19. Vivianna
VIVIANNA
The past week had passed in a blur of paperwork and meetings.
Astrid and I were attached at the hip any time I wasn’t eating or sleeping.
She’d finally talked me into having a pack dinner tomorrow evening.
I knew she was right and that the pack needed this, but I just felt so out of my element, never having enjoyed public events.
“Okay, go over this whole greeting thing again,” I said as we passed the food around at dinner. I was still having a hard time wrapping my brain around some of the Kursar etiquette since I’d mostly kept to myself and my small group of trusted advisors and guards in the castle.
“Viv, you are making a bigger deal out of this than you need to. This is your pack, they will forgive you if you mess up,” Tav said, shaking his head at me with a sigh.
“They will come to you with a bowed head, lick your neck, and you give them a small, over-the-shoulder hug with your chin. I know it seems intimate and odd, but to a wolf, it’s comforting and shows that you are pleased with them.
Now, if they do something that pisses you off, dip your chin so they can’t reach your neck and bite them on the shoulder to show your displeasure. ”
I scrunched up my face in disgust at that. “Why on earth would I bite them? Isn’t there a way that I can just tell them I’m upset?”
“It’s politics and customs, babe,” Koit said.
“There are so many things we as werewolves do that make no sense nowadays. It’s tradition.
” He paused to take a bite before adding, “If you went to another country and their custom was to spit in their hand before giving a handshake, would you blow it off?”
Opening my mouth to say yes, I stopped. As a doctor, I had learned to respect other people’s religious beliefs and how it affected their medical care. It wasn’t my place to look down on them because it wasn’t something I believed in.
“You make a fair point,” I said, looking down at my food. “I guess I’m just struggling with still viewing everything as a human.”
Rik, who was sitting next to me, rested his hand on my thigh. “Sweetheart, we may not understand what you’re going through, having been born wolves, but we are here to help in any way that we can.”
God, we picked such good mates. Don’t forget about me too. Trust your instincts—I won’t steer you wrong.
“Wait—if I bite the neck of someone, doesn’t that make them my mate?” I asked.
“Unless you plan on having sex with them while biting them—”
“The answer is no,” Tav said, cutting Koit off from whatever else he was about to say. “The intention behind your bite changes things.”
“So what am I supposed to do when I meet my mate prospects? Or are they not invited to this dinner?”
My mates looked at each other, then back to me.
“Do you want them to be at this dinner?” Rik inquired.
I let out a heavy sigh. “I need to meet them at some point, and they’ve passed all of the security checks that Darius wanted them to. Bentley has been invaluable to have around… Who knows? There could be someone else in the group that might benefit us as a pack.”
“You do realize that if they stay, The Collective will expect you to mate them at some point. All of this is done to create an alliance between two powers,” Tav reminded me.
“Bentley told me about his deal with The Collective for getting him out of an abusive situation. I can’t say that I want to bring him on as a mate, but I would very much like to free him from their hold on him.
There has to be a loophole. Is there anything saying how long I can keep someone a prospective mate? ” I asked, turning to look at Astrid.
“No, Dama, there is nothing in our laws saying when you have to take them as a mate. It’s typically done because you are smitten with them or need the power they come with,” Astrid said.
“Well, he’s attractive, but ‘smitten’ would be too strong of a word for how I feel about him at the moment. It also seems that, truthfully, I don’t need the alliance with The Collective. Adding Rik’s and Darius’s packs to ours has given me a substantial power boost.” I shrugged.
Astrid, Rik, and I had spent the past three days going over the information Darius sent to me about merging their packs with my own.
There had been many meetings trying to figure out the best solution for all the packs involved.
I wanted to do my best not to disturb people’s lives, but at the same time, keep them safe from any retaliation from The Collective.
We didn’t think they would be that stupid, but Darius made a good point in his last email that it was better to be over-prepared than to lose people unnecessarily.
“Speaking of the pain in the ass, when is our fellow mate brother coming back?” Koit asked. “He ran away before I could thank him for what he did for Rik and me.”
Rik and Koit had talked things out, taking a day to themselves, which I’d encouraged.
When they came back, I could tell everything was going to be alright.
They cared about each other too much to let this destroy what they’d had for years.
Koit really wasn’t even at fault—he’d been the result of his father’s mistakes, doing what his Alpha and father had asked of him.
But even though Rik and Koit had worked things out, Koit was still furious with Darius, and he hadn’t woken before Darius left to gather additional personnel.
“He’ll be back tomorrow morning sometime, and you know he didn’t run and hide. I asked him to do this as part of his punishment. I won’t stand in the way of you getting your pound of flesh, but please remember that I need him to help me deal with this dinner,” I cautioned.
Koit rolled his eyes at me. “I would never do anything that would put you in danger. I might be pissed at the guy—for good reason—but you’re more important, and so is this dinner.”
I nodded, accepting his words. “Thank you. Now back to the greetings. When I meet the mate prospects, how do I greet them properly? I know they’re alphas, but I also know not all alphas are equal.”
“I can already tell you that none of them are more dominant than any of us,” Rik said with a snort. “Even though Koit has had to hide his alpha nature, he’s still stronger.”
“When they come up to greet you, they will do the chin hug to you instead of licking your neck—it shows that you are more equal. If you want to make a point they are off-limits to others, then nuzzle their cheek to mark them with your scent. This tells others you’re intimately acquainted or mated and that they need to back off,” Tav instructed, trying to keep the conversation on topic.
“How can I do that when I haven’t even met them?”
“Some female wolves say that when they get a taste or scent of a potential mate, it gives them an insight of whether they will be compatible,” Rik shared.
“Do you agree?” I asked Astrid, wanting a woman’s input. I’d definitely had strong reactions to my current mates, but then again, I’d just been turned, so it was hard to sort through all the emotions involved.
“Goodness, it has been many years since I lost Roth, but I can still remember when he greeted me—it sent chills down my spine. No other male had ever had such an effect on me before,” Astrid said, her eyes getting a far-off look.
I couldn’t help but smile at the woman as a slight blush tinged her cheeks, clearly lost in memory.
“That’s a good enough answer for me,” I said, laughing along with the guys.
“Now we need to discuss the seating arrangements,” Astrid said, pulling out a large notepad. “You will be seated at the head table with your mates, of course, but we need to figure out how to incorporate the prospects.”
“Can’t we just have them sit at a table together?” I mean, they must have gotten to know each other while living in the same wing for the better part of the past couple weeks.
Also—why did we need a seating chart to begin with? I understood me and my mates being separated because of the security concern, and I knew I needed to greet the guests to make them feel welcome, but beyond that I’d been thinking of it as more of a family get-together.
Astrid tapped her pen on her chin, looking down at the paper.
“We could do that,” she said, pulling me from my musings, “but it wouldn’t be the best option.
Your interaction with them needs to be a public affair.
The Collective, I’m sure, will be keeping in touch with them, and they will want to know what progress is being made.
They will excuse the fact you have spent quite a lot of time with Dr. Price because of Rik.
There are some others, though, that have started to grumble now that he is working with you so closely. ”
I blinked at her, shocked. “I’m sorry, are you telling me that the men who have been brought to my castle and treated as honored guests are butt-hurt because I haven’t spent time with them? You know, because I have nothing else to do around here but sleep, relax, and eat bonbons?”
Astrid chuckled at my reaction. “This is why the seating will be important. I was going to put the most vocal men at your table and place the others with some of the more prominent families here in the pack. Or, if you want, we can rotate them through each course so you sit with them all through the meal.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, waving my hands to get her to stop talking. “Each course? How fancy is this dinner? You’re making it sound like a royal function.”
“Dama, you are royal, and this is your coronation event,” Astrid said, laying it out for me.