Page 30 of He Claimed Her Heart

We arrived at my pack house around 9:45 AM. No sooner had we pulled up than I was whisked away without a single word. My father was there to explain everything to Drake why I was being taken away in such a manner. Drake understood and introduced my protective detail to my dad. My dad was impressed that Drake had thought enough of me to provide the detail. He showed Drake and my detail to their rooms.

I was taken to the Alpha Bennett’s conference room on the Alpha floor of thepack house. I didn’t even have to knock; I was shoved inside. When I entered the room, Alpha Bennett, Luna Sophia, Tom, Beta Edward and Angela, Gamma Floyd, and Delta Miles was already present. Tom came over and hugged me.

“I’m so glad you’re finally back. These Alpha’s are about to drive me crazy,” hebellowed as he hugged me.

“Hey, it’s not my fault they’re here. Remember that,” I told him as I returned his hug.

“Hi Bree, it’s good to see you again,” Edward said as he and Angela came over to greet me.

“Bree, why don’t you have a seat. When your father returns, we’ll start our meeting. We have a lot to talk about,” Alpha Bennett explained as he pointed to a chair being held out by my brother.

“Thankyou, Alpha Bennett,” I replied as I bowed respectfully towards him and Luna Sophia.

We were all taking our seats when dad rejoined us. “Your protective detail refused to leave. I told them to stay outside the room,” dad explained to me as he kissed me on the temple before he took his seat.

“Protective detail? What protective detail?” AlphaBennett demanded to know.

“Well, Alpha Drake has decided while we ‘date’he wants me to be protected. So, he has assigned me a protective detail,” I explained to everyone in the room.

“Doesn’t he know you know how to defend yourself already?” stated Tom in asarcastic voice.

“Well, yes, he does. He just wants to make sure I have back up if I need it,” I explained.

My dad started laughingas did Alpha Bennett and Luna Sophia. I couldn’t help but join in because even though I thought it was sweet, it was kind of comical for me to have a protective detail. Once the laughing died down, we were able to get down to business.

“Bree, as you know we have hadten alphas come here seeking your … for a lack of a better word … they want you to become their mate. They want you to choose them. Seven of them are on the list and three are not. We have to figure out a way to help you out of this mess. This was not of your doing, so we will help you the very best we can. We are going to hash it out here and now so we can come up with Dating, Werewolf Style, just for you Bree,” Alpha Bennett explained to everyone in the room.

“We have all come up with some things we thinkshould be on the table as far as the dating thing should concerned,” Angela advised as she took out her notes and placed them on the table.

As if on cue, everyone started to place their notes on the table. “I instructed everyone before we left the tournament that we needed to come up with something to help you with this dating thing. I knew it was going to get out a hand. And it did. When itgot out of control yesterday, I instructed everyone to come up with things that we would like to include for a Werewolf Dating Game Theme at the banquet tonight,” Alpha Bennett concluded with deep breath and a wave of his hand.

“At the banquet tonight?” I gasped as I looked at everyonearound the room. I guess I started shaking and I know I looked kind of pale because dad was telling me to relax, take deep breaths. I was starting to panic. Breathe, relax. Take deep breaths, relax. I kept telling myself this as the room started spinning. I closed my eyes to regain my composure and sense of balance.

Everyone could feel my sense of panic in the room. No one moved or said anything. They allowed me time to calm down and relax before we began anything again. Once my heartbeat and breathing evened out, Alpha Bennett asked me, “Bree, may we continue? I don’t want to continue until you are alright. This is all about you. The process must include you, so let us know when you are ready for us to proceed, okay.”

“Yes, Alpha,” I replied. “May I have some water please. That will help me to ease mynerves a little,” I asked my dad who was sitting to my left.

“Of course, Puddin’,”he said as he got up and got me a bottle of water.

“Thank you, dad,” I replied as I took sips of the water. I sat back and closed my eyes once again to calm my nerves. After a few minutes. I opened my eyes and announced, “I’m ready to begin again. I’m sorry I delayed the process.”

“Don’t apologize Bree. You have nothing to apologize for.I for one have no idea know how I would handle such a thing. You are doing a great job handling yourself so far. I commend you for even showing up. Keep your head held high young lady. You have a lot to be proud of,” Alpha Bennett stated with pride in his voice.

“Thank you, Alpha. I don’t know about handling myself. Last night reality reared its ugly head, and I broke down and cried. I have Alpha Drake whom I already have feelings for, and now ten more alphas waiting for me. Somewhere along the line feelings are going to get hurt. And it’s all because of me. I’m the one that’s going to be inflicting the pain. And there’s nothing I can do about it. Alpha Drake held me last night when I realized this and I basically sobbed myself to sleep,” I explained to everyone in the room.

“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry. I hope we can ease some of your burden. At least, I hope we can,” cried Angela as she came over and held me.

“Whatever you can come up with to help me will behelpful. I don’t want to crush anyone’s feelings or hurt them. Please, please help me,” I pleaded to everyone in the room as tears slowly came down my face again.

“We will hammer it all out before we leave here. You have my word Puddin’,” dad replied as he wiped my tears away with his thumbs and kissed my cheek.

Everyone agreed. AlphaBennett walked over to the dry erase board and stated, “Let’s begin.”

For the next two and a half hours ideas were thrown out for discussion. The good ones were written down and the bad ones, were forgotten. Lunch was brought up for us as we continued to hammer out the details of the Werewolf Dating Game. I remained adamant that Drake is not put in the mix of the ten since he asked me before all of this began. They finally accepted my position. Yes!

After four long hours of debate andnegotiation, we finally have our rules and guidelines for our Werewolf Dating Game tonight at the Banquet. I feel confident that I won’t panic, and I will be alright. Alpha Bennett has already briefed the pack on how it will go and all we have to do now is get ready. I have two hours until the banquet. I am whisked down to the Beta suite. Dad has suggested that since I have a few hours, I can now look at some of the ‘gifts’ that were sent for me. As I entered our suite, I was stunned at the shear amount of gifts. I’m glad I told dad to leave the flowers downstairs because there wouldn’t have been any room left for them upstairs.

Dad was right behind me when I entered the suite. Since I stopped literally in the doorway, he pushed me through the rest of the way. I turned and looked at him with a look of incredulity on my face. “What am I going to do with all of this … this stuff?” I stuttered as I slowly walked over to look at it all. I couldn’t even find the living room for all of the stuff. Dad handed me a clipboard with a long list of items on it. I took the clipboard and looked at the mountain of stuff. My left hand went to my forehead and down my face. What in the world am I going to do? Is what I kept thinking to myself.

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