Chapter 6
Rafe
The war room was full and it did something to my pride. It strengthened me, made me stand up taller. Especially since I had my mate at my side. My father would have never let my mother come in here for fear she would get in the way of a man’s work but I didn’t think that way. I knew emotions weren’t permitted here but sometimes people did their best thinking in an emotional pinch. Not that I would ever admit that out loud. The last thing I needed was Knox deciding it was time for karaoke in here or something stupid like that.
I planted my hands on the edge of the round table and looked at my people. Jade sat down on my left without a second thought. My wolf swelled inside of my head.Yes.I ignored how content he was with these new developments. I couldn’t allow him to skew my judgment.
“Damian isn’t going to take what’s happened lightly. We need to plan for a possible war on our lands.” Tracey’s jaw clenched at my words. “We need safe houses put together and emergency protocols put in place. These children we have here are powerful, but they can’t hold off an army of their own and an army of wolves. You all have seen a small percentage of what we are up against.”
Tracey watched Jade with a satisfied gleam in her eye. “He’s going to come for us. You’re right, we do need to be prepared but we cannot do that here. We can’t put our elderly in danger. Maybe we need to leave Pack Lands for a few months.”
I considered her words and chewed on my bottom lip for a second before I answered. “I think you’re right, but I don’t know where we could go. We might have to evacuate the elders and have safe houses for the children here.”
“The elders can fight,” Archer argued. “Maybe we need to ask them what they want to do.”
“This isn’t their fight though, they might be tired of this. I am tired of this,” Gabriel shook his head. “We need to do what’s best for the pack. Asking them their opinions will only make this more complicated.”
Gabriel was right. If we asked one section of people what they wanted to do then it would open it up for the rest of the pack to have an opinion. This was going to be tough no matter what I decided. At the end of all of it, it didn’t matter what anyone else thought or wanted. All that mattered was my end vote. I was the Alpha here.
“We evacuate the elders and the children of our pack. We will keep the witch kids here but they will be kept safe by Carden and Granny. We will have to build a safe house for them or,” I considered my next words carefully. “They stay here in the war room. We don’t have much time to prepare and getting the elders out is going to be hard enough. This is one of the biggest buildings on the property besides the shed but that has the tractors and heavy machinery in it.”
Jade twisted her ponytail over her shoulder. “I think they should stay in the big machinery shed. It’s the last place they would think to look. If it’s the building I’m thinking of then it’s much larger than this and you don’t have to worry about children destroying your man den.” She winked at me and pride filled my chest. “You don’t have to worry as much about baby-proofing.”
Archer nodded his head. “I’m on board with that. We can put up the heavy equipment in one corner instead of it being spread out the way it is, then we can set up tents or whatever we need to make sure they’re comfortable.”
“I’ll talk to my mom and see what she wants to do and if we will be moving them there permanently. We could set up beds, not just tents.” Tracey threw Archer a look of disgust that he would actually suggest that these kids live in tents.
Gabriel was next. “We could even put up a wall between the areas like those barndominium homes.”
Knox grinned. “When I build my house, that’s what I’m doing. Then I’ll have a place for my four-wheelers, trucks, and whatever else I want.”
Tracey's lips twisted in disgust again. “What does a werewolf need with a four-wheeler?”
“Have you ever tried to cut a shitty in your wolf form?” He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. I pinched the bridge of my nose.
Here we go.
“What is a shitty?” Jade asked.
Archer let out an exasperated sound. I thought he was going to be on my side and annoyed with the fact that we had strayed from topic until he opened his mouth. “You don’t know what a shitty is?” His eyes pleaded with mine. “Please let me explain this to her.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Go ahead.”
“Awesome,” He grinned. “A shitty is when you cut donuts in the grass or mud.” He narrowed his eyes as he thought for a minute. “Or in a parking lot.”
“Why couldn’t you have saidcut a donut?” Tracey grumbled.
Knox placed his hand on his chest and his mouth fell open in offense. “Becausecutting a donutis the most boring way to say anything ever.”
“Please get out of the war room,” My head fell forward and exhaustion filled my limbs. It wasn’t my fault they had the attention span of a donut. Jade’s green eyes sought out mine and I managed to smile slightly. Her face beamed up at me. All the men filed out of the room.
Tracey smacked my shoulder as she got up. “I really don’t know why you let them in here.”
“They’re my Guardians.” I shrugged.
She rolled her eyes. “You need to understand that you give them zero Alpha commands, they don’t know how to be serious if you don’t.”
Annoyance buzzed through me. I leaned down to her eye level. My wolf shot forward. “You don’t control this pack. You don’t know what it takes to do what I do. Until you know the pressure on my shoulders, do not speak as if you do. I have enough to worry about. If they want to be dumbasses sometimes then so be it. But don’t you dare try to tell me what to do.” My voice came out in a growl.
Tracey’s eyes ducked down submissively. She bared her neck to me. “Yes, Alpha.”
My shoulders slumped when she cleared the room. There was a hierarchy for a reason. She couldn’t keep challenging me like she was doing and expect to get away with it. I knew she was fighting for her rank and still didn’t know what to do with herself. But she wouldn’t find a spot beside me if she couldn’t mind her wolf. If she wanted or needed the Beta position that badly, she had to take it up with her father, not me.
