Finding The Wolf Within

7

Nessa walked into her father's council room with Lucian right behind her. He had updated her fully on the progress of the cleanup efforts as they walked back together. She sat in the seat that was closest to her father's left hand. Her father was the biggest of all the wolves she had ever seen. He stood just under seven feet tall and was massive. His presence screamed Alpha. There was never any question he was the one in charge where ever they went. He was a very stern leader and expected everyone to follow his orders with no question. With the exception of his daughter, when it came to her, he was a big softy and gave in quickly to what she wanted, well, for the most part. His only wish was that she would find her mate, and soon if he were to choose for her, it would be his second's son Lukas. But she had made it clear she did not care for him. He then turned his hopes to maybe one of her men, but he lost some hope as two of them found their mates. So he had turned his attention back to Lukas with no luck. Most referred to him as "The Alpha," but those closest to him knew him as Alonso. With his shaggy dark brown hair, light brown eyes, and looked younger than he was. He still caught the attention of the ladies, and even though his mate had long past he didn't quite enjoy spending time with those same ladies.

Across from Nessa was her father's second. His name was Sandor. He was slightly shorter than her father and not near as well built. He had always given her an uneasy feeling. And for the last couple of years, Nessa was sure he had been plotting secretly to move against her father. But since she could not prove it, she had kept it between her and her men and had been secretly training others to be able to do what she and her team do. Well, secretly from everyone but her father. He knew she had requested more men and had granted it. Her only request with the new men was that only she and her men knew who they were. 

Next to Sandor was Lukas, who was staring at her as though he knew something she didn't know. Lucian took the seat next to her, and her father started their meeting by taking his seat and clearing his throat. "Bring me up to speed on what is going on?" He turned to look at Lukas as though he knew what was going on. Nessa knew that even though she had been the first on the scene, her father had sent Lukas down to be in charge, and he had not stayed past her leaving with Andy. Once she had given her orders to him and left, he decided he didn't want to work that hard and left.

Lukas shifted in his seat, unsure how to answer. Nessa sighed, and even though she would love to sit and watch Lukas get in trouble for not following the orders given to him, hell, maybe that would show her father how much of a bad fit he would be for her. But probably not. Her father was very set on his hope that he could talk her into being with him. And something deep within her craved being near Andy again, and she really didn't want to be away from him for much longer. She cleared her throat slightly, drawing her father's attention away from the very uncomfortable Lukas. "We found two humans that did not survive and had them transported to the humans not far from here to be taken care of. We also found two half-bloods that survived. Dr. Waters said they would both make full recoveries. I am not fully sure they understand what they are and believe themselves to be humans. By the information Victor could get from the ship, it looks as though they are from Earth and were on a mission to only get into the outer part of our system here before returning to Earth. Our best guess is they had been knocked off course and had been pulled into our planet's gravitational pull due to their ship's mechanics being broken. As a result, they were unable to move away from our planet. The biggest portion of the ship has been moved to better investigate it and get more information, the rest should be moved tomorrow, and then we will be able to start clearing the damaged trees. We will then be able to start replanting those that have been lost. Only one of the survivors has woken from the medication Dr. Waters had to give them when I was summoned for this meeting. I am planning to return later this evening and should be able to have more of an update for you on the information we can get from them later." She said as she ignored the dirty look that Lukas was now giving her.

No doubt he was angry because she stepped in to save his a*s instead of being grateful because now her father will still think that while she was off assuring that they got information from the two that lived. At the same time, Lukas had been organizing everything, taking care of the cleanup, and planning the reseeding of the forest. When in fact, not even she could take credit for that as that had all been her second Lucian, and she would be sure to make sure he knew she appreciated it. She sighed a little, knowing that Lukas would probably try and be a jerk later to her, but she didn't really much care or even bother to look in his direction.

The information she had given seemed to please her father in the fact that things were being taken care of quickly. However, the fact that the ship seemed to come from Earth seemed to concern him a bit, and he excused everyone except for Sandor so they could discuss it. He asked that Lukas continue his hard work at the crash site and that Nessa go back and see what information she could get from the two men. At his orders, Nessa didn't waste any time. Once he was done speaking, she stood up and headed for the door. Lucian followed right behind her, "You know Lukas is pissed now right, you should have just let your father realize he hasn't done jack s**t. It would have been a great ending to the day to watch your father chew him a new asshole."

"I know, but I really didn't want to waste more time. I would like very much to change out of these clothes and have a few hours of quiet before we get back to work tomorrow." She said, slightly lying about her intentions. She knew Lucian would hear the lie in her statement but not question her. "Tell the men to take the night off and go see your families. The rest can wait until morning. We will meet back down there tomorrow about midmorning and get back to work."

With a slight bow of his head, Lucian said, "Yes, ma'am." And with one final look at her, he left her to inform the other men of her orders.

Nessa headed into her room and quickly bathed before stepping into her closet. She had never felt the need to worry about what to wear. She usually would just throw on a pair of pants and a shirt with boots that could hide her knives easily unless her father had requested her to wear a dress. And even then, the dress had always been provided for her. But standing in her closet now looking at her clothes, she was unsure about what to wear. Should she wear a dress and look nice, or should she wear what she was comfortable with? Wondering what was wrong with her, she shook her head and decided on her favorite pair of pants. They fit her body but allowed her to move without fear of them tearing. She then picked up her favorite shirt, it was sleeveless, hugged her body comfortably, and showed off her muscular figure perfectly. She loved her look. Most of the women in their pack were muscular and of good build, but none were as toned as she was. Although none of the others were held to the same standards as the men and needed to be able to fight. Her being an Alpha and the only living child of the pack's Alpha, she kind of had to. But that didn't change the fact that she was proud of her body and loved to show it off when she could. She then pulled on her favorite boots, they went halfway up her calf, and if she wanted, she could hide a good amount of knives in them where she could remove them quickly, but only she would know where they were.

Throwing her hair up in a quick pony tell she left her room again and headed back down to Dr. Waters. As she walked, she felt as though she was being watched. She ignored the feeling. She was sure it was just Lukas waiting for his chance to stop her and let her know how much he didn't like being saved by her. It didn't take her long to get back to Dr. Waters. When she walked in, she found Mrs. Waters walking through the front room with two trays of food.

"Why, hello, Nessa dear." Mrs. Waters greeted her.

"Hello, Mrs. Waters. Here let me help you." She said, taking one of the trays from the older women.

"Thank you, dear." Mrs. Waters said with a smile.

"I take it they are both awake now?" Nessa said, returning her smile

"Yes, and I want them to eat something before you start asking all kinds of questions." Mrs. Waters said with a stern look on her face.

"Yes, of course," Nessa said as she followed the older women into the other room where the two men were being kept.