The door opened, and Konrad walked back into the room. Today was day three and everyone was here to meet the babies.

Rather than an overwhelming experience, the pack introduction was done in stages. In ordinary situations, a new pack member would meet the Alpha. This was a vastly different situation because they were the children of an Alpha. So they would meet the elders first. Then they'd meet the senior pack members, followed by the junior members.

To add to the complex situation, Konrad's family were here. They weren't considered a part of my pack, and it would be confusing for the cubs to meet wolves in such a situation. But they were family.

"Well?"

"It's actually more common than we realize. Cross-pack bonding ensures genetic diversity. Frank said that all we need to do is introduce my family at the end of the pack. They will detect the difference between them. He said that they probably already know because apparently, I still stink of Black Ridge."

I chuckled as I lifted the cubs out of their pen one by one. They were already rowdy. Well-fed and ready to run around, they'd spent all morning scratching at the door like they knew that we had company.

When all four were out, I removed my clothes, much to Konrad's delight.

"So, when are we practicing for the next litter?"

"At least a year away."

"But we can practice, right?"

"Seriously? We didn't even wolf up for these ones. I'm thinking no sex unless we want babies."

Konrad got a horrified look on his face until I chuckled. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I looked up at him. He was pretending to be annoyed.

"As if I'd go without."

"Well then, we need to figure out how to stop them from happening because my ankles have bite marks all over them. They're now high enough to reach my calves."

His hand smoothed over my backside, pushing me closer to his body.

"I do like this nakedness, though. We definitely need to keep this as a regular thing."

Rolling my eyes, I grinned and let the wolf take control. Konrad opened the door and stripped down behind it. As the cubs skittered out into the next room, my wolf followed them out. She growled with a warning to slow down. It didn't matter. They stopped abruptly when they saw the elders waiting in a row.

Moving around my feet, they whined. With a nudge of her snout, she urged them over to the dominating view of five male wolves. The first to move was Gus. He lowered down and gave each of them a sniff, easing them into the new world. This was a slow process with one wolf cub. Four would take all day to get through the pack. I could only hope that Konrad's family were patient.

With the elders done, it was onto the senior members of the pack. They were waiting in the main section of the pack house. My wolf picked up her little Beta and carried him down the stairs. Konrad and two of the elders would bring the other three down and keep them at the bottom of the stairs. One by one, they'd be allowed to roam the room and sniff the pack.

With the little Beta in waiting trotting around the room like he was already the leader, Konrad nudged another wolf out. My elders were walking around and ensuring that everything was going as it should be. No grand plans, just a relaxing moment in our pack.

Jojo rubbed against me, giving my wolf a loving nudge. Alec and Erin weren't far behind. It was the first time I'd seen Alec and Joey since they'd left for the coup. I didn't know what had happened, yet to be given the details, but everyone returned alive so I was happy.

It took an hour before it was over. By that stage, the cubs were ready for a nap, so they were fed and put back into their pen to sleep. Hopefully I could get a couple of hours out of them so that I could find out what had happened.

"Okay, so regale me with everything."

Konrad frowned at his jacket as he tried to fix it. I'd picked a simple shirt and jeans to put on just to get out of the room. Gus looked at me as I pulled my shoes on.

"We would have waited. After all, it takes Stanley forever to change back to his shifted form and dress."

"No worse than the rest of you," he muttered.

"Anyway, fill me in. Where are we at?"

"Well, Blood Moon went well. I noticed the lovely motif out the front. Must you really leave a display out like that?"

"I didn't have anything to do with it. I was in labor, and the females took care of his body. If you've got a bone to pick about the Blood Moon Alpha's body, then you can take it up with your partners."

They looked at each other. Frank shrugged like he didn't care.

"This is standard for a failed coup born from a vulgar attack. Don't shame our female pack members for showing the brutality of what we are. They stood up and protected our Alpha when we could not. If anything, we should be proud of them."

"We are," Gus grumbled. "It just stinks. Summer weather is not the time for such things. Anyway, moving on. Blood Moon is ours. The Iron Fang Alpha requested a meeting. It would seem that he saw the writing on the wall and offered to step down with an agreement that he would not interfere with a new leadership, provided that he was allowed to live. We agreed and as such, we now possess the Iron Fang territory. Dark Claw brokered a deal. They were willing to hand over the majority of their territory provided we granted them a small portion that would remain as Dark Claw land. It is the pack house, the leader's house and a few other houses that belong to the leader's family. The area is quite small, has no real value and is completely landlocked. It is in what was assigned to Black Ridge so we let Ezra make the final call on that. He agreed and also gave them permission to enter his land once it became his. It's not such a bad idea to consider if you're interested."

"I am like Ezra in the belief that we should not be bound to areas and ruled by invisible boundaries. Provided they behave, they can roam within our land."

I looked at Konrad. It didn't seem possible that we had pulled this off, but we had. He smiled and took my hand as if he understood what was going through my mind.

"Are the documents ready for the permanent agreement with Ezra?"

"Of course."

"Good. Call Ezra into the meeting with his new Beta, and we will get this done."

This was us honoring the temporary agreement now that everything was completed. I wasn't going to back out of giving Ezra everything that I'd offered. He'd protected my elders, he'd helped with the coups and at the end of the day, I considered him family.

Because that's what he was. They all were.

I'd fought so hard against this, yet here I was, calling Black Ridge my family. It made me wonder what my father or Stephen would say if they were here. I hoped that they would be proud of everything that I'd done to keep this pack from falling. It wasn't an easy path to walk but I'd done it. I stood here with my pack as their leader, I had an alliance with another pack and together, we gained three more packs. We dominated the west bank of the river for this area.

And if that wasn't enough, I'd taken a mate and created a family with him. I'd proven my value as a leader. I'd given the elders what they wanted. With them and my gorgeous Beta, we'd continue to grow. We'd raise these darling little cubs, and in time, my firstborn would become the new Beta. When I was ready to retire, he would take over as the new Alpha.

It would be a long way off, but in between, I'd beliving an incredible life. I couldn't wait.