"The North American Alpha Council presides over all the Packs in North America. There are 100 Packs in the United States, two in each state, and to complete North America, 30 packs in Canada and another 70 in Mexico. Issues between Packs can be brought to the Alpha Council for deliberation to try and resolve them. Pack Wars occur on occasion but there haven't been any large-scale conflicts in a long time, the risk of exposure is just too great, and if we were outed, there would be no winners. The largest Pack War ever, became known as the Eradication War; it began around 100 years ago; the O'Connor Pack suffered tremendously, and as it happens, we were the ignition point that started the war.
"Being one of the oldest Packs in the USA, we have a tremendous amount of land and are also one of the wealthiest Packs in America. Between the O'Connor fortune and the Pack fortune, we... and when push comes to shove, 'we' means your Mother and I... control a great deal of money, and much of our fortunes are tied to our businesses and are published in financial journals and circles throughout the USA and the World. So for those who know where to look, our net worth isn't a big secret. At least not among lycans."
Odin took a deep breath and paused before pressing on. "Back in 1914 we were already very wealthy, and a number of other Packs were envious and became greedy. They colluded together, wanting our money and land, and decided it would be tidiest if they wiped us out altogether: the O'Connor Pack was what the aggressors in the Eradication War intended to eradicate.
"Similar to World War I, existing treaties between Packs drew the Packs of almost the entire North American Continent into the conflagration, which caused massive loss of lycan lives on both sides. The only reason the humans didn't notice such an explosive event was that they were focused upon the Great War in Europe, which was almost simultaneous with ours and fortunately for us, lasted longer.
"The Eradication War lasted 3 years and at the end of it the Alpha Council was formed, and edicts were laid down that still govern our society today. It's how we setup many of our current laws, why we allow no matings or sexual contact until 18, why we have two Packs to every state with each Pack's territory clearly defined, and many other rules and regulations.
"Most of those regulations and more of the history you will learn about during your morning lessons with the Elders and our Archivist; but that should cover the important points for right now.
"The last thing I want to mention is that twice a year we have the Alpha Conclave, which is where all of the Alphas and Madame Alphas of all of the North American Packs meet to discuss policy, new issues, and the advancement for our kind. A lot of business deals and partnerships occur at these, and they help bind us all together. Since the last War, O'Connors have been careful to establish mutually beneficial business dealings with many other Packs to share our wealth, and reduce the temptation for any future Packs to attempt another such attack. The next conclave is in early December, and you and Lily will be attending as observers with your Mother and me this year, now that you're officially the Alpha Heir Pair."
With that, the office door opened, and Lily and Victoria walked in. Both Dante and Lily's eyes lit up when they saw each other, and they each sent a surge of love and joy through the bond to the other. Lily rushed over, crawled into her mate's lap and snuggled in while Dante cradled her in his arms.
Victoria and Odin contented themselves with exchanging a brief kiss as they chuckled at their daughter's forward behavior, loving to see their daughter's transformative love for her mate; their mutual adoration couldn't be more obvious, and they loved to see her new passion not only for Dante, but for life.
All four of them spent the last two hours of the afternoon working on Pack matters such as the next Full Moon Ceremony, upgrades to the compound, and some maintenance and upgrades for some of the structures in the community. Much of it was routine and unexciting, but necessary.
Dante started getting a handle on what security and training measures were already in place for the Pack, with an eye to formulating and suggesting improvements in the near future. A meeting had been set up for tomorrow afternoon with Ben to start to dig into the plans they were now discussing, so he could get started on those immediately.
By the time they were wrapping up it was nearly dinnertime, so they all made their way to the dining room. Dinner was rustic but delicious that night: a traditional and filling meal of bangers and mash.
After dinner both Dante and Lily were looking for some quiet time together, so they retired to their suite. They cuddled in an oversized chair in the living room area with Lily curled up in Dante's lap. She sipped on a glass of wine while Dante slowly nursed a pour of Four Roses bourbon. They each caught up on what the other had done during the day while they'd been apart. Lily gave Dante all the details on the remodel of their suite and the schedule for it to be done, and Dante walked Lily through everything involving the Cabin, including the extra protection for their future children. Dante spoke of his amazement in learning about their lycan heritage and the little bit of Pack and lycan history he had learned so far, especially the Eradication War.
They discussed their upcoming training as well. Dante told her how he had settled on twin katanas, and that Ben was ordering them for him... they sounded quite special... and would be arriving in hopefully as few as six weeks. He would start focusing mostly on learning to fight with them, as well as fighting as his wolf over the next several weeks and months.
Lily would be spending her time mastering her dual daggers as well as her hand to hand. But she also had to begin her firearms training as well. They decided that some time would be spent each weekend training Lily in firearms, as well as Dante giving her personal instruction in hand to hand techniques. This would give her an edge, and would speed up her mastery of her weapons above and beyond the training she would undergo with the other Pack Enforcers and Betas. Lily told Dante she wanted to shoot a single pistol and even though she was small, her lycan strength would be enough to handle the .45ACP caliber that she wanted to use like her mate. (He used that brag as an excuse to challenge her to a playful arm wrestle; he won, but she was no pushover so she'd proved her point, and he agreed to her desired pistol.) She also told him she wanted to develop a second specialty in sniping. Dante promised to shop around and speak to his military contacts to order her a rifle and a handgun so they could get started soon.
It was getting late, so Dante picked up Lily and carried her to bed. They slowly made love, sharing a very quiet but passionate lovemaking session, ending with Lily riding Dante excruciatingly slowly to their climax before she collapsed on his chest, then scooted into her traditional spot and fell asleep on his chest like normal.
***
