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With Galen still in Winter for another week, Caleb was even busier than usual.

After their date, he and Ashleigh were only able to spend a few minutes together each day. Just enough time to say hello and then goodbye again.

But today, he didn’t even get to have that.

He had been in meetings and conferences since before the sun was in the sky. It was almost down again, and he had just gotten a free moment. He knew Ashleigh was at the training grounds, but she had explicitly asked him to stay away while she was there.

Caleb still didn’t know why, but he suspected it had to do with his mother.

He walked into his office and shut the door. There was only an hour before his next meeting, he wondered if he could sneak in a brief nap. Caleb fell down into his couch face first. It was comfortable

enough, and it was unlikely anyone would bother him at this time.

As he closed his eyes, his phone rang.

“Ugh…” he groaned.

Bringing the phone to his ear without even a glance, he answered.

“What?” he demanded.

“You need to learn to delegate better,” Galen sighed. “You can’t just do it all yourself, you’ll wear yourself into nothing. I’m not the only capable person you have access to, Caleb.”

Caleb lifted his head from the couch cushion.

“Galen?” he asked.

“Oh, come on. It’s only been a week, you haven’t forgotten my voice.”

“Yet, you seem to have forgotten your place,” Caleb growled softly.

“That is not nearly as intimidating when I am all the way up here in Winter,” Galen smiled through the phone.

“You have to come back sometime…” Caleb growled again._.

“That… is a lot more intimidating…” Galen replied with the appropriate amount of fear.

“Why are you calling me? You should be off, annoying your wife right now.”

“Bell had to go to the hospital,” Galen sighed.

“Did she not take time off?” Caleb asked, sitting up on the couch.

“She did, but this is a special circumstance,” Galen said. “She claims she hates babies, but she won’t let anyone else do the checkups for Saul’s little one.”

Caleb laughed.

“She doesn’t hate kids; she’s scared of them. She didn’t get to be one, which makes it hard to identify with them,” Caleb said, “I’m not surprised she won’t let someone else do the checkups.”

“Why?” Galen asked.

“Because doing them herself is the only way she can ensure they are done properly.”

Caleb sighed as he thought back to his conversation with Bell about her childhood.

Galen growled angrily through the phone.

“What was that for?” Caleb asked.

“It felt like you were thinking too deeply about my wife,” Galen replied.

Caleb laughed.

“Is that funny?” Galen asked.

“Kind of… yea,” Caleb laughed again. “Galen, think back, a year ago…”

“Ok…”

“Did you ever see yourself as someone who would be jealous of a conversation, a thought?” Caleb asked.

“Well, no, but I hadn’t met Bell yet.”

“And I hadn’t met Ashleigh.”

“So you’re saying these women turned us into cavemen?” Galen asked.

“That is exactly what I am saying,” Caleb laughed.

“Could be worse,” Galen shrugged.

Caleb groaned as he looked at the time, he was exhausted and still needed to prepare for his next meeting.

“I gotta go, I have another meeting to prep for,” Caleb sighed.

“I told you, you need to delegate more.”

“Aren’t you the least bit concerned I will find some eager young wolf, willing to work even harder than you? That they might take your place as my Beta?” Caleb asked playfully.

“One, that’s not really how the whole Alpha and Beta system works, we are bonded through mutual trust and an oath to the Goddess. And two, I hope you do! Then I can take more time off to visit my wife,” Galen smiled.

Caleb laughed.

“I can understand that desire,” Caleb said. “It must be a struggle, knowing you won’t be able to see her for weeks at a time.”

“She’s worth the wait,” Galen replied.

“Still,” Caleb said, “this problem could be solved if we knew the identity of her mate.”

“Bell doesn’t want to share that.”

“We could find out,” Caleb said. “There are ways.”

“No,” Galen said. “I won’t do anything she wouldn’t want.”

Caleb sighed.

“I understand.”

“Neither will you,” Galen said.

“No, I won’t,” Caleb reassured him. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t approach the topic from time to time.”

“As long as you aren’t pushing her.”

“Of course not. I respect her. Not just as your wife or Ashleigh’s best friend. Bell is a good person, and I want her to be happy,” Caleb said.

On the other end of the line, Galen nodded. He was glad that Caleb and Bell had already started to develop a friendship. It made it that much easier to deal with the unconventional arrangement they had found themselves in. And it felt good to know his best friend and his wife could be friends.

Caleb mentioned his need to hang up again, and Galen suddenly remembered the reason for the call in the first place.

“Wait!” he said. “Sorry, there was a reason I called.”

“It wasn’t just because you were lonely without your wife and suddenly missed me. I was so touched, and now I’m hurt,” Caleb joked.

Galen rolled his eyes.

“As you know, we were monitoring the various rogue encampments, and before the attack, we got reports of a large group headed our way but not until they were already almost on top of us,” Galen said.

“Right, I know all of that.”

“Yes, but the reason that we didn’t see it coming was because this group seemingly came out of nowhere. Our scouts have gone back and investigated the rogues we were monitoring, it wasn’t any of them.”

“So, where did they come from?”

“Ok, now before I say this, let’s be clear, it was just observational,” Galen said with some hesitance.

“Galen…. What did you do?” Caleb asked suspiciously with a soft growl.

Galen swallowed down his nerves.

“I had some scouts expand their observational objectives to include the outer packs.”

“Galen!” Caleb growled.

“I know,” Galen sighed.

“There is an Oath of Peace in place! Sending scouts to observe another pack could be viewed as an aggressive action!” Caleb shouted.

“I understand,” Galen said. “I accept whatever punishment you deem fit, but first, listen to what we have learned.”

Caleb growled his displeasure.

“Go on.”

“Three of the smaller packs are gone.”

“What?” Caleb asked, standing up from the couch. “What do you mean?”

“Exactly that, their territory is empty, no wolves to speak of. Just gone.”

“Are there any signs of them leaving? A struggle? Any bodies?”

“Nothing,” Galen said. “Our scout didn’t approach the actual homes, but he said there were no signs of fighting or struggle from a distance. It looked like they just left.”

“Get me the names of those Alphas and their exact territories,” Caleb said, rushing to his desk and opening his bottom drawer. He pulled out a box and opened it. There was only one item inside, a phone.

“Yes, sir.”

“Galen,” Caleb said, pausing his actions.

“Yes?”

“What you did was very dangerous. I don’t want you to pull a stunt like that again,”

“I understand.”

“But,” Caleb continued, “you did good this time.”

Galen smiled.

“I’ll get you that information as soon as possible,” Galen replied before hanging up.

Caleb shook his head with a smile, knowing that Galen felt proud.

Putting his phone on the desk, he focused his attention on the phone in the box. He turned it on and waited for it to boot up.

It had been several weeks since he had last received a response. He had tried the code phrase but heard nothing back.

The phone booted up, and he opened the messages, nothing new since the last time he checked.

He knew it was unlikely that he would get a response. She had warned him that there might come a time she no longer responded. But all he could do was try.

He entered the code phrase once more and hit send.

[A piece of chocolate to remember me.]

***

Galen hung up the phone and turned to leave, surprised to find his path blocked.

“That conversation… it sounded interesting.” Axel smiled.

“Crap…” Galen sighed.