11 - THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

RYAN'S POV

"Babe?" Brenda called me from the bathroom.

"Yes love?"

"My shower gel just got exhausted. Please could you look through the third compartment of my dress cabinet, for another one?"

"Sure!" I nodded, regardless of the fact she couldn't see me. Quickly walking to the dress cabinet, I checked the third compartment and picked out one of the few cans of shower gel there.

"Here." I called her attention when I got to the bathroom, stretching the shower gel for her to take.

All the while, I tried my very best to act like seeing her naked body didn't do a lot of wicked things to my mind. I would have really loved to make a move on her, but decided not to. My mate could be so cranky atimes, and I couldn't really tell when she was just not in the mood.

'She's always not in the mood'. My wolf sulked, making me release a sigh. I turned and made my way back to the bed. Lately, cohabiting with Brenda had slowly started to feel like I was in a war zone. Brenda complained about anything and everything, making me be on my toes at all times. I was trying so hard to be careful, in order not to displease her in anyway. But it also seemed to be that my efforts were just never enough.

Recently, her cranky behaviour had tripled, and it only made me so frustrated. Yesterday, she had complained about me being too needy and wanting to be in her skin at all times, and I had never felt more stupid. Damn me for loving her so much, but I just couldn't help it. I had always dreamed of being a perfect and caring mate, but Brenda made it such a difficult task to achieve.

Don't get me wrong, I loved her so dearly. We were a year and counting, and I couldn't be more grateful for the gift of her in my life. We did have a couple of misunderstandings, backs and forths, but we always found a way to sort ourselves out. I guess?

I was actually the one who always tried to fix things and sometimes, it made me feel like my love wasn't being reciprocated. But then again, I knew Brenda loved me. She may have an unusual way of showing it, but she did.

She actually turned out to be different from the shy wallflower I thought her to be, the first time we met. She wasn't a pushover, and I really liked that, but..... she was just always staunch regarding what she wanted, especially when it had to do with her family. The Kennedys. This tended to make things difficult for me most times.

'Ryan'. Ralia's voice filtered through our mindlink.

'Hey'.

'Ain't you showing up for the council meeting?', she asked. Okayyy.

'Since when did you start to care about my meetings?'. It was very unusual for Ralia to ask me that. She was silent for a few seconds, making me really believe something was off. Ralia may be my older sister, but I was quite overly protective towards her. 'Ralia what is it? Are you okay?'. I rushed out.

'Ryan... there is something I need to tell you'.

'Are you alright?', I repeated, my voice taking a sharp and steely edge.

'I am! I just have something to tell you'. This time, her energy felt a bit positive, so I took that as a form of assurance that she was fine.

'Alright then. I would see you after my meeting with the council'.

'Great!'. She replied, before shutting off our link.

I stood from the bed, ready to head to the council room, when I realized I had not closed Brenda's dress cabinet after taking the shower gel.

Heading to the cabinet, I was about closing the third compartment shut, when I noticed a familiar looking object, sitting pretty in there. I took a closer look at it, and my heart fell to the pit of my stomach. Not in fear, no. But in excitement. I was very sure what I was looking at, was a reddened voika stone. A voika is one of the precious stones that is mined in the coldmoon pack. For the longest time, it has been used to confirm or check if a she~wolf was pregnant. The expectant mother just has to place the white voika stone on her navel, and if she was with pup, the stone becomes red.

If what I was seeing belonged to my mate, which I was so sure that it did, then she was.... Goddess!! I clasped both my hands tightly, for the fear of combusting in excitement. Quickly closing shut the cabinet compartment, I rushed out of our chambers. I knew Brenda would have liked to break the news to me herself, and I didn't want to spoil her plans.

Oh, goddess! I still couldn't believe it! My hands shook in excitement, as I made my way to the council room. The moment I stepped in, I was met with the gazes of the council chiefs.

"My apologies for the tardiness." I managed, trying to appear normal, and not like a man who just realized his first pup was on the way.

"No problems at all, Alpha. We haven't been here for long either." Chief Anders replied, and I gave an appreciative nod.

"Let us proceed." I announced, as soon as I took my seat.

"The first topic of discussion for today...." My beta began. "...is the previously discussed case, which was adjourned to this meeting. Ths appointment of some Honourable family members, as new council chiefs."

The moment Philip said that, I released a low sigh. Today was going to be another tiring day for me, knowing there was going to be a whole lot of disagreement on this matter. Brenda had been so adamant about wanting this, though. But now that I thought of it, maybe this has been the reason for Brenda's cranky behaviour of recent. The pup. I heard that pregnant women had a lot of mood swings and emotional roller coasters.

"Alpha?" The voice of one of the chiefs, jolted me out of my thoughts.

"My apologies." I looked up with a small smile on my face, clearly lost regarding the state of our discussion.

"We were deliberating on the recruitment of some of the honourable family members, into our council. What is your final take?" Chief Anders asked.

I released a deep sigh, looking at the council chiefs one after the other. Their faces clearly showed that they weren't in support of the new development, and they weren't really wrong to feel that way. For the longest time, the Honourable families have kept to their positions, as Honourables. They were never a part of the council, same way none of the council chiefs were members of Honourable families.

"But Alpha, I remain on the stand that we shouldn't start to mix things now. Let the Honourables keep to their business and continue to manage what makes them relevant. Putting some Honourables as part of the council, would only create an avenue for biase." Chief Lucas said.

"And if we are actually being honest, the only Honourables vying to have a seat amongst the council, are the Kennedys." Chief Anders added, receiving nods of approval from the other council chiefs. "The Craigs and MacQuoids do not even want a part in this."

Once again, Brenda had found a way of making things more difficult for me. The council chiefs were no kids. For them to have clearly stated the fact that only the Kennedys wanted a seat in the council, it simply meant that they knew my mate may have coerced me into considering this. They just had a subtle way of passing the message.

Recently, I was beginning to feel mediocre. I was supposed to be a strong and wise Alpha, not so? I knew deep down, that the Kennedys were only trying to solidify their position within the inner court. But then, I was just trying to be a good mate to Brenda. I understood that most times, she requested the impossible and difficult things from me. But denying her of those things, only puts me in a tighter position with her.

And truth be told, I hated to be in a bad spot with my mate. Most especially, not now we were expecting a pup!

"Moreover, the Kennedys had been a part of the rebellion against the former Alpha and Luna. Is it wise of us to give them a more powerful seat within the inner court?" Chief Lucas asked.

"Which they are quite repentant about." I quickly responded, trying to shield the honour of my mate's family. "I actually think we could give this a shot. It might turn out being better than we thought." I said, gauging their unsatisfied reactions. Some began to whisper amongst themselves, and I had never felt more foolish.

'Ryan, what are you doing?' Philip's voice filtered through our mindlink. 'You know that they are right. You can't keep making unfair and unwise decisions that could be to the detriment of our pack, just to please your mate'.

'Your Luna, you mean?' I shot at him.

'Then she should act right, as a Luna should!'. A growl resonated within me as a result of Philip's tone, but then, he rarely lost his temper this way.

"Alpha..." Chief Arsenio began. He was a man that I respected greatly within the council. He hardly made contributions but when he did, they were unarguably good. "We have already approved a lot of....." He trailed of, probably thinking of a more subtle word to use. "...unusual changes in the past year." At the sound of that, the other council cheifs hummed in agreement. "Just 5 months ago, the topic of recruiting more guards in the castle was brought up, regardless of the fact that there wasn't any need for that. But the Luna had insisted that more guards be brought into the castle, and we had to approve. We also wouldn't ignore the fact that over fourty percent of the guards were part of Kennedy army."

Most Honourable families trained their personal armies, which usually came in handy during wars. They didn't just train them as normal fighters, but to be able to control a fair amount of magic as well.

"Alpha, I hate to say this, but it has become clear that the Luna's family are trying to garner a more solid ground within the inner court. But what for?" Chief Arsenio asked, and at the sound of his question, everywhere became silent. Great. Just great! Now I really did feel like a fool.

How could I explain to these men that my mate and I were expecting a pup, and I didn't want to do anything to get on her bad side?

"Gentlemen?" Philip suddenly called out to them. "What do you think about taking a few minutes to get some air?"

"I think that is a very good idea." Philip's father; Beta Allister concurred. The chiefs looked at one another in slight confusion, before getting up and exiting the council room, one after the other, until just Philip, Beta Allister, and I were left.

"Father, you need to talk some sense into Ryan." Philip barked.

"Respect, Philip." Beta Allister warned in a low tone. "He is still your Alpha."

"My apologies." Phillip whispered, and I could tell how hard it had been for him to say that. After a long minute, Beta Allister started to speak.

"Ryan, I have always had so much faith in your ability to make the right decisions. But lately...."

"Lately, I've been a disappointment, I know." I cut him off. He shook his head slowly, a small smile on his face.

"That wouldn't be my choice of words." He cleared his throat. "I would say that lately, you just haven't been in the right frame of mind to make decisions. Can we know why?"

"And please, don't gives us that excuse of she, being your anchor." Philip muttered, rolling his eyes comically. "The fact she is your anchor, doesn't mean you have to do whatever she wants."

"Philip, that's enough. Let him talk." Beta Allister snapped at his son.

"But I'm just stating the obvious truth." Philip shrugged. "That has always been his excuse. Meanwhile, I can't pinpoint a single thing she has done for him as an anchor, since he found her. Ryan was managing his hybrid nature just fine, before she...."

"Since when did you develop a runny mouth?" Beta Allister snapped in annoyance, cutting Philip short. "And do you realize that Brenda is your Luna? You seem to forget that a lot."

"No, I think it is she, who forgets her role as Luna." Philip fired back. "She has just been..."

Feeling suffocated and frustrated by their incessant arguments, I finally let it out.

"I think Brenda is pregnant." I revealed, watching as they both turned to me in.... I couldn't tell if it was shock or surprise.

You think?" Beta Allister asked.

"I guess." I released a sigh. "I stumbled upon a reddened voika stone in her dress cabinet, this morning.

"Wow. She is indeed pregnant. This is such a great news." Beta Allister smiled widely.

"Yeah." I stiffly nodded. "And I'm trying so hard to not get on her bad side. Does that sound reasonable?"

"Well...." Philip exhaled deeply, locking his eyes to mine. "It does sound reasonable." He shrugged. "But this is your pack, not some private family affair. You should put a lot of things into consideration, before making decisions."

"Now, you sound reasonable." Beta Allister chuckled at Philip.

We discussed for a couple more minutes, and the council chiefs returned. The meeting was resumed, and I finally made a decision in regards to the matter on ground. The rest of the day went in a blur, and I found myself literally running out of the council room by evening, just to go be with my mate. She had mindlinked me at noon, saying she had something important to tell me. Ralia also had something to tell me, as well. But the excitement of having an idea as to what Brenda wanted to say, had me running to our chambers instead.

I got to the door of our chambers and frowned when I didn't see any guards stationed there. My forehead folded into creases, when I heard some whispers from the other side of the door.

"Adrian, please stop...." That was Brenda's voice. She sounded like she was panicking. "Get a grip of yourself, you can't...."

Quickly sniffing the scent of another male inside my chambers, I pushed the doors open and rushed in without thinking. The scene I met when I stepped in, got me going so mad with rage. There on my bed, was a Kennedy soldier I recognized all too well, trying to force himself on my mate! I was literally seeing red at that point.