A Love That Lasts Forever

Chapter Eight

Quinton directed Caleb to a chair in the back of the room. He sat, quietly, Rylan nestled safely in his arms. He'd been nervous at first. Still was. But it wasn't quite as bad as he'd imagined. Caleb had pictured the council chambers to be some elaborate and intimidating room with shinning marble floors and ornate tapestries lining a massive hall concealed within an imposing castle or mansion.

To his surprise though, they'd pulled up outside what appeared to be a small warehouse. Nothing spectacular. In fact, it wasn't much different from the other buildings they'd passed on the way. He looked to Quinton, questioningly.

"This is it." Quinton said, flashing Caleb a nervous smile.

"This?" Caleb asked, a look of confusion settling on his young face. "It's so...normal."

Quinton chuckled. "Were you expecting Dracula's castle?" He asked as he exited the jeep.

Caleb shrugged. "Yeah, actually I was."

The inside of the building was as unremarkable as the outside. A female receptionist met them at the front entrance then led them through a maze of small offices to the back of the building where they were quickly ushered into what looked like a small boardroom.

At least, it's what Caleb assumed a boardroom would look like. He'd never actually been in one but had heard about them from other pack members. Every pack house had one though the one at Silver Moon was only used on rare occasions when they had to host visiting pack leaders.

This room wasn't tiny but it wasn't anywhere near as big as Caleb had expected. There were six chairs along the back wall. Three to the right of the door and three to the left. It was in one of the chairs to the right where Caleb was seated.

The chairs weren't anything special either. Or overly comfortable. Just plain white, plastic chairs that looked to be about a decade out of style. That didn't surprise Caleb in the least though. Wolves hated change and they weren't known for modernization. Caleb had half expected to find wooden benches instead of plastic chairs.

The table that was sat in the center of the room wasn't what he'd expected either. Maybe his mind set was a bit too medieval because he'd expected something more imposing such as a large, heavy, oak table with matching chairs. What he found though was a six foot conference table with a steel frame and wood table top. Ten black office chairs were placed around the table, five on each side, and an open lap top sat at the center seat where Caleb assumed the head councilman would sit.

Quinton took a seat at the end of the table. He turned and gave Caleb a reassuring smile, mouthing the word "relax". Caleb nodded and let out a breath. Rhylan squirmed against his chest and he instinctively patted the pup's back to calm him. Only a few minutes passed before the door once again opened and a group of men entered the room, each of them taking their respective seats around the table.

Most of the men he'd never seen before but he instantly stiffened when he saw Seth Bowden enter the room with his younger brother Jase trailing in sluggishly behind him. Seth shot Caleb an angry glare before taking his seat but Jase didn't even acknowledge Caleb's presence.

The last men to enter the room were Shane Hollister, whom Caleb had already met at Black River, and Zev Kavanagh, Quinton's head of security and Rusty's mate. Zev closed the door then walked to the chair beside Caleb and sat down. Caleb looked at him, a bit uncertain as to what was going to happen now. Zev silently nodded in the direction of the table of men. Caleb understood at once. He turned his attention back to the councilmen and waited for the meeting to begin.

Shane Hollister was the first one to stand and address the others. "Gentlemen, my name is Shane Hollister and I have been assigned as the investigating agent in the matter at hand. I've met with both Silver Moon and Black River Alphas and have spoken with Mr. Giles as well his family and of course, with Jase Bowden, to whom Mr. Giles had contracted with to mate." Hollister shuffled through a small stack of papers sitting on the table in front of him as he continued.