The Full Moon Speakeasy

CHAPTER NINE: The Stakes

The sound of the doors opening echoed through the large, empty warehouse as Noah entered. He wore his suit from the day before and his annoyance along with it. He could not stand when others attempted to invade his privacy when it wasn’t at all needed. Ralph and Maricio shouldn’t have so much as stepped a foot into his building. Whatever the Elders had to say to him could have waited until he got to the club. 

The Elders, the only counsel that the pack had. The men that had reached the point past the peak of their lives. Werewolves could live over three hundred years, but after the halfway point, the transformations started to wear on the body. They still could in moments of need, but they took the backseat and opted to guide the pack instead of playing an active role. Many consider it to be the Golden Years of life, but Noah thought it sounded more like a nightmare. Noah was a man that had to fight for everything he had, everything he was; to step aside and let someone else rule simply wasn’t in his nature and he didn’t think it ever would be. 

The factory floor was empty of people and only had abandoned missionary and pallets of wrapped merchandise. It looked the part to make their business seem legitimate. If they got a whiff that some law enforcement was getting a little too interested in what exactly they did, they would even fill the place with workers and really sale the image that they were honest businessmen. 

Most of the pallets had booze, cocaine, and imported goods that they hadn’t paid tariffs on and all of it was waiting to be put into secret compartments in their fleet of cars to be taken to their customers. It was a wonderful sight to see, really. With just a glance, he knew that the things currently in there would flood his organization with another small fortune alone. And that wasn’t even a full week's work. That didn’t even include their speakeasy, their other social clubs that had questionable dealings, their assorted legitimate businesses, and the fees that any business worth a dime in their territory paid them for protection. 

But, the factory also housed the counsel room, a room his despised because it never failed to aggravate him. It was past the turn of the century, but most of the elders still liked to have the mindset that it was the Revolutionary War Era. 

By the time he reached the room upstairs and pushed through the doors, all of them were already sitting in their seats, murmuring amongst themselves. There were twenty of them. At one point, that would have been a shockingly low number, but it still felt too much for Noah. 

“We have been waiting all morning,” Malaki called from the other end of the impossible long, oak table. 

“And?” Noah questioned, sitting down at the head of the table. 

Fabio huffed. “This guy… Noah, you need to show some respect. You’ve only been Alpha for five years and you already strut about as though you founded the pack yourself.”

“Sounds like you forget the meaning of the title alpha,” Noah retorted. “I’m supposed to lead, am I not? How am I supposed to lead if I don’t exude confidence?” 

“This is besides the point, gentlemen,” Malakai interrupted and then cleared his throat. “Noah, it has come to the counsel’s attention that you spent the night with a human woman both in public and private.”

“And?” Noah huffed. 

Thirty-nine eyes, as the elder Gabriel was missing one, were locked onto Noah then. Malakai still led the discussion. “Need we remind you that you are promised to Imelda Bianchi?”

“It isn’t something that needs repeating,” Noah replied breezily. 

“You are being rather cavalier about this, Noah,” Leonardo, Imelda’s grandfather, spoke up. “Our family will not take kindly to such indiscretions and will break off the arrangement if this does, in fact happen again.”

“Then, Sambuco Leonardo, you might as well go ahead and withdraw the proposition.”

The room erupted into a roar of whispers and remarks that were far too plentiful and overlapping for him to identify any of them. Malakai’s voice cut through everyone else’s, “You are speaking brashly, Noah. I need you to hold your tongue and remember why this marriage has been arranged in the first place.” 

Ah, yes. The dwindling lack of purebred werewolves. Everyone in that room was one, but their lineage had failed them. Most in the pack were deemed “Coyotes”, meaning they were born of only one wolf parent and the other was human. The arranged marriage between Noah and Imelda was supposed to, in a way, create a monarchy. A monarchy that held a strong front, had purebred children, and acted as true role models for what others were meant to be. As the Coyotes were starting to have children of their own, and with humans. Past Coyote status, their kind lost the ability to shift and were merely humans with super strength. 

If the pack didn’t start a campaign to once again marry and breed with other wolves, by the next millenia, they would be on track to extinction. 

“I’m aware of the circumstances, Sambuco,” Noah replied as steadily as he could. “However, I’m afraid that the situation is far more complicated than you are understanding.”

“How so?” 

Noah tried to hide his grin, as he shouldn’t take satisfaction from what he was about to say. He knew that marrying Imelda was the best thing for his people. She was purebred, beautiful, strong, and was one of the few female werewolves with an ability. However, they just about hated one another and he found a sort of thrill out of what sort of reaction his next words would spark in her once she found out. “The human I was with, is my fated mate,” Noah announced.

Once more, the room erupted but Malakai once again interjected over the noise. “I must implore you to leave this alone and continue as planned, Alpha. Are our leader and you must be the example of saving our kind.” 

“I plan to do both,” Noah remarked and stood to leave. 

“How do you plan to do such a thing?” 

“Somehow, someway. Trust me,” Noah replied and left the room. 

He hadn’t any idea how he was going to have his fated mate and save his kind, but he was determined to find a way. No matter what, there was no giving up on Lucille.