Alpha Theo by C.J. Primer
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Theo
“I don’t wanna go to this damn meeting,” I grumble, steering onto the road that leads to the six-pack territory.
“You have to,” Brooke murmurs against my knuckles. She’s got her fingers intertwined with mine, holding our hands together up by her face. She keeps pressing little kisses to the back of my hand with her plush lips, sparks sizzing on my skin. I fucking love it.
“I’d rather go back with you, help you unpack.” I cast her a sideways glance, waggling my eyebrows suggestively.
She rolls her eyes, dropping my hand and giving me a playful little shove. I fake a swerve, the tires of the Jeep squealing a little- or was that my girl in the passenger seat? Either way, I laugh as she throws her hands on the ceiling to brace herself, then folds her arms across her chest, pouting.
“C’mon,” I sigh, reaching over to set my hand on Brooke’s thigh. “Help me come up with an excuse to ditch this meeting.”
She slides her own hand under mine, lacing our fingers together again. “Nope, you’ve gotta go.” Her hair swishes around her face as she snaps her head sideways to look over at me. Then she drops her voice low, impersonating mine. “Sorry kid.”
I let out a laugh- fuck, she’s funny. And gorgeous. And smart. And how the hell did I get so lucky, again?
“Why are you dreading this meeting so much anyways?” Brooke asks, giving my hand a little squeeze.
I heave a sigh. “Council meetings are the fucking worst, babe. It’s just a bunch of old men, stuck in their ways, arguing with us young bucks about what’s best for the pack.”
Admittedly, I haven’t attended a ton of these meetings since I’m not technically on the council for the six-pack yet, but every one I have has been exhausting. The council is made up of the alphas from each pack and their betas, but when they come together to deal with security issues, I have the joy of attending since I help run the squad.
“It can’t be that bad,” Brooke sighs. “I mean, Gray and Reid are on the council, and Brock will be taking his dad’s seat soon…”
“Next moon,” I mutter.
Brock’s dad, Alpha Rowe, is stepping down to allow him to take over the Riverton pack as Alpha. Meaning Jax and I are the last two of our group waiting to take control of our packs- unless you count Chase, Alpha Vaughn’s son, but the kid’s only seventeen; he’s not even part of the squad yet.
“I bet you’ll be next,” Brooke says encouragingly, giving my hand another squeeze. “So you’d better get used to these council meetings!”
I chuckle wryly. “Yeah, maybe.”
If only Brooke knew how much of an asshole my dad is about the transition of power. And now, to add insult to injury, Cory’s on the council as his beta- because somehow, he’s mature enough to help lead the pack even though he’s years younger than me.
Yeah, I’m bitter.
“Just imagine when it’s all of you on the council,” Brooke chirps.
“If it was all of us, we wouldn’t even have to have this meeting,” I say. “We’d all agree to align with Denver, do what needs to be done.”
She purses her lips. “You think they’ll push back?”
I grunt. “Definitely.”
“Well…” Brooke pauses, considering. “Make sure you speak up, tell them what it was like when everything went down in Denver. How scary it was.”
“And sound like a total pussy?” I scoff.
“You weren’t scared?”
I press my lips together in a tight line. “At first, yeah.”
In the beginning, I was fucking terrified- not of the shadow pack itself, but because Brooke was there. I was more afraid for her safety than anything else.
I turn onto the road to Goldenleaf, glancing over at Brooke. “You want me to drop you off at the complex, or do you wanna ride with me to the packhouse?” I ask.
Her lips curve into a smile. “Packhouse. Gotta catch up with Fallon.”
“You’re not gonna tell your sister I swiped your v-card, are you?” I groan.
“Ugh!” Brooke slaps my chest with the back of her hand. “Do you always have to be so crude?”
I waggle my eyebrows. “It’s part of my charm, baby.”
She rolls her eyes, chuckling softly.
“Hey, I just don’t wanna get punched in the face again,” I laugh. “Or kicked in the nuts.”
Brooke points a finger at me, narrowing her eyes. “Then you’d better behave,” she teases.
After a few minutes, we roll into the driveway of the packhouse in Goldenleaf and I grab our bags out of the back seat, slinging them over my shoulders and walking around the Jeep. Brooke’s waiting on the other side, tying the laces of her sneakers. I don’t know why she always takes her shoes off on road trips- it’s just another one of her little quirks that I find cute as hell.
I scoop an arm around her waist as soon as she bends up, her backpack nearly falling off my shoulder in the process. She makes a little ‘umph’ sound when I stamp my lips down over hers, stealing a kiss while I still have the opportunity.
I’ll never get tired of kissing this girl. Every time is like the first time. Her eyes slam shut, her lips parting. She winds her arms around my neck and gives herself over to me. I feel the heat of her body against mine, the softness of her tongue twining with my own. A single kiss and my dick’s already hard.
Reluctantly, I break the kiss, gazing down into Brooke’s ocean blue eyes. Then I place a hand on the small of her back, guiding her down the front walk to the door of the packhouse.
“About time!” Gray calls as I follow Brooke inside, looking up to see him jogging down the stairs. “I thought you guys would be back an hour ago.”
I toss the keys to the Jeep in his direction and he snatches them out of the air, sliding them into the pocket of his jeans.
“You ready?” he asks, clapping his hands and rubbing his palms together.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I grumble.
Gray and I say quick goodbyes to our girls and head out, climbing back in his Jeep to drive to Stillwater. The council rotates who hosts the meetings and their locations, and it’s Reid’s turn to host in his pack’s town. It isn’t too far from Goldenleaf, but when we pull up to the Stillwater packhouse, it becomes apparent that we’re probably the last to arrive- the driveway’s full, and the street out front is packed with vehicles. I recognize my dad’s SUV and my stress levels immediately elevate.
“C’mon,” Gray urges, hustling me out of the Jeep and across the packhouse lawn. We walk inside to find everyone gathered in the great room to the right of the foyer, perched on couches and chairs to form a half-circle.
Reid strides over to greet us, wrapping his hand around Gray’s and slapping his back in a bro-hug, then doing the same to me.
“Are we the last ones?” Gray asks under his breath.
Reid nods, leaning in. “No worries. Jax walked in two minutes ahead of you.” He turns, gesturing for us to follow him from the foyer to the great room. Gray and I find a couple of empty chairs near his own beta, Deke, and sink down onto them, looking to Reid expectantly since he’s the host of tonight’s meeting.
“Alright,” Reid barks, clapping his hands together. “Looks like we’re all here, so let’s get started. As most of you know, there was an incident yesterday with the shadow pack hacking the Denver pack’s servers, potentially compromising their security systems.”
I glance around the room to see everyone nodding solemnly- at least they’re taking this threat seriously.
“Since Theo was there when it happened, I’m gonna yield the floor to him.”
Wait, what?
My head snaps back to look at Reid. A little heads-up would’ve been nice. He just nods, gesturing for me to join him at the front of the room.
I blow out a breath, rising from my chair and shoving my hands in my pockets as I trudge over to where Reid’s standing. I spin back around to face everyone, swallowing hard when I see them all looking to me expectantly.
I clear my throat. Collect my thoughts. “What happened in Denver could’ve been a lot worse,” I begin. “They’re still investigating how much of their information was compromised, including their location, but they were really lucky that they caught the hack early and were able to shut it down.”
I shift my weight, looking out at the people gathered. I try to avoid eye contact with my dad, who’s resting his chin on his hand, a judgmental glint in his eye.
“The point is, this threat could be coming to our door at any time, and we need to shore up our defenses,” I say. “We need to increase our numbers on our own IT unit to ensure that something similar doesn’t happen here, and we need to stand with Denver when it comes to a physical threat. If we have their back, they’ll have ours.”
A few grumbles rise up from the crowd.
Alpha Damian, Jax’s dad, speaks up first. “We can’t afford to send our squad to Denver and leave our own territory defenseless.”
“Definitely not,” my own dad mumbles in agreement.
Gray rises to his feet, holding up a hand. “We wouldn’t be leaving the six-pack without protection. We’d leave an appropriate number of skilled fighters behind and call in our reserves just in case.”
Several members of the council mumble their disagreement.
Brock’s dad, Alpha Rowe, shakes his head. “I don’t like it.”
I raise my voice. “Listen, we already know we’re outnumbered when it comes to the shadow pack.”
The others quiet, looking to me.
I go on. “With Denver, we can nearly double our manpower. That could be the difference between winning and losing.” I draw a deep breath, Brooke’s beautiful face flashing in my mind. Mate. “And I don’t know about you guys, but if this war comes, losing isn’t an option for me.”
I look around at the council members, my gaze stopping when it meets my father’s intense stare. I’m certain that’s disapproval etched across his face, until he speaks up.
“My son’s right,” he grumbles, leaning forward. He doesn’t look at me when he says the words, but to the other older alphas instead. “If sending our fighters to Denver when the time comes means they’ll send theirs here, then it’s a deal worth making.”
Wait- did my dad just agree with me on something?
“But,” he continues, and I blow out a breath, shaking my head. There’s always a ‘but’.
“We need to develop a more sound strategy for who we send and when we send them,” he finishes.
Gray nods. “Definitely. Squad leadership can prepare a detailed strategy to present at our next meeting.”
My dad grunts his assent, leaning back in his chair.
I clear my throat to speak again. “Like I was saying before, I think we also need to increase the numbers in our own IT unit. Each of you know your own packs best, so put the word out at your next run, ask for volunteers, then make recommendations to us.”
Reid steps up beside me, clapping me on the shoulder. “Theo’s been working with the IT unit for the past month or so, so you can bring your recommendations directly to him.”
I nod, folding my arms across my chest.
The council argues a little bit more about the alliance with Denver before someone finally suggests that they call it a night and people begin filing out of the packhouse. In the end, only me and my boys are left- Gray, Reid, Brock, and Jax.
The five of us start cleaning up, grabbing the chairs that were moved from the dining room into the great room for the meeting.
“That went well,” Jax jokes, carrying two chairs at a time, one under each arm.
“Fuckin’ grumpy old men,” I mumble, taking the chairs from him and sliding them in at the table.
Reid brings the last of the chairs to the table, setting them down. “At least we’ll have one less in a couple weeks, eh Brock?”
I snort. “Please. He’s just as grumpy.”
Brock furrows his brow and shoots me a glare, only further proving my point. I let out a laugh, shaking my head. The guy needs to lighten up.
Reid disappears into the kitchen, emerging a few moments later with his hands full of beers.
“Oh hell yeah,” Jax breathes, first in line to grab a beer from Reid. He uses the hem of his t-shirt to twist off the bottle cap, bringing it to his lips and taking a long swig.
Reid offers beers to the rest of us and we all take them, cracking them open and taking a sip.
“Before long it’ll be the five of us, boys,” Reid says, lifting his beer bottle and looking around at the rest of us.
“Fuck yeah!” Jax cheers, lifting his own.
We step toward each other, clinking our beers together, drinking them down.
“Then we’ll actually be able to get shit done,” Gray chuckles, stabbing his fingers through his hair. “We’ll be unstoppable.”
I give him a nod, clinking my beer bottle with his again. “Someday, man. Can’t fucking wait.”
