Authors: Kirsty Moseley
"So if no one wants to take over the only suggestion I can make is that the pack splits to join the two neighbouring packs, we'll expand the territories to cover Trident territory too" I said shrugging.
There was no other option, there were cries of outrage and horror from the crowd.
"No we can't split the pack" people were begging, women started crying. Oh my God!
I held up a hand to stop the noise, "You don't want this pack to split, with a show of hands, who wants this pack to stay together?" I said looking over as almost every single hand shot into the air making my heart sink.
I groaned and looked at my father for help, he moved and sat on the platform next to me. "You really can't run this pack too?" he whispered.
I shook my head "I can't do that to Brook, she's still in school, I can't have two packs right now and then there's Willow Creak too" I said feeling sick. I turned back to the crowd, "Have any of you reconsidered now and would like to stand for Alpha?" I asked hopefully, my question was met with blank stares and no movement at all. "What would happen if the pack had no Alpha?" I asked my father quietly.
He shook his head, "This pack needs a leader, after Alpha Newton they need stability otherwise they're going to go off the rails" he whispered.
"Can I chose someone and make them do it?" I asked hopefully.
He shook his head, "No they have to be willing to take it" he said matter of factly. I groaned and closed my eyes, shit this was bad, I was gonna be stuck with this pack if no one stepped up.
Suddenly I had a thought, "But if they are willing to do it I can step down and appoint someone else?" I asked hope rising in my chest.
My father nodded, "As long as there are no objections from the pack" he said looking at me curiously. Oh God please let this work!
"Ok I have another suggestion, I know of someone who would make an excellent Alpha, he's a really great guy, he's not of age for another month, he was born to be my second but he is more than capable of running a pack, his name is Scott Porter" I said looking over them slowly as that sunk in.
"If I stepped down I could appoint him as Alpha if he was willing to take it provided there was no objections from the pack" I said hopefully. I think Scott would go for this, he never wanted Alpha before but I think he probably never thought about it as he was born to be a second, he would have never thought of challenging for it. "If Scott is willing to take Alpha, would there be any objections to my recommendation?" I asked standing up so I could see better.
I glanced over to Alan he looked pleased with the idea as did everyone else, I think they would take any solution that meant they got to stay together even if I suggested a freaking child run their pack.
They were all nodding enthusiastically, I grinned, shit I hope Scott went for this! "Ok by a show of hands then, all in favour of Scott Porter taking over as Alpha provided he accepts of course" I said a little sheepishly. Every single hand shot into the air, I laughed with relief.
"Ok well like I said Scott's not of age for another month so I'll remain as Alpha until that time then I'll step down, if Scott is unwilling to take Alpha then I really think we'll need to split the pack unless someone wants to step up" I said feeling better than I had felt all morning. "So I'll leave you my number and we'll meet again next week, I need to go and speak to Scott, he's actually in hospital recovering from a gun shot wound at the moment but when we meet next week I'll bring him to meet you all" I said grinning now.
"Alan do you think you could arrange another meeting for Saturday?" I asked.
He nodded "Absolutely Alpha Philips" he said happily.
"Ok guys, well I'll pass my number to Alan and we'll meet again on Saturday, I'll go and speak to Scott right now" I said heading over to Alan and giving him my number. "Thanks for arranging this for me, I appreciate it, I'll be sure to pass my recommendations onto Scott, he'll obviously need some high rankers" I said.
He grinned and nodded "Thank you Alpha Philips" he said proudly, I slapped him on the shoulder and went back to my father and Christian who were talking off to one side.
"This is ok right? Christian you don't want to compete?" I asked curiously.
He shook his head, "I'm not cut out for Alpha" he said sternly.
"Ok well I guess I had better go speak to my best friend and see if he's willing to dig me out of a pile of shit" I said laughing.
I dropped Christian back at his and drove to my fathers house, when I pulled up he didn't get out, he turned to me "Jayden, I know we've never been close and that it's my fault but I just want to go on record and say that I don't think you would have any problems running three packs, I think you'll make an excellent Alpha and any pack would be lucky to have you" he said looking uncomfortable, I sat there in shock.
This was the longest conversation we'd probably had without it being him lecturing me or anything.
I had no idea what to say so I just sat there looking at him, "I'm proud of you son" he said squeezing my shoulder before getting out of the car and walking off quickly. What the hell was that? I shook my head a little dazed and pulled out to go to the hospital praying with every bone in my body that Scott would say yes.
When I walked in he was in human form again which was awesome, Brook jumped on me as soon as I walked through the door, her damn hormones attacking me immediately as she crashed her perfect mouth to mine. I gripped her ass tightly fighting with my wolf, we would have plenty of time for that later I needed to sort out this damn pack situation. I pulled out of the kiss reluctantly making her whimper slightly, "Hey shortie" I said breathlessly, shit I needed her right now!
I pulled her tighter against me just breathing in her scent that was like nothing else in the world,
"Hi, I missed you" she whispered as I nuzzled against her neck kissing around the edges of my mark teasingly being sure to not touch it. She gripped her hands in my hair, "Stop teasing me Jay, It's not fair" she mumbled, I chuckled and pulled away from her before I took her to the nearest empty hospital bed and had my way with her.
"Shortie, Mel, I need to speak to Scott, any chance we could have a couple of minutes?" I asked hopefully, I actually wanted Brook to stay but I didn't want to put any extra pressure on Scott to say yes if he didn't want to. Brook nodded and kissed me again softly before heading to the door with Mel following behind her, I waited until the door shut before sitting in the chair next to Scott.
He was watching me curiously, he was looking tense ready to shift to help me if I was in danger by the look of his hands clenched tight. "Scott, I need to talk to you about something" I said unsure how to start.
He nodded "What do you need Jay?" he asked.
I forced a smile "Well I couldn't step down as Alpha of the Tridents as no one wanted to take over, they don't want the pack to split and join mine or my fathers packs, they want to stay together" I said running a hand through my hair nervously.
He nodded looking thoughtful, "I guess they wouldn't want to split, I can understand that, if someone asked for Willow Creak to split we wouldn't want to either" he said shrugging.
"Yeah I know, I understand but no one wanted to step up for the Alpha position, I spoke to my Father and apparently if I suggest someone to take over and the pack doesn't object then they can take Alpha without competing if they want to" I said skirting around the issue.
He nodded looking thoughtful again, "What about Pete from Bane's Creak? Or my father, he'd be a great Alpha" he said proudly.
I nodded "Yeah he would, but I already had someone in mind actually, I'm just not sure how he's gonna feel about it" I said watching his face.
He laughed "Well why the hell wouldn't he want Alpha, it's a great honour, who was you thinking of someone from Bane's Creak?" he asked curiously.
I laughed and shook my head, "No I was thinking of you actually" I said watching his face change to shock and astonishment. He didn't say anything, "Well what do you think?" I asked after a minute of him just staring at me with wide eyes.
He gulped, "Me? Seriously? But I'm not even of age" he said shaking his head frowning.
"I'll wait for you to be of age if you want it" I said trying to read his face.
"Really? You really think I could be an Alpha?" he asked quietly.
I laughed, "Scott, you could be Alpha with both hands tied behind your back, I know you were born to be second, but I have no doubt in my mind that you could do this, but only if you want to" I said firmly. He frowned looking deep in thought, "It'd be a big responsibility, you'd have to change colleges and move back here, and you've got no mate so you'd be running it on your own" I said throwing in the negatives of running a pack.
"If I took Alpha you'd help me though right? I mean I know you're new to this too but we could kind of help each other right?" he asked hopefully.
Holy shit he's gonna say yes! "Absolutely, you know I would, but you need to think this through properly, do you want to be Alpha of the Tridents?" I asked.
He swallowed loudly and nodded "Yeah ok" he said confidently. I laughed with relief, thank God for that!
"Awesome, well you'd better get yourself healed then because we're meeting them again on Saturday, I'll run it until you're of age officially but we'll start phasing you in before that, you'll need to set up a whole new high ranker system as there's literally no one so I'll let you chose all of them"
I said grinning, he could basically run the pack for a month unofficially and I'll just be spokesperson.
"When are they letting you out?" I asked happily.
"Tomorrow, I just need to keep shifting in small bursts but I feel fine now" he said grinning proudly.
"Ok well I need to take my girl home, I'll come and see you tomorrow at yours and we can sort out everything Alpha Porter" I said nodded respectfully.
He grinned "That sounds fucking weird" he said laughing.
I nodded "You'll get used to it, we both will eventually, thanks for this Scott, you know you really are the best friend a guy could ask for and the Trident pack are lucky to have you" I said honestly.
He smiled "Thanks Jay" he said looking at me gratefully.
"I'll see you tomorrow, no hitting on the hot nurses while your in here" I joked as I made my way out of the door to find Brook.
I found her and Mel sitting in the corridor reading a magazine laughing about some article in there.
"Hey, we're all done" I said sitting next to Brook and wrapping my arm around her shoulder.
"What was that about Jay?" she asked snuggling closer to me.
"I'll tell you leter, wanna go shortie?" I asked hopefully. I really just needed to hold her, I hadn't seen enough of her, we'd only been mated for a week and in that time so many things had happened.
I just needed to spend the day with her glued to my side, I hadn't spent enough time with her yet, mind you even if I spent every minute of everyday with this amazing beautiful girl it still wouldn't be enough. "I'm gonna go back in and see Scott, I'll see you guys tomorrow" Mel said winking at Brook as she left obviously catching on that we needed some private time.
Brook smiled at me and wrapped her arms around my neck gripping her hands into the back of my hair. "I love you so much Jayden" she said making my heart skip a beat.
"I love you too shortie, more than anything" I said honestly as I bent my head and kissed the most perfect girl in the world.
Everything was working out perfectly. I had one pack for now, my best friend was getting better every second and he was going to be Alpha which would be awesome as that means the packs would be closer and run in harmony. And I had the girl of my dreams wrapped tightly in my arms, well that's not strictly true because I don't even think I could dream up a girl as perfect as my mate.
"Let's go home shortie" I whispered.
"Absolutely Alpha Philips" she murmured flirtily making me groan as a thousand lustful thoughts ran through my brain, this girl really was gonna kill me one day.
Brook
Jayden and I had been mated for three perfect years today. Jay had finally qualified as a lawyer even though he hated doing it, he hasn't done one case since he qualified. At the same time as qualifying as a lawyer he qualified as a mechanic and has set up a little business for himself which he loves.
He buys run down old classic cars and fixes them up and sells them on, he does quite well for himself too, but to be honest even if he didn't earn any money at all, the smile on his face when he's talking about buying a car or something that he's done would make everything worth it.
I had finished college now too and was a book editor which had always been my dream. I loved my job and actually worked from home most of the time which was awesome as I got to see Jay every lunchtime when he came home. Not that we ever actually ate lunch in that hour mind you. The passion being mates hadn't subsided one little bit and to be honest I don't think it ever would.
Scott was Alpha of the Tridents and was doing an awesome job at it too, it was hard for him at first, he encountered a lot of problems as the pack had been running wild under Trey for so long that he had trouble reining everyone back in again. Him and Jay had managed to calm things down and they were settled now thankfully. The Tridents and Jay's two packs ran in harmony and everything was great. Jay had taken Alpha of Willow Creak from his father just over two months ago, he was an awesome Alpha, very well respected, no one ever doubted anything he said and everyone looked to him for advise and guidance and I couldn't have been prouder of him.
I stood there looking at myself in the mirror, I could feel the nerves bubbling up. There was over three hundred people out there waiting, I could hear the hum of people talking but I tried not to focus on them.
"Hey Brook, everything ok? It's about that time you know" Paul Porter said as he held out his arm to me. I gulped and straightened my dress for the hundredth time.
"Do I look ok?" I asked turning to face him.