The moment Kali arrived, she was put to work.

She was given the task of helping Kathleen organise the suspected abuse files, because it gave her something to do, and it meant that she was near Avery almost all of the time.

Avery sighs, hearing Kathleen and Kali chatter before she walked into the room, swinging open the door nonchalantly.

"Good afternoon, ladies," she smiles, and Kali laughs.

"It's 11 am, Ave," she corrects, and Avery shoots her a mock glare.

"Don't ruin my entrances, little worm," she chuckles, and Kali sticks her tongue out at her.

"We have five files left, Ave, and then we're done - I can't believe this took two weeks," Kathleen sighs, sitting back in her seat.

"Brilliant - that's really good to hear, at one point I thought you'd never finish," Avery teases.

The two girls roll their eyes at her with smiles on their faces.

The energy around the pack is calmer this week.

York was still in his coma and showed no signs of waking up, but things had moved on. Freya and Sam were still under armed protection, and Avery had every available tracker hunting down Elijah Preston.

She had put her energy into leading and setting an example for other Alphas.

Maybe the only Alpha she hadn't spoken to on the phone in the past fortnight was Roman, and she had spoken to Carolyn instead.

The woman was understandably upset that Avery had left without saying goodbye, and what was meant to be a two-minute informative call turned into a two-hour gossip session.

Apparently Roman had gotten suddenly strict when he had arrived home, banning relationships between couples who weren't mates, only giving permission if they had both been rejected.

Carolyn was disgusted by this rule, as she was the one who had to console the families who had been ripped apart. A lot more than usual Unfortunates had families in the Lancaster pack, and most of them had settled down among themselves, or with rejected wolves, which was rare everywhere else.

Avery had offered to speak to Roman, and Carolyn shut that idea down almost as quickly as she had suggested it.

They had a weekly phone call booked in now, and the next would be in a few hours, while Avery got her hair done.

"Have there been any phone calls?" Avery asks, sitting down at her desk and spinning on the chair for a moment.

"Yeah, Alpha Addison wants you to call him back, and Meredith McConaghy used some aggressive words when commenting about how long it's been since you spoke to her," Kathleen chuckles, shaking her head.

"Aw shit, what does Zephyr want?" Avery mutters to herself, clicking on the answering machine.

Checking her emails first, she spots no subjects of note, so she decides to reply to them while she gets her roots done.

"Girls, if you want to take a coffee break, go ahead - I'm not sure what this call is about, and I don't want to startle Kali if I shout," Avery warns, and the two women get up from their seats on the floor, carefully avoiding the stacks of files.

"We were going to take one soon anyway - unlike you, we were here at 8 am," Kathleen taunts, and Avery sticks her tongue out at her friend while she waits for Zephyr to answer the phone.

"Avery?" He asks tentatively, and she lets out a noise of confirmation.

"I'm here, what's up?" She asks curiously, kicking her legs under her chair aimlessly.

"We found where Elijah Preston has been hiding, and we arrested him. We have nothing to keep him on, though - we can't prove that he was the one who made the toxin," he sighs, and Avery sits up a little.

"Charge him with rape and assault. I have his victim - or, at least, the one we know about - in my bunker," Avery shrugs, picking up a pen and scribbling notes onto a page beside her.

"Do you want him transferred there?" Zephyr asks, and Avery pauses thoughtfully, tapping her pen against the desk.

She has had to replace it three times since she became Alpha, something Jared never failed to remind her in their daily meetings.

"Will his mate and children be safe in your pack?" She questions, chewing on the lid of her pen.

"Yeah, we've gotten them a security detail in case some of the vampires try to get them," Zephyr responds.

"It wasn't the vampires I was concerned about, more what the other kids and mothers will do when they find out he's a rapist," Avery mutters, putting her pen down.

"How's Petty's Luna?" Zephyr asks, as he always does when they're on the phone.

"She's okay, she's out of her shell now, and we've had some laughs together," Avery smiles, looking out the window.

"That's good. Lilith is still uncomfortable being in my pack, she hates being in the board rooms," he sighs, his tone hushed as if she's nearby.

"You can send her here for a week or two; you could send her with the prisoner transfer," Avery suggests, "and that way she can socialise a little more with my ranks. We're a lot more relaxed than your pack would be."

She can actually hear the wheels in Zephyr's brain turning, and he finally sighs.

"If she wants to, I have no problem with it. It would be nice for her to be with somebody other than my father or me - she really hates him," he grumbles, and she chuckles.

"Are you surprised? None of the stories about him are complimentary, and all revolve around human sacrifice," she grins, and as she says the words 'human sacrifice', Kali walks back in.

The short woman raises her brows, and then shakes her head, not wanting to know what Avery is talking about in the slightest.

"Tell her to text me, okay? We can arrange it between us. You'll have to send some of your guards to watch her, mine are spread pretty thin at the moment covering Kali and training Lancaster's soldiers," Avery rolls her eyes, grimacing at the mention of Roman's surname.

"I don't see why you don't just send them home, he would deserve it," Zephyr grunts, and Avery rolls her eyes.

"Yes, he might deserve being stabbed or shot, but his pack aren't responsible for his actions, and all of them were very welcoming when I was there," Avery reminds him, and Zephyr makes a noise.

"Right, goodbye, Ave. I miss you and look forward to seeing you again," he sighs, and Avery beams.

"I knew you liked me!" She declares triumphantly, and Zephyr groans.

"Goodbye, Wilcott," he snorts.

"Bye, Zephy," she grins, hanging up on him.

"Was that Alpha Addison?" Kali asks curiously, and Avery nods, leaning back in her seat.

"Yeah, his name is Zephyr. His mate is called Lilith; she's the one with blue hair that was at the Conference. She might be coming to stay for a few days with us," Avery nods, and Kali bites her lip nervously.

Avery notices this and tuts loudly, which makes Kali release her lip.

"She's really nice, I promise. I know she looks scary, but she and her mate are two of the wolves in power that I've ever met," Avery adds, looking into Kali's eyes.

Kali nods reluctantly, her posture a lot more tense than it was previously.

"I'll trust you, but I can't guarantee I'll like her," she whispers, looking down at the files.

Avery stands up after checking the time and pokes Kali's nose.

"She's really sweet, and I'm not sure if she's definitely going to stay with us or not, so don't be getting upset over something that might not happen," Avery whispers, quickly hugging Kali before straightening up and fixing her posture.

"I'll be back at two, I'm going to get my hair done," she calls over her shoulder and gets a grunt from Kali, and a squeal from Kathleen, who's walking back to the office.

"Thank Goddess, I couldn't look at that silver hair anymore," she cheers, slamming the door behind her after she says it.

Avery snorts and rolls her eyes, walking out of the house with a smirk on her face.

Some of the pack children are playing along the pathways, and they all shout hello to her as she walks down to the main town.

Her heart fills with happiness as the kids all run up to her and say hello, getting excited when they're acknowledged by their Alpha.

She receives about fifty high-fives in the three-minute walk, and as she swings into the hair salon, another burst of excitement comes from the children getting their hair cut for school.

"Hello, enjoying your mid-term breaks?" She asks some of the children near her, and they nod eagerly.

The receptionist spots her, and beckons her over, a broad smile on her face too.

Over the past two weeks, Avery has pushed community engagement to an all-time high. She decided that a break from school would be best for the children, as they hadn't really had a proper one in a few months.

Parents were enjoying the time with the children, too, as Avery had suspended unnecessary businesses for the week with full pay.

There was a nightly vigil for York, and then there was a brief meeting where everyone, including teenagers, could speak about any issues they were having.

Avery had installed support groups for various things, such as alcoholism and wolves that couldn't shift, as well as extra supports for mother's who had lost children or mates.

Avery was slightly appalled at how lax her brother had been on community issues, but she was doing her best to fix what he hadn't done for four years in a month.

Avery is planted in a chair by her regular hairdresser who looks at her roots in horror and then slaps her on the back of the head.

"You're reflective," Mabel grumbles, shaking her head at the Alpha.

"Mabel, you've been booked up for two weeks," she shrugs, relaxing back into her seat.

"If you had booked with your own name, I could have rearranged everyone - everyone knows how ridiculous your hair is," Mabel lectures, and Avery throws her hands up.

"In my defence, I didn't want special treatment because I'm now your Alpha," she whines, and Mabel scowls at her in the mirror.

"I sincerely hope you didn't have any meetings with hair like this," she gasps, parting Avery's hair and then mixing up her concoction.

"How's your brother?" She asks with a sigh, and Avery shrugs.

"He's hanging on, but I don't know if that's a good thing," Avery sighs, and Mabel lets out a tut of sympathy.

"Poor kid, I remember when he started high school," Mabel murmurs, shaking her head as she applies the bleach to Avery's roots.

"Yeah, it's absolutely crazy," Avery mumbles, opening her emails and responding to a few while she sits.

"I'm gonna have to take a call once you have the bleach on if that's okay?" Avery checks, and Mabel nods.

"Yeah, it has to process, so that works perfectly for me," she shrugs, working quickly.

As soon as she finishes and folds the last foil, Avery presses the call button and prepares herself for Carolyn.

"Hello, you human wank stain," she hears her mumble, and Avery snorts, remembering its 7 am there.

"Good morning, you angel," she mocks, "you're the one who said this was the perfect time for a phone call."

"I forgot about the time thing. How's your hair?" Carolyn yawns and Avery can hear her moving around and opening and closing doors.

"Hopefully less grey after this," Avery sighs ruefully, glancing at herself in the mirror and grimacing.

"Yeah, what's with that, you old lady?" Carolyn teases, and she can hear the other woman wandering down the stairs, probably to breakfast or her office.

"I got the bad genes in literally every aspect of life," Avery laughs, swinging on her chair.

"At least you're tall," Carolyn snorts, "You got that gene."

"I'm taller than most Alphas," Avery protests.

"Well, at least they have to take you slightly seriously," she cackles, walking around the packhouse and grabbing a pastry.

"How are you?" Avery asks, examining her nails and glancing around the salon, which has emptied pretty significantly in the half-hour she's been there.

"Exhausted. Michelle is teething I think, which should be impossible, but that child is a nightmare," she groans, and Avery raises a brow.

"Have you tried the things with cold water in them that you use when they're little?" Avery suggests, furrowing her brows.

"Teething toys," a mother whispers to her, and Avery repeats it with a grin.

"She bit through one, the little demon," Carolyn mutters, shaking her head.

"And what's Ryan doing about it?" Avery asks.

"He takes the night patrols to avoid it," she grumbles, and Avery snorts.

"I would hand her over to Uncle Roman for a night, say you two need a date night or something and escape," she laughs.

"Michelle will not go to Uncle Roman, because Uncle Roman looks like somebody pissed in his cornflakes and - oh, here he comes," Carolyn mutters, and Avery can hear her clear her throat.

"Who are you on the phone to this early?" Roman asks Carolyn, and Avery feels her heart jump a little when she hears his voice.

"My sister," Carolyn shrugs, and Roman gives a grunt of acknowledgement.

After a moment, she sighs.

"He's gone, we're free," Carolyn jokes, and Avery exhales deeply.

"Do you miss him?" Carolyn asks her curiously, and Avery furrows her brows.

"Well, I miss his presence, but not him, if that makes sense? He's so temperamental, especially around me," she grumbles, peering at her eyebrows in the mirror in front of her.

"He's a stroppy brat, and you can say that to me," Carolyn snorts, and Avery lets out a laugh.

"You're not wrong," she admits, shaking her head.

Before they know it, an hour has passed, and Mabel is back to rinse the bleach out of Avery's hair, so the two hang up and remind each other about next weeks phone call.

"A friend?" Mabel guesses with a smile as she removes the foils.

"The Female Beta from the Lancaster pack, so yes, a friend," Avery laughs.

"I forgot you went there. Is Lancaster as dreamy as everyone says?" Mabel chuckles, rolling her eyes.

"He's cute, I guess," she shrugs, closing her eyes and letting Mabel work her magic.

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