As we passed through the hallway, I noted the names and faces of the portraits. Rufus Dalton’s was most notably gone. A blank space hung where his framed picture once was.
“They’re waiting for you inside,” a second guard said as we came to the door that led to the meeting room.
We entered the room I was already familiar with. This time, however, instead of empty desks, men of varying appearances sat at nineteen of the twenty desks. All of them appeared older. The one with the pale skin and extremely dark eyes held me captivated for a moment.
Chael had told me vampires existed but seeing one in person was different. I briefly wanted to touch him to see if he was cold, but that would’ve been rude.
“Chael,” an older man said as he rose from his seat. He had dark-brown skin and graying hair. He reminded me of someone’s grandfather. “You’ve brought your betas as well.” He looked over all of us, his face unreadable.
“Where I go, they go,” Chael told him.
“Please, have a seat,” Lupine offered, holding his hand out to the two chairs that sat before us. “We only prepared for the two of you.”
Chael looked at all of the council members, then at his betas and finally at the chairs. He pulled one of them out for me. Once I took a seat, he stood beside me, arms folded. “We’ll stand.”
Lupine’s facial expression didn’t change, as if he expected that response from Chael.
“Before we get started,” Chael said abruptly. “If this meeting is about my relationship with my mate, we will have a problem. Reese is a human, yes. And she is my mate, and I’m not about to give her up for anyone.”
I bulged my eyes, unbelieving how boldly he made such declarations. And yes, it also had my thighs clamping together because that shit was sexy as hell too. But still, I feared the Alliance wouldn’t take too kindly to his words, considering their stance on intermarriages.
“Chael.” Lupine held up his hand. “Please, it’s not necessary to get confrontational.”
“It is,” he quickly replied. “If you intend to part me from my mate or hold some power over my head to keep me from marrying her.”
“It appears you two are already mated,” a hulking guy from the far side of the room said. He sniffed the air. “And she’s with child.”
I squirmed in my chair. It still weirded me out when shifters used their heightened senses, like smell, to discern my pregnancy. With my relatively small pooch, most humans wouldn’t be able to tell I was pregnant at all.
“She is,” Chael declared. “And if anyone has a problem, just know my entire pack is waiting outside the headquarters’ gates to settle the matter.”
I felt his betas’ stances tighten around me. God, I hoped this didn’t get messy.
The entire Nightwolf pack accompanied us to the shifter headquarters. Just in case things got a little squirrelly. Even though Chael had attempted to step down as their alpha a month ago. The guilt he carried over choosing me led him to believe he wasn’t worthy of the title.
“I will always choose her. My mate, my love, my entire soul.”He told the pack honestly as I stood next to him underneath the full moon in that field where Rufus tried to kill them all. I tried to convince him not to do it, but he made his decision.
Luckily, the Nightwolf pack wouldn’t hear of it. Chance, Raffa, Mike, and Ben gathered around him and reminded Chael of all the good he’d done for the pack over the past half a century. They refused to let him step down, telling him that, though they loved the pack, if forced to make the same choice, they likely would’ve chosen their mate as he did.
Well, almost all of them said that. Chance, being unmated still, only nodded and agreed that his brother remained the best person to lead their pack.
“For life,” Chance had signed in front of everyone.
“None of that will be necessary,” another hulking guy added. From his size, I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that he was one of the bear shifters.
“We won’t stand in the way of your mating,” Amadeus, the sole vampire on the council, said. I remembered the name from his portrait. “Besides, your family has been torn apart enough, has it not?” He continued. “What with your brother sitting in our prison and all.”
The mention of Christophe caused Chael’s body to tighten. I pressed my hand into his back, rubbing it. His youngest brother had survived the silver bullet from Rufus, as it only grazed his head. However, for his crimes of treason, the Alliance sentenced him to a lifetime in prison. As it turned out, there was a shifter jail for the most heinous of crimes.
At first, the Alliance left the decision up to Chael. Death or life in prison. Chael was set to dole out the death penalty to his brother. He remained furious with him for putting his pack, and more so, me, in danger. However, I pleaded and begged him to change his mind. Christophe committed some horrible acts, but in the end, he dismantled the detonator on the bomb, saving the pack from Rufus’s scheme.
And he’d tried to save Chael and me from Rufus, risking his own life. It took numerous reminders, but eventually, Chael conceded and agreed to the life sentence.
“I never want him to see the light of day,”were Chael’s final words on his brother. He refused even to speak his name.
“What is this meeting about, then?” Chael demanded, ignoring Amadeus’s comment about Christophe.
“We have a vacancy on our council,” Lupine started. “Now that Rufus’s true crimes have come to light and how he manipulated us all, we all see where we were wrong about you and your pack.” He paused and looked at the council members, who nodded in agreement.
