Chapter Twelve

Bridger

"So—", Arron starts and I'm already annoyed, "how's the omega?"

Call my annoyance towards him unnecessary or even mean, but sometimes just seeing my alpha's face puts me in a bad mood.

I hum as I place my coffee in front of me. "We have many omegas, Arron, you need to be more specific."

He looks at me but I just raise my eyebrows innocently. We're having our bi-annual meeting with our closest pack northeast of us. Our delta, zetas, and kappas are all here and now we're just waiting for our neighbouring pack to arrive. They're in our pack now, but the walk from the east entrance to the packhouse is pretty long. We're also just really early as I like to be punctual.

"Kian. I've noticed you two have been hanging out a lot," he says nonchalantly but I know that he's hinting at something. I choose to ignore the suggestive underlying tone and just shrug. He doesn't know that I'm attracted solely to men so he shouldn't be suggesting anything inappropriate. Plus, it's just unprofessional. It's especially annoying knowing that they're mates.

"Treating him the way I've treated the others," I answer. "Are you going to continue to ignore his existence like a child or talk about your situation like an adult?"

Arron shifts uncomfortably as he sighs and shakes his head. He hates when I bring up things that he tries to ignore. He loves to avoid problems and for the most part, things usually go his way and the problem disappears and he never has to face it. But for some reason, I'm extra pushy about this particular problem.

He's like a middle schooler who still hasn't learned responsibility and accountability despite those two very things being something his father preached about the day we began training together. Ridiculous.

"Derek is pushing me to either reject him or take him as ours but I'm not feeling up to doing either," he answers casually with a shrug that irritates me even more.

Derek is his wolf and is just as insufferable as Arron just on different spectrums. While Arron is a subjective, lazy, let-someone-else-do-it, arrogant, angry asshole, Derek is an objective, anal, too-detail-oriented, arrogant, perfectionist who micromanages everything and anything he possibly can. I've only met him a handful of times and he's pissed off Jace enough for my wolf to not want to be around him ever again.

'And I stand by that' Jace chimes in. His attitude towards Derek is surprising as Jace has always had more respect and tolerance towards people who I can't respect or tolerate. He has forced me to forgive and forget a lot of Arron's actions all because he is "our alpha" and we "should respect our alpha".

'Just because I respect and tolerate Arron more than you doesn't mean I love him. We don't have to interact with Derek, but we have to interact with Arron every day. I want to keep things civil' Jace says, all high and mighty on his high horse. He snorts and I have to fight back the eye roll.

"So Derek doesn't feel anything for him either?" I ask as a Kappa walks into the meeting room.

Arron hums as he spins around in his chair, head hanging back. "He finds him attractive, he wouldn't mind being with him. He feels the bond more than I do — I mean I don't even feel the blond so — but he said if I were to reject him, it wouldn't do us much damage—"

'Derek also told me he can't feel Kian's wolf' he switches to our private mind-link. I hum and lean back in my chair, not offering up any private information about Kian.

'Anything you know about that?' Arron asks, 'Is he blocking his wolf from me? How can he even do that?'

'Nothing worth noting. Anything you want to know about him, you should ask him yourself. I'm not serving as your messenger between you and your supposed mate'

'You're so annoying' Arron complains. 'I know you know something. You're not supposed to keep things from your alpha, you know'

Before I can lose my mind, one of our zetas walks into the room and holds the door open with his back. I assume he's holding it for our visitors so Arron and I stand and everyone else follows.

In walks the alpha — James — and his beta Cole followed by two of his zetas and two kappas. I can't remember their names but I remember their ranks. James is a sharp-looking man and I've never seen him without tight cornrows leading back into a tight braided bun. His beta is equally as intimidating and sharp but Cole has short blonde hair always gelled to perfection from what I remember.

Compared to them, Arron and I always look a bit disheveled. Arron keeps his shoulder-length blonde hair in a loose bun or ponytail, allowing strands to fly free. I keep my wavy black hair cut short, but enjoy growing my beard sometimes. We also dress much more casually than James and Cole who wear business casual everywhere they go, even at tournaments and bigger pack meetings. Arron and I have once shown up in sweats and T-shirts.

"Good morning, Alpha James, Beta Cole," Arron greets, "pleasure to see you two again."

"I wish I could say the same," James responds as he sits. I frown at him and Arron hums, quirking his eyebrow.

"We've been dealing with some serious issues in our pack," Cole answers, "this meeting — while planned way ahead of time — is a big inconvenience."

"Did you try rescheduling?" I ask with a frown as I look over at Arron's delta, Shaye. She is in charge of these meetings. She looks at me but before she can answer, Cole responds.

"We did, our delta — who can't be here today due to our issues — contacted yours–" he looks over at her, "and she refused to reschedule."

"It was too close to the original date," Shaye defends, "Arron and Bridger have full schedules both business and personal, changing the date so close to today wouldn't have worked out."

"That's true," Arron says, "unfortunately,  we don't take into account unforeseen circumstances. Fortunately, you all made it! So we can get this meeting started."

James and Cole don't look satisfied but we aren't here to worry about their feelings. We proceed with the meeting. Arron discusses his plans for pack expansion northeast and wants to be sure that we won't be stepping on James's toes when we do so. James discloses his plans of expanding north as well which is music to Arron's ears because that means we can make plans to expand further.

One of their Kappas pitches in and questions if we've considered hunt and food disruptions that this would cause between our packs. Our kappas begin discussing that as that's their specialty; they ensure that hunting and food will be kept as equal as possible as there will be obvious land dividers such as No Man's Land. They also discuss rogues and Hunters which, luckily, have not been a major issue for us or them.

After land expansion, Arron and James fall into a conversation about The Board and their attempts to get more werewolves in their holistic school. Neither are on board with the idea but Arron suggests sending one of our omegas which sparks a strange look on both James and Cole's faces.

"It was my idea. Our omegas are very important to the pack," I begin, dragging everyone's attention to me. "I thought they'd be the easiest to send thanks to their natural traits of adaptability and goodwill. They are the most loyal due to their natural traits, peacemaker, observant...honestly, I couldn't think of a better wolf to send.

One of their zetas snorts. I turn to look at him but James shaking his head catches my attention. I glance over at Arron who doesn't seem to be bothered and while the reaction is expected, I'm beginning to get different vibes from them now.

Our plans to send an omega haven't been set into effect yet. To be honest, Arron wants to stay as far away from The Board as possible so it was just a suggestion from me. I'm 50/50 in the matter as I do see The Board's reasoning behind their school but until they can showcase better results, I don't want to send anyone from our pack there.

I shake it off. "Anyway, it's no matter to you. There's one pressing question I need to get answered before we proceed: your pack issues, will they affect us now or during the expansion?"

James shakes his head. "They shouldn't."

"Should we be worried?" one of our zetas asks.

"No, we've just got some people who have escaped and we've been searching all over for them but we can't find them," Cole answers. James glances at him with a cold expression.

I raise my eyebrows. "Escaped?"

'Is their pack a prison?' Jace jokes.

I've never heard someone accuse a pack member of "escaping" because most packs aren't closed off to the world anymore. There should be no such thing as "escaping" because pack members can freely move in and out of packs. The Elders have set that into law, only giving exceptions to those who have a "good and peaceful" history of isolation.

"We have a strict policy," James states, "to decrease intruders and other problems. Leaving without permission is a sign of treachery."

One of our kappas speaks up and says, "who left? Perhaps we can assist you in finding them?"

James and his people share a look and that's when it clicks. Without making a sound, I open mine and Keira's mindlink.

'Keira, do you know where Kian, Peyton, and the others are?'

'Yes, at the clinic and Katie's mate is with them'

'Go there. Now. And tell them not to leave'

The clinic naturally blocks out any scents that a normal werewolf could scent out. If the omegas are the members of James's pack that escaped then James and his people shouldn't know that they're here unless they go into the clinic.

I zone back into the conversation that's happening around me. James is describing in very vague details the escape that happened and the people who escaped. James doesn't even mention the number of people who escaped, he just keeps repeating how they "knew better".

"Who?" I ask, "if you don't want our help, then you can say that, but you will not be using our resources with such vague descriptions."

"That's ok, we don't want your help," James says, "but we have no other pressing matters that need to be discussed..."

I look over at Arron who looks over at me. Of course, leave it to me. I think about everything we've discussed and take a glance at the clock above the door. We've been here for a little over an hour. The main reason for this meeting was to discuss expansion and I can't think of any reason to keep them here. I definitely don't want to keep them here any longer and risk them finding out about Kian and his friends.

"There's nothing I need to discuss," I say before looking over at our Zetas and Kappas, "you?"

They all shake their heads and I look over to James and Cole. "I guess that's that."

With that, we all stand and shake each other's hands. James and Cole are the first to leave followed by their zetas and kappas. I nod to one of ours to tell them to follow them out before turning to look at Arron.

"It's them," I whisper, "they're the pack that Kian and his friends are running from."

"How do you know?" he asks with a scoff, "that can be a totally different situation."

"I just do," I argue, "what do you want to do about—"

One of James's zetas walks in and I immediately cut the conversation off. I look over to him, thinking he's forgotten something in the room but his eyes remain on us. I give him a questioning look, squinting at him as he walks over to us.

"You've got them don't you?" he says.

I frown. "We've got what?"

He sighs and turns to look at the door before looking back at us. "My name is Leon and I can...I can feel my mate here. My mate that lived in my pack and left. The escapee."

I stay silent and Arron'a dumbass manages to not say anything either. For once, he surprised me. I can't look stupid and deny their presence here but I don't have to confirm either. Jace paces anxiously in my head, knowing this could easily put us in serious conflict with James's pack.

"Look–" Leon looks at the door again, "I'm an eta, not a zeta — filling in my brother's spot. I and a few other lambdas helped them leave, I was the first to get to them when they were leaving. Had I not, they would have never made it off our territory. I just...I need to know if Peyton is fine."

"If this is going to be an issue, we will send them back," Arron says, making me whip around to look at him. I glare at him and he glares back. "What? I'm not starting a fight or anything like that over some omegas I don't know."

"No, no, no," Leon shakes his head vigorously, "they don't know that I assisted."

"Good," I say, "Peyton is fine, very anxious, and very wary of everything. But he's well. Did you come here in hopes of finding him?"

"No, Peyton wants nothing to do with me and I want to keep it that way," Leon says, "just promise me you'll keep them from my pack."

I nod and he gives me a grateful smile before quickly turning and leaving. I turn to look at Arron, raising my eyebrows as if to say I told you so.

"Well, have you made any progress with finding them a pack?"

"Kind of," is all I offer up before following Leon out of the meeting room.

Arron doesn't know my plans and it's better if it stays that way. While our pack is more progressive than many other packs, Arron somehow managed to keep the toxic traditional mindset that not only hinders him but also the pack from reaching its full potential. Arron's parents were very progressive so to this day, I wonder how Arron ended up being the way he is. Nonetheless, keeping Arron in the dark about my plans is the best thing to do now as I can imagine he wouldn't be on board and there's a possibility he'd try to sabotage it — I wouldn't put anything past him.

When I make it downstairs, I'm met with an unfavorable sight. One of our kappas — Isaac — standing in front of...Goddess be damned...Peyton. Of all the issues that could have happened today, this is one I didn't want to deal with. James is yelling and trying to get around Isaac who blocks Peyton.

"Fuck," I whisper to myself and I hurry over to the scene that's attracting far too many people. Fangs are barred, eyes are yellow and I can hear Peyton's heart slamming against his chest.

"Okay! Okay!" I yell, "Someone call a Mu over right now."

"No," James growls as he points at me, "we don't need a peacekeeper when you've clearly been lying straight to our faces."

"If betraying your trust means ensuring the safety of—" I stop as I glance over to Peyton. If they've only seen Peyton and Peyton hasn't said a word to them, then I can only hope to Goddess that I can convince them that only Peyton is here. Carefully, I reword my response, "...a member of your so-called pack, then so be it."

I walk closer to Isaac while keeping my eyes trained on James and Cole who look like they'll attack given the chance. I've seen the way they fight at tournaments. Peyton is visibly trembling, any ounce of anger he's directed toward me these past few days is now overrun with fear. He looks small and helpless as he stands there, frozen. At least he trusted me enough to show me nothing but animosity I guess.

"You have no business—"

"The minute Peyton stepped foot on our territory, he became my business," I snap, "I have half a mind to report you."

That sets James off and he leaps forward. I don't even have time to react as one of our zetas jumps in. This sparks everyone in the room to begin fighting and while I shout out for reinforcements, I grab Peyton's arm and pull him away.

"Why are you here?!" I don't mean to yell at him but I can't help but feel frustrated with him. Peyton is clearly very stubborn and I can imagine that when Keira refused to let him leave the clinic, he left because he felt trapped. For a second, I blame myself because had I not told Keira to keep them there, he probably would have never left.

"I—" his eyes are wide and he keeps them trained on his old pack members. He looks back up to me and I know what he's thinking.

"I don't have time to explain," I say as I look over at the fight happening.

Arron is now here, standing in front of James and yelling. He turns and looks at me before pointing at Peyton and then at James.

"Give him," he demands. "I'll be damned if you put my pack in jeopardy."

I look down at the small omega. He's terrified, no doubt regretting his decision of ever leaving the clinic. But that was then and this is now and right now, my alpha is about to give an omega back to his abusive pack. I've tried my best to show Peyton and Kian what their lives outside of their personal hell could be like only for me to let Peyton go right back.

"Peyton left, werewolves can cut ties with their packs at any time," I state, "Peyton will go back with you after a meeting with The Elders."

Getting an appointment with The Elders could take as long as five months. While, normally, that is very frustrating, this could benefit me easily. I can submit my case to them and request that Peyton (and his friends) stay in my pack for their safety and well-being until the meeting. It's similar to custody battles in the human world except The Elders listen to the person who contacts them more than the people who are being dragged into it.

"There will be no meeting with The Elders," James growls. He looks at Peyton who immediately looks at the floor.

"Peyton." he snarls, "come over here. Now."

His arm is still in my hand but he makes a move to walk over.

"Peyton, I can contact The Elders," I say, "they—"

"They won't do anything," James says with a laugh, "do you think they'll help you, Peyton? Do you think they'll care enough? Do you want him to call The Elders so you can be humiliated in front of them?"

Staring at the ground, he softly shakes his head. His trust has been shot with us and them.

"I'll go," Peyton says as he takes a deep breath. "B-But it's only me."

"Peyton," I shake my head. "You don't have to go."

"We have a strict policy on members leaving the pack, Beta." James snaps. "Come, Peyton."

He reaches out and Peyton glances up at me before slowly walking towards James. I want to grab him back and refuse to let him go. I can't imagine having to tell Kian and their friends that they just lost Peyton. Goddess, Kian is so close to Peyton.

"Peyton—"

Cole reaches out and grabs Peyton, pulling him close and placing his large hands on his shoulders. James is out before I can say anything else followed by Cole who drags Peyton with him. There's more I can do and I want to follow them out but Arron's hand on my chest stops me.

"Enough," he says, "you're too passionate about shit that you can't change. Stop it. Move on...." he leans in close and whispers with his teeth clenched, "and get these omegas out of my pack before I give them all back. Do you understand me?"

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Word Count: 3435

Big sad fr :(