Branches of the Willow 3 (2 page)

“Love you too, babe.” He leaned in and planted a kiss on the tip of my nose then. Suddenly, I was tired, and wishing I could just go home and curl up in his arms.

Instead, we walked along the path toward the reception hall where pack leaders were currently awaiting my presence. I felt bad for keeping them waiting, but damn it Mikael was right, I needed some me time once in a while. Ever since I had come out as the White Wolf Ruler, things had gone nuts. Leaders from far off packs were coming to see for themselves, and of course they all wanted me to prove it, which left me feeling a bit like a circus side-show of late. I finally, got fed up, and’ called the closest 20 pack leaders to come have a sit down with me. I needed to start piecing my people back together into one whole unit. It started with these 20 leaders, the top twenty. There were smaller packs out there, but we needed the larger packs onboard with my plans in order to get anywhere.

“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting,” I announced the moment we walked through the door. I expected some light grumbling, the likes of which I would have heard had a professor walked in at the last minute before we could officially call class canceled for the day. Silence greeted me instead. They were all watching as Mikael walked over to the table, and pulled the chair out for me. Mine was the seat at the head of the table, while Mikael sat himself directly to my left. I took a quick inventory of the people present, and noted two absences. “I knew Avery Daniels was unable to make this meeting, because of a problem with interlopers on his lands. I see someone else is missing?” It was a question. I still didn’t have faces to match with a lot of the leaders names. It was a rare occasion that this many high alphas sat amongst themselves peacefully.

“John Freedman is missing, Jess.” My father called out from across the long table.

I nodded. “Freedman…” I was lost in thought, trying to process why the name sounded so familiar.

“He sent a messenger.” My father stood to read a piece of paper out to everyone. “So long as the Ancient Immersion Program is on the table, you will feel my absence.” I saw my father hesitate, and then he dropped the hand the paper was in down to his side.

“There’s more?”

My father cleared his throat, and picked the paper back up, reluctantly. “Yes. He goes on to say that any who stand for the intermingling of the Ancients with the Lesser wolves will be no friend to him or his clan.” Now a quiet murmuring was unleashed through the room as leaders discussed Freedman’s decree amongst themselves.

I nodded again. “Thank you.” I looked around at the faces that were processing the latest information. I was trying to push an agenda to give all wolves a fighting chance in this world. I wanted to abolish the thought of Ancients and Lessers as separate and make everyone understand that we are all simply wolves. “Well, since Mr. Freedman didn’t have the gumption to show up in anything more than letter form, I’m not sure I’d consider him a great loss to begin with. What is he going to do as an ally, write a scathing letter to your enemies?” There were a few startled looks in the crowd as the words left my mouth, but then a ruckus laughter bellowed forth from Andre Marmount, and it became infectious amongst the group.

“You are a breath of fresh air, my dear.” Andre stated as he wound down his own laughter. “I’ve never liked Freedman. He does things differently in his pack than most of the more civilized clans do.”

“What do you mean?”

“Women have no rights there. They are taken by those strong enough to capture them, and then they are kept in the background only. They’re for breeding, keeping house, and not a lot more. I think, even if you took the AI program off the table, he’d still have a problem with being here. Freedman isn’t going to take orders from any female.”

I nodded to Andre. “Thank you for your candor.” I glanced around at the faces that surrounded the table. “Does anyone here share in Mr. Freedman’s feelings about a female ruler?” I waited. There were a couple men who shifted around nervously, but made no move to say a word. I took note of the ones who seemed uncomfortable with the question, for future reference. “Okay, then. Let’s get this show on the road. I want to get busy with the immersion plans as soon as possible. As many of you know, there’s something lacking in what we’ve been doing. Wolves are being born with less and less powers as of late. It’s not just the “lesser” packs who are having this problem. The Ancients have also seen a steady decline. Not only in abilities, but in the birth of females.” I listened as a round of grumbling agreement permeated the meeting hall.

They all knew what I said was true. Each pack had been dealing with these issues for a couple generations now. “I’m proposing something, a step beyond the AI Program. We need to also make sure our kind are mingling more amongst the different packs. I know everyone has their territories to protect, but we need to come up with a peaceful way to introduce wolves from other packs to potential mates. A true bonding pair won’t necessarily live in the same packs. This means everyone is going to have to step outside of their comfort zones, and allow for some unorthodox meetings.”

“Maybe, we can set up a central location, times, and dates, to get people together. Maybe throw a party, barbeque, or whatever once in a while so interested singles can get together and mingle?” Susan Oliver offered up in the form of a suggestion. She was the only female pack leader at the meeting. The other seventeen present were all men.

“I think that’s a fantastic idea. Why don’t you take lead on finding a good, central location that we can begin building up for that purpose.” Susan inclined her head in my direction, and started taking some notes on a legal pad in front of her. She seemed to be the only one prepared to take down any kind of notes today. “If any of you are in disagreement with the measures discussed here today, I really hope you’ll come forward with your issues, so we can get them worked out.”

“I have an issue.” Brian Maynard stood and looked over all the other leaders in the room before he turned to address me. “You are still young. I’m not sure you’ve thought things through. The impact this will have on packs, could be staggering. What if none of our females are a true match for the males in our pack? Where will that leave the pack?”

“It leaves you needing to explore the other options available. Your single males will need to show up to the social events that Susan proposed. I know this doesn’t seem ideal, but we are all aware that previous leadership, and strict regulations against intermingling with other packs have led to the current issues our people are facing. We’re just going to have to find ways to work around the issues, so we can ensure the survival of our kind.”

“What if we find more human women and change them?” I didn’t recognize the man who spoke up.

“You are?”

“Drew. Drew Ryan.” He looked me up and down, and then continued. “I know we’ve all been in silent agreement about not purposely turning humans anymore, but maybe that’s the answer to our problems more than these proposed parties, and Ancient Infiltration Programs.” His tone was flippant and beyond condescending.

“Ancient Immersion.” I corrected him. “What would you have us do? Take out an ad in the Times? Wanted: women who want to walk on the wild side. Take your 70-30 chance at death in order to mate with lonely werewolf men?” Snickers followed my sarcastic response, but there were some curious, too interested, looks as well. “It was a joke. Seriously, how the hell do you propose going about finding these women? Are you planning on changing them against their will? What happens when they die? Not to mention, what if they do change, and they decide they don’t like you? It would draw far too much attention to our kind.”

“Not if we do it right. We can look for the strongest women, the ones who we think can make the change ok.” Drew argued back.

“No.” I spoke firmly, so there was no question as to where I stood on the matter. “I will not have a bunch of human women ending up dead in some crazy rush to re-populate our female stocks, like we’re some kind of chattel to be replaced, or made, at a person’s whim. We’re talking about lives here.”

“Didn’t he turn your best friend for you?” Drew pointed at Mikael, who hadn’t said a word yet.

“I didn’t have any intentions of turning anyone, and certainly not for mating material.” Mikael managed through his clenched teeth.

“What happened with Ashley Reynolds isn’t something we’re going to discuss, as it wasn’t a matter of finding mating material.”

“But she did become mating material. His buddy, Asriel, is with the girl now, is he not?” Drew pressed on.

“If it weren’t for Asriel’s abilities, Ashley probably would not have survived the change. You already know 70 percent of human women don’t make it. That is too great a risk to ask of anyone, outside of special circumstances. If you feel like you have an exception to the rule, by all means, bring it to me. We’ll evaluate, and go from there. As a whole, we will discuss and implement other measures before I allow it to happen.” Drew inhaled, ready to push the subject further. “That is all I have to say on the matter, right now.” I threw my power behind the words, making the statement stick as a command. They all felt it. Those who opposed it felt the sting of my words as well. Drew twitched where he stood, before he decided to take his seat again. It was clear that he was unhappy, so I added him to my mental list of leaders to keep an eye on.

“Does anyone have anything else to put on the table right now?”

“What of Malachai? I understand the White Wolf traditionally trumps any claim to the throne, but shouldn’t he have to concede that claim before you just waltz in and take over?” At the warning growls coming from Mikael and my father, Drew quickly amended his question. “No disrespect meant. I just think clans like Freedman’s would be more willing to fall in line if things are done correctly.”

“From what I hear, Freedman’s Clan isn’t going to just fall in line, no matter what I do. Unless, I magically grow my own penis.” I ignored the chuckles, most of which came from Mikael. “Even then, he’d take issue.”

“He also didn’t play nice with Antoine when he was King.” Mikael added.

“I don’t think we have anything to worry about there. You all know that Malachai is a wanted wolf. If he’s seen, I expect a call. If he’s captured, you will hand him over. If you are caught harboring him, you sign your own death warrant right along with his.” My voice grew stern as I spoke. “On this subject, you will not test my resolve.”

“As Malachai is wanted, and will likely lose his head anyway, that makes me the next in line for the throne.” Mikael added, power radiating out with his words. “I have already conceded the right to rule to Jessica. Let there be no further question of her legitimacy.”

“I know you all have had a long day. Some have travelled quite far to be here today. I suggest we table this discussion for the morning to give everyone time to think things over, and to sleep on those thoughts.” I stood and looked over the faces of the pack leaders once again. “Does anyone have anything further before we close for the night?”

“I do.” It was Brian Maynard again. “It’s all well and good for each leader to come see you, and verify that there’s truly a white wolf leader, but what of our individual clans? When will you come speak to them?”

“I will be traveling to each clan, but before that happens, I want you all to set up a council. I’ve spoken to some of you about this before. Each council will have equal representation. Men, women, old, and young. We’ll discuss the rest of the details in the morning.” I slid my chair out from behind me, and moved back from the table. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some other business to attend before I can call it a night myself.”

MATING SERVICE

Mikael and I took our time heading back over to my parents’ house. It was already late evening, and the stars were hovering bright overhead. “I wish we could just go for a run.”

“We can.” He offered.

“I want to get this taken care of so that the rest of the ‘night is ours to enjoy.” I yawned then. Taking in the scent of the deeply wooded town as we walked along the narrow road to my parent’s house. The sound of Mikael’s light laughter caught my attention. “What?”

“I think you mean so you can go home and sleep.” Mikael poked his lip out in mock pout.

“I’m sure I could be persuaded to put off sleep for a while, if breakfast in bed comes with the deal.”

The smile that lit up his face then was priceless. I lived for those smiles these days. “I can definitely work with that. Let’s go see who showed up, and find a place to toss them for the night. We can always deal with them tomorrow.” He paused, appearing deep in thought for a minute before adding, “Maybe after lunch.”

“You’re incorrigible.” I swatted at Mikael’s chest, but he simply pulled me closer into him. My head immediately went to rest on his chest as the house came into view. The porch light was on, but so were the interior lights in the living room. As we approached I saw the shadow of someone pacing back and forth behind the window. “Looks like someone’s antsy in there.” I nodded my head in that direction.

“Probably Andy, wondering if he’s ever getting off babysitting detail.” Mikael offered as we ascended the steps of the porch. As we stepped inside I turned to my left to look, and sure enough Andy was the pacer by the window. The look of relief on his face spoke volumes.

“Andy.” I inclined my head to him. “Stick around for just a bit longer, if you would. We’ll probably need to find a place for these guys for the night, at least.”

“I already had someone get Jack’s place together.” I looked down at that. A part of me was still hurting for Jack’s loss, and even though I knew Sierra, his mate, couldn’t stand to be in the house any longer, it felt weird to send strangers to stay there. Andy must have seen all of that written on my face. “Sorry, everywhere else is already taken right now.”

“I understand.” I looked over at the three men who now stood in front of my mom’s floral couch, and I thought about what a ridiculous picture that made. The men were all well over six feet tall sporting the sturdy muscular frames our males were known for. Mikael leaned down to whisper in my ear, “I’m going to grab us some drinks.”