Chapter 156

Dylan POV.

"That is my plan anyway..." I stated while sitting opposite alpha Dalton, as he pondered the words that left my lips. I could also feel Oliver's intense gaze on the back of my head and couldn't help but feel curious about what facial expressions he was pulling.

Alpha Dalton, simply sat behind his desk, his hand stroking his bearded chin lightly in contemplation at my proposition.

"So this election, would have people pooled from candidates nominated by the citizens?" I nodded my head and sighed, feeling the weight of everything, and already knowing that it was only the beginning. "It's a good plan, fair and equal." He finally spoke as he met my eye line. "Now let me ask, what would you do if ultimately you are chosen to sit the throne? I imagine you already have a number of people who would be willing to place your name at the top of the ballot, and you have made it very clear that you are not interested in..." I cut him off, already fed up with everyone's expectations.

"Its true... I don't want to be the leader of an entirely new world, and I never asked for people to lean on me or my ideals, I didn't care if people agreed with me or not, but people did, and then they decided that I was the joan of arc of the rebellion, it's the hand I've been dealt. If I'm picked then I'll do what I can, I will lead the way everyone seems to want me to, but I'm only going to do that if the people that expect me to sacrifice my life can do the same for the life they want." I finally blew up, explaining everything that was going on inside my head. "If you want a world were you don't have to look over your shoulder for showing compassion towards humans, then it's your choice to fight for it. I'm not the creator of the rebellion, it had started long before I was even discovered."

"You're right, the rebellion didn't start with you, but you could very well be its end, and it's triumph." The alpha sighed, placing his hands on his desk and nodded his head. "If we win the battle, I have every intention of electing you as our sole ruler. If you accept my nomination, then you may have my pack... and our human district."

One pack down, 6 more to go. I thought to myself as I nodded my head in exasperation. I held my hand out to alpha Dalton and smiled tightly when he shook it. Our business deal had been closed.

There really was no turning back, the more packs we got involved the better things were for us, and it seemed like my compliance was the only reason packs were getting involved.

I walked through the gardens of alpha Daltons pack house and sighed, taking in the banana shaped moon, and all the stars that littered the sky.

"Your plan..." I heard and turned quickly to find Oliver looking at me, our clothes had been changed into comfortable lounge wear for the night, and although a pair of boots still rested on his feet, mine were bare beneath the grass. "It's well thought out." He spoke walking up to stand next to me as I shifted my gaze from him back to the moon above me. "You do actually have quite a sound mind." His admittance caused a small smile to form on my lips, while I felt his gaze meet the side of my face. I just sighed, not finding the words to respond to his comment, and so instead, I let my gaze stay firmly on the sky, taking in the warm night air.

"It's a beautiful night... I'm sorry you got dragged away from Vee for my sake." Oliver chuckled and looked up to the sky above.

"And Just when I thought I'd gotten rid of you." He chuckled awkwardly sitting down on one of the concrete walls of the large flower beds. "Look, I know I'm not exactly your favorite person, but believe it or not, I am here to help."

"I'll believe that when we both make it back to Gilliards, unscathed and undiscovered." He nodded sighing in exasperation and looking at his boot cladded feet. I was making it very obvious that I didn't yet trust him.

"You have my word, even if it doesn't mean much to you." I still couldn't believe that Lewis thought this pairing was a good idea... I was actually starting to think that maybe he chose Oliver simply because he had found his mate himself and wasn't jealous of us being alone together. I rolled my eyes with a small smile at the thought of Lewis, but my thoughts were cut short, when Oliver continued to speak. "May I ask you something, your gra... Dylan?"

I turned to him in surprise at him actually addressing me with my name, it almost felt foreign on my ears, I actually think that was the first time he had ever called me by my name alone, so I sat next to him copying his seated position in alpha Daltons garden.

"Well, For once, I'm not busy. So I'll answer your questions if you answer mine.” He nodded and glanced at me, swallowing thickly before asking me his question nervously.

“You have a plan set in place for if you win, but what about if you loose?” Huh? My head shot to him, fear now taking over my eyes as I looked at the beta. He had a point, I hadn’t thought about what would happen if the king won. If he got me back, he’d make my life a living hell, more so than it already had been.

“I don’t know.” I stated, a slight shake wracking through my body at the mere thought of loosing, at this point that wasn’t an option.

“King Josh is insistent on marking you, regardless of whether that’s what you want. I guess I just, think it’ll help having a contingency plan in place.” He had a point, it was naive to have a plan for success but not one for failure. I guess I never thought about it properly because, for me at least, failure wasn’t an option.

“I have no intention of becoming the official mate to the king.” I stated, wrapping my arms around my body as goosebumps began to form on my skin. “I’m not saying it lightly. If the king wins then I will die before he’s able to lay his hands on me again.”

“Do you truly prefer death over being his mate?” I nodded and thought about Lewis instead. I met the eyes of the royal beta and nodded my head. “But, even still, you’re apprehensive to take the throne? Even when that is possibly the only option for victory?” He was questioning me well, even Lewis hadn’t fully asked me why I didn’t want the throne. I guess it was because he thought it was simply due to my wish for freedom.

"Despite the outcome of the battle, I'm never going to escape the king." My voice sounding deflated as I realized my worst fear. "The reason I don't want to rule..." I gulped trying to find the words that were on the top of my tongue, the ones that I wish would just explain themselves instead of me being so weak as to not be able to speak them. "It isn't simply because I don't want people to rely on me, and it's not that I'm afraid to be the voice of reason in a crowd full of noise."

"Is it because you don't want to be the one to make the new laws? You don't want to draw up new punishments?" He asked trying to get to the bottom of why I was so against being the leader that I was getting forced to be.

"No... the new laws will be easy to put into action, once fully fleshed out…” I had no worries about that one. “…It's because, every single time there is a moment that requires a firm hand and a tough decision, all that my mind will think about is 'what would king josh do'." I admitted, my words floating through the damp air and traveling on the warm breeze. I felt my energy drain from my body, and I slumped were I sat, finally taking my eyes off the moon and resting them on the royal beta. “Every file of paper work, every document needing to be signed, every mild trepidation someone may come to me with, will elicit thoughts of The kings previous actions. Not to mention if I so much as step foot in the palace again…” I shuddered, thinking about everything that went on within the confines of those doors.

“That makes no sense. You aren’t going to start beating the shit out of people who stand up against you. In fact, you’ll most likely hear them out and find an amicable solution.” I shrugged. That didn’t stop me from being worried about everything. No matter what I did, the king would haunt me until my death.

“I just think you need to be prepared… because there’s no solution where both me and The King survive.” I stood up, and sighed when he didn’t say anything else. My questions for him could wait until tomorrow, I was tired and I already knew I was in for a bad night because it was the first night in over a week that I hadn’t spent with Lewis.

“If the king remains on the throne, then me and Vee will never be able to be fully happy. He has a certain sustain for humans… I might not completely agree with you, but we now want the same thing, just for different reasons.” Wow, he must have truly fallen in love with Vee in such a short space of time.

“You’ve got a long way to go before you gain my trust… but I’ll be amicable for the time being. Be ready early tomorrow, we need to leave for the next district as early as possible, and trust me when I say that it won’t be as easy to sway this next alpha.” Then again, alpha Dalton wasn’t actually that easy to persuade either. I have to assume every alpha in the district has the same survival notion that he does.

I walked back into the pack house feeling slightly awkward as people stared at my presence. I didn’t even think that many people would still be up at this hour. Also, At this stage you’d think they would be used to me by now.

I made my way to the kitchen and frowned, thinking over our plan, and praying we could get the other packs on board. I sighed feeling exhausted and looking around before grabbing a glass from the cabinet and filling it with some water, before downing the entire contents. Maybe it was best I just went to bed, I had nothing else to do now.

I felt lonely, for the first time in weeks, I was truly and utterly alone. I missed Lewis, even more so when I climbed into my appointed bed, feeling it’s lack of bodily warmth. I frowned, as I rested my head on the soft pillow, already instead used to the firmness off my betas chest. I quickly bunched the duvet up between my legs, attempting to cuddle up to it as if it were my person, drawing me into a blissful slumber, but the reality was simply depressing.

In reality, I was alone, and Lewis was alone. I wondered if he craved my touch as much as I did his. It was an odd feeling for me to say the least.

I only hoped that these couple of weeks would go by fast, because…

I missed Lewis… so much.