Chapter 12
Cole didn’t look up when Rachel entered the den. “Is everyone ready?” he asked.
“Yes.” She leaned against one of the chairs in front of his desk. “What about you?”
He sighed and set aside the notes he’d been making.
Cole wouldn’t need them during the actual meeting, but writing down his talking points ahead of time would help him keep his thoughts organized under pressure later.
“Just about as ready as I’m going to be.
I spent a lot of time talking with Eve this morning.
I felt bad for asking her so many questions. ”
“You did what you had to do,” his sister reminded him. “No one ever said that being the Alpha was going to be easy or fun.”
“No, but I’d take a little of both at some point.
” Cole tapped the sheaf of papers on his desk and fastened a paperclip on them.
He’d never thought too much about how he did things, but his bond with Nia had made him incredibly aware of every habit he had.
The younger generations liked taking notes on computers or phones, but there was something about pen and paper that worked so much better for him.
“Stop it.”
“What?”
“Overthinking.” Rachel pointed her finger at him.
“You get a certain look on your face when you start doing it. No one else would probably notice, but I’ve literally known you my entire life.
There’s no reason to doubt yourself so much, Cole.
You’re not just the Alpha because of your bloodline, you know. ”
“I appreciate the sentiment, but you’ll change your mind when they toss me out and install you as the new Alpha instead.”
Rachel laughed. “Yeah, right! Why would they do such a thing?”
Because they were scared. Because they were about to encounter something none of them had any experience with.
Because even though they were a friendly pack, this was entirely new territory for them, and they weren’t sure what to think.
“They probably won’t, but everyone was definitely ready for a meeting once they found out about Eve.
I knew Linda was right, but I didn’t realize it would happen quite that fast.”
“It’ll be fine.” At the sound of a vehicle, Rachel moved to the window and peered through the blinds. “You didn’t tell me Aunt Phyllis was coming,”
“Shit.” He ran his hand through his hair and then quickly finger-combed it back down again. It was so thick that it probably looked terrible either way. “Who called her?”
“You know how she is. She grows the grapevine next to the rumor mill.”
Cole laughed despite his sour mood. “Even at eighty-five, she still wants to keep her finger on pack business. I guess we’d better get out there.”
They moved to the front of the house and opened the front door as their great-aunt came up the walkway.
She was accompanied by her nurse, Emilia, who walked behind her with her hands out as though she thought Phyllis might fall backward at any moment.
Phyllis had a habit of tapping her cane twice before actually setting it down, giving each step an impatient, staccato rhythm.
“How nice to see you, Aunt Phyllis,” Cole said, holding the door wide.
“Then you should have invited me personally instead of letting me hear about this meeting from Deb,” Phyllis snarled. “It takes far too long to drag my ass out of the house these days, so I could use a little warning. You probably knew that, though.”
As she passed them, Rachel rolled her eyes behind Phyllis’s back. The old bat never had anything nice to say, not even when they were children.
Cole and Rachel followed Phyllis and Emilia to the large conference room at the back of the house.
The other pack members instantly stood and came to greet the older woman, but Phyllis waved them off.
“We can chit-chat later, if I’ve got the energy.
Right now, we need to get down to business.
Emilia, you can wait in the kitchen. There should be plenty of food. ”
Closing the door behind her, Cole went to the head of the long table and sat.
He scanned the chairs around him, happy to see Brianna on his left.
She had every right to be there as the future Alpha, but it still pleased him that she’d put aside her beef long enough to at least show up.
“I’m glad you’re all here. I’m sure you all have a lot of questions, since we have some unusual houseguests.
I’d like to start by giving a brief rundown of exactly what’s going on so that we’re all on the same page. ”
He cleared his throat. “We have a group of five baby dragon shifters who were found in the mountains as eggs. They have all hatched now. It’s been a shock to all of us that dragon shifters exist, but we have the proof right in our basement.”
A ripple of reactions went around the table. A few nodded in excitement, but others simply frowned.
“Their mother has arrived to claim them, and I’ve offered our hospitality. She’s in a rough spot. Though she’s not in our pack, she clearly doesn’t have any other place she feels safe to go. I felt it was only right to make sure that she and her babies were fed and sheltered for the time being.”
The same mixed reactions moved through the assemblage. There would be some opposition, Cole was sure, but it was going smoothly enough for now.
“Eve is trying to keep her children safe from her mate,” he continued.
“Nia, whom you all met last weekend at the barbecue, is friends with a couple of dragons from back in Salem. The intent was that they could help us figure out what to do with the babies, but now that Eve has arrived, perhaps they can help us decide how best to deal with Eve’s mate. ”
“How do we know we can trust these dragons?” Phyllis asked, her jowls swooping a little lower than usual as she frowned at him.
“Nia has vouched for Beck and Kendrick,” Cole replied, “and—”
“But who is Nia?” Phyllis still held her cane even though she was seated at the table, and she tapped it for emphasis.
This would have gone a lot smoother if she weren’t there.
Phyllis was his grandmother’s sister and the last of her generation.
Cole had respect for her, but he had to wonder who invited her.
“Nia is Brianna’s friend from college,” Cole told her, pointedly not looking at Brianna so that he couldn’t see her reaction.
“She’s here to help Brianna start her bakery. ”
“Is she one of us?” Phyllis asked, her eyes narrowing.
“Yes, she’s a shifter, and someone Brianna has known and trusted for a very long time.” Until now. “Considering that we haven’t seen any dragons until now or even realized they still existed, we’re rather lucky that she’s got a connection to a couple of them who are willing to come and help us.”
“Is she a wolf?” Phyllis pressed.
This meeting was supposed to be about the dragons. “Not that it really matters, but no. She’s a lynx.”
“Hmph.” Phyllis sat back in her chair and folded her sticklike arms over her bright floral top. “So we’ve got an outsider who’s bringing in more outsiders to help you with the other outsiders.”
She wasn’t wrong, but a generalized statement like that was missing the point. “This is the best way to move forward, and we’re not bringing in anyone we can’t trust.”
“Is that true?” Deb put her finger in the air.
“We didn’t even know the dragons existed, as you already pointed out.
What do we know about them as a species?
If they’re around, then why have they been hiding?
I mean, they shouldn’t need to hide any more than the rest of us do, and we’re out among humans all the time. ”
Cole now had a good idea of who had brought Phyllis in on the meeting. “We can’t presume to understand exactly what anyone else has going on in their life, no matter what their DNA says they are.”
“In that case, why are we helping them?” Bob asked, agreeing with his mate for once. “They probably wouldn’t bother helping us.”
“You don’t know that,” Rachel said. “What if one of us had gotten lost in the mountains? Maybe they’d be just as likely to take that person in. It’s just basic decency.”
“Basic decency is offering a bit of food or some clothing,” Phyllis proclaimed. “We’re getting into a whole new territory when we start talking about letting them stay here and working out their problems for them.”
Brianna sat up straight, leveling her gaze across the table at Phyllis. “We became involved as soon as Travis found those eggs. We can debate this all day, but we’re past the point of deciding whether or not to act.”
“I think an emergency meeting should’ve been called as soon as that Eve woman showed up, so that the rest of us would’ve gotten to be part of the decision,” Sandy asserted. “It’s not fair to say that we’re just along for the ride.”
“You went nuts for those babies!” Trinity pointed her finger at Sandy. “You volunteered to watch them, and I personally saw you cooing over them and cuddling them!”
“Well, they’re cute,” Sandy retorted defensively. “They’re still babies, even if they’re not like us.”
“And now we’ve got more than just babies involved,” Deb added. “This has gone way beyond the children now.”
“So people only deserve help when they’re children?” Morgan challenged. “I haven’t been a police officer very long, but we aim to serve and protect everyone.”
“This is a pack, not a police force,” Phyllis replied tartly.
“Which is precisely why we can afford to be understanding, especially with someone who can’t just go stay in a shelter somewhere,” Linda told her.
“Man, a shelter?” Scott had been quiet up until that point, but now his face twisted up in concern. “No one should have to go through that.”