He Will Be Mine

Chapter 37: The Elders Convene Part I

Once a month, the seven revered Elders come from all over North America to meet at one of their home packs. Their December meeting takes place in Silver Crescent territory, the home pack for Elder Gerard located in northern Arkansas. It's not terribly far from Aly's home in New Horizon territory, which allowed him to come quickly when Alpha Kane called on him, despite the late notice.

The meeting place where they have gathered is located in a wide, two-story great hall where Silver Crescent holds its pack meetings and other important events. The tables are arranged in a horseshoe pattern to seat three elders each at two tables directly across from and facing each other, overseen by Elder Stirling seated at the smaller desk between. On the agenda this month is the matter of the decision following the mate trials of one Tyler Paul Jenkins, the human who desires to mate with an Alpha's daughter.

When the Elders convene like this, there is no set duration for their meeting. They stay and discuss everything on the agenda, nothing being tabled to be dealt with at a later time. As such, the shortest meeting on record lasted a mere twenty minutes, while the longest endured for weeks and involved a great deal of debating, arguing, researching, and soul-searching, followed by more arguing.

Elder Stirling is the only of the current Elders who had served on the council even then, and his memories of that time are grim. As he reviews the case before them now, he worries that this meeting might meet a similar fate and shudders at the thought of having to relive that nightmare all over again.

Yet their duty in this case is important. Alyssa Bentley is known to be a promising young Alpha-hopeful who has been met with the unfortunate circumstance of being bonded to a human mate, addled by the complication of bonding with another human in the process of wooing her mate. Such a case is a rarity, one could even say an oddity, and it is important for these seven chosen Elders to review every detail set before them and try to make sense of what it is the Moon Goddess is trying to tell them.

The other Elders begin to arrive. Tall, lithe, dark-skinned Elder Vivian is second to enter the room and busies herself distributing the packets Elder Stirling has ready at the front table. Elders Benjamin and Antonio traveled together and come in side-by-side, the contrast between the two never more evident. Where Benjamin is tall, pale, and keeps his graying hair short, Antonio is short-statured with long, silky black hair and bronzed skin. Elder Millicent is a stout, red-faced woman with hair gone almost completely gray who enters quietly, sliding into her spot without anyone but Elder Stirling noticing. Elders Gerard and Norissa are the last to arrive and enter as a pair, Norissa laughing about something, seemingly along with Elder Gerard, though the man's perpetually serious expression makes it appear as though she is completely alone with her humorous notion.

Once all are seated and the friendly chatter dies down, Elder Stirling calls the meeting to order and soon after directs their attention to the matter of the mate trials.

"I believe you are all aware of the request for mate approval submitted by Alpha Kane of New Horizon," he calls out in his husky, somewhat rattly voice, pausing to appraise the reactions of the others. Once he is satisfied, he continues, "I would like to open the floor for those who participated in overseeing the trials to take us through your tests and observations, withholding whatever personal conclusions about his suitability as a mate you may have arrived at throughout the process."

Elder Gerard clears his throat and begins to speak, "I conducted the first trials, so I should probably talk a bit about that first. I began with a simple scenario to detach the boy, Tyler, from reality and allow him to settle into believing he was no longer being tested. What I immediately discovered is that he possesses a substantial amount of supernatural knowledge and appreciation – not all the knowledge being accurate, of course, but still useful to my task – and he also suffers from an overactive imagination. These traits worked to my advantage because all I had to do was provide simple scenario stimuli and his mind ran with it and gave me plenty to work with. After only three hours the first day, his mind had taken me on a journey which gave glimpses of at least four of the core characteristics we look for, and arguably even more."