You Gave Him a Lifeline

As the guards hoisted the last of the flour bags into the back of the SUV, Reagan closed the tailgate with a solid thud and then rested against the bumper. She let out a long sigh, wiping a smudge of dirt from her jeans, before turning to the older woman.

 

"I'm really happy we could have this day together, Lettie," Reagan whispered. The noise of the town market behind them appeared to fade, leaving a quiet sincerity between them.

 

Lettie paused, her hands gripping the handle of the empty shopping cart. She looked down at the pavement for a long moment, mustered her courage before finally meeting Reagan’s eyes. The older woman's face was marked with a quiet vulnerability.

 

"Reagan, honey..." Lettie started. "I need you to know... I am not trying to replace your mother. What happened with Maddox, the bond... it just happened. I never intended to step into your mother’s shoes."

Reagan didn't stiffen or pull away. Instead, she closed the distance between them and reached out, gently bringing her into a side hug and laying her head against the older woman's shoulder. It was such a simple act, but one that they had done many times before, but those were times before her mother was gone.

 

"I know, Lettie," Reagan murmured, her voice composed and warm. "And I need you to know that I am truly okay with it. Honestly."

 

Reagan looked away before Lettie could see the transient moment of grief in her eyes, but the fiery light that had returned to her earlier stayed intact. "Do I miss my mom? Of course I do. Every single day. But then I see my dad actually smile now. I think about those months, how he was just locked in that dark room... drowning in it. Completely lost to us."

 

Reagan squeezed Lettie's hands, her look snapping back, filled with absolute clarity. "When the attack happened, and everything fell apart, we all had to survive it somehow. I had Xander to hold me and keep me from losing my mind. Zyan had the Alpha duties, forcing him to keep moving, to keep the pack alive. But Dad didn't have anything left." Reagan gulped, a tear on the verge of spilling, though a smile brushed her lips. "He had nothing until he had you. You threw him a rescue when the rest of us couldn't. It helped my father heal, Lettie. And that is all that matters to me."

--

The roar of a diesel engine resounded through the lower basin as the heavy backhoe bit into the earth, scooping out massive chunks of dirt for the tug-of-war trench. Standing by the edge of the expanding crater, Maddox crossed his thick arms, watching with deep satisfaction as high-pressure hoses already pumped water directly into the freshly churned soil.

 

"Let the water go in before the hole is completely dug," Maddox declared, his booming voice projecting easily over the noise of the machinery. He grinned as the water mixed with the loose dirt, instantly turning it into a thick, sludgy brown muck. "We want it good and messy. By the time they actually get in there, I want that mud at least waist-deep and thick."

 

Zyan stood next to him, shaking his head with an entertained smile playing across his face. It was incredibly good to see his father looking so animated, taking genuine pleasure in the brutal, messy traditions of their kind.

 

Maddox pivoted, his sharp look scanning the tree line. "Do we have the rock climbing wall ready for the obstacle course and the speed challenge?"

 

"I have Guard Team Five on that," Xander replied, jogging up the slight incline to join them. "They’re the best we have for that kind of terrain work. They're mapping out the routes right now, making sure some of the easiest handholds are completely hidden to slow the climbers down."

 

Xander pointed toward the sharp cliffs jutting out of the woods. "More importantly, they know exactly where the natural rock is loose. They're going through and securing the climbing lanes to keep the visiting warriors out of any real danger. We want them challenged and exhausted, sure, but we don't need anyone breaking their neck on our territory and dying before the main events even start."

 

Maddox nodded in firm approval, clapping a hand on Xander's shoulder. Between the Beta executing flawless logistics and the Alpha trusting his team, the pack was finally starting to function exactly as it was meant to again.

 

Maddox walked along the edge of the expanding mud pit, his eyes lit with a sudden, wicked inspiration. "What about the mind games? The puzzle wall? The crossword blocks?"

 

He turned back to Zyan and Xander, pointing a thick finger at them. "You both know they need emotional strength just as much as brute strength. We want this course to be challenging, to be punishing. Some of these rival packs think pure muscle is all it takes to win a war. Let’s prove them wrong. Let’s show them that if they don’t have the brain to match the braun, then strength can be useless."

 

Maddox motioned broadly across the churning, sludgy pit. "For the crossword blocks, we build a bridge of stepping stones straight across the pit. It will need to be wide enough that when we use it for tug of war, if anyone gets pulled in, they won’t hit the stepping blocks. For every correct letter or word they solve, they get to advance. But they have to choose exactly which block to step on. If they guess wrong and step on a block without a support stand underneath..."

 

Maddox threw his head back and let out a booming, chest-deep laugh, clapping his hands together. "...they sink right into the mud!"

 

Zyan couldn't help it; he threw his head back and laughed right along with his father. Watching the fearsome former Alpha gleefully plot to drop rival warriors into a waist-deep mud bath was a sight he hadn't realized how desperately he missed.

 

"You know," Zyan chuckled, wiping a happy tear from his eye, "with you out here micromanaging all these traps, I could probably head back up to the office and start getting a headcount of exactly who is coming in."

 

"What, and miss all this beautiful sunshine?" Maddox's voice resounded across the open field, full of life and authority. He shook his head, a warm, tender smile softening his rugged features. "Absolutely not. We stay out here and get our hands dirty. We'll all get together this evening in the study and take care of the paperwork."