153, Growing

153, Growing
Tite
It was the morning-ish after the Alpha hand over. Nash and I had spent a large part of the night and most of the morning celebrating. Even when we got back to our room, we continued in a more private way. Just before lunch, we made it out of our room and as we had to wait half an hour for the food. We decided to get some fresh air. We were walking through the village and I was telling him about the different shops. 
“What do you mean we have to move?!” We heard Mara’s shrill voice scream. Both Nash and I looked over towards the coffeeshop. My dad stood outside with a to-go cup in his hands, looking like he had swallowed a bee hive. Mara was staring him down. 
“Let’s head back. I don’t want to get involved in that,” I told Nash. He nodded and put his arm around me. 
“Of course we have to move. It’s the Alpha apartment. I’m no longer the Alpha. Ulf and Amber need the place now. We aren’t the only ones. Johan and Gunnar and their mates will be moving out of the Beta and Gamma apartments to make space for Henning and Ida,” we heard my dad say. Even though he sounded tired, there was an undertone of excitement I hadn’t heard in a long time. Nash and I made our way back and were relieved we didn’t end up in the middle of the fight. 
“We won’t end up like them, will we?” Nash asked me. 
“No, we won’t. I trust you will love me even when I’m old and my boobs sag,” I said. 
“I will, I will love both you and your boobs no matter how old or saggy you get,” he promised. 
“Good, and I promise to love you even when your ass gets wrinkly,” I said. We both laughed and kissed. As the food should be served any moment, we decided to head for the dining hall. 
“Nash, Tite, do you have a moment?” We looked up and saw Bo and Karin walking towards us. We looked at each other and then smiled at them. 
“Sure,” Nash said. 
“How about we go to the library. It should be empty this time of day,” I suggested. 
“What did you want to talk about?” Nash asked as we sat down at a table in the inner part of the library. 
“We have heard a rumour,” Karin said. I raised my eyebrows. 
“A rumour?” I asked. 
“That you are starting a new pack,” Bo explained. 
“Oh. I didn’t think it would get out quite this fast,” I said and then laughed. 
“We’re sorry if it was supposed to be a secret,” Bo said. I waved it away.
“It’s not. We just haven’t told people,” Nash told them. Then there was a moment of silence as we all four waited. 
“Right, the reason we asked to talk to you,” Karin got started. “Wheel really loves the Howlers and I like it there as well. Would it be okay if we chose your pack?” she asked. 
“I was wanting to ask the same thing. Lizzy is feeling overwhelmed here, it’s a bigger pack and it makes her uncomfortable. She won’t say it, as she knows I need a pack, but we were both happy when we stayed at the Howlers. Lizzy knows a lot of the women and she feels at home there. To be honest, so do I,” Bo told us. I could feel Nash was as surprised as I was. 
“We would be happy to have you,“ he said. 
“But before we make it official we need you to know we haven’t got the permission to form a new pack yet. If the Alpha council turns us down, there will be no new pack. We won’t be offended if you want to wait for it to be official,” I said. “And it would be good if you talked to Alpha Ulf and Luna Amber. If we become a pack, our packs will be closely bound, but I would hate to step on my brother’s toes on his first day as Alpha,” I added. Bo and Karin looked at each other and then smirked. 
“We aren’t worried about the permission. We know how stubborn you can be, and so does Luna Alice as well as our new Alpha pair. We assume they will advise the council of the same,” Bo said. 
“And we will talk to Alpha Ulf, we don’t want to cause any issues,” Karin agreed. 
“Then it’s settled, you and your mates are more than welcome,” Nash decided. 
“It puts us at three wolves in the pack and five shifters in total,” I told them. I mindlinked my brother to see if he had time to see them straight away and he asked me to send them to his new office. When they had left the library I turned to Nash with a big smile. 
“It seems the pack grows by each day,” he said. 
“I will take it as a good sign. It shows that people understand what we are trying to create and they want to be a part of it.” He nodded. 
“We need to sit down after lunch and work out the top tier,” he reminded me. He was right. We had a meeting booked with the Alpha council the next day and we had most of the budget ready, we had the pack land, including the coven’s land, drawn out and a list of the members we thought would join. The only thing missing was the leadership. 
“Let’s make sure to get fed so we will think better,” I told him and we walked over to the dining hall. Most of the middle table was already full. It was strange seeing my dad sitting on one of the side benches and not at the head of the table. As Nash and I took our seats, Alpha Ulf and Luna Amber walked into the room. Ulf took his seat at the head of the table. Instead of walking to the other end, Amber sat down on his right side. Through the pack link, I could feel the pack relaxing. We all waited until my brother had taken a fork full of pasta and fed it to Amber. Then the rest of the pack got busy eating. I realised it wasn’t just the Howlers that had strayed from the traditions. No one in my pack had waited for the Alpha to feed the Luna in years. If we had, we wouldn’t have got to eat very regularly. The happiness the pack felt at bringing back the old ways wasen’t about the gesture, it was about what it represented. An Alpha couple in harmony would bring peace to the pack. No more tension, no more split in the Alpha family. It reminded me of why the small gestures were so important.