Ultima Trials

The Luna Room

Hayden’s POV

As usual, as soon as the doors closed, all eyes fell to me. Except I could feel the confidence rolling from Cam. He was raised to be Alpha. His entire life he knew he’d be an Alpha. I didn’t, but nothing would change the fact that I was in fact an Alpha.

I found a table in the middle and began organizing my proposal for more land. I could feel the males following my movements, but no one said anything. Randall stood and began the meeting and, slowly but surely, the Alphas made their reports, allies, voted on new policies all packs would have to follow. The Elders opened the floor for new land requests, and I shot up before someone stole my moment again.

“Black Storm has had a need for the land that was once Black Lake and Storm Lake for the last four years. As I have taken the cast away from packs such as Silver Star the last three years, Haven, and even Shadow packs. My pack has grown from 300 when my father was Alpha, to now at almost 900, including my mate.” I spoke as loudly as I could. The confidence came from Cam, but Mira stood taller in the back of my mind. She, of course, helped with my confidence and Cam’s words from this morning kept me from dropping my head.

“You expect us to believe that you have a pack of 900 wolves. One of whom just happens to be the ‘dead’ Alpha of Silver Star?” one of the Alphas boomed in laughter.

The others joined in, but I stood my ground. Keeping my eyes in front of me and locked with one of the other Elders.

“I completed a pack census just two weeks ago. There is also a blueprint of the warrior housing I would like to build on my territory, along with an orphanage and high school. I will transition the middle school pups to the old high school building as it was renovated last spring to also house some of the orphaned pups and renovate the old middle school building to house unmated pack members.” I took my proposals up to the Elders' table and watched as the other Alpha males faces turned blue.

The Elders all looked through it and agreed. I’d have 100 extra acres added to Black Storm along with extra funds to finance my renovations.

“Now on to our little Alpha problem.”

Camden’s POV

The Luna room was exactly as I expected it to be. It is full of women making deals on their mates’ behalf. Creating allies through the women of the pack rather than the dominant males. There was one other male in the room, but he sat back and watched rather than participated in the conversations.

I felt Hayden’s nerves strike before they faced away and then into anger. Pure anger. They must be talking about Noah.

“So, tell me, Camden. How does one go from Alpha to Luna?” one of the Luna’s spoke. I didn’t know their names.

“My wife and Luna died. Noah took over Silver Star, I left and found my second chance mate.” I tried to keep it simple.

“But you are still alive. So, there must have been a challenge, or did you just give up your birthright?”

The other Alpha snorted.

“Uhm, no to both. I was in a coma for three weeks. And then my life was focused on making sure my son was taken care of by any means necessary.”

Again, a snort from the Alpha.

“Do you have anything you’d like to add, Alpha?” I asked him to glare as he smirked.

“Noah is a disgrace. Not only to his pack but his family. I knew your father. There’s no way in hell your father would have allowed Noah to marry your mother nor challenge you unless Noah knew that he’d win. So he took you out.” The man shrugged, “Though I doubt he was banking on you making it long enough to get your pregnant Luna to the hospital and then saving your pup.”

The she-wolves all swooned at me, risking my life for my mate.

“How do you know so much about my pack, Alpha?” I was honestly curious. There were rumors, but he had real facts.

“Jordan. And I’m not Alpha. My mate is.”

I nodded. This was one of the Alpha’s that came to their mate’s place to keep the peace. I stood to walk and shake his hand before we began a different conversation. I had made not only an ally but a new friend.

He had trained under my father for Alpha but mostly stayed around my mother because he was mated into the role instead of born. Dad said he’d need to know both roles in case something happened to his mate or if she simply didn’t want to be Alpha any longer. In a world surrounded by dominance and ranks, women were shifted very easily. Even if they were the first or only pup of an Alpha couple. It was rare that they were taken seriously without the mark of their mate.

Jordan had come to sit with the Alphas as per normal, but seeing Hayden go into the Alpha chambers, he decided to take his true role.

“So does your pack call you Luna or Alpha?” I asked, generally curious.

“They call me Alpha, but they also call my mate Alpha. The elderly in my pack call me Consort Jordan.” He smiled, “What about you?”

“Oh well, Hayden and I haven’t gotten that far. I haven’t gotten that far. These past four years have been solely about doing whatever it took to ensure my son’s safety.”

Jordan looked down in shame, “Rich is my mate’s cousin. I heard a rumor that you had to clean bathrooms with a toothbrush.” he whispered the last word so low only he and I could hear it.

I nodded. “Whatever it took.”

A slight knock on the door and Hayden’s addicting scent came from under the door. I went and opened it as I took her by the waist and buried my face in her hair.

I heard the she-wolves gasp. Then light chatter about how they wish their mates would react the way I do to my own.

They’re asking for you. Her sweet voice filled my mind.

I nodded and kissed her forehead. Play nice, Alpha.

She rolled her eyes but wrapped her arms around me anyway. I left her in the doorway and made my way to Alpha Hall.

Of course, Randall was sitting in the middle of the table of Elders. He gave a slight nod to a chair in front of the table, and though the other Alphas were staring at me, my eyes focused on Noah. There were guards surrounding the room, which meant that the Elders had already made their decision about Noah’s right to Alpha of Silver Star.

The questions that Randall had asked the previous night. Mostly, all centered around Noah’s challenge.

“There was no challenge. Regardless of my ability to respond to the challenge,” I countered.

“But how would you know if there was a challenge if you were in a coma? Going by the words of low-ranked members of your pack, it isn’t very Alpha of you,” Mattias questioned.

“I was in a coma for only three weeks. My son just turned four. That’s three years that he could have challenged me. Instead, he tortured me for the last three years. Held my son’s life over my head.”

The growls heard around the room solidified my point.

“Silence.” One of the Elders called.

The room quieted down.

“Noah, what do you have to say for yourself?” Randall asked.

Noah stayed silent. I hoped he knew that his time was coming to an end. It was one thing to challenge an Alpha and give mercy by letting them live as a rogue, but the whole other was to torture an Alpha and a pup. Wolves could be absolute beasts. Rogues are the worst in some cases, but what Noah did was the lowest of the low. He didn’t do it out of desperation, or money. It was out of spite. He had the ability to start his own pack, even if it was a pack of rogues. He still could have built his own home. Instead, he took mine. He stole my home from me, killed my parents, tortured my son even if Mav didn’t know what was happening.

“If that is all, then as Noah has decided the fate of Alpha Camden, I find it only fitting that Alpha Camden decides the fate of Noah.” Randall looked to the elders, who nodded in agreement.

I looked around the Alphas who had begun yelling ‘kill him’. In many ways. The consensus was that he deserved death in the most painful way.

Jersey? What do you think I should do?

Jersey growled; I want the challenge I should have had when he wanted my title.

I shrugged. Made sense. Jersey was strong and, despite being poisoned for three years, he was a natural Alpha. A first born. Despite having had the title, Noah’s Wolf couldn’t really compare to Jersey. I informed the Elders of my wolf’s wishes. They all agreed. Two months, I would be able to kill the man that had taken my life from me.

Continuing with the trial, it seemed as though Noah had committed multiple crimes. Fraud, murder, failure to report, and the worst, endangerment. It turned out from reports written to the council that not only had the ‘warriors’ been sleeping in the basement cells. Each cell was lined with silver within the walls and pure silver bars, but the worst was pipes that led to the cell used to house silver pipes. It was to keep our prisoners from being able to shift. It wasn’t understood why, but some wolves were impervious to silver on the skin, but no one had been able to resist the silver in their body.

After the endangerment charges were brought, we all wanted to see the rest of the pack. The housing that had been built six years before I was titled, was mostly falling apart. The school there was only necessary for one building. It looked as though it hadn’t been used in the last three years.

“Where are your pups being educated, Alpha Noah?” Mattis said. “I saw some coming from the village.”

“The parents have decided to save the pack money and homeschool their pups,” Noah badly explained.

“But the council sends yearly stipends for schooling of packs.” I countered.

Noah snarled, but I didn’t say anything the other Alphas didn’t know. Any kind of schooling was covered by the council until a pup was of shifting age. Then, after graduation, they could apply for grants and scholarships for further education from the pack. We were all for higher education, if a wolf wanted it. Just like humans, we had lawyers, CEO’s, small businesses, doctors, and those few wolves that could find an animal willing to live with them long term. There were even veterinarians. Granted, most vets in wolf packs were only knowledgeable in canine anatomy. It was only ever dogs or even actual wolves that were domesticated that lived in pack territory.

“Yes, Alpha Noah. What have you been doing with the yearly stipends?” An Elder that my father was close to asked.

Noah grumbled some vague answer about giving it to the families, but as we made it to the pack village, we could see that even that statement was a lie. I knew that. Not so gracefully, I led them to the hut I had called home for the last three years. No one was happy about the living conditions in which I had to raise Mav. Randall was the least excited. He looked around the room once before storming out. We all heard the growl, and with that came the ending of the trial. It didn’t matter. The Elders had more than enough evidence to have Noah locked up.