Taking Power With The Alpha's Daughter

Chapter 2: This Might Be Personal

***MICHAEL POV***

    Obviously, I decided not to call Fabian. I figured that that was a really petty thing for me to do, and I had other fish I needed to fry.

    “If you had to take a guess as to which plant could get us up and running with manufacturing this antidote, which one would you guess?” I asked Phil, head still leaning back on the top of my chair and now with my eyes closed, lost in thought.

    “I’ll ask Eric if he has a preference on plants, but I personally think that the one in Indiana is the one we should go with,” Phil replied. “Suzanne and Frank sure seem to have their s**t together.  However, I am very willing to get talked out of it, and I hope it happens, but there’s a problem there.”

    “Do they know that we’re wolves, or does anyone here think that it would be best if we kept that to ourselves?” I asked.

    “Funny you should mention that,” Phil replied. “The reason I think it would be best if we worked with Suzanne and Frank is that the heads of the other plant in Louisiana--”

    “Jean-Marie and Boniface?” I interrupted, hoping I got my names right.

    “Yeah, them,” Phil replied. “Although, I found out that Boniface likes to be called ‘Bonnie’ for short. Something about how the name is too common in her family. Anyhow, they’ve been having really bad werecougar problems. All of their pack’s attention has been thrown that way and not on pushing out supplies. So they’re down for the count for right now.  Otherwise, it would be a slamdunk.”

    “Have they asked if they need help?” Mira asked, which got Kristy’s attention.

    “At this point, they don’t, but I also name-dropped Kristy to them in case crazy happens,” Phil stated, which put a massive smile on Kristy’s face. “If everything goes right, we’ll try to give them more of a shot. But, of course, if everything goes to crap, then Kristy, Justin, and I are probably going to have to take a group of Delta warriors to sort things out if we decide to go into business with them.”

    “Do we know which den they’re having problems with?” I asked, sitting back up at full attention. Werecougars were one of two natural enemies of werewolves, the other being vampires.

    “Which do you think?” Justin asked. “Which one is always causing problems for wolves?”

    I groaned. Alpha James had told me about the den leader, Lucas O’Neill, and his cronies, as well as their insistence on taking as much wolf land as they could. He warned me that I’d have trouble with him at different points.

    “Is that piece of s**t Lucas really branching out that much?” I asked. “I thought he was in our neck of the woods!”

    “What’s the name of that den?” Mira asked. “I can’t really remember.”

    Pregnancy brain is in full flight with that one, Kristy linked me. I managed to stifle my out-loud laugh.

    “If that’s Lucas O’Neill’s den, then that should be Catamount Burrow,” Phil stated.

    “That’s right!” Mira replied. “I can’t believe I forgot about them.”

    “Baby, our little one that you’re carrying probably has something to do with that,” I replied.

    “Well, you’re the one who shoved it into me, so this is actually your fault,” Mira stated, sticking her tongue out at me. I had a lewd response in my mind that I wanted to say, but Justin piped up and continued our conversation about the werecougars.

    “This might be personal for his daughter,” he stated.

    That shocked me. “Isn’t Lucas one of those old-fashioned leadership types?” I asked Phil. What I was referencing was the misogynistic belief that women were only for supporting roles in major pack decisions. From what Phil had told me two weeks ago, when Bonnie and Jean-Marie were first having their problems with Catamount Burrow, that line of thinking was far more popular with werecougars than any other supernatural species.

    “Absolutely,” Phil replied. “My sources can’t confirm this, but from what I’ve heard, Lucas is desperate to find someone to be mated with his daughter. Monica has apparently been of age for a couple of years, which makes her 22 now, so this might be where he’s taking over a pack, den, coven, or colony and forcing someone to be taken as her mate.”

    “Werecougars do that?!” Mira exclaimed.

    Phil nodded slowly, glaring at her in the process. One of the tells that Phil had when he was angry was when his brows would furrow a bit, and he’d lean his head down and glare into your soul. “Werecougars have always been pretty feudal. From what I’ve been able to see, the Grand Tacoma Council had tried to reign them in even before Washington was recognized as a State. It even appears a couple of previous incarnations of Phoenix wolves have tried to get them to modernize. Nope. They’re stuck in 1545.”

    The closest I got was in 1737. I was attached to an alpha who was the most open-minded to werecougars, and we actually started to get somewhere. Then the other guy’s equivalent of our Beta wanted to take my pack’s lead omega as his mate, actually killing the man in the process. We’ve been stuck in neutral there ever since, Phoenix whispered in my ear.

    “Huh,” Mira said. “Had no clue about that.” It was then that Phil’s face started to turn the shade of ripe red bell peppers. It was time to defuse the situation.

    “Anyhow, his daughter is out there fighting Jean-Marie because, from the way that I understand everything, Monica wants to be mated with him?” I asked.

    “You’ve got it exactly,” Justin replied as Phil’s eyes were closed. He was probably linking with Stella about this conversation.

    “Okay, I’m glad I’ve got it,” I replied. It was then that I knew I had to make my decision about what to do. So I stood up, got a bottle of water from the minifridge I had behind my desk, and took a long drink when suddenly a terrifying thought went through my mind.

    “Call me paranoid, but what if this isn’t coincidental?” I said. “I wasn’t aware of Lucas having that much cash on hand to pull something like this off. What if he has someone else fronting the money for all of this?”

    “Do you have anything to back that line of thinking up, Buggie?” Mira asked.

    “Honestly, I don’t,” I replied. “This is something that I’m honestly spit-balling at this point. I don’t know if it’s because we’re coming off having just talked about the poison that Vegas just reverse-engineered the hell out of, or what. But, still, something is definitely fishy about Lucas randomly showing up in Louisiana and taking on the pack that we are trying to do business with.”

    “Part of me thinks that this entire conversation is exactly that,” Mira replied. “One hell of a coincidence and nothing more.”

    “The problem is that too many pieces fit,” Phil stated. “The only way any of us can totally be sure is if one of us leads the expedition down there to find out what the f**k is going on.”

    That took me aback. I didn’t think that he was volunteering anyone else around the table. This looked like it was all him.

    “Are you wanting to lead the expedition down there?” I asked.

    “Yes,” Phil replied. “Worst case scenario, a few of our people go down with some easy injuries that you can patch up when we get them home and then give them to Dr. Richards, and it’s all for nothing. Best case scenario, I can give everyone here boots-on-the-ground surveillance on how much of the manufacturing plant can be saved. Possibly get them off the ground again, sign off on a manufacturing deal for the Vegas antidote, and get as many vials sold as we can.”

    I thought about it. Phil would get a hell of a lot done, and I knew that it would be done right. His entire job as Gamma was to make sure that we had good relations with as many fellow packs as possible, and this would be an awesome first solo trip in his office. It was then that I made my decision.

    “Justin, pull $17,500 from the pack savings account out at MEFCU. That’ll be enough to get a squad of 35 of our people, including Phil, into hotel rooms for a week at the Marriott outside of Shreveport. If you have any cash left, that’s Everfur Shadows’ cash to get their operations going again. Send 17 Delta Warriors and 17 Omega Warriors. Have them link up with Jean-Marie and Bonnie to see what kind of strategy they have. Kristy, if you want to go down there, you can, but if their trainer and/or top battle strategist are worth a damn thing, then we’re good, and our people can advise. If something crazy happens, then we’re there as well to clean up. I have no problem lending a hand to another pack, especially if it means that Lucas O’Neill or his progeny get f****d up in the process. I literally only like him when he’s cranky and licking his wounds at the same time.

    “Phil, work with Mira and whoever we have running the kitchen now that Natalia is gone, to make sure that whichever Deltas and Omegas you take with you don’t stretch us too thin for border patrols, and keep the packhouse alive and maintained. If you want to use some of the rosters from the Richard insurrection, do so, I don’t have a problem with that. Just know this, Phil.  I’m not trying to overrule you at all with your preference for Indiana.  This is the direction that I want to take our team when we take over the GTC.  I can’t stand werecougars or vampires, so if one of our sister packs has a problem with either of them when we’re calling the shots, we’re sending people to help out.  On this mission, every word you say might be mine, but I trust you to represent us well. You’re a good man; let’s get this s**t going.”

    “Yes, Alpha,” Phil replied.

    “Cool,” I stated. “We’ll also answer the question we had as to which plant we’re going to go with for our distribution deal if everything goes well. Justin, you and I are going to have to get the Indiana people on the phone and tell them that we’re going to go south for our stuff when Phil comes back with his news, assuming the news he comes back with is worth a damn.”

    “I’ll get some language drafted,” Justin replied.

    “Good,” I nodded. “That’s all, people. Mira, head back down to the law office and see how the deal for the new land in the Northeast Corner is going. I was hoping to have an answer for our contracting firm out there 8 days ago, and they’re starting to get antsy. I need this wrapped up by close of business today.”

    “I’ll do my best,” Mira replied, easing her way onto her feet. I felt bad; the baby was giving her really sore joints already, so moving for her was getting to be a chore. Still, I needed that contract signed as soon as possible.

    “Thank you,” I stated. I looked at my watch and realized it was after 2, and I hadn’t eaten since my breakfast call at 6:30. I needed a sandwich. “Okay, people, I need a break. I’ll see you all later.” I walked out of the conference room and down to the dining hall. I hoped that the mid-afternoon crew was still working, so I linked them on the way over. Sure enough, when I got there, I had a cup of coffee, a bowl of chicken and rice soup, and a massive plate of grilled ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, and white bread waiting for me. As I ate, I had a sneaking suspicion that something was going to happen soon with my pack’s personnel. The last time that I had gotten that gut feeling, Richard showed up and tried killing my family. When I took office, I had four priorities that I wanted to take care of, and with this antidote being finished and reproducible, I felt a little more confident. Still, I felt as if we were taking one step forward and two steps back all the time, and that something sinister was around somewhere.

    Stop thinking, Phoenix said in my ear. Calm down for a second. The office is upstairs, you’re down here. We need to eat and relax. You’re doing great.

    Thank you, P, I replied. He was right. I just needed to stop putting out every fire all at once while doing a massive amount of other things as well. My feet were getting sore from all the metaphorical dancing.