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‘What’s wrong?” Gabe asked that night. He was rubbing my shoulders before bed, which usually made me melt into a puddle of goo, but I couldn’t seem to relax at the moment.
“I don’t fit in here, Gabe,” I complained. “I’m trying, butthere’s nothing for me to do here. I don’t have the bakery or any friends, really. Mariam is busy, and so are you. I pretty much just hang around the apartment all day.”
While staying home and reading all day had been fun at first, I was restless. Gabe gave me a sympathetic look.
“I know change can be tough, Ella, but it will get better. You’ll see. We just need to find something here for you to connect with. Maybe you’d like to work down at the cafe. Samantha told me they’re hiring.”
I made a face, and my wolf growled her disapproval.Seriously?
“Okay, bad idea,” he said, laughing. “Maybe it would help to go back to Dark Claw and check up on the bakery and the house. You could see that everything’s fine and maybe get some ideas about ways you can help out Tumblewild.”
“Really? You’d be fine with that?”
Gabe winced. “I don’t like the idea of you being alone, what with Neil being free somewhere out there. But I’ve been working a lot of overtime, and I think I could manage a three-day weekend.”
“Are you serious?” Relief washed over me. I’d tried not to let it show, but I had been worried about the bakery. Whenever I texted her, Heather said everything was alright, but the messages were missing any humor or teasing, a dead giveaway that something was wrong.
“Of course. Gotta keep my mate happy,” Gabe said, his eyes roaming my body with interest. “Especially when she takes such good care of me.”
__________
It was worse than I thought it would be. I mean, I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that the bakery would be in total chaos and the pack falling apart. Nevertheless, that’s what Gabe and I walked into on our first day back.
We checked into the hotel without any indication of things being amiss, but once we started driving to the bakery, it was clear that things were not as they should be. Litter lined the streets on both sides, and kids who should be in school on a Friday morning were running wild in overgrown yards. Closer to downtown, Gabe had to pull over and break up a fight between two pack members, brothers, who were interested in the same female.
Typically, these types of pack issues would be handled by the council, led by the pack beta. Then it hit me: there was no pack beta anymore.
Neil wasn’t the best candidate for the job, but he had provided the pack with some structure, at least. The alpha position was intended to be shared between a couple, but Jeremy had to shoulder all those responsibilities without a mate, and now, he was also taking on the work of a beta, most likely.
When we finally arrived at the bakery, it was in a state of chaos. Heather was there alone, trying to manage a full rush of orders with no staff or supplies. She had been waiting for deliveries since early last week, but they hadn’t come yet. There were groans from customers as Heather apologized and explained that things were taking longer than usual due to the lack of supplies.
Gabe moved around the kitchen quickly, helping her with whatever she needed. He cracked jokes with thecustomers while trying to grab orders from them. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing, but like a true omega, he set everyone at ease. I was back in my element, making espresso with what little stock there was.
“Are either of you looking for a job?” Heather joked when the crowd finally thinned. The mess around us made my head spin.
“I don’t understand what happened to the pack,” I said. “We’ve been gone for just a few weeks, and it’s anarchy out there.”
“And in here,” Gabe added. He grimaced at the sticky mess of cups and stir sticks a group of teenagers had left on the bar. I knew his inner neat freak must be horrified.
“Yeah, well, you know the suppliers all go through the council for payment so we can get bulk discounts, but the council never approved the orders, so now there’s a food shortage in all the restaurants and the grocery store. Most of the pack has to drive into town, which affects pack funds, of course. Although, who knows what those are like right now, anyway.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, sweeping up some crumpled napkins.
“It pissed off about half of the council when Jeremy arrested Neil. People liked him, you know? He can put on a good front. The other council members sided with Jeremy, creating a huge division in the pack. Then, when Neil escaped, everyone who sided with him left, too, and now there’s way too much work for the council members remaining to handle it on their own.”
I nodded. Things like this had happened to other packs when a key member was corrupt. Sometimes the packwould survive a split, but other times shifters would need to be absorbed by neighboring packs. Dark Claw had been around for generations, but it would probably disappear if something didn’t change.
“What can we do to help?” Gabe asked.
“I don’t really know. Maybe Jeremy could tell you,” Heather said, shrugging sadly.
We helped her clean up the rest of the bakery and hang the closed sign on the door. The bakery would be closed at least until the supply issue was resolved and she could get more help. That much was clear. My heart sank at the thought that the business we had built might never reopen.
“We can’t let everything fall apart,” I said when Gabe and I returned to the car.
“Let’s go see what Jeremy says,” he suggested. “Maybe he’s already getting things under control. We don’t want to jump to any conclusions.”
I sighed. Sometimes I wished Gabe wasn’t so logical. I wanted to roll up my sleeves and call on Tumblewild for help right away. My wolf agreed. She was as saddened as I was to see how far downhill our pack had gone.
