“What the hell? That sounds crazy!” Lil laughs. “These guys sound like the guys on the compound. What do you do to make them just fall at your feet? You have to teach me your secrets.”
“I don’t do anything, and shut up, no one falls at my feet. I was just really close with these guys, I’ve known them my whole life and the year before I came to training, we were pretty much inseparable. I struggled without them too, I just had other things to deal with at the time.”
“Yeah, like spending a month in the hospital recovering from being poisoned by someone in your own pack. Sorry Luna Ava, but I don’t understand why she is still able to be out and about walking around when she hurts pack members, especially pups.” Jena is bold, she always has been with me, but it is fun to see her come out of the shell her time with Mike put her in. She is embracing her Alpha blood and an equa to Luna Ava.
“This room is a safe space, and completely soundproof. And nothing I say leaves this room, I trust you girls because my Sky trusts you with her life. Kaley is a problem, always has been and without concrete evidence there’s very little we can do. Trust me we have tried, but we can’t just come out and accuse her of anything without it. We can’t be accused of playing favorites. Her family is the kind of family that will cause trouble. What am I talking about? They are causing trouble now. Just to give you a heads up, because your not-so-warm welcome is going to be a constant. The Cunninghams are staying with us while their home is being repaired. They are taking up half of the second floor, where you girls will be staying.” She looks over at Lil and Jena with a grimace.
“If it’s a problem, they can stay up here with me…” I start.
“NO! Sorry, no they can’t. Kaley can’t say anything about you being up here, because you have always had a room up here. She will have a fit if we let your friends stay up here with you. It shouldn’t matter, nor should it be anyone else’s business. But they are the worst type of me-to people I have ever met and they tend to bog us down with useless business that really only benefits them. But Lucas and I have discovered that if we keep them busy, they don’t go do things behind our backs.”
“You pack members just do that?” Jena is actually offended.
“Not necessarily, but many of our Elders, think they have more control and say than even the Alpha and they have gotten bold recently, just making decisions and giving orders and unfortunately our pack members don’t know any different because they are trusted leaders. I know Xander is having a similar issue. There always is a power issue when the next Alpha is getting close to taking over, that’s when all the politics really start to kick in.” She rolls her eyes. “It’s all about power and we don’t want to teach our pack members to not trust the leadership. They need to trust us, know that our decisions are for their benefit and the safety of the pack as a whole. But some people who have been in power too long forgot what it is like to earn their position. So to not cause an uproar we try to deal with these things quietly. Of course we have our resident drama queen at the heart of several issues right now.”
She runs her fingers through her hair, like she is composing herself.
“All guests need to stay on the second floor. That’s what we told her and her father has been looking for any reason to get her up here, even claiming they had family visiting from out of town who would need to be put up in the packhouse since their home isn’t finished yet. Kaley jumped on that train and tried to claim this room for herself when they brought their stuff over. We told them to make other arrangements for their guests at the local hotel, we even offered to pay for the inconvenience. But in the end ‘plans changed.” She air quotes and rolled her eyes. “I don’t know how she keeps getting up here when we keep changing the entrance code to the door, but she does. The last time she tried, oh that was an argument fit for TV. It was one of the few times I have ever had to use my Luna aura on a pack member.” “How long have they been here Luna?”
“Too long. Actually their house caught fire after a small attack about a month after you left. The amount of damage was not that severe, but whoever they hired to inspect it said it would be better to tear the whole thing down and start over, making improvements while they were at it. Everything has taken twice as long and been stalled out more times than I can count. They are stalling for time. The boys all turn 18 in the spring, Kevin wants Kaley near the twins to hopefully build a friendship good enough for them to consider her if they don’t find their mate or mates right away.”
“So he’s trying to wh*re her out in order to give her a better chance at being Luna.” Lil surmises.
“It won’t happen, they want their mate or mates, but boys will be boys and they have acted like all teenage boys their age and slept around. What they realized too late is that some of these girls think that makes them the next Luna by default, which is ridiculous. None of the boys have really dated since you and Sierra left. They really have changed.” She sighs and I can’t tell if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.
“Well, let’s go get these two rooms and then I can show them around a bit since Lil didn’t get to see much at trials and Jena has never been here.” I look at Luna Ava seriously, I don’t want to feel anymore guilty about how the guys have behaved since I chose to stay away.
