Louisa can't come until the following week, which bothers Avery a lot.

Her offer to speak to her Alpha was shouted down, and then Avery was screamed at for being inconsiderate of Louisa's pregnancy.

She hung up that call even more agitated than she had been when she entered the office.

Louisa's mate had to physically remove the phone from her hand to get her to stop roaring, and he apologised to Avery before he hung up, mentioning pregnancy hormones.

Sonya disagreed, and she disagreed loudly with the phrase she is the biggest drama queen I've ever had the displeasure of meeting.

Avery agreed with Sonya again.

It was only 11 am, but Avery felt like months had gone by.

Taking out her laptop, she quickly gets up a blank document and begins listing reasons why she shouldn't announce her accession. She can't think of many, and even though it may have been impulsive, she mindlinks the entire pack available to meet at the pack's high school football field.

Everybody is confused, but the meeting is set for 12.

The Beta hurries into the room, looking aghast that he wasn't kept in the loop.

"Hello, Avery, where is York?" He asks formally, and Avery rolls her eyes, her irritation spiking.

"Jared, I've seen your dick, drop the act. York is in the hospital incapacitated right now, so I hope you're ready to step up and do my job," she shrugs, and the man goes pale.

"You heard me, it's time to be a real Beta," she adds, her cold eyes taking in the pathetic figure in front of her.

Almost the entire pack is waiting for Avery when she arrives, with varying expressions of shock or confusion.

Everybody was expecting York, even though Avery made the announcement.

"Good afternoon, everybody," she clears her throat as she steps onto the makeshift stage, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder.

She had quickly changed her comfy clothes for a structured, sleeveless, knee-length ruby red affair, with black heels on her feet and her hair in a sleeker ponytail than ever before.

Everybody echoes her welcome back to her, and her eyes rove over the crowd, completely at ease.

"I have some bad news," she continues, nodding to the guards who are spread out throughout the crowd looking for any sign of guilt or annoyance.

"As of two hours ago, Alpha York Wilcott is in a medically induced coma after an attempted poisoning," she announces, her tone cold and calm.

Immediately, there are waves of shocked chatter, and some people look so horrified that they look ready to pass out.

The guards take the names of people who look too shocked, and of those who don't look surprised at all.

Avery suspects everybody. And everybody suspicious will be investigated.

Somebody raised a hand, and she nods to them, waiting for them to ask their question.

"Is this why you have returned?" She whispers, and Avery growls.

"I have not returned to topple my brother," she snarls, and the woman shrinks back.

"I meant to take care of him," the woman adds faintly, and Avery pulls back.

"I apologise. No. I am back because I have a job to do, and I was coming back regardless of York's medical state," Avery nods, and there are ripples in the crowd again.

"What's going to happen to the pack with no Alpha? Others have been shut down or broken up," one teenager shouts, and Avery straightens up, pushing her shoulders back.

"I will be the temporary Alpha. Most of you know of my qualifications, and I was trained for this role," she responds, and other hands fly up.

"If you were trained, why didn't you take the position?" One boy calls, and Avery grits her teeth.

"I had other things to deal with," she replies shortly, taking another question.

"What will packs say about us having an Unfortunate for an Alpha?" One older man asks coldly, and Avery meets his eyes stonily.

"They can say whatever they like. We are stronger than them," she says to him icily, before pacing onstage.

The crowd stands in shocked silence, and Avery watches people be pulled from it to the side by the guards.

The atmosphere is a lot colder than the pack is used to, and a lot of people are still shocked by the attack on their Alpha.

Avery knows this, and so, she grabs a microphone.

"If any of you have any ideas as to who is involved in this attack on York, please let somebody know. You will not be thrown in the cells for giving us information; we don't care where it comes from. I promise you, I will not rest until we find the culprit and have them in custody," Avery announces and gets a mindlink from a guard almost instantly.

Alpha, a young woman here says she might know about what poisoned the Alpha. No information was released about it, but she mentioned silver. Will we take her in?, a lanky guard asks, and Avery takes a moment to think about it.

Bring her to my office, I want to see what she knows, Avery orders, and watches the guard nod, leading the woman back towards the packhouse.

"For the foreseeable future, I will be both your Alpha and Deputy Alpha. Tonight, we will hold a vigil for Alpha York's speedy recovery," she adds, and one by one, people bow down to her.

Avery is incredibly uncomfortable with this show of submission and clears her throat awkwardly.

"Thank you for coming; you can all go back to what you were doing. Please pass on this message to anybody who may have been absent. I will also need notes detailing those absent's absence," she adds as a final note, before nodding to the Beta, who stands on stage looking nervous.

Usually, Avery stands in his place. His position is more for show, so that other packs don't think that the family are running a dictatorship.

He has never actually had to step in to do the role of Beta.

When Avery was briefly the Alpha before, York took the role as her Beta.

Her former title was a consolation prize - they should have called her Beta for the past six years, but her father refused to let her be disgraced.

Avery stands at the side, fielding questions and requests from the guards.

"Our Alpha appreciates your presence, as do I," he begins, a slight tremor to his voice.

His mate is standing a few feet away from him, and she grabs his hand as encouragement.

"For the absences, I need the person's name, age, rank, and the explanation for missing this meeting. Those who are excused from this are permanent university students, medical staff, and wolves who live with their human mates outside the pack. I will have a box outside the packhouse, and if you could all put your slips into it, that would be appreciated," Jared manages to get out, and Avery is impressed with him.

He thanks the crowd and steps down, and Avery claps him on the shoulder, a small smirk on her face.

"I'm proud of you, and of that speech. Mind yourselves, Jared and Amira," she nods, walking away to where a guard waits for her.

"Where are they?" She asks as they walk, and the guard looks at her out of the corner of his eye.

"The woman you requested to speak to personally is in your office. The others with information have been put into interview rooms," he nods, and she sucks on her teeth for a moment.

"Okay, provide them with tea or coffee, and offer sandwiches and biscuits. We want them to be forthcoming, and we need to make them comfortable," she finally decides, and the guard mindlinks the rest of his colleagues.

"What is this girl's name?" Avery asks as they walk quickly and purposefully towards the packhouse.

"Freya. She's 26 and lives with her son, who is seven. Her mate isn't in the picture, but we don't know where he is, or what happened with them," he fills her in, and Avery furrows her brows.

"That's odd. No filing for rejection or separation?" She quizzes him.

"No ma'am, nothing at all. We couldn't find any complaints either, and we barely found any information about him. He may have been a transfer from Moonstone Mountain if the rumours that were noted are to be believed," he adds hesitantly, and Avery nods thoughtfully.

"Okay, I'm going to call their Alpha and find out anything they know about him. What was his name?" She questions, pulling out her phone.

"Elijah Preston," the guard responds, and Avery nods, pulling open the front door and walking into the kitchen.

She dodges chefs and maids, and goes into the pantry, dialling Zephyr's number.

He answers after five rings, with a cheery welcome.

"Hello, Ave, how are you?" He sing-songs.

"Rather crap, to be entirely honest. York was poisoned, and I need information on a former pack member of yours, Elijah Preston," she states, her tone betraying just how stressed she actually is.

"Hmm... I don't know that name; I'll ask my Beta," Zephyr instantly responds, "I'm very sorry about your brother."

"Yeah, we don't know who it was, but Preston's mate is currently sitting in my office with information. I don't know anything about her mate, he allegedly transferred from you guys to us," she rambles, leaning against the wall to take some pressure off her feet - her heels are killing her.

"Oh, that makes it easier," Zephyr mutters, and she can hear him clicking and typing on a laptop.

"Oh, I have him here, what do you need to know?" He asks, and she can hear murmuring in the background.

"Lilith says hello," he adds.

"I need to know where he is, because he isn't here. I also need to know what job he has, and tell Lilith I say hello too, and that I'll call her later," Avery smiles a little at the mention of her friend, and when she relaxes a little, she realises just how much tension she was holding in her body.

"Oh, he isn't with you guys because he's right here," Zephyr voices, confusion heavy in his tone.

"What do you mean?" Avery questions, her brows furrowed.

"He and his family are here, and have been for three years," Zephyr says hesitantly, and Avery's brows shoot up.

"His mate and child are here though," she responds, and Zephyr breathes out slowly.

"I don't know what to tell you, Ave. Our files say him and his mate Rebecca live here with their three kids," Zephyr shrugs, and Lilith rubs his shoulders, looking increasingly concerned.

"That's impossible. Freya is his mate, and they have a son here," Avery replies, getting slightly frustrated.

"Oh shit," Lilith gasps, and Avery hears that, and then silence.

"What?" Avery groans.

There's another moment of silence before Zephyr inhales sharply.

"Ave, he's a chemical warfare specialist," Zephyr whispers.