Chapter 4 - Cheyenne's POV

My travels overseas had been going great. There was only one alpha that we had issues with. That was taken care of relatively easy and quickly. I later learned that he was a horrible alpha anyways and ran his pack on fear more than respect. Once I felt that pack was in good hands, showed the new alpha how to run things, while also giving him the contact information for the neighboring pack alpha, Gunner and I left to return home.

It was so nice to be back home again. Nothing compares to the feeling that only your own bed can offer. After the surprise delivery of Darian, Gunner and I headed back to the pack house for a much-needed nap. We ended up sleeping all afternoon, into the late evening. I was awakened by my phone ringing. I groaned while rolling over and grabbing my phone off the nightstand. I looked at the caller ID to see it was one of the Alpha’s here in the states.

“Wow, word gets around fast doesn’t it.” I thought to myself. Koa was still asleep so there was no comment on her end.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Queen Cheyenne. I hope I didn’t wake you.” Alpha James stated.

“James, what did I say about the titles?” I questioned seriously.

“Sorry, old habits die hard I guess.” He chuckled.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked relaxing back in bed.

“I called you with a rumor that is circulating, and if it’s true, it’s traveled quite the distance.” James started.

“Let the fun begin.” I mumbled knowing he heard me.

“It’s being said that Alpha Trent is contacting other Alphas to rise against you. He’s wanting to take your power and become the King Alpha.” James said cautiously.

I sat straight up in bed and yelled, “WHAT?!” causing Gunner to jump up out a of a dead sleep himself.

“I can not say that this is true or not as he has not contacted me himself. One of my warriors just informed me of this saying his sister told him during their dinner. She moved to the Claw River pack last month after finding her mate there.” James continued.

“Thank you for the heads-up James. I will certainly be looking into it, and don’t worry your name will be left out. While I have you on the phone, how is the prison coming along?” I asked.

“Oh very well. We have the perimeter fence up, electric was just turned on a few days ago, and all the locks have been installed on all exterior doors. I do believe the only thing left is to test run everything before we start transferring prisoners.” James’ voice changing from worry to excitement.

“Very well. Thank you for the update. I will have to schedule a time to come out and see the new facility. I do appreciate all the work you have all done in my absence.” I said genuinely.

“This was definitely a team effort from all the packs here. I will let you go though as I need to take care of a few things before I head off to bed. Sorry for keeping you up so late.” James’ stated.

“No worries. It was definitely warranted. Thank you James. Try to enjoy the rest of your night.” I said.

I hung up the phone with James and Gunner was right there by my side within seconds.

“What was that about?” He asked.

I repeated the conversation to him and as I talked I could see Maddox pushing forwards. It was now 10:30pm and I had him mindlink Nik and Derek for a meeting. We all met up in Nik’s office about ten minutes later where I told them about the phone call I had gotten from Alpha James.

“Alpha James isn’t one to start drama or any bullshit. So if he’s calling with this alleged rumor then it’s something that really concerns him.” Alpha Nik stated.

“I remember him from our first meeting. He seemed very genuine.” I said.

“He is.” Alpha Nik nodded. “Very old school when it comes to respecting others and authority.”

“I think it’s time to schedule our next board meeting.” I said raising an eyebrow with a side smirk.

“I will send out the notification.” Nik nodded once.

We all watched as he typed out the email and added all the alphas to the CC line with my email on the To line. We didn’t wait to try to schedule the meeting around other people’s schedules either, we told everyone that there was a meeting on Monday at 1:00 pm. If they were not there, it would be taken as an act against the Queen and would be treated as such. I didn’t expect responses right away, being that it was already so late, but we did get a couple right back confirming they would be there. We all headed back to our rooms saying goodnight to each other.

“You think we’re going to have a problem out of him?” Gunner asked closing the bedroom door behind him.

“Koa definitely knew something was off with him at our first meeting, remember?” I asked.

“How could I forget?!” Gunner laughed remembering the reaction from the other alphas when I shifted.

“I have to meet with Jax about this also. He can get ahold of his lycans in the other packs and we can use them as our eyes and ears inside.” I said grabbing my phone.

“Good idea.” Gunner started. I could tell he was still thinking though, and a few seconds later he continued. “What if they do know something but never said anything?” He asked.

“I still have to check with Jax and Tora on any messages that we missed while being gone. So we’ll go through those first then bring this up. What I do know is if any of the lycans did or do know about this rumor and failed to tell Jax or anyone else, Jax will rip their heads off himself. They are his kind and after everything I’ve done for them, that would be a big act of disrespect to Jax.” I said looking at my phone and scrolling to Jax’s text thread.

I opened his thread and sent him a message to meet me in the morning. A few minutes later I got a text back from him confirming.

“Better get to bed. We are meeting them at seven in the morning.” I said laying my phone back down and pulling the blanket back to get back in bed.

The next morning came way to fast. “Ughhh what’s a girl gotta do to get some sleep around here!?” I groaned while rolling over to shut my alarm off.

“mhey mmhor minmmtes.” Gunner mumbled into his pillow while pulling me back towards him.

“I don’t know what you just said but we need to get up. Tora and Jax are meeting us in Nik’s office at seven and we both need showers.” I said trying to pry his arm off of me.

Gunner turned his head so he was facing me to repeat, “Five more minutes.” And tightened his grip on me.

“Babe, if I give you five more minutes, we won’t leave this bed all day.” I said.

“Fine.” Gunner groaned and rolled over to his back while I got up.

I went over to the dresser and closet to grab a fresh set of clothes for the day. I was walking past the bed towards the bathroom and saw Gunner had rolled back over, again, and had his face buried in the pillows.

“Do it.” Koa said in my head.

Without a second thought, as I walked by him, I slapped his ass hard.

“What the hell?!” Gunner jumped up while I started laughing and ran for the bathroom.

“This is going to be fun. Here he comes.” Koa said and I swore I saw her smiling.

I hurried to get in the shower so he couldn’t try to throw me in a cold one. Gunner came rushing in and jumped in the shower with his shorts still on behind me.

“You thought the shower would stop me?” He teased while wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Well no, but I thought it’d at least buy me a few minutes.” I smiled.

Gunner started kissing the back of my shoulder, slowly making his way to my neck and around to the other shoulder. I moved my head opposite of him to give him better access. When he started kissing and nipping at my mark, I felt my body tense up. The scent of my arousal was filling the bathroom. Even with the water from the shower running down both of us, there was no trying to hide it at this point.

I turned around to face him and pulled his face down to my level. Being a foot taller than me definitely meant I had to get creative sometimes. Our make out session grew more intense by the second. I could tell he was trying to hold back but as soon as I latched on to his mark, all bets were off.

While it was intense, it was also a quickie. Once we finished our love making session, we hurried to wash up. He was out of the shower before me complaining that it was to hot and he needed air. I just laughed at him while I shook my head. I finished washing up myself, dried off, and got dressed. I wasn’t even worried about blow drying my hair today. It always took forever it seemed. Instead I just through it up in a wet messy bun.

“It’s so good to be home.” I said out loud to myself.

“Like you cared when we were overseas.” Koa snorted.

“I cared more so then. But now, psh fuck it.” I laughed.

“Can’t you at least run a brush through that mop on your head?” Koa pleaded.

“Eh maybe later. You really think Jax or Tora are going to care of my hair is brushed or not?” I asked while walking into the closet to get my boots.

“Hey I’m heading to the office.” I mind linked Gunner.

“Jax and Tora just pulled in. I’ll walk up with them.” Gunner responded back immediately.

I walked into Alpha Nik’s office to find him and Derek already in there.

“Oh I’m sorry guys. I didn’t think…” I started.

“No worries. We hadn’t planned to be here either.” Derek laughed. “What brings you here this early?”

“After we left here last night, Gunner and I were talking about the situation and I decided to bring Jax in for a quick meeting. I want to fill him in on what’s been said and have him do a little investigation for me. While the lycans were on my side, we can’t say that they still are. Some of them might know more about this alleged rumor and if they do Jax will get it out of them.” I said taking a seat next to Derek across the desk from Nik.

“Makes sense. I didn’t even think about them honestly. I know it sounds bad, but everybody’s been getting along as one.” Derek said looking at Nik.

“I’m right there with you Derek.” Nik shrugged.

“I don’t blame you guys. None of us thought about it last night. Like I said, it wasn’t until Gunner and I returned to our room that it was brought up.” I said.

“Where is that son of mine anyways?” Derek asked.

“He’s outside, walking in Jax and Tora. I want to get their updates and everything before I bring this up though. I want to see if maybe one of the lycans did call to inform us about it but then got cold feet or something and said it wasn’t a time sensitive matter. If that were the case then Tora would’ve just put the notice in a folder for me to review when I got back and wouldn’t have mentioned it.” I finished just as the door opened and Gunner, Jax, and Tora walked in.

“Good morning everybody.” Jax said with a smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t know this was an official thing. I would’ve dressed more appropriately.” Jax and Tora looking at each other trying to hide the worry in their eyes.

“Relax ya’ll. I didn’t know Nik or Derek would be here either. That’s my fault for not confirming with them first.” I said moving my chair around while Derek did the same so they weren’t left out by sitting on the couch in the back of the office.

“So what’s this about?” Jax asked.

“First thing is the messages from packs that they claimed were not time sensitive.” I said looking at Tora.

“Yep, I got everything right here.” She held up a bag.

“Holy hell. Was there really that many?!” I asked with wide eyes looking at the bag.

“It looks worse than it is. Most of them were just wanting to know about the next board meeting or questions that we could answer for you with the help of Nik and Derek here.” Tora smiled pointing between Alpha Nik and Beta Derek. “I made sure to write their question down and what our answer was below it.”

“I do have to say that I was horrible at taking notes and everything for you guys so she did 99% of it.” Jax shrugged.

“I had a feeling.” I laughed. “No worries Jax. It’s fine. Should we move this to the conference room then so we have room to sort through all that?” I asked pointing at the bag at Tora’s feet.

“Sounds like a good idea. I’ll grab the laptop.” Nik chuckled.

We moved our meeting to the conference room down the hall. Tora started pulling out folders and placing them in separate stacks. I was going to question it but figured she would explain it once we were all in and seated.

“This is just paperwork from all the packs court cases since you left. They wanted you to look over them and determine if they are giving right judgements and such.” Tora waved her hand in the air before pushing that particular pile off to the side.

“This pile is all the documents; invoices, requests, etc. on the royal prison and territory.” Tora said pushing another pile to the side.

“This pile…” She paused and placed both her hands flat on top of it. “This is all the messages while you were gone. Now like I said, some of these have been taken care of already and those are in the bottom two folders.”

“Remind me to take her out for dinner and a spa day.” I said turning towards Gunner.

“Oh no need for that. I really did enjoy doing this, and it made me feel like a part of this pack already. Just the fact that you trusted me enough to handle this for you, I’m thankful beyond words.” Tora said with a smile.

“Well we do really appreciate you stepping up and doing all this for us.” I said motioning between Gunner and myself.

“Tora, Jax, thank you both. If you guys ever need anything, do not hesitate to ask.” Gunner said.

“Good cause we need help finishing the house.” Jax laughed.

“Say no more. We will be there today!” Gunner said.

“Ok let’s get down to business.” Nik said sitting forward in his chair.

“First thing I want to see is all the messages from any and all the lycans.” I stated looking at the folders still sitting in front of Tora.

“Just the lycans?” Jax asked with furrowed brows.

“I received a phone call last night and before we go jumping to conclusions here, I want to rule out any involvement on their end.” I said.

“Honey since you know all of their names, lycan wise, why don’t we sort through these and just pass the lycans’ messages to them first?” Tora asked him.

“That’s fine hun, but Alida you will tell us what this is about right?” Jax asked looking back at me.

“Yes Jax. I just need you thinking straight for the moment. As soon as we have these sorted out, I will explain everything. Just can’t risk you running out of here…yet.” I added that last bit as I looked at the stack of folders Tora was shifting around.

We started with the oldest messages and worked our way through to the newest ones. Jax would pass Gunner and I all the lycan messages, we would read them, while Derek and Nik would look up which pack they were in and made two separate piles. One was of the packs that we knew wouldn’t be an issue and the messages left, were of no real concern. The other pile was messages from lycans that were in packs we thought we might have an issue with. Some of those messages were lycans requesting to be put in a different pack.

“Koa, remind me to get with those lycans first. I want full details as to why they want moved.” I said in my head.

“Got it.” She said still remaining in the front of my mind.

She was also helping us sort through all of this. It took a couple of hours to get through all of the messages, including the wolves too. Nik or Derek must of mind linked someone to bring us food, because just as we were finishing up with the last of the messages, there was a knock at the door. Nik gave the order to come in and when the door opened, Ben popped his head in.

“What the hell are you doing here?! Don’t you have a new pup and mate to be taking care of?” I asked.

“Darian is sleeping, and Chels is taking a much-needed relaxing bubble bath. Besides, I brought food!” Ben said with a cheesy smile taking a step back to show the cart full of food.

“Fine, but I will be checking with Chelsea later.” I sent him a side glare.

“What’s going on here that you didn’t invite me?” Ben asked making sure the door was closed completely.

“Well we just finished going through all the messages that Tora and Jax took for us while we were gone.” Gunner said.

Ben scanned the table seeing folders everywhere and the different stacks of messages down by Nik and Derek.

“I guess since you’re here, you might as well stay for this. You being the next Alpha, you should be in the loop.” I said gesturing towards a seat.

“Oh shit. Speaking of which, we never got a chance to tell you the other part of your surprise.” Ben said looking at Derek who nodded.

“Surprise? You really did want your ass kicked when I got back didn’t ya?” I glared at him.

“It’s not like that. I promise. Dad, Derek, and Alpha Brock did some research and after many talks, Tyler is able and willing to become my Beta.” Ben said smiling.

My jaw dropped, “Are you serious?!” I asked.

“Yep. As a heart attack.” Ben said.

“That’s awesome! Has he started his training yet?” I asked looking at Derek.

“He has been in and out over the past few weeks. We will be initiating him into the pack next weekend. He wanted you to be here for it.” Derek grinned.

“Should I bring him in on this then?” Ben asked.

“Is he here?” I asked almost jumping out of my chair. With all the excitement since I got back, I hadn’t had the chance to go visit my family. We had been texting but it’s just different from being face to face.

“He is on his way actually. I was going to run the pack’s borders with him today.” Ben stated.

“OK then, why don’t we eat while we wait for him and then I can just explain to everyone at once so I’m not having to repeat myself.” I said gesturing towards the cart of food.

“For the love of all things holy, don’t make her repeat herself.” Gunner said running his hands down his face.

I shot him a look as to say shut the hell up while everyone laughed. We made our plates and ate while Nik and Derek questioned me on the packs in Africa. Just as we finished up with our breakfast, Tyler walked in. I jumped up and made my way around the table to him and hugged him like I hadn’t seen him in years.

“Good to see you to sis.” He laughed. “What’s all this?” He pointed towards the table.

“Your first official meeting as a beta in training.” I smirked.

“Oh you know?” He asked rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah I just found out. Thanks for telling me ass-monkey.” I slapped his chest and then went back to my seat.

“Ok now that we’re all here. I got a phone call last night from one of the alphas here in the states. Long story short, there’s a rumor going around that Alpha Trent is trying to recruit other alphas to side with him to overthrow me.” There were a few growls heard from around the table.

“Calm yourselves boys.” I said standing up, then I looked at Tora and saw her death grip on a stack of folders. “Tora?” I asked but she didn’t move or respond.