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1
GARRETT
Of all the duties that were part and parcel of being second-in-command of the North American wolf packs, working on the budget was the absolute worst.
I huffed out a breath and shoved my fingers through my hair, no doubt making the dark blond waves stand on end then got back to work. I’d worked hard for this position, and if crunching numbers was what I had to do, so be it.
I’d truly worked my ass off the first few years after Holden selected me as his beta—to prove to the world that he hadn’t given me the job just because I was his best friend. And I’d done a good job of it. No one questioned my abilities these days. Holden and I were a force to be reckoned with. Even though some days I’d rather be out fighting battles or negotiating with council members than working on the more mundane details of leading the twenty packs that comprised our territory.
Most days is more like it. I sighed again, glancing out my office window at the sun setting on the horizon. Trees stretched out for miles to the west, and the desire to go for a run took hold. But Holden wanted to review my final draft by morning, which meant I had hours of work still ahead of me.
Ignoring the urge to do anything other than this, I bent over the keyboard and hammered away, but only a few moments later, I paused, my fingers hovering over the keys. The air had become thicker, full of tension. Cocking my head, I made out the faint sound of footsteps falling on the plush carpet that blanketed the entire fourth floor of the estate that was both home and headquarters.
Holden. I could sense his presence through the bond we shared as alpha and beta. But why was he coming here tonight instead of rushing off to his private quarters with his wife? It had been that way most nights for the past six months, and I’d often wondered if the honeymoon phase would ever wear off with those two.
A second later, he knocked on the thick wooden door, and then strode into my office without waiting for an answer. One look at his face had me rising to my feet.
“What is it?” My shoulders tensed as he leveled his dark gaze on me, his mouth a flat line.
“An issue has come up with the Central Pacific pack. We need to go. Now.”
It had to be urgent if it couldn’t wait until morning. I nodded and moved to a built-in closet along the far-left wall, tugging off my shirt as I walked, and then quickly changed into my standard combat gear.
“Brief me while we walk,” I said. We headed out of the office and toward the wide, winding staircase that dominated the center of the estate—using the stairs was much quicker than waiting in the elevator.
Holden grimaced. “I don’t know much. Just that the alpha is dead.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Fuck. A challenge?”
“That’s what my gut is telling me.” Holden was very rarely wrong when it came to how packs maneuvered. “I’ve already called for a jet. Gather a team, and we can be out of here in under half an hour and at the scene in ninety minutes.”
He hadn’t just called for any jet then, but the fastest one we had at our disposal. I much preferred traveling in wolf form, but we simply didn’t have time with the distance we had to cover and a dead alpha in the mix.
“Threat level?” I asked as we reached the first floor and continued toward the northern door.
Holden shook his head. “Hard to say. Let’s be prepared for anything.”
“Agreed.” After the rogue alpha we’d dealt with last year, I wasn’t taking any chances. I grabbed my phone from my pocket, dialing our lead enforcer Jax, and the next shifter in the chain of command. He answered on the first ring. “I need a team of ten on the tarmac in fifteen minutes. Our very best men.”
“Consider it done,” Jax replied, not an ounce of hesitation or question in his voice. I prided myself on having trained the best team of enforcers in modern history. We were a tight unit and had each other’s backs no matter what.
The military-grade jet was already waiting when Holden and I arrived, the flight crew making pre-flight checks as we climbed aboard. Jax and the team arrived moments later. If not for the urgency of the situation, I might have taken a moment to pat myself on the back for training my men to be so efficient. We were airborne less than fifteen minutes from when Holden first walked through my door. A little over an hour later, we were back on the ground, this time on the west coast.
Flying was a bit unsettling for me—as it was for most shifters, since we preferred to be paws to the ground—but I was grateful for the convenience in times like this when we needed to act fast.
“We’ll head in from the south in wolf form,” Holden said. “Get a feel for what’s going on, then shift back to human form before approaching anyone. I’ll take the lead.”
“Like hell you will.” I glared at Holden. “There’s a reason I'm here, you know.” It wasn’t the first time Holden wanted to lead the pack into potential battle, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but he was the alpha now, having fully taken over from his father over the past six months. It was my job to keep him safe.
Holden’s jaw ticked. “Are you questioning your alpha?”
“Damn right, I am. Better to question you now than to answer to your mate when she finds out I didn’t do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
He rolled his eyes, but his lips twitched slightly before he asked, “Afraid of Kayden now, are you?”
“You know it.” I grinned. “And you should be, too.”
“Believe me,” he murmured. “I am.”
