Levers and his wife, Maggie May, were those voices.

My father—again, dumbfuck—had just thought they were trusted by the people. Me? I knew the rest of the pack leaned on them to be their speakers.

That wasn’t how I wanted my tenure as alpha to be.

I didn’t want the elite in my packhouse, eating my fucking cheese and drinking my goddamn wine.

I wanted these people.

I wanted them to be welcome, for our issues to be shared, and for us to make this pack and this area better.

So I let my wolf out. It roared in my head, echoing in my brain as the prospect of freedom enticed it, but then I felt her hand on my back. Immediately, the wolf was calmer.

Which made me calmer.

I was still uneasy about letting him loose, because if anyone knew his full strength, it was me, but I knew I had to. Showing Sabina my power, coming to see that I wasn’t terrifying, watching her rip through my domination, it gave me the courage to reveal a side of myself the people hadn’t seen before.

And I only did it because I knew, within the flash of a heartbeat, if things turned crazy, Sabina would find a way to stop me.

That was her strength. It was equal to mine. A Mother-granted gift.

The power I exuded was enough to make every person within the diner cringe and drop to their knees in submission, only, as I gradually pulled back the veil on my wolf, there were over four dozen gasps, but no one flinched or cowed.

They knew what I was doing.

I was telling them I was here as alpha.

I was here as their leader, but I wasn’t here to dominate them.

Thank fuck that had worked. It had been a hard-won thing.

The hush that had overtaken the diner at our entrance broke at that, and Maggie May, from behind the counter, declared, “You sure know how to make an entrance, Eli.”

My lips curved. The irascible old bat had never called me alpha, not once, and she was one of the few I didn’t mind that from. I appreciated her shrewdness though.

Her breaking the ice like that made things a whole helluva lot easier.

“It’s style, Maggie May. You’ve either got it or you don’t.”

She sniffed at me, but her smirk and the gleam in her eye told me she was amused.

She’d always liked me.

I knew that like I knew she’d hated my father.

Whenever I came here, I always got extra servings, and that was without my asking for it or her even charging for it. I shoved a hefty tip on there, of course, but she was just like that.

A feeder.

Especially to those she liked.

In fact, Sabina reminded me of her in that regard. She was a nurturer too. I figured Ethan was right about the pair of them probably getting close over time, and if that was to happen, it would be fortuitous, because Maggie was a great ‘in’ to the rest of the pack.

The majority of them, honestly.

As I moved toward a booth, I eased Sabina into the seat. I mean, I knew she could manage on her own, but helping her meant I got to cop a feel of her ass, and even if I was an alpha, nothing took priority over his mate’s butt.

That was essentially the law.

Austin and Ethan slipped in opposite her, and rather than take a seat too, I leaned on the Formica tabletop and stared around the place.

Highbanks was a town forged on minimal industry. Most of the people here worked at pack-owned businesses.

We had a logging company that enabled us to sustainably cut down trees, while ensuring they were replanted, we also had a few other businesses that kept people afloat—they were pack owned as well, but they were currently managed by most of the council.

And that was my biggest issue in tossing them out.

They were the bosses, and while I was their boss, I had to have someone to replace them, which was why I’d been stuck, left to figure out how to get rid of folk who I needed.

I rubbed my chin as I glanced at my people, and when no one turned their attention back to their food or to the conversation they’d been in the middle of, I gruffly commented, “You all met Sabina. You all know who she is. You all know that she’s the omega, and that her other mates are Ethan and Austin Carter.” I pursed my lips. “What you may not know, because it was council only business, is that my mother found a rite that was essentially a way of elbowing the Mother into gifting me my mate.” Gasps came at that, and I couldn’t blame them. That was still fishy as fuck to me. “You evidently felt the loss of the omega, and I’ve been remiss in sharing the details with you in regard to Mom.” I sucked in a breath. “This is the meeting I wanted to have with you after I claimed Sabina, but council protocol doesn’t allow that. And, to be frank, I think that it’s time for that protocol to change.”

A heavy stillness seemed to blanket everything around me, and I knew I had their attention more than ever.

Eagerness whirled around the room, and I felt Sabina stiffen a little as she processed the sudden communal surge of emotion.

“There was no body to bury, but we will be arranging a community wake for everyone to wish her well into the Mother’s care—”

“I wouldn’t bother, son, your mother was a crappy omega. No one here is sad to see her go, aside from the way she leveled us out, that is.”

I wasn’t surprised that Maggie May was the one to say it, but I cut her a look anyway. “She’s still my mom, Maggie.”

The older woman shrugged. Her hair was bleached a steel gray, and she had the straight locks contained in a tight ponytail that brushed the back of her plaid shirt-clad shoulders. She lived in a white tank top and jeans with a similar shirt, no matter the weather. And on her feet? Steel-toed boots.

She looked like a female lumberjack, but her face? Even with the steel gray hair? Beautiful. Her skin was like caramel, her eyes a rich coffee, and her features were perfectly symmetrical.

She’d probably been a babe back in her day, and I’d admit she was definitely a GILF, if you were that way inclined. But though our wolves made us age at a different rate, there was no hiding from the fact that Maggie was really old.

She arched a brow at my prolonged stare, but I just shook my head at her. “Whether you liked her or not—”

“Not.”

Several dozen mutters reached my ears then, and I felt my mouth gape a little at the universal dislike for my mom. In all honesty, I’d known my dad wasn’t popular because he was a hard-ass and he relied too much on the council. But Mom? I’d thought she was—

Bill cleared his throat as he plunked a hand on his mate’s shoulder. He was a genuine person, just like his woman, but he had a softer way about him. Maggie didn’t mind if she cut you verbally when she was speaking the truth. Bill? He added some honey to the vinegar.

“Your mother wasn’t the softest person to come to. She wasn’t all that good at easing pack concerns, because if she was, we’d never have needed a reason to meet the way we do.”

Well, that wasn’t a lie, was it?

I knew for a fact that these meetings had been going on for a long time, and that was because father had been obsessed with building pack wealth rather than the community.

I wasn’t like him.

Community was all that mattered, and now that I had a mate who had a purpose that was Mother given? I knew things had to change.

Sure, the pack needed wealth to sustain itself, but more than anything, we needed a place that was safe for our pups to be born.