by your performance. Nothing burned down and I have the same number of wolves when I returned as when I left.”

“Ah, that is not technically true, Alpha,” Sandra said.

“It’s not?”

“You have one more wolf now than you did before you left. The she-wolf Carla and her mate Tyler welcomed their first pup the day before yesterday. They have a healthy boy, and both mother and child are doing well.”

“Oh,” I said. I thought over the pack rosters. Carla was from the second pack I took, and she found a mate in the third. I had known they were hoping for pups but hadn’t known their quest was successful. “I will tender my congratulations after they’ve had a day or two to rest and adjust.”

“The Alpha’s blessing will be appreciated,” Sandra said. “As you have no Luna, you will want to arrange the traditional gift yourself. I believe a blanket is considered appropriate and useful.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “I’ll find something nice and soft.”

“It’s a pity the Mate Ball didn’t work out,” Sandra said.

“For you or for me?” I asked.

“Well, I went from a starving Rogue to being handed temporary control of four joined packs, I’d say it worked out perfectly for me,” Sandra chuckled.

“You just had to spend some time in the dungeon and sell out your employer,” I said.

“Former employer,” Sandra corrected me, “and as dungeons go yours wasn’t so bad. Anyway if you’re asking whether I feel guilty over informing on Alpha Silvestre, the answer is nope. He didn’t earn my loyalty, he bought my service, and left me to rot when I wasn’t useful anymore. No hard feelings, that’s life, but I ain’t gonna feel bad about my choices either.”

“Fair enough,” I said. It was good to know where we stood. I didn’t have Sandra’s loyalty, not yet, but I had her service. She wouldn’t turn on me without a reason. I just wouldn’t give her one. Loyalty was earned, not bought or taken by force.

“So what did you want to know?” Sandra asked.

I could ask a list of questions, but I was curious.

“Tell me anything that you feel is significant enough to report,” I said.

“Oh, putting me on the spot, hm? Okay, I can work with that. I’ve already reported the new pup. There were several minor fights among the young males. No significant injuries so I set them to an extra hour of training and cleaning duty in the guards’ barracks. There was a minor injury during training. One of your guards, Jake, fell during a run and twisted his knee. The healers tell me it’ll be fully healed by the time he shifts with the next full moon. I put him on light duty as a precaution. Oh, I also put Tyler on minimal duties so he can bond with his pup and naturally Carla will be off duty until the pup is weaned.”

“Naturally,” I agreed. “Have you shifted the guards around to cover the vacancies?”

“No, I covered Jake’s route myself and Tyler’s brother volunteered to pick up his duty roster.”

“Hm. I don’t want to overwork either of you,” I said. “I’ll adjust the roster.”

“Thank you, Alpha.” Sandra paused. “I don’t mind running guard routes, though.”

“No, but you’re likely to be busy soon,” I said.

“Oh?” Sandra tilted her head. “Planning another road trip, Alpha? I don’t mind babysitting these fine wolves, but there will be questions.”

I chuckled. “No, I don’t intend to go anywhere and if I do, I’ll be leaving Kieran to run things. We don’t often leave together. On that subject, though, did you have any trouble convincing my wolves to obey you?”

“Nope,” Sandra said. “You have a disciplined pack. You told them to obey me, they obeyed. I found it refreshing, if not as challenging as I expected.”

Oh she was in for a challenge. I hid my smile. I didn’t want to tip her off that I had plans, not yet.

“Is that all you have to tell me?” I asked.

“Yes, unless you to hear the latest gossip whispered between the servants,” Sandra said with a laugh.

“I long for gossip,” I said with a dramatic sigh. “No one dares gossip to an Alpha, you know.” I gave her my best mournful expression. Kieran did it better, but mine was effective because no one expected it.

Sandra gave a surprised laugh. “All right, then. Gossip it is. May I sit? Standing at ease to deliver a bunch of rumors feels odd.”

“By all means,” I said, waving her to a chair.

“Thank you, Alpha,” Sandra said as she sat. “Now, I’m not telling you who told me, because I might inform on my former employers but I don’t snitch on the kitchen girls, get me?”

“Of course,” I said. I liked that, it was good to know where she drew her lines.

“So, there’s a lot of talk about your trip, as you’d imagine. Some folk were real shocked you came back with the hybrid, honestly.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Well, rumor was you were taking her to trade her to her human family, or just escorting her off pack lands to be rid of her. Now, some romantics were convinced she’d talked you into a human marriage with one of those priest folks and all that. I’m almost sorry that’s not the case, it was a juicy story.”

“How do you know it’s not what happened?’ I asked, mostly teasing.

“Well, you didn’t announce her as your Luna for one thing,” Sandra said.

“Oh, good point,” I said.

“I don’t suppose you feel like sharing the real reason behind the trip?”

“Not right now,” I said. “Something minor came up, Kieran and I dealt with it. Zara is our personal attendant so it’s only natural that we took her along. You may spread that to anyone you like to share gossip with.”

“Thank you, I love having my own tidbits to share,” Sandra said. “There are also a lot of rumors flying about that she-wolf, Chloe, and her former mate. About how you’ve got them both locked away, and why that might be. Did they really conspire to sell out the pack to the human military?”

“What?” I yelped.

“That’s the story,” Sandra said. “Well, there’s a lot of theories about them uniting the Rogues under them into a consolidated army that’ll crash over the packs like a wave of death. But I was a Rogue a month ago and I can tell you, none of them are following that fool or that arrogant she-wolf anywhere. And, well, you interrogated him and then a few days later you traveled to the human lands. Seems like there could have been a connection.”

“No,” I said slowly. “The humans aren’t a threat to us; they don’t know we exist. I’ve seen the barrier for myself and it’s as strong as it ever was. The humans had no idea I was a wolf.”

“That is a relief to know,” Sandra said. “I’ll spread that around too, then.”

“Very good,” I said.

“Is there anything else?” Sandra asked.

“Yes, there is one thing. I need to appoint my new Beta. I had one, but he died sometime after I conquered my second pack,” I said.

“Oh. I thought Alpha Kieran acted as Beta,” Sandra said.

“No, he’s Co-Alpha, he’s not my Beta. It’s complicated. We’re twins, we share the pack.”

“Oh, I see. So you’ll need candidates. Perhaps a tournament to test them against each other? I could make up a list of the most competant wolves I’ve noticed.”

“There’s no need for that,” I said with a grin. “I’ve chosen my Beta.”

“You have?” Sandra asked.

“Yes. You.”

“Me? But… I’m a she-wolf! And I was a Rogue spy not a month ago! I was in the dungeon!”

“And despite all that, you ran the pack smoothly and efficiently in my absence. I’ve asked around, the other wolves like you. They’ll learn to respect you.” I clasped her shoulder. “I told you there would be opportunity for you here.”