Tommy sighed as he watched Trent leave with the Cornick family. He felt like he had failed Trent that he couldn't do more help the younger man himself, but Charles had assured him that this was better for Trent and would be easier if he had a pack surrounding him.

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The presence of an omega and a submissive made the flight quite peaceful for the two dominant male wolves. Bran met them at the private airstrip in Aspen Creek, Montana. He knew this new life was going to take a while for Trent to get used to but everyone was confident that he could.

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The next week Tommy was shocked when he got an invitation to work in San Francisco College's Paleontology department.

"I never requested a position at that school." He commented as he read over the letter for the third time to see if he was reading it right.

"Maybe one of the wolves you made friends with in Adam's pack did this, they seemed to have a lot of confidence in your abilities." Hayley replied "I'd be willing to bet it was Auriele or her husband Darryl, he did say someone with your credentials needed to be teaching at a university not a high school."

"Who knows… should I take it?" he asked.

"I got a really good offer on the Cyberspace; it was a young woman who said that other than some upgrades to the computers she was going to keep the place as it was." Hayley replied "If you want to go I'll take the offer and go with you."

"Are you sure… the Cyberspace meant so much to you," Tommy replied hugging her close "I don't want you to give up your dreams."

"Tommy… look… that place… it isn't as important as what we have…" she replied leaning her head against his shoulder "What matters is we can be together."

Tommy couldn't agree more and his wolf celebrated the idea of having Hayley with him no matter where they went. The job wasn't important, he could be back working at Reefside High School or some two bit lab where he was treated like little more than a number and not have cared as long as he had her in his arms.

They spoke with Kira and together decided that they would take the move to San Francisco. Tommy contacted the Golden Gate Alpha and to let him know he was moving into his territory and would potentially join his pack. The alpha, Sean, didn't seem to have a problem with him moving into his territory or even joining his pack. Tommy called Bran and asked him what to expect in San Francisco, Bran told him what he could but warned that his information might be out of date.

Tommy sighed as he began to pack up his house; he had lived there for so long; it felt like closing a chapter on his life. The Command Center took longer to disassemble than he had expected, so much had accumulated down there over the short time he lived there. Photos and other items, mementos of a life filled with more things seen and done in one year than most people did in a lifetime. Photos of his rangers in celebration of their many victories, a few of Trent's older sketchbooks and so much else that they collected in the time they were power rangers including a songbook that Kira had thought she had lost while Trent was still evil with songs she wrote during that time period but never performed including one she had written for her absentee father, it hadn't been like anything she had ever written but it came from a different place than anything she had ever written. She had never performed it but then again it had yet to be finished. She would have to see if she could form a new band in San Francisco and complete some of the newly discovered songs and finally get them out to the public.

Hayley came down the stairs to see Tommy looking through a photo album of his rangers, dark eyes taking the images in as a proud smile found its way onto his features. She knew he loved his rangers as if they were his own flesh and blood, this meant so much more now that he was a werewolf sworn to protect those that he claimed as his own, and they had no way of knowing he claimed them as his to protect and take care of just as he claimed her and God help anyone who intended her or them harm. Kira had gone upstairs to her bedroom to pack what was left in there of hers before going to visit Conner and Ethan for the weekend.

The last night they remained in the house they decided to forge the final link to their bond so she would come into the new territory officially his mate and protected from others in the pack by the fact that she would carry his scent on her. She thought it was a bit sexist and old fashioned but if reports of the political climate in the Golden Gate pack were anything to go by she would take any protection he could afford her. The alpha, Sean, was old, it was rumored that Sean wasn't his birth name, that he hadn't used that name in decades or even centuries. Rumors said that he was old enough to have seen Charles Cornick born but Hayley wasn't sure she put any stock in those rumors. She didn't know how old Charles Cornick was but he had to be rather old if it was saying something to say one was old enough to see him born. Tommy let it slip on the way to the airport that Charles Cornick was pushing two hundred years old and his brother Samuel was even older.

They arrived in San Francisco and the pack second Kai Chung (A/N: this is not Kai from Lost Galaxy the name is pure coincidence) met them at the airport. Tommy had decided that he didn't want to continue as a lone wolf if he didn't have to.

"Welcome, Thomas… and this is?" Kai asked then caught a good whiff of Hayley's scent "I was unaware you had a mate"

"Tommy, please and this is Hayley" Tommy said pleasantly, he knew Kai was Sean's second so he addressed him with proper respect but something told him that Adam had been right in his assumption that had his top three not been so dominant he would have been a threat to them.

They arrived at the alpha's house and Sean became concerned when he met Tommy, he could feel that Tommy was about equal to himself, they would have to fight it out to see who was actually more dominant but neither of them were in the mood for a dominance dispute Tommy was clearly antsy from the plane ride there, having his mate and foster daughter there helped but only marginally. Sean was honestly concerned for the daughter, he was losing it, losing control of his wolf and his pack was suffering for it. He feared the daughter wouldn't be safe among his wolves. He had noticed that the female pack members had been petitioning out, leaving for safety as fast as they could and honestly he couldn't blame them, he couldn't keep control and Kai wasn't dominant enough to pick up the slack despite what anyone said about the younger man.

Tommy took his time to feel his way through the pack ranks taking over nine months to get back to the top five then he decided to go for top three and challenge Kai for second. The fight between him and Kai was a joke taking less than 3 minutes from start to the moment Kai yielded and Tommy let him go, honoring the yield as he always did. Tommy was a fair man and allowed any opponent in a dominance dispute full right to yield and Sean realized he would be a fair leader as well.

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Tommy was settling in to grade papers when Hayley came in a worried look in her eyes, the scent of fear coming off of her in waves. He abandoned his work to go embrace his mate, his wife… they had gotten married in a small ceremony more for her family and their friends than anyone else. Jason Lee Scott had stood behind him as his best man and Kira Ford and stood behind Hayley as her maid of honor. A few of the rangers that knew Tommy had shown up to see him marry, few were shocked that Kat and Kimberly didn't come to the ceremony. Kat knew that no one would be happy to see her and Kimberly hadn't been in contact with anyone since she sent Tommy the letter all those years ago.

"Hayley… what… what's wrong?" She had gone to the doctor with the mate of one of the other pack members when she started feeling ill.- They had both thought that she had the flu but the other woman, a pediatrician thought it was best to go see a physician just to be on the safe side.

"Tommy… you know how I told you that I thought I just had the flu… it… it isn't the flu." She said "I… I'm pregnant"

Tommy hugged Hayley as tight as he dared and buried his face in the side of her neck to take in her scent and the growing scent of their unborn child, joy welling in his heart and spilling over their mate bond to her.

Hayley was overwhelmed by this, she was still getting used to getting information from him this way. The mate bond might have been there from the moment they consummated their relationship almost a year prior but it was spotty for a while and she still wasn't accustomed to it.

She also noticed that the joy was tempered with worry as they both knew there was a good chance she would miscarry but they couldn't let that completely overshadow their joy at expecting a child.

The end of their first year in the pack came and went with Tommy seated at Sean's right as second but Sean's behavior was becoming increasingly erratic and the weight fell on Tommy and Kai to keep the pack in line. It took three more months for Tommy to get a gut full.

"Bran it's Tommy, I… I wanted to ask you a question."

"What is it?" Bran asked kindly.

"What is the proper procedure to challenge an alpha for his rank?" Tommy asked a dark edge to his tone, he couldn't stand by any longer; he was through being a silent witness to the disease that was running rampant through the Golden Gate Pack and driving wolves away in droves.

To Be Continued…