Mates Inc.

Mate Manual -- Chapter 5

Chapter 5 -- Castle Bled

I found myself sitting in yet another boring Alpha meeting. The six Regional Packs were complaining once again about events that happened over two-hundred years ago, some regional war that started by bickering old men. I had sat through two days of this and last night I asked Aaron if I could stay in my room. Which really meant I was going to leave to do some local souvenir shopping- and he knew it.

But Aaron told me that being a Royal meant he-meaning 'we'- had to interact and listen to the real problems of his-meaning 'our'- people. What did these sniveling Alphas know about the problems of real people? They all had food to eat, comfortable homes, secure territories (in spite of what they were complaining about), and thriving packs. They were all out of touch with the majority of their pack members.

These spoiled Alphas were acting like children. I sat next to Aaron leaning on the table holding my face in my hand, trying to imagine I was somewhere else.

"So Princess, what are your thoughts on the matter?" an older Alpha asked me. It took a moment before I realized he was talking to me. 'Princess?', oh yea that's me... I thought he might have been from Slovenia or Hungary. I'd been studying the maps but couldn't wrap my head around the foreign sounding names. Plus he was smirking at me which made me and my wolf just a little pissed.

I snapped out of my boredom and sat up stretching my neck. "Aaron?" I asked him quietly, I wanted to make sure I could speak my mind.

He looked at me with a little concern on his face, "Of course Lange, please give them your opinion."

I looked around the room and strangely I had the attention of everyone. Many of them thought I was a brainless imbecile, but I prided myself on understanding something about human nature.

"I think you all care greatly for your packs, I have seen you show leadership and planning." I noticed a few Alphas nodding their heads.' Arrogant, they are so full of themselves', I thought to myself. "And I have heard practically nothing from any of you except to complain about events that occurred so far in the past the issues should have been long buried."

Well that got their attention.

"In order to be progressive, you have to acknowledge the past, admit mistakes, validate events- but only to learn from them. Not be enslaved to them. I believe each of you is proud to be hanging onto hatred as a way of life, which clouds your view of possibilities.

"The possibilities of building a better future for your pack and pups. It's essential to stop the hatred in order to create fair trade agreements instead of plotting revenge. It's time to see each other as part of a regional powerhouse, instead of staying splintered and weak."

I sat back and looked at all of them again. "That is my opinion." The room was silent for three heartbeats before all the Alphas stood up and started shouting at me. I just sat there, I had expected nothing less.

Except for the older Alpha who originally asked me the question. I leaned toward Aaron and asked, "Who is the Alpha who asked me the question?"

Aaron was staring at me and replied, "Janko Apollonios."

I kept shouting, "He should be the regional leader then, he has the vision to make the transition a reality." Only everyone had stopped talking after I said the first few words, and I trailed off at the end, totally embarrassed.

A large and angry man who had been sitting at the far end of the table glared at me asking, "What do you mean Princess?"

I slowly stood up and held the man's gaze. He obviously wasn't used to having a woman challenge him so he growled at me. I wasn't afraid because of all the guards in the room, but I was no fighter. Aaron held up his hand as two of his guards were approaching the angry Alpha, effectively stopping them. But they did not retreat.