Chapter 5
roped
bound in ber hand
mers there, not the silver ones” Karen Waters, Sylvia’s mother, shouted up the ladder at one of the poor misfortunate
belging decorate the large ballroom in the pack gathering house for the ball
everything that was going on. The decorations for the dance were going up, and there were at least a dozen place as beautiful as possible. His Grandma Hannah was supervising all of it, standing in the middle of the room the delegated tasks. She saw him and waved, but Kaden knew better than to go over and interrupt her at the
ich nicer than Karen when it came to telling people how to go about following her orders, he didn’t want to get his head bitten off
no he’d reluctantly agreed to
yn had been trained on him the moment he walked into the room. He wasn’t surprised to see her, along with her clique of friends.
decorations: Surrounded by a group of giggling girls with balloons and streamers in their hands, she was the most attractive of all of but Kaden had too much on his place right now to entertain any thoughts of spending time with Sylvia. The invitations had all gone out RSVP had started pouring in. In just a couple of days. Light Sky would be full of visitors from packs near and far, all of them excited about the dence and other restivities. The tension inside of him felt like a tight coll, ready to burst. So much went on behind the scenes when it came to pack politics. There was plenty more to worry about than just this dance
shouted he came up behind him. Kaden turned around to see his best friend approaching with a big grin on his face. “What you feeling the blur and silver theme?”
Kaden had even paid any attention to the colors, leaving all of that to his grandmother’s well–trained eye. “Yeah, sure. It looks fine”
the old camp houses they’re fixing up for the guests, and most of them are looking pretty good. Do you think they’re going hat used to be old pack house?”
“Cool I’ve been
ople into lodgings close by had been a struggle, one that had taken up much of Kaden’s time the last few days as he assessed if used to for singles and young wolves would work. They’d built better facilities in recent years, and no one had been in
He’d gathered up a team to go clean them up and make repairs and was about to go visit them after he checked on
“Let’s go barve a look.” Kaden aid walking toward the door. Aler fell in line beside him. Before they made it to the exit, they were blocked by a blonde with long legs and fe in her ey
“Hey there. Alpha, “Sylva purred. “Beta Alec”
1 like, dopey grin on his face. He was only twenty, and sometimes his immaturity showed, like now.
“Hi Sylvia” Kaden ud, trying not to sound like someone who had been in a hurry to go somewhere and now couldn’t because he had to deal with
you ar
dance?” she asked d with a sizzle in her smile…
Kades would promised anything to get away from her at the moment with so much to do and so little time. “Im sure I’ll have time to dance with
Sylva “A million thoughts went through his mind, and he needed to get around her so he could get on with the tasks at hand such how the quant houses were going before he headed back to the gym to do his daily check–in with the trainers. There was another eded to check on as well, one he wasn’t ready to completely accept as a problem yet. Black Sky Pack and their scouts were getting too has tennisory. If that became a bigger problem, this entire ball could be in jeopardy. It was a necessity that he check in with his patrol officers
sooner rather than later
chuckled beside him “Kaden’s very busy right now, Sylvia. He’s got a lot of things to oversee.”
hile melting into empathy. “T let you go. I just wanted to make sure that a bunch of girls from other packs weren’t going to here and take up all your time. I mean, if you find your fated match at the Moon Goddess Ball, and it isn’t me, I die.”
best not no roll his eyes at her exaggeration. “I wouldn’t worry abour that, Sylvia. I don’t think 1’11 be meeting my fated match any
He could tell he hadn’t given her the answer she wanted, but his eyes were already focused on the door. “Okay then. See you later.” She gave him
de and then turned to walk away, putting so much swagger in her hips, she looked like she was walking on a swaying ship
ta
len said distrusuvely. “I mean, obviously, she’s not my fated match or we’d know that by now. We don’t need a stupid ball to started walking toward the exit again with Alec at his elbow, trying to forget about how he’d offended his former lover
don’t believe in fated matches at all, do your” Alee asked as they stepped outside.
raby” Kaden admused “Brides, I dont have time for that. Even if I did meet her. I have so much to do as the leader of this pack thut i have time to worry about woeding her, getting married, and all of that junk.” He shook his head. “This ball is going to be more about
Sinodes for me than finding true love”
Chapter 5
so what would you do if you did meet her? Tell her to wait a few years until you figure your job out a little better?” Alec asked as they headed off down the trail that led through the forest to the old pack houses,
“Thanks” Kaden said, stopping to give his Beta an evil look
“I’m just saying!” Alec’s arms flailed out. “What would you tell her?”
“I don’t know?” Kaden ran a hand through his caramel–colored hair. “I guess.. I’d have to reject her.”
“What?” Alec inhaled so deeply that he stirred the pine needles on the trees around them as he jumped in front of Kaden. His eyes were like saucers. “Don’t even joke about something like that!”
Suddenly, Kaden felt like he was talking to his grandmother, not his subordinate. “What is the matter with you.
Alec!”
“You cannot reject your fated match, Kaden! It’s bad luck! You’ll curse our entire pack!”
Kaden almost laughed. Alec was being ridiculous. Giving him a light shove, he moved him aside and headed on down the path. “You’re losing your mind, man,” he said.
Alec humed to catch up to him. “I’m dead serious, man! You can’t do that!
The pack houses came into view ahead of them. Kaden bit his tongue. It wasn’t worth it to argue with his best friend over something that probably didn’t matter.
The sounds of hammering from inside one of the houses met his car as Kaden took a look around. It looked like the buildings were in much better shape now than they had been a few days ago when they’d come up with this idea. One of the older women from the pack who’d volunteered to be on the cleaning team stepped out of the second building with a bucket of water and dumped it out. “Oh, hi there, Alpha Kaden,” she said, tipping her head slightly.
“Hi, Helen. How’s it going!”
“Great,” she said with a smile. “We’ll be ready by the time the guests arrive.”
“That’s perfect. Thank you so much. I knew you guys could do it.”
She smiled at the compliment and went back inside where Kaden could see a few other people cleaning. Each of them acknowledged him, and he
waived.
“Alpha Kaden,” a male voice called to his left. Kaden turned to see one of his best workers, an older gentleman named John, headed his way. “I just finished the last of the repairs from the punch card. I think we’re good now.” He had a hammer in his hand and a tool belt around his waist.
“That’s great news, John. Thank you so much. Kaden extended his hand, and John shook it,
“You’ll be heading up the forest security during the event, correct?”
“Yes, sir,” John said, putting his hand on his hip. “I appreciate you delegating the task to me. I won’t let you down.”
Kaden smiled, knowing that was true. He was fairly certain John was the Beta in a pack when he was younger, though he had never asked directly. All he knew was that John was taken in by Light Sky about twenty years ago. Kaden’s father had trusted him to prove himself, and John had never let them down.
Kaden thanked John one more time, and the man went on his way. “The entourages will be staying here, right?” Alec asked, “Hut you’ll be housing all of the Alphia’s families?”
“Yes. There are only three Alphas that have RSVPed,” Kaden explained. “They’ll all fit in the guest rooms at our house.” The house he shared with his grandma had been built to house a large family in hopes that someday the Alpha would have a Luna and many children. To Kaden, it was a house built for distractions, one that would take him away from focusing on his job.
With one more look at the preparations, Kaden nodded and headed back to the village proper. He still had a lot of work to do, and he wasn’t going to let the hall, or a fated match, distract him from finishing his work.
