The Price They Paid: Imprinted Mates Series

blink an eye. Augusto is an Alpha male. He is the only male that I trusted to get that close to you in your vulnerable state. He would never have hurt you.”
I looked over to where Augusto stood talking to the elders. Feeling my eyes watching him, he turned toward me and smiled. He then turned and headed my way with the elders in tow.
“Nice to finally meet you, Justice.” Augusto leaned forward to hug me, but I stiffened in his arms.
“Augusto.” I nodded.
“I have to ask your secret. What’d you put in those wings?” he asked.
“Spice,” I responded sarcastically.
He chuckled and held up his hands in mock surrender. “You’ll have to cook for me sometime.”
I nodded. “Sure thing.”
“How’s Seuss holding up?”
“He’s doing just fine. Almost brand new.”
“That’s good. He’s been down a long time. We wouldn’t want anybody trying to challenge the throne. Things seem kind of crazy and out of control leaving that possibility on the table.” His threat didn’t go unnoticed.
“Miss Justice?”
I turned to see a boy that had to be at least six feet three. I turned back to see Augusto departing through the crowd. I needed to talk to Maddox.
“Well, aren’t you tall,” I half joked. I didn’t want to seem standoffish to the members with everything going on. I still searched for Maddox while half paying attention.
He smiled nervously. “I just wanted to let you know that I really liked the wings.”
“Thank you! Help yourself to as many as you’d like,” I said distractedly.
“There aren’t any left unless you have more somewhere.” The look on his face was priceless. The puppy dog expression wasn’t lost on me.
“Tell you what, we can do a trade of sorts. What skills do you have? Can you fix anything?” I inquired. There was no way that the boy didn’t have any strength in those arms of his.
“Sometimes I help my dad around the house. Mostly, I help him outside. Chopping wood, cutting grass, repairing the wire on the fences.”
Interest piqued, I asked. “How old are you?”
“Seventeen. I’ll be eighteen in the spring.”
“I’ll tell you what. If you agree to help Mr. Maddox clear out the trees near the housing complex, I’ll make you some more wings.”
“Really?!”
“Yup. What’s your name?”
“I’m Billy.”
“Billy, do you have any friends that could help out anywhere else?”
I had a few more conversations like that throughout the night. Jeanie was a homemaker that sent her last child off to school leaving her nothing to do during the day. Starting tomorrow she was going to be cleaning the Alpha House. Her son needed more responsibility and would tend to the yard of the Alpha House.
Turns out that Ree was actually nineteen years old, though her friends were younger than her. She asked if she could come back for me to teach her more. I offered her a position to work in the house if she promised to take the culinary classes that the restaurant owner was offering. Out of all the girls, she’d been the easiest to teach. Between the two of us teaching her, she should come around in no time.
I’d made other connections sending some more of the boys to help the elderly in the pack. The girls that were supposed to be working with me in the house were being sent out to help in the community. They could handle picking up groceries for senior wolves.
By the end of the night, I’d eliminated quite a few of the community issues and repair list. Maddox walked toward me shaking his head in amazement. Where had he been?
“Those ideas were brilliant. I’d never have thought of them. I don’t know how Seuss will respond, but it should cut down on a lot of labor intense items so that I can focus on the more important pack business.”
“I’ll need keys to close off the master suite. I don’t want anybody in there for now while Seuss is vulnerable.”
“Already a step ahead of you.” Maddox handed me a set of keys, and I slipped them into my pocket. “I went upstairs to close off the master suite and to check on Seuss. He’ll probably need his dose of you soon.”
“I’m beat!” I yawned to drill home my point.
“Then you should go nap. The girls are going to clean up the mess from the meeting.”
I didn’t object to that at all. “I’ll check on Seuss, too.”
I checked on Seuss to find his body temperature still warmer than it had been lately, but cooler than when I left him. I knew that if I laid with him I’d probably not get up. I kissed the side of his face and laid my head on his shoulder briefly.
“The meeting was so good today. I think you’d have been very proud of Maddox. He handled things very well.”
It was too easy to settle into him. It’s why I’d remained standing. I sighed and headed back into my room and climbed into bed fully clothed. Today was very productive, but the stress of Augusto’s words hung heavily on my shoulders. I couldn’t let somebody challenge the throne. Seuss had worked too hard to maintain it. I planned to do my part and make sure that he was well enough to defend it. First things first though. I needed to sleep so that I could withstand his need to feed from me. I closed my eyes and let everything else fade to black.

Justice
It was different being part of something. The pack was like a huge extended family that was always looking out for one another. Now that things were coming together, the Alpha House was beginning to come alive. Maddox told me that the pack was only as strong as the Alpha, and that was starting to make sense now. The kids were coming over to let us know when they completed projects. They checked in to see if we needed things done at the Alpha House. There was so much energy, so much buzzing, and we hoped that Seuss