Chapter 47 THE ULTIMATUM
VANCE'S POV
After that trip out of town to meet with the councils, I was happy to have Sianna back in my arms again. It might have been just one day, but it felt like an eternity. I missed her dearly.
Hailey was back at the pack house and Duke remained unaware of her true situation with Raj. I know that he's going to be one furious Beta when he finds out about the veracity. Now that's going to be another sitch to take care of.
I can't wait for retirement. Turn my title over to my kid and take Sianna on a world tour like my parents did when I took over the pack. An unencumbered life is my greatest dream. I leaned back in my chair and placed my hand on the back of my neck to massage the area.
The council meeting was the usual and nothing out of the ordinary. All the supernatural species are being governed properly and no cross-species war was brooding. The reduction in rogue attacks was drastically diminished to a favorable percentage. They commended me for that.
Hank and Jerome were dead. The council is now aware that there should not be any replications of the rogue chief's doing. I managed to fit in a short meeting with the mafia king Smokey D., to chastise him about getting involved with Hank and benefiting from my weapons.
I threatened Smokey D, to send him a personal message by storming in with my troops and decimating the size of his organization, which would leave him more susceptible to his adversaries.
Furthermore, with my connections to the market, I would see to it that his shipments encountered complications. The atmosphere was rather tense but he realized that I was the bigger boss in that room. While I was outnumbered by his men, it was clear that I would kill him, before they succeeded in killing me.
Now I opened my file to look at what I had compiled as the solution for the Regant Mountain rouges. I was at the office at the pack house. I came in late after making love to my beautiful wife.
As the hardest working wolf alive, I am allowed to get away with that. Sianna's dad, who is my lawyer, discussed a few points with me by phone early this morning, and Sianna supported my decision in the matter.
Mr. Stone would draft up the contracts and necessary paperwork for Cleopatra to sign after this discussion concludes. He should be having lunch with his daughter, the love of my life right now. I'm always missing her.
From observation, Blayne was a mess. A nerve-racking and lovesick mess. He didn't know what to do about his mate, and was languishing terribly. He blamed himself for not being attentive to the needs of women his entire life because he was clueless as to what it might take to win Cleo's heart.
From what happened at the café, he was sure that she was due to reject him. My curiosity laid in the fact that she had not done so yet. Is she waiting on my verdict before she lays the blow of rejection to my Gamma? I wasn't going to have that, so I was going to make a move in his favor.
Cleo was desperate, and that's my angle for the direction of things. She should be on her way here for the meeting. Duke and Blayne would be present. Sianna was at home sleeping in from the partying that she did with Hailey. As a matter of fact, so was Hailey who drank twice as much last night. I enjoyed seeing her have fun in the club that we attended.
A familiar voice came in from the mind-link. 'Vance, we need to talk.' It was Miriam, my family's witch and one of our pack elders.
'Do you want me at your home or mine?'
'Come to my home around 6 pm today. It's important.' She told me.
'I'll be there.' I sighed heavily, knowing that something was brewing again. No rest for the wicked. I chuckled to myself.
In came my Beta, then shortly my disheveled Gamma, looking like he lacked sleep from a night of hell. He caught my skepticism and blew me off with a wave of his hands. "Don't even ask."
"Looked like he fought with a wild cat last night." Duke mischievously commented.
"Where's the hellcat?" Blayne muttered, taking his seat on the left side of the bookshelf.
"Shouldn't you know?' Duke teased.
Blayne's eyes sparked a fire and Duke chuckled even more. "I am trying to keep away from her but my damn wolf won't let her be. He took control and went to her room last night. She used a taser on my ass and then kicked me out."
"Was he ass naked?" I asked, thinking that it would have been a funny picture. Duke took his phone and gave it to me. I saw my naked Gamma in the pack house upstairs running away from Cleo with the two darts in his ass cheek.
Containing my laughter was difficult. I bit my lip to try to hold it in but popped hysterically as I looked on. Blayne got up to grab the phone away from me but Duke beat him to it.
He pointed his index finger to give Duke a warning. "How the hell did you get that?" He tried again to grab the phone but Duke held it securely behind his back. "You better not be circulating that shit around."
"One of the warriors caught it but I managed to contain the photo from leaking further. You should be thanking me." Duke declared, "But, Vance and I will reserve this as one of our greatest memory."
"What happened to the truce?" I cracked up in my chair. There's never a dull moment with my best friends around. Blayne knew that we were just teasing him. Sadly, he was struggling with ways just to get two seconds with his mate. He obviously screwed up again.
"Obviously, the truce was a farce." He rolled his eyes at the ill humor. "She was nice to the point where we got in the car and drove from the café. After that, she went back to being the hellcat that she is."
"My friend, I am just happy that I am not in your shoes," Duke rubbed his misery in, "Don't worry too much, and never give up. I'm sure she will give you a chance.............ext year Christmas."
Blayne chose not to respond. They settled down as the door opened and Cleo's presence called for a high level of professionalism. She was dressed in a black faux leather trim shirtdress that accentuated her curves, with a blue outline and two small slits at the sides.
Blayne was visibly lost in the mate bond as he gawked at her. She took a seat in front of me. Duke moved to my right to indicate his position in any official meeting. I wasted no time getting to the meat of the matter.
"Welcome Miss Carr, it is good for us to finally be able to have our official meeting. I reviewed the contents of what you are requesting and there are some issues that we need to iron out." I took my Alpha stance.
"The main issue is your request to have your own pack. The law under Article 105 states that no rogue is able to create or have their own pack but may only petition for membership of any pack that they would like to join and swear alliance to that Alpha." I paused to let her process my words.
"Alpha Vance, I know that law very well, but according to the older laws under Article 10 that are still enforced, any group of people that ranges from one hundred or more who are able to occupy land and abide by the werewolf and council laws, can be seen in the eyes of the government as a pack." She rigidly defended.
"Are you aware that the older law which you speak of refers only to members who were already within a pack and desire to deviate to create their own pack? This was from the condition that the Alpha or rulers of the pack of this case could be arguably declared as unfit, malicious or insane." I informed her.
"While that can be said to be true, the ambiguity of that law does provide grounds for other members of the werewolf society to enact the same rights, providing that they can prove accountability and the willingness to strictly adhere to the laws of the said society." Her voice was stern and unyielding.
"You have no accountability and that is why you are here with 96 adults and 31 children, all of whom are constituted as rogues." This debate was ridiculous and I thought this meeting should end now.
"We have shown our ability to co-habitat without feuding war or harming society. That also falls under the umbrella of accountability." She was getting slightly heated from the wrangling. "We would no longer be rogues if we became an official pack. Isn't that also one of the aims of the Rogue Integration System?"
"The Rogue Integration System was implemented by the council to reduce by a large percentage the number of rogues in existence today. The key word there is 'integration' which means combining, unifying, or merging." I broke it down for her. My two guys stayed silent to permit the debate between us two. Blayne was fighting his wolf who wanted to defend her as his face changed from anger to being passive.
"As the Alpha in charge of this integration, it is already declared within the werewolf council that there will be no formation of rogue packs in light of the great war that recently ended with the alpha rogue. There is no way that we will implement anything that could jeopardize the harmony of the species." I dutifully informed her. "Rogues are a threat to everyone and I will reference Article 75 which states that feral, insane rogues or those who resist the integration should be terminated on spot. The question for you today, Miss Cleopatra Carr is, where do you and your rogue members stand under that law?"
She licked her lips, folded them, and then bit down on her bottom lip.
'Checkmate!' My wolf mocked.
The silence heaved over the room as she refused to meet the eyes of anyone of us in the room. When she finally spoke, I smiled at her defeat.
"If we cannot be a pack, are you able to grant us land where we could live together collectively?" Her voice was softer and
almost pleading.
"There is a stretch of land that I am willing to provide to your mountain rogues. However, to house that many of you is costly considering that none of you would have contributed to the profitability of this pack. Therefore, there will be services that will be demanded of you under a bonded contractual period." I saw her flinch because she did not favor what I had stated.
"Why a contract when other rogues are here scotch free?" She jutted her eyebrows at me in wonder.
"Those rogues were singularly integrated and the margin at which they would affect the funding of this pack was minimal. However, in your case, I am expected to provide land, construction of houses, free medical coverage for two years, schooling, jobs, and safety." I sat up in my chair and scooted closer to the desk with intensity towards her and she shuddered. "Again Miss Carr, where do you stand? Obliteration or Integration?"