Crossing Paths With The White Wolf

Helios POVContent from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

Natalia kept fidgeting nervously while we waited at the front of the house after we got word that the council was at the gates. We saw Celeste, Markus with Gillian and Danny coming to join us from the side and she relaxed a little more. I know she didn't like one of the councilmen and preferred to have Celeste as back up. I didn't like him very much either. He came across very crass and disrespectful. He was one of the first to push back on sanctioning us as a pack and hadn't seemed happy when it was approved. Theo, Sebastian and Gonzalo joined us on the steps. "All of them are here?" Markus asked as we saw the two SUVS coming toward us.

"Yes, and they specifically asked for you to be here, despite having informed them that you would be present," I told him. I found it odd that they wanted to make sure they were here. They were our sponsors, until our probationary period was done, they were to be involved in all dealings with the council.

"Odd, but we're here, so we'll find out soon," Markus shrugged.

The SUVS came to a stop and the five councilmen stepped out, which made me curious as to who was in the other SUV. The Vampire Royals wouldn't be traveling in the middle of the day.

"Alpha Helios, Alpha Markus," Councilman Eric greets us while bowing to Natalia and Celeste.

"Councilmen, thank you for coming on short notice. We can show you to your rooms before we begin our meeting," I said.

"I'm afraid we have a small deviation from the agenda Alpha Helios. We have an outstanding issue we would like to address with Alpha Markus and Luna Celeste," Councilman Matthias' words stopped me from making my way inside. "What do you mean?" Markus asked, his frame tensing up.

The SUV is opened by one of their guards and I instantly notice the shift in Celeste and Markus' auras. There are waves of anger rolling off both of them. A slender pretty blonde is brought out in silver cuffs.

"We've had her passport flagged for a while now and we detained her a few days ago on her way to her restaurant, which she appears to be trying to sell," Councilman Mattias said, "We thought we would give you a chance to face her before we bring her up on charges."

I wasn't exactly sure what she had done, but from the way the anger was rolling off of Markus and Celeste, and the others from Crescent Moon, I could tell this woman was an enemy of the entire pack. I looked back at the woman, who was doing her best to stand up straight and proud, but I could tell she was struggling with their powerful auras.

Markus finally spoke, "You betrayed the friendship we had with your father. We allowed you into our grounds, unrestricted, and you used that token of friendship to assist our enemies to spy, plan and hurt my pack. You made an attempt on my Luna and caused the death of a pack member. For what? For some deluded plan that I would one day take you as my Luna? Your privileges and my friendship were never anything more than respect for your father."

"That Omega should have never been made Luna. I am the daughter of an Alpha. I am the right woman for you and if you hadn't found her, I would have helped you see that," she spat and everyone growled at her words. Who the f**k did she think she was? Before anyone could say anything in response, she kept talking. "I, Marcie Giordano, challenge the Luna of Crescent Moon for her title and mate."

There were more growls heard everywhere, including Gabriel and my own warriors. Everyone was as loyal to Crescent Moon as they were to my pack after all the help they had provided us.

"You can't challenge a pregnant Luna," Councilman Eric said.

"It's OK, councilman. I accept," Celeste's happy voice made all of us whip our heads towards her.

"Celeste no, she could hurt the pup," Markus said.

"She won't get a chance to. This b***h is the reason Ruby is dead. She doesn't deserve a chance to argue her case and try to use her father to get her out the punishment she deserves," she said with fury in her voice. As worried as I was that she would get hurt, I actually felt sorry for this Marcie. Being the target of Celeste's fury, power and aura was not something I ever wanted to experience again and she had never looked at me with that much hate. I looked over at Marcie and she seemed to be hesitating as well. I think her plan had been to get a stay at her trial until after Celeste gave birth and she could have her challenge. Likely, she was hoping she could get away before then. Markus and Celeste's eyes glazed over as they talked it over. We all waited in silence for a few minutes until their eyes cleared and Markus looked to be in pain. "Trust me, my love," Celeste coo'd.

"My Luna accepts the challenge," Markus said through gritted teeth. We walked to the grounds and sat near the entrance. "Nat, I trust Celeste, but..."

"I

I got you, Markus. I won't let anything happen to her or your son," Natalia said. She was already sitting at the edge of the training barrier, ready to act. I gave her hand a kiss and dropped it. I wasn't about to distract her if she needed to run.

Marcie's silver cuffs were removed and she walked into the training ring. "Shouldn't Celeste change out of that skirt?" I asked, worried about her mobility. Markus sighed, "She said she wouldn't need to."

"Trust her, Markus. Our Luna has been training for months now. She's got some good moves," Danny said from behind. He had a look of pride and excitement on his face. It felt like he alone knew what Celeste was capable of.

I turned back around as Councilman Matthias spoke. "The challenge for the title of Luna of Crescent Moon can begin."

Celeste spread her legs a little and it was incredulous to see a pregnant she-wolf getting ready to spar. I could feel the tension coming from all of us as Marcie extended her claws. Celeste, however, looked calm and even happy. "You're going to have to charge first, dear. You can't really expect me to run in this condition, do you?" Celeste taunted and Danny was struggling not to laugh.

Marcie let out a growl and rushed at Celeste. My heart stopped and I held my breath as I saw her swing at Celeste's throat, but Celeste easily dodged it and grabbed Marcie by the throat and slammed her to the ground. Marcie didn't get back up. It took me a moment to realize what happened and notice the bright red liquid filling and spilling out of the space where Marcie's throat used to be. I looked at Celeste and she was holding Marcie's throat in her hand. She calmly dropped it on top of Marcie's stomach and began walking towards us. Markus jumped over the barrier and ran to her as the rest of us just stared in shock.

Danny whooped as he grabbed a towel and gave it to her as she approached. She cleaned her hands and looked at the councilmen and calmly said with a smile, "We can continue with why you're here, councilmen?"

I instructed someone to dispose of her body accordingly after the councilmen came out of their shock and we began walking back to the packhouse. "Danny was right, you know?" I said to her. She c****d her head at me in confusion and I grinned, "You're getting bloody scary, Luna," I teased and she chuckled. Markus groaned, "Don't encourage this Helios. I almost had a heart attack."

We went into the packhouse and I led them to the conference room. I looked back at where Markus had stopped a few feet back as I let the councilmen file in, his arm was around Celeste and his eyes were glazed over. I stopped Natalia from going in and she looked confused until she noticed Markus' face beginning to look angry. When his eyes cleared, he said, "Gentlemen. I need to borrow Alpha Helios and his Luna for an urgent matter. It won't be but for a minute," and looked at Danny and Gillian, who nodded and went inside. I closed the door and walked into the adjacent sound-proof room. Gabriel and Zack were on guard outside. I instructed Theo, Sebastian and Gonzalo to go in and let me know if they needed anything through mind link. "What's going on?" I asked him.

"Evergreen is on his way. He's found a connection from the corporation to one of the councilmen," he growled. "Which one?" I asked.

"Councilman John?" Natalia suggested. Markus nodded, "That man rubbed me the wrong way from the moment I met him and he always looks at you like..." She shivered and Celeste agreed with a nod of her head. "I'll have some guards ready outside. How do you want to handle this?" I asked him before I quickly asked my bears to wait for us outside the conference room.

"We start with the councilman. There's no reason why we would tell him everything before we put him in cuffs." His eyes glazed and we heard a nock on the door. "That's Evergreen. Tuli, stay behind me in case he tries to make a run for it," he said, and Celeste simply nodded.

I looked over at Natalia and she also nodded, threading her hand through mine. We walked out of the room and into the conference room. "Our apologies. We have some last minute information for you that we feel we should get out of the way before we continue. I will let Alpha Markus' security tech explain," I said as Evergreen plugged his laptop into the TV.

"Councilmen. When the leader of the rogues attacked Guardian Moon, we found a bunch of electronics on his person and in his vehicles. Since the attack took place before 5 in the morning, I held off sending the request for your presence to a more reasonable hour. I had about 3 hours to crack the security on the devices before I did. I managed to download about 90% to 100% of each of their contents by then." I wanted to roll my eyes in amusement at his humble brag, but refrained as I watched Councilman John begin to shift uncomfortably. "About 5 minutes after I sent you the email, the devices were wiped remotely. On a hunch, I focused my efforts on his personal phone and email and I found these." He pulled up several text records and emails between Shane and Councilman John detailing complaints of kidnapping activities and how they needed to be more careful to collect shifters from non-sanctioned packs, as he couldn't keep sweeping these requests for investigation under the rug. There were follow-up responses from Shane reminding him of their agreement and letting him know of bonuses that would hit his account for his troubles.

"This is lies. Fabrications," he spat as he stood up, "You will not accuse me of these vial things. I have been a member of the council for over three decades. You will show me respect." He stomped over to the door to find my bears blocking the way. He turned around, sweating and his face red.

"I also thought perhaps this wouldn't be enough to prove this councilman, so I started poking around. I found your bank accounts from abroad," Evergreen said as he pulled up several emails with these bonus conversations side by side to bank accounts with corresponding deposits for the same amounts from Siorai Pharmaceuticals. One dated back to where Shane's dad was still CEO. I had to give it to Evergreen. He was good. The man earned the right to humble brag in my book.

"Alpha Helios, do you perhaps have some room in your cells?" Councilman Matthias said as anger radiated from all of them. Councilman John growled and began shifting in the conference room. I pushed Nat behind me and shot a quick current of electricity at him. I had found in my fight with Shane that I no longer needed my staff to use my power. Not enough to kill him, but enough for him to stop shifting and twitch on the ground a little. My bears came in and dragged him in silver cuffs towards the cells.

I looked out the window and saw the sun beginning to set. "Shall we have dinner and continue this once the Royal family arrives? We've already had a bit of a long day," I suggested, and we all went towards the dining room.

After dinner, we were all chatting amicably while we waited for the vampire to show up. We were talking about Celeste's upcoming wedding when the gate guard linked me of the Royals' arrival. We went outside to wait for them and when the Queen stepped out, I felt Gonzalo stiffen behind me.

'What's wrong?' I asked.

'I thought you said it would only be the King and Queen?' He hissed through the link.

'This is the King and Queen. Queen Karissa and her Beloved, King Armand. They have been the reigning couple for the last 150 years. What's going on with you?' I answered, as the councilmen began introducing themselves.

'I met Queen Karissa once, before she was Queen, in the job in Sicily. It did not go well, but maybe she doesn't remember me," he said uneasily. s**t, this could complicate things.

'We'll talk later. Try not to call attention to yourself,' I said. I approached the King and Queen with Natalia at my side. "Welcome to Guardian Moon. I apologize for the disarray. We have a lot of repairs to be done after the attack. This is my Luna, Natalia." I chose to leave the guys out of the introductions. I could always claim nerves later. He had changed since Sicily. For one, he wasn't a werewolf back then. His body had not been as big or as filled out as it was now and he had long hair back then, but a name had ways to trigger memories.

Thankfully, Evergreen took over the conversation once we were discussing the situation, fielding question after question about everything he'd discovered, with the rest of us supplementing the story as needed with our experiences. The Queen promised to send two of their best warriors to assist in taking down the remaining locations in a month after one of them finished her current assignment. Once we explained the issues with Councilman John, we had to face the reality that some of the remaining players may already be in the wind and this project may take a while to complete. Evergreen was tasked to try to find as many people involved through all the data we had collected in the last few months. We were given the reigns, support and funds to move on all of the locations as quickly as we could. In addition to the Queen's warriors, the councilman promised to send 15 recruits for us to train and add to our roster for this project, as well as support from the councils found abroad.

We finished the meeting at around 4 in the morning. The Royals retreated to their rooms, which were in the basement, to provide them with the best protection from the sun as they slept. They had brought a few human guards for the daytime. We gave them a wide berth and let them do their thing. They left the following night without incident and without giving Gonzalo a second thought.

I made a mental note to ask Gonzalo about how he had met the Queen, but I wasn't sure if it would do any good. He rarely spoke of his time in Sicily and when he did, he never went into detail. The way we had found him after he'd gone missing was enough to respect his wishes, but if this complicated our work, I might have to push the issue.