Andre’s POV
“You are late, Alpha Andre.”
Councilor Gregor stood up and scolded me lightly, but I adjusted my tie and cufflinks.
“I am here, aren’t I? Have you all talked about the important stuff without me?”
“How can we? The Alpha needs to be present.”
I looked at my wristwatch.
“Well, by the looks of it. I am only ten minutes late. We can still get a lot done if we start now.”
I turned to look at Doran, and he looked relieved. I could tell that he had been bearing the heat from them before I came in.
There was a large ripple in the hall, and discomfort filled the air. I could tell they were bothered and were looking for someone bold enough to say whatever they wanted to say to me directly.
Finally, Councilor Maximus stood up and gave a polite bow.
“Alpha Andre, we called you here today to talk about your mate, the former Luna’s daughter.”
I exhaled angrily. I should have known it. Of course, they called me here to talk about her.
“We are all a bit concerned about her and the future of this pack, but let me state the good things. We are all happy you have found the one the Goddess has destined you to be with. You have been without a mate for a long time, and from the looks of it, things were coarse between you and Nicole. We are glad that you have settled down. But we are concerned. She is much too young and very inexperienced. You can’t make her the Luna and allow her to be in charge.”
There was a ripple of agreement among the members of the council as Councilor Maximus sat down.
Someone else stood up and also spoke.
“A Luna is also a measure of the pack’s strength and is its hope. She is young and still very volatile. It also came to our notice that she even got into a fight in school with two of the students, something we are very much against in our pack.”
As soon as the fight was mentioned, the ripples of agreement became louder.
I scowled angrily. They were all looking for ways to play down Olivia, and I wasn’t going to stand for it.
Finally, there was silence, and I took the opportunity to speak.
“Thank you, members of the council, for your observations. I will address them accordingly. First of all, Miss Olivia is an adult. She is above 18, and by wolf standards, she is an adult. Olivia will obviously not do any of this alone. She will be guided on how to go about her duties. She is young, and the proper training will make her an excellent Luna. As for the fighting. I investigated her, and her actions were spurred by self-defence. It is also a grave crime to harm the Luna of the pack.”
I waited for my words to sink in. The council members looked stone-faced, but they seemed to agree with me.
No one interrupted me, so I decided to continue.
“She will begin training as soon as possible. The earlier, the better.”
“Permission to speak, Alpha.”
A Councilor raised his hand, and I gave him an audience.
“We are glad that you are being reasonable about this. However, the incident concerning her and the other two female students still bothers us greatly. The Luna is supposed to have control over the female members of the pack. If we are to gain her trust and respect and make her the Luna of this pack, she must show us that she can command the respect of the female wolves. I think that is fair.”
There was a mumble of agreement. The council was taking a stand. It was a reasonable stand, but it made making her my Luna even more difficult. It interfered with my plans.
“Nicole would have saved us all this trouble. You were too quick to denounce her as your Luna. You could have revealed your mate to us when she was ready. Nicole has done quite a lot for the pack, and you simply tossed her away. What is supposed to happen to her?”
I glared at the speaker.
Fentris.
How dare he speak?!
I scoffed. He still hadn’t learned his lesson.
I stood up and faced him.
“I understand that you will always support Nicole. After all, you were the one that brought her here. It is only right that you be in her corner. And on that note, I think it won’t be a big deal for you to find out what happens to her.”
My words ignited a spark of disbelief in the council, and everyone turned to Fentris.
“You brought her here?”
“Was that why you were so insistent on her to be Andre’s Luna?”
“What are you trying to get at, Fentris?”
The accusations made him slink back into his seat quietly. He was defeated.
I took my time to gloat while he stared at me hatefully.
If anything, he made the wrong move by talking. Did he really think I wouldn’t find out about him and Nicole?
The hall began to get a little rowdy as everyone was casting furious looks at Fentris. I had to do something quick.
“Order!”
My voice boomed through the hall, and everyone fell silent almost instantly.
“I believe that this is uncalled for. I am sure Fentris has his reasons for supporting Nicole”
I couldn’t help taking one more swipe at him. He had been a thorn in my side for too long.”
“but we must be mature about this. On that note, if there are no further proceedings, I would like to call this meeting to be over.”
No one objected to my decision, and I ended the meeting. Fentris left almost immediately to avoid being roasted alive by the other Councilors. I was certain they had a ton of questions to ask him.
Frankly, apart from Fentris, even I was a little concerned about Nicole’s whereabouts. After hearing from the guard, I had a few questions that I wanted her to answer.