Chapter 82
Roman
Hearing Alpha William say that Sloane has shown improvement while she’s been away and seeing it in person is very different. He’s right. The sadness that was like a dark cloud hanging over her isn’t gone, but it’s shifted from the all–consuming grief that she was suffering when she left, to something that looks more manageable.
She smiles when she sees us pull up, which makes me happy. I wasn’t sure she would have missed us.
When we get out of the car, she rushes up to me, leaping into my arms. I can instantly feel the difference in her. Her young body is changing, becoming more muscular already. The intense running is stripping away any residual baby fat and the sparring with Will has obviously developed some of her muscles.
“Whoa! Since when did you become a warrior?” I ask her.
Her eyes go wide, and her mouth opens and closes.
“Don’t worry, I already knew,” I say quietly.
“How?” she asks, glancing at Alpha Will.
“Alpha William,” I say.
“You told your father?” she asks Will, the hurt of betrayal obvious in her tone.
“Told him what? What are you talking about?” Will asks, frowning at her.
“You promised you wouldn’t tell,” she says, her voice wavering as she battles her emotions.
“Sloane…” I begin.
“My son told me nothing, Sloane. What kind of an Alpha would I be if I didn’t know that a little slip of a girl was sparring with my son and running for miles off my pack lands every day,” Alpha William says in that calm, fatherly way that he has.
“You know about that?” she asks shocked.
“You’re not the first young wolf who thought she was sneaking off my pack lands undetected,” he says, giving Samara a look..
Sloane immediately turns back to me. “It’s not Will’s fault. I asked him to do it. Don’t get mad at him,” she says, in rapid fire staccato, switching quickly from hurt to protective.
“Sloane, calm down. No one’s in trouble. I talked to Alpha William and I’m going to start training you when you get home.”
“You are?” she asks, looking hopeful. I realize I’ve/overlooked how important it is for her to get her white wolf. I may not believe that her efforts will work one way or the other, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t support her in every way possible.
“Yes. When we get home, we’ll set up a schedule for the two
“Really?” she asks.
of us to spar.”
“Yes. This is obviously very important to you and that makes it important to me. Now you should apologize to Will for assuming he betrayed your trust and then go say hello to your Aunt Samara.”
“I’m sorry, Will,” she says.
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“It’s okay. I would have assumed the same thing. But next time, just remember that when I give my word as an Alpha, I mean it,” he lays,
She nods and turns to Samara.
“Do I finally get my hug?” Samara asks, opening her arms.
As soon as Sloane presses against her in the hug, she gasps and steps back. “Theodore has gotten so big already!”
“I know. I’m hoping we’ll start feeling him kick in the next week or so,” Samara says excitedly. She’s told me that she thinks she can feel him moving around inside her, like little butterfly wings or little flutters in her stomach. It’s making me more excited to be able to feel my son moving around. I can’t wait!
We spend the night with Alpha William and his family. It’s so good to see Sloane interacting easily with them. Will treats her like a younger sister, teasing her and tugging on her hair. It reminds me a lot of Theo and Samara when we were growing up. There is obviously a bond between the two of them and it seems that Will has had just as much of an impact on Sloane as Alpha William.
“She’s doing so well, I almost feel like it’s a bad idea to take her away from here,” Samara says that night.
I wrap my arms around her, running my hands over her back. “I don’t want someone else raising her for us. Let’s see how she does when she gets home. If she reverts back to how she was, we’ll talk to Alpha William about something more long–term here. But if we can give her a family and a happy life, I’d prefer that she lives with us and visits here, not the other way around. Hopefully, now that I’m going to be teaching her how to spar, she’ll find some solace in our pack.”
“What about the running? It’s too much, Roman. She’s so young. It’s bordering on obsessive.”
“I agree. I was thinking about that, and I think I’m going to put her on a training schedule. I’m going to keep it regimented so she doesn’t think I’m limiting her. But I intend to wear her out in sparring so she doesn’t have the energy to run as much or as far as she is now. She’s a bit too young for strength training, but she’s already gaining some muscle. There are things I can do to make her muscles sore enough that running such long distances will be too much for her.”
“I know you’ll do what’s best for her. I also know that our pack knows what happened, what Althea and Sawyer did. That has to play a role in her discomfort in our pack. Here, no one knows anything about her except that she’s our adopted daughter. Phoebe said she’s heard pack members talking about what happened to my family. Apparently, they feel comfortable talking about it in front of her because of how Sawyer mistreated her. She mentioned that others may be talking in front of Sloane as well.”
“We’ll nip that in the bud as soon as we get home. I know the pack feels strongly about it. They supported me when I suffered from Theo’s loss, you know that. But I don’t want Sloane to ever feel that our pack members look down on her or Slade. She’s obviously very protective of those in her inner circle,” I say, making Samara chuckle.
“Did you see how quickly she shifted to protect Will earlier?”
“I did,” I say, smiling. “It reminds me of you.”
She looks up, smiling that beautiful smile at me. “I’m very protective of those in my inner circle as well.”
I answer her in the only way I know to show her how much she means to me, by taking her to bed and taking my time worshipping her body and pushing my love for her through our bond.
The next morning, we say our goodbyes to Alpha William, Luna Jasmine, and Will, then we head out. Rather than staying in a hotel halfway home, we’re going to be stopping at Alpha Waylon’s pack to watch Judith take her place as Luna. I’m interested to see how the pack is responding to him and to her.
As we drive, Sloane gets quiet.
“What are you thinking about Sloane?” I ask her.
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Chapter 82
She looks away from the window, to look at me. “When do I start school?”
“Monday,” Samara tells her. We let her stay with Alpha William as long as possible.
She nods. “Will Scarlet be in the same school as me?”
“She will. There are six packs that attend the same school. You met the Alphas and the Alpha heirs at Samara’s Luna Ceremony I tell her
She nods and looks back out the window.
“Sloane, sweetheart, are you nervous about
school?” Samara asks her.
“They’ll all know about my parents, won’t they?”
I sigh. The answer is yes. I’ve already gone down to the school to let them know I won’t tolerate any bullying of Sloane or Slade. They won’t allow me to send a guard with her, but if I hear that she’s being bullied, there will be hell to pay. I asked Elizabeth to talk to Scarlet. She feels like Scarlet will tell her if Sloane is getting bullied at school and then I’ll handle it.
“Yes, they will,” I say honestly.
Samara turns to look at her. “Sweetheart, we really want you to live with us. We really do. But if it’s too hard up in the north, we can send you to live with Alpha William. Just give it a try, okay? And I promise, if it’s too much, we’ll make arrangements for you to move to Alpha William’s
pack.”
“Thanks, Aunt Samara,” she says but she doesn’t sound hopeful. “Will Slade and I be in the same school?”
“In the beginning, yes. You’ll be in the same elementary school for a couple of years. But because of your age difference, as you get older, you’ll go to a different school for a couple of years before he follows and then you’ll go to high school. He’ll be a freshman when you’re a
senior.”
She nods. “I’ll stay.”
“Sloane,” Samara begins. In the rearview mirror, I see her turn to look at Samara, determination burning in her eyes.
“I’m not leaving Slade alone in school. If they aren’t nice to me, they won’t be nice to him either. I’m staying,” she says.
Samara sighs. “Let’s see how it goes,” she says.
The car gets quiet again.
When we pull up to the guard gate at Alpha Waylon’s pack, the guard is obviously expecting us.
“Alpha Roman, Luna Samara, Alpha Sloane, welcome. Follow the road to the packhouse. Alpha Waylon and Luna Judith will be there waiting
for you.
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“Thank you,” I say, leaving the window down as we drive up to the packhouse. I brought three vans with warriors, not taking any chances with Samara or Sloane as we drove the long distance to Alpha William’s pack.
any discontent. This pack has lost their Luna and their Alpha heir. I While I get the feeling that the pack is unsettled as we drive, I don’t feel know Alpha Waylon waited to have this ceremony until Sloane could join us, but perhaps he shouldn’t have waited so long.
As expected, he and Luna Judith are waiting for us when we arrive at the packhouse.
We get out of the van and I look around, sniffing the air. Alpha Waylon was right. This pack seems to be a perfect blend of the north and the
south.
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Chapter 82
1
“Welcome!” Alpha Waylon says excitedly. When I look, he and Judith are both looking at Sloane.
it’s Soane’s
ecision i
I mentally sigh. I’m obviously going to have to remind them again that she wants to know who her fathers. Until then
off. they need to back
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