24. Red Stone
1715 Words
Grant
My pack members and I arrived first thing this morning to our new home. We explored the area while we waited for my parents and Eric to get here. They had secured the four hundred acres in the coastal Georgia area.
There were pine trees everywhere on the property. I felt at home but we needed to make a water system like a man-made lake like dad had. I already had a list of things we needed to do and it would take time and a lot of people to get it done, but we could do it.
I had already been on the phone with Madison and had sent her several pictures of the area I would now call home. As we started to build, I would send her more pictures of the progress we were making until her eighteenth birthday, when I brought her back with me. No matter what, I was going to bring her here.
We all settled in a clearing waiting for my family to arrive. Soon I saw my mom, dad and brother Eric. I smiled brightly when I saw them. I was all too happy for today. Eric rushed up to me and we hugged tightly. I missed my big brother a lot.
“Goddess, I have missed the hell out of you,” Eric told me.
“I missed you too,” I said as I squeezed him a little tighter.
We released each other and I moved to hug mom and dad next. Once I was done, I turned to face everyone. It was time to establish my pack. It was time for us to be a family.
“I’m so happy y’all are here to watch this,” I told mom, dad and Eric with a smile.
Eric and our parents looked at me with questioning gazes and I just smiled before turning to my pack members. They knew I was about to establish our pack because we were finally home.
“I, Alpha Grant of the Red Stone Pack, accept Otto as my first member and Beta,” I said, and I felt the pack bond form between us.
It was like a bright white light that sprouted from the back of my mind and then connected me to him. Otto and I smiled at one another before I made each of the other fourteen wolves my pack members. I could feel each of them in my mind and it was an amazing new feeling to experience. The rogues had never experienced a pack link, so this was entirely new to them. The emotions on their faces were amazing to watch.
Once I was done, I turned to look at Eric and our parents with a big grin. Eric smiled back at me full of pride along with our parents. My pack members went to explore their new home a little more while I got plans made. My parents, Eric and I sat down on the tailgate of Eric’s rental truck and started planning out my pack territory and what all I wanted and needed here.
"What are your plans?" Eric asked.
I looked at the map of the property and put my finger on a spot and said, "the packhouse needs to be here."
“How many stories?” he asked.
“Three.”
“Not four?” he asked, looking at me with squinted eyes.
“No. I want a house here," I said while pointing to another spot.
I wanted my house and all the other houses on one side of the packhouse and the town on the other. Making the packhouse the center of everything.
"So you want this to be like uncle Sean’s pack?" Eric asked.
"Yeah. A little."
"What else do you want and need?" Dad asked.
"Barracks, a grocery store, a school and daycare, a clothing store, a hospital, a bakery, a salon and barber, greenhouses, crop fields, a barnyard and then eventually restaurants," I answered.
"That's pretty typical for a pack village," dad said with a smile.
"I know. I'm not sure what all we will end up needing but this is a start," I told him.
Eric nodded his head and we mapped out where the buildings would go. When it was time for lunch, all of us left the pack territory to eat in town. The closest town to the pack territory was Homerville. It was a small town with just over two thousand people living in it. The town was pretty and some of the structures were old but well kept.
Eric found a country cafe that he figured our parents would like. He was right. Dad loved the chicken fried steak. It was his go to meal at a country cafe if they served it. I got the same thing because it looked good.
While we were out, Eric asked, "So since there is no building on the property yet, where will everyone stay?"
"I was thinking of getting tents, cots and sleeping bags," I answered.
"That's ridiculous, no. We will do what we did with your uncle Sean," mom said.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Fifth wheels, travel trailers and maybe an RV. Grant has a lot more people than Sean started out with," dad said while looking at mom in the back seat of the vehicle.
"Oh, true. He does. But they still need a place on the property so they can get more done," mom said.
"True, and then those things can be used when Jaxson is building his pack," dad suggested.
"Yeah. Let's go get some RVs!" mom said with a smile.
Dad laughed while Eric and I smiled and shook our heads at her enthusiasm. We headed to get RVs after that with our parents, Otto and Aksel. Things were looking great.
~
Unknown, roaming Georgia
He's settling his pack, but I have all of the information I need to know that he had to be the strongest supernatural creature I have ever seen. But now it was time to put his strength to the test.
I was going to talk to everyone I knew or met in our world and tell them about Alpha Grant Shanks. Put it in everyone's head that no one can beat him in a challenge. Then I'll watch as challenger after challenger comes to fight him. I want to see who can bring him down, where his strength ends and if he has a weakness. Most importantly, I want to know if I can bring him down.
I was one of the strongest supernatural creatures and I wanted to be on top. I planned on going after that dragon in Rome but I lost him. No doubt he shifted into his creature and flew off where I wouldn’t catch another sighting of him. Maybe if I stick close to Grant I'll catch sight of him again.
~
Grant
Mom, dad and Eric stayed for a few days here in Georgia to catch up with me and meet my pack members. Mom cleared a spot of trees and got a garden started for us. She even moved some trees so we could set buildings and wouldn’t have to cut them down.
I was sad for them to leave and get back to Hunter’s Moon and the rest of our family, but I knew they had to. Their lives were there while mine was here.
Eric sent all of his crew to my pack territory and building started right as they were leaving. We got the slabs formed for each building before starting to build the structures.
When I wasn't helping build the pack buildings, I was working on a business that would help fund the pack and all of my members. I talked with Eric and dad and they both agreed that I was born to have a construction company of my own, but I wanted to go a step further and cut out the architect in the mixture of people I needed. I wanted to be the architect and the owner, not just the owner. Now it was just getting that done with online classes while I worked from here at home.
I still talked with Madison every night. I told her when the pack became official and let her know that I had named it Red Stone.
“Red Stone? Red for the red clay there in Georgia, and stone for your destiny?” she asked.
“You know me all too well. Get out of my head!”
“Lol. No. It’s comfy here and I will stay for as long as I like.”
I had to laugh at her and I think she would forever live in my head. No matter what.
~
Grant
Normally, it takes a normal-sized crew six months to build a packhouse. With Eric's crews working around the clock and my pack members helping, the packhouse, hospital and grocery store would be built before the end of August. My house was close to being done and the school was just starting to be built. The progress that all of us were making was incredible. The only thing that would slow us down in finishing buildings would be supplies if we couldn’t get them. So far, that hasn't been an issue, so I was grateful.
The greenhouses were built and already in use thanks to some of my members. The barn and barnyard were done, we just needed to get livestock now. Things were moving along and there was always something to be done.
~
My house was done quickly but I wasn't living in it yet. I was going to wait until the packhouse was done. I didn’t feel right having my own house to live in while everyone waited on their spaces.
I sent Madison pictures of my house and all the construction that was finishing up. We got livestock so we now had fresh eggs, milk and meat along with things from the gardens and the finished grocery store that we were now receiving goods at.
The barracks started being built along with the school. It won't take much longer and more building will be done. My pack town was looking more and more like a town with each passing day.
- Writer
