Page 99 of Alpha Brock
Jax looks to Theo, then speaks up. “Don’t forget the high schoolers. Theo and I have a plan for pulling early recruitment for next summer’s squad from the senior class and training them up over the next month or so.”
That catches Vaughn’s attention, since he’s the only one in the room with a kid in high school. He looks like he’s about to object when Reid cuts in.
“Of course, we’ll put the majority of our seasoned squad fighters on the front lines,” Reid offers. “Then the reserve squad behind them, and so on. With any luck, some won’t even see combat.”
“Plus we’ve got Denver,” Astrid adds. “Hundreds of well-trained warriors, all to the front.”
“You know, it’d be helpful if you could catch a vision of the outcome of this thing,” Theo teases, shooting Astrid a side-eyed smirk.
She sighs, falling back onto the couch we’re seated on. “Trust me, I’ve tried,” she groans, rubbing her temple. “The trouble is that some of the visions have been changing… I think when it comes to visions of the future, they’re easily altered. They’re snapshots of what would happen within an exact set of circumstances, but up until that point and in the meantime, other things could happen that affect the outcome.”
“So you’re saying we can’t rely on any of them, then,” Anders grumbles.
I shoot him a glare, my wolf pushing to the surface, defensive of our mate. “Hey, it’s not Astrid’s fault,” I growl. “We’re lucky to have her on our side, it gives us a huge advantage. Because of her, we know that they’ll be here after there’s snow on the ground and that they’ll be advancing from the southern side of the territory.”
Reid nods in affirmation. “Definitely. She’s a resource we didn’t expect to have, and we’re grateful for any info we can get.” He shoots Astrid an encouraging smile, and even though he’s a close friend of mine, a wave of possessiveness ripples through me and I find myself slipping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in closer.
“Well I think we’re all on the same page,” Jax’s dad Damian sighs, leaning forward from his position on one of the couches and resting his elbows on his knees. “Should we call it a night?”
“For sure,” Jax agrees, clapping his hands together and hopping up from his chair. “We’ll get a training schedule going and squad members assigned and circulate that later this week.”
Everyone grumbles their agreement, and slowly, we all rise from our seats, the meeting officially adjourned.
As everyone mills about and gets ready to leave, Quinn rushes over to Astrid excitedly, coming up beside her and linking their arms. “Hey, so I hear we’ve got a Luna ceremony to help plan?”
Astrid shoots me an accusatory look- and yeah, I probably should’ve told her that I let the cat out of the bag already, but it’s not my fault that Jax has a big fucking mouth. Brooke and Fallon come up on the other side of her, both matching Quinn’s excitement. I just shrug innocently, leaving Astrid with the girls and heading over to where Gray and the other guys are circling up.
“You tryin’ to show me up with this whole Luna ceremony thing?” Gray teases, folding his arms across his chest.
I furrow my brow. “You’ve had months to plan one, bro. And besides, she can already link…”
“I’m just messin’,” he laughs, clapping me on the shoulder and shaking his head. “Besides, Fallon wanted to wait awhile anyways. Though she’s stoked to help plan Astrid’s.”
“Guess this is the silver lining to not being Alpha yet,” Jax jokes, nudging Theo.
“You gonna do it at the lodge?” Gray asks.
I shrug. Honestly, I haven’t thought much of it since Astrid agreed.
“Now we’ve just gotta find ol’ Reidy boy a mate.” Jax slides an arm around Reid’s shoulders, grinning playfully. “Whaddya say? Time for that all six-pack moon run or what?”
Reid shrugs off Jax’s arm, holding his hands up in front of him. “Hey, who says I wanna be in the same boat as you guys?” he chuckles, looking around at the four of us. “Your women drive you crazy.”
“Whatever,” Jax says, rolling his eyes.
“Only half the time,” Gray groans, scrubbing a hand over his face.
I glance over at Astrid chatting and laughing with the girls, a gorgeous smile on her lips. My heart starts beating faster, like it does every time I look her way. I turn back to the guys, a smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth. “It’s worth it.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Astrid
Planning a Luna ceremony in the span of a few weeks is no easy feat. Well, I take that back- the ceremony itself is relatively simple; it’s just the pack gathering, me taking my vows, and performing the blood rites that bind me to the pack and their land. It’s an intimate event for pack members only. The celebration afterwards, however, takes a lot of planning and coordination, because it’s like a giant wedding reception complete with cocktails and dinner and dancing and a million little details. Invitations to the post-ceremony celebration are extended to other packs in the area, and my family and friends from Denver are traveling here to celebrate with us. Pulling together an event of this magnitude under a time crunch has been a challenge, to say the least.
It’s not like our lives haven’t been crazy enough lately. Preparations for the war with the shadow pack have been nonstop at the squad complex, and it’s all hands on deck. If we aren’t training, we’re strategizing, or pouring over information collected by IT, or thinking up new and innovative tactics for battle. I can’t help but feel a little guilty for diverting attention to planning my Luna ceremony while we have much bigger things going on, but everyone keeps reassuring me that this is a welcome distraction from the impending war; that we all need cause for celebration during these trying times.
Even though it feels like we’ve been rushing to plan everything, the day of the Luna ceremony actually sneaks up on us. I spend the morning with Fallon, Brooke, and Quinn at Cedar Ridge ski lodge, taking care of last-minute tasks for the post-ceremony celebration that will be held there this evening, while Brock readies the back lawn of the packhouse for the ceremony itself. I’m feeling pretty relaxed for the first half of the day, but by the time afternoon rolls around and I return home, the nerves start to set in.