The Forgotten Wolf Kin

Chapter 7 – Pack Life

Malachi’s POV

Despite Marley being generally being my go-to guy, Mattie was the one I went to for personal advice, he always had been. I trusted him implicitly and although Marley and I were the closest, and I trusted him with mine and our pack's lives and livelihoods, Mattie would be the one I would share all my personal issues with.

“Mattie” I smiled wide, glad to see him. “You got big enough for a beard!” I teased, this being the only difference in his appearance since I last saw him.

“Malachi, I’m glad you made it back in one piece” he smiled shyly, ignoring my comment. His short dark hair was cropped and perfectly styled, and his facial hair was trimmed and impeccably neat.

“Me too! It was a little touch and go”

“So I hear!” he looked up at me with his large green eyes.

“Wanna see my war wound?” I grinned.

His eyes brightened “Yes!” his interest was less in the gore and more about his fascination with healing.

I got a little closer. “Not here, I’ll come to see you later. Meet me in the hospital block in half an hour”

“No can do!”

“Why?” I asked suspiciously, it was unlike Mattie to refuse when he could see the urgency in my eyes.

“Mums organised a surprise party for you…” he groaned while rolling his eyes, his love for parties was as strong as mine.

“Really” the frown formed on my brow before he had finished his sentence.

I hated parties and especially those of the surprise variety. Mum was more than aware of this. No doubt this is Mum's way of trying to get me to meet all the she-wolves, who have come of age since I was away, in one room to see if my mate was there. Which would mean someone my sister's age, perhaps one of their friends. This did not appeal.

“Just act surprised and remove that frown from your forehead before Mum sees it and knows I spilled. I’ll meet you in clinic one at 10 pm. I assume this has to do with more than a war wound?”

“Got it in one genius”

Mattie turned on his heel and walked off away from the crowd, never one for attention, and Avery and Marley came to my side.

“Well, hopefully, one of our mates will be at the party!” I groaned under my breath as the crowds started to depart.

“Party?” Avery asked.

“Apparently I’m having a surprise welcome home one in all of about an hour!” I was less than impressed.

“Damn, Mattie has a big mouth” Marley teased. “I so wanted you to have no clue!”

“Because you like surprise parties?” Avery asked, confused.

“No, because the look on his face would have been priceless. Mal has always hated parties! Even as a kid” he grinned.

“You are such a d**k Marley”, I shook my head at his childishness.

“Yep, unfortunately, I am going to miss it, I have to take Avery home” Marley added, although he was usually not one for missing a party when you were an unmated male in a ranking position. The she-wolves’ attention was usually tiresome to deal with.

Especially for us, being that much older, it was well known that we would have to take a chosen mate if our fated mate wasn’t found. So, all those who previously thought they were out of the running, were now back in the game.

“Oh no, you don’t! You are both coming. If I am being forced to endure the unmated she-wolves, then so do the two of you!” I chided, there was no way they were getting out of this.

“I’m game! No shame here, I want to meet my mate, and I am pretty sure she isn’t at home!” Avery shrugged.

Marley piped up, “Ugh, fine, I’ll go, but I am telling you now, I am staying no later than…”

“10 pm”, I finished his sentence.

“I was gonna say midnight, but ten is better…. Why ten?”

“Because we are meeting Mattie in Clinic one then” I stated, as if this was a known fact.

“Ooooooh interesting!” Marley seemed to perk up a bit, now on board.

“Avery? You in? I mean, technically, this has nothing to do with you and you have a home to go to and a family you haven’t seen in a year! You don’t have to stay tonight.”

“I’ll let Dad know I won’t be home until tomorrow. They won’t make any major plans for tonight. Well, nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow anyway. I’m not bailing now; I’m far too interested!”

“Right, then I guess, as long as we all still remain mateless, if we lose each other inside we’ll meet in the clinic?”

“I have no idea where it is!” Avery pointed out.

“Good point, stick by my side then. I could do with a wingman to bat off the unwanted attention, it can get nauseating” I grimaced at the thought.

“Deal”

We all headed inside “Malachi, darling, is Alpha Avery staying?” Mum asked, pleased she may have a guest. We don’t have them often, so any excuse to host and she was on it!

“Yes Mum, it’s been a long drive, I offered him dinner and the Alpha guest room if that’s okay? He is heading home in the morning. I’ll drive him. I’d like to meet his family and see his pack”

“Perfect, your father will be pleased you have become such good allies. Perhaps he would like to go as well, if that would be okay with your father Avery?”

“I’m sure he would be happy to see Alpha Aldine, Luna Della. It has been a while, I believe. I will give him a call shortly and make arrangements. Thank you for having me in your lovely home” Avery was such a smooth talker.

“You are more than welcome, maybe you will find your mate?” she preened.

I smiled, she was desperate for us to find our mates, 7 children, all of age, and not one of us had found our mate. If she couldn’t help us find our mates, maybe she could help Avery find his. She was desperate to play cupid.

“Maybe” he smiled politely.

“Dinner will be in the main hall at 7 pm. We’ll see you then” she stated. It wasn’t a request, but a quietly unassuming demand.

I gave Avery a quick tour, first explaining what was on the two upper levels, as he wouldn’t be seeing them. “ The top floor is for the Alpha and his family. The Beta and Gamma have smaller families, and both live on the second floor. It’s split into two large apartments, one on either side of the floor.”

“It’s a similar layout to ours, just yours is bigger” he speculated.

I showed him around the ground floor first, as we were on it. Here was the kitchen, communal dining hall, conference room, and communal lounge area.

“You have a lot more space than us” he looked around, looking mildly impressed.

“We have more mouths to feed and wolves to occupy!” I joked. Our pack was the biggest of the three Fells.

Next, I took him down to the basement area. “In the basement, we have a recreational area for the teens and young adults, with a pool table, mini home cinema, and games room.”

“Wow, I think we may need to start considering some improvements!” he looked around the area in awe. Dad had it made when we started to grow up, 5 strapping brooding lads who were bored, made for trouble at every corner. It certainly kept us out of strife, sometimes!

“We really are quite lucky, we have most of the mod cons and tech, we don’t want for anything. We are pretty self-sufficient, so going into the human town doesn’t happen often, it’s the way we like it.”

“Self-sufficient, like you grow your own food?”

I laughed at the look on his face. “Yeah, we have several pack members who have and run farms on the outskirts of the forest, for fresh produce, meats, veggies, dairy, and the likes. We also have additional lodges on the grounds for things like the medical centre, library, gym, and so on.”

While slightly dumbfounded, and aware his brain was working ten to the dozen, I took him up to the first floor, which was for the unmated males and females, males to the left, females to the right, bedrooms only. Then we made our way back downstairs and out through the back of the packhouse, to take him to where he was staying.

“Where are we going now?” he asked, taking in the large typically British garden we were currently walking through, which was Mum’s pride and joy.

“To your room,” I said, as if it was obvious, mainly because I thought it was.

“Your guest rooms aren’t in the packhouse?”

With Dad’s growing family, and the increasing pack numbers, the packhouse itself simply didn’t have the room for guests, and although we didn’t have them often, not having adequate guest rooms was deemed disrespectful to anyone staying, it did not look good on the Alpha.

“They used to be, but Mum kept having more kids, the pack kept growing, we ran out of space!” I chuckled “Here we are”. The sign hanging above the door read “Scafell Guest Lodge”

“Nice” Avery seemed impressed. I always liked it here, I thought it was a nice touch.

We had walked just a short distance from the back of the packhouse to the right and there stood an additional 4-story building. A mirror image of the packhouse, but on a much smaller scale, solely for the purpose of guests.

We had dedicated staff for it when we had guests. It was big enough for each floor to have two two-bedroom apartments on them. They weren’t huge, but they were self-contained if the guests wished to remain so.

A young Omega named Freya, who can’t have been any older than about 17, opened the door to greet us. “Alpha Malachi, Alpha Avery, please do come in” she smiled sweetly.

The ranking system was basic and hadn’t changed in years. There was really no need for it either. The Alpha was the person in charge, much like the head of the family, and nothing could be done without the Alpha’s say-so. Next in line was the Beta, second in command, the Alpha’s go-to man, and the person who took over if ever the Alpha was unable to fulfill his duties, for whatever reason, and who also helped to run the pack and pack business.

Third in line was the Gamma, who oversaw organising the troops, border control, pack safety, and security and liaised strongly with the head warrior, if a pack was large enough to require having one. We had never had one, but technically, if we did, the head warrior would be next in line, with the job of warrior training and training schedules.

Finally, everyone else came under the rank of Omega. In the past, and still, in some circles, the omega was deemed as the lowest of the low, because technically they were the lowest ranking. However, my dad, and his before him, made it clear to every member of our pack, that every wolf was as important as the next.

Omega’s all had jobs once they reached 16. Every job done was essential and without each pack member doing their job, and having a positive impact on the pack, things would not run as smoothly and successfully as they do. Cherishing and valuing every member, made for a happy pack. A happy pack made for a productive one.

I made a point of knowing all the Omega’s in our pack and was grateful to every one of them and the work they did to ensure our pack ran smoothly. “Thank you, Freya, would you show Avery to his apartment.”

“Of course, Alpha Malachi”, she looked over at Avery, “this way please”, she gave him a small smile.

“This is where I leave you! I’ll see you at dinner”, I patted him on the back.

“Thanks, man, shall I just go in and look for you?” he asked.

“Freya”, she looked over at me “Would you be so kind as to escort Alpha Avery to dinner?”

She blushed hard, “Me?” she looked petrified.

“Just go to the dining hall, and bring him to me. I will take over from there”

She exhaled audibly and I couldn’t help but smile at her, as she spoke with relief “No problem at all.”

I left them, went back to the main packhouse, and headed upstairs, making a beeline to my room. I was tired, but I had a long night ahead of me. Starting with this damn party.