Chapter 137

Charles

Charles let the relief settle over me as she met my gaze, steady, and a bit of that fear faded a little. She was listening, thinking, and planning, not just reacting.

"Annex their packs," I said.

She frowned. "What?"

"You need to increase your land stake, and Mooncrest doesn't necessarily have the infrastructure to handle that large of an influx just yet. You could control the movement and screen people as needed through the formal transfer process in your own time."

Her eyes flickered to the maps on the wall. She frowned and bit her lip. "It's a good compromise," Eason said. "I'm still combing through the data to figure out the Mooncrest landstake.... I'd be farther along if someone wasn't watching me like a hawk."

"Listen to George for your health."

Eason scoffed, and I grinned.

"Or you could keep pushing buttons if you'd like to be bent over something sooner rather than later."

"He already said spanking is off the table until I put on some more weight. No go."

I laughed as Grace shook her head, and Amira smirked. I leaned toward the conference's speaker phone.

"Eat and rest a bit. You probably got up and started working before you'd even eaten."

"Please, Eason?" Grace asked. "Take... an early lunch or something. A brunch break."

"Fine," Eason groused. "I will play the part of an invalid."

Just as I was about to hang up the call, a sharp knock on the door came.

"Come in," Grace called.

The Mooncrest pack lawyer came in looking ready for battle, and Grace tightened her grip on my hand as I was certain this meeting was about to get a lot more complicated.

"What's wrong?" Grace asked.

"Other than those idiots at the patent office? Our own fucking president has completely cut me out of the prosecution of the WSU leader?" He snarled. "At this rate, only the one whisked away to lycan custody is going to actually be punished."

I suppressed a smile at the thoughts as Grace shook her head.

"What do you mean? They attacked Mooncrest."

"Apparently, given the importance of Mooncrest to the States, it has to be handled at the Federal level, and we don't get any part of the sentencing. Whatever reparations will be levied will be given to the States Treasury."

Grace's jaw dropped. "And what about the damage that's been caused? The pack? The bus and the halt of business because of the threat?"

She growled. I could feel her anger boiling over, and understandably so. She'd just declared this monumental challenge, and it was clear that the Alpha President's actions were designed to hinder her progress.

She tapped her fingers on the edge of the table.

"What can we do about it?" She asked. "There has to be something to be done to make sure that they don't just sweep it under the rug as some sort of circumstantial evidence fuck up."

I sat back, considering it as the pack lawyer started to rant about trying to sue the government for mishandling the case. It was times like this that I remembered how fucked up the States really were and why my father made sure I knew enough about the ins and outs of the law to know what cards to play against the Alpha President.

"I can't believe this. They don't send us aid, practically send a terrorist to our door, and now they're basically telling me that I can't take legal action against him!"

"I'll add it to the agenda."

Grace turned to look at me, frowning. "What agenda?"

I smiled and leaned close. "I have a meeting in a few days."

Her eyes widened. It was as if she just now remembered that other than being her lover and business advisor, I ran a whole country.

"I'll make the issues known."

She nodded slowly. "Be careful."

I smiled. "I always am. For now, you focus on your path to the Senate and what impact you want to make."

Grace went still. She glanced at the rest of the room before turning to the pack lawyer.

"Could you look into anything that can be done? Fines, fees, penalties, reparations we can definitely apply or sue for, at least to cover the damage to the city property and the injuries to the citizens?"

He nodded stiffly. Then, she looked at Amira. "Could you give us a minute alone?"

Amira gave her a small smile and then nodded. They left us alone, and Eason disconnected the line. The silence was almost deafening as she turned to look at me.

She squeezed my hands.

"I feel like an idiot."

"You're not," I said. "Talk to me."

"Eason is... so fucking brilliant. Part of me wonders if he could have plotted his way out of Kalen's custody given a little time."

I chuckled. "Well... He would have killed him if I hadn't stepped in. Does that count?"

"Definitely... He told me he thinks I have this in the bag. That I'm the only one who doesn't see it. I want to see it."

She glanced at me. "I want to see myself the way you do... The way Eason seems to have seen me for years."

I smiled wryly. "If you saw yourself the way I did, I don't think we'd be sleeping together for very much longer."

She scowled and swatted me. I laughed, tugging her around to face me.

"You're nervous because...?"

"I don't know how I can go from... the ex-wife drowning in debt to Senator."

I smiled and tipped her chin up. "One decision at a time."

"And if I fuck up?"

"Fix it."

"And if I can't?"

"Make a better mistake next time."

She narrowed her eyes. "It can't be that simple."

"At the heart of it, leadership is literally trying to make the best decision you can. If you get trapped agonizing over every mistake and possible mistake, you'll never make a decision."

She bit her lip.

"I hate that I can see the plan coming together, workshop with Eason, read and understand it, and I still can't... believe in it."

"It's far outside your comfort zone. That takes some adjustment, but you have to be open to adjusting."

"I want to be."

"That's about half the battle." I pressed a kiss to her hand. "Let me see this plan of yours, hm?"

She pulled out a stack of papers. I took them and began to read through them, my brow furrowing as I absorbed the details of her plan. While reading, I asked her about the highlights and notes in her handwriting, and it seemed like she was unsure.

A lot of it was just knowledge-based. She didn't feel like she knew enough to answer the questions or come up with a plan. It was a bit agonizing to realize how little she really knew about how the States worked, how an economy worked, how to build something. I had to wonder if her father had never taught her anything or if she was blocking out in her fear of making a bad decision.

The bottom line was that she still didn't trust herself.

I set the pages down. "It's a solid base plan. You'll need some numbers to fill in some gaps, but it's solid."

Grace nodded slowly but still seemed unsure. "It's a huge leap from barely leading the pack to being a member of the Senate. And I'm still just... waiting for Alpha Shadow to refuse it. A voice in my head keeps telling me that it doesn't matter since Alpha Shadow hasn't accepted it, even though I have this other mark."

I frowned. "Another one?"

She nodded. "I don't know what it means."

"You're sure it's not the same?"

"I'm sure."

I frowned. "Let me see it."

She held out her hand. I reached out and gently turned her arm and lifted her sleeve, reading it. I bit my lip, wondering what to tell her. There were definitely two marks. The one closer to her wrist was faint, but I could tell it was between her and Alpha Shadow. As I thought, Alpha Shadow was a member of the Noir coven, but I couldn't read his real name from it.

As I examined the challenge mark on Grace's arm, I could sense her unease. The second one was bold, clear, and utterly irrefutable.

"You want the easy or the hard news first?"

"Easy."

I smiled. "There are definitely two. The faint one is Alpha Shadows. He's from the Noir cover, but I can't make out his name."

"You can... read it?"

I nodded. "It's a witch thing. You used a witch's honor challenge format to call him out, very similar to a werewolf one, but it's the witch's honor challenge protocol that makes the marks." I drew my fingertips over the dark lines.

"So, what's the hard news?"

"The second is from Mooncrest, the citizens of Mooncrest. It does not require you to become a senator, but it requires you to fulfill the underlying promise: to make amends for your mistakes and prove that you've changed."

"How is that the hard news?" She asked, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Because the people have already told you what they would accept as amends, as a sign that you've changed. That might not be achieving the goal, but it will entail making a damn good go of it."

She looked uncomfortable, and I braced myself to tell her the rest of the truth.

"And there's the matter of Alpha Shadow."

"What about him?"

"It won't be long before Alpha Shadow accepts."

Her eyes widened. "Why?"

"Because he won't be able to do any magic or operate as he would until then."

Then, the phone rang, and Grace gasped. I looked down as her wrist grew warm in my hand, and the challenge circle began to fill in, revealing Alpha Shadow's name and the full terms of the challenge.

I lifted my gaze, taking in Grace's pale face and the fear in her eyes.

Amira came running in. "Alpha Shadow--"

"Accepted," I said softly. "We know."