Gracie - Sherry Foster Page 0,20
they would open their eyes. Get me the others and we will try to find the thread of data that binds all of this together.”
Chapter Nine
Two Weeks Prior
Dylan rolled his eyes and grunted. “I am going to have a stern talk with my wolf about his choice in this deal if you don’t get your head in the game, Shiloh.”
Shiloh jerked his head up and spun around to find most of the eyes in the room were on him. As he stumbled backward he felt a small hand smack him in the small of his back as a growl sounded from Dylan.
“Stepping on the mate to your Alpha would be a terrible way to start off in this pack.” Amber’s laughter bubbled from her throat as she gave Shiloh another small nudge forward.
“Ah, well, to tell the truth, I wasn’t expecting to go to your pack. I mean, I was hoping, and I had an excellent argument planned. Hell, I even had a power-point presentation to go with my argument. You took the wind right out of my sails by naming me your Beta. I have zero training in leading a pack. Absolutely zero.” His eyes widened at the admission and Dylan saw the slight tremble the man tried to conceal.
He shrugged, “I have the training to be the Alpha and what I know I can teach. If I am not worried about your lack of knowledge then you shouldn’t worry. I don’t need you to lead the pack, I need you to partner with me. But right now, I need your knowledge of the ones in this room. Gammon promised me a limited amount of time with the people in this room. He wants me out of his territory as soon as possible, and with you no longer a member of his pack I am certain that demand extends to you. Look around you, you know these people, if you don’t get along with someone send them out the door and we will get started.”
“They are my family, or at least, they were.” Shiloh looked around the room, meeting everyone’s eyes, before turning back to Dylan and shrugging his shoulders. “I would take any of the ones gathered here. I haven’t made enemies in this pack and no fights other than the usual fights of dominance to move up in the hierarchy and those aren’t the kind of fights that cause problems between pack members. What you do has been explained to everyone, both cattle and publishing, and only those pack members interested in learning one of the two businesses were accepted as someone who could move to your pack. Dylan stood, Shiloh at his side, some distance but not too distant, from the gathering as Gammon spoke with the twenty-three former pack members waiting on the tarmac. He watched the man make his final farewell to the ones who, until today, had been part of his pack. Gammon had given his people much the same time-line for deciding to join another pack as Dylan had given to Edward’s members. When Dylan had approached the Alpha about taking from his pack, after Edward had paved the way, Gammon had proven easier to deal with than Dylan had been expecting.
Present day:
When he first arrived in Alaska and found the meeting set up he had expected to have little time to talk with the members. He had voiced his concerns with Shiloh after the meeting. Shiloh, still operating in a state of shock had turned surprised eyes his way.
“Gammon doesn’t gamble with the lives of his pack. He won’t gamble with their future nor will he gamble with their happiness. I know it seemed he would want you gone as quickly as you came, but not at the expense of causing one of his to hurt. When they leave here, well, when we leave here, we will never be welcome back. Everyone in that meeting is aware of it. Gammon is protective of what belongs to him. More so, I think, than any other Alpha. You will find other Alphas will let some of ours come and go, well they must at times considering the work they do. But here? Once you leave you would be hard pressed to have a reason good enough to get Gammon’s permission to return. For the birth of a sibling, possibly. For the death of a parent, certainly. Little else could happen of matter that would cause Gammon to open his territory to another. Even