Chapter 31
Ryker's POV
I can say I wasn't excited about the prospect of going with her. Finally, there was actually a theme, something I could use to distract both of us from the blooming romance so that we could focus on something else, spend time with each other, enjoying our company without it exactly being romantic because of the main goal that we had to accomplish.
I felt happy to pass the news over to her, but I didn't feel so certain when I saw how skeptical she was about it. She was a Luna; she needed more confidence to be a Luna than she had right now, but I guessed that it was okay. Maybe she would adjust - she had to adjust sooner or later. This victory was going to give her the confidence she needs to pull through, I thought to myself, taking in a deep breath. What's more, the victory depended on me to a very large extent, so I had to do my best if I was going to end up with the best possible results for her. It was going to increase her character and ease her more into the role of playing Luna, so I knew I had to be particular about this issue.
I dressed up in my most cordial set of clothes, making sure I looked formal enough for such an important meeting. Money, wealth - we had cash, bags and bags of cash, but I knew that it was what we had in our bank account that really mattered. Thankfully, the Alpha saw a lot of importance in this and invested a lot of money. Davis, Alpha Jerome's son, definitely had a fair amount of money himself, and I knew that with the tension brewing between the two packs already, it was going to be a fierce competition, and both groups would put a lot of money on the line for this to be a success.
I didn't exactly know which pack was richer, but what I knew for sure was that in the end, when it came down to it, money wasn't going to be the determining factor of the victor in this particular situation. No, money was just a side attraction. The real winner would be determined by negotiation skills and confidence levels. It would be determined by tenacity and tact, a lot of smartness and strategy. I really hoped that we had those qualities so that we could add it to wealth and emerge victorious against those guys. They didn't even deserve it in the first place.
I said a silent prayer to the Moon Goddess. I wasn't that devout, but I felt confident to pray to her because usually she seemed to answer me. I didn't know why, but I felt as if she would answer my prayer this time around. Feeling a strange sense of confidence enveloping me after the prayer, I nodded. This was going to work out well indeed.
I marched over to her room, but not before getting the guards ready and the entourage. I had a couple of elders with us as backup, wise men who could help us in unexpected ways when the time came. Such a pity that they couldn't be allowed to speak themselves, and only at intervals could they chip in a word. If not, I knew that there was a very good chance that they would win the battle all by themselves with their years and wealth of experience in dealing with stuff like this. On her part, we just had to do it, and they needed to let the younger generation take over unless one of them was the Alpha.
I hoped she had learned enough of werewolf customs and traditions to be able to carry this task out impeccably, I thought to myself, before knocking on her door. Everything was ready now. What about her? Maybe physically, I thought to myself, looking as she came out in her pretty dress. As a woman, she had everything it takes to bring a man to his knees. But that's not what I'm focusing on at the moment. Would she be able to accomplish the goal at hand? I wasn't quite sure.
Yes, because she looked ready. I smiled at her, a smile of confidence contrasting my feelings within, to encourage her and make her confident. If not, we had lost before we even started the fight. She smiled at me in return.
"Are we off now?" she asked. "Is it just the two of us going?"
"Come with me," I told her simply. "We'll get to meet the others soon enough."
Before long, I was outside the palace with her, along with guards everywhere and the people we were taking with us. She looked surprised at such a large crowd.
"The entourage," I told her. "We can't go without a convoy with us to represent the glory of the pack we come from. We need to show them our might and also our seriousness." With this crowd of people, she nodded in agreement, though I knew that she didn't quite understand the use of this and thought that it was needless.
I entered the path in the middle with her, surrounded by all the other cars. That was the way it went - protected from any form of attack. Let the guards take care of the side concerns if there were any along the way.
"We are pretty much cushioned and suffocated here," she told me, and I smiled.
"Don't worry, it's just for protection. Before anyone can get to us, they have to get to them first, and I'm pretty sure no one's going to try anything. After all, we are still in our own pack territory."
We continued waiting, and she frowned at me, just showing how agreeable she was. She was so agreeable that I wondered something - she didn't act like a Luna at all because I somehow expected her to be a lot more commanding. Then I remembered the arrangement between the two of us, the arrangement that she had orchestrated of her own accord. I wasn't the one who made it like this between the two of us. No, she arranged it from the beginning, and this was how she liked things to be casual between us, as strange as it was and as sure as I was that it had never happened like this in history.
With me at our driver, professional enough in his blue top and black slacks, we all started out on the journey to the border.
"You will know the company when you see it," I told her. "It's quite large after all."
She nodded again, but she was looking out the window, distracted by something. I frowned. That wasn't how she should prepare. If she wasn't prepared mentally, then well, it wasn't going to work. Simply put, I wasn't sure, however, whether she was focused or not because I couldn't judge that just from her look, so I decided to be rather direct while speaking.
"I hope you are ready. I hope you are planning."
She looked at me apprehensively. "Aren't you the one who's supposed to have a plan?" she asked me, frowning.
"Me?" I asked, shaking my head. "No, I have nothing of a plan at all. You can't necessarily blame me now, can you? I'm not going to be speaking after all."
"Well, think of one," she said.
"I'm thinking too, of course, but we need to work together in this."
We were silent for the rest of the journey until her mouth opened and I looked ahead, knowing that we were there. Just like I had said, she knew it when she saw it. It was large and magnificent - a big building at the borders of the land. Clearly, anyone who got to control this building was the one that would have the power of the borders in the land.
"Okay, I see why we need to get this now," she said.
Soon we were ushered in after the cars and all the convoy had parked in the parking lots. The company was big enough to contain everything, so there was no problem at all with anything. Before long, I found us a room to stay before the meeting began.
"We can plan here," I said to her simply. "As long as we do enough planning, we can win."
She frowned at me. "Where is the visitor we're taking on?" she asked.
"I have no idea," I told her in response. "He's probably going to come late."
She frowned at me. "He's coming late for something like this?" she questioned.
"And I'm not surprised. David, he's arrogant. He's like that - it's natural for someone like him to not give a damn about things as important as this."
"Alright then," she said. "It's starting to look much more easy to bring him down."
I shook my head. "It would be foolish to underestimate him," I told her. "He might be arrogant, but he still has a lot of power."
I checked my watch. "It's going to take some time for it to begin. We have about 10 minutes left, and he's not here yet. I'm going to try to curry some favor from the person selling this company. He is going to give us an edge in winning it over."
She frowned at me. "That's allowed?" she asked.
"Indeed, it's allowed. Very much allowed, in fact. The manager that's selling the company out would be quite pleased if somebody is interested in pleasing him extra. That means he's getting more advantages from this particular deal."
She smiled at me. "Let me do that instead," she said.
I frowned. "You want to be the one to handle him?" I asked her. It wasn't the kind of thing I expected from such a person as her.
"Yes," she told me. "I'm a female after all. If he is a male, I'm pretty sure I stand a better chance."
"The Alpha wouldn't be pleased," I told her, but she smiled at me.
"Take me to where he is."