Chapter 67 Meeting the Pack
Ivy POV
They came at ten. Six of them. I watched from my window as they crossed the grounds toward the main house. They moved different from people in New York. Deliberate. Aware. Like every step had a reason.
They knew exactly where they were going.
They knew who was waiting. Elena knocked on my door at 5:10.
"They're here," she said.
"I know," I said. "I saw them."
She looked at me.
"You'll be fine," she said.
"I know that too.”
She almost smiled.
The meeting room was on the ground floor. Big table. Six chairs on one side. Three on the other. Caden was already there when I walked in. Standing at the head of the table. Not sitting. Standing.
The six pack members were already seated. When I walked in, they all looked at me. I looked back. Then I looked at Caden. He gave me nothing. No reassurance. No signal.
Just let it be what it was. Good. That was what I had asked for. I sat down beside Lucas. Caden spoke first.
"This is Ivy Sinclair," he said. "She is my mate."
The six pack members took it in. Nobody spoke for a second. I watched their faces.
Two of them kept their faces completely blank. Like people who had learned to control themselves around their Alpha.
Two looked at me. Curious. One was a woman, older, gray in her dark hair. She looked at Caden like she was worried.
The last one, a man, maybe thirty, broad shoulders, looked down at his hands.
"You have questions," Caden said. "Ask them."
The older woman went first.
"Alpha," she said. "With respect, the summit is in nine days. The timing…."
"Is what it is," Caden said.
She held his gaze for a moment. Then she nodded once and looked at me.
"You've been injured," she said.
"Yes," I said.
"The attack in New York," she said.
"Yes," I said.
"How bad?" she said.
"Three cracked ribs," I said. "I'll be fine for the summit."
She looked at me steadily. Not unkind.
Just watching and measuring me.
"Can you handle a room full of alphas?" she said. "In that condition."
"Yes," I said.
"They'll be looking for weakness," she said.
"I know," I said. "Let them look."
She held my gaze. Then she leaned back a little. Something changed in her face. Not approval. Something close to it. The man who had been looking at his hands spoke next.
"Alpha," he said. "The coalition…."
"Nine alphas," Caden said. "I know the number."
"If Voss gets to ten before…."
"He won't," Caden said.
The man stopped. Looked at Caden. The air in the room changed. I felt it. Not obvious. Just a shift. The kind that came when Caden spoke with a certain weight behind his words. The man sat back.
"Yes Alpha," he said quietly.
The two curious ones looked at me. A man and a woman. Young. Mid twenties maybe. The woman said,
"You are human?"
The room went very still. Lucas went stiff beside me. Caden looked at the woman. She dropped her eyes immediately.
"Sorry Alpha," she said quickly. "I didn't mean…."
"It's a fair question," I said.
Everyone looked at me.
"Yes," I said.
The woman looked up carefully.
"But you know about what we are," she said. Quiet. Like she already knew the answer.
"Yes," I said.
She looked at me for a second, then at Caden, then back at me. She gave a slow nod, like that was all she needed. I didn't push it further.
The older woman, her name was Sera, I found out later asked most of the questions after that. Direct ones. About the summit. About Voss. About how they were going to get me into that room without me getting killed.
She directed most of them at Caden. He answered each one directly. No soft edges. No comfort in his tone. Just facts. I watched the room while they talked. The way everyone held themselves around him. Straight. Careful. Every word chosen. Not because he was cruel.
Because he was the Alpha King, and every person in that room felt it in their bones whether they wanted to or not. Even the loyal ones. Even the ones who had been with him for years. That awareness never left the room. At some point Sera looked at me directly.
"You're not afraid of him," she said.
Not accusing. Just observing.
"No," I said.
"Why not?" she said.
I thought about it.
"Because he's never given me a reason to be," I said.
She held my gaze for a long moment.Then she looked at Caden. Something passed between them. I didn't know what it was. But Caden's jaw relaxed a bit. Just slightly.
The meeting ended at eleven thirty. The six pack members stood the moment Caden stood. All of them. Fast. Without thinking about it.
"Thank you," Caden said. "That's all."
They walked out. At the door Sera stopped. She turned back. Looked at me.
"For what it's worth," she said. "For a human, you handled that well."
"Thank you," I said.
She looked at Caden.
"Alpha," she said. One word. A nod. Then she left.The room went quiet after that. Just me, Caden and Lucas. Lucas let out a breath.
"That went well," he said.
"Did it?" I said.
"Sera approved of you," he said. "That's the whole pack covered."
I looked at him.
"She runs the pack socially," he said. "Has for fifteen years. If Sera's fine with you, the rest follow."
I looked at the door she had walked out of.
"I didn't know that," I said.
"That's why it worked," Lucas said. "You weren't putting on a show for her."
I looked at Caden. He was already looking at me.That expression again. The one sitting under everything else.
"You did well," he said.
"You sound surprised," I said.
"I'm not," he said.
He picked up his coffee and walked out. I watched him leave. Lucas stood up beside me.
"Nine days," he said.
"Nine days," I said.