Gamma's Energy Attracts

Part 20

Caly’s POV

It seems as soon as I finally fell asleep, I was abruptly woken by a knock on the bedroom door. I was so sleep-deprived it took a moment to get my bearings. My Mate was in bed with me, that’s a good sign, but I’m not at home. I was at Bite as I recognized Luna Anne’s signature style and last evening’s nightmare started to come back to me. The knock was heard again, I jumped out of bed, they wouldn’t likely hear me even if I called out so I went to the door. My throat was croaky when I managed to say, “Yes?” It was Omega coming to tell us her Alpha Tucker had arrived to update me and his parents, he was waiting downstairs.

I rushed to have a quick scald in the shower but my Mate caught me and turned the temperature down. “I’m trying to wake up in here!” I grumbled at him unhappily. It’s usually my wolf who detests waking early.

“That’s nice, try doing it without ruining your skin,” he said with a smirk on his face as he stepped in behind me. He wrapped his arms around me from behind and sucked on my Mark. “I could help you wake up,” he says pressing his wide awake and upstanding member against my lower back.

“We don’t have time,” I remind him even though I would much rather crawl back into bed with him.  

It’s Saturday and I would love to just throw on jeans and an extra-large sweater, but I knew I had to look my part as a Luna and put on my work uniform- a black pencil skirt and a silky, sapphire blue blouse, it reminded me of Stav’s lusty deep blue eyes.

Stav also throws on a suit and I catch Julia just leaving her room. Rather than timidly looking around and sneaking downstairs hoping to go unnoticed, she bounces out of her room looking carefree and happy. Maybe she’s in denial?

“Hey, Mrs. Alpha!” Julia's voice is loud and clear. Where did her meek voice go?

“How are you feeling, Julia?” Maybe she’s being fake cheerful until she can get home to have a nervous breakdown, I’ve certainly coped that way before. She’s probably excited that after last night's drama we might go home early.

“Awesome-sauce!”  Um, excuse me, Miss, where have you put our Julia?

Well if we are pretending that nothing is wrong, I’ll use this to my advantage, “Tucker is waiting downstairs for me, would you mind getting the twins up and dressed for me?”

“Sure!” she literally zooms into the room the pups are sharing. Julia? Who sneaks and slinks everywhere slower than a snail is now using her werewolf speed? I give my head a shake, she’s just discovered her wolf and it’s new and exciting. This isn’t her usual behaviour but what am I supposed to say? ‘Hey Julia, you faced one of the worse things possible last night, shouldn’t you be grieving or acting hurt and miserable?’ I decide to have Terri keep a closer eye on her for a bit, just in case there is some sort of crash and burn later on.

“Good Morning, Caly,” Tucker says, but his face says this is anything but a ‘good’ morning.

“What’s the total damage?” I whisper as Luna Anne seems to be directing all of her house staff into frenzy mode.

“Everyone is accounted for, 23 wolves no longer Mated, four of them are enjoying a cot in the basement and everyone else will be discharged from the hospital today.”

An uneven number, then I remember the one Athena led me away from. “That poor girl,” my heart already hurting for that young woman. I lower my head as I shake it. Terrible. Such an unnecessary loss of life.

“Not just her. There were 13 couples, definitely an unlucky number 13,” Tucker whispers so the staff setting up a buffet don’t hear him.

My head snaps back up, with a hoarse voice I barely manage the words out, “Three? Three are dead?”  Tucker just nods.

We stand silent for a moment. “Tucker! Aren’t you having the Alphas for breakfast?” Luna Anne frowns, she is not very subtle with her hints that he should be doing something.

“Yes, Mother Dear. I have a half-hour to get to the Packhouse.” He turns and winks at me behind his Mom’s back, what is he up to? “I came to gather Stavros and Lincoln. I was just asking Caly to join us!” 

“Tucker!” she says in a reproachful, high-pitched squeal. 

Tucker snickers behind his hand and I jab him in the side with my elbow.  “What? She has the right to choose,” He says as he pretends to survey the offerings of the buffet, mostly cut fruit, hard-boiled eggs and low-fat greek yogurt. He makes sure his Mother sees his frown as he looks at the healthy fare. “Caly would enjoy my breakfast more. We are having waffles and bacon for breakfast, and I’m sure you won’t have Irish whiskey to go with your morning coffee.” 

“Tucker! She’s staying here and that is final!” Anne’s voice raises another octave.

I have to bite my lip not to laugh. “That’s alright, I’ll stay here to meet with the Lunas. Then I have some wolves I need to check on.” I sneak a sly look at Tucker, I mouth out, “Save me a plate.” 

“Will do,” Tucker says before he greets Lincoln.

“I would have saved you a plate, Little Mate,” Stavros pulls me close to his chest.

“I know, Athena was hoping for extra bacon,” I say as I kiss his cheek. “I’ll see you soon.”

Ladies are ushered in and they start to fill their plates and make sorrowful comments without actually saying much. I picked some fruit and mindlessly ate,  I was already full on just the bad vibes in the room. Julia was in such a good mood, I told Terri to take her and the kids to the kitchen to eat there, they didn’t really belong at this breakfast and there was no point in all of us suffering through this.

I barely had my first coffee into me when Luna Anne and Kat stood up. I got a swift kick to the shin with a pointy-toed shoe, so I raised myself from my chair, I guess we are making a united front. Luna Anne explained everything we knew about the events of last night. Luna Kat suggested we gather our young and talk to them about this tragedy. The consensus was we needed to remind them of the joy of having your Mate. The Lunas all simpered and agreed. Kat, Anne and I were nominated to speak, and I wrote out the list of points to discuss. It became very clear to me that we were going to have the high school gym class version of the ‘Mating Talk’. 

I suggested we should point out how disappointed we all were with these young ones and the destruction they wrought, but I was hushed quickly, “Oh no, we can’t do that!” Heavens forbid we find out what the hell they were thinking, or have them be accountable for their actions.

I excused myself to find Terri, she followed me to Tucker’s dining room back at the Packhouse. “That didn’t sound to me that the Lunas wanted to deal with the little f*ckers.” Of course. Terri was listening in.

“No, it didn’t.” I agree with her, but I am out of energy and far too exhausted to argue.

“What’s your speech going to be about?”

“I’m not sure yet. Let’s see if Tucker had better luck.” I open the dining-room door, and the Alphas all stop talking at once.

“The Lunas are all meeting at Elder Darryl’s house,” says Alpha Aaron. Blo*dy prick. 

I don’t have the time or energy to get into it with him this morning either. I am used to deflecting ignorant assholes, keeping my voice under control I say, “I am aware, Alpha Aaron, I just came from there. The Lunas have decided we are gathering everyone in the banquet hall for 11 am to talk to our young wolves.” 

“Then why are you two here?” He gestures to both Terri and I.  Aaron is new to this Alpha meeting thing, I am sure. We never invite him to anything we do as an ally. Several of the Alphas growl at him. I’m glad for the support but I sigh aloud. Even if I had no right to be in an Alpha’s private meetings (which I most certainly do), he should at the very least know well enough not to disrespect another Alpha’s Mate. Stavros stands and I feel the anger and pheromones coming off of him in equally large waves. I take the chair saved beside him and pull him down.

“Calypso is an Alpha and you know it. She is always welcome here, you, however, not so much,” Darius doesn’t bother hiding his own displeasure. 

Aaron makes an annoying sound in the back of his throat, “What’s your female Gamma’s excuse?”

“My guard,” I say simply while my Mate pushes waffles and the syrup in front of me. Tucker prepares me a coffee and slips some whiskey in it. Then Tuck pulls a packet of choco-covered coffee beans from his blazer pocket and slides that towards me as well.

'Look at how well we have trained our closest Alphas. A few more years and we will have all the men whipped into shape.' I ignore my wolf's inappropriate comments.

“A real Alpha wouldn‘t need a guard,” he says snidely.

Terri flicks out her silver-tipped knife, her baby, not some flimsy flick-blade knife like she used last night and points it right at Aaron. “She’s killed bigger men than you, @sshole. I’m here because I enjoy reminding ignoramuses of their damn manners. She’s also worth a helluva lot more than you, so people actually want my Queen.” 

"Theressa that is enough," came the deadly cold words of Darius. My gift was something he wanted to keep under wraps, but it was probably the worst kept secret of our kind. 

“I’m well aware of her value. I had something similar stolen from me.” Aaron's snooty nose is up in the air.

“See @sshat, that’s your f*cking problem. Julia is a person. As a person, she had every right to leave your sorry Pack, you mother-fu….”

“Terri! Enough. Ignore him, he’s not worth it,” I rest my hand on hers, lowering the knife. I take a deep breath and change the topic, “What have you Alphas decided to do about the Mate situation?”

"That Mating would be best-considered part of the Pack’s overall wellbeing, so really it's a Luna's issue," Aaron says in such a condescending way I’m not sure if it's the fact he doesn’t care about the issue or he’s peeved that the females are handling it.

'Cowards. Time for some of these Alphas to go back to remedial wolf-the-f*ck-up lessons. There is plenty they could say and command them to listen. Don’t worry Babe, I got you.' Athena paces angrily about before she remembers her booze-laced coffee and drinks it down.

"You can’t think of anything you want to say to them? Nothing at all?" I narrow my eyes at Darius and Darryl, surely as the most well-rounded and senior of Alphas they would make a speech?

"They're all grown adults. It's none of our business if they throw away their destiny,” Aaron answers for the group.

"I want everyone in this room to remember Alpha Aaron's statement, so we can remind him of this later on." I glare at him while I tear my waffle into small pieces before popping them into my mouth and letting them dissolve on my tongue.

"What are you talking about?" He’s smart enough to be suspicious of my comment, even if he is a dimwit.

"How's your boy Erik?" Terri snarls while twirling her knife.

"What did you do to him, you filthy she-b*tch!" He stands to glower at her, expecting her to back down. As if.

"Aww, is the itty-bitty Alpha trying to prove he's the big sh*t? You're not exactly scary, did you forget who my Alpha is?" She c*cks her brow waiting for him to finish his tantrum and take a seat.  

"This is why females shouldn't be allowed, all they do is stir up drama! Alpha Stab, get her under control!"

Stav actually laughs at him. "No one disciplines a Blood Pact woman, maybe you should watch your mouth around my Mate and the Gamma. Be thankful Terrier and I have learned some discretion, 5 years ago if Terr didn't stick you with a knife, I would have killed you already.”

Terri gives Aaron a smug smirk, "Anyway Dude, I didn't have to do a damn thing, he rejected one of ours, so he did it to himself." 

“Alright Alphas, thank you for coming. I will see you at 11 am, prompt,” Tucker says dismissively. Most of the Alphas leave, leaving my core group behind.

“I take it the Lunas came up with a plan, but you find it unsatisfactory, Calypso?” Says my mentor Darius.

“Anne is going to speak on the reasons the Goddess blessed us with Mates, Kat is doing the bit about the joy of having your Mate. I fear it will slip in one ear and out the other, just like all the other times they have heard it before.”

“We should drag the offenders out to the training field and bash their f*cking heads together. Ya know, knock some sense into them first,” Terri grumbles while twiddling with the knife.

“What do you think, Caly?” Tucker asks me as I dip bacon into the maple syrup on my plate.

“I wanted to talk to them about how disappointed we are with them, but I was outvoted. Now I’m leaning more towards Terri’s suggestion,” I say out of frustration. “We should check on those still in the basement and anyone who the Doctor still hasn’t discharged.”

“If you insist, I’m willing to let them suffer. Are you feeling your energy surge?” Tucker says with a deep frown. I know I look tired and hellish.

“I’m fine, for now. Let’s hope they don’t require too much from me.” I walk beside Tucker my Mate silently following me along. I can feel his irritation, so I stop and spin around.

“What’s the matter, Stavros?” I say sweetly as I look up at him from under my eyelashes. 

“I don’t want you wasting energy on idiots.”

“I know, My One and Only. Maybe you should head back to the kids,” I tell him as I put my hands on his chest. 

“I won’t let her go anywhere alone, Stav, Alpha’s honour,” Tucker tells him jovially.

“My Mate isn’t going into cages that contain feral wolves without me. It’s not happening,” Stav wraps a possessive arm around my waist and runs the tip of his nose against my ear as he whispers, “I also think you should speak your mind. Just because the Luna’s over-ruled you, doesn’t mean the Alphas did. Aaron might be vocal and all bark, but you had lots of our support. No matter what, I will stand beside you.”

“Really?” I pull back and look at my man in his eyes. Stav smiles and nods his head yes.

“I don’t know why you worry about a bunch Alphas and wolves you don’t even know. You have always fought me on all the things I did wrong. You had a huge impact on me and Blood Pact. You could end up doing something good for these young wolves.”

“I agree, Caly. There’s a reason we always come to you in a crisis, you have the ability to analyze things as an Alpha, and the sweet disposition to get through the toughest exteriors. They need to hear a few hard truths and they just might listen to you,” Tucker nods to Stavros in agreement. 

Maybe I could get through to our young ones. Once upon a time, these two males couldn’t be bothered to get to know me, I was just a nuisance Omega, and they both changed their ways. I just need a compelling argument. I don’t have enough time to think before 11 am!

“Caly, stop that! I’ve seen that look in your eyes, nearly every week when we were at school. It’s the faraway gaze you get when a deadline is looming,” Tucker says firmly, it causes my Mate to grip my chin and examine my face.

“You don’t usually procrastinate, Little Mate. Why would you look so worried on a weekly basis?” I can tell Stav doesn’t know what to make of me like this.

“Caly was an excellent student. She would panic like this every time she was faced with a group project. It was mostly because of Jase and I, we were always given plenty of time to finish our own portion of a task, but she couldn’t rely on us for help, so she was overworked. Caly, maybe you should do what you always did back then, find a quiet corner and focus on the task.”

“I need to check on…”

“Nope, I will do that. Let me take half the work this time. I owe you one and they can damn well wait,” Tucker says sternly, I can see he would rather leave them in the dungeon for the rest of the weekend.

I look at them both in turn, they seem quite serious. 

“Alright, I can do this. I’m going to head up my office. Wait, I don’t have my keys.” We change directions and head for the elevator. Tucker opened the door for me, Stav sat in my chair behind the desk, before I can object he pulls me into his lap and wraps his arms around my Mate.

“You’re not planning on distracting me are you?” I give Stav a silly grin.

He kisses the tip of my nose. “Nope, you need to focus, so I am a soothing heated chair,” he says making me laugh. I shuffled through my drawers for a legal notepad and a pen. I just needed to make a few poignant points, and really get through to these young people. I’m going to teach them a lesson that they won’t forget.