Diana was giving out all the menacing vibes here, ready to take the position for which she could not even work properly for what I had seen. But then again, I did not know about how her performance went if she had gone to Waterwoods on the first day itself. She may or may not have completed all her tasks here in Winterwells before going there.

Everyone knew that there was going to be voting at the end, so that way Channing got his way of holding a competition and the rest of the members did not deteriorate from the old practice of election by voting.

After some time, Channing joined the pack, and the chattering stopped as everyone took a seat. "How has everyone been? I hope our finalists did not cause a lot of trouble while I was away," Channing chuckled at the end.

"They were amazing!" shouted someone.

Suzan joined in, "Yes, the last two days were the best." I immediately turned to her wide eyes. She always had to do it extra, with the last two days being the one where I had served as the Beta.

The woman sitting next to Oliver, who carried a smug look and her light grey eyes brought out the evil beauty inside her, glared at Suzan before smiling at Channing and saying, "Diana was perfect with her management, we did not have to worry a lot apart from the patrolling duties which she managed perfectly."

Channing raised his eyebrows while looking at Diana, who acted as though she was a down-to-earth person, "Is that so?" Channing's hands went over his waist peeking out his heavy shoulder muscles, as he tilted his head to address back to the girl with grey eyes, who had just spoken, "Wasn't that too convenient for the pack to have nothing but a patrolling job. Your mind would go soft if you only did that now, wouldn't it Julianne." The statement immediately made the girl snicker in an awkward sense and shut her mouth from saying anything further.

Diana passed a hard stare at Julianne for opening her mouth and making Channing address the flaw in Diana's management. She had been acting all high and might in front of me, and this was an indirect blow to her.

There were flaws in Diana's management, but there were a lot of other flaws in the Winterwells pack as well. The tip of authority was shaky here, and Channing had a little blame on it. At the end of the day, people still followed him and accepted him, but there were those who plotted against Channing as well. I did not know what plans John had and how many of the members were involved in it.

But the way I had to face slap Oliver just by pinning him over his words, it was needed for the rest who had followed John, giving him the authority that was only supposed to be only Channing's.

"Alright both the finalists come ahead, we will proceed with the voting." Channing waved his hand to have me and Diana walk ahead and stand beside him, in front of others.

Diana looked at me, and her eyes spouted venom. When Channing turned to her, she passed a saintly smile, took her gaze back to the members sitting in front of us as if there was no vicious side to her personality. Diana was confident in a few people that blindly supported her like Oliver and Julianne.

For me there were a few persons I trusted would stand by my side, but more than that I wanted to see where the entire voting scale tilts.

Channing handed me and Diana a box, "Here, let the people come forward and openly vote for you by placing their votes in here. I think our finalists have proven themselves enough with their two days of tasks, now the members will vote for the best." He turned to the members and announced, "Write the name of the person you think is the best to serve our village and put it in their respective boxes. Remember, only one vote per person."

Channing stepped away from us and passed exactly 23 papers to the members as Hailey was still in the prison and I and Diana would not be voting. The pack of Winterwells had 27 members, including the Alpha, and Channing was making sure there was no fabrication.

Channing stepped away from us both to walk ahead and stand at the end of where the members sat to observe everything from behind.

The first to get up was Suzan, who jumped from her place and put a paper in my box, "I know you will win Selene, you did the best." She almost came forward to hug me, but the box came in between. That did not stop her, anyway.

"Sure she will," Diana sneered and when Suzan went away Diana leaned to me, "You sure do have some of your friends here but Selene, there is nothing that would win against my experience." Oliver came forwards to put a paper in Diana's box and she smiled at him, switching on her mask and when Oliver went back, she continued her whisper with her scoff, "I heard how you dealt with things here and members are used to just practice and patrol. Their lazy brains are going to only find you inconvenient."

I smiled at her statement instead of being intimidated. That was the problem here that the members were not involved in the village matters and it made their minds narrow to what was on the surface.

The way I had dealt with the tasks only made them more involved, opening their eyes to how some things worked in the village.

If Diana was here, then she would have seen that amazement and satisfaction on the member's faces. But she was outright calling the members lazy and wanted to continue things as when they were during John's term as the Beta.

Diana did not even care about the people who followed her and just wanted the way John had distributed the power for himself. Irrespective of whether I became the Beta or not, I would not let that repeat.

I gasped at her statement loudly. She was whispering to me, however, that did not mean I would do it; I had better plans. "Are you saying the members are lazy here and I shouldn't have got them involved with the functioning of the village?" I spoke loudly and Diana almost panicked when someone who had come to vote for her looked at her in doubt. Diana tried to smile at the person and extended her box ahead while I continued with a shrug, "I thought members would rather like to be in light of matters that went around here than doing it all on my own and keeping them in the dark as you suggested."

Diana giggled as she broke a sweat at the eyes that were turning our way right now.

"W-What are you saying? I was suggesting members like to have breaks, r-right?" Diana asked the boy who had come to vote for her.

"But you just said that was why you kept them busy patrolling," I added, "so they don't come in your way of work."

It was true Diana was slowly trying to take things into her charge. The first time she met me was because she was in the same team for this competition. She had apologised to me for judging me too quickly, but it had not taken long for her to realise that I was truly a competition to her and a thorn in her path.

She was trying to subtly sabotage me, but I was not some weak Omega in the pack who could succumb to her tricks.

The boy standing in front of Diana narrowed his eyes at her and turned to me, changed the name on his sheet of paper and put it in my box. He huffed, turning away from Diana and she passed him a flattering smile. Her eyes turned to me in a glare.

"Did I misunderstand?" I asked her before she could add anything in her defence. "Sorry about it then, your words sounded more like it."

I gave her an angelic smile before going to look back at the members. The tide in the crowd had changed from her to talks in favour of me. Diana bit into her lower lip as her fist tightened in an attempt to not break the mask she had put up in front of others. She pulled up a flattering smile on her lips, "That's okay, Selene, people misunderstand based on their own beliefs."

She was smartly trying to turn the tables, but I placed my hand on my chest and said in an apologetic manner, "Well, you whispered to me so others couldn't hear it. It seems that your words got lost in the whispers."

Diana stopped her replies, seeing how it only turned against her. If she was really trying to put up that kind of fight with me, then I would not sit idly at her overly prideful words. Diana was definitely one of the stronger Omegas as her fur colour was darker. The chestnut coat of her wolf was enough to say she was one of the powerful Omegas and it would influence the lower Omegas in the pack easily. Power is lustrous to those who weren't born with it.

Sam came ahead to place his vote for me, and he passed me a look that said 'good job smashing Diana in the ground' and I closed my eyes with a slight bow of my head to graciously say 'thank you.'

This little exchange of signs between me and Sam was not lost by Diana and her nostrils flared with anger.

After a few more members, Benjamin walked ahead and bowed to me, "Selene, I would say your methods were nice. Sorry, but I would prefer someone with experience. But you have my best wishes." He genuinely smiled as he placed his vote in Diana's box, who tipped her own chin up to show how she was above me now.

I ignored her and looked at Benjamin, giving him a smile, "You are free about your own opinion Benjamin, you don't need to apologise for that." I bowed to him, returning his gesture, "Thank you for your wishes."

I could tell there was no ill that this person carried. Benjamin was one of those neutral persons who preferred logical choices and did not involve themselves mindlessly in anything.

It took some more time for everyone to finish, and we counted the votes. Channing was careful with counting and Diana had 12 votes in total. There was no doubt that I had 11 votes, and I had lost this voting.

Diana snickered proudly, "I am sure there is no need to count the votes that Selene had received."