We sat in silence for a moment and listened to the sounds of everyone filing back into the den. From the ones I had met, the wolves seemed good and friendly by nature. They weren't inherently evil.
"Since you don't think they were involved, isn't there any way to make them realize it wasn't their fault?" I finally asked him. "Parents guide their children, but they shouldn't be held responsible for every choice their child makes. Would they listen if you told them that? If you openly told them you forgave them would they accept it? Would the rest of the pack accept it?"
"Yes," he said pensively, "but I have not done that."
"Because?" I questioned.
"I was angry, I am angry that they raised children that would do this to me and mine," he said hotly. His eyes had taken on an eerie glow.
I chose to ignore the fact his wolf was surfacing. I gambled that neither the wolf nor the man would hurt me. "Anger will only eat at you. It's time to make a choice. The families are innocent or guilty. If they are innocent then grant them forgiveness and move on. If they are guilty then kill them or cast them out."
I took a breath and continued. He wasn't going to like my opinion. "At this point you haven't made a different choice than your father made. They are killing themselves and casting themselves out of your pack. It seems like they've already determined where your opinion lies. You've just forced them to do the work."
I sat silently and drank my cooling tea. Joel hadn't moved a muscle; he just stared at the floor. I shifted a little on the chair underneath me and wondered if I should clean it off when I moved.
"We should go to bed," he said softly. "Tomorrow will be a busy day."
Most of the pack was still out and about as we made our way toward the staircase. They all seemed to note which direction Joel was going. It struck me that they weren't going to bed until the Alpha went to bed. Everything he did, every decision he made was reinforced and reflected by the pack.
"Damn it woman," he said softly and then turned on the stairs so he faced out over the main floor.
"Bring me the families of the traitors," he boomed out.
We stood half way up the first flight of stairs and waited. I tried not to move around and Joel just stood staring out across the wolves. I noticed the pack was gathering to watch this latest drama unfold.
I couldn't get over how uncomfortable I was right now. Not a scrap of clothing standing in front of this massive group of people. They crowded the main floor and lined the stairs going all the way up to the third floor. This made the night he introduced me to them look like a breeze.
A small group of people were ushered in front of Joel on the main floor. Everyone that had been at the party was still walking around naked as the day they were born. The people that walked in front of us were all fully clothed and shivering.
"Your children are a disgrace," Joel said in a low commanding voice. "When the remainder are found, they will be torn to shreds for their crimes."
He took a breath, as though steeling himself, and continued. "My mate and I find the rest of you blameless for their actions. You did the best you could and should not be held accountable for the actions of your grown children. If you wish to leave this pack, I will allow it, but I do not want for any of you to go. Your family is here and this is where you should remain. Come here," he ordered waving them toward us.
The families of the rogue wolves climbed the steps quickly. As they got closer, I had a chance to appreciate how worn they all looked. Joel leaned down touched each one of them; a handshake to some or a pat on the shoulder to others.
The first man bowed to me, but didn't try and touch me. Wolves like to touch, I knew that much. I reached out and stroked his arm. As each one passed I reached out and stroked them. Several leaned into my touch and the last tentative female reached out her fingers to me. I squeezed her hand gently in reassurance.
Once they were done and walking away Joel led us the rest of the way up the steps. I snuck a glance back down and saw them surrounded by pack. Everyone seemed to be caressing them soothingly.
"They are forgiven," he said. "The pack will accept them again."
Nothing else was said between us until we reached our suites. The guard outside nodded as we passed him. "It is done, my Alpha," the man said, "the bedding is all new."
We walked into the rooms and walked quickly toward the bedroom. The bed looked like it always did. I knew I was being really immature, but if that was the same bed I'd sleep on the couch.
"It is new," Joel told me.
I looked questioningly at him, "I don't doubt you if you say so, but where do you keep extra beds? And why do you keep them? That seems a little strange."
"After everything you've seen, that seems strange?" he laughed. "We are very rough on bedding. The pack keeps a supply of extra mattresses in stock. Our claws can rip through the material before we've noticed we've done it."
"I've never seen you rip anything in the bed," I said thinking back.
"I have had to be remarkably careful. I didn't want to harm you accidentally in a moment of passion," he said.
"Can you grow just your claws?" I asked him.
Holding up a hand, daggers grew from the ends of his fingers. Tentatively, I touched them. They were hard as any metal and sharp.
"Mine will be like this also?" I asked him.
He nodded and continued to watch as I explored his new anatomy.
"Can you shift for me?" I asked.
With a few pops and a light growl the wolf man was standing in front of me. He let me explore him to my heart's content.
I started to yawn and Joel shifted back into his human form.
"You need to sleep, mate. Neither of us did that last night," he said nudging me toward the bed.
Whoever had remade the bed had put a bunch of white decorative pillows on it. I crawled up and started to toss them off. Against the white linen, I looked filthy. My knees were grass stained. The rest of me was scuffed and dirty. I shuddered at how bad my hair must look, probably full of twigs and knotted.
"Okay, bed in a minute," I told Joel heading off the other side for the bathroom, "I'm showering."
"I like the way you smell as you are now," he said moving to stand in my way. "I don't want you to bathe."
Breathing deep, I held onto my temper. The obsession with how I smelled was so annoying and the arrogant bossy Alpha routine really got under my skin.
"Compromise with me Joel. I have no intention of climbing into that beautiful clean bed as dirty as I am right now," I said watching his eyes.
We stood in a deadlock for several moments before he relented.
"They could have just washed the sheets," he told me as he cuddled me later.
"I like to be clean, get used to it," I yawned slipping toward sleep.
"Wolves aren't as obsessed with it as you are, that will change," he said.
I didn't have the energy to argue with him about it, but I hoped I wouldn't change that much.
I woke up the next morning to the smell of fresh bacon assaulting my senses. I dressed in our rooms and Joel directed me to the main sitting area where a feast had been laid out for us.
I woke up as I ate and watched Joel busily move around our suite. There was a constant stream of people coming to the door and he directed them succinctly on what sounded like tasks. Eventually, Joel sat down next to me and started to eat.
Our conversation soon turned to the changing ceremony tonight. He explained that he would be leaving me at nightfall. I would have to come to the circle on my own when the moon was high to meet him. I must have looked confused because he rolled his eyes and told me eleven o' clock.
"What exactly will the ceremony entail?" I asked trying not to cringe. I had a pretty good idea.
"We will have sex, as I'm sure you already know," he said watching me.
"Right, we've done that before and I'm not a werewolf," I answered him.
"I will bite you during your climax. I will intend for my bite to infect you, much as I intended my first bite to mate us," he said.
Chewing nervously on some toast I avoided asking anymore about the actual ceremony. I was freaking out enough as it was. "What do I wear?" I asked him instead.
"Something easy to get out of," he said suggestively.
"Like what," I asked, "a robe?"
After much discussion the right outfit was chosen. The hot pink halter top and pre ripped jeans Joel pulled out of the closet I found unusual attire. It wasn't an outfit I'd ever have chosen to wear anywhere and it certainly wasn't something he liked. In addition, I had assumed the occasion was more somber.
I dressed myself for the day in a simple skirt and blouse. This outfit I felt comfortable in. Why couldn't I wear something like this tonight? I shrugged off the sense I was missing something.
Joel's mood was odd the rest of the day. He looked at me like I was something to eat. By the pack's tradition he wasn't allowed to have sex with me. That obviously didn't mean he couldn't kiss me senseless in the bathroom or corner me in his office for a grope session.
"Do you mind?!" I asked him, pushing my shirt back down over my breasts.
"Do you?" he asked nuzzling my neck.
I felt his hands slip over my ass as he ground us together, breathing heavy in my ear. He groaned as Nate called him into the main room.
"I can't wait for tonight, love," he said grinning as he strolled out of the office. I felt uncomfortable, something was definitely going on.
Despite my uneasy feeling the day passed quickly and the sun was soon setting. Joel stripped naked and left our suites amid much howling. I watched from the window as he ran as a wolf into the forest with a large number of the male wolves behind him. He had told me they had rituals they preformed before I got to the circle.