The Reluctant Luna

Chapter 32

The next month was the worst possible mixture of politics, ever. Holding negotiations with both werewolves and vampires was challenging. Vampires talked around the topic at hand. Werewolves discussed it directly, or simply refused to at all. Their current allies were resistant to the idea of neutrality, as it meant losing a powerful ally. Their current enemies were for the idea, as it meant cutting off a powerful ally for other enemies. Broodmaster Henderson refused to make it clear what he thought of the idea. He just brought up lots of details for others to sort out.

The result was a mess. Their enemies wanted the deal done as quickly as possible, especially when they found out Louise could interrogate their spies with frightening efficiency. Their allies were throwing up roadblocks as much as possible in an effort to ensure their position wasn't weakened. Dean and Niall were both haggling about details that might not become relevant for a hundred years. Luca, for his part, was working to ensure their own pack had the ability to effectively retaliate if the neutrality was broken.

::Are you sure this is even worth it?:: Louise asked him, as she watched representatives for the two broodmasters haggle over cryptic details that were completely beyond her.

::Not always, but I've also seen how disruptive it is when a powerful alpha appears or disappears suddenly. Having the two of us show up with these powers is going to cause problems. Being neutral will actually minimize those problems. Also, our pack's current status has changed drastically. It's like a pack ruled by a broodmaster, which will eventually cause us to be viewed more like a brood than a pack by the surrounding packs, anyway. Waiting for an alpha to die and be replaced by an inexperienced pup is a time-honored tradition.::

::Which is why members who find their mate outside our pack have to leave, and we can only gain new members by rehabilitating rogues, if this goes through?::

::Exactly. It will limit our power, and make our membership more unstable.::

::Yay!:: she thought sarcastically, ::I get to play therapist to a bunch of rogues. Yippee!::

::And, of course, our own pups won't leave the pack for any reason. That would be far too dangerous.::

::You just want to keep the grandkids close,:: she smirked.

::That, too,:: he conceded.

The two vampires finally finished their haggling and presented their amended copy of the agreement to Luca. He read over it with Louise, then they emailed it to all the alphas and the broodmasters for review. I hope this is the final draft. It's starting to get silly, Louise mused to herself.

Once the vampires were ushered off their territory, Louise went to the basement of the packhouse to check on the rogues they had imprisoned. Every one of them had been given some of her blood. Rogues tended to refuse to join pack links. It was part of the madness most had slipped into.

She pulled them all into her private pack link and sat down. Commencing headache in 3... 2... 1... Every one of the rogues began screaming at each other. Some of them were saner than others. Lily, for example, had only been out of her old pack for a month. She'd been kicked out for disrespecting their beta too often. Others, like Andrew, had been on their own for years. They tended to be feral in mindset, with a healthy set of delusions for good measure.

Louise's process was relatively straightforward: she would link everyone together, forcing them to get used to having other werewolves in their heads again. She didn't interact with them, simply let them bounce off each other. Then she would slowly drop out the most disruptive members, until the rogue pack link only contained individuals who could get along.

Eventually, she intended to keep some of the rogues in the link at all times, in preparation to have them join the main pack. She dropped Andrew out of the link. He'd started screaming about the bugs that were crawling over him, which was further setting off a couple others.

Eventually, she worked her way down to three rogues who were having a fairly pleasant conversation. They were exchanging information about their pasts, what life was like in their old packs, and so forth. No time like the present. Let's see if they can play nice all day. With that, Louise left the cells and went on patrol.

James and Janice both objected to their luna patrolling with them, but she ignored them. It was fun, and it gave her a chance to push herself to the limit as she sped around their perimeter. They especially didn't like her habit of leaving the territory to grab up a rogue that had gotten close. She didn't care. She'd rather have them in the pack cells than waiting for the best time to ambush a guard.

It was while she was patrolling that Luca informed her, ::It looks like we have a draft everyone agrees to without changes. We need to do a final review and then arrange the party for everyone to sign.::

::That sounds good. I'll come in and look it over with you. I've got three rogues that are close to being able to join the pack.::

::Excellent!::

::Yeah, but a fourth rogue may have to be put down. We'll have to see.::

::Do what you think is best, love.::

Louise hurried back to the pack house.