Her Pack by Tamara White
Chapter Four
My matesand I have been talking with various pack members most of the night. Vivienne pretty much sent us all off to meet everyone and introduce ourselves. While all my mates haven’t stuck around me all at one time, I haven’t been left alone for long either. At least one of them has tried to stay by my side, unless they are within eyesight of me.
We’ve been wandering around from person to person, trying our best to assure them that when I am Queen, they will no longer be outcasts but a pledged pack. That they can reach out and create bonds with the other packs.
I’ve managed to leave Jason with Eli while I stumbled off to grab a drink. It’s the first time all night that either my mates, or Jake and Rick have let me go for too long. I think they all missed me, as much as I did them.
As I take a sip of the can of soda, I watch them all mingling with each other, and the pack members. All of them are wearing happy smiles and it causes my own smile to surface. This is how a pack should feel, at ease and happy.
Suddenly a tap on my shoulder has me jerking around in surprise. I was so distracted by my mates that I didn’t hear the two wolves sneaking up on me.
“Oh, hi!” I say in surprise, trying not to let my guard rise too high. I’ve met most of the pack, but these two I haven’t seen so far.
And while Vivienne has introduced me to the pack as their future Queen, it doesn’t mean everyone is gonna like me instantly. The vibe these guys are putting off, says that’s going to be the case here.
The two men opposite me look like night and day. I’m faced with a blond haired male with malicious green eyes. His lips are smiling but his eyes are definitely showing the truth behind the facade. I don’t know what it is about his gaze that unnerves me, but I feel like I should watch my back around this man.
The guy on his right is letting his gaze roam over me, before finally meeting my eyes. His brown eyes are full of mirth, as if he’s laughing at me. What for, I have no clue. I wait for him to say something since it’s clear in his eyes he’s passing judgement of me but it’s his friend who opens his mouth.
“So you’re to be the new Alpha Queen…” The green eyed one says with a barely concealed sneer. “Are you sure you can handle leading the packs when you ran from your own coronation like a scared little child?”
What in the ever loving fuck? How dare he judge me when he has no clue why I left! He may be right, but that still doesn’t give him the right to be so rude and judgemental when he hasn’t even met me. It’s definitely not a good way to introduce one’s self.
My eyes narrow angrily. “Oh, so you’re going to start this introduction not by telling me your name and being polite, but by immediately judging me? You damn well know I’m going to be the Alpha Queen! Coming up to me, rudely I might add, and stating that I’m a child, do you really think that's such a great idea? Especially knowing my position? I may not be vindictive by nature but I won't allow you to disrespect me in such a rude manner when you don’t even know me, nor the circumstances around why I left my coronation.”
Both men look taken aback by my words and I let the anger and rage simmering under the surface to show in my eyes. My wolf demands I make them submit to us, to show them who is really in power here, but I tamp her down enough to think clearly.
I wait for one of them to speak, to apologize but they simply remain quiet staring at me a little shocked. I feel a presence behind me and look over my shoulder to see Vivienne has joined me, her own eyes shining with suspicion and anger.
“Ah, Dani, I see you’ve met my sons’ closest friends,” she says innocently enough but I get the undertone of her words. One of these men could have been the one to betray Eli’s whereabouts to Sonja.
“Yes, they decided to sneak up on me, and then went a step further by insulting me. Not very smart to insult the person who will one day rule over them.”
Both of the men appear annoyed by my words but don’t deny it. They know I’m going to be Queen and obviously have a problem with it. Why else would they have greeted me the way they did?
“I would expect such behaviour from you Hudson,” Vivienne says her eyes on the green eyed idiot. “I thought you’d be better, Blaise. After all, you have a mate and I can imagine if Eli treated her the way you have treated Dani, you would be severely pissed off and challenge him to appease your wolf at the slight in her honor. What makes it okay for you to treat Dani with such disrespect?”
Just how much did Vivienne hear before she came over?
The less intimidating of the men looks chastised by Vivienne’s words. His head is bowed slightly and his brown eyes are no longer filled with laughter but shame.
He raises his eyes to mine. “I’m sorry, Danielle. What Vivienne said is right. Hudson shouldn’t have spoken to you like that and I shouldn’t have allowed him to. I hope you will forgive me and give me a chance to earn your respect. I promise I’m not a dick all the time.”
He offers me a cheesy smile. My instincts say to believe him but the wolf in me tells me to make him suffer. I stuff my inner wolf back down and refuse to let her have the reins. I need diplomacy right now, not to let childish instincts cause more trouble than needed. I’m supposed to be queen. I need to start acting like it.
“I accept your apology, this time. Disrespect me again, I won’t be so understanding. With that said, I would love to meet your mate sometime,” I offer, trying to take the sting out of my words. I meant it, though.
It wasn’t him after all that disrespected me. He simply just let his friend say such things to me. Everyone deserves a second chance. And for all I know, he disapproves of his friend but Hudson is one of those people who demands everyone around them have their opinion. Maybe Blaise is just a people pleaser. I don’t know but I will give him the benefit of the doubt this time. If Hudson apologizes too, then I will offer him a clean slate as well. It’s only fair.
“I would love for you to meet my mate, Alpha. I’ll talk to Eli about setting up a time, if that’s acceptable?”
“Excellent, I look forward to it.”
I turn my gaze to Hudson, my glare intense as I wait for him to speak. When he doesn’t apologize, my wolf overrides me, the need to make him submit to me is her only desire. Power rolls off me in waves and from my peripheral I see Blaise drop to his knees unable to remain standing. Vivienne also drops to the ground, as do the wolves that are close in proximity to us but Hudson fights it.
I fight to get my wolf under control, but she’s not having it. There is something about this man that makes her want his submission.
Sweat is beading on his forehead as he strains to fight the compulsion but he will cave sooner or later.
My wolf is clearly in control so I let her get her point across, her thoughts flowing through me and into words.
“I don’t like using my power,” I say slowly, each word enunciated with the power of my wolf behind them. “But I also don’t like being challenged. First, you imply I am nothing but a child, then when I wait for an apology for your insult, you challenge me? Are you really so ignorant to think that you, a mere wolf of this pack with no standing, are stronger than your Queen? That you could even begin to comprehend the power I hold?”
I can see the sweat on his brow as he meets my gaze defiantly. The way his lips are pressed tightly together tells me just how much pain he’s in. Still he refuses to break.
“I don’t want to hurt you, but you decided to challenge me with your gaze, to challenge my position as not just your future Queen, but the Alpha wolf I am. Once you give in, the pain will stop.”
After a long tense moment, Hudson finally lowers his gaze muttering under his breath. “Sorry, Alpha.”
Immediately my wolf lets go of her control, and the power subsides as quick as it began. Everyone in the area who had dropped at my Alpha waves, gets to their feet and people mutter about my power and strength with awe and excitement.
Eli suddenly appears at my side, his body vibrating with anger. “What happened?” he demands, glaring at his friends and glancing at me with concern. “Are you okay, Dani?” his gaze darts to his mother. “What did I miss?”
It’s sweet the way he’s worried for me. Rather than letting Vivienne tell Eli all that occurred, I hurry to explain. “There was just a small misunderstanding but we’re all good now.” I reassure him as he wraps an arm around my shoulders protectively as if he can shield me from his friends.
“What kind of misunderstanding?” Eli asks, his voice filled with doubt.
“Oh, nothing. But I think it would be great if we could catch up soon, as I’d love to meet Blaise’s mate.”
Eli glances between myself, Blaise, Hudson and his mother but neither one of us offers up an explanation as to what really happened. After a few moments of silence, Eli sighs, understanding we’re not gonna elaborate.
As far as I’m concerned, Hudson’s submission and Blaise’s apology means a clean slate. Which means pretending that what just happened, didn’t happen at all.
“Fine, no one wants to explain, then I’ll drop it.”
The tension that was in Hudson and Blaise immediately disappears. It makes me question just how Eli would react if he knew of the way they treated me. Would he hurt them? Or would there be some kind of pack punishment? I’m not too sure really which is something that bothers me deeply. I was away from the packs all my life so I really have no clue how everything is run.
At the moment, I’m running on pure instinct but that is only going to get me so far. I need to know exactly what rules or structure the packs hold. To understand just what needs to be done to make all our lives better.
Thinking really hard, I try to draw out the information Vivienne planted in my mind, but nothing pops up to explain the mechanics of pack life.
I sigh, the long night enough to tire me out. “Well, as nice as it was meeting you two boys, if you don’t mind, I would like to have a little time with my mates before the night is over.”
Vivienne clears her throat loudly when no one moves. “Well, you heard the woman, leave the Alpha Queen to be with her mates.”
At that, Hudson and Blaise both give Eli and I a respectful nod, before turning around and leaving us alone. Vivienne winks at me as she too walks away and the rest of my mates join Eli and I.
None of them bring up the encounter I had with Eli’s friends but I can guarantee there will be a time later where we have no choice but to discuss it. They won’t let it drop forever.
And when we do discuss them, I’m going to have to broach the subject of Hudson. I think that if one of them gave Eli up to Sonja, it had to be him. His disposition just screams hostile towards me and my position.
Blaise, however, I think his intention was to test me as Eli’s mate but it went from bad to worse when Hudson opened his mouth.
Who knows, maybe I’m wrong and they’re both innocent and it was just the tension of the night getting to everyone. At least I hope so. I would hate to think one of Eli’s friends ratted him out.
I understand it must be hell for every pack member in existence to know that a girl who has yet to turn eighteen is their soon to be Alpha Queen but there’s nothing I can do about that. I can’t exactly magically make myself older, or give myself more knowledge of the packs. Vivienne’s download of information doesn’t seem to bring everything to mind, only snippets when I least expect it. I have no idea how to make myself more appealing to the packs because apparently my bloodline only means something to certain people, not all. I need a way to show them I am capable of leading when the time comes.
None of that matters right now though. I put all thoughts of the pack to the back of my mind and focus on my mates and the fact that even though I ran from them, ran from the ceremony that would bind us together and make me Queen, they still came here for me. They could have refused, but they didn’t. Something that I am eternally grateful for and will spend my life showing them how much it means to me.
