Alpha Eric rubbed the aches out of his tired neck. He was getting too old for things like this. He glanced over at his beta, Matthew, who was busy looking through some files on his laptop as they rode in the backseat on the way to the annual Alpha meeting which was being held in the Ridgemount Pack. A 6 hour trip away from his pack and family, who all stayed behind in the Black Hill territory. His territory. His pack. For now. Hopefully his eldest son, Christopher, will finally decide its time to take up the mantel and let him retire. At age 48 he was ready to start living his best life. Retirement life. He sighed, maybe he should have groomed his second or third son for the Alpha title, at this rate he would be a great grandfather before his son took up the role.

“Its your fault, you know.” Matthew said beside him not even looking up from his computer. “I told you once he found his mate you should have pressed further, but no, you had to make sure the new Luna was also ready. Now we are stuck in limbo.”

Eric could only growl his annoyance, knowing what Matthew said rung true.

“He still hasn’t even picked a Beta,” Matthew continued. “Both Ron and Jake are being groomed for it, but as you know there can only be one Beta. Until he chooses and officially declare the title of beta upon one of them I can’t start training my replacement properly.”

“But you know that the pick of Beta is the first and most important task of an Alpha.” Eric retorted, “I know what I would do but I cannot make this decision for him.” Call him a bit biased, but he would pick Jake as beta. Jake is his second son and as a child of an alpha his wolf is stronger than Ron’s, who is Matthew’s son. However, Ron is his eldest son’s best friend since birth. Wherever you see Ron there is Christopher almost as if they were joined at the hip. He didn’t know why Christopher wouldn’t just go ahead and name a beta, unless it was to spare his younger brother’s feelings. It was true, these days neither of his other sons were in good spirits as they were both without their fated mates. His only daughter turns 18 this month, hopefully she will have better luck than her two elder brothers. Jake has started traveling the country, going to every match-making dance he can. He is currently on the other side of the country, traveling the Pacific coast on the hunt for his destined.

Thinking of the upcoming match-making dance started to stress him out again. This year the lucky pack to host it is the Blood Moon pack, and he despised everything about that pack. The alpha of that pack was ruthless and a womanizer, believing that females are better off seen and not heard. Although Lunas are able to attend these annual meetings, very few show up, leaving the betas of the packs to accompany the Alpha and there was no doubt in Eric’s mind the main reason for this was that asshole. His blood pressure started to rise again when he thought of his baby girl visiting that pack and potentially being mated to someone of that pack. He would lose her to that infuriating bastard’s rule.

Matthew closed his laptop shut and leaned back in his seat. “I would ask what is on your mind but I can already guess. Is it that bastard Deacon again?” Just the mention of that bastard’s name started a low growl in Eric’s throat.

“I don’t want Lily anywhere near that pack. But I can’t deny her the chance to go to her first mate-matching dance. That bastard just pisses me off to no end!” He admitted, slumping slightly.

“Well, there is nothing you or I can do about it. Even if we could find a way to have the venue changed that asshole is stronger than both of us combined.” Matthew rubbed the bridge of his nose. “He would take both of us out for even mentioning the thought.” He sighed, and repeated Eric’s thoughts back. “I’m getting way too old for this shit.”

A few hours later he and Matthew stood in the pack house of the Ridgemount Pack. Everyone there were dressed to the nines, most of the alphas here were with their betas. And were at least 15 years younger than them. He smiled and made small talk, introduced himself to the newer faces and talked with feigned interest. There were still a few packs missing and it was still almost an hour until the meeting was scheduled to start. He thought back to the few that were missing, the Silver pack coming to mind. No wait, it was called the SilverFang pack now, when the newest alpha took over it was spread to all the surrounding packs that the name was changed, and the new alpha, Sam, was hoping to extend all of the previous peace treaties that were previously in place.

He wondered what the newest alpha was like, the previous alpha, Dan died with no male heir to carry on his rule. Last year his beta attended alone and left before he could speak with him on the matter. He missed Dan, he was the only alpha in their region who didn’t hold his tongue and spoke what everyone else in the room was thinking. He was also the only one who ever made Deacon nervous. In the last few years whispers among traveling wolves and captured rogues he gained a new nickname. The Demon of the Silver pack. He chuckled to himself. That old fool probably started it himself to keep attacks away, he was sure he was feeling nervous and worried that he couldn’t protect his pack should the need arise.

Eric understood that feeling all too well, he was in a similar predicament with 3 sons who made no moves to step into his shoes. Word was the newest alpha kept the nickname, as rumors of the Demon of the SilverFang pack grew more numerous. He glanced up as an alpha walked in with his luna on his arm. Obviously he didn’t know about Deacon; that bastard. They made their way over to another group with a few lunas with them. All together he counted 6 females in the whole place. He was pulled from his musings by Matthew, “Alpha, there are whispers that the SilverFang pack just arrived.” He paused as some of the alphas he recognized also started whispering, what is the big deal? Sure, he felt a slight surge of power coming from outside but it was nothing compared to most of the auras already in attendance. He shook his head, he was right about the nickname being a ruse.

His heart nearly stopped though, as a slim young woman walked through the doors. She stood about 5’8 with long brown hair pulled back into a braid with a green ribbon accenting it. She wore a long dark green dress that showed off her figure, white gloves on her hands and a full length white fur coat that was wrapped around her chest.

“Did he seriously send his luna here?” Matthew asked, dumbfounded.

Behind her walked a smaller young woman, her mousey brown hair was pulled into a bun and she was talking softly towards the other as she looked around the room. Her eyes landed on Eric and Matthew and she spoke again while pushing up her glasses further up her nose. The first woman looked towards them, smiling slightly as she began to walk over.

“Are you by chance Alpha Eric and his beta, Matthew of the Black Hill pack?” She spoke softly but politely.

“Yes” Eric responded, with a smile. “I don’t believe we have met though, and I am a loss on even your name.”

Her smile floundered a bit. “Yes, of course. I am so rude. It has been almost 10 years after all.” She held her hand out to shake Eric’s first before turning her gesture to Matthew. “My name is Samantha Silver, Alpha of the SilverFang pack. You dealt a lot with my late father, he considered you his closest ally in the region.”

As he looked on dumbfounded, she turned to the woman behind her, “This is Violet, my beta.” As Eric shook Violet’s hand his brain slowly began to work again. Ten years ago, the last time he visited the Silver pack….he could barely remember a small girl running around, following her father everywhere he went. Even sitting on his lap during some of their negotiations.

“Oh goodness,” he smiled genuinely as he recalled that last time they spoke. “You’re little Sammy!”

Her smile stayed plastered on but her eyes showed her emotions. “Please don’t call me that.” Her voice a little harsher than before and her bright green eyes flashed slightly before returning to a deep forest green. “Only my father ever called me that and kept his tongue.” She chuckled slightly, to lighten the mood. A small shudder of aura came through like a ripple around them. As subtle as it was it was enough to put the hairs on the backs of everyone’s necks on edge. Others looked around the room curiously and only Violet remained calm.

What was that feeling? Eric thought to himself. He went to mindlink Matthew but was beaten to the punch by his beta.

<What the hell was that? Did you feel that? Damn my leg went numb> Matthew stated slightly panicked. <I’m defiantly getting too damn old if a Luna from another pack can make me freak out like this.>

<Calm down,> Eric responded, <I’m not sure she meant to cause us discomfort. I think I hit a nerve. Remind me to never call her anything but Samantha.>

The young alpha continued. “It was nice seeing you both again. I hope we can continue to work just as close in the future as our packs did in the past. Now if you will excuse me, as this is my first regional pack meeting, there are a lot of people we must introduce ourselves too.” She turned to Violet to nodded to us and followed her alpha away. Whispering softly to her to which the older men could only hear a little bit.

“That was close, keep your temper in check alpha we mu…” Violet’s mouth was still barely moving but neither man could make out what was said.

Another huge wave of aura approached and both Eric and Matthew rolled their eyes. Looks like Deacon was finally here. They exchanged a worried glance, both clearly knowing this meeting was not going to end without at least one argument. Eric glanced over towards the newest alpha and her beta, they were talking to some of the other young alphas that he wasn’t familiar with and couldn’t help but worry for her. Hopefully she would keep her head down and not attract too much attention to herself.

“WHAT’S UP PEOPLE???” A loud thundering voice shouted as he entered. Completely loud and obnoxious as usual stood Alpha Deacon. He stood a full 6 ft 9 inches, the tallest over everyone else in attendance. His aura sending blasting waves around the room as he made no attempt to even hide it. The lunas in attendance leaning closer to their mates who stood a little taller in an effort to calm them and protect them. The alphas with betas in attendance tried their best to ignore the overpowering feeling for the most part. Most shot piercing glances at Deacon, sizing him up and looking for weakness. Deacon showed no weaknesses so the best they could do was stay silent and hope they were not noticed. Deacon looked around the room, looking smug and full of himself. He turned behind him towards his beta, a small little man who Eric did not recognize at all and was different from the last beta that attended this same meeting a year ago. Come to think of it, he has never brought the same beta to these meetings twice.

Eric glanced nervously over to Samantha and Violet, almost scared to see their fearful faces….only….they weren’t afraid, on the contrary they were talking to each other and laughing like there was an inside joke amongst the two of them that no one else knew about. Were they that unaware of their surroundings? Didn’t they feel the danger radiating from this beast? Eric made to start walking in their direction to warn them, only to be horrified to see Deacon start their way also. A lustful look in his eyes, sizing them up like a meal.

“Lookie here at the hot little lady!” Damn Eric wasn’t fast enough, he quickened his pace though. He may not be much help but he could at least show a little support for the child of one of his past friends.