Afflicted by Ava Novak

been a long time since he made the change. Since leaving the pack all those years ago he’d only shifted a handful of times. And damn it felt good to be the animal again. Everything shifted into high gear, his senses elevated beyond what was normal while in a human state, and he effortlessly defeated the two who tested his authority. No one would question him for the time being.
    “Now would be a great time to start speaking about your plans to change this pack? What’s your game plan, boy?”
    Kaden took the beer Rick held out to him. He sighed as he used his teeth to get the cap off the beer bottle.
    “Well for starters I would like for the original rules to be followed for once. Morgan never followed a damned single one. He broke them at every turn.”
    “Hmm, yeah rules would be good but the rules need a bit of updating. The rules that were laid out in this pack are ancient.”
    “I’ll work it all out.”
    “Yeah and you need to do it with a team of fellas who are on the same page as you.”
    “I think I can handle this Rick.”
    “See if you want to do this you are going to have to do this the right way. Morgan didn’t do things the way they were supposed to be done. There was at one point in time a chain of command but that went to shit long before your father stepped up to the plate to rule as alpha. Damn it boy you are lacking in your history.”
    “I guess that’s what you are here for old man,” Kaden said with a smirk on his lips.
    “For Pete’s sake please tell me that you know the alpha is the highest ranking member of a shape-shifter's pack and its leader,” Rick said as he shook his head from side to side.
    “Duh I know that.”
    “Good at least there is something that you know. Jeez!”
    “Come one man don’t start busting my balls right now.”
    “Look to make this process easy for you when you decide to walk away from this pack for good you need to get a beta, find a delta, and then an omega.”
    “Why?”
    “Having a beta will make it easier when you leave. A beta is someone who is like second-in-command or a deputy, manages things for the alpha from time to time, and a person that can step into the role of alpha. Something you need in your case. There is no order around here and never will be if you don’t do this the way it needs to be done.”
    “I was just going to find someone and allow them to take over when I leave.”
    “Yeah well for now they will be your beta. And the delta well they are just someone who is training to become the beta, kind of like a backup person. Now the omega, you really don’t have a need for them, they are just someone who does chores kind of like a secretary, but important nonetheless. Get you a team together and you’ll fix this pack in no time.”
    “Seems like a good idea,” Kaden said, rubbing his chin, he thought deeply about it, and so far it sounded like it would make things easier.
    “And I just so happen to have a few guys you might want to check out.”
    “Why am I not surprised?”
    Rick said a few names of some men he thought would be great as a beta, delta, and the omega. Kaden remembered a couple of the guys. He hadn’t seen them in long time and he didn’t know how they would respond to the idea of stepping into those roles and joining him in his quest to rebuild the pack.
    Growing up within the pack Kaden mostly alienated himself. It wasn’t until he became a teenager when Morgan forced him into being what he considered was the right way to be a man. Kaden couldn’t forget the late night betting on fights that happened behind a barn on a deserted farm, the women; he would never forget the women Morgan paid to have sex with Kaden.  It pissed Kaden off that his father forced it on him to prove his manhood by having sex with those females. He was grateful they were just females that weren’t in the pack and were just wanderers.
    Wanderers were shifters without a pack, either from leaving or getting kicked out. People, who