I thought he would leave immediately but the fool just stood with one hand raised.
"Yes?..." I ask a little impatiently with raised brows. Those who didn't see him when he first raised his hands followed the direction of my gaze and turned in their seats to look at him.
I don't give a damn about who he is. If he wants to leave then he should leave already and not just raise his hand for recognition.
"Uhm... I– I..." He stammers on. It seems his courage suddenly fails him.
I feel like throwing him out of the place already with the scruff of his neck. I don't know why he wants to speak in the first place or what he wants to talk about when what I said was clear enough... 'who doesn't want to stay or doesn't accept me as their Alpha is free to leave' I never said free to talk!
I was tempted to ask if he's having trouble finding his way out of the room and need a map but the situation doesn't call for sarcasm.
"If you want to leave then you don't have to say anything. All you need to do is make your way towards the door and leave. It's as simple as that" I tried to be calm as I talked but just couldn't help being a little sarcastic.
"Leave? No, no, no! I didn't raise my hand because I want to leave. I just want to ask a question. Not leave..."
"Okay– then go ahead and ask your question. We can't afford to waste any more time than necessary. As I said before, we discovered a big threat to the pack's security and since you all are in charge of keeping the pack safe, I called this meeting to find out from you, the security officers, ways we can tackle the genesis of the problem."
"Okay, I'll make it quick then. Uhm– my name is Silvester. I'm a warrior but I'm patrolling the south under Elder Silas. And I must confess that I was surprised when Victoria announced inside our telegram group that we can trust you!–" He scoffs and snickers
"I mean, like what the fuck! Really!?... I find it hard to believe that she literally begged us to trust you despite how her father was murdered!?... I'm sorry but I personally thought it's either she's gone crazy or she has the hots for you, allowing herself to be controlled by her emotions... Yeah? Yeah?..." He asks, as his eyes skip over his colleagues' faces, garnering support for his statement from them and they all nod back at him.
He becomes more courageous on seeing their support. He looks directly into my eyes. His voice which was wavering before becomes firm as he continues speaking...
"I believe I speak most of our minds here by asking you this question, Alpha... How do you expect us to trust you and work with you when we heard you killed your father and his Beta..."
Most of them nodded their heads in approval after he asked his question. Obviously, he spoke most of their minds. I don't know what Victoria told them to get them to attend the meeting but whatever it was, they must be thinking I'm desperate for their trust and support but unfortunately for them, I didn't call the meeting to seek validation or begged for their trust.
Apart from what I told them earlier, I called the meeting to determine who among them would continue working with the pack's patrol team and the ones I would chuck to the side.
I chuckle and watch in satisfaction as he shrinks into himself out of fear. I never knew my laugh was that bad until now. What a coward!
"This meeting is not about me convincing all of you to trust me because frankly, I don't give a shit if you don't..."
'Brutal!...' I hear Eric say through our mind link but I ignore him and continue talking...
"The truth about whether I killed my father and his Beta will be determined in two weeks. The date of the trial has been set and you're all welcome to come to watch if you can spare the time.
That apart. Right now, I am the Alpha of this pack and this meeting is about your jobs. It's about the lackadaisical ways most of you have been carrying on in your duties. Today will determine if you will continue to be among the patrol team or if you will cease to be a member of this pack."
I look at their faces as I talk and I see my words shocked them. Victoria inclusive. I don't know why though, what was she expecting? That I would kiss their asses just to get them on my side and support me against Evelyn and Justin? She's yet to find out the kind of person I am if that's what she thought I would do.
"I would like to ask a question myself..." I say and they all immediately look away from me.
"Sylvester, do you mind?" I singled him out, signifying for him to stand up since he was the one who chaired the first question.
It's obvious from how he slowly stands that he's lost some of his spunk. He's scared now. Being sent out of a pack, especially a pack you grew up in is one of the worst and most frightening things that can happen to a shifter.
Unless you personally know the Alpha of another pack that you can move into, you can't just up and join a new pack. The process is stressful. Investigation into your past and private life. Different elders interview to ask questions about the reason why you're being rejected by your old pack and to determine if they are willing to accept you into their pack.
After you've already been cleared by the pack then it's different council appointments to get your old pack name and recognition that was already attached to the council registry, your birth certificate and identity card removed and replaced with the new one. The process goes on and on...
The worst is, you will not be given the rank you were in your old pack. A Beta of one pack could end up being an Omega in his new pack, to be demeaned and degraded by those who are lesser than him. Since they can't live in the human land without going through a more arduous procedure in the hands of the human government, this reasons are why some werewolves would resort to being rogue, especially if they were declared persona non grata in their old pack.
"Please tell me, when was the last time the pack was patrolled?" I ask him.
His face immediately lit up since he considers my question an easy one
"Every day. No day goes by without the patrol team doing their jobs." He replies a bit smugly
I nod and say
"You can sit,"
I then turn to Eric, mind linking him to play the slide show of the destroyed fence.
The first photo that shows on the screen is of the fence when it was newly erected.
"I need not ask if anyone recognizes this photo, need I?" I ask and they shake their heads
"That's the border fence." Somebody says from amongst them. I can't see the person. It's as if they don't want to get noticed and picked out by the evil Alpha.
'Eric, the next picture.' I say again through the mind link and the photo on the screen changed to the one of the damaged fences.
They all gasped...
"Ohh, this is terrible!..."
"Oh! Who could have done that!?..."
"Oh, goddess! What happened!?"
As they exclaim, I watch their facial expressions. Apart from Victoria who had seen the pictures of the damaged fence before, the rest of them indeed looked appalled by the state that the fence is now in.
"So Sylvester..." I call him again, "If no day goes by without the patrol team doing their jobs then what the hell happened to the fence!? How come this happened and none of you, members of the patrol team noticed on time!?"