Chapter 23

Chapter 23
Their parents stayed for breakfast and to help clean up after. The three of them seemed to have a made a silent agreement to not even discuss what had transpired once they had gotten taken off privately until they were alone. They did their best to just chit chat with their parents like there were no suspicions afloat in their heads, while the whole time trying to sort out what their Alpha could possibly be doing that would trigger the chain of events that had been happening. Finally, their parents were saying goodbye and instructing them to be at the pack house the night before the mating ceremony to spend the night.

"Was that a dad command or an Alpha command?" Kathrine asked her mates when their parents had gotten far enough down the lawn that she wouldn't be overheard.

"I think that was a dad command. I didn't feel any compulsion. I don't know about either of you, but I have no inclination to spend the night at the pack house. Like. Ever." Jarold said firmly.

"I think we better spend it in the cave to ensure that when we don't show up, we don't end up with an order." Kathrine suggested as they went back into the house.

"We can make that happen. We'll go to the pack house the morning of. The ceremony will be at sunset; there isn't any reason for us to spend the night." Toby said, though he had a contemplative look in his eyes.

"Spill what your dad said that bothered you two so much. I felt intense anger come through the bond while you guys were in the room. Then you come out of the room and your spines were so tense if you would have dropped something your spines would have snapped picking it up." Kathrine said once the front door closed behind them.

They turned to look at her and both were giving her sheepish looks. "We forgot about that." Toby said guiltily.

"What, that I'd be able to feel you?" She asked cocking an eyebrow.

"Well, yes and no. We're used to shielding emotions through a telepathic bond because we've been linked since birth. But strong emotions are almost impossible to shield." Jarold said after another sheepish look shared with Toby.

"Right. So spill." Kathrine said and folded her arms over her chest.

"I think we all need to sit down and have a conversation about what happened. Jarold and I agree that after what took place in that room, he's lost his right to our confidentiality." Toby said as he took her hand and started guiding her over to the couch for them to sit down and have a long talk about what has been really going on with the pack since their dad gained his status.

"So, in a nutshell, your dad wants to be Alpha King?" She asked for clarity's sake once they got done explaining everything to her. She was fuming.

"And that is one thing we love about you. Your ability to sum up something so complicated so succinctly." Jarold said.

"The packs would never agree to give up a democracy rule to accept such a thing. It would be war." Kathrine whispered.

"I think that is where we come in. I think if we challenged him soon enough, we'd be able to rule the pack without anything turning into a bloody war that innocent wolves would lose their lives fighting for no reason." Toby said gently.

"The packs work well with how things are going now. There are checks and balances. No major, pack affecting, decisions can be made without the unanimous agreement from the counsel. They would never agree, to a wolf, to grant him ultimate authority over the pack." Kathrine said, horrified.

"That is just the thing, Kat. He's Alpha, he has ultimate control over the pack, regardless of if anyone likes it or not. The Alpha's command is final. He could command the entire counsel to sign off on it and it would be done. They'd either have to sign off or abscond from the pack in order to defy the Alpha's direct command. Either way, if the counsel all left the pack, that gives him ultimate say until a new counsel is formed. He could just not allow the meeting to happen." Jarold said.

"The only way to prevent any of that is for an Alpha to challenge him, beat him, then assume rule of the pack to prevent that." Toby said.

"You think it should be both of you." Kathrine suddenly realized.

"It is the only thing that makes sense. The chess moves he has been making then on the heels of all of those moves, the rare triple mate bond forms between the current and former Alpha's children?" Toby said reasonably. "We think he also was contemplating trying to weaken us."

"How so?" She demanded, red flickering in her gaze as she carefully looked both of them over.

"We think he was planning on commanding us to reject the mate bond when he realized how quickly it was progressing. We picked up on his intentions and told him that not even an Alpha's command could force us to reject our mate at this point. That command would force us to choose to leave the pack, rather than obey." Toby said firmly.

"More like, force us in a position to challenge him immediately." Jarold piped up. "Though, we didn't tell him that."

"What are we going to do with this knowledge?" Kathrine whispered as she tried to process everything she had just been told.

"Well, first we're going to get through this mating ceremony, which is more about him and his pony show of look how powerful his family is. Then, we're going to get through your heat. You said it'll be coming directly after the ceremony." Toby said matter-of-factly.

"Then, hopefully before he has done anything too stupid or unforgiveable, we're going to challenge him for Alpha." Jarold said as he held her gaze in search of any rebuke or refusal to go down that road.

Jarold and Toby searched her gaze wondering if there would be any signs of rebuke from her. They knew she had a lot of feelings about their father challenging her father. They didn't know how she'd feel about them challenging their father to be Alpha making her the new Luna of the pack while they held the office of Alpha instead of her father. She gave them a savage smile of acceptance. She had come to accept that their fate was to lead their pack over the last week. Her role would be much bigger than she had ever dreamed of having in the pack. But the Goddess had plans for the three of them. She would honor her Goddess's plans for her.