Previously on Wolves of Roma

"Alpha" David asked with all seriousness leaning over the desk towards Nick "Did it ever occur to you that the whole thing might have been orchestrated by Roma?"

Chapter 29

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Silence reigned after David's statement.

Nick's brain was whirling at the possibility. While his first instinct was to deny it, the help he had received had indeed been too fast and too efficient.

What if...?

He needed to hold on to that thought, he did not know David's purpose and perhaps he was sent here to exactly do this.

"For what purpose would Roma do this?" He asked instead.

"For exactly the same outcome you mentioned alpha. For the state of Colorado, which is conveniently in the heartland of America but in the control of Roma now and with this god knows what is next." David pointed out.

"Well, regardless. What's done is done" Nick said dismissively, he would contemplate on this later but not in front of David.

"Don't you even want to know? You want to be beholden to the very people who might have caused this calamity in the first place?" David questioned.

"And how would that change things?" Nick asked "I would still be beholden right? You can't break the blood oath." He didn't want to argue with David.

"True, you and I cannot" David agreed, the blood oath can only be broken by one person, Roma.

"But the world council certainly can" David declared.

"The council?" Nick asked confused. What did the council have to do with this?

"Yes, the world council can force Roma to break it" David further clarified.

"Listen" Nick said after a pause gathering his thoughts "You do not have any proof of this and for all you know they saved my life and now you want me to go behind their back to the council?"

"I agree I don't have any proof, but you got to have doubts don't you? The whole thing is a little too convenient." David insisted.

"Maybe" Nick gave in a little.

David seeing the crack drove in.

"Alpha" David stated "Here is a golden opportunity for you to gain your freedom back. The freedom of your entire pack from the blood oath, which condemns your pack to literal slavery."

"Go before the council, let's force Roma's hand to break your oath" David paused and added "If Roma did indeed free you without any malice, if you find that their cause was just. You can always pledge your allegiance to Roma, but then you can do it from your free will." He declared and went in for the kill "Freewill Alpha. Think about it, you have a golden chance of gaining your freewill back?" David reasoned.

"How?" Nick asked curious.

"Tomorrow, there is an emergency session of the world council in Canada. Go there with me, go in front of the council" David urged.

"Roma is not someone to be trifled with." Nick said. You don't play games with the world's most power werewolves and live to tell the tale.

"That's the beauty! You have a unique option. Tomorrow in front of the council you you will be presented with an opportunity to gain your freedom back and it would seem cruel for Roma to deny your request in front of the council. We would arrange certain events in such a way that your will be asked to appear in front of the council. Then all you have to do is ask." David elaborated, letting him on to his plan.

"At that point Roma would have no choice but to agree. Again you don't have to worry about the details, we take care of them. You don't have to worry about the repercussions as well. What do you think they would do? Come after you? How do you think that will look to the rest of the world? No, they would cut their losses. Yes you would have displeased them but again you can always go back and pledge your allegiance, they would be fools to turn it down." David explained further.

Nick took a deep breath "I need to think about it." He confessed. He would be lying if he did not think this offer to be tempting. Freedom from the oath was not without advantage, but to fuck with Roma? The slaughter of the rogues by Roma was too fresh in his mind.

David nodded in understanding, he planted a seed of thought all he had to wait for it to grow.

"When do you leave?" Nick asked.

"Tonight."

"You will know before then." Nick said "Thank you David, please give me some time, you have given me something to think about."

David nodded walked out of the office closing the door behind him leaving the Alpha to his thoughts, doubts were like cancer, once planted all they did was spread.

Nobody was around to see a smile creeping up on his face.

***

"Hey" Alex said gently.

"Hey" she greeted back weakly.

Evelyn was lying on the bed, still recovering. Luckily the fever broke earlier in the night, she still felt weak but she also felt disembodied, that was exactly how she felt as if she was having an out of body experience.

The fever broke, which mean only one thing, the change in her body was done. The first phase of her transformation complete. The werewolf gene had successfully fought off her human cells and destroyed them taking control of her body. Now, the final part of the transformation remained, her morphing into a wolf. Nobody knew when that would happen, all they could do was wait.

Even though she felt weak she also felt the differences. Like sense of smell, she could smell the unique scent of Alex who was sitting on the edge of her bed. She somehow knew that it was his unique smell.

But how? How did she know that?

Call it gut, instinct or the side effect of her transformation and while she could not explain the how, she was absolutely sure of the scent.

Similarly, she could strongly smell the scent of her mother, even though she was not there in the room. Her scent lingered in her room, indicating that her mother had been in the room on and off multiple times and that it's been some time now since she was last here.

Which was true. Her mother was in the kitchen downstairs and when Alex showed up she simply pointed to Evelyn's room and had gone back to work.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Different smells assaulted her, the smell of clothes, the detergent used on them, her sheets and her furniture. Even smells from her bathroom, smell of the toothpaste, soap, shampoo and conditioner. In fact she could smell the food her mom for preparing for lunch and promptly her stomach rumbled.

Embarrassed she opened her eyes to a grinning Alex.

"Signs of life returning, huh?" he teased.

"Shut up!" she whispered.

"It's a good thing. The transformation saps the energy out of you. It is perfectly normal to feel hungry. When I turned I remember I almost ate a whole cow."

She smiled at the mental image.

But, his smiled faltered and he looked seriously at her "How are you doing?"

How was she doing indeed?

She had no idea. The events of the past few days looked like ages ago and with her fever she did not have time to properly process them.

"I have no idea" she honestly answered.

He nodded in understanding and took her hand in his in a gesture of comfort. She appreciate the gesture, he was truly a gem of a guy, this guy. Pity he was not her mate.

Her Mate! A multitude of feelings went through her head at that word.

And she suddenly remembered something...

"Alex, I am sorry!" she stated and Alex's face turned to confusion.

"I put you in a bad spot! I should have told you why I wanted to go out of the building, I remember him attacking you...did you...are you hurt?" She asked with concern also her eyes roaming all over him looking for any signs of a violent conflict she feared.

"Don't worry about it Evy" he dismissed and added with a smirk "I am stronger than I look."

Alex appearance was lanky and non-threatening unlike his twin who had an aura of 'don't fuck with me' around him.

"Thank god" she whispered in relief. She would have hated for him to be injured because of her fault.

They were both silent for a minute absorbed in their own thoughts. Reliving those moments in the hallway.

"He wants to meet you" Alex said without preamble. He didn't have to say who.

"He tried coming over when he learnt you were turning but I stopped him, I don't think it's wise for him to meet your mother or Jeff right now." Jeff and Maxwell would have killed each other or rather Maxwell would have killed Jeff and he had a feeling that would not have gone down well with Evelyn.

She again took a deep breath. gathering her thoughts.

"But only when you are ready" He hastily added. She would not be rushed, the idea was to make her comfortable with the idea.

She nodded and asked "When?"

"Up to you Evy" Alex said, throwing the ball in her court.

Evelyn was thinking what she wanted to do, she would have to deal with him and deal with him sooner rather than later and knowing Jeff he would attack that guy and probably tear him to shreds the moment he saw him. She would have to make peace fast.

But suddenly a memory resurfaced, his powerful aura how effortlessly he dealt with Alex.

"Who is he Alex?" she asked, worried.

Something flickered in his eyes and he hesitantly answered.

"I think you should know that from him" He paused and added "Evy, I know what he did to you is wrong. Absolutely wrong and there is no excuse for what he did. But, I also want you to go and talk to him without any preset notions or perceptions." Trying to explain why he did not want to give her any details about her mate.

She paused looked at him and nodded and turned her head away from him and looked away, she was in deep thought and Alex did not disturb her. She could take all the time in the world for all he cared.

"Tomorrow" she said breaking her silence. "Tell him I will meet him tomorrow. Near the River, there is a swimming spot our pack used to go before all this started. I will meet him there."

"Ok" was all Alex said. Rest was up to Maxwell.

***

David, put in his bag in the taxi. He had not heard from Nick from his morning meeting. It had been worth a shot. He was just about to get into the taxi when he heard someone approaching behind him. He turned to see alpha Nick approaching him with an overnight bag. Nick quietly moved to the other side of the taxi and got in.

David got into the taxi and as the taxi started to the airport he looked at the alpha and said "You made the right choice Alpha."

Nick impassively watched the scenery as the taxi left his pack lands.

***

"The chair calls the council to session" Gordon Lockbourne declared as the six members of the world's most powerful werewolf council sat down.

"And I want to bring a grave matter to the floor of the council" He added with all seriousness.

Other members nodded.

Gordon Lockbourne got up and stated "Dear council members, I bring forth you an issue of serious concern. Which impacts all of us, impacts the very foundation of why we set up this Council. It is with grave concern I state that one of our members has breached the treaty." He paused for his message to sink in.

He was good at theatrics and he could see that the word "treaty" certainly had the desired effect. The "treaty" was their law, their holy grail. The treaty was result of understanding between various werewolf packs after a long bloody war that nearly wiped them out. The treaty was their guiding principle, there constitution in a way and it was also what lead to the formation of the regional and World council along with the enforcers who ensured that anyone who broke the treaty were brought to justice.

Now that he had their undivided attention he went on.

"Roma" he spat with venom "has violated our treaty, without regard to consequences and the dangerous precedent it would set. Too drunk in her own power she disregarded everything we strived to achieve and endangering everything we have been striving to protect."

First time since he began someone spoke up. "You make very serious allegations, I hope you can back it up with substantial evidence" It was the representative from Australia. It was also a gentle warning. You didn't throw allegations like this around just for the fun of it.

Gordon grimly nodded "You are right, sir" he said referring to the Australian council member "but unfortunately these or not mere allegations but facts." He stated with gravity.

They were waiting for him to continue.

"We recently had a rogue attack in Colorado" he started "We initially thought it was a local problem, some wolves gone rogue, trying to stir up trouble and we left it to the local alpha's to handle it. But we realized a little late that the problem was not as small as we thought. The American council was readying to launch an offensive, when to our very surprise we found out that Roma had sent in a contingent of her men to Colorado without informing the American council, which is a clear violation of our treaty." He seethed.

He paused again for his words to sink in and added "So we find that Roma has her forces in our territory without our permission and apparently now are still in Colorado even after the threat has been neutralized. Gentlemen of the council, we find this a violation to the treaty an act of war against the American packs and if Roma does not take necessary action to correct this we will be forced to retaliate. And make no mistake, we will." His voice had risen at the very end emphasizing on his threat.

Silence followed for a minute. This was serious allegations indeed and every council member was absorbing this information and thinking about the consequences of such actions by Roma, if they were true.

The European council broke the silence and gently said "They are indeed extremely serious allegations Gordon. I hope you will give Roma a chance to defend herself?" Everybody knew Europe was Roma's mouthpiece.

"Defend? Roma has her army in Colorado! It is us who have to defend our land!" he yelled thumping his hand on the desk in front of him.

"Nevertheless, before this council comes to any decision it is only fair to have all sides heard. your concern has been taken into consideration Gordon, it is only fair that Roma present their side of the story. I am sure if what you say is correct, this council will ensure appropriate corrective actions are taken." Australia reasoned.

Other members nodded.

"We have a representative from Roma present here today" Europe said "With the council's permission will want to invite him to speak for his country's actions." Roma knew what this emergency session was all about and had flown in her representative to be heard.

"Agreed" Russia added before anyone could pitch in. Russia was very curious where all this was leading to.

The European council got up walked to the chambers doors and opened it and stepped out clearly speaking to someone once done he returned to his chair and announced "The representative of Roma will be with us shortly" and sat down.

In a few minutes there was a knock on the door and the door opened.

There were surprised murmurs when the council members saw who it was. And Gordon bit his teeth, his muscles tightening with tension. He knew Roma would send in her lackey but she did send in her best.

"Why go through this all this trouble? A simple thank you note would have sufficed, Gordon" the representative of Roma flippantly said as he entered the room.

"Sebastian" Gordon gritted his teeth in response.

***

The circular chamber of the council was designed to be intimidating.

The chair of the council sat in the center of a long rectangular table while the others sat on either side of him. The whole table was set up on the other end of the room from the double doors one had to walk through.

The whole of the council was seated on an elevated platform which was accessible by a pair of stairs.

There was one chair placed in the center of the room for witnesses who the council summoned.

If someone sat in the chair, they had to crane their neck up to see the members of the council while they simply peered down on to their witness again a tactic to unnerve who ever sat there.

But Sebastian simply plonked on to the chair with least bit of concern and his body language relaxed.

"Sebastian? Are you representing Roma today in front of the council?" Russia asked.

"Yes I am" he confirmed.

"Are you aware of the allegations against Roma or do you wish the council to inform you?" Russia questioned.

"I am aware of the possible allegations" he paused and added grinning "The chair does have a vivid imagination."

He could hear the grinding of teeth from the direction of the head of the council a.k.a. Gordon Lockbourne also referred to as the chair of the council.

"There are serious allegations against your nation sir and if you do not find this serious enough perhaps Roma is better served by someone who understands the gravity of the situation?" Russia reprimanded.

"My apologies to the council" Sebastian said sobering up "I intended no offence."

Russia satisfied nodded and began "So, if you are aware of the allegations, please let us know what Roma has to say in this regard?"

"We deny any violation, yes we agree that some of our action appear improper but were executed in good faith. We believe in the treaty and council and have always showed our faith in the working of the council or the treaty and our stance had not changed"

"Then how do you defend your actions in Colorado?" Australia asked.

"Simple!" Sebastian stated "we were invited."

"By who?" Africa asked.

"Alpha Nick, he was the last surviving pack of the Colorado rogue attack and had called in and pleaded with us for help."

The council members looked at each other.

"You know what the treaty states" Sebastian elaborated"Nick who was a member of the American packs recognized by the American council and he invited us into his lands to help him. You know in such cases we are free to go in."

"But you are still required to inform the council of the land about your visit" Australia added.

Sebastian nodded "which we did."

"A lie!" Gordon roared "The American council did not receive any such intimation!"

Sebastian looked confused "You didn't? Strange? They assured me it would reach in five days."

"What are you talking about?" Gordon barked. Even the other members were looking confused.

"The day we landed in Colorado, we had sent a mail through US postal service to the office of the American council."

"A mail?" Gordon as with incredulity. This basted was mocking them! Making it a joke!

"Yes" Sebastian said with all seriousness "The clause in the treaty states that we need to initiate contact within twenty four hours and we did. I request you to have the American council check their mail, should be there by now."

That bastard!

He was killing them on a technicality. While he was technically right they all knew it was a deliberate act. But there was hardly anything they could do.

"This is ridiculous!" Gordon barked with frustration. Knowing that Sebastian was right technically.