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“Well, I need a nap after that,” Celeste told me. I looked at her and then lifted her into my arms, walking back up the stairs. A nap with my mate sounded perfect right about now.
“Your wish, my command.” I smirked down at her, and she rolled her eyes but couldn’t hide her smile.
“I hope you like your new digs, Camila! We’ll connect after dinner,” she called over my shoulder, yawning at the end.
“Thank you, Luna,” Camila shouted back.
“Everyone,I’dliketointroduce you to several new members of the pack. Camila is our new beta female. Brenda is mated to Gabriel and will be the twins’ guard when they are born. Valeria is mated to Evergreen, both of whom will take up permanent residence in the pack grounds from now on. I hope you all welcome them warmly. Eddie also found his mate and has chosen to join her pack to be their new beta. I wish him all the luck and blessings of the Moon Goddess.” I waited for all the welcomes to be done around the dinner table.
“Now, Danny and Maya have an announcement,” I said, sitting down and letting them take the floor.
“Maya and I are having a pup,” Danny said without preamble, puffing his chest out. There were many congratulations and a fair amount of quiet chuckles. Many of the people sitting at the tables had already heard him yell it through the pack house repeatedly or when he yelled it out the open car window on his way to tell his grandparents.
“Our pack has been many times blessed over the last couple of months. May Selene keep smiling down on us. Let’s eat!” I said.
We started digging into the steak and mashed potatoes Mrs. Wriley cooked for us when one of the staff came walking in with a bottle of sriracha and cubed pickles. She set it in front of Celeste, who took it and enthusiastically mixed it with her mashed potatoes. She looked up and noticed everyone was looking at her.
“What?” she asked as she put a spoonful of the weird mixture into her mouth.
“I think I got acid reflux just looking at you eat that,” Gillian joked, and Camila elbowed him in the gut when Celeste blushed and put her fork down.
‘It’s not that weird, is it?’she asked me via mind-link.
I grinned at her, took my fork and tried it. I did my best not to show my reaction when the heat and vinegar hit my tongue.
“It’s pretty good,” I lied.
“You know I can feel you’re lying to me, right?” Celeste laughed, but at least she started eating again.
Way to take one for the team,Atlas approved of our sacrifice, though I could feel my stomach rolling over on itself already.
After dinner, Celeste, Camila and Maya went into the conference room to meet and talk about their pack responsibilities, how things work and what’s been happening.
Danny, Gillian and I went into our almost-finished office. We needed to design a space for all of us to work. Now that the ranks had filled out, the offices needed reconfiguring. Again. We decided to turn my and Celeste’s new office into the conference/meeting rooms with the pack. For a shared space, we would knock down some of the bedrooms on the third floor. Only Dad and Marie occupied that entire floor now, and their large apartment was at the end of the west wing, so if we placed the offices at the end of the east wing, we could have all the space we needed without bothering them.
None of us wanted separate offices, so we agreed to set up a large area with three double desks for each of us. Across from it, we would set up two mini-conference rooms for project planning as needed. Anything that required pack or visitor input could be dealt with downstairs in the current conference rooms. We also figured we’d surprise the girls by creating a daycare room of sorts for our pups so they wouldn’t be running back and forth to nurse.
We were just finalizing rough plans for the new layout when the entire pack house went dark. The emergency lights turned on, and I heard the newly installed shutters begin to close while sirens blasted through the pack grounds. A loudspeaker blared out, advising all women unable to fight, pregnant women, children and seniors to make their way to the pack house. The three of us ran out of the office and were met by Celeste, Maya and Camila coming out of the conference room. Gabriel, Brenda, Zack and George showed up and stood around the girls defensively.
Celeste tried to say something, but the blaring was so loud all I saw was her lips move. I opened communication to my warriors, pulling Celeste close.
‘What is going on? Who breached the border?’I asked.
‘We’re not sure, Alpha. We haven’t seen or felt anything cross the borders,’the head warrior on shift answered. I felt someone pull at the mind-link so I told him to keep me appraised.
‘Alpha, it’s just a drill. They finished installing the system while I was away, and I wanted to make sure everything worked. I also thought it would be a good idea to see the pack’s response time,’Evergreen said. I sighed and relaxed.
‘How about next time you let me know before you do? Also, these blaring sirens make it impossible to hear anyone. Make them intermittent, like every minute or something. I feel myself going deaf.’
‘Yes, Alpha. It definitely needs tweaking.’
‘This is a drill,’I told my warriors and everyone around me, who all visibly relaxed. Everyone had their hands on their ears. The blaring sirens stopped, but the speaker continued to ask everyone to retreat to the pack house.
We walked into the hall where women, children, seniors and men escorting their families, began to gather. Everyone looked scared and confused as they continued to cover their against the instructions being repeated.
I sighed, walked up a few stairs so people could see me, and heard the shutters on all the windows lock in place before I called everyone’s attention. Evergreen walked in with a stopwatch in hand and a vivid blush on his face, with Valeria following him, trying not to laugh at her mate.
I nodded at him, and he pushed some buttons on his tablet. Everything went quiet. I shook the ringing in my ears away and addressed the pack.
