A hectic week has passed.

It is finally official that my land, along with Wolfie's, is mine again.

The process wasn't pretty.

The thought gives me goosebumps, and not the good kind.

I'm obviously glad to have my territory back, and deep down I knew this is how it was going to end, but I can't help but feel overwhelmed at all the new sh*t coming my way.

We haven't even had a funeral for my aunt and uncle yet, and quite frankly, I intend to pretend nothing happened to them until then. I'm afraid of how little help I would be to anyone if I let this get to me right now.

I sent for their bodies to be recovered in the forest the day we got back and made sure to warn the recovery team of the rogues and possible hybrid survivors.

Thank the goddess the warriors I sent came back safe.

  I don't know if I'd be able to bring myself to send more out there to recover their bodies.

On top of all that, I've sort of just unofficially assumed command. It's been a rather smooth transition though, because everyone else sorta just assumed with me. It's technically my rightful place, and I've been doing it on the down low for the past year, at least, so I guess we'll roll with this unofficial thing for now.

  Gosh, it's all so surreal.

  I've been preparing for this for the past month, h3ll, all my life, and yet I feel like I'm being hit by a tidal wave of responsibilities that I'm not prepared for.

  Even though I've pretty much had them for years under my parents' best friends, now I've got werewolves, a mate, Abaddon, and hybrids to worry about.

  It's such a sh*t show it's laughable.

  Thank the goddess, because laughing it off is all I've been holding onto.

  Rose and Brandon have also been helping with that.

  They've healed up almost completely, and I've just been thanking the goddess that no amount of damage is enough to break their sense of humor as long as they have each other.

  Those cheesy b@stards.

  Anyway, they've been training along with me for years to become my seconds, so they've been a huge help in every department throughout this hectic time.

  Along with Trainer Marco, Doc, Desi, and — even though I hate to admit it — even Captain @sshole.

  He voices his dissatisfaction with my assumption to power more than anyone else, but it's good to have people around you that humble you, I suppose.

  (A/N: Y'all remember Captain @sshole from the beginning, right?:). . . And um, quick question. . . Am I a terrible author for not remembering his actual name? Haha, Oopsies)

I've just made it my mission to stick to all of them like glue so they can support me in this weather they want to or not.

I'm just glad they actually do want to, I'm all talk, it would probably go to crap if they didn't.

Anyway, I'm currently supervising the supplies transfer to Wolfie's — I mean my territory.

Y'know, the supplies I hired someone to "borrow" from Wolfie's trade routs before they could reach his pack in order to weaken it.

Yeah, I'm giving those back.

Well, some of it.

Everyone on my little council, including myself, thinks my house will have a better time forgiving this whole screw up if we have a peace offering, such as supplies. But I told Wolfie's parents that was gonna happen when we had our little awkward @ss meeting, so they were prepared.

  "Hey Mari!" I heard Desi's voice call out to me.

  I immediately turned around to find her coming toward me with a clipboard in hand and a frown on her face, Happy following close behind her.

  I told Desi to keep an eye on him, like some of my warriors have been assigned to keep an eye on other wolves that are helping with this process, but it's actually the other way around.

  Desi is so eager to help in any way she can, and I find it incredibly difficult to say no to her adorable self. Especially since she's being so persistent and speaking up for herself and what she wants, for once. How could I shoot her down?

  After all, I do trust Happy after getting to know him and going on a life threatening mission with him. And a fifteen year old girl has little business walking around alone on a territory filled with werewolves who probably don't have the best feelings towards our house right now.

  So after telling Desi to make sure he stays out of trouble, I shot Happy a little wink and pointed between the two of them, to which he responded with a discrete thumbs up.

  And then they were off.

  Now they're both coming towards me with confused frowns on their faces.

  Desi came to my side and pointed at the information on the clip board to show me what's wrong. "First, we did a final count of the supplies to make sure everything's here," she started quietly. "Then, we noticed a lot of the stock was missing, and we double checked everything with everyone helping out and found that the last shipment never came in."

  My eyebrows instantly drew together in confusion as I grabbed the clipboard to analyze the graphs of numbers myself.

  "Then we dug a little deeper to find what it was transporting," Happy cut in, not looking happy at all. "It turned out to be mostly weapons."

  My frown deepened even more as I looked between them.

  I'm trying not to jump to the worst conclusion, but it's he first thing my mind goes to.

  "We were wondering if you had anything to do with it?" Desi questioned unsurely.

  "No, I didn't," I glanced around at all the moving parts around me.

  "Oh," Desi swallowed, "That's not good."

  "No, not good at all," I glared at the woods the shipment was supposed to come from.

  Happy followed my gaze and suddenly sniffed the air. "Do you smell that?"

  "Yes," Desi squeaked.

  "Abaddon," I ground out as I threw the clipboard onto a near by table and jumped into action.

  "Desi, get Rose and Brandon on the phone. Tell them that Abaddon is here looking for compensation on his broken contract and to prepare our house to not let him have it. He'll probably have troops over there soon enough, but if we have any available backup, ready them to come here, just in case," I told her succinctly.

  "Yes ma'am," she jumped into action as well, going to a different entrance to the pack house than I was.

  "Happy, you're with me."

  "Obviously," He said flanking my side as we went to warn everyone else.

  At least anyone else that hasn't already smelled the threat.

  "And Desi," I yelled over my shoulder at her.

  She stopped in her tracks and looked at me.

  "Stay inside and out of trouble," I barked sternly.

  I expected her to nod in agreement and scurry off to complete what's asked of her, like she normally would, but she stayed looking at me and even looked like she was about to protest.

  Then she seemed to think better if it and shook her head as she ran off to warn our house.

  I shook it off, because I've got bigger things to worry about.

  I'll be happy for her for thinking for herself later.

  "Wolfie!" I called, as I barged into his pack house.

  "Do you smell that?" He asked, meeting me at the door.

  "It's Abaddon," I told him curtly.

  "He has a shipment of weapons to add to whatever he came with," Happy updated him on the situation.

  "Luckily the shipment didn't contain much, if they're following the guidelines they were given," I told them.

  "Where are your parents?" I glanced at Wolfie as we climbed a set of stairs.

  "Living room on the second floor," he nodded upwards.

  "Alright," I nodded back as we rushed around.

  We finally found them both glaring out the window at the woods.

"He's coming," the former alpha growled.

I gave a quick nod, "My house is preparing to send backup if needed."

"It's needed, we have a fraction of our weaponry," his wife pitched in.

And here we have my council for today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
(A/N)

Hola! Cómo están?

I hope you're well, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! It's a little short, but I really wanted to finish tonight.

Especially when I noticed we got to 2k votes!! It's been a secret little goal of mine for a while and we actually got there *claps excitedly*

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH.

IT REALLY MEANS THE WORLD, LIKE FR FR:)))))

On that note, what's your favorite drink?

Mine, like Maria's, is 100% Dr. Pepper:)

Thanks sm for reading and voting<3

Black lives matter:)

~ The Awkward Chicken Nugget