Chapter Three

I showered and dressed in jeans and another t-shirt for lunch and the inspection meeting afterwards. Jared was waiting for me in the hall and we entered the dining hall together as many heads turned towards us.

“Good afternoon, Alpha Damon, I’m Winston,” the young man said as he stood up and shook our hands.

“You can call me Damon. How was your training?” I asked him as he led us back to the Alpha table.

“Is that a trick question?” he asked me and laughed.

“Who is in charge of training?” I asked him.

“I am, together with the Gamma, Bruce,” he said and nodded his head to a man sitting at the end of the Alpha table.

“Your border guards are lax and unprepared for an attack,” I said to him as his eyes darkened.

“They’ve reported the matter to me,” he said.

“A suggestion if I may,” I said and looked at him.

“Of course, that’s why you’re here, right,” he said and I knew he didn’t like this. Alphas liked to think that they were mighty rulers and nobody could teach or tell them anything.

“Border patrol should include all your warriors, rotating shifts every day so that no warrior guards the same border more than twice a week interloped with training,” I said to him.

“You think that will make a difference?” he asked me.

“As soon as a warrior gets used to his area he becomes lax especially if nothing ever happens. You should stage surprise attacks on your guards at the border, switch them on a roster, one day patrolling one day training, the next day patrolling another area,” I said to him.

“I will take that into consideration,” he said and turned his attention to his future Beta as Jared gave me that look that said, no he won’t, he’s too proud to admit defeat.

Jared and I moved to another table when Max and Justin walked into the dining hall and we sat apart from the rest of the pack as Alpha Carlos glanced over at us every now and then. We spoke in hushed tones and they reported their findings to me.

“Border patrol is a joke,” Justin said as I nodded my head.

“We also found that,” I confirmed.

“We came across a few Omegas being punished by the Gamma,” Max said.

“What was their crime?” Jared asked him.

“We’re not sure, he dismissed them the moment he caught our scent,” Max said.

“I don’t like random punishments, it should be done in front of the pack. Omegas have a right to counter the charges against them and punishment should be decided by the Alpha, nobody else,” Jared said.

“We’ll bring it up in the meeting,” I said as we finished lunch.

“See what else you find and mind link me with anything,” Jared said as we stood up. Alpha Carlos and his son, Winston, walked over to us as I nodded to Max and Justin.

“Shall we?” Alpha Carlos asked.

“Lead the way,” I said.

We followed them up the stairs to the first floor where he had a small meeting room and two Omegas waited to serve us drinks before leaving the room. I could see Winston was sleeping with one of the two Omegas and Jared and I exchanged looks.

“These are member files, all up to date,” Carlos began and Jared stood up and pulled the pile over to where he sat as he began to scan through them.

“I’d like to discuss security with you, your border patrols are too relaxed. I’m afraid if you’re attacked by rogues your pack won’t survive the onslaught,” I said as I looked at Winston.

“I thought we already discussed this,” he said to me.

“And I can tell that even though you said you’d take my advice into consideration, you won’t,” I said to him.

“I assure you, Damon, your advice will be adhered to, I want my pack to be safe,” Carlos said as he glared at Winston.

“Winston, you’re still young, but you have a lot to learn before taking over as Alpha, it’s not about being in charge, being the Alpha means you work for the pack, not the other way around,” I said to him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked me.

“It means keeping these people safe is your first priority, they all rely on you, second is the pack finances, you don’t live like a King if there is even one member suffering in poverty,” I said to him.

“Our people are well taken care of,” Carlos interrupted.

“Your Omegas are on the threshold of pack earnings, working sixteen hours a day just to be able to survive, that’s not being taken care of,” Jared said as he pushed a few files towards me.

“Omegas are workers,” Winston said.

“Yes and also the members of your pack that knows everything,” I said to him.

“Every member is valuable no matter what their rank or status and should be treated as such,” Jared said and I could see the underlying disgust on his face.

“Tell me, Alpha Damon, how are Omegas treated in your pack?” Winston asked me.

“First off, we don’t have a pack, we’re a clowder and Omegas earn the same as warriors,” Jared said before I could answer.

“My men also reported a few Omegas being punished by your Gamma,” I said.

“I wasn’t aware of Omegas being punished,” Carlos said as Winston looked away.

“How does punishment normally work here?” I asked him.

“If there’s a complaint it goes to the Gamma and he oversees it all,” Winston said.

“You need to restructure your hierarchy, Omegas have rights too, a complaint must be laid and the Omega or member being accused should have a chance to state their case, you cannot just dole out punishment as you see fit, that’s equal to abuse,” I said to him.

“The overall feeling of your pack members are that you are strict but fair, Alpha Carlos, there aren’t many problems in your pack and overall you’re doing a great job, it’s just a few things that need to be changed and you’ll see a remarkable change,” Jared said.

“Our pack members spoke to you?” Winston asked in disbelief.

“No, we have certain abilities as Enforcers,” Jared said.

“Another thing to consider, Winston, is to stop sleeping with the Omegas,” I said and his father turned to look at him.

“What I do in my private time is my own business,” he said as he looked at me.

“True, but when your bonded half joins you as the future Alpha female and she realizes that you’ve slept with all the Omegas serving her, what kind of respect do you think she’ll have in this pack?” I asked him.

“Is that a rule?” he asked me.

“No, it’s just some advice. Women don’t like to be surrounded by other women her mate has slept with, it will only complicate things for you going forward,” I said to him.

“Your business income looks sound and our general observation is that pack members are earning according to their positions, except the Omegas, that needs to change,” Jared said.

“We will implement all the recommendations sent to us in your final report, as for the punishment, Bruce will join us momentarily to explain,” Carlos said.

After ten minutes Bruce knocked on the door and entered the meeting room. He gave us a look I couldn’t really decipher and sat down next to Winston. I had an uneasy feeling as he sat down and he kept looking past us.

“Gamma Bruce, please explain the process you were following in the punishment of two Omegas in the woods earlier,” I said as I looked at him.

“It does not concern you as it’s related to pack matters,” he said to me.

“This is an official inspection by the Enforcer clowder and you are required to answer any and all questions posed to you,” Jared said.

“Let’s make this easy for everyone, I don’t like my time being wasted,” I said as I felt Axel push forward and my aura took over.

Bruce was fighting the submission and I could see that Winston didn’t like this one bit. He was hiding something that the Gamma was trying to protect.

“Submit, Gamma,” I said as he went down to his knees.

“I wasn’t punishing the two Omegas, I was warning them,” he said as sweat broke out across his forehead.

“Warning them about what?” I asked.

“Omega Three is pregnant and she was hiding it with the help of Omega Seven,” he said and Jared turned to look at Winston.

“I assume the baby is yours,” he said and Winston looked away.

“I was busy commanding her to have an abortion,” Bruce said and I could feel the anger emanating from Carlos.

“You impregnated this Omega and tried to hide this fact?” Carlos asked angrily.

“There are two options here, Alpha Carlos, either Winston takes her as his chosen mate and future Alpha Female of this pack since she is pregnant with his heir or he relinquishes all responsibility and we will take her with us,” I said and Jared gave me a look.

“We will?” he asked me through our mind link.

“Yes, the moment we leave here he’ll command her to get rid of that baby in order not to have to mark her,” I said over our mind link.

“She’s an Omega, I can’t take her as my mate,” Winston said.

“But she was good enough to have some fun with,” I said.

“Our men have already made her submit and the truth of the matter is that you made certain promises to this young girl, told her you loved her and that she was your mate since she is still only fifteen,” I said to him.

“Alpha Damon…” Carlos said but I interrupted him.

“Have her pack her belongings, she will be integrated into another pack and Winston will be charged accordingly. He will pay a monthly allowance to her equal to an Alpha Female’s salary so that she will be able to care for herself and her baby, whom she wishes to keep,” I said as I stood up.

“If it’s a boy…” Winston said and his voice faltered.

“You will have no claim on this baby, whether it is a boy or a girl, you will have no further contact with her and you will not be made aware of which pack she joins. Your actions in this regard tells me that you are nowhere near ready to be an Alpha,” I said as Jared and I walked to the door.

“Our final report will be sent to your Council and we will not be staying the night in your pack,” Jared said.

“You have a lot of work to do, Carlos,” I said as we left the meeting room.