Extra Chapter 3

Extra Chapter 3

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I sat beside Karabo at the head of the table. We were in one of our big pack meetings where the cameras and screen had to be on connecting us to the rest of the pack. One of the older Deltas was currently talking as there had been an ongoing discussion of rouges sneaking onto the Letsela pack grounds to steal resources and sometimes even harming pack members that were in small groups or alone. They had managed to capture one and were contemplating killing the rouge to give the others a message that dangerous trespassers would not be taken lightly anymore, but some of the pack members thought that was too harsh and that security around their border should just be increased. The meeting had a long one and I felt fatigued but kept paying attention, taking notes and speaking up when I had to. Karabo and most of the other members did the same as we passed through different points on the agenda.

The only person that had been was our now fourteen-year-old son. He had not changed and it had only caused my concern about him to grow, especially as the rest of the leaders began to voice their opinions more and more about letting the young Beta Alex take over as Alpha instead. Even though Neo was stronger, there was more than strength that made an Alpha. I knew that, and I knew Neo's behaviour was concerning given that I had never met another Alpha as quiet and timid as my son, but I knew the potential he had... If he could just get past being so... anxious and quiet. I dreaded having to make the decision to replace him before he even became Alpha but if things did not change, it was the duty of the current Alphas to make sure the next in line was the best person to replace us.

"It's just one rouge. Kill it," one of the Galaxy Deltas said.

"Enough," I spoke up to stop a predicted fight as the past three voices that spoke had been slowly raising.

Apart from killing the rouge, there was a discussion of planting wolfsbane around the borders of the pack. I thought that was a bad idea given that we ourselves were werewolves and it would probably just end up harming our pack, some deltas thought that was worth keeping other dangerous wolves away. There were also a few other ideas ranging from magic to poisoned food to more patrolling guards that shoot on sight. The rouges had been an ongoing issue for a while and just warning or fighting them did not seem to be doing the trick as more and more of them moved in on the pack.

"Alpha?" one of the Letsela Delta's spoke after a while of silence. I glanced at Karabo.

'I don't like the idea of killing one of them, we don't want to start a fight... but clearly, our harmless warnings aren't working... They're becoming more frequent and dangerous too...' he linked to me. Right.

'It may be the best option...' I linked back as I ran my eyes over the notes I had made listing everyone's ideas before my gaze moved to the one person that had yet to contribute a single word to the meeting after his initial, quiet greeting. "What do you think, Alpha?" my voice made Neo's eyes stop staring down at the desk blankly as everyone turned to him.

"M-me?" he seemed surprised, caught off-guard that he had even been addressed as his wide brown eyes stared back at me. Alex spoke much more than he did in meetings considering that he was older, but even young deltas tried to speak up a little to make their presence and ideas known. It was good practice for later when they had to run these with their peers. Neo though, usually did not say anything.

"Yes. What do you think we should do about the rouges, Alpha?" one of the Deltas replied, his voice holding a more taunting tone. It seemed that they were just frustrated at never having any interaction come from the youngest of our pack's next generation of leaders. Neo bit his bottom lip looking back at the screen. I knew he did that just to avoid all the eyes staring at him before he blew up his cheeks glancing at his notes.

"Um..." his voice was a trembling mumble as he looked back to me and Karabo and then at the screen again. I had to fight not to say something so the pressure would be taken off him. I hated how fragile his voice sounded. I didn't care if he was Alpha, it was the worst seeing him afraid. This was needed though, we could not always speak for him. I noticed Alex give a subtle nudge to my son's side quickly before nodding towards the screen. Neo gave another nervous breath and then glanced around at everyone, clearing his throat. "Ho-Honestly?" He fidgeted with the pen in his hands.

"Obviously." One of the Deltas in the room muttered. Neo nodded slightly to acknowledge that the man had been heard.

"I think you're making this take a lot more time than it could by putting so much focus on every element. I think you're looking at it from the wrong angle. They're just rogues. I mean, do we really need elaborate spells, gadgets or possibly over-working our soldiers to take care of a few rouges? Our effort should be saved for real threats. All of this... It just seems like a lot of unnecessary work and time spent on something that might be easily solved. They want resources. Food and hunting grounds. That seems hard to come by if you're a rogue right now. The amount of packs and human-owned property makes it impossible not to step on someone's ground, not to mention the lack of trees or animals because of recent fires, the drought and farming disturbances. We've figured out how to deal with all of that, so we have all of those resources in abundance, especially at Letsela during a time when it must be hard for even smaller packs to get by. I think we should plant some trees near the border and offer a section of our land for them to hunt on for now. The reason we have this problem is because we focused on maintaining our own instead of realising what would happen if we didn't help maintain the surrounding forests. If we'd done that – and we had enough resources to do that – there would not be such a dramatic shortage and they would not have become desperate enough to risk entering our territory. So yeah, right now – while we try to revitalise the surrounding area – I think we should let them roam on a specific piece of our land. If they surpass that section, then we can talk about drastic measures like harming them." When he finished, everyone appeared surprised that he had that much to say as their eyes returned to the screen. I straightened up slightly realising that he had not even stumbled over his words while speaking.

"What if they move onto our land? Refuse to leave?" one of the other Deltas questioned.

"If they wanted to, they would already have attempted that. They know we are too large, too dangerous to steal from, but they still risk their lives to find some food and – you mentioned this earlier – even stick to hunting smaller animals on our territory so as to not take too much from us. We'll tell them that their entering that piece of land comes with rules, and of course, if they break those rules, we can be brutal." I glanced at Karabo wondering if he was proud of Neo's compassion. He was staring at our son with an astonished but fond little smile on his face. "Also, the housing and space issue mentioned earlier that Galaxy is once again facing, I think we should have joint houses based on how little space the Inferno packhouse takes up compared to our individual housing – we don't need to build one packhouse though. I think it's safer as we are now. We should just build up instead of building more houses considering how big our pack is. As a side-note, I also think we should move all the Alpha, Beta and Deltas families as well as the soldiers out to the surrounding houses and have everyone else on the inside, it's easier and quicker for us to respond to things that way. The only exception should be Luna Izabella's family – including Alex and any family he has in the future considering that a lot of the attacks we get are for their blood." I smiled as he finished speaking. The room was quiet as everyone seemed to think over his words and Neo suddenly cleared his throat again, his eyes widening slightly. "I-I mean... I was just-just thinking..." He glanced over at Karabo and me as if afraid of how what he had just said would be received and I raised my brows at him silently asking if that was it. The small reaction seemed to make Neo gulp nervously as he looked back at everyone else. "That-that's it," he added.

"I think the land thing is very cliché humanitarian but he's right. As soon as the forest repairs itself, the rouges will be out of our hair. Until then... Why not help them a little? They have not harmed anyone that has not attacked them first when on our land," one of the Galaxy Deltas spoke.

"True. They do not seem to be mindless or inhuman rogues. Shall we go with that?" Everyone looked at Karabo and me. I turned to my mate knowing all too well that he would be very happy with our son's suggestion.

'Yes?' I linked to him.

"Yes," Karabo replied out loud.

"About the Galaxy housing, that's interesting too. It would cost less than the proposal of building an individual pack house," I said glancing over my notes again. "Moving on..." I looked over at our secretary who glanced at the agenda to see what we had to talk about next.

The meeting continued for another half-hour before Karabo ended it and everyone began to leave. I stayed seated as always waiting until the last person left in case anyone wanted to talk to Karabo and me alone. Once the room was clear, I began to pack the notes away but lifted my head when Karabo spoke.

"Alpha, aren't you leaving?" Our son looked up surprised and I chuckled. He had probably gotten caught up in his thoughts again and not noticed that everyone was leaving.

"Um – yeah. Dad..." He began to get up but paused when Karabo spoke again.

"Ideas are useless if you keep them in your head."

"I-I know..." Neo replied.

"Good job, though. Once you got into it you just couldn't stop, could you?" I chuckled. Neo looked embarrassed before he grinned.

"I guess after I started speaking I just forgot..." he drifted.

"To stop?" I teased earning a light shove from Karabo but our son just laughed. "I get it. Don't you have training?"

"No..."

"Are you sure?" Neo's face dropped and he looked slightly worried while trying to remember whether he had training as I narrowed my eyes.

"Stop trying to make him panic." Karabo shot me a glare. "Your father's just being an ass."

"Am I?" I smiled at Karabo.

"Right, by now I should know that it's just your default state." He grinned.

"Yeah, you should, Love." I smiled giving him a light kiss.

"I'm gonna go," I chuckled hearing Neo call and looked towards him. He smiled at us as he grabbed his notebook and laptop before disappearing.

"Hey, come back." Karabo reached out to turn my face back to his and I grinned leaning back into him.

"Alpha –" I frowned, annoyed as someone spoke again before our lips could meet and turned to glare at Keanu who gave a sheepish smile. "Just wanted to let you both know we're leaving now." My face softened as I reached out to pat his shoulder. He had turned out to be Nyra's mate.

"Oh, right. Where are my girls?"

"Here," I smiled as Aslinn walked in followed by Nyra. I hugged her as Nyra was caught by Karabo.

The three of them and a few of the other young-adult pack members had decided to take a trip while they were on break. Some of the teens had wanted to join but their schooling schedules did not line up so they would be heading out with chaperones when they did have a break. Karabo and I were still arguing about which Alpha got to go. On one hand, I was not looking forward to keeping track of a bunch of teenagers. On the other hand, the trip sounded fun and I could always find a few hours to myself which would be amazing.

"You have everything, right?"

"Have since yesterday," Nyra replied as I hugged her.

We looked at Aslinn when no response came from her and she looked like she was trying to recall her to-pack and to-do lists. The rest of us laughed as Jayden pat her head. She had become increasingly aloof and free-spirited growing up but that was needed in a family where most of us were so work-oriented and rigid. Aslinn was what convinced us to have fun and pulled all of us out of work when we forgot to eat or take a break. She knew what to do when her little brother was silently stressed and her older sister forgot to go easy on training.

"Yup, I've got everything. Anyway, we're headed out! See you in three weeks! Love you!" Aslinn's squealing caused Nyra to do the same as they grabbed each other's arms and headed out.

"Wait –" Karabo sighed as he spoke too late, the girls were already gone.

"We'll be alright, Alpha." Even Keanu could tell that Jayden just wanted to list out his point of things to be careful with again.

"Take care of everyone." Keanu nodded greeting us before jogging out as well and I sighed leaning back against the desk. It was not the first time the girls would be away, Nyra had basically already moved in with her mate at that point, but it was still hard to be very far away from them. It seemed like just yesterday Nyra was trying to get an eight-month-old Aslinn to walk and play with her.

"Wanna get ice cream?" Karabo asked me.

"Now?" He nodded. "We have work."

"No one will know if we disappear for an hour or so."

"Yes, they will." I insisted.

"Who's gonna know?" His brows rose. "No one knows where we are. They'll just assume we're busy."

I considered it as I looked towards the door. We did have work, but now that he brought it up, I could not imagine not going for ice cream and passing over the time we could have together. He was right, everyone would just assume we were busy with other work and there was nothing essential happening at the moment. I smiled taking his hand.

"Let's go. And no claiming that it's your birthday for the song." My mate never did that around Neo, probably because we all knew he would surely faint at the attention.

"But... Eli... It-it is my birthday." My heart basically stopped as I turned back to him, his face disappointed and almost teary-eyed. I opened my mouth to apologise without even thinking about what month or day it was, only to have him smirk.

"Not funny!" I'd immediately panicked and forgot that his birthday was three months away. He had become ridiculously good at faking facial expressions.

"Yeah, it is. You should have seen your face." He poked my cheek, laughing before pulling me along so we could head out.

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