Again a gentle remainder to my readers, my story currently is unedited so there will be mistakes in grammar and language. Please point them out in the comments and I will eventually fix them once I finish writing this story. Thank you for understanding.

Chapter 22

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Evelyn eventually emerged out of her bedroom, her eyes were puffy and red form her breakdown in the bathroom and despite her bath she looked like shit.

Sebastian did not comment on her appearance and simply handed over a glass to her.

She looked at it questioningly and smelled Vodka and sprite in the glass, Sebastian had made her a drink and he had made one for himself too.

She quietly took a sip and grimaced, it was stiff.

"I thought you could use a drink" He told her as they moved towards the sofas and settled down quietly, each lost in their own thought and nursing their drinks in silence, today had been a very... very long day for them both.

"What are you thinking?" Evelyn finally asked breaking the silence.

"About today" He told her, his voice tired.

"Yeah, strange day" She said and a moment later added "Shit! Chair of the council" she nodded her head in disbelief giving out an ironical laugh.

"Yes" Sebastian said "Something we did not foresee nor we planned for, but it fell in to our lap" He said thoughtfully.

"A boon or a curse?" She asked wanting to know what he really thought while she knew which one he would lean on to.

"At this point not really sure" Sebastian confessed. "Too many questions to answer before we can deduce that"

She raised her glass in a wry smile "Amen!" she said and took a gulp.

They sat in comfortable silence and were quietly sipping on their drink when the silence was interrupted when one of her men entered.

"Excuse me ma'am" He said politely "We have someone here to meet you" He offered.

Roma looked at Sebastian confused, they did not schedule any meetings today.

Sebastian asked the guy "Who is it?"

"Alpha Ivan of Russia sir" he offered politely.

Sebastian's eyes widened and looked back at Evelyn, who looked equally shocked. One question they both had in their head, why the hell was he here?

Ivan had caught them by surprise, but they could not refuse a meeting now, would be too rude to turn away the alpha from their door steps and probably Ivan knew that too. So he desperately wanted to meet them, the only question was why? Only one way to find out.

Evelyn nodded gently to Sebastian, who got up and sighed "Show him in please" he told the guard.

"Yes sir" the guard disappeared.

Sebastian took a deep breath and tried to iron out the wrinkles on his shirt by rubbing down on it with his hands. Like it would make a difference.

Roma was past caring so she barely moved from her place.

The guard reappeared with Alpha Ivan in tow.

"Alpha Ivan Roma, sir" he introduced and walked out.

Sebastian moved in "Alpha Ivan" he said extending his hand "Welcome! This is a surprise!" Sebastian said.

"Indeed" Ivan agreed, knowing he had come in without prior intimation. He turned to Roma and respectfully bowed his head to her "Roma" he greeted her.

"Alpha Ivan" Roma greeted him back "Please have a seat, we were just having a drink, would you like to have some?" she offered.

Ivan looked at the glass on the table that Sebastian had left and took a whiff he did not even have to move closer to the glass and then smiled "A true Russian drink!" he exclaimed "make mine on the rocks" he instructed Sebastian.

Sebastian walked over to pour this alpha his drink.

"So Alpha Ivan" Roma started, not wasting any time "Not that I am complaining but what brings you here?"

Ivan smiled and Sebastian walked over to him and handed him his glass. Ivan took a sip and sighed in satisfaction.

"My actions today would have surprised you at the council" Ivan said, keeping his drink down "But, I saw an immense opportunity that could be mutually beneficial and took it" he explained.

"How so?" Roma asked, wanting to hear how it would be beneficial for both of them.

"The world council as you know Roma has six seats out of which Europe, Asia & Africa were controlled by you" He started "So the other three, Americas, Australia and Russia were usually the balancing force or the check mechanism. But even then you could never get a true majority on any action against Roma as you control fifty percent of the council. And Roma could shoot down any proposal that was against their best interest as they controlled fifty percent of the votes. So really it was a fine balance of negotiations from both sides on any issue that got majority vote, which essentially was a bad thing."

"But Gordon was ambitious everyone knew that and he was looking at ways to tilt the scale of power to his side. He even mulled a proposal to split the Americas seat in to two, north and south, that way he would get two seats and both firmly under him would help him secure votes in his favor better." Ivan explained.

"Today when the council was in session, it was one of the proposal he put forward highlighting the dangers of monarchy controlling fifty percent of the votes" He said "And let me tell you he had us almost convinced" Ivan confessed.

"And then you show up and with your speech, slowly but surely you destroy him and his entire credibility and for the first time in the history of the council a ruling chair is impeached...do you know how many times a sitting chair was impeached? Never! And you have it done...and if that was not enough you kill him in cold blood in the chamber...which is a violation of every code of agreement in the treaty ever" Ivan stated.

"He attacked me" Roma defended.

"Let's not play these games Roma" Ivan said calmly "You came prepared, you expected him to do it...you ensured he did it...you did not have to mention you had his granddaughter killed he could have come to know of it later...but you had to let him know in the chamber because you wanted him to lose control, it's a master stroke I assure you, this way you don't take the entire blame." Ivan added

"But, that does not excuse you for your action of killing him, he could have been restrained, tried for his actions and sentence passed collectively by the council but no...you had to do it on your own...like a typical monarch."

Roma narrowed her eyes.

"I had two choices present in the council, condemn you and your action of killing the alpha in gross violation of the rules of the treaty."

"I was attacked first, my convoy was attacked, and he jumped to kill me." Roma added stubbornly.

"Yes we all are in fifth grade...he said...she said...blah, blah" Ivan said dismissively and added in seriousness "You and I both know we could have had a different outcome if you wanted." And then he sighed and added "What's done is done"

"Like Australia said, the council's survival is important to the survival as species, we are more animals then human's Roma...that is the bane of being wolves, our animal instincts are much, much stronger...and because of that we often are stuck in smaller fights and fail to see the big picture and that is the council cannot fail." He said.

"Why?" she asked, what was do damn important about the council.

"Because we are living on extended time Roma, our biggest enemy is time and humans. One day we will be discovered and we are outnumbered by one is to millions to humans, how do you think that pan's out? When that time comes, mind it not if but when, we need to have a united front so we can have some kind of room in the negotiation table with the humans...and that would be the council, divided we fall Roma as simple as that."

She sighed, Ivan was making a good point and she saw why it was in their best interest to keep such a council alive.

"Ok, I get your point but still I don't understand why you pushed me to the chair?" Roma asked.

"To strengthen your position. Roma has huge influence and resources that could help us, we would be idiots to ignore them. To ensure the council does not fail. With you being the chair of the council now, no one would dare raise a voice against your actions, no one will ensure they set the enforcers loose after you." Ivan said.

"You think I am sacred of enforcers" she asked ridiculously, she had an army of wolves at her disposal.

"No, but that would be a nuisance for you, wouldn't it?" The council would have been forced in to making you an outcast, put in sanctions which would only be counterproductive for the wolf world, no one would gain out of such hostility.

"Alternatively, you as the chair will ensure no such actions and by the time you give up your position as the chair, all these events would be ancient history."

"Yeah, I don't see the American wolves taking this lying down." Roma said.

"Oh! They won't" Ivan assured. "One more reason to get you on to the chair" He said "A war with American wolves is coming, they will want blood, trust me. However now with you on the council we have effectively isolated them all we need to do is make them heel"

"Will they?" Roma asked.

"Not without chopping off a lot of knees" Ivan said.

"But I have ensured they don't get outside support by positioning you as the head of the council and this is where the true opportunity lies." He said with a gleam in his eyes.

She listened in patiently "Let's say you make America heel, then what? They represent one seat in the council...what if you manage to place your man there...like that Alpha in Colorado? It would ensure Roma's dominance of the council forever. With four votes in hand...your votes will be the only one that matter."

"But wouldn't it defeat the very purpose of having the council? I thought the council was to maintain balance between all continents"

"Yes, but the scale is already tilted and I just gave it a shove, it would have been the natural conclusion anyways." Ivan said and added "I just picked the side I felt will win in all this"

"And what is it that you expect out of this?" Roma asked.

"Just that Roma keep in mind the help extended by your neighbor and in time of need reciprocate appropriately." Ivan said.

"Reciprocate how?" Roma asked. What did he want exactly?

Ivan sighed "I am an old man" he said tiredly "One day I will die and my grandson will take over my pack, he will need alliances to survive, Roma's support can help him stabilize himself as an alpha very easily" He revealed.

"You expect trouble?" Roma asked as she felt he was not telling her everything and she did not want to commit to anything at this time.

Ivan hesitated "my grandson might not have my drive and Russia is a tough place to be in, when the time comes for him to transition in to the alpha role, Roma's support would be invaluable. Besides that would also be a deterrence from others from trying to take over."

"What makes you so sure I will not want to take over?" Roma asked.

"Why would you? You have enough on your plate, it will be more trouble for you then it is worth and what do you gain out of it in the end? No Roma, I see no threat from you and that is why I would like to form this agreement with you"

"I see" Roma said thinking "I will certainly take that in to consideration, alpha Ivan" Roma said "you can understand that such decisions cannot be made overnight"

"I understand" Ivan said getting up "I shall wait to hear from you. Good day to both of you" and with that he walked out. Sebastian followed him to show him out and came back a few minutes later.

"That was unexpected" Sebastian said plopping down in to the sofa.

"Well, today was anything but expected" Roma said wryly "Do you believe him?" she asked Sebastian.

"No" he told her "Ivan is crazy as they come and totally old school, I don't believe it about his grandson"

"What do we know about him?" she asked.

"The grandson? Next to nothing. We don't know much about the Russian packs themselves, they are close mouthed and don't welcome outsiders so we really have nothing on them." Sebastian confessed.

"And that puts us at a disadvantage" Roma said "We know nothing about him and his agenda, I want to know what he said is true or not. Very carefully, make discreet enquiries" Roma said.

"Ok, can do that, but what do we tell him meanwhile?" Sebastian asked.

"Stall him, tell him our priority is America right now and we will talk more about this once we are done with them" Roma told him.

Sebastian nodded in agreement, stalling the Russian was a good move, for now. He couldn't be avoided forever though, one thing after the other just seem to roll up without a break. Couldn't they catch a fucking break!

"And what about America, what do we do?" Roma interrupted his thought.

"We did what we had to do, let's pull back and wait for the Americans to make their next move. If they have any sense they will call us to the negotiation table." Sebastian voiced his thoughts.

"Ok, look at all possibilities and let's see what they come up with. Let's make Gordon's deeds public to the Americans and tell them we have no issues with them" Roma told Sebastian.

"You blew their alpha's face off...I am sure they will have issues" Sebastian said dryly.

"Yeah...well...Fuck it! We can't solve everything in a day, let's cross that bridge when the time comes, I am famished and my head is exploding, I need to eat and sleep." She told him.

"I would recommend we leave from here as soon as possible Roma" Sebastian advised, they were in a foreign land and he would be comfortable if she was back in Roma or at least Colorado where he had reinforcements.

She sighed exhausted "ok, get the flight ready" she told him.

"It already is" Sebastian informed.

"Can I at least eat?" she asked him.

"Yes, Sure. I will have the staff wind up while you have dinner and will be ready to leave once we are done." He told her.

"Good. Join me once you are done" She told him and walked in to the dining room to grab some food.

"Sure Roma" He told her and walked out to pass out orders, he needed to ensure they got out of here safely.

He was almost done and was heading back to join Roma when one of the guards approached him.

"Sir" the guard said extremely uncomfortable and nervous.

"Yes?" Sebastian asked concerned looking at the discomfort of the guard.

"Sir, we have a situation" The guard said.

Of course they did! How could they not, did fate not love them? "What now?" He asked tersely.

"Sir the enforcers are at the gate headed by they leader David, they are demanding entry."

"What!?!" Sebastian asked incuriously.

"Yes sir, they are demanding to meet Roma" the guard said.

"Demanding?" Sebastian said with disbelief. Fuck it! What a fucking day this was turning out to be. He laughed out ironically and the guard looked at him like he lost his head. That was a possibility he was not ruling out as well.

"Well, let's meet the little shit David and his band of merry men, shall we?" Sebastian asked smiling, but the tone of his had turned extremely dangerous. Today was a wrong day to be fucking with him.

Saying that Sebastian quickly started walking to the perimeter wall of the huge villa they were currently housed in.