Chapter 4 - Draco

My brothers are due to arrive at the training grounds any minute and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to seeing them.

I’ve missed the assholes these past few days.

Being triplets, we have a unique bond and I’m not used to being away from them for this long. I know we’re all grown men with our own lives but just knowing I’m within the same pack as them always brings me a sense of security and calmness.

Those feelings are coming back tenfold after being apart.

I didn’t even realize how much I missed them until they crossed over the border. To say these past few days have been busy would be an understatement. Between meetings with the former leadership ranks of the pack and introducing myself to the new members, I’m beyond fucking exhausted and ready to put Hunt and Ryder to work.

Kace, our beta and the only other person who knows about my brothers, walks up to me with a clipboard in his hands containing a list of all the members gathering today and who will be participating in the tournament after the pack meeting.

“Alpha,” he says, nodding his head to me in greeting. “Are your brothers almost here? The pack members are all gathered in the field.”

Kace was the former alpha’s beta and I decided to keep him. He’s smart and the pack trusts him. Switching alphas is tough enough and I didn’t want to bring more change to the others. Having three new alphas is more than enough for these people to go through in a short amount of time.

Plus, he’s proved himself to be worthy of the title. He’s an excellent warrior and takes the job as beta seriously. I think the four of us will get along seamlessly, though I’m interested to see how he takes Ryder. The youngest of us is an acquired taste.

“They should be pulling up any minute.” I’m looking at the gathered crowd of 321 members in front of me. “Has everyone checked in?”

He looks down at his clip board, going through the names when his brow furrows. “I have yet to see Alanna. I tried to mindlink her earlier but it wouldn’t go through.”

My heart skips at the name. The frost haired beauty who beat me at a game I didn’t know we were playing until it was too late. I’ve thought about her a lot these past few days but haven’t seen her. There’s no way to miss her either considering she sticks out like a sore thumb among a sea of dark haired and tan skinned pack members.

“Alanna?” I ask, acting indifferent.

“Yeah,” he frowns. “My friend. She’s an incredible fighter though she hasn’t been to training since before the fight.”

Fuck. Of course she’s a warrior. I’ll have to warn Ryder to keep his hands to himself. A strong, capable woman is like wolfsbane to my brothers and me. The last thing we need is one of us sleeping with a member of our new pack.

Hopefully she already has a mate but I failed to notice a mark on her pale skin.

I wonder how close Kace and Alanna are as I notice how worried he seems.

“Do you think she’s alright?”

He gnaws on his bottom lip as he says, “I can’t imagine anything bad happening to her. Alanna’s always been independent but she’s fierce and can hold her own up against anyone. It’s just not like her to miss a mandatory meeting even though she hasn’t been showing up to training as often as she used to.”

“Why don’t you try mindlinking with her again? We still have a couple minutes before Hunt and Ryder show up.”

He nods though the worry lines in his forehead don’t smooth out. His eyes glaze over as he attempts to link with her and the worry lines transform into concentration, like he’s trying to fight against a barrier.

I notice the moment he gets through as all the tension leaves his body. They must be very close for him to react this way and a knot forms in my stomach. I push the dark thoughts away, refusing to examine them too closely.

“She’s okay,” he breathes out. He turns to me, rubbing the back of his neck. “She’s just uh… running late I guess.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Running late? This meeting has been set since the day I took over. Reminders have gone out daily. Everyone else has shown up on time.”

My brothers choose that moment to pull up in their blacked out suv, the two of them getting out of the front seats after shutting off the vehicle. I’m not surprised to find they didn’t bring any warriors with them.

Hunt, immediately noticing the tension rolling off me in waves, hurries over and asks, “What’s going on? Did something happen?”

I turn to my brothers and say through gritted teeth, “One of our members is apparently running late despite this meeting being set for days.”

I don’t care how intrigued I am by Alanna, at the end of the day, I’m still an alpha and demand respect. My brothers and I, especially Hunt and even Ryder, don’t tolerate tardiness.

“Well, did they at least provide a valid reason why they’re late?” asks Hunt.

All three of us turn to Kace, who looks like he’s about to sweat through his white shirt. It doesn’t help that the three of us are unleashing our aura’s and if he weren’t our beta, he’d be rolling on the ground under all that power.

“Um..” he stammers, not helping Alanna’s case. “She just said she was running late. When I asked why, she wouldn’t give me a reason.”

Even Ryder, the least serious one of us, looks pissed. 

Hunt’s eyes darken as he says, “Well, we’re here and I’m not waiting around for one girl who doesn’t know how to tell time. We need to get this meeting started so we can begin the tournament.”

“Let’s begin,” I say as I lead my brothers to the podium set up in the middle of the training field. I turn back to Kace one last time. “Make sure you tell your friend-” I spit the word “-everything she missed and also remind her how time management works. We’ll also be sure to have our own conversation with her when she decides to finally show up.”

Kace gulps and nods his head, probably saying a prayer for his friend that is about to have three alphas rages aimed her way.