Alpha Terrant tapped his fingers on his desk in an attempt to show his impatience, but to no avail. Alpha Grey was continuing his speech, mostly to himself, while walking around Terrant's office. Ian, Alpha Terrant's Beta (or second in command), was standing by the door looking as annoyed as he was. However, with a sudden tapping at the door, Ian glanced at Terrant who nodded for Ian to exit the room. Terrant yawned and stretched, as Ian left silently and Grey continued to play out his speech. He was a young Alpha with a small pack of around 500 wolves; tall with blonde hair and light blue eyes, a handsome face, but the arrogance in his walk and the way he talked, irritated Terrant to no end.
Ian came back in the room with a strained look on his face. Raising his eyes brows as he caught Terrant's gaze, he held up the a manila folder. Terrant immediately understood that this folder needed to be addressed as soon as possible. He sat up in his chair and said loudly to get Grey's attention, "So what you are saying is that you don't want your sister to join my pack, even though her mate is in my pack?" Grey stopped talking a look of irritation on his face from being interrupted.
"Well essentially it is-"
"No, no Grey. I don't need a long speech of what it is. Just tell me straight." Terrant motioned for Ian to come to his desk holding out his hand for the folder.
"Well then, yes. My sister shouldn't have to change packs just because she found her mate." Grey said stiffly.
"There is no one forcing her to change packs. She decided along with her mate that it would be best for both of them to move over here. That is it plain and simple." Ian walked over and handed over the file, remaining next to Terrant as he flipped it open.
"But you see it is the principle of the matter, she shouldn't-"
Terrant stood up suddenly with the file in his hand, flipping through the other papers. "Has this been verified?" He asked loudly looking at Ian.
"Yes Alpha," Ian said gruffly looking uncomfortably at Grey who was peering at the file curiously.
"Let's go." Terrant said sharply, closing the file and walking toward the office door, Ian on his heels.
"Wait!" Terrant stopped and looked around to Grey who was still standing by the desk looking visibly affronted. "What about my proposal?"
Terrant almost scoffed, but held it together as he glared back at Grey, "The proposal of forcing your sister and her mate to stay in your pack because you can't live with the fact that you will be dropping in numbers again? Maybe if you worked with your pack and family a bit more they wouldn't want to leave at the first chance they got."
Grey looking shocked tried to speak, "Wha-, but, how dare you!"
"Your sister has already requested and been approved to become a member of my pack. I am not the type of Alpha to go back on my word." Grey just stood there looking dumbstruck. "Give my regards to your mother." And with that Terrant left the office Ian in tow.
Ian paced silently in front of the office. They were in the Senior Alphas house and Terrant was in the office speaking to his Father. The room was sound proof so even the most sensitive wolf ears couldn't listen through the door. He had been waiting for Terrant for 15 minutes now and was starting to feel worried. Terrant didn't normally keep things from him and asking him to wait outside the office so he could speak to Senior Alpha just felt wrong. They had been friends since they were 5; both destined for their posts as Alpha and Beta. Ian pulled his hand through his unruly, blonde hair in frustration. With the new information sent to them it was crucial that they start preparing immediately, but instead they were getting advice from Terrant's Father.
Ian stopped pacing and leaned back against the wall trying to control his impatience and irritation with being left outside of the office. Suddenly he felt a hard bang vibrate through the wall. Like something was thrown. Ian stood up straight as the door flung open and Terrant stormed out of the room, a furious glow in his dark eyes. With his dark hair and skin he looked like an avenging angel about to serve justice. Ian looked through the door before it closed and saw Terrants Father looking annoyed and angry. The previous Alpha shared his black hair and almond shaped eyes with his son, the rest of Terrant's features, dark tan skin, high cheek bones and full lips were from his mothers Hispanic side. Ian turned and followed the angry Terrant out of the house and down the street.
It was almost dark by the time they reached the office in the pack house. Terrant was still upset but had calmed down considerably from the walk. He was muttering under his breath as he sat in his chair and pulled out his phone.
Ian stood before Terrant's desk trying to not look frustrated. Terrant was so absorbed in his muttering that he didn't realize Ian was still with him. Ian grunted with no effect; he rolled his eyes and said, "Are you going to talk to me about our next plan of action or do you want to keep me in the dark?"
Terrant finally looked up, surprised to find Ian there. He shook his head and sighed. "Sorry Ian. I didn't mean to leave you out of the meeting but I thought I could talk sense into him." He tapped his phone and put it to his ear.
"Sense about what?"
Terrant held up his finger to have Ian wait. "Yes, Joseph?... I have information that is very important..... We need to meet.....It is too sensitive to send that way.... Tomorrow that is fine..... See you then. Bye." Terrant hung up and pulled out the key board for the computer and began typing.
"Terrant?" Ian said as Terrant continued typing, "Terrant!"
Terrant looked back up in shock, "I'm sorry. Yes? What was your question?"
Ian almost laughed from the apologetic look on Terrant's face. "All the females in our pack would love to be your mate, but really none of them would if they knew your truly annoying flaw of ignoring everyone when you are stuck on a problem. You go away into yourself until you can solve it, without explanation to anyone, even your Beta."
Terrant grimaced as he leaned back in his chair focusing his entire, intense, attention on Ian. "So you understand what the information in the folder means. Right?"
Ian sat down in a chair across from Terrant, happy that he was going to, finally, get some answers. "Essentially there is a massive pack on the East coast."
Terrant pulled the file out again and passed a page over to Ian, "Not just a massive pack, but a massive pack that has been growing exponentially over the last year. Recently they are taking in almost 50 rogues a week."
"Rogues?!" Ian said shocked, "rogues can't be in a pack."
"Exactly!" Terrant said handing over a stapled document.
"But rogues are werewolves who have left their pack." Ian said flipping through the stapled document which looked like a research paper.
"Yes, and without a pack their wolves begin to take over," Terrant stood up and began pacing behind his desk. "Without the human side, they become very uncontrollable and....temperamental." Ian scoffed as Terrant continued. "Now after a certain point there is no going back, they are unable to find the human side and the wolf takes over."
"So how are they keeping them together? If the rogues are unable to be a part of a pack, how are they... in a pack?"
Terrant stopped pacing and looked seriously at Ian, "That is a good question, but the one you should be asking is, who are 'they'?" Terrant sat back down at his desk and began typing.
"So we don't know who 'they' are?" Ian asked starting to feel confused.
"No we do... now." Terrant finished typing and produced a final paper from the folder. This one with an image. "I assume you must have missed this document." Terrant laid it on the desk and pushed it across so Ian could see. It had no writing just a fuzzy picture of a man.
"Is that?" Ian took the picture pulling it closer to his face and squinting. "Is that who I think it is?"
"Yes. He apparently is the head of the rogue... faction? Party? Group? I don't know what we should call it. It sounds wrong to call them a pack." Terrant was a buzz again, muttering to himself and typing furiously on the keyboard.
"I thought Trawley was dead."
"He definitely gave that impression."
"Where has he been?"
"Well I had a friend dig up some information on him. Trawly was originally from a pack in Europe, he came over to America and joined one of the packs on the East coast. After that his history is wishy washy. He jumped around from pack to pack and then he showed up again. About nine years ago he made it to the west coast with a pack, perhaps rogues, and attempted to take out smaller packs....for fun. If he did use rogues he could have been trying to test this 'leader of a rogue group' thing." Terrant appeared to be lost in thought as he mulled over the idea. Ian coughed and he snapped out of it, "Uh, anyway I have a suspicion he wants to try again, just on a larger scale. A much larger scale"
"This changes everything!" Ian said feeling a sense of panic rising in his gut.
"I agree. From my limited research I have been able to come to one conclusion; Trawley is a psychopath."
Ian blinked unable to comprehend, "What do you mean?"
Terrant looked up at Ian trying to decide if he was able to handle his next words, "Nine years ago, he didn't want land, pack members, or glory. He just wanted to kill. Hundreds, thousands of wolves were killed from his attacks. Not just warriors... everyone." He paused turning his attention back to the email. "Very few survived. The only wolf that could be blamed was Trawley. No one knows if he had ties to another pack. So because there was no pack to take responsibility, and the rogues disappeared, everyone who knew about the massacres swept it under the rug as a rogue attack. Leaving the survivors to fend for themselves."
Ian's eyes widened, He and Terrant would have been about 16 when all of that happened. They were in training but were not allowed in official pack meetings, but something of that scale, they should have known.
"That is why I needed to speak to my Father." Terrant said that last word with disgust, banging the keyboard in anger.
"Okay wait. What does your Father have to do with this?" Ian said trying to wrestle his panic down.
"I have been watching the situation over on the East coast for some time now and slowly gathering information to make a plan for the worst case scenario." Terrant pointed at the picture in Ian's hand, "That confirms the worst case scenario. My Father doesn't agree with my assessment. He thinks that if we ignore him he will ignore us....like last time."
"If the numbers in that file are correct then they're not looking for a war but a-" Ian paused trying to think of the word, "annihilation."
"I agree, which is why we need Joseph."
"Alpha Fairing? Why do we need him?"
Terrant stopped typing and sat back in his chair looking exhausted.
"Because my father refused to support my decision." Terrant dragged the mouse across the pad and made one final click.
"What decision?" Ian asked apprehensively trying to get his head around all the new information.
"We are going to have a War Council."
Ian dropped his jaw. "A war-?-" Ian struggled to form words as he stared at Terrant who was gazing across the office looking preoccupied. "But they- there hasn't been one in like a hundred years."
"93 years to be exact." Terrant said standing up and moving to the bookshelf. He began pulling books down. "I needed my father to help convince some of the other packs and the council that it is necessary, but now-" Terrant gripped the book he was holding until his knuckles turned white. "It looks like I am going to have to use my own resources. Joseph is the most well known and well liked Alpha's among all the packs in this area." He tossed a few books on the desk and continued to skim the titles. "He has to be as his pack has borders with 5 other packs. We need him to help convince all the other packs in this region that we need to have this council."
Terrant finally found the book he was looking for 'Rogue: Myths and Legends' by Franz Wittier, walking back to the desk he flipped it open and began to read. Ian sat there for a moment not minding that Terrant had forgotten him again. They must be in desperate times if they are talking about a war council. He looked down at the papers in his hand. One a report on the numbers and activity of the rogue group and the picture of the werewolf who started it all.
He felt the panic steadily start to rise in his chest, he choked it down and said, "Our pack is not even close to matching this army."
"Hopefully we won't have to do it alone." Terrant said pushing the book aside and grabbing the stack that he threw on the desk, pulling them closer to peruse them.
"Why didn't you tell me? I am your Beta. You should have confided in me before now."
Terrant closed the book, "I didn't confide in anyone. These were just theories. I didn't tell you because I know you better than anyone. I know that if I told you what my suspicions were you would panic and overreact."
"So you telling me now means-"
Terrant's face became hard and serious as he looked at his Beta. "It is time to panic." Pulling open a file drawer behind his desk he produced a hefty folder. "Here" He pushed the folder across the desk to Ian who grabbed it and flipped it open. "This is information on all the packs within this region. Names, family, friends, how many men, women, warriors, ect. Some files have more than others. Alpha Winters pack is the hardest to find information, they are very secretive, but it is rumored that he has thousands of warriors, and more than enough resources for three times their pack."
Ian looked down at the folder unsure what he was to do with this information. He felt a strong hand on his shoulder shake him gently but firmly. He looked up to see Terrant had come around his desk either to attempt to comfort him or to shake him out of his panic. "Ian, I need you too help me. I need you to keep your head. Even though it is time to panic I want you to be the most calm out of all of us... including me." Ian met Terrant's gaze and nodded. Terrant smiled sadly, "Good, cause I have a grim political duty for you. Call all of the Alphas and set up a meeting for me. I will be meeting all of them before the council. Some will need more pushing than others, we will use Joseph for that, but mostly I need to make sure they understand that if they reject this council meeting.... I will not come save them." Terrant paused for a second and corrected himself. "We will not come save them. There are too many lives at stake. If they are not willing to fight with us. We cannot guarantee safety. Make sure you emphasize that."
"Yes Alpha." Terrant slapped Ian on his shoulder and walked back to his desk chair sitting down he started to read again, flipping through pages and skimming. "What are you looking for?" Ian asked.
Terrant didn't look up as he said, "The answer to your first question. How can the rogues survive in packs without tearing each other apart."
Ian nodded and slowly walked toward the exit, he had a lot of work to do. He turned and looked back at his Alpha reading and making notes on a legal pad. He smiled to himself and left heading to his own office to start making calls. Taking a deep breath he opened the file to reveal the first name on his list. Alpha Chris Winters.
*Thanks for reading! Please vote and comment! I love constructive criticism, however if it becomes mean I will take you down.*
-LostArrow-