A Crown Of Smoke And Ash - Sloane Murphy Page 0,79

Don’t be a dickhead just because you can.” He laughs softly, and I can almost see him in my head rolling his eyes at me.

“I won’t, not about this. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

I might be stiff from last night, but I need to run, to clear my head after everything, so I grab my running shoes, put my hair up, and head out to the huge compound to pound the pavement until my lungs scream.

I shower, dress and head downstairs, my legs practically jelly after my run. The noise and movement in the house a surprise after how empty it’s been the rest of our stay. I find Leandra in the kitchen with a dozen other females all cooking and preparing food.

“Wow.”

“I know, the kitchen in the hall wasn’t big enough, so, since your kitchen is the second biggest, we moved here. Hope that’s okay?” Leandra smiles, and I shake my head.

“Course it is. What’s ours is pack right?” The other females in the room still, and look at me as if I’ve lost my mind.

“It is,” Leandra says quietly, and the others return to what they’re doing. She puts down the knife in her hand, and motions for me to follow her out to the back of the house. I follow her to the bench towards the back of what’s considered the back yard, and sit beside her.

“Everything okay?” I ask, and she smiles at me again, her eyes almost glistening.

“Better than okay. And you don’t even know what you did.” She shakes her head, and I feel baffled, no idea what’s going on. “What’s ours is pack,” she sighs. “Accepting those women in there like that, just those few words, making them your equals without knowing them, but accepting them as pack. That would have meant more to them than you realize. It is rare, for an omega to be so accepting of women within the pack, and most of those women, are lower ranked in their packs. Banished to kitchens, to keep the pack housing tidy, mind the children. They are the scullery maids and nannies of our world. But you accepting them without even realizing it, you have just bought yourself allies. And while they might be lower in the pack, there are more Lycans at their level than in the higher power ranks. Even without last night, you would have just proven to them that you belong in place beside Roman.”

“Oh,” I say, unsure of what else to say.

“I know it seems silly, but I was one of them, before Theron. Many of them are unmated, and that can be a dangerous thing for a female Lycan of lower power. Especially if the males of their lines are also of lower power.” Her eyes harden, and I hate the way it changes her. “Life in pack can be ruthless.”

“Roman knows of this?” I ask, convinced he couldn’t, because he wouldn’t allow it. She gives me a sad smile.

“Probably, but really, that’s down to the individual pack Alphas to handle. It’s not the same in every pack, god knows Thorn would never have it. But not everyone is as lucky as I am. And now, I’ll be staying here with Theron. You guys have enough to deal with right now, I just wanted you to know what you’d done. How much it would’ve meant to them. We are almost ready to go, you should head over to the fields, Tobias is running shuttles for us all, so you’ll probably catch him. Roman will be waiting for you.”

“I won’t forget about them,” I tell her, and she hugs me as we stand.

“I know you won’t. Now go.” She shoos me away with a smile, and I head back through the house and start walking up the road towards the fields. I get lost in my own thoughts, about everything that’s happened here, everything new I’ve learned about the packs, about myself. It feels good to walk for so long. I reach the edge of the fields and I can see people in the distance. I can certainly hear them from here. Roman looks like a conductor at an orchestra, getting everything set up, keeping everyone in line. He could just sit back, let the pack Alpha’s handle their people, but that’s not who he is. Not who he’d want to be.

I make the slow walk towards them, waving at people, saying hello as I pass them, setting up long tables and benches. Enough for the