Her Grey Men

Just down the road

Jenny

The only thing that Sammy was concerned with was his bedroom would have a bunk bed jungle gym. I was ecstatic with planning the new house and seeing it being built to house our new family. My mates designed a two story building with a three car garage with six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a large kitchen, and a huge living room. The kitchen would have a large island with room for ten bar stools to be arranged around. We knew that would be all we needed as most large meals would be with the rest of the pack back at the pack house. There was a large office off of the garage for when we wanted to work from home, and that was going to be frequent with twins.

Because my pack held a construction company we would do all the building in house so to speak. They estimated that it would take roughly six months to finish, unfortunately they wouldn’t be able to start until after the snow thawed and the ground settled. So we would be welcoming our little princesses in the pack house. That was fine for now. My parents would be that much closer to help out. 

For now I was occupied with picking out materials. As frugal as ever I selected the cheapest high quality items that I could, and just wanted the left over siding from the pack house renovation. I wanted our family home to match the pack house, and not stand out from the rest of the buildings on the land. Dave and Brian agreed with that decision, so for now, I ordered paint colors and countertops and had them stored in our warehouse until everything was ready to come together.

When I wasn’t working on the house project I was helping Astra planning her birthday. Most of the time wolves would let us find our mates once we were emotionally and physically ready to be in a relationship. The age was getting older and older though, even before what we have been calling the ‘dry spell’. I was all for it though, it meant that our mates wouldn’t be found before we were legally allowed to have a mate. 

Astra’s birthday December fifteenth. Just a week before the winter solstice, Yule. The most special day of the year for wolves. So we chose holly and fir to decorate the pack house giving the entire first floor a festive feel. True to our word we invited Alpha Dean and his son to Astra’s birthday. I secretly hoped that she didn’t get a mate this year, but she was strong, so very smart, and capable. 

Guests started arriving alpha Derrick and his son the first in the door. “How was the drive?” I asked, extending my hand in greeting.

Derrick grasped my hand in both of his. “It was fine, slow with the snow. This is my son Odin.”

I giggled a bit. “Sorry, your name isn’t funny, just the situation.”

“No it’s fine Luna, my mom is a Historian and philosophy professor at the university, so we all have ‘strong’ names as she put it.” the tall sandy haired boy said. 

“That is awesome, let me introduce you to…” I was quickly cut off as Astra ran into the room panting and taking a fighter’s stance. 

“You!” 

“Um I guess your mate?” Odin’s eyes were swirling with longing and possessive pride. He nodded absently, releasing my hand to stalk to my sister.

My father joined us in the hall reacting to Astra’s shouting. He quickly took in the scene, threw his hands in the air and grabbed Derrick by the arm dragging him down the hall to the office that he kept next to the library. I heard him muttering about inlaws and alliances. My father knew better than to act all protective of his daughters in the middle of a mate claim. It might make him uncomfortable, but that is why he retreated. The same was not true for Astra’s protective brothers-in-law. Dave and Brian both bristled, and growled lowly causing the young man to shrink back.

“Knock it off you two.” I swatted both of them. Brian growled, his dragon was waking up. Wild. 

Odin cleared his throat. “I’m Odin.”

My sister’s eyes were swirling grey and violet, her wolf pushing her to claim. But Astra is strong, and independent, and has a drive to be a leader in her own right, not because of her mate or some status of her birth. She has goals, aspirations. Her desire to go to college, on nothing but her own merits. I know that she has the potential to change the world for the better. So in this instance I waited to see what she would do.

Astra walked right up to Odin and swung a punch at his face that would have shattered bone if he wasn’t a wolf, but it never connected. Odin gracefully caught her hand and pulled her flush against his body, then buried his face in her neck and hair quickly diffusing her. Astra melted against him inhaling his scent as it engulfed her. “My little mate, my fighter.” the boy whispered against her skin reveling in her strength instead of trying to extinguish her fight.

“You’re going to ruin everything!” she wailed in response. 

“No, I am yours, I’m here for you now.” he whispered gently.

Everyone else in the pack house gathered around them in shock at what we just witnessed. Astra the fire-child was tamed. Not by an overbearing brute, no, that would only stoke her to rebel, she was calmed by a gentle soul that only wished for her happiness. I waved my arms and began shooing all the gawkers into the dining hall to enjoy our holiday celebrations. They would have to make do without the birthday girl.

“Astra.” I interrupted their embrace. “What do you want to do?”

Dave grumbled behind me. “Not even a month and you’re going to be vacating the squad.”

I watched as my sister stepped away from Odin. Confusion and conflict on her face. “I. I. I can’t leave, not yet, I need to finish school, and then I have college.” 

Odin looked hurt. “I understand.” he grasped her hand. “I can wait, or I can move here to be with you.”

“Odin you’re going to be taking over for your dad. You have to stay at your pack.” I pointed out. 

His face was crestfallen. “I can’t leave her. She’s my mate.”

I rolled my eyes. Freaking teenagers. “You live two hours away you doofus, just come down on the weekends, besides one of the colleges that she applied to is Virginia tech, same town.” Light shone in both of their eyes at that mention. “Come on, let’s talk to the fathers. Are you accepting this match? Both of you?” I asked, more as an afterthought. 

“I think so.” Astra shyly answered.

“Definitely” Odin declared. 

“Great, she’s actually a good squad leader.” Dave continued to grumble, only thinking about having to find another trainer for the pups. “Best behaved those brats have been, now what? First my doctor, now my trainer? Who else are the gods going to take away from my back?” Dave grumbled the entire way to my dad’s office. 

Brian laughed behind him. “You are getting the entire Vale, how are you complaining about two people finding their mates?”

Odin looked between them confused. “I’m going to need to stay with you over winter break, I have a feeling you guys run your pack a lot different than we do.” 

Astra laughed. “Yeah you can say that.”

I strode into the office behind my mates who stood flanking the only empty chair expecting me to sit and the other’s to stand. My dad and Darrick were sipping his coveted hundred year old whiskey that he had stashed since Astra’s birth. His father bought him a bottle for each daughter that he had. This was Astra’s bottle, mine long gone when I married Brian.

 The man gazed over his glass at my sister. “So what’s the news? You keeping him? Or should I stopper this and wait for a bit? Though with your sister I should have waited longer for her second to show up, but I guess there was no expecting that.”

Odin gasped looking between Brian, Dave and myself. “What?”

Astra looked at her feet then back to our father. “I think I want to keep him. But I don’t want to give up on my education or my squad.” 

My dad nodded. “Well if he was matched for you, then I doubt that he would keep you from your dreams. You have five more months before you have to worry about moving. And he’s not far from here.”

“Ah sir, um dad.” Odin spoke up hesitating. “I graduated a year early, last year, would I be allowed to stay here until Astra can move in with me at my pack?”

Derrick cut into Odin with a glare. “No you still need to train as an alpha and be ready for when your Luna comes home.”

“I see, but what if I took this opportunity to train with a pack that clearly runs things very differently than we do? Learn how another pack runs, what lessons that I could take from them to integrate into ours.” His negotiation skills were steller he had some great ideas and knew how to diffuse his father. “Think about it, you just told me on the drive down here that the Cape Fear pack has been the only pack in the country other than Black River to actually survive without blessed mates. What if my pairing with Astra only opened the door for me to learn from them to bring our pack back to full strength.” 

Dave placed a hand on my shoulder, I could feel the admiration of the boy and myself at our example. Then my mate added. “Astra runs a squad of ten warriors, and she has been the only one to keep them in line. Odin would be placed in the barracks with them and get the full experience if you can handle him being gone for a few months.”

Derrick took a sip of whiskey mulling over the flavor and the proposition in front of him. “It seems like Astra should be our alpha, I can see why you were matched with her. You never wanted to be alpha.” He thought over the plan a little further before saying. “We’ll go home tonight, spend time with your family, I’ll bring him back at the first of the year. I wasn’t planning on handing over the title for a few more years anyway.”

Odin smiled softly and nodded his head. He took his ‘win’ with grace and dignity. No jumping or cheering that he got his way, just acceptance in a way that told me he would have accepted to lose as well. The same was not true for my sister. She bounced on her toes and pumped her fist in the air, then yelled “YUSS” after her victory dance she hugged alpha Derrick, then grabbed Odin’s hand running out of the room back to her birthday party. 

My dad, Brian, Dave, and myself all face palmed at her outburst. I sighed “You know it’s good that Odin vouched for himself verses Astra, because her diplomacy is shite.” 

Derrick chuckled. “They are very well matched. Her aggressiveness will be tempered by his reserved-ness. And the other way around. This has been the most that he has ever said to get his way. I was going to let him anyways before Dave said he’d put him in the bunkhouse. He may actually grow into his alpha roll with her pushing him.” 

I nodded smiling. “Well I’m heading back to the party. I take it you old men are going to sit and stir for a bit longer?”

My dad covered his heart in fake disdain, “Jenny Bean, you dare call me old?!?! I guess Brian needs to pull up a seat, he’s at least double my age.”

I laughed hard when Brian’s face contorted in an expression of disgust and shock. Then laughed harder when my husband grabbed my father’s glass of whiskey. “Fine I’ll sit, besides you are going to have to buy us two bottles of whisky for those pups that Jen is cooking now!”

My dad laughed and poured a third glass enjoying Brian’s company as much as Derrick’s. Before we left his office Derrick looked up to congratulate me and my mates. “Gratz on the pregnancy, and I’m glad that my son is going to be part of this crazy family.”

I smiled thanking him and looped my arm in Daves as we headed back down the hall to the blasting music and the revelry. We watched the kids dance and sing until about nine pm when Brian and the other two joined us for the cake cutting and to sing happy birthday. I watched Astra blow out the candles and grab a slice with the largest frosting rose she could grab and sit down to eat it. Odin sat as close to her as he could without encroaching on her ability to scoop bites of cake heaped in icing. 

The younger pack males and females looked on the new couple with expressions of jealousy and contempt. One of the boys in Astra’s class ‘slipped’ on his way to his seat smearing cake all down the back of Odin’s shirt. Astra jumped up defending her mate, but more than that, he was in her squad. Instead of punching him, like she would have in months past, she grabbed him by the arm twisting it behind his back and marched him out the front door of the house. 

Dave stood up to handle the disrespect but I held his hand keeping him next to me. “Let her take care of it, he’s in her squad, and you trusted her with the leadership.” 

“I’ll let her handle it, I’m just going to be witness so he understands that I have given her full responsibility in this matter.” Dave replied. I could feel his calmness through our link and trusted him to handle, or watch Astra handle the matter.

I was curious myself though so ushered Odin and his dad outside to see what would happen too. I leaned in to tell them. “Think of this as an example of how we run the pack. We can’t get rid of all disrespect, but we trust our squad captains to handle those under them. While Astra is still here she is going to keep her position.” 

Derrick nodded. “I noticed that you never had a beta after, Brad was it? Went feral.”

“Yeah.” I muttered and watched as Astra threw the boy to the ground.

“What gives you the guts to disrespect a visiting alpha?” Astra screamed releasing her aura, Oh gods she was stronger than I thought. It was almost as strong as mine, and I was a chosen! The boy cowered at her feet. “Answer me!” she strode on round the boy, circling him like she was stalking him, playing with her prey. “What do you think would have happened if he wasn’t my blessed mate? Do you think that their pack would stand for this level of disrespect? Do you think that you would accept this if it was the other way around?”

“No captain!” the boy whimpered, shaking. 

Derrick stepped back as Astra poured out more of her aura, “Odin, don’t ever try to control her.” he muttered. Odin only nodded in agreement with pride swirling in his eyes. Oddly Astra’s aura didn’t seem to affect her mate. How strong was this kid? This kind and quiet young man, had to have some power if Astra’s will wasn’t even touching him. 

“What should I do with you?” my sister leaned in very close “Martin? What do you think you need to do to make amends?”

“A,a,apologize Captain?” he stuttered under the weight of her command influence. 

“Ya think?” she quietly, dangerously said. “You are going to apologize, then you are going to wash his shirt by hand, then you are going to clean the entire compound. TONIGHT!”

“Yes captain!” the boy rose from his crouched cowering position, but not by much, and scrambled to Odin’s feet. “I’m sorry Alpha, this will never happen again.”

Martin trembled with his head as low as his neck would allow. Odin shrugged and chucked out of his blue button up shirt handing it to the boy. “I hope not, I can understand your jealousy though.” Martin quickly grabbed the shirt and ran inside to the washroom, leaving Odin standing in our yard shirtless. For an eighteen year old he was heavily muscled, and from the look on Astra’s face she appreciated that fact. 

Dave cleared his throat. “Let’s get you another shirt.”

Instead of following Dave into the house Odin strode forward and grabbed Astra’s hand lacing his fingers in hers. “Want to go for a run?”

My jaw dropped, and my dad who’d come out half way through Astra’s tirade began chanting to ourselves in unison “She’s eighteen, she’s an adult.” as we shook our heads.

Derrick crossed his arms and huffed. “I’ll just come back tomorrow with his mom. And all his sisters.” 

My dad nodded. “I’m calling her mom now. She’s going to enjoy tormenting that boy.”

Brian and Dave snorted knowing exactly what my dad meant. Derrick smirked knowing my mom from years of pack interactions. “I’ll be back, you know I’m just down the road.” he said and headed to his car.