“She needs time to play as well,” Shannon interjected when Alarick opened his mouth to say something. “You’re not going to just schedule every minute of her day. There needs to be some flex in the schedule.” She hesitated for a moment before adding, “And I think she needs to see Luna.” I froze, staring at Shannon in shock.
“I don’t think she really needs to see me,” I objected, nausea rolling in my stomach.
Shannon stood and came over to wrap her arms around me. “Angel, I know you’re having nightmares about it.” She pressed a kiss to my temple, and even with the audience, I didn’t hide from the affection. I needed her touch right now, and I leaned into it, desperate for the comfort as self-disgust ate at me. “I’ve felt them through the link. It may not help, but until you take steps to deal with it, you’re not going to be able to start sleeping any better.” Her glowing green eyes were filled with tears as she tilted my chin up to brush a kiss over my lips. I felt my emotions ease, and I knew she must have pulled them into herself.
“Baby, don’t,” I murmured, fighting her power with my own. “I know you can’t help but feel some of what I do, but you don’t need to take it.” I didn’t want her feeling this, she was too good, too pure, to have to deal with what I’d become. Other hands brushed over me, and it took me only a moment to recognize Chann’s soft touch as he stroked over my hair and back, lending his support and comfort as well, brushing gentle kisses across my forehead.
“Tinkerbell, I think you’re making this nightmare worse in your own mind,” Chann murmured. “I’ve taken time every day to check in on Luna. Partly for my training, but partly because I knew you’d want us to keep an eye on her for you. She doesn’t hate you. She misses you.” My chest squeezed tight, and tears dripped down my cheeks that the two omegas were quick to wipe away as they stroked my cheeks, legs, and arms, offering comfort to me and my wolf. “I agree with Shannon. I think it would do you good to see the pups again. Not today, but soon.”
“Soon,” I whispered, letting my body sag between them, letting them hold me up for just a moment as I fought for my strength. “Let’s get through today, let’s plan this all out, then I can figure out a way to face her.”
Chann scooped me up, heading for the sofas in front of the fireplace where we all settled. I wiped away the remainder of my tears, taking a deep breath as I tamped down my worries regarding Luna. One problem at a time, and at the moment, that problem was Lyle. “So what are we going to do about Lyle?”
“My father hoped we could wait until he was back on pack territory before we made a move,” Alarick informed me, settling himself carefully across from me, “but apparently that isn’t going to happen. I reached out to him over the past few days and haven’t heard anything back from either him or Borris, so they must be deep in negotiations with one of the other packs.”
Concern tore at me, and I reached out to clutch Zev’s hand as he sat beside me. “That’s normal?” I croaked, fear tightening my throat. Raff and I had spent little time together, but he had looked out for me behind the scenes since the time I was young, and I considered him a friend. With everything going on, the idea that Raff and Borris were out of touch had the hair on my wolf’s neck rising and a snarl working its way up my throat.
“Very,” Alarick assured me, offering a comforting smile. “I frequently go on these trips with him as part of my training, and if it wasn’t for me needing to be here with you, I probably would have. On our last trip, we were in meetings for nearly eight days without contact.”
Zev groaned. “Goddess, I remember that. That was when the plumbing went down and the students all reached out to their packs to complain, and we were handling calls left and right.” He shuddered. “Talk about a nightmare.”
I giggled as some of my tension eased. “I guess so. I just don’t like the pack being separated.”
Alarick nodded. “It’s part of the magic that binds you as beta. It has more of a pull on you now than when you were merely a member of the pack. You now have an innate need to hold the pack together at all costs, it was part of your oath.” I nodded my understanding, thinking of the magic that had bound me to Raff.
“I agree with Pixie,” Shannon piped up. “It’s a hard time to have them out of contact.”
“Is there some kind of emergency system?” I inquired slowly, considering it. “I mean, would we sense if he was in trouble? Or is there a guaranteed way to reach him if there is something that we can’t do without him here?” My thoughts returned to the Starlight Woods Pack. “I mean, what if Starlight Woods came and challenged us or something? Or simply overran us?”
“There are wards that would kick into effect if they tried to overrun us,” Fillian explained. When I looked at him askance, he smiled and pushed his glasses up. “Some wolves have protective powers. Because this is a school for multiple packs, wolves from each pack got together and imbued the wards. They won’t protect the grounds, only the building itself, and they aren’t permanent, but it would allow us to contact our allies and bring aid to the school. A fail-safe, if you will. It won’t prevent challenges, but it does prevent all-out war.”
“Unless they capture anyone outside the walls of the building,” I countered.
Fillian inclined his head. “Which is why we have gates and scouts, all of which have increased in number lately.” Okay, point taken.
“Challenges need to be issued to the alpha, not the stand-in, remember?” Shannon reminded me with a nudge. “So they’d have to wait for Raff to return.” Something was niggling at me, an instinct or thought that just wouldn’t connect, and I hummed to myself, hoping if I turned my attention elsewhere, I could figure out what I was missing. We’d have to worry about the pack politics soon, but for now, it was time to focus on Lyle and hope I wasn’t going to end up losing everything I had finally gained.
Chapter Seven
Pixie
“So what are we going to do about Lyle?” I asked, poking at my phone. “He’s clearly not going to wait anymore, but we’re still where we were when we last talked about this.”
Lyle had reached out to me before the Strawberry Moon to demand money. He’d stated that the people who had bought my mom’s house had told him Fillian had bought the mementos he’d included in the home purchase at a significant price, and it had spurred him to hire a PI to investigate me. When he learned that I’d received gifts since entering Lupine Hollow, he had flown into a rage and commanded that I sell the presents and give him money, claiming my mother had owed him and now I did too. When I’d attempted to refuse, Lyle had threatened to declare me a danger to myself so he could maintain guardianship of me after I turned eighteen.
“My father was looking into getting you emancipated before you turned eighteen.” Alarick stretched before rubbing a hand against the back of his neck. “Unfortunately, with the increase of problems with Starlight Woods and Lyle’s insistence on meeting so rapidly, I’m not sure we will have enough time for that.”