Council

~*~Lucien~*~

Closing my eyes I sighed, the council meeting was on its third day and nothing was getting accomplished. The packs were divided half ready to go to war and the other half wanting to take the wait and see approach. I was just ready to get back to Samantha and believe me I had thought of every possible way to get out of this with no luck.

A rouge pack had recently entered the area and had been stirring up trouble behind them. It had been years since the last pack wars had raged on and many didn’t want to see that happen again. Being my pack’s Alpha made me obligated to be at all council meetings. My dad was the only one who could fill in for me, I had taken my position as Alpha after he stepped down. My Beta Ethan was protecting the pack back home.

Looking around the room I saw Dad’s best friend Clark who was the Alpha of our neighboring pack, beside him sat his son Trenton. Our eyes meet and he shook his head, we had just discussed last night that this was taking too long. Everyone in the room knew we would be forced to go to war if the rouges did not leave or sign the peace treaty.

In unison we turned out gazes on Daryl and Silvia, they were the two-pack leaders who wanted to give the rouges more time to see if they were really a threat. All I knew was that I had already had two members of my pack go missing without a trace in less than two weeks, unless another pack had broken the treaty it could only be the rouges.

Silvia had stood to once again to argue his point but I had heard enough and began wondering about Samantha. I was still pissed that Tatiana has upset her. My inner wolf could not get Sam out of my mind, its need to claim her felt stronger every day but I was determined to take things slow. I mean how do you tell one “oh yeah by the way I’m a shifter.”

To be honest I had always thought the mate thing was a bunch of shit, another word for falling in love if anything. That all changed the day I met her. I had recognized her scent as my mates before I had ever seen her that day in the cemetery. The Sparks our body set off only confirmed my beliefs. My inner wolf had driven me crazy ever since that day, he wanted her claimed now and did not care about much else.

Shaking my head I saw the room empty before me. I was surprised to see Dad looking down at me, “you better mate her before the war or you’re going to get yourself killed.”

I cut my eyes up at him, I hated that both he and Damien knew that she was my mate. They had noticed my behavior toward her and knew it could only be one thing. Knowing Damien was with her made my inner wolf let out a low growl. Dad shook his head at me, “Damien would never touch her.” I let out a breath pissed at myself for letting my mental guard down.

We had decided to meet Clark and Trenton for lunch, sitting around the table I could only stare at my steak, I was in no mood to eat. “What’s his problem?” Clark asked.

Dad looked over at me and shrugged, “he has found his mate but has yet to claim her.”

Trenton busted out laughing, “claiming her will only make it worse.”

I snapped my gaze up at him, “and what do you know of it.” Trenton turned serious and looked down, he had yet to find his own mate and actually has claimed he does not want one.

Clark sat eyeing me, “now it’s none of my business and I’m sure your father has told you but there will be a war soon and she will be an open target. If you don’t claim her they will take her, if they don’t kill her first.”

I nodded at them and then started eating just to get them to shut up. My inner wolf was ready to explode at the thought of his mate being hurt or taken from him. I had no clue what this rouge group was capable of.

Back at the abandoned warehouse, the debating continued. Trenton and I sat in the back both thankful that our fathers had taken over. “Can I ask you a question?”

I turned to look at Trenton surprised, “yeah man what is it?”

Trenton wrung his hands, “I know this is personal but you fell in love once before and came home with a wife, what’s so special with the new girl?”

I sighed, of course, he would want to know, “with Kylie it was more of a sexual pull. I was young, I was free from command for the first time in my life and when I meet her she was like a breath of fresh air. I knew she wasn’t my mate, I didn’t feel the pull toward her, my inner wolf didn’t care one way or the other.”

Trenton nodded so I continued, “with Samanta I felt her before I even saw her, my senses could smell her and knew, my inner wolf demanded her. Like I have never had that side of my brain fight so hard for control. Being away from her is hard.”

Trenton shook his head at me, “I used to think all that was bullshit but I mean you of all people.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at him, “trust me your mate is out there and you will find her when you least expect it.” I stretched my leg listening to dad talk to the council for a minute. “I don’t know how to tell her. I’ve never told Kylie. In the back of my head I knew she wasn’t my mate and I never even tried to claim her. I mean can you imagine me being like oh by the way I’m a shifter and your my mate. I don’t know if you can feel it but you are.”

I honestly had no clue how to tell her, I mean she wasn’t from our world, she didn’t know any of the rumors about this area. Tristan let out a breath, I didn’t expect for him to answer my question. He was a known playboy never staying with one girl more than a week or two.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and pulled it out seeing it was from Jax. I had put him in charge of watching over Samantha while I was gone. He was young but wanted to prove himself. I smiled wondering what Samantha would think if she knew that the little red wolf she saw at night was actually Jax.