Today marks my second day off in a row. A new record since arriving at the Safe House. Lala has gone to visit Karl, Mary and Jake refuse to leave their room, even going so far as to have Mary summon the Jake golem to go get them their meals. We might need to bring a medic in before next trip or that girl isn't going to be able to walk much less fight. I wonder what Jurgen and the Ramirez brothers are up to?
I dial up their room extension, getting no answer. I guess they're out. Fine, breakfast and then create plans for the day. When did I get so bad at dealing with free time?
Finally, I decide to go up and get some sunshine. The magical lighting is nice and all, but it just doesn't have the same feel on the skin as natural sunlight. Plus, I might get a chance to see what the Earth Mages are up to with the city building.
Going out through the garage, all I can see is chaos. There's hundreds of mages here, mostly raising the support pillars for the living areas, while others level the ground, convert dirt to gravel for road bases and finish the interior wall areas. That's where I'll head. They're mostly done now, just needing finishing touches, so it's time my expert opinion is provided.
I'm certainly not just bored, I'm providing a valuable third opinion on the work, from an outsiders perspective.
I find an open door to the inner structure with a map tacked to the inside. It seems that they decided that the simple fortification called for in the plans was a waste of space sometime after my team was shown the initial draft.
That's only a few days ago, but it feels like forever. Now the whole inner structure is now set up for vendors on the ground level, none of which are operational yet of course, with guest accomodations on the 3rd and 4th floors and a security zone with cafeterias and staff bunks on the second floor.
There's two floors worth of empty space above that in the plans for now, maybe future expansion room? And the parapets on top of the wall are set up with old fashioned battlements, obviously designed for artillery to be set up in case of an attack that could breach the barrier. All in what looks like white marble. Fancy and functional.
I quickly jog up the stairs to the top of the wall and take a look around. Random spires dot the landscape, and the wall makes a full ring around the base. Huge heavy gates are already in place at the entrance, that portion of the wall wasn't even built a day and a bit ago when we came back.
Off halfway around the city, running on top of the wall I see a familiar figure, Jurgen. He seems to be running at full werewolf speed while being chased by a half dozen wolves. What on earth is he up to?
They're coming this way, and the wall is structurally finished, so I'll just wait here for him.
Jurgen is almost to me when he finally notices I'm standing here waiting for him. "Kat HELP, they're not listening!"
They don't look aggressive though. More… lustful?
I grab Jurgen in my arms in a princess carry and jump up on the battlements where they can't easily get to us without risking knocking us down outside the wall. This frustrates them enough to stop and have the leader shift back to human form.
"Give us back our Alpha and nobody needs to get hurt Lycan" she announces with authority.
Now, before I came here, that voice would have me quaking in my boots, but with the cultivation enhancements, the dominant energy in my body has soared. No Alpha command from a normal werewolf would affect me at this point.
"Alpha? You've got some explaining to do there Beta sexy pants" I joke, giving a nod to his bare chested state, with his jogging pants sagging low, showing deep down the lower V of his abs.
"He's unmated, Alpha, and I will have him as mine" The female werewolf announces. Now I'm beginning to understand. Many weres work construction, they must have transferred to the safe house to help with the city building.
Jurgen wriggles out of my arms, embarrassed to be carried like that by a woman a third his size.
"Kat, meet Athena. Her pack was just south of mine out on the west coast. When their territory was lost they began to wander, clearing roaming monsters and earning what bounty money they could, until they stumbled on us building a city out here and came looking for work."
"Alright, but that still doesn't explain the current situation."
Athena decides her version of the story is better than his, and cuts in just as he starts to speak "This is all that's left of my pack. A total of 8 unmated females. I was the Alpha's daughter, and am now the ranking wolf of my pack. But we're not strong enough without a Male Alpha. Jurgen here has become a whole lot stronger than last I saw him, very fit to become my mate, and I'm not willing to take no for an answer. We can even share him as a pack if that's what's needed."
Jurgen looks a bit panicked at this.
"I don't see what the problem is Jurgen? You get a whole harem of sexy wolf girls all to yourself, an Alpha title and all the pups you could ever want to play with in your old age"
Jurgen snarls at me for teasing him "What she forgot to mention is that she's my Niece. Her mother is my oldest sister, and most of these girls are my first cousins. Our packs were only a few miles apart, and often found our mates across the pack borders."
Well, that changes things a bit. I give Athena my very best 'seriously woman?' look.
She only shrugs.
"Times are tough, a sexy wolf is a sexy wolf."
This girl is incorrigible.
"The base has strict rules against marking by force. They apply to both wolves and vampires. If you want him you'll have to woo him, as we've got both witches and mages here who can break the mating bond if the marked party cooperates."
Athena looks crestfallen at this news. So she really was just planning to mark him as soon as she caught him. He must have come up here to get more room to run, hoping they'd tire out before he did.
"How about we all do lunch together and we can discuss your problem? There might be other solutions than finding a mate and rebuilding your pack somewhere new." I suggest.
Athena's eyes dart to Jurgen "We're all coming to lunch right?"
"Yep, all of us" I grab Jurgen's shoulder so he can't run away. "Now let's get down off this wall and we can head to the dining hall on my floor, it's quiet enough to have a civil discussion."
Athena's whole pack is shocked at the presence of the golem maids in the hall. They take our orders, bring our drinks and food from the buffet, even pull out and push my chair in for me. Though strangely, not for anyone else. Did Karl build in some sort of ranking system to these things? I know him and Mary had been planning to fine tune them before she locked herself in a room with Jake upon our return.
"So, I've got an idea. It'll have to go past the base commander, but I think you might like it. Soon we'll be taking in refugees and more residents. Once they start arriving we'll need a security force. Who better to enforce rules than werewolves. Pack rule is law right?"
Most of the female wolves are nodding along with my idea, and I quickly type it in a message to Narishma, asking her to come up and meet us if she has time.
"Now, I know it might not be as fun as banging your Uncle Jurgen, but it's honest work." He chokes on his coffee at this, and I give him a quick pat on the back to help clear his airways.
Narishma arrives laughing at just that moment. "I hear you've got some randy recruits on your hands?"
"Yeah, thanks for coming on short notice Ari. I've seen the population increasing around here lately, and with the incident with the students yesterday it occurred to me that we might need a security force sooner than later."
Athena smiles "As you know, wolves are great detectives. We can scent out the truth of most crime scenes right away, it's not easy to run or hide from us, and we're good at following orders. Well, most of us."
"Then you're hired. I'll notify your current group leader that you've been transferred now, and you can report to the security office tomorrow to get uniforms and assignments. I've seriously got to increase the HR staff around here. People call me for everything."
One of the wolves raises her hand "I'm better at management than fighting, maybe I could join the HR team?"
"DEAL! No takesies backsies"
Suddenly the wolf looks like she might regret going into human resources.