Ever Cynical

Chapter 66- Results Are In

Kieran POV

My email chimed as I sat thinking about the revelations of the past few days. It was from the Elder Council, congratulating me and my mates on becoming members of the council. Wait... me and my mates? As I read further, it said that we were to rotate our voting, unless it was remote. One alpha, one luna, per council meeting. Remote votes would come to my email and we could choose an answer together. I was fine with it, though it did mean that additional logistics would be needed. The four of us had planned for Erik and Jothan to stay behind and care for the pack when Anais and I went to meetings.

Rintaro would be here within the day, much to my delight. He was a good friend, though I knew he'd give me quite the ribbing on my mate situation. I was hopeful he too, would finally find a mate among my people. He'd not been to my pack before with the intention of finding anyone, so he hadn't really met most of them. It had been common knowledge that Immortals only mated among each other, until me and my team. We may not have the biggest population, but it was still additional chances to find one.

The goddess may give us mates, but it was our job to find them and prove we were worthy.

I called my team to my office, and linked my mates to join me. They filed in, Anais coming to sit on my lap while Jothan sat on Erik's. We didn't even need to ask each other, it was automatic. Geoff grinned, his arm flung over his tiny ass mate. Ritsu was a full foot shorter than him. He was really enjoying the fact that he could give me s**t about my mates with just a look. I shook my head, trying not to giggle. I cleared my throat.

"So, everyone, I have good news. We have been accepted to the council." Anais hugged my neck. We weren't into politics, but we knew how important this was for our people. Everyone was excited and hugging. "One more thing." I said over them. "It does change our plans slightly." They all went silent. "They want us to rotate in pairs who attends meetings. One alpha and one luna each time. Apparently they've decided to begin including mates as part of voting in pairs, doubling the possible number of votes."

"That seems a little odd, doesn't it? Not that we won't be consistent, but the council has never voted as a mate unit before. Well, that we know of." Jothan piped up. He had attended before, assisting his mother on many occasions. Anais was tapping her chin.

"What if Uncle Tengjing is right, and it's my parents? The administrators? Maybe they are wanting to meet all of us? I did send in the update adding Jothan, after all." She guessed. It wasn't a bad assumption, but we also had to be cautious. Being council member meant that a certain level of neutrality was necessary. Belsant perhaps took that to an extreme, but as the group that decided things for all supernaturals, we had to tread carefully.

Even Ludolf had a deliberately cultivated public persona. Behind closed doors he was rumored a monster, but so far nobody had been bold enough to call him on it or investigate. To be honest, this was part of why I had declined to join. What was the point if they let Ludolf basically do what he wanted? Who knows how many other packs were operating like that just under the radar?

Frankly, the decision to give Ludolf rule over all wolf packs in the world seemed poorly thought out, to say the least. He couldn't possibly know or understand what was going on in other regions. Given my interactions with him and Graehm Pflumer, I doubt he cared one bit unless he got something out of it.

"It would certainly help us a lot if that is indeed the case." Jothan said pensively. Erik rubbed his shoulder, wanting to comfort him as he usually did. Surprisingly, Jothan smiled sweetly at him and leaned into it. I was glad to see Jothan getting more comfortable with us. While I was fine with the current situation, the stronger our bonds, the better off we, and our pack, would be. I could feel Erik wanting to push him harder for more intimacy through the bond, but we had to tread lightly until Jothan gave us the green light.

"I suppose we shall simply have to wait and see, hmm?" I quipped, and I swear the entire room rolled their eyes at me for stating the obvious. "Have you heard anything from your Uncle on your dragon sire?" I asked Anais, who shook her head. My instincts were that unless Taiyan wanted to be found, we were at an impasse.

"Since he is in hiding, I almost feel like Tengjing is going on a wild goose chase and my dad is just... going to show up one day. I made sure to give the guards his name, race, and that he will be looking for me. Hopefully, he's not in such deep disguise that they fail to let him in." She said, sighing heavily. It was my turn to rub my mate's shoulder as I offered as much comfort as I could.

"Does Xinglong have any insight?" I asked, jumping a little when a purr poured out from Anais. Okay, I didn't mean to summon her directly. Golden reptilian eyes turned to me as she sensually turned and ground her ass on me at the same time. s**t. Ana's dragon was probably the naughtiest and most provocative out of the three beings that were currently housed in her body. Xinglong, more than Ana or Claire, sought being dominated, but in that primal way that made us human counterparts a little bit uncomfortable.

"My alphaaa." She trilled. "You called for me?" My team and their mates stood frozen. They'd not met the dragon yet. Claire, yes, but not Xinglong. Sensing their disquiet she turned her attention to them. "Hello my dear friends, I'm Xinglong, Anais' dragon. Pleasure." She turned her sharp attention back to me, running her hands over my chest in a rather predatory fashion "Are you asking about my father, Tiánxīn?" I nodded and she closed her eyes, very still for a moment. This dragon made me all kinds of nervous. I felt like if she wanted me, she'd have her way regardless of time, place, or occasion. The worst part? I wouldn't be able to stop her if she did. Then she grinned. "He's alive, and Anais was right, he's on a journey this way. How long, I'm uncertain. Seems he is traveling manually and with much stealth." She said before receding. Anais smirked and looked down at my lap. "Is my dragon up your alley, mon coeur?" She said coyly. Her finger ran along my collarbone, making me swallow thickly. "Oh, I get it." She purred. "You like being called alphaaa."

Have I mentioned, yet, that this woman is a menace? Seriously.

Erik POV

I was so proud of my mates and new pack. My brother had reached out and told me he was seeing more and more inquiries that seemed to be seeking Anais. He wanted to send my personal unit. I'd had four bears that went everywhere with me. One female and three males. Most likely, they'd wanted to follow me already. He sent their flight information, and they would arrive tomorrow. I just hoped that they could adjust to a wolf pack and my new mates comfortably.

If not, I'd have to send them home. I was not about to cause problems for Celtic Moon, which was now my first priority after my mates and babies.

I was also pleased that Jothan seemed to be settling in with us. He'd been much more affectionate and physical with both Kier and I in the last few days. It seemed like, perhaps because he was Fae and the whole mate thing was different with them, he was struggling with the multiples a bit. Nexus was hyper-focused on Anais, which probably didn't help. I could also feel that Nexus was more of a king than the rest of us. We all knew it, of course. Not in a bad way, just a step above an alpha king. Despite that, we all knew Kier was first in Anais' heart.

Also, not in a bad way. It's just how it all happened. It was unlikely either myself or Jothan would have gotten through to her. Kier's warm and genuine acceptance, his fierce protectiveness, that was what had made her feel safe enough to accept the bond. We knew it, understood it, and loved them as they were. He was our leader, even if Nexus ultimately was more powerful.

It was clear that Nexus was content to let Kier be in charge, so long as we all got our turn.

Then again, as much as it felt like it'd been a long time since we mated, it had been not quite a week since Jothan arrived.

I only hoped we would have time to be settled into our bond before adversity was staring us in the face.

Jothan POV

I sent an urgent text message to my mother, confirming we would be remaining, and that I'd found my mates. I felt bad that I had not told her right away, but I had gotten a little... distracted. She had known my mate was here, just not who. She was, of course, delighted that I was part of the Luna Queen's mates, and wanted to know far too many juicy details, as she put it. I could just see her, flitting around her office in excitement.

My mother was the type to live vicariously and lasciviously through others' stories. She loved my father, her consort, but had lovingly been known to say he was rather vanilla in the bedroom, much to me and my siblings' dismay. My father just chuckled and took it in stride. Where she was flighty and emotional, he was almost elf-level calm and patient.

Nexus had shared everything with me. I knew he was the Elemental King, something he'd failed to share in our round about 175 years together. At first, I was bit upset, but he had assured me he was keeping it to himself only until his mates were found. His assertion that, as powerful as we felt, this was not our full strength, was mind-boggling. My mates were equally impressive, and I was looking forward to practicing combat together.

I knew our alphas would likely protest to being a combat unit, we all had our own security details as well, but I was certain. We needed to be able to fight together, closely, as a team. It was going to be the difference between success and failure, and I had no intention of losing any of them. I knew they felt my deeper connection to Anais, but both Nexus and I loved them all completely. We were incomplete without their handsome and sexy selves.

Erik was our rock, the big softy, and Kieran was our glue- our true leader. His integrity was the most solid among us.

I was still pretty distracted though, by all the things we needed to prepare for. This was not going to be a walk in the park.