Lady and the Wolf [Book One, Lady and the Wolf Series] -Published-

Chapter Three: Weakness and Strength

"Thank you, these are perfect," Emma said, her eyes lighting up as she glanced at the now nervous again redhead.

"Also," she dug back into her bag and pulled out some large pieces of paper, "the kids at the elementary school Aira used to go to wrote some get well letters and pictures for her."

Emma's smile brightened as she took some of the letters and drawings, looking them over. She had thought Aira had no one, but it seemed she was a beloved friend to her peers.

"Um..." Loretta fidgeted as she stood before Emma, trying to get out her obvious question. Emma raised a thin brow, urging the girl to carry on. She took a breath and went for it. "AreyoubyanychancerelatedtotheVanVolkov?"

Emma blinked as she tried to work out what the girl had just asked. "Can you ask that again, but slower this time, sweetie?"

The girl fidgeted as she asked again. "Are you by any chance related to Van Volkov?"

Ah, now she understood perfectly.

Emma nodded once, continuing to force her smile as she answered, "he's my brother-in-law."

From the reaction displayed across Loretta's face, all grievances seemed to disappear. Emma had to admit that although he was the owner of one of the most influential insurance companies in America, Van was still popular amongst girls of all crush-worthy ages. He was on Forbes top ten list of America's most eligible millionaires for goodness sake.

"Can I meet him?" she suddenly asked, eyes wide and hopeful.

Emma was taken aback by Loretta's sudden outburst. This wasn't what she had expected from a grieving family friend, but Emma in her kindness had to acknowledge that this was a young girl before her and of course, Van was a very handsome man. It didn't excuse this sort of behaviour, but Emma – as always – pushed that fact aside and smiled wider.

"Why don't you tell me a little more about Aira's family, and I'll see what I can do..."

*******

He didn't have time for this. Reports had to be filed for potential investors, applications had to be filled out for reputable clients, and there was still the trouble of covering up the carnage of the campsite massacre three days before. He hadn't even checked in with his scouters in Moscow about the progression of his pack still located in his native homeland. He didn't have time to scratch his own ass let alone do tricks like a monkey for Jillian Wright.

However, Van smiled and played coy as always. Jillian was the daughter of Lucas Wright, the Alpha leader of the Ochao wolf clan. They had been native to America for centuries and Van had been having a power struggle with them for over sixty years – since a third of his pack had migrated here from Russia originally.

However, when Van had taken up his position as Alpha almost forty years before the migration, he had made a promise to the pack elders that he would protect the domain in which his pack called their home, including the humans and creatures within it. Already covering the area from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk and small areas of Poland, Van had already taken leadership of the largest wolf pack in Russia. It hadn't helped that he had also taken up the roll of protector for the whole of California to Wisconsin, as well as twelve other states in-between.

He supposed Lucas only gave up on their battle to see if Van could live up to being a leader of a pack that size. He had been doing fine up until recently, when the rogues moved in and started to hunt down humans. In the end, Van had succumbed to only stretch his domain as far as Nevada, and ultimately relinquished his sixty-year reign over the other territories between California and Wisconsin. Lucas hadn't complained and moved the members of Van's pack to California – the majority hated the idea of their Alpha weakening his resolve and returned to Russia. No one would ever know the pressure of having to scout an area of that size, all for the sake of humans.