Chains

Chapter 27 - Change in Leadership

Terrence

I became Alpha of the White River pack at the Alpha Council when Alpha Pete's wolf, Levi, passed the title and authority to me before he apparently vanished. Pete is no longer a werewolf and I have to take over and clean up the mess he left of the pack. Pete has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. We both knew that he would be Alpha of the pack and he chose me as his Beta. Everything was going so well for the pack until he rejected his mate; he was a good leader who cared about his pack back then. Who could have known things would end up this way from that one selfish act?

Before leaving the council, I spoke briefly with Lucy and Jaxon; I gave them my best wishes for their future and congratulated them on finding their mates at Silver Moon; I assured them that we'd pack up their things from their old home and ship it to them at Silver Moon.

I didn't seek out this responsibility but I will do my best in my new role. Being called "Alpha" takes some getting used to. I still look around when pack members call me that, expecting to see Pete behind me. My mate is suddenly the pack's Luna and she's as anxious about filling that role as I am about being Alpha. Everybody in the pack has accepted the change; many of them were at the council and witnessed Levi's abdication.

As one of my first acts as Alpha, I sent requests to many of our old pack members who left under Pete's mismanagement, asking if they would be willing to return. We lost so many good pack members during the last four years that we're going to need as many people to put everything back to right as we can get. Some of them have agreed to return, others told me they appreciated the offer but were going to remain with their new packs.

The next order of business was to assure everybody that the parties were over; they had become such a regular occurrence that the pack took it as a fact of life. Nothing like that will happen again. I also banished the five men who molested Jaxon on a nightly basis; that is not how we want our pack members to behave. They were the only members of the pack who refused to accept the change in leadership, even though they were among those who witnessed the transfer of power from Levi. I'm certain they'll go rogue rather than find another pack; that is something of a cause for concern. Pack members who go rogue are often the most vicious when it comes to raids on their old pack mates.

I've also resumed relations with nearby packs that had cut ties over the last few years. We'll maintain relations with the Dry Lake pack to the South; it's best to not have enemies right on our border. I can't punish any of that pack for their past actions, but I can ensure that those actions won't continue, at least in our territory.

I thought covering alpha duties for Pete was tough; being the actual Alpha is so much more work. Things will improve, it will just take time. Our pack has new hope again and I'm going to do my best to ensure that hope comes to pass.

"Goddess, I am so tired." I said to my Beta, Vince. Vince had been Pete's Gamma. We had worked well together and I trusted him, so I asked him to be my Beta. We've been trying to decide who to select as the new gamma; there are several good me to choose from so we're weighing our options.

"You're telling me! I had no idea that being beta would be so different than being gamma."

"At least we should be caught up with most of the things that have been on hold for a while." I sighed. "Things should get back to normal now."

"I hope so." Vince leaned back in his chair. "I was starting to regret accepting the Beta title." He grinned over at me, knowing I wouldn't take him seriously.