Cal was exhausted. These past few days were insane, and he’d not truly rested at all. So he put Tara to bed as soon as he could and followed her to sleep. The issue wasn’t that he wasn’t tired, no; he was so overtired that he couldn’t fall asleep.Instead, he got up and wandered the apartment. Cal found evidence that Tara had used the stairs and gone upstairs to explore the second floor. He walked up the stairwell and moved into the darkened floor space. The upper floor was just as large as the bottom floor. It was dusty ask expected. The only time they cleaned this space was when they had planned guests. But it was set up for adult guests right now and everything was in neutral colours. That would have to change for his pups, he assumed. He wandered through the rooms that were setup currently as the guest quarters and imagined how they could change into a pup friendly living space. They could house at least six pups and a live-in caregiver. Cal did

Tara lay there looking at Cal as he insisted, she tell him what she wanted. She knew he meant sexually; he had that look in his eyes. But all she wanted right now was some water and to brush her teeth. “I usually wouldn’t mind the playful mood you have right now, but I really need some water and a toothbrush. I’m sorry to ruin your fun, but…” The response she got wasn’t the response she expected. Tara expected Cal to be annoyed or pissed off by her response. What she got was a beaming smile from Cal, and he was off the bed before she could blink. “I’ll be back then in just a minute.” Then he left the bedroom. She just thought about going into the bathroom and brush her teeth. Grab a drink in there afterward. What was he up to? What happened next floored her. Cal came back with not only a drink but a tray with food and a couple of bottles of water. “What? Cal… I…” “No, stop right there. I’ve been telling you for th

They were in the pack’s dining hall again, eating lunch with Jaxon and Rachel at the raised table.Today, the room felt unusually packed with people. Cal didn’t appear uncomfortable or unhappy about this. In fact, he appeared quite pleased with the turnout as he surveyed the room like he was surveying his domain. As they ate lunch, they placed several stacks of documents on their table before them. Tara didn’t think anything of them, assuming they were for Cal to look over, and deal with. She became confused as he plowed through one stack, but ignored the other one that sat between them.Tara went through her entire meal before she dared ask Cal about the stack of documents between them. “Cal, aren’t you going to look at these? Or is there something wrong with them?” “Tara, those aren’t mine to deal with. Those are yours, like Luna. It’s your business to deal with. You know this is a working meal, and the time when they can meet informally with us about the

Tara could hear people talking and passing through the corridor outside her office door all the time. It was, after all, one of four main corridors that led to the kitchens. At least her office smelled good with cooking food. Right now, it smelled of the yeast from baking bread and what must be roasting chickens. Unlike human institutions like this, packs prided themselves on quality and availability. Food was one of the driving forces of a pack, as were other simple things like water and these days electricity, and the internet. Cellphones were a must. Tara didn’t know how she avoided using hers for so long. She still struggled to remember all of its uses and how to get it to do what she wanted, but it was coming slowly. What to do next? Find out what the mom-to-be needs exactly and have a list ready for them when they get here. How could she forget that? Also, she needed to know about spaces available for a new pack, because where would they put the Lycan

It took Tara the better part of the day to get things going in a way that she felt like she was an absolute failure. Rachel got on board when it became clear to her that the Den Mother position was expanding and the club was far too much to handle, along with her pack responsibilities. The idea that there’d be Lycan added to the mix, along with Tara’s need for help, Rachel couldn’t be in all the places at once. In the end, Tara gave her instructions to review her responsibilities, and divide up what Rachel could accept someone else doing from what she felt she needed to maintain herself. When she had that done and Rachel was on her way to do her job, she found all sorts of little things to do that helped make the list look a little more manageable. Cal came in search of her a few hours later with a grave look on his face. “You spoke to the ambassador about Lycan joining the pack?” “I told her I wasn’t averse to it, but you had final say as to yeah o