Chapter 22

I had been back from my travels for a week and was settling into my new routine. It was a lot easier than I had thought it would be. There was always something that needed to be done for the pack: food to be cooked, questions to answer, and errands to run. I discussed ranks and bigger things with Finlay, and he was happy to step in where I was needed. Then we had the daily meeting with the others, and Sam had put me in charge of planning and running the training for the pack. I had enlisted Meadow's help to plan the first hide-and-seek event.

I was walking from one of the pack member's houses to the pack house when Martin walked up to me, and I smiled at him. He hesitated a moment and ran his hand through his dark hair. He took a deep breath and looked at me again.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Do you have a couple of minutes?" he asked.

"Of course," I said. "Do you want to come up to my room?"

"How about we take a walk along the creek?"

"That sounds good," I agreed; it was a beautiful summer day. We walked in silence as we followed the creek. The soft grass on the bank muted our steps. The wildflowers filled the air with their fragrance. We walked away from the village, and finally, Martin sat down on the grass. I joined him, and we both looked out over the trickling water.

"Has Finlay told you about how things were before we formed this pack?" he suddenly asked.

"No, we haven't really talked about your old pack," I said. I glanced over at him, but he stared out over the creek.

"My family wasn't a part of the ranked families. We were run-of-the-mill wolves. When Alpha Johannes ran the pack, wolves like us had it good. We were respected as we contributed to the pack, maybe not in the same ways as the tops or the warriors, but we worked hard," he told me. I hummed, not wanting to interrupt him now that he had started. "But then he passed away, and Ryan took over the pack—Finlay's brother. All of a sudden, my family wasn't worth anything. We weren't physically strong, so we didn't matter. But then Finlay gave us the option to follow him instead." There was a pause.

"Your family isn't here," I said. I already knew it, as I had been going through the pack roster.

"No. My dad thought it would be dishonorable to abandon our pack. My mother would never go if my father stayed, and my sister mated with one of the warriors in the pack. But I knew I couldn't stay. There was no future for me in that pack."

"I'm sorry. Do you keep in touch?" I asked.

"With my sister and my mom, but my dad is still disappointed in me!" Martin told me. "I'm telling you this because I really don't know what I'm doing. I have no clue why Finlay chose me to be his Beta, but I will do whatever I can to live up to the title. I need you, and I need you to tell me if I'm not doing what I should. I will step down rather than hurt the pack. This pack is my life, and I will protect it, even from myself." I smiled and gave him a nudge with my shoulder.

"What you just told me—that is why Finlay made you his Beta. You love this pack just as much as he does. The relationship between the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma, and, as an extension, their families, are more important than one thinks. That was why I left my first pack. What was happening between me and the Alpha's son was messing with that bond; I didn't want that on my shoulders, so I left," I told him. "As Beta, you are the quality control. It's your job to make sure the Alpha doesn't go off script. Alphas have a tendency to get tunnel vision. Your job is to make sure Finlay remembers the big picture and to help take up the things he thinks he has the bandwidth to do, but you know he doesn't."

At that, he huffed in amusement. I smiled. "You are doing fine. Better than fine. You are doing amazing. Look at the pack. It's happy, it's open and welcoming. A pack like that doesn't have issues with the top ranks. You just need to find your confidence, and that I can help you with."

"Thank you, Amie," Martin said, and he gave me a nudge back.

"So how did you and the Alpha become friends?" I asked. Martin chuckled. "We are born a day apart, sixteen hours, something he likes to remind me about. We like to think it started a couple of hours after I was born. The idiot beat me into the world within sixteen hours. We played together as pups; I don't think our parents saw anything wrong with it. But we bonded from the start. He's the brother I never had, and I'm the brother he wished he had. When he told me about his plan to break away from our old pack, I knew I would follow him," he told me.

I smiled. I would have liked to see the toddler version of my Alpha and Beta. I would bet money that they were adorable.

"You never doubted that he would get the permission?" I asked.

"Never," he said with a chuckle. "When Finlay wants something, Finlay will get it. If the first way doesn't succeed, he will try another way until he finds one that works. That man is stubborn," he said. I laughed.

"Yeah, that was a stupid question. I have been on the receiving end of that stubbornness," I admitted. Martin joined in my laughter. It was nice sitting in the sun by the water and laughing.

"Well, when he gets that way, gets tunnel vision, as you put it, it's usually something important. I'll be the first one to admit that I called him insane when he called to say he would bring a lone wolf back to the pack and we should do our best to make her join our pack. But… he was right. The pack is better off with you here. Thank you for accepting our offer," Martin said.

"Oh, you weren't alone on that. I called him crazy once or twice. I don't know about the pack, but I'm definitely better off here. This is home. So thank you for being open-minded and having me."

We remained seated for a while. I ended up resting my head on his shoulder, and he rested his head on top of mine. It was nice having some bonding time. It almost felt like when I used to hang out with Elder. We eventually got up and made our way back to the village. The subjects were lighter, and we both felt like we had gotten closer, and the hesitation of a new friendship wasn't there any longer. When we got close to the pack house, Finlay walked up to us.

"Where have you been?" he asked. He didn't look annoyed, more amused.

"I needed to warn Amie about how stubborn you are and all of your other flaws," Martin told him with a grin.

"I had to tell him it was too late. I already knew all about it," I added, and we both laughed.

"You have bonded, I see. Why do I feel this will be bad for me?" Finlay asked with a chuckle.

"We will be gentle with you," I told him. Then I gave Martin a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you for the walk. I really needed it, and I had a great time. We should do it again sometime," I said before saying goodbye to both men and heading off to do what I had planned to do before my little outing.