Chapter 108
After the fall of the Half Moon pack, it had taken the Silver Lake wolves no time to seize all their operations and businesses. The future of what was left of the Half Moon wolves was now in the hands of the Silver Lake Alpha as per the laws that the Werewolves lived by.
Even while Michael summarized the attack on Half Moon, Jason thought to himself that they did less damage to the pack than he had anticipated. He had tried desperately to stop both himself and his warriors from going on a complete rampage and killing and destroying everything in their sight.
The mood in the conference room seemed to shift when Michael recounted what he had discovered on his way to find Amelia. And when he told them about how Amelia had been the one to take Thornbury’s life, everyone in the room either sighed or shook their heads. They all knew that she would have been conflicted with a lot of intense emotions at having to kill her own father even after all he had done to her over the years.
“How is she coping?” Patrick asked solemnly.
“She’s still recovering”, Jason replied. “But she’s hanging in there.”
“More than hanging in there…” Michael said with pride. “Amelia made sure that I didn’t miss the blood samples and research in Thornbury’s office. Even though she was going through a lot at that moment, she knew what needed to be done. I have faith that she’ll be fine.”
Jason glanced at his beta and gave him an appreciative smile at his statement. He was often reminded that there were many people around them now who cared for Amelia and wanted the best for the both of them.
“Thanks to Amelia taking Thornbury out for good”, Michael continued. “We were able to gain access to Thornbury’s servers and records. There is now enough evidence to prove that Thornbury was eliciting the help of rogues to attack his enemies.”
“So we have a paper trail to back our claims to the Council”, Allan stated.
“Exactly”, Michael confirmed. “We have records of everything from his communications with Thoedor to his involvement in Lily’s death. We even found records of all the experiments they carried out on Amelia as a child and up to the last couple of weeks. And also…”
Michael paused and looked at his Alpha, unsure whether he should continue with this part of the briefing. Everyone in the room could tell that what he was about to say would be sensitive information to the Alpha and Luna.
“It’s okay, Mike”, Jason said as he leaned back in his seat.
“We also have the records of what he planned to do to the baby”, Michael stated carefully.
Although he was trying his best not to lose his temper, Jason couldn’t stop his blood from boiling at the thought of Thornbury harming their pup. He balled his fist as he took a breath to stop himself from becoming enraged in the middle of the meeting. Everyone in the room could feel the rage radiating off of Jason and they were all visibly tense with the strained atmosphere.
“It suddenly doesn’t sound so bad now to know that she killed him herself”, Allan chuckled.
Thankfully, this seemed to ease the tension in the room and there were a few more chuckles at Thornbury’s demise. But one look at everyone in the room and anyone could tell that any one of them would have gladly killed Thornbury themselves after finding out that he could have killed their Alpha and Luna’s heir.
“So what are our next steps?”, Patrick asked when things settled in the room.
“We will formally inform the Council of the dissolution of the Half Moon pack”, Jason stated flatly. “All the women we rescued will go to the packs that we sponsor and we’ll leave the captured warriors to the Council to deal with.”
“They’re really going to like that”, Allan chuckled again.
“I don’t care if they like it or not”, Jason continued. “We’ve done the heavy lifting so this is the least they can do in return.”
Jason took his time to look at all the commanders in the conference room. The mixture of Lycan and Wolf warriors all standing shoulder to shoulder filled him with immense pride and hope for a more united future between the two races.
“Thank you, all of you”, Jason said, addressing his warriors. “None of this would have been possible without every single one of you.”
The warriors in the room all either bowed or hit their chests and bowed to the Alpha marking the end of the briefing session. They all began to leave the conference room, leaving Jason, Michael, Patrick, and Allan behind.
“So what are you going to do next?”, Michael asked Allan when they were alone in the room.
“I think it might be time the Lycans came out of hiding”, Allan replied. “It’s time the world knew the truth about what happened five hundred years ago… Well, most of the truth. No one needs to know about turning wolves into Lycans. I think it’ll be a good reason why there are now Lycans in Silver Lake and other packs. This means that we’ll need to renegotiate a new treaty with the Council. And this brings me to my next question…”
“Allan…?” Patrick warned staring at his friend.
“I was going to ask if you would be willing to represent the Lycans to the Council and the wider wolf community going forward”, Allan continued.
“Allan! We talked about this!” Patrick protested.
“Hey! At least I didn’t ask him to be the Lycan King!” Allan laughed.
His statement startled both Jason and Michael because this was not something they had expected from the Lycan elder. They looked at each other before glancing at Patrick who only sighed and ran his hand across his face.
“You want me to be the Lycan King?” Jason asked incredulously.
“Yes, I do”, Allan confirmed. “You may not have noticed, but all the Lycans had already chosen to follow you into battle and beyond the moment they met you. And honestly, you’d just be making it official at this point if you agreed to it.”
Jason considered his words for a moment because he didn’t want to make any rushed decisions about something so important. But his mind was already made up when he thought about how this new title would disrupt his and his Luna’s lives.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Allan”, Jason said as he sat back in his seat. “But I’m afraid I’m going to have to reject the offer. I will gladly represent the Lycans during the negotiations with the Council, but I can’t accept taking on the title of Lycan King. All I want is to lead my pack with my Luna.”
Patrick turned slowly to face Allan with a look on his face that said he knew this would be Jason’s decision and that he shouldn’t have asked.
“Hey! You can’t blame me for trying!”, Allan chuckled. “We haven’t seen a Lycan of his caliber in decades. But I respect your decision, Alpha. Just know that if anyone else calls you the ‘Lycan King’, it has nothing to do with me.”
The other men in the room could only chuckle and shake their heads at the elder. They already knew that he was going to use his position to establish Jason as the Lycan King and there was nothing they could do to stop him.
“I’m sorry, Jason”, Patrick said with a sigh. “Allan’s gotten stubborn in his old age.”
Chuckling again, Jason stood up followed by the other men. He walked over to Allan and extended his arm to the old man.
“Thank you, Elder Willoughby”, Jason said with an appreciative smile. “For coming to our aid and for rallying the other Lycan warriors to join the fight.”
“It has been my honor”, Allan said as he took Jason’s hand and shook it.
When they were done with their greetings, Patrick managed to drag Allan out of the room before he tried once again to convince Jason to become their King. This only made the men laugh at his tenacity but did nothing to change Jason’s mind about the matter.
They were still chuckling about Allan’s behavior when they realized that it was only Jason and Michael left in the conference room. Without saying a word, Michael smiled at Jason and playfully smacked his shoulder. He then nodded towards the door as they both headed out of the pack house.
As they walked down the street back towards Jason’s home, Jason realized that he had been so tense because of the battle that he hadn’t taken a moment to observe his pack. So he glanced around at the families going about their day and the warriors coming back from getting medical treatment after the battle. They had all put their lives on the line for the sake of their Luna, and he couldn’t hold back the pride he felt at knowing that his people put that much faith in the both of them.
Looking ahead, Jason smiled as he was filled with hope for a more peaceful future from this moment onward. They had come a long way to get to this point. But now he was certain that no matter what the world threw at them, they would be able to overcome any obstacle.