My Brothers Best Friend

Chapter 11 - A House Full Of Ego's

Caleb and I are seated at the head of a very long mahogany meeting table, the seats are designated in order of pack rank. Aidan sits to the right side of the table. Mel stands and everyone silences,
"hello everyone, and welcome back. Today we have two new wolves with us, Alpha Miles son Josh and Alpha Caleb's mate, what's your name dear?" He says.
"Who me?" I respond.
"Yes dear" I stand up, "Ah, Cora" I answer as strong as possible yet am unsuccessful. I attempt to sit down but Mel continues.
"Cora what?" Mel remains seated, "Rivers, Cora Rivers"
"Rivers, any relation to Alpha Aidan here" I laugh to myself, is he that blind, I resemble my brother almost uncannily. Caleb and Aidan both give me a look saying 'don't be disrespectful he's an Alpha',
"He's my brother" I answer my fear of talking in front of Alphas gone.
"Then please Ms Rivers tell me why after you turned 16 you joined your brothers pack knowing Caleb was your mate?" He looks up from some paper work, his glasses on the end of his nose. "I-I-I". Caleb answers for me,
"I believed she was too young to be a Luna and suggested that she stay with her brother until she was old enough to be Luna" he says standing up,
"And why now is she still not apart of your pack?" I sit down, my anxiety resurfacing.
"Why is our love life any of your business Alpha Mel?"
"Tell me Alpha Caleb have you marked her yet?"
"Again I ask, since when has our love life been any of your concern?"
"It is not Mr Rhyes"
"Then why do you continue to ask?"
"I only wish to know when and if an heir to one of the powerful packs will be born?"
"Why, are you afraid?" Caleb wears a smirk, Mel a frown.
"How dare you, I am your Zone leader" There are too many Alpha egos trapped together in one room.
"At the moment you aren't being a very good one, publicly questioning me and my mate on personal information, how dare you Mr Well how dare you." Caleb sits down, Mel staring him down.
"Mr and Mrs Rivers your pack was attacked by rogues this month?" His questions continuing,
"yes, it was lead by my ex Beta" Aidan responds standing up.
"Ex Beta? Why what happened?"
"He plotted against me so I released him of his duties and he did not take the news well, he rallied up with rogues and attacked"
"Who now is the Beta?"
"My Beta is Jace who had previously been my retiring Deltas son"
"Who took the place of the Delta?"
"My sister" Mel looks towards me, "Cora, well aren't you popular this month" his smile is sly.
"Who is your Delta now?"
"Paul Gru my best soldier, and he already has a 10 year old heir"
"Good to hear" After that I tune out for the rest of the meeting. Caleb looks bored as well. I roll my eyes heavenwards, Caleb holds back a laugh. His hand makes its way to my knee, he rubs his hand on my knee and slowly travels up my thigh, he stops at the top. I place my hand on top of his and rub my thunb in a circular motion. He looks at me lovingly, the on goings of the meeting tuned out.
Finally the meeting comes to a close and we all leave for home. Aidan finds me in the foyer. What I thought was going to be a hug was a mark inspection, he notices the faint bite mark,
"did he mark you when you went through heat?" He asks, wow he got that almost exactly correct, just missed the part about him marking me without my permission,
"you're being paranoid, they're scares from the rogue attack" I cover up, "Cora, I am still your Alpha I will command you to tell me, again,"
"you will not" Caleb defends.
"Why worry if you have nothing to hide?" Aidan retorts.
"I'm not hiding anything, if we were fully mated our scents would be combined but hers still smells of just roses. You can't protect her forever Aidan"
"I can try".
I interrupt the two arguing egos before anything violent breaks out,
"Aidan it was great seeing you again, you too Kelsey, say hi to the kids for me, I'll be around soon to visit, love you, bye" I hug them both and drag Caleb out of the mansion and to our car. I enter, "
what was that all about?" He asks,
"I didn't want you two hot heads starting a scene" I reply,
"now drive"

I enter my room and flop onto my bed, exhausted. I never want to go to an Alpha summit again.
"Nice cover up story by the way, but the rogue attacked your other shoulder, I think Aidan knows" Caleb says laughing as he enters my room, I sit up,
"tell me about it, he's been hitting me with none stop mind links" I lay back down, my legs dangling over the edge of the bed, Caleb lays next to me in the same position, we lay in silence staring at my roof.
"Caleb?" I say breaking the blissful silence,
"yeah, sweetheart?" He answers, my heart jumps at the use of a nickname, "I think I want to join your pack", he sits up, "really?" He replies sounding excited
"positive" I reply sitting up as well. He stands up and extends a hand to me, I gladly accept it. It is getting harder and harder to resist him. He holds my left hand in his gently, he extends a claw and cuts my palm, then cuts his own we joins our cut hands, sparks fly at the touch of our hands pressed together,
"I Alpha Caleb Rhyes accept my mate Cora Rivers into my pack" The air around me changes symbolizing home. The wound on my palm heals. Caleb cups my face with one hand, the other around my waist, and presses his lips onto mine, I kiss him back.