Reorganized Wolf (Seraphine Thomas Book 12)

by Erin R Flynn

  “Sera and I prefer to not make that sort of announcement or have such scrutiny given my circumstances and hers.”

  “Meaning you worry your family might come out of the woodwork and acknowledge you if you make your bond with Sera widely known and you stand at her side,” Zeno surmised, nodding when we did. “We feel the same and without any disrespect, as you know we like you, Dain—”

  “No Dorcus has mated a fairy and I was disowned so that has levels that still matter in our world,” he finished, not making him say it. “I’m fine with it, really. We’re fine with where we’re at and I’m happy she’s having the fun more human-ish tradition now when so much of that life had changed for her.”

  I winked at him, knowing he really felt that way.

  “We good?” I checked with Hagan and Reagan.

  They nodded but Hagan answered. “Yeah, I think it’s great and I like the plan we all stand next to you. Brian’s your FBI, police, and DC guy and when it’s vampire stuff, Noah’s there. Pack stuff, we’re there. Dain is a bit into the Chicago politics and your businesses side while still training so that’s good.” He shrugged. “Whatever you need, we’re there.”

  I blinked at him. “I’ve got a guy for that like there’s an app for that? That’s your answer?”

  Dain cleared his throat. “It’s was Brian’s actually when he came to us and said he was serious about becoming a wolf and bought the ring. He wanted to make it clear he wasn’t trying to be top dog or official mate, but at your side and his place was secure.”

  I bit back a smile, glancing at Brian. “Knowing you, there was a whole fair division and idea of areas so everyone was equal even if the twins share pack stuff.”

  He cleared his throat and the twins nodded. “They get the bigger part of pack stuff since they share it so that makes sense. We think the club is neutral ground where you acknowledge all of us.”

  “How very planned and structured,” I teased them. “Because our lives are very calm and on schedule like that.”

  “Yes, but it’s nice to have some guidelines so there’s not fighting or upset which makes someone retreat and feel guilty that she has multiple lovers,” Reagan muttered as he leaned in and kissed my hair. “All your Betas in your life, not just pack, make sure to get along so you’re not worried or upset.”

  “I love you guys too,” I murmured, getting they were making sure I was happy and didn’t feel the need to back away. Baby steps worked well for someone so emotionally and relationally stunted. Except… “What about the ones I’m dating?”

  “We’ll worry about them when it’s more serious,” Brian said easily. “I know Eugene and Axel are a bit threatened by my upgrade maybe but who knows.” He shrugged. “Axel’s pretty flexible and Eugene has hinted a few times that his place might be best as the Dorcuses’ son-in-law if Sera has to ever take that stage.”

  “She’s going to smack you for deciding all of this,” Mrs. Havers muttered under her breath, she and Grammy Havers exchanging a look that it was all insane.

  While Alena and Eva gave them looks like of course it needed to be handled like this. But Zeno answered, not catching all the looks or goings-on.

  “Well done,” he praised. “If you’re going to attempt to not have one official mate, then this is the best route for you each to have your area or niche and as Sera’s never been in a relationship before all of you, this is a wise path not to overwhelm her while she’s still healing.” He smiled at me. “And they know you well as you would never have brought this up.”

  I shivered. “No, relationship talks terrify me. I never know what to do or say.” I glanced at the others and nodded. “As long as no one’s upset or happy, fine, I’ve got a guy for that like apps.”

  I ignored the Haverses and focused on the relief of the men I loved. Awesome.

  “We had an idea we wanted to run by you,” Tommy interjected, always aware and on the ball as to my mood or when the room got tense. “It might be good to see it now with Greek grandparents here to weigh in.”

  I felt the excitement and hope from him, Cory, and Alvin, nodding. “Let’s order lunch though.” I glanced at the Haverses. “What are you guys in the mood for? They normally eat unhealthy when they visit as they don’t have the range we do in Greece.”

  “Let’s do UberEats and do two places,” Leo suggested. “Five Guys and that sushi place?”

  “I’ll never say no to either,” I agreed, going for my tablet and glad when everyone else seemed to agree. I logged in and started the first order as I knew the supes would need to eat first. I noted the way Dain was working with Brian on what he would need to eat and it warmed my heart. Yeah, if I was going to really dive in deeper and get back to my relationships the way I wanted, they had to get along.

  Thank fuck they figured that out because I was a twit.

  Once the orders were in and we had an hour to wait at least given it was Friday lunch and cold out so more would order in, we went to the living room. I smiled at the three of them, letting them know it was okay.

  “So the Shake It Off video did well, like really well, and people loved it,” Alvin explained as Cory hooked something into my TV. “Also the behind the scenes stuff did crazy well on that guy’s channel. He’s been asking if we’ll do that super slow down stuff of how fast we are and all the crazy we can do like way better than CGI.”

  “And we sort of thought why should he get all the views of that and on his channel instead of us?” Cory added as he picked up remotes to change the TV input. “You said before you might be okay with us having a YouTube channel for educational as long as we didn’t show our faces on social media.”

  “But we want to take it further,” Tommy interjected. “Ride that wave and maybe keep having fun, show we’re not as different than humans as they think. We have a bunch of ideas and reference videos of sort of what we’re thinking for different series, but we wanted to start with this to be funny. We hope. Don’t get mad if you don’t think it’s funny.”

  “I won’t get mad as long as you didn’t already post anything without checking,” I promised when they seemed to wait on my response.

  “No, and we didn’t create a channel even as we were thinking about Chicago wolves but there’s a hockey team,” Alvin grumbled. “I forgot about that team, but you’re in charge of more than just wolves, so maybe it should be like a Chicago Supes channel.”

  “Other groups could have series or shows they do then and could get the money from that but it’s organized and we check it’s careful,” Dain muttered, liking the idea from what I got from him. Yeah, he was always about pushing the line of what humans thought of us so it made sense.

  “Show us what you got,” I said before people could get too into it.

  Cory nodded and tapped his tablet where the video must have been on. I came on the TV and I raised an eyebrow at that.

  “In a pack of werewolves, there is but one leader, one boss, one Alpha,” Tommy narrated in the video… In a really good British accent. It wasn’t mocking at all but sounded really good and like the BBC or Animal Planet documentaries. “In Chicago, that Alpha is Seraphine Thomas, a rare female Alpha and the first in the Americas. And anything rare is always in danger, so the Alpha must be fierce.”

  “You steal my coffee and I will bite you,” I threatened Hagan on the video.

  “Watching the Alpha in her natural habitat, it is easy to see that her need for coffee is great,” Tommy’s voice continued. There were several scenes of me drinking coffee, bitching my coffee cup was empty, or asking when coffee was coming.

  I burst out laughing. It was seamlessly edited and really funny.

  And I wasn’t the only one amused.

  “That coffee fuels the Alpha to handle her wolves and is fierce to make sure they follow the rules of the pack.”

  The next clip was of me waiting for someone at the last full moon gathering, going right for him when I saw him. “Did you get a speeding ticket?”

  “Yes, um, yes,
Alpha,” the guy answered, looking seriously scared even on the video.

  I eased down, feeling how scared he was. “Were you speeding?”

  He nodded. “Yes, I didn’t think ten over, but I was. I normally do about five over.”

  I sighed. “Well, no more doing any over when you’re on a ticket. That’s enough of a difference where I want you to get your speedometer checked.” I waited until he nodded. “Why were you speeding? Are you okay? Was there an emergency?”

  “No, I was going to be late for work.”

  I bopped him on his head. “You work for the pack. Don’t be stupid and get tickets when no one would care if you were a bit late. You could have gotten hurt or hurt someone. Just call if you’re going to be late and add the minutes to the end or whatever.” I waited for him to nod again. “Good. If you’re late all the time we’re going to have a different talk and a time management class.”

  “No, I’m normally good, maybe once a month I’m late on my alarm but—”

  “That’s nothing. Don’t be stupid and risk getting in trouble for once a month.” I leaned in and kissed his cheek. “You’re still grounded. Get your car looked at and talk with whomever about your court date. If you can’t pay for the fine, the pack will but you have to watch the video.”

  “Yes, Alpha,” he groaned.

  “What video?” someone asked him when I walked away.

  “If we get a traffic ticket, Alpha Sera makes us come down to the club and watch one of those old driver’s ed videos that’s like eight hours.”

  Someone else snickered as he joined them. “That’s nothing. You get into an accident and it’s your fault, she’ll make you take a private driver’s ed class on weekends and work off the cost of that and your accident by doing community service.”

  “That’s harsh,” the first guy grumbled.

  The last guy shook his head. “No, it’s not, because she showed me that some ridiculous percentage of accidental shifting and scratching people are because of something like getting into an accident where people are upset and shouting. It was my fault and I could have hurt someone and risked someone else getting infected. People are latching onto any of that like we’re all animals.”

  “She’s protecting all of us by making people taking it seriously,” the second guy agreed.

  “The Alpha is clear in her rules,” Tommy’s voice cut back in as the video panned back to the group. “Harsh to some, but always explained and rooted in safety and caring for her people.”

  It was hard not to laugh when the next clip had to be almost completely bleeped out as I cussed up a storm at someone for hunting on pack lands when the boys were there and we had prey guests.

  “The Alpha’s vernacular is of the Chicago variety,” Tommy said when I was done.

  We laughed so hard we had to pause the video. I gave them an impressed look. “This is awesome, guys. How did you learn to talk like that?”

  Tommy shrugged. “I love those documentaries and I just—I like accents. I know everyone has their thing, but I kind of like being involved a bit in all the things.”

  “I do too,” I agreed, smiling at him. “You got permission from everyone on camera, right?”

  “We did,” Alvin promised. “We showed them the clips we took and we weren’t sure how we were going to put it all together yet. Cory just finished the editing so this is the first time we’ve seen the full thing too.”

  I nodded and they started the video again.

  “It’s not just wolves that wish to be on the Alpha’s good side as even in her other main habitat—that of work—they strive to be noticed and praised by their boss.”

  I winced as the video cut to the Saturday training I’d put on my office when I’d felt some of them had gotten a bit lax in keeping up with the newbies. Not all of us were shifters, but all of us needed to be in good shape. Eugene came on screen and I nodded to him as he started barking out orders for people to get moving, integrating the trainees to show the office they were behind.

  “The Alpha survives by delegating and sharing responsibility, trusting those who support those she is in charge of. While she is tough, she also appreciates her people, generous and giving as she shares what she has.”

  “Thank you for completing my extra training,” I said to several as they passed the finish line of the run, handing out gift cards. “Get your butts to the gym and it will be easier. The Chicago office is always top office. Next week is extra sparring training with the newbies. Enjoy a night off at the club and no one will tell if you cuss me out for ruining another Saturday, I expect it.”

  “Just feed me and you can beat me up all you want, Chief,” Jennings panted as he crossed the line and grabbed the card. “Techies are field trained even if we stay inside.”

  “Never forget it,” I called after him, smiling widely. “Though you are an awesome techie, you might need to run to and from the van when we’re in the field. You’ll thank me when you can.”

  “Does that mean next time we don’t have to run with the vests and gear on?” someone asked.

  “No,” I snickered. “That means I’ll probably add weight if these times don’t improve.” I smiled when there were lots of groans. “Or someone could spar with me if they object?”

  “Nope, I’m good, Chief,” several people called out.

  “We’ll have to get this part approved with Galvin,” I told Alvin.

  “Unlike other werewolves, this Alpha is the natural predator of only cooked food,” Tommy said, his voice changing as the background music picked up.

  I almost died when it went faster like those scenes before lions attack pretty, but instead it was clip after clip of me attacking food. Next there was a clip of me finding some people to handle some deer culling in northern Illinois because they were starting some trouble and everyone knew to contact us.

  “We’ll bring you some back, Alpha,” one of the guys teased me.

  “It better be cooked this time,” I threw right back. “Cook your damn meat, you weirdos.”

  “Says the werewolf who gives her meat to her human lover if it’s got any pink,” he drawled.

  “Oh, you want to handle the winter care of the mowers and winterizing the shed on pack lands? Sure, thanks for handling that when you get back.”

  “Still worth it,” he chuckled, the others laughing.

  Tommy took back over narrating as I looked over something. “As one would expect of the Alpha of so many, she is regularly pulled in many directions. But she is quick to clarify and use time efficiently.”

  “What am I looking at?” I demanded.

  Over and over and over again. They found at least twenty clips of me being handed something and asking what I was looking at or what they were giving me. The last one was best.

  “What am I looking at and why is it not coffee?” I asked Hagan, frowning deeply.

  “Unlike other Alphas, this one might need a coffee intervention or directly imported roasted beans to keep up with her addiction,” Tommy narrated.

  “How many times did it take you to say that without laughing?” I asked him.

  “Dozens but we’re thinking of doing some of the outtakes at the end and never showing our faces,” Cory answered.

  “This is really well done but you’re all stalkers,” I teased them, amazed they really caught all of this.

  Reagan snorted. “You probably ask what you’re looking at five times a day if not more.”

  He wasn’t wrong and several people nodded in agreement.

  “Well, you think people would learn to not hand me things without telling me then,” I drawled, Dain snorting as he never did. I was normally in the middle of something and others would just hand me whatever to look at next… And then I’d call them for their turn but it was funny that everyone knew it.

  “While some do not take the title of ‘parent of the pack’ seriously, this Alpha does,” Tommy continued as it showed me organizing one of the exam study groups for all the high school a
nd college supe kids. “Not only is the Alpha superior in speed and strength to win over a pack, but in Chicago, the Alpha is possibly the smartest wolf they have.”

  “You explain that better than my teacher,” one of the guys said as I finished going over the problem they were stuck at on the whiteboard.

  I shrugged. “I can help you with math but if you have emotional anything, I suggest you ask any of the Betas. And don’t give me editing unless languages.” I glanced around and pointed to two of them. “Talk to the ones older than you who took languages last year. There are recordings of all your vocab words with the correct pronunciation to practice. If they’ve changed, tell me, I’ll record new ones.”

  “Thanks, Alpha,” they said together.

  I nodded. “I’ve got some work but I’ll be here if you get stuck. If there’s a subject that’s tripping you up, we’ll get Brutus here or extra help; just ask before it gets bad.”

  “An Alpha survives by being able to juggle a lot but also her attention to detail and uncanny senses,” Tommy cut in.

  “If one of you tries to sneak an adult beverage while we use the club for study session you will not like my punishment,” I warned them without even looking up from working on my laptop. “You’d risk our liquor license if you do and supes all over the city rely on this club for their income, so yeah, I’ll have you scrub all the bird crap off every inch of federal land in Chicago.”

  “Yes, Alpha,” they all said, one talking just enough for the camera to pick up. “Wow, she’s worse than my parents. I just wondered how strong the slushies are.”

  “We can make some non-alcoholic ones for good kids who ace midterms,” I told him. “When you’re twenty-one you can taste whatever you want, but you won’t make it to twenty-one if I catch you drinking underage, savvy?”

  “Yes, Alpha,” they replied.

  “Glad we’re clear on that.” I sighed and adjusted my neck. “I’m hungry. Let’s order study food. You’re growing and all of that.”

  “And Dain’s been making you eat too healthy again,” Ashley teased me.

  “I’m going to turn into a damn salad,” I grumbled as I pulled out my tablet. “Decide what you guys want and order quick before he finds me with some kale.”