Chapter Six

Seth

Minos wants to meet with me. With us. All of us.

The plan is to meet at Talia"s place this week. She"s due any second and whatever needs to happen apparently needs to be discussed before she goes into labor. I think it"s in poor taste to impose upon an omega this far along in her pregnancy, but Talia says it"s alright as long as Minos and his pack, if they come with him, stay in the front room. My pack will arrive before Minos and will provide an additional physical buffer between him and Talia and her children. It isn"t that any of us think Minos is a bad guy. It"s that she"s about to have a baby and he has no business being in her home, temporary as it may be. It"s in poor taste.

It"s getting easier to say things like my pack. It"s been so long since I"ve said those words, and even when I said them before they weren"t right. Jay and Derek were technically my pack, but it never felt right. Desir"ee and the twins feel right. They feel perfect. I never thought I"d have this after everything I"ve done. I don"t deserve them, but I"ll do whatever I need to do to keep them.

And she wants to have kids with me. She really does. Ten or twelve, depending on the conversation. Michael and Ben want us to all have kids. They want little red-haired kids with freckles as much as they want their own biological children. I didn"t think I"d ever, ever have kids. I"m terrified. Completely and utterly terrified.

We stop for more roadside flowers on the way. Michael isn"t a jackass and I don"t fall down the hill this time. We end up with more greenery than actual blooms but Desir"ee says it"s perfect. Talia puts them in a jar as soon as Ben hands them to her, inviting him to take advantage of the cookies on the counter.

I didn"t see Talia at the end of her pregnancy with the triplets. Looking at her now, I"m kind of glad. I"m already anxious about her with one, I"d be a nervous fucking wreck if I was around for the triplets. And they"re not even my kids. If I'm this worried over a baby that isn't mine, I don't think I'll make it through one of Desir'ee's pregnancies, much less twelve of them.

"What are you thinking about?" Desir"ee wraps her arms around my waist from behind and presses against me.

"Is Talia alright?"

"She"s exactly how she should be right now. Why?"

"I was just asking."

"You were just worrying." She spins me around to look at her. "Talia is just fine, Seth. She"s perfect. This meeting isn"t ideal for her pregnancy, but she"s got a plan in case she starts feeling like she needs to step away. She"s not really worried about Minos, and she knows we"re here as an additional support and line of protection. We"ll do everything we can to get this meeting over with so we can all get out of her space. Everything"s going to be alright." She reaches up to cup my cheek and I lean into the touch.

"Thank you."

"And you can tell me what else you"re worrying about when we get home."

Home. I haven"t had a real home that was mine since I was a kid. The compound I moved to with Jay and Derek was exactly that. A compound. Cold. Functional. Not a home. The house with Desir"ee and the twins is a home, though; and now it"s mine.

"They"re here," Reid announces and takes up his position beside the chair Talia is perched on the edge of. The stairs that lead to the upper rooms are right behind her chair. If anything happens or she needs to leave, Reid is going to get her upstairs and Alex and Trent will block the way. Everyone else is scattered around the room in such a way that will keep Minos and his pack near the front door. He"ll understand that it"s a precaution and not a slight.

Minos only has his omega with him and it immediately eases some of the tension in the room.

"We thought it would make Missus Nattier more comfortable if we all didn"t come," Minos smiles. "I couldn"t convince Mallory to stay home, though. She wanted to bring a gift for the baby and the other children. We hope that"s alright?"

"It"s perfectly alright," Corso answers, and gives Mallory one of his warmest smiles as he takes the gift bag from her. "Thank you very much. I will make sure the children get this when they wake from their nap."

"Maybe next time I"ll get to meet them." Mallory says hopefully and takes a seat next to Minos on the small couch near the front door.

After a moment of everyone kind of looking around at each other, Michael clears his throat. "Well, not to be rude, but Talia is going to burst any second and she"d really rather all of us not be here for that. What are we meeting about?"

A few people laugh, but I"m not one of them. I"m glad Michael and Ben have fun senses of humor and are good at making people feel at ease because I"m not all that capable of either of those things.

Minos takes another look around at the other alphas in the room, lingering on Devon, Corso, and me. "Alpha Johnson is a cornerstone of the East Coast Council, and from my understanding Alpha Zaphir is helping to manage Seth"s seat until he"s ready to take it on fully."

We glance at each other and nod. I give a quick look at Kaleb. I don"t like this. I don"t like that he"s calling attention to my seat. Kaleb just raises a brow and shrugs. Great.

"What if," Minos continues, focusing his attention on Corso, then me. "What if Alpha Zaphir kept your seat in part and you took one of the recently vacant seats on the WCC? What if you split your time between the councils and the territories? You have ties to the East Coast and your pack has deep familial ties to the West Coast. The territories weaken themselves by staying separate. What if we worked together, in unity?"

I can almost pick out individual breaths in the silence that drops into the room after all those what if"s.

Corso tucks his hair behind his ears and licks his lips. "What if that goes directly against the goal we set when I took the temporary place on the council?"

"Plans and goals can change," Minos says. "We could accomplish so much more if we joined together on a few fronts. If Seth had a seat on both councils we could work together on the same issues. We could fight the rogue organization with more totality. Think of the information we could gather and share. Think of the operations and supports we could put into place. Think of how such unification and cooperation could impact our society. We could accomplish so much more good together than separate."

My head starts swimming and I start to get that hot-cold feeling I get sometimes before an anxiety attack. I"m not ready for one council seat, much less two. I can"t do this. They can"t expect me to do it. He asked me and I haven"t given an answer because it scares me to death. Now he"s sitting here asking all of us.

When no one answers him immediately, he continues. "I don"t mean to cause unnecessary stress, I just really believe this is the way to a better future to all of us." He turns back to me. "Have you given any thought to whether your pack will stay on the West Coast or relocate East? You must have. If you have a dual council seat, you could have two homes. Desir"ee, Ben, and Michael wouldn"t need to completely uproot themselves and neither would you."

I look first at Michael, then Ben, then Desir"ee. They"re all waiting for me to decide. I shake my head. "I don"t know if I can handle that amount of pressure. I haven"t even taken my seat back from Corso and you want me to manage two? I can"t be responsible for two council seats in two different territories. If I fuck up... I can't ever fuck up. Kaleb, Devon, tell him. Tell him this is a bad idea."

They look at each other and come to one of those silent agreements. And neither of them tells Minos it"s a bad idea. In fact, Devon does the exact opposite.

"That could work for us. If Seth has a seat on both councils, it would make it so much easier to share and verify information. And it really would eliminate a large amount of the distrust between the territories. But that would mean," he trails off and meets Corso"s gaze.

Corso tucks his hair again and reaches for Talia"s hand. She kisses his knuckles and he sighs. "I was not prepared to have a permanent seat on any council, Alpha Minos. I have always wanted a simple life, but Seth needed me to step in so I did. It"s what we do for each other."

"But you"re so good at it, Corso," Jasper interrupts. "You really are. You"re perfect for a council seat."

Corso smiles at Jasper and shakes his head. "Being good at something and wanting to spend your time doing it are two different things. I want to run the distillery and be home with my family. Devon being on the council is hard enough."

"But," Jasper interrupts again, "right now, temporarily or not, you hold the seat in its entirety. You carry all the weight of it all the time. If Seth has a dual seat, you would only have part of the weight."

"But Seth would have all of it, peaches," Alex cuts in. "He"d be going from no seat to two and moving back and forth between the garage and the twins" house. That"s a big change for him."

Sweat breaks out on my back and I drag my hand down my face.

"They can"t live in the garage," Jasper says, completely sidetracking the conversation. "That place is big enough for Seth but that"s it. I"ve been thinking and I already talked about it with Devon. You should move into the farmhouse, Seth. It"s on a pretty piece of land and it"s not too far from us. You could make that your new home. What do you think?"

My anxiety dissipates as I let it sink in that Jasper is offering me his first home with his pack, and that he seems genuinely happy about it. I"ve been secretly worried about living away from Talia"s pack. I"ve grown to depend on their presence more than I have any right to, but they feel like home. The farmhouse would at least smell like them, even if it"s farther away than I wanted to be.

Desir"ee links her fingers with mine and smiles at Jasper. "A farmhouse sounds wonderful. How far away is it from your pack?"

"About three hours, depending on who drives," he smirks.

"Oh," Desir"ee looks from Jasper to me. "That"s not that far. Just a few miles away."

Corso hums. "I"ve been thinking about it, as well. The farmhouse would be perfect for them, and it really is only a few hours away. But, and this is completely selfish of me, I was hoping I could convince all of you to agree to making a home for Seth"s pack at the far end of the property. There is a cottage on the back side of the distillery. It needs a little work. I was just thinking that I would feel much better if Desir"ee was near. Nathan is a wonderful medic, and Obi is just a few minutes away, but if Desir"ee was right there if something happened or if Desir"ee needed anything we could come running. Forgive me for planning your life, Seth."

"They could stay in the farmhouse until their new place was finished," Jasper offers.

I meet his eyes. Something has changed. I"m not sure what, but it has most definitely changed.

"We haven"t gotten that far in our planning," Ben says. "It won"t be hard at all for Desie to get on at a hospital, but Michael and me are going to have to start all over. We"ve got some savings, and apparently Seth isn"t hurting for money, but we can"t sit on our asses all day. We need to try to get on at one of the stations over there."

"No," I bark, then repeat in a softer tone. "No. I"m sorry, I didn"t mean to sound like an asshole, but no more fires. I can"t stand the worry. Neither can Desir"ee."

"Seth," Michael starts, but Desir"ee interrupts.

"We can talk about this later. Nobody needs to hear us argue about you and Ben trying to kill yourselves putting out fires. And Talia needs everybody to leave soon."

Michael sighs and nods. "Okay, but we need to make a choice about the dual seat now so that we can get the ball rolling on that. We don"t know how long Talia"s pack will be here after she pops and there won"t be any more meetings here after she has the baby. What do you think, Seth? I think it"s a good idea. And I think it would be good for us to go back and forth like that. I don"t want to move Desie away from her family and if there"s an option to not have to do that then I"d like to take it. Unless you really hate the idea that much."

Ultimately, the little spark of hope that trickles down my bond with Desir"ee makes the choice for me. I can split my time between two councils if it means she gets to keep her family and be happy. I can do it if I have her and the twins with me.

"What do you think?" I ask Corso. I watch Talia squeeze his hand again and know her hope has made his decision the same way Desir"ee"s hope made mine.

He sighs and brings her fingers to his lips. "A part time seat is far better than a full time seat."

Minos slaps his hands on his thighs. "Excellent! Thank you. This will be a very good thing, you"ll see. Mallory, my love, let"s take our leave. I"ve pushed enough on these two packs without prolonging my presence."

Talia"s relief is heavy in the air after Minos and Mallory walk out the door.

"Let"s get you upstairs, tesoro," Corso purrs, lifting Talia from her chair.

"What"s wrong? What happened?" I glance quickly from Talia"s swollen stomach to Corso and Jasper.

"Nothing, Seth," Talia says tightly. "I"m just fairly confident that I"ve started having contractions.

"Shit."

"Shit is right," Trent clips. "I"m glad you"re here, Desir"ee. Alex, will you get Obi on the phone?"