Page 10 of The Alpha: Part Three
“We thought it would make Missus Nattier more comfortable if we all didn't come,” Minos smiles. “I couldn't convince Mallory to stay home, though. She wanted to bring a gift for the baby and the other children. We hope that's alright?”
“It's perfectly alright,” Corso answers, and gives Mallory one of his warmest smiles as he takes the gift bag from her. “Thank you very much. I will make sure the children get this when they wake from their nap.”
“Maybe next time I'll get to meet them.” Mallory says hopefully and takes a seat next to Minos on the small couch near the front door.
After a moment of everyone kind of looking around at each other, Michael clears his throat. “Well, not to be rude, but Talia is going to burst any second and she'd really rather all of us not be here for that. What are we meeting about?”
A few people laugh, but I'm not one of them. I'm glad Michael and Ben have fun senses of humor and are good at making people feel at ease because I'm not all that capable of either of those things.
Minos takes another look around at the other alphas in the room, lingering on Devon, Corso, and me. “Alpha Johnson is a cornerstone of the East Coast Council, and from my understanding Alpha Zaphir is helping to manage Seth's seat until he's ready to take it on fully.”
We glance at each other and nod. I give a quick look at Kaleb. I don't like this. I don't like that he's calling attention to my seat. Kaleb just raises a brow and shrugs. Great.
“What if,” Minos continues, focusing his attention on Corso, then me. “What if Alpha Zaphir kept your seat in part and you took one of the recently vacant seats on the WCC? What if you split your time between the councils and the territories? You have ties to the East Coast and your pack has deep familial ties to the West Coast. The territories weaken themselves by staying separate. What if we worked together, in unity?”
I can almost pick out individual breaths in the silence that drops into the room after all those what if's.
Corso tucks his hair behind his ears and licks his lips. “What if that goes directly against the goal we set when I took the temporary place on the council?”
“Plans and goals can change,” Minos says. “We could accomplish so much more if we joined together on a few fronts. If Seth had a seat on both councils we could work together on the same issues. We could fight the rogue organization with more totality. Think of the information we could gather and share. Think of the operations and supports we could put into place. Think of how such unification and cooperation could impact our society. We could accomplish so much more good together than separate.”
My head starts swimming and I start to get that hot-cold feeling I get sometimes before an anxiety attack. I'm not ready for one council seat, much less two. I can't do this. They can't expect me to do it. He asked me and I haven't given an answer because it scares me to death. Now he's sitting here asking all of us.
When no one answers him immediately, he continues. “I don't mean to cause unnecessary stress, I just really believe this is the way to a better future to all of us.” He turns back to me. “Have you given any thought to whether your pack will stay on the West Coast or relocate East? You must have. If you have a dual council seat, you could have two homes. Desir'ee, Ben, and Michael wouldn't need to completely uproot themselves and neither would you.”
I look first at Michael, then Ben, then Desir'ee. They're all waiting for me to decide. I shake my head. “I don't know if I can handle that amount of pressure. I haven't even taken my seat back from Corso and you want me to manage two? I can't be responsible for two council seats in two different territories. If I fuck up... I can’t ever fuck up. Kaleb, Devon, tell him. Tell him this is a bad idea.”
They look at each other and come to one of those silent agreements. And neither of them tells Minos it's a bad idea. In fact, Devon does the exact opposite.
“That could work for us. If Seth has a seat on both councils, it would make it so much easier to share and verify information. And it really would eliminate a large amount of the distrust between the territories. But that would mean,” he trails off and meets Corso's gaze.
Corso tucks his hair again and reaches for Talia's hand. She kisses his knuckles and he sighs. “I was not prepared to have a permanent seat on any council, Alpha Minos. I have always wanted a simple life, but Seth needed me to step in so I did. It's what we do for each other.”
“But you're so good at it, Corso,” Jasper interrupts. “You really are. You're perfect for a council seat.”
Corso smiles at Jasper and shakes his head. “Being good at something and wanting to spend your time doing it are two different things. I want to run the distillery and be home with my family. Devon being on the council is hard enough.”
“But,” Jasper interrupts again, “right now, temporarily or not, you hold the seat in its entirety. You carry all the weight of it all the time. If Seth has a dual seat, you would only have part of the weight.”
“But Seth would have all of it, peaches,” Alex cuts in. “He'd be going from no seat to two and moving back and forth between the garage and the twins' house. That's a big change for him.”
Sweat breaks out on my back and I drag my hand down my face.
“They can't live in the garage,” Jasper says, completely sidetracking the conversation. “That place is big enough for Seth but that's it. I've been thinking and I already talked about it with Devon. You should move into the farmhouse, Seth. It's on a pretty piece of land and it's not too far from us. You could make that your new home. What do you think?”
My anxiety dissipates as I let it sink in that Jasper is offering me his first home with his pack, and that he seems genuinely happy about it. I've been secretly worried about living away from Talia's pack. I've grown to depend on their presence more than I have any right to, but they feel like home. The farmhouse would at least smell like them, even if it's farther away than I wanted to be.
Desir'ee links her fingers with mine and smiles at Jasper. “A farmhouse sounds wonderful. How far away is it from your pack?”
“About three hours, depending on who drives,” he smirks.
“Oh,” Desir'ee looks from Jasper to me. “That's not that far. Just a few miles away.”
Corso hums. “I've been thinking about it, as well. The farmhouse would be perfect for them, and it really is only a few hours away. But, and this is completely selfish of me, I was hoping I could convince all of you to agree to making a home for Seth's pack at the far end of the property. There is a cottage on the back side of the distillery. It needs a little work. I was just thinking that I would feel much better if Desir'ee was near. Nathan is a wonderful medic, and Obi is just a few minutes away, but if Desir'ee was right there if something happened or if Desir'ee needed anything we could come running. Forgive me for planning your life, Seth.”
“They could stay in the farmhouse until their new place was finished,” Jasper offers.
I meet his eyes. Something has changed. I'm not sure what, but it has most definitely changed.
