The Rise of The Alpha

Chapter 2

"Cole wake up. It's already almost eleven in the morning." Hunter said walking into the study and throwing open the bay windows curtains, "We have to leave earlier then we did last time if we want to get to the Alpha meeting on time which means Xerxes will only get half an hour to stretch. And if you're not ready and in the Hummer in an hour I'll have no choice but to send Miranda in here." He finished throwing my clothes on my face and walking towards the office door.

I grunted, "There are a few things that I have to take care of before we leave and we're not leaving until at least noon." I replied as I sat up on the couch stretching, even though he was my Beta he sure as hell liked to push my buttons.

"Well fine I'll go ahead and let the pack know and it'll give me a bit more time to go over things and make sure that Liam and David will be set before we leave." Hunter replied rolling his eyes and walking out of the door.

After Hunter left I could feel Xerxes waking up in my mind but I blocked off that communication before he could even pester me about shifting, he would be waiting until we got home for that nonsense especially after last night. I hopped into the shower taking the time to enjoy the hot water as I thoroughly washed my hair and body. Stepping out of the shower I dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a button-down shirt since I knew that the North Carolina humidity would already be stifling.

After I finished up all of the emails and such that I needed to take care of before we headed out I made my way down from the top floor of the pack house to the Hummer thankfully without being noticed by Miranda. I saw Liam and David standing next to Hunter no doubt going over all of the paperwork that had to be done by the time that we came back. I looked to my left and saw all of the warriors and families gathered to send me off, the little ones off to the side running around playing while being watched by their mothers.

"Attention Everyone!" I spoke, projecting my voice out and towards the pack members, they all turned towards me, "Gamma Liam is in charge of the pack duties while I'm gone. It is just going to be the normal 3-day weekend stay. If anyone has any questions or concerns please take the less urgent ones to Delta David." Once I finished speaking I walked and got in on the drivers side, I could feel Xerxes pushing against my mind barrier trying to get through but I shrugged it off.

Once Hunter got inside he gave me a look, "Dude Gaelan has been bugging me all morning Xerxes is pissed man. Why didn't you let him out to run?" I rolled my eyes, I wasn't really in the mood for a lecture that would more then likely last the whole ride.

"Look Xerxes and I got into a disagreement last night and I didn't feel like dealing with his constant pestering before this long ass drive. So I shut him out, though he has really been pushing against the barrier though." I said as I shifted the Hummer into gear and pulling down the packs drive, rubbing my temples to emphasize the fact he was literally giving me a headache.

"Maybe he's trying to tell you something and you're just being too stubborn to listen. Gaelan's been on edge too if that makes you feel any better, almost like he's preparing for something." Hunter rambled looking out the passenger window at the trees flying by us.

"Well maybe it'll be something that we can handle while we're with the other Alphas." I replied, looking into my side mirror as I merged onto the road. There would be quite a few stops before we reached Minnesota and an almost eighteen hour drive time, not counting stops for gas, food and sleep. Since it's Wednesday and we have to be there by Friday night we'll make it in plenty of time.

After about three hours of driving we were right outside Huntington, Hunter was passed out in the passenger seat with his feet propped up on the dashboard and I could hear Chase and Thomas snoring in the backseat. I could feel Xerxes pushing against the mental barrier that I put in place before we left, deciding that Hunter was right and ignoring him wouldn't do any good so I decided to drop the barrier.

"You incompetent moron. Do you have any idea the danger you just put us in for the last almost twenty-four hours just because you chose to throw a sissy fit?" Xerxes growled in my mind, "All because you decided that you didn't want to listen to what I had to say about Jane." I rolled my eyes, of course the first thing that Xerxes would do when I drop the barrier is take a stab at the argument that I cut him off from having last night, he was thoroughly pissed, "Look I know you're pissed, you have every right to be but the last thing that we need is to be arguing over something that happened so long ago. She wasn't our true mate and you tried to tell me that but that was in the past." "Sometimes it's easier to want to forget that it ever happened then to have to relive the feelings and memories whenever she is brought up." Xerxes said before he threw his wall up. The anguish that I felt from him was unreal, I never did stop and think at how losing Jane effected him, I had bonded with her but Xerxes had began to bond with her wolf.

I glanced at the gas gauge and saw that the Hummer was just under a quarter of a tank, looking at the GPS device I saw the sign for a gas station approaching and decided that we'd stop there to refuel and grab some snacks, hopefully something a little more filling. As I pulled into the gas station Hunter woke up and Chase and Thomas began stretching.

"Did you ever decide to let Xerxes out of that damn barrier yet?" Hunter asked opening his door and walking around to my side of the vehicle to continue our conversation as I pumped the gas.

"I did, and we had a talk but it ended up with him putting his barrier in place." I told Hunter curtly, I knew that if I went into detail about what we discussed it would just put Xerxes in that much worse of a mood then he was already in. "Go online and find a hotel we can stay at for the night, I'd rather not cross through multiple Alpha's territories in the middle of the night." I told Hunter as I placed the gas pump back on its lever.

"Chase either you or Thomas will be driving to whatever hotel that Hunter chooses for us to stay the night at." I said as I grabbed my laptop out of my suitcase, "I have some business related things I need to catch up on." I finished as I hopped into the backseat of the truck.

I put headphones in my ears and began going through my emails, I had a ton from business partners, my construction crew, as well as a few Alpha's discussing treaties and I saw a few emails from the council but I chose to ignore those. Focusing on the more important ones I emailed a few of my secretaries on information that I needed for a few business deals, responded to a few Alpha's that had messaged me.

By the time that I looked up we were pulling into a hotel owned by Hilton, "Chase you and Thomas go and check in, Cole and I will get the bags together." Hunter said, turning around to look at me as the guards got out of the truck. I nodded and got out, meeting Hunter at the trunk.

"Since I topped off on gas at that gas station we won't have to stop to get any for a while and when we get up in the morning we can start pushing straight to Minnesota." I told Hunter as we started walking towards the lobby entrance of the hotel.

"The hotel is run by one of the smaller packs, the receptionist is one of the Beta's daughters I believe." Hunter spoke to me under his breath as we walked through the double doors and by the reception desk.

I saw the receptionist nod to us, her eyes flashing gold revealing her higher status in the pack. Her wolf probably recognized that she was in the presence of at least one high ranking pack official and saw an opportunity of chance that was pathetic on her wolfs part and I felt Xerxes's hackles raise in disdain towards the female.

"Go over there to her." He growled, "What she did was disgraceful and needs to be dealt with now. Who knows how many times she's tried to seduce wolves into getting her out of her pack." "Alright but it'll have to be quick, make sure to let Gaelan know to continue on to the rooms and we can bunk with Thomas and Raelis" I told him as we made our way to the receptionist who began a lame attempt at subtly adjusting the blouse she was wearing.

"What's your name and position." I asked her, crossing my arms as I leaned on the desk. I allowed Xerxes to come forth and show his eyes so she understood where she stood in the conversation, though her wolfs eyes were gold, Xerxes's were ice blue.

"My n-name is Annalyse" she faltered before straightening her back, fixing her posture, "I'm Beta Dominic's daughter of the Hollow Woods Pack." she finished. I heard Thomas chuckle behind me causing me to chuckle as well which made her glance between the two of us questioningly.

"Well Annalyse I think it would be best you took the rest of the day off and tell your Alpha Maylan to expect either a call or a visit from Alpha Cole of the Blue Moon Pack after this years Alpha meeting since I'm currently on my way there." I replied allowing Xerxes to surface again, "And tell him that I expect more professionalism then a sorry she-wolf looking for a way to climb the ladder." Xerxes spoke through me before I turned away and began heading towards Thomas and the elevator.

I could hear her stuttering but then I heard a phone being dialed , I grabbed my bags and joined Thomas in front of the elevator, "She had some nerve." Thomas laughed glancing behind him and nodding in the general direction of the reception desk.

I turned in time to see Annalyse grabbing her things and walking out of the door on her phone talking to someone. I shrugged and walked into the elevator, any punishment that she received would be on her and due to the fact she couldn't focus on doing her job. After Thomas and I got to our room I got on my laptop for a few hours, completing a few more business related tasks before turning in and going to sleep.

I woke up as the sun started peaking through the curtains I groaned and sat up, seeing that Thomas was still asleep I chose to grab a shower. Getting under the hot water I felt my muscles start to relax and I let out a sigh, Xerxes had thrown his barrier up sometime in the middle of the night so I didn't know if he was awake or not. Getting out of the shower I saw that Thomas was awake.

"Hop in the shower if you want," I checked my watch and saw that it was barely six-thirty in the morning, "I want to be out of here in half an hour though." I told Thomas as I grabbed an outfit out of my suitcase and placed my laptop on all of my clothes. By the time Thomas was out of the shower I had everything packed and ready to go and Hunter had texted me that Chase and himself were ready when we were.

Gathering in the hotel lobby the first thing I noticed was Annalyse wasn't at the reception desk, now it was an older woman who looked to be about my mothers age. I nodded to her as we walked through the lobby on our way out to the truck.

Hunter volunteered to drive for the first leg of the trip. So I let him, I hopped in the passenger seat and I plugged my headphones into my phone to listen to some music. When I found a sound I finally wanted to listen to I decided that it would be an okay time to text Liam asking him for an update on how things were going with the pack, even though I told him I only wanted him updating me in case of an emergency I couldn't help it, every time I had to make this trip since my father passed I panic at least once each trip.

I could hear the guys conversing amongst themselves but I still couldn't feel Xerxes's presence either.I looked out of my window and we began to turn off of the highway and towards a small town about four hours outside the city of Chicago. Hunter was probably looking for a place we could stop for food. Hunter then pulled into a little gas station that was sitting right after the turn off from the highway.

"While I'm pumping gas get some food and drinks and stretch, Thomas you'll take over and Chase you can take passenger seat. Cole and I will sit in the back." Hunter said as he got out of the Hummer and began pumping gas.

I got out and went into the gas station and ordered a whole pizza for me and the guys and while that was being made I walked around grabbing a few more snacks and a two-liter soda for the ride. After we finished checking out we loaded ourselves into the van and got back on the road.

"So how's everything been with the pack? Liam text or email you with any updates yet?" Hunter asked opening his email on his laptop as well. Even though we inherited our parents businesses we also had a few business ventures that we started on our own that we had to keep track of as well.

"No so far everything is quiet on his end so we know that means everything's running smoothly because if it wasn't we'd be the first to know." I replied as I pulled up a funding request that my secretary had pushed through to me, saying that all of their numbers were in order and from all the previous background research I had her do on the company that nothing shady came up so everything checked out on their end and was legit.

"Well I'd definitely take that as a good sign." He said laughing, "Did you ever get the report back on the new Pack hospital? The one that Red Wing needed funding to build?" Hunter asked as he began typing up something on his laptop.

I nodded and moved my laptop into the middle seat, "Yeah Leslie said that all of their numbers check out and that the background check didn't throw up any red flags either. So I was going to give her the go ahead to schedule a meeting with the Alpha Oliver of Red Wing and Head doctors of the Pack." I said as he grabbed the laptop from me to get a better look at the report. As he scrolled through it I watched him nod his head a few times in agreement with it.

"Well I'll give her one thing, shes definitely gotten better at writing the reports then she was when we first hired her." He said chuckling, "I remember when she first started writing them all the information was all over the place and we had to keep calling her into the office so she could explain them." He said with a smile.

I nodded in agreement, he was right about that, when we first hired her Leslie was so unorganized and whenever we called her into the office she would always would get so flustered and she would start tripping over her own words, one time she rushed into the office so fast she didn't see the box we had right inside the door and she tripped over it and her face was beet red whenever she had to speak with us alone for a week.

As I looked up to see if there was a sign letting us know where we were as we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant of of a deep dish pizza place that we always stop by when we cross through Chicago, it was owned by Gwendolyn, she was grandmother to Sawyer, Alpha of the Nightshade Pack.

Before we even got out of the car we could tell the restaurant was unusually packed compared to when we normally visited, "Alright boys no more then an hour here I want to get a few more hours of driving in tonight." I told the guys as we walked up to the diner door.

Entering the diner we saw that it was filled with mainly teenagers, a few adults here and there. As we made our way to the first empty booth we saw I noticed a few looks come our way. Gwendolyn was running around the restaurant refilling cups, clearing plates and taking orders. Everyone seemed to be in an uplifted mood and there wasn't a shortage of chatter.

Walking up to our table she pulled her notepad out of her apron and rested her pen along the top of it, "Good evening boys, what can I get for you today? The usual or are we going to get something different?" She chuckled.

"Four glasses of water, two large extra cheese pizzas, a large order of mozzarella sticks, and an order of buffalo and barbecue wings." Hunter said as he closed his menu and began collecting everyone's, placing them into her outstretched palm in a neat stack.

"Coming right up." She said as she finished writing, "It'll be about five minutes for the appetizers and about thirty for the pizzas." She added walking away and behind the counter past the doors that led into the kitchen.

Thomas looked around the restaurant, "So what event do you guys think is going on that caused such a crowd?"

Hunter and I did a once over of the restaurant, it seemed like it was mainly groups of teenagers and a few family groups, there even looked to be some adult couples there, perhaps for a date night. There were quite a few football uniforms as well as a few girls and guys decked out in cheer uniforms as well.

"Looks like the celebration of a football game." I replied, nodding towards the group of football players in the far corner of the restaurant.

Thomas and Chase followed my head nod and both nodded their heads in agreement. Hunter however was still looking around the restaurant, slower and more thoroughly. I watched his gaze settle on the corner table for a bit longer and I was just about to ask him what was up but a waitress appeared and placed our appetizers on the table in front of us.

"Good evening gentlemen I'm Bianca and I'll be your server tonight, your orders will be ready in a bit. If you need anything feel free to call me over." She said as she placed the drinks in front of us and the plates in front of Hunter who couldn't even bother to acknowledge that she had just spoken. Chase and Thomas thanked her and she nodded at them before leaving.

"What's the Alpha's little brother doing here without a decent guard?" Hunter whispered, leaning towards the center of table grabbing a few mozzarella sticks as he spoke to make it less suspicious.

I looked up towards the group of teenagers and sure enough Elijah, Sawyers younger brother, was among the football jocks,"I wonder if he'd piss his pants like he did when he saw us when he was younger?" Chase asked tilting his head to the side curiously.

We all laughed and I noticed Bianca coming with the pizzas so I used the pack link and told the guys to switch the topic, Thomas looked at Chase and he shrugged, they seemed to be having a talk using pack link. So they did and the topic stayed light and casual, we talked about our families until Bianca left, not before placing the bill at the end of the table though.

Thomas and Chase both turned towards me, "So any idea who the council might have chosen for your bride if you don't find your mate?" Thomas asked, shredding a bit of the napkin next to his plate.

Hunter looked at me as he took a drink of his soda, I could feel Xerxes' presence, everyone was curious on what I thought. I looked up towards Elijah again and sighed, "In all honesty?" I began, looking at each of the guys, "I have no idea who they've picked, they're keeping it confidential. She's not residing in any of our neighboring packs." I finished, shrugging my shoulders and taking the last bite of my fourth slice.

Xerxes grumbled in frustration, the council was doing a good job in keeping their contender hidden, we had searched and even reached out asking other packs that were part of the alliance if there was someone that the council was having housed there, and everyone came back empty handed. I knew that it wouldn't be easy to find who they were but I did believe it wouldn't be this hard to discover the identity of the women.

I looked outside and down at my watch, we were almost at the end of the hour timer that I had given for us to eat, "We should head out and get some more miles in before turning in for the night." I said, standing and adjusting my shirt earning lustful stares from quite a few females in the restaurant which I ignored. We made our way up to the hostesses stand, paid for the food and loaded back up into the Hummer with Thomas driving.

Hunter and I sat in the backseat again with our headphones plugged into our laptops. I answered more emails and began looking more into the Red Wing Pack's doctors, if our pack was going to be funding their hospital I wanted to ensure the doctors had strong training roots and the correct paperwork and degrees, even though Leslie had done a thorough background check I decided to run through not only her sources but some as mine as well because no doubt Oliver would want this matter settled over the weekend while we're in the same place.

That's what a lot of Alpha's used this weekend for, to hold meetings amongst themselves to determine the bases for new treaties, building projects, and since we all also monitor three other smaller packs that live in our territory we also took this time to discuss things concerning those packs as well. There were really two meetings that all Alpha's were required to attend, the first meeting Friday morning and the last meeting that was held every Sunday before dinner, with all Alpha's leaving Monday morning after breakfast so we could all begin making our way back to our packs.

As I felt the car began to slow I looked up from my work, noticing Hunter do the same, we had arrived at the mansion. Thomas rolled all of the windows down as we approached the guard station, unlocking the car as he pulled up to a stop and we all exited the vehicle with our identification cards in hand. This was protocol, it didn't matter who you were, even the council members vehicles were searched upon arrival as this was a lot of land on human territory therefore it was a neutral area.

"Alpha Cole. Beta Hunter." The head guard, Fallon, nodded and bowed his head in turn addressing us both as he began making his way toward us from the guard box. As he arrived at Thomas and Chase he verbally instructed the two new guards on duty, Jayden and Lance, on how to do a proper body search, watching them as they began, and Fallon had actually asked us to arrive carrying a variety of weapons to determine if these two would be able to become actual guards. As the trainees found the weapons they gave them to Fallon, after finishing up with Chase and Thomas' search they came over and searched Hunter and I. Once Jayden and Lance found our hidden weapons as well and finished their search they were congratulated and sent back to the box.

"They're going to be great guards under your wing Fallon." Hunter complemented him, smacking him on the shoulder, Fallon thanked him and as we began getting back into the vehicle he went back to his trainees and their post in the guard box and opened the gate granting us entrance to the mansion. Our weapons would be returned to us upon exiting the mansion on Monday and the weapons would be kept in the weapons vault until then.