Chapter 60: Returning Home
Roman
I’m not surprised so many people want to leave the pack. Many of them didn’t want to stay after the loss of their beloved Alpha family, but they stayed for Althea. Now, they have nothing to stay for. The person they want to follow no longer lives here. So, they will follow her, follow Samara, to our pack.
She was much more surprised by the number of people who approached us than I was. She still doesn’t seem to recognize the draw that she and Ayla have for all pack members, not just ours. Pack members want to be with her, near her, so it makes sense that so many would follow her.
Since I scheduled my father’s Alpha ceremony the following morning, we were inundated with requests to move. In the end, less than fifty pack members chose to remain in the Brenner family pack.
My father and I talked about it, and we agreed that we shouldn’t uproot these families any more than they already have been. Everyone has been through enough and if it gives them some peace to remain in the place they consider their home, then I’m going to allow it. I don’t know what will happen long term, especially since Beta Adam and Gamma Kyle also asked to move with us. They both said they were willing to give up their titles to get away from the pain of having worked beside Sawyer all these years and never realized what he’d done.
I’ve started thinking through the idea of how we can make all this work, especially if Dylan is as guilty as I expect he is. Three packs, two of which have no active leadership, is a lot for me to maintain, especially given the distance between our packs and that the Brenner family pack is now going to be so small.
I have some ideas, but I want to run them by Samara first.
However, today, we’re packing up the pups and moving back home. The pack is in a state of chaos while so many people are packing to move. I called Austin to give him the head’s up so he and Adrian can start working on finding places for these families to live. Most of them won’t start arriving until tomorrow, but we need to start preparing today.
My father and I also checked through the kitchens. There is too much food for a pack this small, so he had the omegas who are staying pack up half of the perishable items to send with us.
When it was time to go, Slade began having a tantrum, screaming that he didn’t want to leave, that he wanted his mommy and daddy. I picked him up and held him until he finally exhausted himself.
While I was doing that, Samara had gone to stand beside Sloane. Sloane hadn’t shed a tear that I could seen. Instead, she just stood there, staring at the packhouse with her fists clenched at her sides. My mother told me that after finding the letters in her mother’s closet, Sloane said she didn’t want anything from either parent. After the pups were asleep, Samara and I went into the room and collected the things that we thought were important for the pups, or that were family heirlooms that Samara wanted to keep Everything else will be donated or destroyed.
རཝ༴ཐརྒྱ་༸ཝ་ཋན་ཝ་རྒ
Samara had crouched down beside Sloane, gently rubbing her back and talking to her. I saw Sloane nod a couple of times before turning and walking to the car, not looking back again.
The remaining warriors that stayed to help keep the peace at the Brenner pack drove the vans carrying the pups bedroom suites, toys, clothes and everything else that will hopefully make their transition to their new home easier.
It’s only an hour drive and when we arrived, Aria and Slade were still asleep. Sloane didn’t say a word the entire time.
I’m going to take her upstairs and let her pick which room she wants,‘ Samara says in the mind link.
‘Good idea. I’ll figure out where we can put these two while the warriors unpack and set up their bedrooms. You want Aria in the room next to us, right?‘ I ask her.
We have the baby monitors, right?‘ she asks, wondering if we should put Aria in our bedroom for a while.
Te hints s
‘Somewhere,‘ I tell her.
“You don’t‘ have to mind link in front of me. I’m not going to freak out,” Sloane says.
We turn and look at her.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I was just telling Roman that I’m going to take you upstairs and let you decide which room you want on the Alpha floor. Roman is going to figure out where to put your brother and sister while they set up their rooms closer to ours,” Samara tells her.
She nods, then looks out the window again.
“Do you think he was my dad? My real dad, I mean?” she asks, looking back at us.
I turn around fully so Sloane can see the truth in my eyes.
“I want you to know that I will never, ever lie to you, Sloane. We’ve all had more than enough lies in our life. I don’t know the answer to your question, but it is a possibility that Derrick was your father. If you ever decide that you want to know for sure, we can get that answer for you. You don’t have to decide today, or tomorrow, or even next year. But if you ever want to know, Samara and I will be here for you, every step of the way,” I tell her.
She nods, then gets out of the car.
“Hello, Betas,” Samara says as she steps out. Austin and Elizabeth have been waiting patiently for us to get out of the car. This is our niece, Alpha Sloane. Sloane, this is Beta Austin and Beta Elizabeth.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Alpha Sloane,” Austin says.
“Welcome to the pack, Alpha,” Elizabeth says.
“It’s nice to meet you both,” she says.
“We’ll see you inside,” Samara says, leading Sloane away.
Austin watches as they walk inside, then turns back to me.
1
“She and Scarlet are the same age. I’ll introduce them tonight. It might be helpful for her to have someone her own age,” he
says.
“Thank you,” I say as Elizabeth gets Aria out of the car seat.
“So this is baby Aria?” she asks, expertly tucking her into her arms.
“That’s her and this is Slade,” I say, opening the back door and getting him out of his car seat. Thankfully, he’s still sound asleep.
“We’ve set up a space in the nursery for them while the warriors get their rooms set up. I’ll have them check with Luna about which rooms she wants them in,” Austin says, walking over and stroking a finger over Aria’s cheek. “She’s a cutie.”
“Yeah. Two weeks old, I think. I’m about to get a crash course on diaper changes and potty training. Oh, and keep this under wraps for now, I’ll be making a formal announcement to the pack, but Samara is pregnant.”
Elizabeth reaches out and smacks my arm. “You waited this long to tell us!”
Ichuckle as Austin scolds his mate for hitting me.
*Seriously, Austin! The two of you talked for over an hour this morning and it didn’t come up in conversation?” she asks, as if I’ve personally offended her.
“There’s been a lot going on,” I say.
“Boy or girl?” she asks.
“Too soon to tell. But start making a short list of people who we can put on as guard for not only Samara, but the pups too. With all the other pack members following us, I want to make sure that they remain safe at all times.”
“I’ll have a list to you before you go to bed tonight,” Austin says.
“Well, congratulations. And if you need any help at all, you know where to find me,” Elizabeth says. “Come on, I’ll show you where we’ve put temporary beds for these two.”
“Alpha, what’s the plan for bringing all these new individuals into the pack?” Austin asks as we walk inside.
“We’ll have to have a ceremony over the weekend to have them all accept us as their pack leaders. There are some other things that I need to talk to Samara about, but once I have, I’ll need to talk to you and Elizabeth as well.”
“Whatever you need, Alpha. You know I’m here for you,” he says.
I do know, which is why I intend to make him an Alpha of his own pack. The question for me now is, would Samara feel better having him take over her family’s old pack, or Dylan’s?
Cooper
author
They’re finally back home.
