The tube was new. I tore the plastic wrap off and opened it. It claimed to have 36 flavors, but when I poured it out, I swore there were only 27 jelly beans in it.
I counted. If I ate them right, it meant I could eat one jelly bean every four minutes to make it last the whole meeting.
I rounded it to five minutes because it was just easier to track with my watch. Then I lined the jelly beans in a row just above my open file because I was an organized person like that.
I put the first bean in my mouth because the minute hand had just touched the bottom mark on my watch. It was 11:30 p.m.
"Alpha Kingsley and Alpha Lorent are here," Beta Lucas announced the moment Dad and Alpha James arrived.
Everyone stood up with a polite bow.
There was another man with them.
"Tonight we have Alpha Lorent and his Delta, Bernard, joining us," Dad introduced.
Bernard was a very smiley-looking man. He noticed Rebel immediately. "Young Alpha, you are here! I haven't seen you for ages. Your father says you have been abroad? How is it? Good? Good."
He pretty much had the conversation all on his own. Rebel barely nodded and didn't smile. I'm beginning to realize that besides being evil, my mate was rather unfriendly.
I would imagine most girls dreaming of their mates as strong and kind, with a gentle smile and friendly disposition.
Maybe there was no such thing. Oh wait, there was Killion. But... Hahaha, but only on the surface. For some reason, my wolf felt Killion was harder to deal with than Mate. At least if Mate was displeased, he'd let you know it. Killion was less direct.
How did Ben and Dad put it? Yeah, I'm glad they were on our side too.
We waited for the Alphas to sit down, and then we sat. So far, so good. My jelly bean was orange flavored.
"I remember Sam mentioning an interesting idea the other night about the packs running on separate systems. I'm interested in hearing more about that. I hope you don't mind explaining it to me, so we are on the same page for the rest of the meeting," Alpha James said.
Everyone looked at me. I could see Ben across from me take one last look at his screen before looking at me. Then he straightened, and I knew he was going to take the question.
My first instinct was to beat him to it, but my wolf dropped back. Let's see what this Beta had to say.
Ben raised his hand. Unlike his dad or Beta Gerald, he didn't hold it up. It was just a very brief gesture to catch everyone's attention. "I would like to try explaining it."
ALPHA SAM'S PLAN FOR THE MERGED PACKS (ACCORDING TO BEN)
Basically, we'd like to keep the everyday lives of the wolves in our pack as normal and stable as possible.
We are also going to reduce the everyday administrative burden on the Alpha through this new structure.
Each pack will form its own town administration, headed by a Beta and assisted by a Gamma and a team of Deltas. They run autonomously, as modeled by Morning Light.
Ben drew it out on the whiteboard. The Alpha's office was in the top box, followed by the four towns, each in its own box, and a fifth box in which he wrote "Warriors."
Underneath the chart, he listed health, education, transport, etc. as shared services.
The finances of each pack would be kept intact, but they would contribute a monthly fee for the shared services.
I guess that was how they interpreted what I meant by separate pack wallets. That's okay with me.
Whatever works.
Ben ended his presentation and looked to me. "Do you have anything further to add, Alpha?"
But his tone was challenging.
Wolf! Ben's wolf was surfacing. His wolf was so close I could feel it. I beamed and nodded. "That's exactly right."
And I popped the third jelly bean into my mouth.
LEMON DROP
Mate raised a brow. Why? Did he sense my happiness? He didn't know, but Ben's wolf was fun. So was Mate's, actually. I wondered if some wolves were more fun than others. How did my Wolfie decide who was fun?
Anyway, the meeting continued. Here are my notes, by jelly bean:
CREAM SODA
The Betas who would be running each town were set as: Night Leaf by Ben, Morning Light by Harvey, Princess Town by Killion, and Lorent by Rebel, at least until I chose a permanent Beta. Beta Lorent's son, Anthony, was recommended. Alpha James hoped I would not judge him based on his father's sins.
ROOT BEER
The elders suggested putting a name on the Warriors' box. We thought about one of my Betas, or someone like Delta Hank, who would be captain. I was cautioned that it had to be someone I trusted with the life of our pack, since this person would control our army. Someone suggested it should be the Alpha (i.e., me), just like the way Alpha Solomon kept control of Black Forest.
BLUEBERRY
I decided on putting Bell's name on the Warriors' box. Our Luna would lead the warriors. This was mainly because I remembered the dream of his rebel army, and I figured if he could gather and lead something like that, he could deal with this. This pleased Mate very much. I could feel it through our mate bond. Hahaha. Everyone else seemed rather pleased by this too. So I felt like I made the right decision.
BUBBLEGUM
They wanted to know who would control the shared resources and at what level of sharing this would be. We settled on the Alpha's office, with Deltas from each town forming a committee. I was going to have many committee meetings to attend now. (This was my own conclusion. No one else seemed to have noticed.)
CARAMEL CORN
A detour discussion about schools, which would be divided into private and public schools within our Green Packlands. Green Leaf Academy would be a public school. The Lorent Pack had two schools. They could decide whether to tap into the shared resources as public schools or reserve their independence as private schools. Public schools would have to be open to students from the entire Green Packlands and follow certain core curricula and fee caps.
MANGO
The details of the rest of the merger could be worked out later on. For now, everyone agreed in principle to move forward with this model. It was a brilliant system that we had come up with. Hey, wasn't it my idea to begin with? But everyone looked so proud of it that I decided it was better to let them continue to think it was their idea.
CINNAMON (BLECH)
The formal announcement of our merger would be made during my Alpha Investiture. The name of this ceremony was different in different packs. This was the first ceremony we were going to have, and everyone decided to go with Investiture followed by Inauguration. Investiture was just my future Alpha ceremony, and Inauguration was when I would step into office as an Alpha at 18, after I got mated.
COCONUT
"When are you coming home?" Alpha James asked Rebel.
"What's it to you, old man?" Rebel answered.
Alpha James growled at Rebel's disrespect. Rebel shrugged and kept a stony look.
"I'll return when I'm ready," Rebel said.
"Make it sooner," Alpha James said.
Now Rebel was growling. What's up with these two? Sigh.
"Luna, will you be back for the Inauguration? Or do we skip your betrothal announcement and wait till the Investiture to hold your mating ceremony?" Killion asked then.
Suddenly, I panicked a little. Mate was coming back, right? I mean, he did lie the first time he told me to wait for him. But when he said he was coming back now, he really was... right?
My Wolfie took charge the moment this doubt surfaced. I pointed at Bell. "Be back by the Inauguration, or I will go there and drag you back myself."
"Like hell you would." Mate growled. "I told you to wait for me."
"Since when have I listened to you?" I simply asked.
Mate growled, all the good feelings from being made head of the Warriors gone. Speaking of which...
"The Rogue King returns in spring. You are going to be Chief Captain of the Warriors. Our first official large-scale event announcing our merger to the world—even if you don't show up as my mate, you better show up to lead the warriors." My hair was flaring up now.
"Don't order me," Rebel growled.
"You don't order me," I shot back.
"Technically, she is the Alpha, and you are the Commander of the Warriors," Killion pointed out.
I started laughing at that. True.
Rebel growled low, and I feared he was about to just disappear again. Then I had an idea. "Do you wanna exchange? I'll lead the army. You can be the Alpha and sit in all the meetings."
Rebel froze at that.
Actually, everyone did.
"No," Rebel said. "I will be the one leading the warriors into battle."
Well, it was worth a shot.
STRAWBERRY JAM
"So you'll be back by Sam's Investiture?" Ben asked.
Rebel growled lowly, but nodded. He was pissed like hell. I mean, he was seriously mad. So mad that he was pretty much radiating enough anger to turn cells cancerous.
Maybe I went too far. I wondered if I was putting him in a bad position. Did that mean he would have to raise a rebel army in two months? Oh yeah, and get the vampire curse ring to break his family curse. And there was this little extra hurdle he had to get over—like escaping from the vampire fight cage.
"Maybe we can discuss this later," I said. "If you're really coming back, I can wait a few more years."
For some reason, this made Mate even angrier. "I said I was coming back!" His deep voice cracked like thunder. His Alpha command crackled like lightning across the room.
Oops, did I say the "if you're really coming back" part aloud? I did, didn't I? I'm an idiot.
It made it worse that I was sitting right next to him.
Stupid. He was the one who lied the first time he said it! I felt the tears fall. Oh s***. I was leaking again.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, so stupid.
"Don't cry." Suddenly the Alpha static fizzled out. Mate cursed in Ancient Lycan.
I was so ashamed. Second leak in one day.
"I'm not crying. It just leaked. It didn't mean anything," I said.
"Now I feel like the bad guy," Mate said.
"You are," I said.
Ouch. I had hurt his feelings. I could feel it through the mate bond.
I rubbed the tears out of my eyes and forced a smile. "Just kidding."
Mate handed me his handkerchief. Who still used handkerchiefs nowadays? "I'll be back, I promise. Once I get that cursed ring, I'll be back."
I was still just holding his handkerchief. He took it out of my hand and patted my cheeks dry with it. It was kind of embarrassing. I pushed his hand away and popped another jelly bean. Almost missed the 5-minute mark for this one.
PEANUT BUTTER
"Yeah, okay. Let's move on. What's next on the agenda?"
I looked at the line of jelly beans. There were slightly more than half left, and the next one was red. I hoped it wasn't another cinnamon.