Enforcing Boundaries

Chapter 5

Magnus

When was the last time I had such a truly shitty day?

I honestly couldn't remember. Every example I came up with was still somehow better than this: April 2nd of last year when Mel decided to do a surprise late April fool's day prank, all of the hard days integrating into the Tourmaline pack, two winters ago when I was sick as a dog and spent most of my day curled over my toilet. None of it was as bad as today.

Roy had sat me down in the morning with his polling results. Overall, the pack liked me just fine. There were feelings of loyalty, but they didn't run deep. Felix had stopped by my office before lunch with an alarming list of Opal's supporters. He and his alpha friend were still working on adding to the list, but it was already much longer than I ever thought it could be. If she didn't get her way with the Summit, she was well equipped to attack us and take my position by force.

Of course, then she would face an investigation... but if she had the right backing or found the right loophole then she just might do it.

I didn't know what I would do if it came down to a fight. I didn't want to have to ask people to put their lives on the line for me, but was it arrogant to think that keeping Opal from taking over was good for the pack, too? That I could do better than her? I had no answers to that.

I had been so sick over the news that I had skipped lunch, which left me distractingly hungry for the next part of my day, which currently consisted of attempting to write up a memo to the pack explaining the Opal situation. Roy had said it would be better for them to hear about it from me so we could make sure the right sequence of events was the first version everyone heard. I knew he was right, but it was hard to find the words to tell my pack someone thought I wasn't their rightful alpha.

And now, the coup de gras: this was the first day in over a week I wouldn't be seeing Lachlan. After we met almost a month ago, we had found time together every single day, either for a meal or at the very least for a long walk around his neighborhood. He was just as busy with work as I was, so I was grateful he was making time for me like this. Today, however, was different. Lachlan was meeting with a client a couple of hours from here all day, then having dinner with his dad.

I checked my phone. There were no texts from Lachlan, but that was hardly surprising. He would likely still be in his meeting right now. I hoped it was going well for him.

I looked back at my laptop screen and read over what I had written so far. I sounded overly formal and definitely too defensive. I sighed and erased everything. I'd just have to start over... again. Roy had offered to help me write the memo, but I had insisted on doing it myself. Maybe that was a mistake. It had seemed better at the time for this to be in my own words, my statement to my pack. Now I wondered whether that was overly optimistic.

I wasn't a great writer. I definitely wasn't a great leader. Honestly, if Opal had come to me instead of going to the Summit, I might have handed over leadership to her. She was probably more qualified to run the pack. I couldn't let her take control of Tourmaline now, though. Not now that I had seen the lengths she was willing to go to just to gain a little power.

There's a saying: "Those who seek power are not worthy of that power." I read it in a book once and it stuck with me. This philosophy was the main reason I didn't trust Opal with my pack.

If only I were more qualified as an alpha.

But at least I was doing my best for the people of Tourmaline. Opal had already shown she was willing to trample them just to get her way. If she cared what they thought, she would have gone to my pack and talked to them about how I was doing or about what she thought she could accomplish for them that I couldn't. Sneaking around and trying to seize control without ever speaking to my people or understanding their wants and needs was just wrong.