6. Remy

Chapter six

Remy

The idea of Remy jumping into the fold of getting the rogues out of the territory made her body tired. She was exhausted after having more than fifty different bonds created inside of her and it felt as though every synapse in her brain was fired from it all. She’d be no use to the pack during this fight. She didn’t even know if she could shift right now as her Lycan was radio silent inside her soul. Knowing that she would have to relearn what it meant to be inside the pack and understand each pack bond, it would be better for her to stay in her room and allow the bonds to settle. She did not want anyone to know about Chase until she understood what had happened to her that led her to the island first, and now she would have to figure out who the other two mates were as well. One certain thing was that she had to talk to her mother and father and ask who was present at her party from the other packs.

As she made her way up to her room, Remy thought about Chase again. The man was bold and adventurous in doing what he did in the middle of the party and challenging Remy like that. They could have been caught with him being an alpha and drawing on the pack magic. Something about it made her whole body tingle. Remy was known throughout her pack to bend or break the rules, and now her second chance mate pushed the boundaries and made their first interaction more thrilling. That was something that Remy always wanted in a mate–someone willing to push boundaries, not afraid to challenge anyone or anything–and even though she had given him stipulations tacked onto their bond, he was willing to follow them to show her he wanted her. She thought about the Alphas and Betas she had met over the years, and Chase never came to mind. It was always something that the children of Alphas had to do while growing up so they knew who all the important people inside the kingdom were. Nowhere in her memories was Chase in any of the packs back then. It could be that he was a third or a fourth ranking within the pack and then climbed the ranks either in death or challenges. Whenever they had another chance to talk, she would have to ask him how he became an alpha. Remy may have only been away for a year and a half, but that was not long enough to get this far out of the loop. Lycans lived a long time, so it is difficult for so many changes to happen in such a short period of time.

A blaring horn sounded through the building, telling Remy it was safe to walk around the territory. It felt weird to Remy that it had only taken roughly twenty to thirty minutes before the rogue issue was dealt with. Either only a few attacked at once, or they could not find them again in the territory. Their land was vast, but with how many wolves they had, and how quickly Lycans could run, search parties might have combed through the whole area. Remy waited for a different alarm to tell her if somebody was gravely injured. The pack bonds indicated no deaths, but that’s as far as the magic would go. If someone were injured, the only people who would know would be the Alpha and Luna.

I guess this could have been just a warning.

Are rogues giving warnings now?

Remy’s Lycan was right. Rogues did not usually fire warning shots. It worked better for them to ambush rather than develop a plan. There have been stories in the past of Rogues doing that, and each time, it led to the destruction of each Lycan who tried. Leaders of rogues must have paid attention to those stories and have not tried that tactic since before Remy was born.

After the day’s excitement, Remy peeled off her party clothes and tossed herself in bed. Her eyelids grew heavy, and her muscles did not want to move after feeling the soft mattress underneath her. Within seconds of her head hitting the pillow, Remy was out like a light.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The sun shone behind Remy’s eyelids through the window on the right side of her bed. A groan escaped her lips at the morning light after having had the kind of sleep that, the moment you close your eyes, it feels like only a blink before morning comes. Remy already knew she would have a laundry list of things she would have to do that day. Now that she was packed, she would be incorporated into the schedule of daily tasks that came with it. This was the boring side of things Alphas had to do, but now that she was back, she would be expected to do them. She threw the covers off her, stumbled out of bed, and went into her closet. Remy pulled out a fresh pair of black jean shorts and grabbed a black T-shirt to go with it. As she put them on, she prepared herself for her mother’s long argument about her clothing choices, that she needed to add more color to her wardrobe.

She quickly ran into the main house, and her mother was in the kitchen. A pile of scrambled eggs and bacon was ready for her at the table.

"Thanks, Mom," Remy told her before sitting down and taking a big forkful of egg into her mouth. Her mother made the best eggs. They were always perfectly salted and peppered with a hint of hot sauce inside. Remy loved to get a bite full of egg and then a slice of bacon in her mouth simultaneously to give her a full taste of salty, savory, and spicy all in one bite.

"Your father wants to talk to you," her mother said without looking up from the sink where she was running water.

Remy’s stomach sank at those words. Did her father know about Chase? Did he see something in that corner regardless of the pack hiding them? Or did the other mates know who she was and have already claimed her to be transferred to their packs? Remy swallowed the food in her mouth and took a second to gather her thoughts.

"Do you know what about?"

Tala was washing the dishes, so her back was turned to Remy. Her mother’s green eyes peered over her shoulder before smirking, "Why? Did you do something you shouldn’t have last night?"

Yes!

"No," Remy told her mother, hoping that the scents of breakfast would cover the scent of her lie.

That was the tricky thing about Lycans. There was a scent for every emotion, especially lies. There were other ways that a wolf would be able to tell if somebody was lying, like if the heart rate of the pulse went up or if someone could not meet their eyes. But a lie always gave off the scent of perspiration, and Remy had to tell herself that she wasn’t lying. Technically, what she had done, which she would have done since he was her mate anyway, wouldn’t have changed even if her parents did know about their mate bond. Mates usually touched each other in some way or looked at each other among other things. Lycans were huge on touch, and it helped calm the beast inside of them if their mate was touching them. So, what she did with Chase was in the scope of things mates would do with one another. It wasn’t a lie.

It really wasn’t.

Tala chuckled, "He wants you to tag along with him for some things with pack business. Now that you are back, he hopes you will still do all the training and whatnot to take over someday."

Remy groaned. "So, no foreplay at all? Just ’Hey, glad you’re home, and by the way, now you need to get back to doing everything to take over the pack and business?’ I couldn’t have even gotten a week to get re-acclimated to everything?"

The clanging of the dishes Tala was placing on the shelf to dry filled the room. Remy couldn’t tell if it was to ignore her or to prepare her wording to make Remy feel guilty about not wanting to dive right back into becoming the Alpha. Remy continued eating while Tala continued to do the dishes.

Ignoring. She is ignoring me.

There was no chance in hell that Remy would rush through eating to get to her father’s office. Just because she knew she had no choice but to do all of these things didn’t mean she had to hurry herself to do them. Lykos won’t hand over the pack and business within the next few days. The original plan was always for Kodi to take over when he was around twenty-five and had shadowed Lykos for a few years. This was so he knew all of the Alpha duties and how to run the business backward and forward before having to run it himself. If Lykos were willing to give her brother that much time, then there was no reason to believe he would not give her that time as well.

After eating, she walked her plate to her mother and asked if she wanted Remy to help with the dishes. She washed a plate herself, and Tala said no. Remy hoped she could wash her dishes to put off the inevitable, but that wasn’t happening, so she went off to her father’s office.

The door to her father’s office was, surprisingly, open, and only Lykos was inside, sitting at his desk. He seemed to be focused on the computer screen, so Remy sat down in the chair in front of the desk. She waited for him to finish the task he was doing. It was never a good idea to interrupt Lykos when he was working.

"I assume you had breakfast and spoke with your mother."

Remy narrowed her eyes at him. "I know you can talk to Mom through your bond. She told you I was down there and warned you before I came up here."

Lykos smiled. "Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the best this morning?"

This was something Lykos always asked her when she threw shade at him. Instead of playing into it, she continued to glare at him.

"Then I assume she made you aware that I wish you to resume your training."

"Yep."

Lykos looked up from his screen at her. "Is that not something you want to do?"

Remy sighed. If she was honest with herself, she wanted to run the pack. The Lycan inside her was too dominant not to run her own pack. Ever since she was a little girl, she knew she was more dominant than most of the people in the pack, and she would one day have to run a pack just like her parents. It was just the thought of having to deal with everyone else’s bullshit that did not excite her. Running a pack meant she would be the person everyone ran to with their problems. She loved being there for her friends on the island, but that was different. They didn’t whine to her about where they were in the hierarchy or where their room was inside the pack house.

"I do, but I don’t. It’s a lot of responsibility, Dad. I’m not the best person to really want, or be able, to deal with problems. I get frustrated very easily, or I may make a rash decision that doesn’t really benefit both people. How am I supposed to govern all of these people when I really don’t want to hear about their problems?"

He laughed at her. Remy did her best not to growl at him for laughing. A weird sound came out of her, only making her father laugh at her more.

"Do you think I always like hearing about everyone’s problems within this pack? I will admit that this is a downside of being an Alpha, and not every decision I make is always beneficial to both parties, but the main role of an Alpha is to protect everybody inside the pack and ensure they have all of their needs met. Basic needs are having enough to eat, drink, and somewhere to sleep, and honestly, that is something an Alpha can provide. The good thing about our pack is that everyone pitches in. Most of the work will be done for you, and you don’t have to worry about many mundane things. Your Beta could end up being the person everybody runs to with trivial matters you don’t have time for. Bryan handles a lot of that for me. I, too, get very annoyed with people coming to me with problems that could have been settled with a simple discussion between themselves."

It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Hearing that the people underneath an Alpha could handle some of the things she may not want to deal with would be her lifesaver. During her time away, she must have forgotten what each member of the pack did for the rest of the pack.

"I promise you that being an Alpha is more rewarding than frustrating. Yes, there will be times when people will piss you off. However, it is a great feeling knowing that everyone you take care of appreciates you for everything you do. You will be the person they will count on to keep the territory safe. They don’t know that you are keeping people safe by keeping good relationships with all the neighboring packs. You will be the person who is in charge of the schedule of everyone willing to watch the lines of our territory and alert the rest if someone nefarious is coming our way. Many things go into being an Alpha, but you are mostly the CEO of the pack’s company, and you delegate responsibility to trustworthy people to help you run it like a well-oiled machine."

Remy took in the information and relaxed knowing there was more to being an Alpha than being everyone’s parent or babysitter. She may not have been as reluctant if her father had had this discussion with her sooner.

"Are you feeling a bit better about this?"

Remy nodded.

"Good. Now we can get onto the real reason I brought you here. Since you have left, things have gone a little haywire. Over the last several weeks, there has been an increase in people getting into disputes with other packs. At first, it was very petty, and I honestly thought it was because of the upcoming full moon. Stupid shit, like someone looking at them wrong and even a fist fight over the last beer. Then it made its way through the grapevine, and people were starting to up the ante even after the full moon had passed."

A downside of being a Lycan was the moon making them a little crazy. The week of the full moon tended to be chaotic. People were emotional, and their tempers ran higher than normal. Most people tried to keep their beast in check, but it wasn’t always successful. Remy learned to keep her mouth in check during the week of the full moon so that she wouldn’t get into physical altercations with everyone she met.

Lykos continued, “It has come to my attention that people are not happy with the territory lines they have been given. Long ago, when packs were first being formed, Lycans fought other packs and drew their territory’s lines so others would know what theirs was. So Lee, the Alpha King, came to be, and that was when a kingdom blueprint was created. They had taken the time to map out each pack’s territory and drew it out so everyone could see it. Every pack now has a copy of that blueprint. Territory lines have not changed for hundreds of years. I do not know why people are starting to get fussy about it now, but that is the issue we are dealing with. Many do not like that we hold the largest territory outside the Kings. They want our land, they want our crops, they want our livestock, and they want our property. It is getting to the point of other packs settling disputes with arguments and, soon, physical challenges."

"So, people are not happy with what their ancestors have given them and are now having pissing matches to get what they believe they deserve?"

Lykos laughed, "I guess you can say that."

"But that is why this all matters. They are now unsatisfied with what their ancestors left behind and want more."

"Truthfully, I believe people just went a little bit further in life than previous alphas. The packs are struggling, especially those not in a good section of the kingdom that can give them everything they need to prosper. Some areas barely have enough space to put a pack house that does not fall apart because of flooding or the foundation settling wrong. When you see that people have something as amazing as we do, they will naturally want it because what they have is not what we have."

"Grass is always greener..."

He smiled at her. "Exactly."

"Okay, so what do you want me to do about it?"

Lykos sighed and leaned back in his chair with his hands clasped on his lap. "Our neighbors are some of the packs that are unhappy with what they have and want some of our territory. I am hoping you will tag along while I pay visits to each of the alphas. The neighbors and I need to discuss what exactly they want so I know if I am willing to give it. I personally do not want to give up our territory to anyone. Our ancestors brought harm to others for the land we rule, and we have done incredible things with it. However, I know we are much better off than other packs, which has created jealousy in our area."

"You didn’t answer my question."

"I want you to come along to see how to handle these situations. If it is a problem for me while I am reigning over this territory, it will most likely become your problem whenever you choose to take over. I’d rather you see how to handle this now instead of having many discussions with your top people to come to a solution."

It wasn’t much to ask for her to do this with him. Lykos had a point, too. This was a great opportunity to witness how to discuss issues with neighboring packs so it did not need to descend into a war. Lycans were quite known for their ability to use fighting to settle their disagreements. That was something that Remy did not want to continue.

"Okay, when do we leave?"