Chapter 217

Chapter 217: The Urgent Meeting

“Thank you everyone for making it here in such a short notice.” Christian began the meeting as everyone looked at him. Unlike the ice fountain pack, they had a huge number of people to accommodate everyone, so the ones who were part of the council were summoned. “I have bad news, I am afraid. There is a high chance of us getting attacked and I want us to be prepared if and when the time comes.”

“Attacked?”

“By whom? When?”

“Why? Why us?

“Are we at war?

A wave of questions and curious whispers broke out throughout the ground. Christian had to clear his throat pretty loud to gain back everyone’s attention. “I know this is a bit of a shock, but I believe that we are well trained to tackle this threat.”

“But, we have never been to war before. I thought our generation is peaceful.” One of the wolves from the council asked.

.....

“Did you think it will remain like this forever?” Christian asked them sternly. “This council exists for a reason. If you join it, it means you should be ready to fight whenever the situation arises”, He announced.

“But-”

“And if you think this is too much, resign now. Just to be clear, you won’t be able to join back” He declared. The wolf who was about to say something went quiet. “Good, I appreciate the loyalty of the pack members” He nodded.

“But, whom will we be fighting against”? Another wolf from the council asked.

“How many of you have heard of the Ice Fountain Pack?” He asked. Melanie was the only one who had the urge to raise her hand, but she deduced that this question wasn’t really intended for her as she made it pretty clear earlier when she introduced him to the pack herself. “Very well then, let me give you a brief idea.”

When he was done most of them appeared relieved and a few appeared confused. Finally one of them found the courage to ask the question everyone wanted the answer to, “I don’t understand. This pack is not only very small, but they also live quite far from us. Why would they want to attack us?”

“That brings me to my next order of business.” Christian declared. “As many of you know my little brother’s mate had vanished quite a long time ago. However, as you can notice, he is back with us” Christian pointed at Ashton who was standing at the back with Caleb. Most of them gawked at him with a shocked expression on his face.

The older members of the council recognised him and once more became wary of him. While they knew losing a mate was tough, most of them were quite glad that they were free of a scary pureblooded Alpha. However, many younger members of the council didn’t recognise him as most of them were teenagers or pre-teens when Ashton was first introduced to the pack.

As the seconds passed by Ashton started to feel uncomfortable with their intruding and scared gazes. Caleb, who could sense the discomfort of his mate, grabbed the hand of his mate and pressed his palm tightly.

“As I was saying...” Christian began to speak as to divert back their attention to him. “He was held prisoner in their pack and after a lot of struggle we managed to get him back. We however might have agitated the pack leader and therefore we are currently on bad terms with them with an unpredictable future” He declared.

A lot of hushes started in the pack once more. Not every one of them were clearly heard, but from the point where Ashton and Caleb were standing, both of them heard a couple talk where one of the girls said, “I knew this wolf would bring us trouble”

“Tell me about that,” Her girlfriend replied.

Hearing those words, it was hard for Ashton to pretend not to let them bother him. Caleb however didn’t bother hiding his anger as he found his fists clenching and he shot glares at the arrogant couple.

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“If anyone has anything to say, speak up now” Christian declared from the stage. After a whole minute of complete silence he spoke again, “If not, then dismissed See you in the next meeting”.

Everyone scattered as they felt suitable and ended up where they wanted. Caleb stood beside Ashton as he contemplated upon those words. The couple earlier was arrogant, but they weren’t exactly wrong. All this mess was because of him. “Ashton, look at me,” Caleb called out to him. Ashton did as asked and stared at him blankly, “Don’t forget, going there was our decision so was making a run for it. If you are going to put balme, don’t forget to blame us”. Caleb reminded him.

“Still...” Ashton mumbled. “I am sorry for messing things up terribly”

“We all make decisions we regret” Christian appeared right next to them at that very moment. “I will tell you the same thing I told Caleb when he messed up with that vamp. You can’t change the past. You can’t always fix what’s broken. You need to learn how to let it go”

“Easy for you to say.” Ashton sighed. “How can I possibly let it go when I get a constant reminder of how I screwed up big time”.

“Just to be clear, I am not asking you to ignore it. I am asking you to accept it.” Christian shrugged. “I know you feel bad for missing out on eight years, as you should. Anyone would. But make sure the lost eight years don’t make your upcoming eight years miserable.” He folded his arms. “We are in this mess, like it or not. And I need to know that you are willing to fight with us when the time comes”.

“I.. I am not so sure about shifting” Ashton admitted hesitantly.

“Then fight in human form. You are hella strong even in this form. Use it to your advantage.” Christian shrugged recalling the first time he asked Ashton to do an arm wrestling match with him. Oh boy was he embarrassed. “Caleb will train you for that” He added.

“I will”? Caleb’s eyes widened as he looked at him.

“Yes you will,” Christian nodded. “Including Connor as well. He might be young, but it never hurts to be prepared with self defence. If possible, teach him how to use his vampire side as an advantage” He sighed. “Although that might need to you tell him the truth about his heritage”

“He knows,” Caleb admitted meekly.

Christian’s eyes widened before he nodded, “Very well then. Teach him how to make use of his vampire half as strength”

“How am I supposed to do that? I am not a Vampire?” Caleb huffed.

“You are his Dad. You figure it out” Christian gave him a creepy smile. “You are good with unknown things anyway” Christian gave Ashton a quick glance before walking away leaving both of them puzzled and frozen at the same spot. Caleb pouted at his brother’s comment. Pushing his cheek with his tongue he sighed. After all, despite his brother’s snide comment Christian was right. He needed his mate and his kid to be well prepared, and who better to train them than Caleb himself?