Chapter Six #3
“Absolutely.” I turned to the guests he’d brought, who I’d included in the ceremonial greeting even though the greeting was usually only given to the highest-ranked werewolf of a group.
This was my old pack. Of course I was going to greet them, especially Suzannah.
Kirk’s mate, pack healer, and one of my best friends.
I yanked her into a bear hug and took a moment to breathe.
Suzannah was one of the most soothing people I knew.
It was a gift she had, which made her well-suited to being a healer. “Suz, I’m really glad you’re here.”
“I wish I was.” She quirked her lips. “Please tell me this event is going to be calm. Unlike the last several.”
“I’ll do my best.” She knew as well as I did that I couldn’t make any promises.
I didn’t blame her for the plea, though.
She’d been with me at the regional gathering at which Chal Torres was killed, and she’d accompanied Zane to the previous year’s national gathering.
She definitely didn’t need any further upheaval, and I desperately hoped there wouldn’t be any.
After my meeting with Zane and Paul, though, I questioned how peaceful this gathering would be.
Kyle hugged Suzannah as well. “Once we get through all of this, we have the wedding. At least that’s something to look forward to.”
“It definitely is,” Suzannah said. “And it’s about time.”
“It isn’t like legal marriage is required for mates,” I pointed out.
“No, but it is about time.” Kyle touched the titanium band he wore on his left hand. “You proposed. All the catering arrangements and shit are made. Too late to back out.”
“I have no intentions of backing out.” I rolled my eyes, and he grinned.
I turned to the other pack member Kirk had brought as his guest. Jamie Pasquale was here at my request, part of my efforts to make amends for how I’d treated him when we first met on March’s full moon night.
“Jamie, thank you for agreeing to accompany Kirk and Suzannah.” I extended my hand, and he shook it.
“I’m glad you’re here. You’ll be in the room next to Kirk and Suzannah’s with Garrett Saucier of City Pack, if you’ve no objection.
” Garrett was a Justice of the Peace in addition to being a City Pack member; he would be officiating the wedding.
He nodded. “I appreciate the invitation, Anax. Garrett and I have spoken a few times on hunt nights. I don’t have an issue sharing a room with him.”
“Good.” If he had had an issue, I would have tried to rearrange things, but it wouldn’t have been easy. “And when it’s just us, you don’t have to use my title.” I told him that every time we spoke. Sometimes he remembered.
“Got it, Tobias.” He emphasized my name slightly and turned to Kyle. “Mind if I hang out with you when the big cheeses aren’t available? To be honest, I’m going to want to avoid the Cascade and Blue Ridge wolves.” The two packs he’d belonged to before coming to Boston.
“No worries,” Kyle said. “The advantage of knowing this house so well is knowing all the hiding places.”
Jamie scoffed. “Yeah, that might not be a bad thing.”
I motioned toward the golf cart. “Sorry to cut this short. Justin, Garrett, and the rest of their pack, and some of the others, will be here shortly. Mandeep, please make sure the Alpha, Suzannah, and Jamie get settled in their rooms.”
“Yes, Anax.” As if they weighed nothing, Mandeep took three suitcases out of the back of Kirk’s SUV and nodded toward the house. “Follow me, please.”
I wanted to go inside with them. To sit and chat with Suzannah the way I’d done so many times, even since becoming Anax, because she did more for my mental health than any licensed therapist could have.
To joke around with Kirk and talk with Jamie about whatever was on his mind.
But I couldn’t do any of those things. It was my role to be front and center for the next few days, and that included for the multiple hours it took all of my guests to arrive.
Kyle pulled me into his arms and touched his lips to my temple. “I know,” he murmured. “I want this to be peace and quiet among friends just as much as you do. You chose this last year when you challenged Hezekiah. I chose to be in it with you. And I’m right here.”
“Thank gods for that.” I drew in a long breath and let it out. “All right. Onward.”
A few minutes later, three large SUVs headed up the long driveway toward us.
The first, I was pleased to see, was driven by Justin Ruel, Alpha of City Pack.
I’d invited him to bring his mate Tareth with him, but given that Tareth was human—the only human known to be a werewolf’s true mate—and they had a one-year-old son, Justin had opted to leave his family at home.
Tareth and the baby would join us on Sunday for the wedding.
Accompanying Justin for this gathering were Garrett Saucier, the pack’s head tracker Merrill Perrucci, and Felicia Norwood.
The woman who had lost her mate, Ramon Sanchez, due to my choice to bring Ramon and Merrill along on my quest to bring Jack Leary, the former Alpha of Berkshires Pack, to justice after I’d stripped him of the rank for sexually abusing female pack members.
And, worse, demanding those women change human women into werewolves to provide him with more unwilling sexual partners.
Jack had fled to another pack’s territory to evade punishment, and I’d insisted on pursuing him.
When we located him, in wolf form, he tried to attack Kyle.
Ramon had intercepted the attack. Wolf against human rarely ended well, and Ramon had bled out before the rapid healing factor all werewolves possessed could repair the damage.
Kyle and I each blamed ourselves for his death.
Unfortunately, a fair few members of City Pack blamed both of us, and six had left the pack because Justin had taken our side.
I wasn’t sure how Felicia felt. On all of the hunt nights since, she’d stayed close to Lara and their friend Hillary, mate of the City Pack Peacekeeper, and had avoided Kyle, me, and our guards.
Justin had said that she didn’t hold us responsible for Ramon’s death, but I wondered.
As with Jamie, her presence here was at my specific invitation.
I had, however, made it clear to her through Justin that she wasn’t required to have anything more to do with me than she did on hunt nights and in fact didn’t have to accept the invitation.
The fact that she was here gave me some hope that I might make things better between us.
The second vehicle was occupied by Miles Purinton, Alpha of Cape Pack, and his mate Stacy, along with two of their pack members. In the front passenger seat of the third was Thaddeus Matthews, the current Alpha of Berkshires Pack, whom I’d installed after stripping Jack of the rank.
Too many things had gone wrong over the past couple of years.
Too many werewolf leaders had been proven to have abused those under their rule.
When I became Anax, I’d vowed to change that.
I hadn’t succeeded as well as I’d hoped.
But there was still time, and I had pulled plenty of weeds from the packs of the United States.
This gathering would reveal more weeds. But right now, as friends and acquaintances emerged from their vehicles and came to me to be greeted, wasn’t the time for fear.
Over the next few days, things might go spectacularly wrong—but there would also be celebrations.
Declarations of mates. Recognition of the new Arkhon of the Great Lakes Region and the new alphas who had joined my cause to make our corner of the werewolf world a safe, respectful place for everyone.
My wedding to Kyle, the man I loved more than I’d ever believed I could love anyone.
For the moment, I chose to focus on the celebratory aspects, because thinking about the things that might go spectacularly to shit was more than I could handle.