Breaking Point (BWWM)

20. Conception

A/N: This is a long one! Think of it like a two in one. Thanks so much for having patience with me guys, I appreciate all of you for waiting. I really hope you enjoy this chapter! Let me know your thoughts throughout it in the comments! I know a lot of you are silent readers, but I always appreciate your feedback and criticisms, it helps me improve and they always brighten my day. Thanks for being so engaged in my story, I can't wait to share more of it with you!

Take your time with this one, it will take you a while to read it. I know some of you said you like long chapters, but I'll try not to make them this long again, lol. Enjoy!

"Gods, give me the patience...." Braxton groaned to himself, earning looks from Seth and the other Alphas that'd just arrived that morning. 'Frustrated' wasn't the word. He's known his people are strong-willed and stubborn, but he certainly did not expect this much pushback.

"He can't be fucking serious! So I'm supposed to just leave my good home to run away from something that we don't even know is there?"

"Gods, this is ridiculous, I'm going home. I don't wanna hear this."

"He loves to waste our time...! First there's that ridiculous curfew and now this?! Are we supposed to live our whole lives in fear?"

The crowd that had gathered was unruly to say the very least. They'd gotten themselves fired up when Braxton started speaking about the dangers they've been facing. He understands frustration about initially being deceived, though they weren't even angry about that. They seem exhausted by so many strict regulations when they'd never had to follow these kinds of rules before.

"Where's that wife of his? The Luna will hear us out!" There's cheers of agreement. Braxton gathers himself, maintaining his composure. He stands at the head if the stage, the crowd before him stretching as far as he could see; he makes sure to project everything he's saying and hearing through their community link, though they should hear him regardless.

"Everyone, listen up. Listen good. This is not an ideal situation, believe me I wouldn't be putting you in this position if I didn't have to-"

"We don't want to be in this position at all!" Someone interjected, riling up the crowd again. Braxton holds his hands up, and they settle a bit, though the murmurs and grumblings of complaints persisted under their breaths.

"This is a much bigger issue than what is convenient for everyone. It's my job to keep you all safe, first and foremost. We don't know the scale of damage these rogues can do to us and other packs. They've already been hunting-"

"What makes you think they're coming for us?"

"Yeah, what the hell do we have to run and hide for?" Seth sighs at their refusals, biting his lips as he disputes the frustration bubbling up. The other Alphas seem to share it, though some of them anticipated it being this bad. Braxton was glad Lucy wasn't here to witness this much unrest; he asked Jooyoung to take her and the kids out of their community for a bit - something he was extremely reluctant to do, but it's the only way she would miss this community meeting. Jooyoung was convincing, having told Lu she wanted to buy some new clothes for Hyunjoo and the baby. He even okayed them going to a human town, just to exercise serious caution, especially considering how Aesir could shift at any time if he wanted.

"Why aren't you doing anything about it? You're the Alpha, aren't you?" Someone mockingly shouted from the back. Seth stood up before Braxton could address it.