The Broken Warrior's Daughter

Chapter 0393

Fucking woodland sprites. I've never met a sprite before, and | could have gone my entire life without that shitshow. Of course, now, Grace has offered to let them spend twith our wolves. I'll have to order the patrols to stay on their watch and not go off having literal quickies with these damn creatures!

“Do you think there’s any possibility that wolves could be mated to sprites?” Grace asksas we head back to the packhouse. Alexander had shifted, much to the delight of the sprite twins, and asked if they wanted to meet him at the pond. when he got off duty. I’m surprised they were able to answer through all their drool.

“| have no idea. | would never have guessed that a 10-year old fae prince would be mated to a Guardian’s daughter, so what do | know?” | say, still feeling grumpy about this whole mess.

Grace takeshand and pullsto a stop. She runs her fingers over my temples and into my hair. “Let it go, my love. They aren’t a danger. It’s just like being in a room with a bunch of two-year-olds. It’s exhausting and tries your patience, but there’s no harm in it.”

| close my eyes and let the tingles from her touch move across my head, soothing the headache that was threatening to burst my head in two. | lean my forehead down, touching hers before pulling her hips against mine. “Thank you, baby.”

“So, Alpha.” My eyes shoot open, darkening with her words. “Want to see if you can make my body shiver like the sprites did with just one lick?”

| burst out laughing. “Baby, when | lick you, | will take my time. | want to enjoy every bit of your cherry taste.” | say, rubbing my nose against hers before moving to her ear. “But rest assured little Alpha, your body will be quivering on my tongue before I’m through.” | whisper and I’m rewarded with goosebumps rising on her skin and a little shiver of anticipation running down her spine.

Grace and | joined warrior and tournament training. | had narrowed down the final contestants to 20, so | still needed to cut half of them before the end of the week. Every one of these individuals wanted a spot and they were all fighting hard to get it. Carlos and | were sparring with them daily, assessing their strengths and weaknesses. Today, since Carlos was out running patrols, | was going to have them go up against Grace.

While it was important to have them train and work for their position in the tournament, I’d be lying if | said | didn’t enjoy watching my mate take down

+15 BONOS

every one of the remaining warriors. She is every bit an Alpha female, strong, lithe, fast. Our mate is sexy as hell.‘ Louis purrs in my head.

That she is. Look how easily she took down that warrior. She didn’t even break a sweat.”

We watch as she goes through them one by one. There are a couple of standouts. Sthat lasted more than a 30 seconds against our mate. They are now on the definite list and a few that didn’t even last 10 seconds that were taken out of the running. At the end of training, I’m down to 15 contestants and 8 spots.

We head to dinner in the dining hall. It's been upgraded and Jeremy has slowly been making longer, more elaborate tables for the dining room. He’s doing a great job and it’s adding to the overall feeling that our pack is the real thing.

While we're eating, Joel, the one who lost his leg, comes up to me. “Alpha, might | have a word.” “Of course, Joel. Did you want to join us or is this a private matter?”

He turns, looking

welcto his family, his mate nodding her head at him. “Your family is

welcto join us as well, Joel.” Grace tells him.

He looks unsure but turns and nods for them to join him. While Grace and Amber engage the children, | turn my attention to Joel and Peyton. “What did you need to speak toabout?”

“Well, Alpha, my wife mentioned that when you heard she knew how to smoke and cure meat, you had a smokehouse built for her, knowing it would be beneficial for the pack.”

| look between them. “That's right. Is there a problem with the smokehouse?” | ask, unsure where this conversation is going. “Oh no, it’s perfect. It’s just, well, if we’re going to stay in this pack, and we'd like to, I’d like to contribute as well.”

“What did you have in mind?”

He looks at his mate before turning back to me. “Hot sauce.”

| blink at him. “Cagain?”

“In my old pack, | made hot sauce. It was well received not only by the local packs, but we were able to sell and distribute it to the humans. We already have the garden and all it would take is to plant the hot peppers. | would need an area to process them because it can becoverwhelming when you are cooking

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down the peppers, but | think we could bring in sgood incfor the pack for very little money up front.” “And you did this before? You know how to make it?”

“He was the best, Alpha. Everyone said so.”

“| think it’s a great idea, even if we only end up using it in the packs. But, letask you, if you were so valuable to your previous Alpha, why did you run?”

Joel and Peyton look at each other again. “He was taxing us so much that there was no money left after | paid for the materials. He was making thousands of dollars a month and | could barely feed my family.”

“We don’t think you are that way, Alpha. And we're happy to pay a portion of our incto the pack, as is the way of things, but we want to be able to live off the work we do.”

“Of course. You do bring up a good point forto consider in the future. How to properly tax the workers on their incto pay for the pack. I'll have to consider that.” | say, thinking | will also consult with Liam and Rik to see what they do in their packs.

| look back at Joel. “What do you need to get started?”

“Pepper plants,”

“Easy enough.”

We finish our dinner and while Grace goes to check on the kitchens, | go outside to check on the patrols. I’m not happy to hear that hunters have been scouting. around in the neighboring woods.

As | prepare to shift, | see a very disheveled Alexander walking toward me, stumbling slightly as if he’s drunk. | rush over to him. “Alexander! Are you

alright? What happened to you?” His hair is in disarray, his clothes are rumpled, and he has smudges on his face.

He reaches out, grabbing hold of me, lookingin the eye. “Alpha! | think I’m in love!” He tellsbefore stumbling away. Fucking sprites.

BONOS,

Chapter 0394