Chapter 36
My eyes narrowed as I glared down at the ground. Aelia would tear me to pieces for even being like this. I could see her now, standing in front of us with her hands on her hips as she looked at the mess. Looking back at me, not even saying anything. Her face would say it all. Ask me what I was going to do about it.
Noah held out a cane to me. Taking it, I ran my hands along the twisted wood in the center. It was an oak cane with a darker oak handle. In the handle was the embedded emblem of the First Alpha Prince, the same that flew on the banners and flags of Aelia’s army.
My hands tightened around it. She used this one when she was struggling to walk some days. Her real leg would give out on her and she would need something to help, since her other leg was fully magic.
Holding it in my right hand, I set it down and pulled myself up out of the wheelchair. It felt weird, but I took a deep breath before taking a step. I still felt like a newborn deer, but I continued to walk up the driveway to the house. Staring at the mess, I nodded to myself.
“Nate?”
“You’re right.”
Raising my head, I looked past the house into the forest. For the first time in a while, I opened up the mind link to the entire group of warriors.
‘Boys, form up.’
A few surprised ‘Beta’ and ‘yes, Beta’ came back and I smiled. Even Sam seemed surprised as he added his acknowledgement of me.
‘Where are we on the clean-up of the streets?’
Ken answered me. ‘Mostly done, Beta. We moved everything to the side. I think the only issue is the trees further up north and the threes on the east road.’
Frowning, I tapped the cane. ‘Who is handling the clean up?’
‘Um…’ There was a hushed murmur until Lex, the leader of group three, chimed in. ‘We’ve all just being doing it.’
Sighing, I rubbed my eyes. ‘Alright. Where are we on families getting moved into the new houses temporarily?’
‘Everyone has a place, Beta. We had to use a few of the hotel rooms for some single wolves, but everyone has a roof over their heads.’ Sam added, and I was glad.
‘Group one and two, I want you handling the fallen trees. If you need to, try to rent some equipment from the town. We will need more chain saws than I think we have available right now. Getting them off the roads so it frees up how we receive supplies is important.’
Everyone from group one and two acknowledged me.
‘Sam, where are we in getting dumpsters for the area?’
Silence greeted my questions for a moment before a few of the guys chuckled.
‘I can get on that, Beta.’
‘Get as many as you can. I want them lining up down the street. We need to get everything cleared immediately. If we are going to rebuild, we need to get rid of everything first.’
Sam cleared his throat. ‘Yes, Beta.’
I would need to reach out to the power and water company myself. There were so many lines down and as much as I would like to adjust the power to be underground, it just wasn’t happening. We would need to leave that for a future project. A far future project.
‘Group three, four, and five, the moment we get the dumpsters in, I want three wolves to a house. I want everything tossed. Whoever house you are taking on, make sure you coordinate with them to grab belongings while you’re throwing away the larger chucks.’
‘Yes, Beta!’
Narrowing my eyes, I glared at the tree in the middle of the pack house. ‘Group six and seven, focus on the pack house. We need to remove the tree in the middle, then trash everything else. For now, you can get the tree removed and cut up. Everything else will most likely be trash.’ I paused for a moment. ‘Also, we need to peel off Alpha’s truck from the house down the street. See if it still works.’
‘We can do that.’ Ida, one of our female leaders for group four, pipped up. ‘A few of us can get that moved since we don’t have the dumpsters yet.’
‘Sounds good. Get it done.’ I sighed. ‘We are going to be working long and hard, guys. I expect there will be some help to come from the pack, too. If you want to recruit anyone or someone asks to help, let them. It’s going to be a big overhaul and we are going to need months to recover from this. I’m sorry to ask it of you, but we are probably at our most vulnerable right now.’
Wyatt sighed. ‘Would someone really come and try to attack right now?’
I shook my head. ‘We can’t leave anything to chance. Not now. If you need me, my link will always be open from now on.’
‘Beta…are you sure…?’ Dean spoke, but I cut him off.
‘I am perfectly fine. I will work on the power and water for the time being. From there, I will switch my focus to getting everything rebuilt. I might not go on patrol with you, but I will make sure every step of the way we are good. Is that understood?’
Everyone agreed, and I nodded.
‘Good. Now, let’s get this cleaned up and worked out. I’m sure there is something everyone could be doing.’
I smiled as everyone seemed to slip out of my mind link. Sam reached out privately to me, and I could hear the smile in his tone.
‘Good to have you back, Beta.’
‘Where are we on those dumpsters, Sam? Did you think you go could just not have to work on anything except the supplies coming in and out?’
He huffed. ‘I’m going! I’m going! Goddess!’
Chuckling, I turned to Finn and Noah, turning my back on the pack house. Both of them were still standing behind me, watching me with smirks on their faces. I shook my head.
“Thank you.”
“It was always there, Nate. You just needed a little reminder.”
Walking back over to them, I stumbled a moment, but Noah caught me. Smiling, I nodded and he let me go. It was going to take some used to, but I could do this. I had to do this.
“Do you mind digging out something for me?”
The two of them cocked their heads to the side.
“There is a safe…well, there might be two, but I need mine. It has all the plans for the entire pack in it. That will help with all the electrical and everything.”
“Where about do you think it would be?” Noah passed Leah to Finn before he pulled off his sweater.
I looked back at the rubble. “It would be on the side of my office. So on the left side. There might be another one for Sam, but his is smaller than mine. Most of his stuff he has kept electronically.”
Noah nodded, and I watched as he navigated the shaky pile. He shifted his hands and started tossing large pieces of the roof off.
It took about ten minutes of digging, but he found it. I took Leah in my arms while I sat on the passenger side of the car as the two of them loaded it into the trunk. It barely fit, but after they loaded it, Noah drove us back to the house Sam had commandeered for me. Charles and he were in the house to the right and Silas was on the left.
Honestly, I felt a little too close to Silas, but it was fine. I would not complain about getting my house when a few others were getting put up in the hotels. Noah and Finn walked the safe up into the house and set it down in the dining and living room area. The challenge would be getting up the full flight to the second floor.
This was one of the more modern single-family homes. It was part of the rebuilding project and this area we had marked off and moved to the new section of the pack. The house was a two bedroom, two and a half bath. Each house I tried to have a unique look to them or if they were old plots owned by pack members, I would get their input on what they wanted. However, most of this land was owned by the pack itself.
“This place is nice. Fully furnished? Maybe we should…”
I shook my head. “Don’t bother. Right now, they are full. On top of that, you’d have to deal with Silas.”
The two of them wrinkling their noses made me laugh.
“Exactly. But now you have a place to visit. We can also baby proof it and I can watch Leah sometimes.”
“I think you might be a little too busy for that.”
Sighing, I frowned. “I will always have time for little Leah.”
“Oh, but not for us?”
I laughed. “Nah. Not you guys.”
They laughed, and I hobbled over to time, pulling both into a hug. “Thank you. I couldn’t have…I don’t know if I would have pulled out of that.”
“You’re fine, Nate. You would have. It just might have taken you a bit.” Finn squeezed me tight.
“Plus, like we said. You’re one of us. Your family now. Or more like your stuck with us. Sol told us to look out for you.” Noah winked as he let go.
My eyes widened. “What? She did?”
Finn nodded. “She did. So that is what we are going to do. Don’t mind us. We’ll just be hovering.”
“Good. I could use it, apparently.” I nodded to the wiggly Leah. “You guys should go. She’s going to get upset. A bit too much all over the place for her. I’m sure she is hungry, too.”
“Goddess above, you are the damn baby whisperer. I swear. You sure you’re not a witch or something?”
I rolled my eyes. “No. I’m not. Now go, I’ll be fine.”
“Alright, if you need us, we are a call away.”
Waving, I stood in the hall next to the stairs as the door shut. I was alone. Goddess, when was the last time I was alone in a house? It was always the pack house, even when I was visiting other packs. I’d got out of town a few times when I was going places for college, but I stayed overnight in a hotel. That didn’t really count.
Turning back to the living room, I walked over to the safe and opened the combination. Everything inside was dry, but a bit tossed around. Pulling out all the rolls of plans out on the dining table, I got to work.