I stopped by Tania to say hello and got myself a beer. It didn’t take long for the loners to arrive. Ricky waved shyly to me while Toby pointed to a free table. And Clay... Well, Clay stood behind them, looking at his feet, hands in pockets and his face covered in bruises. Guess someone finally knocked some sense into him.

We got to the table and I sat down between Ricky and Toby. Clay didn’t even greet me. On the other hand, Ricky was all friendly smiles and fidgeting hands as he talked. “Thanks for helping us, really, the pack is great, better than I imagined. I can feel it, the connection to others in my soul. I never want to be a loner again. You have to come and join too!”

Damn. Did Rowley send him to persuade me? Right now it looked like he was doing them some free advertising.

“I’m glad you’re happy. What about you Toby?” I asked. Drinking my beer. The others had beer too, except for Ricky who just got himself cola.

“Oh, uh. Yeah, it’s good. No one tried to kill us yet so that’s an improvement...” he said looking at his beer bottle. Oh. That wasn’t so cheerful and sure. I raised an eyebrow but decided not to pry yet. I needed their trust first.

“I guess I don’t have to ask you,” I couldn’t help the smirk that appeared on my face when I looked at Clay. He glared at me, then quickly looked away. At least they taught him some manners. “I warned you not to mess with more powerful wolves,” I reminded him just a little bit gleefully. “Well anyway, congrats on the initiation ceremony. Too bad I couldn’t be there, heard it was big.”

“Yeah! There were like fifty wolves there and Elliot said—-“

“Ricky,” Clay cut off his enthusiastic speech. Damn you, Clay.

“What?” Ricky asked, frowning at Clay. “He’s not an enemy!”

“He’s not a packmate either,” Toby whispered, giving me an apologetic look.

Ricky looked like he would fight them on it for a second then thought better of it. Damn... Now, what were my chances of getting Ricky alone?

“It’s alright. I understand.” I smiled at him and Toby. “I wouldn’t want to compromise your position in the pack in any way. It’s good to see packs that accept loners. I know I’ve been looking for one for years.”

“Well come on then! Elliot talked quite a bit about you,” Ricky said. Oh? What exactly, I wondered.

“How are you adjusting to pack life?” I changed the subject.

“It’s nice… Everyone is so caring and friendly.” Ricky smiled, then sighed. “But it’s tough. I didn’t expect we would have to train every day. Every day! I’m submissive and even I have to train!” he complained. Every day? That was a bit harsh. Hell, I thought Father lost his mind when he once ordered us to train four times a week. Every day was a bit extreme.

“You were all loners you know, Elliot needs to make sure you can fight properly,” I said trying to reason.

“That’s exactly what he said…” Toby sighed, taking a swing of the beer. “That we have to learn how to fight in a pack so we can stand up to anyone that would want to hurt us.” Or to take over any pack Elliot pointed at. Toby sounded doubtful too. Did he suspect something already? Well, it wasn’t every day a pack suddenly started mass recruiting all loners. He was a smart guy, he had to know something was wrong. Would he betray the pack for me though? Probably not.

“Well, I guess it is a bit unusual to train even submissive wolves…” I admitted thoughtfully.

“I’m not complaining. I’m not weak, you know! Even submissive wolves can fight!” he said immediately, looking ready to take me on.

I chuckled and ruffled his hair. “I am quite aware. My brother is submissive.” And while he hated fighting he got taught how to defend himself too.

“Really?” He looked surprised by that. “I thought it was a genetic thing, you know? Like alphas have alpha children and submissive wolves have submissive children.”

“That’s right, most of the time the child inherits the parents' dominance, probably because of the way they were raised, since children copy the behavior of their parents.” I nodded, remembering one of Bran's many lectures. “But for some reason, children of two really dominant alpha wolves are more predisposed to being submissive. While the children of two really submissive wolves are predisposed to be dominant. No one really knows why.” I shrugged. “Though my other siblings are very dominant since mother wasn’t too dominant.”

“Wow, I never knew that!” Ricky said, listening intently. Even Toby looked curious. I guess this was all news for them, if they didn’t grow up in a pack then they had no one to teach them all the secrets of the werewolf gene.

“I’m sure you’ll learn lots of interesting things now that you are in a pack. In the end, the Beta's job among other things is spreading knowledge.” I smiled.

“Really?” Toby frowned, looking doubtful. “We haven’t seen much of Aileen the pack beta but she seems kinda… cold,” he said.

“I’m sure she is just very busy with all the recruiting,” I said. Yes, very busy with building an army and planning an attack. “There is always a lot of pressure on the highest-ranking wolves. The Alpha is of course the leader that decides the future of the pack, they are a boulder everyone can lean on, an unbeatable, unmovable force that overshadows everything else. Scary but fair, tough and respectable, the image of perfection everyone can believe in no matter what.

"While the alpha stands above all like an ultimate god, the Beta takes care of the pack from the inside. They are the teachers of the pack that make sure everyone has what they need and they pass knowledge to the next generation. They are kind and understanding so the pack can always trust them, while the alpha is an all-knowing and all-powerful unapproachable god, the Beta is like a father or a mother, tough when they need to be but at the same time kind and loving.

"Then of course there is the Shield, someone the pack can trust to protect them, someone they can stand behind when the times get rough. They are scary and tough, but the pack knows they can trust the Shield to always protect them with their life. Like an older sibling.” I smiled. Oh. I guess I was rambling. The three of them were staring at me, speechless. Damn, I practically re-told them one of Bran’s lessons.

“You sure have a lot of ideals about packs,” Clay said quietly. “And yet you’re packless…”

Ricky shot him a look but I just laughed. “Yeah, maybe it is because of these ideals that I can’t find one.” No one was perfect. No pack could ever be exactly to Bran’s ideals, I knew that. The Ghealach pack as of right now was… less than acceptable. I shook my head. Back to the mission. I was here to gather information. Which would be easiest through Ricky. “Oh did I forget to mention the submissive wolves?” I smiled at him. “The ones that take care of the bonds between the pack, that take care of the emotional state of every single pack-mate, the ones that unite the pack and give it a common goal. To protect them.”

Ricky blushed and looked down at his drink. Did that count as flirting? Surely not...

“I’m sure things will get calmer once, they stop recruiting like this,” I said, finishing my beer.

Toby grimaced and looked down. Oh, he was troubled by something. He had to know. He had to realize. “Excuse me, I need to go to the restroom,” he said quietly and left.

His intelligence was both good, since he could realize things quickly, and also bad since it made him cautious. He wouldn’t just tell me everything that came to mind like Ricky. As I thought about how to get Ricky alone, he suddenly spoke. “Oh! You all finished your drinks! I’ll go get more!” He got up running to the bar.

Perfect. I got up to follow but before I could get off the chair or say anything, Clay grabbed my hand. I frowned at him as my wolf rose deep inside me, facing the threat. Clay looked away but didn’t let me go. “I know what you’re trying to do here,” he said, quietly. “But I won’t let that happen. We finally found a pack. Ricky… he finally doesn’t have to be alone. I won’t let you destroy that. I won’t.” He was scared of me, he was practically trembling, yet he was determined to protect his friend. I admired that. Even though it destroyed my plans. I sat back down.

Ricky and Toby came back. Handing me my drink. After that, the talk somehow turned to our pasts. I found out Clay and Ricky grew up in the same city. Once, when they were camping with some friends, a loner attacked them, everyone except for those two died and they never saw the loner again. They had to learn how to survive on their own. No wonder Clay was so protective over him.

Toby actually grew up in a pack but then his pack got killed by hunters when he was only nine. He lived with humans for a while then on his own until he met Clay and Ricky. I felt bad for trying to use them and compromise their place in the pack, they had a hard life behind them. But Elliot would probably make them fight in a very deadly war.

I also told them about getting chased away from the pack, which made Ricky grab my hand I guess to comfort me. He was a nice person. Damn it. I didn’t get the chance to talk to him alone and I didn’t dare to turn the talk back on the pack since Clay was watching me like a hawk now.

“Well, we should go now,” Toby said, getting up and stretching. “See you on Sunday.”

“Yeah! You’ll be there, right? I’ll save you a spot next to me.” Ricky smiled and waved as they left.

I downed the rest of my beer, paid Tania, and left. I was lost in thought as snow slowly fell around me. I didn’t manage to get much info out of them, yet it felt nice, to sit with them and talk. If I wasn’t suspecting Elliot of wanting to attack the Ghealach pack I might’ve considered joining his pack… But if I joined now he would feel the doubts in my heart.

When I opened the front door a sweet scent filled my nose. “Reid! Welcome home!” Matt appeared from behind the kitchen counter, he had mittens on, holding a steaming hot pie in his hands.

The sight of him made all my worries melt away for now. Something about seeing him like this felt ridiculous. Was this the so-called white picket fence and apple pie life? How could something like this exist in the cruel world of werewolves? I sighed and went to kiss his cheek. He blushed and put the pie on the counter to cool.

“The pie is not ready yet, but I also made meatloaf,” he said.

“You’re amazing you know?” I said and pulled him close, breathing in his scent. He laughed into my neck pressing a gentle kiss to my skin.

“Ah, you’re back, so what did you learn?” Yuri and Scott appeared, both in shorts and sweating which meant they were training just a while ago.

“Not much, unfortunately,” I told them, then relayed the conversation as we ate the meatloaf.

“Weird… Training submissive wolves,” Scott said, frowning at his food. “He can’t actually think this will work right?” I was afraid Elliot thought it could. We went to sleep soon after. Worry haunted my sleep…