“Well, how do you two think you were made?” Caden grinned.
“DAD!”Susan and Sam yelled together.
Freja burst out laughing, holding her sides as she continued to laugh at the warm family. She felt completely at ease, shocked by how natural this all felt.
Sam and Susan felt a bit embarrassed and gave Freja a cheesy grin. “Sorry. Dad can be blunt like that,” Sam said with a sigh.
“What are you talking about?” Freja calmed down enough to be able to answer. “I like how genuine you all are. It’s nice to be around people who are transparent, without hidden motives.” She could feel how open and unguarded they all were. She wasn’t used to this. If someone was nice to her, they generally had an ulterior motive. It was always like that, except here. It was refreshing, and she was enjoying it.
“So those pups from earlier … will they get their wolves soon?” Freja asked as she sipped her drink.
“Oh yeah, they’ll get them. We all shift at different times, but that doesn’t mean anything. Take Sues here. She’s seventeen and doesn’t have her wolf yet. But she will make her appearance soon,” Caden said as he nodded to his daughter.
Freja looked at Susan. “Do they give you a hard time about not having your wolf?”
Sam growled angrily. “If anyone dared, I’d shred them.”
Susan giggled. “So, the answer is no. Not with my brother being the beta and me being close with the alpha.”
Freja frowned slightly. “It seemed like those pups from earlier have been getting picked on. I guess not everyone gets protected from it.”
“Who’s picking on them?” Sam asked as Caden’s eyes darkened hearing this.
“A few others showed up who had their wolves. They were about the same age. I heard them call them wolfless, and the two boys seemed a bit on edge. Seems like they have to deal with them often.” Freja looked up, noticing the two men seemed irritated.
“I didn’t know. If only they would have mentioned it.” Caden frowned and sighed.
“I’ll deal with the issue, Dad. We need to keep a better eye on the younger pack members and keep them in line.” Sam frowned, certain he was failing.
“Why not have Hunter give an alpha order? Ordering them not to make fun of others?” Freja thought this seemed like a sensible suggestion.
Caden smiled and shook his head. “That’s not the way we do things around here. Alpha orders are absolute, but we prefer to leave it to free will. We don’t want anyone to feel restrained and ordered around by the alpha. Some things are worth the order. It helps keep everyone in line. But for something like this, we prefer to see everyone’s nature. We want to see who naturally complies and who are the problems. It helps with the ranking system we have in place.”
Freja appreciated this. It was different from what she had pictured in her head. She thought alphas just barked orders to their pack. Well, maybe some did, but she was glad it wasn’t like that here.
“The only orders Hunter has really given lately were at the Alpha meeting. And in that situation, it was a bit necessary. We have a war coming,” Sam said with a shrug. Freja nodded her head in understanding.
“Where is Renee at?” Rosa asked Sam, noticing his mate wasn’t attached to his hip.
Sam pouted. “She’s having a mother-daughter day with Merida.”
“Oh! We should do that, too, Sue Sue!” Rosa said in excitement.
“Okay, Mom.” Susan giggled.
“From a distance, would you mind showing me which wolves you saw picking on the others? I just want an idea of who I need to keep a closer eye on. I might even double up and have Winston and Adam watch them, too.” Sam kept thinking backabout the wolves being picked on and related the situation to his sister’s, which made his blood boil.
“Sure thing. I may have scared them a bit. I mean, I didn’t mean to. I’m not really good at coming off as the nurturing type, I guess.” Freja gave Sam a crooked grin.
Sam chuckled. “They’re your pack members, too. You can discipline them if you feel the need to.”
Freja held her hands up as she walked to the door. “No, that’s okay. I would like to get myself acquainted with how things are done around here. Hunter can handle the discipline for now.”
“Bye, dear. It was nice to meet you.” Rosa waved at Freja.
“Hunter needs to address the pack soon and introduce everyone to you.” Caden winked at Freja, and she paled slightly as Sam shut the door.
“Don’t worry, Freja. There’s nothing to it. Just a simple introduction and a picnic.” Sam smiled, seeing the tense look on her face.
