Wolf Tech 6: The Pups

Chapter 31

Zane was sitting in Alex's office waiting for the envoy from the other pack to arrive. He knew it was going to be shortly, but he had his laptop out and was working remotely since he could. It was mostly to review what Tala's team was doing but it helped him feel he was helping his pack. Once he was done with that, he started looking at some Elder stuff for this pack. It had been very helpful coming here. He might be given what he would consider lighter work, but it was valid work. Not some make work crap. It was what he felt Adam and Beth had been trying to foist off on him. It was the 'only paperwork, close patrols, take most of the day off' which had driven him to this. As he was reading he felt the gate guard sending the delegation to the house. Alex would greet them and bring them to the office.

Alex opened the door and led the wolf in, "I asked Elder Zane and his mate to join us for this meeting." He told the wolf, "Elder Zane, this is Bryan of the Deep Wood Pack."

Bryan was startled a bit and started to growl a bit, thinking it was a joke as this wolf was still in his first century, until the name clicked in his mind. He paled a bit, and bowed his head, "Elder, I am honoured by your presence. Your reputation precedes you." He worked to hide his fear of the youngest elder anyone had heard of. *The sooner we get away from this wolf, the better* he commented to his wolf. His wolf whined in agreement.

Zane could smell the emotions of the other, "Please, I'm just another wolf trying to do his best. This is my mate Elder Katya. We're here just to listen to the contract negotiations and nothing else. Would you like something to drink?" When he asked Jacob came over and provided the drink requested, "This is Jacob, one of my Theta wolves." One thing Zane didn't realize was his Theta wolves had grown and were more dominant than most other Theta wolves. They took their authority from him and Kat as much as anything else.

Bryan nodded settled down in a chair, working to ignore the two Elders. They were not wolves you wanted to cross. What he had heard was, he had marched into this office, and when the Alpha wouldn't deal with him, had just shot him and taken over. There were many other stories of just how skilled he was. There was a new story of how he took out the Rogue that caused a media nightmare down in the US.

Alex hid his amusement, as this was the most subdued that he had ever been. Usually he was standing and demanding they just accept their terms. Probably was because Zane was there. "So, shall we continue?" he started as he sat down at the table and started their work to negotiate.

Katya mentally grumbled at him over the link though she could see the amusement value he was getting. Heaven knew she'd gotten enough amusement when he grumbled about being called an elder before coming up here and finding out they were calling her Elder too, *Couch for you tonight.* She finally had to laugh over the bonds, *I admit it, you got me with that.*

Zane smiled at Katya slightly when she grumbled at him. He took a cup of coffee from Jacob with a murmured thanks before he turned back to watch the negotiations. When his cold expression settled down on his face he didn't even notice. He was enjoying the coffee and relaxing next to Katya. Unless asked, he wasn't going to say anything or give any input. He didn't know the value of the items in question though he could link to Alex or even one of the Elders who dealt with this.

Bryan glanced at Zane and worked to keep the shudder away from the fact Zane had such a blank and cold expression. It felt like an icy winter wind had blown down his back. He was going to try to ignore the two 'Elders' and work at the negotiations. His wolf shivered in his mind and fluffed up his fur, having felt it too.

Alex sipped at his coffee, pretending to read the latest offer that had been given. It was basically the same as the last one they gave: higher prices, and they had to pay for the shipping they had no control over.