His Reluctant Luna

Lucian

The Alphas of the 30 packs sat around the long table, flanked by their enforcers who stood by the walls. The conference room was brimming with testosterone.

Tension resounded inside the room, as everyone digested what the aftermath of the horrendous crime would do to the fragile peace among the werewolf communities. Not to mention the risk of getting discovered.

One thing was apparent to everyone in the room, though; It was crucial they find the were or weres responsible, or the relative peace they had for the past 15 years would start breaking down.

Every eye zoomed in on me. Since I was the one who called the meeting, they wanted to hear me answer questions that most of them thought of but hesitated to ask. I had just narrated the discovery of anonymous bodies near the pack lands.

"It's quite bold them to dump the bodies on my land," I nodded towards Rick, "and Rick's pack territory. It sends a clear message to us."

"I arrived at the same conclusion, my friend."noveldrama

Rick agreed. "They are not very subtle with their ploy to make us believe that it's just human murders." He looked at each alpha present at the table. Each Stoic face showed strained alertness.

"How can we ensure that this is not a personal vendetta meant to strike at you?" asked the alpha Kaiser.

I stared at him.

"What exactly do you mean?

Kaiser had always irked me. True, he had the right to question, but disregarding the threat to werewolves generally represented incompetence and arrogance. Not to mention dragging my mate into it was necessary.

Maybe someone is targeting your pack, because of what happened a year ago. Your mate...."

"What about my mate?" I growled in anger.

"Well, maybe it's some new group targeting her."

I seethed in anger, Rick, and his team growled at Kaiser.

"We don't know that yet. For all we know, these women were genetically tampered with, they were not turned in a normal way. As alphas, it's our job to secure, protect, and help our people to prosper and live in this modern world without fear of being hunted and killed senselessly. If these bodies get in the hands of humans, our identity would be at stake. So, I would request the Alpha council to take this threat seriously." I said.

"What do we know about these women? Who were they?" Michelson asked.

"I requested my sources in the FBI to run a query on them. All three lived alone, with no families. One of them was a stripper. These women were dregs of the society, with barely any family or attachment, they have not even been reported missing yet! Though some of their acquaintances last saw them months ago. Whoever is this person, he is choosing his victims carefully."

"But, I still don't see a direct threat to our packs," Kaiser said.

"Are you willing to pay the price if and when they attack your people?" Rick queried, "Will you do nothing and wait for them to take it as weakness and strike at you?" Rick's voice rang with vehemence. He was infuriated.

He had almost lost his daughter, some alphas were regarding each other already with suspicion and distrust. Everyone was on edge.

As of now, only Rick and my pack had received those bodies. It would be foolish to wait passively for a bigger attack or incident to happen. No one had a clue how widespread this crime was. We all needed to work together to end the killings.

Kaiser was a new Alpha, taking over from his father, the Alpha of Lyman's howl pack. He was from the West Coast, and they remained relatively untouched by Regina's plans last year. Hence, he didn't understand the seriousness of the situation. I found him smug and arrogant. Kaiser and Rick glared at each other. "You dare suggest that we do not care for the welfare of our weres? I, for one, do not want to have my pack vulnerable to attack, nor do I want an all-out war to break out if we can avoid it. What I do not condemn, is being manipulated into getting involved in your crusade." Kaiser stood up in agitation.

The tension in the room increased as the two alphas faced off. The enforcers around their alphas prepared themselves for any possible physical confrontations. Bodies taut, some had partially shifted. Hostility mounted as their animal halves bristled with aggression.

I rolled my eyes. This was the problem with wolves. They easily gave in to their beasts, if not kept in check.

A good alpha strives for peace at all times with a clear mind. However, a great alpha leads by wisdom and diplomacy. Keeping my voice calm, I cut through the thick tension in the room.

"No one in this room questions your leadership, my friend Kaiser. Calm yourself. We are here to seek a peaceful alliance over the matter at hand."

He looked directly at me and Rick. Rick sat back in his chair.

"The only purpose of holding this conference is, I want to inform all the alphas of what is happening and not leave you in the dark about these recent developments. I want all of you to keep an eye on your packs, and inform the council of any suspicious activities. Do you have any questions concerns? Ask me now."

I looked around at all the 30 faces.

"Why are we getting involved in human affairs? Let the cops sort it out." A random Alpha said.

"And let them discover the genetic anomalies? To safeguard our species, we have to handle it. If the were involved continued to attack and murder humans, then we would be in danger of exposure. That would spell disaster for us, as the humans would more likely take arms and hunt us all." I answered.

A grim understanding resonated throughout the hall.

"What do we need to do? As we have no leads so far." Kaiser asked again.

"That's why we have to look for leads. If we cannot work together and agree on how to deal with these attacks, then, our peace treaty is already nearly total breakdown." I leaned forward in earnest appeal to them. "We have worked hard together to bring peace and unite all packs under our cumulative leadership. Are you willing to work together for the apprehension of the perpetrators of these vile crimes?"

The repercussion of the treaty breaking down would be disastrous. Open wars would be waged and bloodshed like never seen before would commence. The wisdom of working together was not lost on the alphas, but being half-animal, they were prone to aggression when they felt threatened. Cooler heads needed to reign at this moment. After a time of prolonged silence, one by one, the alphas nodded their head in agreement. They all agreed that they were not going to wait for further escalation. Even Kaiser reluctantly nodded his head.

Once the Alphas agreed, we proceeded to plan the task item.

"I propose that we form a task force involving one of each of our betas. Their sole task would be to investigate and determine who perpetrated these crimes. Any lead, any evidence, will be disclosed to the council of alphas." I paused. "We know that the bodies were left carelessly. There was no indication of an attempt to hide or bury their crime. Nothing was found on or near the bodies that can point us to the villains. What it does indicate though is that it was meticulously planned and flawlessly orchestrated."

I continued gravely, "I doubt that this is the work of one individual. The crimes are too fucking perfect!"

My wolf was riled up at the thought of helpless women kidnapped and raped in captivity.

"We are looking at a group of werewolves who have a leader who is kidnapping and keeping a harem of human women. There could be male victims as well. We don't know yet." I concluded.

With the alpha's busy discussing over the task force. I opened my bond with Alice.

She seemed to be running. I sensed her slight panic. My wolf was, suddenly, alert. I looked at my Betas, they sensed my panic, and they got ready to obey my next command. I had no time to explain, immediately, we dashed out of the conference room. My mate was in danger.