Chapter 368

Kieran makes his way across the both Packs for what has to be the hundredth time that morning, he has no idea how Jaxon keeps up with the Pack because they're alway ringing up for the littlest bit of trouble or information.

Like, it's not like Jaxon is the friendly neighborhood spiderman but they would call him for something as mundane as getting a cat out of a tree or the ceiling or the weird sound in their bathroom - how was the Head Beta even still alive?

Why did he agree to stay behind anyway? But someone had to hold the fort…

Erin was quite fine with handling things back at their Pack House but she seemed to want validation or his signature on every single thing, hence the journeys.

Now he was padding down the hallway of the Crimson Pack fourth floor - he had already gotten the information that Dream and Hayden were found and safe and they were currently making their way back. Good. he was about done.

The calls to the Head Beta of the Crimson Pack had been temporarily rerouted to his office and the last call he had gotten had him worried that either his Pack was full of weirdos or Crimson Pack had the crazy people.

Because the call had been an elderly lady panicking about strawberries, he hadn't thought too much about it, maybe she or someone else had tried microwaving strawberries or some strawberry flavoured item.

He wouldn't be surprised, seeing the kind of complaints he had been getting all day.

It would have been much much better if that was the case…

Kieran just barely stops himself from cursing when he gets to the west wing of the third floor, just standing in shock at the end of the hallway while a couple adorable old ladies pattered up to him.

He couldn't even smoke because after the first couple calls, instinctively he had brought out a stick and well… he's just going to say that he's definitely going to consider giving smoking up because honestly, there was just too much work involved.

If it wasn't Dream or Bryan trying to get him to quit, it was a group of tittering, scolding and or worrying old ladies pestering him to do the same.

So now, here he is, standing and staring at the chaos before him and trying to make sense of how he got to this point, it's definitely all of the old Head Beta's fault.

"How does an entire hallway get flooded with strawberries?" He tries to ask as calmly as he could manage when a couple men walk up as well. "Who the f…" He cuts himself short at the sharp gasps of the old ladies crowding around him.

"Kieran, there are children here." Agnes, a particularly feisty werewolf says.

"My apologies." He mutters, trying hard to ignore their appreciative croons of…

"...such gentlemanly manners…"

"...he would be perfect for my suzy…"

"...or me…"

He still had to deal with whatever the fuck was going on down here.

"Who ordered so many strawberries?" He asks with patience he had forgotten how to feel.

Someone hands him a clipboard, "Yeah, a Renee LeBaron made the order for about fifty boxes of the stuff, her directions said to keep them here… we can't be faulted that huge dogs… you might want to do something about that too, brought down the pile we had neatly stocked, causing that." The guy explains, jabbing a finger behind him.

It was obvious from his mannerisms that the human wanted to get the fuck out of this madhouse, Kieran could relate.

"So, I'll need you to sign here, everyone else we talk to refuses to do it and this is causing a delay."

Kieran has no other option than to sign it so the delivery men could be on their way, a lot of things had gone wrong for them to get to this point, firstly, Renee obviously made a mistake on the floor and who for fuck's sake let pups run around in their wolf forms.

He glances around, at least someone had been nice enough to take the pups away, the last thing they needed just then wa them shifting in front of the delivery men, that would be a hard one to explain… but there was always the option of knocking them out and throwing them in the woods so that when they woke up, they would think it was some nasty dream - wouldn't be the first time.

Then there was the task of somehow carting the mountain pile of fruits up to the last floor… or shouldn't they remain in the kitchens?

"If it's not a bother, do you know where I can get spare boxes?" He asks the old ladies on a whim and their eyes go bright even as they nod their heads enthusiastically, telling him to wait right there that they'll be right back.

While he was waiting, a dark haired lady walked up to him, with a couple others but she was in the lead and the one who approached him while the others looked awfully shy a little distance away.

"Hi, I'm Jazz." The newcomer says in a husky voice, waving her black tipped fingers with a bunch of silver rings adorning them. "You must be the new Head Beta of the other Pack…"

Kieran shrugs at this, unsurprised that she knew him, one thing he had come to learn was that news went around fast amongst both houses, especially when it was concerning top floors occupants. "I'm not exactly new…" He starts to decline.

"Sure." Jazz mutters dryly. "Well, we came to offer our help as a way to apologize for losing sight of the pups." She states matter of factly, a quality Kieran particularly liked.

He glances over at the pile of strawberries again. "That is definitely appreciated."

This has them gathering up strawberries up with their hands in a little while, well there were gloves and aprons provided by the helpful old ladies who hung around to keep an eye on them - as they said.

It went fine till the suspects broke out again from their daycare and had their fun pummelling the adults with strawberries, at least until the old ladies were kind enough to cart them away, following after them to make sure that they remained where they were supposed to.

Jazz swallows back her laughter as she picks a couple pieces of strawberry out of the taller Head Beta's hair, he had been holding up a box of freshly gathered strawberries so was caught unawares and vulnerable by the pups. "I'm sorry about that."

Kieran's expression remains blank, wondering how they kept up with the pups, he would be found hanging them out the windows more often than not… good thing he wasn't getting any, the ones affiliated with him was responsibilty enough.

•~•

The Pack members had been unaware of the kidnapping of their male Omegas but it is surprising to see so many people coming in cars right after the Warriors had.

Well, Crimson Pack is more than a little used to seeing their Alpha dote on his Luna so it's no surprise to see Hayden being carried up the stairs, although the dress is a very new addition.

Dale's Pack is in for a surprise though, most people just relieved to see him, Dale barely ever left his office which worsened after Dream left.

Excitement thrummed through them though, their Alpha was practically carrying a pregnant Omega up to his home, that was pretty obvious.

Without Alana to fuel the fantasy around Dale, most of his diehard fans had started to get over him, especially when it was painfully obvious that he wanted nothing to do with them.

"You know, I kind of like this." Dream says when they get to the third floor.

"What?"

"You carrying me around, I never thought it'd be this fun." He grins cheekily, wiggling his bare feet. "Carry me more often?"

Dale lets out a smile at this. "Sure, whatever you want…"

"So you'd let me get a weapons cache?" 

Dale makes a face at this. "What do you need that for?" He asks, narrowing his eyes at the look that twinkles in Dream's eyes.

"Stuff." Dream says, dragging out the words.

"Why do I feel you'd end up using it to wake me up or shoot bugs?"

"There'll be other things too, like a bat, very important."

Dale's suspicious expression gets even more intense. "Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?"

"You're not…"

"Welcome back…" Kieran cuts off his ploy to convince Dale. "Dream." He specifies in a tight voice, eyes dark.

Dream is already shooting upright, a bright smile on his face only to take in a grin Kieran. "Y-you're mad?"

"You can tell?" Dale asks.

"I shouldn't be? You were obviously too busy to eat dinner with me." Kieran says seriously, expression stern although his words belies him.

Dream leans back at this, stunned. "I was literally kidnapped…"

"Can we have this conversation some other time?" Dale blurts in, looking unhappy.

Erin makes her debut at this point, all happy smiles and endless questions.

"I'll get you your weapons cache if we can leave right now." Dale whispers into Dream's ears who was getting into a heated argument with Kieran, Erin getting dragged in for no reason.

"Deal, baby," he's quick to agree. "Alright get the fuck away from me, I'll cook dinner tonight!" He throws to Kieran, waving at a confused Bryan who had shown up at the start of his tirade.