Chapter 499: The guests

The meeting room was so silent that even the sound of a feather falling would have been loud. The sound of people swallowing could be heard, and the cold in the room felt as though the air conditioner had been turned to its highest setting in the middle of winter. A pair of cold, silver eyes kept everyone in check.

"A-are you really back to normal now, Supreme Alpha?" Elder Calum finally broke the silence with his question, but the look Sebastian gave him made the man quickly bow his head and keep it lowered. It was clear now that they would all pay, in one form or another, for the lack of trust they had shown his Luna, for urging him toward execution instead of giving her the time to cure him, as she had asked.

"I do believe your wolves are still intact enough to feel my presence, and your unnecessary question is doing nothing but annoying me the more you ask it," Sebastian said irritably to the elder. "If anyone asks me that again, I’ll assume you’re all no longer competent and need to step down from your seats."

He pierced them with a freezing look that made the elders feel it in their very bones, even though they were respected elders three times his age.

Now this was their Alpha. He was back, sitting before them, and the Luna had somehow achieved the impossible, breaking him free of the spell they had all thought she couldn’t break. She had spared them a disaster that could have left Silver crippled for good. Now the only thing left was fixing the mess made while he wasn’t himself.

"Supreme Alpha, we didn’t want to execute you out of any bad intentions. We all believed there was no way out, and delaying it any further was making—" the head elder began, but Sebastian’s silver eyes cut toward her, narrowing.

"I never asked for an explanation," he said. "I signed contracts I never should have signed during the time I wasn’t myself. I gave away some of our most important resources and lands to the Darkbur Pack. I need you to go in my place to the pack and revoke those contracts, since those resources belong strictly to Silver, and we cannot share our land with them."

Sharing or giving away land to outsider packs, especially the Darkbur Pack, was something no Alpha should ever agree to. There had been cases where that particular pack had seized territory after being given an inch, and Sebastian didn’t want to deal with another pack on top of Nick and all the other troubles in their lives.

"But Supreme Alpha, I think it would be wiser if you went yourself, they’ll revoke it far faster if it comes from—" Elder Calum began to reason, but Sebastian cut him off.

"I have responsibilities here, and I can’t go myself. I have a war to wage against the new pack, and I can’t afford any journey right now. If you’re too frightened to step foot in Darkbur Pack, then should I assume my elders are no longer competent?" He arched his brow at them, already thinking privately that this set of elders was growing too old for this generation, their approach to fixing problems every bit as outdated as they were.

But that wasn’t the most pressing matter on Sebastian’s mind. He had a sister to bring home, and a twin brother to introduce once everything settled. These elders hadn’t trusted his wife enough when it mattered, he’d deal with that once he returned from bringing Zoe back, since he’d just received word that their guests had arrived, right in the middle of this meeting.

"We... we will do our best, Supreme Alpha. The contract will be revoked before you return with your sister." Said Elder Brenna, who wasn’t looking forward in the slightest to traveling to that backward, uncivilized pack known as Darkbur, full of uncouth citizens. How their Alpha had ever signed that contract was beyond her, and now fixing his mistake had fallen squarely onto their shoulders.

Elder Calum cleared his throat and spoke next. "When do you plan to mark the Luna, Supreme Alpha? She’s freed you from the spell, but not yet from the curse. You shouldn’t waste any more time in marking her."

"Once Zoe is home, there will be a grand ceremony, a renewal of our vows, and the marking will happen then. It will be the biggest ceremony Silver has ever seen, and we’ll use the occasion to announce her pregnancy to the pack." Talking about his wife softened his features, before his gaze settled back on the elders and he continued,

"I am back on my feet, fully myself again, and from here on out I want it made clear, if anything like this ever happens again, my wife is the one everyone listens to, not the head elder, not any of you. By the end of this month, new elders will fill the seats of those who were removed, and anyone who has something to say about that can keep it to themselves until I return."

Saying that, Sebastian rose to his feet, his aura bleeding out over the room, and whatever doubts the elders still held about his health vanished beneath the sheer weight of it, the atmosphere leaving no question of who stood before them.

"Yes, Supreme Alpha."

Sebastian left without sparing any of them another glance, his footsteps clicking against the floor as he stepped out to meet one of his Betas, who reported, "The guests are being received by the Luna."

"Good. I’ll head there now."

Once the Supreme Alpha’s footsteps had faded away entirely, Elder Brenna let out a sigh of relief but her eyes were distressed as she turned to the only male elder left among them.

"Why does it feel like he’s punishing us by sending us to Darkbur? That pack is a disaster everyone avoids, especially with their well-known habit of seizing land and territory that isn’t theirs. How are we even supposed to get them to revoke that contract?"

The head elder remained calm about the matter, her voice steady as she said, "We already made the mistake of rushing his execution. This is our chance to make it right, and earn our place back. We are Elders of Silver, Darkbur Pack shouldn’t intimidate us this much. Before the marking ceremony, we need to get those contracts revoked, before their people start moving in to live alongside us."

Though the head elder tried to reassure the rest, she wasn’t looking forward to the trip herself, not after the last time she’d gone there with Sebastian’s father, which had ended in complete disaster. "For now, let’s pray to the Moon Goddess that this war with Nick doesn’t spiral out of control."

---

Sebastian made his way to their penthouse, where he found Viola already playing host to their guests, seated across from Kenny and Tess with a warmth in her expression as she listened to them. But the conversation stopped the moment he entered, and everyone turned to him, rising to their feet.

Kenny turned to the Supreme Alpha, bowing slightly before straightening and holding out his hand for a comradely handshake. Sebastian looked down at the offered hand for a beat too long, until he caught his wife jerking her head at him, urging him to take it. He finally moved and shook the man’s hand.

"You arrived faster than I expected," Sebastian commented, if only to fill the awkward silence between them.

Apart from Matt, Sebastian wasn’t particularly good at making friends his age or carrying on long conversations with them, as all the people around him were werewolves twice or more his aga.

Matt had been with him since his toddler years, and after knowing him for so long, he understood that even when Sebastian said something rude or mean, he rarely meant it in his heart and would simply brush it off.

With Kenny, however, Sebastian wasn’t sure how to behave. The man had come all the way to assist him with a problem, and Sebastian didn’t want his usual cold expression or blunt manner to make him feel unwelcome. So he made an effort to appear at ease, keeping his face neutral rather than allowing the natural hardness carved into his features to intimidate the Alpha heir.

"I came as soon as I heard the news," said the Alpha heir, pulling his hand back and searching for what to say next.

"Congratulations on the pregnancy, by the way," Kenny added, his tone warming slightly as he addressed the couple, watching as Sebastian crossed to his wife, wrapping a protective arm around her waist and pressing a kiss to her temple.

"Thank you," Sebastian said to the Alpha heir, before turning to ask his wife in a softer voice, "Did you get any sleep at all?"

Viola nodded. "A little. I’ll be fine."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Have you eaten yet? I left food in the fridge for you to heat up. Did you see it?" He asked, glancing toward the kitchen and finding no dishes out, no sign that any food had been touched, and turned back to her with displeasure written across his face.

Viola nudged his chest lightly. "We have guests, Seb. There are more pressing matters right now, I will eat after we come back." She said, and he let the matter drop without pushing further, as Viola turned back to accept Kenny’s congratulations properly.

She received their congratulations, with Tess saying that if she had known before coming, she would have arrived with gifts in hand. However, they had only heard the news after arriving in Silver, through the whispers of the workers.

"There’s no need for gifts, Tess, but if it will put you at ease, you can always bring something when the baby is here, which is still months away," Viola said, trying to reassure the she-wolf. The moment Sebastian released her, Tess crossed the room and pulled Viola into a tight hug.

"Congratulations!" she said, pulling back and beaming as though they had been close friends for years. But her excitement dimmed as the real reason that had brought them to Silver settled back into her mind.

"Grim Pack didn’t want to go to war against the new pack, but Ken took his men behind his father’s back because he really knows how much I’ve come to like Zoe and you, you know. And I can’t believe that man, Nick. I met him at my ceremony, and he seemed so nice. He even gave me gifts..." she whispered to Viola. "Who could have thought?"

Viola’s blue eyes darkened as she said, "He’s not who we all thought he was. He’s now a thorn in our lives that needs to be plucked out."