Dean stood at the head table within the Pack’s Dining Room as his Gammas entered and took seats. Like most meetings, they took their time filtering in and grabbing a coffee and snacks to eat as they listened to him address them. He did this because it lowered the number of interruptions from people discussing what he was trying to say. He did a quick head count, and it appeared as if almost everyone was there, and he didn’t have time to wait any longer. Time didn’t fluctuate, so he was losing it. Several commented on how he was dressed. They rarely saw him dress for business. But Ambassador Wolversen clarified they must present themselves as wealthy and successful. Which meant Cal was standing there in a suit, and he felt he was going to suffocate in it. “Alright, I have to make this quick. This is a rather unplanned meeting and I’m sorry for that. I’d like to thank you for attempting to attend. Now here’s what the issue is. I’ve been receiving messages abou
Cal wasn’t sure which prompted Tara to be on time, whether it was her personality or his training. It made him happy to see her waiting outside of the conference room. They would go in there together and he would set them straight on how he ran his pack. They could expect him to be more than mildly annoyed by their reaction to his mating. He’d shown them her bite when he did it to prevent them from being this foolish. “Are you ready for this? It could get ugly, but I will handle it. You just have to stand by my side and support what I say. We go in as a united front.” “Sure, if you say so.” “No, Tara, it’s not just what I’m saying. We’ll make this work if we work together. That’s what mates do. Are you willing to do that?” “Yes, Cal, I’ll stand with you and what you say.” She was annoyed with him for splitting hairs, but he didn’t want to have to deal with anyone picking at every little detail within their relationship. It just wasn’t their
Tara sat and watched the elders’ reactions and Cal’s disinterest in their thoughts and opinions. He was angry and frustration. This meeting was for him to vent, and later he’d talk to each one of them individually about his decision of who would stay. It felt good to have someone on her side for once. Though right now she was preoccupied with the image of herself in the mirror and how uncomfortable this suit was. She didn’t recognize herself once she’d finished dressing. Cal hadn’t said anything about how she appeared, so she figured that meant there was nothing wrong, or anything special to remark about. Though she’d been wrong about other things, she could be wrong about this. His hand hadn’t left her shoulder once since she sat down. It was like he was telling her to stay put and stay quiet. Well, he didn’t need to communicate it without words, because he’d already used words to tell her just that minutes before they entered here. Tara couldn’t t
Tara straightened as the vehicle came to a stop at the elevator. There were security guards and enforcers swarming the parking garage. This was the safest way to enter the hotel for them right now because there was a group out front protesting the conference and anything to do with supernatural creatures. They claimed supernatural creatures were an abomination and needed to be put down for the safety of all wonderful humans. This group failed to see they were the danger and the ones who were lashing out at innocent beings. One would think humans were all sweet and innocent, and not the creatures that slaughter and murder each other over concepts that in a hundred years won’t matter. That’s not to say that supernatural creatures didn’t have their own issues and embarrassing acts in history. They had their criminals and monstrous beings, as well. But they didn’t want to wipe all of that species off the face of the earth. They’d made that mistake before with the lich, w
Cal sat there and listened as the famous Wolf of Bay Street, Alpha Richards, introduced the Fox of Bay Street. A colleague of his who has become his mate and is a fox shifter. Many of the shifters thought it was funny as the humans responded a little uncomfortably to the jest. Though there was one snide comment that Allan Wolversen had to explain. “He’s scrapping the bottom of the barrel for a mate and crossing species.” Eventually, the journalists worked their way down the line of Toronto Alphas, and they got to Cal and Tara. He needed to take her hand and hold it as he could feel the anxiety bleed off of her. She wasn’t prepared for this, and he’d not anticipated that she’d have a response like this. But he should have. All her worries and emotions were large and full-bodied. He whispered to her that everything was fine, and she’d be okay. The first journalist, who stood up with his questions ready, paused when he saw the exchange, and sm
Finally, the interrogation was over, and the cocktail social started. Tara didn’t know how this would work, but she watched as the journalists would pull one couple or another over and spoke to them. “I can’t wait for this to be over. I feel like nothing is sacred anymore. What was that about asking Alpha Petrov if he allowed his holdings to be used for human trafficking? That journalist is desperate for dirt. Any kind he can find.” Alpha Danvers stated when he walked over to stand beside Cal. “Yes, it felt like he was trying to search for more than just a few skeletons in a few closets. I wasn’t impressed. I’m tempted to ask for him not to be invited to anymore of these after this.” Tara could hear Cal’s annoyance and his anger simmering under the surface of his calm demeanour. “I’m sure he’s found nothing and will go away very disappointed.” She wrapped her arms around one of his in an effort to calm him. Tara wasn’t the only one who was trying to
“I apologize about leaving you hanging like that so suddenly, Alpha Nichols. That wasn’t planned but if I and my crew caught any of that, my boss would have my head and I’d be looking for a new job. Did you understand what they were talking about?” “Sadly, yes. It’s a horrible disaster that we thought had been prevented a very long time ago. Long before I or you were born, the creation of a Lich was criminalized and banned. They hunted down what they believed were all the existing ones. I’m not sure if this one was an ancient one, or they somehow managed to make themselves into one. But they had an agenda that I don’t know the particulars about. It took humans and supernatural creatures through various devious methods. Experimented with them in unimaginable ways. There’s no way we can know how many supernatural or humans were harmed over the time it was active. It’s been destroyed now. Those that could return to their families and wished to, were given help to go bac
Tara was so happy when the interviews were over. She barely spoke a word, and that made her happy. With a drink in hand, Tara sat at a table, finally having a moment to herself. Other than the time in the bathroom at the fundraiser, Tara hadn’t been alone outside of the club and adjoining packhouse. She was enjoying it for the first time. This was what she was used to, being alone in a crowd. Even if Jaxon was off to the side, watching her and everything that went on around her. Cal was in a meeting with the other alphas that belonged to the Council of Alphas. The Lycan had demonstrated how he shifted, and the ambassador explained the difference between his wolf and the wolf shifter’s wolf. It was interesting how an extinct species came back into existent if it only wasn’t just within the supernatural community. They’d announced to the world the findings the Ruling Council made about what they believed the Lycan were, and they accepted them as wolf