“Will you quit it?” I asked playfully, setting the book in a pile with the others.
“I’m trying to learn how to braid,” he chastised. “I don’t understand how any of this works.”
“It’s simple.” I laughed, pulling the chunks of hair out of their knots and tangles. My hands wove together a strand, showing him how to do it. He stared at my hair curiously.
“Yeah, I don’t know how to do that.” He chuckled, pulling my face over to his so he could kiss me.
“You might have to learn if we have a daughter.” I smiled. His cheeks warmed.
“So, you’re thinking about it?” He grinned, excitement in his eyes.
“Yes, I am thinking about it.” I nodded. “But that’s it, I’m just thinking.”
His smile continued to grow, and he pressed his hands under my butt. My mouth opened in surprise when he stood up, taking me with him into our bedroom. He set me gently on the edge of the bed, reaching over his head to pull his shirt over his head. I eagerly unfastened his belt and tugged his pants down.
I was quickly undressed in the same fashion and laid down on the bed where we made love. Twice. We were panting, lying next to each other, skin sleek with sweat.
“You look warm,” Rush commented, peering over at me.
“Rush, we’re both sweating from our little exercise session there,” I rolled my eyes.
“Little?” he screeched. “Little exercise?”
I gave him a flat look. “I’m sorry; above average and lengthy exercise session.”
Three knocks sounded on the door, and Jonah’s nervous voice shouted, “Hey guys, I really don’t mean to interrupt anything, but we kind of have something important to talk to you about.”
Rush laughed and dressed quickly, throwing his shirt over to me since mine was lost in the folds of the bed. I slid my shorts up my legs and tucked the large shirt into them. Rush opened the door as I pushed my belt into place and slipped my shoes back on.
“Yes?” Rush drawled out, a satisfied grin on his face.
Jonah pursed his lips uncomfortably and cocked his head, motioning down the hall. We followed him to the office where Beckett, Casey, and woman I hadn’t met stood staring at a man in one of the chairs. The man looked down, eyes shifting around the room anxiously.
“Alpha, Luna,” Casey addressed, his voice tight and tense. “Gideon says he might have information on the wolf who crossed our territory.”
Gideon was shaking, his small frame dwarfed by the taller people in the room. The boy was a teenager, no older than sixteen, hair too long, eyes too scared.
“What do you know?” I asked tenderly.
He looked up at me, hopefully through the strain of angry eyes pointed towards him. “Luna, I um, I called my sister who lives in the Cronus Pack, like I do every week, and she said two wolves wandered into their pack a few days ago. One that she mentioned looked a lot like the one who crossed our borders.”
“Did she tell you anything else? Does she know what pack they’re from?”
Gideon bit his lip, thinking hard. “No, she doesn’t know where they came from, only that they were acting a bit strange…like erratic and stuff, but so have some other people. I think it's just the anxiety of everything going on.”
I nodded and smiled. “Thank you.”
Gideon got up out of the chair and ran out of the room.
“So, this is happening in other packs?” Rush voiced, leaning his back against the door frame.
“It would appear so,” the woman nodded her head.
“Maeve, I don’t think you two have been introduced, but this is Luna Sloane. Sloane, this is Maeve, she acts as our diplomat to other packs.” Maeve smiled, and I returned the sentiment. “Maeve, I need you to get in contact with the Cronus Pack and find out if they know what pack those wolves came from.”
Maeve nodded dutifully and left the office. Casey and Beckett stayed behind, helping Rush and me with new border protection plans. Our territory was expansive, and we would need almost half the pack stationed at the border to ensure no one could slip through. It wasn’t an option to use that amount of people, and it took us most of the afternoon into the evening to devise a schedule and new sectors.
For our plan to be implemented, we would need to pull students from their last year of school to learn the system and take a shift. Casey oversaw their training along with a few of the other Warriors.
The students were gathered in the training fields two days later, lined up, looking around apprehensively. Casey instructed them on how the border patrol was going to work in the future. There would be two lines, running parallel and in opposite directions, circling the pack border. Since the shifts would be tiring, they would only last a few hours, and the next shift would take over.
All able-bodied pack members were recruited, and after long hours of scheduling, we were able to work with individual’s schedules.
“Is this really the best option?” I murmured to Rush as we stood observing the students' training. They would only be responsible for observing any abnormalities within our borders and were told not to engage in combat with any human or wolf that crossed the border; that would be the responsibility of the Border Guards and Pack Warriors. Casey wanted the students to have basic knowledge of combat in case something was to happen to them during their shift, which made me feel perturbed.
“Until we know where this threat is coming from,” Rush lead on.
“Is it really all that much better if we know?” I said pessimistically. Rush looked down at me. “I mean, we either find out other packs are taking
