Twelve.

Unsurprisingly, Henry arrived early to dinner, and he was even the first one seated in the dining room. Their meal was to be served in the very same room in which his father's past had been outed and his fate sealed. It should give him the chills, or at the very least leave a bitter taste in his mouth; it didn't. All he could think was that he was relieved to have been sat, according to the place cards, beside Eloise. He was also silently debating whether he had time to switch up his sister's and Daniel's place cards to put his mother in between them, or maybe whether his time could be spent moving the place setttings of his and Eloise's meal set up, so they could be even closer together.

But, his ponderings were cut short when the door opened.

"What are you planning?" Alice asked her grandson, as she was sat staring at him intently.

Henry barked out his laughing response, "What do you mean by that, Grams?"

"I know that face, Henry Gray. I practically raised it. You are planning mischief, and I suggest you stop it right now." Alice scolded him, as she entered the room.

Henry sighed, "And what a fine job you did too, Grams. I must say, I turned out spectacularly."

Henry's face smiled deviously as he looked at his grandmother, especially as her own face began to light up with a grin.

"Behave, My Boy. We are guests here, remeber that." Alice responded, groaning as she spotted her place in between Michelle and Daniel.

Quickly glancing at the door, she swapped hers and Daniel's cards and quickly sat down.

Henry couldn't contain his laughter, as his grandmother simply winked and shrugged her shoulders.

Before long the rest of their group had filed in, their group having the privacy of the dining room, while the rest of the pack either ate within their own homes or in the conservatory tonight. Henry could help but smile when Eloise brushed against him as she sat down, with Carson on her other side. He was so busy breathing her in, he almost missed the frown upon Daniel's face as he noticed Alice was now sitting in between him and Sammy.

Daniel's eyes instantly shot to Henry, but before he could utter a word, Alice spoke.

"Now, now, it wasn't him." She stated calmly, "I switched us, so I could be beside my two favourite people, besides little Harvey of course. I'm old, I need the indulgence."

Henry rolled his eyes at his grandmother's words, it never ceased to amaze him how she could manipulate people so openly and with such ease; because Daniel was now dutifully smiling back and taking the seating place she had swapped for him. Henry supposed it may also be because his grandmother bore the authority of an Alpha in her own right, and Daniel was a beta by rank. Alice had managed to get what she wanted with grace and respect, it was a technique he knew he could do with learning himself. The only issue was Sammy; her eyes were narrowed as she observed the space between herself and her mate with a poorly concealed discontent.

She clearly was not as easily impressed, or subdued by their grandmother's intentions.

Though, she did clearly have the grace to stay quiet about it, despite the death stare their grams was now clearly ignoring.

Once they were all seated, the group seemed to relax somewhat as they started eating their meal. Henry noted Sammy going pale a few times from across the table, as Daniel constantly struggled to try and attend to her from beside his Alice. The meal was only roast chicken, relatively plain in terms of flavourings, although admittedly very tasty, but it seemed enough to be triggering his sister's nausea.

"Grams?" Henry spoke out loudly. "As much as you enjoy being between the mated pair, may I remind you that Sammy is pregnant, and quite clearly feeling ill. Maybe you and she ought to swap seats, that way Daniel can tend to her, as he is clearly wanting to."

"Oh my dear girl, you should have said." Grams gently chided her granddaughter. "Of course I'll swap, here come on, she stated lifting her plate, and moving out of the way.

Sammy and Daniel were once again beside one another as he began to offer her water, and his general fussing around her flared up to a level everyone at the table expected.

Eloise turned to Henry, it was the first time she had looked at him that evening and he couldn't quite help but enjoy the warmth rising in his chest.

"That was kind, Henry," she said softly.

"I'm not actually a complete monster you know." Henry sighed, Eloise's final acknowledgement somewhat soured by the surprise in her tone.

"I never said that you were. Just that it has been noted how much of a hard time you give your sister and her mate. It's a pleasant change to see you put her needs above your own distaste." Eloise replied calmly.

Henry nodded, sipping on his white wine for a moment, before turning back to Eloise.

"And you?" He asked her, pulling her attention back away from Carson. "How have you been keeping? I know its early days still, but the pregnancy... Is everything okay?"

Eloise leaned back in her seat, her arm unconsciously brushing against Henry's as she turned towards him. She could have almost sworn their chairs were closer together than anyone elses in the room, including the actual happily mated pairs.

"I'm keeping well really. It's nice to be around others again, to build a home for myself with other wolves. I have no major symptoms yet to report and even when I do, I am confident my new pack will help me to manage them and support me fully. I have nothing to complain of really." She answered honestly, hoping her words would reassure Henry's wolf instincts as opposed to setting them off.

"Of course we will," Abigail chimed in with a bright smile from beside Shane at the head of the table. "We absolutely adore having you here, Eloise. You're basically family."

Eloise smiled, but Henry merely nodded, knowing this was the best opening he was going to get. But, before he could Abigail continued.

"Which is why, Shane and I would like to officially request the rights to transfer three members of your pack to ours. We spoke with Eloise and Carson earlier, and then we video called their parents, Omar and Marylin. All three of them have shown an interest in joining us here, and we would be delighted to have them. It would allow Eloise to reconnect with them, and provide a closer familial support unit to the little one when they arrive." Abigail explained eloquently.

But Henry looked anything but pleased. He was infuriated, how dare they all go behind his back to try and keep his mate from him.

"No." He snarled out, standing so fast his chair flew back and almost took Eloise's with it. "You bastards have my sister, my mate, and now you wish to steal three others from my pack? Who the fuck do you think you are? The only transfer I will sanction will be the release of my Luna from your territory and into my own Shane Andrews!"