The Broken Warrior's Daughter

When Grace and | return to the packhouse, | have to admit that the sprites are overwhelmingly appreciative of our assistance. Grace lets them know that they are always welcome, but especially if they are frightened or need assistance.

Before they head back to the forest, | ask Funichio to continue to keep a lookout for hunters and alert us right away if they see any. He agrees happily, before flitting off to join his group. | notice the twins flitting around the back of the packhouse, until | see Alexander come down and join them before heading out into the forest. I'll need to have a conversation with him soon about his involvement with the sprites. He needs to understand what he’s done and what it means to the twins. Sprites may not be my favorite creatures, but I’m still an Alpha and my job is protect those that need protection. The sprites are annoying, irritating creatures, but they are fragile.

“Carlos, Noah, meet me in my office.” Now that our pack is settling, my office space and furniture has improved. Jeremy has opened his own store front and is swamped with requests for furniture. He has been able to hire three staff and he’s still working non-stop.

When they arrive, we sit around the new table, in the chairs that now have cushions. “We need to get some intel on these hunters. This is twice that they've come into or near our territory. What do we know about them?”

I'm concerned that we'll be leaving in a week to go to the tournament with hunters in the area. | don want to leave the pack vulnerable, and not just our pack, but Rik’s and Liam’s as well.

“Not much.” Carlos says. “I’ve been trying to get any intel | can, but they are difficult to find and because we don’t live among the humans, it’s hard to know how many there are. However, | have been hearing whispers that they are planning something big.”

“| heard that they have taken some werewolves hostage. They must have a place where they are either torturing them or experimenting on them, or both.” Noah

says.

“Keep trying to get information. I'll reach out to Rik and Liam to see if they’ve heard anything. Liam’s company is in the human city nearby, he may have some information.” Although | doubt that. If he did, he would have shared it.

After informing Rik and Liam of our battle with the hunters and finding out that they don’t know any more than we do, | ask them about the taxes that they put

on their pack members.

“| do twenty percent.” Rik says. “I have a lot of businesses on the pack lands, and they pay me once a month. But | use that money to pay for large gatherings, food in the packhouse, raising orphans, general improvements, etc. It almost all goes back into the pack. Obviously, as the Alpha, | benefit from the income, but | don’t overstep, and | keep myself and my ranked members from spending extravagantly.”

“I'm a little different.” Liam says. “Most of my income comes through the business. Because it’s in a human town and incorporated with humans, | and all the employees pay taxes. So, | only tax them an additional ten percent above what they already have to pay. However, my business is extremely large so the income, while smaller, is still substantial. And |, like Rik, refuse to use that money for my own extravagance.”

We finish our discussion talking about our travel plans for the tournament. Like us, they are driving and plan to leave a day before the tournament begins. We develop a plan to have the packs provide support and back up for each other while all of us are away and then | say my goodbyes.

Later that day, | find Alexander and | let him know about my conversation with Aolis. | tell him he needs to make a decision about the sprite twins. He either needs to take them as his mates or he needs to let them go. He’s not as overwhelmed by the to

Conversation as | would have expected which leads me believe that his wolf may be willing to accept those two as his mates. And appears that he would have to take them both. They seem to be a package deal. It’s not common among wolves to have more than one mate, but it has been known to happen in the instances of identical twins.

yes,

itConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

As the week progresses, | finalize the building plans with Perry to continue while. I’m away. | let him know that Noah is able to make any financial decision necessary in my absence. | also give him a head’s up about the hunters and the sprites. Some wolves have chosen to build their homes closer to the pack border and the forest, so it’s likely that they will come into contact with the sprites. | tell him to contact Alexander if they become a nuisance.

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