Finally Her Turn

Chapter 7: John

Serena has been a little extra clingy today while helping me pack up my stuff to get ready to board my flight in a couple hours. It turns out that this thing with the Elders is on the literal opposite side of the country, all the way in Maine, so we’re flying over there tonight to make sure that Uncle Ben is there on time tomorrow morning.

And though when she offered the help, I was glad for it because she’s so much better at sorting and organizing things than I am, now I’m starting to worry that all her “help” is going to make me late. Instead of working mostly on getting my clothes into the suitcase, she’s mostly been working on taking her own clothes off and trying to entice me into another quickie. It would be the third today, and though it is tempting, I just do not have the time to spare.

“Stop, I need to finish this,” I complain, keeping my eyes focused on my suitcase.

“No, you need to finish me,” she purrs, going as far as draping herself over my clothes so that I’ll have to move her to get to them.

She’s not winning this time. Instead of worrying about those clothes, I turn and grab some more from my dresser.

“You don’t play fair,” she protests, obviously annoyed.

“No, I don’t play at all, not when this job for Uncle Ben is on the line. It’s good money, Serena, and do you know what that means?”

“It means I don’t even know when you’re coming back because ‘Uncle Ben’ won’t tell you, and the whole thing sounds suspicious.”

“That’s because the Elders don’t have a cut-off time for their meetings,” I explain again. “They meet until they make their decisions. I’ll probably only be gone for the weekend, though.”

“Well, it’s still stupid that he won’t let you bring me.”

I’ve never even heard her be this spoiled and pouty before, so not only does it surprise me, but it’s starting to annoy me. She knows how important this job is to me, and I don’t appreciate her trying to sabotage or talk me out of it.

“He said you could come, but he’s not providing tickets or expense accounts for anyone not on the job, so I’d have to pay for you.” I’ve explained this part to her before too, but I guess she needs to hear it again. “And if I’m spending that much, then the amount I’m making becomes not nearly as worthwhile. But if you want to pay your own way, I’m sure we could get you on that flight too.”

She seems irritated by that last bit, which I haven’t spoken out loud yet, but I’ve been thinking it. She has a job and makes about the same as me. If she wants to come so badly, why is she not offering to pay for it?

“It shouldn’t cost me money just to be able to spend the weekend with my boyfriend,” she grumbles before rolling her way off my bed and angrily picking up her clothes from where she discarded them.

Um, same. I shouldn’t have to waste money on dragging her with me when the whole point of going is to make a decent chunk of change and have myself a little spending money. I was actually planning on spending a fair amount of it on her so I could finally take her somewhere nice, but I suppose I’ll keep that part to myself now.

I’m not even going to bother with the “I’m not technically your boyfriend” argument this time because it’s not necessary, and she usually wins that one anyway. I’ll settle for the fact that she finally seems to be getting the message that I need her to help or get out. She seems to be favoring the get out part, but that’s fine with me for now. I’ll worry about patching things over with her when I get back.

“You know, I’m just worried, and it really sucks that you can’t seem to get that,” she tells me, pausing just inside the doorway on what appears to be her way out.

“Worried about what? I’ll be fine. I’m going as his guard, but not because there will be any actual danger. It’s just a precaution.”

“No, stupid,” she rolls her eyes. “I’m worried because this is the first time you’re really going anywhere outside of our local area, and when someone gets to be our age and still hasn’t found his mate, do you know why that usually is?”

“Because he’s unlucky, or met her when they were both too young to realize?” I answer half-heartedly, but I know what she’s getting at.

And honestly, it’s one reason I’m so excited to be going, and why I’m glad she’s not coming. Because she’s right. At my age, the most likely reason why I still don’t know who my mate is comes down to her not being from my area, which means that travel is the best means of increasing my odds of finding her.

“You’re impossible,” she complains under her breath. “Have a nice trip, John. I’ll see you when you feel like giving a crap about me again.”

I’d probably chase her down and try to console her, again, but I don’t have time for it, and she’s getting under my skin. Maybe I’ll try calling her later or something, when I don’t have so much else on my mind and a deadline to meet.

*************************

After a surprisingly restful night spent in a surprisingly comfortable hotel bed, enjoying having the whole bed to myself for the first time all week, I have to get up early to meet with Uncle Ben and his other guards in the hotel gym.

“This assignment is not a vacation despite the location, and I expect you all here bright and early for training in the morning as usual,” he demanded before dismissing us to our rooms last night.

He’s demanded my attendance at morning training all week too, and though I hated it at first, Raj, my wolf, seems to be loving it, and he’s been a lot more agreeable lately. I also kind of have to admit that after the first couple grueling workouts, I started to welcome the burn and the adrenaline rush that follows it.

I don’t think I’ve felt this alert and energized in years, which makes me wonder if our pack really has taken a nosedive ever since Uncle Ben’s son Terrence took over as Alpha and relaxed a lot of the rules and training requirements. I know it’s something Uncle Ben has always complained about, and he claims our pack is no longer as revered and respected as it once was, but I always kind of figured he was just a grumpy old man who hates not being in control.

Point is, I’m not even grumbling about the fact that he’s forcing me out of bed this early on a Saturday yet again, especially not when he’s paying me for it this time. I do need to make sure I’m not late though. I haven’t been so far, but I’m sure his threats of the consequences for tardiness are not empty, and I might find myself feeling a lot less enthusiastic if I ever have the misfortune of finding out for sure.

“So pleased you could join us,” Uncle Ben calls out when I step through the door to the gym, and it has me glancing around to see if I’m the last one or something. Nope. Second of three though, which isn’t much better.

“And I’m pleased to have the honor of your company,” I respond with a smirk, giving him a dramatic little bow.

He smiles and slaps me on the back, ushering me over to the mats so I can do my stretches and warm-ups. We spend most of our session working on strength training, which I know is mostly for my benefit. These other guys, though also from Crescent’s Boon, have been with him long enough that they’re in tip-top form. I’m the one who needs to build up my strength and start living up to the family name.

As we’re bundling up our mats and cleaning off the other equipment after our work out, Uncle Ben announces, “I expect you all to meet me upstairs outside the conference room at half past ten. Until then, get yourselves put together and be sure to have a big breakfast because lunch might come a bit late. We’ll be in that conference room until Elder Stirling says otherwise, and the three of you will be standing unless he tells you to sit.”

“And he won’t tell you to sit,” another of his guards, George, adds quietly, smirking my way.

“No, he won’t tell you to sit,” Uncle Ben agrees, coming around to clap me on the back again.

“That’s why we get paid the big money,” I comment sarcastically, joining in since they seem to be in a playful mood.

I mean, the pay is good, but I’d still rather not stand for an undisclosed number of hours.

Uncle Ben keeps his arm around me as we walk back to the elevators, which is actually a bit of a surprise. So far, he’s been careful not to let our personal relationship guide our interactions and make it seem like there’s any favoritism going on. But then he drops his hold on me and pulls Stevie in for a bit of affection, and I realize it isn’t favoritism at all. It’s just how he does things. Gentle, but firm. No wonder these guys adore him so much.

I take his advice and spend a bit of extra time making sure I’ll make him look good. I even shave and trim up my sideburns to make sure everything is all neat and tidy. Then I take out one of the uniforms he provided for me, which is essentially just a pair of dark workpants and a light blue polo shirt, and make sure it’s all crisp and presentable before putting it on. And finally, I clean up my boots and make them look practically brand new.

If Serena was here, she’d be trying to take these clothes off me faster than I can put them on because truth be told, I look damn good. And I smell pretty decent too. I borrowed some of the body wash that George swears by for keeping fresh on these long days with nothing to do but stand and sweat, so I guess I’m about to put that to the test.

Uncle Ben said he expects the first part of the meeting that involves the prospective Alpha from New Horizon will take at least a couple hours, but the deliberations afterward are what could potentially take days. He warned us all that this particular issue is one the Elders have argued over in the past, and it got pretty heated, not to mention taking over two weeks to come to a decision.

I didn’t bother passing that warning along to Serena though. She never would have let me out of her sight if I had.

Part of me wants to get a little adventurous during these final hours before my job officially begins and head into town to find someplace to enjoy a big breakfast, but the cautious, rational part of me wins out in the end. I decide to just head down to the restaurant on the first floor so that I won’t have to worry about beating traffic to make it back on time. Not to mention, any spending from within the hotel is already linked to my room card and therefore my expense account.

I’m pleased to find that the rest of my group seems to have had the same idea I did, and they’re already down there sharing a table with another group of Elder’s guards, the ones from Silver Crescent who are here with Elder Gerard. I’d have guessed that their uniforms would be silver, but no, they’re basically like ours but with a yellow polo shirt. The only reason I can even tell where they’re from is the pack symbol prominently displayed on the top left, same spot as ours.

I don’t really even ask if I can join, just assuming that they won’t mind if I grab one of the vacant chairs and plop down next to Stevie. As expected, no one even flinches.

“Hey man, this here is Darrell,” Stevie introduces me to the man sitting opposite us. “He was just telling us about this Alpha-apparent we’ll be seeing today.”

“Alpha prospect, I think,” Darrell corrects him. “She won’t be Alpha-apparent until her claim is confirmed and approved.”

“Well yeah, but I mean, come on. She’s Alpha Kane’s daughter. What more confirmation do they need?” Stevie argues.

“I don’t really think we’re supposed to be talking about it, but I’ve heard it’s not her they have an issue with,” Darrell goes on, obviously enjoying being the one in the know. “It’s her mates.”

“Mates?” George chimes in. “No way. No way they’re even considering that.”

“They are though,” Darrell maintains. “I’ve been to New Horizon with Elder Gerard, and I’ve seen her with them. There are two guys, I kid you not.”

“Wait, so were you there the day that they were attacked?” George wonders next. “I heard that’s what all the extra security is about. A rogue attack or something.”

“No, he was there for days before that happened, and he trusts Alpha Kane implicitly, so he'd actually sent us away on an errand when it, like, went down,” Darrell answers him. “It’s all been very hush, hush, but he did basically allude to it being an attack, though he wouldn't give details or say for sure. I can’t confirm it because we didn't really see any of the action directly, but what I can tell you is they wouldn't let us back into their territory until whatever was going on was all over and it was time to go home. But something was definitely up, that much I can tell you.”

“Well, I hope you guys have gotten all the gossiping like she-wolves out of your system, because I heard that we have to sign non-disclosure agreements about anything we hear in there today,” another Silver Crescent guard speaks up.

That seems to sober up the table, who all knew they shouldn’t be gossiping to begin with. Especially not here, which is a place where a lot of shifters stay, but humans come through as well. I had a niggling feeling at the back of my mind that we were doing something wrong even just sitting here listening to them talk, but I also can’t deny that I didn’t feel inspired to stop it. I’m curious, and these Silver Crescent guys seem to know things.

It’s not long after we finish our breakfast that it’s time to head up to the fourth floor to meet Uncle Ben, or I guess I should start calling him Elder Benjamin now. As soon as we step out of the elevator, I can sense the different vibe up here. Down in the lobby it’s loud, bright, and chaotic, and even the floor where our rooms are is well-lit and a bit echoey in the hallway, but this floor is dim and there’s a hush that can be felt as well as heard.

The hallway lighting is all close to the floor, and sound is somehow suppressed. Or maybe it’s just that the dim lighting seems to naturally make us all want to whisper, and it’s us creating the softer sounds. The thick, luxurious carpeting here probably helps a lot though. The fourth floor is obviously meant to impress, and it does.

As promised, once we get inside the conference room, Elder Stirling is already in there waiting for us with paperwork, demanding that we sign our consent to be held legally responsible should we make the unfortunate decision to talk about anything we hear today outside this room. And of course, in the werewolf world, being held legally responsible for poor choices often means accepting harsh punishments that do not necessarily exclude the potential for maiming and death. Consider these lips zipped.

Elder Stirling directs the other Elders to where he’d like them to be seated, sticking Elder Benjamin at the far end, of course, leaving him plenty of room on either side for his wide shoulders. Elder Benjamin has us take up posts along the wall behind him, and as the others trickle in, I can’t help noticing with amusement how this room is starting to look strangely crowded with all its color-coded bystanders lining the perimeter.

The clock shows that it's starting to draw alarmingly close to time for the meeting to start, and we’re still missing an Elder as well as the New Horizon guests of honor. I hear Elder Vivian make a comment about that, though Elder Stirling shushes her with assurances that they’re on the way.

“In the parking lot now, I’m told,” Elder Gerard speaks up. “Both Elder Norissa and Miss Bentley are on their way up.”

“I find it strange that those who had the shortest distance to travel are the last to arrive,” Elder Vivian comments.

“It’s not so strange. We all arrived last night, which makes us the ones with the shortest distance to travel in the moment,” Elder Millicent points out. “The others drove here just now.”

Elder Vivian doesn’t seem to have any more grumbling to do after that, so we all just wait. It might just be me, but it kind of feels like we’re all holding our breath and just waiting for something to happen. Something good, I hope, or at least something interesting.

And just about when I’m starting to daydream about that, it hits me. It starts with a strange restless feeling as I sense Raj stirring around and pacing with anticipation, and then I’m struck with the scent of berries and vanilla cream, my favorite morning snack since I was a pup. I would just brush it off as the scent of someone’s breakfast lingering in the air, but there’s no reason why I would suddenly be smelling it, and so strongly at that.

It’s my mate. It has to be. I know it even before the door opens and the full force of that scent hits me in the face and about drops me on the floor.

Two male guards enter first, wearing purple polos and a pack symbol that tells me they’re probably here with Elder Norissa because it isn’t the sunrise of New Horizon. They stand back and hold the double doors open for a young woman who definitely radiates that unmistakable Alpha aura, and to my relief, she’s not my mate. That would have been awkward.

Two guys dressed in slacks and button downs enter after her, definitely not her guards so I can only presume they’re her mates. And then after them the real magic happens. Two straight lines of four guards each march in, dividing themselves along the middle with half turning left and the rest going right. Then the two team leaders turn and start making hand gestures, and I notice some of the guards’ eyes have gone hazy from incoming mind-links.

The whole scene takes only seconds, and they do it with such practiced military precision that it’s impressive. I notice Uncle Ben turning around and giving me a look. He’s making sure I’m paying attention to the pack he considers the shining beacon of excellence, and I can see why.

I wonder what he’ll think when I tell him that it’s also the pack my mate comes from. To my delight, her group is the one that turned my way. She’s still far enough away that I can’t reach out and touch her though, and it’s taking every ounce of my willpower not to just charge over there anyway.

She’s strong, I can tell that just from looking at her, not to mention just knowing the amount and intensity of training she must endure as a New Horizon warrior. She’s tall, but not as tall as the female Alpha she came in with, and she has the most gorgeous wavy red hair. It’s vibrant and full of life, unlike the dull, wispy brown I’m used to from Serena.

Oh Goddess, Serena. She’s going to flip when I tell her she was right.