The Pack's Doctor by Cooper

Chapter 182 Warren I'm excited to get started with Quirin this morning. Not only is it good to feel needed, but I want to nurture the new relationship that we have. I'll tread lightly, I don't want to do anything to disrupt the new bond that we've created. But I want him to know that he's family now and that's important to me, it means something to me.

I stepped away when Quirin and Henry were saying goodbye, and I'd seen Beta Kier and Beta Arianna descending the stairs together.

"Congratulations! I hope you'll be as happy as Yara and I are," I said, smiling when Arianna blushed sweetly. "Thank you, Alpha," she said.

I'd watched them walk into the kitchen and heard the squeals of excitement from her friends as Arianna showed off her mate mark.

I waited patiently for Quirin and saw him turn to see what was going on in the kitchen, then saw his pack members ask to speak to him. It's difficult not having my own tasks to do, but I know that it's important as an Alpha to meet with your pack members when they ask for your time. So, I turn, looking out the back windows of Quirin and Kennedy's pack thinking through the possibilities of how we can begin to clean up the pack lands. It's going to take a lot of tand energy, which excites me. I need to feel needed again.

"Alpha Warren," Quirin says from behind me.

I turn and smile at him. "I thought we agreed that I was just Warren to you." He smiles, something I've never seen him do unless Kennedy was nearby. "Warren, my pack members would like to speak with you. They want to take you up on your offer to talk to them like you talked to me. Are you still willing to meet with them?" he asks.

"Absolutely," I say, stepping forward.

"Thank you. Let's meet in my office. My warriors are already there," he says.

When we step in, I see about ten warriors, male and female, waiting to meet with me.

"Good morning, everyone," I say as I step in. They have all pulled up chairs and are facing Quirin's desk. "Would you like a chair, Warren?” he asks me.

"Yes, thank you.” He grabs a chair forand I pull it in front of his desk, facing the group. Quirin leans against his desk rather than sitting. I'm not surprised that he doesn't sit. Quirin has always been full of energy. It rolls off of him in waves, although that energy has a decidedly more positive feel to it since he's been mated to my daughter.

"Alpha Warren has agreed to speak with all of you. I will remind you that he is your Luna's father and as such, I expect you all to remain respectful during this meeting and afterward," Quirin tells them.

"Yes, Alpha," they say, then turn to me.

I lean forward, putting my elbows on my knees, more or less putting myself at their level and hoping to make them fec more open to talking and hearing what I have to say.

"First, I'm assuming that all of you lost someone in the wars during the twhen I was Alpha and was fighting against the other Alphas. Is that a correct assumption?" I ask.

I watch as they all nod or quietly agree with me.

1/4 10:31 Fri, 21 Mar Chapter 182 "Anyone from Alpha Brady's pack?" I ask, a few hands go up.

"Alpha Thomas?" Only one hand, "Alpha Simon?" Multiple hands.

"Alpha Quinton?" A couple of hands.

"Did I miss anyone?" I ask. Everyone looks around, but no one else raises their hand.

90% I sit back and scrub my face. "You're all younger than I am, closer to Alpha Quirin's age so you might not realize that things were different back then. Wars were constant. My pack was being attacked nearly every day. My warriors were dying, whether from battles or from battle wounds that were improperly treated by the shit doctor I had before I found Yara" The memory of those dark times fills my mind. That is, until my mate pushes her sweet consciousness into mine, wrapping aroundlike she's holding my hand in a unified presence to push the painful memories away.

"Those were very dark times. As an Alpha, you never want to see good men and women die, and especially for no good reason. No good reason that I could see anyway. Alpha Quinton wanted my pack lands. He entered an alliance with Alpha Brady and Alpha Thomas to attackrepeatedly and it was slowly working. My pack was dying." "Then I found Yara," I say and smile. “She changed everything for me. She cinto my life and immediately began healingand my pack. She is so damn good at what she does that my pack started getting stronger right away." I watch as they all look at each other. “Just like Kennedy has done for us," Quirin says and they nod.

"Well, your pack is strong, she just made you stronger. Mine was dying out. We were riddled with infection, had wounds that didn't have tto heal, we were fighting with fevers and barely mended bones or poorly set bones that fractured again easily..." I shrug. "I only tell you this so you understand what it was like. It was a dark tfor all of the packs. But then, Yara arrived and it quickly becapparent that she was the reason that my pack was getting stronger very quickly. That's when the Alphas started coming for my mate,” I say, and Arric growls in my chest.

"When I was finally strong enough to go on the offensive and start attacking instead of waiting to be attacked, I did. I created an alliance with Alpha Harold, and we began working together against the other packs." I hold up a hand, looking at the ones from Simon's pack. "I'll get to Simon in a moment. The reasons for my attack on him are different." "We took out Alpha Thomas' pack first. We thought we collected everyone who wasn't a warrior at the tto bring them back to my pack, but we obviously missed at least one," I say gesturing to the woman who said she was from Thomas' pack.

"My father was a warrior. His death killed my mother before we made it to the safe room. I was afraid, so I hid." I nod. "How old were you?" "Twelve." "That had to be terrifying for you," I say gently.

She nods and I see her fighting her tears.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that. I'm sure you didn't know that you'd be safe coming to my pack. Most of the women that we brought back had been taken against their will from Alpha Harold's pack. It's actually how I convinced Alpha Harold that I wanted an alliance. When I found out that the women were from his pack, that they'd been forced into mate bonds with Thomas' warriors, Harold and I worked together to return them to their home. His Luna, Farrah, was one women. She can corroborate what I've said, if you don't believe me." "I think ... I think maybe my mother was one of those women. She despised my father." hose "You must have been very strong to have survived on your own for so long," I say to her before refocusing on the others.

2/4 10:31 Fri, 21 Mar Chapter 182 "Alpha Quinton and Alpha Brady wanted my mate. But it was Simon who took her," I say, and they gasp.

I look at them. "You didn't know?" They all look at each other and shake their heads.

"Yara cfrom Simon's pack. Did you know that Simon killed his own father when he realized that Solomon had hidden Yara from him?" "What? That's not what we were told," one of the men says.

"I'm sure it's not. Patricide, especially when the Alpha was loved by his pack, isn't exactly the way to get the get the pack to follow you." "How do you know he killed Alpha Solomon?" another warrior asks.

"He toldso himself." They all look at each other. "He told our warriors you did it. He said that's why they had to attack your pack." "I had no reason to kill Alpha Solomon. Unlike the other Alphas, he didn't attack unless someone attacked him first. As I've already said, my pack was dying. I had enough wars to fight without trying to kill an Alpha who wasn't attacking me. Simon lied to you because he wanted Yara. He was obsessed with her. I'm guessing that obsession started early which is why Alpha Solomon tried to protect my mate by sending her off to college and not telling anyone where she was." I feel Yara's presence in my mind again, strong and sure as I remember that terrible time.

"He kidnapped Yara and took her into hiding, letting his warriors leadand my warriors back to your pack. That's when we attacked. He had my mate. If you saw what your Alpha did to Alpha Jasper then you have an idea of the fury that I felt when we attacked your pack. He betrayed you and honestly, I didn't care what happened to any of you at that time. I only wanted to find my mate. But once I did and I knew she was safe, I sent my Gammas back to bring anyone into our pack who wanted a home. Many of those people still live in my pack, or in Alpha Harold's. Again, you can talk to them and verify what I've said," I tell them.

"But I know that many chose not to join our packs. That was the sin Brady's pack as well. I wasn't willing to have another Alpha out there who would cfor my mate. Just like Alpha Quirin didn't leave Alpha Brogan alive, I couldn't leave Alpha Brady alive. Once we'd taken down the warriors, the offer to cto either my pack or Alpha Harold's was made to everyone. I didn't like parents with young children going rogue, but I didn't want to force anyone into a pack where they didn't want to live either," I say, shrugging. "You're saying our parents chose to go rogue? It wasn't because you forced it on them?" a warrior asks.

"I hated the idea of anyone choosing to go rogue, but I hated seeing parents with young children making that choice the most," I say honestly.

Everyone looks around at each other.

"What other questions do you have for Alpha Warren? It sounds like he was able to clear up a lot of lies and assumptions that you may have had about him," Quirin says.

When no one has any questions, I stand. "Thank you for lettingspeak to you and tell you my side of what happened all those years ago," I say. The other stands as well.

"Alpha Warren, I may only be speaking for myself, but thank you for taking the tto clear things up for me. I ... I've been harboring a lot of hatred for you that was misdirected because of what Alpha Simon told us," a warrior says.

"I feel the same." "I do as well." "Thank you, Alpha." 3/4 90% Chapter 182 From the nods in the room, it seems like maybe all of Quirin's warriors have a better understanding of what happened and why I attacked their packs. Hopefully that knowledge will help those old wounds to heal. "I'm going to be here for a while, helping to clean the silver off of your pack lands. If you ever have any questions, please know that I'm happy to speak with you," I tell them.

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"On that note, Alpha Warren and I are going to start looking over the pack lands to see when and how we need to get the silver out of the ground and make our pack sate again. If you need to speak tolater, I'll make tto speak with you and as Alpha Warren said, he's willing to speak with you as well. Being mated to your Luna has taughtthat communication is very important. It's something all of us need to work on, myself included," Quirin tells them. When I step out of Quirin's office, Yara is there, waiting for me. I walk up to her and pull her into my arms, holding her and breathing in her scent.

I thought you might want to remind yourself that I'm right here, safe,' she says in the mind link.

As always, my mate knows exactly what I need.

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