Filed to story: Cara Nelson The Guardian: Werewolf Book PDF Free
He sighs. “I don’t have anything structured in place. The pack has no way to make money, so me and some other warriors have been hunting, and some of the she-wolves have built a garden to help supplement with fruits and vegetables.”
“I’ll be working on the income, that’s one of my questions for Rik and Liam.” Eli says before turning to me. “And I think it would be good for both of us to get a tour of the pack. I need to see what has been done in my absence and you need to see what we’re up against.” He says, taking my hand and squeezing it.
I smile back at him. “I guess you’re not the only one facing a challenge.” I say to him. As overwhelming and intimidating as all of this sounds, it also sounds exciting. I don’t want to say anything in front of Carlos just yet, but I still have quite a bit of money, which could go a long way toward at least getting food for the pack.
“How many pack members are there now?” Eli asks.
Carlos moves some papers around his desk before finding the one that he was looking for. “Currently, we’re at just under 300 pack members.”
Eli whistles softly. “That’s considerably more than when I left.”
Carlos nods. “You know how it is. Too many people thrown out of their packs with no where to go. The word seems to have gotten out and I swear we have new people coming to our borders asking for sanctuary every day. I’ve been keeping a list, but when we have some money, it would be great to get a computer so we can keep electronic files of our members. By myself, I can barely keep up with the paperwork.”
“So, you need an assistant?” I ask.
He laughs sardonically. “What I need is a mate that can act as the Beta female, but I doubt that’s in my future, not without a wolf.”
“I’ll tell you a secret Carlos. I didn’t get my wolf until I turned 18 a couple of months ago. I was living alone, working in a diner just to keep myself from starving and being homeless. Then, I got my wolf and Guardian spirit all at once, and now, here I am, mated to Eli, the Alpha of Pack and about to become a
Luna. So you see, anything can happen. You’re an Alpha, just like me. It doesn’t matter if you have a wolf. I don’t know you well, but I can already tell that you have a lot to offer a mate. You’ll find her.” I tell him. He’s run this pack on his own for a year. That says a lot about his strength and his compassion for the people in this pack.
He smiles at me sadly before changing the subject. “If you want, I can give you that tour now. I’ll get word out that anyone that wants to challenge you for the position of Alpha needs to let me know and I’ll get it set up this week.”
We all stand. “Start setting it up tomorrow. The sooner the better.” Eli says.
Carlos raises his brow at Eli. “Are you sure you want to start tomorrow? I’m assuming you’ll be completing your mate bond tonight. I doubt you’ll be getting much sleep.”
Eli stops, looking at me, a mischievous smile on his face. I can feel my cheeks warming in my embarrassment of this open discussion of our upcoming sexual interaction. “Good idea. Start setting it up for the day after tomorrow.” He says to Carlos.
Carlos tries unsuccessfully to hide his grin. “Yes, Alpha.”
As much as I’d like nothing better than to take my mate back upstals and complete our mating bond, I need to see the pack lands, I know there is a lot of work that needs to be done, but I’m hoping some has been done in my absence.
We don’t spend much time in the packhouse, I had started these repairs before 1 brought Cara here. It doesn’t appear that any more has been done. As we walk out back Carlos begins pointing out the structures that are being built.
“We’re repurposing the concrete blocks from the dilapidated buildings around the pack to build homes for new families. As you can see over there,” he points to another group of houses, “Those houses had a strong structure, so we are just refurbishing those.”
“How do you keep track of which houses are full and which ones are available?”
He looks at her sheepishly. “It’s another stack of papers that I have. I just try to keep up with have. N. how many families we have and how many unoccupied homes we have. No one seems to mind doing the work if we can give them a house, but we ran out of structures and are now having to build more to keep up with the influx of people.”
All around the pack, people are working. Some are breaking down buildings that are crumbling, some toting salvageable concrete blocks from the broken-down buildings to a stack where they can be used for new construction. I can see at the edge of the forest line, a number of trees have been cut down. “I’m guessing that those trees were used for lumber?” I ask, pointing to where several tree stumps. are in view.
“Yes. It wasn’t ideal, but we needed more supplies, and that was our only option.” Carlos says. to
There’s so much work and so much money needed to bring this pack up normal standards. I’m glad to hear that people are just happy to have a place to live, but in the end, the pack has to run on more than just labor.
We walk up to a fenced in area and I see lots of plants in various stages of growth. “This is the garden.” Carlos says as a woman I don’t know stands up.
“Good afternoon, Alpha. Luna. Beta.” She inclines her head to first me, then Grace, then Carlos. Grace steps forward.
“What are you growing here?” She asks and the woman puts down her spade and pulls off her gloves.
“I’m happy to give you a quick tour if you’d like.”
“I would love that.” Grace says, looking at me. I nod in agreement. It will be good to know what we can grow here versus what we need to buy.
“I’m Maddison.” She says, extending her hand.
Grace steps up, shaking her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Maddison. I’m Grace. and this is Eli.”
Maddison smiles. “Yes, word travels fast around here. And please, call me Maddie.” She looks at me. “Good to have you home Alpha.”
She turns and begins showing us around the garden. There’s quite a variety of plants, from tomatoes and pepper plants to melons, beets and broccoli. There are also peach trees, apple trees and blueberry and blackberry bushes. The garden is extensive, and it would need to be to be able to feed 300 pack members.
“How many people help you work the garden?” Grace asks her.
“Right now, while we’re just making sure the plants are watered and parasites aren’t getting into the food and eating it, there are about five of us that come out and look after the plants. During harvesting and planting times, we need many more people just given the number of plants that we have.”
“And how do you go about getting people to assist you?” Grace continues her questioning. I can see her wheels turning, but I’m not exactly sure what she’s thinking.
“We ask and we hope.” Maddie tells her. “But mostly, people want to eat, so it’s not hard to get helpers. Plus, it’s a great way to get the pups involved and keep them busy.”
We finish our tour of the garden, thanking Maddie before moving on to the patrols. “Carlos, how are you setting up patrols?”
“We have several men and women that have done patrols in the past. I have assigned patrol leaders for each team on every shift. Shifts run in 8-hour increments with a break for food alternating between the shifts, so the borders are always monitored.”
“Have there been any attempts from other packs to breach the borders?” I ask.
“Not many. Most don’t realize that we’re here and when they do, they are easily diverted around our pack lands. Only a couple had to be encouraged to move along.” He says. I’m guessing by ‘encouraged’ he means there was a fight and our side won.
“What about warrior training?” I ask.
“That’s been a bit problematic. Almost no one wants me leading the training since I don’t have a wolf. We’ve had a couple other warriors step up, but their training isn’t up to your standards. Also, those are the men most likely to challenge you for Alpha. They feel as if they’ve been running the pack because they lead the warrior training.”
I stop and look at him. “So, you haven’t been involved in warrior training at all?” I’m shocked. Carlos has extensive training as an Alpha, even without a wolf.
“Oh I train, but it’s with the she-wolves and pups. The Lead Warriors haven’t wanted the she-wolves to participate in regular training.”
The sun is starting to set as we begin to make our way back to the packhouse. ” I’d like to look over the patrol schedules tomorrow and after this Alpha challenge mess is handled, you and I will be taking over warrior training.”
“What about the women?” Grace asks me.