Chapter 25: Call with the Alphas

Chapter 25: Call with the Alphas
Sydney:
"Beta Lucas, do you know what this is about?" Everyone is already gathered in my office.
"Good morning, Alpha Syd and Lumiere Si. No, I don't." Lucas settles into one of the sofas.
Ambrose and Kyler quickly stand and bow. "Good morning, Alpha and Lumiere." They both chime out.
"Ambrose, you took the call this morning, correct? Did Alpha John say what it was about?" I take my seat behind my desk, Si standing next to me.
"Ummm… actually, Alpha, I took the call." Gamma Kyler steps forward, head hung low. I'm not sure if it's out of fear or respect.
"Thank you, Gamma Kyler, for taking the call. Did Alpha John say anything?" His head pops up, and his eyes are wide with surprise. I guess it was fear, not respect.
"No, Alpha, he just said to contact him as soon as you were available." He smiles cautiously.
"Well, not much I can do." I look up at the imposing man next to me. "I guess we are going in blind."
Si gives me a wink and a smile, "it will be fine, I'm sure." Maybe this whole mate thing wasn't so bad.
I join the call on my laptop, and the screen on the wall opposite my desk connects, and I see the two Alphas. "Good morning, Alphas. What can I do for you?" I try not to let my nervousness show in my smile.
"Alpha Sydney, it's good to see you looking so well. Lumiere Silas, it appears you are settling in well also." Alpha John smirks, and I'm overly aware of my shirt choice today. I picked an oversized scoop neck sweater to show off my mate mark. Silas gives a toothy grin as I adjust my sweater over my mark. I'm not embarrassed by my mark, but it feels intrusive to a private moment.
Silas creases his brow and tilts his head at my action, but I continue the conversation with the Alphas. "Yes, things are moving along smoothly. We have found our Beta Ambrose Loopnoir and our Gamma Kyler Hughes." Both bow their heads.
"Good to hear the goddess must want to get your pack back on track quickly. The other packs from the New Moon Alliance are still struggling to get back on their feet." Just hearing New Moon Alliance makes my stomach turn. "To help rebuild your pack's reputation, it's been decided by the Council that you will host the Amaris pack for the Harvest Moon Festival in October. Alpha Conor can check on your progress, and since your packs are now connected, it would be a good opportunity to cement alliances."
"That sounds great, Alpha John. I miss my mother's cooking already. We will happily accept the proposal." Silas is beaming, but I don't share his enthusiasm. We are not ready to host anyone, let alone a high-ranking pack.
"Alpha John, I don't think it's a good idea. We couldn't even host a kid's birthday party right now." Silas turns to look at me with a furrowed brow.
"There is still time. You have a whole month and a half to plan." John's smile let me know I couldn't refuse. What a pain.
"Alpha Sydney, this is not about grander or vibrato. This is about reestablishing friendly connections with other packs and rebuilding White Ridge's reputation. Silas's blood ties to the Amaris Pack are a great start." I feel like my dad or a teacher is scolding me. Gideon is not wrong, but still, I wouldn't say I like it.
"I understand." I let out a sigh. I guess I don't really have a choice if he puts it that way. I didn't just have to clean up Tarlo's mess within the pack but outside as well.
"There's something else we need to discuss." I was not too fond of Alpha John's tone.
"OK, what is it?" I tried to hide the apprehension in my voice.
There was a long pause. I held my breath; this was not going to be good. "The Elder Council has received a complaint of 'Excessive Punishment' from one of your pack members."
"Bullshit! He should have been kicked out! Damn it, grandpa!" Ambrose was on his feet. We all knew who had filed the complaint.
"Beta Ambrose, it's unbecoming of your station to have an outburst." Beta Lucas scolded. At least I wasn't the only one being reprimanded.
I let out a sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. "Joseph realizes that Alpha Gideon and Beta Lucas were there, right? If anything, I was extremely lenient."
"Pre-New Moon Alliance, this would be handled already but post…." Now Alpha John was pinching the bridge of his nose. "All complaints will be thoroughly vetted before being dismissed even if a council member was involved."
"Alpha, please believe I had nothing to do with this. I'm so happy to be the Beta of White Ridge. My parents are so proud my dad hadn't talked to my grandpa since grandma left when he was a teenager." Ambrose is down on one knee with his head bowed. As much as I wanted to strip him of his Beta title for what Joseph was doing, I knew the goddess called him, and it wasn't my call. Selene was one I couldn't argue with.
"Beta Ambrose, sit down." I groan out.
"Alphas, what're the next steps since you already know what happened." I could hear a hit of annoyance in Silas' voice. I wasn't sure who it was directed at.
"You and Alpha Sydney will appear before the Council along with the accuser. Gideon will be your main witness since he is the Vice-Chair of the Alpha Council and Druit Guard Alpha. It should wrap up quickly." It was clear that John and Gideon did not want to deal with this. I don't even know what Joseph hoped to accomplish with this stupid waste of time.
"When are we scheduled to appear?" Another thing we have to schedule.
"September 12th. We were able to push it back till after Silas' Lumiere Ceremony and then some. We have another Alpha Ceremony to do the week before. I will need Beta Lucas back as well, my heir James is currently doing his duties, but he will have training soon." The fatigue on John and Gideon's faces is deep.
"Thank you, Alphas. We will be there." Silas bows and disconnects the call.
"Well, like we didn't already have enough going on. Damn it." I rub my temples hoping to ward off the looming headache.
"Not much we can do about it." Silas huffs.
"Alpha, if there is anything I can do to make this better, I will just name it." Ambrose is on his feet, looking more like a puppy who pooped on the carpet than a Beta wolf.
"There is actually. You need to record a statement, and we can submit it to the Elder Council." Lucas cuts in.
"I'll do it." Ambrose's mood does a 180 with that simple suggestion.
"Gamma Kyler, would you be so kind as to film Ambrose's statement? Since you are lower ranking, it can't be considered coercion." Lucas stands to his feet from the sofa.
"Of course. Beta Ambrose, let's go to the back yard of the packhouse." Kyler bows and walks to the door. He's a little stiff, but he seems like a good guy.
"Please let me know if there's anything else that can help." Ambrose bows before walking out behind Kyler.
"I'm going to go grab some food from the kitchen. You guys want me to bring you anything?" Lucas is at the door already.
"If Nancy has any breakfast, burritos left with some hot sauce. Si, you want one?" They were always my favorite.
"I'll give it a try." Si gives me a wink.
Lucas leaves, and we are alone, but something feels… off.
"Seriously, sit down. You are creeping out, standing right next to me." Maybe if we had some space between us, I could think better.
"It was only for the call, and I like being next to you." Si teases.
"We have a ton to do. Can we just work?" I didn't feel in a jokey mood; I wanted to get something done before afternoon training.
"Yeah," Si sits on the sofa and pulls the coffee table closer, flipping open his laptop. "Can you send me last year's financials and any from this year as well? I need to start planning next year's budget."
"I don't have those." My mind started to race. Who's been handling the budget again?
"OK, who does?" Si's dark eyes seem to pierce my thoughts.
It hits me. "One of the elders." I swallowed hard.
"Which elder?" He raised an eyebrow looking like a father waiting for his child to tell the truth.
"Joseph used to do it, but I don't know who now." I'm scrambling for words. How could I let something so big slip?
"Syd! That slime ball has probably cleaned out the accounts by now! Why didn't you say something yesterday?" Silas' eyes are wide, and his lips are pressed in a thin line.
"I didn't think about it." I was so pissed off I wanted to drop him on the spot.
"That's the pack's lifeline. How could you forget about it." Silas' tone was not helping, and it was trigging my temper.
"I'm sorry I was more concerned with the blatant disrespect my mate was given that I forgot about it." Remembering what happened yesterday in the locker room causes Thora to push forward. Not that we've marked our mate. She's even more possessive.
"Let's get Ambrose to get it from him then. I think you and I should keep our distance from him." Silas sighs, but I don't take orders from him.
"No, I don't want Ambrose to have all the account information." This was my pack.
"Ambrose is our Beta. The Beta always has account info." Silas shakes his head and rolls his eyes. Now I'm really starting to get pissed. Thora holds me back, reminding me that Joseph is our real threat, but I can barely hear her.
"I don't trust him yet, and he's Joseph's grandson," I growl.
Silas is not backing down. "And your cousin and our Beta. Plus, the worst person in the pack to have full access to the pack's money has access already!" Damn it, why does he have to be right. I think that pisses me off even more than his shitty tone.
"Fine! I'll tell him to get everything from him as soon as he's done." I mind-link Ambrose quickly, telling him to get all his grandfather's digital and physical records. He doesn't give me any resistance. "Happy now!"
"We have training in an hour. Let's try to get something done." Silas rolls his eyes at me again and starts looking at reports on his laptop.
There is a knock at the door. "You two done fighting so I can come in with food now?" Lucas opens the door, and I swear my blood pressure is through the roof.
"Yeah!" I grunt out. I really can't wait for training this afternoon.