“Good.” If he had had an issue, I would have tried to rearrange things, but it wouldn’t have been easy. “And when it’s just us, you don’t have to use my title.” I told him that every time we spoke. Sometimes he remembered.
“Got it, Tobias.” He emphasized my name slightly and turned to Kyle. “Mind if I hang out with you when the big cheeses aren’t available? To be honest, I’m going to want to avoid the Cascade and Blue Ridge wolves.” The two packs he’d belonged to before coming to Boston.
“No worries,” Kyle said. “The advantage of knowing this house so well is knowing all the hiding places.”
Jamie scoffed. “Yeah, that might not be a bad thing.”
I motioned toward the golf cart. “Sorry to cut this short. Justin, Garrett, and the rest of their pack, and some of the others, will be here shortly. Mandeep, please make sure the Alpha, Suzannah, and Jamie get settled in their rooms.”
“Yes, Anax.” As if they weighed nothing, Mandeep took three suitcases out of the back of Kirk’s SUV and nodded toward the house. “Follow me, please.”
I wanted to go inside with them. To sit and chat with Suzannah the way I’d done so many times, even since becoming Anax, because she did more for my mental health than any licensed therapist could have. To joke around with Kirk and talk with Jamie about whatever was on his mind. But I couldn’t do any of those things. It was my role to be front and center for the next few days, and that included for the multiple hours it took all of my guests to arrive.
Kyle pulled me into his arms and touched his lips to my temple. “I know,” he murmured. “I want this to be peace and quiet among friends just as much as you do. You chose this last year when you challenged Hezekiah. I chose to be in it with you. And I’m right here.”
“Thank gods for that.” I drew in a long breath and let it out. “All right. Onward.”
A few minutes later, three large SUVs headed up the long driveway toward us. The first, I was pleased to see, was driven by Justin Ruel, Alpha of City Pack. I’d invited him to bring his mate Tareth with him, but given that Tareth was human—the only human known to be a werewolf’s true mate—and they had a one-year-old son, Justin had opted to leave his family at home. Tareth and the baby would join us on Sunday for the wedding.
Accompanying Justin for this gathering were Garrett Saucier, the pack’s head tracker Merrill Perrucci, and Felicia Norwood. The woman who had lost her mate, Ramon Sanchez, due to my choice to bring Ramon and Merrill along on my quest to bring Jack Leary, the former Alpha of Berkshires Pack, to justice after I’d stripped him of the rank for sexually abusing female pack members. And, worse, demanding those women change human women into werewolves to provide him with more unwillingsexual partners.
Jack had fled to another pack’s territory to evade punishment, and I’d insisted on pursuing him. When we located him, in wolf form, he tried to attack Kyle. Ramon had intercepted the attack. Wolf against human rarely ended well, and Ramon had bled out before the rapid healing factor all werewolves possessed could repair the damage. Kyle and I each blamed ourselves for his death. Unfortunately, a fair few members of City Pack blamed both of us, and six had left the pack because Justin had taken our side.
I wasn’t sure how Felicia felt. On all of the hunt nights since, she’d stayed close to Lara and their friend Hillary, mate of the City Pack Peacekeeper, and had avoided Kyle, me, and our guards. Justin had said that she didn’t hold us responsible for Ramon’s death, but I wondered. As with Jamie, her presence here was at my specific invitation. I had, however, made it clear to her through Justin that she wasn’t required to have anything more to do with me than she did on hunt nights and in fact didn’t have to accept the invitation. The fact that she was here gave me some hope that I might make things better between us.
The second vehicle was occupied by Miles Purinton, Alpha of Cape Pack, and his mate Stacy, along with two of their pack members. In the front passenger seat of the third was Thaddeus Matthews, the current Alpha of Berkshires Pack, whom I’d installed after stripping Jack of the rank.
Too many things had gone wrong over the past couple of years. Too many werewolf leaders had been proven to have abused those under their rule. When I became Anax, I’d vowed to change that. I hadn’t succeeded as well as I’d hoped. But there was still time, and I had pulled plenty of weeds from the packs of the United States.
This gathering would reveal more weeds. But right now, as friends and acquaintances emerged from their vehicles and came to me to be greeted, wasn’t the time for fear. Over the next few days, things might go spectacularly wrong—but there would also be celebrations. Declarations of mates. Recognition of the new Arkhon of the Great Lakes Region and the new alphas who hadjoined my cause to make our corner of the werewolf world a safe, respectful place for everyone.
My wedding to Kyle, the man I loved more than I’d ever believed I could love anyone.
For the moment, I chose to focus on the celebratory aspects, because thinking about the things that might go spectacularly to shit was more than Icould handle.
Chapter Seven
By sunset, which was after eight that night, almost all of the guests had arrived. The only exceptions were the members of three Texas packs who were flying together from Dallas; their flight was delayed due to weather, and they were expected the following morning, hopefully in time for the initial introductory meeting.
Part of the expansion of the house had included the construction of a seven hundred and fifty-seat auditorium in the basement. That had taken some doing, given the sheer size that was necessary to accommodate that many werewolves, but I’d had little choice. We wouldn’t have that many attendees at the annual gatherings, but it was always best to have extra seating, and somehow the architect and contractors I’d hired had made it happen.
I didn’t try to gather everyone that night. Some were tired and far too cranky after traveling to get here, and I didn’t want to start getting into official business yet. Not to mention that while I wouldn’t—and didn’t want to—do things exactly the way Hezekiah had, it was standard for the first night of any gathering, regional or national, to be a time when people could simply mingle and greet friends and allies they hadn’t seen since the previous gathering. I wasn’t going to entirely follow the lead of my predecessor, but I also refused to topple tradition.
I did take time to introduce my guards to everyone who held still long enough. Under Hezekiah, the guards’ sole purpose at the gatherings was to enforce laws and rules. I considered my guards part of a team, not my underlings, and for this gathering, they would be the first point of contact for anyone who had issues or needs. Otherwise I would be scrambling to address everything, and I simply didn’t have the bandwidth for that.
By the time darkness fully fell, some of the guests had already retired to their rooms for the night, including all of the Boston wolves. I suspected, given how Suzannah and Garrett had peeked at me as they left the dining room, that the group was conspiring on something to do with the wedding.
Others had gone outside to look at the moon and stars. At last year’s gathering, that hadn’t been permitted. All attendees were required to remain inside unless Hezekiah specifically instructed them to go out. I’d chosen to grant my guests freedom while they were here. I’d instructed them, in the too-long informational email I’d sent out to all of the arkhons and alphas, to stay on the cleared portion of the house’s land, leaving the woods for hunt night, and not to leave the property without checking in with me or one of the guards, but otherwise they could be inside or outside as they pleased.
As the night wore on and more people went to their rooms or outside, or to the largest guest house if that was where they were assigned to stay, Kyle seemed to sag. He leaned against the doorway between the dining room and the large social room, eyelids drooping. He could afford to show his fatigue. No one cared if the Anax’s mate was weak.
I didn’t have the same luxury, but I was exhausted. At this time of night, if anyone thought less of me for going to bed, that was their problem. I went to Kyle and took his hand. “Upstairs. Sleep.”
“I don’t sleep. That’s the problem.” He yawned. “I don’t know if I can sleep. This is going to be a long-ass couple of days.”
“It is, but at least come rest with me for a while.” If I could get him horizontal, maybe sleep would take him over for at least a little while. If he had a nightmare, at least I would be there tocomfort him.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “Rest. I can do that. Who knows, maybe sleep will be my friend for at least part of the night.”
