**Rhian's POV**
I stepped out of the shower and the smell of coffee hit me. Goddess, I was going to need that after last night. I quickly got dressed and found Erick pouring me a cup. "Thanks."
"Anytime beautiful. So, are you ready for this morning?" I could sense his nerves.
"I have no doubt the pack will stand behind us. Don't worry, have faith. Remember what the Goddess told you, you aren't alone anymore." I caressed the side of his face before getting up on my tiptoes and kissing his nose.
"Have I told you how much I love that?" He smiled and kissed my forehead before pulling me in for a hug.
"Good," she giggled, "because I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. Everyone should be arriving shortly. Are you ready to head down to the dining hall?"
He simply nods, takes my hand, and we walk down to the meeting hand in hand drinking our coffee. When the doors to the dining hall opened, it was packed. Even more people were here than attended the ceremony last night. There was an eerie quiet in the room. The only sound was hushed whispers contemplating the reasons the emergency meeting was called.
As soon as we entered, Samuel walked up to us. "Good morning, I hope you both slept OK."
Erick inhaled deeply, "Well, about that, we might want to talk privately before the meeting."
Samuel nodded, "Why don't we head up to my office while we eat so we can talk." We followed Samuel out as he gestured for Doc and David to come with us.
Shortly after getting to the office, a woman I assume was the Alphas' assistant brought us breakfast and while we ate we recalled the events that transpired last night. Explaining how the Goddess had visited and provided clarity to the situation. Including the fact that the future was not set in stone and unless I succeeded against Eliza, the prophecy wouldn't be fulfilled.
Doc was the one who broke the silence, "Well, I guess that means we don't have an option but to succeed."
We all agreed, I could sense the worry Erick felt. He had the weight of the future of werewolves on his shoulders. I wanted to take away his burden, remind him we were in this together. That, no matter what, our love was a formidable force. Eliza had no idea the fury that would rain down on her for trying to mess with that.
"Yes, she will pay severely if she tries to harm a single hair on your head." He looked into my eyes as his mind linked with mine.
"Whoa, you heard that? Maybe this was what the Goddess described with my gifts. I could feel your worry like I was in your head. I didn't try to link up with you though. Maybe when it comes to us we no longer have to create the link, it is just there. We will have to test the theory later, but for now, I think it's time to talk to the whole pack."
We headed back together to begin the meeting. David guided us up to a head table where Samuel, Doc, and David also sat. Gabriel and Elijah joined us at the lead table as well.
"Good Morning," Samuel spoke as he stood. "I am sure you are all curious about why we called an emergency meeting. We are just going to get right to it, so you don't have to wait. For those of you who have not met them, this couple sitting up here is Erick and Rhian." He gestured our way.
"Some of you are under the impression that Erick joined us shortly after his pack was attacked. I want to apologize for not being forthcoming with the truth in the beginning, but before we proceeded we wanted to be sure of our suspicions. I know you grew up with the stories about the prophesized alpha. The alpha that would unite all the packs and reign supremely over all creatures.
We have confirmed without a doubt that Erick here is the alpha the prophecy was written about. It was part of the reason we held the last-minute mating ceremony that many of you attended yesterday evening. In order for Erick to fully achieve the gifts, he would need to fulfill all the requirements of the prophecy. This included that he and his mate needed to be mated under the super blue moon.
Last night, they were given another piece of the puzzle when the Moon Goddess visited them herself." A commotion broke out throughout the room. A mix of doubting whispers and praise to the Goddess. "Enough," the growl and command in his voice had everyone silent in submission.
"Pack, we have an important role to play as well, because, she informed them that the prophecy is not guaranteed. Erick here has been in a cycle of reincarnation with a group of others from his past. A trick contrived by a Fairy, a long, long time ago. The ancient Queen Maeve has trapped him in these recurring lifetimes in order to defy her death by his hand.
She was given nine lifetimes to achieve this. If she succeeds, she will become immortal. However, if she fails, Erick will be granted immortality and fulfill the final task to take his place as the uniting alpha. Maeve has already murdered a number of werewolves trying to achieve her goals and I fear more will lose their lives in this battle.
The Goddess believed in the heart and purity of our pack and blessed us to be able to aid Erick in achieving his tasks. I, for one, have every faith and confidence in Erick and Rhian and pledge to do everything in my power to help. I acknowledge the future is daunting and I understand not everyone will be able to actively fight, but I do require everyone to give Erick the same respect you afford to me.
I am aware that we will likely be faced with additional challenges. She has convinced the Crescent Moon pack that she is in fact a werewolf. We now have confirmation that this is false. What we don't know is the full scope of who is working with her, werewolf or otherwise. She has a number of fae under her command, disguised as wolves.
Given the number of times she has lived and attempted this, her connections to creatures of all sorts will likely run deep. I implore you all to be wary of outsiders for the time being. I will allow Erick to introduce himself, but then we need to get down to business in devising a plan to take her down. Once and for all!"
He gestured with his outstretched arm for Erick to stand. I kept hold of his hand while he spoke. "Thank you, Alpha Samuel. I want to thank all of you. I know many of you aren't aware, but I did not grow up with a pack, or a family. Maeve had a hand in murdering them years ago. Samuel saved me nearly twenty years ago and I am grateful for his help now. I appreciate how each and every one of you has accepted me into the pack and made me know what family is after all these years."
He continued talking but I was distracted, something felt off. Thoughts of anger and hate kept killing my head. I scanned the crowd while Erick spoke until I spotted him. Joel was in a back corner hidden away and he was barely containing his composure, trying to control the hate and anger he was obviously feeling.
But why was he so angry? Erick, we may have a traitor in our midst. I am going to attempt to read his thoughts. Keep talking so he is distracted. He squeezed my hand and I saw the slight nod he gave me. Without breaking his stride, he was beginning to tell the pack his entire back story to buy time for me.
Here goes nothing, I focused intently on Joel. My vision went blurry and when it cleared I saw an image of a brick wall. I could hear muffled shouting coming from the other side. I concentrated on the bricks as if I could reach out and touch them, removing them one by one.
As the bricks came down, I could visibly see Joel pacing back and forth in an empty room. I still couldn't make out the words he was saying. They were more like static but his outrage was blatantly obvious. I closed my eyes, silencing everything but Joel's voice.
"This is bull shit! Why should we help some half-breed mutt? He is obviously lying. The man that came to me told me it was my destiny to unite the packs. He said one day all the power would be mine. I had always assumed before then I would take over this pack, but to be the ultimate alpha? Well, who would say no to that?
Once and for all, I could have had the chance to destroy half-breeds. My father's family was always adamant that they were the reason wolves didn't rule over the world. Instead, people choose to weaken our bloodlines by mating with humans. I was grateful after the attack on David's mate. It meant he didn't want to take over this pack as Alpha.
It was my opportunity, with my father being a beta, to align myself as the best possible candidate to take over. My hard work paid off, but when the cloaked man came to me with a trade I couldn't turn him down. He would use his powers to strengthen my abilities, making me stronger, faster, smarter than all the other members of my pack.
All I had to do was feed him information on the pack. Occasionally, needing to search my Uncle Samuel's office for paperwork on orphaned pups. It didn't hurt the pack and, in the long run, having me as Alpha would strengthen our pack. That is until he showed up. No one, not even Alec, had ever beat me while sparring, and he took me down with ease. It was humiliating.
I reached out to the cloaked man to tell him he failed at making me the strongest. We are set to meet in two days' time at our usual spot. Believe me, when I finally see him again I am going to give him a piece of my mind!"
Whoa! My vision began to clear as I came out of his head. I looked over, making sure he wasn't aware of my intrusion into his mind. He still just looked angry in the corner, so I assume he hadn't noticed.
Erick! We need to talk now. With Samuel, David and Doc.