My Secret Lover by ARIE78 (Completed)

Chapter 11

When the car stopped in front of the Alpha mansion and his would-be guards let him out, Phana couldn't help but snarl at them. 

 "Calm down," Kong told him. "You're not doing yourself any favors."

"Shut the fuck up, Kong," Phana growled. "I'm not in the mood to deal with your self-righteous crap."

Kong bared his teeth, exposing his elongated canines. Phana mimicked his brother, his skin already rippling with power, with the incipient change. They would have undoubtedly started to fight if their father, Pack Alpha Daniel Kongthanin, hadn't shown up.

"Kong, I gave you specific instructions to reason with your brother," he said. "I didn't say to escort him here like you would some sort of criminal."

Phana could barely suppress a smirk of satisfaction, while Kong's shoulders slumped. "But the elders..." he tried to protest.

"I am the Alpha here, not them. I take the final decision, and you obey me not them. Is that clear?"

His father spoke calmly, but the heavy weight of the Alpha voice brought everyone except Kong and Phana to their knees. Still, both of them bowed as per the custom. "I understand, Father," Kong said.

A female figure rushed from behind them and pounced on Kong, embracing him tightly. 

"Welcome home, P'Kong," she said.

Normally, Phana would have made some acerbic comment regarding the behavior of Kong's mate. He'd never liked Pring, and the feeling was completely mutual. He held his tongue now, because his newly mated status made him feel somehow more empathetic to the bond between Kong and Pring.

Turning toward his father, he asked, "Can we just get this over with? Kong has refused to tell me what I'm accused of."

"You attacked a human in broad daylight, in the center of the city," Pring replied in his father's stead. "You exposed your werewolf nature to that human. How can you even—"

"Pring, that's quite enough," Phana's father interrupted her. "Hold your tongue and remember your place. Phana, come with me."

Phana followed behind his father as the other man entered the mansion. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised that Pring had been the spy. 

"She's lying," he said.

"So you didn't attack a human then?" his father inquired without looking at him."

It's... complicated," Phana replied. "It was hardly an event worth noticing. It was in the dead of night, and the guy insulted me."

His father hummed thoughtfully, but didn't say anything else. They veered off their current corridor and walked up to a small, almost invisible door. As they stepped through it, they entered the private interior garden that was always used for private meetings involving the Alpha or the elders. The elders were already there, in their shifter form, their graying fur attesting their age. As Phana and his father approached, they changed shapes, abandoning their wolf forms for their human ones. It was very rare for them to do that—as a rule, they just stayed in their shifted form. Then again, as a rule, they stayed the fuck out of pack business. His father shot him a warning glance, and Phana acknowledged his father's silent command with a nod. He'd do his best to be respectful, but he had no intention to allow them to walk over him.

"Alpha Kane, Phana," the oldest of the group, a former Alpha bitch named Marie said, "thank you for coming."

It wasn't like Phana had been given much choice, but that seemed beside the point now. "You wanted to see me?" he asked.