why they're in the first aid kit. I'm looking for a doctor to move in, but don't have one yet."
"That works for the mother, but what about the kid?"
"Gabby?" Ashley blew that off. "She's not an idiot, Ian. Look, this is going to be fine. If you keep the wolves away from them, then the chances of exposure are minimal. Wolf-form bites are the most likely, and no wolves mean no bites."
Those were the same words I'd used when convincing Dad that this community thing would be a good idea. For Ashley to throw it back in my face stung, but also proved that she was right. Mostly right, at least.
"So should I assume you have a plan for what to do when she finds out?" I met my sister's eyes, daring her to do something about it. "Because no plan ever works like we want. She will find out, and probably in the worst way. I just hope you're prepared for the fallout when that happens."
"She won't expose us," Ashley insisted. "That's why I chose her. I trust her, Ian, and she needs us."
"She is not my problem," I reminded my sister. "Everyone else in this pack is. Your little friend is just a human."
"She's not."
I lifted both of my brows, waiting for some amazing revelation. "Then what is she?"
"The 'just' part," Ashley grumbled. "She's not just anything. Elena's a woman who's been pushed around her entire life, and she just keeps going, trying to make things easy on those around her."
"And just a human," I said again, rubbing it in.
My sister's jaw clenched in frustration. "Yeah. Fine. She's just a human who happens to be my best fucking friend. A human who I want to protect and take care of. So if you don't want her here, then you don't want me here, and you really need to think about that, Alpha, since I'm not the only person who's going to have friends or family that aren't like us. You need to figure your shit out, because Wolf's Run can either be our own isolation, or we can integrate. The problem is that we can't do both."
"Fine!" I told her, knowing she was right. "The humans can stay, but we're going to make sure everyone else knows that they're here because of you."
"I'm ok with that," she told me.
From his chair, my father just sighed. "Well, now that that is settled, I almost don't want to point out that the full moon is tonight."
I smiled at my sister. "Guess who's not running with the pack?"
"Not a problem," she told me. "I already invited Elena and Gabby over to watch movies, since their things are still in boxes." Then she wiggled her fingers at me and turned, damned near flouncing away. "Have a good run, you two! I'm going to play with the humans."
All I could do was groan, but when Dad's sound joined mine, I felt a little vindicated. "You know," he said, "I expected you to run her out of here before now."
"She's my sister," I reminded him.
"Yes, I'm well aware of that - and I'm your father. I also know that it can't be easy on an alpha to have the pack's former leader and heir apparent pushing his buttons. Just let me know before you send her off so I can make sure she lands on her feet?"
"I’m not sending her off," I promised. "Believe it or not, I actually like my big sister. Besides, we're making this place so we can do things differently, right? So we don't have to leave our families behind? Well, you two are my family, and she may piss me off sometimes, but..."
"She's still your sister," Dad finished, showing he understood completely. "I'm proud of you, Ian. You're a good alpha. Much better than your sister would've been."
But we both knew that was only half true.
CHAPTER 3
I spent most of the night trying to figure out how to make this thing with the humans work. Ashley might be taking over our father's business, but I was the one responsible for the people living in Wolf's Run. That was how we'd handled him stepping down after his accident. The position of alpha should've been hers, and I would've respected that, but she didn't think it was possible to do both. The truth was that she'd told me years ago she didn't want to lead the pack. Not after her betas abandoned her.
So here she was, trying to make Elena fill