CHAPTER SIX: THE COUNCIL

Kayla’s POV

“Everyone, meet Mr. Leander Parker. He is a member of the werewolf council and he will be presenting the topics that have been selected by the council for today's discussion,” Jonathan said while pointing to a golden-haired guy who looked to be in his mid-thirties.

He stood there with a dignified expression as he gave a barely perceptible nod in acknowledgement.. I felt my eyes narrow at his proud demeanor as if he was above us all just because he was a council member.

“Alphas, please introduce yourself and your pack name in the order of your seat numbers so that everyone could know each other well. Once that is done, we shall start our discussion,” Jonathan said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Hello! I am Samuel Evans, Alpha of the Moon stone pack,” The first Alpha introduced himself in a proud voice. All the others nodded at him in greeting and he sat back with a nod.

“I am Devin Thomas, Alpha of the Night shadow pack,” the second Alpha introduced himself with a warm smile.

And then it was my turn.

“I am Kayla Xanders, Alpha of the Crescent moon pack,” I announced confidently and sat down without waiting for anyone to acknowledge me.

Next Jared introduced himself and the introductions continued until the ninth Alpha introduced himself.

And then we all stared at the vacant tenth seat. An Alpha skipped the Alpha meet? Even I didn’t dare to do that, though I would have loved to do just that…

Jonathan shook his head and sighed.

“Zane Black, Alpha of the Blue moon pack, late to his first Alpha Meet,” he said in a disapproving tone.

I felt a tremor run down my spine as I heard the name Zane Black. I frowned at the strange sensation and shook it off. So, the Alpha didn’t skip the meeting but was late? I couldn’t decide if it was better or worse than skipping the meeting. An Alpha who couldn’t even attend the Alpha meet in time? Definitely no one I wanted to meet…

Then I remembered that I had heard of him before. Zane Black… He was powerful and the Blue moon was the biggest pack currently after our pack lost half of its members in the rogue attack. But he was known more for his playboy ways than his power… No wonder he couldn’t attend the Alpha Meet on time. He must have been too busy chasing his latest flavour of the week.

“Now that we have got the introductions out of the way, let’s get started with our discussion. Leander, you shall begin,” Jonathan said.

Leander nodded at him before turning to us.

“We would be discussing the most important events that took place in the past ten years from the time of the last Alpha Meet, and we will discuss the issues that need to be addressed by the Alphas soon. Then we shall discuss any treaties and alliances that you would like to have, and after that, we would disperse the meeting. You shall mingle with each other and enjoy the dinner then,” he announced.

He paused for a moment as if waiting for any comments, and when everyone stayed silent; he continued speaking.

“So, here are the topics for discussion today. First, the rogue attack that took place on the Crescent moon pack seven years ago, which killed the Alpha family as well as half of the pack,” he said.

He gazed at me after saying that, and I met his eyes with a blank look. Seeing that I was not reacting, he continued.

“Second, renewal of the treaty between werewolf council and the witch council,” he said.

When everyone nodded in agreement, he started speaking again.

“And the final topic, the Feral Assassin,” he said.

There was a complete hush as he uttered the words Feral Assassin. Everyone stayed still as if the Feral Assassin would just pop inside the hall any moment, as if summoned by just uttering the name...

"Well, let us start by remembering and analyzing the events that occurred in the Crescent moon pack seven years ago,” Leander said.

I sat still as a statue when I felt every eye on me. Some of them were looking at me with a critical expression, while others were watching me with sympathy. I didn’t want to be here when they dissected what happened to my family, when they did nothing to find what happened to them all these years. I will avenge their deaths, and I didn’t want to hear anyone’s useless opinions.

But I knew that showing my disapproval would be a bad idea and would make me enemy number one to each and everyone present here. Even though I didn’t care for anyone’s opinion, I needed to build alliances to bring my pack back to its former glory. So I just gritted my teeth, deciding to tolerate their stupid discussion.

“It was the strangest thing that happened in the last seven years. Almost half of a huge pack was wiped off by the rogues, including the Alpha couple and the future Alpha, leaving no male heirs. There has never been an incident like that reported before when that many rogues worked together. And even then, it is strange that they were able to kill strong wolves, including the Alphas. There was definitely something up with the rogues,” Leander said, starting the discussion.

Everyone took their attention off me to Leander and started murmuring their opinions.

“But what happened to those rogues? They were all found dead in the border. Who would have killed them? They were powerful enough to kill the Alphas of one of the strongest packs, and it would have needed an army to kill them. But which army?” Alpha Devin asked with a confused expression.

Well, that will have to remain a mystery forever…

No one answered the question, and the hall was filled with silence for a while until Noah Johnson, Alpha of the Crystal pack, started speaking.

“Why would the rogues just leave Miss Xanders alive? If they wanted to wipe out the entire Alpha family, why would they let her live?” he asked, and then shot me an apologetic glance.

Again there was no answer and this time, even I didn’t know the answer. It was one of the questions I was also seeking the answer for. And I knew that it was all linked to the rogue attack.

And the Alphas continued throwing out their opinions while I zoned them out. I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder and turned to Ethan, who was looking at me with a small smile.

“The next topic has already started, Kayla,” he informed me.

I nodded at him and tuned in to the conversation to find that they were already talking about the treaty between the werewolf council and the witch council. The werewolves and witches were enemies in the beginning until a few centuries ago, when certain events aroused suspicion among the humans and caused them to doubt that something other than humans existed on the Earth. Humans feared the unknown and started hunting for supernaturals. Even though the supernaturals were powerful, they were minority compared to the humans. If it became common knowledge that humans were not the only creatures inhabiting the Earth, it was not going to end up well for anybody.

That was when the witches and werewolves decided to forget their enmity and band together. The wolf council and wizard council were formed, including six of the most powerful among the races. They signed the treaty to stay allies and helped each other stay out of the radar of humans. Soon, the humans forgot about the odd occurrences and everything returned to normal after that.The werewolves and witches decided that the treaty which was signed in haste at the time of emergency was actually beneficial to both the factions. Since then, the treaty continued to stay in effect with new clauses added every few decades according to the needs of the time. It had been a few decades after the last time the treaty was renewed and now; the council was seeking the opinions of the Alphas regarding the clauses to be added to the treaty.

The werewolf council involved wolves that were not Alphas, but some were from the Alpha King’s family tree and considered royalty even after the end of the King’s era. The council members were not elected but passed in the family tree just like the Alpha position and hence, they considered themselves above even Alphas since they had the right to judge the crimes committed by Alphas too. From the attitude, I deduced that Leander must be one of the members with a royal heritage and that too, not a distant relationship because he considered himself too important.

“Everything is great between the witches and us. I think we should just let the treaty continue as it is,” Alpha Noah suggested.

“But some of the witches were acting oddly the past few years. What if there are rogue witches out there? Shouldn’t we talk about it to the witches before renewing the contract?” Alpha Devin asked.

Everyone consented to his suggestion, and it was agreed that in the meeting of the werewolf council and the witch council, the issue of the rogue witches would be brought up before renewing the treaty.

“And now, let’s come to the final and most important topic to be discussed today, the Feral Assassin…” Leander announced dramatically.

A sudden silence descended on the hall as everyone waited for Leander to start speaking about the most celebrated wolf of the century… the Feral Assassin. Well, let’s hear what he has to say about the enigma that was the Feral Assassin. This should be interesting….