Dante:
I stood up angrily and in alarm. This was a private meeting; the council had no right to enter here
without permission.
I looked at Erica’s face and she looked completely dumbfounded. Her eyes stared at me with
many questions and I wasn’t even sure how I was going to answer them.
“Alpha Dante, we need to talk…”
“No!” I snapped angrily at the head counselor. “This is an outrage and is highly disrespectful to
me. I am having a meeting with a client and it is very important. If any of you even had an atom
of decency, you would allow me to finish up with this meeting and I would attend to you.”
The head counselor stared me down angrily. I had expected him to come to look for me after my
little ordeal with Laura. He was her father, Counselor Kane, and I never really thought much of
him. But now, he was crossing boundaries.
“Say what you want, Alpha, but I believe that the matter you have with the council is more
important than whatever meeting you are having right now. The future of this pack is at stake
and you are here discussing business bonds and stocks.”
I was about to tell him that this meeting wasn’t about business. It was about the pack’s safety but
I decided to hold my tongue. Telling the council that Hazan had his sights on us would stir them
into a panicked frenzy and the entire pack would be thrown into chaos.
I took a deep breath and calmed my frayed nerves. Arguing with Kane wasn’t going to solve
anything.
“I will attend to you all after the meeting. Please leave.”
They stood their ground and glared at me. Erica was pale and frightened. She turned to me to
explain what was going on but I ignored her and continued my stare down with the council.
“Maybe I should leave…”
“No. Sit down.”
Erica had tried to excuse us but I wasn’t letting her go anywhere. She was supposed to meet with
me and I wasn’t going to let her leave because of these disrespectful imbeciles.
“The lady has courtesy and I think that you should imitate it, Alpha.”
Kane took a swipe at me and settled into a confident smirk.
“Last I checked, Counselor, you are not the Alpha of this pack.”
“Indeed, I am not. But the council represents the voice of the members of the pack. Our opinion
is very valuable to the pack’s welfare.”
I sighed and took my seat. There was no winning this. I was going to listen to what they had to
say though I could already guess a great deal of it.
“Fine. But my client stays.”
Kane smirked.
“Very well. Our intentions aren’t foreign to you. You already know that you haven’t taken a Luna
and the pack must have one. You took Laura six years ago and promised to make her your Luna
but nothing has happened. We told you that you have a three-month ultimatum to choose a Luna
or the council will move the motion for you to be removed from your position as the Alpha.”
Erica gasped but clasped her hand over her mouth immediately. No one paid any attention to her
and the deadlock of stares continued.
“I will choose the woman that I want for the pack at my own time and discretion. The pack has
prospered so far without one. And your attitude towards me is upsetting the delicate balance.”
“The pack must have a Luna!”
Kane roared at me and I stood up and chuckled. I could feel his nerves fraying. He was losing his
composure.
“Yes, yes. I heard you the first time, Counselor. But there are prosperous packs that don’t have
one and I doubt that their council is breathing down their necks like this.”
“We aren’t those packs, Alpha Dante.”
It was my turn to smirk. I looked at the council confidently but my stare wasn’t focused on Kane,
but rather the other members of the council.
“I believe that you other members can speak for yourselves and can have your own opinion. I
believe Counselor Kane is not worried about the pack but rather the perks that he will get if I take
his daughter, Laura Kane, as my Luna.”
I soon heard a grumble among the other members of the pack as they turned to look at each
other questioningly and gave Kane suspicious stares.
He was pegged and he began to crumble under the weight of the accusation, just like any guilty
criminal would.
“How… what… how dare you make…”
“Counselor Kane,” I continued, interrupting the counselor and looking to his associates. “brought
all of you out of your houses and busy lives so that you all could support him in forcing me to
marry his daughter.”
Kane was infuriated and slammed his hand on the desk.
“That isn’t what I want, Dante!”
“Well, that’s what it looks like, Counselor.”
The murmuring from the other counselors encouraged me to continue speaking.
“We have much bigger problems than marriage to a Luna and that is what I am discussing with
my associate here.”
Kane was suddenly ignited and he took the opportunity to accuse me.
“If it is so important, why haven’t you brought the matter to the council yet?”
I scoffed.
“I would have but you all are too busy bothering about who I will choose to be my Luna. I decided
that there would be no need to bother you all with anything else since forcing marriage on me
and removing me from my position are your top priorities.”
Kane growled at me and stared deep into my eyes.
“I don’t care what game you are trying to play. I know that you’re bluffing and lying. We told you
our ultimatum and you have to comply. The pack must continue or someone else will do it.”
With those final words, he gestured for the other council members to follow him and they all left
my office.
I sunk into my chair and buried my head in my hands. I was in such a tight corner. The council was
breathing down my neck and Hazan was threatening my doorstep.
I felt a soft touch on my shoulder and lifted my head upwards. I saw Erica looking at me pitifully
with concern in her soft eyes.
“I… I’m sorry that you are going through all of this…”