Looking out at the cars trying to find parking, Torie could only shake her head and roll her eyes. She should have had more parking set up and no one even thought to consider it. Where the hell did they all find so many damn Black SUV's to rent anyways? she asked herself. Chris had to teach her the proper etiquette for greeting visiting Alpha's and their mates. The Beta's didn't need special treatment, just a hello using their title. She blithely asked if the Alpha's had some sort of secret hand shake she was not aware of and he laughed until he realized she wasn't laughing.
For nearly five hours she was stuck standing in line while the Visiting Alpha's moved down the lines shaking hands and greeting her and her people and offering her proper respects for having brought the foul fiends to Justice.
Torie was getting agitated and had to pee in the worst way.
"What do we do?" Clare asked Chris, who in all honesty had no clue. Never before had all the Alpha's ever gathered on one packs lands before, usually only a handful at best. But he could see Torie was about to either loose it or pee right there on the floor.
"Get her out of the line while I hold up the next Alpha for a few minutes." he said quickly and walked down the line towards the arriving Alpha.
"Alpha Carter if I could get you to wait a few moments. Alpha Torie had a call she needed to attend to for a moment." Chris said quickly.
"Not a problem Beta Chris, my it's been so long sense we last saw each other, we can use the time to catch up. This is my mate Jose, my First Beta Cherry and Guardian Jaxon." Carter introduced while Chris smiled and nodded to each in turn. There was something different about Jaxon's scent though and it nagged at his Wolf.
"Come on.." Clare said behind Torie as she gently pulled her Alpha away from the line. "Chris is holding up the Alpha's for a few minutes for you." she added quickly and looked around as everyone else who realized what was happening also took that time to make a bathroom run. Torie took off like a shot and sighed happily inside the bathroom. Clare giggled to herself while the Beta smiled as well, each taking their own turn for a break.
"Christ, it's been five minutes already, how long you going to pee?" Clare whispered as she checked her watch yet again.
"Five hours worth, I knew I shouldn't have drank all that coffee.." she heard as Torie answered her. Well she did have a point, Clare conceded and continued to wait. Soon enough she heard the toilet flush and the water run in the basin before the door open and Torie stepped out.
"Now what?" Torie asked.
"We just have three more to greet and then you can eat. Who knew that over fifty packs and prides would actually show up?" Clare admitted while shrugging her shoulders.
Jax remained seated facing the Alpha couple with Cherry beside him, he noted that the First Beta's scent was different, something about it was off. It wasn't his scent though, it was someone else's scent, someone he was around quite a bit. As First Beta that could be anyone within his pack though.
"Ahh we're all set, sorry for the wait Alpha, everyone." Chris said as he opened the door and moved back to his position within the line. He nodded towards Clare and then his Alpha who nodded back before he put his attention on the group moving up the line.
"Alpha Torie, it is an Honor to finally meet you. Congratulations on the reforming of Pack Greywolf, and I wish you luck within the confirmations come tomorrow with the Alpha Council and to be honest it really isn't bad, they just test your Alpha abilities." Alpha Carter said and whispered in an aside to her. She smiled and nodded back to him.
"Welcome Alpha Carter and thank you so much for capturing the one responsible for the Bus Massacre, it is long past due." Torie said and smiled.
"Ohh don't Thank me, Thank whoever left him on our doorstep. He may be a bit worse for wear in staying with us, but he'll be fit enough to stand trial and Justice." Carter promised and smiled as Torie laughed then greeted his mate with the proper respect. Clare rested her hand on Torie's shoulder to help her remain calm, the many people gave Torie a bit of a claustrophobic feeling.
A loud roar moved down the line as everyone looked to find Jaxon glaring at Clare. In an instant he was moving to remove her from Torie's side. Torie also moved shielding Clare and shooting her fist straight out into the mans chest. A loud crunch was heard as he flew back and slammed into the side of the Black SUV that they had vacated.
"What is the meaning of this?" Torie roared out loud, the power rushed out as her cat came to the foreground within her mind. Her eyes glowed brightly now in a wash between purple and red with red gaining slowly. Everyone dropped to the ground in an instant, even the Alpha Council found themselves ready to submit.
She swung around and looked over Clare who was shaking a bit, but appeared unharmed. Torie pulled her up and hugged her gently before turning to Carter who looked shaken as well by the power he felt radiating off from her.
"You bring someone to a gathering who attacks us, why?" Torie demanded angrily. By pack Law, everyone within an Alpha's group who acted out, the Alpha was responsible and held accountable.
"He is our Guardian, he travels with us everywhere and has never acted like this before." Carter stated and glanced over at the still figure of Jaxon.
"He is not part of your pack, your pack scent is not on him." Torie growled angrily and loomed over Carter. Carter's Wolf was ready to dig a hole in the ground and clear to China if it would get him away from this power house who was making his skin crawl.
"His family was part of the original Greywolf pack, before the war. He came to us to visit with his Grandmother who was part of our pack, it was something they did every Summer. Then the war started and he grew up with us, but he would never accept our bond. He was waiting for a Greywolf to reclaim the pack." Carter explained quickly even as Jaxon healed and slowly got up.
Jaxon looked around and saw his Alpha kneeling before Torie the Alpha of the reborn pack. He let off a challenging roar. She stood up and the answering roar coming from her along with her power staggered him to his knee's, his cat was never going to do that again.
"You dare to challenge me on my lands, cat?" she growled at him while moving close and in a predatory tone. Jaxon knew he screwed up big time, she was a true Alpha and he was screwed.
"Apologies Alpha, I did not realize.." he started to say and she growled at him causing him to clamp his lips together.
"You tried to attack my Second Beta, why?" she demanded. Jaxon could now feel the sweat dripping down between his shoulder blades, this may not end well for him at all.
"I, honestly, don't know.." he started to explain when his cat said, "Because she touches our Mate!" and Jaxon froze with his eyes going wide.
"Wait you never said Torie was our Mate!" Jaxon complained to his cat but out loud and everyone gasped. Torie frowned and heard her cat agreeing with Jaxon, which answered why she seemed so on edge ever sense the car door opened. With a swift backhand she sent him into the car and careening off the side to lay in the dirt once again. Torie turned and walked off down the line.
"Alpha Carter, bring that.." she pointed at Jax's still form, "With you and your group to my Office immediately." she demanded. Well at least she wasn't going to take his life, he thought to himself while he scrambled with Cherry to pick up Jax and carried him after the volatile Were Cat.
"He's your Mate?" Clare asked curiously. Torie nodded but couldn't put off the growing feelings she held for her Second Beta.
"I see, should I wait outside while you speak to him and his Alpha's?" Clare asked softly and couldn't hide the hint of jealousy she was trying to hold back.
"No, for you are my third half, my beloved. Unlike the normal Were's. We genetics also have a Vampire half and we have both a mate and a beloved. With out them both, we can never feel whole. This I do remember when I asked my Mother why I had three Mommies. For some reason the other genetics only ever had just the one mate, but Raven, my birth Mother had the two." Torie explained as they sat down at her desk with Clare standing a bit behind her.
Jaxon healed up the fractured cheek bone, and was able to walk on his own. He looked questioningly at both his Alpha couple and at Cherry who couldn't hide her amusement. He shot her a look and then back to his Alpha.
"What happened?" he asked as they walked towards the Offices.
"You made a fool of yourself and she bitch slapped you into the next week, dumb ass." Cherry answered which got a disapproving look from both Carter and Jose. She clamped her mouth shut and Carter just rolled his eyes before looking at Jaxon.
"Well she's mostly correct, just not in the way she explained it. Your mate is not someone to fool with so I suggest you control yourself or your cat, whoever is getting you on her bad side, and do it quickly before she just kills all of us just to be quit of us all together." Carter said as they neared the Office. What else could possibly go wrong? he asked himself and flinched inwardly as he wondered if he may have jinxed himself further.
Torie remained seated as the door opened and the Alpha couple stepped inside. She waved to the pair of chairs before her desk and the couple sat down. She gave Jaxon a cursory glance before turning her attention towards the Alpha couple.
