Rodney thought this was the strangest meeting he’d ever been to. Teacher parent conferences were a breeze in the park, of course, but this meeting had him and Mr Taylor sat on the same side of the desk. Pack Master Caleb Johnson had sent summons to them both to report to the Pack House at 8am sharp. The teen Alpha didn’t hesitate to obey the summons and picked his smartest dress for the meeting. Venessa kindly came over to help the nervous teen to get ready for the meeting. He went for a black dress with a soft halter neckline, sleeveless, but a blue dress suit jacket with a silver disc fasten at the front. He matched his jacket with blue heels, lips and eyeshadow. His long blonde hair was wavy on his shoulders and he looked like a professional drag act going to an interview. Vanessa, far more used to being in the Pack house as the Luna’s second, came with Rodney instead of their parents as moral support. Especially since he was only 17… Bless her heart, Vanessa even wore a matching outfit, though her makeup was nude and her blonde hair was a neat bob. The Hoytons always liked to power dress when they were nervous.

Maxwell arrived at the Pack House at the same time as them, and had also dressed up for the meeting with the Pack Master. A dark grey suit and tie over a darker grey shirt, with his blonde windswept hair combed neatly behind his ears. He could have passed for a Hoyton, if it wasn’t for his green eyes.

Rodney looked up through his long fake lashes and smiled when he saw it wasn’t going to be the three of them V the Pack master. Emma Carter, their new Luna was also there. Where Caleb wore a stern expression, she openly smiled at the three of them as they were ushered to sit on the other side of Caleb’s mahogany desk. The pack master looked dapper in a dark navey suit, like he would step out of his meeting into a council gathering. Emma? She was wearing pink scrubs. She was also sat on the desk, rather than sat on the chair beside the Pack Master.

“Good morning everyone.” Emma waved and greeted them, and Caleb looked up with a smile and a shake of his head. He rubbed his raven beard and tapped at her back. “What?” His answer to her curious stare was to nod at the chair by his side. “Oh, right sure.” She took her seat and shrugged unapologetically. Caleb opened his mouth to greet his guests, but then Vanessa cut him off.

“Where I the Guuci dress I put out for you this morning?” She addressed Emma with a pout. Maxwell and Rodney both looked at her with alarm at her casual address to the Luna. Especially when she put her hands on her hips and started to chide the redhead. “You aren't on clinic duty today, and you’re scheduled in an hour to meet with the Dark Legion’s Luna to discuss further trade deals.”

“Oh, yeah, but I thought I’d head to the clinic for a bit first.”

“Your meeting is in one hour.”  

“I’ll be back in plenty of time to change.” Emma swatted the air dismissively with a smile.

“Er, no, you’ll end up talking to your patients and the other midwives at the clinic and sink 6 hours into someone’s uterus.” Everyone else watched this game of verbal ping pong like the bizarre thing that it was. Caleb snorted behind one hand, amused by his Luna and her second, and by the wide eyed way Max and Rodney were watching this.

“Emma, my Luna and my love, you know your second knows you almost as well as I did, and I said the same thing to you this morning.” He joined the fray. Emma’s carefree smile suddenly fell and something fiercer swept the room through her eyes at them. Only Caleb didn’t feel a chill run down their spines when she stared intently at him.

“I told you one of my high-risk patients is coming in for a check-up this morning. She’s 35 weeks and only two weeks away from being induced. I’ve been there for every check up so far, and I’m going to be there today.” She gave him a hard look, and Caleb knew she was talking about Lidia. Which is why he smiled and reached over to cup her cheek.

“Which is why I didn’t fight you when you said you were going to the clinic first. I just think you need to get your second on standby to step into your shoes if you end up needing to stay with…your patient.” Recently Lidia Johnson had been practically on bedrest. The twins were still healthy enough, for now, but the smaller twin, the boy?...His movements weren’t as frequent as they once were. Lidia’s never been so close to actually giving birth before, and fear of not making it through the other side with both her pups alive and well was weighing down on the entire Johnson family. More so for Lidia and Paul, of course. Emma had slept over their house a few times this week alone just so Lidia would get some rest. Reasured that her Luna and her midwife was on hand in the next room if something…happened… Even though they now had midwives working in the clinic from the Dark Legion Pack, Emma was highly protective of Lidia. Something that reassured all the Johnsons. Especially Lidia and Paul.

“Oh. Well, you could have sent me a text or something.” Venessa mumbled.

“I knew you’d be here, so I thought I’d just tell you after this meeting.” Emma relaxed, holding Caleb’s hand on her lap tenderly and hiding her own worries for Lidia behind a smile. “Speaking of which?” Emma nodded back over to Caleb.

“Right. Nella Hendrix.” He cleared his throat and Rodney and Maxwell finally realised why they were summoned. “You two are her main support network outside of her family. Mr Taylor as her transition mentor and Rodney I believe you have taken to being her best friend? I mean, you took a challenge in her name to defend her honour so I assume you care for her.”

“Yes Pack Master.” Rodney sat upright, shoulders spread and chest puffed out through his dress proudly. “Georgie, my boyfriend, is also her friend. Should be he bere? I can call him?”

“Oh, well perhaps next time, but for now I’ll let you relay this back to him.” Caleb smiled at the younger Alpha. His cinnamon pheromones had a nervous edge to it. Younger Alphas usually did in his presence. Vanessa noted this as well with a quick sniff to her side, and placed a hand on Rodney’s to keep him calm.

It was a good job, because the door opened and in came Dorian Defoe.

“Forgive me for my tardiness. It took longer to see to that matter you asked me to address this morning than I had hoped.” The tall Direwolf Alpha came in…smelling of the mild fragrance of odor neutraliser. Vanessa raised a brow at the lack of fir tree pheromones trying to overpower her senses. To her knowledge, he’s never used neutraliser to suppress his scent like this before. He then pulled up a chair from the sidewall to sit beside Maxwell. He reclined, cool as a cucumber, one leg crossed and his arms resting on the  “Good morning. Did I miss anything?”

“…no we are just about to get started.”

“Wait, you just started talling about Nella. If he’s here to represent Zane-” Maxwell openly accused, pointing at Dorian but looking at Caleb for answers. “-shouldn’t Frankie be here for Nella?”   

“Frankie is currently dealing with Ruby Hendrix, and he already knows what I am about to say to you all.” Caleb’s tone was firm and Max settled back down in his chair. Dorian remained unphased by the accusatory tone of the omega and focused only on the pack master. He did smile when Emma nodded with approval at his lack of rebuttal. “Now, things have changed since Nella first came to heel to Zane. Putting together what all of you have told me, and now what Nella has declared yesterday, she and Zane are now in a relationship that she has willingly instigated.”

“Shut the-” Vanessa elbowed Rodney in the side. “-front door. She’s come to heel. She isn’t in her right mind to be asking Zane, whom she hardly knows, to date her. No way.” Dorian raised a brow and turned to narrow his dark brown eyes at the youngest Alpha in the room.

“Rodney’s right.” Maxwell nodded and folded his arms, feeling Dorian’s gaze turn on him. “Nella is under the influence of his dominance and the positive feedback of his affection. She will therefore do and say whatever she thinks will make her Alpha happy. End of story.”

“You forget that the bond that has formed between them is not a one way street.” Dorian raised his chin and his deep rich voice demanded all their attention. “He also seeks her submission now, and will do anything to achieve that.”

“Oh big whoop.” Rodney sneered.

“Boy, your partner is a Beta, so you have no idea the dynamic that can form between an Alpha and an Omega.” Dorian growled and put Rodney back in his place. “I have known Zane his entire life, and I know he’s a piece of work-” everyone in the room bar Emma nodded with agreement on that. “-but he truly believes that it is his duty and his privilege to be her Alpha. In every way.” They didn’t need to know this, but yesterday Zane stormed back into the Defoe house with an angry scowl on his face and…tears in his yellow and black eyes. Later on he managed to coax out of the boy how completely he’d been rejected by Nella’s parents. He’d expected Frankie not to approve of him, but it had hurt the boy that Ruby had been ‘turned against him’. He thought back to a conversation he had with Zane only yesterday afternoon.  

“You…really wanted to make a good impression on her mother?”

“…doesn’t matter now.”

“It does matter Zane. Ruby Hendrix is human right now, so she doesn’t understand that you’ve been helping Nella whenever he’s been going feral, but she will become part of the pack one day. If you truly care for this Omega, then you can prove your intentions to be good…if that is what you truly intend for the boy.”

“…Nella is a girl. You’ll upset her if you call her a boy. And you better not upset my Omega, because she’s-”

“Zane, look me in the eye and tell me that your intentions towards this Omega are good, and I will go to battle for you.”

For the first time in years, Zane didn’t bullshit him or wield sarcasm like a taunt. He sat up on his bed and with yellow and black eyes looked at Dorian head-on.

“Nella is my Omega. I am worthy of her, and one day this entire pack is going to see that. She is mine, and I will make her happy. By any means necessary.”

Dorian focused on Caleb and Emma and did exactly what he promised. He went to battle for his brother. “Zane is difficult, rebellious, and quite frankly a daily thorn in my paw, but he has never broken Pack law. He offered his protection to Nella, and she gave her submission to him. All of her actions have been her own, and of her own free will. Even after she came to heel, Zane never took a thing from her. Anything he was given, he was given by her.”

“What an utter load of bull-” Rodney snapped his mouth shut when Caleb raised a finger at him for his silence. Those icy orbs focused only on Dorian, and he nodded for the dire wolf to continue.