Just a Wolf

Beta Nolan

I want to make sure to get to the conference room early, to be all set up before Alpha Ross and the others arrive. Evan is carrying a box full of the binders that we have prepared with the presentation we will be making to River Moon, with the details for our proposed alliance.

We enter the room, and see that the long, shining table has been prepared for the meeting. There are a dozen comfortable swivel chairs arranged along the table, with pitchers of water and cups set at convenient intervals. Coffee, tea and pastries are arranged along a counter at the side of the room. In front of each chair at the table, the place is set with a pad of paper and a pen. I’m glad to see that they seem to be taking this meeting as seriously as we are.

I have Evan laying one of the presentation binders at each place, while I sit and study it one last time. Ross is relying on me to make the presentation, and I want to make sure that I have everything clear, and am able to answer any questions that their Beta and Gamma might have.

I don’t know whether it is unfortunate or not that their Alpha cannot be here. Apparently he delegated full authority to his Beta, and presumably he will approve any settlement that we are able to reach. I know that Alpha Kanen will be floating on air when he returns. I doubt that anything we can do would ruin his happiness with Janine. With his Luna.

Alpha Ross arrives just as Evan finishes setting up all the binders, and I see that Darlene has come as well. I wasn’t sure whether she was planning to attend, but I am glad to see her. She may have insight that the men might not possess. “Luna,” I greet her, inclining my head.

“Hello Nolan,” she smiles at me, holding hands with Ross.

At exactly 10 a.m., the time scheduled for the meeting, the door opens and River Moon’s Beta and Gamma arrive, with the Beta’s assistant, Theo. Ross greets them, and we shake hands with each other, even though we had all met last night. Ross says, “Thanks for arranging the meeting, we have a lot to talk about. Our Gamma is back at home, overseeing things there, but hopefully you’ll get the chance to meet him soon.”

The seven of us sit down at one end of the table, and I notice Gamma Michael glancing at the door, his brow furrowed. “My assistant will be joining us shortly,” he says, “but there is no need to wait.”

Ross looks at me and nods, so I begin. “We’ve put together these alliance proposals,” I say, indicating the binder in front of me, “and if you’ll indulge me I’d like to start with the summary of the main points on page 1.” I open up my binder, and the others follow suit.

We’ve put so much thought into this. How to share territory, exchange personnel, coordinate our business interests, allocate finances, launch new enterprises together, meet for fitness and combat training, arrange for mutual security and protection.

A few minutes into the meeting, the door opens again, and a young woman rushes in, her face flushed, clutching a couple of notebooks of her own. She looks at Michael with wide eyes, and says, “I am so sorry for being late!” She quickly takes her seat by his side, and I notice she and Theo exchanging a glance.

Michael says, probably hiding his annoyance at her tardiness, “This is my assistant Amelia,” and I nod my head at her.

“This is Alpha Ross and Luna Darlene,” I introduce to her, “I am Beta Nolan, and this is my assistant Evan.”

She is flustered and embarrassed to be late, I see. Darlene smiles at her, and kindly says, “Nice to meet you Amelia.” Then probably in an effort to take the attention off of the poor girl, Darlene turns back to me and says, “You were saying, Nolan?”

I get back to the presentation, everyone following along, page by page, as we work our way through the proposal. I am very encouraged by how carefully Malcolm and Michael are listening, and by their generally positive comments. There are several interruptions for questions and clarification, and I am a little amused when some of these are made by Amelia. I’m impressed though - she looks very young, but some of the points she makes are very cogent. I make some notes in my binder to add some of her suggestions.

It takes a couple of hours to get through the book, covering each topic briefly. Alpha Ross suggests, “This looks like a good place to take a break. How about we get some lunch?”

Beta Malcolm says, “Of course. I’ve requested the kitchen to provide sandwiches, they will be arriving shortly.”

“Perfect,” Ross replies, and everyone gets up to stretch, visit the nearby bathroom, or wander out onto the adjoining patio.

I am extremely pleased by how things are going so far. Ross tilts his head at me, inviting me out onto the patio with he and Darlene, and I follow them out, to strategize about the next step. I’m pleased when Malcolm and Michael join us, to continue our conversation.

Evan

When Dominic’s cute blonde comes dashing in, I’m surprised. I had no idea that she was the Gamma’s assistant. We basically have the same job. I’m struck again by how adorable she is. I can definitely tell what he sees in her. She’s got honey blond hair, and bright blue eyes, and a smashing figure, skinny in some places, curvy in others, all in exactly the best proportions.

And I think I know exactly why she’s late. I saw her leave with him from breakfast to take him to the garage. They’ve been out there necking, I’d bet. She has a flaming blush on her cheeks, and I don’t think it is just from embarrassment over being tardy.

Ha!

I’m looking forward to getting acquainted with her. Honestly, since we’re going to spend the whole day in this meeting, chances are I’ll know her better than I do Dominic. I barely spent any time with him last night, since he spent the whole night out, presumably someplace with her.

I am really surprised the first time that she asks Nolan if she can ask a question. I wonder what a cute little girl like her might have to contribute. He’s talking about some pretty complicated stuff, business mergers. It’s a little over my head. The two packs have a lot of profitable businesses, real estate, logging, manufacturing and investing being the primary ones. Our proposal talks about non-compete clauses, so that we won’t get in the way of each other’s customer base and profitability.

But she asks, “Can I suggest that for some of the businesses, especially the real estate and logging, since they are so geographically focused, we combine them rather than running them side by side? We could establish common management, maybe with River Moon running the real estate, and Dark Woods running the logging? You have more extensive forest areas there, and we are closer to urban areas here. We could work out profit sharing, but it might be more efficient to coordinate management rather than duplicating efforts.”

Ross and Nolan both raise their eyebrows, glance at each other, and nod. “Good suggestion,” Ross says, and Nolan takes some notes in his binder. I see her Gamma nod at her approvingly, and she smiles and looks down at her notes.

Well, damn! So much for the stereotype of dumb blondes.

By the time we break for lunch, she has impressed everybody here, I’m sure. Does Dominic have any idea how brainy she is? I wonder how he’d look past her cute face to even find out.

The leaders head out to the patio to talk, and us assistants stay in here. “I’m Theo,” says the Beta’s assistant, holding out his hand. We shake, and I turn to Amelia.

“I’m Evan,” I tell her. “I’m Dominic’s roommate here,” I grin, and I see from her widening eyes and renewed blush that she knows exactly what I mean by that. I know where he spent the night last night, and it wasn’t in our room. But she just smoothly holds out her hand to shake mine.

“Nice to meet you,” she smiles as I take her slender hand in mine. She has a firm grip, surprising with such delicate fingers, and man does it feel nice inside my hand.

I think I’m jealous of Dominic. I wonder, though. I mean, they literally met like eighteen hours ago. She hasn’t spent time with any of the rest of our pack. Who knows? Maybe she’d like to explore her options a little more?