Chapter 17: Plans

Amelia

Phew! What a relief! I’m about ready to die of mortification when I have to barge into the meeting after it already started, after realizing out in the garage how late it had gotten, and running all the way back down here. In my human form, no less, I couldn’t very well take off my work clothes, run here with wolf speed, and dash down to my room to get dressed again, it wouldn’t really have saved any time.

So I’m out of breath as I dash into my office to grab my meeting materials, and zoom into the conference room. Michael glances at me with annoyance, and I am so, so sorry for letting him down and disrupting the meeting.

He doesn’t say anything, though, just introduces me. It is a little overwhelming to be in this room full of leaders, all men except Dark Woods’ Luna, who seems very nice and gives me a kind smile as she suggests that the meeting resume. It’s a relief to have everybody’s eyes back to their papers rather than staring at me.

I’ve discussed my suggestions in advance with Michael, of course, and he has given me permission to raise them at the appropriate time. I’m relieved when the Alpha and Beta of Dark Woods seem to appreciate my first suggestion about business mergers. I mean, it just makes sense. Why have two entirely separate management teams working on basically the same businesses in the same areas?

I realize partly through the meeting that the pain I had been experiencing earlier, when I was apart from Dominic for a few minutes and it literally gave me a heartache, has not returned. Huh. Was it because we spent time together in the garage? I am absently stroking the area on my neck where he nearly marked me, my fingers smoothing back and forth over my throat, when I realize that the area is still tingling. What is this?

“He might not have marked you,” my inner wolf explains, “but his teeth touched you there, and he wanted to, and this helped the bonding process move further along.”

Interesting. And a relief not to have that stinging pain in my heart. I catch myself again and again during the meeting stroking along the area where, if he hadn’t stopped himself, I would now be wearing a very visible mark, the imprint of his teeth left behind for all to see. It makes me smile to imagine it. It makes me feel like I am closer to him, to touch there, where he touched me.

And strangely, I think it helps me concentrate. The feeling of togetherness with him makes my focus stronger, rather than being distracting as I would expect. It seems that perhaps the mate bond is more than simple lust, or love. It is almost as though it completes me, makes me a better version of myself.

“Yes,” my inner wolf agrees, then is silent.

When we break for lunch, after a very good morning, the leaders all go outside while we wait for the kitchen to bring in sandwiches. I am planning to go over my notes, because Michael has been preparing for this too, and I am sure that there are some points that he is going to want to make. And I have an idea or two of my own.

But Beta Nolan’s assistant comes over to introduce himself. Evan is tall, muscular and blond. He looks like a surfer, although I can’t imagine how he could be, living back in the mountains of the Dark Woods pack. Who knows, maybe he could give it a try while they’re out here on the coast.

When he tells me, with a little smirk, that he is Dominic’s roommate here, I realize what he isn’t saying. He obviously knows that Dominic was out all night last night, and I suppose he may have noticed us together this morning. He knows we must have been together last night too. Hm. People are already noticing, and I’ll bet gossip will be following soon.

Our relationship is progressing very quickly, too. After this morning in the garage, I know that our effort to keep it a secret is doomed to fail. But I’d still like to keep it under wraps at least until Alpha and Luna get back from their retreat. It should only be another few days. I just don’t want it to look like we are trying to overshadow or even share in the spotlight of the leaders. It is a big deal when an Alpha finds his Luna. For us, just normal wolves, it really only matters to us. So I’d still like to keep it quiet.

Theo and Evan and I take the sandwiches from the kitchen crew when they arrive, and bring them out to the patio to serve the leaders, where they are settled on the comfortable patio furniture in the pleasant afternoon sunshine. Once they seem to have everything they need, the three of us take our sandwiches back inside and eat at the conference table.

I really do want to study my notes, but it would be rude to just stare at my notebook while our guest is here, so I participate in the conversation. I am glad when Theo asks Evan if there’s anything he’d like to do while he’s in town. Evan doesn’t seem to have any ideas, but I mention what I had thought of earlier. “Have you ever tried surfing?” I ask him. “There’s some good spots on the beach at Eureka, especially at this time of year.” I know that Theo likes to surf, and I’m pretty sure that I can rely on him to take over this conversation.

Evan’s light colored eyebrows go up, and he says, “No, I’ve never tried, but I’m game.” He smiles at me, and leans a little closer, and says, “Do you surf?”

Theo laughs. “No, we haven’t been able to get her to come, but me and some of the other guys go surfing all the time. We’ll probably go in the next day or two, wanna come? We have plenty of wetsuits and things, we could set you up, teach you a thing or two.”

Evan glances at me, seems to sigh a little, but then looks back over to Theo with a smile. “That sounds great. I’d love to, if my Beta can spare me for a few hours.”

I smile to myself as they carry on with their conversation, and open my notebook to study my notes, nibbling my sandwich and continuing to lightly rub my fingers across my throat.

Theo

Ha! I see it on Evan’s face as he looks over at Amelia. He’s totally got the hots for her. Half the guys in the pack do, but she’s never shown any interest in anybody. She is smart, and quiet, and pretty solitary. For our pack runs she always shows up already shifted into her big dark wolf, apparently preferring to shift in private.

She’s young, but very good at her job. She apparently graduated high school early, and started working for Gamma Michael when she was just seventeen. I think she must have turned eighteen by now, but that’s still awfully young. You wouldn’t know it from hearing her comments during the meeting today. I think all the leaders were impressed to hear her ideas about business mergers and coordinating management teams. I mean, come on!

When the leaders come back in to start the meeting, I’m not surprised when my boss takes over. Malcolm tells the Dark Woods Alpha and Beta, “We really appreciate all of the thought that you put into your proposal. I’ll tell you right now, that I am already inclined to recommend to Alpha Kanen that he accept. I think that a merger would benefit both of our packs.” Ross and Nolan smile and nod. Malcolm goes on, “I have a more immediate concern, though.”

Ross frowns slightly, and says, “Yes?”

Malcolm continues, “The rogues that attacked you on your way in have become more and more of a problem. It is becoming unsafe for our pack to have them out there, and it will especially be difficult once we have finalized our alliance and are traveling back and forth more frequently. I’d like to form a plan to eliminate them.”

Ross lifts his eyebrows over his thick beard. “I see. Do you mean, a battle plan?”

Malcolm nods. “I can’t think of any other way.”

Amelia meets my eyes, looking a bit overwhelmed, maybe even a little alarmed. I’m more excited than anything else. I almost envy Evan and the other Dark Woods pack members, for the fight that they got to take part in on their journey here. I like the idea of finally taking out the rogues, and having a real fight, with real consequences.

The rest of the afternoon is spent talking about the situation with the rogues. We start referring to our plan as the Rogue Battle. We share with them everything we know about the rogue group. As far as we can tell, there are several dozen of them living up in the hills, castoffs from their own packs, who have banded together for both security and crime. They are mostly criminals, that is the main reason that wolves might be exiled from their packs. So they are rule-breakers who can’t get along in society, who have shown disloyalty or other undesirable qualities. They aren’t a pack per se, as they have no true organization. They are just a bunch of scavengers, bothering the rest of us, lurking on the edges of society, planning ambushes and thievery to survive. I agree that we’d be better off once they are eliminated.

I have several suggestions to make, which are taken seriously and noted down by the leaders. Amelia, though, is silent throughout this discussion. I don’t think she feels that she has enough experience with fighting to be qualified to express an opinion.

At the end of the day, when we are wrapping up the meeting, Alpha Ross says, “Well, I think we’ve done about enough today. We should hold a joint pack meeting, tomorrow preferably, to notify the pack about the decisions that are being reached, and to schedule training to prepare for the Rogue Battle.”

Beta Malcolm nods. “We’ll arrange it.” Everyone starts closing their binders, gathering their papers, ready to pack it in for the night. But Amelia says, quietly, “Um, excuse me?”

Gamma Michael pauses what he’s doing, standing over his stack of documents. “Yes?”

“We didn’t talk about Alpha and Luna. Shouldn’t we plan a welcome for when they come back? And a ceremony to recognize their mating?”

The leaders are silent for a moment, meeting each other’s eyes. “Oh, uh, yes, you’re right,” Malcolm says.

I hear Luna Darlene let out a soft chuckle. She looks to Amelia. “Men,” she says to her in a confiding voice. Then she looks over at her mate, who shrugs. Darlene asks Malcolm, “May I offer my services to help coordinate a celebration? I am sure that Amelia and I can plan something quite suitable.” She pauses and looks over at Amelia, then adds, “While the rest of you are all preparing for battle.”

Amelia lets out a cute little gasp, apparently realizing that now she is teaming up with the Dark Woods Luna.

And Evan looks over at her with a speculative smile.