Blue Moon Alpha

Disrespect

Jackson

After a peaceful breakfast with the pack, where the Beta was mysteriously missing, Jackson headed to his office to complete the daily paperwork created by the pack. Because the pack was currently without a Gamma, Jackson was responsible for all of their normal duties as well as his own. That created even more work that he did not have time to complete. The only benefit of his insane schedule was that it left him little time to mope about not finding his mate. Unfortunately, it also meant he had little time to dedicate to finding her.

The moment that he entered the room, the sight before him caused him to stop in his tracks. Lilly, sitting behind his desk, on his computer, acting as if she had every right to be there. He could tell that she had noticed his arrival but had chosen not to acknowledge his presence.

“This is getting ridiculous. We need to address her lack of respect immediately.” While Jackson did not like that Loki was the one to point it out, he tended to agree.

“For the second time this morning, I am forced to ask, what do you think you are doing here?” The words were filled with repressed aggression as Jackson stormed up to the Beta.

Acting completely nonplused, she barely looked up from the monitor. “Well, Jackson, you have been so busy with your work down in the lab. I figured that I should help you with your pack work, I am an Alpha by birth after all. I am sure that it has been hard for you to learn the ins and outs of the position so fast, so it makes sense for me to help you. I figure I can take care of at least half the Alpha work along with the Luna work. Even more, if you can get someone to assist me with the accounts and payroll.”

Jackson's eyes flashed as Loki reacted to the apparent disrespect. Jackson's control slipped as Loki took control. “Is that so Beta? You might have been born of Alpha blood, but the last time I checked, I am the only Alpha in this room. You only have a rank at all because we took you in as a rouge. Why would I assign payroll, the Beta’s job, to anyone else? If you are telling me that you are stepping down, I will happily work at finding a replacement, one who understands their role and place. You seem to be forgetting that I am in charge and not you. You are not to enter the Alpha floor for any reason, and you are to get out from behind my desk before I move you myself.” The growled words were filled with command as he stepped closer, leaning over the desk into her personal space.

Her eyes widened, seeing his eyes flash black. She knew that she had pushed him too far this time and slowly she stood up from the desk. Deciding a different course of action, she lowered her head in submission and walked around to where he stood. “Alpha, I am sorry for the perceived disrespect. I was only attempting to help.” Walking around the desk, she schooled her features into a small smile that Jackson knew she thought was seductive, but he found it repulsive.

“I wanted you to see what an amazing team we will be when I become your chosen Luna.” When she reached him she attempted to run her hand along his arm but was stopped by him grabbing her hand.

Loki was in clear control and it showed in the black pits of his eyes. “Really, and why would we choose a manipulative, weak, she-wolf like yourself to become Luna when everyone knows that we are waiting for our true mate?” As he spoke, the nails on his hand began to lengthen into claws and his grip tightened.

Looking down and presenting the most submissive front she could, she spoke again. “It is true that I am weak compared to you Loki, but I am the strongest woman in this pack. Besides, most of the pack members already want me to be their Luna. You just turned twenty-five; chances are she is dead or long gone. I am right here, and I promise to make you very, very, happy.” She attempted to stretch up and steal a kiss.

Loki shifted, tearing through his clothes and dragging the now terrified woman across the room by the hand that she had attempted to touch him with. Ignoring her struggles to get free, he jerked the door open and threw her into the hall with enough force that she lost her balance, sinking to the floor.

“Next time, remember your place and know that we will never take you as our chosen mate. Now leave before I make sure you never cause me problems again by removing you from your position as Beta, the pack, and this world. Get out.” The final words were roared with such force that the walls shook. Smirking at the fear that was pouring off the woman on the floor, Loki turned and returned to the office before giving control back to Jackson.

“What was that? Why did you throw her?” While Jackson understood the basis for his actions, she had not done anything severe enough to warrant the threats that he had just leveled against her.

“She is undermining our place. Before, it was behind our backs, but now it is to our faces. If we do not address it, harshly and immediately, who knows the damage that she could do?”

Accepting his words, Jackson stops fighting. He moves around his desk, wrinkling his nose at the strength of her scent on his chair.

Instead of sitting in the seat, he grabbed the phone off its charger and walked to the couch on the other side of the room. For security reasons, they used a landline with an encrypted VPN rather than communicating with their cell phones when the information was sensitive. Before he could call the King, he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Jackson could smell Travis on the other side and linked him to enter, not wanting to even bother standing up. “Why was Lilly running down the stairs like she was on fire?”

In his mind, Loki snorted, enjoying the thought of lighting the shifter's hair on fire. Blocking him out, Jackson sat up slowly. “This morning I found her naked in my bed, and just now she was on my computer. She is crossing the line too often, but I cannot get rid of her until I get some more help. We have no Gamma, no Luna, and we are soon losing our trainer. I do not have the capacity to do it all alone.”

Travis sat, watching the young man he had raised like his own. “I know things look bleak but I might have a solution for you. Before you respond, I want you to really think about what I am saying.”

This got Jackson's attention. One thing he knew about Travis was that he never brought an idea forward before he fully planned it out. By bringing it here, it meant that it was likely a workable solution.

“What are you thinking?”

Taking a deep breath, Travis started. “Do you remember Cassandra?”

Jackson smiled, thinking of the viciously capable miniature she-wolf that had proven herself the strongest of all the guard candidates. At half his size, Jackson had struggled to match her skill in the training ring, and that was after he had gotten his lycan. “Who can forget that spitfire? She met her mate at the coronation and moved south to be with him. He was a ranked wolf if I remember correctly.”

Travis nodded. “Yes. She is mated to Ryan, who used to be the Gamma of the Open Plains Pack.”

“Used to be?” Even as he asked the question, the wheels in Jackson's head started turning. If they could fill two positions at once, it would ease his burden and allow him to consider the idea of changing his Beta to a less complicated shifter.

“We have kept in contact, and she is miserable. They refuse to allow her to train and have forced her to return to teaching the pups. Her mate was stripped of his title and demoted to Omega due to a family squabble. I know that if you are willing to accept Ryan and his younger sister Mary into the pack they would be happy to come. He has been her guardian since their parents died a few years ago. There might be a struggle given that the Beta of the pack is obsessed with Mary despite the fact that she is only fifteen.”

Jackson considered the ramifications before nodding. “Reach out to her; if she is willing to come, I will reach out to the Alpha and request the transfer of Cassandra and Ryan. I will not mention Mary as the law will require her to change packs with her guardian. The less notice they have of our plans, the better. I am assuming that you were thinking of having Cassy take over for you?”

Travis grinned. “I do not think the pack could hope to do better than her. I also thought that having a trained Gamma in the pack might be nice too! If you are not sure about him, I can ask around about other options as well.”

Jackson shook his head. “I would never keep the demotion placed for protecting one's child. Let’s get them here, then see what we think.”

Travis stood, reaching forward to shake Jackson's hand. “Thank you, Alpha.” The teasing tone in his voice made Jackson smile and bristle at the use of his title. “I will call her this afternoon. The pack is just outside of the Kingdom. I was thinking that we could stop when we go see the pups this weekend."

Jackson shook his head. Travis always had everything planned out. “If she agrees, I will call Marcus this morning. The two of us can talk about logistics. It might not be bad to have the King or Queen with us when we go pick them up.”

The men smiled at each other before Travis left, excited to text Cassy before he reviewed the patrol schedules for the week.

When the door closed, Jackson picked up the phone and called his best friend.

“Hello?” The deep groggy voice pulled a small smile from Jackson’s mouth. It was clear to him that he had woken up the King.

“How is Daddy doing this morning? Long night?” Jackson joked, knowing that Rena, Marcus and Marcia’s daughter, was teething.

His only response was a grunt. In the background, Jackson heard the sound of Marcia. It sounded like she was talking to the baby, causing Jackson to smile.

“As much as I want to torment you, I am calling to ask for a couple of favors from my King.”

At the other end of the line, Marcus groaned at being called King by his childhood friend. “What do you need?”

“To start, I need you to visit the Open Plains Pack with me. I need to pick up some transferring pack members and think there might be some issues.” The tone in Jackson's voice caught Marcus’s attention.

“Are the pack members willing?” The tone in Marcus’s voice was cautious as he tried to figure the situation out.

“Yes, it's Cassy and her mate. There have been issues, and they need to get to safety.”

Without hesitation, Marcus jumped in. “Let’s head there tomorrow, I have a few things that need to be wrapped up today, and Marcia has been nagging me to see you. What else do you need?” Jackson smiled. From the first moment he had met her, he had adored Marcia. Often watching her wrap Marcus around her little finger was the highlight of Jackson's day.

“There is no way that the team here will be able to get into those files. Is it possible that you could come and give it a shot? You are the only person I know who is better than I am at encryption.” Jackson hated asking for help but knew this was the right course of action.

“We both know if you have not made progress at this point, I am not likely to improve things any. I think we need to bring in some outside help.”

“Who are you thinking? I don't know of any shifter that can get through these blocks faster than our team at Luna.” When they had initially encountered the encryption, they had discussed bringing in outside help, but council law prohibited them from bringing in a human.

“There is a hacker that the council uses when they need something impossible done. They go by the handle of Midnight Pheonix. While I have never met them, I will say they are the best hacker that I have ever encountered, bar none.”

“What about the law preventing humans from participating in shifter business?”

Marcus laughed lightly. “I first found out about them when I became King. Apparently, they are of shifter blood and were raised in a wolf pack but now live in the human world. They know everything there is to know about the shifter world and are one of the best resources that the council has.”

Jackson smiled; in one call, he may have started solving some of the problems that currently hung over his head. Maybe today was going to be a better day than he expected.