Page 46 of Wulf’s Pack

Skylar blushes. I’m not sure if it’s because I kissed her or because I called her babe , but I like it.

I wish I could sweep her into my arms and carry her off to my bed, but there’s too much to do right now.

Tonight, though… After Sophia’s thing, I’m booking the nicest room in Parker’s hotel, and I’m going to enjoy some alone time with my mate.

Skylar feels the shift in my mood, and her eyes widen a fraction. Her blush deepens to a bright crimson, sending heat through me, and straight to my tightening jeans. Damn it, I need to control myself.

Shifting in my seat, I take a breath and try to focus on the current situation with my pack instead of the one in my pants. “So where does that put us?” I ask Elise. “How did people get your phone number?”

Elise holds up the phone. “This isn’t mine.

It’s the pack’s. When our story broke, the FUA was flooded with calls about us.

Director Jacobs asked us if we could set something up so that they could direct all inquiries to us.

I had Preston take out a group phone plan—five lines to start.

” She picks up two more phones and holds them out to Skylar and me.

“I gave one to Bree, one to Carl, and these are for the two of you. They should be good to go. I’ve got all the numbers programmed in along with a few others like Sophia’s, the FUA, and your old clan.

I’ve got the last phone for now, but I figured it’ll be for whoever you appoint as your pack secretary. ”

I smirk. “I’m thinking maybe you should hang onto it.”

Elise’s brow creases. Her confusion only makes me smile more. “How married are you to your job at the casino?”

Her head jerks back, as if she’s startled by the question. “I—” Her mouth snaps closed, and she blinks. “Well…I suppose I like it, but I’m not married to it.”

My grin shifts into a wide smile. “Excellent. Want to be the new pack secretary?”

Elise’s eyes pop wide, and her face flushes. “Alpha?” she asks, stunned and unsure.

I can’t blame her for the shock. Behind alpha, luna, second, and chief enforcer, pack secretary is one of the highest-ranking and most respected positions in a pack.

It’s an important job. A pack can’t run without someone to keep it all organized, and an alpha and luna are too bogged down with the responsibilities of running things.

I keep up my smile for Elise and shrug. “We obviously need one, and you’re doing great so far. It’s a big job, especially for a pack as new and notorious as ours. It’s going to be hectic for a while, but if you’re up for the task, it’s yours.”

Elise stares at me for a moment, still processing my offer. Then she sits up a little straighter, swallows back some emotions, and softly says, “I would be honored, Alpha.”

I clap my hands together. “Great. Thank you. You’ll be fantastic.”

She flushes again and lowers her eyes to her lap. “Thank you, sir.”

And…now I’m feeling awkward again. The gratitude and deference freak me out. I clear my throat and try to move things along. “So we’re millionaires, we’ve got phones, people love werewolf romance, and we’re being hounded by reporters. What else? Lay it on me.”

Elise cracks a smile, and Preston snorts. Skylar giggles again, and I wink at her. I love that sound.

“Well…” Elise says, looking at something on her laptop.

Probably a checklist of some kind. She’s definitely the right woman for her job.

“Director Jacobs is currently working on getting IDs and documents gathered for our new pack members. Bree mentioned your suggestion about the shaman, so I contacted him this morning. He’s set up a meeting with Audrey for this afternoon, but she’s nervous about being alone with him. Sophia agreed to go.”

“Actually, I’d be happy to do that,” Skylar says, surprising me once again. “As her omega, I’ll probably be able to offer her some added comfort that Sophia can’t.”

Skylar seems to have surprised Elise and Preston as well, but she takes our surprise with grace. She’s been steadily growing in confidence since we met. It seems our pack’s numerous needs are making it easier for her to step into her role as pack luna.

Skylar clears her throat, then more shyly adds, “I’d like to meet him. Therapy is probably a good idea for me too.”

She looks away like she’s embarrassed, so I comb my fingers through her hair and wait until she makes eye contact with me before saying, “Needing help after experiencing trauma is nothing to be ashamed of, and asking for it makes you brave, not weak. Understand?”

Slowly, Skylar nods. I give her another soft kiss and earn a small smile in return.

I turn back to Elise. “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to give the option to everyone in our pack.

Find out who’s interested, and then we can speak to Enzo about fitting whoever needs it into his schedule.

The sessions can come out of pack funds, and if Enzo doesn’t have room for them on his patient roster, we can look into finding someone else.

He’ll probably have some recommendations. ”

“I’ll add it to the list.” Elise types on her computer as if literally adding it to a list.

“Anything else?” I ask, a little afraid of the answer.

Elise’s answering smirk doesn’t bode well. “Most of the alphas from local shifter packs have reached out,” she says. “They’d like to schedule meetings with you just to get acquainted with you as an alpha. It’d be a good idea to meet with them.”

“Yeah, that definitely needs to happen,” I agree. “I’m sure they have questions, and we don’t want to step on any toes or make anyone feel threatened. It’d probably be a good idea to figure out a place where we can go for pack runs too that won’t interfere with any other packs.”

Elise nods. “I’ll start setting up those meetings. Would you prefer to hold them here or go to the pack alphas?”

“Here. They’ll probably be curious, and it looks like our conference room will be done soon. But if they’d rather we go to them, that’s fine too.”

Another nod, and Elise types on her computer again, no doubt taking notes.

“Oliver helped set up a basic pack website,” she says, continuing down her list. “Right now, it’s got a very limited information page, which we can flesh out when you decide what information you’d like to make public.

Most packs don’t have something like this, but you’re Wulf Winters.

The nation is curious, so I figured this was better than having people constantly bombarding you. ”

I roll my eyes. “Fame is the worst.”

Elise grins. “It’s definitely inconvenient, but we’ll get things sorted, and I’m sure the hype will die down after a while.”

“We can hope.”

“The website also has our contact information, and we’ve got an interest form for interview requests, but we’re going to have to add one for requests to join as well.”

I blink in confusion. “Join what? The pack?”

Elise sighs. “I don’t know if you’re looking to grow our numbers, but we’ve had dozens of requests already. If you’re interested, we’ll have to create some form of application.”

My stomach jolts at the thought of accepting more shifters into our pack, but of course my wolf perks right up. Settle down , I chide him. We’ll consider it more after we’ve got things stabilized. Having a large pack won’t help our mate if we can’t keep control of it.

He huffs, but I can feel that he’s mollified.

For now. Who knows how long he’ll be patient with me.

I shift my gaze to Skylar, curious about her thoughts on this subject, and she gives me a soft smile.

It’s clear she’s open to the idea. If my shy, traumatized mate is willing to take in new shifters, then she must, on some instinctual level, still need them.

I sigh again. “We’re probably going to have to do that eventually,” I tell Elise. “But we’ve got way too much else to worry about right now.”

Elise’s eyes turn back to her laptop. “I figured as much. I’ve been answering those requests with a vague we’re not accepting new members at this time response.” She bites her lip and shares a hesitant look with Preston.

“What is it?” Skylar asks before I can get the question out.

Elise sits back in her chair and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear.

“I know this is terrible timing, but there are a couple of wolves I’d like to ask you to consider accepting.

” She waits for me to ask, then says, “Sophia’s family—her parents, her brother, his wife, and their two kids—asked to join the minute they learned of Preston’s return.

His best friend is eager as well. He and Preston have been inseparable since they were kids.

“They’re all part of the Island Lake pack—our former pack—right now.

They’ve spoken to their alpha. He said he knows you well, and he understands their desire to switch packs.

He’s given his blessing, provided you’re willing to take them in.

” She looks away from me for a moment, then returns her gaze and adds, “We’ll understand if you don’t think it’s a good idea, but it would be really nice to have them as pack.

Sophia would never say it, but it would mean the world to her to be with her family again. ”

I blow out a breath and rub the back of my neck. How in the world did things get so crazy so fast? I give Skylar a questioning look. Adding new pack members should be as much her decision as mine. As I expect, she gives me a smile and an encouraging nod.

I clear my throat and look at both Elise and Preston. “I’m sure we can probably make that happen. You mentioned children. What ages are we talking about? I worry about bringing little ones in while there’s still a threat against our pack.”

Elise nods gravely. “Sean and Rebecca have two. Both boys. Caleb is twenty-six, but Ethan is only eleven.”

The age difference isn’t surprising. Wolves live a long time and often space out their children.

Rook is seventeen years older than me. It does make me realize that I don’t know how old the Kellers are.

I don’t know how old any of my pack members are.

I know next to nothing about any of them.

Shit. We really do need a pack social. Or maybe like a directory with pictures and basic get-to-know-you profiles for every pack member.

Maybe I should do individual meetings with each of them.

I push the thought aside for now and focus on the problem at hand.

I don’t want to reject the Keller’s request, or turn away Sophia’s family, but eleven is so young.

As a pack, could we protect him enough? “I’m not saying no, but is your family aware of our situation?

” I ask them both. “Do they know about the danger being part of our pack poses? We’re small, unestablished, and dealing with a lot of trauma.

We’ll always be in the spotlight, and we’ve got an omega that will make us a target.

Not to mention the threat from the Vail pack.

Hopefully Samuel will take care of that problem soon, but the danger’s not neutralized yet.

We also don’t have any other children at the moment.

Is that the best environment for an eleven-year-old? ”

Elise sighs, and Preston’s shoulders slump. “Your concerns are valid,” Elise says. “I’m worried about them myself. But yes, they are fully aware of our situation, and they still wish to join us.”

I’m torn. Not sure what the right decision is here.

Skylar slips her hand into mine again and squeezes it gently.

“Maybe we should meet with them. We can get to know them a little and talk everything out with them before deciding. And we don’t have to act right now.

Sophia’s family isn’t going anywhere. We can always wait until things are a little more settled and it’s safer for the child before we bring them in. ”

She makes an excellent point. I let out a breath of relief and give her a grateful smile.

She sits up a little straighter at seeing my approval.

“Yeah. Let’s do that. If you can pull off Sophia’s celebration tonight, then invite them all.

We can get to know them, and then after that we can have a formal meeting to discuss the situation. ”

“Sounds good,” Elise says. “Thank you, Alpha. I’ll schedule it with them now.”

“Not tomorrow,” I say. “Keep Skylar’s and my schedule clear tomorrow.”

At both Elise’s and Skylar’s surprised, questioning looks, I shrug. “I was thinking after Sophia’s thing we could check ourselves into a nice hotel for the night. Take the day off together.” I meet Skylar’s eyes with a steady gaze. “I promised you a date.”

I brush my thumb gently over the back of Skylar’s hand, then lift it to my lips. She stares back at me with rosy cheeks and whispers, “I’d like that.”

I grin and steal a quick kiss. “Tonight, then.”

A solid knock on the office door has us all turning our attention. Bree steps inside, wearing a grave expression. “Alpha, sir, the FUA and the FBI are here asking to see you and Luna Skylar.”

I frown. If it were anything good, Nora would have just called.

Having the human FBI on our doorstep doesn’t bring on any warm and fuzzy feelings, though I have no idea what they could want.

This is not what I need to deal with today, but there’s no ignoring it.

I climb to my feet with a heavy sigh. “All right. We’re coming. ”