***
Florence, Italy
Inside one of the most beautiful office buildings in the world, a young man of about twenty-five who looked dashing in an expensive-looking elegant suit walked briskly down a long beautifully decorated corridor. If the frown on his unbelievably handsome face was anything to go by, he was very agitated. Whatever stress the man was feeling, however, didn’t seem to affect his colour at all as his flawless skin remained creamy white and so smooth.
His thick and wavy dark hair which had been given a trendy cut added to his sexiness. He was about five ‘eleven and looked very fit. He was the kind of man that ladies would gush and drool over and call, hot. The young man pushed open a door and walked in, startling the pretty lady who was seated at her desk. She shot to her feet with wide eyes and croaked;
“He’s in a meeting, Sir. He asked not to be distur…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, bite me.” The young man growled as he went past the lady to a hidden door and swiped his right thumb over the sensor. The door opened. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell him you tried to stop me.” He threw over his shoulder as he entered.
Inside the huge state-of-the-art office, there were three men. Two were seated in the visitors’ chairs across the huge imposing desk whilst one, a strikingly handsome older man who appeared to wield a lot of power and who also looked a lot like the young man, sat behind the desk.
“Enzo…” The man behind the desk gave an audible exhale when he saw the young man. He didn’t look surprised though.
“We need to talk, Father.” Enzo Jilani rasped.
“Couldn’t whatever you want to discuss have waited, son?”
“I’ve traveled all the way from the States just to talk to you about this, Father.” Enzo stared his father down, completely ignoring the other men. “No, it can’t wait.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something, son?” Leonardo Jilani asked curtly, an eyebrow raised.
“Sorry,” Enzo muttered, turning his attention to the two men. “Buongiorno signore.”
The men responded to Enzo’s greeting respectfully but each refrained from the usual pleasantries because they could clearly tell that the heir to the Jilani throne was not in the mood.
“I suppose this is about what we’ve been talking about for the past month.” Leonardo muttered, his eyes following his son who had begun to pace.”
“I can’t sleep, Father.” Enzo breathed. “I can’t eat. Hell, I can’t even think. Ugh…I need to go there.”
“Even though you don’t know why you have the urge.” Leonardo drawled. “Take a seat, Enzo.” He waited until his son dropped into one of the plush couches before addressing one of the two men. “Franco, why don’t you repeat what you just told me about the Stanwood Pack? I need my son to know how dangerous what he’s asking for is.”
“You checked them out…” Enzo breathed, staring at his father with eyes filled with awe and respect.
“Of course, I checked them out.” Leonardo chuckled. “With the way you’ve been hounding me these past weeks, what did you expect? Now, listen to what Franco has to say.”
The man called Franco cleared his throat and shifted to the edge of his seat. Then he looked up at the son of one of the most powerful vampires in the world.
“Stanwood Pack is the strongest pack in the world. It is also the home of the deadliest werewolf that has ever lived…”
“Shit…”
***
Philip looked up when he heard footsteps approaching. Not only did he know whose they were, but he’d also been expecting it.
The alpha of Stanwood Pack had been relaxing in a room inside the council building, waiting for the council members to endorse his directive. It had been two months since Philip had disregarded the rules of the werewolf community and mated with Troy without the proper ceremony. But due to the numerous courtesy calls from alphas all over the world on the alpha of all alphas, Philip had had to postpone his meeting with the council. The alphas wanted to pay their respects to their boss by coming to welcome his newborn son. Of course, they were also dying to see the interesting prince and heir of Stanwood Pack who had stubbornly remained in his wolf form to the worry of his family.
After two months of back-to-back hosting of alphas, the visits had finally dwindled, enabling Philip to finally make time to meet with the council to tell them his piece. The alpha had calmly told the council why he thought some practices were archaic and had to be abolished. He explained that unless an alpha was fortunate enough to meet a mate who was already a werewolf and used to their ways, indulging in some practices would be asking too much. Mates who had lived their initial lives as mere humans would definitely not be comfortable with having sex in front of an audience.
He spoke about how Ryan, for instance, had been human before meeting Jeremy and how he wouldn’t be comfortable being intimate with his mate in front of a crowd. He also spoke about Troy who although had been born a werewolf, wasn’t used to their carefree ways due to unfortunate circumstances. The alpha further explained that a couple must wholeheartedly accept that they wanted to be intimate in front of others rather than be forced to do that for the sake of some archaic tradition.
On the issue of causing a fuckfest amongst the pack like Jeremy and Ryan’s mating had caused, Philip advised the council to be innovative. He suggested they evoke whatever magic that was usually performed during the ceremony to prevent a fuckfest, on the mated couple such that they could have sex in the privacy of their room that night without any rippling effect. After all, the most important and only sexual encounter that could spark a fuckfest was the very first one.
On the other hand, the mated couple could be encouraged to go outside the pack-house…on a honeymoon of sorts, right after the ceremony so that no one would be affected by that first mating. Philip had been firm but very respectful. The eight-member council was in total agreement by the time the alpha was done with his heartfelt submission. But as was their job, they had to deliberate further on the issue since such a directive had its own consequences.
Admittedly, as the alpha of the pack, Philip’s word was final but according to the council, having the alpha of all alphas as a pack member changed things. If the alpha of alphas accepted his pack’s modification of an important ceremony such as the mating ceremony for alphas, then it presupposed that other packs be made to do the same. The alpha of all alphas accepting the change meant it was a good thing. If it was good, then naturally, the alpha of alphas owed it to werewolves everywhere to decree that all other packs did the same. The council, therefore, needed to have a discussion with Jeremy before anything could be finalized.