“You think I’m protecting Amie? That’s cute. I’m not protecting her from you. I’m protecting you from her. My Alpha has gone to big trouble to get these talks going positively. I’m thinking that Amie maiming you by removing an appendage from you, probably one you really like, might toss a wrench in that. So, here I am, protecting you from her,” he told the gorilla-like man. I took pleasure in seeing the Gamma change his stance and close the gap between his legs. Finlay turned to look at us and I gave him a big smile. One of his eyebrows went up, as usual he saw through my attempt to look innocent. When we got back into the car and watched the others do the same, I still had the feeling I was missing something. As we left the parking area and headed for home, we all sat in silence for a while.
“Anyone else feel like they’re missing the big red blinking neon sign telling us what the fuck this meeting was?” Martin asked. Both Finlay and I laughed and agreed.
“He didn’t even try to broker an alliance,” Finlay said. “Not that I wanted one, but he made it obvious.”
“I was sure they intended to attack the pack behind our backs. But everything is still peaceful at home,” I said.
“That’s something to be grateful for,” Martin commented. Both Finlay and I agreed.
“It may be as easy as they wanted to assess how strong we are, and they decided we are too strong for them to mess with us,” Finlay suggested. The rest of the drive home was made mostly in silence. All three of us had things to think about.
When we got back to the pack, we could feel the tension in the air. As news about our safe return spread, the pack relaxed. We spent some time just walking around, letting the pack see us and talk to us. Then the top rank gathered in our meeting room to discuss the day. Sam and Medow had nothing to report. No stray wolves had been detected along the borders, no threats, nothing out of the ordinary. According to them, it had been a day like any other day. We ended up discussing the odd behaviour of Alpha Jackson and his Beta and Gamma. After hours, we reluctantly decided we had too little information to come to a conclusion. We decided to keep a close eye on the pack and increase the patrols of the borders. I could see how much it bothered Finlay to leave things open.Amie
Spring had finally come to the pack land and Finlay had decided to celebrate it with a BBQ at his house. Invited was the top tier, Matilda and Cadence family. Jake had trained the pups and adults in hiding and evading for almost two years. He had become close to both me and Sam and the pack had a new appreciation for him. He was an amazing strategist and was good at handling the pups, making the training into playtime. Finlay stood on his deck and manned the BBQ. I kept him company as the others were setting the table inside and cooked the side dishes.
“You look happy,” he said.
“I am. I got an invitation from CeCe today. You remember her, right?”
“Sure. The woman who was there when we picked you up.”
“Right. So, Jessie, the man who was there to see me off,” I clarified for him. Finlay nodded but didn’t look happy. “He proposed to CeCe, it was about time if you ask me, so they sent me a save the date for their wedding. June twenty fifth,” I told him. I didn’t expect him to get all giddy like I had been when I read the invite. But I hadn’t expected him to look like he had bitten into a lemon either. “What?”
“Nothing,” he said. I gave him a look and he sighed.
“The Alpha meeting is the same week,” he reminded me.
“Crap. I had totally forgotten. It’s okay, I’ll just tell them I can’t make it.”
“No, you should go. They are your friends and a wedding is a big deal,” Finlay insisted.
“It is. But the pack comes first. You need someone to go with you and then someone needs to stay with the pack.”
“I don’t need someone to go with me. I’m a big Alpha, I can manage on my own. Beside, most Alphas take their Lunas as the plus one. I will be fine,” he insisted. I hesitated. We didn’t talk about it but his brother would be there and from what I could tell, the previous years hadn’t been easy when the two met.
“Why do you both look like thunderclouds? It’s spring, we are having a BBQ and we are supposed to be happy,” Martin said as he came walking with a beer each for us.
“Thank you,” I said, taking one.
“We were discussing that Amie has received a wedding invitation for her friends’ wedding the same weekend that I’m to go to the Alpha meeting,” Finlay said.
“Oh. So you told her you would go alone to the meeting and I would go with her, leaving Sam and Medow to watch over the pack and she didn’t like it?” Martin asked. I stared at him.
“What?” I said.
“I hadn’t got quite as far,” Finlay told him.
“Well, it’s the only reasonable solution.”
“Wait. Why do I need an escort? I’m going to a small town wedding with people I know, humans. Finlay is going into a week long meeting with every other pack. Some are openly hostile towards us. If anything he needs an escort,” I objected. Martin looked at Finlay and shrugged.
“He can look after himself,” he said.
“Look, Red. Just do as he says. The two of you can have some fun and we will feel safe knowing you are not alone. I will know to be on the lookout for trouble. But if trouble finds you, it will be unexpected,” Finlay said.
“Fine.” I caved. “As you are being kind enough to tag along, I will make sure to introduce you to all the single ladies in the town. They will have a field day with you,” I told Martin. He laughed and looked pleased. We had grown close and I saw Martin like an older brother. He always took the opportunity to tease me or make a joke that had me blushing. But at the same time he was protective of me and more than once when we had met other packs he teamed up with Finlay to make sure single wolves stayed away from me. I didn’t mind.
“Sounds like I’m the lucky one. I’ll let the others know,” Martin said and walked inside. Finlay and I stood in silence. It was a nice silence. I was looking out over his garden where Cadence was running around.
“You should get going with your garden, soon it will be too late,” I told him.
“My garden?” he asked, as if he had never heard of the concept.
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