Filed To Story: Secret with Betas Daughter: Skylar Story Series
Once we catch up to everyone else Kota grabs me around the waist and pulls me onto his lap. Cam is on one side of him, Mateo takes the other. Sam sits next to Cam pulling Sierra into his lap and I can feel Oliver come up behind Kota and I. There is no room for Xander to sit anywhere near me now. I can’t decide if the gesture is cute or frustrating. What is going on? I link all five of them. He’s just getting too close for comfort. Kota responds. I chance a look at Sierra and see she is fighting a smile. This whole situation is totally funny to her, so it can’t be all bad right? Yours or mine? I’m feeling a little feisty right now and go with it based on her reaction. Both. Oliver’s clipped reply. I just roll my eyes. He just got too comfortable too fast. And like he said, he’s looking for his mate, he’s going to snuggle up to any single female right now. If Cam is trying to placate me with logic, he just lost. So you are saying he’s doing to me what you guys do with every other female? I have no intentions of being led on, and it’s a good idea to become friends with the future Alpha King. And what guy says snuggle’? No response. I get up from Kota’s lap. “Where are you going?” He jumps forward to try and grab my hand but I pull out of his reach before he can. “The bathroom. Is that okay with you? Oris my leash not that long? n I say calmly and raise my eyebrow at them, looking each of the six guys in the eye, challenging what they are doing openly. No one replies. I look at Sierra, silently asking for her to join She gets up smiling the biggest smile ever. Oliver moves to followus. I point at him, “Nope, you sit down. And if any of you try to follow me I will throat punch you into the pool. As I start to turn Xander makes a move to get up. “You too, sit down. You all can finish your pissing match while we’re gone. I roll my eyes and Sierra openly laughs now and I think I heard laughter come from the adults sitting on the other side of the patio. Sierra and I walk into the house and straight toward the stairs. I know there are bathrooms on the main floor, but I have to figure out what is going on and I can’t do that where everyone can hear me. We head straight up to my room. “What the hell was all of that?” I ask her as soon as my door is closed and locked for good measure. “Your boys are jealous. You have never talked to a guy outside of our group before.”
“What do you mean? I talk to guys at training all the time.”
I rub my forehead. “Not like this. This time it was a guy, your age, openly flirting with you and they got a rude awakening. They like you in this little bubble and you keep talking about wanting to leave, this was the first time that idea was something real for them and they went into possessive mode. Also, I don’t think any of them have ever been jealous before. It’s an amusing look on them.”
‘I don’t understand, we are all just friends. No guy has ever looked at me before because I am nothing to look at, this is so weird. I have no idea wthat I am doing. He was flirting?” My voice went up an octave asking the question and pacing around my room. “Oh, my poor sheltered girl. I don’t understand how you don’t see it. The guys are not the only ones who have changed. You just don’t lookin the mirror much. You are gorgeous and strong and smart and independent. You are probably the only girl who hasn ‘t thrown yourself at any of them, the prince included. You treat them like normal people, you don’t fawn over them like celebrities. You don’t want anything from them, but their friendship. You aren’t afraid to publicly humiliate them, it’s refreshing for them. I’m sure, just now, was the first time someone, who isn ‘t his mother, has put the prince in his place in front of other people. Same for the guys. No one tells them ‘no’ or to stay put. You are on fire tonight.”
She starts laughing again.
“Okay, but what do I do about it? And stop laughing at rne_ This is so weird.”
I flop back on my bed, my long hair fanning out around me. have no experience with boys like this, give me training and beating the crap out of them any day. “Well, you can go down, sit back on Kota’s lap, or whoever caveman’s you first and keep having awkward conversations or we can go talk to the adults and make the boys sweat and get their acts together. Eitherway, Pm going to enjoy myself.”
“Ugh! Let’s go.”
I have no idea what I am going to do with her suggestion, but once we get back outside, my decision is made for me. “Skylar! Come here, kiddo, I have a question.”
We turn and walk towards the adults, leaving the boys watching out retreating backs. “What do you know about border security?” Warrior Nickolas asks when we are close enough. “A little, I run our border every day and see patrols. I know some areas are more heavily monitored than others. I guess it all depends on the terrain, if the territory on the outside of the borders is open or belongs to a neighboring pack, things like that. Why? I know our territory is a bit different since we are surrounded by water on most sides. I sit in a chair next to him at their table, Slerra next to me. It’s almost strange to not be in someone’s lap. “Let me put a hypothetical scenario out there and see what you think ” He spends about ten minutes moving things from the table around giving me general topography. Furthest from me is a mountain range with a lake at the base, what he called the packhouse is to the left of the lake, butting up to the curved end of the range. He hesitated when he said ‘packhouse’ so this is code for something important. From the packhouse he describes different structures that fan out towards a forest line, like a sun burst. Just beyond the forest line are small clearings, miles apart, each with a different function, but he didn ‘t elaborate on that. ‘[so the dilemma is rogue attacks are corning at different times and from different locations. How would you set up patrols to guard an area like this?”
“That’s it?! That’s all the info and you want a full patrol schedule?” He just nods his head with a little smirk on his face. Alpha Lucas and the Alpha King are both watching intently givlng nothing away. Okay, I ‘Il bite, it’s like a pop quizin battle strategy class. I shift forward going into warrior mode. “How many are on patrol at any given time. “You can have as many as you think you would need to run rotations.”
Again, vague. Apparently I am being tested. Alright, let’s see. “Well, there are a lot of variables that I don’t have that would help in this situation.”
I look at him sternly. “For instance what is the mountain range like? Is it all forest and trees? Easy to climb? If that is the case then I would put up watch structures with motion sensors a minimum of a mile out and go up to five miles if the terrain is easy considering how close the pacmouse is to the base of the mountain. If it’s all rock and pretty open, less patrol would need to be done from the mountain itself since it could be monitored from the ground and extra resources could be used elsewhere, but motion sensors in both cases would be helpful. I would also run patrols around the lake and have more or less depending on visibility, but it being at the base of the mountain would make it easy for an enemy to sit in the caves and crevices of the mountain and observe across the lake without being seen and the water would dim or mask the scent. I grab a drink of water as I analyze the ‘forest’ portion of his example. I am really getting into my territory dissection, this is way more my speed than all the flirting talk.
I stood up to get a better viewpoint. “The clearings are obviously serving some sort of purpose, meaning packmembers are here, but there is so much space that a trained person would probably be able to get past undetected. I would run patrol patterns in an arc and have two groups of two or four running the same path, just running opposite each other, that way no one area is unprotected for long.
If you are having rogue attacks regularly, I would have patrol check in every hour, but from a different point in their path to keep communication open and minds sharp, especially at night. If there are specific paths in or out of the territory, I would have those monitored too, it’s easy to keep your bearings if there is a road or river to follow. I would also use motion sensors that can be monitored at the packhouse or other central location. More than one set of eyes is always better.”
1100k up to see Alpha Lucas smiling his gentle smile, the one he wears when he is in ‘dad mode,’ Luna Ava and Luna Queen Anne look impressed, but not surprised. “Is that right? I feel like I arn being tested right now and you are all making me anxious.
The Alpha King is the one who responds first. “Very impressive my dear. And you have no training in border security or patrols?” “No, sir. Only the little we have started studying in battle classes. “Bah! None of this ‘sir’ stuff. Alpha Reggie to you. And you seem to have a natural eye and realistic notion for what is needed. Let me ask you this, what would you do if you were protecting the Luna in an attack on this territory?” “Where is the attack coming from, sir?” He looks at me, eyebrows pressed together. My eyes go wide, unsure of what I did to earn that look for a moment, then it dawns on me. “Sorry, Alpha Reggie.”
“Let’s say multidirectional attack. One from the mountains , one from the east entrance and one from the west just beyond the lake. “Does the packhouse have a safe room?” I ask without looking up from the ‘map’ made of glasses, bottles, napkins and phones on the table, making a mental picture for myself. “Let’s say no safe room.”
“I would have the Luna suppress her Aura and shift, we would run up the middle, trying to avoid the attacks from the East and West. Most Lunas would want to stay and fight or care for their pack, but keeping her safe keeps the pack fighting. She can keep morale boosted via the mind link as long as she is in range on the territory. If her aura is suppressed then it will take longer for the rogues to find her, giving warriors time to fend off the attack. More than likely, if the Luna is the target, the attackers will check the packhouse first and look for a safe room for her to be holed up in, that will also buy time if there is a rumor of a safe room planted. “What if there is an actual safe room?” “I would hope that it has two exits, like a rabbit hole, otherwise they can just sit on it, keeping her hostage and wait for her to need food and water. I would also hope it’s built into the mountain, giving you options for exits. If your architect was skilled it could be a tunnel system that needs to be navigated like a maze to find.”
Pm just letting my imagination run wild now.
“You could also have more than one option for an exit with the maze system. It could also double to protect non-warriors of the pack in any type of emergency if food was stored and you could locate a source of clean water. It could be a place to keep your pack safe or as an evacuation point. I look up smiling at all of the possibilities. “Well now, I’m going to have to see how creative my architect can be.”
Alpha Reggie chuckled at me. “Wait, What?”
“This is the basic make up of the Royal territory and you, my dear, have picked apart our entire protective Strategy. Your fan club back there has spent the last two summers here at the training grounds.”
He points to a clearing close to the lake and I think of the picture in Kota’s room. I take a breath and then my eyes go wide and I can’t utter words. Did I offend him? Did I just embarass myself?
“Don’t look like that. You didn’t say anything wrong, but as you said having a fresh set of eyes always brings new light. Sometimes we get so familiar with things we don ‘t actually see them. Like you mentioning only one exit in the safe room. It seems common sense to have multiple exit points the way you said it, but no one else thought of it. We have always put focus on the outer border, and that has worked just fine. I’m not so full of myself as to think I have all the answers all Of the time. so thank you for your insight my dear.”
He smiles at me and I can’t help but smile back. “Well this has been a very enlightening evening, but we are off to bed. My patrols have joined yours, so just let someone know if you plan on coming or going in the wee hours of the night.”
He looks right at me and winks. “Nope,” I jump at the voice behind me. “Tiny has no plans in the morning. Goodnight sir.”
Cam says, then reaches for my hand, something none of them have ever done. I take it and stand, saying a quick goodnight to everyone while letting Cam lead me and the rest of our group inside. Just before we cross into the kitchen I hear Alpha Reggie ask, “Do they always flankher like that?” “Uh, huh, and I don’t even think they realize that they are doing it…”
I didn’t hear the rest of Alpha Lucas’ comment as we made our way. We head up the main staircase, Cam is not letting go of my hand under any circumstances. “Hey, Skylar.”
We stop just before the door to the third floor and turn around to see Prince Xander right behind our group. “Can I walk you to your room?” “She stays on the third floor.”
Kota responds a little curtly. “Oh, okay. Um, who are you sitting with during the trials tomorrow?” “Don’t.”
I whisper to the guys as Cam’s hand tightens around mine. To Prince Xander. “I’m not sitting with anyone tomorrow.”
He looked confused, so I decided to elaborate. Pm joining the trials, so I will be on the ground with the warriors. Pm not really the sit-in -the-stands-and-watch type.”
I just keep the conversation going as if we aren ‘t being eavesdropped on by all of my friends. “We’ll see you tomorrow for breakfast. I smile at him and place my hand on his forearm for a brief second. I do like him and had fun talking to someone other than my usual guys. He really is very handsome, but I just don ‘t have that same pull I have with the guys. It would be nice to be on friendly terms with the Alpha prince though. “Goodnight Prince Xander.”
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.