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“As discussed at our last informal meeting I’d like to introduce to you exiled Sire Ryder Grey,” Peyton said.
“Thank you Peyton,” I said and looked at the group of people in front of me.
“I can’t be your Sire here or officially claim this as my territory, but I can be your Chief,” I said.
“It doesn’t matter what you’re called, as long as we can unify all of us,” Peyton said and a few men also nodded their heads.
“You all make up your own clans, vampires, wolves and dragonkin. Clans that bind together is a tribe, the leader of a tribe is a chief. I’ve had numerous discussions about what you all want and I’ll do this on one condition only,” I said.
“Which is?” another man asked.
“To my left is Tank, he’s a born Alpha wolf. To my right is Felix, born with master’s blood. They will head up the wolf and vampire clan individually and I’ll head up the dragonkin clan and together we will be the Grey Tribe,” I said.
“What makes them qualified to be our leaders?” a woman asked.
“Felix and I trained together in the Elite Hunter’s Unit and worked together as a team. Tank has worked numerous cases with us as an IT specialist, don’t let that fool you though, the big guy over there can be just as brutal and ruthless as the next Alpha,” I said.
“You’re Ryder Grey, the Hunter?” another man asked.
“Yes, I am and Felix was my partner, so was his brother Elio who will be his second along with Tank and his partner Jack who can be very resourceful with certain equipment. Elio’s wife Marlo is a witch, my wife Megan worked as a bookkeeper and Felix’s wife has experience in teaching. We’re not here to audition for you, you asked for my help, these are my conditions,” I said.
“Those of you that wish to go off on your own as you have been until now are welcome to leave, the rest will be initiated into our tribe,” Felix said.
We turned our backs and talked among ourselves as the whispers grew. The hall where we were meeting grew quiet and I turned around as three men stood up.
“We accept Chief,” they said in unison.
“Alright then, let’s band together as one tribe,” I said.
Marlo had written a spell for us where everybody’s blood was joined in a cup with mine as the base for the spell. Mixing all our blood together would bind us as a tribe until death separated us. It was a heady feeling as each person’s blood was mixed with mine and that bond snapped into place.
By the time the last person’s blood joined in the cup I was on the verge of passing out. I had gone through two hundred bonds attaching to me and I could feel the added power of being a leader once again.
It was odd being connected to wolves and vampires and the strength of my bond with Tank, Elio and Felix increased tenfold to what was already there. They automatically connected to their clansmen through me, Tank and Jack with the wolves and Felix and Elio with the vampires.
“All warriors, boxers, fighters or those that want to be please follow me,” Elio said.
“All law enforcement officers and lawyers, please follow me,” Felix said.
“All office workers, clerks, IT people, please follow me,” Tank said.
“All doctors, nurses, paramedics, please follow me,” Marlo said.
“Everybody in the financial sector please follow me,” Megan said.
“All teachers please follow me,” Ava said.
“Everyone working with their hands, construction, engineers, electricians and so forth, please follow me,” Jack said.
I looked at the small gatherings around the hall as names were taken down, their specialties and so forth. A small group remained where everyone had been and I walked towards them.
“Are you all unemployed?” I asked.
“Yes Chief,” one man said.
“Okay, on this form write down your names, ages and what kind of experience you have, we’ll sort something out for each one of you,” I said and left them again as the first man started writing down his information.
We spent the whole day talking to numerous new members, listening to ideas and complaints and by the end of that day seven out of the ten unemployed people had a job lined up for them. We had settled on another meeting date, a week later, where we’d organize training sessions and meet with people individually.
When we got back to the island I walked upstairs and fell on the bed fully clothed and slept until morning. When I woke up I felt the added energy now that everything had settled. I was ready for a new day, a new beginning and I wondered how long it would take the dragonkin Elders to give me shit.
We were all busy, working within our own scope of expertise. I went through resumes and had meetings with so many people that I could barely remember my own name. Lucas and Rylee had gone home for a bit to help Chase with a new business deal but I knew that they’d be back before our baby was born.
Megan didn’t want to know the gender of the baby but he or she was in good health, growing strong and on weekends we spent time together working on the nursery. There was one person left on my unemployment list. He was nineteen and seemingly unemployable.
“Max Foster is here to see you,” Megan said as I put the paintbrush down.
“Don’t you think gray is a bit tense for a baby?” I asked her.
“No, I’m adding green too, a light mossy green, it’ll be perfect, you’ll see,” she said.
“Right …”
“He’s in the kitchen,” she said as I walked out of the nursery and headed to the stairs.
“Chief Ryder,” Max said as he stood up from the chair by the kitchen table.
“Max, how are you?” I asked him as I walked to the sink and washed my hands.
“I’m good and also sorry,” he said.
“What for?”
“It’s been four months and I got fired from six jobs. You’re wasting your time,” Max said.
“Nobody’s a waste of time, although the job market does seem to hate you,” I said with a smile.
“If it’s not a personality clash then my ideas aren’t what their business needs, I was late a few times and I really can’t work with clients, I’m too direct apparently,” Max said.
“That leaves you with only one option,” I said.
“What’s that Chief?” he asked.
“You work for me,” I said.
“And what happens when you fire me too?” he asked.
“Not going to happen Max. I’ve already had a cabin built for you, closer to where Tank lives. You move in tonight and report at five am tomorrow morning,” I said.
“Yes Chief,” he said with a smile.
“Here are the keys to your new home, it’s furnished and Megan stocked the fridge for you. Be back before nine pm tonight and tomorrow we’ll figure everything else out,” I said.
“Thank you Chief,” he said as he took the keys from me.
Max left five minutes later and I headed back up to the nursery. Megan was busy drawing on the far wall where the crib would be. I had already painted that wall a week ago, a light gray colour, lighter than the wall I was painting now.
“What did Max say?” Megan asked as I started painting again.
“He’s a good kid, deep down, way deep down, he just needs some discipline and structure in his life,” I said.
“Way deep down?” she laughed.
“He’s an orphan, he didn’t grow up with pack members, never trained, barely got through high school, can’t keep a job to save his life, he needs someone to see the good in him, train him, teach him how to adapt and be the best version of himself that he can be,” I said.
“You’re going to be good father Ry,” she said with a smile.
“I hope so,” I said.
At seven pm as Megan and I ate dinner, I heard the boat as Max returned. He took the short route to his cabin through the trees directly from the dock and I smiled to myself as the noises on the island settled down.
At quarter to five my eyes shot open as someone touched my arm. “Can’t breathe, Chief,” Max said close to my ear as I loosened my grip around his neck. He tried to muffle his coughing as he crept out of the room and I got up from the bed feeling a bit shaken.
“How the hell did you sneak into my room?” I asked Max when I joined him in the kitchen.
“I don’t know,” Max said.
“First thing we do every morning is run the perimeter of the island,” I said.
“Race you,” Max yelled and took off out of the door and down the porch steps.
“This one might not make it,” Abeloth said as he laughed.
I started jogging and caught up with Max within five minutes as he stood looking out over the lake. We completed our perimeter run and stopped at the docks. The boat Max had used was in the middle of the lake.
“You forgot to tie the boat up, didn’t you?” I asked him.
“Oops,” he said as I shook my head.
“Go get it,” I said and turned towards the cabin.
“Like swim to it?” he asked.
“Yeah, you’ve got ten minutes,” I said and ran up the steps of the porch.
I took out the eggs, bacon, sausages and bread and left it on the counter with a sticky note telling Max to start breakfast. I went upstairs and took a shower. Fifteen minutes later I went downstairs as Max swore loudly and I looked at the kitchen in disbelief.
“I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you’ve never cooked a thing in your life,” I said.
“One hour, this is a new record of me keeping a job,” Max said.
“I’m not going to fire you Max, you’re still a kid and there’s a lot you need to learn,” I said.
Max stood next to me as I made breakfast, making notes of what I did and I had to stop myself from laughing out loud at how serious he looked. I had a lot of plans for Max but he was going to earn it all, even if it meant that I had to teach the little shit how to cook.
“Eat up Max, we’ve got a full day ahead of us,” I said as I handed him a plate.
“You’re going to try and kill me, aren’t you Chief?” he asked as I laughed.
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