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If he did, that person would not be his second-in-command but rather oversee certain businesses. His second would be at the top of the fighting hierarchy, but that didn't mean they would possess the skills needed to perform many of the required jobs. The old system didn't always work well in modern times, where specific skills, such as computer proficiency, were required, and being able to fight didn't necessarily mean one could do so effectively. The problem was the change was hard, and most wolves were set in their ways. Elias had managed to remove all his buddies from the hierarchy system, placing them at the top without having to fight, which showed how ruthless he was.

Once they had done those things that they could do easily, they went back to the pack house. That was when he realized that they had skipped lunch, and he was starving. It was the aroma of all that fantastic food that made him realize how hungry he was. As he entered, he was greeted by Carlos and his mate Flo.Damon was right that he knew them and was pleased to see them. Harry was already there, snacking on his meal, and he saw his mate, which made his wolf excited.

Everyone sat down, and the ladies began to serve the meal. By the time they got to Harry, she was ready for more. Xantos was thrilled with the work the little witch had done today. It might have taken weeks for a backhoe to unearth those bodies, and they would have torn up the whole yard to do so. A wave of Harry's hand pulled them to the surface, and now the families would have closure. He would have done anything needed to deal with the evil his father had done. So far, it hadn't been as difficult as he'd imagined. Sally and he might get through this after all.

The food was delicious, and the mood was good, considering the circumstances. No one wanted to discuss anything complicated with bedtime looming. It was as if there was an unspoken agreement to save the work and worry about it until tomorrow morning. A good night's sleep would aid them all in their work. They had a great meal, and then everyone helped clean up before they headed to their own rooms. Xantos was ready to rest in the comforting arms of his mate. Tomorrow will be another hard day.

He hated being right, but the morning started with the gruesome task. The wounds had arrived. Damon wanted everyone there to deal with them. Harry had brought in a red-headed witch who had somehow managed to come up with a picture of each of the victims. This was a red wolf, but she was also a witch and had been one first. Xantos didn't have much time to find out about the witch because now that they had pictures, they had to go out among the pack and discover names to go with them. Even though most of these people had been missing for years, it didn't stop heartbreak from showing as if ithad just been yesterday. It didn't take long to identify all but one of the females. She had probably been introduced to the pack from outside and was never allowed to get close to many of the pack members.

The surprise was one of the supposed victims had been identified as his half-sister. That would have made her Xantos’ aunt. She had been the pack bitch when Elias had first become pack alpha. Most of those in the pack liked her, and she tried to help them as much as she was able to. One day, she had simply been gone, and everyone had been afraid to ask Elias what had happened to her. She might have died from natural causes. The coroner would have to determine that. Many of the others had signs they had been murdered. These signs were of bullet wounds or cuts from knives or other sharp objects.

All but the one that no one seemed to know had been identified by lunchtime, so they took a break before tackling other tasks.

“That saved the wardens weeks of hard work trying to identify all those people. Now they only have one to concern themselves with, and I'm hopeful that was such a good picture they will be able to find her.” Damon admitted.

“I hope they do because that's hard on a family looking for someone that's gone and not being able to find them anywhere.” Sally offered.

Everyone agreed because they were all familiar with situations like that and how difficult they could be for a person when a loved one was gone. And now the worst of the work as far as the pack was concerned was done. Only one person left to identify, and the rest of them would soon be buried in whatever manner their family determined. After that was done, the pack could move on.

No one had challenged yet, but there was one of the females that he thought might try. There was still time left for the challenge, and she had been flirting heavily and seemed angry that she hadn't been able to get his attention. If anything, the female annoyed him. Even if she somehow managed to beat Sally, he would have no romantic interest in that woman. Xantos wouldn’t mind if she left because she didn’t seem to do any work. Why Elias had allowed that, he couldn’t say.

Now that lunch was done, it was time for everyone to go their separate ways. Damon had a list of businesses that they had to work through, and one of them was the casino. The pack was registered as an Indian tribe. That made it much easier for them to run a casino without having to give all the profits to the government. It was also a key factor in the pack's financial success. With all those benefits, they should have done much better than they had, and the profit should have been shared among the pack. Education should have been promoted among younger people, and businesses should have sprung up all over, sharing with pack members. None of that had happened, but it was about to.

Xantos was very disappointed with what he could see once he stepped away from the business portion of the pack. One of the original alphas had set things up in a way that had prevented those following him from stripping the pack bare and taking finances away or selling any of the land. That was a good thing, or it would all be gone. From the information he had just viewed, the last five alphas had added nothing worthwhile to the benefit of the pack. That was wrong in so many ways since they had started from a good spot and basically gone nowhere. Elias had even managed to set them back a little bit, as much as the rules of the pack would allow.

After touring several businesses, they sat and began to discuss some of the issues that the pack had. Many of those managing the businesses were not pack members. That was unusual, and Xantos wondered why Elias had done things that way.

“I think he didn't want his pack members to be in a position where they were making good money and had a bit of freedom from under his thumb," Damon observed. “Since those people are already in those positions, if they're doing a good job, you should leave them. That doesn't mean you shouldn't train pack members to fill those positions and promote them to an assistant position. That way, they will be prepared if something happens and the manager needs to leave for any reason. You also need to be sure that the people managing are doing a good job because if they're not, you have a reason to replace them.”

“I understand what you're saying, and I agree. We need to give our people the security of good positions if they can handle them. I also noticed that we have a lot of our people in lower positions in these businesses. It's possible it might not take much to train some of them to move up into higher positions if they are given that opportunity.” Xantos observed.

“I can see that you understand what we are hoping you will do here. This part of the country has not been as productive as it should have been. The council let pack alphas do as they wished at the cost of the pack members that they should have been taking care of. It is my hope that that will not happen anymore.”

“I hope you can work your way through all of them. But I must ask, what about California and the cardigan pack specific.”

“I'm surprised you didn't ask before. He's no dummy, and he sees the way the wind is blowing. He has been leaving the other packs alone and even paying some lawsuits that have beenbrought against him. He has cut back on his illegal activities to the point that it is impossible to find any. We can't go after him unless we can find recent activity that justifies it. If he keeps doing what he's doing, the other California packs will heal, and that is all we really want.” Damon admitted.

“Maybe that will be enough. Most wolves just want peace and success for their families.”

“We are a simple race, at least most of us are. Just like any race, we have the good and the bad.”

Xantos was glad that Damon had shared the information with him. He would tell Sally because she really wanted to know, too. It made sense not to go after Cardigan when he wasn't doing anything wrong at the moment. He was also sure that Damon would keep a good eye on him to ensure that that didn't change. Would he continue to stay on the straight and narrow? After so many years of doing things his way and not caring who he hurt, it might be hard for him to do so. On the other hand, all the challenges around him might make him think twice about going back to his old ways.

“Is Sally going to be able to handle the pack bitch position?” Xantos asked. “I know she's capable in many areas, but I'm really not sure if she has any knowledge in the areas she's about to need.”

“I wouldn't have moved forward with this plan if I didn't think she was able to handle everything she needs to. The thing that most people don't realize is that she doesn't have to do everything herself. She needs to find capable people to handle those areas that are hard for her. Basically, a pack bitch is a manager, and she was a good office manager for Tyne. Once she becomes more comfortable in the position, she won't have any problems that will be difficult to deal with.”

He thought about what Damon had said, and it was true that Sally had been a good office manager. If managing was the most significant part of her job, that wouldn't be a problem. He also felt confident in her ability to fight, and he thought that that might happen soon.

“What do we do now?”

“We're going to start a few of the programs that the pack bitch normally does to help Sally because her burden will be greater than yours. The pack bitch is usually in charge of education, welfare, and any female-related activities. You and I are going to take a look at the education program or the lack thereof. We will just get things started so that she doesn't have to start from scratch. Another thing we need to do, and what we should probably do first, is look into the education provided for the young. While we are doing that, we can discuss with the teachers of the higher grades what students would like to move on to college or other kinds of secondary education.”

“Have you done this before?” Xantos asked.

“Not personally, but I have discussed it with several pack bitches in the past when they were taking over the job. My sister-in-law started when there was no program at all. Various older pack members encouraged children to pursue further education, but there was no formal program in place for it. She set one up, and it made a difference."

“Let’s go check out the education system we have set up.”