MATE AND HIS LOVER 9

#6 Two teams then

The large brick building, built circa 1870, is now brimming with people, spilling some onto the porch. The motorists and passersby on the nearby roads can tell, by the rows of parked cars and trucks, and the sound of a very talkative crowd, there's a meeting that's soon to begin.

When Nate and Frank reach the town hall, like disturbed bees on a hive, everyone starts murmuring to each other.

The men move out of Nate's way with a small bow as Nate and Frank walk to the front of the hall through the middle aisle. From the two corridors above, the younger boys, low-ranking members and some guests from other packs who are visiting for the meeting stand up and look down the handrails at Nate.

Among the excitement of the crowd there are also some scorned faces — supporters of their current Alpha and his son, Patrick.

Soon Nate and Frank join their friend, Drey, in standing behind their seated mentors Ross and Castino at the front.

"Here comes the competition," Drey whispers to Nate and Frank. Nate looks ahead and sees Patrick, Harvey, and Brandon come in from the side door.

A buzz similar to but softer than before swipes through the crowd again with the new arrivals.

Everything, however, dies down and the hall is taken over by a dead silence when their Alpha arrives with his Beta and Delta. The seated crowd stands up until their leaders take their seats.

Christopher Penston, Alpha of The Raketrope Grounds, is a tall good-looking man, known for both his brutal strength and sympathetic wisdom. He took over the Alphahood after his father at the age of twenty. 

At the time, foregoing his carefree and womanizing days, Christopher settled into his title, alongside his mate as his Luna, with an admirable ease.

Soon after everyone has taken their seats, Christopher starts to address the crowd in the town hall. "I'm sure many of you know why this meeting was called. Our neighbor, the Croway Pack, went through a period of civil unrest until recently when they had finally chosen their new Alpha. George is reaching out to his allies to help rebuild their pack. He has reached out to me too. He is asking us to help him curb the unprecedented uptick of rogues raised from their pack during when they were ill equipped to deal with it. Now, this is a decision I could've made on my own. But as some of you might remember, our history with Croway hasn't always been a pleasant one. So I don't want to be insensitive to your wish regarding this. I want to help George. Is there anyone here who doesn't want this?"

After a couple of minutes, an older man at the back gets up. "I agree with you, Alpha, and I'm sure we all want to help, however, the harvest season is coming up. Will there be a shortage of labor?"

"Don't worry, Kent. I will allocate only a sparing number of our men to this job. My son will lead a small group to do the work."

Kent nods and takes his seat. Another man, from the first floor, loudly says, "Where will our men take those rogues? Are we going to detain them here in our pack?"

"No, Finnick, the rogues will be handed over to George and his men right away. He will make arrangements for their custodies."

Castino speaks next. "I want Nate on this, too."

Alpha Christopher is instantly displeased, however, he hides his emotion well and calmly asks, "Why?"

"Clearly, you're sending Patrick instead of our experienced men for this so Patrick could learn. Same reason for me," Castino says, "It'll be a good experience for Nate. Besides, he's currently not in any official duty. He and his friends are free."

Christopher thinks for a second if there's anything else important enough now, or that could come up in the near future, that can be assigned to Nate and his men.

Coming up with nothing, Christopher sighs.

One of the main reason Christopher had agreed with George to consider helping him was that both Patrick and Nate are free at the moment.

Even though the two of them are spending most of their time in training — and hence avoiding each other — with the time for Christopher to pass on his title having come nearer, the atmosphere in the pack is pitting Nate and Patrick against each other in one way or another, as it's getting clearer by the day that one of those two will become this pack's next Alpha.

Christopher tells Castino, "I understand that. But there's no need to unnecessarily add more men to this job. Patrick has already put together a team he works well with."

Castino shakes his head. "I also saw the list George gave you. Patrick and his men will never get the job done on time. Better two teams than one."

Alpha doesn't like this idea. With Patrick and Nate in separate teams, the pack will be watching which team does better. On the other hand, given their track record, it will be impossible for Patrick and Nate to work together.

"Fine," Christopher reluctantly says. "Two teams then. No more than four on each team will be allowed for the footwork. I don't want to find the boys fooling around outside when our farmers need a hand during harvest. Am I clear?" he says, looking between Patrick and Nate.

"Yes, Alpha," Nate and Patrick say.

With that the meeting is over. The pack's Alpha, Beta and Delta leave first.

While the rest of the crowd starts to disperse, Castino and Ross stand and turn to the three boys behind them. Castino points at Nate. "Make sure you catch the most."

Nate nods. He will give his all to not disappoint his uncle and Ross. And if he does well, that will only gain him more support from his pack mates.

This is a chance Nate swears to make the best use of.  

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