Chapter 10 – White Claw Pack

“U-Uhm...” Leal didn’t know what to say. She knew he was a busy man so why would he bother eating with him, with the sun bright out, he’ll sweat here! Why isn’t he dining in the comfort of his air-conditioned five-star restaurants?

He sat down, without waiting for her permission. Scoffing at the display of impolite behavior, Leal turned her gaze down to her meal. She continued to eat silently, as Axel also opened his meal. When she saw the pancake and honey, her brows furrowed. It’s already lunch time.

“Is that your lunch?” She asked.

He looked up at her and looked back to his food, frowning at her. “Yeah?”

“That’s for breakfast.” She pointed out. “You have to have a real meal.”

“Oh.” He leaned back on his seat and looked at her, a smirk threatening to appear. “You’re concerned about me now?”

Leal furiously blinked. She didn’t mean to sound like she’s concerned! It was just her instinct talking about his meal. If it was any other person, she would say the same and worry for them too—not that she was worried about him too. Ah! My mind’s tangled! She mentally exclaimed.

“T-That wasn’t what I-I meant—”

He cut her off, an amused smirk plastered on his face. “It’s alright. I’m also worried about you.”

“W-What...?”

Axel pointed to her plate. “Look at that! It’s full of vegetables! Is that gonna make you full?”

Leal furrowed her brows. She likes vegetables! She rarely eats meat, not because she gains fat easily but because meat is greasy. Though meat is absolutely delicious, she still prefers healthy vegetables.

“Vegetables are my favorite.”

“Really?” He looked so interested. “You’re really rare.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” He chuckled as he took a bite in his pancake. “Have you ever heard about werewolves?”

“Yup,” she casually nodded.

“Where?” He leaned in, as if it’s taboo to talk about it. Uncomfortable by the close proximity, Leal cleared her throat and avoided his eyes. She took a bite before answering.

“In children’s books.”

He stilled for a moment, before looking down on his pancake and taking a rather aggressive bite. He stayed silent, which made Leal confused. Why does he look so displeased with her answer? He asked a random question, so she answered, even though she doesn’t like being around him.

“Why?” She asked, noticing his silence.

He sighed and combed his hair, looking like he’s in a state of distress. “Leal...” He trailed off and sighed again.

“What’s with my answer that made you look so displeased?”

He bit his lower lip before placing his plastic fork down. “Would you believe me if I said werewolves are real and that you just offended one?”

This time, it was her turn to still and look at him. Unblinkingly, she stared at him, who had a completely serious face. Then, when what he said processed to her, she broke out in laughter.

“So you’re cracking jokes now?” She asked, still chuckling. He remained passive, waiting for her to calm down.

When she did, he leaned to the table and clasped his hands together. With a nonchalant expression, he said, “I admire your beautiful laugh and would love to hear it more often but I just don’t need that right now, especially when we’re in the middle of a serious conversation.”

One of her brows rose. “Oh, this is a serious conversation?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “I’m dead serious.”

“Hmm, well I guess I just can’t take you seriously.” She shrugged, feeling satisfaction rain on her as she saw his shocked expression. Luckily, it was the end of her lunch break so she picked up her meal and left him on the table, shocked and dumbfounded.

She mentally tapped herself on the back. Very good, Leal, very good.

Axel silently watched Leal’s back and waited for her to enter the restaurant before incredulously scoffing to himself. His girl’s starting to be courageous and he’s seeing her potential as an effective Luna. Currently though, it’s making his task harder. How does one woo the exceptional Leal Horryn?

“Sir, it’s twelve minutes until your board meeting. We need to go back to the company now,” informed his driver as he broke his train of thoughts. Axel nodded at him, as they left the restaurant and entered his Cadillac. He fixed his cufflinks while looking off the window, smirking as he reminisced her remarks earlier. Feisty. He loves it.

“How’s it going with your mate?” Tyrone placed the wineglass in his office, as he situated himself on the couch in front of his table. The day had quickly passed and now it’s nearing midnight, and he’s sitting in his office in their pack mansion, getting ready for a pack meeting.

“She’s gotten bolder,” he remarked as he took a sip. Tyrone chuckled.

“You know, when I was courting Alexiana, I used to cringe for my cheesy actions and surprises. It was all so cringe-worthy, you knew that because you witnessed a few of them.” Tyrone pointed at him, pertaining to his wife and mate. Axel smirked, remembering their college days.

“I remember, we were so embarrassed of you all the time.”

“Hey!”

“What?” He raised his brows at him. “Especially that time you kneeled in the rain in front of her house, hugging a bouquet.”

“Shut up, I was doing what every man in love should.” He rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, sure. I’m never doing that to Leal, though,” he muttered. Imagining a time when she’d be mad at him, with of course, a big baby bump. He mentally chuckled.

“Trust me, you’ll never know where your pride has gone when she’s mad at you. I’ve experienced it first hand. When I’m willing to sacrifice everything just to be with her again.”

Axel stayed silent. Will that time really come? He doesn’t know what the future holds for the two of them, but he’s sure he’ll never let her go once she’s in his arms. But will he really exceed his limit and beg on his knees for her?

After that, they left the office for a pack meeting. The meetings usually happen every month, unless there’s an urgent problem. For tonight, there’s no urgent problem. They entered the conference room of the pack mansion and Axel sat in the middle chair, as head of the household.

On the opposite side of the long table, there’s a hologram like every other conference room. The pack’s Delta, Ryker, stood up first to report.

“Good evening, Alpha. I just spoke to our ally pack in Alabama, Crimson Shadow Pack, and confirmed our presence in their Alpha’s pup’s christening. Also, I ran into their foe pack’s Upsilon after, it looked like he was spying. I figured I should tell you this.”

Axel nodded. “Tell them what you saw. We stay completely honest with the Crimson Shadow Pack.”

Ryker nodded and went back to his seat. The next one to report was the pack’s leader Epsilon, the ones that keeps guard of the territory border and are also his personal bodyguards.

“We caught another rogue this morning, Alpha. He still wouldn’t shift. He looked like a rogue. We’re still investigating him, we’ll update you when there’s progress.”

“I’ve had a glimpse of the rogue earlier,” Uncle Trivon spoke, the pack’s Gamma, which is the wisest and oldest wolf. “He looked abused. Don’t torture him further. I’ll speak to him tomorrow.”

Axel nodded, immediately agreeing with the Gamma. “Sure, Uncle Trivon. Do your thing.”

He dismissed the Epsilon and signaled the next reporter, the pack’s Kappa or the lead hunter. “We had a successful hunt last week, Alpha. It’ll last for a month at least. There’s more than enough for the pups, as well. We had a few tug wars with a few lambs with the Golden Summit Pack’s Lambdas but it’s all cool.”

“The Golden Summit Pack is an ally. Make sure to avoid any other Lambdas of theirs again.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

There were a few more reports from all the other aspects of the pack, more minor problems but none major. It was all the usual problems they face every month. As a big pack, there are many things to sustain and keep improving. Finally, it was the last reporter. His beta, Tyrone, stood up in the middle.

“The annual ranking will happen two weeks from now. Should I post the threatening members that will step down from their rank?”

Axel nodded. “Yes. I heard Liam p*ss*d off a rogue group last week? He’s still a Psi and still has nothing to prove yet he’s already boasting? Include him in the omega list.”

“Will do, Alpha.”

The Psi rank are subordinates or new recruits that still haven’t proved anything, and are still being tested in different lanes of the pack to see where they excel the most. Meanwhile, the Omega rank is the lowest rank and are given the least privileges.

Tyrone proceeded on reporting about the territory’s state and the new residential houses being built. He’s also been saying how many young pups shifted for their first time for this month’s full moon, how many new recruits there are, and how many wolves found their mates and are moving to their own house this month. In the White Claw Pack, when one adult wolf meets their mate and moves in together, they are privileged to reside in one of the residential houses in the pack’s own subdivision. Their chosen residential house is the place where they can build their family, and all they need to do to give back to the pack is to work under the pack’s company, and fight alongside the Alpha—alongside Axel. Currently, there are over fifty houses with families under their roofs, which means fifty wolf families under the pack and fifty wolf families ready to pounce at any threatening packs.

Those factors have a big impact on why the White Claw Pack is the leading pack in New York.

“Alpha?” Margaret broke his train of thoughts. He blinked back to reality and saw all of them looking back at him. It turns out that Tyrone was already done reporting.

“Send me the slides later,” he said to Tyrone, to which the latter nodded.

When the meeting was dismissed, Axel was about to leave the room when Margaret called him. Margaret, the Zeta or the war general, smiled at him.

“What is it, Margaret?”

“The pups are asking me to invite you to tomorrow’s training. They want to see a duel between the two of us, are you free?” She asked, her eyes lingering on his soft cherry lips. She placed both her hands on the table, and leaned in to him, making her cleavage show from her strapless bodycon dress. She bit her red lips, and smiled at him again.

“I’m busy convincing my mate to come with me to the pack,” he declined, looking straight at her eyes. He saw how her smile fell.

“You met her already?” She asked, bitterness seeping through her voice.

Unfazed by her reaction, Axel nodded and buttoned his suit as he stood up. “Keep training the pups, next time I’ll assign you to field jobs.”

He left the room, greeting Tyrone and Ryker who waited for him outside. Ryker chuckled at him and patted his shoulder.

“Nice job turning her down, that was probably the best reason you’ve come up over the years.”

“It’ll knock some sense to her mind, for sure,” Tyrone agreed.

They went to his office, with Axel staying silent. Though Margaret behaves like that and makes the whole pack know she likes him, he still wants to keep her because of her impeccable skills in fighting and leading the pack army. She’s a great agent, assassin, and war general if needed. The pack needs her.

“By the way, we heard you’ll transfer her soon to field jobs. Why is that?” Ryker asked, sipping on his wine.

“So she’ll meet her mate. Make her focus on somebody else than me.” He shrugged.

White Claw Pack is a chaotic pack, it’s full of distinct personalities, some good some bad, but Axel loves leading them. They all have a sense of camaraderie and loyalty that makes Axel feel so grateful for having such members. And for him, the pack is a family. They can’t fit in a family tree, so he made a whole forest. White Claw Pack exceeds the standards of a werewolf pack. It’s great overall and has the best people, the best system, but the pack lacks a maternal figure. All they have is Axel, and he isn’t that warm. The pack needs a mother—a Luna. And he wouldn’t want to disappoint, so he’ll try his very best to win over Leal’s heart.