Chapter 121-1
We arrived at the Alpha meeting early. I wanted to get Amie settled in before there were too many alphas hanging around. It was not the same location as for the Games, but it was still owned by the council. For all but one week of the year, the facility was a high-end hotel in the middle of nowhere. The rich booked a stay here when they needed to get away: politicians in the middle of a scandal, a movie star who needed to heal from surgery, and spoiled heiresses who needed to lay low for a while. One week a year, it was the place where all the alphas gathered to talk, vote on things which affected the community, and try not to kill each other. Usually, I only asked for a single room, but this year, as the Alpha of one of the top five packs, they had given me a suite on the top floor. It was perfect now that I had Amie with me. When we walked into the lobby, the head of the council stood by the check-in desk.
“Luna Amie, Alpha Finlay, welcome,” he greeted us. He discreetly sniffed the air, and a genuine smile spread over his face. “Congratulations! Happy news seems to follow you around. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this will be the third pup this year?” I chuckled and kissed Amie’s temple.
“It’s true. There is a pup boom in the pack at the moment,” Amie agreed with him.
“Oh, it’s always such a joy to see the next generation of leaders come forth. I’m impressed you let her come, Alpha Finlay. I’m happy to see the mistrust between the packs lessening,” the councilman said. Amie giggled.
“But, as you know, now that I’m mated, I have nothing to say about important issues,” I told him, trying to look serious. The older wolf chuckled happily as he watched Amie poke me in the side.
“To be honest with you, head councilman, I would have left her at home if I had a say in the matter.”
“Don’t tell him that! He will think I’m a horrible mate,” she hissed at me. I just laughed and kissed her.
“To be young and newly mated again,” the head of the council wistfully said. “Nonetheless, I am happy for you and for your pack. This is your room. Take the afternoon and settle in. We will hit the ground running tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you,” I told him. I took both mine and Amie’s bags in one hand and put my other arm around her as we made our way to the elevators.
“This feels like a vacation,” Amie said as we stood in the elevator. She hugged my waist and relaxed into me. I smiled.
“We can pretend for today,” I said. “Let’s order room service and just relax in the room.” The suite was spacious, with a living room and a bedroom. The bathroom had an enormous tub and a shower which could hold half a pack inside and had more sprays and shower heads than I had ever seen. Amie inspected it carefully. “Should we have something like this at home?” I asked. Suddenly, I felt like a failure because I had only given her a standard shower at home.
“Don’t be silly. It will be fun to play around with all of this while we are here, but at home, I just need to be able to take a shower. This is over the top and seems to take a while to get it all to work. I’m happy as long as you and I can both fit in the shower at home at the same time, and I think we have proven we can,” she told me and kissed me. I felt silly for worrying. Amie wasn’t a person who cared about things like this. If I wanted to spoil her, there were more meaningful ways of doing it.
Chapter 121-2
We woke up the next morning and ordered breakfast in our room. We got ready to join the first of many meetings. I made sure we timed it so we would be about five minutes early. I didn’t want Amie to be there longer than needed. The meeting was held in a big auditorium with a small stage at the front with podiums for speakers. Most of the alphas and their plus ones had already arrived. As usual, the room was filled with arguments, some merely friendly banter, others almost to the point of turning physical. It was always like this on the first day. I took a deep breath. Our seats were on the first row, so I had to take Amie through all of this chaos. As we walked into the room, the chaos slowly died out, and everyone looked at Amie. It made my wolf go on high alert until I understood they had all scented she was pregnant. I didn’t think it would have had this effect on everyone. I looked for my brother and saw him stare at Amie’s stomach. She was wearing a white suit with gold details. It made her small bump almost invisible if you didn’t know what to look for. I guided Amie down the steps; along the way, we talked to some of our allies and got well wishes from packs we didn’t have any connection to. The conversations around the room had picked up again, but they were less argumentative. When we arrived at the first row, Elder and James met us. James was sporting a new mate mark. Amie’s parents had told us a couple of days before leaving for the Alpha meeting that he and Carol had mated.
“Congratulations, James,” Amie said, sounding genuinely happy for him.
“Thank you,” he said, and there was a small blush on his cheeks.
“I had hoped I wouldn’t have to come this year,” Elder told us.
“I was thinking of bringing Carol, but then thought better of it,” James said, glancing in my brother’s direction. I got it. His mate had suffered at the hands of my brother; he didn’t want her to be around him. “I’m surprised Amie is here,” he added.
“I didn’t give him a choice. We all know what is coming, and there was no chance I would let him go through it on his own,” Amie said. Her brother chuckled, and James smiled.
“It’s not easy having a mate even more stubborn than me,” I said and kissed her hair. James didn’t react at all. We greeted the other top-ranking packs and then took our seats. It was comforting to know all the packs on the front row were our allies. I could trust them to a point with making sure Amie was safe. The council walked into the room and took their place. They had chairs on the stage, facing the rest of us. The head of the council stepped up to the podium.
“Welcome everyone to this year’s alpha meeting. You have all been sent the agenda for the week. There will be debates and breakout rooms to discuss more local issues. Today, as tradition dictates, we have left open for any issues you wish to present. Do we have anything we need to discuss or that you will bring in front of the council?” he asked.
“I have something to bring before the council,” Alpha Lars said as he stood up. He was the Alpha of the number one ranked pack. After our talks earlier this year, I had gotten to know him, and he was a good Alpha, and I was happy to have an alliance with his pack.
“I have something to present to the rest of the alphas,” Alpha Jonas said and stood up.
“It has been quite a while since we have had two declarations at the same time,” the head of the council said. He sounded pleased. “Alpha Lars, you were first, please lay out the issue you wish to bring forward to us.”
“Thank you. I ask the council to withdraw the Ocean Shores pack’s right to be called a pack due to how they have treated their own members. It goes against the vow an Alpha gives their pack,” he said loudly, making sure everyone could hear him.
“What the fuck!” my brother exclaimed. Amie squeezed my hand. This wasn’t news to us. A number of packs who shared an alliance with each other and who had taken in refugees from my brother’s pack had discussed a joint strategy to end this once and for all without blood being spilled.
“Very well, we will listen to you. Are you prepared to present it before us today?”
“Yes,” Alpha Lars said. The head of the council nodded.
“And you, Alpha Jonas? What would you like to present to the other alphas?”
“I would like us to vote to exclude Alpha Ryan from being an Alpha. The way he has treated his pack, he should not bear the title,” Alpha Jonas said. It was a double blow. We were trying to secure a favorable outcome. If one of the ways failed, we were hoping the other would succeed. If they both failed, we would have to do it by force. With all the packs we had on our side, it wouldn’t be impossible to take my brother’s pack down, but even if we were more or less guaranteed a win, things could go wrong. Lives would be lost.
“Oh my, this is interesting. Well, looks like we will have a busy day. Let’s start with Alpha Lars’ request,” the head of the council said. It was hard to miss how excited he sounded.