“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.
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 we have, as tradition dictates, 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 got 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 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 Ryder 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 favourable 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.
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 wantedto 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 Ryder would claim this was payback for him trying to reunite the packs. By using other alphas, we removed that argument. I still felt 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.’
