86
“I’m Katya Semulskaya, and the pre-schoolers are mine. Natasha has the first and second graders, and Ekatarina back there has grades three and four,” she said. “The older children are in classroom this period. Would you like to meet them?” I nodded. “Here, have a seat and I’ll have them come up one by one.” The children were well-behaved, and I got many hugs and kisses as I sat there and met each one. When I had met everyone, and they were sitting on the grass around me, they started begging for a story.
“Oh, I don’t know, my Russian skills are not good,” I said.
“I’d be happy to translate for you. All of the children start learning in English one period a day starting in kindergarten, so some will be able to listen without the translation.” I looked out, the kids were pleading with their eyes for a story. “Would you like to hear a story about a werewolf who doesn’t know she’s a werewolf?”
“YAAAAY,” the young kids said as they settled in. I figured this was as good a way as any to tell the Pack my story from my own point of view. I told them my story, talking about growing up in Minnesota, my father’s death when I was a child, and my Mom’s battle with cancer. They cheered when they found out my mate found me while I was working and defended my honor but booed when he had to go to jail. I told them about living with the St. Croix Pack, ignorant of who I really was, not knowing what they were either. They perked up when I told them I came to Moscow to find out about my birth mother and biological father.
“So your father was our Alpha?” The little girl, maybe four, hadn’t been told much.
“Yes, he was not a good man. He hurt my Momma, and I had to be hidden in the United States so he couldn’t hurt me either.”
“I thought Alphas wuz good,” she said as she looked down.
“Many are, but there are good wolves and bad ones in the world.” I didn’t know what to say to people who had grown up with my father as their absolute leader.
“Momma says she is glad da bad Alfa is gone,” another said. “How do you know a good wolf from a bad one?”
“You listen to your heart, and your wolf,” I said as I pulled him into a hug. Tapping on his chest, I smiled. “When a good wolf tells you something, you feel good about it in here.”
“Okay. More story?” It took about an hour to tell them about the events of the last few months. They listened in rapt attention, more so when I did some simple magic tricks to show what happened after Father Kempechny died. I made sure I didn’t stress myself, just making a small fireball or ice ball, or lifting a child into the air. They all cheered when I told them about flying into battle, fireballs flying in every direction, as the good wolves defeated the bad ones. “And now I’m here with you,” I finished.
They clapped, and a bunch of them came up and hugged and kissed me and thanked me for telling them a story. The teachers finally took them away, it was nap time for the young ones, and the older ones were coming to the pool area next. I got up and followed Patrick out. “You set that up, didn’t you.”
“Meeting the children? Absolutely. They love you, and you can’t tell me you and your wolf don’t feel a pull towards them.”
I thought about it and asked my wolf what she thought. “Of course we are pulled towards them, this is where we were born to be. You can feel how much they love you, and you would die to protect them, wouldn’t you?” It was true, I would sacrifice anything for them and I had just met them. Tears came to my eyes, I needed my mate and he wasn’t here. What would he think? Would his wolf feel the same? Did we even want to be here? “I already promised you the Moscow Pack, Patrick. I can’t take it from you now.”
We reached the elevator, and after punching the button he turned to face me. “You did, and I’m honored, Mischa too, but we are now and always will be the backup plan for this Pack. Don’t worry about us, Mischa is still in school, she still wants to be a Doctor. Who knows what will happen? I promise you, we will be fine no matter what you choose.” The door opened, and we got in. He slid a card in the control panel and pressed the button for the basement second level. “I want to show you something.”
We exited into a vestibule, heavy steel doors were in front of us, and cameras above us. “Beta Clarke bringing Jessie Donato on a security floor tour.”
“Access granted,” a voice said, and I heard bolts retracting before the door in front of us opened.
“Why here,” I asked.© NôvelDrama.Org - All rights reserved.
“Right now, your wolf is feeling protective and wants to be reassured those children you were with are going to be safe. No better time than now to show you.” He pointed at a door in the center. “The Pack House has a safe room in the floor below us. There are two ways in; a freight elevator and that stairway behind that door. Both can only be opened up by the security control center over here, and reinforced steel plates slide into place after everyone is inside. There is room for five hundred people in there, and enough supplies for two weeks.”
I understood the secrecy. He took me to a room, it was dark and filled with monitors showing camera views from inside and outside the Pack House. “In here we monitor the House and two blocks surrounding it. If there is an attack, we can lock down all exterior doors in seconds. Ground and second floor windows are bulletproof, and the doors are reinforced steel. The security force is armed and has regular and silver weapons available at their stations. Secure areas are monitored, and access controlled from here.” He introduced me to the two men and one woman on duty. “We have three in here at all times, and another seven on patrol.”
“That’s a lot of security,” I said. “You would need at least thirty to set up a watch schedule.”
“We actually have fifty, with time off and training you need a five-crew rotation to make it workable. The surveillance equipment is top of the line, with aiming and zoom control and facial recognition built in. Areas not normally occupied have motion sensor alarms, and the cameras are normal and infrared.”
He was right, my wolf did feel better now. “What would you do different if you had control and money?”
He thought about it for a minute. “I’d expand. The Pack has always been dispersed around the area, over half don’t live here. The hotel next to us could easily be converted into housing and connected by underground tunnel. Adding security to it would be easy.” He was right, but if the Pack members wanted to stay in their own apartments or houses it wouldn’t work. My job would be to make them want to live as a group again.
“See, you’re already seeing them as yours,” my wolf said with a chuckle. Patrick finished showing me this, then took me to the upper basement level which was filled with gyms, a trampoline room, a larger pool and locker rooms. It was all right, but new machines and a remodel would help.
Before I knew it, it was past three o’clock and the jet lag had caught up to me. Patrick noticed. “Come on, let’s get you back to your room. You can nap for a few hours, the informal reception starts at six thirty and the formal dinner at seven thirty.”
“That sounds good,” I said. I went back to my room, quickly showering and falling into bed. At five thirty, an omega woke me and helped me to get dressed and do my makeup. She was an energetic young woman, just out of high school and hoping to find her mate soon. I had on the expensive lingerie I’d bought in Minnesota, along with a flattering silk dress with four-inch heels. I barely recognized myself in the mirror, I looked rich and glamorous, far from the Hooters girl I had been at the start of the summer. “John is going to flip when he sees me,” I said.
“You’re a beautiful woman, Luna. Your mate is lucky to have you.”
I smirked. “Just wait until you see him, and you’ll see why I am the lucky one. Those muscles…”
She touched up my hair just before Alpha Stan knocked on the door, and he smiled when he saw me. “John is in the air, he should be here after dinner sometime. May I have the honor of escorting you to the party?”
“It would be my honor, Alpha,” I said as I took his offered arm. He was dressed in a tuxedo, looking every bit the strong and confident Alpha. I straightened my back, letting my wolf strengthen me. I belonged here, I was strong on my own, and soon my mate would join me.
We made the short walk to the main reception area, where all talking stopped as soon as we walked through the door. “May I introduce the Alpha Heiress of the Moscow Pack, Jessie Donato,” Stan said as he moved me forward.
I stood tall, taking in the wolves, all but the Alphas having bowed their heads slightly towards me. “I thank you for your hospitality and may the blessings of Luna above be upon this evening,” I replied.
“Welcome, Alpha Heiress Jessie and Alpha Stan, to the Moscow Pack. May Luna bless you and your Packs,” Javier said formally. The party started up again, and Stan led me to where Javier, Abrianna, Patrick and Mischa were standing. A waiter brought glasses of champagne, when I refused he pointed to one that was sparkling grape juice. “You aren’t the only pregnant female here tonight, Jessie,” he said. “This pack has hope again, and I foresee a baby boom in the next year.”
Abrianna nodded while holding his hand. “Our wolves have more to do with conception than we think. In a bad Pack, birth rates are much lower than in a healthy Pack.”
“Is that true for mated wolves too, or is it just fewer wolves in bad packs find their mates because they become isolated?” I was learning a lot.
“A little of both. Birth rates are a better predictor of pack health than the reports sent to the Council,” Javier said.
My hand unconsciously went over my still-flat stomach. “It all seems like a dream. It wasn’t that long ago I was spreading my Mom’s ashes, wondering how I would make enough money to go to school or have my own place.”
“And now you could buy a school,” Stan said. “It’s the same problems, just more zeros on the checks. You and John will find your way, and I know you will put the money to good use.”
We chatted and mingled for another twenty minutes before there was a stir in the crowd. Curtains opened, exposing televisions which were turned on to the news channel. A camera was showing a car, still burning, the steel twisted by a powerful explosion. I couldn’t follow the Russian-language broadcast, but I could see the faces and read the names in the Cyrillic letters below them.
Alpha Yuri’s widow Natasha and five-year-old son Anatoly had been killed.
John’s POV
The driver turned the radio up. “You have to hear this, guys,” the driver said. I tried to follow but I couldn’t keep up, so I got out my phone and pulled up the English version of the Moscow paper. I read the header, they didn’t have much but the two never had a chance.