"Kendall, can you come down here a minute?" Dad called from somewhere downstairs; likely his home office.

I sighed and rolled off my queen sized bed, throwing the book I was reading aside. I strolled out of my bedroom and downstairs. I enhanced my hearing to listen for my Dad. I could hear his and two other heartbeats from his office. No surprise there. I quickly let my hearing go back to normal and strode the rest of the way to his office.

I opened the door without knocking; not something I usually do, except when he calls for me. I pushed the cherry oak door shut behind me and took in my surroundings. Dad was sitting in the desk chair, casually learned back. I didn't let his casual body language fool me though; his face was pinched with tension.

My oldest brother, and future Alpha, Brody stood to the right and slightly behind Dad. His six foot four inch body leaned against the wall parallel to the door, his muscular arms crossed over his chest and a blank look on his face, although I could see a look of hesitance in his eyes that wasn't usually there.

My other brother, Matt, was sitting on the couch on the right side of the office. He looked prepared for a fight, which startled me.

All three men looked eerily similar. They all had the same shade of espresso brown hair and midnight blue eyes. The only real differences between them was that Matt had shoulder length curly hair and a slightly crooked nose and Brody had thinner lips and a wider face. Dad looked older than the boys, with a few gray hairs peppering into locks and lines deepening in the crease of his eyes, but he still didn't look his real age.

With the slow aging of werewolves once they reached adulthood, he looked to be more in his late thirties, instead of nearly two hundred years old. Brody certainly didn't look twenty years my senior.

"What's going on?" I asked apprehensively.

"Sit down, Kenny." Dad said, gesturing to one of the two chairs in front of his desk.

I glared at him for the use of my childhood nickname, but didn't comment on it. Now wasn't the time, I could tell. As I took a seat, I felt oddly like a child again. Anytime we needed reprimanding as kids, we would have to sit here across from our stern Alpha father. I had spent countless amounts of time here during my teenage years, along with my sister, Selena. It felt oddly like I was seventeen again, instead of twenty-three.

I raised an eyebrow at each of the men, waiting for one of them to start. My father did.

"As you probably know, I've been working on earning a seat on the council for some time now." He paused.

I was quite aware of this fact. The council was made up of the strongest Alpha's. They helped the King to make decisions about werewolf matters. I didn't completely know what those matters entailed, but I did know that they were important and being asked to join the council was a huge honor.

Dad had been trying for years to receive an invitation, but to no avail. He was a strong Alpha; there was no doubt about that. But we didn't exactly have the largest pack around. Dad had always sort of straddled the line of power. While he was never the most powerful Alpha, he wasn't the least powerful either.

The King was very specific about who he added to the council. He had completely disbanded the council his father and the deceased former king had created when he took the throne almost twenty five years ago. He started from scratch, forming his own council that he had vetted and trusted. Dad had been trying to make the cut ever since.

I nodded and he continued.

"Well I have received a letter that I am finally being considered. They've asked that I send representatives to stay for a few months. I can't possibly leave the pack that long, so they want me to send someone I trust in my place to try and earn a spot for the pack."

"Congratulations, Dad. I'm happy for you. I know how much this means for you." I smiled brightly at him, a weight lifting off my shoulders. This wasn't bad news at all. "Is Matt or Brody going?" I asked as an afterthought.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Brody can't go; he's needed here. Instead, I'll be sending Matt. Of course Kat will be joining him." He said, referring to Matt's mate and my best friend since kindergarten. She was also the daughter of the pack's witch. She was a strong witch in training.

"I'll miss you guys." I looked over at Matt with a frown. He looked uncomfortable.

"That's the thing, Kendall. You'll be joining them." Dad added in a 'this isn't up for discussion' tone.

Just like that, the weight settled back over my shoulders and in my stomach. I felt defiance bubble up inside of me, the Keating family temper coming to play.

"Are you kidding me?" I gripped the wooden chair handles, my claws extending and puncturing the dense oak. Wouldn't be the first time.

"I assure you, I am not kidding." Dad added, still calm and collected.

"You can't do that. Why the hell do I need to go?" My voice had taken on the shrill tone it did when I was angry.

"I can, in fact, do that. I need you there. I can't have Selena go, for obvious reasons. That leaves you."

I knew Selena couldn't go. She would just embarrass him. I loved Selena to death, but she wasn't exactly reliable. She cared more about partying and finding her next boyfriend than she did helping dad with pack business. It was no secret in our family that he was perpetually disappointed in her.

"Why aren't Matt and Kat enough?" I demanded.

"I need to show the King that I'm serious about this. Sending two of my children, along with my daughter-in-law and pack witch, will show that. I need as much representation as I can get, and I don't trust anyone with else with this. Well, aside from Dalton. He'll be accompanying you as well."

I threw my head back and groaned dramatically. I couldn't stand Dalton. He was the pack's future Beta, being Beta Wes's son. He was also the pack's current douche bag. We grew up together and we never got along, although he and Selena were somehow best friends.

"You can't do this to me, Dad. Please. You know I hate that asshat." I spat.

"Language, Kendall." He warned.

I rolled my eyes.

"Daddy, please." I went for a different tactic. I widened my green eyes. I blinked a couple of times, feeling them mist over slightly. I pouted my lower lip and put on the saddest look I could muster.

"That might have worked when you were ten, but you're an adult now. You said you wanted to be more involved with the pack. This is your chance."

I dropped the act. "That isn't what I meant and you know it. I just spent four years in college getting my accounting degree. I didn't do all that work to go kiss the King's ass. I did it to help with pack finances and to help run your businesses." I snapped.

In the werewolf world, Dad was Alpha Jefferson Keating. To the human world, he was businessman and entrepreneur Jefferson Keating. He owned several businesses around the state. It's how he made his money and how he kept the pack afloat. He wasn't short on finances. Our pack was rather wealthy thanks to him and my grandparents.

I decided after high school that I wanted to be involved somehow. As the youngest of four children, I would never be Alpha, but I could help out. Brody and Matt helped Dad run things, but he could always use more help. So I had spent the last four years attending the university forty-five minutes from home. As I was taking classes, Matt and Brody had slowly been teaching me as well. I had just graduated three months ago, and I was ready to get more involved. This wasn't exactly what I had in mind.

I wasn't trying to be difficult, but this wasn't something I wanted to do. I dealt with numbers; I was a math person. I wasn't interested in werewolf politics. I knew this would be amazing for our pack, but I felt like I would be more useful elsewhere. I wasn't privy to all pack business. What good would I do representing us? Look pretty? Show how serious Dad was by sending his little girl? Ugh, gag me.

"I don't know anything about pack politics, Dad." I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.

"You won't need to. That will be Matt's job. You just need to show how serious we are about this. Just be respectful and polite. Matt will take care of everything else."

"This isn't right. This wasn't the plan." I huffed.

"I know, Kenny. It will only be for a couple of months. Can you please just do this for me? Then when you get back, you can have whatever job you want."

I felt my anger deflating, knowing it wouldn't get me out of this. Despite him asking just now, I knew there were no if's, and's, or but's about this. He was my Alpha. I couldn't just tell him no. If I agreed now, I knew he would keep his end of the bargain.

"Fine. But when I get back I don't want to be micro-managed all the time. I want you three to trust me to do my job. I'm college educated now and you three have taught me everything I need to know. I want you to promise me that."

He thought it over for a second, then finally looked back at me.

"Fine. You have a deal."

"Fine." I nodded back. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow."

My annoyance spiked again and I quickly stood and made my leave before my Keating temper took over.

"It won't be so bad." Kat said, lounging on my bed. She looked the picture of relaxation. Her cat like green eyes were filled with amusement, her full lips pulled up in the corners from trying to repress a grin.

"Yes, it absolutely will." I muttered.

I walked to my closet again and picked out another arm full of clothes. I walked back to my room and proceeded to start folding them into my suitcase. Kat was apparently already packed and ready to go. She seemed completely fine with going. I knew it was only because she got to be with Matt.

They had been together since she turned eighteen and they were still disgustingly in love. I knew it was the mate bond, but it still grossed me out sometimes. Matt, being ten years older than us, knew Kat was his mate when she was just a kid. He never acted on it until she was of age, acting more as a protective older sibling when we were young. That wasn't unusual, since werewolf's aging slowed drastically, it was normal to have big age gaps. Hell, my Dad was almost twenty years older than my Mom.

Kat, now that she was marked and mated, would age as a werewolf. Witches lives were like humans, unless they were mated. It was a blessing in disguise I suppose; now my best friend would age the same as me, and not die when I still looked thirty.

"Maybe not. Keep an open mind, Kendall. You might actually like it there."

Always the voice of reason. She had kept me out of a lot of bad situations. As a witch, her intuition was never wrong. I had still managed to find trouble, but I'm sure I avoided a lot of it as well because of her - when I wasn't being stubborn at least.

"I don't need to keep an open mind. I know this'll suck."

Before she could say anything else, the door to my bedroom burst open and Selena stormed in, glaring daggers at me. I rolled my eyes at her.

"You bitch." She spat.