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I am Lilliana Harridan, and I am your alpha. Run with me while the moon is full, and renew the magic that bonds us as a pack.
Immediately the crowd begins stripping off their clothes and transforming, and when I’m attacked by three very familiar wolves with joyful puppy kisses, I know who they are.
Once the pack has shifted, I trot over to wolf-Roxanne with my fated beside me. She tips her snout in the direction of the forest path and I understand. Now I lead with my mates, and she follows behind.
The pack parts for us, and surges in behind. I feel them, every single wolf in a long, winding mass that follows the trail. Some choose to run between the trees, weaving around the trunks like some kind of game.
And now, beyond just feeling their presence, I can get a hint, just a taste, of their emotions. It’s almost as if in my mind they have a color, an aura, and I can sense what it means.
And they are all happy. Joyful. Exuberant. There is no anger or resentment or fear; my feelings stretch out to Amber and I sense only relief. She did her part and now no more is expected of her.
Emotion fills my chest; finally, the pieces have fallen into place. I have stepped into my position as alpha; the pack was suffering without a powerful leader, a leader that could promise a future of stability and safety.
Somehow, that leader is an eighteen-year-old runaway from Los Angeles. Go figure.
But the sense of joy, of contentment, that swells in my chest is unmistakable. My fated run directly behind me; they still don’t have status as alphas yet, not until we are officially mated. Even so, their joy, their pride in what I’ve done, is a golden, glowing aura of happiness.
It seems every step I take toward claiming my birthright and reconnecting with my ancestral home, my place in this world, brings us closer together.
And I can only imagine what the future will bring.
ChapterTwenty-Nine
Layla
* * *
It takes the weekend to get everything cleared up and sorted out, but finally we’re back on a semi-normal routine.
After the run, we host a smallish celebration among the household staff, friends, and connected families. It feels incredible to have the anxiety off my shoulders, and of course, the guys stay overnight.
Truthfully, they stay over every night now, and we’ve given up the pretense of them camping out in my suite. We share a bed, and none of them have tried anything that makes me uncomfortable. Their presence sets my soul at ease, and I find it harder and harder to be without them.
We had to visit the Pack Seer, who assured me that my status as alpha was all but declared when I spoke with my alpha voice. Her office was almost a little too on the nose, with a neon palmistry sign and ‘Fortunes Read Here’ posted proudly in her windows.
Apparently, she makes a good deal of money from visiting tourists to supplement her pack income.
That interesting factoid aside, she advised I won’t be ‘officially’ officially the alpha until we can hold the eclipse ceremony in two months. The alpha voice doesn’t actually give me the position, it just makes it impossible for someone to challenge me since I can order them to stand down.
Doesn’t make much sense to me, but then again, what do I know about wolf customs? As long as things calm down, that’s all that matters.
And they do. Now that I can feel and manage the pack, it’s a little overwhelming to be so aware of every person in the pack, everywhere, at all times. Roxanne is showing me how to tune out from time to time, which helps.
She assures me that claiming my fated at the eclipse will both solidify the magic creating my control and secure the bonds among the entire pack that had been failing for the last decade.
Which gave me something new to worry about: claiming my fated.
They explained I don’t have to actually sleep with them in order to do it, I just have to complete the ceremony that binds us together for eternity and seals the bond.
But that means I have less than two months to decide if I want to tie myself to the three of them and eventually marry them all in the wolf equivalent of a wedding.
That’s a little intense for an eighteen-year-old.
Of course I love them. In the short time I’ve known them, Milo, Jared, and Landon have become the best friends I’ve ever had. Derrek notwithstanding, I’d never felt a fraction of the concern from anyone before them.
And even Derrek hadn’t shown me their level of devotion. He was just a guy that protected me and a few dozen other kids on the street, and I worshipped him in the way a teenage girl would.
But it just feels like a heavy decision that I have to make quickly, and the pressure is on.
