Tara wasn’t sure what Cal was trying to prove to her while eating in the pack’s dining room. The only people that approached wanted to speak to Cal, Jaxon, or Rachel. Tara sat there, bored out of her skull, and feeling utterly useless. It was embarrassing for her. She caught Rachel giving her pitying looks several times, and no one at the table felt comfortable. Tara could see they were looking at her like she was his toy and not his mate. This was backfiring on all of them. They were a team, the leaders of the pack. She was a stranger, and she was overstepping her bounds. There was no confidence or even interest in who she was. “I hope you don’t mind, but I have a few things to get back to. You’re a little busy here. See you later.” Tara made to leave. All she wanted to do was hide in that little room they called her office. At least there she’d be out of everyone’s way. “Stop right there, Tara. I didn’t give you permission to leave. You may come t

Cal sat in his club office trying to concentrate on pack and club business but couldn’t get his mind off the disaster of a lunch. Sure he got work done with pack members, but he’d made no headway in having the pack accept her as their Luna. He racked his brain, looking for something he missed. Should he just give an alpha order that they must accept her and work with her? She’d done so much work to do the job of his Luna. It couldn’t be easy if what she said about her lack of education was true. He had to admire her. After the first time she questioned it, she didn’t question it again. There was no complaining. There was no communication about it at all. Cal suspected he must get her to open up to him. The problem lay there. Trusting him enough to open up to him. It would take time. He felt a change or two already, but there was still a long way to go. Cal knew gifting her with things wouldn’t be the answer like past interests he’d had. She wasn’t interested in money

“I count at between thirty and fifty. That’s too many for the holding room, Cal. What are we going to do? The sheer number may be able to put enough weight against the doors going in both directions, and then what? Have our people waiting for them?” “We’re going to have to do that. How’s Jaxon doing removing the clientele from the front of the building?” “I’ll have to check. He and the bouncers went out there a while ago and no one’s called in.” Guy poked at his tablet to switch video feeds to the front of the building. “It looks like the clientele are gone, but there’s more rogues at the front of the building. There appears to be fighting on the street.” “Then get a few teams out there to assist them. I’ll get the enforcers here briefed and ready. You get out Jaxon and the others’ assistance.” “On it right now.” Guy was tapping away at this tablet, sending out instructions to various groups for Cal. “Six groups are on the way to Jaxon and

Cal made sure that none of the human officers didn’t do anything stupid. There’d already been a few groups who’d gone ‘hunting’ shifters in other cities. Now he was met by two other Toronto Alphas. “They seriously came at you like this? Is this over the she-wolf you took from Elmwood?” “This is the second known attempt he’s made to harm her, and I’d have to check my records on how many attacks he’s made on my businesses. He’s out of his mind if he thinks he can do this. Organizing the rogues will fail him when he can’t deliver whatever it is he promised them.” “Do you know what he’s promised yet?” “No, but by the end of tonight, I plan to find out. There must be a good seventy rogues here and I know he’s poor as a church mouse.” “Sorry, I haven’t looked into him beyond what you brought to the last meeting.” “He likes to take from everyone else and give nothing back. So I figure he’s offered the rogues something he doesn’t

It was hours later, with tired and scared pups in a confined space, it was difficult for all the adult wolves. Tempers were flaring, and Tara was feeling it quite keenly. The she-wolves that hauled her down there basically lectured her for mostly when they weren’t trying to keep the pups amused. Tara couldn’t help but feel so out of place. What did she know about pups? Beyond keeping Eddie alive from one day to another and out of one scrape after another. She didn’t have a clue what to do with them. But she wouldn’t let these wolves see her cave or cry. No, she’d done far more difficult things like lie to the faces of her very human bosses, when she’d been injured on the job one day and returned to work free of injury a few days later. Something about being sliced with a box cutter shouldn’t have healed so quickly. Well, it did if you were a wolf shifter. Three days later, that neat palm sized gash was all but a scar that was fading fast. Now Tara stood at t