Jessie sat at Alrick’s desk and watched him shuffle papers, talk to people on the phone. This was her future. Ashley might change Alrick’s mind. She knew mates were just that. Forever and permanent. But her parents taught her that mates could still regret their choice in mates. Just because of great sex. Didn’t mean your partner was. Alrick confirmed moments ago that Hector was in fact her half-brother. The Iron Hill Pack wasn’t his but Jessie’s and whoever she mated.               So her parents experienced traumatic events of which the other couldn’t forgive or forget. Would that happen to Alrick and her? She was useless to him because she was an uneducated bumpkin. Why did her father believe girls were useless?               “Jessie, we’ve got confirmation. Your father put the mines into y

“Jessie, can you meet me in the office? We need to talk about several things with Craig. Before we announce anything to the pack.” Alrick said into his cellphone when his mate accepted his call. She still wasn’t good at using it. But at least she could answer and make a call.“Yes, sure. I’m finishing up here with the volunteers. Give me ten to fifteen minutes.” Jessie looked around as everyone snacked. She’d dropped a bombshell on them. Many didn’t have a chance yet to react to her words. Jessie hated doing this. She felt she was mean to them. How could she cope with everything? She needed the support of the pack. “Now I need to know where I stand with everyone. Things will change and I understand that not everyone will like it. There’re things coming from outside the pack. It’ll change the dynamic. I can’t explain it yet, but we’re able to help others survive something horrible coming. I need to k

                Miss Mabel sat across the dinner table from Doc. J.J. He’d brought dinner like he did most nights when his work didn’t require his attention. The man’s heart was golden. She admired how he kept up with it as old as he was.                “So, tell me again. Jessie is good? She’s happy? That girl’s been holding things together for too long for everyone else. The Alpha’s learnt to treat her better?” She’d lived so long. All she could do was live vicariously through other’s stories. Many of those stories were repeats of generations past. It was better than television. Most of the time, anyway.                “I’m not sure yet. I see her tomorrow for the first tim

               Jessie sat listening to the two men talk. They discussed the situation and sweeping changes to the current pack formation. She couldn’t predict how the pack would react to this. They’d not settled from taking in the Iron Hill Pack. But what else could they do? They needed more members to expand. There were people looking for homes. Albeit not the people Alrick would choose. Could they get the pack to band together for this? It could benefit them. Or spectacularly fail.               “So you have this part vaguely sketched out. You’ve started the process for housing. We’ll need to know housing placement. There’s also demolishing the buildings there now. Finishing the clean up the horror show. Then we’ll see about adding space for them to add sheep and free-range chickens. They can come in and

                Two hours ago messages went out to every pack member. This was a mandatory meeting about an urgent matter. Everyone would arrive within minutes. Again, Jessie stood in the large gathering area and looked around.                “I’m wondering Alrick. With the increase in pack members will this room safely house everyone. Or will we need a larger space?” Alrick stopped helping with chairs and looked at his mate. She insisted on setting up drinks for the people before the meeting. He looked around him and thought about her question.                “I’ll look into the number of people we can host here. It may force us to hold these things outside until we can fix this issue. But I suspect you’re cor