Chapter 336
As much as I'd like nothing better than to take my mate back upstals and complete our mating bond, | need to
see the pack lands, | know there is a lot of work that needs to be done, but I'm hoping shas been done in
my absence.
We don’t spend much tin the packhouse, | had started these repairs before 1 brought Cara here. It doesn’t
appear that any more has been done. As we walk out back Carlos begins pointing out the structures that are
being built.
“We're repurposing the concrete blocks from the dilapidated buildings around the pack to build homes for new
families. As you can see over there,” he points to another group of houses, “Those houses had a strong
structure, so we are just refurbishing those.”
“How do you keep track of which houses are full and which ones are available?”
He looks at her sheepishly. “It’s another stack of papers that | have. | just try to keep up with
have. N. how many families we have and how many unoccupied homes we
have. No one seems to mind doing the work if we can give them a house, but we ran out of structures and are
now having to build more to keep up with the influx of people.”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt
All around the pack, people are working. Sare breaking down buildings that are crumbling, stoting
salvageable concrete blocks from the broken-down buildings to a stack where they can be used for new
construction. | can see at the edge of the forest line, a number of trees have been cut down. “I'm guessing that
those trees were used for lumber?” | ask, pointing to where several tree stumps.
are in view.
“Yes. It wasn’t ideal, but we needed more supplies, and that was our only option.” Carlos says.
to
There's so much work and so much money needed to bring this pack up normal standards. I'm glad to hear that
people are just happy to have a place to live, but in the end, the pack has to run on more than just labor.
We walk up to a fenced in area and | see lots of plants in various stages of growth. “This is the garden.” Carlos
says as a woman | don’t know stands up.
“Good afternoon, Alpha. Luna. Beta.” She inclines her head to first me, then Grace, then Carlos. Grace steps
forward.
“What are you growing here?” She asks and the woman puts down her spade and
+15 BONOS
pulls off her gloves.
“I'm happy to give you a quick tour if you'd like.”
“I would love that.” Grace says, looking at me. | nod in agreement. It will be good to know what we can grow
here versus what we need to buy.
“I'm Maddison.” She says, extending her hand.
Grace steps up, shaking her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Maddison. I'm Grace. and this is Eli.”
Maddison smiles. “Yes, word travels fast around here. And please, callMaddie.” She looks at me. “Good to
have you hAlpha.”
She turns and begins showing us around the garden. There's quite a variety of plants, from tomatoes and pepper
plants to melons, beets and broccoli. There are also peach trees, apple trees and blueberry and blackberry
bushes. The garden is extensive, and it would need to be to be able to feed 300 pack members.
“How many people help you work the garden?” Grace asks her.
“Right now, while we're just making sure the plants are watered and parasites aren't getting into the food and
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmeating it, there are about five of us that cout and look after the plants. During harvesting and planting
times, we need many more people just given the number of plants that we have.”
“And how do you go about getting people to assist you?” Grace continues her questioning. | can see her wheels
turning, but I'm not exactly sure what she’s thinking.
“We ask and we hope.” Maddie tells her. “But mostly, people want to eat, so it's not hard to get helpers. Plus, it's
a great way to get the pups involved and keep them busy.”
We finish our tour of the garden, thanking Maddie before moving on to the patrols. “Carlos, how are you setting
up patrols?”
“We have several men and women that have done patrols in the past. | have assigned patrol leaders for each
team on every shift. Shifts run in 8-hour increments with a break for food alternating between the shifts, so the
borders are always monitored.”
“Have there been any attempts from other packs to breach the borders?” | ask.
“Not many. Most don’t realize that we're here and when they do, they are easily diverted around our pack lands.
Only a couple had to be encouraged to move along.” He says. I'm guessing by ‘encouraged’ he means there was
a fight and
our side won.