The Pack's Doctor by Cooper

Chapter 129

Chapter 129

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Kier

| was one of the original members of Quirin’s pack. When | approached him about living on his pack lands, the

scars of the bear attack that he'd sustained were still healing. Twelve years later, you can still see the silver lines

all over his chest where that bear nearly shredded him. He has never said it, but Alpha Henry tells everyone that

Alpha Quirin saved his life that day, putting his own life at risk to save his best friend. That's the kind of man

Alpha Quirin is.

After I'd been here awhile, helping him to rebuild this pack, I'd asked him about it, about how he survived the

attack. He'd toldhow Luna Yara had saved his life and that, because of that, he could never get the revenge

that he wanted on Alpha Warren for killing his father. That snight, I'd opened up to him and told him how my

father was an abusive alcoholic and one day | got tired of being his punching bag so I left.

We bonded over our blood, sweat, and tears from rebuilding this pack together from the ground up. Once the

pack started to grow and he realized that he couldn't manage it alone, he askedto be his Beta. He took me

in when | had nowhere to go,

he gavea hand a position in the pack and for that, he has my undying loyalty. | will never betray my

Alpha, and | will never allow anyone else to betray him either.

I've managed this pack multiple times when Alpha Quirin is away. He usually doesn’t stay overnight, but there

have been times, such as Alpha Henry's eighteenth birthday when he does. I've never before had any problems

when he’s been away. But I've also never felt the tension in the pack that I've been feeling since Luna Kennedy

arrived. So, I'm not surprised when Arlo begins mouthing off at dinner.

“How the fuck are we supposed to accept a Luna who can’t even fight? What the hell kind of bullshit is that?”

He’s been getting progressively louder as the evening has worn on and | know he’s still pissed off about the

extra patrols he’s had to

run.

“Knock it off, Arlo. She’s your Luna. If you don’t like it, you can leave. Alpha already gave you that chance and

you chose to stay. Stop mouthing off. You made your choice,” | tell him before addressing the entire pack.

“Alpha is going to make an official announcement this week before her ceremony. Anyone who wants to leave,

can leave. No one’s forcing you to stay,” | tell them.

“This is MY fucking home. She’s the intruder here,” he growls.

“This is your hbecause Alpha Quirin allows you to live here. She's your Luna. That makes this her htoo

and believewhen | tell you, Alpha will choose her over your sorry ass,” | tell him.

“Maybe Alpha’s getting soft. He used to hate Alpha Warren and now he’s inviting him to our fucking pack? For

what? What are we, are party pack now?”

| make note of the warriors who are nodding in agreement. These are the ones we'll have to watch out for. I'm

not afraid of Arlo. He's a good fighter, but he relies solely on his strength to win a fight. He's not an intelligent

fighter. | am. So is Alpha Quirin.

“Maybe it's tfor a change in leadership,” he growls.

The chair | was sitting in slams into the wall behindwith the force of my anger as | stand. “You think you can

takeArlo?”

“You're nothing more than Quirin’s bitch,” he says, lookingup and down as if assessing my weaknesses. |

don’t have any. Not where he’s concerned.

I only have one weakness and she better be in the fucking kitchen staying out of the way. There are two reasons

| haven't told anyone that she’s my mate. The first is because she cfrom a terrible pack. Her abuse rivaled

my own, except she was an omega and wasn’t strong enough to defend herself. She was terrified when she

realized that | was her mate, but | swore that | would take things as slowly as she wanted. And | have, even

though it killsnot to claim her. The second is, |

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Chapter 129

don’t want to put a target on her back. Until she’s ready to open acceptas her mate and her place as the

Beta female in this pack, I'm not going to say a word to anyone.

I'm about to respond to Arlo when | hear Alpha Quirin’s snarl behind me. He isn’t supposed to be home, so

something must have happened.

“Is there a problem?” he snarls, walking up to stand beside me. I'd been so focused on Arlo that | hadn't realized

that other warriors had cto stand beside me, a clear division in our pack.

“I don’t know. Arlo, is there a problem?” | taunt him. He was full of himself a moment ago when he thought he

had the entire night to get reinforcements and try to takedown and take over the pack before Quirin got

back. Now that he’s here, Arlo is back pedaling quickly.

“No problem,” he growls.

“No, no problem at all. He just basically said it was tfor new leadership,” | say. I'm not about to let him get

away with his bullshit and undermining my Alpha.

| expect the roar of anger that comes from Quirin. He's a true Alpha and | think our pack sometimes forgets just

how strong he is. It’s moments like this, when his aura pushes out and he forces the submission of everyone

around him that they remember.

As his Beta, I'm not immune, but unlike the warriors in front of us, I'm not forced to my knees. Quirin directs his

anger on the group that stood against me, but all of us have lifted our necks in submission.

“You think you can be Alpha, Arlo? You think you can take me? You and your little posse wouldn't have gotten

past Kier. There's a reason | chose him as my Beta. You obviously haven't learned your lesson yet,” Alpha Quirin

growls. “Throw him in the cells. He can think about his future for a week while he rots down there.”

Sof the warriors behindmove around us, their necks stretching even higher as they get into the path of

Quirin’s angry aura. But they grab Arlo and begin dragging him to the cells.

“Arlo!” he says, still holding the others in place. “If you don’t want the cells, I'll be happy to remove your head

from your body. You fight these warriors, you cause injury to any of them, and I'll kill you. You had the choice to

leave, you chose to stay and now you're causing problems. This is your last chance.”

Arlo nods and they continue dragging him away.

“The rest of you have two choices. You can join Arlo in the cells for a week, or you can run double patrols starting

tonight. I'll even give you a third choice. Pack up your shit and get off my pack lands. You have one minute to

decide,” he snarls.

Unanimously, they choose double patrols.

“Then get your asses outside and start running. If | hear that any of you aren’t pulling your weight, you can join

Arlo in the cells.”

“Yes, Alpha,” they murmur.

“Damn, I'm going to get lazy not having to run patrols for a week. Whatever will | do with all that time? Maybe

it’s tto give Susie another pup,” Kelvin says smirking at the group as they head outside. He was one of the

warriors standing behind

me.

As he turns, | fall into step with Alpha Quirin. “Is it wise to leave Arlo alive? That's twice that he’s gone against

you and our

Luna.”

He turns, looking in the direction of the cells. “Probably not, but | have a bigger issue to deal with right now.”

This time, he looks up the stairs to the Alpha floor.

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Chapter 129

“I'm assuming something happened?” | ask.

“Yeah, Ljust don’t know what. But I'm going to find out,” he says, before jogging up the stairs. He stops and turns

to me. “You're good?”

“I'm good,” | say.

The moment he’s out of sight, | go looking for her.

I'm almost to the kitchen when I smell her soft, soothing scent. Lavender and chamomile. She pullsinto a

dark hallway, and | smile as she looks over my body as if | might have an injury.

“I'm glad you stayed away from that,” | tell her.

“I was so scared, so scared that you'd get hurt,” she says. | can smell her fear and the salt of her tears.

“Were you worried about me, Arianna?” | say, softly brushing a tear off her cheek.

She nods, looking up atwith her soft, chocolate brown eyes.

“Can | kiss you?” | whisper.

She nods again and | lean down, gently and carefully caressing her lips with mine until I'm lost in her scent and

her taste and her body melts against mine.

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