Becoming a Leader

Chapter Sixteen - Adulting and Pain

It’s been three weeks and I have gotten into a routine around the pack house. My Luna training went smoothly and I’m actually getting the hang of everything. Scheduling is going smoothly and I haven’t had any complaints from anyone about what chores they have to do.   

As female beta, Emma is my right hand lady and helps with everything. Valencia and Sydney have been assisting her since she found out she’s pregnant. I have them helping me plan a gender reveal party for Emma in a few weeks. All three females are great at helping me and I’m so thankful to have each of them. I’ve learned so much about them in the last few weeks and we get along with each other so well that it feels like I’ve known them all my life.

The members from my pack have adjusted really well and they have even started working, either here at the pack house or at a few businesses in the city. The children are doing great and some are starting school soon while the others are going to daycare. A lot of them have been taken in by other pack members but Nova still clings to me every time she sees me. I’m planning on talking to Merrick to see if we can adopt her as our own. I feel a strong connection to her and want her to be taken care of and loved. 

 As for the rogues, we haven’t had any more sightings but there has been an attack on a pack to the southwest of us. Thankfully they were strong enough to fight off Alec and his pack. Merrick said that Alec keeps the rogues on the run so it’d be hard to strike them. It’s pretty much a waiting game and it’s tearing my nerves up. They could attack any day so we have to be ready at a moment's notice. Merrick has had everyone that is able to fight, train in their spare time. 

Right now I just finished with some paperwork and have to head into the city. I’m finally doing something about the bank information my parents left me. There’s a bank in the city that is a branch of the bank my parents used. I don’t have a clue how much is in the account or what I’m going to do with our land. I’m nervous and my stomach is in knots as I get into the backseat of my SUV. Merrick still wants me guarded anytime I leave the house and I’ve learned not to fight him on it. I know he just worries about something happening to me but some alone time would be nice. Having to make decisions for hundreds of people and always being surrounded by others can become a little much to say the least. Lately I’ve just felt so drained, I guess lack of sleep and running around trying to be a leader of this pack  and my mate can be proud of will do that to a person.

“Luna, we’re here.” My guard, Thomas says. 

“Thank you Thomas.” I reply and open my door. I watch as my other guard Fennick gets out of the passenger side and walks around the car. 

“Alpha said for one of us to go in with you Luna.” He tells me. 

With my hands full of the paperwork my parents left me, Fennick opens the door to the bank and we walk in. I make my way up to the front desk and the receptionist gives Fennick and I a peculiar look. 

“How can I help you?” She asks, sounding a little snooty. 

I hear Fennick growl next to me because someone is showing his Luna disrespect. “Yes my name is Skylla Layton. I called earlier and talked to a manager by the name of Scott. He said for me to come and see him.” I reply to her.

“Yes ma’am right this way.”  The sound in her voice has completely changed and she gets up from her desk, showing us to an office towards the back of the bank. “Scott there’s a young lady here to see you.”  The receptionist says and scurries away.  

“Ms. Layton?” The man named Scott asks, standing and extending his hand. I can sense he’s a wolf but I don’t think he’s part of my pack. 

“Yes.” I shake his hand then take a seat in front of his desk. Fennick stands right outside of the office, giving me a bit of privacy which I appreciate. 

“So what is it I can do for you today?” Scott questions.

“Well like I was telling you on the phone, my parents recently passed away and left me all this bank information. They also left me land and the house, but unfortunately our home was destroyed.” I say, “I am wanting to know the contents of the bank account and see what I have to do to keep the ownership of the land.”

I hand the paperwork over to him and after looking through everything he starts typing something into his computer. “Well it says here that your parents left you a significant amount of money. As for the ownerships on the land as long as you pay the taxes on the property you can keep the land. It looks like your parents had everything notarized so it all checks out.”

“How much money did they leave me?” I wonder.

“Around $500,000.” 

“And how much are the taxes on the land?”

“Taxes differ from state to state so it may be different where you’re from.” 

“We lived on the border of Idaho, but now I live here in Oregon with my boyfriend.” I tell him, not wanting to give away too much information in case he isn’t part of an allied pack.

“Ah I see, well all you have to do is go back to your home town and set up the land and information in your name so you can pay on it.” 

“Am I able to transfer the money to an account in my name today?”

“Of course let me go ahead and get a few things and I’ll start the process.” Scott gets up and leaves the room. 

“Fennick, he isn’t part of our pack is he?” I mindlink him. 

“Not to my knowledge Luna. There are other packs that work in the city though so he may be from one of them.” He replies.

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After an hour of transferring money into an account I opened in my name I’m finally leaving the bank. Towards the end of the process I started getting a weird feeling from the manager, like he was purposely taking his time. Once we are back in our vehicle I tell Thomas to drive us to Merricks office. Thankfully the office is only two locks away so we make it there quickly. Fennick gets out with me again and we enter into the lobby. The inside is super nice with marbled floors and tall windows on each wall. There’s a security desk in front of two elevators and when the guard looks up he offers us a smile. 

“Luna.” He stands and bows his head. 

“Hello, I’m here to see the Alpha.” I say nicely.

“Of course, he’s on the fifth floor.” The guard hits the button on the elevator.

“Thank you Noah.” I say reading the name on his badge. He bows his head once more and returns to his desk. The elevator door dings and Fennick and I step in. We start our climb to the fifth floor and I feel myself starting to relax the closer I get to Merrick. Once we reach the fifth floor and the elevator dings I step out and use my wolf instincts to guide me to my mate. I walk to a big door with Merrick’s name on it and open it to find my mate sitting behind a desk looking down at some paperwork. His head snaps up and his face softens at the sight of me.

“Hey there handsome.” I say, shutting the door and striding over to him. I lean against his desk and he puts a hand on my thigh.

“Well this is a pleasant surprise.” Merrick stands up and kisses me deeply. All the tension and nervousness from this morning melts away.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go get some lunch before I head back home?” I ask when we finally stop kissing. 

“That sounds wonderful. Let me finish up a couple things and we can head out.” Merrick replies. He kisses me one more time before sitting back down. He starts scribbling on the papers in front of him and I stand and walk around his office. He has shelves full of books, two chairs in front of his desk, a coat rack, and a black couch sitting next to a wall. Behind him are big windows with a great view of the city. It’s a typical man's office, masculine colors and nothing too decorative.  

“Alright I’m done.” Merrick says while standing from his chair. He grabs his suit jacket from the coat rack and the papers from his desk. He takes my hand and walks us out of the office. I watch as he hands his papers to the receptionist I didn’t notice before. She’s a beautiful woman in her mid-twenties with blonde hair and blue eyes. “Please make sure these get out by the end of the day.” Merrick tells her.

“Yes sir.” I hear her reply.

Fennick is standing near the elevators waiting for us and pushes the button before we arrive. We all ride down together silently with my head resting on Merrick’s shoulder. When we make it to the restaurant we get a private table just for the two of us, while my guards take a seat somewhere else. Our waiter gives us our menus and everything sounds so good.

“So how did everything go at the bank?” Merrick asks me.

“It went okay. I figured out what I need to do to be able to keep my land and how much money my parents left me.” I reply. “So I’ve been wanting to do something for a while and want to know how you feel about it.”

“Oh yeah? What is it?” Merrick keeps looking at his menu.

“I want to adopt Nova. Well I want us to adopt her.” I watch as Merrick looks over his menu with huge eyes. “She doesn’t have anyone. Some of the other kids had grandparents to take them in and others had members take them as their own.” 

“I don’t know Sky, I’m sure someone else would be willing to take her in.” Merrick says. 

“Merrick I feel a connection to her, I want to be the one to take her in. Plus you said you want kids.”

“Kids of my own. Why do you feel so strongly about this?” 

“That’s not fair Merrick, she didn’t ask for this to happen to her. She deserves to be loved and taken care of. I know how she is feeling - scared, lonely, abandoned, hurt. She lost her parents and that’s not her fault, she shouldn’t have to go through life alone.” I feel tears start to sting my eyes as I feel all the emotions of losing my own parents.

“Is that how you feel? Lonely and abandoned?” He asks, taking my hand.

“I did in the beginning, I had lost my parents and my home” I take a deep breath. “Please Merrick? I’m not asking you to announce her as the future alpha, but please give her a chance. Get to know her and you will fall in love with her too.”

I see hesitation on Merricks face at first but he soon looks into my eyes and says, “Okay, how about this weekend we spend time with her and see where it goes. If this is something you really, really want then I will give her a chance.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much baby.” I say and throw myself into his arms. I kiss him deeply and feel his hands on my hips. Suddenly I remember we are in a public place and stand up. I smooth my shirt and sit back down, I feel my cheeks heat up and Merrick chuckles at me.

We finish our lunch and go to leave the restaurant when the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. My shoulders tense up and I feel like something isn’t right. Merrick opens the door to the car for me and I still can’t shake this feeling. 

“What is it my love?” Merrick asks, climbing in on the other side.

“I don’t know, something just feels off.” I tell him. 

Before we have a chance to even leave the front of the restaurant a truck slams into the side of our vehicle.  My head slams into the window and I feel blood start to stream down the side of my face. Glass shatters and my ears start ringing from the blow I just took. My head is killing me. Thomas is either unconscious or dead in the front and Fennick is bent over in the seat next to him holding his face. I look over to see Merrick laying across the seat with his head in my lap. With shaking hands I touch his face, he isn’t dead or else I would have felt it through our mate bond. I hear crunching of glass from the outside of the vehicle and look over to see a man and woman have exited from the truck and walking over to the window on the other side of the car. 

“Merrick, wake up.” I say while shaking his shoulder. 

“So you’re his mate.” I hear a sickening voice ring through the air.