In the arms of no one

Chapter Four

Tiernan's POV

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There are a total of three meeting rooms in Orion Moon Pack. The Pack meeting hall - a large space that we use for indoor pack meetings when every single member of our pack is requested to attend for big announcements. The Chamber - which is used by our Leading Four and their wives when big decisions that affect the well-being of the pack must be made. And then there is The Boardroom - a room where the Leading Four, their wives, leading dignitaries from other packs or warriors from our own pack congregate to discuss relations of any sort between packs or war strategies if times are proven to be tumultuous for our pack.

So, as I stand here before the heavy, wooden double doors with the bronze "Boardroom" plaque beside them, I can't help but wonder. Will this be an inter-pack relations meeting or a meeting to discuss possible exposure prevention options? This line of questioning only serves to further heighten my stress levels. What were they thinking?

Should I be nervous because this could expose us to the human world? Or should I feel angry that this newcomer could potentially be a supernatural, that could possibly unbalance everything we hold dear? I f*cking refuse to acknowledge that my nervousness stems from seeing a picture of some f*cking human girl from some f*cking small ass country.

Am I nervous or angry? Can a person feel both nervous and angry at the same time? Because I can't decide which emotion I feel more.

Taking a deep, calming breath, I knocked on one of the double doors. We all know that our parents are in there waiting for us, because not only can we still hear their hushed whispers, we can all smell their distinctive powerful scents. Scents that, although subdued, cling to my friends and I.

Smells are a peculiar thing. Each and every living, and not so living, being has a scent. For us werewolves, our scents not only identify our pack, but also our family unit, with subtle differences for every individual member of the family.

For example, my father's scent is a mix between sandalwood, Queen of the night flower and his own individual marker of Pine. By comparison, my unique scent is a mix between sandalwood, Queen of the night flower and my own subtle marker of bergamot. Brian and Bianca's father, Beta Thomas, has his own unique scent of sandalwood, rain and freshly cut grass. His children and wife then scent sandalwood, rain and their own individual scent marker.

I can hear some whispered words on the other side of the double doors, but no one calls out for us to enter. Feeling a little impatient, I briskly rap my knuckles of both hands against the door a little bit louder. The fervent whispers continue, which is rather redundant due to the fact that supernaturals by nature have heightened senses, so we're able to pick up every single hushed word spoken. Finally, my father's strong, deep voice calls out for us to enter the room.

Glancing over my shoulder at my friends, I take note of all their expressions; Jared peers at me and rolls his eyes, clearly not feeling this situation. Kaiah's shuffling his feet from side to side anxious to find out what the f*ck is going on, while Brian looks lost in thought with a frown marring his ethereal features. With a grim smile on my face, I turned to face the door and placed my hand on the door handle. With my shoulders and back straight, I enter through the doors, eyeing our parents with a straight face as I wait for my friends to fan out beside me. In sync, my friends and I take our first step towards the long meeting table, where my father is standing with his hand outstretched towards the empty seats facing our parents.

Once seated, my father smiles and steeples his hands in front of him, regarding my friends and I curiously before asking, "So, you four wanted to discuss our visitor?" His eyes linger intensely on my friends like he expects one of them to speak up. I don't even know why he bothers with that. I mean, he already knows that I would be the first one to speak for all of us, just as he did for them. These political games are to be expected, but at this point in time, I feel way too aggravated to exercise the patience required to play.

I scoffed sarcastically before replying, "Yeah, visitor or is she to become a member of our pack?" I raised a sarcastic brow towards my father, my annoyance sky rocketing at his outright attempt at a white lie.

With a heavy huff of air, Brian demands angrily, "Since she's more than a visitor, because she's moving in and more importantly, she's a weak human, how are we going to hide the fact that we are a werewolf community?" His face is becoming red with the effort to keep his full frustration in check, I reach other and pat one of his tense fisted hands in a bid calm him down.

"First of all," his mother replies scornfully; her green eyes flaring with righteous indignation, "that 'she' you're so rudely trying to disregard, is YOUR FIRST COUSIN!" she ends in an angry shout as she stands up and slams her hands down on the long table in front of her, as her chest moves up and down with her aggravation.

She narrows her eyes at her son as her lips flatten out in displeasure, "And for your information, that 'she' is half werewolf, just like you!" her top lip curls into a sneer as she stares daggers at her son.

Beta Thomas quickly reaches over to grab his wife's hand, lightly rubbing circles with his thumb, instantly soothing her explosion of negative emotions. Beta Elizabeth slowly sits down, breathing deeply while looking at her slightly trembling hands nervously.

She's always been like that when faced with situations she feels passionately about. Quick to fight or, in this case, argue and just as quick to feel badly in the aftermath of said fight/argument. Bianca thinks it's a weak trait to have, and though I do agree with her, I also understand that as a human, her emotions and the need to be tough and strong will feel different to her.

She would have made a fierce werewolf. She is an amazingly strong female Beta, regardless of species. We all know it, we all accept it. If or when she decides she will like to be one with her 'inner wild', my father and I will be more than happy to complete the ritual that will make her one of us in every sense of the word.

The fraught silence is filled with so much tension that you could cut it with a knife. The current L4 and their wives eye each of us almost wearily as they allow us the time to process the new information. I'm not sure about the expressions on my friends' faces but I know that my eyes are bugging the f*ck out as I stare directly into my father's eyes.

Beta Thomas looks to my father for permission to speak and at my father's nod of assent, Beta Thomas turns to face us, clears his throat loudly and opens his mouth to speak in an authoritative tone.

"My niece will arrive tomorrow morning, and we wanted to speak to you boys before she arrived. There are aspects to my niece's situation that are very delicate. But we don't foresee any problems arising because of it, while she lives with us." his lips thin as his expression turned contemplative.

"We have been made aware of some recent sensitive speculations, which we have decided will remain classified. However, if you have any questions, I'm sure we'll be able to answer them as well as we can, given the circumstances."

"Oh, do you mean the situation of Vallon running with criminals? Because I know about that.!" Brian harshly pronounces. "Or are you talking about how she broke up a family, because she was sleeping with some chicks' husband.?" My eyes widen at the expression on my best friend's face, the sneer of disgust isn't something I've ever seen before, "Yeah, I know about that too! Grandmama has a big mouth, and she hates Vallon!"

Beta Thomas reaches out and places a hand over the clavicle area of his wife, just as she was about to jump out of her chair to chew out her son, yet again. As his hand lays over his wife's chest, his eyes zero in on his son with so much fire, even I'm tempted to flinch away like Brian does before he looks down at the table in submission.

"Your lack of maturity is showing in your ready acceptance of a judgment that you have not been around to witness with your own eyes." He removes his hand from Beta Elizabeth's chest to raise his hand, pointing a finger towards Brian's face and growls ferociously, "A leader leads! He does not follow!"

He waves his pointer finger at each of us slowly, as he eyes myself and each of my friends just as intensely, "A leader investigates to make his own judgment and decisions! He does not take words at face value! You do that? Then you might as well be like the Hunters who go out of their way to strike fear in the hearts of the vulnerable humans who believe all the gory, scary and UNTRUE words about us!"

"Do better!" My father announces forcefully, "I won't leave the pack to the leaders of four who only follow!" My father's threat immediately makes us all flinch as we bend our heads and necks in chastised submission.

"Yes, Alpha." We mumbled almost synchronously.

Obviously appeased, my father continues in a slightly more calm manner, "Now as mentioned earlier, there are a few things that you need to be made aware of."

I honestly don't know how to feel right now. I'm embarrassed that we were chastised over something so basic, although to be fair the shame is more for Brian's benefit than my own.

I'm relieved that because she is half of our wolf, sharing the knowledge of the supernatural world with a newbie won't be as dangerous as my friends and I thought it would be. But at the same time, I'm still so confused and now even more worried about my reaction to her fricken photo and what that could mean. I also have a few questions, the most urgent of them being, if she's half werewolf, has she shifted yet? Or has the gene skipped her due to the dilution of her blood? Does she even know she's a half-breed supernatural being?

Kai spoke up with a jaunty smirk on his face, "Obviously, like how there is more of a chance that she could be my mate, now that she's a werewolf."

He sheepishly shrugs when three distinctive warning growls can be heard from Beta Thomas, Brian and Kaiah's father, Head Warrior Alaric Rivers, who not only is aware of his son's playboy reputation but would prefer Kaiah to concentrate on learning his future duties. Surprisingly, I only just managed to stop my own need to growl in possessive anger, which leaves me feeling even more confused about this whole situation.

Jared reaches over and smacks Kai on the back of the head, "It doesn't matter if she was human or werewolf, your chances would have been the same - stupid." Jared looks over at me with a "What the f*ck" look on his face, making me chuckle; while our parents share a laugh at Kaiah's expense.

I love my friend, but contrary to what his excellent grades at school proclaim, I thoroughly believe he must have been dropped on the head as a baby more than a few times.

Meanwhile, Kaiah grumbles quietly to himself about how it's not his fault that he speaks before he thinks, running his hands through his black hair, his stormy grey eyes sullen, mouth slightly pouting. F*cking sook!

Eyeing him incredulously, I was about to say something slightly degrading, when my wolf laughs scarily in mind, because let's face it, wolves and laughing - just don't mix, "I'm guessing he was dropped on his head from either a high height as a baby, or once every day." Titus says in amusement.

I mentally chuckle and say to my beast, "Shut it Wolf, you love that stupid head just as much as I do". My wolf grumbles in reluctant agreement and thankfully quietens down.

Flicking back to the external conversation, I catch the tail end of my mother asking us if we had any questions that we would like them to answer. I turned my head to eye my best friend as my mouth opened up and all the questions I was just internally wondering, left my lips so quickly they ran together, "Has she shifted? Or has the wolf gene skipped her because of her human side? Does she even know she's half wolf?"

My mom looks from me to Kaiah's dad and gestures toward him, "Head Warrior Alaric, do you have the answer to my son's questions?

Nodding his head, Kaiah's dad answers with his no-nonsense demeanor, "From my understanding, I don't think she's transitioned yet. I don't think she knows about the supernatural world at all and it could possibly be because the wolf gene has completely skipped Vallon.." There is a contemplative frown on his face as he watched me carefully, "I think what's more important information at this time, is who her father is."

As Head Warrior of the Shadow Moon pack, it's his job to research any information that he can about any person of interest or threat to the pack. He's always very proficient at his job, usually able to drag up information in a short time frame that normally takes other trained people weeks to find, and did I mention he is very thorough about it?

He once came back with information about the colour, smell and texture of an Alpha Wolf's sh!t, which ended up being important because that little piece of fetid information led us to the discovery that, that rival Alpha, who by the way had no children, was suffering from colon cancer.

Which led to us, as a pack, deciding to place aside our differences and making amends with the Moon Marked Pack, who were pack rivals at that point in time. They were faced with having a Beta who didn't know the role of Alpha enough to take over, which would have left the pack weak and vulnerable.

Most rival Packs wouldn't have cared and most likely would have attacked the weakened Pack, killing off all the strong werewolves and leaving the weak and helpless behind so that they can then be subjugated to the slavery of the victorious pack. But our Pack has never been like that, we've always valued the lives of other werewolves and we hold werewolf law and honour above all else.

The Moon Marked Pack are now an ally to our pack and I have to admit that after helping his predecessor learn his role, it was the best decision we have ever made, thanks to their sense of fierce loyalty to the Orion Moon Pack and vice versa.

Alaric bends down to the side of his chair and picks up a file to place on the table. Looking up,he smiles at each of us and then opens the file. He pulls out photographs, birth certificates, medical reports and then finally a summary report, lining them up neatly. He then looks up at us excitedly while brushing his brown hair away from his equally brown eyes, a sure sign that this is going to be juicy, and starts handing out copies of the photos first, followed by a copy of all the documents.

The first one is a photo of a brown-skinned handsome man with very distinctive features. Black eyes, long curly black hair, a prominent nose, wide thin lips, a very tall and muscular build.

"Right, the first thing you need to know is the man in that first photo is the current Alpha Kamaka Cord Rihari, nicknamed Mak, of the Snow Wolf pack. Born January, 6th 1983, in a region called 'The King Country' in New Zealand and he is 36 years old. You might have heard his name in passing, or maybe in hushed tones, due to the fact that, for all intents and purposes, Alpha Kamaka Cord Rihari is the Guardian King of all Shifters." His dark eyes suddenly light up yellow with his beasts' physical appearance.

"Mated and married to the current Luna of Snow Wolf pack, Briar Rihari, born June, 22nd 1983. Luna and Wedding ceremony were performed on February 15th, 2004." Pointing to the second photo in the pile that we each have in front of us, it shows a beautiful caucasean woman with mahogany hair, light brown eyes, fair skin and full lips . This is the obvious Luna in question.

As Alaric takes a breath to continue, there is a disruption in the dialogue by my Future Beta Brian, his dark green eyes widening in shock as his hands shoot up in the air waving them about in a stopping motion. "Wait, wait, wait...you mean to tell me that my human first cousin, who is now half werewolf is the daughter of an Alpha? And not just any Alpha, but THE FRICKEN KING OF ALL SHIFTERS?" he asks in shock.

Smiling indulgently, Alaric replies with a mischievous smirk, "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

Jared lifts his arm into the air like he's a student in a classroom and not a fellow pack leader in training and waits for Alaric's attention. Alaric slowly turns his head towards Jared and eyes him like he's challenged, "We aren't in a classroom Jared, what's your question?"

"When you say all shifters, what do you mean?" he asks with clear interest.

"As you well know, wolves are not the only shifters. So when I say that he is the king of all shifters, I do mean he is the king of every shifter species you can think of." After dropping that bomb, he looks down at his sheet of paper and then states, "Let's continue, shall we? We have a lot to get through."

"Wait, wait! One more question. Why aren't you using the projector? Wouldn't it be easier?" The logical question actually caught me off guard for a minute because I didn't even think about it at all. And also the question came from Kaiah and, although that guy is as smart as a tack, he also isn't usually this serious about any subject. Not really.

His question pleases his father though, so I guess he scored some brownie points for being a good head warrior in training.

"I thought it might be better for you guys to have access to those files. Just make sure you lock them away in your personal safe after this meeting."

I'm still reeling from the shock of finding out that Brian and Bianca's cousin is the biological daughter of Shifter Royalty. From the corner of my eye, I watch fascinated as Brian's face first flushes bright red and then the color quickly leaches from his face, leaving it stark white in color . Now the question becomes, is he just as shocked that he's related to royalty? Or is he scared shitless that the royal family will find out that he inadvertently disrespected a member of their family, even though she is also a member of his family?

More importantly, why the f*ck isn't she being sent to her father's pack?

As I'm about to voice my question, I stop myself. But only because my friends and I are the ones that demanded this meeting, and well, I don't want Beta Elizabeth to rip my a$$h0le to shreds because she's seriously overproductive of her niece. I mean I don't know about the other guys, but I'm quite attached to my a$$h0le. How am I supposed to eat and then sh!t without an a$$h0le?

Alaric looks down and continues to read from the report, when he is interrupted once again by another member of the Stevensen family.

This time Beta Elizabeth reaches over past her husband, she grabs the report in Alaric's and says grumpily, "Let me read it, because you're butchering the names and I can't f*cking stand it." Everyone around the table snickers, while Alaric reddens with embarrassment and leans back in his chair with an affronted look on his face.

See? If she semi-ripped into him over something as little as a mispronunciation, imagine what she would have done to me? I'm smart. A smart guy with a fully functioning a$$h0le.

In my mind, my wolf rolls his eyes and covers his head with his paws, "No, you're a f*cking i***t that's fixated on his a$$h0le. You might need to let your girlfriend know that you're secretly feening for a rim job." Internally, I growl my annoyance at my dirty-minded wolf and angrily replied, "Shut the f*ck up!"

Well, there goes my love of porn. My c0ck aches in pain just thinking about never participating in or even limiting my regular late night sessions with the porn goddess Alexis Texas. But it's a distinct possibility, considering my wolf is learning enough to hit back at me with.

No, just because I watch porn, it doesn't mean that I'm a sick creeper or anything. I mean, I know I'm technically a virgin, but I happen to be a teenage guy who isn't ashamed of my very healthy s****l appetite.

In the privacy of my head.

With my wolf.

Also inside my head.

And if you find a teenage guy who says he doesn't regularly partake in the act of the ol' five finger squeeze pound, while watching some hot as f*ck chick, getting her cream on. They're lying.

I know it doesn't sound like it, but my wolf and I do love each other. I am he and he is me and all that sh!t, ya know?

Clearing her throat, she looks down and reads from the report, "Before meeting his true mate, Alpha Mak, he had a long-lasting girlfriend of two years and one month, my older sister, Isabella Winchester nee. Barrett was born 24th April 1985." She pauses from her reading and takes the time to smile at each of us boys before continuing to read.

"Isabella became pregnant, a little after one year into the relationship. Which brings us to our new long-time visitor, because she can't become a member of our pack due to her royal status, my niece. One Vallon, Ataahua Rihari, "

She directs us to the 2 photos in the pile, one of the older, yet gorgeous, strawberry blonde woman, with peppermint green and blue hazel eyes, slightly full lips with a serious disposition. The second photo, which is different from the one that Brian has, shows a sharper, clearer photo of the reason why we are all in this room right now. The photo is taken from a different angle, a full body shot that captures the true colouring and features of Valen Rihari.

I vaguely heard a whistle from one of my boys, but I was too engrossed in staring at the image to really take much notice, my own 'whistle' standing hard and at attention.

I was wrong. So f*cking wrong, Alexis Texas isn't the goddess of dirty, wet dreams - this girl is.

What I thought was plain black hair, turned out to be blue-black. It's like the night sky wanted to fight a battle with the dark shadows just so they could sit on her head. A cute slightly upturned button nose and gorgeous, kissable pink lips, her caramel-coloured skin looks so delicious, just tempting me to waltz right up to her and have a taste of its sweetness. Her figure, oh my goddess! I can't stop my eyes from following every dip and curved line of her body. It's so curvacious and enticing.

But it's her eyes that really pulls me in, light blue closer to the pupil, light green in the middle with slivers of honey-coloured brown and dark green near the edges of the iris followed by a ring of near black. Her eyes are the most interesting, beautiful shades of colours I have ever seen.

Besides the beautiful mix of colours, there is a look in her eyes that tells a story of so many bundled up emotions that, in a way, is a direct contrast to the happy smile that covers her face. I recognize fire and defiance, as well as sadness, anger, happiness and something secretive. Hidden secrets that make me want to uncover everything about the emotions I can see through the lens of the camera.

Beta Elizabeth pronounces Vallon's middle name A-tah-hooa and the surname Ree-ha-ree, while rolling the r's, she continues on, "Born 28th April 2006 at Palmerston North Hospital, Vallon is 17 years old and attends Horowhenua College and will be studying as a Year 13 student after Christmast break, in my home town of Levin." She briefly glances up at us and smiles while explaining, "Year 13 in our education system would be the equivalent of a Senior."

She stops while peering at the piece of paper in front of her, smiling proudly, "She's smart!" she exclaims. Then she shakes her head, a small, proud smile still evident on her face as she continues reading quietly, almost like she's reading to herself.

"4.5GPA, extracurricular school activities include: school martial arts team, choir and Kapa Haka roopu - or group." She pauses in surprise that her niece is involved in so many school groups, shakes her head in wonder and then resumes the last bit of the paragraph on the first page, while the guys and I are looking at each other in confusion, because what the heck is a Kapa Haka group?

"Valen has also attended kickboxing, jiu jitsu and mixed martial arts classes since she was 4 years old, but she hasn't competed at all during her years of training. It's reported that she prefers the contact sport more for fitness than for the competition." She pauses shortly and then adds, "Her training sessions have decreased in frequency since she broke up with her long-time boyfriend, Brody Travena, about a year ago."

Unexplainable jealousy flares inside my chest. Raw and deep, forcing me to take in deep breaths while looking at my white knuckles, fisted hands in my lap. I can't make sense of why I am feeling this way when I've been in a long, serious relationship with my girlfriend. I'm in love with Bianca and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. She understands me and the responsibilities that I will be undertaking in the future, more than any one in the world. Why do I feel like ripping her ex-boyfriend to shreds? I haven't even met her or him!

Beta Elizabeth finally stops talking while looking at my friends and I, allowing us some time to absorb the new information before flipping over the page and handing the report to my father who has his hand out waiting for it.

Taking a big huff of breath followed by a little snickering laugh, Jared my Future Gamma exclaims, "Careful Kai, that girl is going to take your future job! And I can't say that I'm hating it!” his snicker turned into a full-blown laugh making his dirty blonde hair flopping into his olive-green hazel eyes.

Mock frowning at Jared, Kaiah raises his middle finger to his cheek and scratches while Brian chuckles along with our parents, then surprises me by admitting loudly, "Me neither brother, me neither."

"Ayo! My cousin is bada$$! And she doesn't even know she's half werewolf or an Alpha yet! Can you imagine what she could do when she does find out or even when she shifts?" Brian exclaims excitedly, a smile plastered on his handsome face, while everyone around the table chuckles, nodding their heads in agreement.

Our current Gamma, Harley Robinson, who happens to be Jared's dad, finally pipes up after he and his wife have sat in silence for most of the meeting, "We expect you boys to be on your best behavior. We also expect you to treat Miss Rihari with respect and courtesy." As an afterthought, he quickly adds cheekily, "Remember, she's been trained and could possibly karate chop all your little peckers off."

And another round of laughter erupts, but not from my friends and I. We all have looks of horror on our faces, until Kaiah announces, "A karate d**k chopper - KDC! I wonder if she'd go for a nickname like that?"

Jared challenges, "I dare you to call her that and then tell her what it means." Then everyone uproariously laughs, including my friends.

But I'm not laughing, I'm not laughing at all. Vallon f*cking Rihari is even more of a threat now. A distracting, intensely hot and clearly bad a$$ threat not only to my relationship, but to the balance and order in our pack. And unlike my dumb ass friends, I'm f*cking dreading her arrival!