Reckless Regrets
Chapter 26

Kade

We all eventually moved to the conference room on the first floor to spread out and work more comfortably. It was a fantastic feeling to be back with the guys putting our heads together to figure out some insane puzzle, and it was nice to be a part of a real and effective team.

I didn’t think I saw any strategy meetings called in the time I’d been with Thorne, and it just furthered my suspicions that he did whatever the f**k he wanted, and everyone went along with it. It was stupidity in its highest form.

We were on a short break while we waited for lunch to be brought in for us, so I took the opportunity to catch up.

“How are you liking being Beta? Do you see how much work I had to do now?” I asked Matt.

“Your processes were all over the place, that’s why you had to do ‘so much work.’ I’ve cleaned them up, and everyone is reaping the benefits, though, so don’t worry,” he smoothly replied.

“What?! What processes? I had to keep up with over four hundred fighters and their training schedules, injuries, strengths, and weaknesses, everything! There was nothing-”

When he flashed one of his annoyingly perfect smiles and began to laugh, that good old “punch him in the face,” feeling came rushing back.

“I’m just screwing with you. It’s a lot of responsibility, especially when I have so much happening at work. And I refuse to miss a single night of putting my children to bed, so getting everything done throughout the day has been a bitch.

Honestly, Tyson takes on a lot of it to help out. Fighting has been his life forever, and he sees it from a different perspective, so his input with rotations and strengthening skills has been incredible.”

And it was this right here that made our pack great. Not trying to sound conceited, but I was a significant player on this team, and I was taken out of the game unexpectedly. But it didn’t cripple us in any way. The diversity of our team, and the fact that we had an Alpha who saw strengths, benefits, and potential contributions instead of perceived threats or enemies when someone new crossed our path put us in the position we were in now.

Tyson came to us as a hitman hired to kill Matt. Now he’s our Gamma and providing invaluable help keeping our warriors in check.

It’s crazy how things work out, but we believe that’s it’s all part of a plan; we just have to figure out how to make it work.

“I can’t wait to take it off your plate. I miss the time spent with the warriors; Henry kicking my a*s day in and day out,” I laughed.

“That’s still happening. The only people he hasn’t taken down yet are Xander and Tyson. Everyone else has left the training grounds with more than a few bruises and sore muscles thanks to him.”

“Speaking of Henry, how is that sweet, sassy, vampire huntress of his?”

This made Matt really laugh.

“Sweet? Aires is pissed the f**k off at you. The girls mean the world to her, and one is gone because of all of this, which you caused. If I were you, I’d make sure to avoid her while you’re here today. You’re technically not a member of the pack, so her b***d oath to not harm any Blue Moon members doesn’t apply to you.”

“s**t. I didn’t even think about that. Thanks for the reminder.”

“No problem. Now we should probably find something productive to do, Uncle Peter has been looking over here at us for the past few minutes, and I don’t think that look on his face would be considered one of ‘pride.’”

This was true. My dad was pissed. Furious at the memory of what happened to Mom, angry that Thorne’s bullshit caused me to lose my birthright that he passed down to me, and upset that I still had to go back to Oregon to finish the job.

So, I walked over to see if I could soften him up a bit.

“Hey Captain, what with the screwed up looks you’re flashing across the table?”

“Don’t mess with me right now, Kaden. I’m not in the mood.”

“Not in the mood to talk to your favorite son? I seriously doubt that.”

He smiled and leaned back in his seat.

“My only son, but even if I had another, you would probably still have been my favorite.”

I sat next to him and looked him over. This was what I would look like in twenty or thirty years. Not bad.

“You’re holding up pretty good for an old dog. I’m surprised Lily and Rose haven’t drained you of every ounce of energy and sanity you’ve got left.”

“Let get this straight, I look good. Damn good. We’ll see how you look when you get to be my age, and skin starts to sag. Those tattoos will start to look like faded old newspaper clippings, then what will you do?”

“It won’t matter, I’ll be happily married with a team of kids by then. And I’ll still be the sexiest guy here.”

This made him laugh out loud, and I knew that I’d adequately rid him of his worries, at least temporarily.

“How are things with Morgan? She’s such a beautiful woman, and she’s got a fiery fearless spirit. Just like your mother did.”

“She knows I love her, and I’m trying to come home to her. She just can’t know the details, not yet. So, she, just like the other ladies, believes the web of lies Thorne wove, and she’s worried. I wish I could tell her the truth.”

“We all had to keep details of key operations from our mates at one time or another. It’s hard, but it’s not done out of mistrust or disrespect. Remember that it’s for a solid reason and that in the end, everyone will be better for it.”

“That’s what I keep telling myself. How are the brats?”

“Good, but they miss their big brother. You can come by to visit sometime. I’m sure they’d appreciate it.”

“Once this is all over, I’ll bring Morgan over, and we can all spend the day together. Besides, I’m sure they would love some girl time.”

“Please! I have no idea what they are talking about half the time, so if Morgan could come to translate for me, I’d be so appreciative.”

“We’ll make it happen.”

“I’m proud of you. I was worried for a while that you’d never live up to your potential, but you proved me wrong. I’m happy to see that you’re using everything I taught you over the years and expanding upon it; you serve our pack well.”

“Don’t go all sappy on me, but thank you. I had some big shoes to fill.”

***

We all sat around the table and enjoyed the lunch Geoff had carted in for us while we brainstormed. We were still in the dark about Thorne’s motives, but we were making progress on the plan to take him down.

“What’s their territory like? Any strongholds or points of weakness that can be exploited?” Dad asked me.

“It’s got potential, but currently, it’s subpar, to be honest. There is a surrounding forest, but it’s not as dense as it should be. Couple that with their poor rotations, and they could easily be overrun.”

“Doesn’t sound like Canyon Woods understands how imperative decent tree coverage is to a wolf pack. When we moved here years ago…”

Xavier trailed off in mid-thought, then abruptly stood to his feet and rushed out of the room. We were all curious about what was up but knew he’d return shortly to fill us in, so we patiently waited and speculated.

When he did return, he had a large map and a dusty old book. He spread the map on the table and motioned for us to gather around.

“This map shows our territory. The red outline in the center shows our property when we first moved to the area, and over time it has expanded. This outline here shows the latest property line, and you can see, we’ve grown tenfold since our origin. When my father was Alpha, before I was born, there was a dispute over land that bordered ours; here,” he said, pointing to a spot on the map.

“It was rich and fertile land, and both Blue Moon and Canyon Woods wanted it. My father and Thorne’s challenged one another for the area, but when it was all over, and Blue Moon stood victorious, Canyon Woods claimed that there was foul play and that we’d cheated. The claim was never substantiated, and the area was absorbed into ours.

This land helped make us who we are today; it was discovered that it was an oil field. It funded the building of all of the homes in our village and paid for everything when we started our first construction business. Just imagine how different things would be if Canyon Woods had won the land instead of us.”

“This is all about money?” Tyson asked.

“No, I wouldn’t say it’s that. It’s also about pride. Imagine if an opponent ‘unfairly’ bested you, then continued to do bigger and better things because of the undeserved advantage they now had. It would be infuriating, and you’d want to do all you could to right the wrong and tip the scales in your favor. I think that’s what Thorne is after,” Xavier replied.

“So, why does he need me?” I asked.

“I think you’re a trophy. He’s taken our beta from us and will have him lead this inferior pack. Their defenses are low, their territory is wide open, and their training is s**t. If they were ever to be attacked, they’d fail miserably. And the wolf community would know that it was a highly ranked son of Blue Moon who was unable to handle the pressure; that we’re not as good as we make it seem. You’re a pawn, Kade,” Dad stated.

“So, he’s let his pack suffer for years just to prove a point and make us look bad? How would he even know that it could work? What if I’d been marked and married right now? Then what?”

“He took a gamble, and right now, he thinks it’s paying off.”

“I guess I see why he was so adamant that Marisol and Nathan wouldn’t take over the pack. It had to be one of us.”

“I think there is still more. The pack may be in bad shape, but you know how a pack should be led. Once you became alpha, you’d quickly work to fix things. I feel that Thorne’s ultimate goal is to use you to somehow take all of us down. It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Matt offered.

“I thought of that too. Thorne didn’t want me coming back here today, like he was trying to sever all ties. And what better way to get info on your rival than to get close to their number two?”

“All the more reason for you to go back in. I’m already going to take everything he has from him, but the bonus of seeing the look on his face when he realizes that all of his plans have turned to complete s**t will be the icing on the cake,” Xander stated.

“This is a cluster of ignorance and bullshit, and there will be countless landmines that I’ll have to dodge to make it to the finish line. But I’ve always loved a good challenge.