The Alpha by Annie Nicholas Page B

rang.
    Her eyes snapped open again. Katrina stood, then walked to the desk and answered it. “Where?” She nodded. “We’ll be there soon. Stall them, Tyler.” With a grim expression, Katrina considered her and hung up the phone. “It’s time. I know you’re not ready. It may still be best if I challenge Clair first.”
    Spice took a shaky breath. “No. It ends tonight.”

Chapter 11
    If Eric ever saved enough money, he’d buy this abandoned warehouse and tear it down. Empty and worn, it symbolized his pack. The Alpha was the soul of his werewolves, but this pack didn’t reflect him. He sighed. They needed him to have a mate. She would be the heart, and then the real healing could begin.
    His people, his pack.
    He observed the large group as they gathered inside. Every lifestyle and race was represented in the mix of the people who mingled in front of him. They owned Chicago after all. Some chose to attend in their beast form, which he accepted. Not everyone wanted their human form to be known.
    After searching throughout the night and day for Clair so that he could confront and deny her, he’d decided to draw her out instead. She wouldn’t be able to resist the opportunity to try and claim him in front of everyone. If he succumbed to her, then they’d be mated in the eyes of the pack for life. His stomach rolled at the idea. It could never happen, not with Spice in his life, but the pack would remain damaged.
    Raising his arm as he stood on a dais constructed for such meetings, the room became silent. All eyes turned his way. It used to make him nervous to speak publicly. Not anymore, practice made perfect, and boy did Daedalus make him practice. He recalled his advice each time he needed to make a speech. A good leader must know how to sway his people to his way of thinking. Words are power.
    “My people,” he cried out. “My pack, some concerns have been burning in my mind. The foremost is the way I keep thinking of us .” He rested his hands on his hips as he took a relaxed stance on the stage. “I don’t know if any of you do this, but I keep thinking of this pack as divided. There’s the original Ayumu, the Omegas…” He gestured to his friends standing on the dais with him, except Katrina who should be arriving soon. “And those who recently joined us in the past year.”
    Most in the group nodded their heads.
    “This is wrong. We should be united. A family, that’s what a pack is. When one of us falls down, we lift and support them. Do we fall upon them and rip out their throats? Are we Jackals?”
    A few cries of “no” answered him. Good, at least someone listened.
    “Of course not, our souls have been mixed with those of wolves. Strong predators who hunt together. Honesty, honor, and heart describe the wolf. Do they describe our pack?”
    A low mumble developed among his people. It was about time he made them think.
    Pacing the length of the dais, he waited a moment. “No, they don’t. Some may say those aren’t the true traits of a wolf, that wolves in their essence are vicious animals.”
    Someone shouted, “Yeah.” He made note of who and would deal with them personally later.
    “These characteristics come from us.” He gestured to himself. “The human part of the equation. Every time you allow your beast to consume your humanity, the less control you have over it.”
    Silence blanketed the room, and his people watched him expectantly.
    “As your Alpha I have decided we will no longer be known as the Omegas or as the Ayumu. We’re one pack.” He shouted the last sentence and paused as he waited for the echo of his voice to subside. “We’re Vasi. Guardians of the streets of Chicago, our territory.”
    Cheers began before he finished his announcement. It warmed his heart to hear them support his idea. For a year, he wracked his brain trying to figure out what to do with his pack. Spice inspired the protector in him and brought forth this concept. They would defend the