"Bert?" I answered the phone quickly, tension vibrating through me. "What’s wrong?"
"Nothing, Dylan." My Beta’s voice rumbled reassuringly. "I was just phoning to check in," he explained, sounding surprised at my troubled tone.
I unclenched my jaw, feeling my shoulders relax too. I didn’t know why, but I’d been on edge the last couple of days like I was waiting for something to happen… something bad.
I was sitting in the study of my townhouse, having come over here to work in my study on a bit of pack business. I generally only used the townhouse for my work. I’d basically moved into Cherry’s apartment, knowing it suited her and Fern best to stay there. It was Saturday, so Cherry was doing overtime in the store. The gentle whisper of Fern’s voice soothed me, her tones stirring from the living room where she was playing.
"Are you all right?" Bert asked.
"Yeah, I’m fine," I answered mechanically. I think. I wondered if I should try to unpack the uneasiness I was feeling. I sighed. "I guess I’m just feeling a bit frustrated that I can’t do more for the pack from here."
In fact, there was very little that I’d been able to help with remotely. Bert had sent me various community emails and phone calls that I’d been able to deal with from Berlin. These were things that my mom, as the old Luna, had dealt with. She'd already said she was happy to continue, but I knew it would be another source of contention between her and my father if I allowed her to. Yet, until there was a new Luna, any in-person events still fell to my mom to attend.
But my Beta replied supportively, "What you’re doing from there is great." Guilt swirled through me. The majority of the pack jobs were very hands-on jobs. I knew Bert and the other guys were up to their eyeballs in cutting the hay and transporting the silage orders ready to go out for the fall. They were a man short, too, on the forestry side of things. The copses I usually tended would be giving the other guys more workload.