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“Sledge, can you get the other guys in the conference room? I think we need to talk about this new development and how we need to move forward.”
“Oh! You have an idea?” Sledge asks me in shock. “I didn’t know we were going to have a plan already. This is linked to Clara, right?”
I nod. “Right, and I think I know how to make this easier on all of us. I just need us all to meet in the conference room, all right?”
He nods, taking control of everything, allowing me to step away into the shower. I need to be washed and all powerful. I need to take control of this situation so I can display what we need to do in the right way. I need the guys on board with me.
By the time I’m washed and walking back to my room in a towel, I’m feeling much better. Still tired as fuck, of course, but maybe after this meeting, I can actually get some sleep. Knowing that I have my guys on my side, and that I’ll be looked after, will help.
I get dressed in my sharpest suit and I take my seat at the head of the table, drumming my fingers on the table while I wait. Much to my surprise, Adam is the first one to make it in. Considering he was in a terrible state last night, I’m sure he’s feeling like shit today.
“Whoa, Adam, you good?” He’s pale, a little green, and moving slowly. I can tell his body isn’t working the way he wants it to. “Did you have fun last night?”
“Urgh, don’t talk to me about last night,” he groans as he staggers over to the table. “I don’t know what happened to me. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” I laugh. “We’ve all been there.”
“Urgh, yeah and I don’t know how. I don’t know why. This is horrible.”
He rests his forehead on the table while one of the maids brings him a coffee and water as well. I hope he can get that down him because he’s going to need it. Since he was with Sledge when they saw the alpha ceremony, I need him on top form.
“Hey, I’m here,” Cain calls out as he joins us too. “I’m here for whatever this mystery meeting is. You ready to fill us in yet, Mason?”
I shake my head while he sits. “Not until Sledge is here too.”
“But it’s about Clara, right?” Adam croaks while trying to drink water. “That’s why we’re here. Because we need to do something about her pack.”
I can nod to that one. “Yes, and I think I know the right way we can handle this. I think I might have figured out the right way to solve all our problems.”
Why aren’t Cain and Adam looking at me? It’s almost like they’re purposely trying not to meet my eyes which is weird. I don’t know what this could mean. Maybe they think I won’t be able to make a sensible decision because of my feelings for Clara. They might be a little bit right about that. This isn’t the way I normally go about things. I usually react with violence, to puff out my chest, and let Chicago know that we’re the pack to be looked up at all the time. But I can’t do that here, I just can’t. It isn’t right.
“I know what I’m doing,” I declare, doing my best to reassure them. They don’t need to tell me how they’re feeling, I can just see it on their faces. “I’m not going to do anything that affects our pack here, I hope you know that.”
“Clara is just different, isn’t she?” Cain murmurs. “I think we can all see that.”
So they have seen it, too. They know that she’s my mate? That pleases me greatly. It means my suspicions are correct. She is the one for me, which only makes this so much more delicate. We have to do it right, we have to make this work.
“Yeah, she is different,” I agree smilingly. “But we can make that work for us.”
Adam continues to noisily sip his coffee, trying his best to drown his sorrows. I don’t think that’s going to work, though. If anything, he’s looking sicker by the second. I don’t know if he’s even going to make it through the meeting.
“Hey, I’m here.” Sledge sounds happy as he finally joins us. He has a look of hope sparkling in his eyes which makes me feel good. It means he trusts me. “We can start.”
I wait until we all have drinks before I do anything. I try to work out how to word this properly, how to make this make sense to them all. In the end, the best thing that I can do is just begin already. Just let the words come.
“So, we all know that Clara and her pack are a problem, right?” I start, darting my eyes around the table. They are all nodding. “And we need to stop them before they become a larger pack once more. I thought that Brian was the issue originally, but now I think it’s all of them. They don’t know how things work in Chicago, and I don’t know if they are willing to learn either. I don’t know if they will ever get it.”
“So, what are you saying?” Adam insists. “That we need to drive them away?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. I don’t think we will be safe, even if we do end up driving them away. We need to sort this out a different way.”
“We aren’t going on another rampage, are we?” Sledge asks. “Because I don’t know if that’s something that we can keep doing. Not without raising suspicion and making the other packs realize what we’re doing. We don’t want them to team up at the end.”
I sigh heavily. “No, I know, Sledge. That wasn’t what I was thinking. I have another idea.”
“Okay, let’s hear it.” Cain cocks a knowing eyebrow. “I’m intrigued.”
“It’s related to the necklace, the one with the stone in it. The one that she wears all of the time.” I touch my chest as if I’m going to feel it there. “I think there is more to it than just a necklace. I think there’s a lot more to it. It might actually be an ancient power, passed down through generations of her family to keep them in power and in control. And I think that power might actually have something to do with the lycanthrope curse.”
