Mated to the Alpha and His Beta (Lanie Stanton) novel Chapter 459

Chapter 459
Xander

I’d called for the entire pack to congregate here, but I hadn’t thought so many would be able to make it. As it turned out, pack members had traveled hard and fast to get here. They were still pouring into the square, hanging out of the window of storefronts, and lined up along rooftops.

I shaded my eyes to look out at the crowd from my place on the small stage Maxim and Monroe had arranged to have built. With my brother on one side, Zane on the other, and my High Guards behind, we waited for the crowd to settle, but they weren’t. The tensions were high and rising. Nobody was getting rowdy, but they could go that way, if we weren’t careful about what we said…or how we said it.

My father had often addressed the pack like a beneficent king, but one who definitely expected you to kiss his ring or find yourself facing a not-so benevolent ruler. I didn’t want to approach any of this the way he had. It was going to be hard enough to hold onto the good memories I had for my dad without trying to behave in his bad ways.

“They’re getting restless,” Zane thought to me. “Even if they’re not all settled, you should probably start to address them. I can sense a growing dissatisfaction, some fear, a lot of curiosity.”

I looked at him with one brow quirked. “Could you always do that?”

“I think Stella lent me some of her empath talents,” Zane sent through the mind link.

I didn’t have time to consider this or dwell on what that might mean for my Beta, or even if there was a chance that our daughter had done the same for any of the rest of us. The crowd was swelling, pressing up toward the base of the stage. Their murmuring voices were rising, and I could catch bits and pieces of what they were saying. Some of it was regular excited chatter, but there was also some undertones of discontent.

“Let’s get started,” I said aloud so Maxim and Monroe could both hear me, too. I switched on the mic Maxim had tucked into the color of my Henley. I saw Mason do the same. I faced the crowd. “Greetings, Pack Constantine!”

My father would never have used technology to address a meeting like this. He’d have expected his voice to boom out over the restless crowd and that they all would simply shut up and listen at rapt attention. Hell, he probably would’ve had guards stationed throughout the crowd to haul off anyone who wasn’t listening.