Meri's place at his side was cemented completely, yet the matter of her brother had given Adam a bit of concert. The issue wasn't that the boy was a coyote; though a few of the wolves would likely not be pleased about that. No the real problem was that the boy was crippled. Weakness was abhorrent to the Pack, and under the rule of his father the young coyote would have just been killed. However those were the old ways, the ways that the new Alpha had been striving to distance the wolves from. For Meri's sake he wished that he could promise that Caleb would be treated like an equal...yet even among the wolves themselves there was a fierce hierarchy.
With Adam at the pinnacle at least he could guarantee that none would seek to harm her brother. Aside from that all he could really do was let the others know that Caleb was under his protection. Such a thing would keep even the most foolish young wolves from trying something stupid. Anything more and the Alpha would be hard pressed to remain truthful, and he made it a point to never lie to his pack. Perhaps with luck and time the others would come around; and with Luna as an advocate...well a few years from now things could be far better. For the present the plan was just to keep most of the pack at a distance, which wasn't too hard given that the majority of them were back on the West Coast.
That soft growl, and her words, pulled the wolf's attention back to the present. With a chuckle he suddenly stood up from the couch and stripped off his shirt. "New and safe...yeah, I can work with that!"