Snippet #2387345

Wilder inhaled deeply, letting the smell of pack and food wash over him. Gingerly, he reached over someone’s head to place the platter of smoked meat down in the middle of the table. They had already gone through one, so he nudged the redhead beside him. “Hey Anna, why don’t you make a plate to take out to Mark? Hes been smoking all day, want to make sure he actually gets to eat something.”

Anna made a small, agreeable noise in the back of her throat, disentangling herself from the others around her to grab a plate and start piling on the meat and vegetables laid out everywhere. Another carried the fruit salad and dessert and then she was off to the back yard, gait as smooth as a dancers.

Wilder liked having his pack at his house, liked the bimonthly barbeques they had. Not everyone could make it, of course, but there were currently nine of his own gathered around his kitchen table, Mark and Anna in the backyard, a handful of children around the coffee table, and himself. In fact, the only ones missing were Ben, who could never get away from the office, Ezra, who was always late, and Roman, who had insisted he had more important things to do. Wilder didn’t understand why Roman seemed to fight the pack so much – why he wouldn’t accept the help of a living space or job search. Half of his pack could hook him up with a job within a week and it wouldn’t be demeaning work. But the man had grown up independent, and the pack life didn’t fit flush with him.

But he was mean in a fight and that’s what Wilder needed.

The blonde’s eyes trailed over everyone at his table affectionately before they settled on the one human among them. She was young, just barely out of college, and plastered to the side of one of his less aggressive wolves. She was nervous and shy, but also pleased to be there. Wilder had mixed feelings about her when Bentley had brought her back from college. Bentley had insisted that she was different and asked to reveal what he and the pack was. Wilder had agreed, knowing that Bentley knew that if the human reacted poorly, they would get rid of her. It was always a hard decision to make. But the human, Harper, Wilder reminded himself, had had all of a one day panic attack before she calmed enough to accept his marriage proposal. Now there was a band on her finger with a matching one on Bentley’s and they were happy. Wilder didn’t like it and she wasn’t pack, but she wasn’t a threat either and she was welcome to pack events. As long as she kept her mouth shut.

The sound of growling drew his attention to the children and he frowned. They wouldn’t fully shift until puberty, but they still had the teeth and vocal of a wolf when they were upset. Jenny rolled her eyes in the way teenagers often did and pushed herself away from the table to settle the dispute. Though Jenny was too young to adopt one of the children herself, she still enjoyed taking care of them. The sixteen year old had a maternity streak a hundred miles wide. Unlike his second. Wilder’s eyes turned to Ash. She didn’t seem to really have a need for children, though that could change as she got older. Either way, as his beta, she wouldn’t be required to raise children if she didn’t wish it.

Many had been surprised when Wilder had chosen Ash to be his second. When Jackson, his old beta, had left to pursue law on the opposite coast, Wilder had been sad to see him go, They had been best friends growing up and it wasn’t easy to let him leave. Still, Wilder had worked with the pack there to get him integrated smoothly and they had said good bye. Then the internal fighting started.

Most assumed Oliver would step into the beta position. He was fifty, but still spry and as wise as the old men from fairy tales, but he had taken himself out of the running from the beginning, saying he was too old to compete with the young’uns. After the fighting – which wasn't deadly, as it was between potential alphas – Luke had come out on top. Wilder had been more than accepting – Luke was strong and people tended to listen to what he said.

Then Ash, who had watched from the sidelines, simply approached Luke and said she’d be Second. And Luke had backed down. Wilder grinned at the memory. Some wolves simply had a presence, and dominance that made others obey. Its how Wilder himself had kept his position. And even though Ash had been young, younger than any beta Wilder had ever heard of, she was technically an adult by pack standards and he had made her position official. She had been fifteen.

Now she was growing into a woman and Wilder was pleased. She stepped into the role he laid out for her when other packs or supernatural came. It threw them off, to have a female speaking to them, and Wilder liked that. She wasn’t soft and in need of constant protection, like some of the other females.

The alpha moved to stand behind the blond in question. “Any news on if Ezra will make it before midnight?”