Silver Moon: A Change Ch. 04

As it was, they only got two of them. *We are going to take them back to the...* He was distracted by the young wolf, Paulo hunting a rabbit. *Don't kill it please. Take it back to the house and help the pups learn now to hunt. Good job son.*

Most of the adults wanted to eat the deer or most of the two at that moment, but he forced them to drag them back to the compound. By the time they arrived, the pups were stalking the rabbit and one other though Dan wasn't sure where it had come from. It might seem cruel, but they had to learn and they were doing a decent job. *Finish it, and we will see about hunting lessons later.* Everyone fell on the meat provided based on their rank. Dan watched and was satisfied that the females and pups got some of what they deserved.

Mari settled down next to him and leaned against him. *It was a good hunt Alpha and that was a good idea for the pups.* She wished that she had a pup, but that wasn't going to happen for a long time. Deep in her mind she wished that it would be Dan's pup. She knew that she would never be his mate but how she wanted a pup by him. Dan licked her face and then curled up and fell asleep. Mari curled up with him and a number of the pups sort of dog piled on them and made a small wolf pile before quickly falling asleep. Dan had to shake his head. It must be Mari that they were really hunting down and cuddling with.

***

The week since the moon had been most educational for everyone. He was learning many things about the pack and the pack was painfully learning things about him. Many still dealt with others in the pack as they had been trained and breaking that training was hard. The man Dan had beaten into the ground had tried one or two other things, which had lead Dan to more educational beatings. There were a few other pack members that were having problems with the new arrangements and order. They also had met him in the challenge circle, though none of them really were anywhere near Dan's skill level. The men were testing Dan and figuring out if what he had said was now defacto law or had some give and take. The women were trying to figure out if he was really there to protect them and their cubs, well pups as he called them. The full moon had been sort of shocking, since when he had changed he was shockingly larger and imposing than all the other wolves. That had startled him since even though he was a large wolf where he came from he wasn't that much larger than the others.

Dan felt the hunt had been sort of pathetic since most of the pack, well the adults, hadn't been trained how to use their noses and senses to find what you were hunting. He could only explain this as the old Alpha did this to keep his pack under his control. That wasn't the way Dan had looked at it or ran his pack. They were going to hate the changes he was making in the next week or two. Many of the more dominant wolves were used to slacking off and making the junior wolves take care of what needed doing. That was going to stop very abruptly on the following Monday.

The week had been very straining on him and as a lycan that was saying something. Even with his increased endurance he was getting up by 6am and working till 10 or 11pm. He was trying to learn about the pack and who played what roll. He was learning about this world, his assistant was tearing his office apart to get a grasp on what all the former Alpha had been doing pack wise. On top of that was almost direct supervision of the various projects he had instituted to get the place cleaned up. The most important thing, the thing he had the least time for was setting up a training schedule for everyone in the pack.

There was school for the pups but it didn't really include important skills such as using your senses, tracking or hunting till older. Actual fighting training didn't start till 17th year and only for males. Females were given some basic instruction but again as far as he could explain they were kept weaker than the men to make them easier to break to their wills.

Another issue was that he had heard a few whispers about him and Mari sharing a room even though there wasn't anything sexual about it. He couldn't really say that it was because if she wasn't there, he would fall apart out of grief. That wasn't even mentioning the cubs that tended to crawl in his bed without permission. It wasn't just Giani that crawled in but most of them. Any morning when he woke up, he would find one or two pups from about 4 to almost 18 curled up next to them. That left him sort of confused about why they were there. Granted he didn't beat them and tried to be friendly towards them but why did they keep showing up?

Mari knew why they kept showing up but it wasn't something that she could really explain to him since she was sure that he wouldn't understand, or maybe accept. Most of the pack was still trying to figure him out and what he really wanted but with the cubs, well pups to him, they had seen him beat the crap out of or kill those that had most abused them. Not only that but he had beat the crap out of several of the abusers and was trying to straighten them out.

They, the pups, had decided to adopt him as their own even if their parents and other wolves didn't trust him as of yet. If that meant getting tickled or sort of whacked at when he woke up then they would accept that and deal with it. Giani was one of the main instigators of this. During the day Dan worked in his office in the morning, starting to spar with the males and some of the females in the afternoon, holding court over dinner and then returning to his office for more work. Their Alpha looked tired all day long and the pups wanted to do whatever they could to help him.

One morning when he woke up he was curled around the boy he had protected and he was sleeping very comfortably. It was something that Dan wasn't used to. A young girl he could deal with but a teen boy? Dan didn't want anyone to think he was taking sexual access to anyone that was in his bed. Well that and he didn't swing that way. He was going to need to talk to Mari about what was going on since he really wasn't sure.

"Son, go back to your room and I will talk to you later." Dan yawned when he said that.

"Yes alpha." He sat up and yawned as Dan crawled out of his bed and headed towards the bathroom.

Mari looked at Paulo and sighed. "You really need to talk to Dan and tell him why you and the others have been in his bed. He doesn't like cubs in that way unlike..." She looked away. "Well unlike our former Alpha. He hasn't understood what I have tried to tell him about you pups crawling into his bed."

Paulo looked down at the bed and sighed. "Yes ma'am. I will try." He walked into the bathroom and stripped before walking into the shower. "Sir I need to talk to you." He really hoped that he didn't get beaten.

Dan froze for a moment as he scented the air and it was the young man who he had been curled up with in bed moments ago. "I don't want anything like that from you Paulo. Not sure why you are in my bed or in my bathroom and hope you can explain that to me."

Paulo walked into the large shower and leaned against Dan's back. "We pups are here because you care for us Pack Leader. You value us and you have played with us. You have kept some of the others from abusing us. That is why we can be found in your bed most mornings. Well that and we miss Mari." His arms wrapped around his Alpha and he relaxed against his back.

"We don't fear you will do anything to us sexually unlike the one before you. We can see that and feel that you care for us. That is why you find us in your bed. We know you lost your cubs and mate and we want to comfort you as much as possible. Is that so wrong of us my Alpha?" Paulo was on the verge of tears.

Dan tensed up at the mention of his pups that he had lost as well as his mate and lowered his head. "No, that isn't wrong but it is just odd to wake up curled around someone who is almost an adult. In all my years we didn't have cubs or pups so this is all new to me. This might come across the wrong way but I can understand the actions with the little ones. But when I wake up curled around an almost adult, I really don't want the rest of the pack thinking I am using them that way." He turned and gently cupped the boy's face.

"I do appreciate what you are trying to do, and will try to come to terms with it. Thank you for caring." Dan rested his forehead against his. "Now I am going to get clean and since you are wet now you need to as well." He smiled down at the boy. "Thank you for caring." Dan placed a light peck on Paulo's forehead and he turned away from him and started working on his hair.

The young man smiled and as Dan started working on his hair Paulo worked some soap into a washcloth and started scrubbing his Alpha's back. "None of us cubs feel that way and we have noticed that you haven't forced Mari or any of the others to have sex. We have scented Mari and haven't smelled sex, panic, or fear on her. We trust you my Alpha. We know that you are a good person even if the adults haven't really opened up to you. You will take care of us so we have to take care of you." He couldn't resist leaning against Dan and smiling. "You are ours and we will take care of you my Alpha."

Dan didn't know what to say or think. This definitely wouldn't happen in his world and it didn't have anything to do with sexuality. The young man curled up against his back really didn't do anything for him but his trust did. "Darn it you are killing my wolf with what you are telling me. Even back on Earth where I came from I didn't have anyone say anything like this. That didn't mean it wasn't there but the younger generation sometimes see things differently. Now, let's get clean and go and get about business." Dan gently removed the young man from his back and finished getting clean.

"Thank you for talking to me, and I sort of understand now. Now go back to where you should be sleeping and I will talk to you later." Dan leaned over and gave the young man another peck on his forehead. "Thank you for trying to make me understand."

When he walked out only Mari was in the room. "So how much of that did you hear?" He asked as he dressed. Most of the old alpha's clothing had been gone through the week before and most of it had been returned to the storage shed. That and he had found his mating bracelet in one drawer and it was back on his wrist where it belonged. Nang might not be there anymore but the bracelet she had designed for him was and it was a link to her.

Mari was curled up under the covers and smiled. "We are lycans right? I heard everything and I hope he expressed how he and the other cubs feel about you in a way you understood." She sat up and stretched before climbing out of bed and walking over to him and wrapping her arms around him. "That is what I have been trying to tell you Dan. The males are still trying to come to terms with you. The females are half in love with you, and the cubs dote on you." She nuzzled at his chest for a moment.

Dan had to blink at what she had said. He was sort of flabbergasted and wasn't really sure what to say. As Dan was trying to parse what she was saying, especially about the other women, Mari stepped back and stretched and the thin shirt she wore didn't hide much. For a very brief moment, Dan felt an urge towards her, but it faded just as quickly. Many of his lovers had been slender women with, as he put it, not much more than a handful in the breast department. Nang had been somewhat more endowed but still the same in many ways. One lover in particular who came to mind had been close to his height and was a willowy blond as well.

"You are what an Alpha should be but we haven't seen for a long time. Long enough that the little ones don't know what a good Alpha is, and the older ones miss having a good Alpha around." Mari stated as she slid her arms around him. He was almost too large around the chest for her arms to reach but she managed.

Man that sounded odd since the other pack in his other world he had taken over had been well run and the Alpha had turned it over to him after a token fight. Dan had been in the pack for years and had learned what it meant to be a good pack member and pack leader from the former Alpha. Dan also had a personality that was well suited to being the pack alpha and in positions of leadership. When he had originally joined the military, one thing he had discovered was a need to protect. In that case it was his fellow soldiers and in a distant way, their families. If he could return them safely, he did and it was one reason he advanced up the ranks so fast.

He had to smile. "I just don't want anyone thinking I am into children and boys. Sorry but I am a confirmed lesbian... I love women and taking women to bed." That was a horrible joke but he loved making it.

Mari snickered. "Oh? Is that why I am in your bed? You are slowly trying to seduce me?" She was laughing hard enough she had to rest her head on his chest and let the snickers die down.

Dan froze for a moment. "No Mari that isn't why you are in my bed and I would ask before I ever did anything. Remember that is one of my rules and it would be really hard to kill myself if I broke it..." He started laughing as well. She was cute and attractive but it was way too soon to even think about having sex with someone else.

***

Dan was sitting in the office talking to his three advisors to find out where the pack was at based on the tasks he had handed out the first day. "Okay, Saul you go first."

The man was sitting in front of the computer and briefly reviewed his notes. "Well I have gotten a decent start on organizing your office and have been mainly focused on the finances at the moment. As far as I can tell we have money, but other than some in the bank, I don't know where it is. I do know that he kept a pretty nice stash of cash available but I don't know where he kept it." He frowned slightly. "There are a number of correspondences with the other packs that need to be dealt with and we also need to introduce you to the other alphas. When pack leadership changes the pack is expected to hold a dinner for the alpha, mate, and second and his mate as well."

Dan sighed and rubbed his temples. "Great, now I get to find the money, plan a party, order food, and if the other Alphas are like your former one then keep the women and children from hiding and make sure they understand my ground rules. How long can this be put off? If I can get another week or even two I will feel much better about having strange wolves on my property." Before he could continue there was a knock on the door.

"Enter." The pack knew he was in the meeting and to only interrupt for important issues. When the door opened he saw Angie and a strange wolf standing there.

"Pack Leader, this is Alpha Tony Roma from the Glacsas pack to see our Alpha." She was slightly worried since normally one alpha doesn't intrude on another unless they asked permission or it was an emergency.

Dan stood up and walked over to the door and gave her a slight nod and she scurried away. The man was an inch or two taller than Dan and well-muscled but fairly slender. His hair was a strawberry blond and cut fairly short and below the hair were bright blue eyes that had a questioning look in them. "Pleased to meet you Alpha Roma, I am Danilo Legarith, Alpha of the Alucian pack."

"If you don't mind my being a bit forward, when did leadership change and why weren't the rest of us informed?" He moved into the room as Dan turned back towards his desk and spoke to his three advisors.

"We will continue the meeting later so go and take care of what you need to. I will send for you when we are done here." The three of them stood up and left the room, closing the door behind them. Dan turned to address the interloping alpha. "I took over a week ago and we were actually just talking about when we should have the party to introduce myself. I am going to assume you are here for a reason other than checking up on the new guy?"

Tony gave him an evaluating look before looking slightly away and what he saw of the man was impressive. Dan was not as tall as most male lycans but was massive. His eyes were intelligent, evaluating, and showed absolutely no fear or worry about having another alpha in the room. He had also glanced around the office and it was vastly changed, with files actually neatly stacked and some of the extravagant knick knacks were gone as well.

"Well, nobody came past for the monthly tithe and since I was going this way decided to drop it off." Tony pulled a thick envelope out and set it on the desk.

One eyebrow went up as Dan listened to the reason and also as he looked at the envelope. Why the heck was he getting a tithe from another pack? "Ah, I have to apologize for that, the last week or so has been pretty hectic getting settled in as the new Alpha. All the administrative things, disposing of the bodies, assigning new jobs, you know the drill right?" He had to toss in the bit about bodies to see how the other would react.

"Sometimes the price of taking over can be a strain." Now he was really curious. "If you don't mind my being forward again, where are you from? I have never seen you around here before and why take over?" Both of them could play that game.

"Not really sure. I was out running, trying to clear my mind when I felt a searing pain. When I woke up, I was shackled in the basement. My wolf and I didn't appreciate that or the fact that the Alpha refused to free me." There was a brief knock on the door and he sighed. "Enter."

Mari walked in with tray that had a pot, cups, and some snacks on it. "We didn't know how long your meeting might be so Angie asked me to bring this to the two of you." Once the tray was on his desk she nodded to Dan first and then the other man and quietly walked out."

Tony couldn't help but appreciate her. She was a bit petite for him but she had all the right parts in all the right amounts and he had to wonder... but hearing Dan clear his throat brought him back to the present.

"That represents one of the reasons I took the pack over. He had been abusing her and using her and that is simply wrong, along with the other women and children." He leaned forward and poured the coffee and slid one cup over for Tony if he wanted it and after fixing his, he took a sip. "This pack was being worn down and slowly destroyed. How a good Alpha could let that happen I don't know. Oh and hands off the girl, if you ask and she says no that is the end of it."

Tony was getting a really odd vibe from the man. The fact that he took out three of the toughest, or at least meanest, males around indicated that he was skilled on his feet. The way Dan was cleaning this place up was impressive as well. Usually the outside was a mess and the inside wasn't much better. "Well you definitely have given the women a great deal of work to get this place cleaned up." He ignored the threat but did file the information away.

Dan blinked slightly. "Well, the inside of the house is the responsibility of the females and the older pups who can work. The work outside has been done by the men. No reason for them to sit on their fat asses while the women do all the work. Besides it helps me identify who are going to be the troublemakers and teach them lessons."

Tony choked on a sip of coffee when Dan said that and he couldn't help but stare at him and blink. After he coughed to clear his throat he finally spoke. "You got the guys to work? How did you do that?"

He held out a hand and looked at it and made an impressive fist. "I asked them nicely and then had to pound one gentleman into the ground for challenging my orders." Dan smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant smile. In it was an implicit threat. "I don't accept slackers and bullies. There is going to be a certain amount of push and shove as dominants try to creep up the ladder but I will not allow out right abuse or bullying."