Page 27 of Pregnant Wolf's Mate

“Well, you are now,” Ray said, loudly enough for the entire meeting hall to hear, even those standing at the very back edge of the room. “Macie and I are mated and as her mate and a fully-fledged member of this pack, I demand that you all acknowledge her.”

Even as Macie stepped apprehensively up to his side and placed her hand in his, Ray turned back to look at Dash, half-expecting that he would dismiss them both from the room until he could talk to them both about the matter in private.

Instead, he looked at his cousin with a mixture of confusion and disbelief before he asked, “Macie, is what he says true?”

He looked at their entwined hands as though that was not enough of a solid fact to make him believe it.

Ray was sure he heard Macie gulp past a sudden lump in her throat but when she spoke, she sounded much more confident than he would have anticipated, “Yes, it is true.”

“Dash, we have bigger things to be worrying about right now than fated mates.”

The words came from the lips of Dash’s own mate, and Ray felt a wave of relief wash over both himself and Macie. The way her hand relaxed in his told him that she put as much faith in the alpha female’s words as Ray had immediately upon hearing them.

Ray wasn’t always certain of Dash or his actions, but he was sure of one thing, Raya always managed to get through to him no matter what. She was the stabilizing force that stopped the headstrong alpha from diving headfirst into things and though Ray did not always agree with his alpha, he did agree that the two of them made one heck of a power couple.

Maybe one day someone will look at Macie and I like that, he thought, feeling an odd swelling in his chest at the thought.

“Raya is right,” Dash sighed deeply, looking at Ray as though he would have liked to yell and curse and claw at him. “We have bigger things to be dealing with right now.”

As though they were all in agreement, the rest of the pack fell utterly silent. Dash waited until the silence had reigned for several moments before he finally started to make his announcement. "The escaped demon wolf has been caught and it is an exceptionally good job as it turns out he is Travers’ son, the next in line for the alphaship of his pack once his father's execution sentence has been passed."

Ray felt Macie cringe beside him and out of the corner of his eye, he watched her glance at her sister. Clearly, she believed the news was going to be painful to her somehow. And the tension in her only continued when Dash added, "It has been discussed that perhaps the son should be executed alongside his father for the crimes committed against Silverdale."

Macie's grip on his hand tightened and it became immediately clear to him that she was feeling something emotionally the likes of which he could not fathom. But the way she looked at her sister told him all he needed to know.

A sudden and uncontrollable urge to protect both sisters caused Ray to take a half-step forward, "Alpha, if I might make a proposal?"

When the alpha turned an aggressive gaze upon him, Ray lowered his own and awaited a more solid response.

"Go ahead, Ray," Dash said, and it was clear he was speaking through gritted teeth. The way he glanced down at Ray and Macie's entwined hands spoke for only a small portion of the tension in the alpha's body. There had never really been any love lost between the two of them.

"Haven't we been living in fear for long enough?" he suggested. "If we were to execute every demon wolf who helped Travers attack Silverdale, would we not be adding to that fear?"

He glanced around the room looking for Seth and Billy, the Silverdale she-wolf turned demon wolf who had been rescued from the same fate as the other demon wolves only by her close connection to Seth, the Silverdale werewolf who had whelped a pup on her before she was turned.

Finding her in the crowd of the growing pack, Ray added, "We already know there were demon wolves in the pack who did not agree with their alpha’s agenda. Perhaps it is time we gave them a chance and a way forward?"

When he looked back at Dash again, he saw that there was a look of interest in the alpha's blue gaze. And as he waited for what the alpha would say next, he found himself thinking over all the old books his father had once made him paw through while he was getting ready for the succession challenges, while he had been preparing for the possibility that it might have been him sitting where Dash was now.

"What exactly is it that you suggest, Ray?" Dash asked, one thick yet perfectly-shaped black eyebrow raised, his hands clasped before him on the ornately carved oak table. "You clearly have something in mind."

Ray gulped at that. He did have something in mind, though he wasn't at all sure how it was going to come across to the rest of the pack. Taking a deep breath, he lifted his hand, still clasping Macie's in his fingers as he did so. "If these last few weeks have taught me anything, it’s that unity and hope can serve us a lot more than fear and hatred."

He heard Macie suck in a sharp breath, as though she couldn't believe he was using their newfound relationship to try and convince their alpha of something.

Deciding he had came too far to turn back now, Ray added, "Dash, you know as well as I do the old traditions that our fathers forced us to learn about."

The alpha looked more and more intrigued the more that he spoke, and Ray was determined it was best for the entire pack to hear his suggestion before the alpha tried to squash it.

"Perhaps we should offer the demon wolves, those who did not follow Travers out of anything but fear, a chance to form a new and better pack, one with an alliance to Silverdale that could serve us all?" Ray suggested, "Maybe it’s finally time we put an end to all of this rather than having the pack act like prison guards just waiting for the next escape attempt."

"Correct me if I am wrong, but are you suggesting that we encourage an arranged marriage between Silverdale and the demon wolves?"

The man who spoke up from the table surprised Ray. Daemon was usually so stoic and silent, especially when it came to pack meetings. Though he and his mate Emily had been a longtime part of Silverdale for a while now, it was clear that they didn't always feel welcome.

"That is exactly what I am suggesting," Ray admitted, and several members of the pack began to murmur amongst themselves, some seeming as though they were taking the suggestion seriously while others looked horrified.

"Just look around you," Daemon said, gesturing to himself before he gestured to his sister and her own mate who had both been demon wolves also, and then at Billy. "There are already alliances made between the Silverdale pack and the demon wolves."

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