Chapter 99

#Chapter 99 – Unexpected Guests The next morning, Victor wakes early, going to his office to begin working through his plans for the future. Everything is different, now, without a Luna by his side to secure his position. He has heirs, yes, but the community values family. Indeed, he has built much of his political stance on family values.

Now that he has rejected his Luna, there is going to be blowback. He needs a plan.

Beta Stephen brings him a cup of coffee and he is just about to take a sip when the doorbell rings.

Victor frowns at Stephen and c***s his head, a silent question.

Stephen just shrugs at him. “I don’t know, sir. You don’t have any appointments.”

“Perhaps it’s just Burton,” Victor says, straightening his suit coat. It’s a little early for a full suit, he knows, but he feels better when he’s ready for anything.

“I’ll check, sir,” Stephen says, heading out of the room.

Victor sips his coffee and turns to his computer, scanning his calendars and email inbox, one ear cast towards the front door for any hint of who has come to visit.

He goes still at the first hint of voices. Old voices, familiar ones.

s**t.

He stands straight and stares at the door of his office, his eyes narrowing as someone walks in the door frame.

“Mom?” Victor says, frowning. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m afraid it’s not just me, darling,” she says softly, lowering the small pink suitcase she carries to the ground.

Victor opens his mouth to enquire, but closes it quickly when his father rolls into sight, followed quickly by Rafe and…someone new.

Behind Rafe stands a beautiful woman – tall, blonde, leggy, wearing heels so high her ankles seem to tremble. She gives him an enthusiastic smile with her over-plumped, over-glossed lips.

Victor says nothing, looking them all over, waiting.

“We’ve come,” his father says, his face serious and ready for a fight, “to take you in hand, boy. To take the pack in hand.”

Victor’s lips raise in a snarl. “I don’t need –“

“It doesn’t matter what you need,” his father says, waving a hand to dismiss his protest. “What matters is that when you took the pack at such an early age, a clause was built into the contract suggesting that if you hit times of crisis – and rejecting a well-loved and well-respected Luna certainly falls under the category of a crisis – then senior members of the pack have the right to assess your leadership.”

The old man folds his hands in his lap, looking at Victor with steady eyes. Behind him, Rafe smirks.

“We’ve come to enact that clause.”

Victor growls, his mind racing, trying to find a way out of it.

“It’s iron-clad, unfortunately,” his mother says, not unkindly. Victor shifts his gaze to her. Would she betray him too?

Sensing the direction of his thoughts, Victor’s mother slowly shakes her head. “No, darling. I’m just stating the facts.”

“That clause,” Victor says, his anger rumbling in his chest, “was created for a twenty-year-old pup, whose missteps could lead to disaster – not for someone who has capably led the pack for over a decade –“

“Well then,” Rafe says, his words smooth and cocky, “you should have had the by-laws revised, shouldn’t you, at some point during that time. As it stands, we have every right to be here.”

“And if you reject it,” his mother says softly, almost apologetically, “it opens the opportunity for the pack to vote on your competence. Immediately.”

Victor sighs, looking down at his desk, at his hands spread there. God damnit. Another move he hadn’t seen coming. But he could get through this – find a way to quickly and undeniably prove his competence, and they would be forced to leave.

“For how long will you be staying?” Victor asks, acquiescing to the situation, but not happy about it.

“For as long as it takes,” he hears his father say.

“Sir?” Victor looks up when he hears Beta Stephen’s voice. The Beta is standing in the doorway behind his family, overloaded with suitcases. “Where do you want to put them?”

Two hours later, and his family is thoroughly moved in, his father and mother comfortably ensconced in an in-law suite on the first floor. Victor had had it built expressly for their visits several years back, everything made specifically to be accessible by someone in a wheelchair.

Rafe and the girl he hid in a guest room upstairs. The guest room furthest from his own room, in fact.

He didn’t want to hear…well, anything. From the two of them.

Victor stands by the back door of his house, looking over the scene at the pool out back. His father isn’t there – he’s taking a rest in his room – but the rest of the family is.

Surveying my leadership, my ass, Victor thinks, taking a sip of his drink. They’re just here for a vacation at my expense.

Indeed, it looks like that, today. Though it’s not even New Years, the lucky warm snap has continued.

He blinks, wondering at the fast change – not even a few days ago, they had had a white Christmas, and now it felt almost like spring.

His family is taking advantage of the warmth, sitting in the sun by the pool. Rafe was grilling lunch in the outdoor kitchen and his new girl – Bridgette – was laying in a ludicrously small bikini, working on her tan.

Victor shakes his head at her, huffing a laugh. Yes, the weather is nice, but it’s still December.

Ridiculous. Rafe rarely brought home girls – he generally prefers to keep his affairs secret – but when he does, they’re always absurd. This one does not disappoint.

His mother sits happily perched on the end of a lounge chair, passively petting Archie, who is glued to her side, and chatting with Ian and Alvin, who have come up to greet everyone. Evelyn has not shown her face, Victor considers, frowning.

He can’t blame her, after how his father and brother treated her. She hadn’t been happy when he’d texted her to let her know his family’s plans to stay.

Evelyn: I told you, Victor, I don’t want my boys around your father and brother. I don’t want them influencing their lives.

Victor had run his hand over his face when he read this text, trying to figure out the best way forward.

He understood her objections but…with them living here, it would be increasingly difficult to keep them apart.

He had sent a curt reply, full of promise.

Victor: I’ll speak to them, Evelyn. They won’t treat you with anything but the utmost respect.

Her reply hadn’t exactly been encouraging.

Evelyn: Fine, Victor. But I know how they feel, deep down. No matter what sort of face they put forward.

One wrong step with my children, and I’m taking them away from here.

He knew she was serious, and knew that if his father and brother figured out that this was her ultimatum, that they could very well choose to use it to their advantage and get rid of her. It was a tricky line he had to walk here, he knew.

He gritted his teeth, studying the scene before him, picking out his next moves. How could he best negotiate this? Prove himself competent while keeping Evelyn by his side?

His control of his pack, his family, his…whatever he had with Evelyn. It all teetered on a very fine ledge now. How could he keep it all together?