What We Left Unsaid

“You might want to sit down for this.”

The large man let out a chuckle at the insinuation, shaking his head and arching an eyebrow in his friend’s direction. He wasn’t oblivious to the solemn look on the older man’s face, but there was really very little that could truly upset him at the moment, given the circumstances. His hazel gaze shifted to the redheaded woman who had moved to close the door, inhaling her slightly-musky vanilla scent and feeling calmer than ever. He sent a telling look in his friend’s direction, dimples evident in the quick flash of a grin he wore.

“I don’t believe I gave you my congratulations when they were due; I’m glad to see you happy,” the older man offered, allowing his expression to slip quickly into a sad smile, unable to muster up something more fitting. He caught his friend’s look, and of course had caught the smell, but given the weight of the information he was carrying, he couldn’t be overly excited for his friend at the moment. “Really, Matt, I think you should sit down and take a few deep breaths before I start.”

The tattooed man arched another eyebrow, but dropped onto the sofa as suggested, more to appease his guest than to actually protect himself from feeling weak in the future. As the woman settled down onto the seat beside him, Matt gestured to the open seating across from him, but the older man only shook his head. “Alright, Larry, you’re starting to get on my nerves with all of this build up,” he said with a far-from-annoyed smile. “You say you bring news from the Council? Let’s hear it, then; I’m sure it’s nothing we can’t handle.”

The man let out a quick bark of a laugh, reaching a hand up to run through his short hair before sending another weak smile in the couple’s direction. “You know the pack of rogues that have been cropping up in the area recently? Seems they want more than to just be a thorn in everyone’s sides. They have their eyes on the territory.”

The vocalist’s light attitude and confident smile dimmed a bit, but he remained in a good mood as he nodded his head once in acknowledgement. With a broad sweep of his arms, he gestured to the whole of the territory, allowing one of his arms to drop down on the back of the sofa and the shoulders of the woman beside him. “Let them try to claim it; we’re always up for a good fight.”

Larry frowned, leaning forward against the back of the large chair that rested between him and the couple before him, his grip on the leather material flexing as he tried to decide how to handle the situation. “They’ve petitioned the Council, Matt.”

The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed, as the burly man tensed, his hazel eyes looking harder than steel as he glared in the direction of his friend. “If you’re telling me that the Council granted them our territory, I swear...”

“No, the Council hasn’t done anything of that nature. They sympathize with your claims to the land, don’t worry,” he assured them, taking in a deep breath and really trying to decide how to break the next part of the news to them. “However, they cannot dismiss a petition by a legitimate competitor without a legitimate pack already established.”

If looks could have killed, Larry Jacobson would have been a dead man. Matt was positively fuming at the revelation. “He hasn’t even been dead a year, damn it!” he roared, shifting so that he was suddenly standing, fists clenched tightly at his side. Anger caused his heart rate to quicken and quick shivers of power to fly down his body, but a soft hand suddenly covered his fist, reminding him that he couldn’t give into the rage, not completely. Taking a deep breath, letting that sweet, sweet vanilla scent waft over him, and focusing on the warmth that flowed from his mate’s small hand, he dropped back onto the sofa, refocusing. When he opened his eyes again, there was still anger in them, but it was much more controlled. “Our Beta, our brother, hasn’t been dead a year, and you expect us to replace him?”

The older man flinched at the cool hatred in the tone, his gaze instantly dropping away from the alpha and to the carpeted floor. His fingers flexed against the leather again, this time out of anxiety. “I don’t expect you to be able to do anything but mourn him and honor him, Matt. I don’t even know how you’ve managed to go on with your life. I know how much he meant to you -- means to you -- because he meant a great deal to me, too. I wasn’t nearly as close to him as you were, but I thought of him as a son of sorts, and I lost him too,” he said softly, stealing a glance upwards but quickly looking back down from the sight of the still-very-tense man before him. “Look, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t be telling you this at all, but you need to know, because you need to make a decision. The Council has decided that you’ve had enough time to establish your hierarchy, and they’ll ignore the petition until the full moon, but after that point, they will have to act as precedent demands... Don’t think of it as replacing him, because you’re not, no one can, but you do need to figure out who will succeed him.”

Matt processed that information, nodding once to show he’d heard it, before taking several moments to think everything over. He could feel his mate’s gaze on him, and he knew the questions that were on her mind, but he much appreciated her silence, her understanding that he needed a few moments before he could answer her questions. Letting his gaze flicker up to his friend, he gave another nod, this one more concrete, more deliberate in its motions. “Tell them it will be done.”

The older man gave a polite nod, feeling as though smiling at his small victory wouldn’t have been appropriate, given the circumstances. “I truly am sorry that this whole thing has been forced on you guys. If it weren’t for these rogues, I imagine you could have had all the time you need.” And, with that, he slipped out of the room, knowing there was no place for him in the conversation that was destined to follow.

“Come here, Kitten,” the large man murmured once the sound of retreating footsteps had faded. He shifted, pulling the smaller woman into his arms and allowing her to sit facing him on his lap, her legs curling comfortably around his waist.

She said nothing as she pressed a quick but meaningful kiss to his lips, her hands reaching up to frame his face. When he sighed, his hazel eyes seeming to search hers for the answer to his problem, even though he knew she didn’t even understand the problem, she only traced her fingers back through his short hair, the motions more than soothing to him.

“I’ve told you about the Council before,” he started, leaning forward so that his forehead rested against hers, his eyes drooping shut as he sighed once again, “but I didn’t explain everything fully. The Council gets to decide which pack has legitimate claims to any land. They don’t usually intervene, mostly just dealing with issues of establishing unclaimed territory, and they don’t give away another pack’s lands just because someone asked for it. However, the territory isn’t officially claimed if there isn’t, as they put it, an ‘established hierarchy’. Four members minimum -- mated alpha and beta pairs. We don’t exactly fit that mold.”

He paused in his explanation, blinking open his hazel eyes to give a soft smile up to his mate, though with their proximity she might not have even been able to see it. Leaning back so that he could take her whole face into view, he continued, answering the question he knew she was most interested in at the moment.

“They told us this five or so years ago when they found out about our existence -- we hadn’t known about the Council’s rules before they contacted us -- and they gave us an indefinite deadline of ‘soon’. Larry told us that meant within the year, but when we never heard from them again on the matter, we just didn’t get around to it, didn’t see the need. None of us felt the need to settle down and take a mate, Jimmy and I included. If he hadn’t died... well, I suppose both he and I would have needed to start searching.” He inhaled deeply, a mischievous twinkle appearing in his eye suddenly, and before his mate even had the time to register what was about to happen, he had them flipped on the sofa, so that her body was sandwiched between his and the plush seats. He grinned down at the woman beneath him, pressing a brief kiss to her collarbone. “Luckily for me, I don’t have to search very far.”

The woman squealed softly as her mate’s hands found their way up and down her sides, squeezing lightly in all of the places he knew would drive her crazy. She slapped at his wrists, desperately trying to contain the giggles she knew were about to burst, before pressing her lips up to his in a successful attempt to still him. When she pulled away, she sent him a small smile. “So, who will be doing the searching, then?” she finally asked, gently prodding him into thinking about the issue at hand. “There’s barely a week until the full moon, none of the others even have a female in their sights, and you know Zacky and Brian won’t sort this out themselves. Who’s it going to be?”

Matt knew she was right, and admitted so with a quick nod, before he burst into laughter. “Oh, Zack’s in for a rude awakening, all right.”