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“And maybe start working on the infrastructure for training people with no skills, but a desire to learn,” she suggested.
“Right, exactly,” I agreed.
“Okay. Let me take the lead on that,” she said. “I’ve worked in education for a while now, and a lot of it is just knowing who to talk to and what they can do to help. Lana would help us out, too, I’m sure.”
“Are you sure you want to take all of that on?”
“Yes,” she said, sounding endearingly exasperated with me. “As much as I love going shopping with your money and making the house pretty, I get really fucking bored around here, you know? Hence all the reading.”
I laughed and brought my forehead to hers. “Alright,” I said with a sigh. “Yeah, let’s do things that way, then.”
“We have a lot of members who aren’t even here yet, you know,” she pointed out. “We’ve been working the most with the ones who live here, but there are a lot more.”
I nodded. “Alright. I’m going to leave that to you, then.”
She smiled, leaning forward and pressing her lips to mine in gentle affection. “Good boy,” she said. “I’ll take all the notes you could possibly need and brief you on how it goes. Just give me a few days to set up the meeting.”
“I will,” I said. “In the meantime, why don’t we get rid of all these study aids and get some rest…or not rest?”
“You’re telling me you want to have more sex?” she asked, eyebrows raised.
“Baby,” I teased, leaning forward and nipping at her lower lip, “I always want to have sex. I just know how to be a gentleman.”
“Gentle? Is that what you call what we did earlier?”
“Forgive me, sweet wife,” I told her. “Let me show you how gentle I can really be.”
Because if any woman deserved to be worshipped mind, body, and soul, it was my mate.
Chapter 6
Marley
It wasn’t long before preparations for the upcoming pack meeting were in full swing. I’d told Lana about the new responsibility I was taking on and asked her for her help. She eagerly agreed, happy to have the chance to interact with shifters of voting age who could help her win the election she was campaigning for.
The weight of my new leadership role was definitely present. I could feel the pressure of it building, but it was a comfortable weight on my shoulders—more like a weighted blanket than Sisyphus’s boulder. It was a role I'd willingly embraced to support my husband, and I was happy to take some of the burdens off his plate.
Instead of a few days, I gave myself a week to finally finish decorating the foyer to HQ with the help of some other shifters. We finally got the walls fully painted and installed our wall sconces. We went for a soft, muted gray for the walls and even installed accent panels covered in wallpaper with silver foil accents. Cole had brought out some of his guys from out of town to help us make the panels and install them. They looked like they’d been installed as areas of crown molding, but we could take them down if we ever decided we didn’t want them up anymore.
With everyone’s help, I was finally able to set up our furniture to create a homey atmosphere and finish the kitchen both to prepare food and act as a socializing space. The room gave people a place to eat with others and create a sense of community I felt was still missing from our other shared spaces.
The meeting would basically be an open house for the members who hadn’t seen it yet. It would also give everyone a chance to truly get to know each other. We opted out of icebreaker games for the meeting, deciding instead to emulate the gathering in Georgia I’d attended, with time set aside to have the important discussions and then a chance for fun and games when matters of business were done.
As I organized the chairs, I couldn't help but notice the increasing number of pack members who now called this place home. Our growing pack required a larger space, and I made sure each chair was placed with care, community, and comfort in mind. The chairs were all a mishmash of various styles, everything from dining room chairs to loungers to love seats. We even used some of the vast collection of blankets and pillows that Cole had gotten for our romantic night on the rooftop of his home when we were first dating (thoroughly washed now, of course).
The aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafted through the room, along with the enticing smells of catered food. I wanted to ensure we had a comforting background for the tasks at hand, that this felt less like a mandatory meeting at work and more like a reunion of old friends, with the opportunity to make new ones to boot. I wanted it to remind everyone of how these gatherings were not just about business but also a sense of camaraderie, a shared purpose, and an overarching feeling of family.
The agenda more closely resembled a program for a wedding or a grade-school PTA meeting. We’d printed it on some nice paper with a pearlescent sheen and had it decorated with pretty graphics that had the same comforting yet elegant vibe we maintained at headquarters. I scanned through my notes, ensuring nothing crucial had been overlooked, understanding that as the acting leader for this meeting, it was my responsibility to facilitate meaningful and productive conversations, but also foster an environment that made people feel safe.
It was a stark difference from the first meeting I’d helped host for our pack. The one at Shift into Fitness, where a bunch of people had stormed out and I’d flipped my lid because I thought it was my fault.
When I looked back at that version of me, it was hard to feel like we were the same person. It was hard not to inwardly cringe at how frail and worried I always was. I couldn’t be too unkind to myself about it, though. I was actively recovering from trauma, and in many ways, I still was. I still had so much growing and changing to do, but having Cole and the pack at my side while I did it was proving to be so much of what I needed to continue to strengthen and grow.
Truth be told, I was proud of myself. I was proud of all the ways I’d failed and fallen and gotten myself back up on my feet, dusting myself off.
This meeting was a turning point for our pack, and I was determined to guide us through it effectively. I looked around the room a few minutes before people were slated to start arriving, making sure everything looked just as I wanted it and that the temperature in the building was neither too hot nor too cold for those who were likely driving up the hillside that very moment.
I heaved a sigh, smiling to myself as I decided it was perfect.
