“We’ve been biding our time on returning when you’d have your pack,” he tells me, and I chew my lip.
“You’re from my mother’s old pack?”
He nods. “I was one of her Betas, Beta Noah,” he answers, and my heart breaks. That means he was one of the people closest to her whom she trusted—trusted to keep her safe. Recognition smashes like a ton of bricks. How had I not wondered what happened to him?
“You saved me that day,” I tell him.
He smiles sadly. “She’d never have forgiven me if I saved her over you,” he nods once, and tears prick the corners of my eyes as I nod. Yet, I wonder if he’d change his mind now after living like this for so long.
I glance at Zayn. “Please, we can’t leave them here.”
“We aren’t. I have nowhere to place them; my pack is already overcrowded, but I will call Greyson,” he tells me, wandering off and pulling his phone from his pocket. I move toward Blake.
“Oh, right, I will take you to my mother.”
I shake my head. “No need to, we believe you. Tell her to pack what she needs.”
Blake blinks at me.
“Zayn is organizing to take you all back with us. He’s calling Alpha Greyson.”
“Alpha Greyson?” The man steps forward, Beta Noah. I turn to him, nodding.
“You don’t like Alpha Greyson?” I ask.
“No, we do. Your mother was his mate. We were all supposed to be merging packs when they got together until your father’s mate intervened.”
“What?” I gasp in shock.
“Alpha Greyson was your mother’s true mate, not your father; she was going to merge packs, and we would havebecome one pack. Linda kicked off about that; she didn’t want that. Your mother agreed to let him and Linda keep her pack and only take those of us who wanted to leave with her and take you,” Beta Noah tells me.
“How many are from the original pack?”
“Most of us, but we never had a chance to merge. The same day she signed the pack over to your father, Linda had her killed. Those who refused to submit were cast out, which is all of us.”
I catch snippets of urgency in Zayn’s tone as he speaks with Alpha Greyson. There’s no time for pleasantries, not when lives hang in the balance.
Minutes stretch into an eternity until Greyson’s SUV kicks up dust on the horizon. When he steps out, his expression turns somber, mirroring our own shock as he takes in the squalor before him.
Zayn and he shake hands, and Greyson looks over at me.
“Please tell me you can take them.”
“We have enough space and housing, but I will need to screen them,” he murmurs. Zayn goes to say something, when Greyson looks at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll take them all; I know your pack is overcrowded since you took in that last pack.” Greyson tells him, and I glance at Zayn, he doesn’t elaborate on what Alpha Greyson mentioned.
I’ll have to ask him about it later.
“Thank you, Alpha Greyson,” I breathe out, relief flooding through me, though it can’t wash away the sorrow etched into the faces around us.
“Let’s get those buses arranged,” Zayn commands his men who move to help pull down tents. Greyson nods, already dialing numbers and issuing orders with the authority that comes from years of leadership.
The commotion stirs the commune, drawing curious, wary faces from their shelters. Eyes wide with a mixture of hope anduncertainty, they watch as salvation rolls in on wheels—buses that promise warmth, safety, and a future.
“Come on,” Zayn yells out, his voice louder than I anticipated, carrying across the broken ground. “There’s room for everyone. You’re safe now.”
“Is this real?” Blake steps forward, skepticism written in the lines of his face. “Will you really take us in?”
“Not us, Alpha Greyson. We haven’t the room, but every last one of you is coming back to the city until you’re all housed and settled within Alpha Greyson’s pack,” Zayn affirms, stepping beside me, his presence commanding attention and inspiring trust. “Get your things,” I tell them, my tone gentle yet insistent. “It’s time to go home.” And they move, slowly at first, then with growing urgency as reality sinks in.
