Series: Star Moon Pack Series by J.L. Beck
Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 118781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
“There you are.” I barely have time to register Forrest’s arrival before he gives me a hard shove. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Come on. The ceremony is going to start soon.”
I shake my head to clear the thoughts of this girl from my mind. It’s for the best, isn’t it? Whatever was about to happen the moment that little wolf was out of the water, it could only end badly. I should know better—I need to know better. Fun is fun, but I’m not just anyone. How many times have I been reminded of that? And at a time like this, when everyone needs to work together, the last thing I need is to start a war between the packs because I couldn’t keep away from someone I knew was going to be trouble.
I can get my dick wet anytime I want. I don’t need to sacrifice my pack’s stability for it. Still, something tells me that little wolf is going to get me in trouble if I’m not careful.
“Some shitty little place, huh?” Forrest asks with a snicker as we walk down a beaten footpath leading back to town, or what passes for a town. “How does anyone keep from dying of boredom around here?”
“Simple. They cross the border into Black Rock territory.” Not all packs are as stringent with their borders as we are, and everyone knows the Black Rock pack is always up for a party. They’re legendary for their array of entertainment options, everything from the rather tame bars and clubs to strip joints and upscale sex clubs, where it doesn’t matter which pack you’re from so long as you can cover the entrance fee and want to fuck. Things like that aren’t exactly allowed, but most people involved know better than to disrupt what keeps a bunch of horny wolves satisfied.
“Why couldn’t we have gathered there?” Forrest grumbles. “They’ve got plenty of hotels for people to stay at.”
“Too much of a distraction,” I decide, not to mention the logistics. It’s one thing to have hotels with empty rooms, but there are plenty of empty rooms and homes here that wouldn’t mean lost revenue for a pack if they were suddenly filled with no one footing the bill.
“There you go, always thinking of the business side of things. Fucking boring.” Forrest shakes his head.
“I don’t always.” But someone has to, and as future alpha, it’ll have to be me. Something our father has drilled into my head for as long as I can remember. In today’s day and age, it isn’t enough to show strength and be a leader. Finances are always hanging overhead, the prospect of the pack’s success or failure.
Not that we’re particularly hurting. Far from it. If anything, that only increases the pressure on me when my time comes. When a pack has come to rely on a certain level of comfort and security, they want to know their next alpha will only sweeten things.
Granted, with the war and everything, things might look a lot different than what certain members of the pack expect. It will take a while for us to bounce back to where we started.
I’m still brooding over this as we approach the meeting hall, which from the looks of it, at one time served as a school auditorium. “This used to be part of a boarding school, didn’t it?” I ask my brother, who grunts in reply. Though old, the structure is solid, well-built, and reflective of the wealth of the town’s citizens. Where did their wealth get them? They’re all dead, having been turned into mindless, bloodthirsty shells before the packs took them down.
And now we’re on the verge of that happening again. I wonder how many of the wolves living in this territory think about that or if they ever do. They’re living in a ghost town created by the last uprising.
“There you are.” The sight of my father’s face, the strain in it, snaps me out of my wandering thoughts. He’s doing his damnedest to conceal his irritation, but we know each other too well. None of the others standing nearby seem to notice anything unusual, but then they’re preoccupied with sizing up the other packs in attendance. We might be going to all this trouble for the sake of uniting, but that doesn’t mean old rivalries have ceased to exist.
“I told you I’d bring him with me,” Forrest reminds our father.
“I only went for a walk to clear my head,” I explain.
“You’re expected to be here with me, son. This is your place.” I offer a tight murmur, which I suppose might pass for an apology, even though I’m not feeling apologetic.
My mother returns from chatting with a few of the other lunas from the other packs. It seems they’re more willing to mingle and be cheerfully diplomatic than the males. Even they’re welcome tonight, along with the alphas and betas, all of the most prominent members of each pack now gathering in the enormous space.