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Chapter 1 Arden POV*   “Hey boss,” Andrea called out as she barged into my office, “Katie and Matt should be back soon. Are you coming out to meet them?” I rolled my eyes at her. Since becoming my Gamma, she had been invaluable, and a slight pain in my ass. However, she was also one of the closest friends I had in my pack. “Do you even need to ask? Of course I will be there.” I walked over to her, and nudged her shoulder, “I’m ready to see what those two learned from Thad.” “You talk about Thad’s training like it is god-level.” Andrea plopped on the couch, continuing the conversation that we had had many times before. “I know you said he is good, but there is no way that he is as good as you say.” “I’m telling you, sending Matt and Katie to train with him at Silver Creek for the last month was the best decision.” I crossed my arms across my chest and leaned against my desk. “You’ll see. I bet Katie would be able to challenge you for the Gamma position and win, if she wanted to.” Andrea rolled her eyes, still not believing anything I was telling her, but she kept quiet. While she relaxed on the couch, I sat back behind my desk and tried to focus on the work I had be doing before she came in. Katie had won favor with me by being the only other female to participate in the challenges a few months ago. She held her own and had showed determination even though she was the first out. Andrea had won the challenge, outlasting the other 6 competitors, but Katie had caught my eye. I wanted to convince more she-wolves to train, at least for self-defense, and I thought it would be good for them to have a female trainer to help motivate them. Most of the women in the pack had been silenced and abused in some form or another. If they were expected to follow the orders of a man during training, it might be even more detrimental to their mental health. Matt had also participated in the challenge, and only narrowly lost out to Andrea. Since I had learned how to sense emotions, I could tell that he wasn’t too put out by losing, and his graciousness made me feel confident for him to join Katie as a head trainer. They both had worked with the former head trainer for a couple months, learning his way of doing things, and figuring out if it would work for them as well. Luckily, the previous trainer was nearing retirement age, so he wasn’t very upset about having someone replace him, even though he wasn’t happy about she-wolves training. He had promised me to hand over his position once the others returned from their mini bootcamp with Thad. No matter how excited I was to see those two return, I couldn’t shake off my anxiety over seeing Silver Creek pack members. I knew Eva was accompanying them back, but I didn’t know if anyone else would be joining her. I missed my friends from there, but things had become slightly strained and awkward after Roman and I had found out we are mates. “Hey, you ready to go?” Andrea interrupted my stressed thoughts. She was standing by the door, making me realize that I had completely zoned out for a couple hours. “Yeah,” I forced a smile and stood from my seat. “let’s go.” ** I stood in front of the pack house with Ashton and Andrea. Even though we didn’t need to be so formal in welcoming our pack members back, Katie and Matt had been missed. It also showed my pack that we valued every member. Did I miss it?! Vanalynn yelled out through the mind link. I looked over to see the young girl sprinting around the corner. “No, their car went past the patrol a few minutes ago.” I answered, chuckling at her excitement. “They should be here very soon.” Ha! Ok, good. She leaned forward to place her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. I promised Katie I would be here. Ashton started laughing at her, making Vanalynn stand up and give him a snarky look. If she had a tongue to stick out, I was positive she would. It had been so interesting to watch her break out of her shell. Underneath the scared and quiet 16 year old that I had originally met was a vibrant and bubbly person. When I first took over as Alpha, she would barely look in my eyes and couldn’t fathom being informal with me. After she finally realized I wasn’t like any Alpha that she was used to, she started opening up to me, and shortly after, she was making friends within the pack. Her and Katie had bonded nearly immediately, and it was good to see how much happier she was. I heard the approaching car, knocking me back to reality. The nerves had kicked in again, not knowing who to expect. I wanted so badly to see my friends from Silver Creek, but I didn’t know how to handle the possibility of them treating me differently. Before the car came to a stop in front of us, Vanalynn hurried over, too excited to see her best friend to wait for them to leave the car. Katie jumped out before the car was in park and immediately scooped Vanalynn into a huge hug, squealing with happiness. I cut in before they could start catching up, even though I was sure that they had been texting nearly nonstop. “Katie, it is so good to see you!” I called out, making Katie untangle herself from her best friend. Matt clamored, slightly ungracefully, out of the car as well. “Matt! It’s good to see you too!” “Hello, Alpha!” they both said at the same time. “Before you make yourselves comfortable, I just wanted to let you know that there will be a pack gathering at the training fields tonight.” I told them, hoping they would understand their role was important. “I think it’s important for the pack to see how much you have learned during your time away, and how much you can teach them.” As expected, they both donned a determined look, knowing how important it was to show that they were worthy of teaching the pack. All of the ranked members, as well as the trainers were fairly young, and though a lot of packs usually go through a transitional phase of having young leaders, this pack still had some resistance to she-wolves being anywhere near a position of power. “I’m excited!” Katie said, smirking as if she knew exactly what she wanted to do to show her worth. “Sounds good, Alpha.” Matt agreed. I smiled at the two and moved my hand in a shoo-ing motion, letting them know they were free to go. Matt nodded his head kindly, and Katie and Vanalynn started mind linking almost immediately while walking away. I squared my shoulders and prepared myself for who was exiting the car next. Eva stepped out, having given us time to welcome our pack members back. Just as she was the first time I met her, she was graceful and ageless in her beauty. She gave me a warm smile to help me relax a little and pulled me into a hug. “Hello, darling.” She whispered into my ear. “It is so good to see you doing so well.” “I’m happy to see you, too.” I said, pulling back to look up at her face. “And I can’t thank you enough for coming all the way out here to help my pack.” “Enough of that. I’m here for you, but first, I think we should give the mates some time.” Eva was smiling so widely, but I had no idea what she was talking about. I furrowed my brow in confusion, turning my head to see what she meant. The first thing I saw was my Beta, Ashton, standing so still he looked to be carved out of stone. It was clear he had found his mate, but I couldn’t see anyone, and it was weird that he wasn’t trying to rush over to whoever it was. Then, another person climbed out of the car. Teo completely ignored the rest of us as he looked up in awe. I could tell that the romantic inside of him was beyond excited about having found his mate, but he stood just as still as Ashton. I reached out, trying to sense why both of them were so hesitant about finding each other. Ashton radiated joy and confusion, and Teo was a mixture of joy and trepidation. “I-I… I didn’t know.” I heard Ashton whisper to himself. “A man?” Teo’s eyes welled with tears after hearing that, and then it finally clicked for me. Teo was scared of being rejected for being gay, and Ashton had never considered being mated to a male. Ashton was a good Beta, if a little full of himself, and I knew how much he valued the mate bond, but he was raised in Dark Woods Pack. They shunned any type of idea that was deemed progressive, including same s*x matings. I watched as Teo curled in on himself, but no matter how much I wanted to help, it felt like I was frozen in place, slowly being overwhelmed by the emotions of the two men. Finally, Andrea stepped in to break the staring contest they were having by smacking the back of Ashton’s head. “Stop being an ass, and go get your mate!” she whisper yelled, knowing he needed a push. That was all it took for him to run down the stairs and scoop Teo into his arms. “I’m so sorry.” He whispered, barely loud enough for anyone else to hear. I probably shouldn’t have listened in, but I was too nosy for my own good when it came to my friends. “I was just shocked. I had never expected to be mated to a man. Please forgive me.” “Of course I do! I was so scared you were going to reject me!” Teo cried, not even bothering to keep his voice down. “I forgive you.” “Oh thank the Goddess.” Ashton pulled back, looking into Teo’s eyes. “I accept you as my mate, and I will treat you with all the respect and love you deserve.” Teo started crying even more, tears of happiness running down his face. I wanted to stay and watch their joy, but Eva and Andrea started pushing me towards the steps. “Don’t be so nosy, Arden!” Andrea chastised me. “We have work to do anyway.” Eva reminded me, cutting off any reply I could say to my Gamma. “Don’t forget, That’s the whole reason I’m here.” I rolled my eyes, but knew they were both right. In the excitement of seeing Teo find his mate, I had forgotten all about the anxiety of how he would treat me. But that wasn’t what was important. Eva came to Ash River Pack to try to help the pack members who had suffered under their previous Alpha. She was going to try to heal them, and for now, my pack was my only priority.  
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