Hannah POV
Since the day all those mighty Alphas came with their warriors, the feeling of uncertainty hasn't wanted to leave me. I just had a hunch that something terrible would happen soon, even though I have absolutely no reason to back up this hunch.
Everybody seems to behave exceptionally well; the order is kept, and the strict training schedule is enforced. I rarely see Mikkeli these days because of how busy he is. But the pack changed when our guests arrived. People seem tenser, and I understand that preparing for battle and the upcoming bloodshed may be the main reason for everybody dropping mood. Still, something in the air bothers me.
According to Hayden, too many strong wolves in one area may cause growing tension, and I think I understand what he means.
I, Kyle, and a couple of persons are in charge of serving meals to all the warriors who are in training and now preparing for the upcoming operation. And looking at all those werewolves three times a day makes me nervous; I don't feel comfortable around them, and I have a feeling that none of us do.
I can say no one lousy word about packs of Alphas Damian, Kayden, and Natasha. They are all close friends to Mikkeli, and their warriors are well-behaved and focused on their job.
I don't recognize other alphas except for Alpha Ryan of the Full Moon pack, but my main problem is with him and two other Alphas who seem to spend lots of time with Ryan. Rose told me that these alliances were forged during the reign of Mikkeli's father, and their packs are still run according to the old traditions.
For example, they don't seem to pay too much respect to Alpha Natasha or Becca as Head Warrior because they're women, and their warriors are loud and can be rude towards each other. I also heard them when I was serving drinks in Mikkeli's office, and they have the war gathering there. They criticized everything but had no ideas of their own. I've seen how furious Mikkeli was because of that, and Tony had to use all his charm not to let them start throwing insults at each other.
Rose seems tired because of all the work she has to do, and all the omegas, including me, have started drawing lots about cleaning in the house appointed for the guests from the Full Moon pack. I cleaned there only once, and it was one of the most disgusting messes I had ever seen.
The fact that their Beta Hank is gloomy all the time doesn't help, although, among all his pack members, he seems to be the only one knowing that he's here for a job.
Alpha Ryan is much more interested in shoving Connie all the time in front of Mikkeli. Yes, he brought his daughter to the war council so she could maybe manage to strengthen her position as the future Luna of this pack.
Seeing her almost every day glued to Mikkeli pisses me off. I warned him that if I ever spot them alone anywhere, I will convince Byron to give him hell he would never forget, and the cocky bastard seemed to be extremely happy with me being jealous.
My brothers seem bored; because of training, they are pretty much stuck in the house, and they cannot run around the pack territories so freely anymore; at least Hayden makes sure to take them for a night running through the woods every day. And even though boys seem not to be so warmed up about Hayden yet, they for sure appreciate and enjoy the time with him.
So to summarize the current situation, everybody is busy and tired.
Mikkeli is busy and tired of preparing for the war, Tony and Hayden are busy and tired of helping him, Becca and our warriors are busy and tired with training, Gideon is busy and tired of patching up all broken bones and wounds which happen during the training. I, Kyle, and other omegas are busy and tired with cleaning and serving.
Just like now, I have just entered the quarters of the Full Moon Pack because I was unlucky today to be the one bringing them their laundry. On purpose, I choose this time of the day to do it because I know that the house should be empty and they all should be around training grounds. But to my surprise, I'm not alone, Hank is sitting in one of the rooms looking into some documents, but he notices me.
"Hello, Hannah," he says, smirking in my direction.
I come closer to him. I know we are alone, and it's a chance to talk.
"Maybe you should tell Mikkeli that we had another attempt of rogues' enter to your territory, but this time I didn't allow them to proceed with whatever their plan was," he says.
"Have you found out something from them?"
"Not really, it was a very small group, just three of them, but the funny thing is that after I 'd thrown them in the dungeon, they were all poisoned the very next day" his eyes darken dangerously, and I gulp my saliva.
"And congratulations, it seems your brothers are now the heirs of the Blackwood Pack officially," he adds.
"I see the rumor is spreading around," I respond. "Can I ask you a personal question?"
"Sure."
"Does your Alpha treat this preparation seriously?"
He frowns and shifts uncomfortably.
"I mean no disrespect, but I've seen warriors he's brought here," I continue. "They lack in training a lot if we compare them to other packs. I've noticed they are very young, but I was watching them during the training, and they seemed weak. The rest of the packs that came here surely treat preparation for this action more seriously. Alpha Ryan seems to be more interested in matchmaking Connie and Mikkeli."
"Well, I treat it seriously, and five warriors whom I chose for this action, the rest were chosen by my Alpha and his counselors, who are a bunch of old pricks too much stuck in their old ways. So they refuse to see that the world is changing. They thought that bringing here not so much experienced warriors would be a good chance to get them some experience."
I notice the sarcasm in his voice, but I see that he is as pissed because of it as I would be if I were at his place.
"But even if now my pack warriors give you such a puny experience I ensure you at home I have warriors worthy of any admiration," he says, standing up.
"I don't know much about werewolf's fighting strategies, but what is your opinion about Mikkeli's plan?"
"Well, he's good in it; if we manage to pull this on, it will be a great victory for our people and..."
"Well, well, who we got here?" I hear the sweet voice. Hank and I look in the direction of the door and see Connie standing at the entrance.
"She brought the warriors' laundry," Hank says in a nonchalant voice, but I can see him tensing a little bit.
Connie smiles and gets closer to me, so close that I can feel her breath on my forehead. I think about a knife on my thigh under my skirt when she's sniffing me.
"So you are the one whose scent was all over Mikkeli the day I came. I didn't know he had a new plaything and human to add to it. His standards are definitely shallow."
I could probably say something back to her, but what for? There's no point in arguing with her about anything; plus, my mating with Mikkeli is still our top-secret, so there is no sense in drawing more unwanted attention. So I only bow my head as a sign of respect and ask if she needs anything more from me. She spatters and lives upstairs, probably in the direction of her room.
"I will walk with you. I need to go back to the training ground," says Hank, and we leave the house.
"Thanks for not doing anything," he says as we walk "if you two had started a fight, I would have had a problem with choosing who to help. It should be my pack member and the daughter of my Alpha first, but I have a feeling that if anything happened to you, I might be forced to run for my life because of Mikkeli."
I don't respond to that as we slowly get closer to the packhouse. I can see Mikkeli, Becca, and Jake standing on the porch with alpha Damon, Ryan, and two others whose names I don't remember. Mikkeli's eyes wander in my direction, and then spot Hank next to me. I can see he's not happy, but he doesn't say anything going back to the conversation with the others surrounding him.
Suddenly I see the main door open, and Rosie steps outside, looking around for a moment as if she is planning what to do next. I see her spot Mikkeli and others and head in their direction.
I start walking faster. I don't want her to disturb them. Somehow I feel nervous thinking about what can happen next, but of course, I don't get there on time. She's standing among all of them and starts yanking Mikkeli's jeans. He looks at her, startled. She immediately raises her hands toward him.
"Up, want to be up," she squeals, and Mikkeli immediately bends down to take her into his arms.
A gentle smile is on his face; when she starts snuggling more into him, all the Alphas and warriors surrounding them look at them with a mixture of shock and total surprise. All the pack members moving around this area also have disbelieving looks on their faces.
I can understand why. Mikkeli has never gotten into any sort of interaction with local pups unless it required disciplining them, and now he is standing among his allies and subordinates, smiling at my little sister, who keeps whispering something into his ear, which makes him giggle. Yep, Mikkeli Blackwood is giggling in public.
The main door to the house gets opened again, and this time, James steps outside and incredibly quickly goes in the direction of Mikkeli and Rosie, screaming:
"I'm so sorry. I was supposed to watch her!"
He reaches to get her out of Mikkeli's arms but is stopped by Alpha Ryan, and that makes me almost run in their direction.
"So you are one of two heirs of the Blackwood Pack," he smirks, but I don't like the way he is looking at my brother "he is newly shifted, but I smell the strong wolf. I presume he's strong."
"Of course, my nephews are strong." Mikkeli responds, holding Rosie, "They are good blood both from their father's and mother's sides. If I don't have children, they will be good Alphas."
Ryan looks as if he wants to say something more but finally gives up and looks in the direction of Hank and me.
"Good that you are here, Beta; we need to discuss something."
Hank bows in respect and leaves with his Alpha.
"Are you and your future father-in-law not on good terms now?" asks Alpha Damon, and Mikkeli rolls his eyes as I get closer and reach my hands to take Rosie away from Mikkeli.
He passes my sister to me, my hand brushes his hand, and I feel sparks and a tingling sensation. I look in surprise at Mikkeli, who gives me a very wide smile. Rose and Kyle told me about the sparking and tingling sensation when you touch your mate, but until now, I have never felt this. Is the mate bond just getting stronger, or is it that Alpha and I have finally warmed up to the idea of being mates?
I take my siblings into the house, where we find Jason. I let them watch some TV and decide to go to the kitchen to prepare some snacks. I'm taking the juice out of the fridge when I have a feeling of somebody's presence. I look around and see Jake. As always, he looks at me coldly with no emotions on his face.
"May you spare me a few minutes?" he asks, closing the door behind him and sitting on one of the kitchen stools.
"Is there a problem with something?" I ask, sitting in front of him.
"I think Mikkeli won't reject you as I hoped or more as I was sure at the beginning, which makes me wonder where you will be standing in this pack."
"What do you mean? If he doesn't reject me, that means..."
"That doesn't mean you will be a Luna unless he marks you," he interrupts me, "and I haven't noticed any eagerness to announce in my Alpha's behavior that you are mates to all around us."
"Your point is?" I try not to show him that his words bother me.
"My point is that Mikkeli won't make his final decision; he is as much greedy as his father. He may always lust for you, but that doesn't mean he will treat you with the respect you are worthy of. My point is, Hannah, that you are the only one who can decide to leave because Mikkeli will never decide to separate from you willingly."
"Do you want me gone because I'm not worthy of being Luna of the Blackwood Pack?" I ask with as much dignity as I can possibly muster.
"I'm not happy with you being Luna because you're a human, and I openly admit it. But I don't want you here because I think that you may cause problems between Mikkeli and Hayden. I think you're oblivious to the situation between them."
"What kind of situation?"
"Hayden has never rebelled against his brother's position or questioned his decisions, but I know he's ready to defend you from anything, even if it means getting into conflict with his brother. I just want you gone before. Because of you, they will tear this place apart. It's nothing personal, Hannah. I just think if you leave, it will be better for everybody. Werewolves and humans are just not compatible. And one more thing, if you sleep with Mikkeli, he will never let you go. You should be aware of it; he's an Alpha here, and if you stay, you will live the life he will choose for you. So better run when you still have a chance to do it."