“It’s got to be hard with work and your personal life being so closely tied together.” Wrapping his arms around me, Dorian nuzzled against me again and seemed to be taking in my scent. “It would be like me living at the school.”
The horror in his voice made me laugh. “My work place is more peaceful. I just need to appreciate it more.”
Softly chuckling, he nodded against me. “I never thought about all the things you must do to manage a state park like this.”
“It’s all behind-the-scenes stuff but we’ve also got different magical things to take care of as well to make sure the humans don’t see things they shouldn’t.” We’d never had a problem, but that was because we were careful.
“It’s an amazing job for the pack, though.” Straightening, he took my hand before taking a step back. “How did it start?”
Seeing he needed a distraction, I started in on the story as we slowly made our way through the trail that led deeper into the forest. By the time that I got to taking over the role as head of the park, he’d relaxed even more and was enjoying the story. “The hardest part is when someone new at the state level takes over because about half the time they’re fully human. We do things just different enough that they look at us a bit too much.”
“Any problems currently?” Dorian’s fingers were stroking against mine without him thinking about it.
“No, there’s a mage in the role right now and he’s rigid about odd things but understands this is our land.” And always had been. “We own all the land around the park under several different companies.”
We’d seen the long-term benefits of partnering with the state to build the park land but it wasn’t always easy.
“I’d never thought about how something like this would be managed in the real world.” He glanced over at me expecting me to tease him about books, but I just smiled innocently which had him rolling his eyes again. “Like how you’d manage the pack when problems like how Emeric was treated pops up.”
And we were back to the practical concerns.
“We don’t run into stuff like this much. Yes, we’re not human and sometimes that comes out in unique ways but most packs have been dragged into the current century. The magic that makes a pack seems to like stable ones and has blessed them.” And people liked success, so it’d helped most of the pack leaders make better decisions.
“What happens when someone like Emeric’s old Alpha makes terrible decisions?” Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly. “There has to be someone in charge of handling these situations.”
“Yes. There are regional councils that are the first steps, and then if they can’t handle it, we’ve actually got…let’s call them paranormal cops that will take over if needed.” They were basically like an elite paranormal fighting force but I wasn’t sure how that would sound to Dorian.
We weren’t human so our line of last resort didn’t make decisions like humans.
“That’s good.” Standing straighter, he squeezed my hand. “What’s going to happen? You were careful not to say anything obvious on the phone when Emeric could hear but the yes and no and vague wording stood out to him too.” Dorian grinned when I sighed. “It was a good try, though.”
“I’ve never had a kid staying with me for this long. The closest I’ve come to it was when one of the families with young kids had a kitchen fire and needed to stay for a few days.” I’d never thought I’d have kids, much less have one in a situation like this. “But yes, I was able to get some answers.”
I just wasn’t sure what to do with them.
“Macy is safe but kept running into weird problems she thought were random. They weren’t.” But at least she was safe and now heading back. “First her cell phone disappeared when she got down to Emeric’s pack and started asking questions about the accident.”
Dorian’s snort said he realized that was bullshit.
“They told her that Emeric was off on a pack camping trip to help distract him from the accident. Which didn’t seem to be an accident even to her but she was playing along until Emeric got back from his camping trip.” She and I were going to have a talk about safety when she got back.
“A camping trip?” Dorian’s frown said he thought that was fishy too. “Is that a cultural thing?”
“Not here but I could see how she got talked into it. She was the baby of their family and a surprise from what she’s said.” And she was still kind of naïve. “She moved here with her parents when she was a teenager and they died a few years ago.”
There hadn’t been any red flags with them but I was starting to second-guess that.
“They kept to themselves and were polite. Nothing stands out but she and I are going to have a long conversation when she gets back.” A really long one. “Her brother was a complete fuckup when he came to visit them. He and his wife did nothing but fight. I was barely the Alpha at that point and they weren’t pack, so I didn’t have much control over them, magical or otherwise.”
I’d honestly been relieved when they’d left which probably made me a terrible person and Alpha.
“They were both difficult people and Emeric was the only victim, so don’t think I left a woman being abused.” I wouldn’t have done that. “I did call down to the Alpha of their pack at the time and tried to talk around their problem, but I don’t remember his name. I really don’t think it was the same Alpha, though.”
“It’s too long ago.” Dorian squeezed my hand again and leaned into me. “Unless you keep some kind of daily diary there’s no way you’d remember.”
“No, but that’s a good idea.” We just didn’t have problems like that very often.
“Is Macy on her way back now?” Dorian glanced back behind us like he could see the house through the trees. “What happened?”
