Vivianna
“Seriously, Darius. We don’t need to go over this all again,” I grumbled as I pushed my rolling chair away from the long meeting table. “It might help if you just showed a fraction of trust that I can do this without fucking it up.”
“Viv, it’s not that I don’t trust you,” Darius said, stalking up to me.
I tried to spin my chair away from him and the interrogation he had been putting me through for the last hour. He made practicing with sample questions sound like such a great idea, but I was seconds away from slapping him.
Darius grabbed my chair and placed his hands on the armrests, boxing me in.
He bent down so we were eye to eye as he spoke.
“I’m not doing this because I don’t trust you.
If anyone knows you can take care of yourself, it’s the four of us.
You understand the harsh side of the world, but The Collective is politics. They fight with words and contracts.”
I glared at him, leaning forward until he gave up ground to avoid touching noses with me. “My asshole of a father is an ambassador. Don’t you think I know how to deal with politics?”
“Those are human politics, not werewolf. That puts you at a disadvantage, and they know it. I can’t protect you if you won’t let me, Vivianna,” Darius growled.
I’m pissed, but seeing him this mad is hot.
Shut up if you’re not going to be helpful. He can’t keep doing this to me. If he pushes me any harder, then he’s no better than my father.
Take that the fuck back right now. You know that he’s doing this because he cares, not because he’s a shitstain trying to get something from us.
Unable to stop myself, a growl grew in the back of my throat as my eyes narrowed on Darius’s face. “I would suggest you back off before I make you.”
Darius’s eyes went wide for a moment before dropping his hands and stepping back. He looked behind me at whoever was approaching, and a second later the scent of earth and wood shavings let me know it was Tav.
Tav turned my chair to face him, then dropped down to my level and took my hands in his.
“Sweetheart, you need to take a deep breath.” I started to respond, but he held up a hand to stop me.
“I know that look in your eyes because I’ve seen it on my own face.
Darius is not trying to hurt you or push you into doing something you don’t want to.
All any of us want to do is keep you safe—this is just the best way we could think of.
” He pulled my hands up and kissed the back of them while he watched me.
Taking a deep breath, I sagged back in my chair. “I don’t want to screw this up either.”
“I know,” Tav said, running his thumb over my wrist. “We will be right here with you, and so will Astrid. Trust us to keep you from agreeing to anything you shouldn’t.
You have the advantage of having two men who used to be a part of their council here with you, plus Rik grew up in that world with his dad. You’re not taking on this fight alone.”
I reached out and took his face in my hands, leaned forward, and kissed him. A cough in the room broke us apart, and I spotted Sarma standing in the doorway with Astrid.
“The meeting is about to begin, Dama,” Sarma said as she walked over and took a seat.
Taking another deep breath, I gave Tav a soft smile and pulled myself up to the table.
Rik took a spot to my left and Tav to my right, with Darius next to him.
Koit was beside Rik, but he wouldn’t be seen on camera since everyone thought he was a beta.
Astrid and Sarma sat a few seats away but had the controls to the video call in front of them.
After a moment, the digital ringtone sounded, and the large screen on the table lit up.
“Are you ready, Dama?” Astrid asked, holding Sarma back from answering the call.
I met her gaze and gave a sharp nod in answer. The call was connected, and an image of five men in suits sitting at a table similar to ours appeared. We all took a moment to verify the connection before anyone spoke.
“It’s good to see you, Darius, Tavas, Rikkart. We worried when we lost contact after the safe house was raided,” a gentleman said.
He had white hair and bright blue eyes, and from the wrinkles on his face, I would guess he was far older than my men. His charcoal suit complemented his fair skin, and even through the video, I could tell he was an alpha of great standing and respect.
Is he ignoring us on purpose? Because that is so not going to fly with me. If he was here, I would force him to submit before us.
“Leader Able, it is good to see you again,” Tav said with a nod of his head, reaching over to clasp my hand, giving me a warning squeeze. “Allow me to introduce my mate and Dama of the Imperial Dawn Pack, Vivianna Beck.”
The table of men started to murmur, but Able held my gaze as if we could have a contest of wills right here through the video.
He didn’t scare me. He and my father were cut from the same cloth.
Men of power tended to forget there was always someone nipping at their heels, waiting for them to fail, but I was their worst nightmare.
I didn’t care one bit who they were or what power they had.
“Dama Vivianna, thank you for agreeing to meet with us. It has been many years since the last female alpha was alive,” Able said, giving me a small nod of his head.
God, he gives off vibes like he’s the Queen of England.
Keeping my face as neutral as possible while ignoring my wolf’s commentary, I gave the same nod back. “I still have a lot to learn, but I hope that our two packs can work together to make the werewolf community stronger.”
“That is our hope also. From what we hear from Rikkart’s pack, Kursar has many talented people living there that we have not had the chance to work with. Trade, among many other things, would be something we wish to grow between our packs,” Able said as the other men nodded in agreement.
“I’m glad to see that we’re on the same page.
I would absolutely like to pursue this further, although I would ask that you give me time to sort things out here locally before we expand.
There is much that has been neglected since there was no alpha female to encourage growth,” I said, knowing that moving too fast would hurt the pack.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sarma flinch and her eyes narrow as she looked down at the notebook she was jotting things down on.
Seems like we have one more problem to add to our growing list. God, who knew being queen would be so much work. My wolf whined.
You’re the one who told me to wolf up and take the job. No backing out of it now just because it’s not as fun as you thought it would be.
She huffed but let me get back to the conversation at hand.
“We would also like to address the mate prospects that we sent,” one of the other men interjected. “Forgive me, Dama, for not introducing myself. I am Yarren Gelpish.”
I nodded in acknowledgment and gave him a soft smile. He seemed far more relaxed then Able. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Yarren said, giving me a wide smile. “We have several men that we would like to introduce you to—nine, to be exact. They are from all over, but each of them is part of The Collective.”
Holy shit, they want us to test out nine different guys? What is this, The Bachelorette? I am not handing out any roses or stupid shit like that.
“Wow, that’s far more than I was expecting,” I said, trying to keep from showing how freaked out I was. Dealing with four men was already hard enough; adding in more was just asking for trouble.
Yarren chuckled. “Dama, we do not expect you to keep them all. It is customary to show our intentions of working together by offering prize alpha males from our packs. What you choose to do once you meet them will not affect our trade or business relations.”
I turned to Darius and gave him a nod, giving him the floor to speak.
“Vivianna has given me control over her personal security. I hope you don’t mind that I will need background checks done on all of the prospects before they step foot on the island,” Darius stated.
Able gave a smirk that put me on edge. “I would expect nothing less from you, Darius. All the prospects will gladly share any information you need. If they don’t, then they will be sent home immediately.”
“Very well. They will stay with Rikkart’s pack until they have been cleared to enter Kursar,” Darius said, giving a sharp nod.
“There is another matter that I felt in fairness that we should disclose,” I said, feeling my mouth going dry. This was the part of the conversation I was nervous about.
Having already been prepared for this, Rik sat up straighter and addressed The Collective. “Viv and I are now officially mated, and we will be combining our packs together as one.”
The five men on the other side lost their minds, yelling and waving fists in the air at us.
“Rikkart, how could you turn your back on The Collective after all we’ve done for your family?” one yelled.
“Is this your plan to take over The Collective? I thought we were working together in all this? Now you take one of the packs from us?”
“Call the prospects back. We don’t need her getting her claws into any more of our men. We might as well have just added to her army.”
“Enough,” Rik bellowed, slamming his fist against the table while standing up, sending his chair shooting across the room behind him.
“Listen to what I have to say before you pass judgment. Just because we are combining packs does not mean that we are cutting my wolves off from The Collective. Many have family in other packs; others have jobs outside the pack. We don’t want to take that from them.
What it means is that Viv and I will decide what happens in the pack, not The Collective. ”
This seemed to quiet the men down somewhat. I could tell they weren’t sold on the idea, but at least they weren’t seeing it as an act of war.
What did they think was going to happen if they mated with you? Why wouldn’t you have ruled over their packs? You’re the alpha.
Truthfully, I don’t think they thought that far ahead. They still think the men will keep their packs and I will keep myself busy with Kursar.
Ugh, men.
“Darius, you’re a mate prospect. Are you going to follow Rikkart’s lead once you become mated?” Able asked, his eyes narrowed at Darius.
“As of right now, I have made a vow as an alpha to keep her safety first in my priorities. If I feel that bringing my pack into the fold will keep her protected, then I will do so,” Darius replied, but the way he said it made me feel that I was missing something.
“You ungrateful bastard. Have you no family loyalty? First you failed your father, letting him die at the hands of that crackpot scientist, and now you’re going to let some bitch take your pack from you?
You’re no family of mine. From here on out, I disown you,” Able said, eyes wild, spit flinging from his mouth as he lunged at the camera, tossing the table out of the way like he could get to Darius.
The other men moved to restrain him, and a few security guards came up and took him away. Once everyone was able to calm themselves and get the table resituated, we attempted to resume.
“I apologize for that,” Yarren said, shaking his head. “Able is over two hundred and fifty years old and set in his ways. I hope his outburst did not sway you away from moving forward with our goals.”
“No, it’s unfortunate that he feels that way, but I do not hold one man responsible for all nine packs in The Collective,” I said, glancing at Darius out of the side of my eye.
Oooh, that boy is going to get a talking to when we are done here.
Couldn’t agree more. How could he let us get blindsided like that?
“Wise words, Dama. I will have our team write a trade proposal and send it for you to look over when you have time. If there is anything else we can offer our support in, please let us know,” Yarren said as we bid our farewells.