Extinguishing Wildfire
Chapter 23: Alpha Meetings

Alpha Marek

I hadn’t planned on being at the packhouse this weekend as I had better things to do with my time than wait around, but that girl refused to wake up yesterday. I’d have to tell that stupid Beta to go easier on her the next time he decided to slap her around. I couldn’t afford to lose another Alpha blooded Female.

I needed to make sure that girl followed my rules and gave me the heir I needed. My office phone rang startling me out of my thoughts, and I picked up the line seeing it was that idiot bear.

“Is there a reason you’re calling me on a Saturday? You know I prefer being the one who calls you.”

“Alpha Marek, as kind as ever I see. I’m just making sure you got the girl. I have another lead if that one didn’t pan out.” This bear was the biggest idiot I had ever met, but he was useful, so I kept him around...at least for now.

“We have her. I have to thank you, your tip about the cats made it easier for us to get her. Keep proving yourself an asset, and I’ll keep helping you with that little problem of yours.”

“Thank you, Alpha. I’m still working on getting the Council to back down, but don’t worry about them. Most of these packs don’t have an army worth their weight in salt.”

“I hope you’re right about that, Rogers, I wouldn’t want to have to move on to the bear clans next.” The truth was that I would move on to him next either way. I didn’t need any loose ends out there making my life hell.

“Thank you, Alpha. When can I expect payment?”

“My Beta will be in touch.” I hung up before he could say anything else. He was a cocky bastard, so I’m sure he won’t see it coming once I come after him.

‘Alpha, the girl’s awake.’ The mind link interrupted my moment of quiet.

‘Bring her to my office.’ At least Griffin was a good errand boy.

It didn’t take long for them to arrive. The girl still looked a little ragged not having changed out of the clothes she was originally brought in.

“Sit.” I waved her over to the chair in front of my desk.

“I’m certain you’ve been informed why you’re here?” There was no doubt in my mind that Aurora and Larkin would have told her why she was here as soon as they saw she had woken up.

“Yes,” She spoke softly and looked down at her lap. She looked meek, just how I liked them. The meek ones were easier to sway my way.

“Good, we’ll have the mating ceremony at the next full moon. Our last one didn’t go as planned, so we’ll make this one quick and simple.”

She kept her head down and nodded, “Yes, Alpha.” Her voice was soft, but I heard her clearly. She was a pretty little thing, tall and slender with a nice face. I liked that she didn’t talk back like the last girl. If Larkin didn’t take to this one, then it might not be a bad idea for me to mate her myself and cut out the middle man. I’m sure I’m more virile than that sap of a son anyway.

I could easily put a pup in this girl, but I’d have to get rid of Clarissa to legitimize the child. Aurora’s betrothal should be decided within two weeks, and once she’s taken care of, I can get rid of her mother. I’m not even sure why I’ve kept her all of these years. It’s not like she’s healthy enough to fuck. She was never any good in bed anyway, always complaining that I was hurting her. She’s proof that the Moon Goddess doesn’t have our best interest and is just playing us like a chess board.

“You’re to stay in your suite for the time being. I’ll send up the dressmaker on Monday, and I’ll have Aurora show you the preparations for the ceremony. You may go now.” She stood slowly and started to make her way out with Griffin by her side. “Oh…one more thing. Don’t think about crossing me. It won’t end well for you.”

“Yes, Alpha.” She glanced up at me briefly through her lashes before turning around again. I should have gotten this girl first, she’s a lot easier than the first one.

Jordan

My leg finally healed enough for me to be discharged. All but two cat shifters were left now, but they had needed to have a lot of shrapnel removed from their bodies, so even though they were healing, it was a slow process. Hadley had explained that the doctors wanted to keep them until they were completely certain all the metal had been removed from their bodies as even a tiny amount of metal could deter the healing process.

Alpha wanted me to take things slowly today, so I hung out with my sisters. They had a little welcome-back dinner for me and set out a movie night for us in the entertainment area on our floor. The girls knew I needed cheering up as I was missing my mate and still feeling guilty about letting her get taken. Neo was whining almost as much as when Aaliyah first rejected the mate bond. He was giving me a headache, and between the two of us feeling guilty, my heart felt like it was on the verge of breaking all over again.

“Cheer up, man, our first group of foxes arrives tomorrow. It’s almost all over, and we’ll be back home again.” Noah patted my back. He really sounded like he believed what he said. “We’ll get our Luna back.”

Our Luna…I liked the sound of that. My Luna. I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my lips at that thought, and I could sense that Neo felt the same way.

‘Hey, Jordan, you have a few minutes? Can you come up to my office?’ Alpha Kedrick’s voice broke through my thoughts.

‘Yeah, I’ll be right there.’

“I hate to cut this short, but Alpha needs to see me. You guys keep watching the movie, and I’ll be back soon.” I quickly made my way to his office and knocked once before opening the door.

“There you are, come on in and have a seat. I have a conference call, and I wanted you here. Tate and Olivia are joining us as well as two Council members. We’ve found out some important information about one of the Council members and need to work out some things.”

I nodded my head at him and he started up the website. Before long everyone was logged in to the meeting.

“Alright, Kedrick, you said this was urgent, so let’s just have it.” Alpha Dawson who I recognized as the fox shifter who served as head of the Council spoke first.

“Okay, well. As you all know, our pack was attacked a short while ago. Part of the attack was aimed directly at the cats. They used explosives laced with copper and catsbane to weaken them. Very few people outside of those allied with us knew that the cat shifters were staying in our packs. I had only just recently shared that information with members of the Council, so we looked into it, and what we found, while not unexpected, was quite disheartening.”

“Are you trying to say that one of us has betrayed our trust?” Luna Beatrix caught on quickly. Alpha Tate and Olivia didn’t look surprised like the other two so they must know about this already.

“Yes, that’s exactly why I’ve called you. We’ve discovered that phone calls have been made between Alpha Marek and Alpha Keenan. While we can’t be certain of what exactly they’ve spoken about, there is no one else who could have possibly tipped Wildfire off about the cats.”

“Keenan? You’re sure about this?”

“Yes, he can’t be trusted. It makes sense why he’s been working so hard to get us to back down from the fight.”

“We need to let the other Council members know, maybe they know something?” Alpha Dawson seemed lost in thought as he spoke.

“Are you sure they can all be trusted?” Olivia queried the fox alpha, and he seemed to snap back from his thoughts.

“You make a good point. I never expected Keenan would betray us, so I suppose not everyone is to be trusted. How can we make sure no one else is working for Marek?”

Alpha Kedrick chuckled to himself, “I’m already on that. That’s why I only gathered a few of us here today instead of asking for an emergency Council meeting. Once everyone is checked out, we can let them know what is happening, but for now, I suggest we keep this news just to who is here right now.”

A grim feeling washed over everyone on the call, no one expected this from their Council members. Well, maybe Olivia might have as she never liked or trusted the Council, but the others certainly didn’t.

“I do have one more thing I’d like to discuss before everyone goes.” Alpha Kedrick started back up. “They took my sister, so I’d like to get to Wildfire before the next full moon. To do that, we’ll need to start moving our warriors closer to Wildfire starting now.

“With Golden Glen gone, Mistwood is the closest pack to the north of Wildfire. We are smaller land-wise than some of the other packs, but I can start making arrangements to have you all come. I also know of another fox pack down south that might be willing to house some of us for a few days while we travel. Alpha Kenzo down at Yugen Vale.” Alpha Dawson spoke softly as if he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, but he probably did as the main Council leader.

“That sounds great, we can start mobilizing the northern packs to Mistwood and then get the packs in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico can head over to Yugen Vale.” Olivia took charge of agreeing to the plan. It sounded good to me as I was ready to get this over with. The sooner we moved, the sooner we’d get to Marek.

“Sounds like a plan. Once you get the logistics, let us know and we’ll decide what day we need to start heading out. That’s all for now, so thanks, guys.” Everyone but Olivia logged off after that.

“Kedrick, I’ll be heading over there tomorrow. I know you have another training group starting up this week, and I’d like to see how everything is progressing. I also need to check on my cats as I heard a few of them are still recuperating from the attack. Are you sure there’s nothing else I can do for now? I know this can’t be easy for you with your sister having been taken. We got the other girls out, so I’m certain we’ll get Aaliyah back safely. Do you want me to see if any of my cats have any information on her?”

“Sure, that’d be great. Thanks, Olivia, see you tomorrow.” Alpha hung up and swiped a hand over his face, sighing deeply.

“What do you think? Are we ready for this?”

“Yeah, I do. We have the numbers, and the new training regime has been helping. The warriors have never looked better. We have the drive and motivation, Marek has only himself and that will be his downfall.”

“I hope you’re right...now go rest up. We have a busy week, and I need you in top form.” He patted my shoulder and I gave him a smile and a firm nod before getting up. Even though I had gotten injured and Wildfire managed to attack us and take Liyah, I felt confident. This wouldn’t hold us back, and slowly but surely we’d finally end Wildfire.