Ivory

TWENTY-TWO*

Twenty-Two

When we were a few minutes away from the pack house I stopped and Keith stopped beside me. We hadn't said a single thing the entire time we were walking, which was strange when it came to Keith. You usually couldn't shut the guy up.

"What's up, Keith?" I asked, not able to hold my tongue any longer.

He just shrugged and stuffed his hands in his jean pockets. Anyone could see that he was troubled about something, if anything his facial expression was what gave it off. His gaze was far away, he was continuously biting his bottom lip and he was shifting his weight from foot to foot like he was ready to pounce at one word. This wasn't the Keith that I trained with for a year and a half. The man who stood beside me was different, almost seemed like he was keeping the world out.

But why?

I didn't have time to dwell on it before it heard my name being called from the pack house, my train of thought slipping out of my grasp. By the low tone to it I could guess that it was either my dad, Noel or Teagan. I knew it wouldn't be Zander because he would stay with Beth as long as he possibly could. And Parker... Well, I don't expect much of him anymore.

We were on mutual ground now, our agreement that if we either of us found our mate that we would break it off. Honestly, I hated it. We were friends, but I hated the fact that he broke up with me because I hadn't told him that I had rejected my mate before I met him. Not that I blamed him. I deserved it.

Actually, I deserved so much more than that. I had lied to them for four years and had gotten off practically snot free. It wasn't fair and I could feel it slowly gnawing away at me every day that I went on here. When I trained it didn't feel nearly as bad, but it was still there for the most part.

A few minutes later we were both standing in the pack hall, which was located in the centre if the house on the ground floor. It was a large room, like an auditorium of some sort. There was a circular platform in the middle that could be defined as a stage and a large amount of chairs anchored into the floor. This room was usually used for pack meeting, but today was different. This a Council Meeting, nothing like a pack meeting. Only the highest ranking members were allowed to these meeting, and they were supposed to spread the news to whoever else it concerned.

There were five packs in all and they were each in their own respected section of the crowd. I walked over to where Parker and Zander stood while Keith went over to Brettly and Austin.

Zander and Austin looked anxious for this to be over, Kieran looked tired, Keith looked tense and stressed, and Brettly looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel from thinking so hard about something. A few of these I could understand, but Keith and Brettly I had no clue why they were acting like that.

A few moments after my backside made contact with the uncomfortable wooden chair that I used to spend hours varnishing and making look beautiful and only sat in a handful of times, a dark robed man appeared on the stage which had been empty a while ago. His face was covered by the shadow of his hood, but it was obvious by the power radiating off him that he was the Council member that was hosting the meeting.

The thing about the Council is that they never physically ever go anywhere. They stayed in their hide-out and used this special power they had to project their appearance to wherever they were needed. It kept them safe, but it also meant that no one knew where they were or where they would show up next. For anyone knew they could randomly appear while someone's doing their 'business' in the bathroom. At least, that had been my paranoia since I learned they did that.

"Good morning," a gruff, course voice beneath the hood began. A few people replied politely, but I simply stared at him with a blank expression, waiting for him to get over with this meeting.