USELESS?

34

The morning after the challenge, my father, Anthony, Kiril and I make our way to Red Claw headquarters. I think father plans to read a proclamation of Dale's guilt, disband the 'pack', and award it's territory to me and Anthony as winners of the challenge.

We reach the house, and Kiril lets us in. He leads us to Dale's office, which we unlock with the keys we took off of Dale's remains in preparation for his cremation. We find the Proclamation I issued, and take it with us to the dining room, where father pins it to the door before going inside. He asks Kiril to call a pack meeting in the dining room, then closes the doors with the four of us inside.

Kiril heads to the intercom, and presses a red button. A loud noise, not a siren, echoes through the house. Kiril explains that it's the summons for pack meetings. Golden Moon doesn't use this system, and I never heard it when I lived here.

After a few minutes, we hear footsteps in the main hall headed our way, then grumbling and whispers outside the door before it opens. About 30 men and women step into the dining hall, and the doors close. We wait another half hour, but no one else comes in.

"Is this everyone?" My father asks Kiril.

Kiril nods, and stands with the others. The small, dispirited group looks up, and sees me. Several of them gasp, looking between me and my father and Anthony. The whispering and grumbling resume until my father clears his throat.

"Good morning. I am King Orion Steele. As you may have read on your way in, Dale Reede faced a challenge against a Crown Champion in a trial-by combat for treason last night. The crown champion was our newly-discovered Guardian, Luna of Golden Moon Pack, and my oldest son, Prince Hunter Steele-James." He announced, gesturing to me.

"According to the terms of the challenge agreement, the territory belonging to the Rogue leader Dale Reede is forfeit at his death. Therefore, the residents of this house are now members of Golden Moon Pack. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please ask me or Alpha Anthony Steele at this time."

The group shares worried glances, then one man steps forward. "Most of us were kicked out of Golden Moon years ago for having same sex mates. Are we going to be welcome?"

"Banishing same sex mates was the policy of my father," Anthony answers. "I'd ask you to notice that MY Luna is a man. Furthermore, by order of King Orion himself, my father has been posthumously stripped of his Alpha title, and we are in the process of striking his name from pack records. We will go into more detail on that at a later time."

"Since we only brought one vehicle," my father says, "Everyone has an hour to pack everything you would like to take including what you are wearing, label your bags with your names, and put them in the vehicle. Come downstairs in exercise gear with your names inside, and shift, then bring those items to me. Anthony and Hunter will lead you in a run to Golden Moon's Pack house where you will be assigned new living quarters."

Everyone rushes from the dining hall to do as my father ordered. An hour later, they were all packed, shifted, and ready to run. Anthony and I remove our clothes and shift, my father picks up our things and puts them in the front seat, then climbs into the car and takes off with us following.

A few hours later, we arrive at the pack house, and lead our new members into the dining room just in time for lunch. Everyone finds seats, and we begin eating. I voice a concern I have been thinking about since we left the rogue headquarters.

"We're going to need someone to check the bonds of mated pairs. Todd and Dale let warriors claim any submissive they said was their mate, whether they were or not."

"I can ask Kassie to do that after lunch, before we pull the Helms and my mother in for that discussion about my father." Anthony says "I think we'll call Tonia on speakerphone so we get the important people up to date at the same time."

"Good idea," my father says.

Anthony stands and announces, "I need all former members of Red Claw Pack to meet me in the entryway in 20 minutes,' then sits down and leans over to Kassie.

"Kassie, would you be willing to check some mate bonds for me?" He asks. "The leaders of this group these people are from allowed forced bondings, so we'd like to verify them before we find rooms for them. Afterwards, I would appreciate it if your family would join us in my private sitting room to discuss something important."

"My pleasure, Alpha." Kassie smiles sadly.

We head out into the entryway, and the Red Claw members follow us. I step forward and tell them, "I would like those of you without mates to stand to this side, and locate your belongings from the things brought in from the car. Those with mates, I would like you and your mate to line up in front of Mrs. Helm. Once she lets you go, you may find your belongings and proceed to Anthony for your room or suite assignment."

The process is fairly quick, as there are only four or five mated pairs. All of them were true mates, making me breathe a sigh of relief. Anthony assigns rooms for the unmated, and suites to the mated pairs, and we're done and off to our suite.

As the three of us reach the door to the sitting room, we are joined by Angela, Xavier, Talia and her father, Timothy, and my parents. Anthony ushers us inside, and invites everyone to find a seat. He then pulls the phone from a side table, and puts it on the table in the middle of the room.

"There are two more people who need to be in on this meeting," he says. "My sister, Tonia and her mate."

He then calls her, and when she picks up, he says, "Tonia, I need you and Pol to lock the door to your office, put your phone on speaker, and sit down. I have some news about Dad."