As the stage was being prepared, the room was buzzing with whispered conversations. The packs who weren’t in on the plan were excitedly talking with anyone close to them. I had wanted to be the one laying out at least one of the accusations, but Amie and the others had convinced me it was better for others to do it. They argued Ryan would claim this was payback for him trying to reunite the packs. By using other alphas, we removed that argument. I still thought it was my duty as his brother.

‘Let it go and focus. You have taken responsibility,’ Amie mindlinked me.

‘I would just like to be the one who cleans up my family’s mess,’ I told her for the hundredth time.

‘I know, and you are. This is just the best way,’ she reminded me.

‘I know, I know. Are you hungry?’ I asked.

‘Finn, we ate breakfast an hour ago.’

‘That didn’t answer my question,’ I pointed out.

‘I’m a little peckish, but I will be fine until we get a break,’ she told me. I took out a banana from my pocket and handed it to her. She looked at it.

‘You don’t like bananas,’ she said.

‘Luckily I’m not going to eat it, you are.’

‘You had a banana in your pocket for me?’ she asked. I had to chuckle because I’m five years old at heart and it sounded way too dirty in my mind. She rolled her eyes, clearly understanding why I was chuckling.

‘I have a couple more if you need and two apples,’ I told her and kissed her cheek. On stage, they were ready to start, and my focus shifted. A long table had been set up, and the council sat on one side of it, facing us. The head of the council was in the middle, and he stood up.

“We will hear Alpha Lars first. He will have until lunch to present his case and present the evidence, if any. For fairness sake we will adjourn the case until tomorrow morning to let Alpha Ryan prepare his defense and bring it before us. Then we will decide how much time we need to make the decision,” the head of the council said. I would have hoped it would be over before the end of the day. The longer it dragged out, the more time Ryan posed a threat to Amie.

‘It will be fine,’ she mindlinked me as she was eating her banana. ‘It’s two days. We will manage two days.’ I nodded as I watched Alpha Lars stand up and walk to the podium which had been placed to the side on the stage.

“Thank you, council,” Alpha Lars said as he stood in front of us. “The request I lay before you today is not something I take lightly. It has taken me months to decide this is the right thing to do. In the end I, as an Alpha, can’t turn a blind eye to what is happening in our society. No pack residing on this continent can have missed what is going on. For those who come from other parts of the world I can only say we have a pack who is treating its members with so little respect and dignity most of them have felt it necessary to flee. It has been my pack’s absolute privilege to host five of those families. It’s because of those families I stand here today. They are good wolves, honest, hardworking, and loyal. What their pack, their Alpha, has put them through, I have no words to describe.” Alpha Lars paused to let the words sink in. “Our tradition is for each pack to govern themselves. But in cases like these, we need to step away from traditions and do what is right for the members of the pack. I’m not going to stand here and tell the council what has been happening within the Ocean Shore pack. I’m not qualified to do so, but I have five of its members standing by via video link who can give firsthand testimony,” he said. There was a murmur among the Alphas. There was silence for a while as the council mindlinked amongst themselves.

“We will agree to this,” the head of the council agreed. There was another pause as video conference equipment was being set up. When set up, Alpha Lars connected to the call and a man in his mid-thirties was seen on the screen.

“Welcome, Steve. Thank you for agreeing to tell your story to the Alphas and the council today,” Alpha Lars said. “Could you start with introducing yourself?”

“Yes, Alpha Lars. My name is Steve Miller, I am a member of the Ocean Shore pack, as my family has been as far back as we can remember. I was a warrior in the pack up until five months ago,” Steve told everyone. I knew him; he was a good warrior and I had hoped he would have come with me when we left the pack. His loyalty had been too firmly rooted.

“Thank you. Can you tell us why you are no longer a warrior in your pack?” Alpha Lars asked.

“Me and my mate made the decision to leave the pack,” Steve told us.

“And why was that? If you had a good role in the pack, why leave?” the head of the council asked.

“The situation in the pack was getting too dangerous for me and my family. Me and my mate have a pup, a five-year-old girl. She is the most precious thing to us and she is also the last pup born in the Ocean Shore pack,” he told us. I was stunned by the information. We had never thought about asking, but if it was true the last pup to be born in my brother’s pack was five years ago, it explained why Ryan was getting desperate. If no new members could be recruited from other packs and no new pups were being born, his pack was slowly dying. “My mate and I have been spared from the worst of what is happening in the pack. But the thought of our daughter needing to go through with forced matings is not something I can accept.”

“Can you please describe what new rules have been enforced in the Ocean Shore pack which made you decide to leave?” Alpha Lars asked.

“All mated couples are to report to the top tier how often they have sex and they have to track the woman’s reproductive cycle. All birth control is forbidden. All non-mated females above the age of fifteen need to track their reproductive cycle and report it to the top tier. When she is at the height of being fertile, she has to accept to sleep with a male chosen by the top tier. This man can be any male in the pack below the age of sixty. The only exception is if he has a mate who is pregnant or has given birth in a six-month period. Otherwise, all males have to comply and take part in the breeding program. All forms of homosexuality are forbidden.” The room was silent after Steve stopped talking. I felt the anger course through me even if I had heard it before from families staying in our pack and from the meeting we had with our allies. Their rules were cruel and didn’t consider the sanctity of the mate bond. It went against the moon goddess herself. Just the thought of being forced to be with someone who wasn’t Amie had my wolf stirring. After Steve had given his testimony, we got to hear from two women and a man. One of the women told us how she had been forced into sleeping with a man as she hadn’t found her mate yet, but she was nineteen, so she should do her part for the pack. The other woman testified about the questioning she had to endure because she and her mate hadn’t become pregnant despite being mated for three years. The threats they had made to forcefully separate her from her mate and place them with other people to see if that would help. The man testified about being forced to sleep with a woman despite having a mate. How guilty it had made him feel, how it had impacted the relationship with his mate and how he still had a hard time forgiving himself. When it was all over, I had my arm around Amie as if I could shield her from the ugliness of it all. Amie had tears running down her face. She wasn’t alone. Most of the lunas present were crying and even some alphas had tears in their eyes.

“Do you have any further evidence?” the head of the council asked Alpha Lars.

“No. I rest my case,” he told them. The council nodded as one.

“We will break for lunch. After lunch, Alpha Jonas will present his case in front of the alphas,” the head of the council said.