Doctor are you here?

Chapter Four

Drew POV

I called the former beta and delta to my office.

‘Names?’ I asked a little harder than I had intended, they did not even flinch at my tone. Good.

‘I was the beta, my name is Oliver, and this was the delta, Jamie.’ Oliver was a tall man, strong, I was surprised Dad did not kill him or the delta. He would normally have done that, but I was not going to kick a gift handed to me. I needed these two men, more than I liked to admit and I was not about to let them know how vulnerable I felt at that moment.

‘You may call me Drew when in private. Also, I would like to offer you both the opportunity to continue as beta and delta, unless you have suggestions of someone to take that position and wish to step down yourselves.’ Both of them reacted with surprise, and it took a moment for them to take in what I had offered. This was not normal practice when a new alpha took over, but Dad did not let me bring my friends with me, he said they were not leader material and to work something out when I got there.

‘I would not mind staying as a beta for now. I have a son who is almost ready to step up, if you would like to meet him and see if you and he are a good fit as a possible replacement when you are ready.’ I liked this beta already and I was sure his son would be a good fit.

‘My son is of age, he was only waiting for the alpha’s son to take over and he would have been made delta. I can step down, or stay in the delta until the pack settles down to the change of alpha and you can see if he is a working fit too.’ Both men were good so far.

‘I would like to meet both of them and see if we can work together. For now, I would prefer you both keep the roles you had before. You will help to settle the pack, with familiar faces in charge. Hopefully, this won’t be any more painful than it already is.’ The men both seemed to be pleased they were keeping their place in the pack, and not being kicked out or being replaced by strangers or, worse, being killed, and that their sons would get a chance to still be a beta and delta.

At the dining hall, the pack members who lived in the pack-house arrived for dinner. Their faces were red from crying, even some of the men. I sat in the alpha seat and watched them take a seat and wait. I knew what they were waiting for, they were waiting for me to start eating, so I picked up a fork and took a bite of something. I was not even sure what I prodded with my fork. I was watching the people and I felt their emotions. An alpha is connected to all the adults, and you can feel how the pack is, and at the moment, it is very overwhelmingly sad and angry and, I think, is defeat. I needed the pack to accept me, and not be so sad, but I knew realistically, they would never be completely happy. Because of the way Dad made this happen, I can be the best alpha they have had. Only children will be so easy to accept as they don't have the ties to the old alpha. Those adults or close to adults remember and most likely always have a sadness about them. I hope none want revenge. That would be a hard pill to swallow. I don’t want to kill anyone. I am not like my father and I know if he heard I was not managing, he would be here in a flash.

The beta and his son arrived in the dining hall and he did not hesitate to go and to stand by my right-hand side, his son beside him.

‘Alpha, this is my son Toby.’ I shook the young man’s hand. He was seventeen, he showed no sign of fear and I knew already we would make a good fit.

‘Sit with me and have dinner, we can chat a bit.’ Oliver sat a seat away and placed his son next to me. This was more of a statement to those in the room that Oliver may be a beta but his son would take over. The room was chatting and eating, and you would not know that a few hours ago they gained a new alpha. It helped my wolf as the room slowly stopped the sadness that washed over us continually, and that some calm and peace was starting.

Jamie entered with his mate and children. Jamie came to me and introduced me to his family and his son Ashley and, like Oliver, he had his son sit beside me and his family on the other side of him.

I stood up and called for quiet.

‘Members, I would like to announce that Oliver and Jamie have agreed to stay in the positions of beta and delta for now, and later, after some training, their sons will step up to take that position. Give them your respect and loyalty.’ The room responded unexpectedly. They all stood up and clapped and cheered at their beta and the delta was staying as such, I encouraged the four to stand and face the people.

I sat back down and let the men receive the accolade and I felt more sadness leave my heart. My first decision was the right one. Let’s hope it continues this way. The meal was okay. Once I started to taste it and the tension of the pack relaxed a bit, I was hoping the announcement would settle the pack and start accepting me more.

‘So, Ashley, would you like to wait for Toby to be of age or would you like to take over your father’s position earlier.’ I started to probe where his head was at.

’Firstly, alpha, call me Ash, Ashley is for when I am in trouble.’ I chuckled at his confidence, I liked him, he was not afraid to say what he thought and that is what I need right now. I don’t want to hear what they think I need to hear; I want the truth.

‘Would it be okay if I shadowed Dad for a while? And get used to how you would like things done, you may wish to do things differently to how we have been trained.’ He looked at his dad and then back to me, his face never looking like he had any fear of me. That was a good start.

Turning, I looked at Toby beside me, he looked up at me questioningly, and then I turned back to Ash. These boys had been well trained.

‘That would be acceptable. That was what I would have suggested before handing over the title, but are you sure you want to wait six months?’ I probed that seemed to be a long time.

‘Can we play that by ear, Sir?’ I burst into laughter at this request. He is going to be fun to work with if he can negotiate with me like that, and being the delta, he will take care of my mate, the Luna, when I find her. I hope she is not too far away and not against what has happened here.

‘Sure, starting from now, be by your father’s side and learn all you need and get comfortable with the jog and with me, let me know when you feel comfortable enough to take over and we shall see how things are.’ Ash nodded and dived into his food, looking like he had not eaten all day.

Both Toby and Ash will follow their fathers around, and join all our meetings. I needed to get more knowledge of this pack before I started dealing with other packs.

‘Oliver, what time do you start your training in the morning?’ I needed to know the schedules and get things changed, if need be, I wanted many things done, but needed to take it one step at a time, or I would overwhelm everyone.

‘Five am for the men, and six thirty for the younger ones.’ He was quick to reply, I had expected it to be, he had to be the pulse of the pack, and if he did not know he would be useless to me.

‘Younger ones, what age is that?’ I asked, this pack was too easy to take over.

‘We have the twelve- to sixteen-year-old boys at six-thirty, those seventeen and older to be at the training grounds at five am.’ He explained further, he was frowning, wondering where I was going with this.

‘Woman?’ I was not sure how I felt about the twelve to sixteen. It should be okay, but Dad had always started them at six years old to do hand-to-hand combat and more intense training when they had gained their wolf. I was not sure if that was the right way to do it or not, but we definitely need to train our women, I won’t force it, but it needs to be open to them, maybe the twelve- to sixteen-year-old girls, and when they get the wolf, can stop or continue, but they should get some sort of training to protect themselves.

‘No, our alpha did not have training for women.’

‘That changes now. Could you get the head trainer to my office in half an hour? We need to look at the schedules and I would like to know about the patrols and other issues. I wanted to get things started now so that Dad could sneak in like he had. It was not good enough. I wanted the perimeter to be stronger, build my territory, and find blind spots.

‘Yes, alpha.’ Oliver said and I could tell he was mind-linking him now. If they did not like this change, they did not show it. Even their sons were nodding their heads at this order, taking in all that I was saying.